Mr. Willis. Yours truly, A. M. Merkland, Corsock, by Dumfries, May 27, 1852. SIR,--The letter of your correspondent, W. G. dated from Edinburgh on the 27th of April, which appears in your Notes for this month, shews into what deep oblivion the authors of even respectable productions gathered from Parnassus are doomed speedily to sink. The author of the Paradise of Coquettes," was Dr. Thomas Brown, late Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. The work was printed and published in Edinburgh in 1818, price 9s. Yours faithfully, Mr. Willis. ADVERTISEMENTS. I. M. ▲ has kindly forwarded to G. W. transcripts of the following advertisements which have been enquired after. HERALDS' COLLEGE. "These are to give notice, that the Records of the Office of Arms are removed from Westminster to the Colledge of Arms, near Doctors' Commons, in London, where the Heralds and other Officers of Arms do attend as formerly."-London Gazette, Monday, April 19, 1675. AUTOMATON CHESS PLAYER. The famous Automaton Chess Player, and the speaking Organ; is to be seen every day at one o'clock, No. 14, St. James Street, next Brook's; admittance, 5s. Parties of at least 8 persons may have a private exhibition to themselves, at any hour of their own choice, on giving previous notice and sending for tickets. June, 1784. TO CORRESPONDENTS. F.S.A. "Ten Months' Experience in the Society of Antiquaries" must stand over for enquiry. Certainly, his comments upon the conduct of this Society and its Council may be found recorded among G. W.'s Current Notes for July last, but no copy of Mr. Bruce's pamphlet has reached the Piazza, as conjectured. And G. W. has as little knowledge of his correspondent who suggested "the Bruce," as he has of "the Akerman" testimonial. The mysteries of Learned Societies may be deciphered in Dr. Hume's laborious work on the subject. G. W. respectfully declines noticing Mr. Pettigrew's pamphlet, but Willis's Notes are, and always have been, open to any communication. QUERNS. Engraved. "THE COCKED HAT CLUB," does not fit. "BRONZE ARCHER." B. N. Must stand over for consideration and enquiry. MiσоTоλкα, received, but does not suit. The practice referred to by "A SUBSCRIBER" (Reform Club) exists among Booksellers who travel at their own risk and expense from London to attend distant Book Sales. But in the Book Auctions of the Metropolis nothing of the kind, to G. W.'s knowledge, is resorted to. I. G. W. thanked, and Extract from the "Montreal Transcript" (24th April) received, but G. W. has already devoted as much space to the Aztec City in Central America as it is in his power to assign to a controverted question (see Current Notes for last January, p. 4, and February, P. 9), and G. W. has already declined inserting more than one long communication on this subject from want of space. AMERICAN AUTHORS. Mr. Webster's words are as reported in the Boston Journal of 24th May, 1852 46 Sam Rogers reads them, Hallam reads them, Lord Mahon reads them, and sometimes finds himself answered when he comments upon them. In France, Thiers and Guizot read them," &c. Literary and Scientific Obituary. BURKE, Thomas Haviland. Print and Autograph Collector. (His Collections will be sold by Messrs. Christie and Manson). Gloucester-place, Mary-le-bone. 3rd April. Aged 57. CALVERT, Charles. Landscape Painter (late of Manchester), Bowness, Westmoreland. 26th February. Aged 66. DODD, Rev. Philip Stanhope, M.A. Theology. Rector of Penshurst, Kent; Alrington, Sussex, and Chaplain to the Queen (his uncle was the unfortunately celebrated Dr. William Dodd). 22nd March. Aged 77. DOLLOND, George Huggins, F.R.S. nomical Science. North Terrace, Camberwell. 13th GRIFFIN, John, F.S.A. Senior Subscriber to the Royal Writer. On his way home from India. 15th April. SARGEANT, Miss Anna Maria. Periodical Writer. "Chambers's Journal;" "The Belle Assemblée," &c., Works on Education. London. 18th April. Aged 42. SUTHERLAND, Mrs. Charlotte. (Her late husband's completely illustrated Clarendon this lady gave to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, having previously printed a Catalogue of it.) Bramley, near Guildford. 18th March. Aged 69. No. XIX.] FOR THE MONTH. "I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."-SHAKSPERE. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 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. [JULY, 1852. And where or how could whitewash be better bestowed than in concealing such frightful enormities from our eyes as that here represented with reference to the ceremony of Baptism? to tolerate the cant about No one with a single grain of common sense ought Mural Paintings," and "Mediæval Art," which has been got up by a set of quacks with whom no one who really respects religion or art can sympathize. I am no Archaeologist, although AN ARCHITECT. I am Mr. Willis. NEW EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE!-Mr. Halliwell has announced a new edition of Shakespeare in Twenty volumes folio, of which only one hundred and fifty copies will be printed, and Mr. Halliwell proposes to complete his gigantic task in six or seven years, or at the rate of about three volumes annually, the price of each to be two guineas. He intends that this edition, besides being judiciously illustrated under the direction of Mr. Fairholt, should contain all the original novels and tales on which the plays are founded. He asserts in his prospectus that there are "upwards of two thousand obsolete words and phrases in Shakespeare left without any explanation in the editions of Mr. Knight and Mr. Collier;" and as an instance of the labour and expense incurred by him during the last twelve years in preparing for this edition of our Poet's Works, mentions that in one instance he gave "upwards of sixty pounds for a single tract on account of its affording an unique illustration of one play." That this edition on the part of Mr. Halliwell must be "a labour of love" no one can doubt, for it is quite evident that as a pecuniary speculation it cannot remu H nerate him, for it is impossible to estimate the cost of producing "a thick folio, copiously illustrated," at much less than three hundred guineas, and Mr. Halliwell has pledged himself to his subscribers that the plates will be destroyed, and no more copies printed than the number he has named, viz: one hundred and fifty. WELLBELOVED'S "EBURACUM." SIR,-I observe in Saturday's "Athenæum" (July 17th), a statement which I am at a loss to comprehend, for surely it cannot be imputed to the ignorance of the writer, who is one of the reviewers of that celebrated periodical. He states that Mr. Wellbeloved printed a work for private circulation called "EBORACON." Now I possess a valuable volume, by the Rev. C. Wellbeloved, called "Eburacum, or York under the Romans." Can you tell me where I can get a copy of "Eboracon," where it was printed, and who is the author? I am, sir, your obedient servant, IN the " Quarterly Journal of Education," about twenty years ago, an Atlas was advertised, which was to contain about thirty maps, exhibiting the world as it was known at several of the most important epochsas, in the time of Augustus-of Constantine-at the fall of Constantinople, &c. &c. Can any of your readers say if this was published, and give the exact title? If such a work exists, with the maps all on one scale, it would be highly useful. Mr. G. Willis. T. W. SIR,-I beg to inform "a Young Country Collector," ARCHEOLOGY.-The London Weekly Paper (July (Current Notes for June, p. 55) that the term Holo3rd) states that an Archæological meeting will be held graph is compounded of two Greek words, oλog and during the present month at Battle. No more appro-ypapw, and signifies a deed entirely in the writer's own priate locality could have been selected. hand. If I sign my name to a letter it is an autograph, if I write the whole of it-it is a holograph, Yours, &c. F. S. A. CROSSED BANKERS' CHECKS.-A Correspondent informs Mr. Willis that he made a mem. of what he considered to be an important bit of information, which he found among G. W.'s "Current Notes" for February, 1851, No. II. p. 16, on this subject. In the case, however, of "Bellamy v. Majoribanks," tried in the Court of Exchequer on the 26th ultimo, it was ruled by the Lord Chief Baron, that the practice of crossing checques was not legal, because by such crossing the meaning and object of such checques being payable to " bearer" were thus limited. And therefore a verdict of £2,596. 