LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1888.

CONTENTS.-N° 140. NOTES:-Forster and Shelley, 161-Finnish Folk-tales, 162Spanish Armada-"Setting the Thames on fire"-Miss Foote-The Surgeon's Comment,' 166. QUERIES:-Hall-Mark-Generosi: Armigeri- ScarpinesAmsterdam Coffee-House-"Cousin" for "Niece"-Edward Williams-Rewe-Rowed-Opodeldoc-Blake and St. Albyn, 167-" Adverbs weaken all the line "-Dame Dorothy HallAllusion by Lord Carnarvon-Wm. Leslie Hamilton-Celtic and Euskarian Languages-" Friar's lanthorn"-Scotch Coal -Broadside-Litany of St. Dominic, 168-Perjury-Court Rolls of Little Compton-David Seton, M.P.-Heraldic'Vers de Société '-Breaker, 169.

REPLIES: Riddles on Trees, 169-The Lincolnshire Poacher' Arms Wanted-Curious Superstition, 170Extract from Parish Register-Charles Martel-Kite-Highland Claymore-Bishop Lloyd, 171-Lowestoft-RubbingHeathens, 172-Norfolk Song-Order of the Southern Cross O'Connell's Diary'- Royal Offerings, 173 - Nynd Knighted after Death-Robinson Cruso-"A hair of the dog that bit you," 174-Bell Legend-Portraits in Town and Country Magazine'-Railway Tickets-Inscription on the Grave of L. E. L.-"A mort "-much-Dickens and Martin-"Mad as a hatter," 176-Russia: "Black, White, and Red"-Reference Wanted-"It is not every lady of Genoa," &c., 177-King James's Lords-Lent-Mr. Gladstone's Accent-Dr. Bury-Etymology of Whist, 178Authors Wanted, 179.

would have no existence were they not bled [? bred] for the use of food. The other question, however, proposed by Shelley, whether the savage and dirty scenes of butchery connected with eating of animal food does not brutalize the heart of man, and prepare him for still more ferocious crimes, is one of much higher importance. The subject is worthy of the most attentive examination of moralists and legislators. Xenocrates was right, that temperence and example are the foundations of morality." -Ibid., p. 248.

In his 'Recueil de ma Vie' (Bruxelles, 1837), there is the following passage:

"I am not singular,' said Shelley to me one day, walking by Newgate, 'in disbelieving in Christianity; am only singular in confessing it. Do you think if men really believed in the doctrines of the Sermon on the Mount they would hang their fellow creatures for stealing something from a dwelling-house to keep a family of children from starving, or send a soul to howl for ever in the regions of the damned, according to their professed belief, merely for forging a draft; or would attend bullbaitings, cockfights, and brothels of young women seduced away from the comforts of their homes, and now working their own perdition here and hereafter, in order to gratify those, clerical or lay it matters not, who, with fiendish hypocrisy, preach the gospel of peace with the dagger of the assassin in their hand, and roll like swine in sensual infamy, while they profess to mortify the flesh and to do to others as they would that others

Notes.

DR. THOMAS FORSTER AND SHELLEY. The numerous writings of Dr. Thomas Forster, the naturalist and Pythagorean, offer a tempting field for the bibliographer, and some day I hope to deal with them. At present my object is merely to call attention to his relations with the author of 'Queen Mab.' There are several allusions to Shelley in the numerous writings of Dr. Thomas Forster. He says:

"Percy Bysshe Shelley, the distinguished author of 'Queen Mab and other Poems,' lived wholly on the productions of agriculture, and tasted of nothing which had possessed animal life. He used during our early intimacy and friendship to argue with me that such diet softened the ferocities of our nature and made us better men."-Medicina Simplex,' 1832, p. 248.

In a foot-note he adds :

"One of the most amiable of the good traits in Shelley's character, and one which counterbalanced some unfortunate errors in the expression of his opinion was his humanity. He never could bear taking away life for the purpose of gluttony, and used to argue that the whole history of the culinary art was stained with the annals of animal bloodshed. That men should never take away animal life for sport humanity obliged me to admit; but I have sometimes questioned whether the making man an exception to the general analogies of nature throughout which life is sustained by the destruction of life would in the end contribute to the quantum of animal enjoyment. For pasture land is now covered with tame beasts, who enjoy for a time the boon of life, but who

crusades of old, in times of ascetic Christianity, but the plunder of Oriental riches; and what is modern merchandise in the west but the traffic in human blood; the Christian scourging the negroes at his work, and canting about carrying his own cross on his back? No; let me hide my head from the world in honest infidelity, and dwelling amidst the beauties of Nature still hope that there may be a God of justice !'"-P. 95.

"Vegetable food has been hinted at as the natural diet of man; while the destruction of animal life for culinary and other domestic purposes has been condemned as sinful. I am well aware that you entertain this opinion, and I have no valid objection to it. For, firstly, I believe vegetable diet to be best suited to our nature; long habit alone having placed animal food among the imaginary necessities of life. It has been objected to this notion-that other animals who follow the instincts of nature, prey on each other. This is true; but why, I ask, should man, whose improvement admittedly consists in the cultivation of those faculties in which he excels, or seems to excel, other animals, persist in a diet which is found to corrupt his nature, while the means necessary for procuring it harden the heart and prepare mankind for every crime? This is, I am aware, to a superficial mind an objection to your opinion on this subject; but it vanishes on a moment's reflection. Besides this the same quantity of land will sustain more human beings on vegetable than it will on mixed diet. Moreover those who have tried both have found themselves healthier, freer from low spirits, and less subject to painful diseases and premature death on a diet of vegetable substances. Such diet also clears the head, often cures cerebral disorders, and is a guarantee against many of the most severe calamities with which human nature is afflicted. Sacred history and all the ancient traditions of the East represent the permission to kill and devour flesh as being given to man in consequence of the ravages of the flood

