ASSASSINATION OF KOTZEbue. MAY 19, 1820, will be long memorable in German history. Augustus Kotzebue, after the war of 1813, was accused, as a hireling partisan, of devoting his literary abilities to the subversion of the liberties of Germany in favour of Russia; and, like most persons perverted to wrong, he, notwithstanding frequent warnings, persisted; and accordingly, having become obnoxious to many of the secret associations then prevalent, was in most of them denounced. In one, that had the appellation of the Tugensbund, or Coalition of Virtue, his death, in 1817, was determined, yet some time elapsed before the casting of lots was effected, as to whose hand the perpetration of the deed should be committed. The chance fell to Charles Frederick Sand, a young man then about twenty-four years of age, of an ardent temperament, and anxious to avenge his country of one whose principles had excited so much hatred. Sand set out from Jena on March 9, 1819, and on the 23rd arrived at Mannheim, where at an inn he conversed with a country curate, till about five o'clock, at which hour, having resolved to perform his mission, he parted from the divine, and presented himself at Kotzebue's door. He was admitted by a servant, who conducted him to an apartment, with the assurance his master would shortly make his appearance. Kotzebue, on entering the room, was by Sand stabbed repeatedly, and he fell a corpse. A crowd was almost immediately collected, and Sand quietly passed into the street, kneeled down, and in an energetic tone, exclaimed"It is I who am the murderer! May all traitors thus perish!" Then, with uplifted eyes, with much fervency, continued" I thank thee, O God! for thy assistance in this work!" Having thus avowed himself the murderer of Kotzebue, he bared his breast, and with the same weapon, inflicted a severe stab. In his hand was a paper, containing these words: "Sentence of death against Kotzebue, executed 23rd of March, 1819;" and in his bosom was secreted a riband, with an inscription purporting that Kotzebue had been condemned to death two years before. Sand survived, but, as usual, his trial was delayed more than twelve months, when, at length, sentence of death was passed on him, and his execution fixed at eight o'clock in the morning of May 19, 1820. The authorities seem to have been apprised that a rescue would be attempted, and that many of his friends would then arrive at Mannheim. At six o'clock, when all was mournfully silent, Sand was led forth to execution. He seemed calm and collected, his countenance void of fear; he appeared composed in mind, and wholly resigned to his fate. He held a rose, that he frequently raised, and seemingly enjoyed its refreshing fragrance. The execution was hastened, and at the moment the executioner held forth the severed head of Sand, his friends poured in from Heidelberg, and rushing to the scaffold, it was soon in their possession. Exasperated at his death, and eager to secure some relic of the martyr, they tore off his clothes in fragments, cut the hair from his head, dipped their kerchiefs in his blood, and evinced every possible demonstration of their regret and sorrow at his fate. To this day, these relics are preserved with religious veneration, and the name of Sand, the avenger of his country's wrongs, in the person of the Russian traitor Kotzebue, but slumbers, to awaken throughout Germany a direful vengeance on their oppressors. DOES THE ANT PROVIDE FOR WINTER? MODERN naturalists assert that ants do not in summer store up corn for their winter food. In Insect Architecture, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, it is said— Gould disproved most satisfactorily the ancient fable of ants storing up corn for winter provision, no species of ants ever eating grain, or feeding in winter upon any thing. Hebrew naturalist- wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth harvest.-Proverbs vi. 6, 7, 8. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.-Proverbs xxx. 25. The reading of the Vulgate is similar in meaning to the authorised version, in both of these passages. With such very strong authority in favour of "the ancient fable," it does not seem wise to relinquish it, unless some other consistent meaning can be put upon the Scripture texts. and formica in the Vulgate, really mean the insect Query, Does the word rendered ant in the English, now known by that name? It is worth noticing that Saint Chrysostom, in his Eighth Homily, on Philippians, speaks of the ant as a good provider; and that such, during the middle ages, was the constant belief. EDWARD PEACOCK. Bottesford Moors, Kirton in Lindsay. Your correspondent should have imitated the ant, the least possible industry would have convinced him that Solomon never alluded to winter provisions, but to the activity of that insect during summer. So that "the wisest of men "" said nothing on the subject that could be "disproved by modern naturalists." The passages in Proverbs simply say, "The ant provideth her own meat in the summer, gathereth her own food in the harvest," vi. 8. