FOR FEBRUARY, 1854.

BEWICK. Current Notes, vol. iv. p. 2.-My friend, Mr. J. G. Bell, is mistaken as to the number of Wild Bulls' taken off on vellum. This singularly beautiful production originated on the suggestion of the late Marmaduke Tunstall, the founder of what is now a portion of the Newcastle Museum, and if S. F. refers to Fox's Synopsis of that collection, he will there find some interesting notices of Bewick, his Wild Bull, and his History of British Birds. Six impressions were printed on fine vellum for Mr. Tunstall, and from my own quiries I should think there are at least a dozen proofs in this state. One was sold in London, last autumn, and purchased by a bookseller in Newcastle at a very low price.

South Shields.

LUKE MACKEY.

EARLY SIGNIFICANCY OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE. CHRISTMAS in Berlin has its joys, even though the roast beef and old holly of Old England be not there: the bright clear air, through which one can see and hear to an incredible distance; the glittering snow that lies on the ground and covers the trees, retaining its purity for weeks; the happy family groups out on their en-festag walk; the children parading in the last night's tippet and muff; the hilarity of the skaters; the merry tinkling of the bells on the harness of the sledge, as it glides by with its happy freight, and its horses flaunting in many coloured feathers and their long housings of white kerseymere. These are the out-of-doors joys to which the foreigner has free access; but the in-doors delights of the Christmas Tree and the bescheerung, or present-giving, of the children, and of everybody, from and to everybody, are confined to those only who are members of families, and are not extended to the stranger who is within the gates. The all but universal jubilee leaves him alone in his domicile, uninvited to break the spell of any family circle. The Christmastree has become a prevailing fashion in England at this season, and is by most persons supposed to be derived from Germany; such, however, is not the fact; the The Christmas-tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long antecedent to the Christian era. palm tree is known to put forth a shoot every month, and a spray of this tree, with twelve shoots on it, was used in Egypt, at the time of the winter solstice as a symbol of the year completed.

KENNEDY. Current Notes, vol. iv. p. 3-William Kennedy was a native of the North of Ireland, and educated at the Belfast Academical Institution. Like many another son of Irish genius, after giving numerous proofs of the brilliant powers of which he was possessed, he transferred his literary allegiance to England; and had not long settled there when he became editor of the Hull Advertiser. Subsequently he obtained a government appointment in Australia, and was murdered by the aborigines. The writer had the privilege of his early friendship, and a gentler spirit never wedded poesy. I am not sure that his poetry has been published in a collected form.

Recorder Office, Downpatrick.

JAMES A. PILSON.

Egyptian associations of a very early date still mingle with the tradition and custom of the ChristmasDINING WITH DUKE HUMPHREY.-Whence the origin tree; there are as many pyramids, as trees used in of this saying?

R. F.

Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1446, was the founder of the library at Oxford, subsequently so enriched by Sir Thomas Bodley and others, that it has now the wide world appellation of the Bodleian. When a student remained reading in the library, during the hours of dinner, at which time the doors are closed, he was said, on missing him at the college table, to be " Dining with Duke Humphrey "-dinnerless in the library, devoted to his studies.

THE KINGES AND GOUERNOURS OF ENGLAND.

Two Wills, Hal, Stephen, Henry then againe ;
Dicke, Jacke, third Henry, Edwards three in traine;
Second Dicke, three more Hals, Ned the fourth, and
y'other,

Crumpe Dicke, seventh, eighth Hals, Ned, Moll, Besse noe
mother;

Jemmye, Charles, and C. and? may bee nere another :
Parliaments five or six, Oliuer and Red Jumpe
Instrument and Humblement, Richard and the Rumpe.
1659.
Contemporary Manuscript.

Germany, in the celebration of Christmas by those
whose means do not admit of their purchasing trees
and the concomitant tapers. These pyramids con-
sist of slight erections of slips of wood, arranged like
a pyramidal epergne, covered with green paper, and
decorated with festoons of paper chain-work, which flut-
ter in the wind, and constitute a make-believe foliage;
this latter, however, is an innovation of modern days.
The palm tree spray of Egypt, on reaching Italy, be-
came a branch of any other tree; the tip of the fir
being found most suitable, from its pyramidal or conical
shape, was decorated with burning tapers lighted in
honour of Saturn, whose saturnalia were celebrated
from the 17th, to the 21st of December, the period of
the winter solstice; the lighted tapers, the saturnalitia,
or presents given, and the entertainment of the domes-
tics on a footing of equality, date from this age.
the saturnalia came the days called the sigillaria,
when presents were made of impressions stamped on
wax, which still form part of the furniture of a Christ-
mas-tree. To the sigillaria succeeded one day, called
the juvenalia, on which every person, even adults, in-
dulged in childish sports, and hence the romping close
of our Christmas festivities.

