498 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"J S. No 51., Dec. 20. '56. 



is sometimes lax in the use of his particles, and I 

 am inclined to think that here it means no more 

 than " si." The Chapter is lxxii. according to 

 the numeration introduced by Hardouin, and now 

 generally used. Holland follows the old, and very 

 inconvenient, numeration of the Chapters as given 

 by Dalechamps. Henry T. Riley. 



Chinese Inscriptions found in Egypt (2°^ S. ii. 

 387.) — There is now no doubt of the genuine- 

 ness of the small porcelain phials found in the 

 tombs of Egypt by Sir G. Wilkinson, Rosellini, 

 &c. There was a doubt at first, which arose from 

 the fact being so startling ; but that was set at 

 rest by the discovery of several by different 

 people. The last, I believe, were found in the 

 Egypto- Assyrian tombs by Mr. Layard. That 

 found by Rosellini was ascribed by him to a very 

 early date, somewhere about the thirteenth or 

 fourteenth century b.c. The material in all cases 

 is of an inferior quality, and so agreeing with an 

 early date. Eight have been discovered in the 

 Theban tombs. There is now in the Museum a 

 more interesting specimen from Assyria than any 

 of the Egyptian : it is a small bowl of " crackle 

 porcelain." This also is of quite rude material, 

 but the cracking uncommonly like that of more 

 modern times. I think there is little doubt but 

 that porcelain was the murrhina of the ancients, 

 introduced at Rome by Pompey. It probably 

 came to Egypt through India. There are still 

 some who consider these vases as forgeries, put in 

 the tombs by the Arabs ; but this is hardly likely 

 in so many instances. Nor is there any improba- 

 bility in their antiquity, for it is known that por- 

 celain was quite common in China in the second 

 century a.d. J. C. J. 



Did Handel possess a Musical Library f (2°'^ S. 

 i. 75.) — Salopiensis, in his Query, as above, 

 writes that " Handel, it is believed, left his music 

 by will to his amanuensis Mr. Smith ;" and then 

 inquires, " Is there any record respecting it, and 

 was there much besides the fair copies of his own 

 compositions " ? 



Having by me Coxe's Anecdotes of G. F. Han- 

 del and J. C. Smith (1799), I transcribe what re- 

 lates to the above points : 



" To Mr. Smith he (Handel) left all his MS. music in 

 score, his harpsichord, on which almost all that music 

 had been composed, his portrait, painted by Denner, and 

 his bust, by Roubiliac. 



" It had been Handel's wish, that all the MS. music 

 should be assigned to Oxford, and preserved in the Uni- 

 versitj' Library ; and with that attention to his posthu- 

 mous fame and regard to an University which had been 

 sensible of his merits, he proposed to give Smith a legacy 

 of three thousand pounds, if he would resign his claim to 

 the promise which Handel had made to him. But he 

 had too much enthusiasm for the art, and too great a 

 veneration for the productions of so able a composer, his 

 friend and instructor, to relinquish for any pecuniary 



consideration so inestimable a prize ; and Handel faith- 

 fully performed his promise at his death." 



It is also stated, that the Princess Dowager of 

 Wales, having engaged Mr. Smith as her master 

 on the harpsichord, placed him on her household, 

 with a salary of two hundred pounds a year, 

 which, being continued to Smith by the King on 

 the Princess's death, the biographer says : 



" In a mind so constituted as that of Mr, Smith, where 

 liberality and disinterestedness were distinguishing fea- 

 tures, it is easy to be supposed that gratitude would be 



no less conspicuous He 



accordingly exprest that .'gratitude in a waj' which he 

 thought most acceptable to his Sovereign, and in the 

 fulness of his heartfelt acknowledgment, presented to the 

 King the rich legacj' which Handel had left him, of all 

 his MS. music in score. The harpsichord, so remarkable 

 for the ivory being indented by Handel's continued exer- 

 tions, and on which, as has been already related, the far 

 greater part of his MS. had been composed, and his bust 

 bj' Roubiliac, he sent afterwards to Windsor Castle. Of 

 all that his great instructor had bequeathed to him, he 

 only retained to himself the portrait painted by Denner." 



A note informs us that — 



" The great Frederick, King of Prussia, offered Smith 

 two thousand pounds for Handel's MSS., but he was un- 

 willing to let such a treasure go out of England." 



Edwin Roffe. 



The Greek Cross (2°'> S. ii. 190. 257.) — Several 

 of our cathedrals, as, for instance, Salisbury and 

 Worcester, have a second or eastern transept, 

 which in ecclesiastical symbolism represented the 

 scroll written above the cross. In the priest's 

 Greek cross to which your correspondent alludes, 

 the projection, I have no doubt, is the same as 

 that which Bp. Beveridge thus describes in one of 

 his sermons (No. xv.) ; 



" Mount Calvary, the place of His execution. Behold 

 there an upright piece of timber fixed in the ground, with 

 another little piece jutting out about the middle, and a 

 cross beam towards the top of it ! Behold His body 

 raised up and seated on the foresaid middle piece. His feet 

 nailed one over the other towards the bottom ! and His 

 hands one to the one side, and the other to the other side 

 of the Cross beam 1 " 



That the good bishop may have had some sacred 

 Greek picture before him while he wrote these 

 words is no improbable supposition, when we 

 recal his laborious oriental studies. 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



James Baird of Chesterhall (2°^ S. ii. 308.) — 

 James Baird was admitted a Writer to the Signet 

 in Edinburgh, July 19, 1697, and held the office 

 of Clerk to the Wardrobe in Scotland at the time 

 of his death in July, 1741. This office had a 

 salary of 30Z. attached to it, and must have become 

 a sinecure. His widow, Mrs. Margaret Oswald, 

 died at Scotstown, April 27, 1764, and as Sigma 

 Theta calls his wife a daughter of — '■ — Watson 

 of Bilton Park, he must have been twice married. 

 He was succeeded in his estate by his son Dr. 



