Oberammergau Passion-play, the wood-carver, Johann Allenger, died at the age of seventyone. He played that part with much skill for three successive decades-1860 to 1880. ORIGINAL VERSE. ON TWO PICTURES OF G. F. WATTS, R.A. Love and Death. Love, one while seen with wings of various dyes, Of youthful sorrow, as the phantom tall, scorn, Since in the dunnest shadow of your night] II. 331 SELECTED FOREIGN BOOKS. BANVILLE, Th. de. Scènes de la Vie: Contes héroïques, GENERAL LITERATURE. CAVALLUCCI, C. J. DEJOB, Ch. De l'Influence du Concile de Trente sur la Manuale di Storia della Scultura. Turin: Loescher. 6 L. Kiel: Littérature et les Beaux-Arts chez les Peuples like task of filling up what he held to be the last lacuna in his system. Of the twelve bundles in which the MS. exists seven have now been printed, filling about five hundred pages in the journal from March 1882 to the same date in the present year. The editor, Dr. Reicke, prosecutes with praiseworthy exactitude his labour of deciphering and arrangement. His reproduction of the ipsissima verba will enable anyone to judge for himself of the value of only other philosophical papers of the year are these painfully reiterative lucubrations. one by J. Witte on the new edition of Kuno Fischer's Kant (a subject already discussed under another aspect by E. Arnoldt in the number for December 1882), and an article on the Axioms of Geometry by Jacobson, which deals severely with a pamphlet of Proi. Benno Erdmann's under the same title. Some of the archaeological papers are not so dry as the above-mentioned catalogue of Königsberg citizens. Prof. Bezzenberger attempts, with the help of the local names into the composition of which enter the Old-Prussian and the Lithuanian words for hill and stream, to draw the dividing line between these two nationalities in East Prussia. Prof. Prutz gives from Venice and Malta some documents (connected with How beautiful upon the mountains are the Teutonic Order) which he came upon in the The feet of Love, beneath whose tread there course of his researches for the history of the Crusades. Pastor Rogge communicates a few pages from a diary of events at Insterburg during the Russian invasion of 1757; and there is an account (with some curious epitaphs) of the church of St. George at Rastenburg. The proceedings of the Antiquarian Society are given with the usual fullness; and a list, drawn up in part by Prof. Vaihinger, gives the bibliography of Kantian literature for 1882. first number of the journal for the present year aforesaid, at least two papers of more than contains, besides a large piece from Kant's MS. local interest. One of these gives ten Polish ballads (old and new) from the district of Masuren, accompanied by a metrical German translation; the other is a well-told history of the circumstances attending the outbreak of cholera at Danzig and Königsberg in 1831. The narrative-in which the statesman Schön stands out with honourable distinction-goes to show the folly of the policy of cordons and isolation, and to support the view that this and similar epidemics can only be overcome by permanent improvement in sanitary conditions. grows Love and Life. The verdure that is the herald of the rose; The upward path, unwitting where it goes, way, How dense the mist upon the mountain clings; Lo the abyss! take heed, she hath no wings, MAGAZINES AND REVIEWS. MR. W. CAREW HASLITT Contributes to the Antiquary for May a very good paper on the coins of Venice, to which a continuation is promised. We trust the second part may be enriched with engravings. It is almost impossible to follow any writer on numismatics, however lucid he may be, without representations of the objects treated of. Dr. Karl Blind continues his papers on Troy; they are well written, but contain, so far as we can see, little that is new. Mr. Hubert Hall's article on "The Exchequer Game of Chess" shows much original study. Is is an important addition to the literature of that royal game. But the paper which has given us the most pleasure is that by Miss Jessie Young, on the "Legends and Traditions of Mecklenburg." It indicates not only great research, but also very considerable powers of generalisation. We trust we may meet with this lady again in the field of folk-lore. THE Altpreussische Monatsschrift for 1883 has devoted half its space each quarter to two publications, representing the two main lines of research to which its pages are open Prussian antiquities and Kant. The first of these serial articles is an alphabetical list (running through six numbers), drawn up by J. Gallandi, giving the birth, death, and marriage register of the Königsberg families of importance during the two last centuries. The second is made up of four instalments of an "unprinted work of Kant from the last years of his life." This is the Uebergang von den Metaph. Anf. Gründen der Naturwissenschaft zur Physik, the work in which the old man struggled, not without hope, with his Tantalus The Real Academia de la Historia for April are on Cagnoni publishes some interesting documents THEOLOGY. 