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and marks of wild plants. The mistake of the potter using C for S, often occurs on other Roman inscriptions.

These pateræ and vessels are frequently discovered surrounding the urn which contained the ashes of the dead; they often occur extra menia, near Roman stations, but not being explored correctly, as chance led to the discovery, they have too often been smashed by the labourer's tools, and as they seldom lay very deep in the ground, terra levis, the usual order of Roman burial, with no mound of earth over them, they are generally discovered broken by the incumbent weight of cattle, carriages, etc.

The site at Dorchester, where the pottery was found, is probably on the outside walls of the Station. When a Roman town it was encompassed with a wall, twelve feet thick; on the west side some remains are still visible. This station was founded by Vespasian on his conquest of the Belge, and called Durnovaria, meaning the passage over the river.

The woodcut is executed from a private etching by Mrs. Mary Ann Mantell. Dorchester.

JOHN GARLAND.

PRESIDENTS OF AMERICA.

THE following curious coincidences in the names and lives of the first seven Presidents of the United States -Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Jackson, may interest the readers of Current Notes.

Four of the seven were from Virginia. Two of the same name were from Massachusetts, and the seventh was from Tennessee. All but one were sixty-six years old on leaving office, having served two terms; and one of those who served but one term would have been sixty-six years of age at the end of another. Three of the seven died on the 4th day of July, and two of them on the same day and year. Two of them were on the sub-committee of three that draughted the Declaration of Independence, and these two died on the same day and year, on the anniversary of the declaration of Independence, and just half a century from the day of declaration.

The names of three of the seven end in son, yet neither of these transmitted his name to a son. In respect to the names of all, it may in conclusion be said, the initials of two of the seven were the sameand of two others that they were the same-and the initials of still two others were the same. The remaining one in this particular-WASHINGTON-stands also alone in the love and admiration of his countrymen and the civilized world. Of the first five, one only had a son, and that son was also President.

Another curious fact may be mentioned in this connection-neither of the Presidents who had sons was elected for the second term.

The granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson is now teaching in a school in the city of Washington.

So the common sepulchral inscription used among the Romans S TTL, the second T being sometimes a diphthong TE, implying SIT TIBI TERRA LEVIS, or as Byron poetically expresses it, "Light be the turf of thy Tomb."

SIMON'S HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF IRISH COINS. In the library of the College of Physicians, Dublin, are deposited three volumes of Manuscript Minutes of the Physico-Historical Society of Dublin. From them the following are extracts relative to a volume that has deservedly received the highest commendation.

Monday, December 7, 1747. Mr. Simon produced an Essay on Irish Coins, which is referred to the perusal of Dr. Corbet and Mr. Harris.

Monday, January 4, 1747-8. Mr. Harris reported, that on the perusal of Mr. Simon's Account of Irish Coins by himself and the Rev. Dr. Corbet, it appeared to them worthy of publication.

Ordered, that Mr. Simon's Account of Irish Coins be published by and with the approbation of this Society.

Monday, October 3, 1748. Ordered, that the sum of Six pounds eight shillings be paid to Mr. James Simon, for eight copper plates, for his Essay on Irish Coins.

The very small charge of sixteen shillings for each plate is remarkable. The Rev. Dr. Corbet was Dean of St. Patrick's, and Mr. Harris, the editor of the valuable edition of Sir James Ware's Historical Works. Dublin, March 14. A. S.

PRE-ADAMITE PICTURES IN NATIONAL GALLERY.

THE result of the last ill-advised and most injudicious purchase of the Krüger Collection from Minden, to enrich our National Gallery, has been that 47 of the pictures are deemed too bad and too monstrous for vulgar gaze, and are consequently set aside in the vaults of the building. The remaining 17, after being repainted and repaired, to make things pleasant, are placed in one of the side rooms to excite general contempt. An admirer of art, on leaving the National Gallery, asked a friend if he had noticed the Pre-Raphaelite pictures? "No," said he, and on being shewn the Krüger daubs exclaimed, "Pre-Raphaelite! nonsense; Pre-Adamite you mean.”

POLISH NAMES.-In reply to C. M.'s query as to the pronunciation of Polish names, the following may possibly aid his enquiry.

