Dec. 9. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



459 



collection of a phrenologist. Tiie manner in which it was 

 obtained is said to have been this : On some occasion of 

 alteration in the church, or burial of some one in the same 

 spot, the coffin of Pope was disinterred, and opened to see 

 the state of the remains ; by a bribe to the sexton of 

 the time, possession of the skull was obtained for the 

 night, and another skull returned instead of it. I have 

 heard that fiflj' pounds were paid to manage and carry 

 through this transaction. Be that as it maj^ the skull of 

 Pope figures in a private museum." — 2nd edit., vol. i. 

 p. 175. 



E. V. T. 



James Moore Smyth. — C. says (Vol. x., p. 102.) 

 that this gentleman was the son of Arthur Moore, 

 M. P., &c. ; and Mr. Carruthers (Vol. x., 

 p. 240.) repeats this, and adds, that his father was 

 the Commissioner of Trade and Phxntations. This 

 is probable, and has been often stated before ; but 

 as Mr. Carruthers seems to have studiously 

 avoided such assertion in his edition of Pope 

 (Vol. iii., p, 199.), where he merely records cer- 

 tain facts from which it might be inferred, I 

 should be glad to know what are the circumstances 

 and authorities which have led him to form a 

 positive opinion on the subject. S. J. M. 



Letters of Swift and his Cotemporaries. — 

 There is a passage in the Literary Memoirs of 

 J, Cradock, vol. i. p. 132., which at this moment 

 seems to me especially deserving the attention of 

 some of your correspondents. Speaking of the 

 election at Cambridge, and a visit to the Duke of 

 [Rutland, he says : 



" During our protracted stay at Cheveley, Mr. Pitt and 

 I were entrusted with the key of a very large old cabinet, 

 which contained manuscripts and letters from Lord Bo- 

 lingbroke. Dean Swift, and many of the tirst literati of 

 those times. They had belonged, as I understood, to the 

 great Lord Granby ; but at this very season there was no 

 leisure to examine them; and though an appointment 

 was agreed upon afterwards for that purpose, yet other 

 avocations interfered, and no progress that I know of has 

 since been made in the inquiry." 



L. S. C. 



" ANNOTATED EDITION OF THE ENGLISH POETS : " 

 OLDHAM. 



It is with great reluctance that I make any ob- 

 servation unfavourable to such a work as the 

 Annotated Edition of the English Poets, a work 

 which I have read with much pleasure, and for 

 •which the public cannot but feel greatly indebted 

 to Mr. Robert Bell ; but yet, when such an ex- 

 traordinary slip as the following occurs, I cannot 

 but think that a " Note " should be made thereon, 

 if it be only to show that Bonus Homerus can not 

 only sleep sometimes, but sleep as though he had 

 drank mandragora to boot. 



In that virulent satire against the Jesuits by 

 Oldham, entitled Loyola's Will, the poet makes 



the general of the Order, whilst lamenting the 

 publication of the Holy Scriptures, speak thus : 



" But charge him chiefly not to touch at all 

 The dangerous works of that old Lollard, Paul ; 

 That arrant Wickliifist, from whom our foes 

 Take all their batteries to attack our cause. 

 Would he, in his first years, had martyr'd been, 

 Never Damascus, nor the Vision seen ; 

 Then he our party was, stout vigorous, 

 And fierce in chase of heretics like us ; 

 Till he at length, by the enemy seduced. 

 Forsook us, and the hostile side espoused." 



Is it credible that any reader of these lines should 

 have supposed that they alluded to any but the 

 Apostle of the Gentiles? And yet we have a 

 tolerably long foot-note, informing us gravely 

 that the person in question is " The famous Fatlier 

 Paul Sarpi!" Was he at Damascus? What 

 vision did he see ? I can hardly believe Mr. 

 Bell to have written this note, and yet he is re- 

 sponsible for it. W. J. Beenhard Smith. 

 Temple. 



CURIOUS PREDICTIONS. 



Inclosed are translations from my short-hand 

 notes of curious predictions relating to the present 

 eventful times. I shall be glad if you can find a 

 corner for them In your valuable periodical, to 

 stimulate your readers to similar contributions. 



From the Nonconformist of Wednesday, May 17, 1848. 



" We copy the following curious document from the 

 Caledonian Mercury of May 7, 1842. ' A circumstance'of 

 a very remarkable kind lias just come to our knowledge, 

 to which we would call the attention of the friends of the 

 Church at this very interesting period. It would appear 

 that, at the beginning of the present century, the chap- 

 laincy of the Edinburgh jail was filled by an old man 

 named Lunn. He was a very learned man, and had given 

 much attention to unfulfilled prophecy. About the year 

 1804, he commenced publishing a series of papers on the 

 subject; but on account of the indifiference of the public, 

 they were discontinued, and his expositions were confined 

 to conversational lectures to the young men with whom 

 he came in contact. Our informant, who is about seventy 

 years of age, had the good fortune to be one of them ; and 

 as he carefully marked the chief points alluded to by his 

 venerable instructor, he has been in the habit of alluding 

 frequently to passing events, as fulfilling predictions of 

 Mr. Lunn. The apparently remarkably correct fulfil- 

 ment of several of these predictions, has induced us to 

 record as possible, not only of the past, but supposed 

 future events. We need scarcely remind our readers . . . 

 Our object in bringing this matter before the public, is 

 partly to record those predictions which are yet to be 

 proved, but more especially to get our friends to search 

 among their old pamphlets for the lost papers, which 

 may probably contain a development of his principles of 

 interpretation. Those printers who were in business 

 about the period referred to, 1804, would do well to ex- 

 amine their vouchers. We would also suggest, that the 

 surviving friends and relatives of Mr. Lunn ought to 

 search for such papers, and collect from those who re- 

 member his conversations the statements which he made 

 upon the subject. The following are given us by our 



