2nd s. No 35., Aug. 30. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



119 



I believe this is the only representation of a sur- 

 gical operation to be met with on ancient sculp- 

 ture, and hope some of our illustrated periodicals 

 will reproduce copies of this, as well as other in- 

 teresting subjects contained in the above work. 



Geokge Hayes. 

 Conduit Street. 



Mortgaging the Dead (2"^ S. ii. 128.) — In the 

 absence of any notice from your correspondents 

 of the " conjecture " advanced in this article in 

 reference to the object of the law therein alluded 

 to, I am induced to ask on what authority such 

 an opinion, contravening as it does, though with 

 some plausibility, the statement of Herodotus, is 

 supposed to be founded. I do not recollect if 

 Mr. Pettigrew in his Egyptian Mummies, where 

 appears an interesting account of this law o{ arrest, 

 as it is termed, notices the irreconcileableness of 

 the two opinions. As I am unable to refresh my 

 memory by any immediate reference to that work, 

 perhaps some of your correspondents, who may 

 have it in their possession, would oblige me by 

 giving me the benefit of their remarks on this ob- 

 vious discrepancy. In Beloe's translation (lib. ii. 

 c. 136.) appears the following foot-note on the 

 passage referred to : 



" The laws of England allow the arrest of a person's 

 dead body till his debts are paid: this mentioned by- 

 Herodotus is the first example perhaps on record of such 

 a custom.' But see Burn's Justice of the Peace : ' A vulgar 

 and erroneous notion once prevailed that a dead body 

 might be arrested for debt, but such a proceeding is 

 clearly illegal and indictable.' Lord Ellenborough said : 

 ' To seize a dead body upon any such pretence would 

 be contra bonos mores, and an extortion on the relatives. 

 It is contrajy to every principle of /aitjand moral feeling; 

 and such an act is revolting to humanity and illegal. ' " — 

 Vol. i. p. 414. 



F. PHIIiLOTT. 



Viners '■'■Abridgment" (2"*^ S. ii. 85.) — A more 

 extensive edition of Bibliotheca Legum Anglice 

 was published " London, 1788," in two parts or 

 volumes : the first " compiled by John Worrall," 

 and the second " compiled by Edward Brooke." 

 At p. 4. of 1st part, Viner's Abridgment (noticed 

 by Mr. Knowles) is stated at 24 vols, fol., 1741- 

 1751, 31Z. IOa'. The work appears to have been 

 completed by Mr. Viner in 1788 ; and, no doubt, 

 arrangements had been made with the booksellers 

 for its disposal, and all delicacy as to naming a 

 price had melted away. 



Mr. Worrall subjoins the critical opinion of 

 Mr. Hargrave on this " immense body of law and 

 equity." I believe few out of the legal profession 

 will be disposed to dip much into the profound 

 abyss. A point or two mentioned by Mr. Worrall 

 may here be added as rather special to Mr. Viner's 

 folios : 



" It is observable that the learned and laborious com- 

 piler of this Abridgment, not only had the work printed 

 under his own inspection (by agreement with the law 



patentees) at his house at Aldershot in Hampshire, but that 

 the paper was also manufactured under his direction, as 

 appears by a peculiar water-mark describing the number 

 of the volume, or the initials of C. V." 



These modes had probably been adopted by 

 Mr. Viner to prevent fraud on his collection of 

 legal treasure. A curious instance of an attempt 

 at security in another form is to be seen in Le 

 Monde Enchante of Balthasar Bekker, Doctor in 

 Theology, and pastor at Amsterdam, 1694. In 

 his Epitre, he says : 



" Je declare que je n'en reconnois point d'autres que 

 ceux qui sont sousignes de moi comme celui-ci, oil je 

 vous assure de ma propre main que je suis," &c. 



and unmistakeably he appends his autograph to 

 each of his four volumes. The patent medicine 

 gentlemen seem now to be the only persons who 

 attest their productions to the public after this 

 fashion. G. N. 



MS. of {Thomas a Kempis, or rather of) the 

 " De Imitatione " (2"'* S. i. 493.) — The Codex de 

 Advocalis is briefly noticed in the preface to an 

 edition of the De Imitatione by Joannes Hrabi- 

 eta, alte7-a editio, Gerse et Lipsiae, 1847, p. ix., and 

 to which I referred your readers at vol. ix. p. 87., 

 P' S. Of course the authorship of Thomas a 

 Kempis is denied. The information in that preface 

 seems to be taken from a work entitled : 



" Memoire sur le veritable Aut6ur de I'lmitation de 

 Jesus-Christ; par G. de Gregory, Chevalier de la Legion 

 d'Honneur, etc. Paris, 1827." 



If your correspondent Quidam consults that 

 edition of the De Imitatione, which is one of the 

 stereotyped editions in small quarto so common at 

 all the book-stalls, he should be careful to distin- 

 guish it from another edition very similar, and 

 better in some respects, but with a diflerent 

 preface. H. P. 



''Baalbec" (2"'^ S. ii. 114.)— The derivation of 

 Baalbec appears to me to be from the Phoenician 

 Irish Baal-beact, i. e. "the sun circle :" as it was 

 no doubt originally one of those vast circular 

 earthen embankments with upright stones and 

 an altar in the centre, such ^s the Phoenicians 

 erected at Amesbury ; also at the Giant's Ring, 

 near Belfast ; and at Greenan Mountain, co. Do- 

 negal. The name of the latter particularly car- 

 ries us back to remote antiquity : Grian, i. e. 

 GryncBUS, and An, i. e. Ain, a circle. Thus we 

 have a connecting link between these islands and 

 Asia Minor from the most ancient times, when 

 the Phoenicians penetrated to these shores through 

 the pillars of Hercules. It is curious to note that 

 to this day Baal is a name of the sun in Irish : 

 as in Bel-ain, a year, i. e. "sun circle ;" and La 

 Bal'tinne, Midsummer Day, i. e. " the day of the 

 fire of Baal," from the huge bonfires that are to 

 this day lighted on that anniversary. 



Fbas. Ceosslet. 



