- Græcia: all the people who spoke Greek were antiently divided into Ionians and Dorians; and the two principal dialects were the Ionic and the Doric. The Attic dialect, according to Grotius, is only a branch of the Ionic. The Æolian is a branch of the Doric, which prevailed in Sicily, as appears from the eclogues of Theocritus, which are in pure Doric; whereas the Holic was spoken in those ifles which had the name of Eolian; and it is from this last dialect that Grotius maintains the Latin language is derived, in proof of which he adduces a variety of examples. The other Dorians changed into A long, the common termination of the feminines in II; but the Eolians changed it into A short, for example rupa nympha, φάμα fama. The fixth letter in the antient Greek alphabet was formerly called βαῦ, or Vav, as it is called in the Phenician alphabet, from which the Greek alphabet is derived. Others call it the Colic digamma, which letter, although it be difcarded from the new alphabets, yet fill retains its place among the Greek numbers, for For makes fix, The Eolians had been accufioined to

prefix this letter to words beginning with a vowel; thus, for ἑλένη they faid Γέλενα, as Prifcian teftifies. The La

tins followed their example, for infiance, infiead of έσπερος, they wrote Vefperus; inflead of obes, they wrote Vinum; and fo on. The Eolians prefixed their Bar to words that began with an R, as Εξάγω, to break, for the Doric payw, which comes from fyw, out of use for which they fubftituted puywes. It is plain that from the Eolic Frago, comes the Latin Frango, the only difference being the letter N in the laft, which at other times was omitted, as appears by the words Fragor and Confiages. The Eolians alfo put an S before the vowels, as well as the Latins, who for a fay Surpo, for; Sos, &c. Whence it happens the Eolie dialect alone

that we find in

feveral Latin words of which there are no traces in the other dialects, as το γκιος nuncius, νεπ.της πepos, &c. The fame matter, adds Le Clere, is treated more fully in the Etymologicon of Votlius, and in fome letters of Salmafius. The latter, having been confulted by Gro

tius to know whether Cor 2 did not fignify fir a con; the Greeks, anfwer

"ed in the a Emrive, and gare feveral

proofs of it; which Grotius in one of his letters confirms by additional proofs; and he avails himself of these remarks in order to prove that the perfon of whom St. John fpeaks, Revelat. chap. xiii. ver. 8, is no other than Trajan; because in the word ΟΥΛΙΟΣ, which is the name of that Emperor, we find the number 666, taking C for fix, and not for two hundred according to the numeral computation of the letter Σ.

I have often thought, Mr. Urban, that many Latin words have probably been derived from the Celtic; a language of which Grotius certainly had no knowledge, and which lays in as high a claim to antiquity as mott languages. The Celtic was once the language of the greatest part of Wefteru Enrope, and was spoken throughout the whole of this ifland at the time of the Roman invafion. I have fome knowledge of that branch of the Celtic which is fpoken to this day in the Highlands of Scotland; and I have often been ftruck with the resemblance that

many words in the Gaelic language bear to Latin words. It is very plain that the Celts must have borrowed thefe words from the Latins, or the Latins from the Celts; and I should be glad to fee this fubject difcuffed by foine of your readers who are verfed in Celtic

antiquity. A vocabulary of parallels would be interefting and amufing to thofe who understand the Latin and Gaelic languages. I am not competent to the task, not having been in the ha

bit of fpeaking Gaelic for many years; but I have no doubt that you have both readers and correfpondents who are: and I hope to have the fatisfaction of fecing the fubject speedily taken up in your Mifcellany.

To return to Grotius. We find in fome of his Epiftles explications of various paffages from Scripture, and profine authors. In Ep. 91. are remarks on Proverbs c. xvi. v. 4. "The Lord hath made all things for hienfelf; yea even the wicked for the he day of evil." Grotius's tranflation of this paffage is thus given by Le Clere, in French, "Dien a difpofé toutes chofes, en forte qu'elles se repondent les unes aux an ties, & le mechent au jour de l'adverfite;" that is to fay, adds Le Clerc, God hath fo ordained, that in the natural caufe of things, the wicked finds hizufelf punished. And he refers the reader to a fimilar prilege in the apоеди Phal book of Ecclefiafticu

14, 15, "Good is fet against evil, and life againft death: fo is the godly againft the finner, and the finner against the godly:-fo look upon all the works of the Most High; and there are two and two, one against another."

