But still, I conceive there can be no doubt that he knew the truth (I speak as of realities), —knew what he intended to represent by so full and elaborate a delineation of a scene. And it is the author's meaning and intention that I wish to come at.
I will ask one more question relative to this magnificent poem (which I don't think has had justice done it by the critics), but one respecting which I hardly think there can be any doubt as to the author's secret meaning:—Is not the Kaled of Lara the Gulnare of the Giaour?
Before concluding, I will add a query on a very different subject.
3. Many of your readers have, doubtless, seen the large marble tablet erected by the Vallaisians in honour of Napoleon, in the Convent of the Great St. Bernard. A recent traveller in Switzerland (Dr. Forbes) has, I find, noticed the inscription, and questioned, as I had done, both its meaning and Latinity. I extract this author's note as expressing exactly the point on which I desiderate information:—
"Having doubts both as to the precise meaning and lingual purity of the compound epithet Bis Italicus, here applied to Napoleon, I subjoin the passage in which it occurs, for the judgement of the learned:—
'NAPOLEONI ... ÆGYPTIACO BIS ITALICO SEMPER INVICTO ... GRATA RESPUBLICA.'"—A Physician's Holiday, p. 468.
EMDEE.
Athenæum, January 26. 1850.
MINOR QUERIES.
Howkey or Horkey.— Can anybody explain the etymology of the word Howkey or Horkey, generally used to denote a harvest-home merriment in our eastern counties? Forbes speaks of it as an intractable word, and neither he nor Sir J. Cullum have succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily.