122 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 224. 



didactic reason might exist for making up the 

 total number of 176 verses, peculiar to this Psalm. 

 Adverting then to the necessity, for the purposes 

 of Jewish worship, of ascertaining the periods of 

 the new moons, to adjust the year thereby, I find 

 that a mean lunation, as determined by the latest 

 authorities, is very nearly 29*5306 days (29d. 12h. 

 44m.) ; and as the Jewish months were lunar, six 

 of these would amount to I77d. 4h. 24m., being 

 somewhat more than one over the number of 

 verses in this Psalm. As lunations, from ob- 

 servation, vary from 29d. 7h. 32m. to 29d. 18h. 

 50m., the above was a very close approximation 

 to the half-year. The other half of the year would 

 vary a whole lunation (Veadar) betwixt the or- 

 dinary and the intercalary year.* This was, at 

 least, the best possible combination of twenty-two 

 letters for such purpose. This Psalm might then 

 have answered some of the purposes of an almanac. 

 It is a very important one in fixing the Hebrew 

 metres, the initial letter being the same for every 

 eight verses in succession. 



The words at the commencement of Psalms cxx. 

 to cxxxiv., rendered " Song of Degrees," appear 

 to me to signify rather " song of ascents," in re- 

 ference to the Jewish practice of ascending to the 

 house-top to watch and pray, as well as to sleep. 

 If it be assumed that these fifteen Psalms were ap- 

 propriated for domestic use on the Jew retiring, 

 by ascending the ladder or stairs, to the upper 

 part or top of the house (Ps. cxxxii. 3.), the 

 meaning of several passages will be better appre- 

 hended, I conceive, than by supposing that they 

 were composed solely for temple use, or, as Eich- 

 horn thinks, to be sung on a journey. Standing 

 on the house-top, the praying Jew, like David and 

 Solomon, would have in view heaven and earth 

 (cxxi. 2., cxxiii. 1.), the sun and moon (cxxi. 6), 

 the surrounding hills (cxxi. 1.) and mountains 

 (cxxv. 2.), the gates and city of Jerusalem 

 (cxxii. 2. 3. 7.), Mount Zion (cxxv. 1.), the watch- 

 men on the walls (cxxvii. 1., cxxx. 6.), his wife 

 and children at home (cxxviii. 3., cxxxi. 2.), the 

 mower bringing in his sheaves, compared with the 

 grass on the house-tops (cxxix. 6 — 8.), all subjects 

 especially noted in these fifteen Psalms. The 

 number eight appears to be a favourite one in 

 these, as well as in Psalm cxix., but there is no 

 reason to believe that such number refers to the 

 octave in music. It may refer, however, to the 

 number of stairs or steps of ascent. I am not 

 aware that the above views have been previously 

 taken, which is my reason for calling attention to 

 this interesting and well-debated subject. 



T. J. BlTCKTON. 



* Their shortest ordinary year consisted of 353, and 

 its half of 176£ days. The Mahometan ordinary half- 

 year consists of 177 days. The calendar months of 

 both Jews and Mahometans consist of 29 and 30 days. 



i-Htnor $ota$. 



Inscription on a Grave-stone in Whittlebury 

 Churchyard, Northamptonshire. — 



" In Memory of John Heath, he dy'd Dec br y 8 17 th , 

 1 767. Aged 27 years. 

 While Time doth run from Sin depart ; 

 Let none e'er shun Death's piercing dart ; 

 For read and look, and you will see 

 A wondrous change was -wrought on me. 

 For while I lived in joy and mirth 

 Grim Death came in and stop't my breath: 

 For I was single in the morning light, 

 By noon was marri'd, and was dead at night." 



H. T. Wake. 



Epitaph on Sir Henry St. George, Garter 

 Principal King of Englishmen [sic in MS.], from 

 a MS. in the Office of Arms, London (see Bal- 

 lard MSS., vol. xxix.) : 



" Here lie a knight, a king, a saint, 

 Who lived by tilt and tournament. 

 His namesake, George, the dragon slew, 

 But, give the herald king his due, 

 He could disarm ten thousand men, 

 And give them arms and shields again. 

 But now the mighty sire is dead, 

 Reposing here his hoary head ; 

 Let this be sacred to the mem'ry 

 Of Knight St. George and of King Henry." 



Balliolensis. 



Newton and Milton. — Has it been observed 

 that Sir Isaac Newton's dying words, so often 

 quoted, — 



" I am but as a child gathering pebbles on the sea- 

 shore, while the great ocean of truth still lies undisco- 

 vered before me." 



are merely an adaptation of a passage in Paradise 

 Regained, book iv. : 



" Deep versed in books and shallow in himself, 

 Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys 

 And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge, 

 As children gathering pebbles on the shore." 



Anon. 



Eternal Life. — In the Mishna (Berachoth, 

 ch. ix. s. 5.) the doctrine of a future eternal state 

 is clearly set forth in a passage which is rendered 

 by De Sola and Baphall : 



" But since the Epicureans perversely taught, there 

 is but one state of existence, it was directed that men 

 should close their benedictions with the form [Blessed 

 be the Lord God of Israel] from eternity to eternity." 



A like explicit declaration of such future state 

 occurs again in the Mishna (Sanhedrin, ch.xi. s. 1.). 



T. J. Buckton. 

 Birmingham. 



Inscriptions in Boohs. — The following are taken 

 literatim from the margins of an old black-letter 



