political history of Spain, and show how the natural character of her noble people was corrupted and degraded by their bigoted and despotic rulers of the Austrian line.

PROPHECIES IN REFERENCE TO THE CHINESE. ISAIAH xlix. 12 - "Behold, these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north, and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."

WE find, in the Chinese language, numerous words recording the most remarkable events that have since taken place, and some few, even before the time of the universal deluge: among these, there are some which convince us that the true knowledge of some of the Jewish doctrines, customs, and ceremonies were accurately noted by the Chinese. For the sake of brevity, I will mention one word only in proof of my assertion, viz.: sen, 3, (in the second series of numerals). There has been, I think, an essay published on the proper rendering of the word Elohim into Chinese. I have not seen the work; nevertheless, I believe that it cannot be rendered more intelligibly and significantly than by the word san, 3; which denotes not only the UNION of the three persons in the Godhead, but also their co-EQUAL majesty: hence, we may easily give credit to the genuineness of the following part of the creed of the present insurgents, the Miao-tze of the different provinces, but chiefly those of the Kouang-Si:

"The Chinese in early ages
Were regarded by God;
Together with foreign states,
They walked in one way.
From the time of Pwan-koo
Down to the three dynasties
They honoured God,
As history records."

But from the unexpected and extraordinary successes of the pretender and his followers, we may reasonably expect that the people of that far distant land will, ere long, have a more perfect knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To shew that the prophecy in Isaiah relates to the people of China, it is necessary, in my opinion, to adduce something like a satisfactory kind of proof that the Scripture Sinim refers to the inhabitants of China.

The Chinese were known to the Arabians by the name Tsin, and to the Syrians by the name Tsini, which seem to denote that the Hebrew plural termination im in Sinim, refers to the people of the land of Sin. Morrison says, "the present reigning family (in 1822) calls it Ta ising kwo," which literally signifies, great water-blue kingdom. Here we have a clue, if I mistake not, to its most ancient name, viz.: Yen, Chen, or Shen, limits (of the earth), terram aqua diluere; literally, earth going great interruption (from much water here and there). This word is peculiarly descripCallery and Yvan's Insurrection in China, by Oxenford, p. 306.

tive of the land of waters, China. The following words, han jin, Chinese-literally, river men ; mwan chow jin, Tartar or Mantchou men, literally, land full of water men; han kwa, Chinese language, literally, river-spoken language; tsing hwa, Tartar language, literally, pure spoken language; have, all of them, the index denoting water in their composition.

If then this prophecy of Isaiah be near its fulfilment, we may begin to look forward to events which shall lead to the accomplishment of that prophecy in Zechariah, "and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea, even to sea, and from the river even to the ends (limits) of the earth." But a century and a half must pass away before the full glorification (as in the Egyptian on the Dendera ceiling) of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth can be made manifest. T. R. BROWN.

Vicarage, Southwick, Jan. 3rd.

Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England on July 10, 1553, four days after the decease of King Edward the Sixth, and seems to have relinquished that title and state on the 19th following, a period of nine days, but she is believed, although reluctantly, to have assumed the royal dignity immediately after King Edward's demise; this presumption creates the supposition her reign really extended to thirteen days. The earliest public documents hitherto discovered are however, dated on July 9, and the latest on July 18, 1553.

STONEHENGE, A Correspondent suggests, "was not a Temple of the Sun, as so called by Diodorus Siculus; Druidical Temple, as more recently determined by Dr. or a Pagan Temple, as defined by Inigo Jones; or a Stukeley; but an arena in which wild animals were collected and destroyed, as the Nineveh sculptures recently exhumed, display the monarch spearing or levelling with the arrow, the bull or the lion. The supposition is not extravagant to suppose the liths shut in with hurdles or boughs; the summits of the pillars crowned with galleries, and the central lith whence the arbiter ludorum, not surely elegantiarum, witnessed and decided the meed of successful, though inglorious, victory?"

SCOTT'S TALLY HO! TO THE FOX.

SIR WALTER SCOTT's appointment as Clerk of Session, was notified in the Gazette, March 8th, 1806; a nomination that at the time was looked on by many of the Government adherents with any thing but feelings of satisfaction. In short it was almost immediately after a Whig ministry had gazetted his nomination, although a known Tory, to the office, that had for twelve months been a principal object of his ambition, that, rebelling against the implied suspicion of his having accepted something like a personal obligation at the hands of adverse politicians, he soon after put himself forward as a decided Tory partisan.

