Runic inscriptions. No doubt the th is usually represented by the character thurs. In this inscription, however, we appear to be presented with an exception.

The idea that two of the words are Norse and one Celtic seems rather far-fetched and fanciful, and, as it appears to me, not very probable.

Your learned correspondent DR. WILSON seems to set great store on an acquaintance with the Northern Runic alphabet. A knowledge of this might be acquired by any one during a lesson of a quarter of an hour. S. M. Glasgow.

NUMISMATICS (3rd S. xi. 497.)-The figures on Victoria sovereigns, as, "33, 17, 45, and so on, are placed immediately below the ribbon that attaches the laurel branches on the reverse," first appear on coins of 1864, and, since that date, occur on all silver and gold coins (I have not examined the Maundy money), and are what may be termed "check numbers."

Every die has its consecutive number. When the minter has a die given him to use, his name is registered against the number borne by the die; so that if, on examination, a coin is found to be defectively struck, from the die wanting cleaning or otherwise, the number in question shows at

once who is to blame.

It is stated in Cowper's admirable prose piece respecting his pet hares, that on two occasions one of the hares testified his gratitude for kindand that in a most elaborate manner. ness received by licking the hand of his master,

the work for several years past), a somewhat If I remember rightly (though I have not read similar incident is recorded in the episode in Tristram Shandy with reference to the poor overworked and ill-fed ass by the roadside, to whom a maccaroon is given, accompanied by kind words. in this kind is that which is contained in CowBut perhaps the most extraordinary ascription per's fine paraphrase of the prophetic vision, in

"The Winter Walk at Noon 95

"No foe to man

Lurks in the serpent now: the mother sees,
And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand
Stretch'd forth to dally with the crested worm,
To stroke his azure neck, or to receive
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue."

J. W. W.

LEGEND OF THE BOOK OF JOB (3rd S. xi. 524.) I am obliged by MR. ELLIS's reply, but it is scarcely satisfactory. The legend I inquired after has several points in common with the history of Job other than their respective "sufferings under adverse circumstances." Bouchet (Letters on Religious Ceremonies) says —

"That the gods met one day in Chorcan, the paradise of delights, when the question came up whether it were possible to find a faultless prince or no. All denied it except Vachichten, who maintained that Achandiren his disciple had no fault. On this Vichoura Moutren said that if Achandiren were placed in his power, he would show how much Vachichten was mistaken. The gods consented, and Vichoura Moutren put the victim to every conceivable trial; dethroned him; reduced him to poverty; killed his only son; carried off his wife," &c.

Achandiren, however, remained steadfast through all his trials, and was eventually rewarded by the gods in an extraordinary manner, and had his wife and son restored to him. Whence did the legend originate, and what is its age?

WM. PICKARD.

SWORD QUERY: SAHAGUM (3rd S. xi. 296, 431.) The Irish are particularly famous for absurd derivations, and their language being almost unknown

to the world of literature, they, in most cases, escape detection. I need not speak of the extravagances of Vallancey, but there is actually in a translation of the Four Masters, by John O'Donovan, published so late as 1856, an attempt to identify the names of places in Ireland with the followers of one Ceasair, who came to that country forty days before the Deluge!! Nor is the derivation of Sahagum from an Irish source, as attempted at page 431 by J. L., less extraordinary. I am sure that I need scarcely say here that Sahagum, or Sahagun-for it is spelled both ways-is the name of a small village in Spain, well known as a place of eminence in the history of Spanish sword-cutlery; and it was doubtless a nursery for the more famed and more modern manufacture of Toledo, as the affix of "de Sahagum " frequently occurs to the names of Toledo sword manufacturers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. While the mere word Sahagum itself, without any maker's name added to it, is well known to the collectors of early sword-blades. WILLIAM PINKERTON.

