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"CORNUBIAN RELICS."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY.

SIR,-Mr. Chr. Cooke and other readers may be glad to hear that the stone "Kist," known as "Druid's Altar," in the parish of St. Breock, Cornwall, has not disappeared (Antiquary, p. 35). Mr. Cooke, by his account, seems to have looked for it too near to "Stone" and "Great Stone." It is further towards Wadebridge. I visited it last Thursday, and found it in an excellent state of preservation. It was, no doubt, an early burial place; the top stone is of great thickness, and quite horizontal. In appearance it is remarkably like that found in Phoenix Park, Dublin, and seems to have been similarly constructed (see Wakeman's "Handbook of Irish Antiquities," p. 9), but it is much larger. It was formerly buried in a mound or tumulus, the remains of which still exist around it.

A good illustration of it was published some years ago in an account of a tour through Cornwall, from which we see that its appearance has not materially changed.

With regard to the "Saxon monuments," also alluded to on p. 35, in the last number of your journal, I would remark that Cornwall abounds with stone crosses (many of them larger and more elaborate than those mentioned), on which the style of ornament is the Saxon interlaced-knot or matwork. Some fine ones have just been dug out of the church wall at Cardynham. W. JAGO,

Sec. for Cornwall, of the Society of
Antiquaries, London.

Westheath, Bodmin, Feb. 15, 1872.

SPURIOUS ANTIQUARIANISM. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY. SIR,-May I be allowed to call attention to the nonsense which your correspondent "A. H." writes on archæological matters, of which he appears to be very ignorant. On glancing over four back numbers, I find the following very characteristic specimen-Vol. 1, p. 137.

"Kingston Bagpuize (in Berkshire) is a very funny name, the King being Canute. It would seem that the original tenant must have played on the bagpipes."

Had such rubbish as this appeared in any other than a purely antiquarian journal it would not have deserved to be noticed. For your correspondent's edification, however, I would inform him that the name he thinks so funny is derived from the Norman lord of the manor who held Kingston in the time of the Conqueror. Near Affington there is a Kingston Lisle, the second name of which is derived in a

similar manner.

Other passages, beside the wonderful account from which I have quoted, are also well worthy of perusal, as specimens of that spurious antiquarianism we had hoped was fast dying Thus we find Among the old inhabitants of Berks are named the Bibroches. It would be remarkable if this word could be accepted as a corruption of the Gaelic piobuireachd, i.e. pibroch-Bibroces."

out.

I would ask to be allowed to recommend your learned correspondent to acquire some sound information on subjects about which he professes to write before filling your columns from the depths of his powerful imagination, Oxford, Feb. 18, 1872.

TRADESMEN'S TOKENS.

J. P. E.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY. SIR,-The reply to your correspondent (Henricus XIE) in the last No. of the Antiquary, Vol. II., p. 36, is that the place he requires to learn of, is Uffculme, county Devon. Uffculme is a decayed market town, about four miles from Collumpton, and three miles from Tiverton in the same county; and there is also three other tokens of about the same date, known as having been issued in that town. Each

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TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY. SIR, It will gladden the hearts of many readers of the Antiquary to hear that the great megalithic monument at Avebury, recently threatened with destruction (vide Vol. I., p. 159), has at length found a purchaser in the person of Sir John Lubbock, a name so familiar to pre-historic archæologists and to antiquaries generally. The grateful thanks of the whole archæological world are due to Sir John for coming forward to the rescue at the critical moment, when a few years', or even months' delay, might have resulted in the com. plete destruction of the few remaining stones.

Before long it will probably be made known what Sir John intends to do with his new acquisition; whether he retains it as private property or transfers it to the care of some antiquarian society. While under the personal control of Sir John there is not the slightest ground for wishing Avebury in better hands, but as regards its permanent preservation, there can be no doubt that by vesting the site in trustees of acknowledged archæological repute, that object would be more completely attained.

In the meantime few will fail to admire this additional testimony of the zeal and untiring energy hitherto displayed by Sir John Lubbock in the cause of archæology. Let us hope that the same spirit will stimulate other individuals to purchase the sites of other megalithic structures, for the sole purpose of more effectually preserving them than heretofore. E. H. W. DUNKIN. Kidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath, March 1, 1872.

