Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling varieties have not been standardized. In the Niniveh Inscriptions character frequency list the Hebrew letters "Resh" and "Gimel" seem to be missing, while characters marked with [?] may have been used more than once. Characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with an equal sign, as [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top. Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and Queries" has been added at the end.]

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION

FOR

LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

VOL. IV.--No. 100. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. 1851.

Price Sixpence. Stamped Edition 7_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

Our Hundredth Number 217

NOTES:--

Notes on the Calendar, by Professor de Morgan 218

Inedited Letters of Swift 218

Nineveh Inscriptions, by T. J. Buckton 220

Inedited Letter of Alfieri 222

Stanzas in Childe Harold 223

Notes on Oxford Edition of Jewel 225

Anagrams, by Henry H. Breen 226

Folk Lore:--Cure for Hooping Cough--Cure for the
Toothache--Medical Use of Pigeons--Obeism 227

Notes on Julin, No. II., by K. R. H. Mackenzie 228

Minor Notes:--Curious Epitaph in Dalkeith Churchyard--Device
of SS.--Lord Edward Fitzgerald--The Michaelmas
Goose--Gravesend Boats--Scullcups 230

QUERIES:--

Minor Queries:--Equestrian Figure of Elizabeth--Indian
Ants--Passage in George Herbert--The King's-way,
Wilts--Marriages within ruined Churches--Fees
for Inoculation--"Born in the Eighth Climate"--Aubrey
de Montdidier's Dog--Sanford's Descensus--Parish
Registers--Briefs for Collections--Early Printing
Presses--Bootikins--Printers' Privilege--Death of
Pitt--"A Little Bird told me"--Baroner--William III.
at Exeter--History of Hawick--Johannes Lychtenberger
--Lestourgeon the Horologist--Physiological Query--De
Grammont's Memoirs--"Frightened out of his Seven
Senses"--Fides Carbonaria--Bourchier Family--Warnings
to Scotland--Herschel anticipated--Duke of Wellington 231

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--An Early Printer--"Nimble
Ninepence"--Prince Rupert's Balls--Knock
under--Freemasons 234

REPLIES:--

Conquest of Scotland 234

Borough-English 235

Pendulum Demonstration 235

Lord Mayor not a Privy Councillor 235

Collars of SS. 236

Written Sermons 237

Replies to Minor Queries:--Authoress of "A Residence on
the Shores of the Baltic"--Winifreda--Querelle
d'Alleman--Coins of Constantius II.--Proverb, what
constitutes one?--Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe--Pope's
Translations of Horace--M. Lominus, Theologus--Corpse
passing makes a Right of Way--Horology--Curfew--"Going
the whole Hog"--John Bodley--Language of Ancient
Egypt--William Hone--Bensley--John Lilburne--School
of the Heart--Sir W. Raleigh in Virginia--Siege
of Londonderry--Cowper Law--Decretorum Doctor--Nightingale
and Thorn--Carli the Economist--Tale of a Tub--Wyle
Cop--Visiting Cards--Absalom's Hair--MS. Book of
Sentences--The Winchester Execution--Locke's MSS.--Peal of
Bells--Pope's "honest Factor"--Bells in Churches--Passage
from Virgil--Duke of Berwick--Nullus and
Nemo--Grimsdyke--Coke, how pronounced--Marcus Ælius
Antoninus 237

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 245

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 245

Notices to Correspondents 246

Advertisements 246

OUR HUNDREDTH NUMBER.

It is the privilege of age to be garrulous; and as we have this
week reached our Hundredth Number--an age to which comparatively
few Periodicals ever attain--we may be pardoned if, on thus
completing our first _Century of Inventions_, we borrow a few
words from the noble author of that well-known work, and beg you,
Gentle Reader, "to cast your gracious eye over this summary
collection and there to pick and choose:" and when you have done
so, to admit that, thanks to the kind assistance of our friends
and correspondents, we have not only (like Master Lupton)
presented you with _A Thousand Notable Things_, but fulfilled the
objects which we proposed in the publication of "NOTES AND
QUERIES."

