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MEMORIAL OF DEAN COLET.

A MOVEMENT is on foot for the purpose of raising a subscription for a memorial of Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's School. The proposition was announced at the "Apposition" at St. Paul's School on the 26th of June, 1872, and a circular has been issued, inviting the attention of all persons interested in doing honour to the dean, to the proposal of having executed some memorial of him in connection with the works now in progress for the completion of the interior of St. Paul's Cathedral. The original monument in the Cathedral, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, in 1666, and of which there is an engraving in Dugdale's "St. Paul's," consisted of a plain altar tomb, upon the front of which were inscribed the following lines:

"Hic situs est D. Jo. Coletus, hujus Ecclesiæ Decanus, theologus insignis, qui ad exemplum S. Pauli semper egit gratuitum Evangelicæ doctrinæ præconem ac sincerae doctrinæ perpetua vitæ sinceritate respondit. Scholam Paulinam suo sumptu solus et instituit, et annuo reditu

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compartments, those at the sides containing panels with inscriptions; and the centre one-which was arched, and surmounted by a demi figure of a lady, crowned, emanating from a wreath-had in it a bust of the dean. It may be added that in further proof of the pious care for Colet's memory which induced the Court of Assistants of the Mercer's Company to have an engraving made of his monument-"Ne cum Aede B. Pauli corrueret optime Theologi Monumentum, ectypa haec exsculpi sumptu publico jusserunt Custodes et Assistentes Mercerorum Societatis-A.D. 1656"-they have appended, year after year, to the Apposition Book the illustration showing that portion of the tomb which contained the bust, and this engraving by the kindness of Dr. Kynaston, the High Master of St. Paul's School, we are enabled to reproduce. In this illustration, the triple inscription given above is of course wanting, the engraving showing only the upper.half of the monument. These lines are the theme of Dr. Kynaston's poem, entitled "Coleti Sepulcrum," a graceful and melodious composition, spoken by the "

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tain" of St. Paul's School at the last Apposition, on the 25th of June. The poem has been printed in English and Latin, with a short preface, in which it is stated that the "Inscriptio Triplex" deserves "some such explanation as the author here ventures to supply, particularly the concluding words, which the Dean gave in English, curiously enough, but for the best of reasons

Upon the top of the tomb, was the figure of a skeleton reclining at full length upon a mattress, and at each end-Love and Live.' The etymological connection of these rose a pillar supporting the canopy. In the recess at the back was this inscription :

C. Istuc Recidit Gloria Carnis.

C. Morere Mundo nt Vibas Deo.
C. Jobe and Libe.

On one side of the tablet containing the above lines, was a shield bearing the arms of the City of London, and on the other side a shield with the arms of Colet-Argent, two swords saltire-wise-impaling those of St. Paul's School. The upper part, or canopy of the tomb was divided into three

words is well given in Richardson's Dictionary, under the word 'Believe-that is, be-lieve, which might be added to the inscription, thus

"LOVE-LIVE-BE-LIEVE.'"

"I am afraid," adds Dr. Kynaston, "we must conclude that the whole monument perished in the Great Fire, for the bust traditionally supposed to be that of Dean Colet can hardly be his, the ruff ornament of the neck being of a later age. It may be a portion of the monument of Dean Nowell,

* Dugdale's "St. Paul's."

or Dr. William Aubrey, in both of which this appendage is observable in Dugdale's illustrations, and in no other instance. But I think it by no means improbable that the bust of Colet, preserved in the High Master's house, and said also to have been dug out of the ruins of the Fire, was the real remnant of the Founder's Tomb."

inscription on the old tomb. The circular already alluded to points out that "no better subject for a window could be devised than such a picture of the Child Jesus as Erasmus describes above the High Master's chair, suggested by himself, with the legend, 'Hear ye Him,' not more suitable to St. Paul's School, dedicated as it was by its revered founder, Prior to the Great Fire of London, there appear to have than to St. Paul's Cathedral, where the Gospel may be said been two busts to Dean Colet, the one in the Cathedral and to have been first preached by the greatest of its deans, the other in St. Paul's School. The latter is still in existence, unencumbered by the scholasticism of the former age.' and, as stated above, is preserved in the residence of the Other suggestions have been made, such, for instance, as a High Master. This bust has been erroneously stated by mosaic in one of the soffits of the dome, representing the Dr. Knight to be the one that was originally on the monu- Miraculous Draught of Fishes, to which, however, objecment in the cathedral, but in this he has apparently mis- tions may be entertained, either that such a design would taken a passage in Strype. Dr. Knight's words are:-cost too much, or that it would be regarded as accessory "The ruins of this monument are still to be seen under St. rather to a series of historical embellishments of the CathePaul's, and the entire bust, concerning which Mr. Strypedral, than as constituting a particular recognition and says that, though it seems to be stone, yet he had been told memorial to Dean Colet himself. Another suggestionby an ingenious person (Mr. Bagford) it is nothing else but and one which has been received with general favour-has clay, burnt and painted-a fine art known and practised in been made by Dr. Kynaston; namely, that the memorial former times." In Stow's " Survey," by Strype (1720), should consist of a bust of the Dean, somewhat similar to vol. i., p. 163, is an account of St. Paul's School, in which the one now in the High Master's house at St. Paul's mention is made of "a lively effigy, and of exquisite art, of School, but much larger, and executed in marble by a the head of Dr. Colet, cut (as it seemed) either in stone or competent sculptor, with a handsome pedestal, together with wood. But this figure was destroyed with the bas-reliefs representing the Miraculous Draught of Fishes School in the great fire; yet was afterwards found in the and the Child Jesus in the Temple. Let the memorial take rubbish by a curious man, and searcher into the city an- what shape or form it may, the undertaking can be carried tiquities, who observed (and so told me) that it was cast out only in harmonious subordination to the general and hollow, by a curious art now lost." Maitland, in his designs of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's; and the History of London" (3rd edition, 1760), vol. ii., p. 932, present opportunity, therefore, is one of immediate conrepeats the preceding account (without acknowledgment) sequence, and far more suitable than any which may be almost word for word; but a marginal reference ascribes expected to offer itself in future years. The cost of a the lines written upon the bust to Mr. Bagford (no doubt memorial window, or bust and accompaniments, may be the one mentioned by Dr. Knight). The lines in question roughly estimated at a thousand or, at most, fifteen hundred pounds; and it is announced that subscriptions for the same may be paid to Dr. Kynaston's account at Messrs. Coutt's Bank, endorsed "Colet Memorial Fund."

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"Eloquio juvenes ubi Lillius ille polivit,

In statua spiras, magne Colete, tuâ:
Quam si Praxiteles fecisset magnus, et ille
Forsitan æquasset, non superasset opus.
Hac salva statuâ, divinit forma Coleti
Temporibus longis non peritura manet."

Hence it would seem clear that Strype meant the bust
found among the School ruins, and that he makes no men-
tion at all of anything discovered among the ruins of the
Cathedral.

As regards the supposed relics of Colet's monument, still shown in the crypt, Palmer, in his "Translation of Erasmus's Life of Colet" (1851), p. 23, thus writes:-" The blistered bust of some other ancient, preserved from the great fire, and which is still pointed out in a dark corner of the crypt, has in the verger's tradition usurped the name of Colet, and now alone marks the burial-place of the founder of St. Paul's School." In the last-mentioned work are printed the old lines, ending :

:

"Of Colete's lyfe, loe! th' image heere,

In Powle's his outward shape we fynd,
His tomb is heere, his tomb is there,
Two tombs to keep him still in mynd,
One holdes his bodie dead in Powle's;
Powle's Scole maynteyns his living fame,
Such bodies dead have livinge soules;

We prayse therefore Godes holie name.'

The Colet Memorial Fund has been already commenced, under the presidency of the Bishop of Llandaff, with Sir James Hannen, Sir Frederick Halliday, and Baron Pollock as vice-presidents, and the Rev. H. Kynaston, D.D., as treasurer. The form which the memorial is to assume is, we believe, not yet definitely settled, but a window, together with an ornamental tablet, or brass upon the pavement, has been suggested, the brass to contain some portion at least of the

"Life of Colet," and edition, p. 229.
+ Sic leg. pro divina.

THE PRESERVATION OF ROMAN

ANTIQUITIES.

WE have received permission from Mr. John Henry Parker, C.B., to publish the following letter:--Before I return to Rome for another winter, I am desirous, if possible, to awaken public attention to the very peculiar circumstances in which the City of Rome is at present placed, and the manner in which some of the interesting remains of ancient Rome are endangered thereby. It is generally known that an Act has passed the Italian Parliament, by a large majority, ordering that the general law of Italy, with regard to church property, shall be applied to Rome without further delay. But few persons realise what this means, or the extent of it; more than half the buildings and the land within the walls of Rome must be sold in the course of the ensuing year, and the money produced by the sale invested in the public funds of Italy, so that the priests, and the monks, and the nuns, will become fund-holders instead of landed proprietors. This change had been forced on the Government by the almost unanimous voice of the people. The Municipality, in its correspondence with the Government, had not complained of the number of idle persons, and the encouragement of idleness, but had pointed out the great number of large empty buildings occupying the best situations in Rome, in which they said that where there was room for a hundred, there were not ten, and had not been for the last century. The Pontificial Government had used many of these empty monasteries as barracks for their army; the Italian Government had them valued, and paid the owners 5 per cent. interest on the value of those they occupied. It was the complete stagnation which had been caused by the locking up of so much ground, which roused them to action. But this stagnation was favourable to the preservation of ancient buildings.

The population of Rome is now increasing at an enormous rate, upwards of two thousand houses are now building in Rome, and in addition to these, great manufactories and large warehouses for commercial purposes are loudly called for; there is no saying what will be destroyed. The new city is building on the hills, on the site of the City of the Empire, not on the low ground where the City of the Popes was built. The great agger of Servius Tullius is almost gone: it was an enormous bank of earth, 50 feet high, and at least as wide at the base, with a foss on each side of it, at least 15 feet deep, which had been paved, and made into streets. A portion of the inner foss, with the pavement at the bottom of it, was visible two years since. I am anxious to raise funds to save a section of it, as an historical monu

ment.

moned there his few followers and let fall to his envoy, De
Pradt, the remarkable observation, that there is but one step
from the sublime to the ridiculous." I imagine the historian's
authority is the Abbe's "Histoire de l'Ambassade de
Varsovie " (Paris, 1820), though he does not give any
reference thereto, and I have not the Archbishop of Malins
"Euvres" at hand; there is no doubt, however, the remark
was made by the Emperor, and very generally ascribed to
him as his "geôlier et bourreau." Sir Hudson Lowe, in a
note to Las Cases' celebrated letter of the 19th December,
1816, from "Balcombe Cottage au secret en vue de Long-
wood," says "In reading what follows one may well exclaim,
as General Buonaparte himself once did, Ďu sublime au
ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas' ("History of the Captivity of
Napoleon at St. Helena," by W. Forsyth, Vol. ii., p. 293),
nevertheless it does not follow that it was originally
Napoleon's. I have heard it attributed to Burke, but
I cannot find it in his Philosophical Enquiry into the
Origin of the Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (5th
ed., Dodsley, 1767). Perhaps some reader of the Antiquary
can give me the required information.
S. R. TOWNSHEND MAYER.

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The monastery of St. Gregory, from which Augustine was sent to England to convert the Saxons to Christianity, must now be sold, with its large gardens, in which are some ruins of the house of St. Gregory himself, and in another part the remains of the Porta Capena, and the site of the Camena or the Grove of the Muses. The greater part of the Forum of Augustus is occupied by a great nunnery, the blank wall of which (30 feet high), on the side of one of the principal NAPOLEON'S CHARGER "JAFFA."-As a subscriber to thoroughfares of Rome, is familiar to most visitors. The your interesting paper, I beg to propose the following query other wall of that nunnery is one of the walls of the early in the hope that yourself, or some of your numerous readers, kings of Rome, part of which still stands there, 50 feet high may be able to furnish a reply:-What is known of a and 12 feet thick. No one, not even ladies, have been charger that belonged to Napoleon Buonaparte, and named admitted within that nunnery for the last generation. All « 'Faffa"? The cause of my enquiry is this. At the entrance the outer part of the great Thermæ of Caracalla must be to a very fine avenue of trees adjoining the mansion of the sold, and is not unlikely to have a manufactory built upon it. ancient seat of the Robertses of Glassonbury, in the parish of The government hold the central building only, not includ- Cranbrook, Kent, and now in the possession of T. W. Roberts, ing the porticus in front, nor the great piscina behind, or not Esq., there is a small round column of sand-stone with this more than a third part of the whole structure. inscription thereon (now nearly obliterated) :

It is known that Rome is undermined by subterranean passages, some of them very early, and similar to that lately excavated at the Mamertine Prison. Permission would readily be obtained to clear them out and examine them thoroughly at the present time; but when new streets with new sewers are making in all directions, the opportunity will soon be lost. These are only some specimens of what there is to be done, if the money can be raised.

The Italian Government and the Municipality of Rome are really doing their utmost, and much credit is due to them for what they have done and are doing; but they have to borrow money at 8 per cent. to do it, and we cannot expect them to do more than they are doing. It is not a case for other Governments to act, the pride of the Italians would be hurt at any attempt to purchase these interesting ruins by a foreign Government; they regret and resent the hold that the French have obtained of a large part of the Pincian Hillthe Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens of Rome. they would have no objection to the action of a neutral body, such as a Society of Archaeologists from all the provinces of the old Roman Empire, including the Italians themselves, or as many as choose to join it.

But

All well-educated persons are interested in the antiquities of Rome. The Germans have for many years had an establishment there for assisting the study of them. Eng. land has done nothing; surely it is time for the educated classes to stir themselves before it is too late; it is now or never. An opportunity is offered for supporting the "Roman Exploration Fund," by which a great deal has been done,

but which is now exhausted.

Queries.

"FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS THERE IS BUT A STEP.' Was this axiom when uttered by Napoleon original or a quotation? Crowe in his "History of France (Vol. v., p. 95), says, recounting Napoleon's flight from the grand army retreating from Russia in 1812, "From Wilna he (Napoleon) proceeded to Warsaw, sum

"UNDER THIS STONE LIES JAFFA, THE FAMOUS CHARGER OF Napoleon, AGED 37 YEARS." This horse, which was white, is remembered by some of the inhabitants of Cranbrook parish. It was, as I am also informed, killed in the year 1829, by a gentleman who owned it, of the name of Hartley, who was residing there at that time. This pillar was noticed by the members of the Kent Archæological Society among the objects of interest at their late visit to Cranbrook and its neighbourhood. W. TARBUTT,

FAMILY OF WROTH.-In the index to the catalogues of the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, there is a reference to the pedigree of the family of Worth; but on referring to the MS. itself mentioned in the catalogue, I find that the pedigree is that of Wroth, of Enfield, not Worth. I wish to know whether this is merely an error in the printing of the index, or whether the two names are the same. Mr. Perry, in his papers on "Loughton Church" (see pp: 164 and 187 ante), has referred to the Wroth family, I should be glad if he could tell me if he knows of any synony

mous mention of the two names of Worth and Wroth. JOHN H. HOOPER.

As

CHINGFORD CHURCH, ESSEX.-Can any reader give me information concerning Chingford Church, Essex, as to what whether any persons of note were associated with it or was its origin, and if it was connected with Waltham Abbey; buried there, when it was last used for public worship?

Wright's "History of Essex " gives no account of it.

A. Q.

[With reference to the monuments in Chingford Church, we will direct our correspondent's attention to Mr. J. Perry's interesting papers in the Antiquary, Vol. iii., pp. 272 and 287.-ED.]

SALT WORK.-In many "Inquisiones Post Mortem" and "Pedes Finium a salt work is frequently mentioned with its annual value. What was it? In some parishes, so far as I can trace, no springs whatever exist, and, therefore, I am unable to see how a salt work could be there.

S.

TALLEYRAND OR COUNT MONTROND, WHICH IS THE AUTHOR ?-Since I sent my query to you (see p. 143 ante) I have read, and on reliable authority (Dr. E. Cobham Brewer's) that the saying "language was given to men to conceal their thoughts," is neither Talleyrand's nor Montrond's, but Fontenelle's. Can your correspondents point out the passage in his writings, if the saying be his? FREDERICK RULE. CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES.-I should be glad if any of your readers could assist me in arriving at anything like an accurate list of the churches in England which possess at the present time Bibles or other religious works, chained, as was formerly the custom in most churches. I remember some years ago, when travelling in Norfolk, having my attention drawn to one of these relics. It was in a small parish church somewhere in the neighbourhood of North Walsingham, but the exact name of the place has at the present moment escaped my memory. The book in question was preserved in a kind of cupboard or hutch on the north side of the chancel, near the altar rails. The "hutch," which was composed of plain and almost unshapen boards, was evidently designed for the safe custody of the book when not in use. At the top was a narrow shelf which served the purpose of a reading-desk, and the volume itself was a copy of Fox's "Book of Martyrs." Ashford Church, in Kent, if I am not mistaken, has or had a chained copy of the "Book of Martyrs," for the perusal of such as chose to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them. Some of your correspondents, I have no doubt, can point out instances where they are still preserved, or where there are traces left of books having been so exposed. J. HAMMOND.

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The article in the Antiquary escaped my attention until a few days since. I can give, however, but little specific history of the Dane John mound, from which, no doubt, the adjacent Public Garden took its name. I must first repeat a few observations which appeared in a book of mine, on Local Antiquities, published some years since.

The name assigned to the mound is variously written "Totam terram nostram quam habuimus ad Dangonum Danzonem; also "in campo qui vocatur Dangun," in a deed 14th Edward I. Likewise, "juxta le Daungeon," as also in old rentals of the Cathedral; and Roger Brent, in his will, as recorded by Somner, dated 1486, mentioning his manor there, calls it so, and the hill bard by "Dungeor hill." Canterbury in the Olden Time." Gostling I consider of little or no authority respecting the Dane John. He even hints it may take its derivation from one John, a Dane!

66

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city. These mounds were all levelled in consequence of the
construction of the station of the "London, Chatham and
Dover Railway." The Dane John mound is of far higher
antiquity then, than Mr. Bedo supposes it to be, namely,
the era of the Commonwealth. We have Leland, the anti-
quary, in his Itinerary, noticing it in the time of Henry VIII.
He
66
says, many years previous to his time, men seeking for
treasure at a place called the Dungen, where Barnhale's house
is now, and ther yn digging, found a corse closed in lead."
This, doubtless was the Dane John mound; for, later in
Elizabeth's reign, a certain Hugh Johns (according to the
Burghmote Records) was permitted to cut down the oak
trees which then covered the mound, "provided he planted
twenty ashes or elms, and kept them to grow."-See Som-
A windmill once stood upon the mound.
ner, "Ant. Cant."
The dimensions of the hill were far too important to be a
mere butt for artillery, although the Dane John Field, the
recreation ground of the citizens from time immemorial,
once used as a practising ground for the Canterbury Archers,
became at a later period the field wherein butts were erected
to take the aim of "blundering musquies," and other firearm ;
as they were described.

The present city walls, probably taking their present form about the time of Richard II. (Archbishop Sudbury being said have erected the Westgate Towers), do not by any means represent the ancient fortifications or earthworks of Roman or Saxon times.

There is a concluding hypothesis which may be hazarded as regards the origin of the Dane John mound. The Norman castles, as in the case of the castle at Oxford, have often a mound as a kind of look-out place erected in their neighbourhood. Canterbury has its castle, dating from the era of Henry II., and although a castle undoubtedly existed in the time of the Conqueror, the mound at Canterbury might have been after all, the "Donjon Mound."

The perforation of this hill near its base by a drift or cutting, might possibly throw some light upon its origin. At present I will not permit it to be modernised, but claim for it a venerable and time-honoured antiquity.

JOHN BRENT, F.S.A.

