Various

“ A tricaputed idol of a sea-god, or Neptune, stood in Wollin, to denote that the island Wollin was surrounded by three different seas: that is to say, a green one, the Ostsee; a white one, under which we should probably understand the Dievenow; and one which was retained in raging motion by continual storms, the Haff. The navigation from Wollin to Demmin, a trading place of the Peene, is short; also from Wollin to Samland, in Prussia, eight days only were necessary to go by land from Hamburgh to Wollin, or by sea, across Schleswig ”

“ Who could blame persons imbued with the superstitious feelings of their age, if they saw, under these circumstances, the devil dancing with his whole train of ghosts, demons, and witches? The revels of the Walpurgisnacht must now, alas! vanish, and give place to the sobrieties of science—science, which with her touch dissipates one by one all the beautiful but dim forms evoked by phantasy. ”

“ Your correspondent appears to consider that the only fact asserted by the propounders of the theory, is a variation in the plane of oscillation, caused by "the difference of rotation due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other;" the probable existence of which he proves by imagining a pendulum suspended over a point half-way between London and Edinburgh, and set in motion by being drawn towards and retained over London, and thence dismissed on its course. ”

“ What the propounders of this theory claim to show is, I humbly conceive, this,—that the direction in which a pendulum oscillates is constant, and not affected by the rotation of the earth beneath it: that as when suspended above the pole (where the point of suspension would remain fixed) the plane of each oscillation would make a different angle with any given meridian of longitude, returning to its original angle when the diurnal rotation of the earth was completed ”

“ The error appears to be in the Septuagint of Jonah, where the particular fish, the whale, is mentioned instead of the general term fish. Possibly the disciples of Christ knew that the fish was a κῆτος, and the habits of such of them as were fishermen might have familiarised them with its description or form. It is certain that the κῆτος of Aristotle, and cetus of Pliny, was one of the genus Cetacea, without gills, but with blow-holes communicating with the lungs. ”

“ The gentleman who has kindly given me, by word of mouth, the following particulars, is a native of Wollin, and of one of the most ancient and noble families in that island, a relative of that Baron Kaiserling who was the Cicero of Frederick the Great, but of an elder branch of that family, the Counts of Kaiserling. M. de Kaiserling states that, when a young man, in his native town, he took a delight in reading the records of its bygone glory, and in tracing out the ruins in the neighbourhood of the town, extending to the distance of about one English mile from its outskirts. ”

“ The foundations of houses and tracks of streets [1] are still exposed in the operations of agriculture, and any informant has in his possession several Byzantine and Wendish coins which he at that time picked up. He has likewise seen a Persian coin, which was found in the same neighbourhood by a friend. Having been led by circumstances to examine the evidence pro and con. in this question, he has come to the conclusion that Wollin and Julin or Jumne are identical. He treats the story of Vineta as a nursery tale and a myth. ”

“ The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac of Jonah, have both the identical word which was most probably used by our Lord, Noono, fish, the root signifying to be prolific, for which fishes are eminently remarkable. ”

“ It is clear that in such a case the pendulum would at starting be impressed with the same velocity of motion in an eastern direction which the retaining power in London had, and that its path would be the result of this force compounded with that given by gravity in its line of suspension, i.e. towards the north, and its course would therefore be one subject to easy calculation. I should imagine that this disturbing force arising from the excess of eastern velocity possessed by the starting point over that of suspension, would be inappreciable after a few oscillations ”

“ While an old chronicler, Helmold, follows Adam of Bremen in the description of the city Wollin, he puts, through an error of transcription, [4] in place of Julinum or Jumne, which name Adam of Bremen has, Vineta; such a place could not be found, and it was concluded, therefore, that the sea had engulfed it. The celebrated Buggenhagen [5] first discovered, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, a great rock formation in the sea, at the foot of the Streckelberg, on the island of Usedom, [6] and then the [173] city Vineta was soon transplanted thither ”

