RING OF MARY QUEEN OF Scors. SIR,-Many years ago, when there was a mania for making Gum Seals, originating (with me, at least,) from reading of "Lord Oldborough's" seal in "Patronage," by Miss Edgeworth, I had a wax impression given me of Mary Queen of Scots' diamond ring, and its history, which was shewn with it at a sale in London, I think, in 1817. I send you the account and seal, with the I made in gum. If it may tend to elucidate what your Correspondent, R. B. ("Current Notes," for February, p. 16) wishes to know, I shall be glad. If it is useless, you can destroy my letter. Feb. 28th, 1852. copy M. C. S. 66 "1817, June. The original diamond ring of Mary Queen of Scots, upon which are engraved the arms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, quartered, and which was produced in evidence at the trial of the unfortunate Mary, as a proof of her pretensions to the Crown of England, was in possession of the late Mr. Blachford, a Lord of the Admiralty, at the time of his death.* The history of this fatal ring is curious: it descended from Mary to her grandson, Charles the First, who gave it, on the scaffold, to Archbishop Juxon, for his son, Charles the Second, who, in his troubles, pawned it in Holland for £300, when it was bought by Governor Yale, and sold at his sale for £320, supposed to the Pretender. Afterwards it came into possession of the Earl of Ilay, Duke of Argyll, and probably from him to the family of Mr. Blachford, at the sale of whose effects it was said to have been purchased for the Prince Regent." * Barrington Pope Blachford, Esq. M.P. was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty on the 23rd August, 1814. He died 14th May, 1816. G. W. LITHOGRAPHY.-Your Correspondent, Mr. Cole, is very much mistaken ("Current Notes," for February, p. 12) in supposing that he possesses the very first impression in Lithography in England, although it may be from Ackerman's press, and is certainly a curiosity. If Mr. Cole will turn to the second- article in the "Foreign Review," No. VII. p. 47, he may find that Lithography was practised in England so early as 1802, and was introduced into France about 1807. New York, 14th January, 1852. SIR,-It may possibly be amusing to some of your antiquarian friends to know that we have a game in use here, which I never saw or heard of in England, except in Shakspere's "Merry Wives of Windsor." I allude to Shovel-board, and I can assure you a capital game it is, requiring an eye as quick, and a hand and arm as steady, and much stronger, than billiards, which it somewhat resembles. If you wish it described with the rules of the game, say the word and I'm your man. Mr. Willis. SS. R. J. W. B. (F. S. A.) writes-"In answer to your correspondent R. B. (" Current Notes," February) I beg to remind him, that the attendants who shew Holyrood Palace offer for sale to the visitors a Tassie facsimile impression scal of "Queen Mary's Signet ring." I myself purchased one last summer, and on looking to the box in which it is enclosed, I find it is stated to be copied from that "in the collection of the late Earl of Buchan." I know not whether the collection alluded to has been dispersed or not. However, if this fact be not already familiar to R. B. it may afford him some clue in his enquiry. I add an impression from the Seal, Each of the words are both Latin and Italian. which exactly tallies with the one engraved in Current Notes.'" G. W. will be glad to receive the information so kindly offered by his Correspondent. RING OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. SIR, Having noticed your correspondent R. B.'s communication respecting the above curious relic, I beg to state that I also possess a facsimile of the same engraved upon crystal, an impression of which I enclose for your inspection. I believe the original is in Her Majesty's collection at Windsor Castle. I am, Sir, respectfully yours, 15, Park Road, Stockwell. the Church of the Virgin Mary, occurs the following in- IN MARE IRATO, IN TORBIDA PROCELLA, A. A. MONOGRAM. The allusion made by your Correspondent C., in your "Current Notes" for February last, p. 11, to my relative Lord Glenelg's signature, reminds me that the letters of the following singular lines, if read backwards, will be found the same as if read in the usual manner. Signa te, signa, temere me tangis et angis J. G. P. Bombay, July 16th, 1851. A. A. MRS. CRABB. Mr. Butterworth (7, Fleet Street) requests the attention of the readers of G. W.'s "Current Notes" to the distressing case of the Widow of the late Rev. George Crabb, whose death was recorded in the Literary and Scientific Obituary of last month (p. 16). 