Replies.

"Tho' when appeared the third morrow bright,Upon the waves," &c.Spenser'sFairy Queen,II. xii. 2."Good morrow."—Passim.

"Tho' when appeared the third morrow bright,

Upon the waves," &c.

Spenser'sFairy Queen,II. xii. 2.

"Good morrow."—Passim.

R. H.

[Is not our correspondent confounding the morrow ofAll Saints, which the 2nd of November certainly is, with the morrow ofAll Souls? Sir H. Nicolas, in his most usefulChronology of History, says most distinctly:—"The morrow of a feast is the day following. Thus, the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula is the 1st of August, and the morrow of that feast is consequently the 2nd of August."—P. 99.]

Hotchpot.—Will you kindly tell me what is the derivation of the local termhotchpot, and when it was first used?

M. G. B.

[The origin of this phrase is involved in some obscurity. Jacob, in hisLaw Dictionary, speaks of it as "from the French," and his definition isverbatimthat given inThe Termes of the Law(ed. 1598), with a very slight addition. Blackstone (bookii.cap. 12.) says, "which term I shall explain in the very words of Littleton: 'It seemeth that this wordhotchpotis in English a pudding; for in a pudding is not commonly just one thing alone, but one thing with other things together.' By this housewifely metaphor our ancestors meant to inform us that the lands, both those given in frankmarriage, and those descending in fee-simple, should be mixed and blended together, and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters."]

High and Low Dutch.—Is there any essential difference between High and Low Dutch; and if there be any, to which set do the Dutchmen at the Cape of Good Hope belong?

S. C. P.

[High and Low Dutch are vulgarisms to express the German and the Dutch languages, which those nations themselves call, for the GermanDeutsch, for the DutchHolländisch. The latter is the language which the Dutch colonists of the Cape carried with them, when that colony was conquered by them from the Portuguese; and has for its base the German as spoken before Martin Luther's translation of the Bible made the dialect of Upper Saxony the written language of the entire German empire.]

"A Wilderness of Monkeys."—Would you kindly inform me where the expression is to be found: "I would not do such or such a thing for a wilderness of monkeys?"

C. A.

Ripley.

["Tubal.One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey."Shylock.Out upon her! Thou torturest me,"Tubal:it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it fora wilderness of monkies."—Merchant of Venice, Act III. Sc. 1.]

["Tubal.One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

"Shylock.Out upon her! Thou torturest me,

"Tubal:it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it fora wilderness of monkies."—Merchant of Venice, Act III. Sc. 1.]

Splitting Paper.—Could any of your readers give the receipt for splitting paper, say a bank-note? In no book can I find it, but I believe that it is known by many.

H. C.

Liverpool.

[Paste the paper which is to be split between two pieces of calico; and, when thoroughly dry, tear them asunder. The paper will split, and, when the calico is wetted, is easily removed from it.]

The Devil on Two Sticks in England.—Who is the author of a work, entitled as under?

"The Devil upon Two Sticks in England; being a Continuation of Le Diable Boiteux of Le Sage. London: printed at the Logographic Press, and sold by T. Walter, No. 169. Piccadilly; and W. Richardson, under the Royal Exchange, 1790."

It is a work of very considerable merit, an imitation in style and manner of Le Sage, but original in its matter. It is published in six volumes 8vo.

William Newman.

[William Coombe, Esq., the memorable author ofThe Diaboliad, andThe Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque.]

(Vol. v., p. 121.; Vol. vii., p. 383.)

Stone Pillar Worship.—SirJ. E. Tennentinquires whether any traces of this worship are to be found in Ireland, and refers to a letter from a correspondent of Lord Roden's, which states that the peasantry of the island of Inniskea, off the coast of Mayo, hold in reverence a stone idol calledNeevougi. This word I cannot find in my Irish dictionary, but it is evidently a diminutive, formed from the wordEevan(Iomhaigh), image, or idol: and it is remarkable that the scriptural Hebrew term for idol is identical with the Irish, or nearly so—אָוֶנ(Eevan), derived from a root signifyingnegation, and applied to the vanity of idols, and to the idols themselves.

I saw at Kenmare, in the county of Kerry, in the summer of 1847, a water-worn fragment of clay slate, bearing a rude likeness to the human form, which the peasantry calledEevan. Its original location was in or near the old graveyard of Kilmakillogue, and it was regarded with reverence as the image of some saint in "the ould auncient times," as an "ould auncient" native of Tuosist (the lonely place) informed me. In the same immediate neighbourhood is a gullaune (gallán), or stone pillar, at which the peasantry used "to giverounds;" also the curious small lakes or tarns, on which the islands were said to move on July 8, St. Quinlan's [Kilian?] Day. (See Smith'sHistory of Kerry.)

However, such superstitious usages are fast falling into desuetude; and, whatever may have been the early history of Eevan, it is a sufficient proof of no vestige of stone pillar worship remaining in Tuosist, that, to gratify the whim of a young gentleman, some peasants from the neighbourhood removed this stone fragment by boat to Kenmare the spring of 1846, where it now lies, perched on the summit of a limestone rock in the grounds of the nursery-house.

J. L.

Dublin.