BOURBON SPRIG (3rd S. xi. 461.)-This may be the English name of the chinaware manufactured from the French model, as we have been told by F. C. H. (p. 299), but the original is well known to collectors as the Angouleme porcelain. It was manufactured at Paris by Dihl and Guerhard, in the Rue de Bondy, under the patronage of the Duc d'Angouleme. I have a tea and coffee set, with plates, sugar-basin, &c. nearly all complete. The mark is an A with a crown in red, as described by F. C. H., and some of my pieces also have the following

lion miles off in winter, instead of 90. And as the heat is inversely as the square of the distance, reckoning from absolute zero, of no sun at all, which is probably 4900 below our zero, it follows that the average winter cold of Europe was -330, or 72° lower than it is now. Then was the glacial period, when all Europe was covered with ice, which the heat of summer had not time to melt, and which slid and scraped down our valleys like the glaciers in the Alps, and as icebergs slide into the Arctic seas. See Croll in The Reader, Octr. 1865, and following months, and Tyndall On Heat, p. 79." T. J. BUCKTON.

PALINDROMIC (OR SOTADIC) VERSE (3rd S. xi. 504.)-A correspondent, under the signature of H. K., observes that he has never yet seen any palindromic verse in any language which deserves to be called good. I think a few specimens may be found which are really good. For instance, the Greek line from the great Church of Sancta Sophia at Constantinople, which is occasionally seen in other places on baptismal fonts or holywater vessels:

Νίψον ανομήματα, μὴ μόναν ὕψιν.

The following has the advantage of every word reading both ways, without the necessity of running one word into another to complete the sense : "Odo tenet mulum, mappam madidam tenet Anna.” ambassador to this country at the peace of 1802, A variation appeared, when M. Otto was French which is a more perfect palindrome:

"Otto tenet mappam, madidam mappam tenet Otto." I never could find that it had any application to the ambassador; but as compositions in this style, I venture to think this and the other two good. F. C. H.

THE HINDOO TRINITY (3rd S. xii. 8.)— "The deities are only three, whose places are the earth, the intermediate region, and the heaven; namely, fire, air, and the sun. They are pronounced to be deities of the mysterious names (Bhur, bhuvah, swar) severally, and (Prajapati) the lord of creatures is the deity of them collectively. The syllable oм intends every deity; it belongs to him who dwells in the supreme abode; it appertains to (Brahma) the vast one; to God, to the superintending soul. Other deities belonging to those several regions are portions of the [three] gods; for they are variously named and described, on account of their different operations; but in fact there is only one deity, the Great Soul. He is called the sun, for he is the soul of all beings, and that is declared by the sage: the sun is the soul of what moves, and of that which is fixed.' Other clared by the sage."-Colebroke, On the Vedas, Asiat. deities are portions of him: and that is expressly deRes. viii. 395, &c.; compare Menu, xii. 123.

Hindoo commentators, composed of three letThe mysterious word om is, according to the ters, A U M, representing the three gods of the Trimurti or Hindoo Trinity. In the Institutes of Menu the Brahmin is directed to mutter to himself this holy syllable, both at the commencement and conclusion of all his lectures on the Vedas, without which nothing, it is asserted, will be long

retained. Previous to this, however, he is expected to sit on the culms of kusa grass (Poa cynosuroides) with their points towards the east, and to suppress his breath thrice. The legislator then informs us that "Brahma milked out, as it were, from the three Vedas the letter A, the letter U, and the letter м, which form by their combination the triliteral monosyllable;" adding that adding that this syllable "is a symbol of God, the Lord of created beings" (ii. 74, 77, 84.)

There does not appear to be any authority for appropriating one of the three letters to Bramah, Vishnu, or Shiva, as HITOPADESH assumes. This Bramah must not be confounded with the one

god Brahm. His query as to the identity of Sri, Siris, and Ceres, and of Horus and Eros, can only be answered in the negative. (See The Hindoos, L. E. K., i. 145.) T. J. BUCKTON.

Streatham Place, S.

