Jan. 20. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



4i 



small silver coin], ami throwing them carelessly on a 

 table."— J. P. MoiuEK, 1801. 



The above extracts are from a Memoir of a 

 campaign with the Ottoman army in Egypt, from 

 February to July 1800. Loudon, 1801, 8vo. ; an 

 interesting pamphlet of uncommon occurrence. 

 Mr. Morier was private secretary to his excel- 

 lency the earl of Elgin. Boi-ton Corkey. 



Curiosities of Letter-writing. — I subjoin a per- 

 fect gem, which I have just received from a female 

 correspondent : 



« Sur, 

 " I Lucay * * * Beges to informe you that i Have 



nothing a gaints the * * * Compnay But my 



Husband is a Soulder And i Have nothing a Loud me 

 from the Parish and the Hous that I Live in is wear my 

 Sorounden Nebors Bee wear I Pick Hup my Little Bred 

 for me and my famley And i Cannot Leave it without i 

 Have a Nother Clous at and." 



The " nebors," I hear, consider the poor woman 

 a witch ! In my judgment, the appeal would 

 have been less eloquent had it been couched in 

 less exceptionable vernacular. 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 



The Duke of Monmouth. — The following is a 

 copy of a letter addressed to the Corporation of 

 Hull: 



« Whitehall, 23 Aug. 

 " Gentlemen, 

 " Upon my arrivall att London I mett with the report 

 of Mr. ilarvell's death, one of the burgesses for yo'' towne, 

 which gives me occasion to become a suitor to you in 

 behalfe of Mr. Shales, that you would elect him to supply 

 that vacancy in Parliament, whom I look upon as a person 

 very well qualif3'ed to serve the king, his country, and 

 yo'' Corporation in particular, to whose interests I shall 

 always have a peculiar regard, and shall owne your kind- 

 ness herein as an obligation to, 



" Gentlemen, 



"Yf very humble Ser^', 



" Monmouth." 

 In another hand — 



" Reed the 29* Aug«, '78." 



It appears, however, that the duke's friend, Mr. 

 Shales, was not elected to supply the vacancy 

 occasioned by the death of Andrew Marvel, but 

 apparently Mr. Anthony Gilby. Shoreolds. 



Curious Magical Compact. — In Tableau de 

 VTnconstance des mavvais Anges et Demons, par P. 

 De Lancre, a Paris, 1612, p. 174., he relates the 

 following : 



" En I'an 1574 vn homme nomme Trois Rieux, s'obliga 

 enuers vn Medecin Escossois qui s'estoit venu accazer en 

 cette ville de Bourdeaux nomme Macrodor [or, as he 

 would be called in Scotland, Macrother or Macgrowther'], 

 de luy seruir aprez sa mort de Demon, et h. ces fins il luy 

 engageoit son esprit, s'obligeant de luy reueler toutes 

 choses secretes incognues aux hommes, et lu}' faire tous 

 les bons offices, que semblables Esprits ont accoustume de 

 faire a ceux qui entrent en pareilles curiositez : mesrae se 

 trouuer et apparoir visiblement k sa dextre toutes les 

 festes solemnelles, anec sa robbe et un juppia ou casaquia 



de veloux tan^, et des chausses de mesme estoffe et cou- 

 leur ; bref en mesrae habit qu'il estoit lors dudict pacta et 

 conuention. lequel estoit escrit sur de parchemin vierge 

 en lettre de sang d'homme que le teps auoit faicte vio- 

 lette ; et fut trouuer la dicte obligatio auec une platine de 

 cuyure de forme rode d'assez mediocre gradeur, dans 

 laquelle estoyent grauez les sept noms de Dieu, des sept 

 Anges, des sept planfetes, et plusieurs autres caracteres, 

 lignes, poincts et autres choses k moy incognues. 



" Or ce Macrodor estoit communement tenu pour Ma- 

 gicien et sorcier, et h faict luy et toute sa famille un fort 

 pauure fin ; et pendant sa vie sa plus grande fortune a 

 este de seruir de Medecin aux pauures prisonniers de la 

 Conciergerie." 



May not such dark practices as the foregoing 

 have given some countenance to the old phrase 

 " Buying and selling the Devil ?" G. N. 



Osherns Life of Odo. — Alban Butler, in his 

 Lives of the Saints, vol. vii. p. 39., states that " the 

 life of St. Odo, written by Osbern, and quoted 

 by William of Malmesbury, seems nowhere to be 

 extant." In torn, cxxxiii. col. 931. &c. of the 

 Patrologice Cursus Completus, by the Abbe J. P. 

 Migne, we find " Vita S. Odonis auctore, ut 

 videtur, Osberno monacho Cantuariensi (Apud 

 Mabil. Acta Sanctorum ordinis S. Bened., &c.)." 

 This life states that Odo was Bishop of Sherborne, 

 not Wilton, previously to his promotion to the see 

 of Canterbury. Joseph B. M'Caui«. 



British Museum. 



" Why spare Odessa?" — We have all seen this 

 Query many times repeated in the " leading 

 journal:" its transference to the more peaceful 

 columns of " N. & Q." is now made more with a 

 view to the introduction of some quotations from 

 the chapter entitled " La Russie " of the Abbe de 

 Pradt's celebrated work, Le Congres de Vienne^ 

 than from any special desire to see Odessa razed 

 to the ground. At the -same time I do wish to see 

 that finely-situated port in the hands of a gene- 

 rous power like England, which would render it a 

 free mart for all the nations of the world, rather 

 than an entrepot to be opened or shut at the ca- 

 price of a despot like iJicholas. The spirituel 

 Abbe says (he was no admirer of Russia fortj 

 years ago ; what would he say now ?) : 



" Une creation d'arts et de commerce k Odessa m'in- 

 spire plus de craintes que So war row avec son armee en 

 Italie : les armees passent, les arts restent. La Russie a 

 pris la route du Midi; elle s'avanee sur lui avec un« 

 population vaillante et robuste, avec les instruments des 

 arts, et sous des chefs aussi polices que les Europeens. 

 .... Toute armee purement Europ^enne est civilisee; 

 toute armee Russe Test seulement dans ses chefs et n© 

 Test pas dans le i este de ses membres. Quels que soieat 

 les progres de la civilisation en Russie, cette distance des 

 chefs aux subaltemes durera encore longtemps. Mais 

 c'est Ik precisement qu'est le danger. Une barbarie ro- 

 buste et obeissante est toujours aux ordres de la civili- 

 sation la plus exquise. Des mains savantes manient des 

 instrumens barbares, et s"en servent corame des mains 



savantes peuvent le faire II parait (jue I'amitie et 



la reconnaissance de la Prusse oat facilite les arrango- 