Idol Worship.—The islands of Inniskea, on the north-west coast of Ireland, are said to be inhabited by a population of about four hundred human beings, who speak the Irish language, and retain among them a trace of that government by chiefs which in former times existed in Ireland. The present chief or king of Inniskea is an intelligent peasant, whose authority is universally acknowledged, and the settlement of all disputes is referred to his decision. Occasionally they have been visited by wandering schoolmasters, but so short and casual have such visits been, that there are not ten individuals who even know the letters of any language. Though nominally Roman Catholics, these islanders have no priest resident among them, and their worship consists in occasional meetings at their chief's house, with visits to a holy well. Here the absence of religion is filled with the open practice of pagan idolatry; for in the south island a stone idol, called in the IrishNeevougi, has been from time immemorial religiously preserved and worshipped. This god, in appearance, resembles a thick roll of homespun flannel, which arises from a custom of dedicating a material of their dress to it whenever its aid is sought: this is sewed on by an old woman, its priestess, whose peculiar care it is. They pray to it in time of sickness. It is invoked when a storm is desired to dash some helpless ship upon the coast; and, again, the exercise of its power is solicited in calming the angry waves to admit of fishing.

Such is a brief outline of these islanders and their god; but of the early history of this idol no authentic information has yet been obtained. Can any of your numerous readers furnish an account of it?

William Blood.

Wicklow.

(Vol. vii., p. 77.)

I cannot concur in opinion withSir Emerson Tennent, who thinks he has a right to identify the sense of our low wordblagueurwith that of your lower one,blackguard. I allow that there some slight similitude of pronunciation between the words, but I contend that their sense is perfectly distinct, or, rather, wholly different; as distant, in fact, as is the date of their naturalisation in our respective idioms. Yourblackguardhad already won a "local habitation and a name" under the reigns of Pope and his immediate predecessor Dryden. Of all living unrespectable characters our ownblagueuris the youngest, the most innocent, and the shyest. He is entirely of modern growth. He has but lately emerged from the soldier's barracks, the suttler's shop, and the mess-room. As a prolific tale-teller he amused the leisure hours of superannuated sergeants and half-pay subalterns. Ten or twelve years ago he had not yet made his appearance in plain clothes; he is now creeping and winding his way with slow and sure steps from his old haunts into some first-rate coffee-houses and shabby-genteel drawing-rooms, which Carlyle callssham gentility. He bears on his very brow the newestflunky-stamp. The poor young fellow, after all, is no villain; he has no kind of connexion with the horrid rascalSir Emerson Tennentalludes to—with theblackguard. That he is a boaster, a talker, an idiot, a nincompoop; that he scatters "words, words, words," as Polonius did of old; that he is bombastic, wordy, prosy, nonsensical, and a fool, no one will deny. But he is no rogue, though he utters rogueries and drolleries. No one is justified in slandering him.

Theblackguardis a dirty fellow in every sense of the word—agredin(a cur), the true translation, by-the-bye, of the wordblackguard. Voltaire, who dealt largely in Billingsgate, was very fond of the wordgredin:

"Je semble à troisgredins, dans leur petit cerveau,Que pour être imprimés et reliés en veau," &c.

The wordblagueurimplies nothing so contemptuous or offensive as the wordblackguarddoes. The emptiness of the person to whom it applies is very harmless. Its etymonblague(bladder,tobacco-bag), the pouch, which smoking voluptuaries use to deposit their tobacco, is perfectly symbolic of the inane, bombastic, windy, and long-winded speeches and sayings of theblagueur. Every French commercial traveller, buss-tooter, and Parisian jarvy is one. When he deports himself with modesty, and shows a gentlemanly tact in his peculiar avocation, we call him acraqueur(a cracker). "Ancient Pistol" was the king ofblagueurs; Falstaff, ofcraqueurs. I like ourBaron de Crac, a native of the land of white-liars and honey-tongued gentlemen (Gascony). The genuscraqueuris common here: as it shoots out into a thousand branches, shades, varieties, and modifications, judicial, political, poetical, and so on, it would bequite out of my province to pursue farther the description ofblagueur-land orblarney-land.

P.S.—Excuse my French-English.

Philarète Chasles, Mazarinæus.

Paris, Palais de l'Institut.

(Vol. viii., p. 316.)

In answer to Z. I may state that the first attempt of this kind is attributed to Tatian. Eusebius, in hisEcc. Hist.(quoted in Lardner'sWorks, vol. ii. p. 137. ed. 1788), says, he "composed I know not what—harmony and collection of the gospels, which he calledδια τεσσων." Eusebius himself composed a celebrated harmony, of which, as of some others in the sixteenth and two following centuries, there is a short account in Michaelis'sIntroduction to the New Test., translated by Bishop Marsh, vol. iii. partI.p. 32. The few works of the same kind written in the early and middle ages are noticed in Horne'sIntroduct., vol. ii. p. 274. About the year 330, Juvencus, a Spaniard, wrote the evangelical history in heroic verse. Of far greater merit were the four books of Augustine,De Consensu Quatuor Evangeliorum. After a long interval, Ludolphus the Saxon, a Carthusian monk, published a work which passed through thirty editions in Germany, besides being translated into French and Italian. Some years ago I made out the following list of Harmonies, Diatessarons, and Synoptical tables, published since the Reformation, which may in some measure meet the wish of your correspondent. It is probably incomplete. The dates are those of the first editions.

J. M.

Cranwell, near Bath.

Tatian wrote hisΕυανγελιον δια τεσσωνas early as the year 170. It is no longer extant, but we have some reason for believing that this Harmony had been compiled in an unfriendly spirit (Theodoret,Hæret. Fabul., lib. i. c. 20.). Tatian was followed by Ammonius, whoseΗαρμοιαappeared about 230; and in the next century by Eusebius and St. Ambrose, the former entitling his productionΠερι τησ των Ευανγελιων διαπωιασ, the latterConcordia Evangelii Mattæi et Lucæ. But by far the ablest of the ancient writings on this subject is theDe Consensu Evangelistarumof St. Augustine. Many authors, such as Porphyry, in hisΚατα Χριστιανον λογοι, had pointed with an air of triumph to the seeming discrepancies in the Evangelic records as an argument subversive of their claim to paramount authority ("Hoc enim solent quasi palmare suæ vanitatis objicere, quod ipsi Evangelistæ inter seipsos dissentiant."—Lib. i. c. 7.). In writing these objections St. Augustine had to handle nearly all the difficulties which offend the microscopic critics of the present day. His work was urged afresh upon the notice of the biblical scholar by Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris, who died in 1429. TheMonotessaron, seu unum ex quatuor Evangeliisof that gifted writer will be found in Du Pin's edition of hisWorks, iv. 83. sq. Some additional information respecting Harmonies is supplied in Ebrard'sWissenschaftliche Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte, pp. 36. sq. Francfurt a. M., 1842.

