Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/45

 n s. xii. JULY 10, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

TOMB OP ALEXANDER THE GREAT (11 S. xi. 361). The description of the supposed discovery of this tomb provided in ' A Doffed Coronet,' 1902, is fictional, and was probably inspired by one of Sir Rider Haggard's interesting novels. There are also slight suggestions that the writer was familiar with Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke's (1776-1822) discovery of the Sarcophagus of Alexander, that had been unearthed from this same site. He published a monograph on the tomb (Cambridge, 1805), and there was considerable discussion of his claim (see The Monthly Magazine, xvii.). Sir Henry Ellis opposed the attribution, and I have some of his correspondence relating to it. This Sarcophagus can now be seen in the Egyptian Gallery at the British Museum, identified as having been made for the coffin of Nekht Hem Hebt, B.C. 378.

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

"BELL" BIBLE (11 S. xi. 490). Perhaps MR. THORNTON would be kind enough to give the street in Covent Garden where Mr. John Gray Bell carried on his business of bookseller. REGINALD JACOBS.

6, Templars' Avenue, Golder's Green, N. W.

GERMAN SOLDIERS' AMULETS (11 S. xi. 187, 256, 439). I am indebted to MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS for his interesting remarks at the last reference ; but I fancy he has missed the atmosphere and the precise point of view, not of modern Judaism, but of that remoter and more intensive form of it represented by the Hebrew communities in Russia, &c., over whom the antique spirit of the rigid Rabbinical formulas still prevails. And, in order that there might be no conflict of opinion between us, I carefully went over several folios of Talmudic tradition, in- cluding the locus classicus in ' Erubin,' folios 95b to 97a, where the whole subject of Tephillin (phylacteries) is brilliantly handled by some of the greatest masters of Hebrew jurisprudence, notably by Akiba and by Rabban Gamaliel among those of recognized standing. The sum and sub- stance of those delightful debates is, I rejoice to say, in favour of my own a priori impression of the Russian soldier's behaviour. He was fresh from his dialectical encounters in the " Yeshivous," or schools of learning, and imbued from infancy with the old-world piety of his Palestinian ancestors, and I can well understand the mental state of that ardent but conscientious \v;irrior, sent into the firing-line, and com- pelled to attend to his devotions under extreme, if not impossible, conditions.

Instead of wearing his Tephillin " by hance," as MR. ABRAHAMS naturally sur- mises, he was wearing them "by choice," and for an excellent reason. Rather than incur the danger of committing a minor offence (" Cheit "') by not having them avail- able always for " Shachriss," or morning service, he resolved, in accordance with " a rule of law " established by the Rabbins, to wear them continuously, day and night ; or only so long as he was compelled to be in th,e forefront of battle. That is the plain and the probable explanation of this ritual anomaly.

With regard to those debates aforesaid, the kernel of the discussion is to be found invariably in an obscure passage in the Old Testament. The particular passage that engages attention in this case is found in Ex. xiii. 10, and th,e argument revolves round these words, " in its appointed season, from period to period." Now it only requires the play of normal imagination to realize how the incidence of that precept, uniform and inflexible, would materially affect the interests and the welfare of an agricultural people during "the lambing season," for example. The shepherds of Judea would have to travel hundreds of miles ; would be away from their homes and from their houses of worship for days together; away on the bleak and lonely mountains, and up the greater part of the night with their sick charges. Sunrise would break almost unexpectedly upon their anxious vision, and the time," as the Rabbins say, " would have arrived for ' Kereeass Schema,' and for putting on Tephillin." To spare those men the dread of mislaying them, the doctors of the Talmud issued "special licences" to them, and to others similarly occupied in delicate operations in inaccessible districts, " to wear their phylacteries how and when they pleased" ; but only when "on duty," and not otherwise. M. L. R. BRESLAR.

Percy House, South Hackney.

NOTES ON STATUES AT THE ROYAL EXCHANGE (2 S. xi. 47 ; 3 S. i. 267 ; 7 S. v. 7, 51, 145 ; 8 S. v. 407, 470 ; vi. 92, 138, 249, 333 ; ix. 213 ; 9 S. ii. 65, 198 ; viii. 202 ; 10 S. x. 491 ; 11 S. ii. 322, 371, 454, 508 ; iii. 187, 230, 241, 315, 385, 429, 473 ; iv. 138, 176, 499 ; vi. 398 ; ix. 219 ; x. 168, 347 ; xi. 468 ; xii. 17). A record should be made of the fact that among other places considered as appropriate for the reception of the seven statues of English sovereigns recently removed (or now in course of removal) from Westminster Hall was the