1. Hft. MOSLER. H. Die jüdische Stammverschiedenheit, ihr Einfluss auf die Entwicklg. v. Judentum u. Christentum. 1. Thl. Leipzig: Friedrich._ 3 M. TARGUM Onkelos. Hrsg. u. erläutert v. A. Berliner. Berlin: Gorzelanczyk. 10 M. HISTORY. CuQ, E. Le Conseil des Empereurs d'Auguste à Dio- RADDE, G. Ornis caucasica. 1. Lfg. Kassel: Fischer, 2 M. ROSENBERGER, F. Die Geschichte der Physik in VIOLLE, J. Cours de Physique. T. 1. Physique molé- culaire. 2 Partie. Paris: Masson. 13 fr. PHILOLOGY. BOEHTLINGE, O. Sanskrit-Wörterbuch in kürzerer HILPRECHT, H. Freibrief Nebukadnezars I, Königs v. Babylonien, c. 1130 v. Chr. Zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht, umschrieben u. übersetzt. Leipzig: Fock. 3 M. KRAUSE, G. A. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Fulischen Sprache in Afrika. Leipzig: Brockhaus. 4 M. SACOUNTALA, Drame indien de Calidâsâ, traduit en Prose et en Vers par A. Bergaigne et P. Lehugeur. WAGLER, PR De Aetna poemate quaestiones criticae. Berlin: Calvary. 4 M. ZIMMER, H. Keltische Studien. 2. Hft. Ueber altirische Betonung u. Verskunst. Berlin: Weidmann. 6 M. CORRESPONDENCE. AN EXPLANATION. Edinburgh: May 5, 1864. May I be allowed to interpose, in the inexplanation, between two valued contributors terests of peace, and with a word of editorial to the Encyclopaedia Britannica? They consist mainly of twenty-in attention of those who are students of Leopardi's seven 'Pensieri," and certainly deserve the writings. written on Pelasgians and Phoenicians was not Prof. Sayce complains that what he had acknowledged by name in the article "Greece" the Encyclopaedia. May I ask him to reon a wide subject it is quite impossible to refer member that in a very condensed general article to the literature bearing on special points? The utmost that can be done, in the class of articles to which "Greece" belongs, is to refer to the author of any important new discovery which has not yet become general property. The two points which Prof. Sayce particular 66 ises are not of this last kind, and therefore he may rest assured that no discourtesy towards him was meant. No doubt, when the writer in the Encyclopaedia cited a conjecture of Pischel's as to the origin of the name Pelasgian," he derived his knowledge of that conjecture from one of Prof. Sayce's instructive letters to the ACADEMY. But Prof. Sayce was not the author of the conjecture; and in like manner Prof. Sayce, I fancy, at the time when the article "Greece" was written, was the latest English advocate of the theory which derives the Greek alphabet from Phoenicia, not directly, but through the Aramaeans. But that theory was far from new; and in 1878, the very year in which Prof. Sayce's Contemporary article appeared, it had been rediscussed in Germany by Profs. Wellhausen and Nöldeke. Nöldeke, I think, brought conclusive arguments against the theory, and one is glad to know that it no longer has the support of Prof. Sayce's ad herence. W. ROBERTSON SMITH. SONGS ON ST. STEPHEN'S DAY. Queen's College, Cork: May 6, 1884. With reference to the Rev. W. H. Jones's interesting letter on the Magyar song on St. Stephen's Day, it may be worth calling attention to a somewhat analogous custom still kept up in parts of Leinster on December 26. It is known as "The Wren." In the forenoon of St. Stephen's Day, the country lads go "hunt the wren," and, having killed their poor little quarry, proceed to enthrone it in the centre of a mass of holly and ivy fastened on top of a broomstick. With this they sally forth in the evening, and, going from house to house, sing the lines: "The wran [wren], the wran, The king of all birds, St. Stephen's Day Was caught in the furze. Though she is little Her family is great, So rise up, landlady, And give us a trate [treat].” One of the party is armed with a bag or tin can to collect contributions for their common feast. If a churlish householder refuse tribute, the boys pluck off the feathers of the wren, and scatter them before his door as a symbolic malediction. While in Hungary the singers direct their visits chiefly to the newly married, in Ireland every house alike receives their attentions. May, however, the allusion to prolificness of the wren be introduced as an expression of good wishes for the same blessings to attend the "landlady"? If this were so, it might not be unreasonable to suppose that originally the Irish custom was confined to the newly married and afterwards extended. However, in the analogous case of the swallow song (xexidóvua), which the Rhodian boys went about singing on the return of the swallow in the month Boedromion (cf. Athenaeus, 360, C), they seem