2"<» S. VI. 131., July 3, '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



17 



arrogance and insufficiency. Neither was the 

 writer of the " Letter " friendly to the new 

 Ministry — the Rockinghams. He talks of the 

 king's goodness in overlooking their former bad 

 behaviour ; and hints that Chatham may be 

 tempted to supersede them, if they do not behave 

 well ; and the writer attacks Temple as dictating 

 to Chatham. 



The " Principles " is earnest and outspoken — 

 going direct to its purpose ; is written with ease 

 and the facility of a practised writer, who, as 

 such persons are apt to do, makes a common- 

 place or a coarse expression serve a hurried pur- 

 pose. There is an occasional page or two which 

 rises above the average, — as on party (p. 38.), the 

 Rockingham (47, 48.) ; and in respect to the 

 Rockinghams, it foreshadows Chatham's outburst 

 in January. The writer sets forth Temple's known 

 opinions without reserve ; freely and fully de- 

 nounces the misdeeds of the late ministers, but 

 maintains that they were turned out on their 

 merits — their resolution not to submit to the fa- 

 vourite. The writer states his dislike or suspicion 

 of the new ministry — the Rockinghams — and 

 says that by accepting office they have strength- 

 ened the favourite, and made manifest their own 

 weakness. 



The " Principles " is a good historical docu- 

 ment, and throws a light on the motives, feelings, 

 and secret springs of party and individuals, at 

 and about the close of George Grenville's ad- 

 ministration and the formation of Rockingham's 

 ministry ; but there is no trace in it, I think, of 

 the " Candor " pen. D. E. 



Mcpto^ tfl :^in0r cauerte^. 



Ancient Painting at Cowdry (2°* S. v. 478. 533.) 

 — In addition to the information furnished by 

 Mr. Wm. Ddeeaxt Cooper, it may be added 

 that the print was engraved by James Basire, at 

 the expense of the Society of Antiquaries, and 

 published June 1, 1778. A description was also 

 written to accompany it, by Sir Joseph Aylofie, 

 Bart., and separately printed, 4to., 1778, pp. 20. 

 In this description he repeats much of what he 

 had previously stated in the Archceologia, vol. iii,, 

 but enters into fuller details in regard to the 

 painting in question. It may also be mentioned 

 that a catalogue (now scarce) of the Cowdray 

 House paintings exists, thus entitled : — 



" A Catalogue of the Pictures at Cowdray-House, the 

 Seat of the Rt. Hon. Lord Viscount ^Montague, near 

 Midhurst, Sussex. Portsmouth, printed by R. Carr, at 

 Milton's Head, near the Grand Magazine, 1777." 4to. 

 pp. 12. 



Dallaway, in his Hiatory of the Western Divi- 

 sion of Sussex, 1815, vol. i. p. 255., reprints Ay- 

 loffe's paper from the Archceologia, and adds 



(p. 246.) a list of the portraits at Cowdray, with 

 valuable notes by J. C. Brook, Somerset Herald. 



F. Madden. 



Jewish Families (2'"' S. v. 435.)— Most of the 

 families who settled originally in Spain and Por- 

 tugal claimed descent from the tribe of Judah ; 

 those in Germany and the»northern countries 

 from the tribe of Benjamin ; the descendants of 

 the other ten tribes not being known with any 

 certainty. Since the building of the second Tem- 

 ple and their dispersion, several families have at 

 different times claimed descent from the House of 

 David. There are many who, by their surnames 

 of Levi and Cohen, show respectively their de- 

 scent from the tribe of Levi and the family of 

 Aaron. Cohen being the Hebrew, slightly altered, 

 for Priest, all of whom were of the family of 

 Aaron. 



The Rothschilds and Salomons, being of Ger- 

 man descent, could probably be traced to the tribe 

 of Benjamin. The Goldsmids are said to be de- 

 scendants of a family of the name of " Uri a 

 Levi," which is mentioned in an old work on 

 Jewish antiquities as claiming a traditional de- 

 scent from the Asmoneans or Maccabees. The 

 present head of the family, Sir I. L. Goldsmid, 

 Bart., bears as his motto the passage from Exodus 

 XV. 11., " Who is like unto Thee O Lord amongst 

 the mighty," from the initial Hebrew letters of 

 which the name of Maccabee has been derived. 



Should you think these few details worth in- 

 serting, they may be the means of eliciting more 

 ample information on the subject ; though owing 

 to the great persecutions sustained by Jews 

 in all countries during the Middle Ages, and the 

 frequent changes of residence which took place 

 in consequence amongst them, their family re- 

 cords seem to be in most cases very imperfect. 



Philo-Jud.eds. 



Good News for Schoolboys (2"'* S. v. 493.) — 

 Your correspondent, Eightt-Theee, rather mis- 

 directs the gratitude of schoolboys. Roger As- 

 cham had not them in his mind when he wrote the 

 passage cited at p. 493. But there was a philoso- 

 pher long before Roger's time who laid a solid 

 foundation for the lasting thankfulness of the 

 alumni of all nations. I allude to the man among 

 whose pupils were Pericles, Socrates, and Euri- 

 pides, — proofs in themselves that intervals of 

 play and work do not make dull Jacks, — the man 

 who used to say that he would rather have a grain 

 of wisdom than a cart-full of gold, — and who, 

 heathen as he was, had strong perceptions of the 

 doctrine of the immortality' of the soul. That 

 man was Anaxagoras, not the princely gentleman 

 of Argos, but the far-seeing, yet often wild and 

 fanciful philosopher of Clazomene. Just before 

 his death at Lampsacus, three years subsequent to 

 the commeacemeat of the great and protracted 



