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 entire tenth from each; the tenth of the Southern province was about £10,000 and that of York about £3,000, I think. In 1489, when the estates, as we have just seen, proposed separate grants, the share of the Canterbury clergy was fixed at £35,000, about the same sum as that offered by the House of Lords; but it finally took the form of two entire tenths.

Well, the grants of 1491, which extended over a year, proved insufficient for the king's needs, and he had recourse to the exaction of a benevolence; indeed the commissions for the benevolence were issued before the parliament sat, and are. supposed to have been authorised by a Great Council which sat in the June previous. This must have been a very liberal contribution, if the subscriptions of the country bore any proportion to the sum raised in London, which was £9682 17s. 4d. But I am not aware that any exact account of it exists. No doubt the commissions were executed in the usual way, but the authority given to the commissioners is only that they should intimate the king's purpose to the subjects, and move, exhort, and require them to assist him, in contemplation of the war with France. The commission was worked to some purpose, for the short expedition did not cost so much as might have been expected, and it was not until 1495 that the king found it necessary to call a parliament. It is then to this period that we must fix the application of Morton's fork, and to it Lord Bacon assigns the beginning of the penurious or saving habits which later on grew so strong in the king. I will just add that, as it was the subsidy of 1489 that provoked the riot at Thirsk, it was in all probability the subsidy of 1491 and the exaction of the benevolence that caused the struggle at Acworth in 1492.

In the parliament of 1495 no new tax was asked for; the archbishop's sermon was a lecture on law, which he divided into the law of Nature, the law of Nations, the Mosaic, Civil, Evangelic, and Canon law, with an application of the subject to the regulations of trade and commerce. These have a visible outcome in the sixty-five Acts that the parliament passed. For our present point but one of these is important; the tenth statute, on the Benevolence: divers persons have granted

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 benevolences for the expedition to France; some have paid what they promised, some have not; the crown is empowered to enforce the fulfilment of the promises. There can be little doubt after this as to the great value of the benevolence; no further demand is made of the parliament, but the clergy grant an entire tenth.

The next session was not so happy. It was in January, 1497; the archbishop lectured this time on Roman history, Scipio, Curtius, Scævola, Regulus, Julius Cæsar and S. Augustine: the occasion was really pressing: the Scots king was making a succession of raids, and the invasion by Perkin was impending. And a very exceptional grant was made, two fifteenths and tenths first, and then another sum of the same amount, reaching, according to Lord Bacon, to £120,000, and no doubt contributing to the disaffection which brought the Cornishmen to Blackheath and encouraged Perkin to land at Penzance. The clergy are asked for £40,000, of which the king remits £10,000. This is the last great tax of the reign: peace is practically insured, and the king finds other ways of enriching himself. Nevertheless, in 1503 the clergy pay a tenth, or thereabouts, for the expedition against the Turks, that is to say, the subsidy promised to Maximilian for his expulsion of Edmund de la Pole; and in 1504 the parliament granted £40,000 as an aid on the knighting of the king's eldest son and marriage of his eldest daughter. This was the last session of the reign. Morton had died four years before; and archbishop Warham opened the parliament with a discourse on moral philosophy from Aristotle and Cicero, of a much more florid and less scholastic type than the sermons of his predecessor, and probably in better Latin.

This closes the financial history of the reign except in one point. Henry VII is said to have left behind him £1,800,000 sterling, a great part of which must have been the result of savings from royal demesne and forfeitures, but which was partially, and in popular belief principally, accumulated by exactions made by Empson and Dudley. These two men, acting as members of the royal council and under the direct control of the king, had reduced to a system the extraction of


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 money on false or exaggerated charges. They had revived old sentences and ancient worn-out claims, and had the king's connivance in exacting the pettiest sums. In the year 1504 so great was the outcry against them that the king, suffering at the time from illness and taking a spell of penitence, issued letters ordering that all who had any reason to complain of injury inflicted in the king's name, should come forward and have a hearing. But no real good was done, and the abuses continued to the end of the reign: the culprits had imprisoned men without chance of hearing until they had paid their fines; they had compelled others to recognise themselves as tenants in chief and so liable for feudal aids; they had refused livery of seisin to wards, except on payment of enormous reliefs; exacted two years' income from outlaws before they could sue for pardons; they had heard and disposed of matters that belonged to the courts of law, and had imprisoned and fined a jury. These charges against them are in exact parallel with the abuses practised by William Rufus and remedied by Henry I and in Magna Carta. Yet they pleaded royal authority and the letter of the law, and, when the time of vengeance came, as it did at the very opening of the next reign, they perished on a charge of conspiring to govern the king and council, very much analogous to that which had been brought against the Despensers two centuries before, not on the ground of their real offences.

The next point to take is the legislation of the reign, on which I do not propose to say much, as it would be very tedious to repeat the dates and occasions of the parliaments, whilst to go into the social questions touched by the new laws would be impossible. I will, however, take the principal measures in the order of time. It is not necessary to recur to the acts of attainder and restoration, which occupy so large a part of the pages of the statute book, further than to remark that, although it was doubtless a piece of legal pettifogging to antedate the beginning of the reign by a day in order to include Richard's supporters at Bosworth under the title of rebels, it can scarcely be said to have been an unreasonable proceeding in the new Conqueror to treat them as such. The


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1899. Walcott. Geol. Soc. Am. Bul. 10: 238, pl. 25, 26; pl. 27, fig. 2-6

Ever since the publication of the work cited, these fossils, referred to the Merostomata, have aroused great interest among geologists and paleontologists, principally for the reason that they come from beds considered by Mr Walcott as Precambric (Greyson shales of the Belt terrane in Montana). Merostomata from beds so ancient would be of especial interest to the phylogeny not only of the eurypterids but also of all related subclasses, since it might be postulated that forms of such age were the common ancestors of the Merostomata and Arachnida, and perhaps also of the Crustacea.