to have levied contributions, like the Irish lads, from all alike. According to Liddell and Scott, a like practice is still popular in Greece. Athenaeus, 359, likewise gives a specimen of songs called Kopwviσμara, crow songs, and the word = Kopwview – Tý kopávy ȧycípew, is said of strollers cilled Kopwvioral, who went about with a crow, singing begging songs. With the Magyars the bullock has taken the place of the swallow, crow, or wren which we find elsewhere. A real bullock being somewhat more difficult to manage than a bird, they seem to have resorted to a substitute made of wood. WILLIAM RIDGEWAY. Mr. Courthope, in his Life of Addison in "English Men of Letters," remarks (p. 30) that among Addison's Oxford acquaintance was "possibly the famous Sacheverell." The reason for thus qualifying the statement is given in a foot-note : WEDNESDAY, May 14, 8 p.m. Society of Arts: "Telpherage," by Prof. Fleeming Jenkin. 8 p.m. Geological: "The Pre-Cambrian Rocks of Pembrokeshire, with Special Reference to the St. David's District," by Dr. H. Hicks; "The Recent Encroachment of the Sea at Westward Ho! North Devon," by Mr. H. G. Spearing. 8 p.m. Microscopical: "The Minute Organisation of the Nervous System of Crinoids," by Dr. P. Herbert Carpenter. THURSDAY, May 15, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: “Flame and Oxidation," III., by Prof. Dewar. 8 p.m. Chemical: "The Indices of Refraction of Organic Substances," by Dr. J. H. Gladstone; "Fluorene Derivatives," by Mr. W. R. E. Hodg kinson; "Some Minor Researches on the Action of Ferrous Sulphate upon Plant Life," by Mr. A. B. Griffiths. "A note in the edition of Johnson's Lives of the Meeting; President's Address, by Dr. J. A. H. 9 p.m. Royal Institution: "The Dissolved Oxygen of Water," by Prof. Odling. scopical Geology," by Prof. Bonney. SATURDAY, May 17, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "Micro SCIENCE. The Collection of Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum. Part II., Edited by C. T. Newton. This suggestion seems to be at once disposed of by the fact that the author of the Account of the Isle of Man (London, octavo, 1702) was William (not Henry, Addison's dearest "late Governour of Harry") Sacheverell, Man." The book is dedicated to his kinsman and the head of his family, Robert Sacheverell, Esq., of Barton, in Notts, whose father's THE first part of The Collection of Greek parliamentary career is eulogised. In the Inscriptions in the British Museum contained Preface to the Reader he speaks of "my in- those found in Attika, and was edited by the genious friend, Mr. Addison, of Magdalen Rev. E. L. Hicks. After an interval of nine College; and one chapter is entitled "Far-years we have the second part, edited by Mr. ther Account of some Remarkable Things in this Newton himself, containing the inscriptions Island, in a Letter to Mr. Joseph Addison.' I from the Peloponnese, Northern Greece, may add that Thomas Hearne, in a letter to Mr. Cherry, dated June 1, 1707, and preserved Macedonia, Thrace, the Kimmerian Bosporos, among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian and the islands of the Greek Archipelago. Library, remarks of the author of the Account Under the last head, the short Preface tells of the Isle of Man: "This Mr. Sacheverel is us, "all the inscriptions from the island of related to our Sacheverel in Oxon; I think he Kalymna, and most of those from Rhodes, is his brother [?], and appears to be a man Kos, and Lesbos, are now published for the of Parts, and to have a head for English first time." Part iii., edited by Mr. Hicks, Antiquities." is already in the press, and will contain the inscriptions from Priene, Ephesos, and Iasos. C. E. DOBLE. THE FLORA OF THE COLOSSEUM. Trinity College, Oxford: May 2, 1834. The patient determination to secure accuracy of reading is as conspicuous in the preIn two respects Dr. R. Deakin's book on this subject (1855) sent as in the first volume. enumerates 420 species of flowering plants and we note a decided improvement in the manner ferns as found on the Colosseum, and he seems of representing the texts. Restored or conto think that the list must once have been jectured portions and letters are no longer richer. At the end of March and the beginning given in the uncial text, but are confined to of April of the present year I found sixty-five the cursive transcript; thus the uncial type species on the ruins which I could name (beside as nearly as possible represents the originals many which I could not identify); and, as nine in their actual state; and the cursive tranof these are not in Dr. Deakin's list, they may be worth recording. Ceterach officinarum ; script in every case immediately follows e Angelica silvestris; Veronica didyma; Micro-bloc. meria Graeca; Allium multibulbosum (?); Antirrhinum Siculum; Euphorbia peplus; Geranium purpureum (v. Wood's Tourist's Flora, p. 71; Dr. Deakin only records the typical G. Robertianum); and Lamium amplexicaule (the cleistogamic form; the ordinary one, though common about Rome, I could not find on the Colosseum; about Oxford the cleistogamic form is commonest on walls). Dr. Deakin's text and index give Rhamnus alternatus, but this must be a misprint for R. alaternus. The book has many other misprints. FRANKLIN T. RICHARDS. APPOINTMENTS FOR NEXT WEEK. In the former volume, as this was not always done, comparison between original and transcript was sometimes difficult. Of facsimile copies we have in all only six, MONDAY, May 12, 8 p.m. Prof. W. Noel Hartley. 