The general import of the passage is, that Jethro's counsel to Moses, as to the appointment of rulers over the people, was not intended to apply to Canaan, but only to their sojourn in the wilderness.
I do not see how the "formula professionis monasticæ" helps us; unless, indeed, "modus promissionis" were a kind of temporary and conditional vow, which does not appear in Ducange.
C. W. B.
End of Easter (Vol. ii., p. 9).—Should not the end of Easter be considered its octave—Low Sunday?
J. W. H.
First Earl of Roscommon (Vol. ii., p. 325.).—There was, in the burying-ground of Kilkenny-West, some thirty-five years or more ago, an old tombstone belonging to the Dillon Family, on which was traced the genealogy of the Roscommon branch from one of the sons of the first earl (if I remember right, the third or fourth), down to a Thomas, who had, I have heard my father say, a son called Garrett, who had issue two sons, Patrick and Thomas. Patrick was always, in that part of the country, considered the heir to this title. Patrick and Thomas had issue, (living or dead I know not), but should imagine dead; as, had they been living, they would no doubt have come forward when the late earl claimed the title, as he claimed it as being descended from the youngest son of the first earl, whereas Patrick and Thomas were certainly the descendants of one of the elder sons of the first earl; and therefore, had the sons of either Patrick or Thomas come forward, it would no doubt have been decided in their favour. On this account, it was several years before the late earl's claim was fully confirmed, as it was thought that some of the descendants of the elder branches might come forward. This would have attracted my attention earlier had I not been abroad.
An Hibernian.
Mivart's Hotel, London.
Dryden's "Absolom and Achitophel" (Vol. ii. p. 423.).—The passage in Absolom and Achitophel is taken from Fuller's Profane State, speaking of Alva:
"He was one of a lean body and visage, as if his eager soul, biting for anger at the clog of his body, desired to fret a passage through it;"