S10 Proof of Toads being found alive in Blocks of Stone, ec. [July 1, 
chefnit Ser. Norm.) relates, that a num- 
ber of chefen yeung men left this coun- 
try, and enlilted themfelves in the fervice 
ef emperour Alexius, who employed 
_ them againft the Normans and Duke Ko- 
bert; he firft built a town for them not 
far from Conflantinople, which was called 
Chevetot, but afterwards he removed 
them into the capital, becaufe in the for- 
mer place they were not fafe from the 
continual incurfions of the Normans, and 
committed to their charge his principal 
palace, together with the imperial trea- 
fury. Some of them afterwards went 
ever to Tonia, where they and their pof. 
terity remained faithful to the empire, 
and were ftill in great repute when Orde- 
¥icus wrote, about A.D. 1140.—L. 6, 
p. 641, he adds, that Alexius made them 
his lifeguards. 
There is fill one thing in Mr. Wil- 
Hams’s obfervations which I cannot pals 
ever in fiience. 
at the Grecian court were called Varazes, 
er battle-axe men. I fhould wifh to learn 
from what-root, and from what language, 
he can explain Baceyy2s to mean battle- 
axe men. It is very true that the battle- 
axe was their dilinguifhing weapos, on 
which account the Byzantine hiftorians 
very frequently call them seAseu Qoges 5 
but I greatly doubt that this be the im 
port at the name Baoayyrs. “Fhe etymo- 
fogy and fenfe of this word has been much 
Gifputed among emineat antiquarians, 
but not ene, to my knowledge, has ex- 
plained it, as Mr. Williams, to fignity 
battle-exe men. 
Perhaps, on fome future o>portunity, 
} may take the liberty to off=-r your read - 
evs fome obfervations on the Bapesyyosy 
giving a brief account of who they were, 
and whichis the moft probable etymol -gy 
ef that name. lam, &c. 
Loudon, May 28, 1805 Fy R 
SS 
Go the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, “¥i 
N your Magazine for February 1304, 
vol. xvii. p.116, Is a Eeommunication 
relstive to that curious phen menon of 
teads being found alive in blocks of fione; 
a {-& doubted by many, from having 
never witneffed the fame. However, on 
the sth of April la4, the following cir- 
eumitance proved to many husdreds here 
that it was both probable and true. As 
a workman was dividing a large block of 
Mansfield ftone with wedges (the ufual 
manner when extreme accuracy 1s not ne- 
ceflary) Ke found, to his aflonifhment, an 
eliptical cavity, containing a live toad, 
I 
He fays that the Britons | 
nearly white, and meafuring about three 
inches and a half Jong. As foon as this 
folitary prifoner was |iberated, the light 
(it being a bright day) feemed to overs 
power its faculties, for it immediately 
firetcked out its legs and cuntinued in a 
dying ftate upwards of an hour. {f, 
amongit many others, reached ‘the fpot 
about ten minutes after the difcovery, 
and it lay in the fiate defcribed: upon ex- 
amination, it appeared fimilar in conform- 
ation to thofe which inhabit the marthes, 
&c. in the neighbourhood, at leaft none of 
thefe who have yet feen it can dittinguifh 
any peculiarity. Tne fize of the cell £ 
mea(ured accurately, and found it as fol- 
lows :—length: or traverfe diametez, five 
inches and three-ten:hs ;. breadth or con- 
gugate ditto, three inches and four- 
tenths. 
The form, on being delineated from fe- 
veral seftions, did not correfpond with 
the mathematical delineation cf an ellip- 
fis, from two foci (having fimilar diame- 
ters to the above, ) but was hellowed more 
betwixt that part of the diameters which 
interfe&t the circumference. .A {mall in- 
dentation appeared at one end of the hole, 
the infide of which was fmooth and black, 
and contained, befide the toad, about a 
quarter of an ounce of fubftance, appa- 
rently of a natere betwixt faud and ani- 
ma! matrer. % 
I fmould, perhaps, add, that the longi- 
tudinal axis formed an angle of feventecn 
cegrees with the horizontal bed af the 
ftore. Tam, &c. 
Newark, May 7, 1806. s.D. 
——=SS ae 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
REMARKS 02 the MORGANFE MAGGIORE 
of LUIGI PULEL. 
(Continued from page 308.) - 
AT firt defigned to have purfued the 
fable of this extraordinary poera clofe- 
ly encugh to have given a general idea of 
ics contents, and so-have in:erfperfed the 
profe narration wih particular paflages 
trarflated into Englifh verie, after the ex- 
ample of fome late revifions of our own 
romances: but E have been deterred from 
following this plan in its full extent ; firft, 
by the confined nature _of a Magazine, 
and my unwillingnefs to intrade too much 
en the pages ot a valuable work which 
requires fuch continual variety of fub- 
jects ; and fecondly, hy a move attentive 
confideration-of the poem #felf, a poem 
erowded with incidents and characters, 
‘and drawn out toa moft exceffive length 
by a detail of unconnected and smproba- 
ble 
/ 
