26 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«'<i S. VIII. July 9. '60. 



this wedding amounted to 83, who, together with the 

 bride and bridegroom, paraded the streets with colours 

 flying." 



Can it be true ? It looks very suspicious. 



Tee Bee. 

 Old Jokes. — 



" SxoAaTTiKo? ixaBuv on 6 Kopa^ vtrep to. Siaxdo-ia errj f^, 

 dyopa(ras KopaKa ets airoireipaj' erpei^e." — Hieroclis FaceticB, 



XX. p. 402., ed. Lond. 1673. 



Whatever may be the date of the 'Affnia, it is 

 unquestionably the most ancient jest book extant. 

 I hoped that the old bird was dead, but as Figaro 

 is trying to pass him off under a new name, allow 

 me to nail him against your wall. As a raven he 

 was game, as an owl he is carrion : — 



" Un paj'san de la basse Normandie, aussi spirituel que 

 ceux de la' haute, trouva dans le trou d'un viel arbre, un 

 hibou, qu'il emporta chez lui, 



" ' Es tu fou,' lui dit sa menagere, ' c'te vilaine bete fera 

 peur a nos geuisses.' 



" ' Ma fine,' repondit le campagnard, 'j'ons entendu dire 

 h m'sieu le maitre d'ecole, qu'un hibou vivait deux cent 

 ans, et j'voulons m'en assurer par moi-meme.'" — Figaro, 

 25 Juin, 1859. 



FiTZHOPKINS. 



Garrick Club. 



Michelet on English TAterature and on Shak- 

 speare. — Michelet (Jeanne d' Arc, 1856, p. 129.), 

 speaking of" English literature, says that it is 

 " sceptique, judaique, satanique." In a note he 

 says, " 1 do not recollect to have seen the word 

 ' God ' in Shakspeare. If it is there at all, it is 

 there very rarely, by chance, and without a sha- 

 dow of religious sentiment." Mrs. Cowden Clarke, 

 by means of her admirable Concordance to Shak- 

 speare, enables us to weigh the truth of this emi- 

 nent French writer's remarks. 



The word "God" occurs in Shakspeare upwards 

 of one thousand times. In the Holy Scriptures, 

 according to Cruden, it occurs about eight hun- 

 dred times. It is true that the word often occurs 

 in Shakspeare without a reverential sentiment : 

 but M. Michelet says it never occurs with a 

 religious feeling {un sentiment religieux). This 

 statement is almost as erroneous as that regarding 

 the absence of the word. It would be quite out 

 of place to attempt to quote passages in point ; 

 but if an Englishman were challenged, I think he 

 might safely promise to produce from Shakspeare 

 more passages indicative of deep religious feeling 

 than are to be found in any French writer that I 

 have ever met with. 



The word "heaven" occurs in Shnkspeare up- 

 wards of eight hundred times. S. Blackcombe. 



Ve-rtue's Draughts. — In a valuable paper which 

 I find in your P' S. xi. pp. 380-1., there is a re- 

 peated reference to '-Vertue's Draughts, or Draw- 



ings from Ancient Statues," as a document well 

 known and accessible. But at the British Mu- 

 seum the ofEcers neither have it, nor can give any 

 information about it. 



Such a document, however, ought to be in some 

 public institution, and probably is so, although to 

 me unknown. I should feel greatly indebted to 

 any correspondent who could furnish me with any 

 clue to it. Sheen. 



Sophocles. — Erotian, in his collection of words 

 used by Hippocrates, cites a passage from the 

 Clytmmnestra of Sophocles, and Hesychius the 

 lexicographer is thought to refer with approval 

 to the same drama. It has been conjectured, 

 however, that Erotian's quotation belongs to the 

 part of Clyta^mnestra in the extant Electra of 

 Sophocles, wherein it would supply a deficiency. 

 In the year 1804, a remarkable announcement 

 was made that Professor Mattha3i, of Moscow, 

 had found in the Library of Augsburgh a large 

 fragment of this lost tragedy, containing about 

 300 lines, commencing with Tisiphone alone speak- 

 ing, and ending with the Chorus. Matthaei was 

 well known in the learned world, on account of 

 his discovering the Homeric Hymn to Ceres, and 

 his many other successful researches in Greek 

 literature. But of this alleged Sophoclean trea- 

 sure trove, I have not met with any other 

 mention than what is contained in the literary 

 intelligence of 1804. (See the North British 

 Magazine and Review for September, 1804, p. 

 165.) In the copious collections of the Fragments 

 subjoined to the editions of Oxford, 1826, and 

 of Paris, 1844, nothing is said of Matthaei's dis- 

 covery. Perhaps some among the readers of 

 " N. & Q." may be able to trace this matter in 

 the foreign literary journals. I have only looked 

 into the Amsterdam Bibliotheca Critica, which 

 does not even allude to this alleged discovery. Is 

 it a mistake ? or is it a literary fraud ? Akterus. 



Dublin. 



John de Baalun, one of the barons in arms 

 against Henry IH. in the year 1217. Wanted, 

 information respecting him and his descendants. 

 His arms were, gules, 3 bars dancettee argent. 



Y. S. M. 



Cardinal Virtues. — In what period was ifc that 

 the cardinal virtues were introduced to the 

 world under that designation ? And further, 

 were Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temper- 

 ance brought forward at the same time as Faith, 

 Hope, and Charity ? 



Truth, Mercy, and Self-denial do not seem to 

 have been held in high estimation in those days. 



H. E. B. 



Sir William Sutton. — Is anything known of 

 Sir William Sutton beyond the fact he was a pro- 

 genitor of Robert Lord Lexington, who died in 



