to see, for the first time, that there are here shown photographs which aim at more than the bare copying of any particular spot; for many of the pictures here exhibited may rank as fine works of art. We feel much delicacy and hesitation in mentioning any particular artist, where so many are entitled to praise, especially in some particular departments. We could point out pictures having all the minute truthfulness of nature, combined with the beautiful effects of some of the greatest painters. We must, however, direct especial attention to the landscapes of Mr. Turner, the views in the Pyrenees by Mr. Stewart, and one splendid one of the same locality by Le Gray. Mr. Buckle's views in paper also exhibit a sharpness and detail almost equal to collodion; as do the various productions of Mr. Fenton in wax paper. The effects obtained also by Mr. Owen of Bristol appear to be very satisfactory: why they are, with so much excellence, called experimental, we cannot tell. In collodion Mr. Berger has exhibited some effective portraits; and we think the success of Mr. De la Motte has been so great, that in some of his productions little remains to be desired. We cannot conclude this brief notice without directing attention to the minuteness and pleasing effect of the views in Rome by M. Eugène Constant, which are also from collodion; as also the specimens from albumen negatives of M. Ferrier; and, lastly, to the pleasant fact that lady amateurs are now practising this art,—very nice specimens being here exhibited by the Ladies Nevill, whose example we shall hope to see followed.

Replies to Minor Queries. Quotation in Locke (Vol. vi., p. 386.). - The words "Si non vis intelligi non debes legi" were, I believe, the exclamation of St. Jerome, as he threw his copy of Persius into the fire in a fit of testiness at being unable to construe some tough lines of that tough author. I set down this reply from memory, and am unable to give the authority

for it.

W. FRASER. Pic-nic (Vol. vi., pp. 152. 518.).—The Query of A. F. S. (p. 152.) as to the etymology of pic-nic still remains unanswered. The Note of W. W. (p. 518.) merely refers to the time (1802) when pic-nic suppers first became fashionable in England. Under a French form, the word appears in a speech of Robespierre's, quoted in the British and Foreign Review for July, 1844, p. 620.: "C'est ici qu'il doit m'accuser, et non dans les piques-niques, dans les sociétés particulières." An earlier instance occurs in one of Lord Chesterfield's letters (No. 167.), dated October 1748. JAYDEE.

Discovery at Nuneham Regis (Vol. vi., pp. 386. 488.588.).-Nuneham Regis was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, in the seventh

year of King Edward VI.; but as it was forfeited on his attainder, in the first year of Queen Mary, and immediately granted by her to Sir Rowland Hill, knight, and citizen of London, from whom Sir Thomas Leigh, knight, and alderman of London, almost immediately acquired it; and as he exercised the right of presentation to the vicarage in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there is no probability of the body of John, Duke of Northumberland, being removed from the Tower of London to Newnham.

The letters T. B. on the clothes on the body at Nuneham are distinctly worked in Roman capitals, like those on a common sampler. I have seen them. J. S.s. Door-head Inscriptions (Vol. vi., p. 543.).— "Sit mihi nec glis servus nec hospes hirudo." "From servant lazy as dormouse,

Or leeching guest, God keep my house." MR. WOODWARD tells us that he quotes this inscription "from memory:" it is so very pertinent that it seems a pity even to hint a correction, but, as I read it, it seemed partly familiar to me, and I find something so like the latter part of it in two ancient authors, that I am tempted to inquire whether he may not have omitted one letter, which alters the sense as given above, and yet gives a sense as good.

Among the Symbols of Pythagoras, I read the the following:

σε μωροφιους χελιδωνας μη εχειν.” "Domesticas hirundines ne habeto." To the same effect (but, strange to say, without any reference to Pythagoras' dictum), we find it in the proverbia of Polydore Virgil (A.D. 1498): "Hirundo suscipienda non est."

and the exposition is the same in both :

"Hirundo garrula semper, i. e. garruli et tumigeri homines recipiendi non sunt."

scription. Probably MR. WOODWARD will agree I find no original for the former part of the in

with me, that it is difficult to decide whether a greedy or a gossipping guest would be the worst household infliction; but as a careful householder might well deprecate either, as matter of curiosity perhaps he would refer to the original inscription again, and decide whether he has or has not omitted A. B. R.

an "n."

