says:

"Whose ample foreheads, with the weighty bar, ridge-like, above the eye-brows, bespoke observation followed by meditative thought:"

but why the allusion to Michael Angelo?)

[Is our correspondent aware that the "Bar of Michael Angelo" has already formed the subject of a Query from MR. SINGER. See our 2nd Vol., p. 166.]

4. The Princess, p. 66.:

"Heir of all the ages." Is this traceable to the following lines of Goethe?

Is the poem "The Lord of Burleigh" founded on fact or not? In an old review of Tennyson in the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly, it is stated to refer to the "mesalliance of the Marquis of Westminster;" but any such notion is denied in the article on "Ballad Poetry" in the last number of that journal.

ERYX.

ANCIENT MODES OF HANGING BELLS.

In the Churchwardens' accounts of Ecclesfield parish, the following entries occur:—

"1527. It. paid to James Frodsam for makyng of iiij bell collers, xiiijd.

"——. It. paid to Robert Dawyre mẽdyng a bell wheyll, iijd.

"1530. It. for festnynge a gogon in ye belle yocke, jd."

The foregoing extracts are quoted with a view to ascertaining at how early a period the framework, now employed for suspending bells inchurches, was in use. It would appear that in 1527 the bell-wheel was known, and the bell swung on gudgeons ("gogon"), as it does now; but it may be doubted whether it was the same full wheel which we have. In a paper on Bells, read before the Bristol and West of England Architectural Society, Dec. 10, 1849, by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe, and which has since been published in that Society's Report, I observe that two interesting plates of the bell-wheels are given: one being the old half-wheel, as still to be seen at Dunchideock in Devonshire; and the other the present whole wheel, which Mr. Ellacombe considers was a new thing in 1677.

Supposing that only the half-wheel was known in 1725, still the leverage which it afforded in raising the bell was the same as is given by its modern substitute. What then was the still earlier way of obtaining the momentum necessary to peal-ringing? A drawing of an ancient campanile turret which I have, exhibits a short piece of wood stuck at right angles into the beam to which the bell is fastened; and from the end of this, the rope depends, and would, of course, when pulled, easily swing the bell on its axle.

Observation in old belfries, or illustrations in old books, would possibly throw light upon my Query, which is, What were the modes of hanging church bells for ringing, prior to the invention of the bell-wheel?

ALFRED GATTY.

Minor Queries.

English Sapphics.

—Can any of your readers furnish a list of the best specimens of the English sapphic metre in the English language?—Every one is familiar with Canning's Needy Knife Grinder, in the poetry of the Anti-Jacobin, but I do not believe Dr. Watts's beautiful sapphic lines are as well known as they deserve. I have not a copy of them by me, but I give the first stanza from memory:

FM.

Equestrian Statues.

—I have heard it remarked that, with the solitary exception of the Duke of Wellington, there is no instance of an equestrian statue being erected to a subject, in Her Majesty's dominions. Is this so?

FM.

Plays in Churches.

—In Cooke's Leicestershire the following is given as an extract from the church register of Syston:

"1602, paid to Lord Morden's players because they should not play in the church, 12d."

Who was this Lord Morden; and did the chartered players claim the right of their predecessors, the "moralitie men," to use the church for their representations? Was the 12d. given as a bribe to the players to induce them to forego their claim, or expended in the hire of a place more in accordance with the parish authorities' ideas of propriety?

EMUN.

"The Right Divine of Kings to govern wrong."

—Where is this oft-quoted line to be found, and who is the author of it? It is marked as a quotation in Pope's Dunciad, book iv.

S. WMSON.

Serius, where situated?

—In requesting the information upon a point in geography with which this note concludes, I shall not, I trust, incur censure for introducing it by quoting a few of the lines in which the poet Vida conveys to parents his advice upon the choice of a master for their sons:

I cannot pass unnoticed his counsel to masters:

Vida exemplifies the consequences of the furious character and raging conduct of a master, in the harsh treatment of his defenceless flock (turba invalida), in the instance of a lovely boy, who, forgetful of fear,

The terror excited by the savage pedagogue throws the poor little fellow into a fatal illness:

My inquiry is after Serius Seriadesque Nymphæ. Where is the Serius? What is the Italian name for this (I presume) tributary of the Po?

F. W. F.

Hollander's Austerity, &c.

—Will you, or some one of your readers, kindly explain the allusions in the following passage?—

"Mr. Secretary Winwood is