During the hundred weeks our paper has existed we have received
from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France--from
the United States--from India--from Australia--from the West
Indies--from almost every one of our Colonies--letters expressive
of the pleasure which the writers (many of them obviously scholars
"ripe and good," though far removed from the busy world of
letters), derive from the perusal of "_Notes and Queries_;" and it
is surely a good work to put to students so situated,

"---- all the learning that our time
Can make them the receivers of."

And, on the other hand, our readers cannot but have noticed how
many a pertinent Note, suggestive Query, and apt Reply have
reached us from the same remote quarters.

Our columns have, however, not only thus administered to the
intellectual enjoyment of our brethren abroad, but they have
rendered good service to men of letters here at home: and We could
set forth a goodly list of works of learning and research--from
Mr. Cunningham's _Handbook of London Past and Present_, published
when we had been but a few months in existence, down to Wyclyffe's
_Three Treatises on the Church_, recently edited by the Rev. Dr.
Todd--in which the utility of "NOTES AND QUERIES" is publicly
recognised in terms which are highly gratifying to us.

We do not make these statements in any vainglorious spirit. We
believe our success is due to the manner in which, thanks to the
ready assistance of zealous and learned Friends and
Correspondents, we have been enabled to supply a want which all
literary men have felt more or less: and believing that the more
we are known, and the wider our circulation, the greater will be
our usefulness, and the better shall we be enabled to serve the
cause we seek to promote. We feel we may fairly invite increased
support for "NOTES AND QUERIES" on the grounds of what it has
already accomplished.

And so, wishing ourselves many happy returns of this
Centenary--and that you, Gentle Reader, may be spared to enjoy
them, We bid you heartily Farewell!

Notes.

NOTE ON THE CALENDAR.

What every one learns from the almanac, over and above Easter and its consequences for the current year, is that what happens this year is no index at all to what will happen next year. And even those who preserve their almanacs, and compare them in long series, never have been able, so far as I know, to lay hands upon any law connecting the Easters of different years, without having had recourse to the very complicated law on which the whole calendar is constructed.

Nevertheless there does exist a simple relation which reduces the uncertainty in the proportion of five to two; so that by means of one past almanac, we may name _two_ Sundays, one or the other of which must be Easter Sunday. I have never seen this relation noticed, though I have read much (for these days) on the calendar: has any one of your readers ever met with it?

Let us make a _cycle_ of the days on which Easter day can fall, so that when we come to the last (April 25), we begin again at the first (March 22). Thus, six days in advance of April 23, comes March 25; seven days behind March 24, comes April 21.

The following is the _rule_, after which come two cases of _exception_:--

Take any year which is _not_ leap year, then, by passing over _eleven_ years, we either leave Easter day unaltered, or throw it back a week; and it is nearly three to one that we have to leave it unaltered. Thus 1941 is not leap year, and eleven years more give 1952; both have April 13 for Easter day; but of 1943 and 1954, the first gives April 25, the second April 18.

Take any year which _is_ leap year, then, by passing over _eleven_ years, we either throw Easter one day forward, or six days back; and it is about three to two that it will be thrown forward. Thus 1852 (leap year) gives April 11, but 1863 gives April 5.

But when, in passing over eleven years, we pass over 1700, 1800, or any Gregorian omission of leap year, the common year takes the rule just described for leap year; while, if we begin with leap year, the passage over eleven years throws Easter _two_ days forward, or _five_ days back. There is another class of single exceptions, occurring at long intervals, which it is hardly worth while to examine. The only case which occurs between 1582 and 2000, is when the first year is 1970.

Any number of instances may be taken from my _Book of Almanacs_, and the general rule may be easily seen to belong also to the old style. Those who understand the construction of the calendar will very easily find the explanation of the whole.

A. DE MORGAN.

INEDITED LETTERS OF SWIFT.

[By the great kindness of a correspondent who has placed at our
disposal two hitherto inedited letters written by Swift, we are
enabled to present the following literal copies of them to our
readers.

