2"d s. V. 122., May 1. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



357 



lindrical case, at the top of which is an electrometer, a 

 small fine pith ball ; a wire connects with a similar cylin- 

 der and electrometer in a distant apartment; and his 

 wife, by remarking the corresponding motions of the ball, 

 writes down the words they indicate ; from which it ap- 

 pears that he has formed an alphabet of motions. As the 

 length of the wire makes no difference in the effect, a 

 correspondence might be carried on at any distance: 

 within and without a besieged town for instance ; or, for 

 a purpose much more worthy, and a thousand times more 

 harmless, between two lovers prohibited or prevented 

 from any better connection. Whatever the use may be, 

 the invention is beautifal." 



H. 

 Worcester. 



Skinning live Frogs. — -Whilst strolling through 

 one of the markets of Milan during the spring of 

 1855, my attention was attracted to a woman who 

 appeared to be opening shell-fish. Upon closer 

 observation, however, I found she was preparing 

 frogs for cooking. At her left hand was a sack 

 almost full of these creatures ; and taking them 

 one by one on her knee, she denuded them of 

 their skins in a very expert manner, and then 

 threw them into a dish, where they were crawling 

 over each other, and moving about in an awkward 

 way, to the no sfliall delight of a group of juveniles. 

 Mr. Fortune, in his last work, A Residence among 

 the Chinese, Murray, 1857, at p. 45,, gives an ac- 

 count of a similar scene he witnessed in a street of 

 Tse-kee, a city near Ning-po. From this practice 

 prevailing in two countries so remote as Lom- 

 bardy and China, 1 imagine it arises, as in the 

 case of eels, from necessity : and the same excuse 

 for the cruelty may apply equally to one as the 

 other. From the following incident that occurred 

 a few weeks ago, it appears that frogs are becom- 

 ing an article of diet among the lower orders in 

 this country. In the neighbourhood of St. Helens, 

 Lancashire, a person observed some boys splash- 

 ing about in a pond, and, upon going up to them, 

 found they were catching frogs and cutting off 

 their hind legs. He asked what they were going 

 to do with them. The reply was, " We putten 

 um oth frylng-pon, an' then 'ith oon — ah' there 

 graidley good :" which means, in English, they fried 

 and then stewed them, and they were extreinely 

 good. There are two queries I wish to found on 

 this note. Where frogs are eaten, is it the gene- 

 ral custom to skin them whilst alive ? and is the 

 eating of them becoming general in this country ? 



G. (1.) 



THE THIRD BOOK Or AlACCABEES. 



I am anxious to introduce what seems to me to 

 be a legitimate subject for adjustment in " N. & 

 Q." It will be seen that the authorities I have 

 taken the liberty to quote manifestly contradict 

 not only themselves, but also each othei*. If, as 



I am half disposed to think, the Third Book of 

 Maccabees is not in the Bible of 1549 at all, then 

 the one I have (1551) is perhaps about the only 

 edition of the English Bible in which it appears. 

 Mr. Offor, or some of your other correspondents 

 who have made collections of early printed Bibles, 

 will no doubt readily step forward and unravel 

 the difficulty. 



From Dibdin's Ames, vol. iv. p. 58. : — 



" The Bible, 1549. Octavo. Jhon Daye. 



" The Bible in five parts, or volumes. 1. The Penta- 

 teuch, or five books of Moses. 2. The Boke of Josua — 

 The Boke of Hiob. 3. The Psalter.— The Boke of the 

 Prophet Malachi. 4. The bokes called the Apocripha : to 

 these is added the Thyrd Booke of the Machabees." * 



Dibdin's Ames, vol. iv. pp. 65-6. : — 



"The Bible. 1551. Folio. Jhon Daye. 

 " This, like the octavo edition 1549, has the third book 

 of the Machabees." 



Dibdin's Ames, vol. iv. pp. 319, 20, 21 : — 



" Concordaunce of the Bible. 1550. Octavo. Gwalter 

 Lynne." To which is added " The third boke of the Ma- 

 chabees, a booke of the Bible never before Translated ot 

 prynted in any English Bible, Dedicated to Anne douchesse 

 of Somerset. Extract: — Moreover, it behoveth, that I 

 left youre Grace knowe the cause whye I have annexed 

 the thyrde boke of the Machabees vnto this table. Whych 

 is for that it is verie often spoken of in thys little table, 

 and is not to be found in any Byble in Englyshe, saueynge 

 only in one, whych John Daye the prynter hath now in 

 pryntynge. Leste your grace therfore (or any other that 

 shall chaunce to have thys lyttle boke) should thinke 

 that there were no such boke of the Byble, I haue caused 

 thys thyrde boke of the Machabees to be translated, and 

 have imprynted it with this table, &c. Gwalter Lynne." 



From Beloe's Anecdotes, 1807, vol. ii. p. 321. 



" A breife and compendiouse Table, in a Maner of a 

 Concordaunce, openyng the Waye to the principall His- 

 tories of the whole Bible, &c. 



" (To which is added) The Thirde Boke of the Macha- 

 bees, a Booke of the Bible, also prynted unto this boke, 

 which was never before translated or prynted in any 

 Englyshe Bible. 



" Imprinted at London, for Gwelter Lynne, dwellynge 

 on Somers Keye, by Byllinges Gate. 1550. 8vo." 



" This is the first edition of the Third Book of the 

 Maccabees, and is so very rare, and in itself so very 

 curious, that the following extract cannot fail of being 

 acceptable to the reader." 



Then follows a long extract from the book 

 itself. 



Prom Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual, 1857, 

 vol. i. p. 179. : — 



« — (Taverner). The Bible, in five Parts or Volumes. 

 Lond. By Jhon Day and Wylliam Seres, 1549. 16mo. 



This edition is thus divided : 1. The Pentateuch, i. 

 The boke of Josua to the Boke of Hiob. 3. The Psalter 

 — The feoke of the Prophet Malachi. 4. The Bokes 

 called the Apocrypha — The Thyrde boke of the Macha- 

 bees. (The first translation of that book in English), 

 &c. 



«< — (Matthew). The Byble : set forth according to ye 



* " This is the first translation of that book into Eng- 

 lish I have met with." — Herbert. 



