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THE SONS OF NOAH.

Dec. 22nd.

SIR,-I have examined Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon with reference to O. S.- your correspondent's query, (see "Current Notes" for November, p. 85), concerning Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and cannot discover the names to have any such primary meaning as was there ascribed to them; though perhaps by a little straining, and a few far-fetched ideas, such an interpretation might be given --but it is so wholly unworthy of any one to torture his imagination to suppose that the original signification of words should have been framed to suit a climate, that nothing more need be said.

Mr. Willis.

I remain, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

TURKISH COIN.

C. M. J.

Southwick, near Oundle, Jan. 1st. 1852.

SIR,-In Kitto's Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, vol. 2. p. 379, there is a coin illustrated thus: "5. supposed ancient Jewish coin, representing drums." Kitto gives his authorities at the end of the article on Musical Instruments.

SE

Allow me to give the figure of the coin, and its interpretation: Read from left to right, the letters, or rather words, are: SF TR Ch N in Turkish it reads, The Boundary of the Turks; and the two drum sticks! are the pillars of Hercules, or the Calpe columna, and the Abyla columna.-N.B. The S (for sh) is a Cuneiform letter. T. R. BROWN. Mr. Willis.

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DISCOVERY OF THE TOMB OF ST. BERICHERT, or, BERECHTUNE.-Mr. Windele the local historian of Cork, has circulated among his friends a Lithographic drawing of this very interesting monument, which he found at Tullilease, a small hamlet on the border of the Counties of Cork and Limerick, within a mile of Dromcolleher. The tomb is a much more highly ornate specimen of an ancient cross than any of those engraved in Dr. Petrie's work on the Round Towers of Ireland. At Tullilease there are the ruins of an old Romanesque church, which was dedicated to St. Berichert or Berihert, a Saxon,

whose name is now Anglicised into Benjamin, and whose death is recorded at A.D. 839, in the Four Masters. The Legend on the stone is in Latin, (but very sorry Latin), and in the Irish character. It reads, "QUICUNQUE (for æ) HUNC TITULUM_LEGERIT ORAT (for orate or oret) PRO BERECHTUNE. On the upper part of the stone, in one corner, are the letters Fps or pps.

RICHARD III.

January 10th, 1852. SIR,-All our historians assert that Richard, Duke of Glo'ster paved his way to the crown by bastardizing, imprisoning, and assassinating his two nephews, Edward Prince of Wales and Richard Duke of York. How then are we to account for the provision made in the Wardrobe Roll for the Coronation of Richard III., July 3rd, 1483, (published in the Antiquarian ReperStuff delivered for the use of Lorde Edwarde, son of tory, Vol. I. p. 29, 1807;) "The deliveree of divers late Kyng Edward the Fourthe, and of his Henxemen?" Then follows a particular account of the materials for the " appuraill and array" of "Prince Edward" and his "Henxemen." Was he really present at his uncle's coronation? There is no mention of the Duke of York. The Declaration of Tyrrell and Dighton, published in the ensuing reign by Henry VII., says, the young princes were murdered in July, 1483. If the words did not expressly state" Edwarde, son of late Kyng Edwarde the Fourthe," I should have concluded that it meant Richard III.'s own son Edward, by Lady Ann Nivelle, at that time about nine years of age. Yours, &c.

O. S.

AMERICAN TESTIMONIAL TO MRS. COWDEN CLARKE. New York, 13th December, 1851. About the time you receive this, you will probably hear of an American testimonial to that amiable woman, Mrs. Cowden Clarke, to be presented to her by the American Minister, Mr. Abbot Lawrence, in the name of the subscribers, at the head of whom stands America's greatest and best statesman, Daniel Webster.

This testimonial is in the shape of a magnificent Rosewood Library Chair, richly carved, and covered with the finest French Satin Brocade. It is at this moment on the Atlantic, in the "Atlantic," and insured by the Atlantic Insurance Company, for three hundred dollars.

AS THE FAME OF SHAKSPERE is world-wide, subscriptions of five dollars each came in from all parts of the American Union-from the most northerly of all, Maine, -to Mexico. From Wisconsin, in the far-farFAR West, to the shores of the Pacific, at San Francisco they are thousands of miles apart from each other. Why have you left it to us poor Yankees" to take the wind out of your sails," in presenting a testimonial to the authoress of the Concordance to Shakspere?

