his wealth, talents, grace, and personal beauty. He was popularly called 'Count Combe,' till his extravagance had dissipated a noble fortune; and then, addressing himself to literature, the Count was forgotten in the author. In the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1852, there is a list of his works, originally furnished by his own hand. Not one was published with his name, and they amount in number to sixty eight. Among them are Dr. Syntax and Lord Lyttelton's Letters-for Combe was the author of many other people's works. Combe was a teetotaller' in the days when drunkenness was in fashion, and was remarkable for disinterestedness and industry. He was the

friend of Hannah More, whom he loved to make weep by,

improvised romances, in which he could pile the agony with wonderful effect. He worked on steadily till he had passed his eightieth year, and ultimately died in Lambeth Road (which I am afraid was within the Rules') in 1823. At no period of his life did he merit such strong censure as Walpole has flung at him; but Walpole, however fond of satire, hated satirists, particularly when they were fearless and outspoken like Combe. Religious faith and hope enabled William Combe to triumph over the sufferings of his latter years. His second wife, the sister of the gentle and gifted Mrs. Cosway, survived him." S. R. TOWNSHEND MAYER, F.R.S.L.

25, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C.

THE WORKS OF WILLIAM COMBE.
(4th S. iii. 406, 466.)

A reply as to the authorship of the Life of Napoleon is here copied from the Repository of Arts published by Ackermann, 1815, 1st S. xiii. 197-8, in perhaps the words of Combe himself: "You might as well compare the pot-boiling composition of The History of Buonaparte, in verse, compiled for the renowned Thomas Tegg, and obtruded upon the world as the production of Dr. Syntax, with the real and legitimate history of that humourist. You might as well compare the wretched prints with which the aforesaid publication is meant to be adorned, with the highly humourous and spirited embellishments which accompany the narrative of the Rev Doctor's Tour in Search of the Picturesque, designed by the inimitable Rowlandson.No, Lucinda, I will never build my reputation on that of another man, nor take a leaf from his laurel crown to adorn my own temples."

The authorship of another publication is denied by Mr. Combe (or by Mr. Ackermann on his behalf), in the Repository, 1819, 2nd S. vii. 247, namely, the "projected literary fraud called Dr. Syntax in London."

All the Talents, a Satirical Poem, by Polypus, 8vo, 1807.-The literary intelligence in Ackermann's Repository of Arts, &c. 1800, 1st S. i. 315, embraces the following passage:

"The author of All the Talents, and The Comet, has announced a poem entitled The Statesman, which will contain biographical sketches of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Lord Nelson, &c."

The title-page of a work published 1823 is— "Letters to Marianne, by William Combe, Esq.. Author of The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the PicturesqueThe Diaboliad-History of the Thames-All the TalentsThe Devil upon Two Sticks in London, &c. &c. &c."

In page viii. of its prefatory advertisement, a list of some of Combe's works also includes Al the Talents: and the last half of No. 10 of those Letters, here copied literally, is

"I cannot express how much I am obliged by your allowing me to make you the depositary of some of my rubbish: but be that as it may, you may be assured that I have a value for it, or I should not present it to your care."

This is dated February 26, 1807; and there is tain MS. of the author; among which was, 'All a note † to the word "rubbish," that says, "+ Certhe Talents."" But on a copy of that book formerly in the possession of the Ackermann family has been marked on the title-page at the words "All the Talents," this was not written by Mr.C. but by a Mr. Serres; and on page viii. at the same words - wrong! and at the note on the word "rubbish "-not written by Mr. Combe: the copy so marked is now before the writer of this memorandum, who considers that these corrections may be taken to be quite as conclusive as could possibly be any statement made upon the authority of W. Combe, that he was not the writer of All the Talents.

But "N. & Q." 1" S. xi. 386, and 2nd S. ii. 36, 310, states that "All the Talents was written by Eaton Stannard Barrett, Esq."; it is so placed in Watt's Bib. Brit. and other works. It went through nineteen editions in the year of its publication, 1807, and appears to have been the first work by that gentleman. In 1816 was published "The Talents Run Mad; or, Eighteen Hundred and Sixteen. A Satirical Poem, in Three Dialogues, with Notes. By the Author of All the Talents. 8vo. Colburn." This work would probably be his last one, if by Barrett. A copy of it is not in the British Museum Library. The Gentleman's Magazine for that year (i. 445) says it is "By the well-known author of All the Talents." It is curious that there should now be much difficulty in placing the correct name on the titlepage of this latter work, which has also been attributed to James Sayers, the caricaturist, author of Elijah's Mantle. He is referred to in "N. & Q." 2nd S. x. 274, 293.