Belmont.

Sudbury House, Derbyshire:

"Omne Bonum Dei Donum,"

At Verona :

"Patet Janua, Cox magis."

The next I have seen somewhere: "Detur digniori."

Clyst St. George.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Cross and Pile (Vol. vi., pp. 386. 513.). - The pile is invariably on the obverse or head side of a coin; and pile or poll both mean the head, from whence the "poll tax and "poll groat"- a tax paid by the head, or a personal tax, of which we have an historical example of its collector in the case of Wat Tyler.

Ruding, in Annals of the Coinage, vol. ii. p. 119., 8vo., edit. 1819, states that Ed. I. A.D. 1304, in the delivering out the stamps for the coinage, orders that three piles and six crosses shall be given. It is well known to all numismatists that all, or most early coins, both Saxon and English, had a head on the obverse and a cross on the reverselatter being placed on the coins as symbolical of Christianity.

the

Pile also means the hair, or any filament: as the "pile of velvet, the nap of woollen cloth," &c. And Jamieson, in his Scotch Dictionary, says:

66 PILE. The soft hair which first appears on the

chins of young men."

Coles, Ashe, Webster, and others give the same meaning.

The superstitious effect of the cross as a charm or amulet is well known; from whence the saying: "I have never a cross in my purse to keep the Devil away."

Again:

"Priests were coin-proof against the Devil; they never being without money, of course, always had a cross in their pocket.”—Gilpin's Beehive of the Romish Church, 1636, p. 251.

And Nash, in the Supplication of Pierce Penniless to the Devil, makes Pierce say :

"Whereas your impious excellence hath had the poore tenement of my purse anytime this half year for your dancing schole, and he, notwithstanding, hath received no penye nor crosse for farme," &c.

And the poet Skelton says:

and in his pouche, The Devil might dance therein for any crouche." P. 71.

Trusting the above will be satisfactory to D.W.S., I beg to conclude, thinking you will say I have Tready made "much ado about nothing." GODDARD JOHNSON.

Rhymes upon Places (Vol. vi., p. 281.).—Perhaps you will think the following rhymes upon places worth insertion :

"I stood upon Eyemouth Fort,

And guess ye what I saw ?
Fairmiside and Furmintong,
Neuhouses and Cocklaw,
The fairy fouk o' Fosterland,
The witches o' Edincran,
The bly-rigs o' Reston;
But Dunse dings a'."

Near the seaside village of Eyemouth, in Berwickshire, is a promontory marked with a succession of grassy mounds, the remains of a fort built there in the regency of Mary of Lorraine. A number of places are represented as visible from the fort: but here fact is not strictly adhered to.

Fosterland once existed in the parish of Bunkle as a small village; but even its vestiges are not now visible on the brown moor where it once stood. Edincran, properly Auchincran, is an estate in the vicinity of Fosterland, as is Reston also. There is a variation as follows:

"The fairy fouk o' Fosterland,
The witches o' Edincran,
And the rye-kail o' Reston
Gar'd a' the dogs die."

The rye-kail alluded to must have been a broth chiefly made from rye, which grain, it is well known, is sometimes so much tainted as to be poisonous.

Birmingham.

C. BENSON.

'Apvíov (Vol vi., p. 509.).—Probably your correspondent is aware of the explanation given by but does not think it satisfactory. Still, as he Dr. Wordsworth in his book on the Apocalypse, does not allude to it, I venture to transcribe it :

"The Apocalyse abounds in contrasts. For example, the LAMB, who is always called 'Aμvòs, never 'Apvíov, in St. John's Gospel, is called 'Apvíov, never 'Aμvòs, in St. John's Apocalypse, in which 'Apvíov occurs twentynine times. And why does d'Auvòs here become T ̓Αρνίον? Το contrast Him more strongly with τὸ Onpíov, that is, to mark the opposition between the LAMB and the Beast.

