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and not thrust his impertinence on the world.

These Mural Paintings, I am quite willing to admit, are barbarous representations; but their preservation, whether it be on the walls of our churches, or on the parchment vellums of our public libraries, when examined and careful comparisons made amongst those of similar design, often leads to the explanation of some ancient ceremony or superstition still extant-or perhaps the individual representation to that particular locality. But if all the Medieval manuscripts in our public libraries were destroyed, according to the spirit in which your Correspondent views "Mural Paintings" and “ Mediæval Art," it would be quite right; nevertheless, he takes the trouble to depict some of these grotesque paintings in your "Current Notes," for which I heartily thank him, and consider his deeds belie his words. Mr. Willis. AN ARCHEOLOGIST.

It appears that in the year 1844, some human bones | he does not agree with them, let him hold his tongue, were discovered on the ledges of a fissure in a quarry belonging to Mr. Weston, at different depths from 25 to 40 feet; these fissures run parallel with each other throughout the Island from north-east to south-west, at stated distances varying from 45 to 60 feet, and the quarry men say that they always know when they are coming near to them from the form the upper layers of loose stone and rubble assume, losing their longitudinal stratification, and having all the appearance of having been dragged out of their position by a mighty rush of water from above into the fissure: these fissures do not extend to the surface soil by 5 or 10 feet, and run down to the blue clay through the several strata of stone, &c. | to the depth of from 80 to 100 feet, having many ledges or shelves in them, and generally covered with stalactical formations. On several of these ledges a number of bones of all kinds of animals were found, including those of the human species: these were preserved and shewn by Captain Manning to the Professor on his next visit to the Castle; but the Doctor having doubts as to the place where they were found, accompanied Captain Manning to the fissure, where a lad was let down, and brought up more of the bones in his presence; when pressed to give some explanation as to the manner of their deposit, he said he could only suppose they must have got in longitudinally, but that the question was full of difficulty, and from his manner and silence on the subject it may be argued this fact was evidently opposed to all his preconceived notions on the subject.

Professor Buckland stated as his opinion, that the

mass of matter of which the Island of Portland is composed, on "drying" cracked, and so formed these fissures; but how is it that these cracks did not extend up to the surface soil, where the evaporation must have been greatest, and where there appears no trace of them? The general appearance which exists of the various strata (widely differing in substance) having been deposited at remote periods from each other, tends to render this theory doubtful.

Several teeth, and a tusk of an Elephant, primi genus, have recently been discovered in the "dirt bed" of the Portland quarries.

ECCLESIASTICAL MURAL PAINTINGS.

August 16th.

SIR,-I do not agree with An Architect in his observations concerning "Fresco paintings on the walls of Churches." (see "Current Notes," No. XIX. page 57.) I do not see where lies the cant, nor yet the quackery, neither do I see what religion has got to do with it, nor can I find that there is any call for such declamation at the present period, unless it be to provoke an answer, or to let the world know he is one of the " Righteous over much." He confesses that he is no Archeologist; then why should he presume to denounce what Archaologists admire, and say it is all cant and quackery? if

MURAL PAINTING IN CHURCHES. SIR,-Your last number of Notes cannot pass current without a demur to the absurd remarks of your Corres"An Architect." He has made so ignorant pondent, an onslaught on mediæval mural paintings, that it is evident he neither knows or feels their importance as materials for the history of art in general. That he does really know nothing about them, is evident from his calling them frescoes. Now they are but mural paintings in distemper colours, as all are that are found in England. He abuses his examples as disgusting and barbarous, but that applies to his cuts rather than the originals; they are evidently loose copies, and do the series to which he refers is a figure, of which I not preserve the character of medieval works. Among enclose a sketch, remarkable for dignity and propriety of treatment, and very characteristic in its style. Has your correspondent ever looked into Ottley's "History of Art in Italy," and seen how important are the early frescoes there? Would he whitewash the Campo Santo? or spare Giotto, Cimabue, or Fra Angelico? If such is the taste of an "Architect," I am glad to subscribe myself,

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[G. W. regrets, as this communication was received at
the moment of making up for press, that time does not
permit his having the beautiful drawing, so full of true
artistic feeling, which accompanied it, engraved, but he
will forward it to his Correspondent,
"AN ARCHITECT,"
and it will perhaps induce him to view mural paintings in
a different light.]

HOOD ON ALBUMS.
Acknowledgment to all that here may look,
Behold-it shows I'm honest to the letter,

I've wrote my name, dear Girl, within your book,
To prove I am eternally your DEBTOR.
T. HOOD.

BISHOP BOOTH.

11th August.

The Episcopal throne in the choir of Exeter Cathedral was erected by Bishop Booth, who is erroneously said in some histories of that City, as well as in Westcote's Devonshire, to have been buried in the church of St. Clement-Danes, London. His

THE WESTONS OF WEST HORSLEY.

July 30th, 1852.

SIR,-In answer to your Bengal correspondent's enquiry (Current Notes for July), I have to tell him that the above family have never borne any other coat than that first placed in his letter; viz. “sable-three leopards' heads erased, argent-crowned, or-langued gules"-with the same crest-("a wolf passant, argent -ducally gorged, or")—that he has placed over the second coat, which is that borne by a junior branch of the family, resident for a long period in the same county (Surrey), but which I believe to be now extinct.

The reason of the introduction of a chevron, or any other ordinary into a paternal coat, was in the days he alludes to, to distinguish the different members of a family in the field of battle, and he is well informed as to its being a very common thing, as coat armour at that period was not essentially hereditary, and was chiefly adopted with any device, at the caprice of the bearer. Ordinaries have subsequently been used as marks of cadency.

Mr. Willis.

I am, Sir, yours obediently,
S. J. T.

MONUMENTAL BRASS

exists in the Village Church of East Horsley in Surrey, and affords a good specimen of the workmanship of the fifteenth century. In the inscriptions beneath it is recorded that he died on the 5th April, 1478.

DEVONENSIS.

ETYMON, &C. Of the word MISTLETOE.

Vicarage, Southwick, near Oundle,
Aug. 4, 1852.

SIR,-I have the pleasure of sending you the result of my researches on the etymology and mystical meaning of this parasitical plant.

The Saxon is mis-tel-ta; the signification of which cannot be ascertained in that language.

By taking away the verbal part ta, we have the German, Danish and Swedish mis-tel, the mistletoe.

The Gaelic name for this plant forms a singular link and clue to its real meaning: it is uile-ice, the mistletoe, the all-heal, "lus sior uaine a tharuingeas a bhith o phlannt eile," an EVER-GREEN tree that draws its existence from another plant. It evidently refers us to the Saxon Se Hælend, the Healer, the Saviour of mankind.

The Saxon mis-tel-ta is a compound of three Sanscrit words, viz. Mas, Vishnu, (the Messiah); tal, a pit, (metaph. the womb); and tu, motion to or from: therefore mistelta, comprises the whole of the time from the seems to have been subsequently applied to him during conception to the birth of our blessed Saviour; and his helpless infant state of this, I think, I have a proof in a painting of the holy family in my possession, where the top of Joseph's staff is encircled with, I believe, the loranthus europæus in blossom, the Eos of the Greeks, and what seems to be explanatory of the wrong transcir-lation of ta into toe is, that Mary holds one of the great toes of the infant gracefully between her forefinger and thumb. Another proof is, if I mistake not,

H. T. W.'s enquiry respecting the Westons of West Horsley in your last "Notes," reminds me of this

cumstance.

in Cuperi Harpocrates, where a peculiar amulet is described in the words of Kircher, thus: "Capsula est in forma cordis, et fructum foliumque Perseæ mentiens." I forbear to comment on the word cordis; it is sufficient for my present purpose to notice, that under the feet of the infant Horus or the Messiah, labia digito prementem, is a plant resembling the mistelta.

