296 Battle of Prague-State of Church Livings in 1708. [May 1, in your widely-circulated and much-read MR. EDITOR, HAVING observed in your Magazine for November last, p. 353, the remark that "the name of KoTZWARA must be familiar to every lover of music, as the composer of the celebrated Battle of Prague," I bave presumed to contradict that assertion, and to lay before your readers the names of the authors from whom that music was selected. The principal part, called the Battle, was selected from Bach's celebrated Battle of Rosbach,* God save the Kingt by Carey, and the Turkish Quick March from the last movement of a concerto by Sterkel. A SUBSCRIBER. Knightsbridge, March 11, 1816. MR. EDITOR, WITH the desire of giving a connected statement of the operations of Queen Anne's Bounty from its original institution, as tending to complete the view of a subject which seems to have justly excited the interest of your clerical readers, I am tempted to offer you a concise ab stract of the state of livings, given by Mr. Ecton in his valuable publication to which I alluded in a former letter§; conceiving at the same time that such a communication may afford your correspondent H-N an accurate idea of the information afforded by this useful work. This abstract, which I have carefully made from a calculation of Mr. Ecton's detailed lists, presents the total result of the different returns of poor benefices as made for the express use of the corporation in and about the year 1708; and when examined in conjunction with those of 1808, (which HN has given at p. 105 of your present volume,) a comparative estimate may be formed of the state of the inferior benefices as existing at these two remote periods; thus shewing the actual progress that has been made during that long interval in the improvement of their condition. I am the more anxious to have such a comparative estimate exhibited, to shew This piece was published a few years since in a clavichord selection by Dr. Callcott, and printed by Birchali. First published as a two-part song in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1745. Concerto in C, published by Longman and Broderip. N. M. Mag. vol. iv. p. 107. the little foundation there has ever been for the imputations which have often of late years been so unjustly reflected on the proceedings of this respectable body, as not bearing a due proportion in their progress to the extent of their resources; for the fact is precisely the reverse-it being rather a subject of astonishment that so extensive an amelioration of the smaller livings should have been effected during the last hundred years, with a revenue (at least till the liberality of Parliament had enriched it by its late munificent grants) of so very confined a de scription. In the wish of your correspondent I fully concur, that a copy may be transmitted to your Magazine of the official returns of the year 1814, as these will shew what has been actually done since 1808 for the augmentation of poor livings, under the extended powers of the corporation, by the operation of the parV. M. H. liamentary grants. March 13, 1816. 1816.] Mr. Dougall on the Ancient Language of Malta. MR. EDITOR, CONFORMABLY to the proposal contained in my letter of the 15th past, I now transmit some general observations on the vernacular language of Malta and its dependent islands. JOHN DOUGALL. London, Feb. 10, 1816. ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF MALTA. The history of a language is generally that of the people by whom it is spoken; nor can a stronger proof of the filiation or the affinity of separate tribes and nations be discovered, than the identity, the similarity, the correspondence of their several peculiar dialects. The earliest traders, navigators, or adventurers, of whom, from either history or tradition, we have any account, were the inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Mediterranean sea. The central portion of this tract, called Phanicia (or more properly Phanicè,) a long but narrow region, confined between the sea on the west and the lofty range of Mount Lebanon on the east, was in general mountainous and unproductive. The activity of the natives of such a country, and in so genial a climate, was naturally directed to maritime enterprise; particularly as their mountains presented in abundance the best and the most durable materials for ship-building. The mighty cedars of Lebanon have been celebrated from the earliest periods of history; and even much later we learn from Pliny (Hist. Nat. xvi. 40) that the Romans employed cedar for their ships, for want of fir, of which their vessels had been usually constructed. Of the wonderful durability of cedar, however, the Romans were not ignorant; for the same author speaks of beams of that timber as still existing in a temple at Utica near Carthage, which had lasted nearly 1,200 years. Lebanon most probably furnished those beams; for Utica was one of the earliest foreign settlements of the Phoenicians. The principal ports and trading cities of the Phoenicians were Sidon and Tyre. Of the former, the more ancient of the two, the foundation is carried back above 2,000 years before the Christian era; and even the latter, a daughter or colony of Sidon, is mentioned as a place of strength (see Joshua, ix.) at the time of the invasion of Canaan by the Israelites, about 1,450 years prior to the same epochi: As to commercial industry and enterprise alone these cities were in debted for their importance and splenNEW MONTHLY MAG.