They are obviously addressed to Frances Lady Worsley, only
daughter of Thomas Lord Viscount Weymouth, and wife of Sir Robert
Worsley, Baronet, and the mother of Lady Carteret. In Sir Walter
Scott's edition of Swift's _Works_ (vol. xvii. p. 302.) will be
found one letter from the Dean of St. Patrick to Lady Worsely; and
in vol. xviii. p. 26. is the letter from that lady to the Dean
which accompanied the escritoire alluded to in the second of the
two letters which we now print. This appears from Swift's
endorsement of it--"Lady Worsley, with a present of a writing-box
japanned by herself."]

"Madam,--It is now three years and a half since I had the Honor to see Your Ladyship, and I take it very ill that You have not finished my Box above a Month. But this is allways the way that You Ladyes treat your adorers in their absence. However upon Mrs. Barber's account I will pardon You, because she tells me it is the handsomest piece of work she ever saw; and because you have accepted the honor to be one of her protectors, and are determined to be one of her principall recommenders and encouragers. I am in some doubt whether envy had not a great share in your work, for you were I suppose informed that my Lady Carteret had made for me with her own hands the finest box in Ireland; upon which you grew jealous, and resolved to outdo her by making for me the finest box in England; for so Mrs. Barber assures me. In short, I am quite overloaden with favors from Your Ladyship and your Daughter; and what is worse, those loads will lye upon my Shoulders as long as I live. But I confess my self a little ungrateful, because I cannot deny Your Ladyship to have been the most constant of all my Goddesses, as I am the most constant of all your Worshippers. I hope the Carterets and the Worsleys are all happy and in health, and You are obliged to let Sir Robert Worsley know that I am his most humble Servant; but You need say nothing of my being so long his Rival. I hear my friend Harry is returning from the fiery Zone, I hope with more money than he knows what to do with; but whether his vagabond Spirit will ever fix is a question. I beg your Ladyship will prevail on S'r Robert Worsley to give me a Vicarage in the Isle of Wight; for I am weary of living at such a distance from You. It need not be above forty pounds a year.

"As to Mrs. Barber, I can assure you she is but one of four Poetesses in this town, and all Citizens' wives; but she has the vogue of being the best: yet one of them is a Scholar, and hath published a new edition of Tacitus, with a Latin dedication to My Lord Carteret.

"I require that Your Ladyship shall still preserve me some little corner in your memory; and do not think to put me off onely with a Box, which I can assure you will not contribute in the least to[1] ... my esteem and regard for Your Ladyship.... I have been always, and shall ever remain,

"Madam,

"Your Lady ...

"Obedient and ...
humble...
JON'N....

"Dublin, May 1're, 1731."

[Footnote 1: A small portion of the original letter has been lost.]

[As Lady Worsley's letter serves to explain several allusions in
Swift's letters, and is obviously the one to which the second
letter we print is the reply, we here insert it.]

"August 6th, 1732.

"Sir,--I flatter myself, that if you had received my last letter, you would have favoured me with an answer; therefore I take it for granted it is lost.

"I was so proud of your commands, and so fearful of being supplanted by my daughter, that I went to work immediately, that her box might not keep her in your remembrance, while there was nothing to put you in mind of an old friend and humble servant. But Mrs. Barber's long stay here (who promised me to convey it to you) has made me appear very negligent. I doubt not but you think me unworthy of the share (you once told me) I had in your heart. I am yet vain enough to think I deserve it better than all those flirting girls you coquet with. I will not yield (even) to _dirty Patty_, whom I was the most jealous of when you were last here. What if I am a great-grandmother, I can still distinguish your merit from all the rest of the world; but it is not consistent with your good-breeding to put one in mind of it, therefore I am determined not to use my interest with Sir Robert for a living in the Isle of Wight[2], though nothing else could reconcile me to the place. But if I could make you Archbishop of Canterbury, I should forget my resentments, for the sake of the flock, who very much want a careful shepherd. Are we to have the honour of seeing you, or not? I have fresh hopes given me; but I dare not please myself too much with them, lest I should be again disappointed. If I had it as much in my power as my inclination to serve Mrs. Barber, she should not be kept thus long attending; but I hope her next voyage may prove more successful. She is just come in, and tells me you have sprained your foot, which will prevent your journey till next summer; but assure yourself the Bath is the only infallible cure for such an accident. If you have any regard remaining for me, you will shew it by taking my advice; if not, I will endeavour to forget you, if I can. But, till that doubt is cleared, I am as much as ever, the Dean's

"Obedient humble Servant,

"F. WORSLEY."

