as instances of the To Yxpov (see sect. iv. of his Treatise on the Sublime, with which may be compared Aristotle, Rhetoric, iii. 3), though in behalf of the Sicilian poet it may be alleged that this idyl is written in imitation of the mimes of Sophron, and would therefore admit of such an expression, like the scene in 1 Henry IV., III. iii., where Falstaff indulges in a rich vein of comic exaggeration about Bardolph's nose.

W. E. BUCKLEY.

THE HARE AN EASTER EMBLEM (6th S. iv. 388). Perhaps the following notice of a curious custom obtaining at Hallaton, in Leicestershire, mentioned in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary (1840), sub. voc., may interest your correspondent :

"Hallaton is distinguished by a singular annual custom, which is thus described: on every Easter Monday the inhabitants meet on a piece of ground which was bequeathed to the use and benefit of the rector, who then provides two hare pies, a quantity of ale, and two dozen of penny loaves, to be scrambled for. Attempts have been made to put down this custom, and appropriate the bequest to charitable purposes; but so attached are the inhabitants to it, that these efforts have always failed, and on one occasion a riot was the result."-Vol. ii. 333.

In Blount's Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors, edited by W. C. Hazlitt (1874), is an account of the same custom, under "Hallaton, co. of Leicester "; but it is stated there that the pies are now made of veal and bacon instead of hare, and that a procession is made from the rectory to a place in the parish named Hare-Pie Bank.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

A correspondent in Willis's Current Notes for March, 1856, says :—

"Blount observes, They have an ancient custom at Coleshill, in Warwickshire, that if the young men of the town can catch a hare, and bring it to the parson of the parish before ten of the clock on Easter Monday, the parson is bound to give them a calf's head, and a hundred of eggs for their breakfast, and a groat in money."

He asked for the origin of this singular custom, but no reply was given.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN,

71, Brecknock Road. In German nurseries it is believed that Eastereggs are laid by hares. ST. SWITHIN.

POPULAR NAMES FOR THE COINAGE (6th S. iv. 327).—The earlier form of teaster or tester is teston, of which Cowel (in his Interpreter of Law Terms) says: "A sort of Money, which, among the French, did bear the value of 18. Denar. But in Henry the Eighth's time being made of Brass, lightly gilt with Silver, it was reduced to 12d., and in the beginning of Edward the Sixth to 9d., and afterwards to 6d." Tester is found in Shakespeare, 2 Hen. IV. III. ii. 295-6: "Well said, i' faith,

Wart; thou 'rt a good scab hold, there's a tester for thee." Shakespeare has testril as well, Tw. N. II. iii. 32-5: “Sir To. Come on; there is sixpence for you: let's have a song. Sir And. There's a testril of me too: if one knight give a-" Halliwell and Nares have no reference to Shakespeare, s.v. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

Cardiff.

NUMISMATIC BAWBEE, WILLIAM AND MARY (6th S. iv. 389).-In answer to this query I beg to suggest that the halfpenny without "Fr." must be one of the spurious coinage of this reign with which the kingdoms were deluged. The style upon all the English gold and silver, the Scottish silver and Irish copper, true coinage, before the death of Queen Mary was "Gulielmus et Maria Dei Gratia Mag. Br. Fr. et Hib. Rex et Regina." On the English copper the reverse bears only "Britannia," with the date. After the death of the queen the Roman numerals were added to the king's name in the English gold and silver money, but the copper has "tertius" at length, while on the Scotch coins there is no numeral distinction. It is to be kept in mind that he was third of England, second of Scotland, and first of Great Britain and of Ireland. The copper and smaller silver coins of Scotland bore the legend "Nemo me," &c.

In 1698 there were large quantities of copper tokens, in imitation of the current halfpence, imported into Ireland from Scotland and the Continent, far exceeding the whole coinage of Ireland, intended for the withdrawal of the silver coinage in exchange, which caused the Lords Justices to issue, on August 13 of that year, a "proclamation forbidding importation of such false money under pain of being proceeded against according to utmost strictness and severity of the law." The excessive amount of the copper coinage had become so intolerable that on May 12, 1698, further coinage was forbidden for twelve months.

