Dutch varken, as well as the Spanish barraco or verraco, and Exmoor baarge. Its root is most likely identical with that of the Latin aper and German eber, which, however, Schoebel, Analogies Constitutives de la Langue Allemande, p. 22; analyses into aa-bär-the water or marsh beast, defining it "animal fort qui aime le séjour des marécages." Bär he derives from the Sanscrit arks, which he considers as a secondary form of arh strong (Teutonic urh, Greek ari, ēr), and the etymon of the Greek arktos and Latin ursus. Cognates are the Sanscrit rks'a, Zingari or Gypsy ritsch, and Suomi or Finnish karhu, a bear. From bär come the Saxon bar, Cornish bora, Dutch beer, Swedish borr, and English boar. The root ark, with the initial augment t, seems to be the Irish and Gaelic torc and Welsh twrch. The Greek kapros has a similar affinity with aper. Our brawn comes from aprugnus, an adnoun formed from aper. The Shemitic and Sclavonian tongues, so far as I have been able to trace them, contain no corresponding terms from the same roots; but it is remarkable that the Hebrew hhazir, Syriac hheziro, and Arabic hhenzer, come from a root hhazăr, which signifies to transfix, pierce, perforate, bore, (Greek peir-, Latin for-, German bohr-, Irish bear, etc.) I may likewise mention that the Greek kapros denotes not only the male of the wild hog, but the organ of generation or phallos, which was used in the rites of Bacchus or Priapus as an emblem of fecundity, like the Hindu lingam. South Shields, Sept. 10. WILLIAM BROCKIE. The lines which eighteen centuries since, were addressed to a fair Stoic: To the Immutable Fair one. Si, nisi quæ forma poterit te digna videri have been deemed inimitable, and for delicacy and point If, to no charms, thou wilt thy heart resign, If none, but equal charms, thy heart can bind; If, saue whose charms with equal splendour shine, MORRIS.-Can any Correspondent of Current Notes inform me, whether it is intended to publish the work entitled, Celtic Remains; left in Manuscript by the late distinguished Welsh antiquary, Lewis Morris, Esq.; and if so, by whose care it will be transmitted through the press? Brecon, September 18. F. S. A. inscribed K Hic jacet corpus Johannis Atkin, Aldermani, Viri gravissimi, præhonesti, Reiq: hujus Burgi publicæ admodum studiosi, cujus Maioratum Ao R. Rs. Jacobi 5o et 13° honorifice ac pie gessit. E Johanna uxore ejus unica duodecim amoris sui pignora suscitavit quorum in vivis tantum modo sunt novem Gulielmus natu-primus; Thomas, Johannes, Setheus, Anna, Clementia, Johanna, Frideswitha, et Margeria. Vixit annos 68 feliciter, 15 die Septembris Ao. D. 1617. Chrō obdormivit. The Monogram evidently formed of three letters doubtless implied John Atkin, Lynn. In the chancel of St. Nicholas' church, incised on a sepulchral slab, with this inscription Thomas Toll, Esq. and Alies his wife rest heer, CHARTER OAK AT HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. On the 21st of last month, August, during a strong gale of wind, the far famed Charter Oak which stood near the City of Hartford, was blown down and fell with a tremendous crash, leaving about six feet of its stem remaining. It must have been a very old tree when Columbus in 1492, discovered the New World. The appellation of Charter Oak has in more instances than the present, occasioned a requirement of some elucidation, and at no period more than now, could that explanation be more pertinently rendered. Soon after the restoration of royalty in England, in 1660, the Connecticut colony sent the son of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, to England, with a humble and respectful petition to king Charles the Second, in which they solicited a charter under the royal signature. Mr. Winthrop being possessed of a valuable ring that had been presented by king Charles the First, to his grandfather, presented it on his audience to the king, and by this timely incident is supposed to have considerably interested the monarch in his favour. The Charter which passed under the Great Seal, April 20, 1662, established over the colony a form of government of the most liberal tendency, granting the most ample privileges, and confirming the fundamental law of Connecticut for one hundred and fifty-eight years, in fact till the year 1818. Under James the Second, Connecticut was apparently doomed to suffer from the injustice and violence of the last of the male sovereigns of the Stuart raee. Massachusetts had been deprived of her Charter, and Rhode Island had also been induced to surrender, when in July, 1685, a writ of quo warranto was issued against the governor and company of Connecticut. Vane strongly advised the colonial government to comply with the requisition, and surrender the Charter, but it was determined otherwise, neither to appear to defend it, nor voluntarily to surrender