To this a note is appended:

"This contrast is even more striking in the original, where it is aided by an exact correspondence of syllables and accents. On one side are-• Η πόρνη καὶ τὸ Θηρίον:

On the other

• Ἡ Νύμφη καὶ τὸ ̓Αρνίον.

See Rev. xxi. 2. 9., xxii. 17.”—In the Church of Rome
Babylon ? p. 58.: London, 1851.
A. A.D.

'Apvlov and auròs both denote a lamb. In John i. 29. 36., the latter is applied to Jesus by John the

Baptist. In Acts viii. 32., and 1 Pet. i. 19., the term is manifestly derived from Isa. liii. 7., the Septuagint translation. But, in the Revelation, the word selected by the apostle is simply to be viewed as characteristic of his style. Taken in connection with John i. 29. 36., the difference presents one of those points which so strikingly attest the authenticity of the Scripture. If the writer had drawn upon his imagination, in all likelihood he would have used the word apviov in the Gospel; but he employed another, because the Baptist actually made use of a different one, i. e. one different from that which he was in the habit of employing. B. H. CowPer.

Who was the greatest General (Vol. vi., p. 509.). - In reply to the following Query, "Who was the greatest general, and why and wherefore did the Duke of Wellington give the palm to Hannibal?" I think the following note appended to the eloquent sermon of Dr. Croly, preached on the death of the Duke, Sept. 19th, not only shows the humility of the Duke in giving preference to Hannibal over himself, but it contains so just a comparison between the two generals, that it deserves recording in the valuable and useful pages of the "N. & Q.," as well as being a perfect and true answer to C. T.:

"It has been usual," the note says, "to compare Wellington with Hannibal. But those who make the comparison seem to forget the facts:

"Hannibal, descending from the Alps with a disciplined force of 26,000 men, met the brave Roman Militia, commanded by brave blockheads, and beat them accordingly. But, as soon as he was met by a man of common sense, Fabius, he could do nothing with him; when he met a manoeuvring officer, the Consul Nero, he was outmanoeuvred, and lost his brother Asdrubal's army which was equivalent to his losing Italy; and when he met an active officer, Scipio, he was beaten on his own ground, Finally, forced to take refuge with a foreign power, he was there a prisoner, and there he died."

"His administrative qualities seem to have been of the humblest, or of the most indolent, order. For fourteen years he was in possession of, or in influence with, all the powers of southern Italy, then the richest portion of the peninsula. Yet this possession was wrested from him without an effort; and where he might have been a monarch, he was only a pensioner. His punic faith, his flight, his refuge, and his death in captivity, might find a more complete resemblance in the history of Napoleon."

The following concluding sentence of Dr. Croly's note conveys a truer and far more just comparison with another great general :

"The life of the first Cæsar forms a much fairer comparison with that of Wellington. Both nobly born; both forcing their way up through the gradations of service, outstripping all their age; forming their characters by warfare in foreign countries; always com

:

manding small armies, yet always invincible (Cæsar won the World at Pharsalia with only 25,000 men): both alike courageous and clement, unfailing in resources, and indefatigable in their objects; receiving the highest rewards, and rising to the highest rank of their times; never beaten both of first-rate ability in council. The difference being in their objects: one to serve himself, the other to serve his country; one impelled by ambition, the other by duty; one destroying the constitution of his country, the other sustaining it. Wellington, too, has given the soldier and statesman his Commentaries,' one of the noblest transcripts of a great administrative mind."

Worcester.

J. M. G.

Beech-trees struck by Lightning (Vol. vi., p. 129.) On Thinnigrove Common, near Nettlebed, Oxon, a beech-tree, one of three or four growing round a pit, was shattered by lightning about thirteen or fourteen years ago. A gentleman who has lived sixty years in the neighbourhood of the beech woods near Henley, tells me that he remembers three or four similar cases. Single beechtrees, which are very ornamental, generally grow very low and wide-spreading, which may be the reason why they often escape. On the other hand, in the woods, where they run up close and very high, they present so many points of attraction to the electric fluid, that probably for that cause it is not often the case that one tree in particular is struck. CORYLUS.

Portsmouth.

Passage in Tennyson (Vol. vi., p. 272.).-It appears to me that Tennyson has fallen into the error of a Latin construction. I call it an error, because in that language the varied terminations of the cases and numbers make that plain which we have no means of evidencing in English. I should translate it "Numenii strepitus volantis" "The call of the curlew dreary (drearily) gleams about the moorland, as he flies o'er Locksley Hall." The summer note of the curlew is a shrill clear whistle, but in winter they sometimes indulge in a wild melancholy scream. CORYLUS.

Portsmouth.

Inscriptions in Churches (Vol. vi., p. 510.).I differ from your reply to NORWOOD'S Query, in which you refer to the colloquy between Queen Elizabeth and Dean Nowell as the origin of these inscriptions. No doubt they were derived from the custom of our ante-Reformation ancestors, of painting figures and legends of saints upon the walls of churches; but the following instance will suffice to prove that they originated in the reign of Edward VI., and not in Queen Elizabeth's.

In the interesting paper by the Rev. E. Venables in the Transactions of the Cambridge Camden Society, on "The Church of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge," he gives, under the year

4 4d." They do not appear to have been restored after this, for in the year 1840 some of the plaister

between two of the windows of the south aisle peeling off, discovered traces of "wryghtynge' beneath; and I and another member of the Cambridge Camden Society spent some time in laying it bare, and after much difficulty made out that it was the Lord's Prayer in English, headed, "The Lord's Prayer, called the Paternoster," and written in the church text of the period, the whole enclosed in a sort of arabesque border; it was not merely whited over, but had evidently been partially effaced, or partly "washed oute," before being "concealed under its dreary shroud of whitewash." On examination there were traces of more of this writing between the other windows, but we had not time to make any further investigation, for the church was then being cleaned, and in a few days all that we had laid bare was again concealed under a veil of whitewash.

Thus, I think, we may assign to the reign of Edward VI., not merely the obliteration of the numerous frescoes of St. Christopher, the great dome, &c., which are now so constantly coming to light, but also the origin of "wryghtynge of y chyrch walls with scriptures" in their stead, some ten or twelve years earlier than the remarkable colloquy between Queen Elizabeth and the worthy Dean of St. Paul's. NORRIS DECK. Cambridge.

"An unanswerable defence of Phonetic Spelling, and one of the earliest schemes of Phonetic Orthography. A considerable portion of the book being printed in the author's Phonetic Alphabet (given in the present edition in Phonetic Longhand), we have thus exhibited the pronunciation of the age of Shakspeare.' W. C. TREVELYAN.

Kentish Local Names; Dray (Vol. vi., p. 410.). - In the low embanked land in the west of Somersetshire, between Bristol and Taunton, the word drove is used in the same acceptation; and driftway, I think, is also a term for ancient British roads in some parts of the kingdom. W. C. TREVELYAN.

Monument at Modstena (Vol. vi., p. 388.).—This monument was first published in Archæologia Eliana. I believe it is an incised slab; but I have written to a friend in the north to inquire whether I am correct. W. C. TREVELYAN.

Book-plates (Vol. iii., p. 495.). MR. PARSONS, plates, about which I cannot offer any informit appears, limits his inquiries to English bookation. It is certain, however, that book-plates were used on the Continent at a very early period. I remember to have seen one, from a wood-block, which was cut by Albert Dürer for his friend Pirkheimer. As it is sixteen years since I saw it expected to give a precise description; but (as at the Imperial Library at Vienna, I cannot be far as I recollect) the wording of it was as follows: "Bilibaldi Pirckheimeri et Amicorum."

anatomical work (Basil, 1555) has the book-plate A copy which I possess of Vesalius's great of a former Duke of Mecklenburg pasted inside the cover. It is a woodcut, ten inches by six and a half, representing the ducal arms, surrounded by an ornamented border. Beneath are the date and inscription: