Chapter C: E. D

"_History is Philosophy teaching by Examples_" (Vol. v., p. 153.).--If your correspondent T., who cannot find this passage in any of Lord Bolingbroke's writings, will turn to the second letter of that nobleman, "On the Study and Use of History," he will perceive that the sentence is there quoted from Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The writer in the _Encyclopædia Metropolitana_ evidently takes it at second-hand from this work; and there can be no doubt that the currency of the quotation is entirely attributable to Lord Bolingbroke's use of it. This sentence is the text which he illustrates at much length in his historical essay.

JOSHUA G. FITCH.

_On a Passage in Pope_ (Vol. i., p. 201.).--P. C. S. S. has an inquiry respecting the interpretation of these lines in Pope's Imitation of Horace's "Epistle to Augustus:"

"The hero William and the martyr Charles,
One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles;
_Which made old Ben, and surly Dennis swear,
'No Lord's Anointed, but a Russian bear!'_"

And C. having repeated this Query (Vol. iv., p. 59.), I am induced to impart to them a "guess" which I made not long since. I must premise by asking your correspondents whether the unctuous substance known as "bear's grease" was in use at the period referred to; and if the reply be in the affirmative, I would suggest the following interpretation of the couplet.

King William and King Charles had shown so little wisdom and discrimination in their knighting and pensioning of worthless poets, that they must be supposed to have been anointed, at their coronation, with bear's grease, instead of the holy ointment commonly used for such purposes, and which is considered to possess the power of conferring on the kingly office those very virtues in which William and Charles had shown themselves so deficient. In this sense, Old Ben and Dennis, each in reference to the sovereign of his time, might have exclaimed,--

"No Lord's Anointed, but a Russian bear."

--the word "Russian" being obviously intended to describe bears in general.

It is not for me to say how far this guess about "bear's grease" may suit the fancy of C. and P. C. S. S. They will probably look upon it as "tiré par les cheveux." If so, let them produce a better solution.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Plague Stones_ (Vol. v., pp. 226. 333.).--Near Ravensworth Castle is a stone column, concerning which there is a tradition that it was one of the crosses erected to hold markets at during the great plague at Newcastle in 1645, when the produce of the county was not allowed to be exposed for sale at a less distance than three miles from that town.

C. T.

There is another stone of this description on the boundary between Dent and Widdal, in the West Riding of the county of York; it is near an old road from Dent to Hawes, and is now called the "Cross upon Cross-hills."

W. B. M.

Dee Side.

"_Archæologia Cambrensis, Vol. I., 2nd Edit._"--In reply to the Queries of R. H. (see No. 125. p. 274.), 1. "Why the reprinted pages of the 1st volume of the _Archæologia Cambrensis_ do not agree with those in the original copies?" and 2. Why "nearly a whole page of _interesting matter_ has been omitted?"--it may be sufficient to state that the introduction of two additional notes at pages 204. and 209. rendered the first impossible: and, secondly, that the omission complained of was anything but of interest, as it only related to a supposed irregularity in the delivery of the early numbers, which subsequent inquiry proved to be groundless, and therefore it was suppressed.

Besides the notes above-mentioned, the letter-press has been revised and various typographical errors corrected, so as to render the second edition in many respects superior to the first.

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_Town-halls_ (Vol. v., p. 295.).--MR. PARKER is reminded of the very curious Town-hall at Ashburton, in Devonshire, constructed entirely of timber.