laurel that it can scarcely be seen, and the branches are even bound up to clear the entrance to the doors, so many of his countrymen having planted slips in honour of departed genius." The grave, a solitary one, is, I believe, to be looked for somewhere " on the banks of the Arno," outside the city of Pisa on the road to Leghorn, not a fragment, perhaps, of the widow's tribute of love remaining in situ to mark the spot. J. BUCHAN TELFER. ANCIENT ZODIACS. (Continued from p. 104.) A SMALL bronze tablet brought from Palmyra (said to be on the line of the Phoenician march from the Persian Gulf) was obtained by M. Péretié, of Beyrout, and may be described as a Phoenician zodiacal tablet. It is explained as representing the fate of the soul according to Assyrian or Phoenician belief. But the emblematic figures seem to be derived from the zodiacal signs. On this perhaps unique tablet (No. 27) the following figures are noticeable: Cidaris (Corona in Libra), star, solar disc, crescent, seven stars (Pleiades in Taurus), the seven planets, holy water kettle (1 Kings vii. 45) on tripod, fishheaded man holding corn (Spica in Virgo), body on bier, priest in fish robe, two lionheaded men, man in conical cap, animalheaded man with eagle feet, lion-headed human being holding two serpents (Ophiuchus in Scorpioand Hydra in Leo), horse (Pegasus in Aquarius), boat (Argo in Cancer), leg (Cepheus in Pisces), sheaf of arrows (for Sagittarius), river (Eridanus in Taurus), fishes (Pisces). The two uprights might perhaps refer to Gemini, whose later emblem was the duo gasa. At the base is the appearance of a fringe, and at the two upper corners are two eyes for suspending it. So it may have been a divining zodiacal pectoral. Josephus (Antiquities,' III. vii. 7) connects the twelve signs with the twelve stones in the Hebrew pectoral; and a modern author calls the Hebrew pectoral "the divining zodiacal breastplate of Aaron" (Migrations of Symbols'). This Phoenician zodiacal tablet is engraved in the Quarterly Statement of the P. E. F., July, 1881, p. 215. Arabian Zodiac. 28. This was found in a cave about ten miles from Zimbabwe, in Mashonaland, South Africa, by a gold prospector. It consists of a wooden bowl, round the edge of which are carved the twelve signs. It is about thirtyeight inches in circumference, and has also on it the sun, moon, and three stars, while a crocodile is in the centre. Mr. Bent con sidered that the Zimbabwe ruins were of Arabian origin. Mr. Cecil Rhodes obtained it, and it is engraved in South Africa, 4 August, 1894, vol. xxiii. No. 292, p. 218. Greek Zodiacs. 29. The following appear to be of Greek design. The twelve signs surrounding Phoebus on a gem. Engraved in Montfaucon, Antiquité Expliquée, 1719, vol. i. p. 1, pl. lxiv. La Chausse coll. 30. On a coin, round the temple of Artemis. In Montfaucon, i. 87, pl. xv. 31. On an oval marble sculpture, round Phoebus. In Montfaucon, i. 64. 32. On a gem, round Aries, Zeus, and Hermes. Fould collection. In King, 'Antique Gems and Rings,' 1872, vol. i. p. 243, sardonyx. 33. On a gem, around Zeus. In King, i. 243. 34. On a gem, around Sor-Apis or Serapis, with the heads of the planetary deities (King, i. 252). 35. On a gem, around Sor-Apis and the planetary deities. Bosanquet collection (King, i. 252). 36. On a gem, around Zeus and the Dioscuri. Egyptian emerald. Praun collection (King, i. 252). 37. On a gem, around Sor-Apis and the planetary deities. In Caylus, 'Recueil d'Antiquités,' 1752. 38. On a coin of Amastris of Paphlagonia. B.C. c. 322. In Head, 'History of Numismatics.' 39. On a medal, around Artemis in a temple, struck at Ptolemais. In Taylor, Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible,' 1823, vol. v. 40. Describing the emblematic statue of Artemis of Ephesus, Taylor (Calmet, iii. 199) says: "On her breastplate (pectoral) is a necklace of pearls; it is also ornamented with the signs of the zodiac." In Calmet, vol. v. 41. A similar, but not duplicate statue is in the Naples Museum, of which Falkener (Ephesus, p. 290) says: "In her breast are the twelve signs of the zodiac, of which those seen in front are the ram, bull, twins, crab, and lion." Engraved in Fairbairn (Bible Dictionary,' 1872, i. 529), and described fully in Wilson, 'Lights and Shadows of Northern Mythology,' 1881, pp. 113-116. 42. On a round gem, around a quadriga and Victory, sardonyx. Marlborough collection. In Worlidge, Antique Gems,' 1768, No. 52. 