2. In Zech. xi. 7, 11, we find the expressions

So the tomb of Scipio is now used as a trap in

Jahn was simply to join two words into, one, without altering a letter, writing NY"? and NY, and rendering in verse 7 "for the dealers in sheep," and in verse 11" the dealers in sheep." The alteration proposed in the text has the authority of the LXX. As to the rendering, an esteemed English commentary dismissed it with the remark that it "is plausible, but cannot be philologically sustained." The writer of that commentary translates the received reading by the exclamation, "Truly miserable sheep," although there is no instance where has the meaning of truly, so that his objection is applicable to his own version. The argument against Jahn's explanation is, that (originally meaning "Canaanite," and afterwards used occasionally in the sense of "merchant"), never so far loses its primitive sense as to mean 66 trader in" an article before the name of which it is placed in regimine. It is true we never meet with another instance of this construction. But it is in an author like Zechariah, who wrote when the language was fast becoming corrupted, that we should naturally expect to find innovations of this kind; and, compared with some others that we do find there, this is a very slight innovation indeed. And it is obvious that this explanation gives a far more clear and connected sense than any which is founded on the existing reading. C. Q. R. M.

SCIPIO'S TOMB, A TRAP FOR PORCUPINES.

While I was at Naples I made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Scipio Africanus the elder, which is supposed to have been situated at Patria, where a few huts are found four to five miles beyond the ruins of Cumæ. You pass along the Via Domitiana, the huge lava blocks of which are still found here and there; and on the left you see the remnants of the canal which it is said the mad Nero had begun to cut, and which he intended should end at Ostia, the mouth of the Tiber. Of this mad scheme Tacitus (Ann. xv. 42) says, "Manent vestigia irrita spei," but to the eye it appears a lake, being much broader than would be at all likely if it had been intended merely for a canal.

It is of the tomb of Scipio, however, of which I wish to speak, and the use to which I found it put. When I saw in what way the present degenerate race employed it, I was forcibly reminded of the base uses to which Shakspeare (Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 1) imagines the dust of Cæsar might

be turned: :

the method they pursue:-They dig holes, and cover them slightly with straw and earth, when caught. This is the only part of Italy where I the porcupines passing over drop in, and are thus heard of porcupines, though I believe that they are found in other parts of the country. What kind of ground is suited to them, perhaps some of your correspondents will be able to tell us. The land along the coast here is marshy from the overflowing of the rivers known to the ancients as Clanius and Liternus, being covered with low brushwood, such as it was in the time of Strabo (v. 243). I saw nothing of any pine wood, Gallinaria pinus, such as Juvenal` (iii. 305) talks of as the abode of brigands, but I found the name still lingering in the "Pineta di Castel Volhis voluntary exile, I cannot praise his taste, as it turno." If this be the spot where Scipio passed lies low, and must from the natural lay of the ground have been always subject to malaria fever. marshes have all a pale sickly look. The cattle The peasantry who tend the cattle in these are plump and healthy: to man alone nature seems to have forbidden this spot. You find a few straggling huts for the herdsmen, and where hunters leave their horses when they come down from Naples, pescare quaglie, "to fish quails," as they say in Italy, when they mean to shoot quails.

The tomb is now called Le Rotte, "the ruins." It is a vaulted chamber fifteen feet by twelve, plastered with pozzolana, the cement found at Pozzuoli, mixed with pieces of brick, and is more than half filled with earth. There are no colum

baria in the walls, and nothing indeed to show that it was ever a tomb. It is evident that some large building has been connected with it, and at a short distance from Le Rotte there are six large mounds, rising like towers, called "Torrioni;

but it is impossible to say from their appearance what they were originally, and there have been no excavations. I made every inquiry respecting the inscription "Ingrata Patria" giving name to the spot, but it has long since disappeared if it ever existed.