All vowels sound the same as in French and Italian, every vowel being distinctly pronounced, and there are no diphthongs. The consonants are the same as in English, excepting the following. C sounds like tz and nurch, thus Pac is pronounced Patz. Ch like the Greek x, thus Lech, as Lek. Cz like the English tch in pitch, thus Czartoryski is pronounced Tchartoriski. G sounds the same as in Gibbon, thus is pronounced Oginski. Rz like j in je, with a slight sound of r, thus Rzewaski is pronounced Rjevuski. Sz is sounded like sh in the word shape, thus Staszkyc is pronounced Stashytz. Szcz is sounded like Shtch, thus the word Szcerbiec is pronounced Shtcherbietz. Wat the beginning of a word is sounded as a v, and in the middle or at the end of a word as f, thus in the former case Warsaw is pronounced Varsafa; and in the latter sense Narew as Naref.

CLEVER. This word, besides its legitimate sense, has two provincial uses. In East Norfolk, it denotes honesty and integrity. Thus, a clever man does not mean skilful, but honest and respectable.

The epithet, in Lancashire, is not applied to either mental or moral qualities, but to the body, and denotes a stout, athletic man. Thus, persons of portly build may overhear the natives observe, "Theer's a cliver chap," and entertain a tolerably good opinion of their natural acuteness, unless kindly undeceived by some friend more conversant with the peculiar sense in which the word is used among the Lancashire witches.

PRESCOTT, THE HISTORIAN-A correspondent to the Boston (American) Journal of Commerce, forwards the following agreeable communication-

The numerous readers of the charming histories of Mr. William H. Prescott, may be glad, to hear a word of the historian himself. He appears daily in our streets, and may be often seen taking long walks for the preservation of his health. He is now at his winter's residence, on Beacon street, where he spends about nine months of the year. The other three months he has generally spent at Nahant and Pepperell, at both of which places he has country seats most congenial to the pursuits of an author.

Mr. Prescott is as systematic in his daily studies as any Boston merchant, and as great a miser of the minutes. As many have learned, he was so unfortunate as to lose one of his eyes while in Harvard College. By this loss, the other eye became weakened through over-work, so that, practically, he has written his histories as the blind write, or with an apparatus such as they use. And yet he has scarcely the appearance of any difficulty of sight, but recognizes his friends in the street with that single faithful eye.

THE LOST SURVEY OF SEBASTOPOL.-The possession of the Crimea is not a very modern idea; to the antients it was considered a valuable acquisition, but in the middle ages it was lost sight of. About the year 1780 the Russians, under Catherine II., began to see its importance: for twenty years, however, they did little towards securing its coasts against the Turks, by whom it had lately been conceded.

In Dr. E. D. Clarke's Travels through Russia, Turkey, etc. vol. 1. ch. 20, p. 488, etc. FIRST EDITION, 4to. there is the best account of the whole country as to climate, and the productions, anywhere to be met with: he was much assisted by the late Reginald Heber, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta.

When the Emperor Paul allied Russia with France in the war against England in 1801, it was much more important to England to drive the French out of Egypt than to attack the Russians in the Crimea, which was then almost defenceless.

Dr. Clarke had obtained an accurate survey of the coast, with all the soundings in the port of Aktiar, since called Sebastopol; and the entrance to the roads, as well as the situation and quality of the magazines, artillery and storehouses. This document he presented both to the then British Ambassador in Constantinople and to Lord Keith, the Commander of our fleet there, but it was not made use of. It was confided to Dr. Clarke's care by one who wished well to the British interest: Heber says he was an Englishman settled at Aktiar. This important survey Dr. Clarke brought away, he says, at the hazard of his life.

The affairs in Egypt occupied us too long to turn our views elsewhere at that time.

Dr. Clarke therefore "deposited the papers in the Admiralty office, and engraved only the principal

"Chart for his work."

When engaged in writing, Mr. Prescott, writes rapidly," averaging about seven of the printed pages of his volume daily. His secretary copies his manuscript in a good plain hand for the printer. He is now diligently composing a history of Philip II. His private library is very valuable, particularly in the department of the subjects of his present and past investigations. His library contains nearly six thousand volumes. It is a picture of a room, that the proprietor had constructed for his special use, as he did his study, some distance above it towards the heavens, where his beautiful compositions are produced.

That Mr. Prescott, with his physical embarrassments, has accomplished so much towards forming an American standard literature is quite a marvel. Another wonder is, that though he has been confined to his books and his study for forty years, as closely as the monk to his cloister, he has nothing of the scholastic manner, but the ease and polish of a gentleman wholly in society.

HIGHLAND WIVES.-Shortly after the battle of Balaklava, in which the Scots Greys and the Highlanders were prominently concerned; Sir Colin Campbell proceeded to meet a flag of truce from the Russians, when he was asked, who the people were who fought in petticoats. He replied, they were the wives of the men who rode the grey-horses!

In every subsequent edition of his travels, Dr. Clarke omitted this portion of the note I have above transcribed, without giving any reason for it. Could it be owing to Historiographer to the his having been appointed Admiralty," and that they wished this fact to be kept a secret?

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I hope you will extend your "Queries," to find out this important document, which might acquaint the public how careless and ignorant our officials are, high and low, of what is committed to their custody our expedition to the Crimea was sent out without knowing where it was to land, and it is now wofully proved without the least notion of the difficulties of that country.

Clarke's Travels is the best work published within the last half century, but is ungratefully forgotten; Murray's Hand-Book of Turkey is the work referred to by our high officials, and they thus pretend to know everything almost by intuition.

Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi. March 17.

T. F. G.

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Unhallowed is possibly not altogether a correct appellation. The common entrance into churches was usually either at the west end, or on the south side; and as most altar-tombs or other mementoes of the departed in the churchyards, when Papacy was dominant, enjoined the praying for the dead and for the quiet of their souls, a custom which was believed to be very efficacious, the appeal to the devout was followed by the ejaculation and the benediction; while those buried on the north side of the church being beyond the pathway to the church escaped notice, and their graves in no way denoted, their place of sepulture rarely obtained the expiatorial prayers of the passer by-they were mingled with their parent earth unblessed

and unheeded.

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THE following beautiful lines were presented in 1648, with an Indian perfume box, to MARIE DE MANCINI,

The Florence rose is fresh and fair,

And rich the young Carnation's glow,
Wreathing in Beauty's ebon hair,
Or lying on her breast of snow :
But only Violet shall twine
Thy ebon tresses, Lady mine!
Oh! dazzling shines the noon-day sun,
So kingly in his golden car;
But sweeter 'tis when day is done,
To watch the ev'ning's dewy star,

In silence lighting field and grove,
How like my heart, how like my love!

Then Lady, lowly at thy feet,

I lay this gift of memory;

All strange and rude, but treasures sweet
Within its gloomy bosom lie;

Trifles MARIE, may tell the tale,
When wisdom, wit, and courage fail.

PULCI.

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PREPAID ENVELOPES AND RECEIVING BOXES.

On the 5th inst., the writer noticed the placing an iron receiving pillar-box for letters to be forwarded by the postal authorities, in Fleet Street, at the corner of Farringdon Street, and on the 6th, another in the Strand, at the corner of Norfolk Street. This was, more than two centuries since, the custom in the French metropolis. Early in the reign of Louis XIV., M. de Velayer, with the king's approbation, established in 1653, a private penny-post, placing boxes at the corners of the streets for the reception of letters wrapped in prepaid envelopes, which were sold at offices established for that purpose, and whence dates the origin of prepaid postage envelopes, by many believed to be a new prac

tice.

M. de Velayer, to assist communication between persons among whom the inditing of letters was a matter of some difficulty, originated also certain forms of billets or notes applicable to the ordinary business requirements, with blanks which were to be filled in by the pen with such special words as would complete the writer's object. One of these billets has reached our time by a humourous misapplication of its purpose. Pelisson, well known as the friend of Madame de Sévigné, and the object of the bon-mot that, from his very unhandsome face, "he abused the privilege which men have of being ugly;" being amused at this kind of skeleton correspondence, he, in accordance with the pedantic fashion of the day, addressed one of these formis to the celebrated Mademoiselle de Scuderi, in her pseudonyme of Sappho; under the affected name of Pisandre. From the celebrity of the parties, this strange billet-doux has been preserved and is yet extant; one of the oldest, it may be presumed, of penny post letters, and an interesting example of a prepaid envelope, verifying the adage, "there is nothing new under the sun." B.

EASTER COURT FROLICS.

THE Cottonian MS. Nero C.viii., in the British Museum, records among other payments; March 27, 1311, 4 Edward II., "To Sir Nicholas de Beche, Sir Humphrey de Luttlebury, and Sir Thomas de Latimer, for dragging the King out of bed, on Easter Monday, 201.”

ENGLISH EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE.

Considering only the Epistolary language, the English have nothing comparable with the letters of Madame de Sévigné. The letters of Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Bolingbroke, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and lastly, those of Junius, which are supposed to be by Sir Philip Francis, are works, not letters: they are all more or less like the letters of the Younger Pliny, and of Voiture. For my own part, I should prefer to them, a few letters of the unfortunate Lord William Russell, of Lady Russell, of Miss Anna Seward, and the little that we know of the letters of Lord Byron. Chateaubriand.

