—Martial's distribution of hours and employments seems to me to be as follows:—From 6 till 8 the visits of the "salutantes" are received; from 8 till 9 the law tribunals are attended; from 9 till 11 the "varii labores" occupy; from 11 till 12 the "quies." The expression "in quintam" must bring us to the end of the 5th hour; and the "sexta hora" must be that which concludes at 12.
Your inquirer A. E. B. might have further asked what is the difference between the "quies" of the "sexta," and the "finis" of the "septima." To understand this is to understand the difficulty which he propounds. I apprehend the "quies" not to mean the "siesta," but that gradual and perhaps irregular cessation or suspension of employments which precedes the close of business for the day. The "siesta" is the "finis" of Martial, which would thus fall between 12 and 1; that time of the day at which A. E. B. fixes it rightly. I think he errs in identifying the "siesta" with the "sexta hora."
To question 214 I may be allowed to reply, that the effect of moonlight upon the face of those who sleep exposed to it in hot climates is very severe indeed, producing an appearance not very unlike that of a swollen and putrescent corpse. The Psalmist refers to it Ps. cxxi. 6.; and all who have lived in the East Indies are well acquainted with the phenomenon.
THEOPHYLACT.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
The Antiquarian Gleanings in the North of England, being Examples of Antique Furniture, Plate, Church Decorations, Objects of Historical Interest, &c., drawn and etched by William B. Scott, Government School of Design, Newcastle, which has just been completed, is a valuable addition to the numerous works which have been published of late years illustrative of archæology in its most picturesque aspect. It will be seen from the title that Mr. Scott has not confined himself to any one class of objects; in some cases historical associations having determined his choice; in others, the rarity of examples of the object illustrated; in others, their intrinsic beauty. The Chair of the Venerable Bede, and the Swords of Cromwell, Fairfax, and Lambert, belong to the first of these divisions; as the Nautilus Cup set in gold, and the Ivory Cup, both the property of Mr. Howard of Corby, belong to the last: and so much taste and skill has Mr. Scott shown in the whole of the thirty-eight plates, as quite to justify the hope expressed by him, that in all of them the connoisseur and the artist will find something worthy attention.
We have before us two books to which we desire to direct the attention of our readers. The first is A Manual of Ecclesiastical History, from the First to the Twelfth Century, by the Rev. E. S. Foulkes, M.A., the main plan of which has been borrowed from Spanheim, and the materials principally compiled from that writer, Spondanus, Mosheim and Fleury, Gieseler, Döllinger, and others, respecting whom, however, Mr. Foulkes states, "I believe I have never once trusted to them on a point involving controversy without examining their authorities." "Let nobody," he elsewhere observes, "think that he can fairly know Church History from reading a single modern historian, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic; the only way of getting a correct view, unless a person should have time to consult the originals, is to read two opposite writers, side by side, and balance one set of facts against the other. Yet even so it is hopeless to get a true appreciation of past times except through cotemporary writings; I have therefore appended to the catalogue of modern historians a few of the principal cotemporary works, disciplinary, doctrinal, and historical, from age to age down to the end of the twelfth century, which would be a far more trustworthy clue to the real sentiments of the times than could be gained from a more modern source, and could not, I think, fail to be a corrective to narrow misapprehensions, and a great help to the student whose wish it is to be fair and candid." These extracts from Mr. Foulke's preface (which contains brief notices of the principal modern writers on the subject) sufficiently explain the nature of his very useful and carefully compiled volume.
The other, Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, Abridged, Modernized, and Re-edited, according to the most recent Biblical Researches, by T. A. Buckley, B.A., is addressed to a wider class of readers, and in its preparation general utility has been the main object; while in the remodelling which this popular and useful work of Calmet has here undergone, care has been taken to purify it from the Rationalism with which all the later editions have been charged, and to supply its place by such copious additions and alterations from the most recent biblical researches, so as to make the present edition rather a new book than a reprint of an old one; and deserving of that extensive circulation which its extremely moderate price is calculated to procure for it.
The Principles of Chemistry illustrated by Simple Experiments, by Dr. J. A. Stöckhardt, Professor in the Royal Academy of Agriculture at Tharaud, having been extensively adopted as an introductory work in the Schools of Germany, in consequence of its convenient classification and its clear and concise elucidation of principles, and explanation of chemical phenomena, it was translated into English at the recommendation of Professor Horsford; and a reprint of it from the American edition forms the new volume of Bohn's Standard Library. It is illustrated with numerous engravings, and as the necessary apparatus for performing most of the experiments in it is extremely small, the book will no doubt soon become a popular one.