2"d s. VIII. Jolt 2. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



LONDON. SATURDAY. JULY 2. 1859. 



No. 183. — CONTENTS. 



NOTES: — The Vulture in Italy, by Sir G. C. Lewis.'l — Verstecan's 

 " Restitution," 4 _ New Catalogue of Shakspeariana, 76. — Oleau- 

 inK8 from Writers of the Seventeenth Century, Illustrative of Pro- 

 verbs, Words, &c., 6. 



Minor Notks : — Squaring the Circle — Oxfordshire Proverb — Bartho- 

 lomew Thomas Duhigg — King James's Army List — "Memoirs of 

 Gen. Thomas Holt " — Provincial Words : " Pishty," " Cess-here," 8. 



QUERIES : -Abigail Hill, by H. D'Aveney,9. - Zachary Boyd, 10. 



MiNon i<icKHiES ! — Rev. P. Rosenhagen : his literary Reputation — 

 Family of Watson, Yorkshire — Lambert : Geering — " Urban," as a 

 Christian Name — "Night, a Poem "— Randolph Fitz- Eustace — 

 Mrs. Jane Marshall — Publishing before the Invention of Printing — 

 Heraldic Query — Ephraim Pratt — Thelusson the Banker at Paris 



— Robert Emmett's Rebellion in 1803 — Cromer, Archbishop of Ar- 

 magh Arms of John de Bohun — Antient Portrait, &c., 10. 



Minor Queries with Answers: — " Horae Subsecivse," by Lord Chan- 

 dos, 1620 — Woodroof — Edwards' " Palsemon and Arcyte " — Edward 

 Wright — " udcomby an" — Edward Chandler, Bishop of Durham, 13. 



REPLIES : — Ghost Stories, U — Attack on the Sorbonne, 15— Price 

 of Bibles, 16. 



Replies to Minor Qderies : — " Signa " of Battel Abbey— Queen 

 Anne's Churches — Barrymore and the Du Barrys — Cromwell's 

 Children — The Cromweilian Edition of Gwillim's Heraldry— The 

 Arrows of Harrow — Vergubretus, &c. — Smokers — Guns, whenfirst 

 used in India — " The Bells were rung Backwards " — Sale of Villeins 



— Knights created by Oliver Cromwell — Scala Cell — " History of 

 Judas, &c., 16. 



Notes on Books, &c., 19. 



iSiatt4. 



THE VDIiTUEE IN ITALY. 



The vulture is frequently mentioned in Homer, 

 vrho was familiarly acquainted with its habits of 

 devouring dead bodies. The symbolical punish- 

 ment of Tityus in Hades, for the rape of Latona, 

 as described in the Odyssey, consists in his liver, 

 the seat of desire, being perpetually mangled by 

 two vultures (xi. 578., imitated by Virgil, JS«,, 

 vi. 595.). 



The natural history of the vulture is given by 

 Aristotle, who makes two species of this bird, dif- 

 fering 9s to size and colour. He was aware that 

 the vulture builds its nest on inaccessible rocks, 

 and states that the female lays two eggs at a time 

 (Camus, Notes sur THist. des An. d'Aristote, p. 

 820.). In the pseud- Aristotelic work de Mirab. 

 60., it is affirmed that no one ever saw the nest 

 of a large vulture. A steep and inaccessible rock 

 •is called a "yvinas irerpa by ^schylus, Supp. 796. 

 Theophrastus relates the fabulous story that vul- 

 tures are killed by the smell of ointments (Caus. 

 Plant., vi. 5. 1.) ; and a mixture of fact and fable, 

 respecting the same bird, may be seen in ^lian, 

 N. A; ii. 46. Dio Cassius mentions that in Mace- 

 donia, before the battle of Philippi, a large num- 

 ber of vultures and of other birds which fed upon 

 dead bodies hovered over the army of Cassius, 

 making hideous screams (xlvii. 40.). See also, 

 Flor. iv. 7. 7. ; Obsequens, c. 69. Lucan likewise 

 introduces vultures on the field of Pharsalia, vii. 

 834. Aristotle mentions that the sudden appear- 

 ance of many vultures, following an army, was 

 used by Herodorus, the father of Bryson, as an 

 argument that they came from another earth 

 above our heads (^H. A. vi. 5. ; ix. 11.). 



With respect to the presence of the vulture in 

 Italy, our attention must first be directed to the 

 celebrated story of the augury of Romulus and 

 Remus. The earliest account is that of Ennius, 

 who says that the questions to be decided were, 

 whether Romulus or Remus should be the ruler, 

 and whether the city about to be founded should 

 be called Roma or Remora. As soon as the sun 

 rises, twelve sacred birds come from the sky, and 

 fly on the left hand of Romulus : this sign shows 

 that he is to be king. Nothing is said of six 

 birds seen by Remus, or of the twelve birds being 

 vultures. Romulus is described as standing on 

 the Aventine : the station of Remus is not men- 

 tioned. (Ap. Cic. de Div., i. 48., where sol albus 

 evidently means the moon ; see Blonif. ad JEsch. 

 Ag. 81., Gloss.) 



The next most ancient version appears to be 

 that of Ovid. He states that the brothers propose 

 to decide by augury which is to be the founder of 

 the new city. One takes his station on the Pala- 

 tine, the other on the Aventine. Remus sees six 

 birds, and Romulus twelve. This omen is ad- 

 mitted by Remus to be decisive in favour of his 

 brother. Ovid makes no mention of vultures. 

 (^Fast. Iv. 809—818. ; compare v. 149—152.) 



According to Livy (i. 6, 7.), the twin-brothers 

 contend for the supremacy, and for the honour of 

 giving bis name to the future city. Romulus 

 takes his station on the Palatine, and Remus on 

 the Aventine hill. Remus first sees six vultures, 

 and Romulus afterwards sees twelve. A dispute 

 arises whether the priority of the omen, or the 

 superiority of the number of birds, is to prevail ; 

 and the dispute leads to a combat, in which Re- 

 mus is killed. Livy reports an opinion that the 

 number of the twelve lictors, as attendants on the 

 king, instituted by Romulus, was derived from 

 the twelve vultures. The same origin for the 

 number of the twelve fasces is mentioned by 

 MVi&n, N. A., X. 22. Livy himself thinks that it 

 was borrowed from the Etruscans, who derived it 

 from their twelve populi. 



According to Dionysius (i. 85 — 6.) the jealousy 

 of the brothers broke out in a difference respect- 

 ing the choice of a site for the new foundation. 

 Romulus preferred the Palatine hill ; Remus pro- 

 posed a hill on the Tiber, at a distance of about 

 30 stadia, or 3f miles, named Remoria. Upon the 

 advice of Numitor, they agree to decide their dif- 

 ference by an augury. The station of Romulus 

 was the Palatine hill ; that of Remus was the 

 Aventine, or, as some said, Remoria. Remus first 

 sees six vultures on the right hand, and Romulus 

 afterwards sees twelve : but a quarrel arises, in 

 consequence of a deceit which Romulus attempts 

 to practise on his brother. The interpretation of 

 the omen is also questioned on the ground stated 

 by Livy ; a fight arises, and Remus is slain. 



A similar account is briefly given by Plutarch, 