William and Mary, 1691; that of William, 1699; I have examined the five guinea (gold) of the half-crown of William, 1698, having "Mag. Br. Fr. et Hib.," for England; and the following Scotch (gold and silver) of William and Mary, 60s., 1692; 40s., 1694; 20s., 1693; 10s., 1691; 58., 1694; and of William, 40s., 1695; 20s., 1695; 10s., 1695; 5s., 1695,-all of which bear of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland. "Mag. Brit. Fr. et Hib.," and are in the Museum

SETH WAIT.

A FENCING MATCH IN MARYLEBONE FIELDS, 1714 (6th S. iv. 445).—I subjoin a still more curious announcement (date August, 1723) of a match in Marylebone Fields. Women in those days claimed some rights not now generally clamoured for:

"At the Boarded-House in Marybone Fields, to Morrow being Thursday, the 8th Day of August, will be perform'd an extraordinary Match at Boxing, between JOANNA HEYFIELD, of Newgate Market, Basket-Woman, and the CITY CHAMPIONESS, for Ten pounds Note. There has not been such a battle for these 20 Years past, and as these two Heroines are as brave and as bold as the ancient Amazons, the Spectators may expect abundance of Diversion and Satisfaction, from these Female Combatants. They will mount at the usual Hour, and the Company will be diverted with Cudgel-playing till they mount. Note a scholar of Mr. Figg, that challenged Mr. Stokes last Summer, fights Mr. Stokes's Scholar 6 Bouts at Staff for Three Guineas; the first Blood wins. The Weather stopt the Battle last Wednesday."

I shall be greatly indebted to any of your correspondents who may indicate to me any old views or newspaper cuttings relating to Marylebone Gardens, Cuper's Gardens, or Ranelagh.

Richmond, Surrey.

J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

THE "ADESTE FIDELES" (4th S. xi. 75, 219; 5th S. xi. 265, 298, 331, 372, 418; xii. 173, 357, 457; 6th S. i. 85, 141, 160, 224; ii. 434, 487; iii. 49, 410; iv. 111).-Christmas time emboldens me to ask the favour of a repetition of my two questions, What is the origin (1) of the words, and (2) of the melody, of the Adeste Fideles? Of course it will be unnecessary to repeat what has already been written in "N. & Q." on the subject.

Isleworth.

JAMES BRITTEN.

his

SIR GEORGE GRIFFITH, KNT., OF WHICHMORE, Suffolk, and BurTON AGNES, YORK (6th S. iv. 348, 452, 541).-A pedigree of the Skeffington family in the Visitation of Leicestershire, 1619, Harleian Society's edition, p. 110, gives "George Griffith de Wichmore" as having married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Skeffington and wife, daughter of Hasilrigge. This Thomas is stated to have been the third son of Sir William Skeffington, Knt., by Ann, his second wife, daughter of Sir John Digby, of Kettleby; also, Sir John, of London, Knt., the second son, is said to have married --, daughter and heiress of Peck, and died without issue; the first son is not named. How is this? Would not Sir John be the first son and Thomas the second? and which of the two was the father of Elizabeth, the wife of Sir George Griffith, Knt.? I shall be glad to know the full names of the wives and their parents of both Thomas and Sir John Skeffington, Knt.

THOS. W. SKEVINGTON.

Toft Villa, Shipley, Yorks.

SIR RICHARD BINGHAM (6th S. iv. 513).-The portrait of Sir Richard Bingham, which still remains at Binghams' Melcombe, was exhibited at the National Portrait Exhibition in 1868 (see Catalogue of the Third and Concluding Exhibition of National Portraits, p. 131, No. 643). A long account of him will be found in Hutchins's Dorset,

last edition, vol. iv. p. 376; this, as well as the rest of the information there given relative to the Bingham family, was from the pen of the late Rev. C. W. Bingham, whose death, ere the last note from his pen had appeared in the pages of "N. & Q.," we have very recently had to deplore. It is only a few months ago that he told me he had sometimes contemplated writing a memoir of Sir Richard Bingham, adding that he knew more of his history than any one else. I think it is, therefore, pretty certain that no biography is G. W. M. already written.

MORRIS DANCERS (6th S. iv. 349, 524).-Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle William IV. on June 20, 1837. Very soon thereafter a great fair was held in Hyde Park. The exact date of this fair I have no clue to, and there is no mention of it in Haydn's Dictionary of Dates. But I was in the merry throng, and I saw at that fair two companies of morris dancers. They were spoken of at the time as "London roughs," but I am prepared to say at this moment, from my remembrance of their style and demeanour, that they were real country cousins, and surpassed all possible London roughs in naturalness of movement and true rustic grace. I remember that one company had short staves, that were crossed and clashed at intervals in the dance; and the other company had white handkerchiefs, with which similar movements were made. I was too

young to ask what counties or districts these companies represented, but not too young to take the pretty pictures they made into my heart and my memory, where they still abide.