In a note, I have somewhere seen, it is said that the mistletoe (or as I would rather spell it mistelto) was sacred to Venus: but from reading the death of Baldur the good, in Mallet's Northern Antiquities by Blackwell, p. 446, v. 6, it does not appear to be the case; for Friga, the wife of Odin, thinks the plant too insignificant to be noticed, which would not probably have been the case had it been dedicated to her. Refer to the Edda Rythmica, Fiol-Svinns Mal, stanza 39, v. 6, and you will find that the Virgin Eir might have been more properly selected, and probably answers to the promised woman who should become the envied mother of the Messiah: her name signifies salus, securitas, indulgentia, gratia, venia, pax; all which titles are applicable to him who should be born of the pure virgin. The Ivy and Mistelto being ever-greens denote everlasting life through faith in the promised Messiah; and its dependence on a tree for sustenance, &c. has its mystic meaning, and when found on the king of trees, the oak, would be considered as the most sacred of its kind, and would typify the dependence upon, and the unsearchable bond existing between God, the Father and the Word.

Kissing under the mistelto has now lost its import; its primary meaning is obvious: I believe the the branch, Ezekiel viii. 17, refers to the mistelto, the viscum in Virgil, Æn. 6, v. 205; but the Hebrew signifies a branch not torn off, nor broken off, but cut from the tree.

The Druids who also worshipped Isis ("At Isidi tanquam virgini Druidæ statuam in intimis penetralibus colocasse animadvertit Elias Schedius." Alph. Tibet. p. 56.) seem to have had a knowledge of the recondite meaning of this most sacred plant. Consult Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors, Hone's Every-day Book, and Armstrong's Gael. Dict. uile-ice.

I am, Sir, your's very truly,

T. R. BROWN.

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THE CROSS OR MONOGRAM OF CHRIST. THE annexed figure is the representation of the primitive cross, as discovered in the Catacombs, en

graved or painted by the first Christians. The X. P. express Xeep Puσrov (Keir Rustou), "The hand of the Deliverer or Redeemer." THE CHRIST. But the same figure, through a Latin and hieroglyphic reading, indicates the human hand, as P" pollex" the thumb, X. the four digits or fingers, and the palm branches contrast to the blood red impression of the natural hand denote the palm of the hand. This is an intellectual of the ancient Mexicans, and to the more modern substitution of the wooden cross of crucifixion and death, and of human degradation, as the legal instrument of executions, to which Christ nailed the law. This figure of the spiritual cross indicating the cross of redemption and life through the intellect and hand of man.

When fishes are substituted for the palm branches it indicates "The hand of the Redeemer, Jesus Christviated "IC-thus." the Sacrifice," as "Ie-sous Christos; Thusia."-abbre

HUMAN PROGRESS.

The senses, the faculties, and the physical powers, as synonymous with hundreds, tens and units, progressively ascend through their respective valuations from 4 to 6 and to 8. Therefore in combination of the physical, moral and intellectual systems, they advance, pari passu, from 444, the number of the Beast (biest strength), to 666, the number of Man, and to 888, which latter numbers correspond with the letters "Iesous" in the Greek alphabetic numeration, as also the numbers 444 with the letters pius.

June, 1852.

SAPHENIO.

P. S. I thank Mr. Rogers for noticing the Hebrew letter Thau; see p. 62 of last month's "Current Notes." It enables me to remark that T is a letter derived from MYSTICAL MEANING OF THE Hebrew Letter Taw. the Chinese into the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and into our own language, and signifies perfection, God, and is an emblem of God the Father. The Coptic [T] God, is the figure of the cross, on which his Son was crucified.

