122 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



f_2«» S. IX. Feb. 18. 'GO. 



«&ucrta*. 



MARIA, OR MARlA. 



The Italians generally adhere closely to the pri- 

 mitive Latin quantities ; but in this case they 

 have lengthened the penultimate syllable contrary 

 to old usage. On looking into the Poeta C'hris- 

 tiani Latini I find this singular circumstance. In 

 the curious poem of Tertullian, adv. Marcion, iv. 

 181., supposed to be written circ. a.d. 200. we 

 have this line : — 



" Prredixit Mariam, de qua flos exit in orbeui." 



The same quantity, v. 145. 



In Juvencus, the Presbyter (cir. 330.), de Hist. 

 Evang. i. 91. : — 



" Exultat Marias, quum primum afflamina sensit." 



And again, i. 274. : — 

 " Joseph urgetur monitis, Mariam puerumque." 



In the distichs attributed to S. Ambrose (340- 

 397): 



" Angelus affatur Mariam, qua? parca loquendi." 



In the poem of Pope Damasus (cir. 380), De 

 Christo, 6. : 



" Quern verbo inclusum Mariae, mox numine viso." 



voyit with coches, herself and the prince in hey 

 awin coche, guhilk came with hir out of Denmarke 

 [in 1599], and the English gentlewemen in the 

 rest of the coches." James himself made the 

 journey to London on horseback, perhaps because 

 he was in the condition of Henry IV. of France, 

 who wrote to one of his ministers : " I cannot 

 come to you to-day, because my wife is using the 

 coach." J. Y. 



Foreshadowed Photography.— The assertion, 

 ascribed by Bishop "Wilkins to Pythagoras, that "he 

 could write anything on the body of the moon, so 

 that it might be legible at a great' distauce," is 

 referred by the good Bishop to diabolical magic. 

 Agrippa is also represented as saying that he knew 

 how to do the same. The idea seems to be a sort 

 of photographic one, carried to an extreme degree; 

 but Wilkins, in commenting upon it, says : — 



" There is an experiment in Opticks, to represent any 

 writing by the Sun-beams, upon a wall, or front of a 

 house : for" which purpose, the letters must first be de- 

 scribed with wax, or some other opacous colour, upon the 

 surface of the glass, in an inverted form ; which glass 

 afterwards reflecting the light upon any wall in the shade, 

 will discover these letters in the right form and order." 



Is not this something like a correct first step in 

 the wonderful art or science (which is it ?) of 

 photography ? * Pishey Thompson. 



Stoke Newington. 



[* We bavo omitted the account of Strada's magnetic 

 telegraph, already noticed in our 1 st S. vi. 93. 204.— Ed.] 



In Aur. Prudentius (cir. 400), Contra Homoun- 

 cionitas, 92. : 



" Ante pedes Marias, puerique crepundia parvi." 



Now all these give the penultimate as short, but 

 in about half a century there is a complete change. 

 In Sedulius (cir. 450), Carm. iv. 142. : 



" Nee tibi parva salus, Domiuo medicante, Maria. 



lb. 279. : 



" Quidve Maria gemis? Christum dubitabis an unum." 



In Venantius Fortunatus (cir. 450), de partti 

 Virginis, 125. : 



" Humano generi gemuit quos Eva dolores 

 Curavit gentes, virgo Maria, tuis. 



lb. 229. : 



" Nomen honoratum, benedicta Maria per aevum." 

 lb. 358. : 



" Per Christum genituni virgo Maria tuum." 



I quote from Maittaire's collection. Is it not 

 strange such a sudden change should take place 

 in the pronunciation of so revered a name, and 

 that by a people of such sensitive ears. It could 

 arise from a reference to the Greek, for the Maptdy. 

 of one Evangelist and the Map/a of the others 

 would seem to imply the contrary. Can any of 

 your readers give a probable solution of the diffi- 

 culty ? A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



ARCHBP. WHATELY AND " THE DIRECTORY." 



Archbishop Whately has lately published a 

 small volume under the title, Explanations of the 

 Bible and of the Prayer-Book (Parker & Son, 

 1858), in which (p. 72.) he takes notice of "the 

 book called The Directory, put forward by the 

 Republican Parliament as designed to supersede 

 the Prayer-Book ;" and immediately afterwards 

 he says : — 



" Of the book I have alluded to, copies are extremely 

 rare; which is a remarkable circumstance, considering 

 how many thousand copies of it must have been at one 

 time in circulation. But (he adds) to those who have 

 access to public libraries, it will be worth while to inspect 

 it, in order to observe " 



I am one of the multitude of Presbyterians (a 

 layman) who derive instruction and gratification 

 too from the Archbishop's works ; but on reading 

 what I quote from, I mentally exclaimed, here is 

 indeed a Curiosity of Literature. The Directory, 

 for which the privileged few are sent to ransack 

 collections of rarities, has actually been, through- 

 out these 200 bye-gone years, a household book, 

 not only with Scotch (and English) Presbyterians, 

 but with his grace's nearer neighbours the Pres- 

 byterians of Ulster. It is one of ten tracts, or 

 thereabouts, which, arranged and equipped with 

 ratifying Acts of Parliament and of Assembly, 



