E. C.

Inscription on a Tomb in Finland.—Can any reader of "N. & Q." explain the meaning of the following inscription?

"IETATIS IN SUBDITOS
MARTYRI
.’IET:S CONIUGALIS
:: :::IV."

It appears on an old monument of considerable size in a Finnish burial-ground at Martishkin near Peterhoff on the Gulf of Finland. The letters are in brass on a stone slab. The dots before the IV., and in the other word, are holes in the stone wherein the missing characters had been fixed.

J. S. A.

Old Broad Street.

Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire on Railway Travelling.—Having been forcibly impressed by a

paragraph in a popular periodical (The Leisure Hour, No. 72.), I am desirous of learning upon what authority the statements therein depend. As, perhaps, it may also prove interesting to some of the readers of "N. & Q." who may not already have seen it, and in the hope that some of your contributors may be able to throw a light upon so curious a subject, I herewith transcribe it:

"Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire on Railway Travelling.—Sir Isaac Newton wrote a work upon the prophet Daniel, and another upon the book of Revelation, in one of which he said that in order to fulfil certain prophecies before a certain date was terminated, namely, 1260 years, there would be a mode of travelling of which the men of his time had no conception; nay, that the knowledge of mankind would be so increased, that they would be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe in the inspiration of the scriptures, got hold of this, and said 'Now look at that mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such marvels for us all to admire. When he became an old man, and got into his dotage, he began to study that book called the Bible; and it seems, that in order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we must believe that the knowledge of mankind will be so increased that we shall be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. The poor dotard!' exclaimed the philosophic infidel Voltaire, in the self-complacency of his pity. But who is the dotard now?—Rev. J. Craig."

The Query I would more particularly ask is (presuming the accuracy of the assertions), What is the prophecy so wonderfully fulfilled?