Q. S. T. p. 60 of the same No. has given us an idea which leads to the occult meaning of the word cweorn, viz. that it is associated with churn. A few days since I saw the operation of a quern in a grocer's shop. The receiver resembled the upper part of an egg-cup, and the grinder a pestle, with which some coffee was, by

9th August, 1852. SIR,-With reference to two articles which have appeared among your "Current Notes" for the last month, p. 59 and p. 62, you will oblige me by expressing to your Correspondents, the Rev. T. R. Brown, and Mr. G. G. Rogers Rogers (the latter of whom, I think, I recognize as an old College friend), my sincere thanks for their communications. I can now perfectly comprehend the import of the gem which I picked up while travelling in the East, and which is evidently a work of

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THE EBORACON OF THE ATHENÆUM.

Regent's Park, July 31st, 1852. SIR,-The statement made so positively by the Athenæum has, I perceive, attracted the notice of the York Herald, the editor of which confirms what must be known to every antiquary, that Mr. Wright was quite correct, and that no book called Eboracon was ever printed. I think it can be proved that the fact was lately well known to the Athenæum, and as the matter belongs to the "curiosities of literature," I may be allowed to give my reasons for believing that the writer must have forgotten the opinion he himself gave or sanctioned respecting Eburacum. When the Archæological Institute met at York, the book in question was publicly given to the body by Mr. Way, who was then acting with Mr. Peter Cunningham as Secretary, or at all events the latter gentleman was on the Committee under the auspices of which the following was printed (p. xvii. of Proceedings of the General Committee at York):-" Albert Way, Esq. then rose, and having alluded to the excellent manner in which the history of this city has been described in the days of the Romans, by the Rev. C. Wellbeloved [he hardly meant that Mr. W. lived in the time of the Romans !] and the regret which the Society must feel at his unavoidable absence from their proceedings, presented a copy of the work EBURACUM written by that gentleman as a donation to the library of the Institute.' Now, Sir, no one acquainted with the literature of the present day in England can be ignorant that Mr. Peter Cunningham is one of the main props of the Athenæum and that the Athenæum was the main prop of the Institute, therefore how could either the one or the other, or both, affect not to know the above work? Eburacum was not privately printed as the reviewer states Eboracon was. I am Sir, yours obediently,

Mr. Willis.

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L. F. G. Scarborough, August 2nd, 1852. SIR,-Will you satisfy me and a friend if there really be such a book as Wellbeloved's Eboracon,' as asserted so positively by the Athenæum of July 17th. We doubt it, because that Journal in matters of antiquity has made some most singular blunders, and yet this would be such a damning conviction of ignorance, pure and unadulterated, that we think there possibly may be such a book as the editor of the Athenæum so positively asserts. Can you get us a copy? Mr. Willis.

GEORGE RIVERS.

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AMERICAN IMAGERY AND ELOQUENCE.

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(Abridged from the Lowell Courier.) Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas will live for ever," said an American orator-"while Webster's ideas will die with him. Emerson's ideas have force, have power, but not so with Webster's." "That's a lie," said "Mat,' "and you know it. If one of Daniel Webster's big thoughts got into Ralph Waldo Emerson's head, it would split it open like a pitcher with ice in it! Now get off the bench, for you can't say anything more in this shop against 'Old Dan.'"

AMERICAN GO-A-HEADISM.

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New York, 109, Broadway, Post Office. MR. WILLIS,-You have admitted into your rent Notes" for July, 1852 (p. 63), an insinuation respecting the " American improvement of the English language," which demands a reply.

In the first place, Sir, I know you have received the inclosed cutting from the Boston Transcript, of 30th June last :

"THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE.-An Englishman, perusing an American newspaper, exclaimed impatiently, on noticing some of Webster's orthographical improvements, language, if they cannot treat it better.'' English language?' -These people ought to be denied the use of the English echoed a Yankee, without removing the cigar from between his teeth, guess you'er mistaken, hoss; it's the American language.' American?' repeated the wondering Englishman. Guess it's that,' said Jonathan, coolly, 'we've annexed it.'-Hartford Times."

Now, if you have such historians as Lord Mahonand patronize him-do so by all means.

