Dec. 6. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



443 



the best, or any list of personages filling these diplo- 

 matic posts, between the 1st of King Henry VIII. 

 and the end of the reign of King James II. ? 



S. E. G. 



322. Critolaus and the Horatii and Cvriatii. — Has 

 any writer on early Iloman history noticed the 

 extraordinary similarity, even in the minutest par- 

 ticulars, of the combat between the Horatii and 

 Curiatii, followed by the murder of a sister of tlie 

 former by her brother, for mourning for one of 

 the opposite party, to whom she was betrothed, to 

 the similar circumstances related of Ciltolaus the 

 Tegean ? The chances of two such transactions 

 resembling each other so closely appear so very 

 small, that there can be no doubt of one story 

 being a copy of the other : but which was the ori- 

 ginal ? I have no doubt the Roman historians 

 adopted this tale from the Greeks, to diversify the 

 barren pages of their early history. At all events, 

 such a person as Critolaus undoubtedly existed, 

 which is more than can be averred of the Iloman 

 hero. (See £iicyc. Brit., art. "Ci'itolaus.") 



J. S. Warden. 

 Balica. 



323. Cabal. — I should like to know the earliest 

 use of this word as signifying "a secret council," and, 

 as a verb, " to plot or intrigue." Pepys applies it 

 to the king's confidential advisers several years 

 before the date (1672) when Burnet remarks that 

 the word was composed of the initials of the five 

 «hief ministers ; and Dryden uses the verb in the 

 sense I have mentioned. Can any of your corre- 

 spondents trace either verb or noun to an earlier 

 period, or explain this application of it ? The 

 Hebrew verb kibhal signifies "to receive;" and 

 the Cabbala was so called from its being " tradi- 

 tionary," not from its being " secret." A popular 

 error on this point may, however, have given rise 

 to the above-mentioned application of the word. 



E. H. D. D. 



324. " ThiLS said the Ravens black." — In what 

 modern poem or ballad do the following or simi- 

 lar lines occur ? 



"thus said the ravens black. 



We have been to Cordova, and we're just come back." 



D. B. J. 



325. Symbols in Painting. — In a painting of the 

 Crucifixion by Guido (?) the following accessories 

 are introduced, the meaning of which I cannot 

 discover : the persons present are four, two of 

 whom are evidently the Virgin and St. John ; but 

 the other two, who are both old men, are doubt- 

 ful. On the ground, at the foot of the cross, is a 

 skull and some bones ; and at one side of tlie pic- 

 ture is a monster, somewhat like a giganti>; toad, 

 with his foot on a book ; ami at the other side lies 

 a bell, with a twisted cord attached to it : the 

 monster and the skull might be symbullcal of sia 



and death, but what can the bell mean ? It is a 

 singular object for an artist to have introduced 

 witliout some particular meaning; but the only 

 instance I know of its use, is in the pictures of 

 St. Anthony (iu the fourth century), who is gene- 

 rally represented with a bell in his hand. Perhaps 

 some of your correspondents may be able to ex- 

 plain its meaning in this painting. Can the hand- 

 bell rung in Roman Catholic churches at the 

 elevation of the host have any connexion with 

 the subject in question ? B. N. C. 



Oxford. 



326. Latin Verse on Franhlin. — Can you inform 

 me who wrote the line on Franklin : 



" Eiipuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque Tyrannis?" 



Henky II. Breen. 

 St. Lucia. 



327. General Moyle. — Who was General John 

 Moyle, who died about 1738 ? He resided, if he did 

 not die, in Bury St. Edmund's, Sufiblk. Buriensis. 



328. Musical Compositions of Matthew Duboiirg. 



— I am induced, while preparing for the press a 

 new edition of my opusculiim on the violin, to seek 

 your kind mediatorial aid in behalf of an object 

 which some one or other of your correspondents, 

 acquainted with Irish matters of the last century, 

 may possi'AZy enable me to attain. I am desirous 

 of learning whether there be extant any of tlie mu- 

 sical compositions (especially the violin solos and 

 concertos) of my progenitor, INIatthew Dubourg, 

 who held the post of director anil composer to the 

 king's band in Ireland, from 1728 until, I believe, 

 his death in 1767. 



As I do not know that any of these compositions 

 (which appear to have been called forth by im- 

 mediate occasions) were ever printed, my hope of 

 now tracing them out is perhaps more lively than 

 rational. If they have existed only in a manu- 

 sciipt state, it is but too possible that the bar- 

 barian gripe of the butternian may long ago have 

 suppressed what vitality was in them. I cannot, 

 however, relinqnish the idea that a dusty oblivion, 

 and not absolute destruction, may be the amount 

 of what they have undergone ; and that they may 

 still exist in such condition as to be, at least, more 

 susceptible of resuscitation than disinterred mum- 

 mies. I have the honour to be, Sir, yours wist- 

 fully, G. DUBODBG. 



Brigliton. 



329. Collodion, and its Application to Photography. 



— May I ask tor infornuition as to the first dis- 

 coverer of Collodion, and the origin or derivation 

 of the name ? I should also be glad to know by 

 whom it was first applied to photogenic purposes. 



A rilOTOGU.VIMlER, 



330. Engraved Portrait. — Will some of your 

 correspoudents who are conversant with the 



