2n4 S. NO 89., Sept. 12. '57.] NOTES. AND QUERIES. 



213 



CWMACTBHICS. 



(2"« S. iv. 148.) 

 Tbe interpretation of SeuTepoirpctSrip from Luke vi. 

 1., in 1650 (the date of the inscription), then re- 

 ceived by English scholars, was that of the au- 

 thorised version, " the second after the first." It 

 is true that Scaliger had, just prior to this period, 

 first suggested the meaning, afterwards adopted 

 by Whitby, " the first after the second," and now 

 generally received by those who adhere to the 

 existing Greek texts, but which had not then 

 been admitted in English biblicism. No such 

 word appears to have existed in the Greek MSS. 

 used for the Syriac version, nor anywhere else in 

 sacred or profane literature than in Luke vi. 1., 

 where in some MSS. the reading is Sevreptv, in 

 others irpiirtfi (Kuinoel in loco) ; but neither of 

 these, nor their compound, appear in the parallel 

 narratives of Matthew (xii. 1.) or Mark (il. 23.), 

 where the word "sabbath" is in the plural in 

 Greek. Taking then the sense in which Sevrepo- 

 Trpciry was understood in 1650, we may consider 

 that the age of Henry Parsons at his death was 

 sixty-three ; because then the received notion as 

 to the second or grand climacteric was the 63rd 

 year, as a period liable to severe sickness (Aul. 

 Gell. XV, 7.), whilst the 49th year was also held 

 By some as a first climacteric or constitutional 

 crisis (Censorin. de die jmtnli, 14.). The latter 

 has, however, much less support from vital sta- 

 tistics than the age of sixty-three, which Dr. 

 Southwood Smith (Phil, of Health, i. 123.) has 

 shown from physiological views, and from Fin- 

 laison's tables, to be very susceptible of sickness ; 

 for taking a million of males, members of London 

 benefit societies, the proportion constantly sick 

 At 23 is 19,410 At 43 is 26,260 



28 is 19,670 48 is 36,980 



33 is 19,400 68 is 27,060 



38 is 23,870 63 is 57,000 



and at 68 is 108,040. 

 From this table it appears that there are not 

 many more persons on the sick list at fifty-three 

 than at forty-three years of age, whilst at sixty- 

 three the number of sick is more than double. 

 And at forty-eight the number of sick is more by 

 one-third than at fifty-three years of age. 



T. J. BUCKTOJT. 

 Lichfield. 



H. Parsons died probably at the age of eighty- 

 one. The word SevrepoirpuTos occurs once only in 

 the New Testament (St. Luke, vi. 1.), and is not 

 found elsewhere. The explanation of the learned 

 Hammond is, that when the chief day of any of 

 the throe greatest Jewish festivals fell upon the 

 sabbath, that sabbath day, being a high day, was 

 called a irpurov, or prime sabbath — that of the Pass-> 

 over so falling was called the Trpuroirpwrov 2a§- 

 ^drov, that of Pentecost the SevrtpoTrpwrov, and that 



of the feast of tabernacles the TpiravpSirov. Ac- 

 cepting this interpretation, we might call, by ana^. 

 logy, the two chief or grand climacteric years of 

 63 and 81 severally the irpuTo-npSnov and the Seure- 

 poirpwTov eros KKt/xaKTiipiKov, and SO conclude that 

 it was probably from the latter of those two most 

 perilous steps of the ladder of life that H. Parsons 

 fell, in his eighty-first year. H. L. V. F. 



BULKS OF CIVILITY. 



(2°'> S. iv. 4.) 



The treatise from which the quotation is made 

 is a translation from the French. It was written, 

 says the preface, to teach a young gentleman edu- 

 cated in Provence how to behave at court ; and 

 it is difficult to say whether the Provenqal or the 

 Parisian manners are most amusing. Tbe writer 

 recommends that two works then published, the 

 Education of a Prince and the Treatise of Chris- 

 tian Civility, should be bound up together, and 

 considered as the theory and general principle of 

 civility; his Rules of Civility being the particular 

 practice. It will be remembered that at and be- 

 fore the date of translation (1685) there had been 

 a mania for French manners, which mania this 

 treatise was intended to feed. The following spe- 

 cimen of conversation in a supposed visit from a 

 young gentleman to a young lady is given in 

 serious earnest, as an "example for better re- 

 membrance," because " these sort of dialogues do 

 frequently degenerate, and turn merely into 

 trifles:" 



"Lady. ' How, Sir, is it with you ? Would you stay at 

 the door, and attend till you were called in ? ' 



" Gent. 'It was a respect, Madam, that I owed to the 



temple of the Muses, which I was very loth to profane.' 



« Lady. « You do this closet. Sir, a great deal of honour.' 



" Gent. ' How, Madam ? would you not have that 



thought the temple of the Muses, where all the arts and 



sciences reside ? ' 



" Lady. 'But I have learned, Sir, the Muses were nine, 

 and I am but a single person.' 



" Gejit. 'They were nine, Madam, I confess it, but your 

 ladyship alone is of more worth than them all. Every 

 one of them was ignorant of what their sister did know : 

 and your ladyship knows more than all of them together. 

 ' Lady. ' This, Sir, is to load me with confusion.' 

 " Gent. ' It is in this, Madam, that you excel the nine 

 sisters ; your merit being attended with such uncommon 

 modesty,' " 



Plus et cetera, as the mathematicians say. The 

 incipit feliciter being finished, the parties talk of 

 things in general, as in the following specimen : 



" Lady. * . . . . But it is arrogance in me to talk at this 

 rate before a person of your learning.' 



" Gent. ' I might be learned, were I capable of bemg 

 3'our ladyship's disciple.' 



''Lady. 'How, Sir, would you hold your learning by 

 the apron-strings ? ' 

 « Gent. 'And a good tenure too ; 'tis not so difficult for 



