229. "'Tis Twopence now," &c.
—Can any of your correspondents tell me where the following lines are to be found?—
"At length in an unearthly tone I heard these accents drop,
'Sarvice is done, 'tis tuppence now for them as wants to stop.'"
I met with them in a newspaper (I think the Morning Herald) between twenty and thirty years ago, but I believe they have been transferred to that sheet from the pages of some periodical. The lines above given are the concluding lines of the piece; the preceding lines were devoted to the description of the dying away of the tones of the organ, and the musings of the poet amongst the tombs in Westminster Abbey.
REMIGIUS.
230. Scythians blind their Slaves.
—Can any of your correspondents explain to me the reason why, according to Herodotus, the Scythians used to blind their slaves? The passage is in chapter ii. book iv. I believe the reasoning to be hopelessly unreasonable, and have always been told that it is so, though I have met with many who have read the chapter again and again without even noticing the difficulty. The question is this:—What are we to supply in thought in order to connect the practice of blinding the slaves with the process of milking the mares, and stirring the milk to separate the cream or butter from it? Is it thus? The Scythians only feed cattle, and have no other use for slaves than to stir the milk, which they can do when blinded, at the same time that they are unable to escape, having been deprived of sight, and so their masters have not the trouble of watching them. This does not satisfy me; nor will it, I think, satisfy any one else.
THEOPHYLACT.
Blackheath.