NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 244. 



as far as my observation goes, applies only to the 

 sowing of pease and beans. Sir Anthony Fitz- 

 Herbert says : 



" Take especial care to sow your pease in the old of 

 the moon ; then will they codd better, and be sooner 

 ripe." 



Tusser writes to the same effect : 



" Sow peason and beans in the wane of the moon ; 

 Wlio soweth them sooner, he soweth too soon : 

 That they with the planet may rest and arise. 

 And flourish with bearing most plentiful wise." 



Some of your readers may perhaps be able to 

 inform me whether any such belief of the moon's 

 influence prevails in any part of England at the 

 present time ; and whether, if so, it is confined to 

 the two particular crops alluded to. 



I am aware that, be it truth or mere superstition, 

 there are many good housekeepers who will on no 

 account kill a pig, with a view to salt its flesh, 

 without consulting the age of the moon. 



R. W. B. 



Salt, Custom connected with. — A friend tells me 

 that some tribe of Tartars has a custom of carry- 

 ing a piece of salt in a little bag at the saddle- 

 bow, to be sucked by the way as a solace to the 

 traveller; and also to be offered on occasion to 

 those whom he may meet, as a pledge of friend- 

 ship. What author mentions such a habit ? 



G. William Skybing. 



Somerset House. 



" The Devil sits in his easy chair." — Who was the 

 author of a satire on English politics, beginning : 

 " The Devil sits in his easy chair, 

 Sipping liis sulphur tea, 

 And gazing out, with a pensive air, 



O'er the broad, bitumen sea. 

 LuU'd into sentimental mood, 



By the spirits' far-off wail," &c. 



Anon. 



TTie Turks and the Irish. — Perhaps some 

 reader of " IST. & Q." may be able and willing to 

 give the full title of the work alluded to in the 

 following newspaper cutting ; and, farther, to in- 

 form us exactly as to what the Pythagorean says 

 of Ireland and its literature ? 



" A very valuable work has been recently edited at 

 Leipsic. It is a Latin abstract of cosmography, ori- 

 ginally written in Greek by Hicas, a Pythagorean 

 philosopher of the third century, and who appears to 

 have been a native of Istria, which, according to the 

 learned German editor, comprehended part of the pre- 

 sent Turkey. This work is a valuable addition to 

 geographical knowledge, as the writer appears to have 

 visited a great number of countries, which in his day 

 were perfect ierra incognita. But what we would par- 

 ticularly remark is his notice of two nations at nearly 

 opposite extremities of Europe — the Turks and the 

 Irish. He speaks of the • Turchoe,' or ' Turci,' as in- 



habiting a region near the Caspian Sea, comprising 

 part of the territory wrested from their descendants by 

 the late Emperor of Russia. This proves that the 

 readings in other writers, which speak of the Turks as 

 an ancient people, are correct. But still more impor- 

 tant is what this writer says of Ireland, which country 

 he visited personally : for he speaks of the people as 

 having an alphabet and literature so early as the third 

 century, i.e. nearly two hundred years before the time 

 of St. Patrick, thus affording external confirmation to 

 the genuineness of our Druidic remains." 



James Geates. 

 Kilkenny. 



Milton Portraits. — Is the present depository of 

 two beautiful drawings on vellum of portraits of 

 Milton the poet, by Richardson, jun., known ? 



Gablichithe. 



The '■'■Economy of Human Life." — Prior to the 

 death of Dodsley, the Economy of Human Life 

 was without scruple ascribed to Lord Chesterfield : 

 the Monthly Review and the Gentleman s Maga- 

 zine subsequently claimed the work as the pro- 

 duction of the unassuming publisher and poet, 

 affirming that Chesterfield permitted Dodsley to 

 use his name as a favour, to promote the sale of 

 the work. Is there any evidence beyond the ipse 

 dixit of the writers in the Monthly Review and the 

 Gentlemari s Magazine for robbing Chesterfield of 

 the honour of composing this admirable epitome of 

 morals ? T. M. N. 



Robert Parsons or Persons, the celebrated 

 Jesuit theologian, died at Rome in 1610. When 

 and where was he born, and what are the titles 

 and dates of his published works ? His Christian 

 Resolutions were elegantly translated into Welsh 

 by Dr. Davies, the lexicographer and grammarian, 

 and printed at London in 1632. Has there been 

 a late edition of the original ? Hielas. 



Orpheus Sumart the Clockmdker, — Can any of 

 your numerous correspondents inform me when 

 Orpheus Sumart flourished in Clerkenwell ? 



I have in my possession, and in use, a clock 

 bearing on its face his name : the works are of 

 wood, and its mechanism extremely simple. My 

 late father's reminiscences extended back just a 

 century from the present date, and he always 

 spoke of it as a piece of old family furniture. 



T. B. B. H. 



" The Ants" — The Ants ; a Rhapsody, two 

 volumes 12mo. Curious cuts. 1767. The author's 

 name and object of this satire are desired. J. O. 



Transmutation of Metals. — Will some of your 

 really scientific readers be pleased to state whe- 

 ther it be possible to transmute any of the baser 

 metals into gold ? I am inclined to believe that it 

 is now possible, though it was not in the days of Sir 



