Feb. 1. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



93 



The same epigram, with an inconsiderable altera- 

 tion, is given in Bosch's Anthologia Graca, vol. ii. 

 p. 478., with a close Latin translation by Grotius. 

 The following English version of the Greek is as 

 nearly literal as the idioms of the two languages 

 will allow. 



" Who is the sculptor, say, and whence ? 

 From Sicyon. What is he 

 By name? Lysijjpus. Who art thou ? 

 I am Opportunity. 



" Why is thy step so high and light? 

 I am running all the day. 

 Why on each fcot hast thou a wing? 

 1 fly with the winds away. 



" Why is a razor in thy hand ? 

 More keen my edge is set. 

 Why hast thou hair upon thy brow? 

 'I'o seize me by> when met. 



" Why is thy head then bald !)ehind? 

 Because men wish in vain, 

 When I have run past on winged feet 

 To catch me e'er again. 



" Why did the artist form thee so ? 



To place me in this hall, 

 That I a kssou thus rai^ht give 



To thee, friend, and to all." 



Ausonius, in the fourteenth century of the Chris- 

 tian era, imitates this in his I'ith epigram. 



Phffidrus (lib. v., fab. 8 ), in the Augu.<tine age, 

 speaks of the same representation as already sanc- 

 tioned by antiquity : — 



" OCCASIO DEPICrA. 



" Cursu veloci pendens in novaeula, 

 Calvus, comosa fronte, nudo corpora ; 

 Quern si occuparis, teneas: elapsum seniel 

 Non ipse possit .lupiter rei)rehendere ; 

 Occasionem rerum significat brevem. 

 Effectus impediret ne sei;nis mora, 

 Fiiixere antiqui talem effigieni temporis." 



T. C. 



Durham, Jan. 20. 1851. 



Cross between a Wolf and a Hound (Vol. iii., 

 p. 39.). — There is no doubt that a dog and a wolf 

 are capable of breeding together. The fact is 

 well known, and has been long ascertained See 

 Penny Cyclopcedia, art. "Dog." Tlie only ques- 

 tion is whether the offspring of this cross is a 

 mule, and, like other mules, incajjable of con- 

 tinuing its race; or whether it is prolific? The 

 hitler position is niaintained by Mr. Bell, in liis 

 Hixtni'y of British Quadrupeds. " The dog and 

 wolf will readily breed together (he says), a/id 

 their proi^eiiij is fertile." But (piery, can any au- 

 tiiontic instance be j)roduceil of a cross between a 

 dog and a wolf, which has produced a prolific 

 annual ? L. 



Professor Thomas Bell states lliat tlie dog and 

 wolf v/ill reailily breed with each other, and tliat 



their progeny thus obtained will again mingle 

 with the dog. W. J. Bernhard Smith. 



Temple, Jan. 19. 1851. 



I have read somewhere (in Kohl's Russia, if I 

 mistake not) that this cross is not imcommon in 

 the southern portion of European Russia, but I 

 have not the book at hand to refer to. Diss, 



Your correspondent, T — n, will find this fact 

 referred to in Sir John Franklin's Narrative of a 

 Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, vol. i., 

 p. 268., 2nd edition, London. Murray, 1824. 

 Lieutenant Hood says — 



" On our way to the tent a black wolf rushed out 

 upon an Indian, who happened to pass its den. It was 

 shot, and the Indians carried away three black wlielps, 

 to improve the l)reed of their dogs." 



W. H. H. K. 



Drayton Beauchamp, Jan. 22. 1851. 



Touching for the Evil (Vol. iii., p. 42.). — I 

 have seen an illuminated MS. containing the 

 form of prayer in use previous to the Reforma- 

 tiim. As far as I remember, the MS. in ques- 

 tion must have been of the fifteenth century. 

 Where it may now be found I am not aware. 

 At the time of my seeing it, it was in the posses- 

 sion of Mr. Toovey of Piccadilly. 



A somewhat curious field for inquiry on this 

 subject is opened by a passage in Voltaire's 

 Siecle de Louis XIV. Speaking of James IF. 

 touching for the evil while m exile at the French 

 court, he says — 



" Soit que les Rois Anglais se soient attribne ce 

 singulier privilege, comme pretendans a la couronne 

 de la France; soit que cette ceremonie soit etablie chez 

 eux depuis le temps du premier Kdouard." 



Have we any evidence of the ceremony having 

 been performed by any French monarchs? I am 

 not aware of any. J. Sn. 



Old Booty (Vol. iii., p. 40.). — In 18.30 there 

 appeared a humorous versification, by W. T. Mon- 

 crieif, of this story, for the authenticity of which 

 lie prudently says he cannot vouch. He furnishes 

 a sort of account of the affair, and of an action at 

 the suit of Booty's widow, the records of which, 

 it says, are at Westminster, Jan. 2. 1687. 



Notwithstanding this apparent circumstantial 

 account, we find in a very entertaining anony- 

 mous work, entitled The History of Man; or, the 

 Wonders of Human Nature, 2nd edit. Edinb. 

 1790, 8vo., vol. i. p. 376., a similar incident re- 

 lated of a Mr. Gresham. an eminent merchant of 

 London, which hap|)ened ia the reign of lien. VI IT., 

 ; the authorities for which are cited, Sandy.s's Truv. 

 1. 4. p. 248. ; Clark-s Mir. c. 33. p. 115. F.R. A. 



Breeches Bible (Vol. iii., p. 17.). — The first 

 edition of tliis Bible is now before me. The title- 

 ]>age and portions of the addresses to tiueen 

 Elizabeth and to the reader are unfortunately 



