62 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 34. 



The Hippopotamus. — The Scotch Kilt. — I was on 

 the point of addressing a Minor Query to you, 

 when No. 33. arrived, and therein I saw a Major 

 Query from L. (p. 36.), which prompts an imme- 

 diate answer. He asks, " Has there been a live 

 hippopotamus in Europe since the reign of Corn- 

 modus?" To be sure there has, and Capitoiinus 

 would have set him right. A goodly assemblage 

 of animals of all sorts was collected by Gordianus 

 Pius, but used by the elder Philip, for the celebra- 

 tion of the secular games on the 1000th anniver- 

 sary of the building of Home, or a.d. 248. Among 

 them were 32 elephants, 10 tigers, 10 elks, 60 lions, 

 30 leopards, 10 hyaenas, 1 hippopotamus, 1 rhino- 

 ceros, 40 wild horses, 20 wild asses, and 10 

 giraffes, with a vast quantity of deer, goats, ante- 

 lopes, and other beasts. " And," it is added in 

 Captain Smyth's Roman Catalogue, "still further 

 to increase the public hilarity, 2000 gladiators 

 were matched in mort.il affray." 



The portrait of the hippopotamus exhibited on 

 that splendid occasion is well represented upon 

 the large brass medals of Otacilia Severa, Philip's 

 wife, and on those of their son, Philip Junior. That 

 of Otacilia is described at length in Captain Smyth's 

 work. 



Now for my Minor Query. Can you. Sir, or 

 any of your intelligent correspondents, oblige me 

 by saying who introduced the kilt into Scotland, 

 and when ? However it may wound local preju- 

 dice, I fear our northern brethren will find its use 

 to be much more recent than they seem willing to 

 be aware of. At present I will not put a rider on 

 the question, by asking whether an Englishman 

 first gave it them : but perhaps you. Sir, will sift 

 it thoroughly, even although a whole corps of rabid 

 MacNicoIls should enter the field against you. 2. 



Ashes to Ashes (Vol. ii., p. 22.). — The word is 

 taken from Genesis, xviii. 27. : 



" I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, 

 which am but dust and ashes." 



It is plain that this has nothing to do with the 

 treatment of the corpse ; but that whatever the 

 exact meaning of the word in Hebrew may be, it 

 is synonymous with dust. As to dust, this is per- 

 fectly plain in Genesis, iii. 19. : 



" Till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it 

 wast thou taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 

 thou return." 



Here burial seems to be distinctly meant. 



The Latin word cinis., which denotes ashes pro- 

 duced by burning, is derived from the Greek, 

 which denotes natural dust, I forget whether burnt 

 ashes also. C. B. 



Dr. Magimis Miscellanies (Vol. i., p. 470.). 

 — Mr. Tucker Hunt (brother of Mr. F. Knight 

 Hunt, author of The Fourth Estate, a His- 

 tory of Newspapers, ^-c. §r.) showed me some 



years since a collection of these papers from va- 

 rious sources, which he proposed to publish, and 

 which I was very glad to learn, as I had always 

 regretted that Dr. Maginn had left no memorial 

 of his splendid talents in a separate publication, 

 but frittered away his genius in periodicals. As 

 " J. M. B." appears very anxious to obtain an au- 

 thentic reference to any article contributed by the 

 Dr., I think if he could communicate with IVIr. 

 Tucker Hunt, it might be of great assistance. I 

 have not the latter's address, but probably a note 

 to the care of his brother's publisher, " D. Bogue, 

 Fleet Street," might lead to a communication. 



W. H. Lammin. 

 Fulham, June 5. 1 850. 



Living Dog better than a dead Lion. — For an 

 answer to my Query at Vol. i., pp. 352. 371., 

 where I asked for the avithority upon which 

 Baunez gave Homer credit for the expression 

 (which is evidently none of his), " quod leoni 

 mortuo etiam lepores insultant," a friend has re- 

 ferred me to Antholog. Groec. 8vo. Lipsia;, 1794, 

 toin. iv. p. 112.; out of which you may, perhaps, 

 think it not too late to insert the following 

 Epigr. xi. 



" '115 a7rJ)"EKTOpos TiTpoxTKOyUefou im)) 'Y,KKi\voiv, 

 BaA.XET6 vvv ixera irdrfiov ifihv Se/xas, 8tt( koi afcrol 

 Ne/fpoG (xajjua KiovTos i(pv$pi^ovai \aya>ol." 



J. Sansom. 



Gaol Chaplains (Vol. ii., p. 22.) were made 

 universal by act of parliament in the fourth year 

 of George IV. Before that they may have ex- 

 isted in some places. In Gloucestershire from 

 1786. C.B. 



Borne Ancient and Modern (Vol. ii., p. 2 1 .) . — Such 

 a map as your correspondent A. B. M. describes, 

 was at Rome in 1827. It was by Vasi. I got it, 

 but never saw it in England. C. B. 



Trianon (Vol. ii., p. 47.).' — In justice to my- 

 self, and in reply to your correspondent C, who 

 believes I have "not the slightest authority" for 

 my explanation of the word Trianon, 1 beg to 

 refer him to the French dictionaries, in some of 

 which, at all events, he will find it thus written : 

 Trianon, subst. masc, a pavilion. J. K. R, W. 



daatSrcIIan ic^. 



Aboriginal Chambers near Tilhiry (Vol. i., 

 p. 462.). — Mr. Cook, of Abeley, Essex, having seen 

 this Query, which had been kindly quoted into The 

 AthencEvm of the 25th ultimo, communicated to 

 that journal on Saturday, June 1st, the following in- 

 formation respecting two of these caves, the result 

 of a personal examination of them : — 



" The shafts are five in number ; and are situated at 