43. On a circular gem, round Phoebus. In Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,' on title. 44. The following three casts from gems may be mentioned, in a valuable cabinet of casts formerly the property of the late Mr. Barnard, M.P., of Gosfield Hall, Essex. On a cast from a gem, No. 772. 45. On a cast from a large gem, No. 773. 46. On a cast from a large circular gem, No. 1030. 47. On a cast from a circular gem. Zeus, enthroned in the centre, holds rod and fulmen, his feet resting on an arch, beneath which rises Poseidon with trident. On the right side of Zeus stands Hermes, with caduceus and purse and cock. On the other Aries, with rod and Gorgon shield. Virgo is a woman caressing a unicorn. Gemini is a man and woman. The signs run in the reverse or Egyptian order. Though called Greek it seems later. Diameter 24 in., tray 5, No. 48. On a cast from a round gem, surround-lanes" in some parts of England? It may ing a quadriga, the signs running, as in the last, from left to right. Diameter 3/5 in., tray 7, No. 347; the last two numbers from a collection of Italian casts in my possession. 225. A. B. G. THE BATTLE OF TOWTON.-A contemporary has recently spoken of the battle of Towton in the following words: "At Towton, probably the most sanguinary encounter ever fought out in any country or age, about one hundred and twenty thousand combatants were engaged, thirty-eight thousand of whom were subsequently interred where they had fallen on the field of battle. Proportionately to the number of troops actually arrayed in arms on both sides, the butcher's bill' of Towton was consider ably heavier than that of Waterloo, or even of Gravelotte. Scarcely less destructive to human life were the three general actions fought in the vicinity of London-two at St. Albans and one at Barnet, where Warwick, the Kingmaker, and his astute brother, Earl Montague, died facing the foe. In the northern and midland counties many rural districts were entirely depopulated, while others were so ruinously devastated by the lawless soldiery and camp-followers of both armies that they became absolutely unproductive, and were perforce abandoned by their famine-stricken in habitants." Is it possible, I would ask, that these figures can be correct? To me they seem wildly exaggerated. There are few things which require more careful scrutiny than the numbers recorded to have been slain in battle, whether in ancient or medieval times. Such tests as have been found available have, I believe, been applied to the accounts of the killed spoken of in certain of the engagements mentioned in the Old Testament, and some of those in what are known as the classical historians have not been neglected; but, so far as I know, nothing of the kind has been done for the battles fought in England during the Middle Ages. When we call to mind how small the population must have been during the Wars of the Roses it seems next to impossible that one hundred and twenty thousand men could have been gathered together in one neighbourhood. Feeding a large army is a business which even now almost overtasks the abilities of great commanders. How could so vast a crowd have been sustained in days when there were no canals or railways, and when the high roads were for the most part mere trackways such as are still called "occupation be replied that in those times armies lived by pillage. This is no doubt true, but persons who know the district wherein Towton lies will, I think, agree with me that upwards of four hundred years ago it could have afforded but a very limited supply of food of any sort, and probably no flesh meat whatkeen a sense of their own interest not to have ever, as the inhabitants must have had too driven their flocks and herds to the north or west, far out of the reach of immediate danger. There is no evidence on the matter, so far as I am aware, but it is probable that nearly the whole of the human population would have fled also. War had been raging intermittently for a long time, and they would realize far better than we can do, who have been so long accustomed to peace, what the horrors of war mean even to a nonbelligerent population. On the other hand, to come to anything approaching a fair judgment, we must bear in mind that no quarter was given by the victorious Yorkists, and therefore great numbers of Lancastrians must have fallen in the pursuit after the battle was over. Here are a few notes on the question which might be largely supplemented. In a document printed among the 'Paston Letters' (edit. 1874, vol. ii. p. 6) the names of certain nobles who fell in the engagement are given, and afterwards we are informed that there were twenty-eight thousand slain “nomberd by Harralds." Hume, referring to Habington, says that "above thirty-six thousand men are computed to have fallen in the battle and pursuit," while Lingard puts the numbers at thirty-eight thousand, besides those who were drowned in the Yorkshire streams, The late "SELION."