2"0 S. VI. 133., July 17. '58.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



47 



racters designated as the Gallic- Saxon by Dr. 

 Hickes, we can hardly err in referring this unique 

 production to the time of that illustrious monarch. 



The jewel is of an oval form; but at the lower 

 end is a projecting head of some sea or scaly mon- 

 ster, from whose jaws issues a small tube, within 

 which is fixed a minute pin of gold ; intended 

 probably to connect this ornament with a band 

 or collar when worn pendant from the neck. 

 The edge has a purfled border of a rich net or 

 filagree work, within which, "on a plane rising 

 obliquely " (as described by Dr. Musgrave in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, vol. xx., Xo. 247.), 

 " is the inscription, which in Saxon letters reads 

 thus — ' .Eirptb nice Heic Irehycpan,' " i.e. Alfred 

 commanded me to be made. At the inner side of 

 the inscription is a narrow border of gold, edged 

 with leitves or escallops, which fasten down a thin 

 plate of crystal. This covers a kind of outline 

 representation of a half-length male figure, with a 

 grave countenance, wrought upon the area within. 

 His head is somewhat inclined to the right, and in 

 each hand is a sceptre, or rather lily, the flowers 

 of which rise above the shoulders, but are con- 

 joined at the bottom. 



On the reverse, upon a thin plate of gold, re- 

 tained in its place by the purfled border, on a 

 matted ground, is a larger lily artificially set and 

 occupying nearly the whole of the central space. 

 The stalk and the leaves rise from a bulbous root, 

 and the upper part expands into three flowers, 

 not ungracefully disposed. 



There has been much contrariety of opinion 

 among antiquaries as to whom the figure was in- 

 tended to represent, and it has been assigned to 

 the Saviour, to Pope Martin, to St. Cuthbert, and 

 to the great Alfred himself. Wotton, in his Short 

 View of Hickes'' s Thesaurus, p. 16., remarks, 

 " As to the man in it, that profound gravity in 

 his countenance, and the two sceptres, emblems 

 of the power which the Father gave to Christ, 

 both in heaven and earth, make me believe that 

 the picture is Jescs, whom Alfred, perhaps while 

 he staid at Rome, would out of piety have drawn 

 from some famous artist." 



May not Alfred have lost this precious jewel 

 during his sojourn in the isle of Athelney, in 

 which it was found ? EiGHxr-THREE. 



Worcester. 



flflmar fiaUi. 



Allan Ramsay. — We learn from Wodrow's Ana- 

 lecta, a most amusing collection of gossip, little 

 known in the South, that Allan Ramsay had excited 

 the wrath of the righteous by his taste for light lite- 

 rature. In 1733 there was "printed and sold by 

 Allan Ramsay," Edinburgh, r2mo., The Devil of 

 a Duke, or Trapolins Vagaries, a (^Farcical Bal- 

 lad) Opera, as acted at the Theatres of London and 



Edinburgh. The same year Drury had success- 

 fully produced a musical afterpiece of the same 

 name : copies of both are before me, and upon 

 looking into the two, I find the former to be an 

 enlargement of the latter ; the first scene, with 

 the songs, being entirely new, the English version 

 commencing with what is the second scene in the 

 Scotch one. There are various additions and 

 songs in the Scotch opera. The dramatis personce 

 are the same, with a single alteration, "the Puritan" 

 being, probably to please the Scotch palate, con- 

 verted into a " Quaker." All the songs occurring 

 for the first time in Ramsay's edition are to Scotch 

 tunes, the other ones being at the same time re- 

 tained and sung to English tunes, excepting one 

 to Daintie Davie, which occurs in both versions. 

 The airs in scene 1. are "What should a Lassie 

 do with an Old Man," "Willy was a Wanton 

 AVag," "The Lads of Dunse," "Almansor," "O'er 

 Boggy," and " Colin's Complaint." May these 

 additions not be by him, seeing he was both prin- 

 ter and publisher, though he did not choose to 

 put his name to them ? J. M. 



Acrostics on Queen Victoria. — Acrostics, Greek 

 and English, on the name of the Queen Victoria, 

 on occasion of her inaugurating the People's Park, 

 Birmingham : — 



" B ioTOv (TOv Toi/ irayKX^irov 



*I <T70pOV<Tlv Ot <7'0(^tO'Tai, 



K ax yap Koafiop rhv 6e oAoi' 

 T b KpciTos o"ou a/x<^t)3atyet. 

 'CI pat'a fi' €7rt<^ai'€ta. 

 *P a5iw? TrdAtl* €L(T€\9€ 

 'I \apa. 6' aivo^aivovaa, 

 *A TaAatTTwpws fxeCt^^ av" 



[The wise shall write the history of thy all-glorious 

 life, for thj' power protects the entire workl. Thy coming 

 is propitious. Enter safely the town ; and joyfully de- 

 parting, may est thou remain free from care.] 



" V ictoria comes not as the tepid Queen, 

 I ntent to honor potent Leicester's scene. 

 C oming to Birmingham, her great design, — 

 T test the philosophic truth divine 



f man's characteristic, as tool maker; * 



R oam where you will, you need not elsewhere take her. 



1 f Queenly Bess was good — ev'n to the letter 

 A dmitting it, — Victoria still is better." 



.riN 



Ink Recipes. — 



" T/ie Ink of the Ancients. — Mr. Joseph Ellis, in the 

 Journal of the Society of Arts, remarks that the late Mr. 

 Charles Hatchett, F.R.S., explained to him that by mak- 

 ing a solution of shellac with borax, in water, and adding 

 a suitable proportion of pure lamp-black, an ink is pro- 

 ducible which is indestructible by time, or by chemical 

 agents, and whiph, on drying, will present a polished 

 surfiice, as with the ink found on the Egj'ptian papj'ri. 

 Mr. Ellis says he has made such ink, and proved the cor- 

 rectness of Mr. Hatchett's formula, if not its identity with 

 that of ancient Egypt." 



Coathupe's Writing Fluid. — To eighteen ounces 

 of water, add one ounce of powdered borax, and 



• ** 'O 5e avBpiono'i oTrAa t\tMV </>ueTot (/)porTja'et Kai apcT^." — • 

 Arist. Put. i. 2. 



