496 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2°'> S. VI. 155., Deo. 18. '68. 



Minat HaUS. 



Burns' Centeitary. — It is worthy of notice, at 

 tlie present time especially, that Burns, writing to 

 liis earliest patron, Gavin Hamilton, in 1786, thus 

 expresses himself: — 



"For my own affairs, 1 am in a fair way of becoming 

 as eminent as Thomas h. Kempis or John Bunyan ; and 

 3'ou may expect, henceforth, to see my hirthdai/ inscribed 

 among the wonderful events, in the Poor Robin and Aber- 

 deen Almanacks, along with the Black Monday, and the 

 Battle of Bothwell Bridge." — See Lockhart's Life of 

 Burns, p. 110. 



Washington Moon. 



The Heraldic Shield. — I know nothing of he- 

 raldry, but perhaps the following incident which 

 occurred to me in Egypt in the winter of 1856-7 

 may not be uninteresting, and may possibly be 

 suggestive of something on this subject : — 



AVhen visiting the ruins of Edfou on the left 

 bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt, I was struck 

 ■with what appeared to me to be armorial bearings 

 on a shield of the form usually seen on coins. It 

 was represented in the centre of a circular medal- 

 lion about twelve inches diameter, not in relief on 

 a frieze, which was continued round the cornice of 

 the inside of the quadrangle. As rubbish bad 

 accumulated at the end to the height of the cor- 

 nice, I had no difBculty in examining it closely 

 in a somewhat subdued light. Beyond the gene- 

 ral outline of the shield, and a series of parallel 

 lines, vertical and horizontal, in each quarter, I 

 could not make out any other details, for some 

 Goths had made a target of it, and the surface 

 was all pitted with the marks of stones. I was, 

 however, so much struck with the resemblance 

 to a heraldic shield, that next day I went and 

 took a cast of it in Nile mud, which I carefully 

 preserved during the remainder of my voyage up 

 the Nile. On our return I visited the ruins 

 again, and on examining the various sculptures 

 and hieroglyphics more attentivel}', I discovered 

 in other parts of the frieze repetitions of the same 

 shield, but, as they were beyond reach, they were 

 uninjured ; and I then found that what I had 

 supposed was a heraldic shield, was simply the 

 scarabeus or sacred beetle of the Egyptians, with 

 the wings expanded so as to resemble suppor- 

 ters, and the head looking like a crest. The 

 vertical lines in the two lower quarters were the 

 markings of the wing-covers ; whilst those in the 

 upper quarters represented the lines on the back. 

 The four divisional lines meeting in the centre 

 indicated the fissures of the body as seen in the 

 living animal. After this mortifying discovery I 

 took no farther care of the cast I had taken. 



Query. Can the modern heraldic shield in its 

 general form, quartering, supporters, and crest, be 

 traced to any source more authentic than the 

 scarabeus I have described. The similarity was 

 so remarkable in general outline as well as details, 



that it struck me very forcibly at the time, and I 

 now simply call the attention of your readers to it. 



R. G, 



Glasgow. 



Index Making. — Mr. Curtis, in the last num- 

 ber of the Assurance Magazine, has published an 

 able paper on the best method of making an Index ; 

 and as it would seem to interest the readers of "N. 

 & Q.," I give the table of averages which he has 

 deduced from the Post Office Directory, with an 

 addition by myself. Suppose a different class of 

 persons were chosen, would there be the same 

 proportions ? For this purpose I took the Clergy 

 List, and deduced the corresponding column. It 

 yet remains to be seen whether diflerent nations 

 would give similar results : — 



Victoria Inn, Forest of Dean. — Visiting the 

 Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, this summer, I 

 stayed at the very old inn, now called the Victoria, 

 at Newnham. On the window of each side of the 

 doorway as you enter is inserted a curious piece 

 of old stained glass, and both of which are beauti- 

 fully executed : that on the right-hand is an oval 

 about eight inches long and five broad, and repre- 

 sents a cat standing on her hind legs playing on 

 a fiddle, with mice dancing. On the left-hand 

 side of the door is another piece of stained glass, 

 diamond-shaped, which represents in the upper 

 compartment a farmyard, with a large grasshop- 

 per and several ants ; and in the lower compart- 

 ment is printed the following fable, spelling being 

 as follows : — 



" The Grasshopper came unto the Aunts, and demanded 

 part of their Corne ; whereupon they did aske, what he 

 had done in the Sommer, and he said he had song; and 

 thij saj'de, if you sing in the Somraer, then daunce in the 

 winter." — Anno 1622. 



E. 



PORTRAIT OF SIB ISAAC NEWTON. 



There is in the possession of Capt. T. Pickering 

 Clarke, R. N., of 1. Bathwick Hill, Bath, a por- 

 trait of Sir Isaac Newton. It was purchased at 

 the sale of the property of the late Rev. J. 

 Bowen, a clergyman well known to the inhabit- 