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their own meat in the summer," xxx. 25, while the sluggard sleeps away his time, and expects others to toil and labour for him. Wybunbury, Nantwich. M. MARGOLIOUTH. VABALATHUS UCRIMDR EXPLAINED. A FEW months since, a friend sent me for interpretation from the Continent an impression from a Canaanitish seal that had been submitted to numerous learned persons, without the desired attainment. This semiPhoenician signet with some little difficulty I made out; the elucidation was acknowledged to be correct, and the answer made by one of these savans was, "Ah! je le vois: mais-j'ai de quoi le puzzler;" so the Vabalathus legend has also, I believe, made its grand tour on the Continent, without the desired effect, and I shall attempt to give that a solution. The coin I have seen, and what I recollect is on the obverse is the head of Aurelian, with a radiated crown, and on the reverse, the laureated head of VABALATHUS VCRIMDR. Vabalathus is supposed to have been the son of Zenobia by her first husband, an Arab Prince; she had also two sons by Odenathus, her second husband, upon whose assassination, in 266 or 267, Zenobia, then Queen of Tadmor or Palmyra, conferred the imperial dignity upon her sons by both husbands. Naturally, therefore, we are to look for a solution of the difficulty hitherto attached to the legend or title of VABALATHUS VCRIMDR, in the Arabic language, that of Zenobia's first husband. Descriptive names were in early times, in the East, given to persons of mature age, as their dispositions or habits in life became fully developed; Vabalathus may, therefore, have been the name given to Zenobia's son, on account of a determined ardour for hunting, and Ucrimdr, his title, derived from his birth and authority in the State. Vabalathus appears to be a name compounded of the Arabic J, vabal, pursuing with vehemence, hunting close; and, tus, nature or disposition; the name Vabalathus is therefore equivalent to "a mighty hunter." THE BRANK, OR SCOLD'S BRIDLE. THE brank is noticed as a Scottish instrument of Ec clesiastical punishment, chiefly employed for the coercion of female scolds, and those adjudged of slander and defamation.* It may be described as an iron skeleton helmet, having a gag of the same metal, that by being protruded into the mouth of an inveterate brawler, effectually branked that unruly member, the tongue. As an instrument of considerable antiquity, at a period when the gag, the rack, and the axe were the ratio ultima Rome, it has doubtless been employed, not unfrequently, purposes of great cruelty, though in most examples, the gag was not purposely designed to wound the mouth, but simply to restrain or press down the tongue. for Several of these instruments are yet extant, though their use is now, thanks to more considerate civilization, become obsolete. The Bishop's brank, here shown, remaining in St. Mary's Church, at St. Andrew's, is traditionally said to have been placed on the head of Patrick Hamilton, and others of the early Scottish Martyrs, who perished at the stake in that city during the religious persecutions of James the Fifth's reign. That the gag here represented may possibly have supplied in the hands of both Archbishop and Cardinal Beaton a ready means Ucrimdr seems to be the title of Vabalathus, com- of restraining less confirmed recusants, and thereby aspounded of the Arabic, ukr, to be reverenced sisted to suppress the advancement of the new heresy, and honoured by reason of his authority, see Willmet's there can be but little doubt; but that it was applied to Hamilton, in his case more particularly, no particle of Arabic Dictionary; and so, madrah, a prince; historical evidence can be adduced in support of the traUcrimdr will therefore, by contraction, signify, the pow-dition, and it seems therefore to have been an assertion erful prince, and conjointly, the name and title will read -"Mighty Hunter and Potent Prince!" From Vopiscus's account of Aurelian's triumph, we read "Germani, religatis manibus captivi præcesserunt, inter hos etiam Palmyreni, qui superfuerant Principes civitatis." We know that Vabalathus was one of these princes. I have applied the name and title to the test of other languages, but cannot obtain from them legitimate etymons. hazarded at a later age. The real origin of its designation as "The Bishop's brank," is apparently and with more truth derived from the use that Archbishop Sharp, in more recent times, made of it, to silence the scandal an incautious and obstinate dame promulgated against him openly before his congregation. In the fifth volume of the Abbotsford edition of the Waverley Novels, 1844, p. 270, the Bishop's brank is engraved as an illustration of "The Monastery." It is there stated to have been "formerly kept at St. Mary's Church, St. Andrews," but the brank was then at Ab Wilson's Archæology of Scotland, 1851, 8vo., p. 692. Jamieson in his Scottish Dictionary explains: "To brank; to bridle, or restrain." Thus the term brank is also used in Scotland to designate a rude substitute for a horse's bridle and bit, formed most frequently of a halter and stick. botsford. Since that time, the brank has reverted to its original depository, and placed in the care of the Sexton, where it is regarded with such general interest that its preservation is certain.* The Burgh records of Glasgow, under April 1574, notice that Marione Smyt and Margaret Huntare, having quarrelled they appear, and produce two cautioners or sureties, "pat pai sal abstene fra stryking of utheris in tyme cuming, under pe pane of x lib., and gif pe flyte to be brankit," or undergo the punishment of the brank. From the fact of the brank here represented having இ been found in 1848, secreted behind the oak-panelled wainscot, in one of the rooms of the old mansion of the Earls of Moray, in the Canongate, at Edinburgh, there is reason to suppose the use of the brank was at times adopted in some of the old baronial houses. Some few years since, was retained in the old steeple at Forfar, "The Witch's brank," or bridle, as it was termed. The date 1661, punched on the circle, with letters that seemed to denote ANGUS S.