C. Hardwick.

St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.

Seiler says (Bibl. Herm., partii.c. 4. s. 4.) that "The greater part of the works on the harmony of the gospels are quite useless for our times, as their authors mostly proceed on incorrect principles." He refers only to the chief of them, namely:

For other Harmonies, see Mr. Horne'sBibliog. Index, p. 128. Heringa considers that the following writers "have brought the four Evangelists into an harmonious arrangement, namely:

And especially as to the sufferings and resurrection of Christ:

T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

Ammonius,an Egyptian Christian nearly cotemporary with Origen (third century), wrote a Harmony of the four gospels, which is supposed to be one of those still extant in theBiblioth. Max. Patrum. But whether the larger Harmony in tom. ii. part 2., or the smaller in tom. iii., is the genuine work is doubted. See a note to p. 97. of Reid'sMosheim's Ecclesiastical History, 1 vol. edition: London, Simms and McIntyre, 1848.

Chris. Roberts.

Bradford, Yorkshire.

(Vol. ii., pp. 305. 349. 377.; Vol. iii., p. 309.)

A passage in Churchill, and one in Lord John Russell'sLife of Moore, have lately reminded me of a former Note of mine on this subject. The structure of Churchill's second couplet must surely have been suggested by that of Pope, which formed my original text:

"Conjunction, adverb, preposition, joinTo add new vigour to the nervous line:—In monosyllables his thunders roll,—He, she, it, and, we, ye, they, fright the soul."Censure on Mossop.

"Conjunction, adverb, preposition, join

To add new vigour to the nervous line:—

In monosyllables his thunders roll,—

He, she, it, and, we, ye, they, fright the soul."

Censure on Mossop.

Moore, in his Journals, notes, on the other side of the question, conversation between Rogers, Crowe, and himself, "on the beauty of monosyllabic verses. 'He jests at scars,' &c.; the couplet, 'Sigh on my lip,' &c.; 'Give all thou canst,' &c. &c., and many others, the most vigorous and musical, perhaps, of any." (Lord John Russell'sMoore, vol. ii. p. 200.)

The frequency of monosyllabic lines in English poetry will hardly be wondered at, however it may be open to such criticisms as Pope's and Churchill's, when it is noted that our language contains, of monosyllables formed by the vowelaalone, considerably more than 500; by the vowele, about 450; by the voweli, nearly 400; by the vowelo, rather more than 400; and by the vowelu, upwards of 260; a calculation entirely exclusive of the large number of monosyllables formed by diphthongs.

I hardly know whether the following "literary folly" (as "D'Israeli the Elder" would call it, seeCuriosities of Lit.sub tit.), suggested by dipping into the above monosyllabical statistics, will be thought worthy to occupy a column of "N. & Q." However, it may take its chance as a supplementary Note, without farther preface, under the name, for want of a better, ofUnivocalic verses:

The Russo-Turkish War.

Wars harm all ranks, all arts, all crafts appal:At Mars' harsh blast arch, rampart, altar fall!Ah! hard as adamant, a braggart CzarArms vassal-swarms, and fans a fatal war!Rampant at that bad call, a Vandal-bandHarass, and harm, and ransack Wallach-land!A Tartar phalanx Balkan's scarp hath past,And Allah's standard falls, alas! at last.

Wars harm all ranks, all arts, all crafts appal:

At Mars' harsh blast arch, rampart, altar fall!

Ah! hard as adamant, a braggart Czar

Arms vassal-swarms, and fans a fatal war!

Rampant at that bad call, a Vandal-band

Harass, and harm, and ransack Wallach-land!

A Tartar phalanx Balkan's scarp hath past,

And Allah's standard falls, alas! at last.

The Fall of Eve.

Eve, Eden's Empress, needs defended be;The Serpent greets her when she seeks the tree.Serene she sees the speckled tempter creep;Gentle he seems—perversest schemer deep—Yet endless pretexts, ever fresh, prefers,Perverts her senses, revels when she errs,Sneers when she weeps, regrets, repents she fell;Then, deep-reveng'd, reseeks the nether hell!

Eve, Eden's Empress, needs defended be;

The Serpent greets her when she seeks the tree.

Serene she sees the speckled tempter creep;

Gentle he seems—perversest schemer deep—

Yet endless pretexts, ever fresh, prefers,

Perverts her senses, revels when she errs,

Sneers when she weeps, regrets, repents she fell;

Then, deep-reveng'd, reseeks the nether hell!

The Approach of Evening.

Idling I sit in this mild twilight dim,Whilst birds, in wild swift vigils, circling skim.Light winds in sighing sink, till, rising bright,Night's Virgin Pilgrim swims in vivid light!

Idling I sit in this mild twilight dim,

Whilst birds, in wild swift vigils, circling skim.

Light winds in sighing sink, till, rising bright,

Night's Virgin Pilgrim swims in vivid light!

Incontrovertible Facts.