--No. 28. 297 dour, many ages must have elapsed in that distant period of society before that importance and splendour could be acquired. Under the idea of commercial, particularly maritime enterprise, are comprehended in some degree every useful exercise and application of the human faculties: hence we find the Greeks and Romans attributing to the Phoenicians, or to their neighbours the Egyptians, (with whom they very early established commercial intercourse,) the invention of ship-building, navigation, and commerce; of astronomy as applicable to nautical purposes, particularly in ascertaining the position of certain stars much nearer to the north pole than any known to other nations; of naval war, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, measures and weights, &c. Of these branches of science many were doubtless highly improved by the Phoenicians; but their principles were most probably derived from the Babylonians, Indians, or other eastern nations. To pass over the expeditions of Cecrops and Cadmus from Phoenicia into Greece, it appears that about 1,450 years before our era, in consequence of the invasion of Canaan by the Israelites under Joshua, numbers of that devoted people, particularly the inhabitants of the coast (that is to say, the Phoenicians) abandoning their homes, betook themselves to their ships, and, in the process of time, established colonies on various points all round the Mediterranean. Of the position and the date of these several establishments all the information which vast erudition and indefatigable industry could collect, will be found in the Chanaan of Bochart. It is very probable, that as early as the year 1234 B. C., or 50 years before the fall of Troy, the foundation of Carthage in Africa was laid by the Tyrians; but it was not until above 350 years afterwards that the reinforcements of Tyriaus passed thither, under the auspices of Elissa, better known by the Virgilian fable and designation of Dido. About 130 years after the original settlement of Carthage, the Phoenicians, attracted by the cominodious position, the climate, the productions, vegetable and mineral, of the parts of Spain bordering on the strait uniting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, there founded a number of commercial colonies, of which the chief was Gadir, now Cadiz, on the western extremity of an island lying close to the continent. In the course of the various voyages 298 Mr. Dougall on the Ancient Language of Malta. over the Mediterranean, requisite for the conduct of their multiplied commercial enterprizes, and for maintaining proper intercourse with their numerous settlements along its shores, it was impossible for Malta and its adjoining isles long to remain unseen or unknown to the Phoenicians. The nearest land to Malta is the south-east corner of Sicily, near Cape Passaro, distant only about 45 geographic or 52 English miles, in a north-east direction; a navigation on even the open sea by no means beyond the spirit and skill of a Phoenician navigator. That Malta was visited, and perhaps colonised by that enterprising and useful people, twelve, or even fourteen centuries before our era, is therefore highly probable; such is also the opinion of Cluverius, founded on a comparison of the best ancient authorities. See his Sicilia Antiqua. Early, however, as those events occurred, still Malta was not found unpossessed for from passages in Homer, in Thucydides, in Appollonius, in Diodorus Siculus, and in other ancient writers, it appears that the island was inhabited by an indigenous race of men, among whom the eastern strangers incorporated themselves, and formed a permanent establishment. The central position of Malta, with regard to the Mediterranean and the maritime commerce of the Phoenicians, the number and the excellence of its ports, the fertility and productions of the soil, all rendered the possession of the island an object of the greatest importance to the Phoenicians; and this importance was duly appreciated by them. It is also to be observed, that Malta and the adjoining islands Gozo, Cumino, and Cuminotto, seem to have been in former times, much more extended than they now are. Nay, it is not improbable that all the four were once united in one single island. The encroachments of the sea on their shores are continually manifest. Ancient roads may be traced to the coast, but now terminating in inaccessible precipices over the water. The level of the sea itself seems also to have risen: for artificial channels for the conveyance of fresh water may now be seen under the waves; as also steps cut in the rocks to facilitate access to the island, are now constantly covered by the sea. The more extended therefore was Malta, the more readily would it be discovered at sea, and the more valuable would it appear to the Phoenicians. Not the original Phoenicians only, but [May 1, their distinguished descendants the Carthaginians also had intercourse and settlenients, and even dominion in Malta. This is manifest from various incidents of their long and ruinous wars with their invidious and unrelenting enemies the Romans, who, although glorying in their own