246 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2°<» S. VIII. Sept. 24. '59. 



excocta. et serva et da bibendum plagato vel qui guttam 

 fistulam babet et cavo ne aliquid aliud bibat usque quo 

 sanus fiat." 



3. Contemporary epitaph on Henry Purcell in 

 a large paper copy of the music to the " Pro- 

 phetess : " — 



" Ex Dono 



Carissimi desideratissimique Autoris, 



Henrici Purcell, 



Musarum Sacerdotis, 



Qui 



Anno Domini 1695, 



Pridie Festi S'«= Cseciliae, 



Multis flebilis occidit. 



NuUi flebilior, 



Quam 



Amico suo atque admiratori 



Jacobo Talbot." 



J. C. J. 



CHARTER OF ALEXANDER II. 



The following entry occurs in the minute-book 

 of the Faculty of Advocates of Edinburgh rela- 

 tive to a very ancient charter, by Alexander II., 

 to Richard de Moravia : — 

 " IG July, 1740. 



" Mr. John Ker, Professor of Humanity in the College 

 of Edinburgh, having presented an Original Charter of 

 King Alexander II. to Richard de Moravia of the Lands 

 of K3'ngcoreth and Kynlessoch, together with a copy 

 thereof done in Copper plate, and dedicated bj' him to the 

 Faculty, to be kept in their Library, the Dean did, in 

 name of the Faculty, return him thanks for the same." 



This letter, of Sir Andrew Kennedy (?) to 

 James Anderson, Esq., indicates not only the in- 

 fluence of Lord Pitmedden, notwithstanding his 

 retirement from the Bench, but the high estima- 

 tion in which James Anderson was held by his 

 countrymen : — 

 " Sir, 



" I expected to have had the opportunity yesternight 

 to wait upon Pittmedden, thinking of going out off 

 Town this day, and ye know when I first spoke to j'ou 

 about that Matter ye told me ye found Pittmedden very 

 frank for continueing my son in his post, and promised 

 he would willingly do any thing that I would desire of 

 that kind. My health does not allow me to stay in 

 Town, and therefore I must entreat you that ye will 

 speak to Pittmedden this Morning, and let me know 

 what I am to expect : both My sones I know they can 

 serve him as well as any other he can emplo}'. But if he 

 be now otherwise resolved, I will not be uneasj'' to him, 

 but let my sons take the same fate I had myself, 

 only I must beg of you that j'e will use plainness with 

 them and not detain me unecessaryly in Town after ye 

 have discussed Pitmedden in the affair. I earnestly en- 

 treat your answer, wherein ye will oblige, 



" Sir, your most 



" humble servant, 

 " A. Kennedy. 



« Edinburgh, 27. Sept. 1705." 



The writer of this letter was probably the indi- 

 vidual who had a famous lawsuit with Gumming 

 of Cullen, relative to the commandership at Cainp- 

 vere ; and which was one of the early cases taken 



to appeal after the Union, in which the House of 

 Peers, in 1714, remitted back to the inferior court. 

 Sir Alexander Seton, of Pitmedden, had been 

 a senator of the College of Justice, and, what is 

 remarkable, was an upright judge — a very un- 

 common occurrence in those days. He was re- 

 moved from his seat on the Bench for his stand 

 against James VII.'s attempt to repeal the Test 

 and Penal Laws. On the Revolution, neverthe- 

 less, he refused to be reappointed, from his scru- 

 ples of conscience as to the oath of allegiance to 

 the expelled monarch. He was an author of some 

 meritf collected a curious library, and died at an 

 advanced age in 1719. Of the sale catalogue of 

 his books there is a copy in the library of the 

 Faculty of Advocates. It is very rare. J. M. 



Minav 3am, 



Rosenfeldians and Mormonites. — I do not know 

 whether any of the numerous writers on Mor- 

 monism have noted a striking point of resem- 

 blance between the institutions of Joseph Smith 

 and those of the false prophet of North Germany, 

 Johann Paul Philipp Rosenfeld (1762—1782). 

 The uncritical and impossible deductions from 

 Scripture, especially from the Prophets, which 

 characterise the doctrines of both, are indeed 

 too prevalent in all communions to suggest a 

 parallel between any two ; nor are we less 

 prepared to find religious fanatics proclaiming, 

 with John of Leyden, an emancipation from mo- 

 nogamic restraints ; but it is certainly a singular 

 coincidence that polygamy (or " plurality," if you 

 will) should twice have been revived under the 

 sounding title of Sealing. The following extract 

 from the account of Rosenfeld, in Der neue Pitaval 

 (vol. vi. p. 243.), might pass for a description of a 

 critical stage in the development of Mormonism : — 



" Plotzlich trat er vor seinen vertrautesten AbhSngem 

 mit deni Satze hervor; er babe die Schliissel zum ver- 

 schlossenen Paradiese, er babe das Buch des Lebens, das, 

 nach der Beschreibung in der Offenbarung Johannis, mit 

 sieben Siegeln versiegelt sei. Urn das Erlosungswerk zu 

 vollenden, musse er die Siegel oflfnen, und dazu miisse er 

 sieben Jungfrauen haben." 



J. E. B. Mayor. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



Epigram on Caesar Borgia. — The epigram on 

 Cassar Borgia is well known, and was occasioned 

 by his having adopted for his motto, " Aut Caasar, 

 aut nihil." Having never seen any translation of 

 it, I offer the subjoined attempt at a literal ver- 

 sion : — 



" Borgia Csesar erat, factis et nomine Caesar ; 

 Aut nihil, aut Caesar, dixit, utrumque fuit." 



" Borgia was Caesar, both in deeds and name ; 

 ' Cajsar, or nought,' he said : he both became." 



F. C. H. 