No. LII.]

WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES.

"Takes note of what is done-
By note, to give and to receive."-SHAKESPEARE.

CORRESPONDENCE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.

CAN any of your readers give me information respect ing "Les Correspondances de Marie Antoinette," which, according to Madame Campan, were in 1792 sent out of France? That these papers were of great value, or very sacred in the Queen's eyes, may be inferred from their having been rescued from the fate which the others underwent after the sad June 20, of that year. I believe the report of these papers having been sent to England to be well authenticated; at all events, it is generally received as true, in this country and in France. I had an assurance of its truth from a lady, who was educated by Madame Campan, and became afterwards Lectrice to the Empress Marie Louise; she had heard Madame Campan frequently relate the circumstances. This precious deposit is reported to be quietly reposing in the British Museum-the authorities, however, deny all knowledge of it, and I do not see why their word should be called in question. There are others who say, that it is in the hands of Monsieur Feuillet de Conches, Master of Ceremonies to Louis XVIII., and now filling a similar post in the household of the Emperor of the French. This latter opinion has weight with me; for I had my information from a distinguished foreign ambassador, and I know Mons. Feuillet to be a collector of historical documents connected with the Revolution. The private correspondence of the Duke of Dorset would furnish a key to much of the little understood policy of Louis XVI.; but what has become of it, for it is not now in the archives of Knowle Park, where his Grace died? Lord Whitworth's letters, after his transfer to Paris, are not to be found, and I have failed to discover a trace of those that passed between St. Petersburg and Paris, from M. Whitworth to the Duke of Dorset, and vice versa. The Count de Fersen's letters are extant somewhere. I have been told they are at Vienna in the hands of Count Schulenberg. Those of the great Franklin are now in the course of publication, as a supplement to his works and correspondence, which have already been given to the public; they were accidentally discovered in a tailor's shop, by the gentleman I believe, who so worthily represents in this country the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.

J. L.

GLAMIS. Our correspondent having recently visited Glamis Castle, on comparing the woodcut, Current Notes, p. 20, with the original, finds he had omitted in his sketch, a line attached to the K, which if shown as in the lower part of the E would form an L, and thus also express in addition the surname of Lyon.

VOL. V.

[APRIL, 1855.

CURRER BELL.-Mrs. Nichol, formerly Miss Bronté, house at Haworth, in Yorkshire, on Saturday, March the last survivor of a family of six, died at her father's 31. Under the nom de plume of CURRER BELL, she established a lasting reputation as the authoress of June Eyre. There are also two other Novels from her pen, entitled Shirley, and Villette, which like the former are especially distinguished by great power of conception, and vigorous pourtrayal of character.

THE SEVEN WHISTLERS.

IN reference to this very popular Leicestershire superstition, the following paragraph has appeared in a local paper:

On Friday, the 16th inst., a collier was making holiday in the Market place in this town (Coalville), and was asked by a tradesman, why he was not at his usual work. The reply he made was, that none of the men had gone to work on that day because they had heard the Seven Whistlers, which he said were birds sent by Providence to warn them of an impending danger, and that when they heard that signal not a man would go down the pit until the following day. Upon the tradesman's suggesting that the collier's account might all be traced to superstition, the poor collier was offended to find his story called in question, and assured the tradesman that the warning was always to be depended upon, for that on two occasions previous to last Friday, when the Seven Whistlers were heard, some colliers foolishly descended the pit, and two lives were lost on each occasion.

Respecting the prevalence of this imposing superstition among the colliers in this neighbourhood, I have made enquiries of a legal friend, whose official duties bring him in frequent contact with them. He informs me, that it is very generally entertained and believed by them, but that when trade is brisk, and money among them plentiful, disposing them for a drinking frolic, they are then far more apt to hear the warning voice of the Seven Whistlers, than when less favourably situated.

I shall be glad to be informed whether this superstition prevails in other colliery districts, which I suppose to be the case, although I do not find it noticed by Brand. Leicester, March 27. WILLIAM KELLY.

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MONASTIC CELL. LAMP.

ABBOTSBURY, once a town, is a village about ten miles from Dorchester, and eight from Weymouth, on the coast near that singular natural bank, called the pebble beach, which extends from Portland, and between which and the shore is an estuary or fleet in which the sea ebbs and flows. This place is now remarkable only for its swannery, the property of the Earl of Ilchester, who has a seat near to it, and is the Lord of the Manor. Here, however, was once a monastery, founded by Orcus, or Urkus, steward to King Canute. Many portions in a ruined state remain, but the chapel, named St. Catherine's Chapel, a graceful and very perfect building, is yet extant, situated on the summit of a very high hill, designated Chapel Hill. In a corner of this chapel is a stone to which is attached the legendary belief, that any young person who kneels upon it, and wishes for his or her sweetheart, marriage in a short time will ensue,

In or about 1823 or 1824, the Rev.

