the possession of the late Mr. Upcott; and when I drew up for the society of Antiquaries the article on "Perkin Warbeck's History," printed in the Archæologia, vol. xxvii. pp. 153-210., I had no opportunity of seeing it, and therefore merely made a brief reference to it in a foot-note. The document subsequently passed, together with a large and valuable portion of Upcott's collection, into the hands of M. Donnadieu, and at the recent sale of that gentleman's collection of autographs was purchased for the British Museum. It is a letter from Sir Harry Wentworth of Nettlested, co. Suffolk (ancestor of the Barons Wentworth), addressed to Sir William Calverley, of Calverley in Yorkshire, from whom descended the extinct baronets of that name. The letter is not of great historical importance, yet, as furnishing some notices of the measures taken by the king, on learning that Perkin had landed in Cornwall, on the 7th of September (only ten days previous), it will not be read without interest. The letter is written on a strip of paper measuring eleven inches by four inches, and is signed only by Sir Harry Wentworth.

"Right wourshipfulle cosin, I recommend me vnto you. And where[1] it fortuned me in my retourne home frome Westchestre, to meit my lord Darby, my lord Strange, and other at Whalley abbey, by whome I had the sight of suche lettres as were directed vnto theme frome the kinges grace; apperceyuing by the same that Perkin Warbeke is londid in the west parties, in Cornevelle, wherfore I wolle pray you, and allso in the kinges name aduertise you, to be in aredynes[2] in your owin persone, with suche company as you make, to serue his highnes, vpon an our[3] warnyng, whan his grace shalle calle vpone you. For the which I doubte not but his highnes shalle geve you thankes accordinge. As our lord knoith, who preserue you! Wretin in the kinges castelle of Knaresburght, the xvij dey of Septembre.

[1] whereas.

[2] readiness.

[3] hour's.

The Lord Strange mentioned in the above letter was the third son of the Earl of Derby, and died at Derby House, London, on the 5th Dec. 1497, less than three months after the letter was written.

F. MADDEN.

A HEBREW SERMON IN ENGLISH STONE
(Alias, A Puzzle of long standing solved).

Some of the readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" may have chanced, as was the case with the writer, to have enjoyed a ramble through the park and village of Wentworth, in Yorkshire, one of Earl Fitzwilliam's estates. Should such be the case, the ramblers could not have failed to halt half an hour, probably an hour, before a neat house, now inhabited by one of his lordship's agents, and wonder and ponder over the intent and purport of a curious inscription, on a stone sun-dial, which is placed over the door of the house. Such I have learned to be the case with every new passer-by. Having spent some time in musing over the hitherto inexplicable puzzle, I think that I am enabled at last to offer a sort of solution of the same. I shall therefore at first give a simple description of the contents of the stone, and then my version of it.

In the centre of the slab, a dial plate is inserted; on its left are carved three lines, running thus:

On its right, eight lines are carved, and run thus:

There is scarcely any difficulty as regards the inscription on the left; the purport being a brief and clumsy account of the sculptor himself. The reason of the reference at the end of the second line may be a sort of justification for suffixing "Israelite" to his name; the following being the passage referred to: "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." The principal perplexity is presented by the inscription on the right, and especially in the second line; containing, as it does, a group of five Hebrew letters, so arranged as to defy the ingenuity of the most erudite lexicographer; there being no word of such construction in the whole range of Hebrew literature.

I must premise, before I proceed any further, by stating that I apprehend the sculptor to have been a zealous, though very eccentric, Jewish convert to Christianity; to whom it seemed good to put up that enigmatical sun-dial, with a view to attract the attention, and conduce the inquiry of his Hebrew brethren; which would afford him an opportunity of propounding his Christian views from his own design.

I take the Hebrew letters מ מ ש י ר to be the initials of the following words:[4]

[4] According to the first canon of cabbalistical interpretation, called Notricon. See The Fundamental Principles of Modern Judaism Investigated, pp. 13, 14.

"The King Messiah, the Shiloh, the Lord my Shepherd." Hence those characters follow the A.D. date of the first line, and are followed by the appropriate words in the third line, viz. "A stone of stumbling." The fourth line then comes as a sort of explanation of the preceding one: "And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel; for a gin