248 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Sept. 29. 1855. 



I know that it was republished in 1788, with the 

 name of the famous James Howel in the title as 

 its author. In a copy of this latter, I have seen a 

 note purporting that " the reprinting of this tract 

 gave very great umbrage ; there was at first some 

 talk of prosecuting tlie publisher for a libel." I 

 do not know the authority for this, but I hardly 

 think Scotchmen, even then, would have disturbed 

 themselves about it ; and they can certainly aiFord 

 to laugh at it, now that their pestiferous region 

 has become a royal sanitarium, and its villanous 

 inhabitants are admitted to have reached the 

 southern par of civilisation. While upon the sub- 

 ject, it may not be amiss to put upon record a 

 few other " Perfect Descriptions of Scotland and 

 the Scots." There is, to give the poet precedence, 

 Cleveland's Rebels and Apostate Scot ; the first of 

 which is sometimes found added to Kirke's book, 

 and is the ebulition of a malignant upon the cap- 

 tion of his master, Charles I. The next is that 

 which deals with the clergy : Scotch Presbyterian 

 Eloquence displayed ; quite a pet book in its day, 

 often reprinted, containing much racy matter 

 anent the ministers and their style of preaching, 

 said to be written by Curate Calder, and answered 

 in its own vein bj George Ridpath. The next in 

 the vituperative line, is the well-known Letters 

 from the Highlands, 1754, usually called Burt's 

 Letters. These are comparatively decent ; and, 

 although sarcastic enough, have, for the rough 

 wit they exhibit, been deemed worthy of reprint- 

 ing in the North. The last I shall notice, the 

 vilest of the lot, and a fit companion for Kirke, is 

 John English's Travels through Scotland, 8vo., 

 London, n. d., but a subsequent publication to 

 the last mentioned ; the author having stolen for 

 his frontispiece that plate from Burt, representing 

 the fishermen landing from their boats upon the 

 backs of females in demi-nud costume, J. O. 



"A Character of England," 8fc. (Vol. xii., 

 p. 187.). — The tract, A Character of England, 

 SfC, mentioned above, is by John Evelyn, and is 

 printed in the volume of Evelyn's Miscellaneous 

 Writings, collected and edited by Mr. Upcott. 

 The title-page there given to the above tract is 

 the same as that given by your correspondent, 

 with the addition of " originally printed in 1651." 

 The quantity of letter-press does not however 

 agree with that described by your correspondent. 



F. C. B. 



Diss. 



A Perfect Description of the People and Country 

 of Scotland, by James Howell, Gent., London, 

 printed for J. S., 1649, was reproduced with exact 

 title-page, and printed verbatim in No. 13. North 

 Briton, and one hundred subsequent publications. 

 It gave rise to the attempted Assassination by 



No. 309.] 



Dunn — the duel of Forbes — the hatred and de- 

 testation of the whole Scotch nation — the denun- 

 ciation of Chatham — the, &c., &c. Cuaxius. 



" CYBELE " AND " SIBYLLA," OB " STBILL^." 



(Vol.xii., pp. 110. 191.) 



" The notion," observes Mr. T. J. Bdckton, 

 " that the priestesses of Cybele were Sibyllas, is 

 an original idea of Mr. Faber's." Your corre- 

 spondent may find, in Jamieson's Hermes Scythicus, 

 this identification made by a writer long anterior. 



" Rhea was also called Ops, Cybele, Tellus 



Rhea or the earth, although with the Greeks and Latins 

 the wife of Saturn, was by the Scythians conjoined to 

 Jupiter. Sif is thus defined by' Gudmund Andreas 

 {Lexicon Islandicum, 1683) : Poetice Tellus, Uxor Jovis in 

 Edda ; and by Verelius, as it occurs in the Trojomanna 

 Saga, Juno, "in Swed. Jona, Sief. Resenius renders it 

 (i. e. Sief, Rhea, or Cybele) by the Latin term Sibylla." 



In disparagement of Faber, he refers to Mi- 

 chaelis's Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, 

 Smith's translation, vol. i. p. 142., where the 

 learned Michaelis charges Professor Faber with 

 plagiarism and incivilities, but he was the author 

 of ArchcBology of the Hebrews, not of the Mysteries 

 of the Cabiri. Why he refers on the subject of 

 the Sibylline verses to this chapter in Michaelis, 

 I cannot understand. 



" Mr. Fox Talbot," adds Mr. Buckton, " fol- 

 lowing the Thracians in honouring Rhea-Hecate, 

 has confounded Hecate with Cybele." Whilst so 

 doing, does he not follow the originators of the 

 worship of the Cabiri, established in Phoenicia, 

 Samothrace, Egypt, Troas, Greece, Italy, and 

 Crete ? 



After having given examples of words showing 

 that there is nothing improbable in supposing 

 that Cybele was often pronounced Sybele, Mr. 

 Fox Talbot observes: "It fortunately happens 

 that I am able to adduce direct proof of this, 

 since the name thus spelt is extant on a medal in 

 Montfaucon (pi. 3. fig. 9.), with this legend, 

 ' Sybele.' " To this and other arguments intro- 

 duced by Mr. Fox Talbot, I will add the last 

 words in the same chapter of Montfaucon : '' En- 

 thea nomen erat Cybeles aliud, quasi dicas, divina, 

 seu fanatica, vel evOovcrtaffriK^ dea." Does not 

 this characteristic designation of the goddess 

 present a confirmation of the proposition tliM the 

 Sibylls possessing the " entheus ardor " of vaticin- 

 ation, were entitled by the name of the same 

 goddess ? BiBLioTHECAR. Chetham. 



The following derivations of the proper names 

 contained in your correspondent's note, may serve 

 to throw some light upon the nature of those 

 heathen deities. It is curious to note the fact of 

 a living language (the Irish) being the key to 