or of some other equivalent disaster to which all the traditions testify. And it seems, therefore, that this permission must have been temporary, although men, seduced by habit and gluttony, have continued it. Much has been said of late of the virtues of temperance with regard to fermented liquors, and there can be no doubt of the efficacy of these virtues; but I believe abstinence from the flesh of animals to be a far more powerful remedy against disease. Indeed, when a man has once accustomed himself to herbs he can rarely return to flesh with safety. And though malaria and atmospherical variation are the principal exciting causes of disorders and their varieties, I am persuaded that the predisponent, over which alone medicine has control, is more owing to repletion of animal food than to anything else, if we except only mental anxiety and the abuse of the faculties. Wild animals are free from the diseases of domestic life because :

Non Massica Bacchi

Munera nec illis epulæ nocuere repostæ, Frondibus et victu pascuntur simplicis herbæ ; Pocula sunt fontes liquidi atque excercita cursu Flumina nec somnos abrumpit cura salubres. "While Newton was writing his 'Principia' he lived on bread, potatoes, and water; the poet Byron declared that he never felt quite well except on a vegetable diet. Lawrence, our principal surgeon and physiologist, lived for many years on it. Shelley never tasted animal food. At the time I was acquainted with him I knew many whole families who were brought up on herbs and fruits, and who enjoyed the best health, exhibiting great personal beauty. Dr. Lambe's case is well known. From having originally a bad constitution he not only recovered, but got into sound health on a diet of this kind, and seems likely to outlive all the physicians of his day. At Manchester there exists a society of Christians who from conscientious motives refuse to eat flesh, and the members are remarkably healthy, and were comparatively free from the cholera and other epidemics."-Pp. xv-XVI. I have corrected some obvious misprints in these quotations.

In his 'Piper's Wallet' (Bruges, 1846) there is a "Song from a True Story," to which the following note is added: "The author of this original song is said to bove [sic for "have "] been Dr. Forster, and the stranger alluded to Mr. Shelley, the poet." The song is to the tune of "Up in the morning early," and reads as follows:

Ane day while ganging lang the street,
Atween the late an' earlie,

A lovely minstrel girl I met,

Alane an' greeting sairlie,

The frost was hard, the snaw lay deep,
The weather wild an' blearie,

I thought that I maun also weep
For purtye cau'd an' drearie.

A Christian coof yclep a lord

Came by, to prayers gaeing;
"Hizzy," quoth he, "ye 've slept abroad,
An' noo y'er lute are playing.
In the Gude's name, I maun consign
Vagrants to prison, hear ye;
"Tis the best place to rot an' pine,
For purtye cau'd an' drearie.
"How dare ye sleep in open air,

That hae nae land to ring in?
Or lilt in market, street, or fair,
Wha hae nae ha' to sing in.

For Christ his sake, wha lo'ed the puir,
An help'd the sick an' wearie,
Hie to the dungeon, quit the muir,

Curst purtye cau'd an' drearie."
A stranger wi' a heathen fame,

Wha spied her sorrin features,
Noo led her to his ingle, hame,

Aye free to a' puir creatures;
Here, in untutor'd Nature's fane,

The lass got warm an' cheerie,
An' e'en the dog ga'e half his bane

To purtye cau'd an' drearie.

Troth I maun doff, thought I, the mask,
Let faith nae mair be canting,
Justice gies man a higher task,

To aid the sick an' wanting.

Let Kirk and Aristocracy

Join hands in palace cheery;
There is nae hame in Christendie

For purtye cau'd an' drearie.

These are all the quotations that need now be offered from the very miscellaneous writings of Thomas Maria Ignace Forster, who was equally proud of his invention of the word "Phrenology" and of his friendship with Shelley, and who continued, after his reception into the Church of Rome, to hold some views that are not generally regarded as orthodox. It will be seen that, however much he differed from Shelley, he fully recognized the kindly and beautiful traits of his character. WILLIAM E. A. AXON. 66, Murray Street, Higher Broughton, Manchester.

FINNISH FOLK-TALES.

Seeing how much interest is taken in folklore, it may be of interest to many to read a series of stories as yet but little known. Many of the Finnish and Lapp stories I have translated have been taken down from the lips of the people by friends, and some as yet only exist in MS. A very interesting set of beast tales from Finland is in my possession, and if the Editor can spare room will appear in these pages. The Magyar stories quoted hereafter are chiefly from a work now in the press, wherein a full account is given as to where they have been obtained. The translation is as nearly as possible literal, no attempt having been made to polish it in any way.

THE WONDERFUL BIRCH.*

There was once upon a time a man and his wife, and they had a daughter. One day one of their

*Ihmeelinen Koiwu,' 'Suomen Kansan Satuja ja Tarinoita, i. 59; also Kummallinen Tammi,'The Wonderful Oak,' and 'Kolmet Sisärykset,' 'The Three Sisters,' in the same volume; also 'Tuhkamo' and 'Tukkimo,' ib. Cf. Polnische Volksagen," "aus dem Polnischen des K. W. Woycicki," von F. H. Lewestam, Berlin, 1839, vol. iii. No. 7, Die Eiche und der Schaafpelz'; Märchensaal aller Völker für Jung und Alt,' von Dr. Kletke, Berlin, 1845, i. 149, Finette Aschenbrödel.' Mr. Quigstad, of Tromsö, tells me he has a like story from Lyngen, and another he has from Swedish Lap

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