“ THE ANTIQUITY OF KILTS.
This has been the subject of many discussions, and has recently found a place in the columns of "NOTES AND QUERIES." I do not propose to take any part in the present discussion, but it may be of some service to historical students for me to [171] introduce to public notice a much older authority than any that has yet been cited. ”

“ John Hunter compares the whale's tongue to a feather bed; and says that the baleen (whalebone) and tongue together fill up the whole space of the jaws.
Josephus describes the fish of Jonah as a κῆτος, and fixes on the Euxine for the locality as an on dit (ὁ λόγος) . The same word in reference to the same event is used by Epiphanius, Cedrenus, Zanarus, and Nicephorus. ”

“ Nightingale and Thorn.
—Where is the earliest notice of the fable of the nightingale and the thorn? that she sings because she has a thorn in her breast? For obvious reasons, the fiction cannot be classical. ”

“ The antiquity of these poems admits of no reasonable doubt; on that point the Vindication of Turner enables the antiquaries of Wales to make this assertion with confidence: and having recently translated most of our old poems, with a view to future publication, I feel myself warranted in assuming them to belong to the sixth and seventh centuries of our era. One of these bards, Aneurin by name, belonged to the British tribe, described by the Romans as Ottadini, and by themselves as the people of Gododin. ”

“ These arms were borne by Condurus, the last Earl of Cornwall of British blood, in the time of William I., and were so borne until Richard, Earl of Cornwall, on being created Earl of Poictou, took the arms of such. According to the custom of the French, these were a rampant lion gules crowned or, in a field argent; but to show forth Cornwall, he threw the fifteen bezants into a bordour sable, round the bearing of the Earl of Poictou; but the Cornish arms, those of Condurus, are unaltered, though the coins are often mistaken for balls, and painted on a field coloured to the painter's fancy. ”

“ Your correspondent MR. GATTY, in a late number, has quoted a passage of the historian Hume, which treats a certain Anglo-Saxon document as a statute of Athelstan. As your correspondent cites his author without a comment, he would appear to give his own sanction to the date which Hume has imposed upon that document. In point of fact, it bears no express date, and therefore presents a good subject for a Query, whether that or any other era is by construction applicable to it. It is an extremely interesting Anglo-Saxon remain ”

“ The most remarkable thing in Wollin was a pot of Vulcan, which the inhabitants called Greek fire. [3] Probably we should understand by this, a great beacon fire, which the Wolliners sustained by night on account of navigation, and of which a report was among the sailors that it was Greek fire; but it is also possible that in the trade with the Orient, which the discovered Arabic coins prove, real Greek fire was brought to Wollin in pots. ”

“ An anonymous writer says that dag means a fish-boat; and that the word which is translated whale, should have been preserver; a criticism inconsistent with itself, and void of authority.
The above four instances are the only hypotheses at variance with the received text and interpretation worthy of notice: if indeed the case of the shark can be deemed at all at variance, as the term κῆτος was used to designate many different fishes.
Jebb (Sacred Literature, p. 178.) says that the whale's stomach is not a safe and practicable asylum ”

“ The subject of testing sword blades is a very important one, although it has not received that degree of attention from those whom it more nearly concerns which it seems to demand.
The writer's experience has been only en amateur; but it has satisfied him how much yet remains to be effected before swords proved by a machine are to be relied upon.
E. M. M.
Thornhill Square, August 16. 1851.
Was Milton an Anglo-Saxon Scholar? (Vol. iv., p. 100.) . ”

“ The word used by our Lord, in adverting to His descent to Hades, was most probably that of the Syriac version,
[Syriac] (noono) , which means fish in Chaldee and Arabic, as well as in Syriac; and corresponds to the Hebrew word דַג, (dag) , fish, in Jonah i. 17., ii. 1., 10. The Greek of Matthew xii. 40., instead of ἰχθὺς, has κῆτος, a whale. The Septuagint has the same word κῆτος for (1) dag in Jonah, as well as for (2) leviathan in Job iii. 8., and for (3) tanninim in Genesis i. 21. ”

