134 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Aug. 18. 1855. 



Instances of his playing with birds, fruit, and 

 flowers are common enough. Akin to these ex- 

 amples may be mentioned the instances of angels 

 in the form of children playing near our Lord, as : 



1. In Albert Durer's large Passion, The Na- 

 tivity, in which one angel is running with the 

 cross revolving on a stick (a common toy in those 

 days). 



2. In Bihlia Sacra, LugdunI : Bouille, 1541, 

 p. 473, b, is an angel playing near our infant Sa- 

 viour's head, with a toy in the shape of a Catherine- 

 wheel. The print Is much earlier than the book. 

 Many other instances might be given. 



John C- Jackson. 

 Clapton. 



Sir Cloudesley Shovel (Vol. xi., pp. 184. 514. ; 

 Vol. xii,, p. 54.). — In a rare little book now be- 

 fore me, entitled Secret Memoirs of the Life of 

 the Hon. Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Knt., ^c., by an 

 officer who served under that admiral, and dedi- 

 cated to " The Hon. my Lady Shovel," 12mo., 

 London, 1708, it is stated at p. 3. : " He was born 

 at a small town near Clay, in the county of Nor- 

 folk." Whether this was Cockthorpe does not 

 appear ; but if that place be near to Clay, this 

 statement serves to strengthen its pretension to 

 the distinction claimed for it. J. D . 



The Sphinx (Vol. xii., p. 88.). — The wide dif- 

 fusion of this mystical figure seems to indicate 

 that it had some more profound and general sig- 

 nification than the overflow of the Nile. Modern 

 writers mostly reject this interpretation, even in 

 Egypt, and consider it emblematic of the kingly 

 power. I believe it was more probably an em- 

 blem of the Supreme Deity, as Layard suggests in 

 his first work on Nineveh. 



It is an error to say that the Egyptian sphinx 

 combined the head of a virgin with the body of a 

 lion. This was the later Greek sphinx, after the 

 primitive idea of its mystical meaning had been 

 lost. " The Egyptian sphinx was invariably 

 male," and united the body of a lion with the head 

 of a man, surmounted by a serpent (Wilkinson's 

 Ancient Egypt, 2nd Series, vol. i. p. 146., and 

 Faber's Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i. p. 209.). 



This tri-formed monster occurs in many other 

 countries besides Egypt, viz. in Assyria, with the 

 head of a man, the body of a lion or bull, and the 

 wings of a bird or of a seraph, the flying- serpent. 

 In Persia and Etruria the same (Chardin's Travels, 

 and Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. p. 51.). In Lycia, as 

 the woman, lioness, and seraph (Fellowes's Lycia, 

 and sculptures in the Lycian room in the British 

 Museum). It also occurs among ancient Chinese 

 religious emblems (Kaempfer's Japan, vol. i. 

 p. 182.), and likewise in India (Maurice's Indian 

 Antiq., vol. iv. p. 750.), and may be seen in the 

 paintings of the ancient Mexicans. Its invariable 

 triple form exhibits the primitive idea of the three- 

 No. 303.] 



fold nature of the Godhead, an idea whose univer- 

 sal diffusion indicates an origin of the most remote 

 (probably antediluvian) antiquity. 



The globe with wings and serpents, also very 

 widely diffused, seems to represent the same idea, 

 and to be only a variation of the symbolic figure. 



Eden Warwick. 



Birmingham. 



Knights Hospitallers in Ireland (Vol. xi., 

 p. 407.). — Possessions belonging to the Order of 

 Malta in Ireland, before the abolition of the Reli- 

 gious Orders by Henry VIII., may be found In 

 iBoisgelin's History of Malta, vol. III. pp. 210—212., 

 edit. 1804. W. W. 



Malta. 



[We have omitted the extract, as this work may be 

 found in most public libraries. Under the eountj' Down, 

 Boisgelin notices the " Territory of Orders, Commandery 

 of St. John the Baptist, founded by Hugh de Lacy in the 

 twelfth century."] 



Uncertain Meaning of Words (Vol. viii., p. 439.). 

 — Your correspondent A. B. C. might have added 

 to his instances of words of different meaning ap- 

 plied to express the same idea : we say of a news- 

 paper, that it contains "the latest intelligence;" 

 or, that it has " the earliest intelligence ; " both 

 phrases being intended to convey precisely the 

 same meaning. " Your news is Zafe," means that 

 it is stale ; but " He brings all the late news" ex- 

 presses the very reverse of tardiness. J. S. C. 



Proverbs (Vol. xi., p. 299.)- —As the chief part 

 of the proverb cited by yu. is alliterative, it is pro- 

 bable the third line was likewise so anciently, and 

 it would run thus : 



" To a red man reade thy reed, 



With a browne man breake thy bread, 

 At a white man draw thy whittle." 



The fourth line is likewise probably modern, and 

 should be omitted. Hyde Clarke. 



Table of Forbidden Degrees (Vol.xi., p.475.).-- 

 By " Matthew, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury," 

 is meant Parker, under whose authority the table 

 was published in 1563. The XCIXth canon of 

 1603 orders that " the aforesaid table shall be in 

 every church publickly set up and fixed at the 

 charge of the parish." Copies such as that 

 described by A. R. M. are not uncommon. The 

 dresses in the engraving are much like those in 

 the old illustrations of the Spectator, and evidently 

 belong to the last century ; but whether we must 

 understand " John, Lord Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury," to mean Potter (a. d. 1737—1747) or 

 Moore (a.d. 1783 — 1805), I do not venture to 

 determine. J- ^' ^' 



Fanatics of the Cevennes (Vol. xi., p. 487.). — 

 B. H. C. may be referred to the Histoire des Pas- 

 teurs du Desert, par N. Peyrat, Paris, 1842, 2 vols. 



