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NOTES AND QUERIES. &* s. ix. MAY 24, 1902.

jun., no date) there are one or two carious slips. Saxe (the victor of Fontenoy, the son of Aurora von Konigsmark and the " Saxon man of sin ") is transformed into " der sachs- ische Hof." When the English writer, with an obvious allusion to Horace, ' A. P.,' 372-3, describes the king's verses as "hateful to gods and men," this by a strange mistake appears as "voller Erbitterung gegen Gott und Menschen."

In quoting these errors no disparagement is intended to Reclam's " Universal-Bibliothek," that wonderful series of cheap literature to which we have at present no parallel in Eng- land. EDWARD BENSLY.

The University, Adelaide, South Australia.

BOON FOR BOOKWORMS. I have just come across what will doubtless be hailed as a welcome innovation in the reading world. This is a marker of narrow ribbon which a thoughtful firm of publishers has attached to the covers of a couple of volumes recently issued. When the unsatisfactory nature of various expedients employed for keeping one's place, such as the elusive paper- knife, clips, turned-down edges, and the like, is considered, the appearance of so neat and simple an indicator should certainly be welcomed with gratitude. May the entire book-trade adopt the plan ! say I.

CECIL CLARKE. Junior Athenseum Club.

ITALIAN BELL. I do not know whether the foreign bells in English churches have ever been catalogued, but it may not seem unworthy of record in ' N. & Q.' that one brought by me from Rome two years ago has been hung recently at Hendon. It is a Sanctus bell, measuring in height 1 ft. 4| in., and in rim circumference 4 ft. 2| in." It belonged to the church of S. Giovanni Cala- bita on the Tiber Island. It bears the follow- ing encircling inscription in three lines :

1. DEO + MENTEM. SANCTAM. SPONTANEAM. HONO-

BEM.

2. ET. PATRIE. LIBERATIONEM. A.D. MDLXXVII.

3. JOANNES. MELO. VERVLANTJS. *

Below this occurs a shield bearing in chief two stars above a melon. Above is a half- figure, in relief, of Christ, with hands bound in front. The bell was in danger of being sold for " breaking up" when rescued.

ST. CLAIR BADDELEY.

BREAKING BREAD AT TABLE. The prac- tice of breaking one's bread at table may be commended on the score of elegance, but few people would suppose that there may some-


 * Of Veroli, near Frosinone,

times be a deeper reason for doing so. Once, however, I heard a Russian girl say to her little brother at dinner, " Jesus Christ broke His bread, He did not cut it, and you should do the same." T. P. ARMSTRONG.

SHORTHAND IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. That shorthand was used in the ancient world is well known, but our information is still scanty and any addition is welcome. It may, therefore, be worth noting that there is in the Armenian 'Acts of St. Callistratus ' a reference to the employment of stenography. A translation of this is included in Mr. F. C. Conybeare's 'Armenian Apology and Acts of Apollonius and other Monuments of Early Christianity ' (second edit., London, 1896, p. 331), a book for which all students of the early ages of the Christian Church must be grateful. The account of Callistratus was probably written in the first half of the fourth century. It includes several long addresses of Callistratus to his fellow-soldiers, in explanation of the mysteries of the new faith for which he and forty-nine of his com- rades became martyrs. Perhaps with a view to giving them authority as verbatim reports the compiler says :

" But there was a certain scribe of the law court, who was near to the prison, and he listened to the discourse of Callistratus, and wrote it down in shorthand on paper, and gave it to us ; and we set in order, with all accuracy, the record and outline of his thought."

My good friend the late Sir Isaac Pitman, the inventor of phonography, would, I think, have been delighted with this reference to the art which he so greatly improved and so widely popularized.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

Manchester.

" METROPOLI." The following extract is taken from the Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia) of 14 March :

" A Melbourne paper writes : ' The mutual jealousy of Melbourne and Sydney prevents either of these fine cities becoming the capital. Why not then select one of the smaller metropoli of the States ? ' "

I do not know whether this curious plural is confined to the Southern hemisphere or has appeared elsewhere. Certainly the daily newspapers of Australia are at least as fal- lible as their contemporaries in other lands, especially when they leave the safe ground of the King's colonial English. Volksraad has been known to disguise itself as Yolks- road ; Appendicitis has masqueraded as a South African place - name ; a democratic statesman out of office has been happily com- pared toCoriolanus( J) returning to the plough;