24 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. VII. Jan. 8, '69. 



authority. Brucker cites the following from Dio- 

 dorus Siculus (I. i. c. 28.) : — 



" Non licebat enim in ^gypto medicis ex artis et ra- 

 tionis regulis medicamenta pr?escribere : sed, teste Dio- 

 doro, medicinam ex lege scripta faciebant, et per multos 

 ab antiquo medicos illustres concinnatam applicabant. 

 Si leges, quas sacri codicis [qui apud nos Pharmacopoeia 

 vocatur] lectio tradebat, secutsB aegroto sanitatein reddere 

 neqiiibant, culpa vacabant, et impunes abibant ; sin con- 

 tra praescriptum egissent, capitis judicium subibant. Nam 

 medendi rationem longo temporis usu observatam, et ab 

 optimis artificibus ordinatam, paucos ingenio et solertia 

 superaturos legislator censuit. Ita Diodorus: ex cujus 

 verbis patet, non licuisse medicis, rationem et experien- 

 tiam in medendo duces sequi, sed ad eam potissimum 

 medendi formain et prajscriptum fuisse obligatos, quod 

 . sub Hermetis nomine sacerdotes commendabant." 



This is quite enough to show that our system is 

 the old Egyptian system. The Egyptian Hermes, 

 called Trismegistus, is clearly the prototype of legi- 

 timate medicine, formed by the union of the two 

 Colleges and the Hall : which entirely refutes the 

 slander that Cerberus, the janitor of the kingdom of 

 death, is the source of derivation. Diodorus says, 

 indeed, that the Egyptian physicians used magical 

 incantations, which may seem to militate against 

 the connexion. But on this point there is some- 

 thing to be said. Our modern physicians have 

 always written their prescriptions in a character 

 which no layman ever deciphered ; and with sym- 

 bols which, if not cabalistic, raise the difficulty, 

 What else can they be ? It is commonly sup- 

 posed that they use no art of concealment except 

 cacography ; but the frankness with which they 

 admit this supposition has a tendency to raise 

 doubt. I have long suspected that they write in 

 Coptic ; and that they thus conceal the magic in- 

 cantations which Diodorus attributes to their pre- 

 decessors. But the point is not settled, even in 

 my mind : and, should I be wrong, I beg of them 

 to consider whether, in order to prevent such sus- 

 picions as I entertain, to say nothing of other 

 good purposes, it would not be desirable to adopt 

 a fair and clear formation of English letters, and 

 to leave such performances as theirs have hitherto 

 been to the cat who has chanced to dip her claws 

 in the inkstand. A. De Mokgan. 



BICHABD SAVAGE. 



Although I fear the acc()mpanying notice may 

 not throw any light on the subject, so well and 

 interestingly discussed by Mr. Moy Thomas in 

 several recent articles in " N. & Q.," it is curious 

 in many respects. The individual referred to is 

 designated similarly to the poet, who, on his first 

 appearance in print in I7I7, takes the appellation 

 of "Mr. Richard Savage." The surname being 

 an uncommon one in Scotland, it is likely that he 

 was an Englishman, and perhaps connected legiti- 

 mately or illegitimately with the Earl Rivers, in 

 whose family Richard was a common name. In 



the registers of the parish of Aberlady, in East 

 Lothian, is the following entry : — 



" November 13, 1709. M' Richard Savage and M" 

 Barbara Sinclair gave up their names for marriage. Cau- 

 tioner for the man^ Lufnes, and for the woman, Johil 

 Sinclair, D"" of Physick. Married December 3." 



If this relates to the poet, it would clearly dis- 

 connect him with Richard Smith, who was born 

 in January 1696-7, and make him older than he 

 is supposed to have been, founding on his own 

 statement that he was born in 1697-8. It is true 

 the above-mentioned person seems to have been 

 of higher rank than the unfortunate poet, whose 

 history is a blank previous to 1717. The prefix, 

 "Mr. or Master," was used in Scotland to designate 

 a member of a learned profession, or one having 

 had a liberal education.* The alliance was a good 

 one, Miss Sinclair being apparently one of the 

 very ancient family of Sinclair, or St. Clair, of 

 Hudmandston, as may be deduced from the names 

 of the cautioners, — one of whom, " Lufnes," was 

 Adam Durham of Lufnes, the husband of a daughter 

 of a younger brother of that house, and the other, 

 Dr. Sinclair, a cadet of the same. On the suppo- 

 sition of the identity of the two Richards, this tie 

 might have been broken under such circumstances 

 as to make it advisable to bury it in oblivion. It 

 is remarkable that Richard Portlock, the husband 

 of Anne Portlock, under whose charge Richard 

 Smith was at one time placed, is said, in 1697, to 

 have gone to Scotland. Might he not have met 

 with this Richard Savage in that country, and 

 given him such information as to lead him to per- 

 sonate the deceased son of Lady Macclesfield ? It 

 is also a strange coincidence that the person who 

 lost his life in the drunken tavern squabble, which 

 nearly consigned the poet to the executioner in 

 1727, bore the name of Sinclair. R. R. 



[We insert R. R.'s Note, although it only shows that 

 there was a person of the same Christian and surname as 

 the poet living in Scotland in the year 1709. — Ed.] 



:bAilIiT USE OF COAX. 



Doubtless coal was used in prehistoric times; 

 yet, strange to say, the earliest printed record of 

 its application to smelting purposes is to be found 

 in the Metcdlum Martis of Dudley, a work which 

 appeared so recently as the year 1619. Dudley 

 and his contemporary ironmasters were com- 



* Johnson says of Savag'e, " it is remarkable that the 

 writings of a man of little education and little reading 

 have an air of learning scarcely to be found in any other 

 performance." Of course, the Doctor wrote this in the 

 belief of Savage's statements; but is it not more likely 

 that he had had some kind of learned education ? How 

 happened it that he never mentioned the place where, or 

 the name of the person with whom, he lived before and 

 after the death of the putative Mrs. Lloyd, and previous 

 to his appearance on the stage of letters ? 