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Mr. Payne Collier, and such like dear fellows, who
know so many eminent wealthy literati, ought, now that
we have set you the example, to get up a subscription, and
present Mrs. Clarke with some better Shaksperean testi-
monial than a Chair! What say you to a FIRST Best
Bed? But if the hangings of it beat our satin brocade
cover, why I'll hang myself in despair-no I won't, but
I'll eat it-bed-feathers and all. The Chair was to
have been covered with the richest silk Genoa velvet, of
a regal scarlet or crimson, but the lady of our Secretary
of State, Mrs. Daniel Webster, would have it, that
velvet covers were quite old-fashioned; and as ladies
best know what will suit ladies, she was asked the favour
to select the cover, and I guess you will admire it.
Now for the freedom of America. Collins gave the
Chair free passage.
Edwards, Sandford and Co. con-
veyed the case to the ship, and will convey it from
Liverpool to London, free. They are Express men, and
thus do we go a-head."

CATHERINE HAYES AND FATHER MATHEW.
G. W.'s Correspondent adds:-

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I receive your Notes' regularly. The story about Katy Hayes in your November Number, p. 88, is somewhat embellished by your New York Special Reporter. I regret to tell you that she, poor girl, has quite put her foot in it here, and I am afraid will return poorer than when she came. She or her agent or agents, pursued a silly course by, it is said, keeping almost open house to her countrymen at the Astor house, a very expensive hotel, where she ran up an enormous bill, and being unable to pay, the sheriff's officers carried off the receipts at some of her concerts— particularly that which she gave for that humbug hypocrite Father Mathew. There has been a great deal about it in our papers. Doctor Joy returned to England some time ago in disgust. Mathew absolutely had the temerity to make it appear that he could work miracles, publicly, in the face of a large Catholic congregation, by restoring

the sick and lame to health!"

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THE JARVIS LIBRARY SALE. This Sale, which has so long attracted the attention of American Bibliopoles, commenced on Tuesday, Nov. 4th. It was the means of drawing together agents for the most prominent Libraries in the United States. Among others, the following Colleges and Institutions were represented :--Smithsonian Institution, Harvard College, Yale College, General Theological Seminary of New York, College of New Jersey, Brown University, Rochester University, Andover Theological Seminary, New York State Library, New York Society Library, and the Historical Society of New York.

The sale being the largest that ever took place in America, of any private library, the books brought fair prices. A volume of Tracts, containing the American Whig, &c. sold for 22 dollars 75 cents, to Bancroft, the historian. Byzantine Historiæ Scriptores, a unique set, containing a beautiful MS. translation of the third volume of Nicephorus Gregoras, sold for 475 dollars, to Prof. Ticknor, of Boston. Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, being the celebrated COMPLUTENSIAN POLYGLOTT, 130 dollars, to the Rochester University. The Paris Polyglott, 100 dollars, to Geo. Livermore, Esq. Boston. Vetus Testamentum Græcum, 40 dollars, Harvard College. Muratori, 37 vols. folio, 207 dollars, to the Theological Seminary, New York. Cranmer's Bible, 26 dollars, to Rochester University. Tyndale's Translation of the Pentateuch, 41 dollars, to John Wiley. Duchesne's Historical Collections, 24 dollars 50 cents, to Brown University, &c. &c.

THE PERIODICAL PRESS OF THE METHODISTS IN THE
UNITED STATES.

The Christian Advocate and Journal has a circulation of from 25 to 29,000 copies. The Missionary Advocate circulates 20,000 copies, and the Sunday School Advocate no less than 65,000 copies, with a yearly sale of Sunday School Books amounting to upwards of £1000, or 5000 dollars.

"WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE." GENERAL Morris, who is associated with Mr. N. P. ETHNOLOGY.-G.W.'s New York Special Reporter," Willis as Editor, and publisher of the "Home Journal," whose embellished style has been questioned in the pre-in New York, was, as all the world knows—or at least, ceding paragraph, states, that he has forwarded a pamphlet, for which he will be duly thanked when it is received, "giving an account of a pretended journey to the city of Eximaya, in Central America, by an Englishman and two Spaniards, who are all gone dead. Observing that," It is a good Arabian Night's hoax. You will see," he remarks, "the pamphlet is dated 1850, but the children have only been exhibited here this week. There is no mistake about them, they are evidently children of a distinct and unknown race, come from whence they will. The recession of their foreheads is extraordinary. Their heads are wonderfully small, and in exact proportion to their bodies and limbs. They are not dwarfs but pigmies; about twelve years of age, lively and playful. They are not at Barnum's Museum, but at the rooms of the Society Library, and are exciting very great attention."

as the United States ought to know, for it is something to be proud of to be possessed of a real living poet in ballad, entitled, "Woodman, spare that Tree," which these days-was the author of the words of a charming of Russell. The parentage of this lyric having been was sung effectively by an illustrious scion of the house claimed by a respectable Boston paper, (The Sunday News), on behalf of a deceased literary gentleman named Woodward, who is said, in an unguarded moment, to have pawned his reputation upon the Woodman, to the gallant General, for a glass of grog; the repeating that, "a slander well hoed grows like the General indignantly repudiates the whole statement; devil;" and labours to establish the fact, that the American General Morris is not to be by posterity identified with the English Captain of the same name-as a song writer.

