Oct. 11. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



267 



delivery of the law, and in connection with the 

 account of Jethro, his father-in-law ; subsequently, 

 constant allusion is made to writing. There is 

 only one reference to this art in Homer {11. Z. 168.). 

 The author of Job, who appears to have had a 

 much more enlarged knowledge of art and science 

 than Moses, speaks of the cutting and painting 

 (for so the Arabic and Hebrew words should be 

 rendered, and not printing) on a roll, i. e. with 

 the style and brush ; also of the cutting (felling) 

 with a chisel (in Arabic, a digger) on lead, or on 

 a rock.* 



The examination of the copies of the inscriptions 

 already in our possession will probably determine 

 whether the language is hieroglyphic, syllabic, or 

 alphabetic. The principal point is to enumerate 

 the characters found to be clearly distinct from 

 each other. Should there be found two to three 

 hundred decidedly distinct characters — assuming 

 it to be one language and one uniform character of 

 that language, for many nations (peoples) use more 

 than one character — the language a priori must 

 be hieroglyphic. If 70 to 90, it will be syllabic ; 

 but if only 20 to 50, it may be safely concluded 

 that it is alphabetic. The letters distinct from 

 each other may be less than 20, inasmuch as in the 

 Arabic, most probably the language which will 

 solve this problem, one character represents se- 

 veral sounds, the points, usually omitted, alone 

 distinguishing the difference between be, te, tse, 

 mm, and jod, between jii7i, ha and cha, between 

 dal and zal, between re and se, sin and shin, zad 

 and dad, fe and kaf, &c. &c. On the other hand, 

 that language has increased the number of its 



* The word, correctly translated for ever, according 

 to the Masoretic system, means " as a witness or tes- 

 timony," if pointed with Tsereh instead of Pathach. 

 The general sense of this chapter, in some respects 

 obscure, appears to be, " I seek for justice, but cannot 

 obtain it. Every obstacle is put in iny way. Neither 

 my own kindred nor servants obey me. Look at my 

 most wretched condition ; although I call you friends, 

 you all hate me. You are not satisfied with perse- 

 cuting my body, but you afflict my soul also. Oh that 

 I could make an impression upon you. I would set 

 forth my petition for relief from your persecutions on a 

 roll, on lead, or on a rock, as a constant memorial in 

 testimony of my sufferings and your hate ; as I know 

 that my Gocl ( Redeemer or Avenger) lives, and will 

 at length ascend from the dust (sand or soil). (In his 

 approach he raises a cloud of dust. ) Then arise and 

 destroy this (memorial), for, living, I shall get a judg- 

 ment on my case, being personally present and not by 

 representative, although I may be hardly able to attend 

 from mental anxiety. Then you will say, why did we 

 persecute him, we were all wrong. And you will fear 

 punishment because you will learn that justice must be 

 satisfied." 



Divested of its highly poetic diction, the above gives 

 the gubject-matter in the vernacular. ^ 



characters, by distinguishing initial from medial 

 and terminal letters, having retained only thirteen 

 originally distinct characters in its alphabet. 



The Ethiopic, written from left to right, has 

 manifestly furnished the Arabs with their cursive 

 character, the one uniformly printed, written from 

 right to left, or otherwise both have derived them 

 from a common source. Of the intimate relation 

 early subsisting between the Ethiopians and 

 their Shemitic congeners in Asia, one remarkable 

 instance is the former retaining to themselves ex- 

 clusively " the exalted horn," so often mentioned 

 in the Hebrew Bible, the wearing of which has 

 been long abandoned by every other family of that 



T. J. Bdckton. 



race. 



Lichfield. 



ADDITIONS TO CUNNINGHAT.l's HAND-BOOK OF 

 LONDON. 



St. Stephen's Church, Walbrook. — Sir Robert 

 Chicheley, alderman and twice Lord Mayor of 

 London, is said, in Wm. Ravenhill's Short Account 

 of the Company of Grocers from their Original 

 (4to. Lond. 1689), to have purchased the ground 

 whereon St. Stephen's church stands, and to have 

 built, at his own charge, the church which was af- 

 terwards replaced by the edifice of Sir Christopher 

 Wren. The founder was a member of that com- 

 pany, and to them he gave the advowson. He 

 was the youngest of three brothers, of whom the 

 eldest was Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Can- 

 terbury temp. Henry VI. The second brother 

 was Su- William, who, like Robert, was an alder- 

 man, and a member of the Grocers' Company. 

 From the younger brother, Robert, descended 

 Sir Thomas Chicheley, who was Master of the 

 Ordnance and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- 

 caster in the reign of Charles II. 



Grocers' Hall.— In 1411 the custos or warden 

 and brethren of the Grocers' Company pm'chased 

 of Robert Lord Fitzwalter his mansion-house and 

 lands, extending from near the Old Jewry to 

 Walbrook in the centre of the city of London, for 

 320 marks, and soon afterwards laid the foundation 

 of their new Common-hall. In 1429 they had 

 license to acquire lands of the value of 500 marks. 

 There was " a fair open garden behind, for air 

 and diversion, and belbrc the house, within the 

 gate, a large court-yard." The company, after 

 the tire of London, rebuilt and enlarged the old 

 Hall, says Kavenhill in his Account of the Grocers' 

 Company (Lond. 1089), "with offices and accom- 

 uujdations far beyond any other place, for the most 

 connnodious seat of the chief magistrate." (See 

 Mr. Cunningham's quotation from Strype, as to 

 its civic uses.) King Charles II. accepted the 

 office of Master of the Company, and they set up 

 hid statue in the Royal Exchange. See Raven- 



