July 8. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



29 



the beginning of the sixth book of the first part, is 

 a sufficiently curious illustration of " nothing new 

 under the sun," to be worth citing in 1854 : 



" C'etait alors la mode de I'eau pour tout remede ; 

 je me mis a I'eau, et si peu discretement, qu'elle faillit 

 me guerir, non de mes maux, mais de la vie." 



Can any sweeper up of the crumbs of history 

 furnish the readers of " N. & Q." with any par- 

 ticulars respecting this eighteenth century avatar 

 of hydropathy, its promoters, its methods, its du- 

 ration ? or must the water-doctors before Priess- 

 nitz be consigned to the same limbo as the brave 

 before Agamemnon ? T. A. T. 



Florence. 



Correspondence between Pilate and Herod, Sfc. 

 — In the Add. MSS., No, 14,609., there is a letter 

 from Herod to Pilate, and another in reply, from 

 Pilate to Herod. These are followed by re- 

 ferences to Justin Martyr, and one Theodorus, 

 who wrote to Pilate about Christ. Is the alleged 

 correspondence here alluded to elsewhere to be 

 found, or found mentioned? The documents 

 above referred to are in the Syriac language. 



B. H. C. 



The Architect of the Monastery of Batalha in 

 Portugal. — Murphy, in his well-known work on 

 this noble fifteenth century structure, states that 

 its architect was "David Hacket, an Irishman," 

 and gives as his authority Joze Soares da Sylva, 

 who in his Mem. del Bey D. Joano 1°, torn. ii. 

 p. 533., refers to " one of the memoirs of F. An- 

 tonio da Madureira, a Dominican friar, and a 

 celebrated genealogist." I should feel much 

 obliged for information as to the latter writer. 

 First, as to writings, whether they are in print or 

 not ? Secondly, if so, whether the David Hacket 

 above referred to was a native of Kilkenny, and 

 identical with a prelate of the same name who 

 filled the see of Ossory from 1460 to 1479 ? 



James Graves. 



Kilkenny. 



Stoneham. — Can any one furnish me with a 

 pedigree of, or any information concerning the 

 family of this name ? Is it connected with the 

 villages (I believe) of Stoneham-on and under- 

 the-Hill, in Sussex ? G. Wixliam Skybing. 



Somerset House. 



Chinese Language. — Can any of your corre- 

 spondents inform me as to the best method of 

 studying the Chinese language ? What are the 

 best works on the subject ? Where, and at what 

 price, may these works be obtained ? 



L. H. Walters. 



Amelia, Daughter of George II. — Are there 

 any records or documents that may be referred 

 to of the appointments to the household of the 



Princess Amelia, daughter of George II., and 

 aunt of George III. ? Leveret. 



" Virtue and Vice." — A Treatise in Prose and 

 Verse, or Virtue and Vice, was published in 1783, 

 8vo. pp. 320 : 



" It may be necessary and proper," says the anony- 

 mous author, " to let the uncandid reader know of a 

 truth, before he reads the following reflections, that if 

 every man had been like the writer (touching the sub- 

 ject-matter of this book), in sentiments and conduct, 

 there never would have been a Dalilah upon the earth." 



He treats his subject in an extraordinary way, 

 and I should like to know who the immaculate 

 man was. J. 0. 



Duchesse D'Abrantes. — Having been reading 

 the memoirs of Madame Junot, Duchess D'A- 

 brantes, I am anxious to know whether the fol- 

 lowino' paragraph in the Athenceum of January 7 

 (No. 1367. p. 25.) relates to that individual, and, 

 if so, what authority there is for the statement. 

 The Athenceum, in speaking of the hideous con- 

 trasts in Paris, quotes Father Prout, saying, — 

 " * Paris ! gorgeous abode of the gay. Paris 1 haunt of 



despair.' 

 Where Balzac laid the scene of his fictitious Pere 

 Goriot, and where the brilliant Duchess D'Abrantes 

 — in her time the extravagant queen of a gay salon — 

 ended her days in a common hospital." 



M. D. 



Great Yarmouth. 



"■Perfide ^Ziwn.'" — What was the origin, or 

 the occasion of Napoleon's compliment to Eng- 

 land, when he named her "perfide Albion ?" 



G. T. H. 



Polygamy among the Turks. — Can any of your 

 correspondents inform me what is the actual con- 

 dition of the Turks with respect to polygamy? 

 Is it only the privilege of the wealthy? or, if more 

 general, whence the supply of wives ? In other 

 nations there is no great disparity in the numbers 

 of the sexes. G^- T. H. 



Edward I. — What is the evidence for an in- 

 formation, which I once obtained from a very 

 trustworthy historian, that the name of Edward^ I. 

 had been inscribed on the books of the University 

 of Padua ? and when and by whom is this great 

 prince first called the English Justinian ? a. 



" Nagging." — Whence is this word derived ? 

 Is it to be found in any dictionary ? Is it a cor- 

 ruption of knacking ? Is there any authority for 

 the use of the word ? G-. 



Constantinople. — Where is to be found the 

 prophecy, in every one's mouth, that the Turks 

 will hold Constantinople for four centuries ? 



Nemo. 



