Passage in Carlyle.—Carlyle (French Revolution, vol. i.), in his description of the horrors attendant on the death-bed of Louis XV., mentions the ghosts of the men "who sank shamefully on so many battle-fields from Rossbach to Quebec, that thy harlot might take revenge for an epigram." Who was the harlot, and what the epigram?
Ficulnus.
Madagascar Poetry.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." throw any light upon the origin of the following lines? I found them among family papers, written about the year 1805, where they are described as the "Invocation of Madagascrian Spirit;" by which, I imagine, we are to infer that they are a translation of some native lay from the island of Madagascar:
"Spirit that art flown away,
Listen to our artless lay.
Teach us, Spirit, to do well;
Teach us, Spirit, to excel.
Stoop, O Spirit! and be kind,
Teaching those you left behind:
Listen to our artless lay,