Notes and Queries, Number 69, February 22, 1851 | Page 9

much, that I was encouraged to
remove to the Examination Hall, from which time my lectures attracted
a large portion of public attention, strangers forming a considerable
portion of the auditory."
It is worthy of remark, in connexion with this production of a
highly-gifted scholar and divine, whose name does honour to Trinity
College, Dublin, that Dr. Sullivan's Lectures on the Constitution and
Laws of England, which have since deservedly acquired so much fame,
were delivered in presence of only three individuals, Dr. Michael
Kearney and two others--surely no great encouragement to Irish genius!
In fact, the Irish long seemed unconscious of the merits of two
considerable works by sons of their own university,--Hamilton's Conic
Sections and Sullivan's Lectures; and hesitated to praise, until the
incense of fame arose to one from the literary altars of Cambridge, and
an English judge, Sir William Blackstone, authorised the other.
In the memoir to which I have referred, we find a complete list of the
many publications which Dr. Miller, "distinguished for his services in
theology and literature," sent forth from the press. We are likewise
informed that there are some unpublished letters from Hannah More,
Alexander Knox, and other distinguished characters, with whom Dr.
Miller was in the habit of corresponding.
ABHBA.
Anticipations of Modern Ideas or Inventions.--In Vol. iii., pp. 62. 69.,
are two interesting instances of this sort. In Wilson's Life of Defoe, he
gives the titles of two works which I have often sought in vain, and
which he classes amongst the writings of that voluminous author. They
run thus:
"Augusta triumphans, or the way to make London the most flourishing
city in the universe. I. By establishing a university where gentlemen
may have an academical education under the eye of their friends [the

London University anticipated]. II. To prevent much murder, &c., by
an hospital for foundlings. III. By suppressing pretended madhouses,
where many of the fair sex are unjustly confin'd while their husbands
keep mistresses, and many widows are lock'd up for the sake of their
jointures. IV. To save our youth from destruction by suppressing
gaming tables, and Sunday debauches. V. To avoid the expensive
importation of foreign musicians by promoting an academy of our own,
[Anticipation of the Royal Academy of Music], &c. &c. London: T.
Warner. 1728. 8vo."
"Second Thoughts are Best; or a further Improvement of a late Scheme
to prevent Street Robberies, by which our Streets will be so strongly
guarded and so gloriously illuminated, that any Part of London will be
as safe and pleasant at Midnight as at Noonday; and Burglary totally
impracticable [a remarkable anticipation of the present state of things
in the principal thoroughfares]. With some Thoughts for suppressing
Robberies in all the Public Roads of England [rural police anticipated].
Humbly offer'd for the Good of his Country, submitted to the
Consideration of Parliament, and dedicated to his Sacred Majesty Geo.
II., by Andrew Moreton, Esq. [supposed to be an assumed name; a
common practice of De Foe's]. London. W. Meadows, 1729."
R. D. H.
"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon!"--The above text is often quoted as
not being in accordance with the present state of our astronomical
knowledge, and many well-known commentators on the Bible have
adopted the same opinion.
I find Kitto, in the Pictorial Bible, characterising it as "an example of
those bold metaphors and poetical forms of expression with which the
Scriptures abound." Scott (edit. 1850) states that "it would have been
improper that he (Joshua) should speak, or that the miracle should be
recorded according to the terms of modern astronomy."
Mant (edit. 1830) says: "It is remarkable that the terms in which this
event is recorded do not agree with what is now known rewarding the
motion of the heavenly bodies."

Is it certain that Joshua's words are absolutely at variance and
irreconcileable with the present state of astronomical knowledge?
Astronomers allow that the sun is the centre and governing principle of
our system, and that it revolves on its axis. What readier means, then,
could Joshua have found for staying the motion of our planet, than by
commanding the revolving centre, in its inseparable connexion with all
planetary motion, to stand still?
I. K.
Langley's Polidore Vergile.--At the back of the title of a copy of
Langley's Abridgement of Polidore Vergile, 8vo., Lond. 1546, seen by
Hearne in 1719, was the following MS. note:
"At Oxforde, the yere 1546, browt down to Seynbury by John Darbye,
pryse 14d. When I kept Mr. Letymer's shype I bout thys boke when the
Testament was obberagatyd that shepe herdys myght not red hit. I prey
God amende that blyndnes. Wryt by Robert Wyllyams, kepynge shepe
uppon Seynbury Hill."
At the end of the dedication to Sir Ant. Denny is also written:
"Robert Wyllyams Boke, bowgyt by