it, notwithstanding the repeated applications of Sir Edmund Andros, who had the appointment of Governor of the New England Colonies. In October, 1687, the Assembly met as usual, and the government according to the Charter continued till the end of the month, when on the last day, Sir Edmund with his suite, and more than sixty regular troops came to Hartford, where the assembly were sitting, demanded the Charter, and declared the government under it to be dissolved. Even in this emergency, the Assembly were in no way disposed to any resolution involving the surrender of their Charter, or in respect to any motion to produce it. Governor Treat urged the great expense and hardships of the Colonists in planting the country; the blood and treasure they had expended in defending it against both savages and foreigners, and further the dangers and vicissitudes to which he had himself been exposed, therefore to surrender the patent and privileges so dearly bought and so long enjoyed, was as he stated like to giving up his life. The subject was debated and held in suspense until the evening, by which time great numbers of the people were assembled, and among them many sufficiently bold and determined to any enterprise that might be deemed expedient, or necessity require. The Charter was at length brought in and laid upon the table, where the assembly were sitting, but the lights were in an instant extinguished, and Captain Wadsworth of Hartford, in the surprise thus created, silently secured and carried off the patent, which he secreted in a large hollow tree fronting the house of the Hon. Samuel Wyllys, then one of the magistrates of the colony. Those present in the Assembly continued orderly and peaceable; the candles were officiously relighted, but the Charter was gone, nor could any discovery be made either of it, or of the person by whom it had been removed. Though foiled in the attempt to obtain possession of the Charter, Sir Edmund did not hesitate to immediately assume the reins of government, which as the minion of a wretched monarch he administered with as much oppression in this, as in the other Colonies, till on the arrival at Boston, of the declaration of the Prince of Orange, Andros was deposed and imprisoned; their former Governor was re-elected, and after an interruption of little more than a year and a half, the people of Connecticut resumed the previous form of government that had been guaranteed to them by the Charter. The day after the tree had been blown down, the City band performed for two hours solemn music over its prostrate trunk, and at sunset, the bells tolled to express the general regret at the event. CIVILITY ON SIGN-BOARDS.-I once saw in Charle ville, in the county of Cork, a sign which set forth, that the proprietor of the concern was licensed to sell drink with civil usage, the latter commodity at Varese in Italy, is expressed by cortesia, and obtains precedence G.D. of the grape-Cortesia con buon vino. *The records of the Colony state the fact in these words -At a general court at Hartford, Oct. 31, 1687, his excellency Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, and Captain-General and Governor of his Majesty's territories and dominions in New England, by order from his Majesty, James II., King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, the 31st of October, 1687, took into his hands the government of the Colony of Connecticut, it being by his Majesty, annexed to Massachusetts and other Colonies under his Excellency's government. Finis. MONKEY MONEY.-I have recently met with the phrase Monkey's money,' in reference to one man's grinning at another who demanded a sum owing. May I ask, whence does this originate, or has it an allusion only to the ordinary vague chatter of the animal? Hastings, Sep. 9. E. S. The French have a proverb To pay in Monkey's coin,' i. e. to laugh at a man instead of paying him, which is said to be thus derived. The tariff of St. Lewis the Ninth, who reigned in France from 1226 to 1270; for regulating the duties upon articles and produce brought by the gate of the Little Châtelet into Paris, among other items ordained, that whoever brought a monkey into the City for sale, should pay four deniers; but if the monkey pertained to a MerryAndrew, the owner by causing his monkey to dance and disport before the collector of the dues, was not only exempt from paying any duty for the said monkey, but passed freely with ought else he might have with him. The same code of dues directed that Jugglers, provided they sang a couplet of a ballad before the toll-gatherer, were to pass exempt from all imposts. HORACE MISConstrued. M. De Beauchamps in his Recherches sur les Theatres de France, notices the performance of Voltaire's first drama, Edipus, which was represented for the first time, on Friday, Nov. 18, 1718. He observes much