xxiii. 5. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained......and he brought out the grove [marg.: Asherah or Astarte] from the house of the Lord.

which the kings of Judah had set to and he put down the Camarites burn offerings......and he brought out the grove from the temple of the Lord.

clad with black clothes, or smoky: 1 Chron. xv. 21. ......and Azaziahı, with harps on the Sheminith to excel,

2 Chron. ii. 13. And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father's.

xvi. 14. ......and they made a very great burning for him."

Xviii. 24. ......when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.

xxi. 19.......and his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

Nehem. iv. 23. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing [marg.: or, every one went with his weapon for water].

The same.

The same.

VERNAL AND SUMMER OLD-WORLD SYMBOL ISMS.-The Egyptian evidently took as an example of agricultural diligence the energetic movements in early summer of the Ateuchis sacer, or scarabeus of the Nile, yet the cause of the fulsome worship and constant recurrence of the beetle symbol on Egyptian monuments is not very clear. Flora puts forth her strength and all peoples welWhen come her in early May with festive gatherings, dancing, and many unseemly rites, as around maypoles, &c., myriads of these Coleoptera may be seen laying their eggs on the mut or fertile mother matrix-the soft mud of the Nile. This marked to the Egyptian the final subsiding period of the Nile, when the seed might be safely committed to the energized soil, as he saw the scarabs so onfidently consign their eggs. Man and beetle alike heaped the soft mud over their treasure, the latter laboriously rolling its heap into a ball and pushing it upwards beyond the reach of water. Thus buried in the hot desert sands it was incubated by Father Sol. Hence it is said the beetle was a fit representative of the sun and fertile power generally, and therefore often appears as Kepher Ra-the centre or vital force of the solar orb. Surrounded by serpent with tail in mouth it denotes the eternity of matter. It is so delineated on the Soane sarcophagus, executed, said the late secretary of the Society of Biblical Archæology, when Moses was turning his rod into a serpent, or perchance healing the tribe by uprearing one on a pole. Scarabs also figure in lunar mythologies, for

eighth above to encourage withal. and Ozaziah sang with harps an

And now I have sent a wise man and a man of understanding, called Hiram Abif [80 again iii. 16].

and they did exceeding great cost about burying of him.

when thou shalt run from chamber to chamber to hide thyself.

but they made him no bonefire like the bonefire of his fathers.

As for me and my brethren, and watch behind me, we put never off my servants, and the men of the our clothes, so much as to wash ourselves. [Coverdale the same.]

R. R.

reasons which, perhaps, some of your correspondents can give. In Italy we see them vended about on Ascension Day (May 14, the 13th being Old May Day) in little cages, and they are bought as omens of good fortune. Calabrians called the golden green beetle "the horse of the moon with black spots is our the hippos or vital energy of the sun. The red one Indra gopa or ladybird," the Hindu server," which also signifies the sun. Indra the Shepherd" or "Precall it "the little cow of God"-a lunar term; Russians Piedmontese "the chicken of Santu Nicola," or St. Nichol; and Tuscans say it is sacred to St. Lucia, an old lady who is always trying to mate young ones, and who with this object promotes harvest homes and several other fêtes of a more than doubtful character. Italians also call it "a little dove" (spirit or Holy Ghost); and their Santu Nicola is "the patron of young men," and not always what he should be. German maidens, says Mannhardt (ii. 211), call the insect "the little horse or bird of God," and send it to their sweethearts as it is untrustworthy, "often fleeing away lest it be a messenger of love," adding that burned by the summer sun."

pointed out a year or two ago. The insect was termed "the scarabeus of God (Epiphanius), "the emblem of an only begotten"; and St. Augustine, as quoted by Moore, is credited with saying of it "bonus ille scarabaeus meus," &c., and again, "Christus in cruce vermis et scarabæus." The Egyptian saw his crux ansata and Christians "the sign of life eternal" in the cruciform marking on

its back.

Very much more might be profitably said on these matters, but our popular "N. & Q." is not a suitable place wherein to treat in a thorough manner such vernal "love birds," "doves," and "laughing" symbols. J. G. R. FORLONG. Edinburgh.

