40 



Another was an artificial product, an alkaline mass, consist- 

 ing principally of carbonate of soda, with a considerable pro- 

 portion of nitrate of soda, some sulphates and cldorides, and a 

 httle iodate of soda. Mr. W. supposed that the borax had 

 been prepared by the mutual action of this substance on the 

 impure borate of lime. 



He had made inquiries, and found that the expense of 

 freight was such as to preclude any probability of these sub- 

 stances being introduced for commercial purposes. 



The following was the Paper for the evening : — 



SIB HUGH OF LINCOLN, 



Or Examination of a curious Tradition concerning the Jews, 

 with a notice of the Popular Poetry connected with it. 

 By the Bev. A. Hume, LL.D., P.S.A. 



During several years past, one occupation of my leisure 

 hours has been the collection and arrangement of the best 

 specimens of Irish Ballad Poetry, with a view to their publi- 

 cation at some convenient period in the future. The simple 

 pathos of one in particular made a deep impression upon me 

 when first heard in early boyhood ; it was afterwards readily 

 identified with Sir Hugh of Lincoln, though the rustic min- 

 strel from whom I received it made no allusion to locality. 

 In examining the origin of the tradition, various slight notices 

 were found in connexion with edited versions of the ballad ; 

 and I was indebted to Mr. Abraham, of Liverpool, and one 

 or two other Jewish gentlemen, for access to valuable books on 

 the subject. During the last week of July in the present 

 year, I had the pleasure to attend the annual congress of the 

 British Archaeological Institute at Lincoln ; and I was some- 

 what surprised, that among the many papers read, all having a 

 reference, direct or indirect, to the county or the city, there 

 was not one referring either to the tradition or the ballad of 