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

THE EARLS OF CHESTER AND HUGH DESPENSER (6th S. iv. 428).-The manor of Alkborough, in the north of Lincolnshire, was part of the possessions of Lucy, Countess of Chester, wife of Ivo Taibois, and from her descended to Ralph, Earl of Chester. This Ralph, called "De Blundeville," died in the year 1132. We find in the Hundred Rolls that this earl possessed the whole village of Alkborough, but that during his lifetime he gave half the village to Hugh Despenser. May not Ralph, Earl of Chester, have given to Hugh Despenser possessions in addition to the half of Alkborough? Has W. G. D. F. ever studied the Hundred Rolls? J. GOULTON CONSTABLE.

Walcot, Brigg.

SLOPING CHURCH FLOORS (6th S. iii. 228, 392, 417, 477; iv. 37, 173, 473).-The floor of All Saints' Church, Binfield, Berks, slopes from west to east. There is a step down into the chancel. I may add that there still remains, attached to the pulpit, which bears the date 1628, a curious wrought-iron bracket and hour-glass. W. L. NASH.

"SINGLE SPEECH HAMILTON" AND JUNIUS's LETTERS (6th S. iv. 425).- Single Speech Hamilton once confessed to an intimate friend "that he could have written better papers than those of Junius." At another time, when a particular passage was imputed to him, he flew into a passion, and protested that "if he had written such a passage as that, he should have thought he had forfeited all pretensions to good taste or composition for ever" (See Ed. Rev., Oct. 1829, p. 165). WM. FREELOVE.

the day. We therefore most heartily congratulate Canon Cook, his distinguished band of commentators, and Mr. Murray on having brought this important work to so happy a conclusion.

The Haigs of Bemersyde: a Family History. By John Russell. (Blackwood & Sons.)

The

SCOTTISH literature is rich in family histories. records of the sister kingdom are less ancient than ours, but they have been more thoroughly overhauled, and the charter-rooms of her great nobles have given up their contents in a generous fashion, which we long to

see imitated on this side of the Border. But few men of letters, however, are fitted for writing a continuous family chronicle, and so it has come to pass that while a few of the Scottish family histories are works of which any nation might be justly proud, others are about the most unmitigated trash that has ever been given to the printing press. We cannot be too thankful that the duty of compiling a chronicle of the lairds of Bemersyde has fallen into good hands. Mr. Russell knows the history of Scotland well-far too well, indeed, to encumber his pages with anything beyond the necessary

"Gigantic daughter of the West !" Alfred Tennyson: published in the Examiner, 1852, under the signature "Merlin." C. F. S. WARREN, M A.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Holy Bible. With an Explanatory and Critical Commentary and a Revision of the Translation. By Bishops and Clergy of the Anglican Church. Edited by F. C. Cook, M. A., Canon of Exeter. Vol. X., being Vol. IV. of New Testament. (Murray.) ALL who enjoyed the advantage of being personally acquainted with the late Lord Ossington (better known, perhaps, as Mr. Speaker Denison) must experience a feeling of deep regret that that kindly and accomplished man was not spared to see the successful completion of this great work, which owes its original conception to his intelligent foresight. There now lies before us the tenth and final volume of a commentary, the merits of which have been recognized not by Churchmen only, but by intelligent Christian scholars of all denominations. The idea on which this commentary is founded is an admirable one; and, thanks to the liberality of the publisher and the judicious selection of the band of eminent biblical scholars to whom the carrying out of the suggestion of Lord Ossington was eventually entrusted, the result is a work which we venture to predict must shortly find a place not only on the library shelves of every professed theologian, but also on those of all welleducated and thoughtful, students of Holy Scripture. The great importance of the suggestion of the proposed commentary was immediately recognized, and much time was devoted to considering the manner in which it might be most effectually carried out. The reader of the preface by which Canon Cook, the general editor, introduces the present volume will see how wisely employed were the eight years which elapsed between the original conception and the publication of the first volume. When that volume did appear, it met with a reception from the religious press of the whole country --not only of the Established Church, but of that of all denominations-which marked the Bible with the Speaker's Commentary as one of the greatest successes of

