520 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 213. 



The following is the Hebrew annotation in the 

 far-fixmeil Moses Mendelsohn's edition of the Book 

 of Psalms : 



*^ni w^ ui^w n van xin -is^n nn^^ n-npn injn* 



:nnitD 



"The holy and blessed One will give it to his be- 

 loved, in whom He delights, whilst he is yet asleep 

 and without fatigue." 



I need not adduce passages in the Hebrew 



Psalter, where such ellipsises do occur, E. M. B. 



evidently knows his Hebrew Bible well, and a 



legion of examples will immediately occur to him, 



Moses Margoliouth, 



Wybunbury, Nantwich, 



If E. M. B, will refer to Hengstenberg's Com- 

 mentary on the Psalms, he will find that Mr. 

 Trench is not without authority for his trans- 

 lation of Ps, cxxvii. 2. I quote the passage from 

 Thompson and Fairbairn's translation, in Clark's 

 Theological Lih7-a7'y, vol. iii. p. 449. : 



" N3^ for n^^ is not the accusative, but the prepo- 

 sition is omitted, as is frequently the case with words 

 that are in constant use. For example, 3iy, "Ip3) to 

 which n3ti> here is poetically made like. The expo- 

 sition He gives sleep, instead of in sleep, gives an un- 

 suitable meaning. For the subject is not about the 

 sleep, but the gain," 



C. I, E. 



Winkfield. 



Has the translation of Ps. cxxvii. 2., which Mr. 

 Trench has adopted, the sanction of any version 

 but that of Luther ? N. B. 



ON PALINDROMES. 



(Vol. vii., p. 178. &c.) 



Several of your correspondents have offered 

 Notes upon these singular compositions, and 

 Agricola de Monte adduces 



"NI^ON ANOMHMATA, MH MONAN OYIN " 

 as an example. As neither he nor Mr. Ella- 

 combe give it as found out of this country, allow 

 me to say that it was to be seen on a benitier in 

 the church of Notre Dame at Pcirls. If it were 

 not for the substitution of the adjective MONAN 

 for the adverb MONON, the line would be one of 

 the best specimens of the recurrent order. 



I notice that a correspondent (Vol. vii., p. 336.) 

 describes the palindrome as being universally sor 

 tadic. Now, this term was only intended to apply 

 to the early samples of this fanciful species of 

 verse in Latin, the production of Sotades, a Ko- 

 man poet, 250 b.c. The lines given by Bceoticus 

 (Vol. vi., p. 209.), 



" Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor?" 

 owe their authorship to his degraded Muse, and 

 many others which would but pollute your pages. 



The hexameter " Sacrum pingue," &c. given 

 by n. *. (Vol. vi., p. 36.), is to be found in Misson's 

 Voyage to Italy, copied from an old cloister wall 

 of Santa Marca Novella at Florence. These in- 

 genious verses are Leoline*, and it is noted that 

 "the sacrifice of Cain was not a living victim." 



I have seen it stated that the English language 

 affords but one specimen of the palindrome, while 

 the Latin and Greek have many. The late Dr. 

 Winter Hamilton, the author of Nugce Literaince, 

 gives this solitary line, which at the best is awk- 

 wardly fashioned : 



" Lewd did I live & evil did I dwel." 



Is any other known ? 



Some years since I fell in with that which, after 

 all, is the most wonderful effort of the kind ; at 

 least I can conceive of nothing at all equal to it. 



It is to be found In a poem called noirjua 

 KapKweKhv, written in ancient Greek by a modern 

 Greek called Ambrosius, printed in Vienna in 

 1802, and dedicated to the Emperor Alexander. 

 It contains 455 lines, every one of which is a 

 literal palindrome. 



I have some hesitation In giving even a quota- 

 tion ; and yet, notwithstanding the forced charac- 

 ter of some of the lines, your readers will not fail 

 to admire the classic elegance of this remarkable 

 composition. 



" ES 'EKtadSfT, "Avva t' iSacriXive. 

 ''E\a€e 7a fcafcd, koI &KaKa KareSaXe, 

 ApfTo, Tr-l]ya(Te 5e aa yrj Trarepa. 

 'Soe/J.aTi aa> (peve (pive (pais Irap-ws. 

 Sv 5^ 'Hpajs oTos Si 'Vu>s oTos Siprj riSvs : 

 Nol (TV \a(p a\aifi uXixrtoK 



Su e(To eOvei e^e? ivQeos evs, 



^n "Pitis e\e rl crv AucireAes iopai. 



'AAAo to ev v^ jSaAe, XaSwv via t' SAAa 



2coT-/)p av fffo S) eKfe ^4e \ea>, 6s eZs prjTUS 



'Shv oSe crwTTJpa iSia ^tjtws i^avhs." 



Charles Bees. 

 Paternoster Row. 



Here is a palindrome that surrounds a figure of 

 the sun in the mosaic pavement of Sa. Maria del 

 Fiori at Florence : 



" En giro torte sol ciclos et rotor igne." 

 Could any of your correspondents translate this 



enigmatical line ? 

 E. I. Club. 



MoSAFFUR, 



The Claymore (Vol. vlli., p. 365.). — I believe 

 there is no doubt that the true Scottish claymore 

 Is the heavy two-handed sword, examples of which 

 are preserved at Dumbarton Castle, and at Haw- 



* Leo was a poet of the twelfth century. 