66 MORE America, and were exhibiting in New York. However, for the information of those who are curious upon this subject, G. W.'s correspondent C. F. D. has most kindly forwarded ABOUT THOSE AZTIC BIPEDS," an extract from the New York Herald, which will be forwarded in the proper quarter. To G. W.'s AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS what can he say? beyond sincerely acknowledging his gratitude for the favour of their communications, and at once declaring his belief in the Great Sea Serpent, so voluminous, so overwhelming and really so important has been his Catch from the U. S. power to devote to Current Monthly Notes for the current It would literally occupy the space that he will have it in his and he scarcely knows how to proceed in the task of This highly respectable lady was, at the age of 80, left perfectly destitute, had it not been for the sum of £60 immediately forwarded for her relief by the Royal Literary Fund. Some friends have since subscribed about the same amount, and Mr. Butterworth's benevo-year; lent object is to raise a sum sufficient to purchase an annuity of £50 per annum for Mrs. Crabb-as the "relict of one who has laboured for nearly half a century in the preparation of works of standard usefulness." TO CORRESPONDENTS. G. W. fears that he has been taken for a conjuror, and that a serious conspiracy has been organised against him by his esteemed Correspondents (to whose commands he is always happy to respond) and the Post Office. But how is he to get on? He can only in the way of business gratefully acknowledge the favours conferred on him-execute orders-and do his best to reply in the smallest type and space in his power-one column; and with four woodcuts, which would more than occupy it without the illustrative letter-press, being before his eyes. For these obvious reasons AUSPICE TEUCRO. (18th March) cannot, according to his request be inserted, as received too late. S. S. will find in the Piazza upon enquiry a communication and facsimile most politely forwarded by Mr. Cole, in reply to a note headed “AUTOGRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY," in C. N. for Feb. p. 15. G. S. B. Gainsborough. Thanked: his communication will probably appear next month. Newspaper paragraphs of the nature referred to (about Shakspere) seldom require contradiction; but G. W.'s correspondent, as he has kindly mentioned the name of an accomplished Prelate, will perhaps name that of the stupid Newspaper in which the paragraph originally appeared, or the more stupid Newspapers into which such a paragraph could have been copied ? X.'s "extraordinary" communication about "a most extraordinary Story" was duly received. It reminds G. W. of an Old Bailey piece of evidence in the case of a man who stole not a joke, but a pair of boots that were hanging outside of a shop in Holborn; when followed and apprehended he attempted to excuse himself by saying he had taken them as a joke. The question in consequence by the Counsel was, " And pray how far did he carry the joke?" "About forty yards"—the reply. Now G. W.'s correspondent admits upon X.'s statement having currently carried the joke from Lincoln's Inn Fields to Covent Garden, and he only wishes that X. would take it back | again, without the interest, with some of Rogers's lost Notes. MR. Foss, Surgeon, &c., Stockton-on-Tees, 9th March. Thanked. In" Current Notes" for last month no such assertion was made as the discovery of a "City of Pigmies," although it was stated that two dwarfs had been brought from Central American Selection. G. W. however cannot deny himself the pleasure of acknowledging these Catches-respecting Niebuhr and Daniel Webster "Lord Mahon versus Franklin" is important-but must stand over. So must the Sermon of Dr.Adams of Boston upon the death of Professor Stuart (see "Current Notes" for Feb. p. 16)— "Dickens' American Notes," with Laura Bridgman and Longfellow's Evangeline, appears to be a twaddlish puff. Smarter have come into G. W.'s possession. With Lady Byron's" sayAmerican verses than Saxe's tribute to Jenny Lind Goldschmidt ings and doings" at Southampton, on board the American Frigate, G. W. is quite as well informed as any American Newspaper paragraph writer from the Oriental Hotel" there, can be. The Memory of James Fennimore Cooper is as dear to the Literature of both countries as that of Thomas Moore must be. But alas, their names can only be recorded in the " Literary and Scientific Obituary" of G. W.'s" Current Notes," almost, it is sad to think, in juxta position. Morris's" Yankee Doodle" G. W. must take in hand next month. ACTA SANCTORUM received after going to press. Literary and Scientific Obituary. BENTLEY, Joseph Clayton. Engraver and Painter. Syd- DOANE, A. S. Dr. Health Officer, (Author and Trans lator of Medical Works). New York. 27th January. KEATE, Rev. John, D.D. Many years Head Master of KIRK, Rev. John, D.D. Theology, "The Faith of CaEton College. Hartley Westpall, Hants. 5th Feb. tholics," &c. Lichfield. 20th December, 1851. LAROCHE, Benjamin. Translator of Shakspere and Byron. Paris, (lately). Aged 54. LEES, Rev. Sir Harcourt, Bart. Political Writer. Black- NEWELL, Rev. Robert Hasell, (Rector of Little Hormead, Actor. Author of Dramatic Chronology and Dramas. 28th February. Aged 44. PARANT, S. B. Painter on Porcelain and Ivory. Paris, (lately). Aged 54. THOMPSON, W. C. Natural History. London. 17th February. Aged 47. No. XVI.] FOR THE MONTH. "I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."-Shakspere. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS TO THE PRICE CURRENT OF LITERATURE." G. WILLIS gratefully acknowledges the various interesting documents and letters he has received. He is anxious that it should be perfectly understood that he is not the author of any statement, representation, or opinion, that may appear in his "Current Notes," which are merely selections from communications made to him in the course of his business, and which appear to him to merit attention. Every statement therefore is open to correction or discussion, and the writers of the several paragraphs should be considered as alone responsible for their assertions. Although many notes have hitherto appeared anonymously, or with initial letters, yet wherever a serious contradiction is involved, G. Willis trusts that his Correspondents will feel the necessity of allowing him to make use of their names when properly required. หยอด 66 THE ANCIENT HEBREW HARP. SIR,-In Kitto's Biblical Cyclopædia, vol. 2. p. 373, we find the following coin, on which is engraved an ancient harp surrounded by the letters, Filth Chtr Phl, which may be construed thus:'THE FELATAH CITHARA OF PUL.' After referring the readers of 66 Current Notes" to the London Encyclopædia," word Falasha, and Prichard's Physical History of Mankind, vol. 1, "On the Races of People in the Interior of Africa," let us have recourse to Etymology for a further elucidation of this singular coin, and the Semi-Jewish tribe whose name it bears. Felatah.-Hebrew phalat, which by comparison with its cognates signifies, to separate from, retire into, (another country); and with its affix phalatah, or Felatah, signifying evasio, liberatio, residuum, &c. Cithara.— Greck ki≈apa. Hebrew and Chaldee chatar, a stick, (plectrum), to beat with a stick; therefore the instrument cannot be the y asor, decachordon; but properly, I think, the harp or lyre that was beaten with the plectrum. Pul.-Hebrew 66 phul, or Pul, (Isaiah lxvi. 19.) AFRICA, ea pars quæ apud Fesam." Such is the value of rightly interpreting the ancient coins of various nations. [APRIL, 1852. ARCHEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. In compliance with the wish very generally expressed by G. W.'s Subscribers and Correspondents, particularly by S. E. ("Current Notes" for March, p. 22,) G. W has collected the titles of the chief Archæological publications in England, and in France and Germany. The former he believes to be nearly correct, but the latter is necessarily very imperfect, with the exception of the North of France. Very few foreign Antiquarian publications find their way to this country, as reference to the libraries of the British Museum and the Society of Antiquaries will prove. PUBLICATIONS OF ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETIES, ETC. IN ENGLAND AND IN FRANCE. 66 Archæologia Eliana" of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Vol. IV. Part 1, 4to. 1846. This work has been suspended since 1846. Archæologia Scotica of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, suspended for many years, or, it may be said, defunct; it extends only to Part II. Vol. IV. 1833. Journal of the British Archæological Association, Vol. VII. 8vo. complete, 1852. Archæological Journal of the Archæological Institute, Vol. VIII. 8vo. complete, 1852. (Vol. 1 of this work was compiled chiefly by Members of the Association, and records the Proceedings of the original institution before the secession and formation of the Institute.) Sussex Archæological Collections, published by the Sussex Archæological Society, Vol. IV. 8vo. 1851. Original Papers, published by the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society, Vol. III. Part 3. Svo. 1852. Proceedings of the Bury and West Suffolk Archæological Institute, established 1848, Vol. I. Part 5. 8vo. 1851. Proceedings and Papers of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol. II. Part 1. 8vo. 1851. "Archæologia Cambriensis," and Journal of the Cambrian Archæological Association, Vol. III. (new series) Part 2. 1852. Journal of the Chester and Cheshire Architectural Archæological Society, Vol. I. Part 1. 8vo. 1850. E 26 Proceedings of the Kilkenny Archæological Society? 1852. Collectanea Antiqua (by C. Roach Smith,) Part IX. Reliquiæ Antiquæ Eboracenses, (by W. Bowman,) Part II. 4to. Leeds, 1852. Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic There are numerous other local Societies in England, FOREIGN SOCIETIES, ETC. Society of Antiquaries of France, Proceedings, (Bul- 8vo. 1851. Society of Antiquaries of the West (Poitiers), Vol. Society of Antiquaries of the Morini (St. Omer), Vol. Society of Emulation of Abbeville, Vol. VI. 8vo. 1851. Society for Historical Researches, etc. of the Grand- Revue Archéologique (quarterly), commenced in 1844. Annalen des Vereins für Nassauische Alterthumskunde Zeitschrift des Vereins zur Erforschung der Rheinischen Bonn. Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Most of these German publications are in thin yearly volumes without indices. THE LEARNED SOCIETIES AND PRINTING CLUBS of the United Kingdom, as existing in 1847, have been classified in an 8vo. volume of 307 pages, by the Rev. Dr. Hume, to which those who require information respecting their Origin, History, Objects, and Constitution, are referred. It contains full details as to Membership, Fees, their published Works, Notices of their Periods and Places of Meeting, with a General Intro duction, and a good Index. As a book of reference, it is absolutely necessary for all public libraries. The "Tran THE ORIGIN OF YANKEE DOODLE. script," (American paper), of 28th February last, contains the following pungent verses respecting THE ORIGIN OF YANKEE DOODLE, AFTER THE MANNER OF THE OLD CONTINENTAL BALLAD And swore that Jonathan should have 64 I'll tax the tea Of all his sons and daughters." Called "Yankee Doodle dandy." "My son of wax, your tea I'll tax- John sent the tea from o'er the sea I never heard Then Jonathan to pout began He laid a strong embargo- Big words and looks to bandy, "I'll poison with a tax your cup, A long war then they had, in which And Yankee doodle" was the march Could not restrain his laughter: Old Johnny's face, to his disgrace, Was flushed with beer and brandy, I've told you now the origin Of this most lively ditty, "'dull 66 66 LORD MAHON AND GENERAL GREENE AND LA FAYETTE.