Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/118

 1)4

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. VL AUG. s, wist

rightly or wrongly, the familiar picture of the crushed beetle is certainly a striking illustration to bring before the condemned criminal, in order to induce him to accept his fate. It also emphasizes in the strongest manner, by elimination, the predominance of the mental factor, a subject which Isabella Jiad already attacked from another point of view. J. FOSTER PALMER.

8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

SIR CULLING E ARC LEY, BART. (11 S. v. 490). I think this was the third baronet. He was a well-known Evangelical, which .accounts for his interest in Hebrew litera- ture. He was the author of ' The Imprison- ment and Deliverance of Dr. Achilli,' 1851, and also of ' Spanish Prisoners : a Letter,' 1863. Dr. Achilli was the ex-monk who suc- cessfully prosecuted J. H. Newman for libel. See 'D.N.B.' WM. H. PEET.

Sir Culling Eardley, Bart., was the Treasurer of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. His maternal grandfather, Lord Eardley, was the only son of Sampson Gideon (Abudiente), the famous Jew financier during the first half of the eighteenth century.

The Gideon Abudiente family were famous .as writers in all classes of literature. It was no doubt from his Jewish forbears that he inherited his interest in Jews and their literature. ISRAEL SOLOMONS.

INSCRIPTION IN PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY, LLANFAIR-WATERDINE (US. vi. 10). The subjoined cutting from The Bath 'Chronicle of 4 June will be of interest to MR. MACARTHUR and also to numerous other readers of ' N. & Q.' :

" An interesting discovery has been made by Lieut.-Col. H. P. P. Leigh, C.I.E., of Grosyenor House, Bath, who for many years was stationed on the North-Western frontier of India. The Colonel, who is a sidesman of St. Saviour's Church, noticed in the Parish Magazine for June, under ' Red Letter Church News,' a paragraph .headed ' A Strange Inscription.'

" It ran as follovys : ' One of the unsolved riddlefl of the world is to be found in the Parish Church of St. Mary's, Llanfair-Waterdine. It is -an inscription on one of the Holy Communion trails. Many have tried to decipher it without success, though Prof. Sir John Rees, of Oxford, discovered a key to a single word. Needless to say, the present Vicar would very much like to obtain a full translation. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to help him ! '

" Accompanying the paragraph was a reproduc- tion of the inscription, which is in very quaint characters. Col. Leigh studied it closely, and has made out conclusively every letter as belonging to the Pahlavi language spoken in bygone centuries

by early Asiatics, but which is now dead, though there it has a literature the ancient writings of Ceylon, Assam, and other countries in that continent. Col. Leigh became acquainted with the characters while in India through studying the ancient coins which were inscribed in Pahlavi. Though he can decipher all the letters, Col. Leigh is unable to translate the words they presumably form.

" The extraordinary circumstance is how an inscription in a dead Asiatic tongue should be found on the Communion rail of a Welsh church. It is quite a mystery, which probably no one will be able to solve."

CROSS -CROSSLET.

CASANOVA AND CARLYLE (11 S. v. 428; vi. 16). Let your correspondent, T. B. of Copenhagen, read Carlyle's masterly handling of Diderot in his essay on that Encyclopaedist, and he will find, I believe, the phrase he looks for. ROBERT DUNCAN.

Dalchonzie, Perthshire.

"BITE BIGGER, BlLLY " (US. V. 369 J vi.

17). I have recollections of a little recitation for children wherein the above words are used ; it is called ' The Two Crossing Sweepers.' Probably this is the one MR. THOS. RATCLIFFE refers to. I do not know the name of the author, but give the words as I remember them :

They could not claim a single friend

Beneath the widespread sky, But to each other they were bound

By poverty's strong tie.

Though poor, they were too proud to beg,

Too upright far to steal, And gladly would they sweep and clean

To gain an honest meal. It was on a cold and bitter morn,

Just at the close of March, And they had slept the night before

Within a market-arch.

So very hungry, and very cold, They wandered down the street.

Joe picked an apple from the ground, And thought, " Why, here 's a treat 1

It has been rather kicked about,

But it 's a good one still." And, turning to his mate, he said,

" What have you picked up, Bill ? "

" I haven't found a single scrap,"

Bill mournfully did say. " Then, as you are the younger, Bill,

Here, take and bite away."

The poor boy bit a small piece off.

" Ah ! that won't do," cried Joe. " Bite bigger, Billy, bigger yet

You 're welcome, that you know."

A noble lesson this should teach,

Dear children, unto you : Do unto others as you would

That they to you should do.

W. J. CABEY. Plaistow, E.