Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/199

 ii s. VIL MAR. s, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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" APITJM ". (11 S. vi. 489 ; vii. 55, 74, 135) In vol. vi. part i. of the new edition of Pauly's ' Real-Encyclopadie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft ' (1907) will be found under the word ' Eppich,' over seven columns, closely packed with references dealing with the subject of Apium and o-eAti/oi/. The view taken is distinctly against the old identification with parsley This article ought to be studied by any one who is really interested in the question. As German scholars are sometimes accusec of overlooking English work, it is interesting to see in the present case that twenty lines are devoted to an account of the contribu- tions by Sir George Bird wood, Mr. W. R. Paton, and Mr. J. Sargeaunt to The Athe- nceum in 1901.

My remark about " local botany " seems to have been misunderstood by MB. A. C JONAS. What was meant was that a special knowledge of the flora of Greece and Italy war. necessary before the exact nature of these plants could be determined.

BRASIDAS'S MOUSE (US. vii. 90, 137). Plutarch tells the story more than once though not always in precisely the same form. See his ' Apophthegmata,' 190 A, B, ' Laconica Apophthegmata,' 219 C, and * De profectu virtutis,' 79 E. Brasidas caught a mouse among some dried figs, and was bitten by it. He let it go, remarking to the bystanders (or to himself) that the meanest creature can save its life by boldly attacking its assailants. So convenient an incident for moralists could hardly avoid repeating itself, and accordingly we find Plutarch treating us to a similar anecdote about Agesilaus, ' Lac. Apophth.,' 208 E. Here it is a boy who is bitten ; the king improves the occasion. The mouse was popular with writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but it would be unkind to bury it under a mountain of references. EDWARD BENSLY.

STONE FROM CARTHAGE (US. vii. 109). in copying the inscriptions on the memorials In Stepney Church and Churchyard, I made pretty exhaustive inquiries concerning the history of this stone, but could find abso- lutely nothing beyond the inscription thereon to aid me. So far as I am aware, no local records exist relating to it. I see no reason, however, to doubt the statement that the stone was brought from Carthage. There is, I believe, in Maldon Church, Essex, a stone from the ruins of Smyrna ; and in St. Paul's Cathedral may be seen relics
 * Some twenty years ago, when I was engaged

brought by Canon Liddon from the Temple at Jerusalem.

The Carthage stone was originally placed on the outside or eastern wall of a por- tico on the north side of Stepney Church. This portico stood on the site of the present vestry, and from it access was gained to the now demolished north gallery. Early in the nineteenth century the church underwent considerable renovation, and the north portico was pulled down. The Car- thage stone was brought thence to the tower porch or main entrance to the church, and inserted in the wall on the south side. In 1847 the flooring of the church was removed and relaid in concrete, and the Carthage stone was then placed in position in the north wall of the western porch, where it remained for over fifty years. At the restoration of the church in 1900 it was brought into the church, and placed in a good position near the centre of the south aisle wall. Here it may still be seen.

JOHN T. PAGE.

PETRONIUS, CAP. LXXXI. (US. vii. 107). The French scholars (who are by no means alone in their view) are clearly right, since the sentence a line or two lower down which begins " Tanquam mulier secutuleia " can only refer to Giton ; they describe his conduct at the separation in cap. Ixxx. as a consequence of the events of cap. Ixxix. The word " adolescens " need not by any means be suitable only to a character as young as Giton. In the other six places where it occurs in Petronius it is always applied to the hero (or narrator) Encolpius, who was himself actually older than Ascyltos.

S. G.

THE WRECK OF THE ROYAJL GEORGE (11 S. vi. 110, 176, 374, 436, 496; vii. 36, 77, 113, 158). It may interest some of your readers to see the first printed report of the loss, copied from The London Chronicle, 29 Aug., 1782. I have a volume of the paper in my possession.

" Yesterday an express [forwarded by " Admiral Lord Howe "] arrived at the Admiralty in- forming the Board of the melancholy disaster of his Majesty's Ship the Royal George of 1 guns, with most of her crew, being lost at Spit- head, about half-past 10 in the morning of the preceding day. This unfortunate accident hap- pened while the ship was hove upon a careen, in order to have the water pipe in her cistern re- paired, at which juncture a strong squall at N.N. W. came on, and her keel lying across the tide current, she fell suddenly on her beam-ends, and before they could right ship, she filled and went down, her top-masts only appearing at the water's edge ! At the time of this calamitous