Mar. 23. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
341 
MISCELLANIES, 
Burnet.— In addition to the opinions expressed 
in favour of or opposed to Burnet’s “ History,” 
(No. 3. p. 40., and No. 8. p. 120.), I may also 
refer to Dr. King’s Anecdotes : he says, 
“J knew Burnet: he was a furious party-man, and 
easily imposed on by any lying spirit of his own 
faction: but he was a better pastor than any man 
who is now seated on the Bishops’ bench.” 
Dryden's chastisement of Burnet — “ the noble 
Buzzard” —in his Hind and Panther must be fa- 
miliar to your readers. It was given as “ade- 
quate retaliation” for the Bishop’s censure of 
the immorality of Dryden’s plays. Applied to 
Burnet’s Sketches of Characters, Dryden says : — 
“ His praise of foes is venomously nice, 
So touch’d, it turns a virtue to a vice.” 
Scott’s note on this passage well merits perusal. 
J. H. M. 
Bath. 
PERVENIRI AD SUMMUM NISI EX PRINCIPIIS NON 
POTEST. 
(From the Latin of Vincent Bourne.) 
Newton, the light of each succeeding age, 
First learned his letters from a female sage. 
But thus far taught — the alphabet once learn’d — 
To loftier use those elements he turn’d. 
Forced th’ unconscious signs, by process rare, 
Known quantities with unknown to compare ; 
And, by their aid, profound deductions drew 
From depths of truth his teacher never knew. 
Yet the true authoress of all was she ! — 
Newton’s Principia were his a, 8, c. Rurvs. 
Prince Madoc (No.4. p.56.; No. 18. p. 282.). 
—In the darkness superinduced by the absence of 
historical evidence on the Welsh settlement in 
America, I beg leave to offer a few remarks on 
some ethnological subjects involved in this ques-' 
tion. 
In reference to the specimen of a Welsh-Indian 
Vocabulary in Catlin’s N. A. Indians, which 
“ Gomer” opposes to Prof. Elton’s proposition on 
this subject (No. 15. p.236.), were the instances 
of similarity to exhibit the influence of opinion, of 
government, or of commerce, on the language of 
the tribe, the origin of such words would be as in- 
disputable as that of those introduced by the En- 
glish into the various countries of the Kast where 
they have factories; e.g. governor, council, com- 
pany. But these and numerous other traces of 
the Celtic language which have been found in 
Florida and Darien are not indicative of such im- 
pressions: most of them, from their universality, 
bespeak themselves to be primitive; and who can 
assure us that some may not have reached them 
before the twelfth century, through “Walsh or 
strangers,” “a race mightier than they and wiser,” 
by whom they may have been instructed in the 
arts which have excited so much astonishment ? 
The glass beads, erroneously called Druid’s 
beads, furnish Catlin with another proof of affilia- 
tion, which, however, is invalidated by the well- 
ascertained facts of glass-manufactories having, in 
remotest antiquity, existed in Egypt, and of glass 
beads having been dispersed by the Pheenicians 
among the nations which they visited. (See 
Tassie’s Gems, introd.—Here, by the by, are men- 
tioned celebrated emeralds, which have turned out 
to be only lumps of green glass!) 
Lhuyd relates that the cross was honoured in 
N. America before the arrival of the Spaniards, 
and Sir R. Manley (Turk. Spy, vol. viii.) states 
that they found crucifixes also. Unfortunately 
for this hypothesis, it has been shown, by G. Be- 
canus (Hierogl., see Index), Olaus Wormius (De 
Danicis Monumentis, see Index), M. Ficinus (De 
Vita celitus Propaganda, |. iii. c.18.), and Kircherus 
(Prodromus Coptus, p. 163.), that in various coun- 
tries the cross was, before the Christian era, an 
object of veneration, and symbolled the genius of 
their religion. In the event of crucifixes having 
been found (for which, however, Sir R. Manley 
supplies no authority) we need not be surprised 
that the Christian topography was so far extended, 
since the Christianity of China, between the se- 
venth and the thirteenth century, has been invin- 
cibly proved; and simultaneously, perhaps, the 
aborigines of America received the symbol, “Epwe 
pov écravpwrat, which is‘peculiar to the Christian 
religion. 
In conclusion, permit me to cite Southey versus 
Catlin: — “That country,” says the author of 
Madoc, “has now been fully explored; and wher- 
ever Madoc may have settled, it is now certain 
that no Welsh Indians are to be found upon any 
branches of the Missouri” (Preface, note written 
in 1815). 
Since I wrote the above, I have met with a work, 
by Mr. George Jones, entitled The History of 
Ancient America anterior to the Time of Columbus, 
vol. i.: “The Tyrian Hra.” In the second, not yet 
published, he promises to give “ The Introduction 
of Christianity into the Western Hemisphere by 
the Apostle St. Thomas.” dt ib 
Mistake in Gibbon. — Those of your readers, 
who are, like myself, occasional verifiers of re- 
ferences, will perhaps thank me for pointing out a 
false reference, that I have just discovered in one 
of Gibbon’s notes : — 
*‘ Capitolinus gives us the particulars of these tumul- 
tuary votes, which were moved by one senator, and re- 
peated, or rather chanted, by the whole body.” — Hist. 
August, p. 52. 
See Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, chap. 4, note 
