Notes and Queries, Number 50, October 12, 1850 | Page 7

"good use" in the above sense?
My main purpose in writing, is to propound the foregoing Query; but
while I have the pen in hand permit me to ask,--
1. Whether it be possible to read the celebrated "defence," so called,
which was delivered by Aram on his trial at York, without concurring
with the jury in their verdict, and with the judge in his sentence? In

short, without a strong feeling that the prisoner would not have been
hanged, but for that over-ingenious, and obviously evasive, address, in
which the plain averment of "not guilty" does not occur.
2. Has not the literary character, especially the philological attainments,
of this noted malefactor been vastly over-rated? And
3. Ought not the "memoirs" of "this great man" by Mr. Scatcherd to be
ranked among the most remarkable attempts ever made, and surely
made
"--in vain, To wash the murderer from blood-guilty stain?"
D.
Rotherfield
_Latin Epigram._--Can any of your correspondents inform me who was
the author of the following epigram:--
IN MEMORIAM G.B.M.D.
"Te tandem tuus Oreus habet, quo civibus Orei Gratius haud unquam
misit Apollo caput; Quippe tuo jussu terras liquere, putantque Tartara
se jussu linquere posse tuo."
The person alluded to was Sir W. Browne, M.D., the founder of the
Browne medals in the University of Cambridge. Some old fellow of
King's College may be able to inform me.
The medals were first given about the year 1780, and in the first year, I
presume, out of respect to the memory of the donor, no subject was
given for Epigrams. It has occurred to me, that perhaps some wag on
that occasion sent the lines as a quiz.
W.S.
Richmond, Surrey
_Couplet in De Foe_--
"Restraint from ill is freedom to the wise, And good men wicked
liberties despise."
This couplet is at the end of the second letter in De Foe's _Great Law of
Subordination_, p. 42. Is it his own? If not, where did he get it?
N.B.
Books wanted to refer to.--
"Hollard's Travels (1715), by a French Protestant Minister, afterwards
suppressed by the author."

"Thomas Bonnell, Mayor of Norwich, Life of."
"Canterbury, Letters and Memoirs on the Excommunication of two
Heretics, 1698."
"The Book of Seventy-seven French Protestant Ministers, presented to
Will'm III."
If any of your readers can refer me to the above works I shall be glad.
They may be in the British Museum, although I have searched there in
vain for them.
J.S.B.
_Water-marks in Writing-paper._--Can any of your correspondents
indicate any guide to the dating of {311} paper by the water-mark. I
think I have read of some work on that subject, but have no precise
recollection about it. I have now before me several undated MSS.
written on paper of which it would be very desirable to fix the exact
date. They evidently belonged to Pope, Swift, and Lady M.W.
Montague, as they contain their autographs. They are all of that size
called _Pro Patria_, and two of them have as water-mark a figure of
Britannia with a lion brandishing a sword within a paling, and the
motto Pro Patria over the sword. Of one of these the opposite page has
the initials GR, and the other has IX; but the paper has been cut off in
the middle of the water-mark and only exhibits half the figure IV.
Another sheet has the royal arms (1. England and Scotland impaled, 2.
France, 3. Ireland, 4. the white horse of Hanover,) within the garter,
and surmounted by the crown, and on the opposite page GR. within a
crowned wreath. There is no doubt that they were all manufactured
between 1715 and 1740; but is there any means of arriving at a more
precise date?
C.
_Puzzling Epitaph._--The following curious epitaph was found in a
foreign cathedral:--

EPITAPHIUM.
"O quid tuæ be est biæ; ra ra ra es et in ram ram ram ii."
The following is plainly the solution of the last four lines:--
_ra, ra, ra_, is thrice _ra_, i.e. _ter-ra=terra_. _ram, ram, ram_, is thrice
_ram_, i.e. _ter-ram=terram_. ii is i twice, _i.e. i-bis=ibis_.
Thus the last four lines are,--
"Terra es et in terram ibis."
Can any one furnish a solution of the two first lines?
J. BDN.
[We would suggest that the first two lines are to be read "O super be,
quid super est, tuæ super biæ," and the epitaph will then be--
"O superbe quid superest tuæ superbiæ Terra es, et in terram
ibis."--ED.]
_MSS. of Cornish Language._--Are there any ancient MSS. of the
Cornish language, or are there any works remaining in that language,
besides the Calvary and Christmas Carol published by the late Davies
Gilbert?
J.A. GILES.
_Bilderdijk the Poet._--Banished from his native country, disowned by
his own countrymen, the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk pitched his