410 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 24. 1855. 



abound, as anybody would surmise, then T takes 

 the next position, after that A and E, &c. 



In testing for authorship on any scale, the 

 easiest way would be to have 2600 small cards, 

 apportioning 100 to each letter, on which it should 

 be printed, or written in printing letters. Then a 

 box should be provided, divided into 26 portions, 

 one for each letter, and labelled. By this means, 

 when the 100 of letter e were exhausted, the fact 

 could be easily noted down, and so on Avith the 

 rest. 



I ought also to state that some judgment will 

 be requisite, because many printers use more of 

 s than of z, in such words as recognize, criticize, 

 which tliey spell recognise, criticise. American 

 spelling, too, has its peculiarities ; it spells words 

 in o7ir without the u, except Saviour, and it never 

 doubles the Inst letter in making past participles, 

 &c., except when the accent is on the ultimate, 

 even extending it to such words as traveler (tra- 

 veller), &c. Avon IjEA. 



P. S. — Perhaps some kind friend will test 

 •' Moredun " by both methods. 



I can say a few words on tiie Professor's pun- 

 gent remark conveying his suspicion as to the 

 probability of " the chip" which I sent you on the 

 above subject not having been turned out of hand 

 in a workmanlike manner. The incongruity men- 

 tioned in tlie Professor's remarks was noticed by 

 myself at the time I made the experiment, and for 

 that reason, in most of the cases, if not in all, I 

 went over the computation of the sets of 500 

 where the differences were so palpable more than 

 once, in order to assure myself that error had not 

 crept in unawares. I did not take the first set of 

 500 words from each author Jirst, and then simi- 

 larly a second 500, followed by the third and 

 fourth sets, as the Professor seems to suppose ; 

 had I done so I should certainly have been very 

 much of his opinion, on looking at the results, that 

 I had not at the commencement settled comfort- 

 ably to the work ; but the 2000 words were taken 

 in every case from each author conseaitivdy, and, 

 as far as I recollect, in the order following, Nos. 7. 

 2. 3. 5. 4. 8. 1. 6. 



In the examples of Goldsmith and W, Irving, 

 where the difference between the first and subse- 

 quent 500 words is so great, I have again gone 

 over the first 500 of each, and can find no error 

 in the numbers set down against them ; still 

 I will not vouch, througliout, for the accuracy of 

 the figure in the unit's place of the results ; but as 

 I have by me the result of each separate 100 

 words, and have again gone over a few of them 

 taken at random, without finding any error, I 

 think I can safely say that the lens, hundreds, and 

 thousands may be relied on. 



R. W. Hackwood. 



No. 317.J 



WILLIAM DE BRITAINE. 



(Vol.x., p. 67. ; Vol. xii., p. 287.) 

 When this writer's book, called Humane Prw 

 dence (one of the later editions, printed by 

 Knapton), first fell into my hands, I at once 

 supposed that the "Edward Hungerford, Esq.," 

 to whom it is dedicated, must have been tlie only 

 son of Sir Edward Hungerford, K.B., temp. 

 Charles II., then head of the great Wiltshire 

 family, and the dissipator of its estates. The 

 young man, his son, was not only heir to a noble 

 fortune, but by a very early marriage at the age 

 of nineteen, with Lady Alathea Compton, became 

 entitled, had they both lived, to still larger posr 

 sessions. That he was the person to whom the 

 book was addressed, appeared very probable from 

 the language of the dedication. " You have made 

 a fair progress in your studies beyond ijour years." 

 " The nobleness of your stock is a spur to virtue." 

 " As much as you excel others in fortune," &c. 

 Such phraseology could only be addressed to some 

 young man of good family and great prospects. 

 But Sir Edward's son died in September, 1681, 

 aged twenty ; and I see it stated in " IST, & Q.," 

 Vol. xii., p. 287., that the first edition of Wm. de 

 Britaine's book did not appear till 1682. If this 

 were really the date of the first edition, then of 

 course it must have been some other person to 

 whom it was dedicated. I know no others of the 

 Hungei'ford family of that Christian name, and at 

 that period, whose circumstances would suit the 

 case. There was an Edward, third sou of a 

 merchant at Exeter, aged thirty-seven, in 1682 ; 

 and another Edward, fifth son of a physician at 

 Reading, twenty years old in that year. But 

 younger sons of merchants and medical men in 

 country towns, are not usually selected by authors 

 for objects of dedication as " Worthy Sirs " and 

 " Esquires : " so that it is wholly improbable that 

 either of these should have been the wealthy 

 young gentleman whose patronage was courted by 

 William de Britaine. Of the mental accomplish- 

 ments of Sir Edwai-d's son I know nothing ; but 

 his position in life was such as might have entitled 

 him to the attention. I am therefore induced to 

 ask, is it quite certain that the first edition of 

 Humane Prudence did not appear until 1682 ? 



J. E. jACKSOTf. 



Leigh Delamere, Chippenham. 



SULTAN KRIM GHERRY. 



(Vol. xi., pp. 109. 173.248.) 



I remember Alexander Ivanowitch, Sultan 

 Krim Gherry, Katti Gherry, well. He visited 

 Edinburgh to complete his studies. Though in- 

 timately acquainted in the circles in which he 

 mingled, I never recollect to have heard a whisper 