[Footnote 2: Where her husband, Sir Robert Worsley, possessed the
estate of Appuldercombe.]

"Madam,--I will never tell, but I will always remember how many years have run out since I had first the honor and happiness to be known to Your Ladyship, which however I have a thousand times wished to have never happened, since it was followed by the misfortune of being banished from You for ever. I believe you are the onely Lady in England that for a thousand years past hath so long remembered a useless friend in absence, which is too great a load of favor for me and all my gratitude to support.

"I can faithfully assure your Ladyship that I never received from You more than one letter since I saw you last; and that I sent you a long answer. I often forget what I did yesterday, or what passed half an hour ago; and yet I can well remember a hundred particulars in Your Ladyship's company. This is the memory of those who grow old. I have no room left for new Ideas. I am offended with one passage in Your Ladyship's letter; but I will forgive You, because I do not believe the fact, and all my acquaintance here joyn with me in my unbelief. You make excuses for not sooner sending me the most agreeable present that ever was made, whereas it is agreed by all the curious and skilfull of both sexes among us, that such a piece of work could not be performed by the most dextrous pair of hands and finest eyes in Christendom, in less than a year and a half, at twelve hours a day. Yet Mrs. Barber, corrupted by the obligations she hath to you, would pretend that I over reckon six months, and six hours a day. Be that as it will, our best virtuosi are unanimous that the Invention exceeds, if possible, the work itself. But to all these praises I coldly answer, that although what they say be perfectly true, or indeed below the truth, yet if they had ever seen or conversed with Your Ladyship as I have done, they would have thought this escritoire a very poor performance from such hands, such eyes, and such an imagination. To speak my own thoughts, the work itself does not delight me more than the little cares you were pleased to descend to in contriving ways to have it conveyed so far without damage, whereof it received not the least from without; what there was came from within; for one of the little rings that lifts a drawer for wax, hath touched a part of one of the Pictures, and made a mark as large as the head of a small pin; but it touches onely an end of a cloud; and yet I have been carefull to twist a small thread of silk round that wicked ring, who promiseth to do so no more.

"Your Ladyship wrongs me in saying that I twitted you with being a great-grandmother. I was too prudent and carefull of my own credit to offer the least hint upon that head, while I was conscious that I might have been great-grandfather to you.

"I beg you, Madam, that there may be no quarrells of jealousy between Your Ladyship and My Lady Carteret: I set her at work by the authority I claymed over her as your daughter. The young woman showed her readynesse, and performed very well for a new beginner, and deserves encouragement. Besides, she filled the Chest with Tea, whereas you did not send me a single pen, a stick of wax, or a drop of Ink; for all which I must bear the charge out of my own pocket. And after all if Your Ladyship were not by I would say that My Lady Carteret's Box (as you disdainfully call it instead of a Tea-chest) is a most beautiful piece of work, and is oftener used than yours, because it is brought down for tea after dinner among Ladyes, whereas my escritoire never stirrs out of my closet, but when it is brought for a sight. Therefore I again desire there may be no family quarrells upon my account.

"As to Patty Blount, you wrong her very much. She was a neighbor's child, a good Catholick, an honest Girl, and a tolerable Courtier at Richmond. I deny she was dirty, but a little careless, and sometimes wore a ragged gown, when she and I took long walks. She saved her money in summer onely to be able to keep a Chair at London in winter: this is the worst you can say; and she might have a whole coat to her back if her good nature did not make her a fool to her mother and sanctifyed sister Teresa. And she was the onely Girl I coquetted in the whole half year that I lived with Mr. Pope in Twitenham, whatever evil tongues might have informed your Ladyship, in hopes to set you against me. And after this usage, if I accept the Archbishoprick of Canterbury from your Ladyship's hands, I think you ought to acknowledge it as a favor.