has been said for and against this drama, which had a prodigious success, and appends a numerous list of printed critical pamphlets which it occasioned; he however seems not to have been aware of the successful ruse that was played off against it, on the first night of its representation. Edipus was performed on the opening night of the season, the Theatre during the recess had been newly decorated, and on the proscenium, above the curtain, was placed as a motto, the initials O. T. P. Q. M. V. D. These letters created a general interest, and many were the solutions as fitted the comprehensions of the audients, till the witty yet sarcastic Piron, whispered to a few ladies, they were intended to designate Edipe Tragédie pitoyable que Monsieur Voltaire donne. This was quite sufficient, the slanderous definition flew like lightning, and was heedlessly accepted as the true meaning, the incessant uproar that followed precluded the actors from being heard, and the drama was withdrawn as altogether unsuccessful. During the criticism which it occasioned, the fact of this perversion of the luckless motto transpired, and the real meaning of these mysterious initials being authoritatively made known as implying Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci; the drama was again played, the unlucky perversion of the motto was forgotten, and the run followed for fortyfive successive nights. The line is from Horace. THE BEING PUT TO ONE'S SHIFTS. Gabriel Naudé, Physician to Louis XIII., observes, the ancients in writing made use of waxen tables, called Pugillares; or leaves made of barks of trees: I have seen specimens of each in Italy. They did not make use of paper, for they had no linen; they knew hemp as an herb, but applied it not to this purpose. In the time of Charles VII., of France, 1422-60, linen made of hemp was so scarce that his Queen had but two shifts of that material, and Rabelais, at the end of his third book, mentions hemp as a newly discovered plant, under the term Pentaguellion, which had not been in use above a century. Flint was very early the seat of considerable metallurgical operations, rendered evident from the fact of numerous Roman and other coins being found at places, the British names of which are indicative of such operations having been carried on there. With respect to the name of Flint, Pennant states he was unable to "assign any derivation of the word, as our country is totally destitute of the fossil usually so called;" in this however, the celebrated Tourist and Antiquary was mistaken, that mineral technically termed Chert, being found in great abundance, particularly in many of the lead mines. The term Flint glass it is highly probable was derived from the fact of its being first manufactured at Flint. Where the present Town-hall stands was formerly glassworks, and a few years since while sinking the foundation of the gateway, at Mr. Haywood's, great quantities of fragments of melting pots and glass were found; and as the mineral flint is a compound part of all kinds of glass, there is no reason to suppose that this term should be applied solely as indicative of that description which is manufactured by the aid of lead, whilst on the other hand, it is highly probable, that the first locality for that part of the glass manufacture should be at a spot where the lead required for its formation could be obtained in abundance, particularly as in addition to the raw materials, the vicinity of Flint has abounded in ancient times with fuel, whether that was derived from forests or mines. I must confess I am still sceptical, and shall be greatly obliged to any correspondent of Current Notes, who will contribute any notices in reference to the derivation of the term, Flint glass. LIBERTY SUPPRESSED IN FRANCE. S. J. H. On the first of October next, all the one and two sous pieces of the copper coinage of France, bearing the head of Liberty, cease to have any currency in monetary payments. The copper coins of one and two liards, and of one centime, bearing the head of Liberty, by a decree of Napoleon III., which was published in the Moniteur, enacted these minor symbols of Revolutionary periods to be out of circulation on the first of July last. WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES. No. LXX.] "Takes note of what is done- GRAVE OF ROB ROY. [OCTOBER, 1856. That futurity might know by whom this was raised, it was further inscribed-This stone was erected by Lieutenant John Gregorson, 1770. The stone, on the south side, no inscription, but having a sword as here represented rudely incised in Balquhidder, the residence and the scene of many of the exploits of Rob Roy MacGregor, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's highly popular romance of that name; and also the place of his burial, is a Highland parish in the south-west of