freedom from a foreign yoke, seem to have been actuated by a peculiar and insatiable hostility to the independence of other nations, especially when founded and maintained on the peaceful basis of commercial industry." The Phoenician language, or that spoken over the land of Canaan, was a sister dialect of the Hebrew, or that of the Israelites; both daughters of the primitive Chaldee. The perfect freedom of communication subsisting between the individuals and nations, speaking these different dialects, places this fact beyond all doubt. The common language of the Carthaginians, or the Punic, must also for ages have borne a strong resemblance to the parent tongue of Tyre and Sidon, from which it originally proceeded. The language imposed on the inhabitants of Malta, by their masters from Asia and Africa, must therefore have been radically Phoenician. The residence of the Phoenicians in Malta and the adjacent isles is not merely a fact depending on the faith of ancient history: it has been fully ascertained by the discovery in those islands, of monuments of various sorts, evidently belonging to that people. Towards the middle of the last century was found in Malta an antique candelabrum of white marble, on which was one inscription in Punic or Phoenician, followed by another in Greek; published by Gori in his defence of the Etruscan alphabet. Another candelabrum of the same sort, but uninscribed, was found at the same time. The Greek part of the inscription, itself evidently very ancient, appeared to have been added posterior to the Punic, the date of which was thus carried back to a very remote period. In the capitol (campidoglio) of Rome, was not long ago preserved another double inscription in Punic and Greek, on a slab of white marble, carried thither from Malta, where it was discovered. The inscriptions recorded the donation of a silver statue to his paternal or country divinities, Aglibolos and Malachbelos (Αγλιτωλων και Μαλαχβηλος θέσεις warp) by Heliodorus of Palmyra in the desert of Syria, distinguished by its foundation as Tadmor under Solomon, 1816.] Mr. Dougall on the Ancient Language of Malta. and its overthrow under Zenobia. These inscriptions were comparatively modern, being dated in the year 547 of the era of Alexander, corresponding to the year 224 of our era. The language of Palmyra, as of Syria in general, was nearly akin to the Phoenician or Punic; but their alphabetic characters were different: it was therefore from complaisance to the Maltese, that Heliodorus inscribed his tablet in their characters, and not in those of Palmyra. In the year 1761, in an antique sepulchre under ground, at a spot towards the south side of Malta, called khasam ta byn Hysae (the field or possession of Jesus or Joshua) was discovered an inscription in characters conceived to be Phoenician. It consisted of forty-seven letters arranged in four lines. From the decay of the stone the first three lines were differently read by different learned men: but the last line all agreed to read in these words hal byn bat malek, which, in the present language of Malta signify, for the son of Bat the king. The preposition hal in Maltese, is equal to in, contra, ob, per, pro, for, on account of; byn is filius, son, like the Hebrew ben; bat is a proper name, and such words in Maltese are always the same without regard to case; malek is rex, king, but not now used in Malta, having been superseded by another oriental term, sultan, of similar but not equal import. Who the king Battus mentioned in this sepulchral inscription might be, it is impossible to say: but the name is not unknown in history. In the island of Thera, now Santorini, one of the Cyclades in the Archipelago, Polymnestus, a wealthy citizen, had a bold and ambitious son who, impatiently enduring an ungraceful hesitation in his speech, applied for a cure to the oracle of Delphi. Instead of directly answering his request, the oracle saluted him by the appellation Battos, and exhorted him to leave his native island and conduct a colony to Libya, or the north of Africa, This happened in the second year of the 37th olympiad, or in the 631st year before our era. Such is the account conveyed to us by Herodotus in the fourth book of his history, who adds, that the term battos in the Libyan tongue signified a king. The name Battos was often repeated among the princes of Cyrenè in Libya; for the fourth prince of that name was deposed in the year 460 be fore our era, about the time when Herodotus flourished. Were we to give credit to poetic fa 299 ble, we should be obliged to mount up to a very early period, much before the first Libyan Battus, to find a king of the same name in Malta. In the third book of Ovid's Fasti, verse 567, we have these lines: "Fertilis est Melite sterili vicina Cosyræ Insula, quam Libyci verberat unda freti. The wealthy Battus. Cosyra, now called by the Italians Pantalluréa, is a small island certainly not near to Malta, as the poet, says, buc lying directly in the way of a ship bound thither from Carthage; distant 64 English miles east from Cape Bon, the ancient Hermaan promontory forming the eastern point of the bay of Carthage or Tunis; and 124 English miles WNW from the centre of Malta. The inhabitants of Pantallaréa speak the common Maltese dialect. It was already stated, that Carthage was probably