cessive lairds are made intelligible. How old the race of Haig may be and how long it has been settled at Bemersyde are facts which we shall never be able to settle. The darkness of the early time is upon them, and it is almost impossible that any future discovery of evidence should enable any future inquirer to carry back the genealogy to an earlier date than Mr. Russell has done. This darkness was, however, no hindrance to the antiquarian dreamers of former generations. They boldly asserted a Pictish origin for the house of Haig, and their dreams, or falsehoods, have been servilely followed by those who have been engaged in the manu facture of genealogical books of reference in quite modern times. We trust, now that the pedigree of one of the very oldest houses in Scotland has been put on a thoroughly historical basis, we shall hear no more of these Picts. They have been to the antiquaries of Scotland as great a snare as the Julian line has proved to the pedigree-makers of Italy. It is quite as impossible to trace any existing house up to one as to the other. Scepticism is ever useful in matters genealogical, but in this, as in other sciences, it may be carried too far. It by no means follows because Petrus de Haga, who flourished circa 1150-1200, is the first of the family of whom we have authentic evidence, that he was the founder of the race. In all probability he was not; but who were beyond him is mere conjecture. Mr. Russell is so well armed at all points in the history of the house he has studied that we are sorry to call his conclusions in question on any point whatever. We must do so, however, as to the derivation of the name. It is, as he well knows, a form of haga, hage, a fence or a fenced enclosure. He would derive the family name from La Hague, in Normandy, as he says, "No place bearing this name is to be found either in Scotland or England.' This is clearly an error. There are two places called Haigh in the parish of Darton, in Yorkshire, and a house called Hague Hall in the parish of Kirby, in the same county. A search through the topographical literature of the north of England would furnish us with many more examples. It is much more probable that the first Haig took his name from some one of these English Haighs than that he came from faroff Normandy. Is it, however, needful to entertain either of these almost gratuitous fancies? May not the first Peter, or his unknown ancestor who had the name given to him, have received it from the fenced enclosure of his own dwelling at Bemersyde?

The Chronicles of the Collegiate Church or Free Chapel of All Saints, Derby. By the Rev. J. Charles Cox and W. H. St. John Hope, B.A. Illustrated by George Bailey. (Bemrose & Sons.)

MR. Cox has been too long engaged in looking at churches and describing them not to know how to make the most of so good a brief as has been put into his hands and into the hands of his junior, Mr. Hope. To say that they have made the best of their case is to say no more than was to be expected. In truth, we have rarely seen so excellent a monograph as this, and the only regret that comes upon us as we read the book is that All Saints' Church, Derby, in its present state is not more worthy of so exhaustive a volume as Mr. Cox has managed to produce upon the ideal church, which the present composite edifice stands for. As for the fabric itself, its early history is a perfect blank. The authors of this volume have found almost nothing about it. They cannot tell when the magnificent tower (which is the leading feature of the structure) was begun or finished; but it seems probable that it was built in the sixteenth century, and, if so, it is one of the most successful Tudor towers in England. The nave and aisles, which were at one time the natural appendages-if the expression may be allowed-were pulled down in 1723 in the most audacious manner by a certain Dr. Hutchinson, a grandson of Bishop Hacket, who in an evil hour had been elected minister of the church by the corpora tion a short time before. This high-handed gentleman seems to have carried things his own way by sheer impudence, and we have a most extraordinary story of his proceedings in the destruction of the old church and the erection of the new in this volume. Nothing but the mass of masonry and its great height appear to have saved the very tower from demolition at the hands of this autocratic church restorer. The Puritans-those convenient persons for laying the sins of our forefathers upon-are credited with the destruction of the chancel, the smashing of the stained glass, and a great deal else in the way of vandalism; but the doctor of divinity with episcopal blood in his veins outdid all the Puritans of his own or any former time. Great difficulty was experienced in getting together the money for building the new edifice, and it seems that the expedient, supposed to be of modern invention, of sending circulars to all likely persons was resorted to, and that even Sir Robert Walpole and Sir Isaac Newton were among those who were induced to send subscriptions. The carrying out of the architect's designs and the rebuilding of the church on new lines was a much more successful achievement than might have been expected, for the story of squabbling and quarrelling is more than ordinarily discreditable to most of those concerned; and some care must have been taken to preserve the principal monuments which were in the old church, and which have been transferred to the new one. By far the most curious of these is the unique wooden effigy and part of the tomb of one of the canons who served the church before the suppression and spoliation of conventual and collegiate establishments by Henry VIII. The chapter on the bells of the church is very well put together, and really worth reading by other than merely local antiquaries; and the churchwardens' accounts and books of orders have a value and interest for those who know how to read between the lines. The volume is splendidly got up, and the illustrations are excellent and reflect the highest credit upon the artistic skill of Messrs. Bemrose & Sons, whose lithographs of Mr. Bailey's drawings it would be very difficult to surpass. We have very rarely, if ever, seen more exquisite specimens of lithography than are to be found among the ornaments from the bells in plate xvi. In the