No monk too good to rob, or cog, or plot.No fool so gross to bolt Scotch collops hot.From Donjon tops no Oroonoko rolls.Logwood, not Lotos, floods Oporto's bowls.Troops of old tosspots oft, to sot, consort.Box tops, not bottoms, schoolboys flog for sport.No cool monsoons blow soft on Oxford dons,Orthodox, jog-trot, book-worm Solomons!Bold Ostrogoths of ghosts no horror show.On London shop fronts no hop-blossoms grow.To crocks of gold no dodo looks for food.On soft cloth footstools no old fox doth brood.Long-storm-tost sloops forlorn work on to port.Rooks do not roost on spoons, nor woodcocks snort,Nor dog on snowdrop or on coltsfoot rolls,Nor common frog concocts long protocols.

No monk too good to rob, or cog, or plot.

No fool so gross to bolt Scotch collops hot.

From Donjon tops no Oroonoko rolls.

Logwood, not Lotos, floods Oporto's bowls.

Troops of old tosspots oft, to sot, consort.

Box tops, not bottoms, schoolboys flog for sport.

No cool monsoons blow soft on Oxford dons,

Orthodox, jog-trot, book-worm Solomons!

Bold Ostrogoths of ghosts no horror show.

On London shop fronts no hop-blossoms grow.

To crocks of gold no dodo looks for food.

On soft cloth footstools no old fox doth brood.

Long-storm-tost sloops forlorn work on to port.

Rooks do not roost on spoons, nor woodcocks snort,

Nor dog on snowdrop or on coltsfoot rolls,

Nor common frog concocts long protocols.

The same subject continued.

Dull, humdrum murmurs lull, but hubbub stuns.Lucullus snuffs up musk, mundungus shuns.Puss purrs, buds burst, bucks butt, luck turns up trumps;But full cups, hurtful, spur up unjust thumps.

Dull, humdrum murmurs lull, but hubbub stuns.

Lucullus snuffs up musk, mundungus shuns.

Puss purrs, buds burst, bucks butt, luck turns up trumps;

But full cups, hurtful, spur up unjust thumps.

Although I am the veritable K. I. P. B. T. of the former Notes, I sign myself now, in accordance with more recent custom,

Harry Leroy Temple.

(Vol. vii.passim.)

The Scriptures prove the use of rings in remote antiquity. In Gen. xli., Joseph has conferred on him the king's ring, an instance more ancient than Prometheus, whom fables call the inventor of the ring. Therefore let those who will hold, with Pliny and his followers, that its use is more recent than Homer. The Greeks seem to have derived the custom of wearing it from the East, and Italy from the Greeks. Juvenal and Persius refer torings which were worn only on birthdays. Clemens Alexandrinus recommends a limit within which the liberty of engraving upon them should be restrained. He thinks we should not allow an idol, a sword, a bow, or a cup, much less naked human figures; but a dove, a fish, or a ship in full sail, or a lyre, an anchor, or fishermen. By the dove he would denote the Holy Spirit; by the fish, the dinner which Christ prepared for his disciples (John xxi.), or the feeding of thousands (Luke ix.); by a ship, either the Church or human life; by a lyre, harmony; by an anchor, constancy; by fishermen, the apostles or the baptism of children. It is a wonder he did not mention the symbol of the name of Christ (Χρ), the cross which is found on ancient gems, and Noah's ark.

Rings were worn upon the joints and fingers, and hence Clement says a man should not wear a ring upon the joint (in articulo), for this is what women do, but upon the little finger, and at its lowest part. He failed to observe the Roman custom of wearing the ring upon the finger of the left hand, which is nearest the heart, and which we therefore term the ring-finger. And Macrobius says, that when a ring fell from the little finger of Avienus' right hand, those who were present asked why he placed it upon the wrong hand and finger, not on those which had been set apart for this use. The reasons which are given for this custom in Macrobius were often laughed at by H. Fabricius ab Aquapendente, viz. that it is stated in anatomical works, that "a certain nerve which rises at the heart proceeds directly to that finger of the left hand which is next the little finger," for nothing of the sort, he said, existed in the human body.

The ring distinguished the free-born from the servile, who, however, sometimes obtained thejus annuli, or privilege of the ring. It was used as a seal, a pledge, and a bond. Women, when betrothed, received rings; and the virgin and martyr Agnes, in Ambrose, says, "My Lord Jesus Christ hath espoused me with his ring." Theosebius also, in Photius, says to his wife, "I formerly gave to thee the ring of union, now of temperance, to aid thee in the seemly custody of my house." He advisedly speaks of thatcustody, for the lady of the house in Plautus says,

"Obsignate cellas, referte annulum ad me:Ego huc transeo."

Wives generally used the same seals as their husbands: thus Cicero (Ad Attic.xi. 9) says, "Pomponia, I believe, has the seals of what is sealed." Sometimes, however, they used their own.

Touching the marriage ring, of what style and material it was, and whether formerly, as now, consecrated by prayers to God. Its pattern appears to have been one which has gone out of use, viz. right hands joined, such as is often observed on ancient coins. Tacitus (Hist.i. ll.) calls it absolutelydextras, right hands. Among us it was called a faith (una fede.Comp. Eng. "Plight mytroth"), and not without precedent, for on the coins of Vitellius, &c. right hands thus joined bear the mottoFides. An esteemed writer (Nider), in hisFormicarium, mentions a rustic virgin who desired to find a material ring as a token of her espousal "in signum Christiferæ desponsationis," and found a ring of a white colour, like pure silver, upon which two hands were engraved where it was united. It was formerly customary to bless a crown or a ring by prayers. The form of consecration used by the priest is thus given in ancient liturgies:

"Benecrossdie Domine, Annulum istum et coronam istam, ut sicut Annulus circundat digitum hominis, et corona caput, ita gratia Spiritus Sancti circundet sponsum et sponsam, ut videant filios et filias usque tertiam et quartam generationem: qui collaudent nomen viventis atque regnantis in secula seculorum. Amen."

