May I append a Query to my reply? Was The Nightingale published with a frontispiece? My copy is mutilated, but has belonged to some person who valued it much more highly than I do, as he has neatly repaired and replaced torn leaves and noted deficiencies. Prefixed is a mounted engraving of a bird in the act of singing, which, if intended for a nightingale, is really curious; as it is of the size and shape of a pheasant, with corvine legs and beak, and a wattle round the eye like that of a barb pigeon. The book is "printed and sold by J. Osborn," and shows that the post assigned to him in The Dunciad was not worse than he deserved.
H.B.C.
Garrick Club.
[Our correspondent seems to have the veritable original engraving; the nightingale or pheasant, or whatever it may he, is mounted on a branch over a stream near to three houses, and a village on its banks is seen in the distance.]
Sneezing (Vol. viii., pp. 366. 624.).—To the very interesting illustrations given by Mr. Francis Scott of the ancient superstitions associated with sternutation, I should like to add one not less curious than any which he has given. It is recorded in Xenophon's Anabasis, lib. iii. cap. 2.
At the council of Greek generals, held after the death of Cyrus, Xenophon rose and made a speech. He set before his comrades the treachery of their late associate Ariæus; the serious difficulties attendant upon the position of the Greeks; and the necessity for immediate and vigorous action. Just as he had alluded to the probability of a severe conflict, and had invoked the aid of the gods, one of the company sneezed. He paused for a moment in his harangue, and every one present did reverence (προσεκόνησαν) to Jupiter. The circumstance seemed to give new spirit and fortitude to the whole assembly; and when Xenophon resumed, he said, "Even now, my comrades, while we were talking of safety, Zeus the saviour has sent us an omen; and I think it would become us to offer to the god a sacrifice of thanksgiving for our preservation." He then, in the manner of a modern chairman at Exeter Hall, invited all of that opinion to hold up their hands. This appeal having met a unanimous response, they all made their vows, sung the pæan, and the orator proceeded with his discourse.
The adoration of the god, or the use of some auspicious words or religious formulary, appears to have been designed to avert any evil which might possibly be portended by the omen. It seems by no means certain that it was always regarded as favourable. Xenophon, in the case referred to, contrived very adroitly to turn the incident to good account, and to interpret it as a sign of the divine favour. The form of one of the sentences I have translated—
"Ἐπεὶ περὶ σωτηρίας ἡμῶν λεγόντων ὀιωνὸς τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐφάνη."
affords a little illustration of the benediction in current use among the Greeks on such occasions, "Ζεῦ σῶσον."
J. G. F.