SIR RICHARD STEELE'S "GRAMMAR."-Watt, in his Bibliotheca, ii. 877, under the heading "Steele, R." states that he published in 1728 A Grammar of the English Tongue, Lond., 12mo.; and Lowndes (ed. 1863), p. 2506, mentions the same book, but with the date 1720. What is the foundation for this statement? To say the least, it appears improbable that Steele wrote or published any such book. There was a letter in the Tatler, No. 234, October 7, 1710, which is said to have been written by James Greenwood, teacher at a school at Woodford, in Essex, and afterwards assistant master at St. Paul's School, in which it is said, "It is our fortune to have such a grammar, with notes, now in the press, and to be published next term." In a following number of the Tatler, No. 255, November 25, there is an advertisement of, shortly will be published, " An Essay towards a Practical English Grammar, by James Greenwood." Much about the same time-that is to say, in November, 1710-there appeared in the Works of the Learned, p. 687-92, a somewhat elaborate review of a new book then issued, entitled

"A Grammar of the English Tongue; with notes giving the Grounds and Reason of Grammar in general. To which is added a new Prosodia; or the art of English Numbers. All adapted to the Use of Gentlemen and Ladies, as well as of the schools of Great Britain. London, printed for John Brightland, and sold by Mr. Guy in Lombard Street, Mr. Sare at Gray's-Inn, Mr. Brown at Temple Bar [and others, including] Mr. Bettesworth, on London Bridge." 12mo. pp. 180. This little volume purports to be under the direct patronage of Steele. It bears, fronting the title-page, the head of Cato the Censor, and an "Approbation," signed Isaac Bickerstaff, and the reviewer in the Works of the Learned says, in reference to this, "the Censor of Great Britain is in most particulars esteem'd not only an Excellent but an Impartial Judge." From the preface we gather that the book was prepared by John Brightland. The editor, whose name does not appear, states that

"Mr. Brightland could not compleat it to his satisfaction and it being our good fortune to be acquainted with him, he was pleased to press us to the undertaking......where

fore being furnish'd with all the helps that either ancient or modern writers cou'd supply us withal, and the tur'd to suffer our Endeavours to see the Public." Assistance of all our Learned Acquaintance, we have venThere were, then, in 1710 two small works on grammar, both of which appear more or less under the sanction of Steele. Greenwood's book was several times reprinted, and the letter from the Tatler was prefixed to the later editions. From the Monthly Chronicle it appears that the third edition was issued in May, 1729. Brightland's book appears to have been published in November, 1710, and bears on the first page the approbation of Isaac Bickerstaff; it was reprinted with considerable additions in 1712, and again in 8vo. in 1714. From the Monthly Chronicle for 1728 it appears that "the fifth edition of the Grammar of the English Tongue recommended by Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq.," was published in August of that year; and in the index of the Chronicle the title of the book is curiously shortened into Bickerstaffe's Grammar. Perhaps this may have led to the idea that the grammar which was recommended by Bickerstaff was written by Steele. EDWARD SOLLY.

CAP OF LIBERTY.-Mithras lived in a flint, and the Persian fable runs that he was born of a stone that is, when the flint was struck he darted therefrom. Mithras, consequently, is fire. But the Persians called the sun Mithras. They had three genii ruling; one was good and one was bad, and the one between was Mithras. Now Mithras, as may be seen at the British Museum, was coifed with what has been called the Phrygian cap of liberty, and he is stabbing the bull with the poniard (άkiváκns). This has been interpreted as the sun entering the sign of Taurus. That may be one of the meanings; but Statius (Thebaid, i.) does not mean that when he speaks of him as "torquentem cornua Mithram." It stands there for the action of the sun and moon, the male and female principle throughout nature. I want more information about that Phrygian cap, however. The Mithraic rites were the same as the Eleusinian mysteries, the initiation into which led a man into "the perfect liberty" of which this headgear became the emblem, as Minerva is helmeted, though otherwise entirely nude, to signify that whoso has the head completely armed is more invulnerable than Achilles. The mitre of bishops is a round cap cleft, which the ecclesiastical symbolists say represents fire, as of Pentecost; and so it does, but not as they mean. The cleft is the double horn of the moon and the round towered cap the sun, as the round towers of Ireland are Mithraic, though of grosser interpretation. The Trojans, the Dacians, the Mysians, and the Amazons, all have this cap truncated conical. Virgil treats it as peculiarly Phrygian (Æn. ix. 616): "Et habent redimicula mitræ, O vere Phrygiæ, neque enim

Phryges!" "Get to your Dindymus again, ye Phrygian women, for ye are not men, and sport your mitres tied beneath the chin."