Through the liberality of the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution the authors have been able to investigate the principal types and a number of other selected specimens of Beltina. These specimens are in a dark fine grained somewhat micaceous shale which does not, in hand specimens at least, afford much evidence of shearing or distortion. The "Beltina" bodies lying parallel with the bedding of the rock are, it appears from the records, very abundant as the collections of the National Museum contain hundreds of specimens. They are flat films or smooth patches left by organic films, and these only in the rare instances which have been illustrated present suggestions of resemblance to known merostome organs. The fact of their very great age and their presumable primitive form as the possible ancestor of quite diverse classes of organisms should not too rigidly force our expectations of exact resemblance but in such a multitude of fragments the occasional approach to the outline of an eurypterid limb, as for example to the free ramus of a Pterygotus chelicera [op. cit. pl. 25, fig. 13] must be looked upon as


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 evidence, if supported by collateral facts, even though such a structure is vastly progressed over what we might deductively expect in these ancient organisms. Speaking broadly however the outlines of all these bodies that we have examined, are indeterminate; we can not avoid the conviction that such resemblances as have been indicated to eurypterid parts are casual and the illustrated specimens represent only a very slender percentage of the total specimens gathered. Aside from these imperfections of outline there should be, so far as experience goes, a crucial test in the matter of integumental sculpture, for everywhere among the fossil merostomes this structure is a guide and index even in inconsiderable fragments. There is no reason to assume the absence of this sculpture even in archaic or ancestral forms of the group, but in all the specimens of Beltina we have scrutinized there is no trace of it; nor is there of body segmentation or arm joints. Many of the Beltina bodies are bandlike fragments or patches which indicate an infolding or overlapping as though they had been floated into the muds as very thin and tenuous films rather than as the rigid parts of an arthropod test. We entertain no doubt that these bodies, or the greater part, are of organic origin and while unable, after careful study, to convince ourselves that they are merostomatous, yet to renewed efforts in the field they do give promise of a recognizable fauna.


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Whitfield. 1885. Science, 6: 87, 88, fig.

Whitfield. 1885. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bul. 1: 187, pl. 20

Scudder. 1885. Zittel's Handbuch der Palaeontologie, 1 Abth., 2 Bd., p. 739, fig. 915a.

Thorell. 1886. American Naturalist, 20: 269

Whitfield. 1886. Science, 7: 216

Scudder. 1886. U.S. Geol. Surv. Bul. 31: 28

Laurie. Royal Soc. Edinburgh Trans. 1899. 39:557, pl. 3

Pocock. 1901. Quart. Jour. Micr. Sci., ser. 2, 44: 309

Fritsch. Palaeozoische Arachniden, 1904. p. 65, 78, fig. 81

Fritsch. Miscel. Pal. I. Palaeozoica, 1907, p. 6, pl. 3

In addition to its eurypterids the Bertie waterlime of New York has furnished a specimen of a scorpion which represents one of the four species of Siluric scorpions now known. As it is not only associated with the eurypterid fauna, but also related to it structurally, we have thought it well to include the following note on this unique fossil, especially as it has been the object of much debate.

This scorpion was discovered in 1882 by Mr A. O. Osborn in the waterlime of Waterville, Oneida co., N. Y. Although found before the three European species, the discovery was not announced until 1885, shortly after the news of the discoveries of the Swedish and Scottish Siluric scorpions had aroused the interest of paleontologists. Professor Whitfield, to whom the specimen had been sent by Mr Osborn, first gave a brief description and figure of it in Science and in the same year produced a more elaborate description with figures in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.

In the first paper the scorpion was referred to Palaeophonus (the genus to which the other Siluric forms belong), but in the later publication a new genus, Proscorpius, was proposed for it, mainly from the supposed presence of double claws on the walking legs. Scudder [Zittel's Handbuch der


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 Palaeontologie, p. 739] not only accepted this conception but even created a new subfamily, Proscorpionini, which was not brought under the Siluric Palaeophonidae, but under the Carbonic Eoscorpionidae, chiefly because of the supposed existence of double terminal claws on the walking legs.

A year later there appeared in the American Naturalist a critical review by Thorell, of Whitfield's interpretation of certain points in the organization of the scorpion and Whitfield soon after published in Science a general denial of all these points.

When describing the Scottish Siluric scorpion, Pocock in 1901, also discussed, obviously unaware of the criticism by Thorell and of Whitfield's rejoinder, and raised some of the identical points as Thorell, especially in regard to the supposed double claws of the walking leg; and subsequently Fritsch published somewhat fuller notes from excellent photographs made by Dr E. O. Hovey. Fritsch, too, was unaware of Thorell's paper, but he fully verifies Thorell's criticisms. As even the best photograph is misleading through the projection of all parts into one plane and the appearance of deceptive shadows, a close investigation of the specimen itself is essential in order to settle the many debated points and by the courtesy of Dr Hovey we have had full opportunity to study the specimen and to compare it with his photograph. In consequence we have added a third figure and a restoration to illustrate our conception of the fossil.

Carapace. This is subquadrate in outline, a little wider than long. Its front margin is straight and faintly emarginate, appearing trilobed through the projection of the eye lobe in the middle and that of the frontal lobes at the antelateral angles. The eyelobe is relatively large, roundish pentagonal. The frontal lobes are well rounded and project slightly beyond the frontal margin. The left lateral margin is distinctly broken and incomplete, and the right one largely covered by the matrix; nevertheless the anterior portion of the right margin can be distinctly seen to bulge out directly behind the eye lobe, and we have no doubt that the carapace was broader in the middle than in front [see restoration, text fig. 83]. The posterior margin is slightly concave. The surface of the carapace is rather even and smooth and a great number of bristles


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 {| align="center" width="500px" Figures 81-83 Whitfield. Figure 81, original figure; figure 82, diagram of cephalothorax and first segment; figure 83, restoration of same. ch, chelicera; pp, pedipalp; l, walking legs; el, eye lobe; le, lateral eyes; me, median eyes; c, comb
 * The Eurypterida of New York figure 81-83.jpg
 * The Eurypterida of New York figure 81-83.jpg
 * }


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 directed backward can be distinctly seen on the carapace. A faint transverse depression separates the posterior fourth from the rest of the carapace.

Eyes. Whitfield and later Scudder [1886, p. 28] described the lateral eyes as situated on ridges near the antelateral borders, while Fritsch states that he saw three frontal eyes on the left frontal border of the eye lobe and therefore assumes that there may have been six altogether. He was the first to discern the contours of the large median eyes near the posterior margin. A small plain tubercle arising from a shallow depression is situated behind these eyes.

The specimen itself exhibits two distinct ocelli standing out like minute pearls in front of the eye lobe. There are much more minute tubercles on the left side of the ocelli which are of a distinctly different character. There is further seen on the left antelateral lobe of the carapace a small longitudinal series of four tubercles that, from their position and character, may well represent another group of lateral eyes.

Mesosoma. The mesosomatic segments forming the preabdomen have been the principal object of doubt. The upper side of the abdomen is cracked lengthwise; the left side is considered as the dorsal side, the right one as the ventral side by Whitfield and apparently also by Scudder. As a result of this conception of the fossil, it is inferred that the ventral side possessed, in distinction from all other scorpions, six subequal sternites; and as a further corollary, that since these supposed sternites exhibit no stigmata, the species was probably aquatic. Thorell, Pocock and Fritsch have criticized these inferences, and Thorell and Fritsch agree that only the dorsal plates are seen, the supposed ventral plates on the right-hand side being only the impressions of the dorsal plates that are broken away. Thorell bases his view mainly on the fact that the articulations of all the "ventral plates" are direct continuations of the articulations between the dorsal plates, which is not the case in the scorpions. The inspection of the specimen leaves no doubt that the ventral side of the preabdomen is not visible.

