2»* S. VII. JusE 18. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



501 



crimson " were royal colours, and used both for 

 civil and religious honour, as is evident from in- 

 numerable passages in profane as well as sacred 

 history. According to Mr. Thompson (who is 

 largely quoted by Wilkinson, in his Ancient 

 Egyptians, iii. p. 125. 8vo. Lond._ 1847), the 

 colour of the linen was invariably imparted to 

 the threads previous to the cloth being made. By 

 comparing Exod. xxxv. 25. with 2 Chron. iii. 14, 

 the meaning of the last mentioned text will be at 

 once apparent. i3. 



In Genesis xli. 42. we read that " Pharaoh took 

 off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Jo- 

 seph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine 

 linen." The marginal note says, " or silh.^' On 

 referring to the Septuagint, I find the word is 

 fivfffflvnv, i.e. made of hyssus (/Suo-tros), probably 

 from the Hebrew p3 (butz), a/ne yellowish flax, 

 and the linen made from it. Herodotus (ii. 86.) 

 says that the mummies were wrapped up in bys- 

 sine sindon (^(nv^ivos jSuo-o-ijojs). In the passage re- 

 ferred to by E. H. (2 Chron. iii. 14.) the Greek 

 is, KoL eiroiTjffe ri Ka.TaTr4ra(T(xa vaKii/Oov, Kal irop^vpas, 

 Kal kokkIvov, Kal Pixrcrov, &c. The "SZwe and purple, 

 and crimson," refers, I have no doubt, to the 

 byssus, which was sometimes dyed of a purple or 

 crimson colour. 



In Proverbs xxxi. 22. we read that a good wife 

 " maketh herself coverings of tapestry ; her cloth- 

 ing is silk and purple;" the Greek word again 

 being fivaa-ov, linen, not silk, 



I think I may safely assert that the word silk 

 does not occur once in the original of the Old 

 Testament. Whenever we find it in the Autho- 

 rised Version, as in the above instance, and in 

 Ezekiel xyi. 10. &c., it means byssus. Our trans- 

 lators, doubtless, found silk a convenient word to 

 express the idea of byssus, a fine silky linen. The 

 only place that I have been able to find in the 

 New Testament where silk is mentioned, is Rev. 

 xviii. 12., where it forms part of the merchandise 

 of Babylon : "The merchandise of gold, and silver, 

 and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, 

 and purple, and silk," &c. (y6fx.ov XP""""". «''' apyvpov 

 Kal \idov Tifilov, KoX fxapyapiTOV, Kal fivaffov, Kal Tvop- 

 (pvpas, Kal (xripiKuv.^ 'ZipiKov from the Latin Sericum 

 (Seres, a people of Eastern Asia, the modern Chi- 

 nese, celebrated for their silken fabrics.) Hence 

 Seric, and by the usual mutation of r into I, we 

 get Selic, Selik, or SilL The Romans thought 

 that silk, in its natural state, was a thin fleece 

 found on trees. Virgil evidently alludes to silk in 

 Georg. ii. 121.: "Velleraque ut foliis depectant 

 tenuia Seres." 



The first ancient author who aftbrds any] evi- 

 dence respecting the use of silk is Aristotle. See 

 Smith, Diet, of Or. and Rom. Arit., v. Seeicum, 

 p. 860. O. R. Crockett. 



St. Augustine's College, Canterbury. 



SPELLING OP THE NAME DRTDEN. 



(2"^ S. vil. 233. 301. 384. 426. 465.) 



If P. Hutchinson will consult the copious and 

 well-written Life prefixed by Mr. Robert Bell to 

 his edition of the Works of the poet Dryden, he 

 will find that the Canons Ashby family originally 

 came from Cumberland, where they were pos- 

 sessed of the estate of Staffhill in the sixteenth 

 century. At that time the name was spelt Dri- 

 den. Old Anthony Wood, who was intimate with 

 some members of the family, and Aubrey in his 

 Lives, both spelt it Dreyden. In other places the 

 name is spelt Dreydon. Mr. Bell publishes some 

 letters from Madam Honour Driden, daughter of 

 Sir John Driden, the second baronet, which are 

 endorsed : — 



« This 



JFor her highly Honoured Father, 

 S'' John Driden, at his lodgings 

 at m^ Hood his house, 

 in Chancery Lane." 

 And- 



« These 



For her highly honoured 

 father, S"^ John Driden." 



Mr. Bell also publishes the marriage licence of 

 the poet Dryden, which runs as follows : — 



" Ultimo Novembris, 1663. 

 " Which day appeared personally John Dri- 

 den of S* Clem* Danes, in the Countj' of 

 Midd', Esq"", aged about 30*7 yeeres, and a 

 Batchelor, and alledged that hee intendeth 

 to marry with Dame Elizabeth Howard of 

 Juratus S' Martin in the Fields, in the County afore- 

 Hen. Smyth, said, aged about 25 yeeres, with the consent 

 Jun. of her Father Thomas, Earle of Berke, not 

 knowing nor believing any impediment to 

 hinder the intended marriage, of the truth 

 of the pr'misses he made faith and prayed 

 Licence for them to bee married in the 

 parish church of S* Swithin's, London. 

 " John Driden (the poet's autograph)." 



In the entry in the marriage register book of 

 St. Swithin's, the name of the bridegroom is spelt 

 Draydon, and that of the bride Haward. P. 

 Hutchinson must be mistaken when he states 

 that Sir Henry Dryden, the present representa- 

 tive of the Canons Ashby family, has no knowledge 

 of any connexion between his family and that of 

 the poet. Any Baronetage would inform him 

 that John Dryden was the eldest son of Erasmus 

 Dryden, third son of the first baronet ; and that 

 Erasmus Henry, third son of the poet, succeeded 

 to the title on the death of Sir Robert Dryden in 

 1708. He dying, in 1710, the title devolved on 

 his uncle Erasmus, brother to the poet, who died 

 in 1718, and was succeeded by his grandson John, 

 at whose decease the baronetcy expired. The 

 estates devolved on Sir John's niece, Elizabeth, who 

 married Mr. John Turner, brother of Sir Gregory 

 Page Turner. This gentleman assumed the sur- 