About two miles dis

tant I found a spot called "Pitafio "—that is, Epitaphio," where sepulchral inscriptions have been found; and it seems not unreasonable to suppose that Scipio may rest here, if his body was not conveyed to Rome to be placed in the tomb CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE. of his family.

allowed once more to state in the pages of THE MSS. OF THOMAS DINGLEY.-May I be "N. & Q." that I have not hitherto been able to recover any trace of the Commonplace book of Thomas Dingley and his friend Theophilus Alye,

which was sold in the year 1864 from the shop of Messrs. Lincoln in London (described at p. 42 of my Introduction to Dingley's History from Marble). Though advertised publicly in The Times newspaper and elsewhere, it would seem that the present possessor of this MS. volume has not become aware of my inquiry. Since my Introduction to the first volume of Dingley's History from Marble was printed, I have met with the following passage at p. 74 of The English Topographer, written in 1720 by Dr. Richard Rawlinson :

"In a private Hand is a Collection of the Monuments, &c. in the Cathedral Church [of Hereford], made by Mr. Dingley in 1680, which has preserv'd some few Inscriptions now lost; but is most remarkable for the fine Draughts of Monuments, and the original Characters wherein the Inscriptions are wrote."

I am not able to determine whether this alluded to the History from Marble, now in Sir Thomas Winnington's library, or to a book containing only the monuments at Hereford, and therefore a duplicate copy of that portion of Dingley's work. If the latter, which I am inclined to suspect from the mention of the exact date, 1680, I should be glad to ascertain that it is still preserved. Mr. Gough does not notice it in his British Topography, nor any of Dingley's productions. I fancy that the "private hand" may have been Rawlinson himself, or some one nearly connected with him, and that it was actually the groundwork of the 8vo volume which goes by his name, viz. The History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Hereford, 1717, which would account for the close correspondence I have found between that book and the History from Marble, both in the description of the monuments at Hereford and in the copies of their inscriptions.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

SLANG PHRASES: FEEDER.-This seems to have been the former equivalent for "crammer": — "A feeder .... a person who crams into the head of a candidate for a degree certain ideas which, if he can remember will bring him off with credit."-Gent. Mag., lvii. 869.

None but schoolboys now use " thick" as meaning "intimate": yet the word must once have been commoner, for the Bishop of Carlisle is made to say (Gent. Mag., lvii. 745): "We begin now.. to be pretty thick."

"Pert" seems to have formerly been equivalent to our "sharp." The author of Tales of To-day (1825) quotes an advertisement from a newspaper of 1697, of a servant wanting a place: "a pert boy, can write, read, and be very well recommended."

CYRIL.

VITALITY OF TRADITIONS: THE JUMART.-The jumart, or hybrid between the bovine and equine race, is still believed in through all the southern countries. There was a reputed jumart at Seidekene, near Smyrna, in Asia Minor, during my

The jumart

stay there, and I heard of another. came into Smyrna several times, and I had made preparations to get a photograph, but it always escaped me. The description fully conforms to that given in books of natural history of the alleged jumart. This one was said to be the offspring of an ass and a cow; whereas the jumarts recorded in books are said to be the offspring of bulls with mares and she asses. The existence of the jumart is doubted by most naturalists. The alleged jumarts as yet examined HYDE CLARKE.

have been hinnies.

32, St. George's Square, S.W.

WHAT BECOMES OF PARISH REGISTERS?"In making the extracts necessary for my purpose, I found that the early registers of this parish (Christ Church, Hants) had been destroyed, as I was informed, by the late curate's wife; who made kettle-holders of them, and would most likely have consumed the whole parish archives in this homely way, but that the fortunate and timely interference of the present clerk rescued what now remain from destruction."-Bell's Huntingdon Peerage, p. 295.