"LEIGH HUNT WAS NOT A SWEET PEA KIND OFMAN" (Vol. iv. 66, 145, 182, 205).-Illness has prevented me from noticing the "reply " of your correspondent G. J. H, so soon as I should have liked. I am somewhat at a loss to know what entitled your correspondent's five lines to a place among the "replies " in the Antiquary, as he is unable to answer or throw any light on the question I asked. Is it possible G. J. H. is so ignorant as to suppose I am the author of "Abou Ben Adhem," and therefore of the line "Write me as one that loves his fellow men" ?-which he, failing altogether to see the point of Browning's remark, declares to be of the "sweet pea order," (a declaration which would be smart were it not une niaiserie) and the worst of the three lines "chosen" for the memorial. Firstly, remark cannot apply to it. Secondly, if G. J. H. refers to as the line adopted was Leigh Hunt's own, Mr. Browning's tions were "chosen," but simply discussed. And whether my original query he will see that I did not say three quotathe one we adopted was the best or the worst it is impossible for G. J. H. to decide, because the other two-from Lord Lytton and Shelley-were never made public; as I know, because I wrote and sent to the papers the notice of the meeting whereat the discussion took place. Notwithstanding G. J. H.'s dogmatic expression of opinion I doubt if he could give me the better two lines which we rejected. Re

Nevertheless the name may have been derived from an ancient tradition, and perhaps, as Somner supposes, indicated the work of the Danes against the city, or the defence by the citizens against the Danes, during one of the sieges Canterbury had to endure from the northmen. There were anciently two mounds, the second, and lesser, lying also within the enceinte of the wall, but northwards of the existing mound. It disappeared many years since, under municipal improvements, but is marked in a city map dated A.D. 1703.jected not because they were inapposite, but because they There were, likewise, several hills or tumuli, beyond the city wall, in the Martyr's Field, south of the present mound, but contiguous to it, and so peculiar in construction that I had thought it possible they might be of Celtic or British origin, and were in connection with the larger mound itself. This, however, I give with caution. It might involve an important question as regards the site of the ancient British

were not Leigh Hunt's own estimate of himself, and therefore might be regarded as "of the sweet pea order." Thirdly, I did not make choice of the line from " Abou Ben Adhem." It was suggested by Mr. S. C. Hall-very happily-who also proposed the line from Lord Lytton. When the discussion on the subject arose, the poet's grandson, remembering the brotherly friendship between Leigh

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Hunt and Shelley, suggested a line from the latter. After Mr. Browning's remark, however, I moved and Mr. John Watson Dalby seconded a resolution that the line from "Abou Ben Adhem" alone should be placed on the pedestal which was agreed to. The concluding remark of G. J. H. Leigh Hunt was better than a lover of his fellow men. He never sank so low as that," betrays such total ignorance of Leigh Hunt as to need no comment from me. All those who knew Leigh Hunt personally or are at all conversant with his writings know that that line contains his proudest title to the veneration of Englishmen-nay, of the entire human family-because he loved and worked for them.

S. R. TOWNSHEND MAYER.

EAR-RINGS (Vol. iv. 191).—It cannot be allowed that rings, ear-rings or nose-rings (anciently they were closely allied, as will be shown), were ever worn or carried as "signs of servitude." Such ornaments were too highly prized by the fashionables of remote antiquity to admit of a use significant of slavery.

The earliest Bible account of such jewels is thus recorded (Gen. xxiv. 22)—" And

If your correspondent will refer to a still older book, to wit, the Book of Exodus, xxi. 6, he will find that a Hebrew servant, at the expiration of six years, could, if he chose, become free, but if, on the contrary, he preferred to continue a slave, then "his master" was, according to the law of Moses, "to take him to the door-post, and bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." This is no doubt the foundation for the statement referred to.

H. FISHWICK, F.R.Hist. S.

THE GOOD OLD TIMES (Vol. iv. 190, 206).-The following remarkable case is quoted in Brand's History of Newcastle from the Harleian MSS., Nos. 980-87:

"Of the Scots weaver, who had 62 children by one woman, all living till they were baptized, &c.

