1800.] C Ain 
Extras from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 

The tRON RING Of the ANCIENT GER- 
MANS. 
ACITUS “© De Moribus German.,” 
cap. 31, fays, ‘* Et aliis Gérmano- 
rum populis ufurpatum, raia et privata 
cuiufque audentia, apud Cattos in confen- 
fum vertit, ut primum adoleverint, crinem 
barbamque fumunittere, nec nifi hofte cefo 
exuere votivum obligatumque victuti oris 
habitum., Super fanguinem et fpolia re- 
velant frontem, feque tum demum pretia 
nafcendi retuliffe, dignofque patria et pa- 
rentibus ferunt. Tgnavis et imbellibus 
manet {qualor. Fortiflimus quilque fer- 
reum Infuper annulum (ignominiofum id 
genti) velut vinculum geftat, donec fe 
cede hoftis abfolvat.”” In thispaffage the 
late Profeffor J. Fr. Herel, to whom we 
owe many ilJu trations of German antiqut- 
ties, ‘thought ‘he parenthefis Ignominiofum 
7d genti tood there very awkwardly ; for, 
in his opinion, the wearing of the ring 
could not be difgraceful among the Catti, 
as ther braveft warriors were wont to 
wear it. He propofes to read, Sit omino- 
{um id genti ! which he would thus tranf- 
Jate; “* May the iron chain which thefe 
barbarians wear from a vow for the de- 
ftrugtion of their antagonifts, never become 
terrible to us their natural enemies ; may 
it, on the contrary, prove ominous to 
them, or the firft link of the chain which 
they fhall one day drag along as our flaves, 
when we fhall have fubdued them !”—See 
Adéta Acad. Mogunt. Scient. Anni 1795.— 
The conjeéture, it muft be owned, 1s in- 
genious ; but the common reading may 
be explained anddefended in a fatisfaciory 
manner, It «as ignominious among the 
Catti to be obliged to wear the iron ying 
for ever ; doubtlefs, becaufe they conii- 
dered itas a link of the chain of flavery ; 
but the moft valiant of them voluntarily 
put it on, and vowed a vow not to take it 
off again till they had flain a certain num- 
ber of their enemies. Many of them fre- 
quently repeated this vow: when they had 
once fulfilled it, they again put on the ring 
under fimilar conditions, and thus conti- 
nued.to wear it to anadvanced age. ‘Ihe 
ignominiofum id genti, then, is as little re- 
pugnant to the context, as the preceding 
zgnavis et imbellibus manet fqualor. Che 
cringe barbamque fummittere was a dil- 
Brace to fuchas flew no enemies in battle ; 
but not to the youth who had net yet had 
an opportunity to fignalize his prowefs in 
‘the field. Thus the iron ring was a ftig- 
ma of flavery to thofe who were obliged al-. 
ways to wear it, but not to thofe who 
promiled to wear it as a kind of pledge 
until they had fulfilled an honourable 
vow. Karften Niebuhr informs us, that 
among ome Arabian tribes it is ftill cuf= 
tomary to let the hair grow on the fore- 
head till they have diftinguifhed themfelves 
by fome deed of heroilm. When Ifabella, 
daughter of King Philip II. of Spain, 
was befieging the port of Oltend in the 
year 1601, fhe vowed a folemn vow, that, 
till fhe had conquered the place, fhe would 
not change her thift ; to omit doing which 
it is deemed very difagreeable, and con- 
trary to decency ana Cleanlinels—zguomt- 
niofjumid. Wot till three years after wag 
the port taken ; and in the intervening pe- 
riod the fhift had acquired the colour 
which fince that time 1s called the ** Co 
Jour of Efabella.”” Would not the critic 
err who fhould fay that the interjection 
could not be a true reading, becaufe the 
King’s daughter, the wife of the Arch. 
duke Albrecht VI., and governe{s of the 
Spanifh Netherlands, furely would not fo 
Jone have worn the fame fhitt. The ¢7r- 
culi ferrei penitentium, inthe middleages, 
were perhaps derived from the rings of 
the Catti. Sinners of quality were oblige 
ed, by the enjeinment of the clergy, to wear 
continually an iron ring on theiraim, un- 
til they had fulfilled the vow or penance 
impofed upon them, commonly a pilgrim 
age to diftant countries. Many curious 
particulars relative to fuch rings the read-= 
er may find collected in Du Cange’s Glof- 
far. Lat. tom. i, p. 347. 
BULL againfi WIGS. 
The papal dignity has fometimes con- 
defcended to take part in ridiculous Ykir- 
mifhes: fuch was the war of Benediét 
Ctil. againit the wigs of the clergy.— 
On the 20th Dec., 1724, he publithed a 
bull, of which the following 1s an extraét < 
‘+ Statuic et mandat, ne uljus facerdos, aut 
facris initiatus, aut etiam clericus primz 
tonfure, comam, quz frontem aureique 
tegat, outriat ; multo minus perucca utatur 
fub poena, quoties toties tranigredientur, 
decem {cutorum, illico operibus et locispiis 
applicandorum, necnon incarcerationis tos 
tidem dierum.”” Ten days imprifonment 
for wearing a wig! Let hair-dreffers 
venerate this chieftain of the infallible 
church. 
DOCTRINES of fhe DRUSES. 
Of the Chriftian {cts none has departed 
fo widely from the original creed as the 
Drufes, who-fubfilé between Mount Li- 
banon 