Barker,

Vicar of Abbotsbury, discovered in the cottage of an old woman, then nearly a hundred years old, the lamp of which this is a representation.

It is of thin copper about the fourth of an inch in thickness, and about three inches in diameter, the handle being about four inches high. The edges of the square are partly broken; the cross and circular holes appear to have been punched out of the metal. The whole is of rude fabric, and in the bowl or pan, some material for yielding light is still remaining. The old woman on being questioned, stated "it was something out of the old Abbey,

that was used in the cloisters," and was found by her in the ruins.

It is now in the possession of Mr. Barker's daughter, the wife of the Rev. J. Foster, Rector of Winterborne Monkton, near Dorchester. Can any reader of Current Notes add any further illustration in reference to this "light of other days?"

66

Dorchester, April 5.

JOHN GARLAND.

NANCY DAWSON.-In Current Notes, 1853, p. 72, is an enquiry by W. F., for the words of the song entitled, Nancy Dawson," to the tune of which many others have been since written, It appears to have escaped notice, that the song is printed in Harrison's Vocal Magazine, 1781, p. 67; and from the allusion in the text to have reference to the memorably successful season at Covent Garden, Sept. 1759-May, 1760. On October 10, Miss Brent made her debut as Polly, in the Beggars' Opera, with so much eclat, that it was performed on nearly forty successive nights, while at Drury Lane, Garrick played to literally empty houses. Davies erroneously attributes Garrick's seceding from the stage for a time previous to the commencement of the season, 1763-4, to the attractions of Miss Brent,

and the musical performances at Covent Garden in that of 1762-3. The fact is, the reverses at Drury Lane perceptibly commenced in the season that ended in June, 1760, and continued to the close of that in 1763, when the profits were found to be much less than in any of the preceding years, and Garrick wisely left London for the continent in September, 1763. The song has all the racy whim of that luckless wight George Alexander Stevens, and was probably written by him.

NANCY DAWSON.

Of all the girls in our town,

The black, the fair, the red, the brown, Who dance and prance it up and down;

There's none like NANCY DAWSON!
Her easy mien, her shape so neat,
She foots, she trips, she looks so sweet,
Her ev'ry motion is complete-

I die for NANCY DAWSON!
See how she comes to give surprise,
With joy and pleasure in her eyes;
To give delight she always tries,

So means my NANCY DAWSON.
Was there no task t'obstruct the way,
No Shuter droll, nor house so gay,
A bet of fifty pounds I'll lay,

That I gain'd NANCY DAWSON.
See how the Op'ra takes a run,
Exceeding Hamlet, Lear, or Lun,
Though in it there would be no fun,

Was 't not for NANCY DAWSON.

Tho' Beard and Brent charm ev'ry night,
And female Peachum's justly right,
And Filch and Lockit please the sight,

"Tis crown'd by NANCY DAWSON.
See little Davy strut and puff,—
"P- on the Op'ra and such stuff,
My house is never full enough,

A curse on NANCY DAWSON!" Though Garrick he has had his day, And forc'd the Town his laws t'obey; Now Johnny Rich is come in play,

With help of NANCY DAWSON.

* Johnny Rich alias Harlequin Lun, resided at this time in the eastern arcade, or piazza as it is commonly termed, Hotel. It was formerly the residence of Sir Godfrey Knelin Covent Garden, in the house next to the Bedford Arms ler, whose garden extended to that of Dr. Radcliffe, who then lived in Bow Street, in the house now the Magistrate's Office. Sir Godfrey, a great admirer of flowers, paid particular attention to the floral beauties of his garden, but found that the Doctor's servants sometimes made their way in by a door in the wall, and deprived him of many choice flowers: of this, having several times but ineffectually complained to Dr. Radcliffe, Sir Godfrey sent him word, that though unwilling to do an uncivil thing, he should in his cliffe, who perhaps thought it beneath him to notice these own defence nail up the door-way between them. Dr. Radsquabbles, replied, Sir Godfrey might do as he pleased provided he did not paint the door. "Ah! ah!" retorted Kneller, "go tell my goot friend the Doctor, I will take any thing from him but his physic."

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