Grotius maintains in one of his letters, that the words 1 Tim. ch in. 2. "a bishop ineft be the husband of one wife," ought to be explained in this fenfe, that "a bishop have never taken in marriage more than one wife;" which fenfe excludes not merely a plurality of wives at one and the fame time, but alfo fecond marriages. Thus Lycophron calls Helen Tριανωρ, femine à trois maris, as Le Clere tranflates it-Helen; who never had three husbands at ouce, Thefens being already dead, at the time that Paris took her away from Menelaus. Afranius gives the appellation liviram to a woman who had been twice married; and Tertullian calls a woman who had been but once mar

ried univiram. The antient Chriftians, grounding on the above pasiage of St. Paul, and perhaps alfo in imitation of the Romans, who did not allow their fovereign Pontifis to marry a fecond time, prohibited their Ecclefiatties from doing the fame. St. Paul alfo in the fame epifile ch. v. ver. 9. among the qua lifications of widows that are to be chofen for the fervice of the church, mentions, having been the wife of one man," that is to fay, having only been once married, for women had never been permitted to have more than one husband at a time; and it would be quite fuperfluous in the Apostle to enter a caution against a practice which never had any existence. But, as the

the

Roman Laws allowed wives to repudiate their husbands, it frequently happened that women of licentious manners of ten made the experiment of a new husband; in proof of which he cites following patlage from Seneca; "Illuftres quidem ac nobiles fæminæ, non Confulam numero, fed maritorum, annos fuos computant, et exeunt magimonii caufa, nubunt repudii." In like manner, Juvenal, alluding to the profligacy of the Roman women,

Ste fiunt octo miti

Quieque ner anturinos,

And Martial in one of his epigrams:

question to Grotius: "How it was to be accounted for, that the Evangelitts gave us no account of the history of our Lord's life before the thirtieth year of his age; excepting the tranfaction which St. Luke records to have taken place in the Temple, when he was twelve years old?" To this question Grotius avowered, "That we must

judge of what a writer ought to lay, and what he ought to omit, by the end which he has in view; that it was not the design of the Evangelifts to write fimply the life of Jesus Christ, but to tranfinit to pofterity the Gofpel; that is to fay, a doctrine which upon the condition of repentance holds forth to finners pardon, and everlasting life: that the Gofpel confifts of two parts, of which the one regards doctrine, the other history; which last is introduced fo far as it ferves to confirm the former, as the history of the miracles, the death, the refurrection, and the afcenfion of Jefus Chrift: that this history does not commence, properly fpeaking, until the baptifin of Jefus Chrift, becaufe until then he had not begun to teach publickly, and without intermiflion, and to perform miracles: that it was therefore perfectly confiftent in the Evangelifts to pafs over intermediate events; and whatever notice is taken of the tranfactions from the birth of our Saviour until the commencement of his public ministry, ought to be regarded rather as a fort of preamble in order to make known the perfon of Jefus Chrift, than as the beginning of an exact history of his life.

Mr. URBAN,

Jan. 7.

"O DOACER, king of the Heruli, the emperor's guards. His birth was fo obfeare, that it is not known in

was brought up in Italy among

what country he first faw light. After

various adventures, he becaine chief of the Herali. An advantageous ftature, united with much boldness and couThe

rage, foon gained him a name. Roman empire drew near to its ruin. The Roman foldiers confifted of a number of barbarians, who all revolted at once, and chote Odoacer for their leader, who was foon acknowledged by part of the empire, weary of the tyrauny of Orelies and his fon Auguftalus. Orestes took refuge in Pavia, whither Odoacer purtised him, and, after taking, plundering, and burning the city, pat him to death. He next Proccede 1 proceeded to Rome, and proclaimed himfelf king of Italy, Augustulus being banished into Campania after being divefted of the mark of the imperial dignity. Thus fell the Western empire, and Rome was compelled to fubmit to a king, a title fo odious to her for many centuries. This turprizing revolution happened A. D. 470. The world then changed face, Spain was inhabited by the Goths; the AngioSaxons paflied over into Britain, the Franes fed in Gaul the Alcmans feized on Germany, the Heruli and Lombards remained mafiers of Italy. Baroariin, acompanied them every where: the monuments of fculpture and architc are were destroyed; the mafter-pieces of poetry and cloquence at Athens and Rome were neglected; the fine arts were lott; and men, plunged into the groflest favagencis, knew not what to think or feel. Odoacer, mafter of Italy, had to fight Theodoric. He was thrice beaten and befieged in Ravenna, A. D.-400, and obtained peace only on condition of dividing his authority with his conqueror. Theodoric promifed with an oath not to take away his crown or life; but, a few days after, having invited him to a feall, he killed him with his own hand, and put all his officers and friends to death, A. D. 493. Odoacer wasa prince of great magnanimity and mildnefs. Though an Arian, he did not perfecute the Catholicks. He made a moderate ufe of his fortune, and had nothing barbarous but the name. If he laid on many heavy taxes, he was compelled to do fo by the neceflity of rewarding those to whom he owed his fceptre." Nouveau Dict. Historique. Is there no perfon or fiate in modern times whom this picture fuits?

Mr. URBAN,

B

Jan. 9.

Q.

M. F. vol. LXXI. p. 931, will >. find an anfwer to bis enquiry about the fione croffes of Cornwall, in Dr. Borlafe's Antiquities of that county, p. 891, where, fpeaking of an antient infcribed ftone at St. Clement's, near Truro, which has at prefent a large crois on it in bas relief, he fays,

question whether the crofs may not be of later date than the infeription, and cut on the ftone in those times when it was none of the meanest parts of religion to erect erofles in every churchyard, and at the meeting of highways." A fione with a crofs in a circle I have

seen in a similar situation in Derbyshire, in the road from Chesterfield to Matlock; and many fuch will be found in different parts of Cornwal and other counties.

Stratton Strawless hall, burnt Dec. 15. (fee LXXI. 1142), appears to have been the fhell of the hall therein mentioned as built 1674. The new one was furnithed and inhabited, and the materiels of the old were intended for fale. Several chels of tools Lelonging to the workmen were coalaraed in it., The spoon-fork engraved pl. I. fig. 10, vol. LX. p. 596, belonged to this family. Yours, &c. R. G.