After

Almost all the nations of the ancient world had their peculiar feast of mid-winter, but the Juel-fesé of the Northern mythology, is that which seems to have left the most discernible traces in our country. The circling year was represented as a wheel, the word itself being derived from juel; closing only to commence again; the yule log was heaped on the fire, and the boar, an animal obnoxious to the god of the Sun, was roasted whole in the open air. The most pleasing part connected with this observance of the mid-winter festival, was the custom of concealing the presents in as many wrappers as possible, and throwing them in at the windows, the practice being emblematical of the hidden blessings in store for the coming year.

JEWISH DISABILITIES.

THE tribute required of the Jews by Vespasian, on the subjugation of Judæa, was by Domitian rendered almost insupportable, and even the observance of the religious rites of their faith was permitted only on their complying with the Emperor's exactions, which were enforced with great rigour. Suetonius, recounting the various means of plundering his subjects, observes,- Above all others, the Jews were miserably harassed by the confiscation of their estates; those in particular, who, declining to give in their names as Jews, yet lived after the manner of Jews; or who, concealing their original, did not pay the tribute that had been imposed upon that nation.' The assassination of Domitian made way for the accession of Nerva, A D. 96, when these oppressive taxes were remitted, and the event perpetuated on the reverse of one of Nerva's large brass coins, now of considerable rarity.

It was not till several centuries after the birth of our Saviour, that the Church appointed the Nativity to be a high day, and a holyday; and not having specific information, as to the exact period of our Lord's birth, December 25 was fixed on, as being more likely than any other to be the correct day. With the Germans, the greatest festival is our Christmas-eve, the heilege abend, which has the more propriety, as whatever doubt attaches to the date of His birth, it is certain that our Lord was born in the night-time. The festival is called weihnacht, or night dedicated to the commemoration. As Christmas-eve always falls on the evening of Adam and Eve's day, an orthodox Christmas-tree will have the figures of our first parents at its foot, and the serpent twining himself round its stem. By a bold stretch of theological fancy, the tree with its branches and tapers, is with the abovementioned accessories, understood to typify the genealogy of our Lord, closing in the most luminous apex, the sun of light and life, "the seed of the woman should crush the serpent's head " The Romans had already affixed on the summit of their trees, a representation of a radiant sun in honour of Phoebus Apollo, to whom the three last days of December were dedicated. In connexion with this god, sheep were sometimes exhibited pasturing under the tree, or Apollo Jew boy named Mendez, selling old clothes at Cadiz or MENDIZABAL, who advanced in life from being a himself took charge of the herd, or taught the shep-wandering about the country as a pedlar, receiving on herds the use of the pipe. This was skilfully construed account of his Hebrew origin many a cuff or a kick from by the Christian clergy to be emblematic of the Good his customers, which he was obliged to pocket with their Shepherd. Prime Minister of Spain, evincing in that position the copper monies-first became a millionaire, and lastly most enlightened patriotism towards the land of his birth, from which, in common with all his caste, he had received usages that might have turned the blood to gall, if the blood and spirit of his race had been like

The sigillaria of the Romans were impressed with the images of saints and holy persons; the lighted tapers, also borrowed from the saturnalia, were retained here, as elsewhere, as portion of the religious ceremony. The giving of presents, another portion of the saturnalia, was understood to be expressive of Christian brotherly love, while the apples, nuts, and gingerbread, equally unmistakeable remnants of the Northern heathen mythology, have been retained in the service of the Christian festival, as accessories that sufficiently recommended themselves without typifying anything particularly holy.

TAVERN orgies tear asunder the stoutest constitution, as well as impoverish the weightiest purses.

IMP. NERVA CAES. AVG. P. M. TR. P. Cos. III. P. P.
Rev. FISCI JVDAICI CALVMNIA SVBLATA.
The word fiscus was derived from the hamper, or
basket, in which the taxes were originally collected.

From

Southwick Vicarage, near Oundle. T. R. BROWN.

