[Τρεῖς is the common reading of the LXX. as ארבעים of the Hebrew. We know of no variants. J. H. Michaelis' account of the matter is, "Perperam vero LXX. hunc quadragenarium dierum numerum in triduanum commutarunt.">[
The Empress Helena.
—Most readers of general history are aware that the parentage of the renowned mother of the still more renowned Constantine has been claimed for two widely different sources,—a British king on the one hand, and an innkeeper of Bithynia on the other. In favour of the former, we have Geoffrey of Monmouth, Carte the English historian, and modern Welsh authors; for the latter, Gibbon and his authorities. The object of the present Query is threefold: 1. Will some one having access to Geoffrey be kind enough to favour me (in the original or a translation) with the exact statement of the chronicler to which Gibbon refers? 2. Are writers of intelligence and credit quite agreed that the tradition which assigns to the wife of Constantius a royal British parentage was "invented in the darkness of monasteries?" 3. Where is the question—one of interest in many ways—fully and satisfactorily discussed?
H.
[The statement will be found in Geoffrey's British History, book v. ch. 6.:—"After the decease of Coel, a petty prince of Caercolvin [Colchester], Constantius himself was crowned, and married the daughter of Coel, [7] whose name was Helena. She surpassed all the ladies of the country in beauty, as she did all others of the time in her skill in music and the liberal arts. Her father had no other issue to succeed him on the throne; for which reason he was very careful about her education, that she might be better qualified to govern the kingdom. Constantius, therefore, having made her partner of his bed, had a son by her called Constantine." Thus far Geoffrey; and with him agree Baronius, Ussher, Stillingfleet, and Camden. The learned Lipsius' opinion of this tradition, in his letter to Mr. Camden, will be found in his Epistles, page 64. The traditions, however, is not mentioned by Gildas, Nennius, or Bede. Our correspondent will find a long discussion on this disputed point in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, August 18, Art. "S. Helen." See also Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, t. iv.]
[7] This petty king is probably the hero of the old popular ditty:
"Old King Coel,
Was a merry old soul," &c.