W. P.

All the Talents.-I think it probable that this is by W. Combe, but I should have to read it through carefully before giving a more decided opinion, and see how it is spoken of in the journals of the time. I was misled, as was also the indefatigable author of the Bibliotheca Britannica, by the Biographical Dictionary of 1816, which was published during the lives of both Barrett and Combe, and which I have generally found to be correct in these matters. Excellent as this work is, it is no

more to be relied on for exactness than is Watt. For example, works which were published anonymously are given under their presumed author's

ARMS OF THE PALEOLOGI, EMPERORS OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

(4th S. ii. 525, 618; iii. 44, 111, 245.) There is no honour or utility in attempting to defend a position which has been shown to be untenable, so I have to withdraw my suggestion as to the origin of the B charge, and to thank PRINCE RHODOCANAKIS and M. BOREL DE HAUTERIVE for pointing out the mistake. I certainly did not understand that the foot-note to the roll of arms was of so old a date, or, indeed, part of the original document at all; and I concluded, perhaps too hastily, that it was "compiled from the usual dubious sources." The term addossez misled me, the more readily as I had never seen any drawing in which the Bs were so placed with their semicircles turned towards the edges of the shield, as M. BOREL DE HAUTERIVE suggests, pour affecter une certaine élégance."

With regard to the reply of M. BOREL DE HAUTERIVE, I may say that though I suspect he has a little misunderstood what I meant to say, yet, as I have frankly given up the point in dispute, it is of no use to waste time and occupy space in discussing it further. But I may be permitted to make one or two remarks in connection with his reply. First, I am sufficiently well acquainted with the use of the ciphers to which he alludes many are described and figured in Menestrier's work Le Véritable Art du Blason, Paris, 1673; and one or two others occur in Vredii Sigilla Comitum Flandria, Bruges, 1640. With regard to one of the examples he adduces-that of the Fert device of the Dukes of Savoy, which still appears in the collar of the Order of the Annunciation-Guichenon in his Histoire Généalogique de la Maison Royale de Savoye, proves from the coins of Louis de Savoy (d. 1301), and of Thomas de Savoy (1233), and of Peter de Savoy (which last person lived for some time in England in the reign of Henry III., and founded the Savoy palace in the Strand), that the motto "Fert" in Gothic characters as a single word was in use long before the siege of Rhodes in 1310. It is of course possible that the meaning "Fortitudo ejus Rhodum tenuit" was afterwards attached to the old device. (See also the Histoire de Savoye, par le P. Monod.) The matter had full discussion in "N. & Q." (3rd S. ix., x., and xi.), and without desiring to reopen it, I may refer M. BOREL DE HAUTERIVE to those volumes.

With regard to the heraldic term adossés, the

general use of which I am supposed to misunderstand, I may say that my notion of it is simply that, like the English term addorsed, it is used to express the relative situation of charges (not merely of animals) which are placed dos à dos. I do not know why M. BOREL DE HAUTERIVE should conceive that I thought it necessarily to imply that these charges should touch, or, as he says, "se tiennent par le dos comme les frères Siamois par le flanc." Their contact or non-contact would depend entirely on the space at the disposal of the artist. For instance, I have just taken down the first French heraldic book which came to my hand-it is Menestrier's Méthode du Blason, Lyon, 1718-I have turned up the word addossé, and there I find that both the lions addossez of the Descordes, and the deux bars addossez of the De Blammoret, actually "se tiennent par le dos"; the only necessity for their so doing being the limited space at the disposal of the engraver. Similarly under affronté, the deux levretes affrontées of the De Jonac, and the deux dragons-monstreux affrontez of Ancesune-Caderousse (wonderful to relate), "se touchent par le front" for the same reason. There was, therefore, no very great ignorance displayed when I imagined that the Bs adossés might possibly be similarly placed.