And if you like Dickens, and his style of language, keep it to yourselves. Sitting in a Church, he says, reminds him of "a mild dose of opium." And with an equally pious feeling, and correct taste, he is reminded that the ordinary mode of washing a petticoat in Italy, France, Scotland, or Ireland, by beating with a wooden mallet, is as if the poor washerwomen revenged themselves on dress in general for being connected with the fall of mankind. Again, Dickens, whose smell strongly of theatrical lamp and tramp, assimilates the Swiss guards of the Pope, to "theatrical supernumeraries, who never can get off the stage fast enough, and who may be generally observed to linger in the enemy's camp after the open country, held by the opposite forces, has been split up the middle by a convulsion of nature."

pages

And

Lord Mahon's style of writing the English language, however deficient his Lordship's knowledge or his reading may be, is certainly superior to this slang. His Lordship is a Gentleman, Mr. Dickens A SNOB. if you English have a snobbish taste, and like to have a snobbish style, and patronize it, take it; but keep it from us by all means. We, on the other side of the

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WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES

Atlantic, want to have English "transformed," or
so as to be fit for publication in
rather restored
For "Willis's Current Notes."

America."

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[G. W. has not seen a copy, although several copies are in private circulation, and it is Lord Mahon's intention to publish a reply.]

ARCHITECTURAL SLANG.

9th August. MR. WILLIS,-If your Correspondent "An Architect," with whose sensible remarks in the last Number to "Current Notes," I entirely agree respecting the removal of offensive paintings from the walls of Protestant churches, and you too have done good service to Christianity by exposing cant and hypocrisy, would inform me how we are to get rid of another piece of Archæological Slang, he would do a great favour to many by whom I have been consulted in the matter, namely, what makes the difference between the Saxon and the Norman pieces of Architecture? And what is it that people call Gothic? and Tudor? and so on. Let us take an example. I am told that the Saxon arch is semi-circular.

called Norman. Again, I am told that the Gothic Arch is formed by two Saxon arches intersecting each other, or two semi-circles cutting through each other at an equal space from the base of each. This is all clear enough. But when I see square, round and oval cutting one against the other, how am I to understand the matter, or what am I to say to the Architect who has come down to alter our Church, who speaks of uniformity of style and the mezzo-Gothic aberrations of THE SENIOR CHURCH WARDEN. angles?

WALKS AFTER WILD FLOWERS.

Alas! for fame, Mr. Willis. Alas! for all the nice books on Botany that I get from you. Alas! for your Ornamental Flower Garden and Shrubbery, and for Think of my your new Medical and Scientific Herbal. reading in your last" Price Current of Literature," received this very morning, (28th July) "Richard's (R. D.) Walks after Wild Flowers, or the Botany of the BoheSo having rather an extensive acquaintance with Botanists and Botanical writers, I began to wonder who Mr. Richard could be, and at last I found that he must be an ex-Mayor of Cork, named Dowden, and who distinguished himself in the absence of the present Mayor when the American Minister (the Hon. Abbot Lawrence) visited "the beautiful City," by an excellent speech.

reens.

The Dowden family being rather numerous in Cork, the Author of the Botany of the Bohereens, placed the Christian name of his father Richard after his surname, and so became the Richard Dowden Richard, celebrated by Crowe, Maginn and others in Blackwood's Magazine about the years 1820 and 21. And I think in your "Current Notes," Mr. Willis, No. III. for March, 1851 p. 22, I recognize from the pen of Alderman Dowden, an Anecdote of "the Doctor."-The

"Cicero Dowden, who spouts by the hour,
Of all the tongue-waggers the pink and the flower,
And Jennings the bold, who has challenged so long
All the Nation for brisk soda water and song."
Blackwood's Magazine, August 1821, p. 102.

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He says,
"the first line seems somewhat obscure, but I
suppose it to be a technical phrase used by bakers in
drawing their loaves." The word ' strike' is still in use
in Wales, and probably in many parts of England, to

Well, these arches are so; and yet this doorway is denote a measure, of corn, for instance, it being a

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