Fritsch has inferred from his study of the photograph that one sees indications of the organs of respiration on the right side in the 4th-6th


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 "There are oval bodies," he says, "which correspond to the lung sacs of the scorpions," adding, "Nothing can be observed of openings of these sacs, namely stigmata, to the outside." This inference is due to a deceptive feature of the photograph, in which fragments of the test of the tergites and slight folds give the appearance of oval depressions in the underside of the preabdominal segments.

The tergites are of relatively greater width than those of Palaeophonus, especially. The first is the shortest and the tergites gradually grow in length backward. The anterior and posterior margins are nearly straight, the lateral margins not well seen, owing to the crumbling of the edges. It is obvious, however, that they did not diverge forward as in Palaeophonus or were entirely rounded off as in Eoscorpius but diverged backward to the fourth, which is the widest, then again contracting. The first seems to have been rounded at the posterior angles. The anterior edge of the tergites possesses a transverse, forward sloping, smooth, articulating band which is a rather prominent feature though but faintly seen in the photograph. It does not, however, follow the lateral edges as figured by Whitfield, nor does it exhibit the raised transverse line appearing in the original figure of the species.

Postabdomen. The first metasomatic or postabdominal segment has the form of a truncate cone, as in other scorpions. Of the narrow tail four segments are seen in an impression only. These also have led to some discussion, as Whitfield, in consequence of his conception of the presence of ventral preabdominal plates, inferred that the impression is that of the ventral side of the tail. This side shows only two longitudinal ridges like the dorsal side in other scorpions, and hence the conclusion was reached that the "bending of the tail was downward, not upward, over the back." Against this Thorell has urged that probably the tail, which is detached, has been turned upside down and that now the inside of the dorsal side is seen in the impression. The oblique position of the frontal margin of the tail to the posterior margin of the first postabdominal segment, and the lateral position of the two carinae of the first tail segment serve to show that the tail is out of its original position, and that therefore no


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 inferences as to the character of the dorsal and ventral sides can be drawn from its present position.

Appendages. The appendages present the greatest difficulties to a correct interpretation on account of their unfavorable preservation arid small size. We find, accordingly, wide differences in the views held by the authors concerning them.

One of the two chelicerae has been pushed forward and is seen in front of the carapace. Its distal portion is preserved only as an impression and but a portion of one finger is noticeable. The proximal portion of the powerful second joint is preserved as a flattened tubular body, distinctly broken off in front. Fritsch has interpreted this part as the manducatory lamella of the coxa (Kauglied), and states that it shows a short curved claw at the anterior margin. Inspection of the specimen, however, shows readily that the hand of the chelicera is the direct continuation of this proximal part, and that the latter lies upon the coxa of the pedipalp. The short claws are not visible in the specimen and Fritsch's representation is apparently due to shadows produced by irregular depressions between the lost anterior and the preserved posterior portions of the chelicera.

The greatest difficulty is presented by the legs, since these appendages are piled together in one place and badly torn. They have therefore been very differently interpreted and caused much of the controversy about this scorpion. The second joint of the left pedipalp (trochanter) is seen as an impression at the left of the base of the chelicera, which it underlies. The third joint (humerus or femur) stands, as in other scorpions, at right angles to the trochanter and partly underlies the left side of the carapace. It is broader and longer than represented by both Whitfield and Fritsch. It is partly broken off where one of the walking legs underlies it. Whitfield [op. cit. pl. 20, fig. 1, 3] represents this joint as directly connected with the chela or hand of a pedipalp seen in the specimen, by a short fourth joint (brachium or tibia), but Fritsch sees in this connecting broken film "a triangular sternum on which one discerns no further details," and "two oval opercular plates," adding that


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 both organs agree with those which he has figured from the recent Buthus. We have been unable to notice in the place where Fritsch figures the triangular sternum anything but a faint, irregular discoloration, such as is seen in many places on the slab. This appears too dark in the photograph and is therefore misleading. The opercular plates are more irregular in outline than would appear in the photograph, but the fact that they overlie the legs (hence lay inside of the same in the specimen), and their relative position to the comb which lies nearby, suggest the possibility of their representing the opercular plates.

The hand or chela in the specimen probably does not belong to the left pedipalp, as inferred by Whitfield, for from the crushed character of the "palm" of this hand we infer that it was the strongly bulging inner side, turned upward, and hence is the right chela thrown over on the left side. This inference is supported by the two strong joints which extend from the chela toward the posterior part of the carapace and are too broad and strong to have been joints of walking legs, as represented by Whitfield. The left chela and tibia are probably folded under the body.

The pedipalp of this scorpion was clearly a powerful organ and exactly corresponded in relative size to the pedipalp of recent species.

Of the walking legs but one projects beyond the confused mass of limbs. This has been the subject of much controversy. Both Whitfield and Scudder believed a double claw to be observed at the supposed terminal joint of this leg. Since the other Siluric scorpions, the species of Palaeophonus, are distinguished from all later scorpions by a single, spinelike claw, they rightly saw in this feature an important character connecting Proscorpius with the Carbonic and recent scorpions. For this reason Scudder created the subfamily Proscorpionini, which he placed under the family Eoscorpioidae, the Palaeophonoidae forming the other family of the older Anthracoscorpii. Thorell soon after pointed out that a close inspection of the figures gives the impression that the leg in question is incomplete, "being broken near the base of one—probably the last—of


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 large number of forfeitures, and the large sums exacted as fines on restoration, show that scarcely any amount of political guilt was beyond forgiveness, if the repentance were accompanied by a handsome sum down. On the whole, where society was just recovering from a condition in which nothing was certain for two days together, and nearly every household was divided against itself, anything like settled peace was worth paying for, and the people generally justified by acquiescence in fact, however much and rightly they might in words complain of the mercenary policy of the court. Parliament itself acquiesced without complaint.

Leaving then these acts out of sight, I will mention the most important laws of permanent interest. In the session of 1485 were passed the act of succession, establishing the king's title, an act which allowed the bishops to imprison incontinent clergy without applying to the sheriff's to arrest them, and an act against unlawful hunting. In 1487 the act which founded the Court of Star Chamber was passed, as a remedy for the evils of maintenance, the misconduct of sheriffs, and riots and unlawful assemblies. The court so founded was to consist of the chancellor, treasurer and privy seal, taking to themselves a bishop, a lord temporal and the two chief justices. This tribunal, which took its name from the Camera Stellata, the chamber in which the council generally sat, subsequently developed into a judicial meeting of councillors and peers which has a great history of its own; bat there is no reason to question its historic identity throughout, or that this was the occasion of its foundation. This is the great judicial measure of the reign, and was intended to meet acknowledged evils.