ON THE IMPROPRIETY OF SIGNS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY.

teresting communication (" Antiquarian Gossip of the SIR, Your "own" correspondent, F. E. S., in his inand Spectator, illustrating the gross absurdity of the signEastern Counties "),* refers to certain articles in the Tatler posts in 1709-10. May I add, that some years later (1752), the subject of "impropriety of signs," was again taken up and satirically treated by a writer in the Adventurer,† who has entered rather minutely into the subject, fully representing the incongruity of divers signs, as used by publicans and amusing details, I will (with your kind permission), just others. As the article here mentioned contains several quote a portion of the same.

The writer, after a few prefatory remarks, introduces himself under the guise of a sign-painter:

"I am at present but an humble journeyman sign-painter in Harp Alley, for though the ambition of my parents designed that I should emulate the immortal touches of a Raphael or a Titian, yet the want of taste among my countrymen, and their prejudice against every artist who is a native, have degraded me to the miserable necessity, as Shaftesbury says, 'of illustrating prodigies in fairs, and adorning heroic sign-posts.' However, as I have studied to improve even this meanest exercise of the pencil, I intend to

*The Antiquary, Vol. II., pp. 40, 41.

+ The Adventurer, Vol. I., pp. 72-79 (the fifth edition, 1766).

set up for myself; and under the favour of your countenance, to reduce the vague practice of SIGN-PAINTING to some standard of elegance and propriety.

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"It cannot be doubted but that SIGNS were intended originally to express the several occupations of their owners, and to bear some affinity in their external designations, with the wares to be disposed of, or the business carried on within. Hence the HAND AND SHEARS is justly appropriated to taylors, as the Hand and Pen is to writingmasters; though the very reverend and right worthy order of my neighbours, the Fleet-parsons, have assumed it to themselves as a mark of marriage performed without imposition.' The WOOL-PACK plainly points out to us a WOOLEN DRAPER; the NAKED BOY elegantly reminds us of the necessity of cloathing; and the GOLDEN FLEECE figuratively denotes the riches of our staple commodity; but are not the HEN AND CHICKENS and the THREE PIGEONS the unquestionable right of the poulterer, and not to be usurped by the venders of silk or linnen?" [I have given the orthography verbatim.]

"It would be endless to enumerate the gross blunders committed in this point by almost every branch of trade. I shall therefore confine myself chiefly to the numerous fraternity of PUBLICANS, whose extravagance in this affair calls aloud for reprehension and restraint. Their modest ancestors were contented with a plain BOUGH† stuck up before their doors, whence arose the wise proverb, Good wine needs no bush.' But how have they since deviated from their ancient simplicity? They have ransacked earth, air, and seas, called down sun, moon, and stars to their assistance, and exhibited all the monsters that ever teemed from fantastick imagination. Their Hogs in Armour, their Blue Boars, Green Dragons, and Golden Lions, have already been sufficiently exposed by your brother essay writers. . . There can be no objection made to the BUNCH OF GRAPES, the RUMMER, or the TUNS, but would not any one inquire for a Hosier at the LEG, or for a Locksmith at the CROSS-KEYS? And who would expect anything but water to be sold at the FOUNTAIN? The TURK'S HEAD may fairly intimate that a Seraglio is kept within; the ROSE may be strained to some propriety of meaning, as the business there transacted may be said to be done under the Rose.' But why must the ANGEL, the LAMB, and the MITRE, be the designations of the seats of drunkenness or prostitution?

"Some regard should likewise be paid by tradesmen to their situation, or, in other words, to the propriety of the place. The KING'S ARMS and the STAR AND GARTER, are aptly enough placed at the court end of the SHAKESPEARE'S HEAD takes his station

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by one Play-house, and BEN JOHNSON'S by the other. But what has the CROWN to do by the 'Change, or the GUN, the SHIP, or the ANCHOR, anywhere but at Tower Hill, at Wapping, or Deptford ?"

In speaking of the presumed right of publicans to claim the physiognomies of kings and heroes, he says:-"What reason can there be, why the glorious DUKE WILLIAM should draw porter, or the brave ADMIRAL VERNON retail flip? Why must QUEEN ANNE keep a gin-shop, and KING CHARLES inform us of a skittle-ground?"