17s was, under the direction of the learned Judge, found in is commendable, if the rose, from any natural property, may be the symbol of silence, as Nazianzen seems to imply in these translated verses: "Utque latet Rosa verna suo putamine clausa, Sic os vincla ferat, validisque arctetur habenis, And is also tolerable, if by desiring a secrecy to words spoken under the rose, we only mean in society, and compotation, from the ancient custom in symposiack meetings, to wear chaplets of roses about their heads; and so we condemn not the German custom, which over the table describeth a rose in the ceiling. But more considerable it is, if the original were such as Lemnius and others have recorded, that the rose was the flower of Venus, which Cupid consecrated to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, and was therefore an emblem thereof; * * * as is declared in this tetrastich : "Est Rosa flos Veneris, cujus quò facta laterent, Were I to attempt to do justice to this subject, I might probably take up a much larger space than your eight very interesting pages would contain; and as you have somewhere requested your correspondents to be concise in their communications, I have no other mode left than that of putting my remarks into the shape of foot-notes. 1. Harpocrati. Har-po-crat-es (or Horus, THE time) signifies, Vishnu (Hari) completing his nourishment (in the womb of time.) Both he and his priests are represented with a finger placed on the lips, to denote silence concerning the time when Harpocrates or Horus (the Messiah) should come into the world. We have, moreover, Scripture testimony to prove that silence was prescribed to those who were entrusted with the full secret. Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the MYSTERY, which was kept SECRET since the world began." Rom. xvi. 25. 66 2. Matris. His mother was the Egyptian Isis, represented in various ways. Vide Cuperi Harpocrates; and Isis is the same as Venus Urania. See L'Abbé Pluche; and Isis is the same as THE Woman Isha, Gen. iii. 15. "Causam vero hujusmodi cultus Isidi tributi non aliam fuisse censet, quam quæ antiquissima, eaque certa persuasione gentium de Unigenito veri Dei Filio ex Virgine Matre nascituro prodierat." Alphabetum Tibetanum, p. 56: therefore Venus Urania was the type of the Virgin (Mary). I possess a bronze Isis, holding in her left hand the hieroglyph for THE Omega, and in her right hand the hieroglyph for THE Woman (Γυνη). 3. Est Rosa flos Veneris.-There are various images of Isis on coins and amulets, which shew that her emblem was the Lotus, the Lily, and the Rose. In Cuperi Harpocrates, we are told that "hic Puer, vel parvus Infans, nullus alius quam Harpocrates esse potest, quem vel loto insidentem, vel aliis symbolis ornatum." These images represent Horus, some from the time of his SPIRITUAL conception; some during the time of his concealment or nourishment, and others at the time of his birth; and all of them represent him labia digito prementem. The sacred misteltoe or mistel is applicable to Harpocrates from the time of his conception to the time of his birth. 4. Putamine.-I take putamen to indicate the rosebud. 5. Let me now refer to the famous fable of Venus and Adonis, evidently concocted from sacred histories, and vitiated after the peculiar manner of Ovid. Venus, hearing the dying voice of her son, killed by Mars, hastened to his assistance, and pricked her foot with a thorn; and the blood falling upon the Rose, turned it from a lily colour to a carnation colour, &c. See King's account of the heathen gods, where the whole story reminds us of the events that took place at and after the death of our Saviour. Hence, I draw the conclusion that the white roseBUD was the proper emblem of the blessed Virgin, ου έτεκε τον υιον υτης τον πρωτοτόκον. this birth, her emblem was the FULL-BLOWN white rose. After her purification, the RED rose is her proper emblem; i. e. when referring to her after that period. It may be interesting to the florist to know that the Anemone (breathing or filled with wisdom) is the lovely emblem of our blessed Saviour. The Rose and Lily signify love, desire, &c. The Lotus signifies to enclose, envelop. I am, sir, yours truly, Southwick Vicarage, near Oundle, June 26th, 1852. T. R. BROWN. P.S.