Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/165

 2 nd S. N" 8., FEB. 23. ! 56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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that it is the catalogue of the magnificent library of John de Witt, son of John, counsellor and syndic of Holland, and keeper of the great seal : Illius audio habebitur Dordraci in cedibus defuncti 20 Octobris, 1701. At the back of this is the order of the sale, which was to take place on Oct. 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31 ; Nov. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and following days. A preface to the reader, by J. G. Grzevius records the zeal of " Joannes de Witt " in collecting books ; but, that his un- timely death, and that of his wife, leaving three children " aetatis tenerrimas," was the reason that their guardians determined "hanc incomparabilem bibliothecam publice vendere, ne aut furtis lacera- retur, aut hominum temporumque injuria cor- rumperetur."

This volume includes books in folio and in quarto ; of the former there are 1307 lots, and of the latter 2773. As may be expected, it includes copies of many rare and valuable works ; but I much regret that I have not that portion of the catalogue which contains " libri manuscript!, nu- mismata et alia prisci temporis monumenta." My reason for this regret is the greater because my copy is interleaved, and has the price at which it was sold placed opposite every lot. No. 2218. is Jac. de Witt, uytdrukzels van Godvrugtige gedagten, Dord., 1674; and my Query is, Was the owner of this library son of the great John de Witt? and was the author of the book just named one of the family ? B. H. C.

GENERAL RICHARD WALL.

(1 st S. viii. 318.)

On looking over your delightful Miscellany, I find a Query respecting this gentleman. The Query I shall be able to answer to H.'s satisfac- tion. I refer him to the fourth volume of Coxe's Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, where he will find the particulars of the whole political career of this distinguished Irish- man, and also some details of his earlier and more private life. In his youth, like many other Ca- tholic Irishmen of good family, he entered the military service of Spain. He was a volunteer on board the fleet which invaded Sicily in 1718, and signalised himself in the naval combat with Ad- miral Byng. He afterwards served with the Spanish army which placed Don Carlos on the throne of Naples. He next attracted the notice of the minister Patifio, and from this his diplo- matic career must be dated ; for not long after he had the opportunity of distinguishing himself in foreign missions, and particularly in England ; and finally he overthrew and succeeded the great Ensenada in office. Throughout the reign of Ferdinand VI. he preserved peace between this country and Spain, and when on the accession of

Charles III., and the signing of the "Family Compact," war broke out between the two coun- tries, he discharged his duties ably and manfully up to the peace of 1763. In the following year he retired from office, and died in 1778. He left no issue ; a collateral descendant of his was mar- ried to Charles Coote, LL.D., of the College of Advocates, London. Mr. Macaulay, with his usual graphic force, describes the splendid position of the self-exiled Irishman Don Ricardo Wall, as the Spaniards delighted to call him but as in the case of other celebrities of the same country, he is unable fully to recognise the merits of the general. H. C. C.

8AMARITASS=SHOMERIM.

(2 nd S. i. 72.)

The inquiry of MR. HUSSEY may perhaps be best answered by replying to the argument of Dr. Wilson (Lands of the Bible, ii. 697.), who ob- jects to the claim of (he Shomerim as Descendants of Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh (Jo- sephus, Ant., xi. viii. 6.; Eichhorn's Rep., ix. 21.). Dr. Wilson has, however, stated the argument very fairly in favour of such claim ; and also his objections very fully and candidly. The question is far too interesting to biblical critics to be left in doubt, if any certainty can be attained. The radical error of Dr. Wilson is a conclusion that no Shomar (Israelite) was left in Samaria after the captivity, the converse of which is stated in 2Kingsxvii. 27, 28., and 2 Chr.xxx. 6. 11.* It was not probable, scarcely possible, short of a miracle, that all the ten tribes, without exception of some individuals, should be transplanted into Babylonia. The peoples sent thence to supply the place of the Israelites in Samaria were already observers of the Sabbath (Josephus, Ant., xii. v. 5.), and are termed Cuthjeoi by Josephus, but by the Greeks Samaritans (Ant., ix. xiv. 3.). The Samaritans occupied the city Shomeron ; but the Shomeronim (2 Kings xvii. 29.) must not be confounded with the Shomerim, as Dr. Wilson has done. They are as distinct as the 12,000 Arabs and 100 Shomerim of Sichem now are. The Shomerim (Wilson, ii. 45.), commonly called Samaritans by biblical critics, have been for 2500 years inhabitants of Sichem (=Neapolis Nablus), close to Mount Gerizim, their Kiblah, as Jerusalem is that of, the Jews, and Mecca that of the Moslem. The peo- ple, according to Josephus, amongst whom the Lord sent lions, were the Cuthseoi, not the Shome- rim : the former, and not the Shomerim (Ezra iv. 9.), were the people who interfered to prevent the building of a temple at Jerusalem, and their di- plomatic despatch, as preserved by Ezra (iv. 11


 * I have adopted Jahn's chronology.