Blackstone has recorded his impression that every act of the reign was intended for the benefit of the exchequer; perhaps we may allow that, under certain conditions, there is no price too heavy to pay for peace and order. The chief acts of 1489 and 1490 are commercial; cap. 13 limits the benefit of clergy, which is to be allowed only once to persons not in holy orders; murderers are to be marked with an M., other felons with a T.; and a second claim is not to be admitted unless the Letters of Orders are produced. Cap. 19 forbids the pulling down of


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 CHRISTMAS MUMMERS AT RUGBY.

BY W. H. D. ROUSE, M.A.

(Read at Meeting of 20th December, 1898.)

is well known that in many parts of England Mumming Plays are still exhibited at various seasons, particularly at Christmas. Besides the dances, such as the Hobby Horse at Salisbury, the Hobby Horse or Horn Dance in Staffordshire (F. L., vii., 382, with plate), there are other observances accompanied by dialogue.

The Christmas Play, of which an account follows below, seems to have been general in England at one time. It still lingers in several parts of the country, and more than one version has been printed. The fullest known to me is that given in the Folk-Lore Journal (vol. iii., pp. 87 ff.) from Dorsetshire. Another has been reprinted by Chambers in his Book of Days, vol. ii., pp. 740-1 (with woodcut), from Tales and Traditions of Tenby, and The Peace Egg. There are further the Sussex Tipteerers Play (F. L. J., vol. ii., pp. 1. ff), and in F. L. J., vol. iv., pp. 98 ff, we find another version taken from an old MS, which the players used. The place of the last is not stated. It is still acted each year at Rugby and in the country round.

I do not propose to write further on the genesis and history of these plays, as I have not access to all the books referred to. However, I would suggest that it would be


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Author:Cleveland Abbe

Works

 * Solar Spots and Terrestrial Temperature (1867)
 * Dorpat and Poulkova (1868)
 * Annual Reports of Progress in Meteorology (1872-89)
 * Observations of Coggia's Comet (1874)
 * A Treatise on Meteorological Apparatus (1887)
 * Preparatory Studies of Deductive Methods in Meteorology (1887)
 * A plea for Terrestrial Physics (1891)
 * Atmospheric Radiation (1892)

Articles in The New International Encyclopædia

 * (in part)
 * (in part)
 * (in part)

Works about Abbe

 * "Abbe, Cleveland (meteorologist)" in The Biographical Dictionary of America, Boston: American Biographical Society (1906)
 * "Abbe, Cleveland (meteorologist)" in The Biographical Dictionary of America, Boston: American Biographical Society (1906)
 * "Abbe, Cleveland (meteorologist)" in The Biographical Dictionary of America, Boston: American Biographical Society (1906)
 * "Abbe, Cleveland (meteorologist)" in The Biographical Dictionary of America, Boston: American Biographical Society (1906)
 * "Abbe, Cleveland (meteorologist)" in The Biographical Dictionary of America, Boston: American Biographical Society (1906)
 * "Abbe, Cleveland (meteorologist)" in The Biographical Dictionary of America, Boston: American Biographical Society (1906)

title: Author:Cleveland Abbe


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 THE LEGEND OF MERLIN.

BY M. GASTER.

(Read at Meeting, 20th June, 1905.)

of the central figures in the Arthurian cycle is that of the uncanny prophet and magician Merlin. His whole history is surrounded with so much mystery, and so many inexplicable incidents are interwoven in the relation of his birth and his further activity that they have baffled the ingenuity of many a scholar. I now endeavour to make a contribution towards the elucidation of some of the most prominent features of the romance. We must not forget that we are dealing with a written and not with an oral literature. The individuality of the author is more pronounced and the personal equation much easier to determine than in the anonymous remnants which have been retained by the memory of the folk. Each poem is a literary monument which must be critically examined, in the same way as we are now examining and dissecting every other literary remains of ancient times.

And here the personality of the author ought to occupy the first place. I may not have seen all that has been written on these mediæval romances, but as far as I know there is nowhere a critical study of the personality of their authors. We do not find any clear description of their lives and learning, of the circumstances under which they wrote, the influences to which they were


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 408 exposed and the range of knowledge at their disposal. What did they know and how did they know the things of the past, and what kind of knowledge was popular (i.e. acceptable to their readers and listeners)? The atmosphere of a society colours every product and moulds, consciously or unconsciously, the mental activity of the bard and of the poet.

Two or three points deserve our close attention. In the first place, what was the occupation of the authors, especially the authors of the prose romances which we rnay assume precede every romantic poem? (For the story is first written down, and afterwards taken up by the trouvére and versified, as it is to be sung before the barons at the festive board and later on, when it has become a popular tale or a shorter ballad, among the lower bourgeoisie.) The art of writing was in that early period known to but few. The little knowledge which the Middle Ages possessed was almost a monopoly of the clergy. The clerk, as the name denotes, was in most cases a cleric. The historiographers and chroniclers were as a rule monks and priests, and they wrote as often as not for the special edification of those readers and for the praise and honour of those places, with which they stood in close contact. Every clever writer would enhance and extol the virtues of his special saint and of the church devoted to the memory of that saint. His miracles would be retailed to a believing and loving public almost to the exclusion of any other saint, and the worship of the local shrine was thus continued from olden times in a new setting. The clerical authors drew their inspiration from the religious literature with which they lived in daily connection. They saw things only and solely through the glasses of ancient legendary lore and could not find greater praise for their own saints and heroes than to liken them to those that shone to them from the pages of the old books they so much revered


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 Rh and whose personages seemed to them the acme of human and divine achievement.

The second point to which I must draw attention is that the records of olden times, of persons and places, were not understood by the people unless translated into their own surroundings, dressed in their garb, speaking their language, and behaving in the same manner as their contemporaries were behaving. The heroes of the Homeric poems, the exploits of Alexander, were viewed from a standpoint of the knight and the tournament. Unless Alexander, or say Ajax and Achilles, accommodated themselves to put on the armour of the knight and to act the way the people acted they would have been ignored. The whole ancient world became a living contemporary; the heroes obeyed the code of chivalry with all its complicated etiquette. One can scarcely recognise the old heroes under the new disguise, and it requires a whole system of reconstruction and rearrangement in order to recognise old acquaintances in the knights of the mediaeval romances. Yet the difference is one of detail and setting, not of incident or motif.