The impeachment of Lord Melville was among the first measures of the Whig ministry, and although the ex-minister was, as to all the charges involving his personal honour ultimately acquitted, yet the investigation brought forward so many circumstances by no means creditable to his discretion, that it was with an ill grace the rejoicings of his friends, of whom Scott was one of the most zealous, were scornfully jubilant; such they were, however, in Edinburgh, and at a public dinner given in honour of Melville's acquittal, on June 27, 1806, Scott performed his part by writing the Song, entitled, "Health to Lord Melville." It was sung to the air of Carrickfergus, by James Ballantyne, and hailed with rapturous applause. The song was printed in the newspapers at the time, but is not embodied in the collected edition of Scott's poetical works.*

The song, it is admitted by Lockhart, his son-in-law and biographer, gave great offence to many sincere personal friends, whom Scott numbered among the upper ranks of the Whigs; it created a marked coldness from several towards him, which as his letters show wounded his feelings severely-the more so, because a little reflection must have made him repent not a few of the allusions. Scott's Tory prejudices as exemplified in the song, had however fallen into a slumber that has been awakened by the recent publication of Moore's Diary, by Lord John Russell, and General Napier, the party who has considered himself aggrieved, has occasioned the following correspondence, wholly addressed to the Times journal, in defence, it must be admitted, of a defective remembrance of all the circumstances.

The following, addressed to the Editor, appeared in the Times on the 28th ultimo.

SIR, I request, as a favour, the insertion in The Times of this my reply to the following passage from Mr. Thomas Moore's diary, published by Lord John Russell

despite of Lord Holland's authority. First, my recollection is clear and strong of this fact, that the newspapers published at the time the words of the song-the burden being, I think, not "Tally-ho!" but "Hark, hark! to the death of the Fox." It was published as Sir W. Scott's composition, and as having been sung at a "Pitt dinner."

Second, after my discussion with Mr. Moore, I happened to meet Mrs. Dugald Stewart, widow of the moral philosopher, and mentioned the subject to her: she raised her hands and eyes in astonishment at Mr. Moore's having contradicted the story, saying her husband had broken off all intimacy with Sir Walter in resentment, and, I think she said, had shut his door against him; moreover, that the only point doubtful was, whether Sir Walter had not also sung the song at the dinner.

There must be people in Edinburgh still alive who can bear testimony to this. Yours respectfully,

Dec. 26.

W. NAPIER, Lieutenant-General.

The song in question was written for the celebration of Lord Melville's acquittal, and sung at a dinner given in Edinburgh for that purpose on the 27th of June, 1806. Mr. Fox at that time was not known to be ill, nor did his death take place until the 13th of September, of the same year.

dicted.

Perhaps you will be kind enough to insert this in your next paper, as it is most unjust to Sir Walter Scott's memory to leave the assertion of Sir W. Napier uncontraI have the honour to be, your most obedient servant, Dec. 28. SENEX. The words of the song to which Sir William alludes are these

In GRENVILLE and SPENCER,
And some few good men, Sir,

Great talents we honour, slight difference forgive;
But the Brewer we'll hoax,
Tally ho! to the Fox!

And drinkMelville for ever' as long as we live. These lines constitute the concluding portion of the eighth and last verse. Lockhart has the commencement of the third line High talents we honour.'

On January 3rd appeared the following

SIR,-Your correspondent "Senex" may be, and no doubt is, a very respectable old lady; but I cannot, without the honour of knowing her, accept such testimony in opposition to that of Mrs. Dugald Stewart. Her memory, also, seems impaired, for she gives but one verse of a song by Sir Walter Scott, the rest, I suppose, not suiting her purpose; moreover, it appears to me more than doubtful that it is taken

Dec. 31.

W. NAPIER, Lieutenant-General.

MY DEAR SIR WILLIAM,-I see a letter of yours in The Times of yesterday, referring to a passage in Moore's Diary respecting Sir Walter's song. I passed two winters in Edinburgh-1817, 1818-and then was well acquainted with Mrs. Grant of Laggan, a good Tory. Eulogizing Scott, she mentioned to me, as the only blemish in his life, the composition of the song referred to, and his singing it at a Pitt dinner.