DURHAM CATHEDRAL, continued.
Mr. URBAN,
Jan. 10.
EFORE I enter into the church

BEFORE

(fill carrying on the lines of the general plan), let me remark, that in the area of the cloifiers is the remoant of the conduit, wherein the monks ufed to wash their hands and faces before dinner. The plan of this building, (from the two bafons one above the other conftituting the faid remnant), must have taken an octangular form, whose interior was fo large as we find the religious could walk at their cafe round the fame. The enrichments belonging to this design, we read likewife, were extremely profufe. I cannot leave the defcription of this area's decorations, without foliciting the indulgence of my readers, to paufe a while on the fpot where once flood the monument erected to the memory of St. Cuthbert, the patron faint of Durham. After his body had been depofited in the cathedral, Dean Whittingham, the facri legious foe to antient art, was the deftroyer of this valuable piece of antiquity. I refer once more to the North cloifter, where are two grand Saxon doorways entering into the church, the Weltern one has its fculptured treafure on its front within the South aile; and the other bearing towards the Eaft gives an excess of workmanship alfo, but is left to adorn the cloisiers. Choice induced me to pafs through the Weftern entrance into the cathedral; where hefitating on what point to lay down the lines of to mighty a fabric, I faw on each fide door-ways which led into the chapel called The Galilce. As this ftructure was raised up directly against the West front of the cathedral, and gave its extremity of plan on this part, I determined here to begin my groundlines in a regular manner, paffing up to the other extremity at the East. This chapel of the Galilee was originally constructed in the Saxon fiyle, about the year 1153, by Bp. Hugh Pudsey; and repaired about 1406, in the pointed arch inanner, by Bp. Langley. The blending together of these two species of architecture has a happy and picturesque effect, not alone from this junction, but by the arrangement of the plan, it being divided into five ailes North and South, and four ailes West and East, by clusters of columns fupporting femicircular arches, &c. At the East ends of the three centre ailes are preferved nearly entire three curious altars: that nearest to the North is Our Lady of Pity's altar; the next, being in the centre of the two, Our Lady's altar, where directly before its fieps is the tomb of Bp. Langley: the third altar is St. Bede's, and before it alfo is the tomb whereon stood the shrine of this memorable faint. At the North-west angle of the chapel is a finall oratory. To pursue the farther elucidation of the decorations, namely the font, iron pulpit, and the hiftorical paintings in the windows, which were here formerly seen, would be to add more regrets to those I must now give way to, by recounting that the condition of this confecrated place was the most reprehenfible, in regard to the roof being in many parts left without covering, the pavement firewed with heaps of coals and all kinds of building materials, the North aile partitioned off into offices, and the above-mentioned oratory converted into a closet for occafional retirement. How the extremes of fentiment are here excited! delight in particularizing the architectural objects, mortification in witneffing their abuse! These perceptions naturally belong to me. Others, who are the guardians of this chapel, it is apparent, thought in a very different manner; one of whoin was pleafed to turn my pleadings in behalf of fach fuffering relicks into a theme of merriment, and sported many good jokes at my cost on the occafion. Ivented fighs, he bursts of laughter; I was difcouraged, he elevated! Ye three recefles that still authenticate bistorie facts, ve were witness to this conference. Shame then be where it may! And he who should have been most forward to set aside the premeditated blow then hovering over thete walls,

who has feated himself as prime imitator and preferver of our antient architectural glories, to come these ailes among, and tread where Durham's benefactors lie interred; when, after turning afkance his eyes on this and that, to give his orders thus: "All this work mult come down, I want a walk here!"

By way of digression; it is a matter of much difpute with fome Antiquaries, whether this chapel is down at present or standing. I have heard it affirmed by more than one, that it had been destroyed; by many more than one, that it had not been deftroyed: that it was standing indeed, but in such a ftate that-Why, filence will best become me on this occafion. No doubt, after this hesitation on my part, fome communicative friend will fupply the deficiency, and clear up this matter, which at present resis on very doubtful authority.

The nave and fide ailes of the cathedral, in whose works all the maguificent features of the Saxon tatic are confpicuous, marking thereby the art of design when this church began to be erected, in 1093, in the life-time of Bp. Aldwine, are seen in ingle and clustered columns, the former of which have indents of varioutly deviced forms, perpendicular, spiral, diamond-wife, or diagonal; in the windows, which of later times have had infertions of the pointed arch tracing; in the doorways, where the enrichments on them are most elaborate; and in the groins, by whose interfection they of necellity produce a combination of curious femicircular and pointed sweeps. The proportions of all these parts are truly just, and their dimenfions are on an extended feale, vying in this refpect with any other of our religious structures, Speaking thus on the merits of the Architect, I must also do the like juftice, from a retrofpective view, to the other Artifis, who had contributed to decorate every space between coluinn and column, with a font, a pavement, cross, brafles, tombs, holy-water bafons, fereens, altars, and the fculptures and paintings belonging there unto, by fuppoting ng their qualifications equal at least to those prefumptive glories which till endure. What par ticulars are there left to warrant this partiality of mine in regard to fuch an union of church adornments itemed in the hiftory of Durham? The font.

