Jewish Lineaments (Vol. vi., p. 362.).—Is this Query put in reference to the individual or the race? In either case the lineaments would wear out. In the first, intermarriage would soon destroy them, as I have an instance in my own family, wherein the person, though only three removes from true Jewish blood, retains only the faintest trace of Jewish ancestry. In the second instance, the cause of the change is more subtle. The Jew, as long as he adheres to Judaism, mingles with Hebrew people, adopts their manners, shares their pursuits, and imbibes their tone of thought. Just as the character is reflected in the countenance, so will he maintain his Jewish looks; but as soon as he adopts Christian views, and mingles with Christian people, he will lose those peculiarities of countenance, the preservation of which depended on his former career. We see examples of this in those Franks who have resided
for a long time in the East, adopting the dress and customs of the people they have mingled with. Such persons acquire an Eastern tone of countenance, and many have been mistaken by their friends for veritable Turks or Arabs, the countenance having acquired the expression of the people with whom they have mingled most freely. The same fact is illustrated in the countenances of aged couples, especially in country places. Frequently these, though widely distinct in appearance when first married, grow at last exactly like each other, and in old age are sometimes scarcely to be distinguished by the features.
If not quite to the purpose, these instances illustrate the correspondence of the life and the looks, which is the philosophy of the Query on Jewish lineaments.
Shirley Hibberd.
Sotadic Verses (Vol. vi., pp. 209. 352. 445.).—There is an English example of this kind of line, attributed, I think, to Taylor the Water Poet:
"Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel."
To make this perfect, however, "and" must not be written at full length, and "dwell" must be content with half its usual amount of liquid.
It is difficult to make sense of any of the Latin Sotadics quoted in "N. & Q.," except that beginning "Signa te," &c. Even the clue given by the mention of the legend in p. 209. does not enable one to find a meaning in "Roma tibi," &c.
Can any of your readers tell me whence comes the following Sotadic Elegiac poem, and construe it for me?
"Salta, tu levis es; summus se si velut Atlas,