Fes. 23. 1850. ] 
2. What does Byron mean us to infer that 
Lara saw in his hall that midnight, when he so 
alarmed his household with 
« A sound, a voice, a shriek, a fearful call, 
A long loud shriek — and silence.” ? 
The poet, it is true, seems to refuse, purposely, to 
let ‘his readers into the truth, telling them : — 
«© Whate’er his frenzy dream'd or eye beheld, 
If yet remembered, ne’er to be reveal’d, 
Rests at his heart.” 
But still, I conceive there can be no doubt that he 
knew the truth (I speak as of realities), — knew 
what he intended to represent by so full and ela- 
borate a delineation of a scene. And it is the 
author’s meaning and intention that I wish to 
come at. 
I will ask one more question relative to this 
magnificent poem (which I don’t think has had 
justice done it by the critics), but one respecting 
which I hardly think there can be any doubt as 
to the author’s secret meaning: —Is not the Kaled 
of Lara the Gulnare of the Giaour ? 
Before concluding, I will add a query on a very 
different subject. 
3. Many of your readers have, doubtless, seen | 
the large marble tablet erected by the Vallaisians 
in honour of Napoleon, in the Convent of the | 
Great St. Bernard. A recent traveller in Switz- 
erland (Dr. Forbes) has, I find, noticed the in- 
scription, and questioned, as I had done, both its 
meaning and Latinity. I extract this author's 
note as expressing exactly the points on which I 
desiderate information : — 
“ Having doubts both as to the precise meaning and 
lingual purity of the compound epithet Bis Italicus, 
here applied to Napoleon, I subjoin the passage in 
which it occurs, for the judgment of the learned : — 
*NAPOLEONI .... 
liday, p. 468. 
¢ EMDEE. 
Athenzum, January 26. 1850. 
MINOR QUERIES. 
Howkhey or Horkey. — Can anybody explain the 
etymology of the word Howkey or Horkey, gene- 
rally used to denote a harvest-home merriment in 
our eastern counties? Forbes speaks of it as an 
intractable word, and neither he nor Sir J. Cullum 
have succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily. 
BRrayBROOKE. 
Audley End, Feb. 16. 
Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms.— 
The answer in No. 15. p. 235. to A Cornisu- 
MAN’s Query (No. 13. p. 202.) respecting “ Bacon’s 
Metrical Version of the Psalms,” suggests another 
query. ‘The work in question was a mere “ exer- 
cise of sickness ;” it contains only seven psalms 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
ZEGYPTIACO BIS ITALICO SEMPER IN- 
VICTO,... GRATA RESPUBLICZ.’” — A Physician’s Ho- | 
263 
| (the Ist, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 137th, and 
| 149th), and is, without pretension of any kind, 
| a very proper diversion for a mind that could not 
be inactive and yet required rest; and very good 
verses for a man unpractised in metrical composi- 
tion. The Collection of Apophthegms (also a re- 
creation in sickness), though considerably larger 
and altogether weightier, was considered so trifling 
a work that Dr. Rawley, in his “ perfect list of his 
Lordship’s true works, &e.,” appended to the first 
edition of the Resuscitatio (1657), either forgot or 
did not think fit to mention it. Yet both these 
trifles were not only written, but published, by 
Bacon himself the year before his death —a thing 
quite contrary to his practice ; for though he had 
written and carefully preserved and circulated in 
manuscript so much, he had till then published 
nothing that was not of the weightiest and most 
solid kind. Can any of your correspondents in- 
form me how much two such books may possibly 
have been worth to a publisher in the year 1625 ; 
being works of low price and popular character, 
proceeding from an author of great name? How 
much is it reasonable to suppose that a publisher 
may have given for the copyright? or how far 
may it have gone towards the payment of a book- 
seller’s bill ? J.S. 
Feb. 7. 1850. 
Treatise of Equivocation.—I shall feel happy 
if, through your very opportune medium, I can 
obtain some information respecting a very extra- 
ordinary and mysterious book, as to its existence, 
local habitation, and any other material circum- 
stance, which has the title of A Treatise of Equi- 
vocation. ‘The first recognition of the work is in 
the Relation of the Proceedings in the Trial for 
the Powder Plot, 1604. At signat. I. the At- 
torney-General, Sir E. Coke, appeals to it, and 
affirms that it was allowed by the Archpriest, 
| Blackwel, and that the title was altered to A 
Treatise against Lying and Fraudulent Dissimu- 
lation. He proceeds to describe some of its 
contents, as if he were himself acquainted with 
the book. Thomas Morton, Bishop of Lichfield 
and Coventry, afterwards of Durham, in his Pudl 
Satisfaction concerning a double Romish Iniquitie ; 
Rebellion and Equivocation, 1606, refers to the 
work, as familiarly acquainted with it. (See Ep. 
Dedic. A. 3.; likewise pages 88 & 94.) He gives 
the authorship to Creswell or Tresham. He refers: 
likewise to a Latin work entitled Resolutio Ca- 
suum, to the same effect, possibly a translation, to 
which he subjoins the names of Parsons and Allen. 
Robert Abbot, in his Antilogia, 1613, pp. 13, 14., 
emphatically and at length produces the same 
book and facts; but they are merely cepied from 
the Relation of the Powder-ireason Trial. Henry 
Mason, in his most satisfactory work, The New 
Art of Lying, §¢., 1624, has spoken of the Zrea- 