-At a Board of Trade inquiry into a proposed light railway for the Isle of Axholme, held at Crowle on 5 February, the chairman, the Earl of Jersey, asked the meaning of the word "selion," which had been used by one of the witnesses. I was not present at the meeting, but I understand that the suggestion was made that it signifies as much land as a man can plough in a day. This, of course, is quite wrong, at least as regards the present meaning. Halliwell defines the word as "a short piece of land in arable ridges and furrows, of uncertain quantity. It is sometimes defined to be a ridge of land lying between two furrows. See Carlisle's Account of Charities,' p. 305. A selion, ridge of land, porca,' Coles." 6 66 Littleton (1693) defines it as Coles, but under selio has " ex Cod. [Codex Theodosianus] Leyland." "Layland" is fallow land, Layland" is fallow land, land lying untilled. Bailey defines selion' as "A Ridge of Land which lies between two Furrows," which is, I may say, exactly the meaning the word has in this neighbourhood, where it is still in common use. I should add, however, that here it is used only of lands lying in the unenclosed fields. I have before me now an auctioneer's bill of last year, in which the word is used nearly a dozen times : :- A selion of Arable Land on the Intake Furlong ...containing 1 rood, 25 perches. A selion of Arable Land on Pinfold Furlong......containing 2 roods, 31 perches. Two selions of Arable Land, ploughed together, on Short New Edge Furlong ......containing 1 rood, 22 perches." These instances are sufficient to show how the word is used. The selions are usually lands four yards in width, ploughed in ridges, with a double furrow between them, each selion being a separate property, and two contiguous ones are rarely occupied by the same person. They may be of any length compatible with that of the furlong on which they are situate. A "flat" of land is usually a larger piece than a selion. There are three "flats" mentioned in the bill from which I have quoted, each of which is more than an acre in extent. These are, for convenience, ploughed in "yokkings," that is, in such proportions as can be done at one yoking, and they are not usually so distinctly ridged as the selions, since they only occur on the lighter soils. Knowing these facts, I am somewhat surprised to read in Mr. Maitland's 'Domesday Book and Beyond' that the word "selion" struck no root in our language. Mr. Maitland's words are: "In our Latin documents these ridges appear as lands,' for the French sillon struck no root in our selions (seliones). In English they were called language." In a note, however, he quotes a passage from the Gloucester Corporation Records in which "selion" frequently appears. In Mr.Seebohm's English Village Community' the word doesnot Mr. Maitland, in the note I have referred to, occur, but the Latin selio is used several times. says that in Mr. Seebohm's book there seems to be some confusion between the selions and the acre or half-acre strips into which the "shots" or furlongs were divided; but so far as I understand him Mr. Seebohm uses the term much as we do here. He says, indeed, that "the strips in the open fields are generally known by the country folk as balks," which is not the case in this neighbourhood, where "balk" has a quite different meaning, that of an unploughed turf boundary; and he makes no mention of the "flats" which sometimes occur on the same furlongs as the selions. It is probable, however, that these were originally selions that have been thrown together for convenience merely. C. C. B. Epworth. P.S.-The definition of "layland" as fallow land is Bailey's. We have in use here the term leyland, meaning land that has been sown with clover and left for grazing, sometimes called clover ley." This, however, can, I imagine, scarcely be what is meant by Littleton. 66 THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG: S. T. COLERIDGE AND JOHN SKELTON.