For the crown, see Is. lxii. 1. (E. V. lxi. 10.). The words of Agnes above cited have reference to giving the right hand and a pledge.

These particulars are from theSymbol. Epist. Liberof Laurentius Pignorius, Patar. 1628; where, in Ep. I. and XIX., many other references are to be found.

B. H. C.

(Vol. viii., pp. 130. 132.)

I trust that the following information may be acceptable to you and the authors of two interesting papers in "N. & Q." (Vol. viii., pp. 130-2.), viz. "Anticipatory Use of the Cross," and "Curious Custom of ringing Bells for the Dead."

When encamped, in 1823 or 1824, near the town (not the cantonment) of Muttra, on the river Jumna, a place of celebrated sanctity as the scene of the last incarnation of Vishnoo, the protective deity or myth of the Hindoos, an Italian gentleman of most polished manners, speaking English correctly and with fluency, was introduced to me. He travelled under the name of Count Venua, and was understood to be the eldest son of the then Prime Minister of Sardinia. The Count explained to me that his favourite pursuit was architecture, and that he preferred buildings of antiquity. I replied, that while breakfast was preparing I could meet his wishes, and led him to a large Hindoo edifice close by (or rather the remains), which a Mogul emperor had partially destroyed and thereby desecrated, the place having since been occasionally used by the townspeople as a cattle-shed, or for rubbish.

The Count, not deterred by heaps of cattle-dung, paced the dimensions, gazed on the solidity of thestone masonry, approved of the construction and shape of the arched roof, pointed out the absence of all ornament excepting a simple moulding or two as architectural lines, and then broke out into enthusiastic admiration. "The most beautiful building! the greatest wonder of the world! Shame on the English government and English gentlemen for secreting such a curiosity! Here is the cross! the basilica carried out with more correctness of order and symmetry than in Italy! The early Christians must have built it! I will take measurements and drawings to lay before the cardinals!"

I was never more surprised, and assured the Count that I was unacquainted with the cathedral buildings of Europe, and I believed English gentlemen generally to be as ignorant as myself. I could not but acknowledge that the local governments had, as it seemed to him, evinced but little sympathy with Hindooism; and that whatever might be European policy in respect to religion, the East India Company might have participated in the desire which prevails in Europe to develop ancient customs, and the reasons of those customs. It might be presumed that we should then have contemplated this specimen of architecture with a knowledge of its original purposes, and the history of its events, had the Governor-General communicated his wish, and with due courtesy and disinterestedness invited the learned persons and scholars at the colleges of Muttra and Benares to assist such inquiries. It is but little the English now know of the Hindoo organisation, and the little they do know is derived from books not tested nor acknowledged by such learned persons.

I assisted Count Venua as far as I was able, for I rejoiced at his intention to draw the minds of theliteratiof Italy to the subject. Sad to say, the Count was some time after killed by falling into a volcanic crater in the Eastern Isles!

I may here mention that I first saw the old building in 1809, when a youthful assistant to the secretary of a revenue commission. The party, during the inclement month of September, resided in one of the spacious houses at Muttra, which pious Hindoos had in past times erected for the use of pilgrims and the public. The old temple (or whatever it might have been) was cleaned out for our accommodation during the heat of the day, as it then was cooler than the house. The elder civilians were men of ability, classical scholars, and first-rate Asiatic linguists. They descanted on the mythological events which renders "Brij," or the country around Muttra, so holy with the Hindoos, but not one of them knew nor remarked the "cross and basilica."

In youth, the language assigned to flowers appeared to me captivating and elegant, as imparting the finer feelings and sympathies of our nature. In maturer age, and after the study of the history of the customs of mankind, symbols and emblems seemed to me an universal language, which delicately delineated the violent passions of our kind, and transmitted from generation to generation national predilections and pious emotions towards the God of Creation. That mythology should so generally be interpreted Theism, and that forms or ceremonials of worship should be held to limit and define belief in creed, may, in my apprehension, be partly traceable to the school-book Lamprière'sClassical Dictionary. You or your correspondents may attribute it to other and truer causes.

The rose, the thistle, the shamrock, the leek, the lion, the unicorn, the harp, &c. are familiar examples of national emblems. The ivy, the holly, and the mistletoe are joined up with the Christmas worship, though probably of Druidical origin. The Assyrian sculptures present, under the "Joronher," or effulgence, a sacred tree, which may assimilate with the toolsu and the peepul tree, held in almost equal veneration by the Hindoos. The winged lions and bulls with the heads of men, the angels and cherubim, recall to mind passages of scriptural and pagan history. The sciences of astronomy and mathematics have afforded myths or symbols in the circle, the crescent, the bident, the trident, the cross, &c.

The translators of the cuneiform inscriptions represent crucifixion as the common punishment for rebellion and treason. The Jews may have imitated the Assyrians, as crucifixion may have been adopted long before that of Christ and the two thieves (Qy. robbers). The Mahomedans, who have copied the Jews in many practices and customs, executed gang robbers or daccorts by suspending the criminals from a tree, their heads and arms being tied to the branches, and then ripping up the abdomen. I myself saw in Oude an instance of several bodies. It may be inferred, then, that the position of the culprits under execution was designated by crucifixion. The Hindoos mildly say that when their system of government existed in efficiency there was neither crime nor punishment.

To the examples mentioned by your correspondent, I admit that the form of the cross, as now received, may be derived from that of Christ, discovered on Mount Calvary in 236A.D.Constantine, in 306A.D., adopted it as a standard in Labarum. Other nations have attached staves to eagles, dragons, fish, &c. as standards and therefore, construing "Crux ansata" literally, the ensign of Constantine might be formed by attaching a staff to the Divine Glory represented in the Egyptian paintings and Assyrian sculptures.