PASSAGE IN LORD BACON (3rd S. xi. 496; xii. 16.) C. A. W. is right. I ought to have given a reference to the work from which I quoted. It was from The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon, including all his Occasional Works, &c., with a Commentary, Biographical and Historical, by James Spedding, i. 108-9. Of this most interesting and important work the first volume was published in 1861, and the second in 1862, bringing down the life of Lord Bacon only to the end of his fortieth year (1601); and I trust I may be allowed to express a hope that the publication of the remainder will not be long deferred. Mr. Spedding is said to have devoted "the best years of an active and learned manhood to the preliminary toil" (Dixon's Personal History of Lord Bacon, p. 10), and there is little risk of error in asserting that no man living knows more of Bacon and his works; certainly no one has written his life so far with so much ability and impartiality. It is true the seven volumes of Bacon's greater works, edited by Mr. Spedding and two coadjutors, are done; but if the "letters, life, and occasional works" are left unfinished, the loss will be great to all who are interested-and who is not?-in the lesser

works and the later years of the illustrious philosopher.

D.

WILLIAM SHARP, SURGEON (3rd S. xi. 497.)— In Wadd's Nuga Chirurgica; or, a Biographical Miscellany, illustrative of a Collection of Professional Portraits, 1824, is the following:

"Sharpe, William. G. Dance del. 1794. W. Daniels sc. Born 1729. Died 1810. Sharpe was many years assistantsurgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and was eminent in his profession during the time he practised; but he retired upwards of twenty years before his death, and was succeeded in his residence and practice by the late Sir Charles Blicke, who was also his fortunate successor at the hospital, of which he soon became principal surgeona post he held to the last hour of his life. They were both good practical surgeons, but their literary labours consist of a small pamphlet On Paper Splints; or, a New

DR. WOLCOT (3rd S. xi. 450, 526.)-In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1819, vol. i. p. 619, I find that "John Wolcot, M.D., painter and poet, the latter under the assumed name of Peter Pindar, was born near Kingsbridge, Devon, 1738, and died Jan., 1819, at Camden Town." Thus he was credited with a medical doctor's degree at the time of his decease, even though MR. MACKENZIE WALCOTT doubts his right to it. It is also within the bounds of possibility that he might have proceeded to some other degree in Divinity or Civil Law, for he was in Holy Orders, which seems to have escaped MR. WALCOTT. I meet almost daily a gentleman who knew Peter Pindar well, and only knew him by the name of Dr. Wolcot. That I should have erred in spelling the Doctor's name, I suppose with two t's instead of one, was an inadvertence.

J. B. DAVIES.

The Catalogue of the National Portrait Exhibition of 1867 (No. 809) informs us that Dr. Wolcot "took orders." I have before me The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq., 4 vols. 12mo, 1809, with brief memoirs of the author prefixed. It is here stated that Dr. Wolcot, when in Jamaica, endeavoured to supply the place of a deceased rector "by reading prayers and preaching."

"As, however, he was aware that this irregularity could not long be tolerated, he returned to England to obtain orders, and, if possible, the vacant living; but, notwithstanding the powerful recommendations he presented to the Bishop of London, that prelate refused him ordination; gular clergyman, Mr. Wolcott [sic] declined applying and the living being soon filled up by a rein any other quarter for admission to the church.' What authority have the compilers of the Catalogue for their statement? E. S. D.

THE VALLEY OF MONT-CENIS (3rd S. xii. 9.) By altering the first sud-est into sud-ouest, S.H.M. will obtain the true reading. There is no copy of Saussure's great work-credite posteri!—in the British Museum, but only a short abridgement, as if intended for a railway library. My knowledge is derived from the maps of the Useful Knowledge Society, which appear to have got into hands that have a motive for suppressing them for the purpose of issuing their own rubbish at a higher price. T. J. BUCKTON.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., containing a Series of his Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with many eminent Persons, and various original Pieces of his Composition. With a Chronological Account of his Studies and Numerous Works, &c. By James Boswell, Esq. A new Edition, elucidated with copious Notes. (Routledge.)

Macaulay characterised Boswell's Johnson "as a great, a very great work"; adding very justly: "Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly, that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse is first, and the rest nowhere." Of this wonderful book, we have now before us, a wonderfully cheap and wonderfully well printed edition; and we are glad to see that, in selecting the edition from which to make their reprint, the publishers have taken care to use that which is unquestionably the best, the sixth, the last published under the judicious superintendence of Malone. We hope for the sake of all parties, readers and publishers, that the work will be widely circulated.