All Phrygia was sacred to Cybele, the mother of the gods, the Queen of Heaven. So this cap of the Phrygian goddess was the cap of Cybele. We have it again with the high priest of the Jews, only Josephus describes it as more like a hemisphere or turban. In the early ages bishops were entreated by their crown. "Precor coronam vestram" was the phrase used. Dr. Brewer says (Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, s. v. "Liberty") that the French Jacobins wore a red cap, which everybody knows, and that in England it was blue with a white border, which I never heard of. But the pileus that conferred liberty on the slave in Rome was of white or undyed felt (πíλeov devкóv). Diodorus Siculus, as quoted in Smith's Dict., thus describes it. Why, again, did this Phrygian cap surmount Britannia's spear on some of our old coins? Now I wish to establish a connexion between this bonnet or cap of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and the castula, the tunic or stomacher worn below the breasts by Roman virgins. Was this castula a part of the attire of Cybele? It is a great pity that there is no really good book on symbols and symbolism. In poetry, in church mythology, antiquities, and in analogical philosophy it is a perpetual want, and, for all I see, is likely so to continue. One man cannot do it, but a Selden or an Erasmus might begin. Once commenced, it would grow, like Phillips's World of Words, into a Johnson, a Webster, and lastly a Philological Society's Dictionary. C. A. WARD. Haverstock Hill.

"THE UNCANONICAL AND APOCRYPHAL SCRIPTURES."-The continued appearance in "N. & Q." of an advertisement with this heading induces me to ask room for a few words on the subject. In the whole of Christendom the books so spoken of are received by the infallible authority of the Catholic Church as integral parts of the Old Testa

ment. But the decision to which I wish to draw attention here is that given by the third Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Whitgift, a man of learning and character. I quote from Strype's own edition of his Life of Whitgift, London, 1718. In the "Appendix of Records," Number xvi. is "Meanes how to settle a Godly and Charitable Quietness in the Church, &c., offered to the Archbishop With his answers." On p. 80 is this :

"That no Mynisters be enforced to reade any Piece of the Apocrypha in the Service; seinge in the first Booke prynted in the beginninge of her Majesties Raigne the same is left out, And was after (without Warrant of Lawe and contrarie to the Statute, which alloweth but three Alterations) inserted.

Answere.

This were to alter and change the Booke, not to expounde yt. The Scripture here called Apocrypha, abusively and unproperlie, are Holy Wrytings, voyd of error, Parte of

the Bible, and soe accounted of in the Purest Tyme of Church of Christ, and shall never be forbidden by me, the Churche, and by the best Wryters: Ever redd in the or by my Consent: They are in the Kalendar of King Edward's latter Booke, and prynted the first year of her Majesties Raigne: and the Alteration of the Kalendar, as it now is, is sufficiently warranted."

Perhaps this detail may have escaped the notice of
some readers of "N. & Q."
D. P.
Stuarts Lodge, Malvern Wells.

MIDSUMMER EVE AND FIRES.-The pensioners of the Hull Charter House received an annual allowance wherewith to rejoice at Midsummer. At first these rejoicings took place on the eve, but afterwards (from 1637) on the day. I have noticed entries of the payment from 1581 to 1645; the first is "vnto the brethren & sisters on Midsom even to be merrie wth, xijd." From 1586 the sum was always two shillings, but in 1645 half-a-crown. In 1454 one Alice Tomson was giving evidence at Ripon of John Walker's promise (and more) to marry her. She was pressed to be circumstantial, and replied that she well remembered both the day and the time of day, viz., "in festo nativitatis Sancte Johannis Baptistæ, in nocte quando ignes erant illuminati" (Ripon Chapter Acts, 1875, p. 39, Surt. Soc., vol. lxiv.). W. C. B.

