10« 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 170i 



meet the eye of some English resident or traveller 

 in the East, ■who will give to it the attention it 

 deserves. 



A great degree of interest is attached to the 

 recorded fall of aerolites in times past, and the 

 most remarkable and authentic record of antiquity 

 on this subject is that of the massive stone which 

 fell in the 78th Olympiad (about the time of the 

 birth of Socrates), at j3^gospotamos (the goat's 

 river), on the Hellespont, — the place soon atter- 

 Ts-ards the scene of that naval victory of Lysander, 

 in the last year of the Peloponnesian war, which 

 subjected Athens and Greece for a time to the 

 Spartan power. The fall of this stone, says the 

 reviewer, is expressly mentioned by Aristotle ; by 

 the author of the Parian Chronicle ; by Diogenes of 

 Apollonia ; and most fully by Plutarch and Pliny, 

 both of whom distinctly state it to be shown in 

 their time — the sixth century after its fall. Pliny's 

 description is well marked : " Qui lapis etiam nunc 

 ostenditur, magnitudine veliis, colore adusto;" and 

 he adds the fact that a burning comet (meteor) 

 accompanied its descent. Plutarch explicitly states 

 that it was still held in much veneration by the 

 inhabitants of the Chersonesus. He also speaks of 

 its vast size. If the mass remained visible, and of 

 such magnitude as described, down to Pliny's time, 

 it is far from impossible (remarks the reviewer) 

 that it may even now be re-discovered, Avith the 

 aid, perchance, of some stray tradition attached to 

 the place, surviving, as often happens, the lapse of 

 ages, the changes of human dominion, and even 

 the change of race itself, upon the spot. The 

 locality, indeed, is not further indicated than by 

 the statement of its fall at iEgospotamos ; but the 

 invariable manner in which it is thus described 

 defines tolerably well the district to be examined. 

 AVe learn (he adds) from the old geographers, 

 that there was a town called ^gospotaini on the 

 Thracian side of the Hellespont, and we may infer 

 a stream from which its name was derived. The 

 description of the naval fight, and the situation 

 relatively to Lampsacus (the modern Lamsaki), 

 further define the locality within certain limits. 

 The reviewer then adds some practical suggestions 

 of importance. The traveller devoting himself to 

 this research should make his head-quarters at 

 various places near the spot in question. He 

 should render himself previously familiar with the 

 aspect of meteoric stones, as now seen in European 

 cabinets, and should study the character of rocks 

 and fragmentary masses in the vicinity, to appre- 

 ciate the differences of aspect. A small part only 

 of the mass may now appear above the surface, 

 and may even be wholly concealed by alluvial 

 deposits, in which case the research would, of 

 course, be in vain, unless happily aided by local 

 tradition, which at the outset should be sedulously 

 sought for. The research, if successful, would be 

 of interest enough, both for history and science, to 



perpetuate a man's name. In the hope that some 

 of the correspondents f)f "N. & Q.," now sojourn- 

 ing in, or likely to visit the locality, may be tempted 

 to undertake it, I send you these suggestions, ex- 

 tracted from an article of no small scientific interest 

 and value ; and I will conclude with the Query, 

 whether the " sacred black stone," which is men- 

 tioned by Colonel Williams (the British Commis- 

 sioner for the settlement of the Turkish boundary 

 question) to be regarded by the Seids inhabiting 

 Despool as their palladium, has any legend of 

 meteoric origin connected with its history ? 



Wm. Sidney Gibson; 

 Newcastle on Tyne. 



BANBITRT CAKES AND ZEAI,. 



Tlte Tatler, No. 220., in describing his " Eccle- 

 siastical Thermometer," which gave indication of 

 the changes and revolutions in the Church, and of 

 the different degrees of heat in religion through- 

 out the country, says : 



" To complete the experiment, I prevfiiled upon a 

 friend of mine, who works under me in the occult 

 sciences, to make a progress with my glass through the 

 whole island of Great Britain ; and, after his return, 

 to present me with a register of his observations. I 

 guessed beforehand at the temper of several places he 

 passed through by the cliaracters they have had time 

 out of mind. Thus that facetious divine, Dr. Fuller, 

 speaking of the town of Banbury near a hundred year* 

 ago, tells us, it was a place famous for cakes and zeal^ 

 which I find by my glass is true to this day as to the 

 latter part of this description ; though I must confess- 

 it is not in the same reputation for cakes that it was in 

 the time of that learned author." 



In Gough's Camden, vol. i. p. 298., there is 

 rather an amusing account of the manner in which 

 the town of Banbury gained a proverbial reputa- 

 tion for zeal ; and the following note by Mr. Cam- 

 den, in his MS. supplement to the Britannia, is 

 added : 



" Put out the word zeah in Banbury, where some 

 think it a disgrace, when as zeale with knowledge is 

 the greater grace among good Christians ; for it was 

 first foysted in by some compositor or pressman, neither, 

 is it in my Latin copie, which I desire the reader to 

 hold as authentic." 



And Ray gives as a proverbial saying : 



" Banbury veal, cheese, and cakes." 



and refers to the mistake in Camden.* Now it is 



[* Tl)e following note respecting this misprint is 

 given in Gibson's Camden, vol. i. p. 296., edit. 1772 : — 

 " There is a credible story, that while Philemon Hol- 

 land was carrying on his English edition of the Bri- 

 tannia, Mr. Camden came accidentally to the press, 

 when this sheet was working off; and, looking on, he 

 found, that to his own observation of Banbury being' 