† A spur-rowel • Wilson's Archæology of Scotland, 1851, p. 693. +Dalyell's Darker Superstitions of Scotland, p. 686. The Witch's brank is described in the old Statistical Account of the parish of Forfar, as the bridle used in conducting to execution the wretched victims of such gross superstition. The field, it is added, where those human sacrifices here takes the place of the gag, the upper point pierced the roof of the mouth, while the lower one bored through the tongue. The evident intention in applying an implement so satanic in its form and construction, to those who were condemned to be burned at the stake as guilty of Witchcraft and Sorcery, or dealing with the devil, was not so much the inevitable torment that its use necessarily involved, but the purposed prevention of the pronouncing the potent formula, the unearthly powers their victims were supposed to possess; by which means it was implicitly believed they could at will transform themselves to other shapes, or transport their bodies to where they pleased, and thus effectually evade their tormentors. A mere glance at the representation of this frightful instrument of torture induces a melancholy reflection on the barbarism that prevailed at a period so very recent; that educated men could credit such follies and inconsistencies, or that even among the illiterate and rude, there could be found persons willing to apply to a woman an agent of restraint so diabolically cruel, the pictured semblance alone being calculated to create feelings of no common horror and indignation. Mr. Wilson, in reference to the earlier Scottish branks, observes: It would not be difficult to add to these common instruments of punishment and of torture, others equally characteristic of the spirit of the age, though not brought into general use. The Registers of various Kirk-Sessions recently printed by the Abbotsford Club, the Spottiswode Society, and others of the Scottish Literary Book Clubs, disclose much curious evidence of the petty tyranny and cruelty too frequently exercised by those courts in the enforcement of ecclesiastical discipline, most frequently by means little calculated to promote reformation, or good morals. In these, however, as in the traces of earlier man ners, which we have sought to recover, the historian finds a key to the character of the age to which they belong, and indications of its degree of advancement in civilization, such as no contemporary historian could furnish, since it supplies elements for comparing and for contrasting the present with the past, no less available than the rude pottery and the implements of flint or bone, which reveal to us, the simple arts of aboriginal races. The great difference in point of value between the two classes of relics is, that these more recent indices of obsolete customs supply to us only an additional element wherewith to test, and to verify by the instruments themselves, the invaluable records which the printing press supplies, while the latter are the sole chronicles we possess of ages more intimately associated with our human sympathies than all the geological periods of the preadamite earth.* The earliest use of the brank in England, that is known to the writer, is not antecedent to the reign of King Charles the First. Brayley notices a GOSSIP's took effect, is pointed out to strangers, as a place of surpassing interest. Where this brank is now, is not stated; the late Mr. Alexander Deuchar, a well-known collector, in Edinburgh, carried off some years since from Forfar, "the Witch's bridle," to add to his antiquarian treasures. Archæology of Scotland, 1851, 8vo., p. 694. Biddlestone drawn through the streets by an officer of the same Corporation holding a rope in his hand, the other end fastened to an engine called the branks,' which is like a crown, it being of iron, which was musled over the head and face, with a great gap or tongue of iron, which forced into the magistrates do inflict upon chiding and scoulding woher mouth, forced the blood out; and that is the punishment men, and that he hath often seen the like done to others." Gardiner further mentions, "Scoulds are to be duck'd over head and ears into the water in a ducking stool;" he adds: law, and are repugnant to the known laws of England. These are practices as are not granted by their Charter These punishments, as he was informed, were but gentle admonitions, to what they knew was acted by other magistrates of Newcastle. sentation of a brank or scold's bridle, yet extant among In Current Notes, vol. i. p. 45, is inserted the represome old armour in the Guildhall, Worcester, said to have been formerly in use in that city, and probably of the date of Henry the Seventh's reign. It is, however, extremely doubtful if the civic records can render any notices of its use as a punishment at so early a period. In some instances, it would appear, when too old to walk, or infirm, the brank was placed on the head, and the scold secured in the market or some public place, against a post, to attract the public gaze,† thus— Plot, describing the customs of Staffordshire in