2ndS. N»75.,June6. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



457 



the remnant an harmonic. In nature, no string 

 generates other than prime harmonics, or its oc- 

 taves, thirds, fifths, and sevenths ; and chromas of 

 these sounds. It is the height of absurdity to talk 

 of seconds, fourths, and sixths, as generated from 

 any key tone. The key sound, its fourth and its 

 fifth, generate the scale ; and it requires these 

 three sounds to make the major and minor scales. 



H. J. GauntJvETT. 



Aurea Catena Homeri (2"^ S. iii. 63. 81. 104. 

 158. 295.) — 



"_Nota est sententia, omnia elementa ex se invicem gene- 

 rari, per rarefactionem et condensationem : ita ut venuste 

 Anacreon : 



" ♦ Et Terra nigra potat, 

 Potantque Ligna terram, 

 Potatque Pontus auras, 

 Sol potat ipse Pontum, 

 Ipsumque Luna Solem.' 



" Terra igitur rarefacta alit aquam ; haec aerem ; ille 

 ignem, id estsethera; ajther corpora stellarum ; etvicissim 

 base vapores aliquos exhalant, qui condensati descendant, 

 augentque aerein, ut hie aquam, et ha3c terram. Mira 

 et suavi divinas Providentiaj ratione, 



" * • . . alterius sic 

 Altera poecit opem res, et conjurat amicfe.' 



" Atque hjeo est ilia Catena Homerica, aut potius Pro- 

 phetica, indicata Hoseaj cap. ii. v. 21. et 22. Nee adeo 

 absurdi vetustissimi sapientes iEgyptiorum, qui teste 

 Lucano, 1. 10., 



... * Oceano pasci Phoebumque polumque,' 

 crediderunt. Credidit etiam Ambrosius," etc. — S. Jere- 

 tnim Virgo vigilans, et olla succensa, etc., illustrata a Joh. 

 Henrico Ureino. Norimberg, 1665. 



The passage in Hosea is — 



_" And it shall come to pass in tliat da}', I will hear, 

 saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall 

 hear the earth ; and the earth shall hear the corn, and 

 the wine and the oil ; and they shall hear Jezreel." 



A. Challsteth. 



Gray's Inn. 



The Golden Chain of Jeremy Taylor. — Your 

 correspondent Eikionnach, whose wealth in 

 Golden Chains is remarkable, may not be dis- 

 pleased to add another to his store. I have 

 pefore me a small 18 mo. volume, printed by Tho. 

 Norris at the Looking- Glass on London Bridge, 

 1719, entitled, — 



"A Golden Chain to link the Penitent Sinner unto 

 God ; whereunto is added a Treatise on the Immortality 

 of the Soul, by J. TayloK D.D. With a Portrait of Je- 

 remy Taylor, by Drapentier." 



This volume is, I suppose, rare, as the treatise 

 is not contained in the collected edition of Taylor's 

 Woi-ks, and this is my excuse for copying some 

 verses which serve as an introduction to the book. 

 They are rather striking. I should be glad if any 

 one could authenticate them as Taylor's own ; if 

 so, they are, perhaps, a unique specimen of Tay- 

 lor's poetry in actual rhythmical numbers, though 

 there is abundance of the materiel in his works. 



" A View of Vanity. 



"Wit, Wisdom, Beautj', Honour, Nature, Art, 

 Vertue, and Valour, each have play'd a part 

 Upon the World's great Stage : The Play is done, 

 Each Action censur'd, and a new begun. 

 Wit played the Politician, Art the King, 

 Wisdom the Judge, and Beauty well could Sing 

 The Syren's Song ; for with a pleasing Smile, 

 She play'd the Parasite, and did beguile. 

 Vertue array'd in everlasting green. 

 Descended from above, and play'd the Queen. 

 Valour was Honour's Servant, and did fight 

 All doubtful Duels in his Master's right. 

 Honour was born and bred in Vertue's School, 

 And play'd the Lord ; and Nature play'd the Fool. 

 Wit's Wiles are lost, and Wisdom's Laws repeal'd, 

 Beauty defac'd. Art's Ignorance reveal'd, 

 Honour defeated, Valour overthrown, 

 Nature derided, Vertue's merit known ; 

 For only she beyond the other Seven, 

 Hath left the Earth, to act her part in Heaven." 



Lethrediensis. 

 Proportion of Males and Females (2"'^ S. ii. 

 268.) — If your cori-espondent desires further in- 

 formation on this subject than he has already ob- 

 tained through your columns, I would refer him 

 to Quetelet's Letters on the Theoj^y of Probabilities 

 (Letter 5), in which it is stated that the pre- 

 dominance of male births, in the rural districts of 

 Belgium, during nine years — 1834 to 1842 — exhi- 

 bited a ratio of 1*063 male to 1 female. W. W. W. 



Fashions (2°^ S. iii". 33., &c.) — 



"In the time of Q. Elizabeth sometimes tho High 

 Dutch, sometimes the Spanish, and sometimes the Turkish 

 and Morisco habits were by the English worn in England, 

 when the women wore doublets with pendent pieces on 

 the breast full of tags and cuts, moreover galligascons, 

 fardingales and stockings of divers colours. But since 

 the restoration of the King, England never saw for matter 

 of wearing apparel less prodigality and more modesty in 

 clothes, more plainness and comeliness than amongst her 

 nobility, gentry, and superior clergy. Only the citizens, 

 the country people and tho servants appear clothed for 

 the most part above and beyond their quality, estates or 

 conditions, and far more gay than that sort of people was 

 wont to be heretofore. Since our last breach with France, 

 the English men (though not the women) quitted the 

 French mode and took a grave wear, much according 

 with the Oriental nations, but that is now left, and the 

 French mode again taken up." — Chamberlain's Present 

 State of England, p. 52. 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



Mummy Wheat (2n'* S. iii. 379.)— In a late Num- 

 ber it is said that mummy wheat planted in De- 

 vonshire yielded 500 for 1. I do not know what 

 kind of wheat this may be ; but a careful examin- 

 ation of the growing wheat in Egypt led me to 

 the conclusion that that grain was not so prolific, 

 ear for ear, as our English wheats. From 40 to 

 50 grains appeared about the average of large- 

 sized ears in Egypt, whilst 70 to 80 grains are 

 common here. It is possible, however, that the 

 mummy wheat may tiller (as the Scotch call it) 

 or throw out more stalks from each grain than 

 the wheat in this country. There is a species of 