Of course, I heard the story from others, but it was a subject which the friends of Scott avoided. Moore could have no good authority for his contradiction of your state

ment.

Use this statement if it can be of any service, without the name, which is of no authority on such a subject. The controversy closed by the publication of the following in the Times on the 4th inst.

SIR, Lieutenant-General Sir William Napier, with characteristic perseverance, but with small civility to your correspondent "Senex," is determined never to be in the wrong. Let us hope that "the modern Polybius" has not always been so slow in consulting the most obvious authorities for assertions affecting, as in this case, the reputation of the dead. Here was a grave charge against Sir Walter Scott, though generously refuted when first made by Mr. Moore. Surely, if there were any doubt about the facts, Mr. Lockhart's biography was at hand, and was above suspicion. Accordingly, in the second volume of that work Sir William would have found the song printed at length, with all the circumstances attending the production of it. I cannot suppose that Sir William would venture to charge Mr. Lockhart either with forgery, garbling, or suppression. In short, the song was written before it was known even to Mr. Fox's own colleagues that his health was in anything like a precarious state, and was not sung at a Pitt dinner, but at one given to celebrate Lord Melville's acquittal. Mr. Fox's name is only once mentioned or expressly alluded to in the stanza correctly quoted by "Senex;" and lastly, was not sung by Scott himself, but by Ballantyne. Sung it himself! One would think that the words he put into the mouth of his own Frank Osbaldiston (though it was evidently Scott himself who spoke) must have been prophetic :

"It has even been reported by my maligners, that I sang a song while under this influence; but, as I remember nothing of it, and never attempted to turn a tune before or since, I would willingly hope there is no foundation for such a gross calumny."

"Senex," for anything I know, may be "an old woman," but his authority even Sir William must admit is as good as that of Mrs. Dugald Stewart, or Mrs. Grant of Laggan, who, perhaps, were never old. There may be a fond partiality in that of his son-in-law, and, therefore, I will not insist on Sir William's taking it for granted, as asserted by Mr. Lockhart, that Sir Walter never wrote but this one lampoon (which is bad enough to be harmless), and that he recorded his regret at this only ill-natured reference to the honoured name of Charles Fox by some of the most beau

H.

SIR,-The gallant, but not very courteous General might have employed his time to better purpose than in his effort to bolster up the original slander.

My only reason for not giving the whole song was its length. It may be seen on page 107 of the second volume of Lockhart's Life of Scott, who likewise states that it was sung by James Ballantyne at the dinner mentioned in my last letter. A reference to it will show that the lines quoted by me are the only ones that have anything to do with the subject.

I fear that even this reference will not be sufficient to satisfy Sir William; but I feel confident that every one else will agree with me that Sir Walter Scott is fully exonerated from the charge, and that Sir W. Napier's opinion, founded on gossiping recollections of his own and others, is of no value whatever.

With many apologies for trespassing on your valuable time, I have the honour to be, your obedient servant, Jan. 3. SENEX.

AN INEDITED LETTER OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. Addressed to Alexander Mundell, Esq. Barrister-atLaw, Parliament Street, London.

with pleasure that my long depending business is at MY DEAR SIR,-From your kind letter I perceive length accomplished. My best respects attend Mr. Harrison, and I shall not fail to keep his directions in mind. Indeed as I have planning and planting in view, I dare say my Pegasus will not be over-weighted, as the Jockies say, by this accession of fortune.*

Pray let me know the account of fees, and so forth, that I may put myself out of your debt, so far as money can do so, for your attention to this matter. The friendly exertions you have made in my behalf merit my best thanks: assuredly my Christmas cheer has digested much better for the pleasure of your correspondence. Believe me ever, your faithful and obliged,

Edinburgh, January 7th, 1812.

WALTER SCOTT.

SUFFOLK BALLAD LORE.-The extensive collection of

ballads, traditionary and historical verses, in reference to the County of Suffolk, formed by the late Rev. James Ford, editor of the Suffolk Garland; the late Augustine Page, editor of the Supplement to Kirby's Suffolk Traveller; and other collections, are now preparing for publication, as a second and considerably enlarged edition of the Suffolk Garland.

