132 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 197. 



the Haliburtoiis, Wilsons, Ferguses, Stuarts, Haslers, 

 Watsons, Sec. Two Protestant clergymen of Scotch 

 origin, Forsyth and Inglis, have composed some sacred 

 poetry. But the most conspicuous of all the Polish 

 Scotchmen is undoubtedly Dr. John Johnstone [born 

 in Poland 1603, died 1675], perhaps the most remark- 

 able writer of tlie seventeenth century on natural his- 

 tory. It seems, indeed, that there is a mysterious link 

 connecting the two distant countries ; because, if many 

 Scotsmen had in bygone days sought and found a 

 .second fatherland in Poland, a strong and active sym- 

 pathy for the sufferings of the last-named country, and 

 lier exiled children, has been evinced in our own times 

 by the natives of Scotland in general, and by some of 

 the most distinguished amongst them in particular. 

 Tluis it was an eminent bard of Caledonia, the gifted 

 author of The Pleasures of Hope, who, when 



* Sarraatia fell, unwept, without a crime,' 



has thrown, by his immortal strains, over the fall of her 

 liberty, a halo of glory which will remain luifaded as 

 long as the English language lasts. The name of 

 Thomas Campbell is venerated throughout all Poland ; 

 but there is also another Scotch name [Lord Dudley 

 Stuart] which is enshrined in the heart of every true 

 Pole." — From Count Valerian Krasinski's Sketch of 

 the Religious History of the Sclavonic Nations, p. 167. : 

 Edinburgh, Johnstone and Hunter, 1851. 



J. K. 



ANTICIPATORY USE OF THE CROSS. 



(Vol. vii., pp. 548. 629.) 



I think The Writer of " Communications with 

 THE Unseen World " would have some difficulty 

 in referrini; to the works on which he based the 

 •statement that " it was a tradition in Mexico that 

 when that form (the cross) should be victorious, 

 the old religion should disappear, and that a 

 similar tradition attached to it at Alexandria." 

 He doubtless made the statement from memory, 

 and unintentionally confounded two distinct facts, 

 viz. that the Mexicans worshipped the cross, and 

 bad prophetic intimations of the downfall of their 

 nation and religion by the oppression of bearded 

 strangers from the East. The quotation by Mr. 

 Peacock at p. 549., quoted also in Purchas' Pil- 

 grims, vol. v., proves, as do other authorities, that 

 the cross was worshipped in Mexico prior to the 

 Spanish invasion, and therefore it was impossible 

 that the belief mentioned by The Writer, &c. 

 could liave prevailed. 



On the first discovery of Yucatan, — 



" Grijaha was astonished at the sight of large crosses, 

 evidently objects of worship." — Prescott's Mexico, 

 vol. i. p. 203. 



Mr. Stephens, in his Central America, vol. ii., 

 jjives a representation of one of these crosses. 

 The cross on the Temple of Serapis, mentioned in 

 Socrates' Ecc. Hist., was undoubtedly the well- 

 known Crux ansata, the symbol of life. It was as 



the latter that the heathens appealed to it, and the 

 Christians explained it to them as fulfilled in the 

 Death of Christ. 



Mr. Peacock asks for other Instances : I subjoin 

 some. 



In India. — The great pagoda at Benares is 

 built in the form of a cross. (JNIaurlce's Ind. 

 Aiit., vol. ili. p. 31., City, Tavernier.) 



On a Buddhist temi)le of cyclopean structure 

 at Mundore (Tod's llajasthan, vol. i. p. 727.), the 

 cross appears as a sacred figui-e, together with 

 the double triangle, another emblem of very wide 

 distribution, occurring on ancient British coins 

 (Camden's Brilunnica), Central American build- 

 ings (Norman's Travels in Yucatan'), among the 

 Jews as the Shield of David (Brucker's History 

 of Pldlosophy), and a well-known masonic symbol 

 frequently introduced into Gothic ecclesiastical 

 edifices. 



In Palestine. — 



" According to R. Solomon Jarchi, the Talmud, and 

 Maimonides, when the priest sprinkled the blood of 

 the victim on the consecrated cakes and hallowed 

 utensils, he was always careful to do it in the form of 

 a cross. The same symbol was used when the kings 

 and high priests were anointed." — Faber's Horm 

 Mosaicce, vol. ii. p. 188. 

 Sec farther hereon, Deane on Sc7-pent Worsliip. 



In Persia. — The trefoil on which the sacrifices 

 were placed was probably held sacred from its 

 cruciform character. The cross (^) occurs on 

 Persian buildings among otlier sacred symbols. 

 (U. K. Porter's Travels, vol. ii.) 



In Britain. — The crass was formed by baring 

 a tree to a stump, and inserting another crosswise 

 on the top ; on the three arms thus formed were 

 inscribed the names of the three principal, or 

 triad of gods, Hesus, Belenus, and Taranis. The 

 stone avenues of the temple at Classerniss are 

 arranged in the form of a cross. (Borlase's An- 

 tiquities of Cormvall.) 



In Scandinavia. — The hammer of Thor was in 

 the form of the cross ; see in Herbert's Select Ice- 

 landic Poetry, p. 1 1 ., and Laing's Kings ofNoi-toay, 

 vol. I. pp. 224. 330 , a curious anecdote of King 

 Hacon, who, having been converted to Christianity, 

 made the sign of the cross when he drank, but 

 persuaded his irritated Pagan followers that it was 

 the sign of Thor's hammer. 



The figure of Thor's hammer was held in the 

 utmost reverence by his followers, who were called 

 the children of Thor, who in the last day would 

 save themselves by his mighty hammer. ^ The 

 fiery ci'oss, so well known by Scott's vivid de- 

 scription, was originally the hammer of Thor, 

 which in early Pagan, as in later Christian times, 

 was used as a svimmons to convene the people 

 either to council or to w.ar. (Herbert's Select Ice- 

 landic Poetry, p. 11.) Eden Warwick. 



Birmingham. 



