MISCELLANEOUS. 



465 



ARCTIC SCENERY. 



In noticing in last number (ante p. 367) a disgraceful piece of literary fraud 

 recently perpetrated under the auspices of a Philadelphia publishing house, Tve 

 •were not aware of the full extent of the imposture, and confounded it with the 

 genuine work issued by Messrs. Childs and Peterson, of Philadelphia. 



" The spurious " Kane Arctic Expedition" of Messrs. Loyd & Co. of Philadel- 

 phia, professes, as we no-w learn, to have been -written by Sontag, one of Kane's 

 officers, -whose features the " enterprising" publishers endeavored very effectually 

 to adapt to his assigned character, by converting the portrait of a high-wayman, 

 from the National Police Gazette, into his accredited likeness. The work appears 

 to be characterized throughout by the most shameless effrontery ever embodied 

 in the mercenary frauds of literary forgery. "We only notice it no-w to prevent the 

 confusion of Messrs. Childs and Peterson's genuine work, -with that issued by 

 Messrs. Loyd & Co. 



ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS IN BRITAIN. 



In the paper by the Rev. Dr. McOaul, entitled "Notes on Latin Inscriptions 

 found in Britain," the author suggested a conjectural reading in the letters of the 

 inscription on an altar found at Bath, in 1754, which, if correct, made a very 

 important change in the rendering of the -whole inscription, (ante p. 229.) From 

 the following extract fi-om a letter to the author, in reply to his communication of 

 the paper, addressed to him by the Rev. H. M. Scarth, an eminent English anti- 

 quary and successful investigator of Anglo-Roman remains, particularly in Somer- 

 setshire, it will be seen that the ingenious conjecture has been fully confirmed. 



" I this morning received the Canadian Journal (for May, 1858), and having 

 read from Notes on Latin inscriptions found in Britain, proceeded to the Literary 

 Institution to verify your conjecture respecting the altar mentioned at page 228." 

 [The altar, to -which reference is made, was found in Upper Stall Street, Bath, 

 in the year 1754, and is at present preserved in the Literary Institution of that 

 City. It is probably about 15 or 16 centuries old.] 



" I found your cor)]ec,ime perfectly correct. What had escaped the acumen of Mr. 

 Hunter and other antiquaries, who have from time to time examined the stone, 

 has at the distance of some thousand miles, and in the new world, been read aright 

 by one who has never seen it ; so valuable is learned and accurate criticism in the 

 hands of a scholar. It is really 



LOVCETIO 



MARTI ET 



NEMETONA 



V. S. L. M. 

 The L has been read as an I, but it is perfectly plain, when examined closely. 

 There can be no doubt about it." 