RELIGIOUS BELIEF OF THE Chinese. mentions Mo ye (Mary), Moo kia ye (Mark), and Om i THERE are two languages, the Hebrew and the Chi-to Fo, i.e. Om (the Hindoo Triad) is the Fo, etc. nese, every word of which may be literally interpreted their own records, we may therefore reasonably suppose, by means of the significations of the hieroglyphs which the Chinese might easily be persuaded to embrace the compose the words. This method of interpretation gospel of Jesus Christ. appears to be the only one for restoring the true history of such events, as from length of time have been so corrupted by glosses, as scarcely to leave a trace of their original meaning, even to those professing to be perfectly conversant with their intricacies. We may thus speak of the Chinese language in particular, and only by unfolding the compound structure of words can we be enabled to see and explain the historical events contained in them; let us then pursue this decomposition in order to shew what was the ancient religious belief of the

Chinese.

Du Halde, Hist. of China, Svo. edit. vol. iii.
p. 16,
states: "The chief object of their worship is the Supreme
Being, Lord and Chief Sovereign of all things, which they
worshipped under the name of Chang ti." The literal
meaning of Chang ti, or in English orthography, Shang
te, Supreme Lord of Heaven, is as follows,-one piercing
or extending from our heaven, or atmosphere, above the
eight coverings, regions, or residences. Here we are
referred, if I mistake not, to the pure Empyrean, or the
Spirit that extends throughout infinite space, surround-
ing and supporting the whole of the creation, as the
Alpha, or, as it is beautifully expressed in the Edda,
the Ljosalfaheim, the region of pure light tending
downwards, and which is above the other eight regions.
Chang ti therefore means the essential part of the Deity,
whom we are taught to call the Father.' Here we have
the pure worship of the Supreme; but this is not all;
they had also, at the same time, a correct knowledge of
the nature and future mission of the Messiah, whom
they called the God Fo. This word literally signifies
Man descending from above the third heaven, upon
earth, and afterwards ascending thither. In Du Halde,
vol. ii. p. 288, he is also described on a coin, called a
superstitious coin, figured on the left hand, at the bottom
of the plate; where the spiritual index is prefixed to
Fo, instead of jin, man. The most ancient hieroglyphs
on this coin describe that part of holy writ, contained in
Genesis i. 2, 3; or, it may be from the same record,
that was in common among mankind, handed down from
the earliest ages.

I will mention but two more, most ancient records of the same nature; one, in Heuselii Synopsis Universa Philosophia, p. 46, plate 1; the descent of the Trinity, upon one man on earth to establish a kingdom, and return again to heaven.' The other in Hammer's Ancient Hieroglyphic Characters, pp. 91 and 22; the description of which is as follows,The creation of the universe, the fall of Adam and Eve in Paradise, and its cause; the coming of the Messiah at the appearance of a wonderful star, the establishment of his kingdom on earth, and his subsequent ascent to heaven.'

Du Halde, vol. iii. p. 34, in a confused and corrupted history of some few of the leading parts of the gospels,

CURIOUS SIGN-BOARDS IN SOMERSETSHIRE. WHILST passing through Yeovil, a short time since, I noticed the sign of a public house," The Pall," and the inn adjoins the churchyard, now in the centre of this large and flourishing town. I should feel obliged if some reader of Current Notes' can give any account of its origin. Can it be that the inn was formerly used as a resting-place for the corpse on its way to the last home?

Another, and more remarkable sign, is to be seen at West Coker, a few miles from Yeovil, namely, 'The Case is altered. What can this possibly mean? Dorchester, Feb. 13.

JOHN GARLAND.

Your correspondent's conjectures may to a certain extent be right. The Lich-gate, covered overhead, was in the middle ages, a common adjunct or entrance to grave-yards; some yet remain, and are still used as a brief resting place for the corpse-bearers; but as palls are of great antiquity, the now inn may have been the house of some official connected with the church, and who had charge of the pall?

Dear old Dorset' has more than one instance of The Case is altered.' The allusion is at once both obvious and self-interpreting,―a house from bad management falls into bad repute, and the new occupant retrieves the error, by adopting a different course, and in place of the old sign, has painted in large letters,— THE CASE IS ALTERED. His resolve is thus patent to every one. This I have known done, and so speak with certainty; I well remember a case in point, in years gone by, when at the grammar school in Wimborne.

CHARLES WArne.

The following appear to have been written, as expres- Barolo, at Montcagliere, near Turin, where he died on sive of her feelings at the moment