In January, 1812, Scott entered upon the enjoyment of his proper salary as a Clerk of Session, that with his Sheriffdom, gave him from this time, till very near the close of his life, a professional income of sixteen hundred pounds a year.

No. XXXVIII.]

CUCKING OR DUCKING STOOLS FOR SCOLDS. THE Cucking-stool was a means adopted for the punishment of scolds and incorrigible women by ducking them in the water, after having secured them in a chair or stool, fixed at the end of a long pole, serving as a lever by which they were immersed in some muddy or stinking pond. Blount notices it was in use in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, by whom it was called Scealpingrzole, and described to be Cathedra in qua rixosæ mulieres sedentes aquis demergebantur; he also observes it was anciently a punishment inflicted upon bakers and brewers transgressing the laws.

"In Germany, cowards, sluggards, debauchees and prostitutes were suffocated in mires and bogs;" Henry* adds, "it is not improbable that these useless members and pests of human society were punished in the same manner, in this island;" questioning at the same time, in a note-" Is not the Ducking-stool a relic of this last kind of punishment?"

The practice of ducking scolds, though now obsolete, continued till within the last century; and corporate bodies were required to furnish themselves with these appliances, as they are now enforced to provide and maintain fire-engines.

In 1552, at the Manor-court of Edgeware, the inhabitants were prosecuted for not having a Tumbrel and Cucking-stool; the former for the punishment of braciatores. The accompts of the Corporation of Banbury, in Oxfordshire, notice

1556. Paid to Jhon Awod for making of sarten Staples and Hokes for the Kockestoll.

The Staples here mentioned, are shewn in the annexed wood-cut, as fixed to the oak-chair; the hooks being attached to the ropes, for lowering the scold, seated in the machine, into the water, and raising it again.

The Proceedings in the Vice-Chancellor's Court of Cambridge, 1559, 1st Eliz., record

Jane Johnson, adjudged to the Duckeing-stoole for scoulding, and commuted her penance.

History of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 214.

†The woodcut represents the old Cucking-stool, formerly belonging, as it was said, to the Corporation of Worcester, and sold fifteen years since at Oxenham's Rooms, in Oxford Street.

VOL. IV.

[FEBRUARY, 1854.

For making a Cuck-stool with appurtenances 88.

Clarke* describes a Chair at Ipswich, that was formerly used there as a Ducking-stool, and from the accompanying minute representation will be seen to have been a machine, formed as a common chair, but by the iron frame, was affixed and suspended by a rope, at the end of a transverse beam, or crane, above the water, for lowering or raising it, and the delinquent was thus soused into the water. The seat and the back, are alike open.

The Corporation Accompts of Gravesend, have frequent entries in reference to the Cucking-stool, and are probably indicative of the occasions it was required for the public service

1628. Nov. 9. Paid unto Mildman for mend-
ing the Cucking-stool

73

1629. Sept. 4. Paid unto the Wheeler for timber for mending the Cucking-stool 1635. Oct. 23. Paid for two Wheeles and Yeekes for the Ducking stool 1636. Jan. 7. Paid the porters for ducking of Goodwife Campion 1646. June 12. Paid two porters for laying up the Ducking-stoole.

38 4d

38 6d

28

1653. Paid John Powell for mending the Ducking-stoole

1680. Paid Gattlett for a proclamation, and

for carrying the Ducking-stoole in market 18 6d The Cucking-stool, or as it was sometimes called the Ducking-stool, was in use long after the date of these History of Ipswich, 1830, 8vo. p. 298.