Here fivle

of the

Here I was much in doubt if any part of this fubject, though covered with abundance of carvings and tracery, was of the pure antient stock. The blue pavement, bearing the figure of a cross, thewing how far women were permitted to advance into the church before the Fifteenth Century. Grave ftone of prior Castell, brass gone, ditto of Robert Nevil, bithop of this fec; brafs gone. Tomb of Ralph Nevil and his wife; and the tomb of John Nevil, his ton, and his wife, likewife: This father and fon were the two great Theroes of the famous battle fought with the king of the Scots under the walls of this city in the reigu of Edward III; queen Philippa his confort being at the head of the English in this decifive conteft; Edward then purfing his conquedis in France. Here any exifting witneffes in this part of the church muft clofe; when, proceeding on my plan, I next specify the Janthern in the great tower, which tower is fituated in the centre between the North and South tranfepts. In directing my fight upward, to behold the afcending vifion of galleries, windows, groins, &c. &c. all in the finest pointed are arch workmanship; Igazed but to be transported at fuch confummate perfection. The North and South tranfepts; the architecture here is a continuation of the mode seen in the nave, whose Eastern fides are partitioned off into fix diftinét chapels, dedicated to as many Saints; have of course been demolished. At the South end of the South tranfept is the great clock; the ornaments wherewith it is charged are given with a liberal hand, but they are of that questionable ole fashion demurred upon with regard to the font. The fcreen entering into the choir; the method of enrichments laid over this fereen give those kind of carvings in wood which are so peculiar to the reign of Charles II. when Dr. Cofens was bishop, evincing very little genius in the carver, or inclination in him to adhere to the character of the edifice. The original fcreen (which I much fafpeét is yet standing behind the above difguifing piece of perverted skill) was an excofive high-wronght object of the kind, comprifing, beides the entrance, two tiers of niches, containing the fiathes of kings, queens, founders, and benefactors. North aile of the choir; the chapels in this range were very fumptuonily fet forth, with fiatacs,

we

won

paintings, and other embellishments. very finall traces of these performances are now to be niet with in the South aile of the choir. Against some columns at the East end of the fame was placed the portentous Black Rood of Scotland, brought by the King of Seats from Holy-rood houfe to the walls of Durham, and there by our victorious countrymen under Queen Philippa in the battle before eted. This Rood reprefented our Saviour, with St. Mary, and St. John; the carvings and gildings furround ing them were of the most fplendid kind, and extended in height to the very top of the groins of this aile. I might almost spare myself the trouble to fay. that all my diligence in the endeavour to find out any veftiges veft of this extraordinery trophy of Philippa's victory were entirely uselefs. On the South fide of this aile is a door entering inte the Revestry; here change has had but fmall employ fince the reign of Henry VIII; and that merely in the removal of the altar table at the Eafi end, which altar was for the private use of the bishop, &c. (entirely putting out of the quellion the jewels, plate, &c. &c.)-1 enumerated much of the original furniture, in benches, chests, and almeries for the keeping of the vestments belonging to the choir; and, however incredible it may feem to certain minds, four of the antient copes are here to be seen. To me these copes appeared precious samples of the very great perfection to which the art of embroidery was carried by our ancestors: most probably others may look over their curious threads with the fame apathy as is so constantly evinced when chureh visitors are de fired to wonder at the monument of an Edward, an Henry, an Eleanor, or a Philippa, a founder of a church, or a Christian knight. Not fo would their privation of paffion remain, if opposed to the Westminster abbey waxwork, Exeter cathedral's "notomize," St. Alban's abbey's bones of Duke Humphry, Rippon miatter's St. Wilfred's kneedle, Gloßer cathedral's whif pering hole, Salisbury and Lichfield cathedrals in their new-modeled choirs, and other the like edifying and touriftical fights, calculated as well for grown, as little gentlemen time-killers of the prefent day. Apologifing for this vein of fancy, I beg permiflion to proceed. One of thefe copes under our notice is hiftorical,