-Coleridge's beautiful address to the nightingale is deservedly a favourite with all lovers of poetry. We all know that Coleridge was a man of wide and various reading. I have recently acquired a copy of the 'Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry VIII.' (London, C. Davies, MDCCXXXVI.), and I must confess I have found a good deal to qualify the sweeping condemnation that has been passed by some critics on Skelton's productions. I mean, however, to confine myself on this occasion to a single quotation from each author. From the poem of the modern writer, who wrote it just a century ago ('Select Poetical Works of That, should you close your eyes, you might almost These are exquisite lines, it will be allowed, and full of a poet's rapture. I now bespeak attention to those of John Skelton, who "was buried in the Chancel of the Church of St. Margaret, within the City of Westminster, in 1529, 21 Hen. VIII." They are taken from The Crowne of Lawrell' and are addressed to "Maistres Isabell Pennell ": Sterre of the morowe graye, It were an hevenly helthe, To here this nyghtyngale Good yere and good lucke, With chucke, chucke, chucke, chucke. It is impossible to deny the freshness and spontaneity of these verses, and I am very much inclined to think that Coleridge must have seen them. The sounds "jug, jug" are of themselves, I think, almost conclusive of the fact. In the extract given I have copied literatim et verbatim from the edition I possess, which is the only one I have seen. I see from Percy's 'Reliques,' vol. i. p. 71 (London, Ed. Moxon, 1846), that there is an edition in black letter, 1568, and, from another source, that Skelton's works were edited by Mr. Dyce in 1843. JOHN T. CURRY. [Lyly, in ‘Campaspe,' has— ITALIAN PRECAUTIONS AGAINST VAMPIRES."What have they not done! Candia told of all the different means they had tried, all the exorcisms they had resorted to. The priest had come, and, after covering the child's head with an end of his stole, had repeated verses from the Gospel. The mother had hung up a wax cross, blessed on Ascension Day, over the door, and had sprinkled the hinges with holy water, and repeated the Creed three times running in a loud voice; she had tied up a handful of salt in a piece of linen and hung it round the neck of her dying child. The father had done the seven nights that is, for seven nights he had watched in the dark behind a lighted lantern, attentive to the slightest sound, ready to catch and grapple with the vampire. A single prick with a pin sufficed to make her visible to the human eye. But the seven nights' watch had been fruitless, for the child wasted away and grew more hopelessly feeble from hour to hour. At last, in despair, the father had consulted with a wizard, by whose advice he had killed a dog and put the body behind the door. The vampire could not then enter the house till she counted every hair on its body."- The Triumph of Death,' by Gabriele D'Annunzio, translated by Georgina Harding, 1898, p. 265. WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. 12, Sardinia Terrace, Glasgow. "ON" OR "UPON."-It will no doubt have been observed by many readers of N. & Q.' that the use of these prepositions in placenames savours very much of personal predilection. One person will write Newcastleon-Tyne, but another will favour Newcastleupon-Tyne. Now one or other is right or wrong. The difference is not confined merely to the North-Country capital I name, but extends to other English towns which will be readily recalled to mind. I do not know whether the point has ever been discussed previously in these columns, but I should like to have the opinions of readers on the C. P. HALE. matter. MR. BUMBLE ON LITERATURE.-I have not a copy of 'Oliver Twist' at hand, and I am sorry to say I have forgotten much of my Dickens. Will the ever-ready correspondent of 'N. & Q.' say why Mr. Bumble should be expected to scowl at Messrs. H. S. Nichols & Co.'s issue of a series of "Court Memoirs"? I can quite understand why Mr. Pecksniff and another might frown. Thus the Court Circular of 9 Jan.: vista of usefulness yet before you. "Seriously, Messrs. Nichols, you have a long You are at present only on the threshold of your triumphsat least we hope so, for you have so whetted and stimulated our appetites that we are loudly asking for more, despite the frowns of the British matron and the scowls of the Bumbles and the Pecksniffs." ST. SWITHIN. YORKSHIRE SCHOOLS.