The writer remarks that "TUMBLE DOWN DICK, in the borough of Southwark, is a fine moral on the instability of greatness and the consequence of ambition; but there is a most ill-natured sarcasm against the fair sex exhibited on a sign in Broad Street, St. Giles's, of a headless female figure, called the GOOD WOMAN."‡

The concluding portion of the article contains observations on pre-Reformation signs; a question on the existing

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relationship between blue balls and pawnbrokers, an ingenious solution, and humorous explanation of the origin of the barber's pole, with a parting fling at card-makers, for stamping the figures of certain personages upon their packs. Waltham Abbey. J. PERRY.

66

THE WORD "KIL" OR "CIL."—"LLOYNE
KELLINNE.”

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY.

SIR, There seems to be a good deal of unnecessary mystification in your pages about the history of the word Cil." It is clearly a Celtic word, and as such may by no means belong primarily or more exclusively to one branch of the Celtic than to another. There can be no impropriety in "Kymry" claiming it for the Irish Gaelic, or in "A. H." holding that it is Scotch Gaelic, provided neither asserts an exclusive claim to it. I believe it is found in the It is common in Manx, the Armoric, and the Cornish. Welsh, and in that language it means corner, recess, retreat. Thus we have as names of places, Cilymaenllwyd, graystone-retreat, and Cilycwn, corner-of-the-dingle (parishes in Carmarthenshire); Cilyblaidd, wolf's-retreat; Cileunydd, Cilypebyll, Cilsant, Cilwen, Cilmarch, and many other words similarly formed, as names of farms; Cilfach (a little Cil), a nook; Cilfachwen, white or happy little retreat; Cilfach y Rhew, frosty nook; Môr gilfach, is a bay or creek; Cil y lleuad, wane of the moon; Cil y llygad, the corner of the eye; Cilio yn ol, or encilio, to retreat, to retire.

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Your correspondent, "A. O. K.," is in error as to both elements of the name "Lloyne Kellinne," which he quotes from old deeds. As is the case with "Cil," the words are in the vernacular Welsh of the present day. Celyn," the orthography of the Ordnance maps, which were revised by a competent Welsh scholar, is quite correct. The words mean holly, grove, or bush. Llwyn Celyn is still the name of a family residence near Llandeilo. The celebrated Welsh hymnist, William Williams (who will be respected when spoken of as the author of the English hymns, "O'er the hills of pagan darkness," and "Guide us, Oh, thou great Jehovah ") is known throughout Wales as Williams of Pant y Celyn. The Welsh tune Llwyn On, "The Ash Grave," is familiar to English musicians. Feb. 27, 1872.

SIGMA.

THE DERIVATION OF "KIL," &c.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY. SIR,--It would seem that this subject, if scotched, is not

killed, for I must beg permission to notice a passage, at p. 50 of The Antiquary, which seems to me to call for reply. land and found in an English dictionary, be English [?] "Kymry" writes, "May not also a word used in Enge.g., algebra, alcohol, &c., are English."

I do not know about the "&c.," but certainly algebra and alcohol are very common English words; both, indeed, are indispensable. It might be argued that the letter A is not a letter of the English alphabet, because found previously in Latin; if so, the English language itself is all a myth.

Alcohol and algebra, however, though I call them English words, are both derived from the Arabic; but, for all that they are not Arabic words in the sense and manner in which we use them. The article al, for instance, inseparable with us, may be disconnected in Arabic; but if we were now to drop it, we should not know the words in

their reduced form.

1. Alcohol, kohl or kohol, is stated to mean "powdered antimony," used as a cosmetic by Eastern ladies. There is in this definition no glimmer whatever of the meaning we apply to the compound alcohol of "pure spirit." In this

*This is hardly applicable at present, as they are now generally gilted.

sense it is an English word, and we have no substitute ready to supply its place.

2. Algebra, gabr or geber, from whch it is derived, is said to mean "resolution," or "connection." The compound with us signifies an elaborate system of arithmetical computation by symbols; we have no other word to express this precise meaning, and it is as much an English word as "alego," which the Romans derived from Greek, was a Latin word.

FOREIGN.

PARIS.

THE Louvre has purchased, at the Arago sale, a picture by Bonington, "The Terrace of Versailles."

The statue of Joan of Arc, which was on the terrace of the Luxembourg Palace, and was damaged during the siege of Paris, has been removed to the Louvre with a view to restoration.

It is something like breaking a butterfly on a wheel to pursue this subject further; my argument is that such words, It is reported that a picture by Titian, styled “La Vierge being incorporated into the English language, become Engau Voile," has been discovered in an old house at Turin, lish by adoption; for instance, algebra is the English form where it is said to have been removed soon after the taking of a certain word derived from the Arabic; in French it is of Rome by the Constable de Bourbon, since which event algebre: " the spelling and pronunciation both differ. To it has been lost sight of. all intents and purposes the one word is French, the other English, A. H.

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Feb. 29, 1872. [Further correspondence on this subject must now cease.]

SHAKESPEARE'S CHAIR.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTIQUARY. SIR,-In reply to your correspondent's letter on page 50 of the Antiquary, I beg to say that the chair alluded to on page 11 (Vol. II.) is not presumed to be the state chair of Abbot Whiting, but a plain Glastonbury oak study chair, which belonged to the Abbot and afterwards to Shakespeare. Should any person interested in the matter wish to see it, I shall be most happy to show it at my address. GEORGE DAVIS. 32, Cranbourne Street, Leicester Square, W. C.

REVIEW.

INDIA.

SANSCRIT. The third number of a series of notices of Sanscrit MSS., by Rajendralala Mittra, has been published by order of the Government of Bengal. This is a work now being undertaken all over India, and its value is in the fact that the papers give the names of the works, the age of the MSS. and the places where deposited. It is, says an Indian contemporary, one of those quiet unostentatious works which, without attracting the attention of the present time, will do a great deal to assist the future historian, and throw light upon the old and deeply interesting literature of India.

MISCELLANEA.

AT the Society of Antiquaries of London there has been exhibited a large collection of photographs and drawings made by the late Earl of Dunraven, F.S.A., with a view to a work which he was engaged in writing at the time of his death. The task of editing this work has devolved on Miss

Histoire de la Caricature au Moyen Age. Par CHAMP- Stokes, of Dublin, whose remarks, illustrative of the photo

FLEURY. (Paris: E. Dentu.)

graphs, were read and well received.

THE FLEMISH GALLERY OF PICTURES.-At the sale of Tis is not properly a history, but a handbook; but it is, this collection last month, by Messrs. Foster, of Pall Mall, nevertheless, a most useful compilation. There is room for "The Sentinel," by Meissonier, an exquisite miniature many such, ere the rich field of medieval comic art is ex-example, and the gem of the collection, fetched 970 guineas. hausted, and whenever the true historian arises he will find The three days' sale realized nearly 25,000/. his labour much lightened if he has these pages before him. THE Messrs. Sabin, of New York, are reproducing, by The book is, however, too Parisian in tone. Had its writer strayed in the provinces, sketch book in hand, he would have photo lithography, Du Bry's famous folio, "Hariot's Brief found, in church and castle, many a quaint carving, showing published in 1590. Only about half a dozen perfect copies and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia," the humour of the Middle Ages much more fully than the "Dance of Death" pictures after Holbein, which he has re-hands in the United States brought 9757. are known to be in existence, and the last copy that changed produced, although they have been issued in a modern form, both on the Continent and in England, probably once a year during the last decade.

The engravings given in the work are very creditable as works of art; much better, indeed, than most of the woodcuts that adorn our own popular literature. One at p. 77, a bas-relief of the weighing of the soul, is really very beautiful, and singularly poetical, almost terrible, indeed, in its grotesque power. It represents a sculpture preserved in the cathedral of Autun. The hard, stiff drapery of the angel, who is clad from head to foot, indicates that it is of very early character, certainly not later than the tenth century. The devils are all naked, and, though rudely drawn, show a traditional reflex of classic art.

The frontispiece is an illuminated initial letter from the "Images du Monde," a 13th century manuscript in the British Museum. It represents a monk filling a wine jar from a cask, and at the same time refreshing himself from a copious bone. Mr. Longfellow might have had it in his mind when he wrote the well-known cellar scene in "The Golden Legend."

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Palace, and it is reported that the work of restoration has THE restored pictures have been replaced in Holyrood been very skilfully performed.

