2»'i S. X. Dko, 22. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



493 



will be no difficulty in so deriving it, as fi5/<>/ a 



" Mr. Szerelmey followed ; his process he keeps a 

 secret, but Profesflor Faraday states that some bituminous 

 substance is mixed and introduced at some part of the 

 process. But, with this difference, I believe it to be 

 cliymically the same as the ordinary process. There is 

 no doubt of the - bitumen ; for, being in attendance at 

 committees of the House last Session, the smell of bitu- 

 men was complained of while the workmen were occupied 

 in the second court at the back of the Select Committee- 

 rooms. For this additional process, or composition/ Mr. 

 Szerelmey introduces the term ' zopissa,' and calls his 

 process ' silicata zopissa,' and proposes to applj' it to 

 bricks, cements, 'wood, &c. Tho word * zojtissa ' is an 

 unusual one, though Ilttro-a, or IltTTa, ' pitch,' is, of 

 course, a well-known Greek word. This difficulty gent 

 me to Liddell and Scott's J)icticniary. They give the 

 word under the authority of Dioscorides. I then turned 

 to Stephens, and there I found all about it, and extracts 

 from Dioscorides and Pli7ii/ relating to the substance 

 called zopissa by the Greeks. As I write, as I said at 

 the outset, simply to make the question intelligible, I 

 will not quote the Greek. It geems, however, that zopissa 

 was pitch, compounded with wax, scraped from the sides 

 of ships which had been at sea. Sprengel's Latin gives 

 the Greek with great accuracy, and that permit me to 

 quote: — -'Zopissam alii dicunt esse resinam cum cerS, 

 navibus derasam, k nonnulHs apochyma vocatum, qijse 

 dissipandj vim habet, quia aqua marina est macerata." 

 Pliny, according to the quaint old translation of Philemop 

 Holland, gives it thus : — 



" ' It would not be forgotten how the Greeks have a 

 certain pitch, scraped, together with waxe, from ships 

 that have laine at sea, which they call zopissa ; so curioiis 

 are men to make experiments, and try conclusions in 

 everything; and this is thought to bee much more ef- 

 fectuall for all matters that pitch and rosin are good for, 

 by reason of the fast temperature that it hath gotten by 

 the salt water.* 



" In JPucange the word ia spelt ' ^upissa,' aijd in Dan- 

 negan's Lexicon 'Zaios' and 'EEtVo-a' are 'given as the 

 etymologj', as if the compound signified ' living pitch.* 

 Ainsworth derives the whole word from the Hebrew 

 ' Zephth' — pitch or bitumen. All this, however, points 

 distinctly at the distinguishing characteristic of I^r. 

 Szerelmey's process." 



.F. Phillqtt. 



Wife or Rev. John Lavv^bence. — Can any of 

 your readers inform me what was the maiden 

 name of Mary, wife of the Rev. John Lawrence, 

 rector of Bishopwearmouth in co. Durham, and 

 prebendary of Salisbury ? Hediedl7«32; she died 

 1746, both at Bishopwearmouth. He was some- 

 time fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and rector 

 of Yelvertoft, co. Northampton, before he got the 

 living of Bishopwearmoutli, where he died. He 

 was author of several worlds on gurdening, She 

 is supposed to have been a Goodwin, rehited to the 

 family of Richard Cromwell's tutor, and to Thomas 

 Goodwin, fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, 

 and afterwards, 1658, fellow of Eton, but ejected at 

 the Restoration, 1660. 



The Rev. John Lawrence, first named, was eldest 

 son of the Rev. John Lawrence, vicar of St. Mar- 



tin's, Stamford-Baron, oo. Northampton (to which 

 living he was instituted October 4, 1666), on 

 the borders of co. Lincoln, and sometime pre- 

 bend of Sutton-in-the-Marsh iji cathedral church 

 of Lincoln. I should also be glad of any infor- 

 mation relating to the birth or parentage of this 

 John Lawrence or of his wife Elizabeth, living 

 May 10, 1700, or of her maiden name, or the date 

 of her marriage with the said John Lawrence. A. 

 Palmyra. — Many years ago I saw in manu- 

 script " Palmyra, a Poem which did not obtain 

 the Chancellor's gold medal," The ghost of 

 Zenobia appears to the author, who is visiting the 

 ruins, and enjoins him to prevent her being 

 worried by the Cambridge poets. I remember 

 the following lines : — ^ * 



" No trace of man, save that the embers spent 

 Show where the Arab robber pitched bis tent, 

 But ruin tells, the despot's iron hand. 

 Stamped desolation on the wretched land ; 

 And mouldered bones and plundered fanes declare 

 Too plain, the royal robber has been there." 



Zenobia describes hgr weaknesses, and s^ys that 

 she is condemned to haunt Palmyra : — 

 " The best of monarchs I, in mercy sent 

 Far from that dreary place of punishment, 

 Where. all the rest who lived in regal sway. 

 Suffer for their demerits night and day. 

 And if the best of monarchs thus is curst, 

 Quess what dread vengeance waits on thine, the 

 worst," 



The follovying fix the time : —■ 



" Oft in the Fives-court have I watched thy skill, 

 In active ralli/, or in furious mill; 

 Have seen thee firm 'gainst Scroggins' boring stand. 

 Have seen Belasco shirk thy dread right hand; 

 Oft have I joj'cd to hear the gnostics tell 

 How well yoa faced the showv Nonpareil, 

 And bore the hammering of the beauteous Man, 

 The Daisy Knight, fair Ireland's joy, Sir Dan? " 



Has this ever been printed ? If not, is a copy 

 obtainable ? Who was the author ? E J, P. 



WitKiNS AHP Coffin Queries, -^Wanted, the 

 arms of the family of Wilkius of Thong, co. i^ent, 

 date of gruvt, and any information relativQ to the 

 origin, &:c., of the family. 



Who was Sir : Wilkins, a painter, who 



flourished some fifty or sixty years ago ? His 

 arms, &c. ? 



In Burke's Armory are given the arms of " Cop- 

 pin of Norwich." Now I would feel oblijied to 

 anyone giving nie some information of this family ? 

 Were they originally from Cornwall P Is the 

 name a contraction of Coppinger f If not, is it 

 German P *. x. 



Bugle : Isle of Wight Query. — Bosville {Ar- 

 morie of Honour, fo. 57. vo.) describes the animal 

 thus : -5" 



" He bearethe Argente a Bugle, sable, The Bugle is 

 calle4 in Latybe Bubalus, for thatheeis so like to an Oxe, 

 & is a beaste of great strengthe, fierse, and cannot well 