I should be glad to learn the precise shape of the cross on the Temple of Serapis. If it be the emblem of life or the Creative Power, then the mythology of the Nile agrees with that of theGanges. If it be the symbol of life, or rather of a future state after judgment, then the religious tenets and creed of Muttra should be elucidated, examined, and refuted by the advocates of conversion and their itinerant agents. Moore'sHindoo Pantheon(though the author had at Bombay, as a military officer, little opportunity of ascertaining particulars of the doctrine) sufficiently treats, under the head of the "Krishna," the subject so as to explain to the conversionists, that unless this doctrine be openly refuted, the missionaries may in truth be fighting their own shadow.

The basilica seems to have originally been the architectural plan of the Roman Forum, or court of justice. The Christians may have converted some of these edifices into churches; otherwise the first churches seem to have been in the form of a long parallelogram, a central nave, and an aisle on each side, the eastern end being rounded, as the station of the bishop or presbyter. The basilica, or cathedral, was probably not introduced until the eighth century, or later.

I have not just now access to the works of Tod and Maurice. The former, I doubt not, is correct in respect to the Temple of Mundore, but I believe the latter is not so in regard to Benares. The trident, like that of Neptune, prevails in the province of Benares; and when it, in appropriate size, rises in the centre of large tanks, has a very solemn effect. I, a great many years ago, visited the chief temple of Benares, and do not recollect that the cross was either noticed to me or by me. This, I think, was the only occasion of observing the forms of worship. There is no fixed service, no presiding priest, no congregation. The people come and go in succession. I then first saw the bell, which, in size some twenty-five pounds weight, is suspended within the interior. Each person, at some period of his devotion, touched the tongue of the bell as invocation or grace. The same purpose is obtained by Hindoos, and particularly the men of the fighting classes, previously to commencing a cooked dinner, by winding a large shell, which gives a louder sound than a horn. The native boys however, on hearing it, exclaim in doggerel rhyme, which I translate,

"The shell is blown,And the devil is flown."

"The shell is blown,

And the devil is flown."

Fear seems so much the parent of superstition, that I attribute this saying to the women, who, as mothers, have usually a superstitious dread not only of evil spirits, but also of the evil eye of mortals towards their young ones. When, some twenty years ago, I was told by a Kentish countryman that the church bell was tolled to drive away evil spirits from a departing soul, I supposed the man to be profanely jocose; but since then I have travelled much in this country and on the Continent, and have seen enough to satisfy me that superstition prevails comparatively less in Asia than in Europe and the pages of "N. & Q." abundantly corroborate the opinion.

H. N.

Stereoscopic Angles.—I am concerned that my definition and solution of stereoscopic angles (a misnomer, for it should bespace) in "N. & Q.," with subsequent illustrations, have not satisfiedMr. Shadbolt, as I am thus obliged to once more request room in your pages, and this time for a rather long letter. When I asserted that my method is the only correct one, it behoved me to be prepared to prove it, which I am, and will now do.

It seems thatMr. Shadbolthas not a knowledge of perspective, or, with a little reflection and trifling pains in linear demonstration on paper, he might have convinced himself of the accuracy of my method. It were well, then, to informMr. Shadbolt, that in perspective, planes parallel to the plane of delineation (in this case, the glass at back of camera) have no vanishing points; that planes at right angles to plane of delineation have but one; and that planes oblique have but one vanishing point, to the right or left, as it may be, of the observer's eye. This promised, let the subject be a wall 300 feet in length, with two abutments of one foot in front and five feet in projection, and each placed five feet from the central point of the wall, which is to have a plinth at its base, and a stone coping at top. On a pedestal four feet high, two feet wide, and six feet long, exactly midway betwixt the abutments, let an ass be placed, a boy astride him, a bag drawn before the boy, who holds up a long stick in line with the ass, &c., that is, facing the observer. The right distance for the observer's place is 450 feet. If the cameras be placed two inches and a half apart, on one line parallel to the wall, the stereographs will be in true perspective for thetwoeyes, that is, all the planes at right angles to the plane of delineation will havetwovanishing points, which, being merely two inches and a half apart, will, in the stereoscope, flow easily into one opposite the eye; whilst the plinth, coping, and all lines parallel to them, will be perfectly horizontal; and the two pictures would create in the mind just such a conception as the same objects would if seen by the eyes naturally. This would be stereoscopic, true to nature, true to art, and, I affirm, correct.

Now, let the same subject be treated by Professor Wheatstone's method, when the cameras would be eighteen feet apart. Situated thus, if placed on one line, and that parallel to the wall, the extreme end at the right could not be seen by the camera at the left, andvice versâ; so that theymust radiate from the centre when the glass at back of camera would be oblique to the wall, and the plinth, coping, top and bottom of pedestal, would havetwovanishing points, at opposite sides of the centre, or observer's eye; both sides of the ass, both the legs of boy, and two heads to the drum would be visible; whilst the two sides of pedestals would have each a vanishing point, serving for all lines parallel to them. But these vanishing points would be so far apart that they could not, in the stereoscope, flow into one: the result would be, that the buttresses would be wider at back than in front, as would also the pedestal, while the stick held by the boy would appear liketwosticks united in front. This would be untrue to nature, false to art, preposterously absurd, and I pronounce it to be altogether erroneous.