his time, cynically observes, "Lastly, we come to the acts that respect mankind, amongst how auldo Mary Curlys which, as elsewhere, the tongw was brakes for must be allowed to the Skandle civility of precedence women, and that as well in punishments as favours. For the former whereof they have such a peculiar artifice at Newcastle-underLyme, and Walsall, for correcting of scolds, which it does, too, so effectually, and so very safely, that I look upon it as much to be preferred to the Cucking-stoole, • Gardiner illustrates this now obsolete custom by an engraving, that Brand copied into his History of Newcastleupon-Tyne, 1789, vol. ii., p. 192. He added, "the brank was then preserved in the Town Court." A recent letter from Mr. John Adamson, to the Editor, intimates, "the corporation still retain it." Kindly communicated by a correspondent from Yarmouth, from a manuscript of the seventeenth century in his possession; with no other particular than the intimation here retained,-"How oulde Mary Curtys tongue was branked for skandle," a sketch doubtless made at the time by some adept observer of "Current Notes." that not only endangers the health of the party, but also gives the tongue liberty 'twixt every dipp; to neither of which is this at all liable, it being such a bridle for the tongue, as not only deprives them of speech, but brings shame for the transgression." After detailing the appliances of the brank, or bridle, as here shown, he continues,-"This being put upon the offender, by order of the Magistrate, and fastened by a padlock behind, she is led round the towne by an officer, to her shame, nor is it taken off till after the party shews by all external signes imaginable, humiliation and amendment." In the Borough gaol in the town of Leicester, was formerly deposited, pro bono publico, another of these branks; but it is now in private hands. The drawing from which the wood-cut was made, was liberally contributed by Mr. William Kelly, of Leicester. Chains, or their appliances, appear to have been attached to most of these branks; to this last, a link or two is shown, as part of the chain, about twelve inches long, that pertains to the original. CHRIST'S HOSPITAL PETITION FOR RELIEF. THE fact that the richly-endowed seminary, the Blue Coat School, established at the suppressed Grey Friars' Monastery in Newgate Street, by King Edward the Sixth, should at any time have petitioned for relief, or for the smallest sum in aid of their funds, seems so little known, that "the blues" repudiate it altogether, and deny that any proof of the fact can be adduced. It is true, the annual revenue now exceeds 50,000l. but the editor having been challenged to establish his assertion, the proof is now respectfully submitted. Formerly the custom appears to have been, to transmit to all the parishes in London, at stated intervals or seasons, a printed refresher of the requirements of the Hospital; and the name of the parish to which it was addressed was written by the clerk, as also the date appended at the end. One of these printed petitions remains pasted among the minutes of the Farringdonwithout Inquest Book, in December, 1613; and the following is its tenor-the words within brackets are added in writing : By the Maior. Vnto the Wardmote Inquest [of ye parish of St. Dunstan in ye West.] The Hospitall and Children poore, your goodnes do confesse, And pray to God to ayde you all, that help the fatherlesse, Beseeching you as heretofore, to them you haue been kind; So sitting now in Wardmote quest, to haue them in your mind. Desiring you to further them, and help them with your store Who for the purpose to you all, have sent a boxe therefore. And though they cannot it requite, yet such their prayers are, That blessings heapt on blessings still, God will for you prepare. presse, Sweet comforts to all Comforters, the Scripture doth exThat succour giues to Widdowes poore; and to the fatherlesse, He lends vnto the Lord that gives vnto the poore reliefe ;+ He's blest that for the poore prouides, the Lord keeps him fro griefe. Do good (saith Paul) distribute eke, forget not this to doe: This sacrifice is sweete to God, hee blessings addes thereto;§ One graine a thousand shall bring forth, seven-fold shall he receive, Into his bosome for reward, that lookes not back to leaue. Good measure full and pressed down, yea streaming o'er the brim, That meteth out with bounteous hand, the Lord will mete to him.[] Rich Zache said vnto the Lord, foure fold I'le wrongs restore, But halfe the goods that I possesse, I giue vnto the poore. The sweet embaulmed words of truth, that did proceed fro Christ, Gives comfort heavenly vnto him that comforts the distrest. Me did you harbour, me you cloath'd, you gaue me drink and meat, When ye relieued these little ones, and gaue them for to eate. Come therefore, Come, receiue the seate prepared for you by me, to see. Which glorious seate surpassing pence, God graunt you all And we as incense will lift up, our prayers and will sing, All glory to the God on high, that lets us lack nothing. From Christ's-Hospitall this [28] of December [1613.] God saue the King. The petition is thus dated seven days later than the holding of the Wardmote inquest, held in the parish church of St. Sepulchre, on the Tuesday preceding, being the 21st. On the back, is written the following: Receiued ye xyth of Januarie 1613[-14] for ye Beneuolence of the Ward mott Enquest of ye parish of St. Dun |