Perthshire, distinguished by its beau-pule tiful lakes and wild scenery. The kirktown or hamlet is about twelve miles from the well known village of Callander, and to the west of the kirk are the Braes of Balquhidder,' commemorated in Scottish song by the unfortunate Tannahill. The widely spread traditions of Rob Roy have eternised in popular recognition the parish of Balquhidder, but it would be idle to adduce any detailed notice of that extraordinary individual, his family history and exploits having been so ably recorded by Sir Walter Scott, in the introduction to his celebrated romance. The passing mention will, therefore, be sufficient, that within his own house, at Balquhidder, he died about 1738, an old man, retaining to the last the same strange characteristics which he had exhibited through a long and adventurous life. His character, it is almost needless to add, had much of the same impetuosity and selfdaring which marked the personal conduct and disposition of the English Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, better known as Robin Hood, and of which the concluding stanza of Wordsworth's admirable poem, written on visiting Rob Roy's grave at Balquhidder, renders with no little force a just idea And thus among these rocks he lived, Through summer's heat and winter's snow; And Rob was lord below. On the southern slope of a mountain, with a broadly expanded view, is situated the old parish kirk and burial ground of Balquhidder. The kirk bears the initials of MacGregor, Knight of Glencarnock, and his lady, with the date 1631; but recently, a new fabric, in the old English style of architecture, having been built outside of the burial ground, the former kirk has been unroofed, and thus rendered a picturesque ruin. The burial-place of the MacGregors is at the east end of the old kirk, in that part of the kirk which was called capbail big, i.e., the small chapel or chancel. There are three gravestones pertaining to the family, all are lying closely together, and the most northerly, erected to the memory of Rob Roy's eldest son, Coll or Colin, is raised upon four rude pillars, and bearing the arms of the MacGregors, with these words Here lies interred the corps of COLIN MCGREGOR, who died in the year 1735; aged 31 years. VOL. VI. is commonly, but erroneously, believed to cover the grave of Rob Roy; on the contrary, as the writer has been informed by several intelligent and trustworthy residenters in Balquhidder, this stone denotes the last deposit of Rob's wife Helen, a daughter of Campbell of Glenfalloch, and of one of his sons; while the real resting place of the bold outlaw' is below the third or centre stone elaborately ensculpt; by far the most interesting of these memorials of the dead, and like the preceding, is now engraved for the first time. These monumental stones are all of rough native granite, and from the great similarity of some of the emblems upon that which covers the grave of Rob Roy, with those found upon several of the ancient sculptured stones of Scotland, of which a large collection has recently been published by the Spalding Club, under the editorial care of their respected secretary, John Stuart, Esq., advocate, there is reason not only to suppose, but to believe, that ages before the name of MacGregor was known in the braes of Balquhidder, this monumental slab denoted the grave of some person locally distinguished, but whose name, with any other memorial or particulars have long since been shrouded in oblivion. The rudely incised figures upon this stone, which is about six feet long by sixteen inches wide, may be conjectured to indicate the predilections or pursuits of the person it was purposed in the olden time to commemorate. The cross-patent near the breast of the grotesquely represented human figure, or possibly cross-patée, for it is difficult to define which of the kinds it purports; or whether it is intended to represent either, being after all, probably, an emblem of Christianity, may be looked K upon as indicative of the faith of the deceased; the dogs, emblematical of his ardour or attachment to the sports of the chace; and the sword, rudely carved and ill proportioned to the rest of the figures, may emblema tise his individual prowess. The last described stone, like that having simply the sword, are both partially mutilated, owing to the penchant which many unreflective tourists have to carry off some fragment of known relics of the past. The practice is highly reprehensible, and cannot be too much condemned. Besides these interesting monuments of the MacGregors, there is in the burial ground an oddly shaped stone, resembling in form and size a horse's collar. Traditionally it is said to have been an instrument of punishment in the days of superstitious requirements, and that it was formerly placed on the shoulders of the