C

entries; but the practice having been discontinued, the machine with its appendages are not now found among the Chattels of the Corporation. That belonging to Gravesend, was placed upon wheels, and by the ministration of porters, was run or plunged with the occupant into the Thames, at an inclined plane called the Horse Wash' at the Town Quay; no other place being adapted for the operation, within the town; and farther, the Corporation Accounts show that the porters were not only recompensed for ducking the scold, but also for replacing it in its wonted deposit in the market. In Whimsies: or a New Cast of Characters, 1631, duod.; the author speaking of a Xantippean says He, (her husband) vowes therefore to bring her in all disgrace to the Cucking-stoole, and she vowes againe to bring him, with all contempt to the Stoole of repentance.'* Misson describes the operation of the Cucking-stool, as witnessed by him—

The way of punishing scolding women is pleasant enough, they fasten an arm chair to the ends of two beams, twelve or fifteen feet long, and parallel to each other, so that these two pieces of wood with their two ends, embrace the chair, which hangs between them upon a sort of axle, by which means it plays freely, and always remains in a horizontal position, that a person may conveniently sit in it, whether you raise it up or let it down. They set a post upon the bank of a pond or river, and over the post they lay almost in equilibrio, the two beams, at the ends of which, the chair hangs just over the water; they place the woman in the chair, and so plunge her into the water, as often as the sentence directs, in order to cool her immoderate heat.t Gay in his third Pastoral, entitled 'The Dumps,' thus describes the Cucking-stool —

I'll speed me to the Pond, where the high Stool
On the long plank, hangs o'er the muddy pool;
That Stool, the dread of ev'ry scolding Quean.

"The stools of infamy are the Ducking-stool and the Stool of repentance. The first was invented for taming female shrews. The stool of repentance is an ecclesiastical engine, of Popish extraction, for the punishment of fornication and other immoralities, whereby the delinquent publicly takes shame to himself, and receives a solemn reprimand from the minister of the parish."-Gentleman's Magazine, 1732, p. 740.

+ Travels in England, transl. by Ozell, 1719, 8vo. p. 65.

ESCROQUER. In the Quarterly Review, for September last, in an excellent article on 'The Institute of France,' it is related, p. 322, as an instance of the proneness of lexicographers to make their dictionaries the vehicle of their prejudices, or their wrongs, that Richelet, in his once popular dictionary, thus exemplifies the word Escroquer :

The son of François Herrard de Vitri (escroqué) swindled M. Richelet of ten louis-dores, and that scoundrel, instead of retrieving the misconduct of his son, by restoring what he had basely (escroqué) swindled, had the insolence to approve what he had done, and in a foolish note, to thank M. Richelet for his generosity.'

printed in 1759, I find under the word Escroqué, no On turning to my 'nouvelle edition' of Richelet, such statement, but the following: - Brusquet, fameux Boufon escroqua subtilement une chaine d'or que le Roi avoit donnée à un Boufon de l'Empereur,' for which he cites Perroniana, p. 39. Some of your readers may possibly be able to say, if any other edition of Richelet's Dictionary contains the anecdote stated by the writer of the article in question.

“We

In the same article, p. 343, the author says, night really even parody the famous line of Molière:

:

'Tant de fiel entre-t-il dans l'âme des savans.' Is this not an error, in ascribing the line on which the parody is made to Molière, instead of to Boileau, who in his Lutrin has the line,

"Tant de fiel entre-t-il dans l'âme des devôts," a well known parody of the line in Virgil,— "Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ ?" En. lib. 1. v. 15.

ROBERT BURNS' SIX "BELLES OF MAUCHLINE." Died, last week, at Edinburgh, Mrs. Candlish, formerly Miss Jean Smith, the last of the six belles of Mauchline,' to whom the verses of Burns have given celebrity

Miss Miller is fine, Miss Markland's divine,

Miss Smith she has wit, and Miss Betty is braw, There's beauty and fortune to get wi' Miss Morton, But Armour's the jewel for me o' them a'. Miss Miller became the wife of the poet's friend, Dr. Mackenzie; Miss Markland was married to Finlay, an excise officer at Greenock; Miss Betty Miller became a Mrs. Templeton; and Miss Morton a Mrs. Paterson. The husband of Jean Smith was Mr. Candlish, a medical man; and her son is the Rev. Dr. Candlish, of Edinburgh, whose eloquence and ability confirm the shrewd discrimination of the poet.

North British Daily Mail, Feb. 3.

SCOTLAND'S CURSE.-Why is the playing-card, the nine of diamonds, said to be the Curse of Scotland?' Totteridge. EUPHEMIA.

William, Duke of Cumberland, is said to have dispatched his sanguinary orders, at the close of the battle of Culloden, written on the back of a playing-card, the Nine of Diamonds; no other or better writing-material being at hand. Hence its popular denouncement.