"Are you not weary, Madam? Have you patience to read all this? I am bringing back past times; I imagine myself talking with you as I used to do; but on a sudden I recollect where I am sitting, banished to a country of slaves and beggars; my blood soured, my spirits sunk, fighting with Beasts like St. Paul, not at Ephesus, but in Ireland.

"I am not of your opinion, that the flocks (in either Kingdom) want better Shepherds; for, as the French say, 'à tels brebis tel pasteur:' and God be thanked that I have no flock at all, so that I neither can corrupt nor be corrupted.

"I never saw any person so full of acknowledgment as Mrs. Barber is for Your Ladyship's continued favors to her, nor have I known any person of a more humble and gratefull spirit than her, or who knows better how to distinguish the Persons by whom she is favored. But I will not honor myself so far, or dishonor you so much, as to think I can add the least weight to your own naturall goodness and generosity.

"You must, as occasion serves, Present my humble respects to My Lord and Lady Carteret, and my Lady Dysert, and to S'r Robert Worsley.

"I am, and shall be ever, with the truest respect, esteem, and gratitude,

"Madam,

"Your Ladyship's most obedient
and most humble Servant,

"JONATH. SWIFT.

"Dublin, Nov. 4're, 1732.

"I know not where my old friend Harry Worsley is, but I am his most humble servant."

[On the back of the Letter is the following Postscript.]

"Madam,--I writ this Letter two months ago, and was to send it by Mrs. Barber; but she falling ill of the gout, and I deferring from day to day, expecting her to mend, I was at last out of patience. I have sent it among others by a private hand.

"I wish Your Ladyship and all your family many happy new years.

"Jan. 8'e, 1732."

NINEVEH INSCRIPTIONS.

The accumulation of these treasures in London and Paris, leads to the belief that they will soon be decyphered. The following remarks are offered in promotion of so desirable an object. It must be premised that a printer, when requiring type from the type-founder for English books, does not order the same quantity for each letter; but, according to a scale adapted to the requirements of printing, he orders only so many of each letter as he is likely to use. That scale may be nearly represented in the following way: the letter _z_ being the one least used in English, he will require

Twice the number of letter z for letter x
Twice also -- -- j
2-1/2 times -- -- q
4 " -- -- k
6 " -- -- v
8 " -- -- b
8-1/2 " -- -- p
8-1/2 " -- -- g
10 " -- -- y
10 " -- -- w
15 " -- -- m
15 " -- -- c
17 " -- -- u
20-1/2 " -- -- l
21 " -- -- f
22 " -- -- d
31 " -- -- r
32 " -- -- h
40 " -- -- s
40 " -- -- n
40 " -- -- o
41-1/2 " -- -- i
42-1/2 " -- -- a
45 " -- -- t
60 " -- -- e

Suppose now a person to write English in cypher, using unknown characters for the well-known letters; it would be easy to decypher his writing, _if of sufficient length_ to make the general rule acted on in the printing trade applicable. The decypherer, by selecting each distinct unknown character, and numbering them respectively, would find that the character oftenest occurring was _e_, the next oftenest _t_, and so on to the character having the lowest number, being least used, which would of course be _z_. Persons accustomed to decypher European correspondence for diplomatic purposes, will pronounce best on the practicability of this method for the decyphering of modern languages.

It is proposed then to apply the same method in the several languages _supposed_ nearest of kin to that of the Nineveh inscriptions. Without entering into the reasons for that opinion, it may suffice, for the present purpose of illustration, to assume that the language of these inscriptions is Chaldee. To apply this method the numbers of each letter occurring in the Targum of Onkelos on Genesis, or the whole Pentateuch, should be taken. This enumeration has been made as regards the Hebrew (see Bagster's _Family Bible_, at the end of Deuteronomy). The readiest mode of effecting such enumeration would be to employ twenty-two persons knowing the Chaldee letters, and to assign a letter to each, calling out to them each letter as it occurred in Onkelos, whilst each person kept count of his own letter on a tally, and summing up the total gave in the result to the reader _at the end of each chapter_. This would be necessary with a view to ascertain what _quantity_ of unknown inscription was required to evolve the rule, as the proposed method is clearly inapplicable when the quantity of matter to be decyphered is inconsiderable.