The Parsonage, Montrose, N.B.

JOHN WOODWARD.

MITHRAISM.

(3rd S. ix. 202; 4th S. iii. 541.) The mysteries of Mithra are mentioned by the early fathers. Eusebius informs us that they were collected together and arranged in admirable order by Pallas, "is qui collecta in unum Mithra mysteria optime concinnavit." (Euseb. Præpar. Evang. lib. iv. cap. xvi.) St. Justin, in the second century, says that the exponents of the Mithraic mysteries imitated what is found in the prophets Daniel and Isaias, concerning the stone cut without hands out of a great mountain, and the passage of Isaias, which St. Justin quotes from ch. xxxiii. 13-19, where the prophet says: "He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness: bread is given to him, his waters are sure.' (Verse 16.) Of this he declares that the votaries of Mithra had tried to imitate all the prophet's words in their mysteries; and that the Eucharist which Christ instituted is foretold in this passage of Isaias. (S. Justinus, Dial. cum Tryphone, lxxii.) Farther on in the same Dialogue, St. Justin refers to what he had before said; and declares that Isaias had foreshadowed the cave of Bethlehem, and that those who presided over the mysteries of Mithra were impelled by the devil, on account of these words of the prophet, to say that their followers

καὶ ἀνιστόρησα τὴν δὲ προέγραψα ἀπὸ τοῦ Ησαίου περικοπήν, εἰπὼν διὰ τοὺς λόγους ἐκείνους τὰ μίθρα μυστήρια παραδιδόντας ἐν τόπῳ ἐπικαλουμένῳ παρ' αὐτοῖς σπηλαίῳ μυεῖσθαι ὑπ ̓ αὐτῶν, ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐνεργηθῆναι εἰπεῖν. Ibid. § lxxviii.

Tertullian speaks of the Mithraic mysteries in imitation of Christian Baptism, the Eucharist, and the signing of the forehead, as invidious attempts of the devil to pervert the truth:

"A quo intellectus interpretetur eorum quæ ad hæreses faciant? A diabolo scilicet, cujus sunt partes intervertendi veritatem, qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum, idolorum mysteriis æmulatur. Tingit et ipse quosdam, utique credentes et fideles suos: expositionem delictorum de lavacro repromittit; et si adhuc memini,

Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos: celebrat et panis oblationem, et imaginem resurrectionis inducit, et sub gladio redimit coronam.' (Tertul. De Præscript. Hæreticorum, § xl.)

He has another allusion to Mithraic mysteries: "Nam et sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur, Isidis alicujus, aut Mithra." (De Bapt. § v.)

Also, in Tertullian's eloquent conclusion of his treatise De Corona, he contrasts the devil's imitation, in the mysteries of Mithra, with the glorious crown of a Christian martyr:

"Erubescite, commilitones ejus, jam non ab ipso judicandi, sed ab aliquo Mithra milite: qui cum initiatur in spelæo, in castris vere tenebrarum, coronam interposito gladio sibi oblatam, quasi mimum martyrii, dehinc capiti suo accommodatam, monetur obvia manu a capite pellere, et in humerum, si forte, transferre, dicens, Mithran esse coronam suam: atque exinde nunquam coronatur, idque in signum habet ad probationem sui, sicubi tentatus fuerit de sacramento: statimque creditur Mithra miles, si dejecerit coronam, si eam in Deo suo esse dixerit. Agnoscamus ingenia diaboli, idcirco quædam de divinis affectantis, ut nos de suorum fide confundat et judicet." (De Corona, in fine.)

Origen, who flourished in the early part of the third century, in his celebrated work against Celsus, reproaches him with having referred to the Persian and Mithraic mysteries, in empty parade of his learning. But Origen asks why he should adduce and expound these, rather than others; seeing that the Greeks did not appear to value the mysteries of Mithra more than those of Eleusina, or Hecate. But if he would explain the mysteries of the Barbarians, why did he not prefer those of the Egyptians, or the Cappadocians or Thracians, or even those of the Romans? He concludes by assuring Celsus, and the readers of his book, that neither did our prophets, nor the Apostles of Jesus, nor the Son of God himself, borrow aught from the Persians or Cabiri.

