218 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 125. 



The tree has made great shoots in all parts of it this 

 last summer, and there are no appearances of white on 

 the trunks such as are regarded as the symptoms of 

 full growth. There are many sorts of oak in England : 

 two very distinct. One with a pale leaf, and one with 

 a dark leaf; this is of the pale leaf." 



Any other references to the age or history of 

 this tree would oblige. Tu-fobdiensis. 



_ P. S. As your correspondent asked for informa- 

 tion as to the species of large oaks, I have inclosed 

 some of the acorn-cups. 



ST. PAULS QUOTATION OF HEATHEN WRITERS — 

 ST. PAUL AND PLATO. 



(Vol. v., p. 175.) 



The letter at Vol. v., p. 175. of " K & Q..," reminds 

 me of a passage in a Commentary on the Acts of 

 the Apostles, by the Rev. W. G. Humphry, B. D., 

 which it may not be uninteresting to cite, in con- 

 nexion with what your correspondent says of St. 

 Paul's practice of quoting the writings of heathen 

 authors. 



It will be the ground also of an obvious query 

 as to the source from which the quotation, if such 

 it be, was borrowed by the Apostle. 



In commenting upon v. 17. of chap, xiv., obpai/- 

 o^eif, &c., he says : 



" Both the language and the rhythm of this passage 

 lead to the conjecture (which does not appear to have 

 been proposed before) that it is a fragment from some 

 lyric poem. Possibly the quotation is not exact, but 

 even without alteration it may be broken into four 

 lyric measures, thus : 



" Oupai/Sl^ev ^IM"' ^]6tous 

 8i5ous Koi Katpovs j Kapirodi6pouSf 

 efnri\ir\S>i> Tpo\<prjs Kal | 

 ev^po<x6v7]s I ray Ka\p3ias. 



] . Iambic ; 2. Dochmaic and Choriamb. ; 3. Tro- 

 chaic ; 4. Choriamb, and Iambic." 



Mr. Humphry has some remarks on St. Paul's 

 quotations at v. 28. of chap. xvii. Oxoniensis. 

 Broad Street, Oxford. 



'^ Your correspondent Mr. Gill (Vol. v., p. 175.) 

 suggests an inquiry as to the probable extent 

 to which St. Paul was acquainted with the 

 writings of Aristotle. His letter reminds me 

 of a similar question of still greater Interest, 

 which has often occurred to me, and to which 

 I should like to call your readers' attention, 

 "Whether St. Paul had read Plato?" I think 

 no one who studies the 15th of the First Epistle 

 to the Corinthians — that sublime chapter In 

 which the Apostle sets forth the doctrine of the 

 Resurrection — and who is also familiar with the 

 Phcedo, can fail to be struck with a remarkable 

 similarity In one portion of the argument. I al- 

 lude especially to the 36th verse of the chapter. 



and those Immediately following, " That which 

 thou sovvest is not quickened except it die," &c. 

 The reasoning, as almost every Christian knows, 

 is based on analogy, and tends to show that, as in 

 the vegetable world life springs from death, the 

 seed dies, but out of it comes the perfect plant ; 

 so the dissolution of our present body Is only a 

 necessary step to the more glorified and complete 

 development of our nature. In the Phcedo, sect. 

 16., Socrates is represented as employing the same 

 argument in defence of his doctrine of the i'mmor- 

 tality of the soul. In the course of his discussion 

 with Kebes and SImmlus on this subject, a con- 

 sideration of the phenomena of animal and vege- 

 table life leads him to assert the general con- 

 clusion, " eK Twv redveuToov, rd ^ouvrd re Kal ot 

 ^wures ylyvovTai" and he then proceeds to demon- 

 strate the probability that in like manner the soul 

 will not only survive the body, but reach a higher 

 and purer condition after Its death. Wetstein, 

 whose abundant classical Illustrations of the 

 sacred text are alluded to by your correspondent, 

 refers to little else than verbal parallelisms In his 

 notes on this chapter, and does not quote Plato at 

 all ; nor do I remember seeing any edition of the 

 Greek Testament in which the coincidence is 

 pointed out. Perhaps some of ^our correspondents 

 can elucidate this subject ; it is one of great In- 

 terest, and when pursued In the reverent and re- 

 ligious spirit indicated by Mr. Gill, can hardly 

 fail to prove a source of profitable investigation. 



Joshua G. Fitch. 



My edition of the Platonic Dialogues is that of 

 N. Forster of Christchurch, Oxford, dated 1 745. 

 In it the section I refer to Is numbered 16 ; but in 

 Stallbaum and some other editors, the arrange- 

 ment is difierent, and the passage occurs in sec- 

 tion 43. 



SIR ALEXANDER GUMMING. 



(Vol. v., p. 257.) 



I have in my possession a manuscript consisting 

 of copies of various letters, and other memorials of 

 Sir Alexander Cummlng. It is of his own period, 

 but whether of his own handwriting I cannot say. 



They are clearly the compositions of a person of 

 an unsettled intellect ; but we may collect from 

 them the following facts : — His captain's commis- 

 sion was dated May 29, 1703 ; he was called by 

 his mother, a few days before her death, both 

 Jacob and Israel. This is further explained when 

 he relates that Lady Cummlng, his mother, set 

 out from Edinburgh the first of the " Borrowing 

 Days," towards the end of March, 1709. 



" The three last days of March are called ' the Bor- 

 rowing Days' in Scotland, on account of their being 

 generally attended with verv blustering weather, which 