The Romish Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception traced from its Source. By Dr. Edward Preuss. Translated by Geo. Gladstone. (Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1867.) A complete and exhaustive manual on this subject from the Protestant point of view; written in a conversational and lively style, but full of solid argument as well. Put it side by side with Bishop Ullathorne's book on the Immaculate Conception, and the ordinary reader will have, in the compass of two little 12mo volumes, all that he need know respecting one of the most protracted controversies of the Western Church.

Date of our Iliad and Odyssey. (Belfast: printed at the Advertiser Office.)

An ingenious little pamphlet devoted to an examination of the true date of the Iliad and Odyssey, which will well repay all students of Homer for the time spent in its perusal.

SALE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MANUSCRIPTS.-On Saturday last, by direction of the trustees of the late Mr. Robert Cadell, of Edinburgh, Messrs. Christie and Manson sold at their rooms, in King Street, St. James's, the original manuscripts of Sir Walter Scott's celebrated poems, and several of his novels and prose works. Amongst them was a portion of "Ivanhoe," which is believed to be the only remnant of that romance, which Sir Walter Scott wrote with his own hand, as the late Mr. John Ballantyne acted as his amanuensis for a considerable part of it, owing to the author having recently recovered from a severe illness. The manuscript of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel was not preserved. All these interesting literary relics are in a perfect state of preservation, and uniformly bound in russia with uncut edges. They are remarkable for the fluency with which they were written, and the very few alterations or corrections which occur in them; and thus show the facility with which Sir Walter sketched out the productions of his most entertaining and lively imagination. A vast number of literary men were present. The following were the prices realised:- Marmion," 191 guineas; "The Lady of the Lake," 264 guineas; "The Vision of Don Roderick," 37 guineas; "Rokeby" (in detached pieces partly, bearing the post-mark of various districts), 130 guineas; "Lord of the Isles," 101 guineas; "Introductory History of Ballad Poetry," 54 guineas; "Au

chindrane," 27 guineas; "Anne of Geierstein," 121 guineas; "Waverley," "Ivanhoe," "The Bridal of Tremaine," and other papers, with autograph, 130 guineas; "Tales of a Grandfather" (portion of the original manuscript, with autograph), 145 guineas; "Častle Dangerous, 32 guineas; "Count Robert of Paris" (a portion only), 23 guineas. The sale realised 1,255 guineas. Mr. Hope Scott, Q.C., was amongst the principal bidders.

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ABHRA. The author of An Essay for Catholic Communion was Joshua Bassett: see our last volume, p. 479.

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1867.

CONTENTS.-No 290.

NOTES:- Manna, 41-Folk-Lore: Herring Folk-LoreAncient Musical Custom at Newcastle - Mid-day "Sticking" Nose bleeding Bonfires on the Eve of St. John, 42- -The Rev. John Healey Bromby, A.M., &c., Ib. — Culpepper Tomb at Feckenham Literary Larceny - "Lucy Neal" in Latin-An End to all Things-Coat Cards, or

Court Cards-Letter from Kimbolton Library-Source of Quotation wanted - Esparto Grass - Emigration, 43. QUERIES:-Alfred's Marriage with Alswitha - Authors wanted - Battle of Bunker's Hill-Inscription at Blenheim "Leo_pugnat cum Dracone"-Name, &c. wanted National Portrait Exhibition: the Fortune Teller Poems, Anonymous-The Popedom - Portraits of Percy, Bishop of Dromore- Portrait of Mrs. Shelley-Solomon and the Genii-Sprouting Plates and Jars-Stains in old Deeds, &c. - John Stephens - Wallace, 45. QUERIES WITH ANSWERS: - Lucifer-Hops in Beer Gideon Ouseley-Birthplace of Cromwell's Mother Archbishop of Spalatro's Sermon on Romans xiii. 23 - 24th of February - Leasings Lewd-Quotation, 47. REPLIES: -Elius Donatus de Grammatica: History of Printing, 49-Cornish Name of St. Michael's Mount, 51 Cara Cowz in Clowze, Ib.-Parc aux Cerfs, 52- Battle of Baugé and the Carmichaels of that Ilk, 53-"Manuscrit venu de Ste Hélène "-Palæologus-"Olympia Morata Bourbon Sprig - Highland Pistols- Robert Browning's

