Nov. 24. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



405 



that if a rattle were offered to an infant, it would 

 just as naturally take it in the left hand as in the 

 right, and that it is only because nurses and mothers 

 are perpetually counteractinjy the natural propen- 

 sity to use both hands indifferently, that the use 

 of the right by preference is ever acquired. 

 Children of four or five years old even, will con- 

 stantly forget, and offer the left hand in shaking 

 hands — a mistake' which, every kind friend of 

 the fiimily corrects with a joke. What, therefore, 

 Sir Benjamin Brodie calls an "obvious reason" 

 for the '* instinct," may possibly be rather an ob- 

 vious reason for the "teaching." The etymology 

 of the word right also, as applied to hand, would 

 seem to imply that that is the hand ruled or or- 

 dered for more especial use. 



None but a medical man can, however, pro- 

 nounce positively as to any original difference in 

 the hands. We therefore make the inquiry, as it 

 is one certainly worth consideration. Moreover, 

 we should like to know that Sir Benjamin Brodie 

 is not putting off his readers with mere drawing- 

 room philosophy — teaching pretty inferences of 

 the cause of our being endowed by the Author of 

 all good with a " particular instinct," when there 

 really seema to be doubt as to whether there is 

 any instinct at all in the matter. We offer our 

 apologies to the sages Ergates and Critos if we do 

 them wrong, Hgbmes, 



COMMON PBAYER : PASSAGE IN THE GENERAL 

 THANKSGIVING. 



In all the editions of the Common Prayer, printed 

 by the two Universities for the last fifty years (pro- 

 bably 'for more), the following sentence, in the 

 General Thanksgiving, appears thus : 



" We beseech tliee, give us that due sense of all thy 

 mercies, that our hearts viaij he unfeignedly thankful, and 

 that we show forth thy praise not only with our lips, but 

 in our lives." 



In the Sealed Book, which is deposited in 

 various public libraries, as one to be referred to 

 in order to decide on the right reading, the sen- 

 tence stands thus : 



" We beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy 

 mercies, that our hearts may he unfeignedl}' thankful, and 

 that we may show forth thy praise not onlj' with our lips, 

 but in our lives." 



But a line is drawn across the word may, as if it 

 were unnecessary. In the edition published by 

 the king's printer, in 1822, the word may is intro- 

 duced into the text. 



I want to know if any of your correspondents 

 ever found, in any English author of any age, an 

 instance of a similar construction to that which is 

 authorised by the erasure in the Sealed Book. 



That the auxiliary verb can be understood be- 

 hre a second infinitive, when the same nomina- 



No. 317.] 



tive applies to both clauses, is certain : for exam- 

 ple, it would be perfectly grammatical to say, 

 " that we may be unfeignedly thankful, and show," 

 &c. 



But, where a new nominative is inserted, I 

 believe it is also necessary to insert the auxiliary 

 verb : for shew has here no meaning, unless may 

 can be understood before it. " We beseech thee, 

 that we shew,'^ is not English. If it were, we 

 should also have found it written, " We beseech 

 thee, that our hearts be unfeignedly thankful." 



I have often heard the received reading itself 

 defended : but I never could obtain from any one 

 of its defenders a parallel passage from any author 

 in any age of a similar construction. 



It is clear that the author of the prayer thought 

 may necessary to the sense. It does not seem 

 clear why his revisors should have rejected it. 



' E. C. H, 



Minax (SttcrtcS. 



The Office of High Sheriff. — The author of 

 IX. Poems by V., in a tale which he afterwards 

 published, entitled Paul Ferroll, several of the in^ 

 cidents in which appear to be founded on facts, 

 makes one of the characters to have twice served 

 the office of High Sheriff of the county within a 

 few years. Are there any instances within record 

 of such a circumstance having ever occurred ? We 

 know that, generally speaking, it is an office from 

 serving which many would too gladly be excused, 

 and that all, I believe, who have once filled it, 

 may in future claim to be exempted. N. L. T. 



Philosophy of the Ancients. — I sometime since 

 heard an eloquent young French Protestant 

 minister give utterance to the following senti- 

 ment, the force and depth of which have often re- 

 curi'ed to my mind, that " All the philosophy of 

 the ancients was but one profound cry of despair." 

 If original, it appears to me to be well worth 

 preserving ; if not so, but only hen trovato, perhaps 

 some of your readers will kindly trace it to its 

 source. C. W. Bingham. 



Sedgemoor. — Is there any evidence, other than 

 mythical, to prove that the great plain of Sedge- 

 moor was once wholly covered by the sea ? The 

 legend of Joseph of Arimathea leads one to con- 

 clude that our ancestors of monkish days looked 

 upon it as a fact. Does not also the name 

 Weston Royland, of one of the villages located in 

 Sedgemoor, famous as the scene of Monmouth's 

 battle, render such a supposition highly probable ? 

 Has the question been discussed anywhere on 

 geological principles ? Any information would 

 greatly oblige A Native or Somersrtshibe. 



Cambridge, 



