232 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 15. 
But there is not less difficulty in identifying this 
plant than in the former case. Some have thought 
it the same as the little marsh plant, with small 
white flowers, which Linnzus calls Samolus Va- 
lerandi, while others consider it to be the Ane- 
mone Pulsatilla. I am ignorant of the salutary 
properties of these plants, and must leave it to be 
decided which of them has the greatest claims to 
be considered the Samolus of Pliny. G. M. 
Is there any English translation of Hlian’s Va- 
rious History, or of the work ascribed to the same 
author on the Peculiarities of Animals ? 
East Winch, Jan. 1850. 
Selago and Samolus. —The Selago (mentioned 
by “Pweca,” No. 10. p. 157.), in Welsh Gras 
Duw (Gratia Dei), was held by the Druids as a 
charm against all misfortunes; they called it 
Dawn y Dovydd, the gift of the Lord. They also 
ascribed great virtues to the Samolus, which was 
called Gwlydd, mild or tender. All that can be 
known respecting the Selago and Samolus, may be 
seen in Borlase’s Antiquities of Cornwall. 
GomeER. 
JELFRIC’S COLLOQUY. 
In the Anglo-Saxon Gloss. to AElfric’s Latin 
dialogue, higdifatu is not, I conceive, an error of 
the scribe, but a variation of dialect, and, there- 
fore, standing in no need of correction into hydig- 
Satu (“ Norss anp Querigs,” No. 13.). Hig, hi, 
and hy, are perfectly identical, and nothing is more 
usual in A. S. than the omission of the final g 
after 7; consequently, hig—=hy, di=dig, therefore 
higdi=hydig. Mr. Singer’s reading of cassidilia 
for calidilia, I consider to be well-founded. 
His conjecture, that sprote= Goth. sprauto, has 
something very specious about it, and yet I must 
reject it. That useful and sagacious author, Dr. 
Kitchener, tells us, that there is only one thing to 
be done in a hurry (or sprauto) ; and even if he 
had not informed us what that one thing is, very 
few indeed would ever have imagined that it was 
Jish-catching. The word sprote was a puzzle to me, 
and I had often questioned myself as to its mean- 
ing, but never could get a satisfactory answer ; 
nor was it until some time after the publication of 
the 2nd edition of my Analecta that it occurred to 
me that it might signify a wicker or sallow basket 
(such as is still in use for the capture of eels), 
from Lat. sporta, whence the German sported. 
My conjecture, of salice for the salu of the text, 
was based on the possibility that the apparatus 
might somehow or other be made of the saliz. 
I beg leave to inform “Sexeucus,” that The 
Phenix, with an English version, and with the 
Latin original, is to be found in the Codex Exoni- 
ensis, edited by me, in 1842, for the Society of 
Antiquaries. The Latin, ascribed to Lactantius, 
is printed in the Variorum edition of Claudian, 
and, I believe, in the editions of Lactantius. 
Jan. 30. 1850. B. Tuorre. 
PORTRAITS OF LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 
Your correspondent, “ R. G.” (No. 13. p. 203.), 
is correct in supposing the wood-cut portrait of 
Luther to be that which is prefixed to the treatise 
“ De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiz,” where he 
is habited as a monk; but it was evidently only a 
copy from the very interesting copper-plate en- 
graving of his friend Lucas Cranach, bearing the 
date 1520, of which a very accurate copy was pre- 
fixed to the translation of ‘ Luther’s Way to 
Prayer,” published by Mr. Pickering in 1846. 
Juncker’s book is a very good repertory of the 
various representations of the great reformer, but 
the prints are generally but faithless copies. In 
1750 Kirchmayer printed an especial disquisition 
upon the portrait by Lucas Cranach of 1523, under 
the following title: — “ Disquisitio Historia de 
Martini Lutheri Oris et Vultus Habitu Hervieo 
ad vivum expresso in Imagine divine pencilli 
Luce Cranachj patris in ere hic incisa,” &c., Wit- 
tebergz Sax. 1750, 4to. The works in which the 
Germans have sought to do honour to their 
sreat protestant saint, are numerous enough to 
fill a small library, but two of them are so 
remarkable as to deserve notice, 1. ‘ Luther’s 
Merkwiirdige Lebensumstande bey seiner Me- 
dicinalischen Leibesconstitution, Krankheiten, 
geistlichen und leiblichen Anfechtungen und 
andern Zufallen, &c., von F. G. Keil,” Leipsig, 
1764. 2. “ Luther’s Merkwiirdige Reisegeschichte 
zu Erganzung seiner Lebensumstande, von Jo. Th. 
Lingke,” Leipsig, 1769, 4to. The earliest wood- 
cut representation of Erasmus with which I am 
acquainted is a medallion accompanying another 
of Ulric of Hutten, on the title-page of the fol- 
lowing work of the unfortunate but heroic cham- 
pion of the Reformation: —“ Ulrichi ab Hutten 
cum Erasmo Rotirodamo, Presbytero, Theologo, 
Expostulatie.” There is reason to believe that 
this Expostulation was printed only a short month 
before Hutten died; and, though it bears neither 
date nor name of printer, that it was printed by 
Johannes Schott, at Strasburg, in the month of 
July, 1523. It has another portrait of Hutten at 
the end, the whole strikingly spirited and cha- 
racteristic ; by some they have been attributed to 
Holbein, and if not by him, which is doubtful, 
they are at least worthy of him. 
One would gladly forget this strife between 
the great promoter of learning and the soldier- 
scholar. KErasmus’s conduct was unworthy of a 
great man, and can never be vindicated. §.W.S. 
en Tesh ms 
