2°d S. N» 101., Dec. 5. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



459 



To the later surveys I have not the means at 

 the present moment of referring ; but, if I recol- 

 lect rightly, all accounts give a difFerence of level 

 between the two oceans varying from 13 to 22 or 

 23 feet. 



T. R. K. may also consult with advantage, I 

 think. South America and the Pacific, by the Hon. 

 P. Campbell Scarlett ; the account of the Isthmus 

 under the head " Panama," in the Penny Cyclo- 

 pcedia ; a paper in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, 

 on the " Junction of the Atlantic and Pacific," 

 vol. iii. p. 315. ; and Journals of the Geographical 

 Society, vols. i. iii. vi. K. W. Hackwood. 



Humboldt (Cosmos, vol. i. p. 311.) says : — 



" From geodesical levellings which, at my request, my 

 friend General Bolivar caused to be taken by Lloyd and 

 Falmarc, in the years 1828 and 1829, it was ascertained 

 that the level of the Pacific is at the utmost 3^ feet higher 

 than that of the Caribbean Sea ; and even that at differ- 

 ent hours of the day each of the seas is in turn the higher, 

 according to their respective hours of flood and ebb. If 

 we reflect that in a distance of 64 miles, comprising 933 

 stations of observation, an error of three feet would be 

 very apt to occur, we may say that in these new opera- 

 tions we have further confirmation of the equilibrium of 

 the waters which communicate round Cape Horn (Arago, 

 in the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes pour 1831, 

 p. 319.). I had inferred from barometrical observations 

 instituted in 1799 and 1804, that if there were any differ- 

 ence between the level of the Pacific and the Atlantic 

 (Caribbean Sea), it could not exceed three metres (nine 

 feet three inches) ; see my Relat. Hist, iii. 555-7., and 

 Annates de Chimie, i. 55 — 64." 



He also refers to his Asie Centrale, (328-333.) as 

 to the highest level of the water at the Isthmus of 

 Suez, which he says varies from 24 to 30 feet 

 above that of the Mediterranean. Bartheleray 

 Saint Hilaire says the difFerence is 3 J feet {Rev. 

 des Deux Mondes, Juillet 1, 1856, p. 670.). Eng- 

 lish and French engineers have, however, recently 

 determined that the Red Sea is on the same level 

 as the Mediterranean. T. J. Bcckton. 



Lichfield. 



MILTON S AUTOGRAPH AND BLINDNESS. 



(2"'> S. iv. 287. 334. 371.) 



Although the biographers of Milton are not 

 agreed as to the exact period of his total loss of 

 sight, yet it is generally stated to have been 1652; 

 and therefore it is contended that no signature 

 purporting to be the autograph of Milton after 

 1652 can be genuine : but I have a copy of 

 Philips's Life of Milton, 1694, with numerous 

 notes in the margin, and between the lines, in 

 the small but clear and beautiful handwriting of 

 William Oldys, to whom the book formerly be- 

 longed ; and one of these manuscript notes relates 

 to Milton's blindness, and is as follows : " He lost 

 the sight of one eye in the beginning of 1651, and 

 the other in 1654." 



From the well-known industry and accuracy of 

 Oldys in all matters concerning dates and other 

 facts, I am inclined to believe (in the absence of 

 strong proof to the contrary) that Miltou was not 

 totally blind until 1654. 



Whilst on this subject I may perhaps be per- 

 mitted to observe that having compared the 

 above-mentioned copy of Philips's Life of Milton 

 with the " Life of Milton " in the Biographia 

 Britannica, I have no doubt that the latter was 

 compiled chiefly from the former, as most of 

 Oldys's notes and dates have been made use of 

 there. If Oldys did not write the Life of Milton 

 for the Biographia Britannica, be must have lent 

 his annotated copy of Philips to Dr. Philip Nicols, 

 whose signature, " P.," is at the end of the article 

 " Milton " in the Biographia Britannica. 



W. H. W. T. 



Somerset House. 



I beg to inform Lethrediensis that there is a 

 work in the College Library, Dublin, entitled, 



" Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in Eng- 

 land, and the Causes that hitherto have hindered it. Two 

 Books written to a Friend. Printed for Thomas Under- 

 bill, 1641." 



In the margin of the title-page is the following 

 memorandum : — 



" Ad doctissimum virum Patricium Junium, Joannes 

 Miltonius hsec sua unum in fasciculum conjecta mittit, 

 paucis hujusmodi lectoribus contentus." 



Immediately under is added, " The writing of 

 Milton," — written, of course, in a different hand. 



Clericus (D). 



My investigations into tliis subject have been 

 farther rewarded by the discovery of another al- 

 leged autograph of Milton. In one of Thorpe's 

 Catalogues for 1835, there is the following article, 

 to enhance the attractions of a fine copy of Aratus 

 marked at six guineas : 



" This is a very interesting copy, and will be dearly 

 prized by the lover of English poetry, as it once belonged 

 to the immortal author of Paradise Lost, and has his 

 autograph on a fly-leaf (Jo. Milton, pre. 2s. Qd., 1631). 

 There are also several manuscript corrections of the text 

 and conjectural emendations throughout the volume, in 

 his autograph, and a few other MS. notes by Upton, the 

 editor of Epictetus. 



" Cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit." 



Note by Milton. 



Before laying down my pen, may I express a 

 hope that the forthcoming Life of Milton by the 

 accomplished Professor Masson will furnish us 

 with specimens of the poet's autograph, as well as 

 copies of the several authentic portraits that were 

 taken at different stages of his life. It is time 

 that, with a life such as that announced of ample 

 detail, and it may be hoped finished execution, 

 we should have all those helps to a perfect know- 