And thirdly, what were the literary methods of these authors? A close investigation of the whole romantic literature reveals, side by side with great poetical force, a surprising poverty of invention. The situations and incidents told of one hero are repeated ad nauseam by every subsequent poet. Nay, whole cycles of romances are bodily taken over and applied to other heroes than those of whom they were originally composed. Too well known to be emphasised again is the transfer of the whole Merovingian cycle to


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410 the Carolingian. The old kings and knights gave way to new kings and knights, but only the names were changed, the rest remained almost unaltered. The same process of transfer from older and more or less forgotten heroes takes place continually; new names are substituted for the old, and local considerations play a decisive rôle in the transfer. The trouvère who sings the exploits of the ancestor of this baron will use the same language and ascribe the same exploits to the ancestor of another baron when he sings in his hall and at his banqueting feast. The same tendency prevails everywhere and at every time. We meet with it at almost every turn in the epical poetry of the East, and of the West. It is one of the constant factors in the development and evolution of the ballads. Sufficient attention has not been paid to this point. Here and there this transfer and change has been admitted, but not recognised as an universal law, only as an exceptional incident. I on the contrary find in this practice of constant substitution, the very key to the problem of the sources from which the ancient writers have drawn their inspiration. Their skill consisted in giving a thorough local character to a tale borrowed from elsewhere and in so changing the colouring as to impress their contemporaries and to win their applause.

This, then, is my starting-point in the investigation of the sources of the Merlin legend. Our earliest authority for it is the Chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth. I therefore ask myself:—Given a monk at a local shrine, endowed with some poetical imagination, to what kind of literature could he have had access in England at the end of the eleventh or twelfth century? What mass of tradition could be floating about him, to be caught up and fixed in his writings? and for what kind of audience did he


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 'towns,' and laying to pasture lands previously in tillage and tittable: church and realm are alike. impoverished by the devastation that is going on; owners of farm-houses, to which a holding of 20 acres is attached, are bound to keep them in repair or forfeit half the profits to the king. The great importance of this matter is the burden of the History of John Rous, the Warwick historian, who does not otherwise add to our knowledge of the reign. These two statutes are of great social significance; signs of the times of which men like Morton and More took heed. Cap. 24, the statute for proclamation of fines, has had a reputation of greater importance than deserves, being supposed formerly to have given the power of alienating entailed lands, and so allowing the great landowners to ruin themselves. This Hallam shows to be a mistake, and the statute accordingly becomes a minor legal detail.

Most of the acts of the year 1491-2 are connected with the expedition to France, which came off in the latter year; the securing of the rights of absentees who took part in it, and a number of restorations from attainder. Those of 1495 have a greater reputation in the law books, and especially cap. 1, which enacts that persons going with the king for the time being to war are not to be attaint of treason therefore; an act passed in a true spirit of equity, but, I fear, quite inadequate to secure its end in critical times. Perhaps as a historical landmark and as enunciating a principle of public law it has its chief importance; anyhow, it shows that the king felt himself so secure that he need not speculate for a fall. Cap. 3 is a law on the disposal of 'vacabunds and beggars,' who are to be sent to their hundreds; if a university man is found begging he must produce a letter of the chancellor identifying his status, or else must go as a 'vacabund.' Cap. 17 forbids the taking of pheasants and partridges on other men's lands, an early definite game law on which I will simply observe that a popular error makes the introduction of pheasants much more modern than it was; the canons of Waltham had pheasants in the eleventh century, by Harold's ordinance, every festival day from Michaelmas to Lent.


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 Rh write in the hope of appealing to their sentiments and winning their approval? How great was his naiveté and their credulity? As for the last there is no limit to either, but as for his learning we must take it as restricted within a very narrow compass. Primarily his mind must have been saturated with Christian religious literature largely composed of legendary matter; the innumerable lives of saints and holy anchorites, the vast apocryphal literature, were the great storehouse of his information and inspiration. The Golden Legend was not only the first book printed by Caxton, but also one of the earliest with which every cloister was familiar. It must also not be forgotten that the Apocrypha found their earliest home in England long before any other country in Europe. The oldest poems of Caedmon and the oldest Mysteries written here go back primarily to these apocryphal tales and legends. The very centre of the Graal legend rests ultimately on these uncanonical writings, modified, no doubt, to some extent by other motives and interpretations of a mystical nature, which again have their root in mediaeval Christian mystical speculation upon transubstantiation and the spiritualisation of the Mass and Sacrament.

Can we then find anything in that religious literature which, if stripped of its modern accoutrement and changed into its more primitive form, could be considered as one of the sources for the legends clustering round the name of Merlin? which may briefly be related as follows:

Vortigern, king of Britain, determined to erect an impregnable castle, in which he might defy all attempts of his enemies. Having made this decision he pitched upon a spot on Salisbury Plain, traced out the plan of the fortifications, sent for artificers, carpenters, and stonemasons, and collected all the materials requisite to building; but the whole of these disappeared in one night, so that nothing remained of what had been


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 412 for the construction of the citadel. Materials were, therefore, procured from all parts a second and a third time, and again vanished as before, leaving and rendering every effort ineffectual. Vortigern inquired of his wise men and astronomers the cause of this opposition to his undertaking, and of so much useless expense of labour. They replied: "You must find a child born without a father, put him to death, and sprinkle with his blood the ground on which the citadel is to be built, or you will never accomplish your purpose."

In consequence of this reply the king sent messengers throughout Britain to search for a child born without a father. After having inquired in all the provinces, three out of seven came to the field of Aelecti, in the district of Glevesing, where a party of boys were playing at ball. And two of them quarrelling, one said to the other, "O boy without a father, no good will ever happen to you." Upon this the messengers drew their swords, conceiving they had found what they sought. But Merlin—for he was the boy—after rebuking his companion for his indiscretion, ran to the messengers, and, to their great astonishment, told them the whole circumstances of their mission, assuring them at the same time that Vortigern's wise men were fools, and that all the blood in his veins would not in any way contribute to the solidity of the intended castle. He then conducted them to his mother, who told them the history of his miraculous birth, which is, in short, as follows:—She was one of three sisters, of whom the two first went astray, and she herself was deceived by a (devil) semi-demon in shape of a man. As soon as this was found out she was brought before the Judge to be condemned to death. But St. Blaise, her confessor, believed her, and interfered in her favour to postpone the judgment until two years after the birth of the child. When that event took place St. Blaise baptised it immediately, and counteracted the wicked purposes of


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 Rh the devil. After a time, when the mother was bewailing her fate, the new-born child opened his mouth, and said to his mother, "Be not dismayed, for you shall never be judged to death for my cause."

