332 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 287. 



l&tplieg to Minor ^xitxitS. 



Lieutenant MacCulloch (Vol. vli., p. 127. ; Vol. 

 xi., p. 256.). — The following is the note in Smith's 

 Maryleboue, p. 272., referred to by Mr. Ebgar 

 MacCulloch. Although it may not give him all 

 the information he requires, it may be worth re- 

 cording in your pages. 



" Died, in Marylebone Workhouse, Dec. 27, 1793, in 

 his seventy-eighth j'ear, Lieutenant John M'CuUoch, a 

 native of the north of Ireland. This gentleman had ren- 

 dered great services to the British government during the 

 American war. In 1755, he was appointed Commissary 

 Assistant of Stores to the garrison of Oswego ; but the 

 garrison being taken prisoners by the French in 1756, he 

 was carried to Quebec. He took an opportunity while 

 there to make a survey of the rocks and fortifications 

 above the town, which he reported to General Shirley, 

 with a view of reducing Quebec to the British arms. He 

 returned to England in 1757, on an exchange of prisoners ; 

 and was introduced to General Wolfe as a proper person 

 to assist in the reduction of Quebec. The general took 

 his memoranda in writing the morning before he left 

 London ; and it is well known that General Wolfe made 

 the attempt, first, on a different plan at Montmorency, 

 and was repulsed ; but making a second attempt agree- 

 ably to the plan of Mr. M'Culloch, he proved completely 

 successful. In 1760, Mr. M'Culloch was appointed a 

 lieutenant of Marines, and served on board the 'Rich- 

 mond,' Capt. Elphinston; and was solely the cause of 

 taking the ' Felicity ' French man-of-war. He subse- 

 quently fell into difficulties, and was finally compelled to 

 seek refuge in the poor-house of Marylebone." 



S. H. H. 



Marylebone. 



Altars (Vol. xi., p. 274.).— If J.H.C. considers 

 my assertion as cool, when I stated that " Catholic 

 altars are always built of stone," he will look on 

 me as cooler, when I repeat the assertion ; and 

 perhaps his critical Fahrenheit will indicate a 

 very low degree of temperature for me when I 

 proceed to prove my assertion. I may in the first 

 place venture to suggest that the correspondents 

 of "N. & Q." should exhibit more courtesy one 

 to another than the charge of " cool assertion," 

 &c. implies ; and in the second place, state that I 

 have anticipated the advice of J. H. C, "let Cey- 

 KEP but step across the Channel," &c. I have seen 

 the Brussels and Belgian altars, and am, perhaps, 

 as familiar with the Continent as my adviser, 

 having resided several years abroad. 



The question under consideration is a question 

 not de facto but de jure. It had been stated by 

 H. Daveney (p. 74.), that Roman Catholic altars 

 are no longer or rarely built of stone. In answer 

 to that statement I stated (p. 173.) that " Catholic 

 altars are always built of stone, as required by the 

 Pontificale ; " and that when made of wood it is 

 merely as a temporary arrangement, or through 

 incorrect ritualism. In other words, I submitted 

 that stone is de jure the only material for Catholic 

 altars. That there are de facto some wooden 

 altars in Belgium no more invalidates my argu- 



men than that there are de facto thieves can dis- 

 prove the law " Thou shalt not steal." The 

 wooden Belgian altars owe their existence to 

 either a temporary arrangement or an incorrect 

 ritualism. J. H. C. may take his choice of the 

 two alternatives ; and until he can bring forward 

 decrees of legitimate authority in Belgium, ap- 

 proving of wooden altars, my point cannot be dis- 

 proved. It is not sufficient that such altars are 

 occasionally tolerated in Belgium. J. H. C. will 

 be aware that in their notes to Duranti, Messrs. 

 Neale and Webb have correctly denounced the 

 wooden altars sometimes met with abroad as 

 " frightful " (p. 144.). Familiar he must also be 

 with the history of the high altar in St. John 

 Lateran's, Rome : " Ecclesia omnium urbis et 

 orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput :" 



" This altar [we quote Webb's Continental Eccles'iology'\ 

 is one of the most famous in the world, being of ivood, and 

 believed to be one upon which St. Peter himself cele- 

 brated. It is the only xoooden altar allowed in the Roman 

 communion, and is used exclusively by the Pope. It is 

 mentioned in all ritualists as the one exception to the rule 

 about stone altars." — P. 508. 



In all cases except this, wooden altars are only 

 apologies for altars. The Pontificale will not 

 allow them to be consecrated ; and not all the 

 elaborate workmanship of the expert carvers in 

 wood of Belgium can make them otherwise than 

 illegitimate and anti-rubrical. Ceyrep^ 



Without discussing the importance of the sub- 

 ject, I would beg to note, in support of the 

 assertion of Ceyrep, that if Catholic (Roman) 

 altars were not built of stone, they had always an 

 episcopally- consecrated altar-stone let into the 

 wooden frame, or a super-altar placed on it : for 

 it is contrary to the Romish ritual to celebrate 

 mass on any but a hallowed altar, the ceremony 

 for which was forbidden to be done to altars of 

 wood. (See Dr. Rock's Booh of the Church, 

 vol. i.) Is it not, therefore, probable that the 

 new altars mentioned by J. H. C. (Vol. xi.^ 

 p. 274.), of beautifully-carved wood lately set 

 up at Abbeville and Brussels, would be found, ou 

 close examination, to have such a stone on the 

 top? 



Though the altars might be raised of wood or 

 stone, and perfectly plain, they were adorned out- 

 wardly with splendid frontals, richly carved in 

 wood, or of more costly material, but movable at 

 pleasure; and, if I mistake not, there was a reason 

 for this, the Romish ritual requiring the altar ta 

 be stript of all outer ornament during the latter 

 part of the Holy Week. H. T. Eixacombb. 



Clyst St. George. 



Books on Logic (Vol. xi., p. 169.).— I am afraid 

 I can do but little towards Mr. Ingleby's attempt. 

 I have never been able to ascertain the existence of 

 any catalogue of logical books worthy of the name. 