Ιστω δὲ Κέλσος καὶ οἱ ἐντυγχάνοντες αὐτοῦ τῷ βιβλίφ, ὅτι οὐδαμοῦ τῶν γνησίων καὶ θείων πεπιστευμένων γραφῶν ἑπτὰ εἴρηνται ουρανοί. οὔτ ̓ ἀπὸ Περσῶν ἢ Καβείρων λαβόντες ἡμῶν οἱ προφῆται λέγουσί τινα, οὐδ ̓ οἱ τοῦ

In the treatise De Errore profanarum religionum of Maternus (Julius Firmicus), who lived in the early part of the fourth century, and was a convert from Paganism, the mysteries of Mithra are spoken of in the fifth chapter, where Maternus also attributes them to the devil as their author.

F. C. H.

THE DEATH-WOUND OF CHARLES XII.
(4th S. iii. 478.)

The question raised by your accomplished correspondent MR. KINDT is one of such interest that I venture to ask you to insert the following long quotation, which, I think, gives all the information that can be hoped for on this curious subject:

"A controversy has long prevailed among the Swed es as to the mode in which their illustrious monarch Charles XII. came by his death. He was killed, the reader will remember, at the siege of Frederickshall in Norway, in 1718. The question that has been raised is, was he fairly killed at the hands of the enemy, or did he die by treachery on his own side?

"About a year ago the Swedish government became anxious to have this question set at rest by a careful examination of the deceased monarch. Accordingly, on the 26th of the August of last year, in the presence of the reigning king Charles XV., of the great officers of state, and of a few of the leading physicians and surgeons of Stockholm, the royal sarcophagus and coffin were opened, and the state of the head, which was the seat of the fatal injury, was carefully examined. The result of the examination, and of a very long discussion which took place on the reading of the report of the examination to the Swedish Society of Physicians, appeared in their journal Hygeia in March last; and an abridgment of the account given in that journal, from the pen of Dr. W. D. Moore of Dublin, was published in the Medical Times and Gazette of the 11th ultimo.

"From this we learn that an examination of the corpse was made in the year 1746, and that the official account of this examination is still extant. It was made, however, so imperfectly as to throw no light at all on the matter

at issue.

"When the coffin was reopened last year, the general appearances of the corpse quite corresponded with the description of those who saw it in 1746. A white linen cushion, filled with spices, lay over, and another under the head-a handkerchief, however, being in contact with the face. Long white bags, filled in the same way, lay along the sides and arms. The hands, slightly drawn towards each other, were covered with white kid gloves. The shirt was of coarse Silesian linen; the shroud of brown holland. In the shroud, on the left side near the feet, was a little blue silk embroidered bag, tied up with blue silk, and containing a small portion of one of the metatarsal bones of the foot, which there seems little doubt was a piece removed from the king's left foot in 1709, after the wound he received at the disastrous battle of Pultowa, in which he and his forces were so completely beaten by Peter the Great.

"In place of a cap, the head of the royal corpse was encircled with a withered wreath of laurel! The top of the head was bald, but the back and sides were covered with thin light-brown hair interspersed with grey, and

about an inch and a half long. The face was of course shrunken, but still showed the aquiline form of the nose. The upper lip was somewhat retracted, the eyelids slightly open, the skin parchment-like and of a greyish yellow, or in places greyish brown. The expression worn by the features was very calm and solemn. The centre of the forehead was disfigured by a depression, found afterwards to correspond with a fracture of that part of the bone of the skull. On each temple was a black velvet patch, adhering by means of something spread on the wrong side of