This being the case with a long distance, so must it be with shorter distances, modified in exact proportion to the diminution of space between the cameras, &c. For, let the object be a piece of wood three feet long, four inches wide, and six inches deep, with a small square piece one inch and six inches high, placed upright exactly on a line from end to end of the three feet (that is, one at each end) and midway between the sides. Let this arrangement be placed across another piece of wood three or four feet long, which will thus be at right angles to the piece at top. By my method all will be correct—true to nature and to art, and perfectly stereoscopic: whilst by the radial method (recommended byMr. Shadbolt), with two feet space for cameras, there would be the top piece divided at the farther end, where there would be two small upright pieces instead of one; and this because the two vanishing points could not, in stereoscope, flow into one: whilst the lower piece of wood would have two vanishing points at opposite sides. This, then, being untrue to nature, untrue in art, in short, a most absurd misrepresentation, I pronounce to be utterly wrong. I have made the space two feet between cameras in order to show how ridiculous those pictures might become where there is an absence of taste, as, by such a person, two or ten feet are as likely to be taken as any less offensively incorrect.

As regards range of vision, I apologise toMr. Shadboltfor having misconceived his exact meaning, and say that I perfectly agree with him.

With respect to the "trifling exaggeration" I spoke of, allow me to explain. For the sake of clearness, I denominate the angle formed from the focal point of lens, and the glass at back of camera, the angle of delineation; the said glass the plane of delineation and the angle formed by the stereograph to the eye, the stereoscopic angle. It must be borne in mind that the stereoscopic angle is that subtended by one stereograph and the eye. I find by experiments that the angle of delineation is very often larger than the stereoscopic angle, so that the apparent enlargement spoken of byMr. Shadboltdoes not often exist; but if it did, as my vision (though excellent) is not acute enough to discover the discrepancy, I was content. I doubt not, however, under such circumstances,Mr. Shadboltwould prefer the deformities and errors proved to be present, since he has admitted that he has such preference. I leave little doubt that, if desirable, the stereoscopic angle, and that of delineation, could be generally made to agree.

As to the means by which persons with two eyes, or with only one eye, judge of distance, I say not one word, that being irrelevant to this subject. But that the axes of the eyes approximate when we view objects nearer and nearer cannot be doubted, and I expressed no doubt; and it appears to me very probable that on this factMr. Shadboltfounds his conclusion that the cameras should radiate. This, however, ought not to be done for the reasons I have assigned. It will not do to treat the cameras as two eyes, and make them radiate because our eyes do; for it must be remembered that light entering the eyes is received on curved—whilst when it enters the cameras it falls on flat surfaces, occasioning very different results. And if this be maturely considered byMr. Shadbolt, I believe his opinion will be greatly altered.

As to the model-like appearance, I cannot yet understand exactly why it should exist; but of this I am certain, the eyes naturally do not perceive at one view three sides of a cake (that is, two sides and the front), nor two heads to a drum, nor any other like absurdity; so that I perceive no analogy between this model-like appearance and natural vision, as stated to be the case byMr. Shadbolt.

To confirm, practically, the truth of my illustrative proofs, I will send you next week some glass stereographs, to be placed atMr. Shadbolt'sdisposal, if he likes, and you will be so kind as to take charge of them.

T. L. Merritt.

Maidstone.

Berefellarii(Vol. vii., p. 207.).—John Jebbmentions theberefellariias a distinct kind of mongrel dependents or half-ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages, dirty, shabby, ill-washed attendants, whose ragged clothes were a shame to the better sort of functionaries. He gave excellent and just reasons for his opinion, and a very probable construction of the sense of the word. But the etymon he proposes is rather unsatisfactory. Anglo-Saxonism is a very good thing; simplicity and common sense are very good things too. May notberefellarius, the dirty raggamuffin with tattered clothes, be good monkish Latin forbare-fell(i.e.bare-skin), or ratherbare-fellow? the most natural metamorphosis imaginable.Bereis the old orthoepy ofbare; and every one knows that in London (east) a fellownaturally becomes a fellar.

P.S.—Excuse my French-English.

Philarète Chasles, Mazarinæus.

Paris, Palais de I'Institut.

"To know ourselves diseased," &c.(Vol. viii., p. 219.).—

"To know ourselves diseased is half our cure."

This line is from Young'sNight Thoughts, Night 9th, line 38.

J. W. Thomas.

Dewsbury.

Gloves at Fairs(Vol. viii., p. 136.).—As an emblem of power and an acknowledgment of goodness, "Saul set up a hand" after his victory over the Amalekites, 1 Sam.xv.12., (Taylor'sHebrew Concordance, in voce,ידה)Sam 2 xviii. 18., Isaiah lvi. 5. The Phœnician monuments are said to have had sculptured on them an arm andhand held up, with an inscription graven thereon. (See Gesenius and Lee.) If, as stated by your correspondents in the article referred to, the glove at fairs "denotes protection," and indicates "that parties frequenting the fair are exempt from arrest," it is at least a remarkable coincidence. The Phœnicians were the earliest merchants to the west of England that we have any account of; can any connexion be traced historically between the Phœnician traffic and the modern practice of setting up a hand, or glove, at fairs? I well remember the feelings of awe and wonder with which I gazed when taken in childhood to see "the glove brought in" and placed over the guildhall of my native city (Exeter) at the commencement of "Lammas Fair." Has the glove been associated with this fair from its commencement? and if not, how far back can its use be traced? The history of the fair is briefly this: it existed before the Norman Conquest, and was a great mart of business; the tolls had belonged to the corporation, but King John took one-half, and gave them to the priory of St. Nicholas. Henry VIII. sold the fair with the priory; and anno second and third of Philip and Mary it was made over to the corporation, who have ever since been lords of the fair. (Izacke'sMemorials, p. 19.; Oliver'sHistory of Exeter, pp. 83. 158., &c.)

