294 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 49. 



most perfect systematic order ; and, while doing 

 so, to make at the same time a corresponding clas- 

 sified Catalogue. 



The chief (:md ahnost tlie only) difficidtij in the 

 way of this would be, to find a i-ooiii (or suite of 

 rooms) to contain such a library and repositoi'y ; 

 but such would probably be found if sought. 



The other way in which this object might be 

 attained is by the formation of a simple Catalogue 

 in the same order, such as does alreadv exist and 

 lies open Ibr public use (though only in manu- 

 script, and not so accurately classified as might be) 

 in the noble library of the Dublin University. 



This plan would be far ensier than (besides 

 forming the best possible basis for) that so ur- 

 gently advocated by Mr .Boltoj( Cornet (Vol. i. 

 pp. 9. 42, 43.). 



Of course so extensive a design would require 

 to be distributed among many hundred persons ; 

 but so does any groat work : while, by each indi- 

 vidual undertaking that department in which he is 

 most interested and most experienced, the whole 

 might be aceoiiiplished easily and pleasantly. 



The great fault of antiquarians is, that they are 

 constantly hcginuing at the wrong end : they fix on 

 some one piece of information that they want to 

 get, and devote a world of labour to hunting about 

 in all directions for anything bearing on the sub- 

 ject ; whereas the rational vfny obviously is, to 

 have the whole existing mass of (valual)le) know- 

 ledge classified, and then the inquirer would know 

 where to look for his purpose. 



Of coiuse there will always remain much know- 

 ledge of a miscellaneous and irregular nature which 

 is picked up by accident, and does not come within 

 the scope of the present design ; but this is gene- 

 rally of a ti'ifling and fugitive kind, and does not 

 at all controvert the principle above laid down. 



In conclusion, I have worked out a tolerably 

 complete series of arrangements for the above de- 

 sign, showing its practicability as well as useful- 

 ness, which will be much at the service of any one 

 who can use them for the furtherance of that 

 object. W. D. 



Numerals. — For the old Indian forms, see Prin- 

 sep's Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1838, p. 348. 

 The prospectus of Brugsh, Numeroruni apud 

 Egyptios JDemoticorum Doctrina, Berlin, promises 

 to give from papyri .and inscriptions not only 

 the figures, but the forms of operation. Pro- 

 bably the system assumed its present form by 

 the meeting of the Indian and Egyptian traders 

 at some euqjorium near the mouth of the Indus. 

 Peacock seems to give undue weight to the fact, 

 that the Tibetans have a copious nomenclature for 

 high numbers : their arithmetic, doubtless, came 



with their alphabet, and the Buddhist legends 

 from India. F. Q. 



Junius and Sir Philip Francis. — -A few years 

 ago, an aged intelligent person named Garner was 

 living at Belgrave, near Leicester. I have heard 

 him say that, when he was a farm bailiff to Lord 

 Thanet, at Sevenoaks, in Kent, Sir Philip Francis 

 was a frequent visitor there, and had a private 

 room set apart for literary occupation. On one 

 occasion, when he (JMr. Garner) was riding over 

 the farm with Sir Philip Francis, the former 

 alluded to one of the replies to Junius, by a cler- 

 gyman wlio had been the subject of the "Great 

 Unknown's" anonymous attacks, adding, "They 

 say, iSir Philip, you are Junius." Sir Pliilip did 

 not deny that he was the man, but simply smiled 

 at the renuirk. This, and other circumstances, 

 coupled with the fact of Sir Philip's frequent visits 

 to the house of so noted a politician as Lord 

 Thanet, rendereil Mr. Garner a firm believer in 

 the identity of Sir Philip and Junius to the end of 

 his days. Jaytee. 



Jews under the Commonwealth (Vol. i., pp. 401. 

 474. ; vol ii., p. 2-5.). — There is a confirmation of 

 the story of the Jews being in treaty for St. Paul's 

 and the Oxford Library in a passage in Carte's 

 Letters, i. 276 , April 2, 1649 : — 



" They are alxjut demolishing and selling cathedral 

 churches. I hear Norwich is designed already, and 

 that the Jews proffl-r 600,000/. for I'aul's and Oxford 

 Library, and may have them for 200,000/. more." 



CH. 



" Is anything hid," ^c. — As your work seems 

 adapted, amongst other subjects, to check the in- 

 troduction into our language of undesirable words, 

 phrases, and forms of speech, I would call the 

 attention of your readers to the modern phrases, 

 "is anything but," and the like, which have lately 

 crept into use, and will be found, in many (other- 

 wise) well-written books. 



I read the phrase " is anything but," for the 

 first time, in Napier's Peniusular War; where it 

 struck me as being so much beneath the dignity of 

 historical composition, and at the same time assert- 

 ing an impossibility, that I meditated calling the 

 author's attention to it. The not unfrequent use 

 of the same j)hrase by other writers, since that 

 time, has by no means reconciled me to its use. 



In the Edinburgh Review for January last (1850) 

 I find the following sentence: — "But as pains 

 have been taken to fix the blame upon any one ex- 

 cept the parties culpable ;" and in the July number 

 of the same Review (p. 90.) occurs the sentence, 

 " any impulse rather than that of patriotism," &c. 



Now, a " thing," or " person," or " impulse," — 

 though it may not be the " thing," or "person," 

 or "impulse" charged as the agent, — must yet be 

 some certain and specific thing, or party, or impulse, 