CURIOUS ERRORS.-There are at least twc curious things in Great Thoughts for May 30.

As illustrations of the fact that fathers do not always live to witness the achievements of their sons, it is said (p. 303): "The fathers of Euripides and Sophocles did not witness the victories they gained, nor did Miltiades see the valour of Cimon. Ariosto heard not Plato's lectures." The last fact is so obvious that it was not worth stating. Ariston was the name of Plato's father.

Among the "Maxims on Kindness" on p. 308 is "We hang little thieves and take off our hats to The editor's views on the subject of great ones." kindness seem to be rather peculiar.

Queries.

JOHN RANDALL.

We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest, to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

WOOD'S HALFPENCE, 1723. In the patent granted by George I. to William Wood for coining copper money for Ireland, which led to Swift's celebrated Drapier's Letters, there was also power given to coin halfpence, pence, and twopences for His Majesty's plantations in America. In the Freeholders' Journal for January 23, 1723, it is stated that he began the coinage for Ireland on Monday, the 21st inst.,

"in a building erected for that purpose in Phoenix Street, near the Seven Dials; and that in about a month's time he will commence to coin copper money for America at Bristol; which will be made of a beautiful compound metal; his Majesty's head and the inscription Georgius Rex being on the one side; on the reverse a Rose, with this motto, Rosa Americana utile dulci."

The fate of the coinage for Ireland is well known; what was the fate of that intended for America? EDWARD SOLLY.

BARTIZAN.-Can any trace be found of this alleged word before its use by Sir Walter Scott, in 1808, in his poem of Marmion (canto vi. st. 2)?

"Its varying circle did combine
Bulwark and bartisan and line."

I can find no such word in any dictionary of last century. It is not in Todd's Johnson, nor in Richardson; not even in Craig, 1847. There seems reason to fear that it is a simple blunder. Meanwhile it is important to be sure of its first appearJ. A. H. MURRAY.

ance.

CAMRELL. In an old book on husbandry, by W. Lawson, occurs the following. Treating upon the "time best for proyning," he says:-" And here we must remember the common homely proverbe, 'Soone crookes the tree

That good Camrell must be.""

Trimerado, Cove of the Sniveling Chive, vulgarly called a barber; Erected out of his own utensils without the assistance of nature, by Don Pizzararo.” The plate is to be had of F. Hammond, engraver, in Charles Court in St. Martin's Lane, and is dated June 11, 1746. The various members are numbered, and a reference below gives the names of all the utensils used in the figure. On the ground beside the figure are three wig-blocks with faces; they are inscribed respectively, "N-ere," "Gr-ng-r," "Ch-p-m-n," and the reference at foot three notorious spoilexplains that these were W. H. PATTERSON.

trades."

66

ANCIENT BOOK-PLATE.-On looking over my bookshelves I find a copy of Causes Célèbres, in 20 vols., 1734 to 1750, with a book-plate in each volume of a coat of arms in oval shield surmounted "Anne by a ducal coronet, and below the name,

C. L. PRINCE.

I should vairy, may be the blazon of the arms. like to identify this lady. MARIA E. Foss.

Addiscombe.

PEERAGE ATTAINDER REVERSION. - Can you or any of your readers oblige me with information as follows? The inheritor of an attainted peerage obtains a reversion. Does he, or does he not, receive a fresh patent-virtually constituting a new peerage-with limitations as to remainders, X. C. &c. ?

"Sing

the linnet.

JOHN CHURCHILL SYKES.

"My mind's wrapt up in triple brass, And I'll sit me down in sweet tranquillity." C. M. I. Who was the author?

Athenæum Club.

HERALDIC.-Among the papers of Sir Edward Walker, Garter temp. Charles II., there is a drawing of the following arms, "Gules, a pale raguly argent, between two crowns or. The crest, argent, two arms couped at the shoulders, bowed, counter embowed, vambraced, holding between the gauntlets a crown or." The paper has partly perished through damp, but is endorsed "Armes of Ger..."; there is part of one other letter, which may be r, o, or a. This shield seems to be a design for arms for