Dec. 21. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



491 



cbaracteristic and instructive. Ho knew of it 

 well enough, but thought others might not. 



Again I say, why not print the work ? J. M. 



[We have reason to believe that this important his- 

 torical document is about to be printed.] 



PAEALLEI. PASSAGES. 



In Shakspeare's Henry IV., Act V. Sc. 4., the 

 Prince exclaims, beholding Percy's corpse, — 

 " When tliat this body did contain a spirit, 

 A kingdom for it was too small a bound; 

 But now t«-o paces of the vilest earth 

 Is room enough ! " 

 In Ovid we find the following parallel : — 



" jacet ecce TibulUis, 



Vix manet e toto parva quod urna capit." 



A second one api)ears in the pretended line 3 on 

 the sepulchre of Scipio Africanus : — 



" Cui non Europa, non obstitit Africa imquam, 

 Respiceres hominem, quern brevis urna premit." 



The same reflection we find in Ossian : — 

 " With three steps I measure thy grave, 

 O thou, so great heretofore!" 



It is very difficult indeed to determine in which 

 of these passages the leading tliought is expressed 

 best, in which is to be found tlie most energy, the 

 deepest feeling, the most touching shortness. I 

 think one should prefer the passage of Shakspeare, 

 because the direct mention of the corporal exist- 

 ence gives a magnificent liveliness to tiie picture, 

 and because the very contrast of the space appears 

 most lively by it ; whereas, at the first reading of 

 the other passages, it is not the human being, con- 

 sisting of body and soul, which comes in our mind, 

 but oidy the Innnan spirit, of which we know 

 already that it cannot b-' buried in the grave. 



One of the most eminent modern authors seems 

 to have imitated the passage of Shakspeare's 

 Henry IV. Schiller, in his Jungfrau von Orleans, 

 says : — 



" Und von dem miicht'gen Talbot, der die Welt 

 Wit seinem Kriegeruhm fiillte, bleibet nlchts 

 Als cine Hand voll leichten Staubs." 



(And of the mighty Talbot, whose warlike 

 Glory fiird the world, nothing remains 

 But a handful of light dust.) 



Albekt Coun. 

 Berlin. 



fHinnr flatei. 

 True or False Papal Bulls. — ' 



" Utrum bulla papalis sit vera an non, 



" Si vis scire utrum literjc doniini I'ap.T sint veraces 

 vel non, numcra punttos (|u;e sunt in l)ulla. Kt si 

 invcncris circulum ubi sunt capita apostolorum ha- 



bentem 73 puiictos, alium vero circulum 46, alium 

 super caput Beati Petri habentem 26, alium super 

 caput Sancti Pauli habentem 25 punctos, et punctos 

 qua; sunt in barba 26, veraces sunt; alioquin falsae. — 

 Sir Matthew Hale's Manuscripts, Library of Lincoln's 

 Inn, vol. Ixxiii. p. 176. 



To which may be added, that in digging for the 

 foundations of the new (or jjresent) London 

 Bridge, an instrument was dug up for counterfeit- 

 ing the seals or BullaB? Where is it now de- 

 posited ? J- E. 



Burning Bush of Sinai. — 



" Pococke asserts that the monks have planted in 

 their garden a bush similar to those which grow in 

 Europe, and that by the most ridiculous imposture, 

 tliey hesitate not to affirm that it is the same which 

 Moses saw — the miraculous bush. The assertion is 

 false, and the alleged fact a tnere invention." — Geramb's 

 PHyrimaije to Palestine, §-f., English trans. 



]\Iarch 1. 1847. The bush was exhibited by 

 two of the monks at the back of the eastern apse 

 of the church, but having its root within the walls 

 of the chapel of the burning bush. It was the 

 common English bramble, not more than two 

 years old, and in a very sickly state, as the monks 

 allowed the leaves to be plucked by the English 

 party then in the convent. The plant grows on 

 the mountain, and therefore could be easily re- 

 placed. AVIATOR. 



The Crocodile (Vol. ii., p. 277.). — February, 

 1847, a small crocodile was seen in the clmnnel, 

 between the island of Rhoda and the right bank 

 of the Nile. " Viatok. 



limhrclla. — It was introduced at Bristol about 

 1780. A lady, now eighty-three years of age, re- 

 members its first appearance, which occasioned a 

 great sensation. Its colour was red, and it pro- 

 bably came from Leghorn, with which place Brist(jl 

 at that time maintained a great trade. Leghorn 

 has been called Bristol on a visit to Italy. Viatok. 



Rollins Ancient Historij, and Histortj of the Arts 

 and Sciences: — Your correspondent Iota inquires 

 (Vol. ii., p. 3.57.), "How comes it that the editions" 

 (of Eollin) "since 1740 have been so castrated?" 

 i. e. divested of an integral portion of the work, the 

 History of the Arts and Sciences. It is not easy to 

 stiite how this has come to pass. During ihe last 

 century comparatively little interest was felt in the 

 subjects emljraced in the Hislori/ of the Arts and 

 Sciences; and prohuhly the ])ublisliers might on^ 

 that account omit this portion, with the view of 

 nniking the book cheaper and more saleable. It is 

 more liilBcult to assign any renson why Rollins 

 Prefaces to the various sections of his History 

 should have been mutilated and manufactured into 

 a general Introduction or Preface, to make up 

 which the whole of dnip. iii. book x. was also 

 taken out of its proper place :ind order. A niore 

 remarkable instance of merciless distortion of an 



