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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL MAR. 13, im

BURTON'S LINE (10 S. xi. 187). " Burton's Line " was first described by Henry Burton, M.D., Physician to St. Thomas's Hospital, in a paper read before the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society on Tuesday, 14 Jan., 1840, and entitled ' On a Remarkable Effect upon the Gums produced by the Slow Introduction of Lead Oxide into the Human Body.' M. A. M. MACALISTER.

Torrisdale, Cambridge.

COCKBURNSPATH (10 S. X. 430 ; xi. 72).

My authority for placing the population of Cockburnspath at 1,500 is ' Longmans' Gazetteer,' where it is also stated that a former designation of the place was Cold- brandspath.

The interesting letter of Cromwell's fur- nished by MB. LINDSAY HILSON must have been issued on the very eve of the battle of Dunbar, which, like that of Worcester, was fought on the Protector's natal day, 3 September. N. W. HILL.

New York.

MOHAMMEDAN AND CHRISTIAN CHRONO- LOGY (10 S. xi. 107). The numerous rules and their shortcomings for converting any A.H. into A.D. are discussed in Mr. S. B. Bunbury's book on ' The Jewish and Mu- hammadan Calendars ' (London, 1901). I have always used Wuestenfeld's tables to A.H. 1300 (Leipzig, 1854), continued by Dr. E. Mahler to A.H. 1500, that is, A.D. 2077 (Leipzig, 1887). But the ideal chronology upon which these and all other tables and all rules are based has not always been followed in practice. All true believers must be guided by the moon, and are for- bidden to consult any almanac in fixing the beginning and ending of the Ramazan, for instance, or in observing the feast of Bairam. Cf. two short articles on this subject in The English Historical Review for October, 1898. L. L. K.

MR. RUSSELL'S rules for converting A.H. to A.D. agree with those given in ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica.' The occasional en or of one or two days is caused by the irregularity of the intercalary years. It is necessary then to fix the weekday of the first day of the Muhammedan year. For this a rule and table are given, and any other date in the year can be determined.

Similar rules will be found in Bond's ' Handy Book,' but he makes the sum to be added to A.H. 62'54. This implies that the era began on 16 July, 622 A.D., which is correct, but that the first year was A.H. Most books say621'57, which implies that

the era began with 1 A.H. 16 July, 622 A.D., was a Friday, and by Mr. Bond's own rules 1 A.H. began on a Friday, A.H. on a Monday. The difference of '54 and *57 would also make an error of 10 or 11 days.

It will be remembered that at the begin- ning of this century and last there were disputes as to whether the Christian era ran from A.D. or from 1 A.D.

Will some one inform us if these dis- crepancies have been previously noted and explained ? J. W. N.

CORUNNA : BEARER or THE FIRST NEWS (10 S. xi. 130). In The Times of 25 Jan., 1909, the dispatches of Lieut.-General Sir David Baird and Lieut.-General Sir John Hope, as these appeared in that journal on 25 Jan., 1809, were reproduced. The dis- patch of the former, written on board the Ville de Paris, at sea, 18 Jan., 1809, and that of the latter, penned on the Audacious, off Corunna, the same day, were published in a London Gazette Extraordinary, dated Downing Street, 24 Jan., 1809, in which it was stated that " the Honourable Captain Hope arrived late last night [23 Jan., seven days after the battle] with the despatch from Lieut.-General Sir David Baird to Viscount Castlereagh." On 25 January thanks were moved in the House of Lords by the Earl of Liverpool, and in the Commons by Viscount Castlereagh. It would there- fore appear that the Hon. John Hope whose dispatch, it might be stated, was characterized by The National Register as " one of the most beautiful, that is the most simple, clear, and interesting composition of the kind that we have ever seen from the pen of any modern commander, and may even be compared with those of Julius Caesar "

was the bearer of the official news, and that 23 Jan., 1809, was the date of his arrival in England. JOHN GRIGOR.

105, Choumert Road, Peckham, S.E.

Perhaps The Naval Chronicle for February or March, 1809, would give the information. The arrivals of men-of-war were often an- nounced if they brought important news. A set of The Naval Chronicle is in the British Museum, and all institutions connected with the Navy have also this once popular magazine. M. N. G.

SHAKESPEARE IN FRENCH : ARMS OF LIVERPOOL (10 S. xi. 84, 158). It is interest- ng to see M. Montegut's generally excellent translation of Shakespeare's works brought under discussion in ' N. & Q.' The some- what technical and archaic points noticed