the velvet. Beneath these were the holes in the skin through which the fatal missile had passed. That in the left temple was the larger of the two; so also the opening in the bone was of much greater extent on that side than on the other-the margin on the left orbit or eye-socket having been completely carried away. The bones around the openings were much comminuted, and lines of fracture extended from them both on the forehead and into the base of the skull, while the base of the skull itself, corresponding with the cavities of the nose and top of the throat, was broken into many fragments. Besides the rags and spices used in the process of embalming, loose portions of bone, and also the dried waxy remains of the once regal and active brain, were discovered within the cranium, but no trace of shot or other missile was found. On carefully noticing the extent and character of the injuries to the bones, the direction of their broken margins and so forth, the examiners were of opinion that the missile, which was evidently from some kind of gun, had passed through the king's head from left to right; and, although nothing could be decided with regard to the exact nature of the missile, it was probably a musket or a grape shot-less probably, though still possible, a caseshot or fragment of a bursted bombshell; and it must have been fired from a distance, its velocity having been partly spent before it struck the king: that its path, as indicated by the injuries to the skull, was probably from a point higher than the spot on which the king stood the moment he was hit-although the appearance on which this conclusion was founded might have been occasioned by the king's head being inclined at the moment: that the wound must have been instantly fatal; and, lastly, that there is no evidence that his majesty was struck by more than one missile.

"In the discussion which ensued, some difference of opinion arose as to which side of the head the missile had entered at; but all agreed that Charles XII. did not fall by the hand of one of his own followers. The Swedish name is thus completely freed from the slur which had been cast upon it by the suspicion that this illustrious monarch had owed his death to foul play.

"We may add that the report of the examiners, as published in the Hygeia, is illustrated by five interesting plates, showing-1. The royal corpse in the coffin, with the wreath of faded laurel around the head; 2 and 3. Right and left views of the head, showing the holes in the integument; 4 and 5. Two views of the skull on which (what a curious fate if the owner could have foreseen it!) the injuries to the king's head have been imitated."

The above account is transcribed from an excellent periodical now unhappily deceased, The Register of Facts and Occurrences Relating to Literature, the Sciences, and the Arts, September 1860, p. 35. WILLIAM E. A. AXON, F.R.S.L. Joynson Street, Strangeways.

GENEALOGIES OF THE MORDAUNT

FAMILY.

(4th S. iii. 541.)

Does MR. SHIRLEY mean that he is in possession of the original notes and sketches from which the genealogies are printed ? On the fly-leaf of the printed copy of Lord Spencer's at Althorpe is the following MS. entry :

"In 2nd. Tome of the Oxford Catalogue of MSSt p. 196, amongst those of H. E. of Petreboro MSSts Folio 6333, No. 8. A large MSS. being a manscript of the Deeds relating to P. Alno. Vere, Mordaunt and others, being the first draught of a most fair printed book of the family of the Rt Honble the E. of Peterborough, which his Lordship caused to be collected and printed with the Pedigrees, Seales, Arms, and other embellishments appertaining to that Ancient Noble family, in copper Plates, whereof His Lords caused only about TwENTY to be printed for the use of His Lordship and His Noble Relations."

It is written in a very large hand, of which Dibdin says, "Not unlike that of the late George Mason," and "in all probability that very MS. or 'first draught' is at this moment in his lordship's collection," referring to a folio MS. upon vellum, confined almost exclusively to the emblazoning of arms, with brief genealogical and heraldic descriptions. The title is as follows:"The Genealogy of the Noble Hovses of Alno or de Alneto Broc

Le Strange of Ampton Latimer of Dyntish

Vere of Drayton

Mavdvit of Werminster Grene of Drayton

Vere of Adington

:

Fitslewis of Westhorndon
Howard of Effingham
and
Mordavnt of Tvrvey

Ivstified by Pvbliqve Records, Antient Charters, Histories, & other Authentick Proofes."

In this MS. the title mentions "Le Strange of Ampton," which is not in the printed work. At the top of the title is the following memorandum :

"This Book was given by ye Right Honble the Lady Elizabeth Germain to Anna Maria Poyntz Wife to ye Right Honble Stephen Poyntz Esq & Daughter to the Honble Brigadier Lewis Mordaunt third Brother to yo late Earl of Peterborowe, & by Her to her Dear Brother Charles Mordaunt, Esq

66 May 20th 1742."

And Dibdin further says:

"On the death of General Osbert Mordaunt, son of Poyntz-the former, by will, left his books, among other Charles Mordaunt, to whom this MS. was left by Mrs. things, to William Stephen Poyntz, with a proviso that Lord Spencer might select, from among them, such as he was in want of. His Lordship selected this Book; and a few other printed ones, of no great value. Mr. Poyntz has also, in his possession, a copy of the printed edition of these Genealogies, which had belonged to General Mordaunt, but which his Lordship did not take, being