Boy and Angel:" Kynge Roberd of Cysille -The Word "Dole Chevers Family- Johannes Scotus Erigena-Dryden Queries: "Neyes"-Laying Ghosts in the Red Sea Engraved Outlines - Bishop Butler's best Book-Family of De Toni: Arms-Johnny Peep-The late Rev. R. H. Barham: "Dick's Long-tailed Coat". Walsh of Castle Hoel, &c., 54. Notes on Books, &c.

Notes. MANNA.

Is it known whether manna is ever found to fall in large drops from the atmosphere? I ask this question, as I witnessed a curious natural phenomenon in the South of Italy, respecting which I have never been able to satisfy myself. On a scorching forenoon of the month of May, as I was slowly wending my way towards the small village of Scalea, which will be found on the northern frontier and western coast of Calabria, I was surprised to observe a number of large drops fall around me-such drops as sometimes precede a thunder-storm. There were no clouds, no wind; everything was calm, and the sun shone in unclouded splendour about midday. I was much astonished, and exclaimed to my guide, "What is this? Whence came these drops? He at once said, without a moment's hesitation, and as. if he were accustomed to the phenomenon, "It is I was of course incredulous, and having much difficulty in carrying on a conversation with one who spoke the Calabrese dialect, I dropped the subject.

manna.

Afterwards, however, I found, on conversing with intelligent natives, that such drops of manna, or what they called manna, were not uncommon. They could give no explanation of the manner in which it was generated in the atmosphere; but they had no doubt that it was so, and it was

always during excessive heat that the drops were seen to fall. Of course it is well known that the woods of Calabria supply large quantities of manna, which is collected from two species of ash, Ornus Europea and Fraxinus rotundifolia. Is it possible that great heat may suck up the juice into the atmosphere, and that, being in some way condensed, it may fall in the way I witnessed? I found during my conversation with some of the natives that there appears suddenly at times on the leaves of plants, in a way they cannot explain, a kind of glutinous substance of a sweetish flavour, which stops their growth and is otherwise injurious. They call these leaves "foglie ammanate" (leaves affected by manna); and they speak also of "vino ammanato," from the grapes acquiring a peculiar flavour when covered with this substance. There is one shrub more particularly on which it appears, which they call "fusaro" or " fusaggine," growing luxuriantly in their hedges. It is so called from spindles being made of it, and is, I believe, the "spindel-baum of the Germans. I heard also that during the continuance of great heat a kind of dew falls, which they call "sinobbica," but in what it differs from manna I could not make out. Possibly some of your correspondents may be able to throw light on some of these points which I have started.

way

"In India, and particularly in the country of the Prasii (who extended through the richest part of India from the Ganges to the Panjab), it rains liquid honey, which, falling on the grass and leaves of reeds, produces wonderfully rich pastures for sheep and oxen; the cattle are driven by the herdsmen to the parts where they know quantities of this sweet dew ( Spóoos ʼn yλuкeîα) have fallen. The animals enjoy a rich banquet on these pastures, and furnish very sweet milk (πeptyλúkιotov yáλa). There is no necessity to mix it with honey as the Greeks do."

of a tree "not unlike the oak, which distils Diodorus Siculus (book xvii. chap. 75) tells us (aroelßet) honey from its leaves." Can any of your Indian correspondents tell us anything about this tree, or confirm Elian's account? Athenæus (book xi. chap. 102, ed. Schweighäuser, 1804,) quotes from Amyntas, the writer of an Indian itinerary, to the following effect : —

Amyntas in his first book, speaking of the honey from the atmosphere (depoμéλiros) writes thus:-"They collect it with the leaves, making it into the form of a Syrian cake (raλdens Zupiakns); some make it into the form of a ball; and when they wish to enjoy it, breaking off a portion, they melt it in wooden cups called tabætæ, and, after they have passed it through a sieve, drink it. It is much like diluted honey, though somewhat sweeter."

C. T. RAMAGE.