50 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''<> S. VIII. JcLY 16. '59. 



tion is at best but very doubtful, any assistance 

 rendered me on this point would be thankfully 

 received. Henry Thomas Kiley. 



Antiquities at Wrexham. — Are any of your cor- 

 respondents aware of the existence of a curious 

 stone, in an ordinary stone wall at Wrexham, 

 Denbighshire, bearing the date 665 ? Some have 

 supposed it to be 1665 ; but I think a closer in- 

 spection would remove this supposition. Also, I 

 should like to know something more of a square 

 ornament over a doorway in the same town. Two 

 grotesque figures are carved upon it, and the 

 words Ptolemy and Euclid may be discerned be- 

 neath them. The whole is surrounded by a cable 

 moulding. An Enquirer. 



Nostradamus. — In De Vigny's novel of Cinq 

 Mars, mention is made of the following prophecy 

 of Nostradamus : — 



" Quand bonnet rouge passera par la feiietre, 

 A^ Quarante onces on coupera la tete, 

 Et tout finira." 



Can anyone inform me by what kind of pun 

 Quarante onces can be understood to mean Ginq 

 Mars ? It is easy to understand the rest of the 

 prophecy. F. L. 



Miller s " Lectures on the Greek Language.^^ — 

 I have a MS. 8vo. volume, written probably sixty 

 years ago, by the late George Miller, D.D. (then 

 a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin), and entitled 

 Lectures on the Greek Language., pp. 152. Can 

 you inform me whether any such lectures by Dr. 

 Miller have at any time appeared in print, in 

 whole or in part? His edition of Longinus de 

 Sublimitate (8vo. Dublin, 1820) is held in repute. 



Abhba. 



^^ Bern acu tetigisti" (From the Navorscher, i. 

 p, 54.) — In Bulwcr's Caxton Family the words 

 rem acu tetigisti are ascribed to Cicero, as if ut- 

 tered by him in reply to a Senator, whose father 

 h^d been a tailor. Where did the English novelist 

 find this ? We always supposed the phrase to 

 have originated in Plautus, Rud. v. 2. 17. : — 



" Num medicus, quaeso, es.' La. Imo una litera plus 

 sum, quam medicus. Gr. Tu mendicus es ? Za. Tetigisti 

 acu." 



Haan van Pythagoras. 



Irish Sta7nps. — I have a MS. 4to. volume, 

 richly bound in old scarlet morocco, beautifully 

 written on vellum, by John Bourke, Esq., Re- 

 ceiver-General of the Stamp-Duties, Ireland, and 

 entitled " A Collection of the Impres.sions to he 

 made on every Skin, or Piece of Vellum or Parch- 

 ment, or every Sheet of Paper, in manner and 

 form as hereinafter expressed" (Dub. 1774).* This 

 volume contains samples of Irish stamps from 6^. 



[* According to Haydn's Diet, of Dates, the stamp- 

 duties in Ireland commenced in 1774. — En.] 



to one half-penny ; and, having been written for, 

 and presented to, the Commissioners of His Ma- 

 jesty's Revenue In Ireland, forms an interesting 

 document in the commercial history of that part 

 of the British Empire. Is there any publication 

 from which I may learn particulars of the history 

 of stamps, more particularly as connected with 

 Ireland ? Abhba. 



Chatterton Manuscript. — I wish to ascertain if 

 a MS., in my possession, in the well-known auto- . 

 graph of Chatterton, has ever been noticed by any 

 of his editors ? It is the first sketch for the tra- 

 gedy of yElla ; and although the published work 

 is extended and altered, many passages are verba- 

 tim, particularly In the " Mynstrelles Songe bie a 

 manne and womanne;" which in the sketch i.s 

 headed, "A Shepherd and Shepherdess act and 

 sing the following dialogue Song." The " chai-ac- 

 ters" are : — 



" Eldred, Governour of the Castle at Bristol. 



" Celmonde, an Officer under him. 



" Cornyke, ditto. 



" Elmar, Attendant on Eldred. 



" Magus }Da"'"«'>I^^^^^'-«- 



" Chief Bard, and other Bards. (First written High 



Priest and other Priests.') 

 " Knights, Minstrels. 

 " Danish Priests and Soldiers. 

 " Birtha. 

 " Egwina, her Friend. 



•' Scene Ij-es partly at Bi-istol and partly at Wat- 

 chette, or Weddecester, in Somersetshire." 



The MS. Is written on one side only of twelve 

 leaves of foolscap quarto paper, with corrections 

 and additions on some of the opposite pages. The 

 water-mark — Britannia, a lion crowned holding a 

 sword, and "Pro Patria"; Interleaved with blank 

 paper of the same water-mark and similar tex- 

 ture. This MS. exhibits the Interesting fact, that, 

 In the first composition of his forgeries, Chatterton 

 did not fetter his imagination by using an anti- 

 quated orthography. H. Owen. 



BoydeWs Shakspeare Gallery. — The most dar- 

 ing attempt to found a school of historical painting 

 in this country was that of Alderman Boydell 

 with his Shakspeare Gallery ; and yet I believe 

 that there Is no one single specimen of the pic- 

 tures painted for that collection in any public 

 gallery. I think It would be a matter of Interest 

 to have a list of the artists he employed and the 

 subject each Illustrated. A list of this nature 

 must exist, though I know not where to turn for 

 it. V. H. Q. 



James Thomson, — Was the English poet Thom- 

 son ever married ? If so, to whom, and had he . 

 any descendants ? And can any one furnish me 

 with the genealogies of his eight brothers and 

 sisters ? (Navorscher, ix. p. 162., Qu. 243.) 



De Maccabeer. 