-I do not know to which of my printed works Mr. F. W. Williams refers in your number for June, p. 55, (Readings and Critical Notes on the Difficult Texts of Sacred Scripture ?), I, however, most willingly give him the required information. The chief significations of the letter, thau, are: a repository, tent, coffer, to conceal, lay up, secrete. When in composition in a Hebrew word, it forms a noun, or any other part of speech which will take in the idea of a covering, repository, womb, place of concealment, &c. In my nomenclature of the ancient Hebrews, p. 140 of my Gram. of Hebrew Hieroglyphs, and after a full explanation of it, I have given them, "A repository, tabernacle, superficies, to shut, lay up." Mr. Willis. T. R. BROWN (Rev.) QUERNS. QUERN means a corn-mill, worked by hand, in its ordinary acceptation. The word in Anglo-Saxon is c peoɲn, from whence our familiar word churn; but it is not quite clear to me that this popular word has not an occult meaning, and I should like to have the opinion of such scholars as your correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Brown, upon this point. The excavations which have been made in the Carribean graves of America satisfy me that the capsular stones seen in the British Islands and elsewhere, sometimes with from one to five hollows in them, were the primitive quern, and that these capsules or hollows were originally produced by pounding, and afterwards by attrition made circular. I send a drawing of one, which I procured from the neighbourhood of a windmill so ancient as to be mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The quern was, I believe, very generally used by the Romans, but under the name "mola." Here there is not the slightest affinity in sound, and the Latin cirnea," for a churn, affords to my ear, I confess, as little association-though this has been questioned. The use of the quern seems to be world-wide, and from the remotest ages to the present time. Boswell, in his Tour to the Hebrides, says "We stopped at a little hut, where we saw an old woman grinding corn with the quern, an ancient Highland instrument, which it is said was used by the Romans; but which, being very slow in its operation, is almost entirely gone into disuse." AMONG the "Curiosities of Coinage" may be enumerated the Tokens current in the seventeenth century, during the Commonwealth, the Protectorate, and the Restoration, issued by Tavern-keepers and Tradesmen "for public convenience." It would not suit my purpose, nor your space, to discuss their origin and uses, which may be found fully described in Akerman's London Tokens." I mean now only to touch briefly upon a class which may be denominated Rhyming Tokens, a few specimens of which have come under my notice. 66 In my own collection I find three, one of which was issued by "Sam. Endon in Macklesfield," and represents a man smoking a pipe, between a roll of tobacco and a pair of scales, thus indicating the nature of his calling, and the justice of his dealings; around it runs the following distich: "Welcom you be To trade wh me." The second is the Token of John Hart of Nottingham, "Take these that wil lines: "Morat ye Great men did mee call Where 'ear I came I conquer'd all." This was the warrior Sultan of Turkey, Amurath IV., whose name was thus popularized, or vulgarised, into Morat; just as Boney was the popular diminutive of Bonaparte early in the present century, as many of us can well remember.* Dr. Clarke mentions one which he saw in Cyprus, as similar to the Scotch quern, of which you have a sketch inclosed," common also to Lapland, and in all parts of Palestine." In a village near Jerusalem that traveller beheld two women grinding at the mill, in a manner most forcibly illustrating the words of St. Matthew, xxiv. 41. The Earl of Ellesmere, in his Mediterranean Sketches (1834), says "In a window of our apartment stood one of those simple hand mills of Scripture, deemed in the time of Moses so essential to the domestic economy of his people, that he exempted it, as he also did the widows' raiment, from the fangs of the pawnbroker. Deut. xxiv. 6. 'No man shall take the upper or nether mill-stone to pledge, for he taketh a man's life to pledge.' Judges ix. 53: And a certain woman cast a piece of a mill-stone upon Abimelech's In the same collection is another Token issued by head, and all to break his skull.' Some commentators wish to render this the upper stone of a hand mill. If the Hebrew text allow this, it will be the more satis factory version, for a better missile could not be devised In the Staffordshire collection of Mr. Salt, the "To supply the Poore's need It is worthy of remark that the Duke of Wellington occasionally, in his despatches from the seat of war, designated his great opponent as "Boney." |