2nd §, No 9., Mar. 1. '56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
181 
was the Reverend John Hunter, minister at Ayr; 
who died 12th February, 1756, aged eighty-six, 
at that time the oldest clergyman of the established 
ehurch in Scotland. This drama, if it may be so 
termed, is of the greatest rarity; it was printed 
at Glasgow in 1733, but does not appear to have 
been published. It is dedicated to the Patroness 
of the Gentle Shepherd — the Countess of Eglin- 
toun. No copy has been traced in any of the 
public libraries north the Tweed. Mr. Hunter 
was the author of a rare theological volume, 
called Spiritual Pleadings, being an imitation and 
supplement of Mr. Thomas Harrison’s bouk, en- 
titled Topica Sacra; Kirkbride: printed by Ro- 
bert Rae, 1711. ‘This I never saw in a complete 
state, but I preserved the title of a mutilated 
copy, which was not only wretchedly imperfect, 
but destroyed by damp. 
The dramatis persone of the play consist of the 
Traveller, a Christian “ set out for Heaven ;” the 
Inhabitant, who “ has attained it;” and the Wan- 
derer, a Pagan, “ who cannot find his way.” ‘These 
are the leading personages; but certain ghosts 
are summoned from “ Hades” — as Apuleius, 
Zoroaster, Socrates, &e. Next come Faith, Hope, 
and Love, &e. &c:,; Stephen, the protomartyr, 
David, “the most devout of Old Testament 
Saints,” and Paul, “ the greatest of the Apostles.” 
The drama opens with the traveller discovering 
the Wanderer, who says: 
“Thrust from mine home 
By aicient doom, 
I tread around 
Inchanted ground, 
Winding, turning, 
Freezing, burniag, 
Fond to regain, 
Ah, all if vain, F 
The forsaken seats of Day.” 
The versification is generally good, and many 
spirited passages might be pointed out. 
J. M. (2.) 
_ Rickling Pig (2°' S. i. 75.) — Halliwell, in his 
Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, calls 
reckhling a north country word; and defines it as 
“the smallest and meanest of a brood of animals.” 
It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hric, back, 
whence our word ridge; and means hindmost, 
or last. ‘The German adverb Riicklings stands 
in the same relation to Riichen. From the Anglo- 
Saxon Hreac is also derived the word rick; as 
well as ruck, in the sense of aheap, acrease. Other 
provincial words, denoting the same idea of the 
smallest of a brood, are derived from the Anglo- 
Saxon Hnesc; namely, niscal, nestling, nestlecock, 
nestlebub, nestgulp, nestletripe, nestledraft. The 
words burra-pig, pitman, pinbusket, cadma, and 
whinnockh, likewise occur in the same sense. ‘The 
terms pitman and pinbasket probably allude to 
local usages, which some of your correspondents 
s 
may be able to explain. (See the Herefordshire 
Glossary; in Niscax). Some remarks on the ter- 
inination -ling, as used in our language; will be 
found in the Philological Museum, vol.i. p. te 
The Eugubian Tables (2°° S. i. 108.) —The 
best work on these monuments, which are in two 
different languages or dialects (one of which in 
particular has mtich in common with the Old 
Latin) is by Aufrecht and Kirchhoff. The title is 
Die Umbrischen Sprachdenkmiiler, Berlin, 1851. 
The tables relate to the worship of the different 
deities, at the different seasons. Neither Sir W. 
Betham, nor your correspondent, has approxi- 
mated to the meaning of even a single sentence. 
EK. H. D. D. 
Phile (2) S. i. 115.) —The most solemn of 
Egyptian adjurations, was ‘‘ by him who sleeps in 
Phile,’ meaning thereby the good Osiris; who, 
after he succumbed to the red-haired Typho, 
tradition buried in the cataracts, whence he an- 
nually steps forth and nianures the earth. 
It is almost needless to add that, by Osiris, was 
originally understood the Nile itself. For sub- 
sequent changes in the ideas, respecting this 
divinity, consult Smith’s Dict. of G. and R. Biog. 
and Myth., &c. A, CHALLSTETH. 
Mr. William Clapperton (2™4 S. i. 118.) =I 
am happy to be able to give your correspondent 
some information relative to this gentletnan. He 
was a son of the late George Clapperton, Esq., 
writer to the Signet, in Edinburgh, by a lady of 
the name of Buncle. The father died in October, 
1814, leaving William, James, and Andrew, sons, 
and Helen and Anne, daughters. With the ex- 
ception of James, who is a medical gentleman 
in high estimation in India, the others are all 
dead. William’s death took place in London 
Street, Edinburgh, on the 10th January, 1849. 
He was a very amiable person, of kind and gentle 
manners, and a great enthusiast in poetical matters, 
Virgil he perfectly worshipped, and his edition of 
the Latin epic poet, as translated by Dr. Ring, 
is remarkable in its way. Clapperton supplied 
many hundred deficiené lines, either by re-trans- 
lation, or by adopting those of earlier writers ; “in 
this way he made a curious and, considering 
everything, a successful mosaic of the whole. He 
was brought up to the legal profession, but the 
Muses had more attractions than the law courts. 
For many years he was a clerk in the banking 
house of Sir Wm. Forbes & Co., and latterly set 
up as a French teacher. He died in not very 
affluent circumstatces. His father was as enthu- 
siastic about musie as his son was about poetry. 
He was an admirable player on the violin, and 
excelled in Scottish airs, which he gave with in- 
tense feeling. ‘The late George Thomson, so well 
known as the friend of Burns, and editor of his 
