April 30. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



433 



and Sclavonian, as well as in Chaldee. Lamache 

 in Arabic means (see Freytag) "Ze»i intuitu et 

 furtim adspicere aliquem ; " also to shine, as light- 

 ning, or a star. Lameck, therefore, is an appro- 

 priate designation for a man known to prowl 

 about for plunder and murder, and whose eye, 

 whether taking aim or not, would give a sudden 

 and furtive glance. 



The word lamed signifies, in Hebrew, teaching; 

 the word Talmud is from the same root. It is the 

 same in Syriac and Chaldee. The original sig- 

 nificant of these three languages is to be found in 

 the Arabic Lamada : " Se suhmisit alicui ; humiliter 

 se gessit erga aliquem." (Freytag.) No argument 

 can be drawn from the shape of the letter y 

 (lamed), because, although popularly so called, ^' 

 is not a Hebrew letter, but a Chaldee one. The 

 recent discoveries, published in Layard's last 

 work, demonstrate this fact ; Mr. Layard falls into 

 the mistake of calling the basin inscriptions He- 

 brew, although Mr. Ellis, who had translated 

 them, says expressly that the language is Chaldee 

 (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 510.), one of them only 

 being Syriac (p. 521.). Chaldee and Syriac, in- 

 deed, differ from each other as little as Chaucer's 

 and Shakspeare's English, although the written 

 characters are wholly distinct. 



Davis, in his Celtic Researches, has done all that 

 was possible, taking a very limited view, how- 

 ever, in fixing upon certain linguistic resemblances 

 in some ancient tongues to the Celtic; but a 

 clear apprehension of the proper place which the 

 Celtic language and its congeners hold in com- 

 parative philology, can only be learnt from such 

 works as Adelung's Mithridates, and Adrien 

 Balbi's AtkLS Ethnographique du Globe. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



The interpretation of Hessius (Geschiclite der 

 Pati-iarchen, i. 83.) is preferred by Rosenmiiller : 



" Ex hujus Doctissimi Viri seutentia Lamechus sese 

 jactat propter filios suos, qui artium adeo utilium essent 

 inventores : Cainum progenitorem suum propter caedem 

 non esse piinitum, inulto minus se posse puniri, si vel 

 simile scelus commisisset. Verba enim non significant, 

 csedam ab eo revera esse paratam, sed sunt verba ho- 

 minis admodum insolentis et profani. Ceterum facile 

 apparet, haec verba a Mose ex quodam carmine antiquo 

 inserta esse : tota enim oratio poeticam quandam sub- 

 limitatem spiral." 



The sense of these two verses (Gen. iv. 23, 24.) 

 is, according to Dathe : 



" Si propter viri aut juvenis caedem vulnera et plagee 

 mihi intendantur, cum de Caino poena septuplex statuta 

 fuerit, in Lamecho id fiet septuayies septies." 



Tzar, " A Prince fit for heaven." Belshatzar is also 

 in Russian bolszoi Tzar, " A great Prince ; " and Bel- 

 teshtzar, Daniel's Chaldean pagan name, is byl tesh 



Tzar, " he was also a Prince," i. e. " of the royal 

 family," 



Herder, in his Geist der ehr'dischen Poesie 

 (i. 344.) says : 



" Carmen hoc Lamechi laudes canere gladii a filio 

 inventi, cujus usum et pra9stantiam contra hostiles ali- 

 orum insultus his verbis pra;dicet : Lamechi muUeres 

 audite sermonem meum, percipite dicta mea : Occido jam 

 virum, qui me vulneravit, juvenem, qui plagam mihi in- 

 fligit. Si Cainus septies ulciscendus, in Lamecho idfiei 

 septuagies septies." 



„ T. J. BCCKTON. 



Birmingham. 



The legend of the shooting of Cain by Lamech 

 is detailed in The Creation of the World, with 

 Noah's Flood, a Cornish mystery, translated into 

 English by John Keigwin, and edited by Davies 

 Gilbert, Esq. The legend and translation, in 

 parallel columns, are given also at pp. 15, 16. of 

 Mr. Gilbert's " Collections and Translations re- 

 specting St. Neot," prefixed to a descriptive ac- 

 count (in 4to., with sixteen coloured plates) of 

 the windows of St. Neot's Church in Cornwall, by 

 Mr. Hedgeland, who restored them, 1825—1829, 

 at the expense of the Rev. Richard Gerveys 

 Grylls, patron, and formerly incumbent of the 

 living. Joseph Rix. 



St. Neot's, Huntingdonshire. ' 



XOBD coke's charge TO THE JUBT. 



(Vol. vii., p. 376.) 



Saltpetre-man. — An explanation of this title 

 may be found in a proclamation of King Charles I. 

 (1625) : 



" For the Maintaining and Increasing of the Salt- 

 petre Mines of England, for the Necessary and Im- 

 portant Manufacture of Gunpowder." 



This proclamation states : 



" That our realm naturally yields suflScIent mines of 

 saltpetre without depending on foreign parts ; where- 

 fore, for the future, no dovehouse shall be paved with 

 stones, bricks, nor boards, lime, sand, nor gravel, nor 

 any other thing whereby the growth and increase of 

 the mine and saltpetre may be hindered or impaired ; 

 but the proprietors shall suffer the ground or fioors , 

 thereof, as also all stables where horses stand, to lie 

 open with good and mellow earth, apt to breed in- 

 crease of the said mine. And that none deny or hinder 

 any saltpetre-man, lawfully deputed thereto, from dig- 

 ging, taking, or working any ground which by com- 

 mission may be taken and wrought for saltpetre. 

 Neither shall any constable, or other officer, neglect to 

 furnish any such saltpetre-man with convenient car- 

 riages, that the King's service suffer not. None shall 

 bribe any saltpetre-man for the sparing or forbearing of 

 any ground fit to be wrought for saltpetre," &c. 



It would appear that the saltpetre-man abused his 

 authority, and that the people suffered a good 

 deal of annoyance from the manner in which this 



