464 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°^ S. No 76., June 13. '57. 



is only in " But here," as well as in " but this 

 blow ; " the " bank and shoal of time " is the mo- 

 ment or time of this act ; Wed is we should ; for 

 would and should were confounded at that time. 

 By " the life to come " I would, in accordance 

 with the whole tenour of the argument, under- 

 stand the rest of his life. A little before Lady 

 Macbeth had said — 



" Which shall to all our nic^ts and days to come 

 Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom." 



And Cowley {Davideis, ii. 616.) : 



" That all his life to come is loss and shame." 

 There is then, as I have given it, an evident 

 break or aposiopesis, and he goes on to show that 

 such good fortune was hardly to be expected. 



Thos. Keightlet. 



PETITION OF COUNTY OF TORK TO CHARIiES I. 



The following petition is copied from the end 

 of the original MS. of " The Arguuit of Mr. Jus- 

 tice Crooke, vppon the case of the scire facias 

 out of y'' Excheq' against John Hampden, Esq', 

 the U**" of Aprill, 1638, the 14th of King Charles." 

 It is bound up in a copy of Hampden's Trial sold 

 at Cambridge a short time since. A. 



" To the Kingees most excellent Ma'K 

 •'The humble petition of the gentry in j'o'" Ma*'" countie 

 of Yorke, now assembled at the Assizes of Yorke, 28*'» 

 July, 1640. 



"May it please yo' Ma*'« yo'' most humble subiects 

 show vnto yo' most sacred Ma"% that in all humility this 

 county hath endeauored to fulfill yo'' Ma'"'" comands w* 

 the forwardest of yo"" Ma*"' subiects, and the last yeai-e in 

 the execution of yC Ma''«' comaunds about the Military 

 affairs did expend an hundred thousand pounds to our 

 great impouerishirit and far above the expectation of our 

 counters : vt'^^ although at that time we were willinge, 

 out of our desire to serue yo'' Ma''«, yet for the future the 

 burthen is soe heavy, that wee neither can nor are able 

 to beare it now ; vppon this our cheerefullnes to serue yo"^ 

 ma*''= wee hoped to have found other fauour equall \i^^ 

 other counteyes : But soe it is, most gratious Souraigne, 

 to our great greifes, and as wee conceive to the disseruice 

 of yo"" Ma"", wee find ourselves oppressed with the billit- 

 tinge of vnruly souldiers, whose speeches and actions 

 tend to the burninge of our villages and houses, and to 

 whose violencyes and insolencyes wee are soe daylie sub- 

 iect, as wee cannot say we possesse our wiues, children, 

 and estates in safetie. Wherefore wee are emboldned 

 humbly to present theis {sic') our complaints, beseechinge 

 that as the billittinge of souldiers in any of yo"" subiects 

 houses against their will is contrary to the ancient lawes 

 of this kingedome, confirmed by yo'' Ma*'" in the peticOn 

 of Right : wee most humbly desire of 3^0' Most Sacred 

 Ma"® that this vnsupportable burthen may be taken of 

 from vs, least by their insolencyes some such sad accident 

 may happen as wilbe (sic) much displeasinge to yo'' Sa- 

 cred Ma*'«, and yo'' Eoyall and obedient subiects, who 

 will neuer cease to pray for yo'' longe and happy Eaigne 

 ouer us. " Wharton. 



Far. Farfax. 



Henry Ballalus. 



Will,. Sauill. 



Fran. Wortley. 



With others." 



Minax ^aitS, 



The Suez Canal. — It may be interesting to 

 some of your readers, at the present time, when 

 so much is written relative to the Suez route to 

 India and Australia, to have a translation of 

 Strabo's account (b. xvii. c. i. § 25.) of the open- 

 ing of the canal between the Mediterranean and 

 the Red Sea by the Ptolemies : 



" This canal was first cut by Sesostris before the Trojan 

 times, but according to other writers, by the son of 

 Psammitichus, Avho only began the work, and afterwards 

 died ; lastly, Darius the First succeeded to the completion 

 of the undertaking, but he desisted from continuing the 

 work, when it was nearly finished, influenced by an er- 

 roneous opinion that the level of the Red Sea was higher 

 than Egypt, and that if the whole of the intervening 

 isthmus were cut through, the country would be over- 

 flowed by the sea. The Ptolemaic kings, however, did 

 cut through it, and placed locks upon the canal, so that 

 they sailed, when they pleased, without obstruction into 

 the outer sea, and back again." 



Diodorus SIculus (i. 33.) also gives a similar 

 account of the construction of the inter-oceanic 

 canal, of which the remains at present exist : 



" Darius the Persian left the canal unfinished, as he 

 was informed by some persons, that by cutting through 

 the isthmus he would be the cause of inundating Egypt, 

 for they pointed out to him that the Red Sea was higher 

 than the level of Egypt. The Second Ptolemy after- 

 wards completed the canal, and in the most convenient 

 part constructed an artfully contrived barrier {Si.d(j)payticx.) 

 which he could open when he liked for the passage of 

 vessels, and quicklj' close again, the operation being 

 easily performed." 



Herodotus (ii. 158.) attributes the construction 

 of the canal to Pharaoh Necho, under whom, he 

 says, 120,000 labourers perished in the execution 

 of the work. W. D. H. 



Successful Treatment of a Lunatic in the Year 

 1784. — The following is a verbatim copy of a 

 letter addressed by the late Sir William Beechey, 



R.A., to the late C. M , Esq., of Tillington, 



near Petworth, whose father. Dr. John M , of 



Norwich, a most benevolent man and skilful phy- 

 sician, attended in his medical capacity some of 

 the principal families in Norwich and its neigh- 

 bourhood. T. B. M. 



Petworth. 



« Petworth, 

 " August 14, 1837. 



" Dear Sir, 

 "About the year 1784, your excellent Father was 

 sent for to attend"^ a Gentleman, who was insane, a few 

 miles from Norwich. He found him raving ; and on ex- 

 amining all the particulars, he found his patient was 

 fond of music, and played a little himself on the violin. 



" In one of his most violent paroxysms, Dr. M de- 

 sired Mr. Sharp to play on the hautboy, in the adjoining 

 room, one of his softest adagios. 



" It had the desired eflfect. His patient was in tears, 

 and quite calm, exclaiming, ' That must be Mr. Sharp ! ' 

 He recovered from that moment, and became quite well. 



" Mr. Sharp was famous for playing on that instniment, 