Having gone over sufficient ground to satisfy himself of the _certainty_ of the rule, the decypherer would next count the numbers of each distinct character in all the cuneiform inscriptions accessible to him, making allowance for _final_ letters, also for vowel points which may be attached to the character, as in Ethiopic. Assuming the rule in Chaldee to be the same as in Hebrew (it is in fact very different), he would find the character oftenest occurring in the Nineveh inscriptions to be [Hebrew: Vav], the next [Hebrew: Mem], the rest in the following order as to frequency of occurrence, [Hebrew: Yod], [Hebrew: Tav], [Hebrew: Kaf], [Hebrew: He], [Hebrew: Alef], [Hebrew: Nun], [Hebrew: Lamed]; [Hebrew: Bet ?], [Hebrew: Dalet ?], [Hebrew: Shin], [Hebrew: Bet ?], [Hebrew: Het ?], [Hebrew: Qof], [Hebrew: Zayin], [Hebrew: Pe], [Hebrew: Dalet ?], [Hebrew: Tsadi], [Hebrew: Ayin], [Hebrew: Samekh], [Hebrew: Tet]; the first letter, [Hebrew: Vav], _vau_, occurring nearly seven times as often as [Hebrew: Tet], _teth_. The order of the letters would, in fact, vary much from this in Chaldee; the servile letters being different would alone much disturb the assumed order, actually ascertained nevertheless, as respects the Hebrew letters, in the five books of Moses. One word as to the order in which the several languages should be experimented on. The Chaldee would be the first, and next in succession, (2) the Syriac, (3) the Ethiopic, (4) the Arabic, (5) the Hebrew (_die jungste Schwester_[3]), and (6) the Pehlvi. The Indo-European languages would, in case of failure in the above, claim next attention: of these first the _Zend_, next (2) the Sanscrit, then (3) the Armenian, &c. &c.

[Footnote 3: Adelung in _Mithridates_.]

The resemblance of many of the characters on the Babylonian bricks, as well as on the stones of Nineveh, is very great to the characters known in our Bibles as Hebrew, but which are in fact not Hebrew but Chaldee, and were introduced by the Jews subsequent to their Babylonish captivity: the original Hebrew character was that still existing on coins, and nearly approximates in many respects to the Samaritan character. In some MSS. collated by Kennicott, he found the tetragrammaton "Jehovah" written in this ancient character, whilst the rest was Chaldee. The characteristic of the unknown letters is their resemblance to nails, to arrow-heads, and to wedges, from which, indeed, they are commonly designated. In the Chaldee (the Hebrew of our Bibles) this is also strikingly visible, notwithstanding the effect of time in wearing down the arridges: thus, in the oftenest recurring letter, [Hebrew: Vav], in the left leg of the [Hebrew: Tav], in [Hebrew: Ayin], in [Hebrew: Tsadi], in [Hebrew: Tet], in [Hebrew: Nun], in [Hebrew: Mem], and especially in [Hebrew: Shin], the cuneiform type is most clearly traceable. One of the unknown characters, [Shin-like Symbol], seems almost identical with [Hebrew: Shin], allowance being made for the cursive form which written characters assume after centuries of use.

The horn is very conspicuous on the heads of men in the Nineveh (Asshur) sculptures, still, as a fashion, retained in Ethiopia (Cush, Abyssinia[4]), the origin of the Chaldeans, through Nimrod the Cushite (Gen. x. 8.), who probably derived their chief sustenance from the river Tigris (Hiddekel). Subsistence from (1) fishing, (2) hunting (_e.g._ Nimrod), (3) grazing, and (4) agriculture, seems to have succeeded in the order named. The repeated appearance of _fish_ on the same sculptures, is in allusion, doubtless, to the name Nineveh (= fish + habitation); and their worship of the half-man, half-fish (the fabulous mermaid or merman), to which many of the _Cetaceæ_ bear a close resemblance (the sea-horse for example), common with them and the Phoenicians (in the latter tongue named Dagon), is probably allusive, in their symbolic style, to the abstract notion of _fecundity_, so general an element of veneration in all the known mythological religions of ancient and modern times. See Nahum _passim_.

[Footnote 4: Alexander the Great adopted the horns as Jupiter
Ammon. See Vincent's _Periplus of the Erythrean Sea_, and
frontispiece. The women of Lebanon have, it appears, retained the
fashion. See _Pict. Bible_ on Zech. i. 18.]

From an attentive examination of these monuments in the British Museum, it appears highly probable that the writing is from left to right, as in the Ethiopic and Coptic, and in the Indo-European family generally, and is the reverse of all the other Shemitic tongues. This inference is derived from the fact that each line (with few exceptions) ranges with those above and below, as in a printed book, perpendicularly on the _left_, and breaks off on the _right_ hand, as at the termination of a sentence, whilst some of the characters seem to stretch beyond the usual line of limit to the right, as if the sculptor had made the common error of not having _quite_ space enough for a word not divisible.

The daguerreotype might be advantageously used in copying all the inscriptions yet discovered, of each of which three or four copies should be taken, to obviate mistakes and accidents. These being brought to England and carefully examined by the microscope, should be legibly engraved and stereotyped, and sent to all the linguists of Europe and elsewhere, and copies should also be deposited in all public libraries.

A comparison of the twelve cursive letters in Mr. Layard's _Nineveh_, vol. ii. p. 166., with Büttner's tables at the end of the first volume of Eichhorn's _Einleitung in das Alte Testament_ (Leipzic, 1803), has led to an unexpected result. The particular table with which the comparison was instituted, is No. II. Class i. Phoenician, col. 2., headed "Palæstinæ in nummis;" any person therefore can verify it. This result is the following reading in the proper Chaldee character:--

[Hebrew: RaBKaLBeNO--VeSheeSh--DiN]
RaBKaLBeNO--VeSheeSh--DiN.

The meaning is "_Rabbi_ (Mr.) _Kalbeno_"--"_And six_"--"_Judge_." Perhaps Kalbeno should be Albeno, the initial letter being obscure. The above is put forth as a curious coincidence, not by any means with the certainty which a much more extended examination than a dozen letters can afford.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

INEDITED LETTER OF ALFIERI.

[The circumstances which led to Alfieri's hasty retreat from
England in 1771, and to Lord Ligonier's successful application for
a divorce, are doubtless familiar to all who have read the very
amusing Autobiography of the Italian poet. At all events we must
presume so, as they are scarcely of a nature to be reproduced in
"NOTES AND QUERIES." Twenty years after that event, when about to
embark for the Continent with the Countess of Albany, Alfieri, as
he was stepping on board the packet, saw again for the first time
since 1771 Lady Ligonier, who was on the quay. They recognised
each other, but that was all.

Alfieri, after describing this event in the 21st chapter of his
Autobiography, proceeds:--"Si arrivo a Calais; di dove io molto
colpito di quella vista cosi inespettata le volli scrivere per
isfogo del cuore, e mandai la mia lettera al Banchiere de Douvres,
che glie la rimettesse in proprie mani, e me ne trasmettesse poi
la risposta a Bruxelles, dove sarei stato fra pochi giorni. _La
mia lettera, di cui mi spiace di non aver serbato copia_ era
certamente piena d' affetti, non gia d' amore, ma di una vera e
profonda commozione di vederla ancora menare una vita errante e si
poco decorosa al suo stato e nascita, e di dolore che io ne
sentiva tanto più pensando di esserne io stato ancorche
innocentement o li cagione o li pretesto."

The original letter of Alfieri (which we presume he would have
inserted in his Autobiography, had he kept a copy of it, seeing
that he has there printed Lady Ligonier's reply) is in the
possession of a nobleman, a relative of the unfortunate lady; and
we are enabled by the kindness of a correspondent to lay before
our readers the following copy of it.

How far it bears out the writer's description of it we do not stop
to ask; but certainly if the reader will take the trouble to turn
to the conclusion of the chapter to which we have referred, we
think he cannot fail to be struck with the difference between the
terms in which the quondam lover writes _of_ the lady, and those
which he addresses _to_ her in the following Epistle.[5]]

[Footnote 5: In the only edition of the _Vita_ (12mo. 1809) to
which we have an opportunity of referring, this event is
represented as occurring in 1791: it will be seen that it really
took place in 1792. The lady's reply is there dated (tom. ii. p.
193.) "Dover, 25th _April_," instead of 24th _August_.]

"Calais, Mercredi, 24 Aout, 1792.

"Madam,--Mon silence en vous revoyant après vingt années d'absence, a été le fruit de l'étonnement, et non pas de l'indifférence. C'est un sentiment qui m'est inconnu pour les personnes qui m'ont intéressé une fois, et pour vous surtout, dont j'ai à me reprocher toute ma vie d'avoir été la principale cause de toutes vos vicissitudes. Si j'avois eu le courage de m'approcher de vous, ma langue n'auroit certainement jamais retrouvé d'expression pour vous rendre tous les mouvemens tumultueux de mon âme et de mon coeur à cette apparition si subite et si momentanée. Je n'aurois trouvé que des larmes pour vous dire tout ce que je sentais; et en vous le traçant confusement sur ce papier, elles viennent encore m'interrompre. Ce n'est pourtant pas de l'amour qui me parle pour vous, mais c'est un mélange de sentimens si tendres, de souvenirs, de regrets, et d'inquiétude pour votre sort présent et future, que vous pouvez seule comprendre ou diviner. Je n'ai dans le cours de ces vingt ans jamais sçu au juste de vos nouvelles. Un mariage d'inclination que j'appris que vous aviez fait, devoit faire votre bonheur. J'apprends à présent que cela n'a pas rempli vos espérances: je m'en afflige pour vous. Au nom de Dieu, faites-moi seulement sçavoir si vous êtes heureuse au moins; c'est là l'objet de mes voeux les plus ardents. Je ne vous parle point de moi; je ne sçais pas si mon sort peut vous intéresser de même; je vous dirai seulement que l'âge ne me corrige point du défaut de trop sentir; que, malgré cela, je suis aussi heureux que je puis l'être, et que rien ne manqueroit à ma félicité, si je vous sçavois contente et heureuse. Mais au cas que cela ne soit pas, adoucissez-moi du moins l'amertume de cette nouvelle en me disant expressément que ce n'est point moi qui en ai été la cause, et que vous ne désespérez pas d'être encore heureuse et d'accord avec vous-même.

"Je finis, parce que j'aurois trop de choses à vous dire, et que ma lettre deviendroit plustôt celle d'un père, que celle d'un ancien amant. Mais la cause de mes paroles étant dans le sensibilité de mon coeur, je ne doute point que la sensibilité du vôtre, dont j'ai été convaincu, ne les reçoive avec indulgence, et avec un reste d'affection que je n'ai pas mérité de perdre de votre part. Si vous voulez donc me dire quelque chose de vous, et que ma lettre ne vous a point déplu, vous pouvez addresser votre réponse à Bruxelles, poste restante. Si vous ne jugez point à-propos de me répondre, faites seulement sçavoir à la personne qui vous fera remettre celle-ci, que vous l'avez reçue. Cela me consolera un peu de la douleur que m'a causé le rétracement subit de vos infortunes, que votre vue a toute réveillées dans mon âme. Adieu, donc, adieu.

"VITTORIO ALFIERI."

STANZAS IN "CHILDE HAROLD."

There is a famous passage in one of Lord Byron's most famous poems, which I am ashamed to confess that, though I am English born, and a constant reader of poetry, I cannot clearly understand. It seems to present no difficulties to anybody else, for it has been quoted a thousand times over and over, without any intimation that it is not as clear as light. It is in the sublime Address to the Ocean at the end of