happy combination of softness of tone, distinctness of outline, and delicacy of colour, it would be difficult to match them. The publishers are to be congratulated on the appearance of this splendid volume: a book which is likely to help on materially the new fashion happily on the increase-of getting together all the information that is to be collected on the history of a parish church and printing it for the behoof of posterity. this kind of thing for us five hundred years ago? What would not some of us give if our ancestors had done

THE Rev. F. St. John Thackeray has reprinted in a neat quarto volume the papers on Eton College Library which he recently contributed to our columns. A photograph of the library, and a few additional notes, including one on the Pote collection of Oriental MSS., have been added. It cannot but form a pleasant reminiscence to Etonians past and present.

MR. BENTLEY is about to issue a new edition of Miss

Ferrier's novels. Marriage is the first instalment, the whole of the omissions in previous reprints being now given.

AMONG their forthcoming publications, Dumolard Brothers, of Milan, announce the second volume of De Rossi, La Meteorologia Endogena, with plates and lithographs, forming No. xxxi. of the International Scientific Series; also a study by Prof. Penci, Omero e Dante: Schiller e il Dramma; and a small work, likely to be of use to the tourist as well as the archæologist, Bazzero, Le Armi Antiche nel Museo Patrio di Archeologia in Milano.

LORD FITZHARDINGE has given his consent to the very valuable MSS. of John Smythe, the antiquary, written in the early part of the seventeenth century, and the ancient MS. register of the Abbey of St. Augustine, at Bristol, which are preserved in the muniment room at Berkeley Castle, being printed by the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society. They will be edited by Sir John Maclean, F.S.A.

FIRMUS ET FIDELIS.-You will find the legend in Swainson's Weather Folk-lore, or Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol i. p. 375 (Bohn's edition).

R. F. FOLLETT.-The words of the song were given, in response to K. P. D. E.'s query, in "N. & Q." for Nov. 5.

W. B. C.-The term is very common in the sense you mention.

G. H. W. H.-The Clergy List mentions no such chapel. J. L. F.-Look out the word in any Latin dictionary. CORRIGENDUM.-6th S. iv. 545, col. 2, 1. 18 from bottom, for "Statesman " read Statesmen.

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries ""-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, 20, Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1882.

CONTENTS.-N° 107. NOTES:-The Story of Lillo's "Fatal Curiosity," 21-English Roman Catholic Martyrs, 23-The "Catholicon Anglicum," 24-Philip Jones, 1588- Misprints-Longevity of Professional Men-" Return of Members of Parliament," &c., 25-Mnemonics of Ecumenical Councils-A Memorial Tablet-Railway "-The Philological Society's New English Dictionary, 26.

had so changed the son that his mother did not recognize him, and when, before going to his room for the night, the young man begged his hostess to take charge of his 300,000 florins for him, she had no idea who it was that reposed in her such extraordinary trust. Never in her life had she seen such a mass of gold; she could not sleep for the demon of cupidity gnawing at her heart, and yielding at last to the temptation, she took a razor, crept up to the traveller's room, and severed his carotid artery with a single stroke. The body she concealed in a corner of the cellar. Two days afterwards the brothers arrived, and asked if a strange traveller had not come to the inn. The mother grew

English Fragments"-Song of Solomon, 32-Nishan-iImtiaz-Dividing Copy-Whig and Tory-Henry VIII. and the Farmers-Chaise Marine"-"Remillion"-"Heigham," 33-Antimony-Effervescing Drinks-"Roarer" - West's Portrait of Byron-Century" White, 34-" Medicus curat," &c.-Tallies-St. Luke xxiii. 15, 35-"Drowe "-Episcopal Wig-"Panis de Hastrinello-Mary Queen of Scots-Portrait of W. Irving-Siege of Chepstow-Painting of the Flight into Egypt-"Too too," 36-"Sate"-Statue at Brasenose College-Privy Council-Boon-Days-Indigenous Trees of Britain, 37- Cordiner's "Antiquities," &c.-T. Daniell, R. A.-"Bosh"-"Manchet Loaf," 38-"Diary of an Irish Gentleman "-"Rock of Ages"-"John Dory "Fencing Match-Authors Wanted, 39.