delinquent, whose head protruded through it. The aperture is sufficiently large enough for that purpose, but as the writer has never before seen or heard of a similar object, it is here figured, in the hope that some correspondent of Current Notes may advance some particulars respecting its use. Brechin. BRITISH CHURCH NOT SUBJECT TO ROME. A. J. The following memorials have been collected, to form an appendix to Bishop Godwyn's Catalogue of the Prelates of England and Wales, which latter country stops short at p. 430, with those of Llandaff; the reverend author being precluded by death from adding those of Bangor or St. Asaph, as he had purposed. Bangor, a city of Caernarvonshire, in North Wales, is situated in a valley, within a short distance of the charming and much-frequented bay of Beaumaris. It is enclosed on the south side with a very steep mountain, and, comparatively speaking, by a little hill on the north. Camden derives its name à choro pulchro, from a beautiful quire; or, as others suppose, quasi locus chori, the place of a quire. The cathedral is in the form of a cross: the eastern part is embattled, and at the west end is a low massive square tower, surmounted by four pinnacles. This tower and the nave, some parts of the transepts, and most of the windows of the choir are perpendicular. The south aisle of the nave is decorated, and there are some buttresses and other portions of early English character. The north aisle to the choir is divided, and used as a chapter house and vestry. The font, of an octagonal and perpendicular character, is very handsome. Bishop Godwyn has given an interesting account of the foundation of episcopacy, wherein he states that one of the earliest kings was baptized, and following his example, many of his people in all parts of his domi nions; and that he caused the temples of his false gods to be dedicated to the service of the True God. In place of their priests, he appointed preachers of the Gospel, and for their flamines, he created bishops to the number of twenty-eight; and of these, three were instituted archbishops-one at London, whose province was the southern part of England; a second, at Caerlegion upon Uske, his province was Wales; and the third at York, unto whose jurisdiction the bishops of Scotland and North England were subject. The Gospel under such influence prospered greatly, and even when a terrible persecution of the Church, by the Saxons, prevailed in almost every other part of the land, it found in Wales many open and undaunted professors, who never allowed the light thereof to be utterly extinguished. There was, in fact, no public authorisation of the Christian religion anywhere but in Wales. That a monastery was founded at a very early period in Bangor is evident, from the recorded notice of the spirited reply of the monks thereof to Augustine, on his coming to England, long after the supposed establishment of that monastery; when, on his landing in Kent, King Ethelbert bestowed on him the royal city of Canterbury, as an episcopal see, and the King's palace for a cathedral church, to be erected unto Christ. Pope Gregory the Great having, in 601, honoured Augustine with the pall, and thereby appointed him Metropolitan of Britain, he summoned a council in the borders of Worcestershire, that he might be somewhat nigher to the British clergy and bishops, in Wales, and warned them to appear. Augustine in that assembly demanded from them obedience to the Bishop of Rome, and the reception of the Roman ceremonies into the service of the British Church. This innovation the Britons rejected, and after a long disputation on both sides, another session or synod was agreed on, at which a greater number of the British clergy were present, and amongst them seven bishops. The monastery of Bangor contained at this time, it is said, so great a number of monks, that when the whole monastery was constituted into seven parts with their rulers, no part contained fewer than three hundred men, all of whom obtained their maintenance by the labour of their hands. To the demand made by Augustine of submission to the dominance of the Bishop of Rome, the abbot, in the name of his Church, made this memorable reply: Be it known and without doubt unto you, that We, all and every one of us are obedient and subject to the Church of God, and to the Pope of Rome, and to every godly Christian, to love every one in his degree in perfect charity, and to help every one of them, by word and deed, to be the children of God: other obedience than this I do not know due to him, whom you name to be Pope; nor to be Father of Fathers; to be claimed and to be demanded; and this obedience we are ready to give, and to render to him, and to every Christian con- ! tinually. Besides, We are under the government of the Bishop of Caerleon upon Uske, who is to oversee under |