NELL GWYN'S HOUSE AT HIGHGATE.-The old mansion

in which Nell Gwyn lived, situate behind the St. Pancras Infirmary, and opposite to the Highgate branch of the Hos pital for Sick Children, has been presented to the hospital, and will be fitted up to accommodate forty or fifty patients.

THE CITY LIBRARY AND MUSEUM.-The buildings at the eastern end of Guildhall for the new Library and Museum having now made considerable progress, it has become necessary, in order to complete the entrance from the porch of the Hall to the new building, to close the present library, which was erected in 1823, for a period of about three months. The librarian and his assistants intend to avail themselves of the opportunity thus presented and to rearrange the collection. It is expected that the works will be finished about the month of June.

LITERARY DISCOVERY.-A perfect copy has at length been found of a work by Richard Brown, from whom the early Nonconformists, temp. Elizabeth, were named Brownists. Dr. Henry Dexter is to be congratulated upon so imPortant a discovery, which even the learned and painstaking Hanbury, author of "Memorials of Independency," failed

to make.

THE ANTIQUARY.

SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1872.

NOTES ON THE MONUMENTAL BRASSES IN KENTISH CHURCHES.

THE

II.-EAST MALLING.

HE ancient brasses in East Malling church, near Maidstone, seem never to have been disturbed or wantonly defaced, and it would be a happy circumstance if brass memorial plates were usually found in such good condition as those about to be described. With the exception of the heraldic shields that belonged to one of the brasses, and have become detached, they may be considered as perfect specimens, the effigies and inscription-plates being uninjured, and as sharp as when first engraved. Such at least was their appearance in the summer of 1871, when the edifice was undergoing additions and reparations, and an opportunity occurred for a careful examination of them by the writer.

They record the decease of

I. Thomas Selby and his wife, full length effigies, 1479. II. Richard Adams, prebendary and vicar, full length, with chalice and wafer, 1522.

These brasses are inserted in gravestones forming the floor immediately on entering the chancel, in fact, just under the chancel-arch. There was formerly another monument in the church, with the effigies of a man and his two wives, which have long since disappeared; for when Thorpe made his valuable collection of Monumental Inscriptions in the diocese of Rochester, in the latter half of the last century, only the empty indents, where the figures had been, could be seen; the inscription-plate, however, remained. The date recorded on this lost brass was 1477, or two years anterior to the death of Thomas Selby, in memory of whose father, Robert, it was laid down.

I. By carefully examining the monumental portraitures of Thomas Selby and his wife, an idea can be obtained of the fashionable costume worn towards the end of the

15th century. Thomas Selby is clad in a long gown, reaching very nearly to his feet, apparently without any opening in front; but this was not really so. The sleeves of the gown are of modest dimensions compared with those

observed at the beginning of the century, slightly contracting towards the wrist. The hair is worn long and bushy, reaching to the nape of the neck; but the face is clean shaven. The lady, Isodia by name, was one of the daughters of John Clerk, who was made second Baron of the Exchequer in 39 Henry VI., and sister to Alice, wife of Robert Watton, whose brass may still be seen in Addington church. (Vide Harleian MSS., 3917; Hasted's "Kent," vol. II., p. 238; and the Antiquary, vol. I., p. 100.) She wears one of those peculiar head-dresses much patronised by the fair sex between 1470 and 1490, and commonly described as the "butterfly head-dress." It consisted of a rich caul placed at the back of the head, within which the hair, brushed from the face, was carefully enclosed,

and over which a gauze veil of large dimensions was stretched on a light framework of wires. Subsequently this grotesque head-gear merged into the kennel-shaped bonnet, of which the brasses of Kent supply many representatives. The entire costume of Isodia Selby is almost a counterpart of that shown on the effigy of Anna Playters, at Sotterly, Suffolk ; * both brasses being of the same date, 1479. Another good example is at Broxbourne, Herts, 1473; and one, a few years later, 1485, may be seen in Blickling church, Norfolk. In fact, localities where this butterfly head-dress, with its various modifications, occur, might be cited almost indefinitely. In the short reign of Richard III., 1483-5, it was almost universally patronized by ladies. One of these head-dresses is shown in the Warwick Roll, preserved in the College of Arms, where Richard's queen is represented as wearing "a gold caul and regal circlet, from whence hangs a large gauze veil, held out by wires." But to return to the brass of Isodia Selby. Besides the head-dress, other peculiarities are noticeable in the ladies' attire of this period. Thus in the present instance the waist appears very contracted, and the sleeves are exceedingly tight, terminating at the wrists with a cuff turned over the hands. The gown is cut low in the neck, where it is edged with a border of fur, the skirt lying in folds about the feet. She also wears a massive necklace, and round the hips a plain girdle, from which a heart-shaped ornament is pendant.