E. H. A.

SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF A CROMWELLIAN DOCUMENT.-Please preserve the following relic of Oliver Cromwell in your pages; I have cut it from the Leeds Mercury of December 7, 1867 :

"A curious old military pass has been recently discovered pasted to the cover of a copy of the first edition of George Fox's Journal, a folio volume printed in 1694. The fly-leaf had been pasted over the document, and thus concealed it. Mr. H. T. Wake, bookseller, of Cockermouth, who found the pass in the book, has carefully restored it, and the reading is as follows:

Permitt the Bearer hereof, George Illingworth, of Kirkbye, Esqr., to passe about his lawfull ocasions, he being no ways disaffected towards the P-liamente. Given under my hande and seale this 1 day of February 1648. • O. CROMWELL. To all officers and souldiers and others whom it may concerne.' "The signature is a fine bold one, but the seal is torn away.-Carlisle Journal," EDWARD PEACOCK.

Bottesford Manor.

MARRIAGE OF WOMEN TO MEN.-In marriage frequently see, instead of the bridegroom marannouncements, fashionable and unfashionable, I ried to the bride, the bride married to the brideRev. B. C., Anne, daughter of John Smith, Esq., groom: as, "By the Rev. A. B., assisted by the to Thomas Jones, Esq." These announcements fashionables have taken to them. I cannot find are becoming increasingly prevalent; and Jewish any principle in which this inversion proceeds. One may be pretty sure that it is not because the bride acknowledges herself to be older than the bridegroom. Some are heiresses, but the others are not; some are of superior station to the bridegroom, but some are not; and, as before said, no principle can be traced. It may be in connection

with the two recent attributes of the nuptial knot—“ assistant clergymen" and "no cards"as these are not uncommonly introduced in such advertisements; and the ladies are not doctorettes, and do not require a husband to nurse the baby, nor is there evidence that the "breeches" have passed in the marriage settlement. As one of those who are not versed in the mystery of marrying women to men, I submit it to your readers. L. K.

FRAGMENTS OF POTTERY IN CELTIC TUMULI.Dr. Ferdinand Keller, in one of his valuable archæological summaries, mentions the occurrence of fragments of pottery in Celtic tumuli; and that so regularly that, when he found none, after penetrating a couple of feet into what he had supposed might be a barrow, he at once abandoned further research as useless. He supposes that the Celts broke their vessels (to them objects of value), and placed the fragments on the graves as offerings to the dead.

A curious corroboration of the correctness of this view may be found in the fifth number (1866) of the Missions Blatt aus der Brüdergemeine (Moravian Missions' Journal); in which there is a detailed account of a journey to the tribe of Aukaner Indians in Dutch Guyana, undertaken by a certain Johannes King, himself a native of the tribe in question, but who had become a Christian, and in baptism received the name of John King. From his journal I translate the following passage:

"In the morning they (the Aukaner) brought plates,

calabashes, spoons, cups, &c., laid them on the banana leaves, and with sticks broke them all into small pieces (scherben), exclaiming: These we break for the dead, that they may take them with them."

Nothing is more natural than that superstition should manifest itself by like observances in all ages and countries.

Risely, Beds.

OUTIS.

language is at fault, and we can make no impression on our feline friend.

Dog-language is more useful to make acquain tance with a dog, or to drive him off; but without horse-language we often get on but badly, and not unfrequently, beyond oaths, the chief portion of the vernacular of a country an English traveller acquires is the horse-language.

66

It is very awkward not to know these terms.

"

To meet in a narrow street or a small road between hedgerows in Turkey, when on horseback or afoot, a string of camels, and not to know the open sesame to clear the way, may bring the packs of all the camels banging on our unlucky sides and heads. At the word " Ach!" (open), the civil beasts most commonly turn to the other side, and leave room for the passenger. Some people think the word is "Ooch!" but this means "Fly!"

Greece, will turn tail at the ominous cry "Oost!" A barking dog, over most parts of Turkey and which is so often accompanied by a stone.

I have been struck with a copious animal vocabulary in Georgian, as for cats, tsitsitsi; then there are calls for horses, goats, hogs, cows, geese, and fowls.

32, St. George's Square.

Queries.

HYDE CLARKE.