-C. F. D. presents his compliments to Mr. Willis, and with reference to the fifth paragraph headed Scraps from the United States," which appeared in Current Notes" for February last, p. 13, forwards him the following communication, which from the initials he presumes is from the pen of Mr. Hildreth, the historian:"The fifth and sixth volumes of Lord Mahon's History of England from the peace of Utrecht, have for a leading subject the early years of the American Revolutionary War. Writing from the English point of view, the proceedings of Parliament and the English side of the story naturally form the foreground of the picture, while the affairs of the colonies themselves-certainly the most interesting as well as the most important, not for Americans only, but for all historical students-fall into a distant perspective. The American part of Lord Mahon's book is very slight in its execution, made up mostly of anecdotes and extracts of letters, good as illustrations, but hardly as substance; indicating often but a superficial knowledge on the part of the writer, and conveying to the reader no distinct or connected idea of the American side of the story. With a great show of candour, My Lord' also evinces throughout a somewhat anxious desire to depreciate the rebels.' Thus Franklin is pursued with pitiful but persevering rancour, charged with falsehood and duplicity, because he, like most of the other Americans of that day, arrived at the point of separation and independence only by gradual steps; because his opinions and views of 1769 and 1775 did not correspond altogether with those of 1795; and because he appears to have spoken-as what was more natural?-with somewhat more of freedom and with greater dislike of the British connexion among his intimate associates than when addressing himself to the British ministry or to British statesmen. A curious instance of this sort of spitefulness, which constantly exhibits itself throughout the book, occurs in the case of Gen. Greene, of whom Lord Mahon writes: "The command of this important post (Brooklyn) was entrusted by Washington to Gen. Greene, an officer of bravery and enterprise, but of intemperate habits;' and he adds, in a note, 'Greene, un général souvent ivre.' These are the words of La Fayette; Mém. et Corresp. Vol. I. p. 21, ed. 1837." The edition in the original French here quoted is not at hand, but in that published the same year at New York and London, in England, and like the French edition under authority of La Fayette's representatives, the entire passage above referred to, reads as follows: After an account of the appearance of the American army as first seen by La Fayette in the summer of 1777-about 11,000 men, ill armed, and still worse clothed, and very deficient in tactics, La Fayette adds: Lord Stirling, more courageous than judicious, another General who was often intoxicated, and Greene, whose talents were only then known to his intimate friends, commanded as Major Generals.' The other General here referred to was Stephen, who was cashiered not long after on that very ground, for his misbehaviour at the Battle of Germantown. And as there can scarcely be a doubt that this version gives the correct sense of the French original, there is room for apprehension that Lord Mahon is not only incorrect in giving only a part of a sentence, thus putting into La Fayette's mouth what he never said, but that even the order of the words has been changed, the name of Greene being removed from the end to the beginning of the quotation. Upon this point I will add something further, so soon as I can obtain the French original." H. H. Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson's rooms, on the 5th of THE SALE OF ANTIQUITIES, &c. which took place at this month, and two following days, although one made up by the dealers in such articles, attracted considerable attention, and many things, if not bought in, realised considerable prices; the total produce of the sale being, it is said, upwards of twelve hundred pounds. In the first and third day's sale several lots of articles, well known to Archeologists as Celts, and of which the usual appearance may be recognised from figures 1 and 2, sold on the average for about half-acrown each. A large quantity of antique gems -none of any extraordinary merit-in modern setting of gold, ranged from about ten shillings to two guineas each. There were some specimens of Irish ring money, which sold or were fig. 2. bought in at very high prices; and some appeared to have been tampered with, if not manufactured for the market. fig. 1. The second day's sale contained many good Etruscan and Roman bronzes. A Winged Victory (Lot 222) was knocked down at £5. A Lamp with the original chain for suspension (Lot 238) at £5. 8s. An Etruscan stewpan (Lot 256) at £5. 10s. And the Leg of a Roman Warrior, the foot sandalled (Lot 234) at £7. 7s. But the great object of the day was (Lot 266) a bronze figure of an Archer, which was stated to have been discovered |