8.30 p.m., Geographical: "The Region of the Physiology of Nerve and Muscle," II., by Prof. 8 p.m. Anthropological Institute: "The Eth nology of the Andaman Islands," by Mr. E. H. Man; Islands," by Prof. Flower. 8 p.m. Civil Engineers: "The Antiseptic Treat- Progress of Upland Water through a Tidal Estuary," similar case in the Olympian bronze containing the decree in honour of Demokrates, a citizen of Tenedos (Arch. Zeit., 1876, pp. 177 and 184; Cauer, Delectus, 116). These inscriptions, with the exception of the second, the Laconian, have been edited before; the Elean bronze times without number. We naturally, therefore, turn with some curiosity to the commentary and transcription. Mr. Newton reads Fαλείοις, Ηραοίοις, ἔα, συνέαν, Aarpeμevov, in preference to the Faλntois, HpFavors, λarpηiwμevov of Ahrens (Gr. Dial.,) and ela, ovvetav of Ahrens (. c.) and Roehl (Inser. Graec. Ant., No. 110). We must content ourselves with noting (1) that ča, ovvéav seem to us undoubtedly right; for there is no reason to assume an error of the engraver, and in the inscriptions discovered during the recent excavations at Olympia the iota (y) between vowels is sometimes written, sometimes not. Where, therefore, it is omitted in writing we have a right to suppose that it was not pronounced. The fuctuation may be perhaps explained by the remarkable dialectal variations, chronological or local, exhibited by the inscriptions coming from this confined area (cf. εἴη, κατιαραύσεις, čoi=eiŋ, μýtɩtoeóvтwv, toiƑéo); (2) if in the Elean Bustrophedon fragment (Roehl, op. cit., No. 109 and App.) the restoration Aarpaï[uevov] may be relied on, it supplies an argument in favour of λarpnïwμevov rather than Aarpeïouevov; (3) Mr. Newton's 'HpFaoious (for which Roehl, who says "aes examinavi," still retains EFaoios) is supported by Koehler's reading (Mittheilungen des deutsch. Arch. Inst. in Ath., 1882, p. 378) of the legend on an iron coin from the Peloponnese, Hpaoaî[o] (or 'Hp ?), if not even by the Hpaev of the younger coins. The alternative is, of course, to assume the existence of a place (Evaea) nowhere else mentioned. The wood-cut referred to represents the inscription on the well-known bronze votive hare from Samos. The re-examination of the original confirms the reading-To Aπóλv T ɑpınλñí μ' åvéOŋkev Hpaioríwv; and Mr. Newton's remark on the obscurity of the T in the last word shows that Roehl's copy (op. cit., No. 85, "exscripsi ") cannot be regarded as a facsimile. οι · date of the Lygdamis inscription of Halicarnassus, and is, so far as we know, the only example of an Ionic alphabet of that period. Of inscriptions exhibiting a strongly marked dialect we have several which already appear in Boeckh's Corpus, such as the Elean bronze and the Corcyrean bronze (clxvii.) cited above, and the Boeotian stele of Orchomenos (clviii.), a document relating to the cancelling of certain bonds. tain bonds. In 1. 2 we note that the former reading 'Apxíapos is corrected to 'Ayxiapos, and errors in the numeral sigla, repeated by the latest editor, Larfeld (Sylloge Inser. Boeot., 1883, No. 33), are removed. Among the inscriptions not previously edited, or, at least, not embodied in a collection, the following may be noticed as dialectally interesting:one from Kalymna (ccxcix.), which contains forms such as dikaσoé (future), paprupèr, TapeÚvтwv, åπodedwкev (infinitive), and the apocopated form Arów (accusative); two Rhodian inscriptions (cccxlix. and eccli.) with the characteristic infinitive forms eueλnonμειν, ἐντὶ for ἐστί, ἐσίμειν (from ἐσίημι for éoiévai (should not a word of explanation have been given?), éxéμeiv for ekleival, περιβολιβῶσαι for περιμολιβῶσαι; lastly, a decree of Carpathos (ccclxiv.) with the remarkable form of the perfect with present inflection, diareTedékel, yeyóvel, tetiμáke: the comparison of the original in this inscription shows Wescher's text (Revue archéol., N. S., viii. 469) to be incorrect in several respects. We have space for little more than a bare enumeration of the more important inscriptions. The wide range of territory indicated by the list in the Table of Contents would lead us to expect a richer store of inscriptions, interesting for dialect