FUSBOS.

THE BAWDRICK OR BALDROCK. (Illustrated.)

The Rectory, Clyst St. George, Topsham,
Jan. 2, 1852.

SIR,-You are publishing, in your "Current Notes," some nice little cuts of interesting relics of antiquity, for which all who delight in such things must feel thankful to you.

May I ask you to put into your cutter's hands the rough sketch which I send with this; and will you allow it to be introduced to the notice of your readers, as an illustration of the Bawdrick, or Baldrock, which is the leather gear, with its appurtenances of the upper part of the clapper in old black-letter bells, and about which your readers may have seen a discussion, with extracts from old Churchwarden's accounts, in another valuable periodical of like character to your own, but in which at present no illustrations of any kind are admitted. You will oblige one of your subscribers.

Mr. Willis.

H. T. E.

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TURNBUCKLE AND LATCH.-The figure you have engraved on p. 91 of your December Notes," as a Turnbuckle, is the common casement latch of the 17th century; which may be found attached to the iron frame of casement windows in many old farm houses. A latch is not a turnbuckle, and no ironmonger's apprentice would confound the two. A latch is a bar

wards and forwards, as in some locks-it is called the moving up and down in a limited space-or, if backlatch-bolt. A turnbuckle, as its name implies, turns round, and is only limited by the notch, &c. by which it holds. They are chiefly of two kinds: one is a spindle, with a knob or ring at one end, and a tongue or buckle at the other; another is a handle with a tongue attached, moving together freely round, upon a pin or rivets. This latter kind has taken the place of the casement latch represented in your "Current Notes" in present use.

ONE WHO HAS BEEN AN IRONMONGER'S APPRENTICE.

ARCHITECTURAL RESTORATIONS IN IRELAND.

A small subscription, which was raised for the purpose of sustaining the failing walls of Buttevant Abbey, in the County of Cork, is about to be followed by Mr. Thomas Tobin, of Ballincollig, taking measures to uphold the Castle of Buttevant.

The same good spirit animates Mr. Odell, the proprietor of Ardmore, in the County of Waterford, who has determined to preserve the west gable of the Old Church, which is covered over with figures that, according to Ryland's History of Waterford, "with a good imagination, and some knowledge of the ancient Scriptures, may be made to exhibit an epitome of the history of the Old Testament."

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THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF LANCASHIRE AND

CHESHIRE.

16th January, 1852. SIR,-If your refer to your "Current Notes" for April last, you will find engraved, at p. 27, a tobacco pipe, found when the Golden Lion Inn at Fulham was pulled down in April, 1836. Now, Sir, it appears to me that this drawing of mine has been copied, without acknowledgment, from your Notes, in the Transactions of the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Session iii. 1850-51, to illustrate a paper by Andrew James Lamb, Esq. Plate IV. No. 14. If not, I humbly conceive that Mr. Lamb, or the Rev. Dr. Hume, the Secretary, on behalf of the Society, is bound to state where the original pipe which figures in their Transactions exists, and how and when Mr. Lamb obtained his drawing or knowledge of it. This alone can disprove the charge which I make against the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, of copying without acknowledgment, my sketch from Willis's Notes.

T. M.

ARCHEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS.-In addition to those enumerated in G. W.'s " Current Notes" for December

(p. 93), the first Number of " Reliquia Antique Eboracenses, or Remains of Antiquities relating to York, has appeared.

con

In answer to W. B.'s communications, G. W. ceives that the best mode of making a local work of this nature known, would be by a circular letter addressed to the resident Nobility, Clergy, and Gentry of Yorkshire, soliciting their countenance and support.

The information desired respecting the publications of the Archæological Societies named, may be obtained by W. B. addressing himself to their respective Secretaries, viz.

M. A. LOWER, Esq., Lewes.
REV. DR. HUME, Liverpool.
WILLIAM AYRTON, Esq., Chester.

SAMUEL TYMMS, Esq., Bury St. Edmunds, and
HENRY HARROD, Esq. Norwich.

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January 3rd, 1852. SIR,--I trust I shall not trespass upon the limits of your courtesy, if I beg your assistance with regard to the accompanying list of names, about whom I am anxious to gain any information as to dates of birth, death, or any subject of interest connected with the individuals.

