D.

[We subjoin the whole of Mr. Poynder's article, which is signed "Miscellaneous:"—"There is at Leyden the perfect and undoubted original of Chantrey's celebrated figures of the children at Lichfield; and on a friend of the writer mentioning the circumstance to that artist, he did not deny the fact. The figures form the foreground of a celebrated painting in the Town-hall, commemorating the heroic conduct of a former defender of that city, when it was reduced by famine to the greatest extremities. On this occasion the citizens are represented as earnestly importuning the governor to surrender, and representing their deplorable condition from the effects of the siege. Many dying figures are introduced into the painting, and among them the children in question are seen locked in each other's arms, precisely as in the sculpture at Lichfield. The story proceeds to relate, that the commander declared he would never surrender the city; and added, that whether his fellow-citizens chose to hang him, or throw him into the dyke, he was determined never to open the gates to such a monster as the Duke of Alva. It is further stated, that the providential relief of the city by some troops of his own side rewarded his courage.">[

Autobiography of Timour.

—In 1785, Institutes, Political and Military, of the Emperor Timour (incorrectly called Tamerlane), were published at Calcutta, printed by Daniel Stuart. This work, which may more properly be named autobiographical memoranda, written by Timour, was composed by him originally in the Turkish language, and translated by Abu Taulib Alhusseini into Persian, and by Major Davy into English, to which Dr. Joseph White, of Oxford, added notes; and other matter was affixed by a person whose name is not given. The rules for carrying to a successful result great enterprises are profound and dignified, and the enterprises extraordinary and interesting, though only given in outline. This part ends with the capture of Bagdat (d?). I wish to know if there exists an accredited translation from the original by Timour in the Turkish, and of what more this extraordinary work consists; and if any part, or all, has ever been printed in England, or in any European language?

ÆGROTUS.

[In the year 1787, the late Professor Langlés of Paris published a French translation of the Institutes, under the title of Instituts Politiques et Militaires de Tamerlane, proprement appellé Timour, écrits par lui-même en Mogol, et traduits en François sur la version Persane d'Abou Taleb al Hosseini, avec la Vie de ce Conquerant, &c. And in 1830 another English translation was published by Major Charles Stewart, late Professor of Oriental Languages in Hon. E. I. Company's College, entitled, The Mulfuzāt Timūr, or Autobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timūr. In the Preface to this edition our correspondent will find an interesting bibliographical account of the work and its various translations.]

Replies.

THE EARL OF ERROLL.
(Vol. v., p. 297.)

I am somewhat of opinion that your correspondent PETROPROMONTORIENSIS is correct, about this nobleman being by birth the first subject in Scotland, only he has apparently omitted the word "hereditary" before those of Great Constable of Scotland, or Lord High Constable of Scotland. Indeed, some writers make him by birth, not only the first subject in Scotland, but also in England. Dr. Anderson, the learned and laborious editor of The Bee, at p. 306. of vol. v. of that publication, in the article on James, Earl of Erroll, who died 3rd June, 1778, says:

"As to rank, in his lordship's person were united the honours of Livingston, Kilmarnock, and Erroll. As hereditary High Constable of Scotland, Lord Erroll is by birth the first subject in Great Britain, after the blood royal, and, as such, had a right to take place of every hereditary honour. The Lord Chancellor, and the Lord High Constable of England, do indeed take precedence of him, but these are only temporary honours which no man can lay claim to by birth; so that, by birth, Lord Erroll ranks, without a doubt, as the first subject of Great Britain, next after the Princes of the blood royal."