On a long and narrow plate, 26 by 24 inches, appears the following inscription

Hic iacet Thom's Selby filius Rob'ti Selby et Esodia uror ei' qui quid'm Thom's obijt primo die me'se Septemb'r A°d'ni M° cccc® Irrir° quor' a'i'abs ppiciet' de' ame'

At each of the four corners of this gravestone was an heraldic shield or escutcheon, two of which remained when Thorpe wrote. At the present time only a portion of that in the lower dexter corner is in its matrix.

II. Side by side with the above on the south is the beautifully preserved brass of an ecclesiastic, a former vicar of East Malling, vested in cassock, surplice, almuce and stole, and supporting with his hands a chalice and wafer. Beneath the full-length effigy, which measures 24 inches, is the following inscription, engraved on a plate of brass 18§ by 3 inches:

Orate pro a'i'a magistri Ricardi Adams qu'dam p’bendarij magne misse in monasterio de West mawlyng ac vicarij ppetui pochie de est mawlyng qui obijt sexto die mense maij d'ní mo vo xxij° cui' a'i'e ppiciet deus

The "p'bendarij magne misse" here mentioned refers to a prebend of the great mass, founded in the conventual church of the Abbey of Malling, and held by the said Richard Adams at the time of his death. The words "vicarij ppetui pochie" are contracted for "vicarij perpetui parochie," perpetual vicar of the parish of East Malling.

It should be said that this brass is cited by Haines as an instance, now probably unique, of a priest holding a chalice, while wearing all the processional vestments except the cope. A chalice is frequently shown on brasses with the chasuble; but only in one instance, at Buckland, Herts, has it been

*Engraved in Haines' work on Brasses, p. 211.

+The reader may consult Hasted's "Kent," vol. II., p. 220, for further information respecting this prebend.

noticed in conjunction with the cope. Here, too, at East Malling, the cope is omitted. There was formerly a similar brass in East Peckham church, situate between East Malling and Tunbridge, a copy of the figure having been preserved in Thorpe's "Custumale Roffense."

In West Malling church, close to the beautiful Norman Abbey built by Bishop Gundulph, are two or three brasses which will come under notice on a future occasion. There is good evidence that the Abbey itself once possessed monuments of the same kind, part of the kitchen being paved with slabs that bear traces of their former use. The brasses themselves were probably destroyed at the dissolution of the monasteries, when so many sepulchral memorials of all kinds perished.

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receive place names from Africa (Cush) on the one hand, or from India (Shinar) on the other; so as to Ophir we must defer our decision till the sequel. Havilah is doubted, being classed as African and also as Arabian.

About Tarshish there should be no dispute; it is a gentile appellation, being classed as Japhetic, and belongs to the basin of the Mediterranean. By the line of Javan (Jonia), and collaterally related to Elisha (Elis), Chittern (Cyprus), and Dodanim (Rhodes ?). All are agreed that the early find St. Paul's ancient city of Tarsus, now Tersoos, a name Tarshish of Gen. x. 4, is represented by Cilicia, where we that to the Jews must have seemed second in importance only to Jerusalem. Tarsis and Tarshis are identical words, as we know by the Sibboleth vel Shibboleth incident of Judges xii. 6; it was a dialectical variation, sounded or not sounded, according to habit.

We learn from Jonah that there was a regular traffic in his day between Joppa and Tarshish. At that time the Jews had little maritime influence, and no doubt Jonah took passage in a Phoenician coasting vessel that touched at

THE GOLD COUNTRY OF OPHIR AND Joppa on its voyage from Egypt to the North. His object

SOLOMON'S VOYAGES.