or for archaism, than is actually the case. Under the second category may be noticed the first four of the inscriptions cited above as given in facsimile, the inscription on the bronze hare, and the short Melian dedication (ccclxvi.) Aapoкpéwv avione; on this the editor remarks that the theta appears to have a bar across, but that this may be the result of a fracture in the stone. We are inclined to think he is right, for such a form of theta would ill accord with the period to which Kirchhoff (Gr. Alph. 3, 62), on other grounds, assigns the inscription-the latter half of the sixth century. If this explanation cannot be accepted, Kirchhoff's copy (after Boeckh, C. I. 2434) must be corNo. cccxxiii. represents a fragment of a white marble stele from Kalymna, containing part of a Greek "alphabet" (de... Avery ComρOTOXY). It is Ionic, of about the rected. The commentary may be studied with profit in many places; for instance, the note on the tribes at Tegea (clvi.); on the Kroîvaι or "demes," and the pμáσтpo or magistrates of Rhodes (cccxlix.; cf. also ccclviii.); on the árpa of Rhodes and their relation to the parpiai. The relation of both to the Kroîvaι may be cleared up, we are told, on the publication of an inscription of Carpathos promised by M. Martha (Bull. Corr. Hell., iv. 143). Of the longer inscriptions the following have already appeared in the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum :-No. clvi. (= C. I. 1513-14), from Tegea, a list of victors in the games; No. ccx. (= C. I. 1570), from Oropos, the decree relating to the offerings in the Amphiaraion, with an inventory appended; No. ccclxxvii. (= C. I. 2338), an inscription from Tenos, of 120 very long lines, on a slab of white marble, the surface of which is much rubbed, but "long study" has enabled the present editor to make out many words not to be found in Boeckh's transcripts, and to correct many errors in his text. somewhat tedious document is a register (åvaypaþý) of sales of land and houses, together with, in some cases, farm stock and furniture. This We may conclude this necessarily imperfect notice with some account of the previously inedited inscriptions from Kalymna and Rhodes. The former, more than a hundred in number, were for the most part found by Mr. Newton himself near the site of the Temple of Apollo Delios in 1854. The list comprises a large number of honorary decrees conferring proxenia or politeia on benefactors or foreigners. Besides these may especially be noted No. ccxcviii., which is a long list of subscribers to a public loan; and No. ccxcix., an inscription relating to a claim for thirty talents made by the children of one Diagoras against the people of Kalymna. It appears to be "the only extant inscription which records the mode of procedure in a civil action and a statement of the case for the plaintiff." From the Kalymnian inscriptions in this volume, together with another published in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, ii. 362, Mr. Newton has made out the complete calendar of Kalymnian months, eight of which are identical with months in the calendar of Rhodes and its colonies in Sicily. Of the two longest Rhodian inscriptions, part of one, No. cccxliii., has been edited by Ross (Inser. Ined., iii. 20, No. 274) and was copied by him from one side of a stele built into the pavement of the church of St. John of Jerusalem, which had been converted into a mosque after the taking of Rhodes by the Turks. The writing on the other three sides was discovered by a singular accident-the explosion in 1856 of a powder magazine in the vaults under the mosque. So capricious are the chances by which these remnants of antiquity are preserved or lost. The entire document is a decree of the people of Rhodes with reference to the subscription to a loan on the occasion of some great emergency, which may have resulted, Mr. Newton thinks, either from the burning of their arsenals, 203 B.c., or from the loss of their fleet under Pausistratos, 190 B.C. The page devoted to the calculation of the amounts paid as ourηpéotov forms an excellent example of lucid commentary. The second inscription referred to (No. cccxliv.) is incomplete, and contains part of a calendar (μepolóytov), in which each day of a succession of months is entered; it is inferred from the prevalence of the name Flavius among the prenomina that the document is not earlier than the reign of Vespasian. The persons whose names are associated in this calendar would appear to have been members of some religious association (pavos or Oíacos) who had special daily duties to perform in rotation. The monograms and abbreviated words which follow the names may indicate demes in Rhodes or elsewhere. Several of these Mr. Newton is at pains to identify from other inscriptions; others still await explanation. The work throughout abounds in wealth of illustration, the thoroughness of which is sufficiently attested by the constant appeal to the widest range of available authorities; and when Mr. Newton confesses himself baffled by this or that difficulty, we almost instinctively feel it to be a problem which no other scholar is likely to solve with only the same data at command. E. S. ROBERTS. 