JAS. CROSSLEY.
School of the Heart (Vol. iii., p. 390.).
—Your correspondent S. T. D. will find in the "Prefatory Notice to the Synagogue," printed with Herbert's Temple, edit. Pickering, an account of Christopher Harvey and his works; also in Walton's Angler, edited by Sir H. Nicolas.
ϖ.
Meaning of Mosaic (Vol. iii., p. 389.).
—The breast-plate of the Jewish High Priest, as commanded by Moses, was to be four square, and that divided into twelve squares, to designate the twelve tribes of Israel: from this circumstance, the word Mosaic was derived as a term of Art, being a series or congregate of small squares of different coloured stones, applicable to the formation of any tesselated figure.
Vide 39th chap. of Exodus, from verse 8. to 14, inclusive.
JOHN KENTOR.
Glyn y mêl, May 21. 1851.
Mosaic.—This word would appear to be derived from the Greek, μοῦσα ἐκ μύω, to close by pressure; Latin, musa vel musivum, that is, "opus eximia compositione tessellatum," a piece of tesselated or chequered work of superior manufacture, in regard to the manner in which the small stones or pieces of wood are closed or joined together.