When the two years were expired, she appeared in court with her child in her arms, when, to the astonishment of all, the infant undertook her defence. He then proceeded to tell that he was the son of a devil of great power, though fortunately rescued by an expeditious baptism from the vicious dispositions of his paternal relations; that he could prove his preternatural descent by revealing all things, past, present, or future. And at the same time he told the Judge some very unpleasant truths about his own descent, which convinced him of the prophetic power of Merlin and of the innocence of his mother. Five years after this, by the advice of Merlin, she assumed the veil of a nun, and spent the remainder of her life in acts of devotion.

Merlin was just seven years old when he was met by the messengers, who, at his entreaty not to shed his blood, promised to spare his life, and they decided to bring him alive to Vortigern.

The journey lasted three days, and each of these added to the admiration of the messengers for their young companion. I will mention here only one of his acts. They passed the first night in a market town, the streets of which were crowded by merchants; and here Merlin after a long silence, burst into a sudden and violent fit of laughter. On being questioned about the cause of his mirth, he pointed out to the messengers a young man who was bargaining for a pair of shoes with uncommon earnestness. And he said: "See you not that young man that has shoon bought, and strong leather to mend them? He thinks that he will live them to wear; but, by my soul, I dare well swear he will be dead before he enters his gate." The event immediately followed


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 414 the prediction. So also, in two other cases, his prophecies came true.

When he knew of Merlin's arrival, Vortigern rode forward to meet him in great magnificence. The following day Vortigern conducted the child to the site of his projected castle. Merlin, before answering, wished to be confronted with the astronomers who had thirsted for his blood, and asked them why they had counselled the King to slay him. At the same time he revealed to them that they dreaded him, and that they feared he might cause their death if he should live, and therefore they had devised to kill him. He then asked the permission of the King to question them as to the cause of the destruction of the castle, and why it could not be built; and requested that if they should not know it, whilst he did so, he might then do with them what they thought to do with him. The King consented to every thing he asked, and the astronomers felt abashed, and declared humbly that their art had certainly deceived them, but the signs seen in the heavens could not admit another interpretation. They also did not know the cause of the tumbling down of the walls. Merlin proceeded then to say that immediately below the soil were two deep pools of water; below the water two huge stones, and below the stones two enormous serpents, the one white as milk, the other red as fire; that they slept during the day, but regularly quarrelled every night, and by their efforts to destroy each other occasioned an earthquake which demolished the building. Merlin ordered the workmen to dig away the earth. The water was soon discovered, and, by sinking wells, was wholly drawn out. The two stones were found at the bottom, and being removed, exhibited the tremendous serpents, which looked like fiends of hell. The struggle between the two began, and ended with the victory of the white serpent, which, however, disappeared after the combat. Merlin explained


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Rh the symbolical meaning of this fight, and this forms his famous prophecy, composed or versified by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which forms now the eighth book of his History. It was delivered by a child, and remained obscure until to-day.

To start at once with the final result which it will be my duty to prove, Vortigern and Merlin are here the late and somewhat confused outcome of a more ancient Oriental tale which belongs to the cycle of King Solomon and Ashmedai or Asmodeus. The history of Jovinian in Gesta Romanorum, compiled in the thirteenth century, offers us also one side of that same cycle and shows that the series of legends connected with Solomon had already reached Europe some time before and had become completely assimilated by the writers of the Middle Ages, following the principles of transformation I have sketched above. The differences between the oldest version of the Solomon story and that of Geoffrey show unmistakably that the form only reached Geoffrey after it had undergone many a change in the course of time, for only after the belief in the Incubus had taken deep root in the minds of the people could such an origin as that of Merlin be believed in. In a former stage another origin would be ascribed to the wonderful child. We find one of these intermediary stages in a remarkable book, in which is related the legendary history of Jesus ben Sira, the author of the collection of wise sayings which forms part of the biblical Apocrypha. This legendary biography agrees in the main with the child history of Merlin. Almost every incident is found there, naturally differently set, but all the vital points are there. His mother is the daughter of the prophet Jeremia and the latter is his father in a miraculous manner. One can easily detect that either name is there of a late origin and has been


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416 substituted for another now efifaced. In the Slavonic version of the history of the Sibylla, we find another parallel to this peculiar miraculous birth. She is the daughter of King David begotten in a supernatural way, and this origin explains in both cases the ulterior prophetic wisdom of the offspring. (Incidentally I remark here that the Sibylla has been identified with the Queen of Sheba.) In the latter case the child becomes the prophesying Sibylla, and in the former the history goes on to tell marvellous adventures which bring the Sira story in closer similarity still to the Merlin legend. For Sira or Sirach speaks to his mother immediately after birth and comforts her, protecting her against the abuse of the world, almost with the same words as used by Merlin, who also protects his mother and proves her innocence. Sira's wisdom spreads far and wide and excites the envy and animosity of the astrologers and magicians at the court of king Nebuchadnezzar. They decide therefore on his destruction, and induce the king to send armed messengers to bring him, and to put to him such questions as he would be unable to answer; and thus hope to compass his death. The messengers find him, and after some trouble bring him to the king. He is then just seven years old, exactly the same age as Merlin when he appears before King Vortigern. At the court he easily discomfits his adversaries and causes their death instead of his by means of clever riddles. After that a discussion arises between the king and the child, who answers all the questions put to him, as well as cures the daughter of the king who is suffering from a strange disease. He then remains as the trusted counsellor of the king. His further fate is left as mysterious as his birth, and no mention of his death occurs.

We have in this legend a late and modified version of a much older tale, in which the principal actors are on the


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Rh one side King Solomon, whose place has been taken here by Nebuchadnezzar, who is already turned to a kind of buffoon, and on the other a demon, whose place has been taken by a wonderful child with prophetic powers and of a half-human and half-demoniacal nature. This version proves that at the end of the seventh century (for I place the date of the history of Sira at that period), the old legend had undergone sufficient change to approximate it to the legend of Merlin. But we must assume the existence of a fuller text of this form of the legend in which some of the older incidents had been preserved which have dropped out of the Sira version. In the old Solomon version we find the following incidents, which occur again in the Merlin version but not in the intermediate oneof Sira. Solomon is anxious to build the Temple, but must not use any iron for cutting the stones. The only person that can help him is the king of the demons, Ashmedai, whom his general Benayah captures by a clever trick and who fastens a chain round him upon which the ineffable name of God had been engraved, so that he could not break it. On the way to the king the demon meets a bridal pair, and he weeps; he sees a wizard prophesying and promising to others riches, and he laughs; he sees a man bargaining for a pair of shoes and asking whether they would last him for seven years, and again he laughs; and so he does many strange things until brought before King Solomon, where he continues to act in a similar manner. When asked a few days later to explain the reason of his weeping at a bridal procession and his merriment at the man asking for a pair of shoes that would last a long time,


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418 he replies that in the former case the bride would die soon, and that the buyer of shoes which are to last for seven years would not complete seven days.