SOME remarks by Dr. Beke on the site of Ophir have appeared in the Antiquary.

was to flee from the presence of Jehovah, i.e., out of the Holy
Land, for any place actually beyond the Jewish frontier would
the tutelary deity and divine protector of the Jews; for in
be, in that sense, out of the immediate presence of Jehovah,
that day every city, every tribe, and every nation, had its
now local divinity. It is only now that mankind begin to
understand that all are one.
March 12, 1872.

[To be continued.]

A. H.

Of course, anything from Dr. Beke is deserving of consideration, and I am aware that the theory under discussion is supported by many able and enlightened investigators; but while fully admitting the productive powers of Africa with regard to gold, ivory, and ebony, I cannot admit that the three-year long voyages of Solomon and Hiram's joint expeditions could possibly be limited to a mere trip down the Red Sea to the east coast of Africa, and back again. ANTIQUARIAN GOSSIP OF THE EASTERN True, we are told that the voyage out occupied one year; that a second year was occupied in collecting and storing the cargo, and that the return voyage occupied the third year; because, forsooth, these mariners had to wait for a particular

wind. I do not credit it.

The excursion here depicted would be a mere coasting voyage. We know that in early days the vessels relied mainly on their oars, the galleys being provided with tiers of rowers placed one above another; if so, why wait for a particular wind? True merchant ships, the real ships of Tarshish, were constructed for cargo; and having less room for the rowers, would rely upon the sails. This was a novel invention of the enterprising Phoenicians; but then, if prepared to launch out into the deep, why confine the expedition to a mere coasting voyage?

This

COUNTIES.

[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]

A FEW weeks ago I mentioned that it was proposed to erect nothing further has been done in the matter. Some objec a monument to Cardinal Wolsey, at Ipswich; at present tions have been raised to the proposal, it being urged that as Protestants the good people of Ipswich would scarcely be justified in erecting a statue to the would-be Pope Wolsey, for that he would certainly have been, had he obtained what and to attain which he hesitated not to use deceit, trickery, was the one great object of his life and ambition to acquire, and lies; but notwithstanding all this, there is no doubt that it was his earnest wish to benefit his native town and to promote learning, for—

We find, in the present day, that vessels of light burden, steered only by eye, and unprovided with compass or other nautical instruments, will sail boldly across the Indian Ocean from Zanzibar to the Persian Gulf, or even to Bombay. is quite a matter of general occurrence; and I am not prepared to admit that the expert mariners of old Phoenicia," would be one whit below the Malays, Arabs, and Africans of to-day; that is, where not brought directly under European influence.

Much speculation has been devoted to these subjects, for, indeed, they possess great interest. Where was the true Ophir? Where Havilah? Where Tarshish? What was the real direction of Solomon's expeditions? What are the articles quoted in the sacred narratives as the chief objects of his enterprises ?

The sacred narratives identify all these places pretty clearly, but it cannot be expected we shall be uniformly agreed thereon, unless some record has reached us from an independent source as to their identification. All occur as proper names in the Mosaic genealogies, which are ethnological records of the highest value.

On comparing the references, we find that Ophir is Arabic; Sheba-Saba, meaning the Sabæans who worshipped and still worship the host of heaven; but Arabia, in this sense, extends from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, and might

-ever witness for him

Those twins of learning that he raised in you
Ipswich and Oxford! one of which fell with him.

Mr. C. J. Palmer is writing a book, which he has entitled The Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, with Gorleston and Southtown." Some of the details with respect to the Yarmouth Post-office and postal arrangements in "the good old times," are exceedingly amusing as well as instructive. The first post-office in this town was in Row No. 107. The post having become a means for the transmission of money, the cupidity of "highwaymen' was excited, especially when coaches were substituted for saddle-bags, and larger amounts in coin were conveyed. In 1698 the post from Yarmouth was robbed near London of about 500l. worth of Exchequer Bills, and at subsequent periods it was frequently stopped and robbed; nor were the letters transmitted by it considered safe from inspection, especially in times of political excitement. In 1741, the Postmaster-General, "for the benefit of trade, thought proper to put in practice a scheme for dispatching letters to Yarmouth daily (Sundays excepted), instead of three times a week as theretofore; "but the post still travelled in peril, for in 1749 "the Yarmouth bag was taken away by two footpads between Ingatestone and Rumford." When coaches were first established the "guard"

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