-Some time since a correspondence was published anent the history and ancientness of the class of schools in Yorkshire which Dickens described minutely under the title of Dotheboys Hall, when that establishment for young gentlemen had Mr. Squeers for its head master. I think no very old academy of this nature was mentioned in 'N. & Q.,' although it is manifest that more than one was well known long 206 before Dickens's time. For example, I read "produced another charming boy; which, being F. G. S. WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. (See 9th S. i. 180.) -The book by Mr. Sergeant calls this "the largest cathedral in Northern Europe," meaning, apparently, the longest in ground plan. Even this is no longer true since St. Alban's has been made a cathedral. But the bare length made by low additions gives no such claim, when compared with those retaining their full height throughout, as York, Lincoln, and Ely; still less with buildings of double the height, as Amiens, Chartres, Reims, Paris, and now finished Cologne. These have fully twice the capacity of Winchester. The fact that the central tower fell the year after Rufus was buried under it is mentioned, and that the Normans rebuilt it, but not to the full height; and no notice is taken of the four belfry towers on the corners of the transept, which were certainly begun, if not finished, and appear in the five towers of the city arms. It would be a fine way of commemorating Alfred, two years hence, if all these could be restored. The story of circular windows on the great lantern tower reproduced those at East Meon by the same Bishop Walkelin; and there is plenty of strength to bear it. But to rebuild the belfry towers would foundations, involve underpinning the which all indicate a falling away from the transept. They were doubtless taken down E. L. GARBETT. to prevent their falling. -- BIRTH OF EDWARD VI.: A RECTIFICATION.In October, 1537, Margaret, Queen Dowager of Scots, wrote to congratulate Henry VIII. on his son's birth, of which he had just informed her. The day of the month, first written xiij 49 viij," was altered in the queen's hand, so as ppto make it doubtful whether to read " xviii" (Hamilton Papers,' vol. i. or 51). Mr. Gairdner (in 'Letters, &c., of Henry VIII.,' vol. xii. part ii. No. 1079) remarks in a note that October is "evidently for November." This cannot be so, for, as he shows (ibid., Nos. 911, 1060), Edward was born on 12 Oct., 1537, christened on the 15th, and his mother died on the 24th of the same month. When the date of the queen's letter is read "xviij" (as it should have been), and five days allowed for Henry's messenger reaching his sister in Scotland, this puts the thing right. Margaret would surely not have let a whole month pass before congratulating Henry, his wife having died meanwhile, to which she makes no reference. JOSEPH BAIN. BOOTLE IN CUMBERLAND.-Permit me to point out an inaccuracy in Mr. Charles Creighton's A History of Epidemics in Britain.' On p. 568 of vol. i. the author writes: "We get a glimpse of a heavy mortality among the country people the year after [1652] at Bootle, in Cumberland, just across the border from Lancashire," &c. The foregoing statement does not concern Bootle in Cumberland, but should be ascribed to Bootle in Lancashire (see Hist. MSS. Commission,' x. part iv. p. 106). CHAS. HY. HUNT. "To SUE."-A woman in Sheffield, who was carrying a large market-basket, and who, judging from her appearance, was a farmer's wife living in one of the adjoining villages, Tha can soo along; I'm going to said the other day to a man who accompanied her, was sue in the old sense of "follow." Boot's" (a well-known chemist's shop). This S. O. ADDY. 66 " THÉROIGNE DE MÉRICOURT AND MARAT.Many of your readers may not have noticed the narrative relative to Théroigne de Méricourt in the first volume of the Memoirs of Barras.' She was, according to Barras, seized by the populace and dragged before the Com(In passing, I did not mittee at the Feuillants with loud cries of "To the lamp-post." think that the Committee was often consulted on a lamp-post case.) The Committee desired to save her, but seemed not likely to succeed, when Marat interfered and told the mob that it would be beneath their dignity to hang such a contemptible courtesan, and by this means succeeded in saving her life. It seems hardly likely that after this occurrence she would have remained in Paris to be again seized and flogged. It looks as if either |