As I live in the country and have not the facility of access to a library for reference, I avail myself of the medium of your instructive and valuable publication, and beg to subscribe myself, with all good wishes, Your obedient servant,

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ROWLAND HILL AND THE PENNY POSTAGE. The following is the commencement of a leading article on the Penny Postage, contained in the “Times," of Saturday, 9th August, 1851:—

"A traveller sauntering through the Lake districts of England some years ago, arrived at a small public-house just as the postman stopped to deliver a letter. A young girl came out to receive it. She took it in her hand, turned it over and over, and asked the charge. It was a large sum-no less than a shilling. Sighing heavily, she observed that it came from her brother, but that she was too poor to take it in, and she returned it to the postman accordingly. The traveller was a man of kindness as well as of observation; he offered to pay the postage himself, and in spite of more reluctance on the girl's part than he could well understand, he did pay it, and gave her the letter. No sooner, however, was the postman's back turned, than she confessed that the proceeding had been concerted between her brother and herself, that the letter was empty, that certain signs on the direction conveyed all she wanted to know, and that as they could neither of them afford to pay postage, they had devised this method sued his journey, and as he plodded over the Cumberland of franking the intelligence desired. The traveller purfells, he mused upon the badness of a system which drove people to such straits for means of correspondence, and defeated its own object all the time. With most men such musings would have ended before the close of the hour, but this man's name was RoWLAND HILL, and it was from this incident and these reflections that the whole scheme of Penny Postage was derived."

I should be glad to know if there is any doubt as to the truth of this statement, as I fancied it had been contradicted. Could any of your Correspondents oblige me by giving me information on the subject, I should feel obliged. I. E.

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DENTAL SURGERY.-In the observations on the progress of Geography and Ethnology, by Mr. John Russell Bartlett, read at the Meeting of the New York Historical Society in November and December, 1846, it is mentioned that in the exploration of a tumuli carried on by Dr. M. W. Dickeson, in the South-western States, chiefly in Mississippi, although in some instances extending to Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, he found that Dentistry had been extensively practised by this ancient people, as plugging the teeth and inserting artificial ones, were common. In one instance five artificial teeth were found inserted in one subject.

T. C. B.

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PILGRIM'S BADGE?

CAPPING A STORY.-Rogers, the poet, was fond of telling the story of a gentleman who lost a shilling in transmitted to G. W. Covent Garden Market, just at the corner of the Great Piazza, and on his return from India some five-andtwenty years afterwards, on passing the spot where he supposed the loss had taken place, remembered the circumstance, and looking about him on the pavement, picked up his shilling. Here Rogers, in his own inimitable way of telling a story, would pause, and then add— IN HALFPENCE, wrapped up in paper."

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"I knew the man,' said a witty friend to the poet, "but you have forgotten the most singular point of the story about the recovery of this lost shilling just at the door of Willis the bookseller's place of business."

"I thought it sufficiently odd," replied the poetical banker, "our friend having found his shilling after so long a period, and only wish that my lost notes may turn up again in the same unexpected and amusing manner -that notes turn up to me from Willis."

"Then you must have heard the whole story, and the very remarkable fact to which I refer? That in the paper which contained the four-and-twenty halfpence he found another filled with farthings, the exact amount of which when calculated, proved to be that of compound interest upon the shilling for five-and-twenty years one month and thirteen days.”

Mr. Rogers has never since told the story.

ROBERT HOBLYN.

SIR,-Through the medium of your publication, can you tell me anything about "Robt. Hoblyn;" and what works he has published? I believe they were of a classical nature; and he was living in 1825.

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Jan. 2, 1852.

Yours truly,

A. K.

A TRAVELLING NAME.-I have heard or read somewhere of a story about one of the authors of the Rejected Addresses"—indeed, I now remember that he told it to me himself-how that he once travelled in a stage coach with a very agreeable old lady, who was well acquainted with London society, and with whom he conversed for a considerable time about various mutual friends and circumstances that could only be known to them, or to their immediate circle, with so much familiarity, that the old lady's curiosity being roused, she ventured to inquire his name. "James Smith, madam," was the reply. "Oh, that's your travelling name, is it?

But it won't do for me."

J.

SMITH.-Has not some one written, or is not some

one going to write, a history of the Smiths? It really might be made a very amusing book, and some one-I forget who-actually told me that "the far-famed Ruffian of the Adelphi," (O. S.) was collecting materials for or from such a book. I subscribe my real nameidentify, if you can, Mr. Willis. JOHN SMITH.

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- A Correspondent has kindly a rubbing from which the annexed woodcut has been made, of a small brass ornament, found at Launde Abbey, in Leicestershire, which abbey or priory was founded by Rd. Basset, in the reign of Henry III. dissolved by Henry VIII., and Cromwell, Earl of Essex, had a grant of it. In the Chapel (all that remains of the Priory) is a monument to his son Gregory, Lord Cromwell, of the date of 1551. The ornament is supposed to be a Pilgrim's Badge, brought from Rome, and probably was buried with him. 1st January, 1852.

M. C. S.

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