THOMAS BENTHAM AND SAMUEL SMITH.- It will very much oblige if any reader of "N. & Q." could inform me of any public or private library wherein I might see either or both of the following books: (1) On the Temptation of Christ, by Thomas Bentham, 1591; (2) On Hosea, Chapter VI., by Samuel Smith, 1617. Also the latter's Christian's Guide. A. B. GROSART.

308, Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool.

CURATE AND CONDUCT. I find a person so described about ninety years ago. Was the phrase a common one? Did it mean "curate in sole charge of," &c. ? CYRIL.

DEGREES OF CONSANGUINITY.-A decree of divorce was issued in Scotland, in 1541, against a man and his wife on account of "their being related in the fourth and fourth degrees of consanWhat were the degrees of relationship guinity." between them? ANGLO-SCOTUS (2).

FOREIGN DRAMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Is there any work, in either the English, French, or German languages (the only three with which I am acquainted), which contains a catalogue of all the

J. T. WATSON.

MAWE: SURNAME. A family called De la Mawe lived in Suffolk in the time of Edward I. (See Rotuli Hundredorum, vol. ii. pp. 168, 169). Can any one suggest the origin of their surname? It is clearly one of the class like De la Pole, De la Mare, De la Le, De la Field, derived from some common object, not from territorial possessions. I do not think Mawe occurs in any of the glossaries with a meaning that will help me.

CORNUB.

and

THE OPERA HOUSE. Half a century ago more I was told by Mr. Waters, for some time lessee of the Opera House, that there were pipes opening into the orchestra by which the sound was conveyed to all parts of the house, and hence its extraordinary merits. Can any of your readers give me any further information on the subject?

SEPTUAGENARIUS.

The lines are part of the description of a rough rude serving-youth. F. J. FURNIVALL.

WM. PECK'S MSS.-Where are the manuscript collections of W. Peck, the historian of the Isle of Axholme ? In 1815 he published the first volume of his topographical account of that district. In the advertisement he says, "the topography of the separate parishes will succeed as soon as possible.' It never did "succeed," however. I have reason to believe that they would be found of considerable interest. K. P. D. E.

-

PYNACKER. Is there a catalogue of this painter's works, or most noted works? Have they been engraved or etched seriatim, or sparsely? Are any of them engraved in the French Musée? SIGISMUND THE SEEKER.

REEVESLY.-Is a chartulary of the Abbey of Reevesly, Lincolnshire, known to be in existence ? If so, where? K. P. D. E.

THE SABRE.-As your valuable miscellany does not contain any information anent this weapon, I venture to inquire if it is known by whom, in England, the steel was manufactured and forged, and the instrument finished for the first supply to British troops? J. MANUEL.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

THE SKYRACK OAK.-In the village of Headingley, near Leeds, Yorkshire, there stands all that remains of an ancient oak-tree, known as the "Skyrack Oak." The county of York is divided into sections called "Wapentakes," or, as some say, "Wapon-tacks"; and the division in which stands the Headingley oak is named from the venerable tree, "The Wapontake of Skyrack." Most probably the Skyrack Oak was the place where the men of the district, a sort of local militia, periodically mustered to show that they were well armed with weapons of defence. Hence the term "Wapon-tack," or, as it is called in Scotland, "Wapon-schaw." There is a place near Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, called "ShireOaks"; and I conjecture that "Skyr-Ack" has the same meaning: for in old writings, shire, which means a share, is sometimes spelt scire and skire. Ack evidently means oak, which is commonly pronounced in the Yorkshire dialect yack. Upwards of fifty years ago, when I first saw the Skyrack Oak, it was a large and venerable ruin, throwing out a coronet of slender green boughs: now, as I am informed by the courteous landlord of the Skyrack Hotel, close by the tree, it puts forth no leaves, but is clad in ivy. It is of interest to know when, and in whose reign, Yorkshire was divided into Wapontakes, as it is quite possible that the Skyrack Oak may have witnessed

the event.

G. H. OF S.