“ Your correspondent proceeds by requiring that there should be shown "reasonable ground to induce the belief that the ball is really free from the attraction of each successive point of the earth's surface," and is not as "effectually a partaker in the rotation of any given point" as if it were fixed there ”

“ These notices point to the chief trade of Wollin by sea, that is, with Demmin, Hamburgh, Schleswig, and Holstein, Prussia, and Russia.
"So magnificent was ancient Wollin, according to the narrative of the seamen; yet it must not be considered exactly a northern Venice, but a wide-circuited place, chiefly, however, of wooden houses, and surrounded by walls and palisades, in which (in comparison with the then rudeness and poverty of the countries on the Ostsee) riches and merchandise were heaped up.
"And now it is time to mention the fable of the drowned city Vineta. ”

“ Julin alias Wollin, made in Pomerania, and noted from personal testimony and Pomeranian chronicles.
But, first, to correct an erreur de plume of DR. BELL'S. He says, in stating the position of Vineta (Vol. ii., p. 283.) , "opposite the small town of Demmin, in Pomerania." DR. BELL has mis-written the name: there is no such place on the Baltic. The real name is Damerow, on the Isle of Usedom. A little lower he remarks, speaking of Wollin, "No rudera, no vestiges of ancient grandeur, now mark the spot; not even a tradition of former greatness." ”

“ This people were situated at the junction of England and Scotland, and the poems of this bard chiefly refer to that district; but as the bards were a rambling class, and as the bulk of the people from Chester to Dumbarton were the same race as the people of the principality, we are not surprised when we find this bard sometimes among "the banks and braes of bonny Doon," and sometimes in North and South Wales. In one of his verses he thus describes the kilt of a British chief:—
"Peis dinogat e vreith vreith
O grwyn balaot ban ureith."
These lines may be found in the Myvyrian Archæology, vol. ”

“ Laing well observes, "few readers of the historical events of the middle ages rise from the perusal without a wish to visit the country from which issued in the tenth century the men who conquered the fairest portion of Europe." But as, even in these locomotive times, all cannot travel, but many are destined to be not only home-keeping youths but "house-keeping men" also, all such have reason to be grateful to pleasant intelligent travellers like Mr. ”

“ In the lines of Aneurin, the thing selected for special notice is the excess of stripe; and therefore, whether it was the invention of Dinogad, or whether he borrowed the idea from the Scots or Picts when he was at Dumbarton in 577, it is quite clear, from the repetition of the word vreith, that his kilt had the attribute of stripyness to a greater extent than was usually the case ”

“ Skinner calls Mum a strong kind of beer, introduced by us from Brunswick, and derived either from German mummeln, to mumble, or from mum (silentii index) , i.e. either drink that will (ut nos dicimus) make a cat speak, or drink that will take away the power of speech. ”

“ And in a public decision, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as Visitor of Dulwich College, which appears in The Times of July 21, it is directed that certain scholars are to proceed for instruction to some such place as "King's College or the London University." ”

“ P. T. Will this correspondent kindly favour us with a sight of his proposed paper on Prince Madoc? Our only fear is as to its extent.
AN OLD CORRESPONDENT is thanked. The articles he refers to would be very acceptable.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.—The Correspondents who wanted Herbert's Social Statics and Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. I., are requested to send their names to the publisher. ”

“ It may be doubted whether this translation was into English; but Harvey seems to imply that it was acted, as well as the Jocasta. Bishop Watson was celebrated for his dramatic skill, in his Latin tragedy of Absalon, by Roger Ascham, who says,—
"When M. Watson, in St. John's College at Cambridge, wrote his excellent Tragedie of Absalon, M. Cheke, he, and I, had many pleasant talkes togither, in comparing the preceptes of Aristotle and Horace with the examples of Euripides, Sophocles, and Seneca.... ”