"A weaver in Scotland had by one woman 62 children, all living till they were baptized, of which ther wer but fower daughters onely, who lived till they wer women, and 46 sonns, all attaining to man's estate. During the time of this fruitfulness in the woman, her husband at her importhe man took a golden ear-tunity absented himself from her for the space of 5 years together, serving as a soldier under the command of Captain Selby, in the Low Counties. After his return home, his wife was again delivered of three children at a birth, and so in her due time continued in such births till through bearing she became impotent. The certainty of this relation I had from Joh Delavall of Northumb' Esqr who, anno 1630, rid about thirty miles beyond Edinburrough to see this fruitful couple, who wer both then living. Her stature and features he described to me then more fully. There was not any of the children then abiding with ther parents, Sir John Bowes and three other men of qualitie having taken at severall times ten of ther children a peece from them and brought them up. The rest wer disposed of by other English and Scottish gent. amongst which 3 or four of them are now alive, and abiding at Newcastle, 1630." WILLIAM DODD.

ring of half a shekel weight," &c. The word here translated ear-ring is Nezem, which may mean either ear-ring, nose-ring, or, as it is in the margin of our English Bibles, "a jewel for the forehead." See also verses 30 and 47 of the same chapter; in the latter verse, "I put the ear-ring upon her face," &c. Again, Gen. xxxv. 4-" And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem." The word in this passage is "Nězůmeem," the same as above (plural). Hebraists say the word means nose-ring; it may be so, but the text is sufficiently explanatory-they were taken from the ears. The word is also used in the singular, and translated ear-ring, Job. xlii. 11, and Prov. xxv. 12, which see. Perhaps the most remarkable chapter in the Bible, where this word is introduced, is Exodus xxxii. It might indeed be inferred that because they had been bondsmen in Egypt the The instance of extreme fructuousness given by your "ancient people" carried away with them the badges of 66 Gete," is a remarkable example of the servitude, but we are told they "spoiled the Egyptians." correspondent Verses 2, 3, 4-" And Aaron said unto them, Break off the unbounded credibility of the middle ages, for I presume golden ear-rings which are in the ears of your wives, of your names and circumstances being given, such a tale would sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And scarcely have survived if not believed. Indubitabily, a physiall the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were inologist could explode such a statement by a very simple definition. their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving-tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, these be thy gods O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

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But I fancy the first instance has many parellels. My own great-great-grandfather was the only survivor of twenty-two children, born to his father by one wife. The "World of Wonders" gives several instances of numerous births.

In Numbers, xxxi. 50, "bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and tablets," the words rings and ear-rings are in the original Thomas Greenhill, surgeon to the Duke of Norfolk, tăbăoth, ǎgeel, meaning "rings or seals, ring,” and tablets. petitioned his Grace for an augmentation to his coat of arms In Judges, viii. 24.-"They had golden ear-rings, because to perpetuate the fact of his being the seventh son and thirtythey were Ishmaelites." Again the word Nezem." See ninth child of one father and mother. The Collectanea Topo also other passages, Hosea ii. 13, and Isaiah iii. 20, where graphica, from which the above was quoted, also asserts that the word is "lechasheem," amulets. It is evident then, ear- a weaver in Scotland had by one woman, sixty-two children, jewels were worn by ancient aristocracy as articles for adorn-of whom four daughters and forty-six sons lived to grow ment, fixed to the ear perhaps without a perforated lobe.* up. It is also evident that a pierced ear was a sign of servitude, but not of slavery, as the service was voluntary.

"If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." (Exodus xxi. 5, 6.)

NUMMUS.

More noteworthy, if true, is the case of Dinora Salviate. who presented her husband with fifty-two children, of whom never less than three were born at a time. It is primâ facie evident that they could not have been born singly. The maximum number at a birth (excepting that given by your correspondent) I have read of is that in the case of Thomas and Edith Bonham, who had two children at a birth the first time and after an interval of seven years, the wife had seven at a birth.

While considering this subject, I will enquire if there are any known instances to equal the following given by

See Plates:-Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, and Layard's Douglas Allport in his "Camberwell," recording the death

Nineveh.

of Anne Hathaway, May 1658, who was 105 years old at

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