J. W. Thomas.

Dewsbury.

I may add that at Barnstaple, North Devon, the evening previous to the proclamation of the fair, a large glove, decked with dahlias, is protruded on a pole from a window of the Quay Hall, the most ancient building in the town, which remains during the fair, and is removed at its termination. May not the outstretched glove signify the consent of the authorities to the commencement and continuance of the festivities, &c., and its withdrawal a hint for their cessation?

I may add also that on the morning of proclaiming the fair, the mayor and corporation meet their friends in the council chamber, and partake of spiced toast and ale.

Drofsniag.

"An" before "u" long(Vol. viii., p. 244.).—The custom of writinganbeforeulong must have arisen and become established whenuhad its primitive and vowel sound, nearly resembling that of ouroo, a sound which it still has in several languages, but seems to have lost in ours. The use ofanbeforeulong, wasthenproper; habit and precedent will account for its retention by many, after the reason for it has ceased, and when its use has become improper. But although the custom is thus accounted for, there exists no satisfactory reason for its continuance, and I am sorry to learn from your correspondent that it is "increasingly prevailing."

J. W. Thomas.

Dewsbury.

"The Good Old Cause"(Vol. viii, p. 44.).—D'Israeli, inQuarrels of Authors, under the head of "Martin Mar-Prelate," has the following remarks on the origin and use of the expression, "The Good Old Cause:"

"It is remarkable that Udall repeatedly employed that expression, which Algernon Sidney left as his last legacy to the people, when he told them he was about to die for 'thatOld Cause, in which I was from my youth engaged.' Udall perpetually insisted on 'The Cause.' This was a term which served at least for a watch-word: it rallied the scattered members of the republican party. The precision of the expression might have been difficult to ascertain; and, perhaps, like every popular expedient, varied with 'existing circumstances.' I did not, however, know it had so remote an origin as in the reign of Elizabeth; and suspect it may still be freshened up and varnished over for any present occasion."

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

The following curious paragraph in thePost Boy, June 3-5, 1714, seems to have been connected with the Jacobites:

"There are lately arrived here the Dublin Plenipo's. All persons that have any business concerning theGood Old Cause, let 'em repair to Jenny Man's Coffee House at Charing Cross, where they may meet with the said Plenipo's every day of the week except Sundays, and every evening of those days they are to be spoke with at the Kit-Cat Club."

E. G. Ballard.

Jeroboam of Claret, &c.(Vol vii., p.528.).—Is amagnumanything more than a bottle larger thanthose of the ordinary size, and containing about two quarts; or aJeroboamother than a witty conceit applied to the old measureJoramorJorum, by some profanewine-bibber?

H. C. K.

Humbug(Vol. vii., p. 631.).—The real signification of the wordhumbugappears to me to lie in the following derivation of it. Among the many issues of base coin which from time to time were made in Ireland, there was none to be compared in worthlessness to that made by James II. from the Dublin Mint; it was composed of anything on which he could lay his hands, such as lead, pewter, copper, and brass, and so low was its intrinsic value, that twenty shillings of it was only worth twopence sterling. William III., a few days after the Battle of the Boyne, ordered that the crown piece and half-crown should be taken as one penny and one halfpenny respectively. The soft mixed metal of which that worthless coining was composed, was known among the Irish asUim bog, pronouncedOom-bug,i.e.soft copper,i.e.worthless money; and in the course of their dealings the modern use of the wordhumbugtook its rise, as in the phrases "that's apiece of uimbog(humbug)," "don't think topass offyouruimbugon me." Hence the wordhumbugcame to be applied to anything that had a specious appearance, but which was in reality spurious. It is curious to note that the very opposite ofhumbug,i.e.false metal, is the wordsterling, which is also taken from a term applied to thetruecoinage of the realm, assterlingcoin,sterlingtruth,sterlingworth, &c.

Fras. Crossley.

"Could we with ink," &c.(Vol. viii., pp. 127, 180.).-If Rabbi Mayir Ben Isaac is thebonâ fideauthor of the lines in question, or the substance of them, then the author of theKoranhas been indebted to him for the following passage:

"If the sea were ink, to write the words of my Lord, verily the sea would fail before the words of my Lord would fail; although we added another sea unto it as a farther supply."—Al Koran, chap. xviii., entitled "The Cave," translated by Sale.

The question is, Did Rabbi Mayir Ben Isaac, author of the Chaldee ode sung in every synagogue on the day of Pentecost, flourish before or since the Mohamedan era?

J. W. Thomas.

Dewsbury.

"Hurrah!"(Vol. viii., pp. 20, 277, 323.).—It would almost deem that we are never to hear the last of "Hurrah! and other war-cries." Your correspondents T. F. andSir J. Emerson Tennentappear to me to have made the nearest approach to a satisfactory solution of the difficulty; a step farther and the goal is won—the object of inquiry is found. I suppose it will be admitted that the language which supplies themeaningof a word has the fairest claim to be considered itsparentlanguage. What, then, is the meaning of "Hurrah," and in whet language? As a reply to this Query, allow me to quote a writer inBlackwood's Magazine, April 1843, p. 477.

"'Hurrah!' meansstrikein the Tartar language."—Note to art. "Amulet Bek."

So then, according to this respectable authority, the end of our shouts and war-cries is, that we have "caught a Tartar!"

Again, inBlackwood, 1849, vol. i. p.673., we read:

"He opened a window and cried 'Hourra!' At the signal, a hundred soldiers crowded into the house. Mastering his fury, the Czar ordered the young officer to be taken to prison."—Art. "Romance of Russian History."

Thus, in describing the "awful pause" on the night preceding the Russian attack on Ismail, then in possession of the Turks, Lord Byron says:

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