334 "6 an in any passage of my two volumes, spoken of unfamiliarity," but simply said that "to edit mediaeval texts critically is work not very familiar to English scholars." By this remark, if words mean anything, I intended to imply that there are indeed English mediaevalists who understand very well how to edit critically, but that the great bulk of editors of mediaeval texts are less accustomed to it. Mr. Hessels, no doubt, knows these competent men better than I do. He mentions in his letter, by way of comparison, the Rolls Series, and Mr. Matthew and Mr. Poole, whose publications are, or will be, as he believes, "critical" editions, and thus he offers me the opportunity of examining what he considers to be the requirements of a critical edition after his own heart. As to the Rolls Series, the charge he brings against me is absolutely groundless. "It is no secret," he says, "that Dr. Buddensieg's rule as to the orthography of his text is the very rule laid down, officially, for the editing of the Master of the Rolls' Series." I have now looked over a number of the Rolls volumes, extending from 1858 to 1883, and find anew that all the volumes print their mediaeval texts in our modern spelling. Mr. Hessels thus puts on the same level two editions which are published on strictly opposite orthographical principles. To Mr. T. D. Matthew we already owe an excellent edition of Wiclif's English works. From the thorough scholarship displayed in that volume we may also expect a "critical" edition of Latin texts, in which, I trust, a close examination of the MSS. will not be wanting. Whether Mr. Poole will furnish a critical text I do not know. We had better wait for his edition. In the meantime, I would draw Mr. Hessels' attention to a very curious review on my volumes in the Modern Review, signed with the initials "R. L. P." The writer, who is no doubt a Wiclif scholar, speaks with the utmost contempt of the very mode of editing texts which Mr. Hessels advocates, calling my volumes at the same time "a model of accurate criticism," and the "mechanical performance of a Saxon schoolmaster, of which it is difficult to speak in too high terms." He doubts "whether the tracts are worthy of such unstinted devotion," and then proceeds to reveal to us his own critical principles on which Wiclif texts should be printed : "A fair text from any MS. that is complete as within certain fixed limits these have been the various MSS. sprung from, or are they connected with, each other? must naturally be considered first. This I have endeavoured to do in my edition, and its claim to be a "critical" edition rests on this examination. This examination of MSS. is now being well done in the "Anecdota Oxoniensia." Let us hope that the Wyclif Society will profit by it, furnishing us with "critical" texts of Wiclif's ipsissima verba, but not encumbering its volumes with the negligences of mediaeval scribes. Let editors be editors of mediaeval texts, and not copyists or photographers of mediaeval copies, RUDOLF BUDDENSIEG, Oxford: May 5, 1884. I was accidentally prevented from seeing Mr. Hessels' able criticism of Dr. Buddensieg's method of editing, which appeared in the ACADEMY of April 12, until to-day; nor should I now come forward to express my cordial agreement with Mr. Hessels' opinions were it not that he has referred to my own work in preparing an edition of some books of Wycliffe. I wish to say that his presumption as to my treatment of the MS. is entirely correct. I do not alter a single letter without giving the form of the original in a foot-note. To this rule, however, I admit two exceptions, which do not affect the principle. First, I ignore the punctuation of the MS., the retention of which would make the text generally unintelligible; and, secondly, in order to save the multiplication of notes, I add the verse-number to that of the chapter in references to the Bible, an R. L. POOLE anachronism which, I think, is justified by its convenience. THE EPINAL GLOSSARY. Berlin, S.W., Kleinbeerenstrasse 7: May 1, 1884. I have no doubt that Mr. Sweet is perfectly right in denying that panibus sol in the Epinal Glossary is an English gloss. Only I think panibus is a corruption of phoebus rather than of panoptes. Cf. ponebus sol and phebe sol in the Corpus Glossary. But what reason is there for thinking uncenos English? Why is it not = uncinos? Cf., e.g., cremen written to be taken twice for crimen, 20 ƒ 22. JULIUS ZUPITZA, SCIENCE NOTES. MESSRS. W. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & Co. request us to announce that the whole edition of Profs. Naegeli and Schwendener's work on the Microscope was destroyed in the recent Ur-disastrous fire in Paternoster Row. A new edition has been at once sent to press, and it is hoped that the work will be in the hands of the public very shortly, since the English editors of the book had already completed their revision of the proof-sheets. As to the editing of mediaeval texts, we have Mr. Hessels goes on to blame my edition for not having given all the orthographical variants of the old scribes in my notes. Philology and mediaeval Latin," he says, "have gained little or nothing by these volumes." In answer to this, my complaint against Mr. Hessels is that he has not examined closely either my Preface or my notes. As to my Preface, he will find (p. xcvi.) that my volumes were not meant, in the first place, for the philologist or palaeographical scholar, but for the student of history, theology, or law. If I speak, on p. xcviii., of "inconsistencies of orthography," on p. xcix. of "vagaries" and "corrupt" forms; if I omit "those forms which differ from the universal usage of the MSS.," and if I then go "from despite all the licence with on to say that, " which we must charge them, the copyists keep I This may, for the present, set at rest the AT the annual meeting last Friday of the Société de Géographie, gold medals were awarded to MM. Milne Edwards, Arthur Thouar, and Désiré Charnay. M. de Lesseps was re-elected president. MR. CORNISH, of Manchester, will publish immediately Histological Notes for the Use of Medical Students, by Mr. W. H. Waters. M. ERNEST CHANTRE is contributing to M. Cartailhac's Matériaux pour l'Histoire de l'Homme a series of interesting papers descriptive of the relics found in certain prehistoric cemeteries in Italy and Austria. These relics are referred to the Hallstattian epoch-in other words, to the early Bronze period, or the transitional time between the Bronze and Iron ages. M. Chantre's papers are the result of an MAY 10, 1884.-No. 627.] extensive journey through Italy, Austria, and PHILOLOGY NOTES. M. NAVILLE has just completed the revision of the proofs of his variorum edition of The Book of the Dead (Todtenbuch), in two volumes, and is to be congratulated on the termination of a learned labour of eight years. Only the introductory matter remains to be written. SINCE the beginning of the present year a sort of supplement to the Journal officiel has been published by the French Government, under the title of the Revue orientale, giving not only a report of the meetings of the Société asiatique, but also a summary of miscellaneous matter relating to Oriental studies. The editor, M. Clermont-Ganneau, is anxious to extend this latter department, and therefore appeals to Oriental scholars in general to send him their publications with a view to their being duly noticed. His address is 44 avenue Marceau, Paris. THE REV. SIR T. H. B. BAKER, BART., in the Chair. PROF. O. DONNER, of Helsingfors, author of the from the mystic writer Henry Suso, from St. Ar a recent meeting of the Académie des Inscriptions M. Halévy read a paper on the =origin of writing in India. The earliest inscriptions in India, as is well known, are those of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka, in the middle of the third century B.C. These inscriptions are written in two alphabets-(1) that of Northern India, which may be called Bactrian or Aryan; (2) that of Southern India, to which M. Halévy would give exclusively the name "Indian.' That the former alphabet is of Semitic origin is now universally admitted. M. Halévy attempted to fix the date of its introduction by comparing it with the Aramacan alphabet found in the Ptolemaic papyri of Blacas, of Turin, of the Louvre, &c. The latter alphabet M. Halévy referred to three sources(1) the Bactrian or Aryan alphabet; (2) the Aramaean at first hand; (3) the Greek. M. Halévy went on to conclude that both Indian alphabets date from the invasion of Alexander, probably from the reign of Chandragupta (Sandracottus), in the last half of the fourth century B.C. Prior to that date there is no SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-(Thursday, May 1.) EDWIN FRESHFIELD, ESQ., V.-P., in the Chair.Mr. Scarth exhibited tracings of some tiles discovered at Minchin Barrow Priory, in Somerset. The priory is now an Elizabethan dwelling-house; an account of it will be found in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological Society in 1863. Many of these tiles come from a tomb on the floor, and bear the arms of Acton, Rodney, Clare, Berkeley, and De Mohun.