system. Was it not the author of 'Ecce
Homo' who said that all the heroes of the
Iliad' would, in the present day, have been
hanged at Newgate? This, at any rate, is
the impression he gives. Killing a suppliant
was almost the only crime they recognized a
such, and even this Achilles was guilty of
when he murdered the unarmed Lycaon
((
symbol characters). 34-135). Epic poets are not always happy
in their heroes. The hero of 'Paradise Lost'
is undoubtedly Satan, yet a critic might ever
find certain defects in the ethical aspect o
this character. J. Foster Palmer.
8, Royal Avenue, S.W.
A RELIC OF NAPOLEON (9 th S. iii. 3). Wa not the plaster cast of Bonaparte's face made by Dr. Burton, a surgeon in the army stationec at St. Helena 1 About fifty years ago I was told by a member of Dr. Burton's family tha Dr. Antommarchi did not know how to make the cast ; that Dr. Burton, after placing th plaster on the face, left the room where th body was lying before the wet plaster hac become firm enough to be taken off; and that Dr. Antommarchi carried the cast away ir the absence of Dr. Burton. D. R.
EGBERT BURNS'S PROPHECY (9 th S. ii. 526). This so-called "prophecy" may be interesting
- o some readers, but undoubtedly would have
Deen much more so to a larger number if the greater part of Burns's letter to Johnson had jeen given, the "prophecy" being the conclu- sion only of the letter which is printed in the preface to vol. v. of ' The Scots Musical Museum' (not "Scottish"), which volume principally owes its birth to Burns. May I be permitted to supplement the "prophecy" by that portion of Burns's letter which, in view of his death and all circumstances con- nected therewith, has a pathos of its own almost inexpressible 1
"This protracting, slow, consuming illness which hangs over me will, I doubt much, my ever dear friend, arrest my sun before he has well reached his middle career, and will turn over the poet to far other and more important concerns than studying the brilliancy of wit or the pathos of sentiment. However, hope is the cordial of the human heart, and I endeavour to cherish it as well as I can."
Burns was dead before the volume in question saw the light.
ALFRED CHARLES JONAS, F.S. A.Scot.
CAMELIAN RING (8 th S. vii. 429). My ques- tion as to the nature of a ring of " camelian " haw, I think, never been answered. I have been wondering if the material were in any way akin to the " alchymy or alcamyne, occamy, ocany, ockanie, alcamy, or acconie a metal composed of pan-brass and arseni-
cum," of which, Alice Morse Earle tells us,
many of the spoons owned by the first colo-
nists of New England were made (' Customs
and Fashions in Old New England/ p. 135).
I do not know whether "alcamy" would be
permitted by present-day philologists to have
thrown off the al and to have given rise to
the adjective. Has MR. PEACOCK ever met
with the word in Lincolnshire ? I have an
impression that my nurse there used to say,
" That is not gold ; it is only camelian."
ST. SWITHIN.
ROUNDS OR RUNGS (9 th S. ii. 386, 430, 492, 530). Without examination, I was misled by the remarks of PROF. SKEAT, at the second reference, to assume that rung, in the sense referred to, was the older word, being after- wards displaced by round. An investigation discloses that round is the original word, and rung the corruption. Besides Shakespeare in 'Julius Csesar,' II. i. (1601), there are More (1614-87), in 'The Government of the Tongue'; Dryden, in ' The Dialogues of the Hind and Panther,' ii. 221 (1687) ; and Norris (1657-1711), using round. Here are what other authorities say (N.B. Where we find both or either omitted from the following list, the dictionary does not give the defini- tion with reference to a ladder) :
Minsheu, 1617.—"The round of a ladder."
Bailey, 1727.
Johnson (last fo.), 1773.—"Round, rundle, step of a ladder."
Ash, 1775.—"Round, a rundle, a step of a ladder. Rung (a local word), the round or step of a ladder."
Sheridan, 1784. "Round, rundle, step of a ladder."
Todd, 1827.—"Round, rundle, step of a ladder. Rung, a round or step of a ladder; so used in the north of England."
Walker (by Davis), 1829.—"Round, rundle, step of a ladder."
Richardson, 1837.
Webster and Worcester (new ed.), 1851.—"Round, a rundle, step of a ladder. Rung (a round or step of a ladder, Bp. Andrews).
Latham, 1855.—"Round, rundle, step of a ladder."
Cooley, 1861.—"Round, a rundle of a ladder."
Ogilvie's ' Imperial ' (by Annandale), 1884. —"Round, the step of a ladder, a rung Rung, the round or step of a ladder (local)."
It will be observed that each of the above who treats of the article gives round as the word. Four mention rung, three characterzing it as a localism (= a vulgarism), and the fourth places the meaning within parentheses,
