Various

“ When an Englishman calls the same plant Dandylion, the sound has not given birth "to a new idea" in his mind. Surely, he pronounces badly three French words of which he may know the meaning, or he may not. But when the same Englishman, or any other, orders sparrow-grass for dinner, these two words contain "a new idea," introduced purposely: either he, or some predecessor, reasoned thus—there is no meaning in asparagus; sparrow-grass must be the right word because it makes sense. ”

“ In the first two verses God's watchfulness and care over His beloved are held up to the view of the pilgrims, who are impressed with the truth that no one, "by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature." ”

“ And we wish to convince you that fresh increase is daily made to the affection with which we have always cherished this Order of Jerusalem, inasmuch as we perceive that your actions have been directed to a good and upright end, both because these undertakings of your Reverend Lordship, and of your venerable Brethren, are approved by us as highly beneficial and profitable; and because we trust that your favour and protection will ever be ready to assist our nation, if there be any need ”

“ Filtered rain-water is far the best to use in making your iodized paper. The appearances which you describe in all probability depend upon the different sheets resting too firmly upon one another, so that the water has not free and even access to the whole sheet.
H. J. (Norwich) . Turner's paper is now quite a precarious article; a specimen which has come to us of his recent make is full of spots, and the negative useless. Towgood's is admirable for positives, but it does not appear to do well for iodizing. We hope to be soon able to say something cheering to Photographers upon a good paper! ”

“ It appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. ”

“ As he has declared to us that his most ardent wish is by our influence and favour to be in some way invested with honour in his own country, we have most willingly promised to do for him in this matter whatever lay in our power; and we trust that from the good offices which your most worthy Reverence has always received from us, this our desire with regard to promoting the aforesaid Master Peter will be furthered, and the more readily on this account, because what we beg for may be granted without injury to any one. ”

“ Mendelsohn does not omit the it in his Hebrew comment; and I am therefore unwarrantably charged with supplying it "unauthorisedly." I should like to see Mr. Buckton's translation of that comment. If any doubt remained upon Mr. B.'s mind as to the intended meaning of the word יתנהו used by Mendelsohn, his German version might have removed such a doubt, as the little word es, "it," indicates pretty clearly what Mendelsohn meant by יתנהו. So that, instead of proving Mendelsohn "at variance with himself," he is proved most satisfactorily to have been in perfect harmony with himself. ”

“ De Pauw (who, I believe, never was in America) devotes a whole chapter to the subject in his Recherches sur les Américains, in which he talks a great deal of nonsense. It assisted his hypothesis, that everything American, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, was inferior to their synonymes in the Old World.
The calm and more philosophical observation of subsequent travellers, however, soon discovered that the so-called hermaphrodites were men in female attire, associating with the women, and partaking of all their labours and occupations. ”

“ The paper at the angles is to prevent the absolute contact and consequent injury by the solution of nitrate of silver; and, for the same reason, it is advisable not to attempt to print until the primary negative is varnished, as, with all one's care, sometimes the nitrate will come in contact and produce spots, if the varnishing has been omitted. Should the negative become moistened, it should be at once washed with a gentle stream of water and dried. ”

“ The third and following verses, as well as the next Psalm, are exegetical or illustrative. To whom do you attribute the gift of children? Is it not admitted on all hands to be "an heritage of the Lord?" No one can procure that blessing by personal anxiety and care: God alone can confer the gift. Well, then, the same God who gives you the heritage of children will also grant you all other blessings which are good for you, provided you act the part of "His beloved," and depend upon Him without wavering. ”

“ Now, admirable as it is, I doubt if it can be considered as expressive of the deliberate opinion of Dryden. The essayist himself, in his epistolary address to lord Buckhurst, gives a caution on that point. He observes, "All I have said is problematical." In short, the essay Of dramatick poesie is in the form of a dialogue—and a dialogue is "a chace of wit kept up on both sides."
I proceed to the second extract.—Who wrote the Prologue to Julius Cæsar? To what master-hand are we to ascribe this twofold specimen of psychologic portraiture? ”

“ Farther it is stated, that two of these people whom they found among the Sauks, though generally held in contempt, were pitied by many—
"As labouring under an unfortunate destiny that they cannot avoid, being supposed to be impelled to this course by a vision from the female spirit that resides in the moon," &c.—Vol. i. p. 227.
Venus Urania is placed among the Scythian deities by Herodotus, under the name "Artimpasa." We are, for obvious reasons, at liberty to conjecture that the adoption of her worship, and the development of "the female disease," may have been contemporaneous, or nearly so. ”

“ He is much like the perch for his shape, and taken to be better than the perch, but will grow to be bigger than a gudgeon. He is an excellent fish, no fish that swims is of a pleasanter taste, and he is also excellent to enter a young angler, for he is a greedy biter." In the Faerie Queene, book i. canto iv., Spenser speaks of
"His ruffin raiment all was stain'd with blood
Which he had spilt, and all to rags yrent."
To these lines Mr. Todd has added a note, which gives a clue to the meaning of the word. He says, "Mr. Church here observes, that ruffin is reddish, from the Latin rufus." ”

“ The name of a well-known place in London illustrates both these changes: Convent Garden becomes Covent Garden by mispronunciation; it becomes Common Garden by intentional change.
Mistakes of the first class are not worth recording; those of the second fall under this general principle: words are purposely exchanged for others of a similar sound, because the latter are supposed to recover a lost meaning.
I have by me several examples which I will send you if you think the subject worth pursuing.
J. O. B.
Wicken.
"Good wine needs no bush" (Vol. viii., p. 607.) ”

