Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/167

 9* s. viii. AUG. 24, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

159

" I am of opinion that Lindamira and Indamora are distinct persons, and that both the marriages are good and valid. Therefore I order you, Mar- tinus Scriblerus, Batchelor in Physick, and you, Ebn - Hai - Paw - Waw, Prince of Monomotapa, to cohabit with your wives, and to lie in bed each on the side of his own wife. I hope, Gentlemen, you

will seriously consider that being, as it were,

joint Proprietors of one common Tenement, you will so behave as good fellow-lodgers ought to do."

This sentence pleased neither party, and Martin appealed from the Consistory to the Court of Arches, but the verdict was con- firmed. It was next brought before a Com- mission of Delegates, who reversed the verdict of the inferior courts and disannulled both marriages.

While there is some probability that an author who had visited and written about the Twins in the British Apollo might feel inclined to write further on the subject, it must be admitted that it cannot be conclu- sively asserted that the writer of the Apollo articles and the writer of the satire were the same individual.

One of the authors of the British Apollo is more directly indicated in the following answer to a correspondent; but otherwise he does not show his personality in any other part of the volume. Asked, " Who was the best author that ever treated of painting ? " he replied :

" Signior Paulinus, an Italian, writ the best treatise on that art which hath come to our know- ledge, but 'tis a very scarce book. In English a gentleman of our Society writ one some years since. All we shall say of it is that had he seen one before it in English, which discovered that the author so well understood the art, he had not writ his."

In discussing what was then the vexed question whether cochineal were a fungus, the berry of a plant, or an insect, it is stated that a member of Apollo's Society believed it to be a berry (in which he was wrong), as he found it growing on a shrub on the Isle of Tenedos in the ^Egean Sea. It was the same gentleman presumably who visited the Dead Sea, and corrected the popular error that

" any bird is immediately struck dead if it attempts

to flyover the Dead Sea Which is so far from

the truth that it has been proved by the ocular demonstration of a Gentleman of our Society, that birds do not only fly in great numbers over, but will often perch on such parts of the lake as can afford 'em reeds, timber, sea weed, or any other float enough to stand upon " (vol. ii. p. 452).

It is hoped these few hints may have the effect of eliciting more definite informa- tion concerning the authorship of the British Apollo than the writer has been able to obtain. G. W. NIVEN.

23, Newton Street, Greenock.

BE VIS MARKS SYNAGOGUE

BICENTENARY. (Continued from p. 139.)

THE'EricyclopaediaBritannica'in its article on the Jews mentions that the archives of the synagogue contain a curious printed invitation from the King of Sweden, sent in the year 1746, in which wealthy Jews are invited to Sweden, while the poor are warned that their residence will be unwelcome.

A most impressive feature of the recent celebration was that all parties among the Jews united in it. No similar assembly had been seen since the installation of Dr. Adler as Chief Rabbi. The Jewish World states that "it was an occasion to prove how much we all have in common, not how we may best magnify points of difference." The members of the West London Synagogue, partly an offspring of the Spanish and Portu- guese congregation, joined heartily in their congratulations. In reference to this the Rev. Moses Joseph in his sermon on the event said, "The animosities which attended its birth were dead and buried, and the child un- welcomed and unloved, as it was at its birth, had in its manhood clasped hands with its parent in mutual esteem and goodwill." It was in 1692 that the German and Polish settlers increased so much in numbers that they decided to have a separate place of worship, and the first Ashkenazim Synagogue was commenced. It was situated in Broad Street, Duke's Place, and the entire expense of the building was borne by Mr. Moses Hart.

The synagogue was consecrated with great solemnity in 1722. In 1767 it was repaired, enlarged, and again consecrated with im- posing ceremonies ; and about this time the Jews became possessed of two Hebrew print- ing presses, one under the auspices of the German congregation, and the other under that of the Spanish and Portuguese. In point of numbers the Ashkenazim now far exceeds the Sephardim ; it has more attrac- tive services, and there is a difference in its liturgy ; but owing to the greater freedom of speech and action allowed to its mem- bers it has suffered more from internal quarrels than its parent has done. To one of these quarrels, a question ot a divorce, we owe the first Hebrew book published in this country, 'Urim and Thummim,' 1706. The second Hebrew book was by the learned Rabbi David Nieto, ' Mathai Dan,' or * Rod of Judgment,' its object being a vindication of the oral law. His next work was 'Aish Dath,' or 'The Fire of the Law '; and in the same year, 1715, Rabbi Joseph Irgas pub-