NOTES ON BOOKS:-Tuer's "Bartolozzi"-Smith's " Old
Yorkshire"-Cotton's "Bromsgrove Church," &c.
Notices to Correspondents, &c.

Notes.

THE STORY OF LILLO'S "FATAL CURIOSITY."* The Neue Freie Presse of Vienna, early in June, 1880, gave currency to the following narrative of crime :

"Fifteen years ago a young Viennese parted from his mother and two brothers to seek his fortune in America. No news ever came of him; he was supposed to be dead, and lamented as such. Last month, how ever, the two brothers received the visit of a stranger who was no other than the supposed defunct. The delight of the recognition may be imagined, and we may be sure that it was not diminished when the wanderer spread out on the table before his brothers' eyes the 300,000 florins which he had brought back with him from America. They would not, however, keep their recovered brother exclusively to themselves, and told him that their mother kept an inn in a neighbouring village. It was agreed that the long-lost son should not at once reveal himself to his mother, but should first go to the place incognito, and that then, after he had spent two days under his mother's roof, his brothers should rejoin him there to witness his revelation of himself to his mother, and celebrate the reunion of the family by an impromptu festival. But the fifteen years of absence

*The chief sources of information consulted have been Biographia Dramatica, by David Erskine Baker, Isaac Reed, and Stephen Jones, London, 1812, 3 vols.; Bibliotheca Cornubiensis, by George Clement Boase and William Prideaux Courtney, London, 1874, 2 vols.

confession. When told who had been her victim, she ran to deliver herself to justice, crying out in the midst of her sobs, Kill me, miserable that I am; I have murdered my son !'"

It will strike those who are familiar with a once famous, but now almost forgotten, play, that this is the exact plot of George Lillo's Fatal Curiosity.

Lillo's piece was first performed at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket in 1736, and in the following year it was printed as "a true tragedy of three acts." It was frequently acted, and in 1782 George Colman brought out an adaptation of it. In 1784 another adaptation was produced at Covent Garden. It was from the pen of Henry Mackenzie, who prefixed the title of The Shipwreck to that given by Lillo. The play was the subject of high praise by James Harris, who, in his Philological Inquiries, says, that in this tragedy we find the model of a perfect fable, of which he gives the following analysis :

"A long-lost son, returning home unexpectedly, finds his parents alive, but perishing with indigence. The young man, whom, from his long absence, his parents never expected, discovers himself first to an amiable friend, his long-loved Charlotte, and with her concerts the manner how to discover himself to his parents. It is agreed he should go to their house, and there remain unknown till Charlotte should arrive and make the happy discovery. He goes thither accordingly; and having, by a letter of Charlotte's, been admitted, converses, though unknown, both with father and mother, and beholds their misery with filial affection; complains at length he was fatigued (which, in fact, he really was), and begs he may be admitted for a while to repose. Retiring, he delivers a casket to his mother, and tells her it is a deposit she must guard till he wakes. Curiosity tempts her to open the casket, where she is dazzled with the splendour of innumerable jewels. Objects so alluring suggest bad ideas, and poverty soon gives to those ideas a sanction. Black as they are, she communicates them to her husband, who, at first reluctant, stabs the stranger while he sleeps. The fatal murder is at length persuaded, and, for the sake of the jewels, is perpetrating, or at least but barely perpetrated, when Charlotte arrives, full of joy, to inform them that the stranger within their walls was their long-lost son." To this analysis Mr. Harris adds:

"It is no small praise to this affecting fable that it so much resembles the Edipus Tyrannus of Sophocles. In both tragedies, that which apparently leads to joy, leads in its completion to misery; both tragedies concur in the horror of their discoveries; and both in those great outlines of a truly tragic revolutien, where (according to