-Dr. Perceval exhibited and described a few deeds belonging to Mr. Everitt, which have been noticed in Carthew's History of Launditch. Among the seals were those of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Norwich, 1367, and of the Cluniac Priory of Wendham. A private seal bore a device of a wolf and a head, representing the miraculous finding of the head of St. Edmund, king and George Busk; secretary, Sir William Bowman, PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-(Friday, May 2.) DR. J. A. H. MURRAY, President, in the Chair.Mr. H. Sweet read a paper by Prof. Powell, of University College, Cardiff-"Observations on some Keltic Etymologies, with reference to Prof. Skeat's Etymological Dictionary." The paper cited further analogies to certain of Prof. Skeat's derivations, and corrected the mistakes in others. Dr. Murray then gave an account of the history and origin of some a- words which he had lately investigated for the Society's Dictionary-arris, art, ashlar, &c.; and a very difficult set of askwords, few earlier than the middle of the fifteenth century askance, askant, askoyle, askoyne, For the latter, he hesitated askoy, askew, &c. to accept either an Italian or a Dutch origin, as other lexicographers had done. ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.-(Monday, May b.) SIR H. C. RAWLINSON in the Chair.-Mr. Clement Allen read a paper entitled "The She-King for English Readers," in which he showed that the work in question consisted of a collection of archaic poetry and verses, such as are found in all nations in their primitive stages of civilisation. Mr. Allen divided the poems into (1) Idylls; (2) War Songs; (3) Laudatory Odes; (4) Festival and Sacrificial Odes; (5) Satires, Lampoons, and Moral pieces; (6) Fragments and Corrupt pieces. He added his belief that the poems were all capable of translation into English verse, but argued that, in making the translations, it would be necessary to abide by the text, and not to be misled by the commentaries. FINE ART. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. I. THE present exhibition will be chiefly memor- reason to suppose that writing was known in martyr-a device which occurs on the seal of the and the space occupied on the line by pictures, abbey of Bury St. Edmunds.-Mr. Seaton ex- both of Academicians and Associates, which have no claim whatever to rank as works of art is even unusually large. The case of India; and hence, adds M. Halévy, we may assign the composition of the Vedas, which could not have been preserved by oral tradition, to the same date." M. Sénart, while not doubting the Aramaean origin of the Bactrian alphabet, did not admit that this must necessarily be sought in the Aramaean of the Ptolemaic period. Some part at least of India was included in the Persian empire long before Chair.-The Annual Report of the Committee of and the body to which they belong; but Alexander; and the Indians might easily have borrowed the Aramaean alphabet, which is known to have been used in the Persian chancery. THE new number of Hermes contains a con tinuation of Prof. Mommsen's valuable paper on the Roman army under the Empire. THE Wochenschrift für klassische Philologie of April 30 contains a review of Mr. J. S. Reid's Pro Sulla. THE first volume has appeared (Paris: Leroux) of M. Derenbourg's Catalogue of the Arabic MSS. in the Escurial. ROYAL INSTITUTION. (Annual Meeting, Thursday, THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, President, in the "veterans" who have outlived their skill and do not know it is perhaps hopeless-there is no arrangement possible, it is to be feared, analogous to a conseil de famille, to prevent them from bringing ridicule on themselves Visitors for the year 1883, testifying to the conis it hopeless in the case of younger men? Is tinued prosperity and efficient management of the it possible, for instance, that the painter of Institution, was read and adopted. The real and "Little Swansdown" can be content to be "The funded property now amounts to above £85,400, represented by such miserable work as entirely derived from the contributions and dona- Shy Lover" (35) and "The Peacemaker" (74), paid their admission fees, and sixty-three lectures placency on his works of the year? Judged tions of the members. Thirty-seven new members and that Mr. Briton Riviere can look with comand nineteen evening discourses were delivered only by their former selves, Messrs. Faed and in 1883. The books and pamphlets presented Pettie, Phil Morris and Herkomer, Long and amounted to about 236 volumes, making, with 558 Davis, and even Millais, fail; and the fact that volumes (including periodicals bound) purchased by the managers, a total of 794 volumes added to Mr. Millais, even when not at his best, is inuch the lil rary in the year.-The following were above the ordinary level does not make the elected officers for the ensuing year:-President, fact less depressing. Mr. Alma Tadema and the Duke of Northumberland; treasurer, Mr. Mr. Peter Graham have large and important |