I pass over other incidents which do not touch our question. It is only important to notice the strange behaviour of the demon and the dialogue which follows between him and the king. This later portion has been influenced afterwards by other legends of such witty dialogues and the putting of riddles to Solomon, or by Solomon to other reputed clever people, and is the ultimate source of the whole cycle of Solomon and Morolf, or Saturn and Marculph. The legend related by Josephus of the riddles put by Solomon and King Hiram through Abdemon may have contributed to introduce a demon into the legend. The Queen of Sheba, who is the hero of other witty contests with King Solomon, according to widely spread Oriental legends, partakes also of the character of a demon or a genie. She has the feet of a demon, and is thus half human and half demoniacal, and she is also identified later on with the prophesying Sibylla. This form is then transplanted into the next development of the legend in Europe, of which we have the Romance of Solomon and Morolf in German and the still more important Slavonic version of Solomon and Kitovras, which Vesselofsky in his exhaustive study of this cycle of legends has proved to be a corruption from Kentauros, the half-human half-animal creature of Greek mythology. The contest then is between Solomon and a being which in consequence of the Christian colouring could no longer be a heathen Kentauros, but follows the lines of the Sirach version, and becomes a child in which the demoniacal half is represented by the father and not by the actual semi-human form.


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Rh How did this old legend then come over to England? No doubt in one of those collections of religious legends and tales which formed the library of the cloister, and reveal clearly the atmosphere in which the writers of those times moved. Their scholarship could not be very extensive, and we must therefore try and find the sources of such legends in such books as could be within the reach of the writers of the age. I need not again emphasise the fact that in the so-called Gesta Romanorum (which, according to Oesterley, the greatest authority on the subject, were first collected in England), we find other stories of the Solomon cycle.

I will now give, in as faithful a translation as I can command, a legend which I have found in an old Rumanian manuscript, embedded among miracles of the Virgin Mary and of St. Nicholas. It will prove, I hope, the existence of the missing link between the Oriental tale and the Western Christian counterpart and indicate the way and the possibility how such legends could have become known to the monks in the West. The tale in itself I consider a gem from a purely poetical point of view, and were it not that I bring it forward in this connection I intended publishing it separately as one of the most beautiful tales I have found among the Exempla and Gesta of old.

The tale (in my MS. 71) is called: "How it came to pass that the Archangel Gavriil served an abbot for thirty years," and is as follows:

"Once upon a time it came to pass that the Lord sent the Archangel Gabriel to take away the soul of a widow woman, and, going there, he found her near death and two


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 XXVI. Plate 26. Folk-Lore, vol. 16.png MAP OF THE LOANGO COAST. To face p. 371.


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 420 twins were suckling at her breasts. The angel seeing it took pity upon them and returned without having carried out His command, not having taken the soul of the widow. This happening he was asked by the almighty power of God, why he had done so. He replied, 'For the sake of those two children I did not take the soul of their mother.' Then the Lord told him to plunge into the depths of the sea and to bring up a stone from the bottom. When he brought it up the Lord told him, 'Cleave it in twain.' And the Archangel cleft the stone and he found therein two little worms. 'Who feeds these worms inside the stone at the bottom of the sea? 'asked the Lord. And Gabriel replied, 'Thine abundant mercies, O Lord!' And the Lord said, 'If mine abundant mercies feed these worms inside the hard rock, how much more would I feed the children of men whom I have saved with my own blood!' Whereupon He sent another angel to take the soul of the widow; and the Archangel he condemned to serve for thirty years as servant to an Abbot and to take care of him, and at the end of the thirty years he was to receive the soul of that Abbot and carry it up to the throne on high. And thus the Archangel became the servant of the Abbot, and during all the time he was very humble and meek and obedient, so that the Abbot marvelled at him and all through those thirty years no one saw him laugh. One day the Abbot said to him, 'My son, go and buy me a pair of shoes which are to last one year.' He then laughed. The Abbot, who did not know that the serving brother was an angel, wondered at it, and he sent another brother with him to watch whether he would laugh again. So the other followed him and they came to a place where a poor man sat who cried, 'Give alms, have pity on me,' and the angel laughed again. They met afterwards a carriage. In it sat the bishop and the governor of the town with great pomp and pride and many people following after them. And the angel turned aside


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The New International Encyclopædia/Regiomontanus

REGIOMONTANUS (1436-76). A German mathematician and astronomer, whose real name was Johannes Müller. He was born near Königsberg (whence his Latin name), was educated at Vienna, and was a pupil of Georg Peuerbach (q.v.). He collected numerous Greek MSS. and translated many of them, especially the works of Ptolemy, Apollonius, Archimedes, and Hero of Alexandria. He also brought the

of Diophantus to the notice of Europeans. Regiomontanus was the author of a treatise on plane and spherical trigonometry. De Trianqulis Omnimodis (1533), which contained the sine and cosine. Adopting the half chord of the Arabs, he constructed tables of sines and tangents. His work on arithmetic and algebra, entitled Algorithmus Demonstratus (1534), was among the first containing symbolic algebra. He established an observatory and printing press in Nuremberg, and produced tables of eclipses, and works on astronomy and astrology. He was called to Rome by Sixtus IV. to revise the calendar, but died there the following year, and was buried in the Pantheon. His works include: Ephemerides ab Anno 1475-1506 (1474); Calendarium Novum (1473); De Quadratura Circuli (1463); Disputationes Dialogus contra Gerhardi Cremonensis in Planetarum Theorias Deliramenta (1475); De Reformatione Calendarii (1484); De Cometæ Magnitudine Longitudineque (1531); Tabulæ Directionum Profectionumque (1575); De Doctrina Triangulorum (1463). Consult Ziegler, Regiomontanus (Dresden, 1874). A collection of his letters was edited by Murr (Nuremberg, 1786).


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 Rh and laughed again. In the market place they saw a man stealing an earthenware pot and the angel laughed a fourth time. After they had finished their purchase they returned to the Abbot and the other brother told the Abbot that he had laughed three times more. Then the Abbot asked the angel and said, 'What can this be, what does this mean, my son? For thirty years thou hast been serving me and I have never seen thee laugh, and to-day thou hast laughed no less than four times.' And the angel replied, 'I am the Archangel Gabriel and I was once sent by the Lord to take the soul of a widow whom I found suckling two children at her breast; taking pity on them I spared her, and as punishment for this my doing have I been sent by the Lord over all to serve thee thirty years and to protect thee from all evil, and at the end of the thirty years I am to receive thy soul. Now the thirty years have come to an end and I will then tell thee the reason for my laughing. I laughed first when thou didst order me to buy thee a pair of shoes which were to last for a year, whilst thou hast barely three days more to live. I laughed a second time when I heard the beggar asking for alms whilst he was sitting on a rich treasure without knowing it. I laughed for a third time when I beheld the bishop and the governor riding about with so much pomp and pride, for these were the twins of the widow on whose behalf I had been punished, and for a fourth time did I laugh when I saw clay stealing clay. And this is the reason why I laughed. But do thou now prepare thyself, for the time of our journey has arrived.' The Abbot, hearing these words prepared himself and on the third day he gave up his soul to the Archangel who took it with him on high, where he joined his heavenly band rejoicing. Amen."