founded by the Phoenicians about 50 years before the fall of Troy, and that fresh colonies went thither with Elissa or Dido above 350 years afterwards. Whichever of these epochas we choose for the reign of that princess in Carthage, it is evident that her interview with Eneas existed only in fiction. Agreeably to that fiction, however, Ovid represents Anna, after the death of her sister Dido, and the attack on Carthage by Iarbas, king of Getulia, to have fled for protection to Battus, the friendly king of Melitè or Malta. This ancient friendship between Battus and the queen of Carthage was most probably founded on the original descent of both from Phoenicia, whither he proceeded directly from that country, or rather from Cyrene, where his namesakes were kings, and where Phoenicians were settled long prior to the adventure, real or imagi nary, of Battus of Thera. Cyrenè (Kurene) is not of Greek origin; but it exists in the ancient Hebrew, as in the modern Maltese, in which kur signifies a wall, building, or fortification, nearly equivalent to bosra, the citadel of Carthage, a Phoenician or Punic term, corrupted by the delicate and fanciful Greeks, from its resemblance, into byrsa, signifying among them the hide of an animal: and on this idea was founded the well-known story of the origin of Carthage; a story which has found an imi 300 Mr. Oliver on the Means of Removing Hairs. tation even in the history of England. If now we allow, with Virgil and Ovid, the destruction of Troy and the foundation of Carthage to have been coeval events, we shall have a Battus reigning in Malta twelve centuries before our era, and nearly six anterior to the Libyan expedition noticed by Herodotus. The term Battos was supposed by the Greeks to signify a king: this may, however, have been founded in their ignorance of the language of their masters the Phoenicians. The name of the supposed founder of Cyrend was repeated in that of his successors; and what was in fact a proper name, might by strangers come to be taken for a title or office. Of a practice nearly similar an example exists, at the present day, respecting the head of the German empire, imitating the custom of the later emperors of Rome, Casar, the name of the founder of the empire, was at last employed to designate the second in dig nity to the emperor; and in Germany Case (Kaiser) now indicates the emperor himself. But the genuine meaning of Battos may be traced in the present Maltese, in which bat, with different terminations signifies slow, inuctive, useless. Thera and the other Greek isles were very early colonised by the Phoenicians; and it would be to think very meanly of the talents of the managers of the oracle, to imagine they were unable to communicate their responses, in the language of each particular appliThe oracle conscious of its inability to remove his defect of speech, saluted the Therian youth with a word expressive of that defect; and advised him to seek is fortune in a strange land, where his success would much more depend on the activity of his arm, than on the fluency and energy, or the slowness and imperfection of his discourse. Battos, therefore, meant only slow of speech. (To be continued.) cant. MR. EDITOR, IN your 22d Number, p. 319, an inquiry was made concerning some method of removing such superfluous hairs as perchance might grow upon the chin of females. I shall submit to your correspondent's consideration the following methods. In the first place, I should consider eradication to be the best means possible of preventing the evil both for the time present and to come. In June 1804, a patent was obtained by Mr. Marcus Hyman, Exeter-street, for a method of working up iron pumice [May 1, stone into a kind of cake, by means of as that of an intant. MR, EDITOR, J. OLIVER. ON reading the account of the dreadful accident that took place at Felling Colliery, near Sunderland, in the county of Durham, on the 25th May, 1812, by the explosion of what is commonly called fire-damp (carburated hydrogen gas), when ninety-two persons lost their lives, I was led to turn my attention towards devising methods to prevent the accumulation of this gas in subterraneous works: but as the bad air that infests the coalworks in this neighbourhood is of a quite different quality from that already mentioned, being what is commonly called choak-damp, or foul air (carbonic acid gas), and as I had not opportunities at that time to bring my schemes to the test of experiment, I was prevented from laying them before the public. Observing, however, that two eminent chemists, Sir Humphry Davy and Dr. Murray, have each laid before the public an ingenious method of lighting collieries that are liable to explode, without bringing their methods to the test of experi ment below ground; I shall follow their example, by giving an outline of the methods that had occurred to me for preventing the accumulation of this inflanimable gas, in under-ground works, with a few remarks on Dr. Murray's ingenious cased lamp. It may, however, not be improper to mention here, that the carbonic acid gas, known to miners by the name of foul air, or choak-damp, which extinguishes flame and animal life, commences first upon the pavement or floor of the workings, and while not in great quantity, suffers the atmospheric air, which is lighter, to swim upon it; as |