470 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Dec. 15. 1855. 



on the history or romance the series was intended 

 to illustrate. 



Now it is well known, that at various times 

 before the discovery of 1853, some of the tiles of 

 this pavement had been found, and made their 

 way into private collections. If any of your 

 readers can afford me information rej^arding these 

 stray fragments, I shall feel particularly obliged, 

 as it may enable me to supply some deficiencies, 

 and thus present to the public, in a more satis- 

 factory form than I can do from the materials at 

 present known to me, the remains of this most in- 

 teresting work of art. Henrt Shaw. 

 37. Southampton Row, Eussell Square. 



Are all Gold Coins legal Tender? — Is it a fact, 

 that all the gold coin of England is at the present 

 time a legal tender ; and that old guineas, &c., are 

 (provided they are full weight) as much bound to 

 be taken in payment as sovereigns ? Inquirer. 



Friesic and Icelavdic Languages. — In 1763, 

 Johnson wrote to Boswell, then in the Nether- 

 lands, to get him books in the Friesic language. 

 Boswell i-eplied, that it — 



" Had been less cultivated than any other of the northern 

 dialects. A certain proof of which is their deficienc}' of 

 books. Of the old Friesic, there are no remains, except 

 some ancient laws preserved by Schotanus in his Beschry- 

 vinge van der Heerlykheid van Friesland and his Historia 

 Fr'iesica. Of the modern Friesic, or what is spoken by 

 the boors at this day, I have procured a specimen. It 

 is Gysbert Japicx Rymeleric, which is the only book 

 which they have. It is amazing that they have no trans- 

 lation of the Bible, no treatises of devotion, nor even any 

 of the ballads and story-books which are so agreeable to 

 country people." 



Bosworth (Origin Germ. Lang., p. 61.) gives a 

 larger list ; but all of works published since Bos- 

 well wrote. 



Which is the best modern Friesic Dictionary f 

 Is it true that there is no version of the Scriptures 

 in Friesic ? 



Is there (to turn to a kindred subject) any 

 probability of the publication of the Icelandic and 

 English Dictionary, said by Hamilton (Danish 

 Isles) to be preparing by Mr. Gislason ; or of the 

 one which is reported to have been, some years 

 ago, left for the press by Mr. Cleasby ? E. G. R. 



Lightfoot on the " Mishna." — In the Index Tal- 

 mudis of Lightfoot (vol. x. pp. 517 — 521., Pit- 

 man's edit.), he mentions, under " Seder Nezekin," 

 in " Bava Kama" (fol. 3. 3.), Imperium Romanum, 

 quaerens a Rabhan Gamaliele de Lege ; in " Bava 

 Bathra" (fol. 17. 3.), Statatum Rabban Gamalielis 

 senioris ; in " Sanhedrin," Epistola R. Gamalielis 

 senis, et Synhedrii de intercalando anno ; and again 



No. 320.] 



(fol. 25. 4.), R. Lazar, et R. Joshua, et R. Gama- 

 liel Romce ; in " Avodah Zareh" (fol. 40. 1 ), Eth- 

 nicus quidarn cum Rabban Gamaliele and Historia 

 de Rabban Gamaliele snlvente vota ; and I request 

 to know where I can find these references in the 

 Mishna of Surenhusius. My ultimate object is 

 to ascertain how far the natural mind, as to style, 

 logic, and attainments, of St. Paul was under the 

 influence of the teaching of Gamaliel. A refer- 

 ence to any work on this subject, treated aufondy 

 would be highly prized. T. J. Bucktow. 



Lichfield. 



Machine Hexameters. — I should like to ascer- 

 tain the epoch and authorship of a method of 

 grinding, as it were, Latin verses, hexameter and 

 pentameter, whose accuracy is quite amusing. In 

 these there are tables, six hexametric and five for 

 pentameters ; divided into squares, whose num- 

 ber horizontally is uniformly ten, and vertically 

 variously from five to twelve. Each square con- 

 tains a letter ; except some few, which are blank. 

 To make hexameters, for instance, you select any 

 six numbers from 1 to 9 (or they may be the same 

 number repeated) ; and entering the first table 

 with the first number, you count horizontally 

 from left to right, from n-\-\ to 9 : the letter in 

 the square thus reached, is the first letter of the 

 first word. Continue the count in the same direc- 

 tion for another 9 squares, and you find the second 

 letter, and so on; or, what is the same thing, after 

 having the first square, take the diagonal squares 

 on the left hand continually, until you are brought 

 up by a blank. This gives the first word. Table II., 

 treated in the same way, gives the second word, 

 using here the second number chosen. Table III., 

 entered with the third number, gives the third 

 word, and so on. 



The pentameters are manufactured in the same 

 way. For example, the hexameter given by the 

 series 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, reads — 



" Lurida scorta palam prasnarrant crimina nigra." 



The pentameter from the series 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, is — 

 " Tristia conglomerant labra molesta mails." 



Of course, each line is independent; but it has 

 always a meaning, and the prosody is correct ; at 

 least, in the numerous trials I have made. The 

 permutations in the tables I have, would give 

 about 360,000 lines. Who devised this ingenious 

 trick, and when ? I. H. A. 



Gabriel Hounds. — T wish to ask Mr. Yarrbll 

 whether his explanation of this phrase (which I 

 have only recently seen, Vol. v., p. 596.), requires 

 revision, or whether it is based on information 

 obtained subseq\iently to the publicati(m of his 

 History of British Birds ? In the passage quoted 

 above, he states the supposed "hounds" to be 

 flocks of the bean-goose (Anser segetum) ; adding 



