Oct. 30. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



415 



added, a biographical sketch of the Rev, William 

 Burkitt ; also, an Appendix, containing two curious 

 inscriptions at Lavenham. By H. M'Keon, 8vo, : 

 Woodbridge, 1830.] 



" Ophiomaches, or Deism Revealed." — Who was 

 author of a work in two volumes, published in 

 1749 by Millar of London, and called Ophiomaches, 

 or Deism Revealed? It is very able, and must 

 have been the production of some talented scholar. 



Scrutator. 



Edinburgh. 



[This valuable work is by the Rev. Philip Skelton, 

 who was at the time of its publication curate at Mo- 

 naghan, in the diocese of Clogher. Just after Mr. 

 Skelton had submitted the work to Millar, Mr. Hume 

 accidentally entered his shop, and the manuscript was 

 shown to him. Hume retired with it into an adjoining 

 room, examined it here and there for about an hour, 

 and then exclaimed to Andrew, "Print!" A few 

 months after its publication, the Bishop of Clogher, 

 Dr. Clayton, was asked by Bishop Sherlock if he 

 knew the author. " O yes, he has been a curate in my 

 ■diocese near these twenty years." " More shame for 

 your lordship," answered Sherlock, "to let a man of 

 his merit continue so long a curate in your diocese." 

 In 1750, Skelton obtained the living of Pettigo. In 

 1759, he was preferred to the living of Devenish, near 

 Enniskillen ; whence he was removed to Fintona, in 

 ttie county of Tyrone. He died in 1787.] 



Sydney SmitKs Receipt for a Salad Mixture. — 

 A volume of Murray's Railicay Reading, entitled 

 The Art of Dining, has recently brought into 

 public notice Sydney Smith's receipt for a salad 

 mixture. After an enumeration of the requisite 

 ingredients, the verses conclude thus : 



" Then, though green turtle fail, though venison's 

 tough, 

 And ham and turkey are not boil'd enough, 

 Serenely full, the epicure may say, 

 Fate cannot harm me ; I have dined to-day ! " 



In a MS. version of the same receipt, I find a 

 few variations. These are generally trifling ; but 

 the last four lines are quite different from those 

 •quoted above, and run thus : 



" Oh great and glorious! oh herbaceous treat ! 

 'Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat, 

 Back to the world he'd turn his weary soul, 

 And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl." 



I am curious to know whether any of your 

 readers can authenticate the latter version. I am 

 unable to discover the channel through which I 

 received it ; but as I enjoyed the acquaintance of 

 the lamented rector of Combe Florey, it seems 

 likely to be genuine. C. Cook, Jun. 



[The excellent receipt, which is given in the Life of 

 Barham prefixed to the Ingoldshij Legends (Third 

 Series) as received by him from the writer, concludes 

 with the four lines given in The Art of Dining. 1 



Eagle supporting Lecterns. — Origin of eagle as 

 support to lecterns wanted. A. A. D. 



[An eagle is the attribute of St. John the Evangelist, 

 " because," says Durandus, " he soareth to the Divinity 

 of Christ, whilst the others walk with their Lord on 

 earth." Eagles of brass appear to have been very an- 

 ciently used in churches as lecterns in the choirs from 

 whence the epistle and gospel were sung, and certain 

 services of the dead read from the martyrology and 

 necrology. Sometimes a brass eagle was suspended 

 over the lectern.] 



Jack Robinson. — What is the origin of the ex- 

 pression, " Before you could say Jack Robinson," 

 so often employed in conversation, to convey the 

 notion of a sudden and startling occurrence ? 



H. G. T. 



Weston super Mare. 



[According to Grose, it is "a saying to express a 

 very short time ; originating from a very volatile gen- 

 tleman of that appellation, who would call on his 

 neighbours and be gone before his name could be-- 

 announced."] 



Passage in " Religio Medici.''^ — Can any of 

 your learned readers assist me in the following 

 passage? After saying that plants are not de- 

 stroyed by fire, " but withdrawn into their incom- 

 bustible part, where they lie secure from the 

 action of that devouring element," the author con- 

 tinues : " This is made good by experience, which 

 can from the ashes of a plant revive the plant, and 

 from its cinders recall it into its stalke and leaves 

 againe." — Rel. Med., i. sect. 38. 



I should like to know where Sir Thomas got 

 his " experience." R. J. Allen. 



[If our Correspondent will refer to vol. ii. p. 396. 

 of the excellent edition of Sir Thomas Browne's 

 Works, published by Bohn in his Antiquarian Library, 

 he will find a very interesting note on this passage, 

 which in the edition of 1642 runs "this / make good 

 by experience," &c. From this note it will be suffi- 

 cient to extract one short passage : 



" The following experiment by Sir Thomas Browne, 

 preserved in his handwriting in the British Museum, 

 will throw light on the real character of these supposed 

 vegetable resurrections : — 



" The water distilled out of the roote of Bryonia 

 alba, mixed with sal nitri, will send forth handsome 

 shootes. Butt the neatest draughts are made in the 

 sand or scurvie grass water, if you make a thin solution 

 therein of sal amoniac, and so lett it exhale; for at the 

 bottom will remain woods and rowes of filicular-shaped 

 plants in an exquisite and subtle way of draught, much 

 answering the figures in the stones from the East 

 Indies."— MSS. Sloan. 1847.] 



Sir Thomas Roe's MSS. — Many of your readers 

 are probably acquainted with The Negotiations of 

 Sir Thomas Roe in his Embassy to the Ottoman 

 Porte from 1621 to 1628 : printed in London in 

 1640, in one volume, folio. We are informed 