“ But that his Imperial Majesty has granted to your Order the island of Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli, we cannot but rejoice; places which, as we hear, are most strongly fortified by nature, and most excellently adapted for repelling the attacks of the Infidels, should have now come into your hands, where your Order can assemble in all safety, recover its strength, and settle and confirm its position. ”

“ I am now enabled to forward, according to my promise, literal translations, so far as they could be made, of three more letters, which were written in the Latin language, and addressed by Henry VIII. to the Grand Masters of Malta. The first two were directed to Philip de Villiers L'Isle Adam, and the last to his successor Pierino Dupont, an Italian knight, who, from his very advanced age, and consequent infirmity, was little disposed to accept of the high dignity which his brethren of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem had unanimously conferred upon him. ”

“ From the love then and affection which we have hitherto shown in no ordinary manner to your Order, for the sake of the propagation of the Christian Faith, we were not a little grieved at the death of your predecessor, because we very much feared that serious loss would in consequence be entailed on that Religion. ”

“ Thus, the strange sculptures on misereres, &c. are ascribed to contests between the secular and regular clergy: and thus Dryden, in his polemical poem of The Hind and the Panther, made these two animals symbolise respectively the Church of Rome and the Church of England, while the Independents, Calvinists, Quakers, Anabaptists, and other sects are characterised as wolves, bears, boars, foxes—all that is odious and horrible in the brute creation. ”

“ Although, by many proofs, we have often before been convinced that our Reverend Lordship, and your venerable Brethren, after the loss of Rhodes, have had nothing more to heart than that by your actions you might deserve most highly of the Christian republic, and that you might sometimes give proof of this by your deeds, that you have zealously sought for some convenient spot where you might at length fix your abode ”

“ The residence, which is suitable for a highly respectable family, contains dining-room, drawing-room, library, six best bedrooms, and four servants' rooms, with all necessary offices, coach-house, stabling for six horses, convenient farm buildings, with good pleasure and kitchen gardens, and about 27 acres of prime meadow and orchard land, stocked with fruit-trees. ”

“ The curse still hangs over the descendants of the Scythians. Reineggo found the "female disease" among the Nogay Tatars, who call persons so afflicted "Choss." In 1797-8, Count Potocki saw one of them. The Turks apply the same term to men wanting a beard. (See Klaproth's Georgia and Caucasus, p. 160., ed. 4to.) From the Turkish use of the word "choss," we may infer that Enareans existed in the cradle of their race, and that the meaning only had suffered a slight modification on their descent from the Altai. ”

“ The goddess punished this sacrilege by inflicting on the Scythian nation the "female disease." Herodotus, from whom we learn this, says:
"The Scythians themselves confess that their countrymen suffer this malady in consequence of the above crime; their condition also may be seen by those who visit Scythia, where they are called Enareæ."—Beloe's Translation, vol. i. p. 112., ed. 8vo.
And again, vol. ii. p. 261., Hippocrates says:
"There are likewise among the Scythians, persons who come into the world as eunuchs, and do all the work of women ”

“ Shadbolt.
{111} Adulteration of Nitrate of Silver.—Will any of your chemical readers tell me how I am to know if nitrate of silver is pure, and how to detect the adulteration? If so with nitrate of potash, how? One writer on photography recommends the fused, as then the excess of nitric acid is got rid of. Another says the fused nitrate is nearly always adulterated. I fear you have more querists than respondents. I have looked carefully for a reply to some former Queries respecting Mr. Crookes's restoration of old collodion, but at present they have failed in appearance. ”

“ Since, then, a certain Dominus Livius, concerning whom your Reverend Lordship will be more fully informed by our same Secretary, is in possession of a Priory in the Collegiate Church of SS. John and Riparata in the city of Luca, we most earnestly desire that the said Livius, through your Reverend Lordship's intercession, may resign the said Priory and Collegiate Church to our said Latin Secretary, on this condition, however, that your Reverend Lordship, as a special favour to us, will provide the said Dominus Livius with a Commandery of equal or of greater value. ”

“ I mean the sentence, "The translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation is unintelligible." It seems to be perfectly intelligible to Messrs. Buckton, Jebb, Walter, and S. D. I qualify, therefore, the assertion. I mean to say, that the translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation was, and is, considered unintelligible to many intelligent biblical critics and expositors; amongst whom I may name Luther, Mendelsohn, Hengstenberg, Zunz, and many others whose names will transpire in the sequel. ”

“ The Camden Society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the Civil, Ecclesiastical, or Literary History of the United Kingdom ”

“ In the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, edited by Dr. W. Smith, 1st edit., p. 679., it is said to be from the Greek παιδαγωγὸς, pædagogus. But in an edition of Tacitus, with notes by Boxhorn (Amsterdam, 1662) , it is curiously identified with the word boy, and traced to an eastern source thus:—Persian, bagoa; Polish, pokoigo; Old German, Pagie, Bagh, Bai; then the Welsh, bachgen; French, page; English, boy; and Greek, παῖς. ”

“ A far greater Hebraist than Luther, who flourished about two hundred years before the great German Reformer came into note, put the same construction on that sacred affirmation. Rabbi Abraham Hacohen of Zante, who paraphrased the whole Hebrew Psalter into modern metrical Hebrew verse (which, according to a P.S., was completed in 1326) , interprets the sentence in question thus:
כי כן יתן אל טרף
לידידו ושנתו מנהו לא תרף׃
"For surely God shall give food
To His beloved, and his sleep shall not be withheld from him." ”

“ Cary's Translation.
I think short-sightedness is an infirmity more common among men of letters, authors, &c., than any other class; indeed, one is inclined to think it is no rare accompaniment of talent. ”

“ Captain Fitzroy, quoting the Jesuit Falkner, says the Patagonian wizards (query priests) are dressed in female attire: they are chosen for the office when young, preference being given to boys evincing a feminine disposition. ”