Thus far this wonderful tale, full of deep faith and moral beauty, with its impressive lesson of divine providence and not wanting in human pathos and poetry.


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 422 You will observe that one of the incidents which cause the angel to laugh is absolutely identical with the incident in the legend of Merlin, and as I have already pointed out forms part of the older version of the Solomon Ashmedai cycle. The Rumanian story goes back, as does all Rumanian religious literature, either directly, or indirectly through Slavonic intermediaries, to a Greek source, and from thence it could have reached England at an early period, sufficiently early to form part of the literary repertory of the church or cloister. By means of this religious literature the legends of the East travelled and found a ready home in the West.

But there are still incidents in the life of Merlin which require elucidation. He is forcibly summoned before the king because he is to explain the reason of the falling of the foundations of the new castle. The suggestion of the magicians to sprinkle the foundations with his blood reminds one forcibly of similar devices and legends in the East and in the West. They go back to the practice of human sacrifices which have been practised far and wide and have not yet entirely died out, though in modern times the shadow is immured in the foundation in the belief that the person whose shadow is laid in the foundation of a house is sure to die within the year of the erection, and he would then be the protecting genius of the house. I know this practice as a living one in Rumania, where the gipsies, who are the bricklayers, try to take the measure of the shadow of any person that passes by and build it into the foundation.

More important is the solution of the riddle by Merlin, who orders the builders to dig up the foundations, where they would find two dragons fighting one another, and sure when thus liberated to destroy another and thus remove the cause of the constant falling in of the walls. There is a curious old legend connected with the building of the Temple according to which when they dug for


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Rh the foundations they came upon the waters of the deep, which surged up and threatened to drown the world, until the advice was given to David (Solomon) to write the wonder-working name of God upon a stone and to place it upon the mouth of the waters of the deep. They would sink and the stone would close the orifice and thus save the world. Yet another legend is current in Europe, due to the teaching of the Elucidarium, that curious handbook of the Middle Ages into which all the natural science of the period with all its fantastic embellishments flowed, and from which many a scholar of the time drew his information about the phenomena of nature. We are told there, in the cosmography of the world, that the earth rests upon water, the water upon a mighty rock, the rock upon two whales, and when these whales move there is an earthquake. There is yet another source, and this approaches the Merlin legend too closely not to be considered the true source of the history of the two fighting dragons. This also is found in a book with which every priest in olden and modern times might be expected to be quite familiar, for it is nothing else than the famous dream of Mordecai in the Apocryphal additions to the book of Esther. The passage in question runs as follows: I am giving here the rendering of the more elaborate Aramaic version (De Rossi), corresponding to XI, 5-11 Greek. "Behold there was a great noise and tumult and the voice of terrible uproar upon the whole land and terror and fear seized all the inhabitants of the earth; and behold there appeared two mighty dragons and they came one against the other to fight and all the nations of the earth trembled at the noise of their fury. And there was a small nation between


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 424 those two dragons and all the nations of the earth rose up against it to swallow it up. And there were clouds and darkness and obscurity upon the face of the earth. . . and the dragons fought one another with cruel fury and frenzy and no one separated them. And Mordecai beheld and lo! a fountain of living water sprang and flowed between the two fighting dragons and stopped their fight. And the small fountain swelled into a mighty river and overflowed like a mighty sea and swept everything off the face of the earth. And the sun rose up and the rays lighted up the whole earth."

Here we have the floods at the bottom of the castle and the two fighting dragons. The small nation may be represented by the small child. The interpretation by Mordecai of that symbolical dream, just as Merlin interprets afterwards the appearance of these two fighting dragons and their symbolical meaning for the future of the house of Vortigern, and the Sibylla, Sheba, prophesies the future when leaving King Solomon.

Let us now briefly sum up the results at which we have arrived. A king is engaged in the building of an important house (temple, castle). He cannot carry it out without the assistance of a being endowed with supernatural powers (a demon, a half-and-half human and demoniacal being, a child born under extraordinary circumstances and endowed with supernatural wisdom). This being helps the king in his undertakings and defeats the machinations of its enemies (the demon becomes the friend, wife, of the king); the cause of the trouble is found in unquenchable floods or in dragons shaking the foundation; the cause is laid bare and the event is invested with a symbolical meaning (a prophetic utterance), foretelling the future. On the way to the king the supernatural being acts in a curious and apparently unaccountable manner, but in the end his wisdom and foreknowledge is vindicated by subsequent events. All these elements the


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 Rh Merlin legend has in common with the Oriental traditions which cluster originally round Solomon and which have been elaborated in the course of time and in many recensions, the latest of which stands nearest to the Merlin legend.

What then is more natural than to assume that these latest versions lie at the bottom of the legend as elaborated in England by Geoffrey or any of his immediate predecessors, who had, as we have seen, ready access to these masses of legends and tales. They are an essential and highly prized part of the vast religious legendary material, that formed the storehouse of information in those times. Given the practice of assimilating old legends to new surroundings and spelling the past in the letters and ideas of the present, of substituting better known names for less known ones and making a romance out of the ancient tales of Greece and Palestine, then this legend can only be the reflex of the oriental tales and motives, not even skilfully worked up. One can easily detect the seams in the coat. The latter part of the Merlin legend entirely belies the first. There is absolutely no connection between the later adventures of Merlin at the courts of Vortigern, Uter, and his son, and the incidents at the beginning of the tale.

The Lives of the Saints and the tales of pious anchorites, the Bible with its apocryphal additions, suffice completely to explain the origin of the legend and I therefore do not see why we should go outside the immediately possible and probable and venture upon hypothetical assumptions of Celtic or other tales, the existence and higher antiquity of which have still to be proved. Above all it must be shown how any religious writer came tc know of such legends and mythical tales, which to his eyes must have appeared as heathen abominations, which he was bound to suppress and to banish, being the work of the Evil Spirit, and not to be supported by his religious zeal


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426 and devotion. I do not wish to exclude the possibility of some lay trouvére introducing later on into the versified poem some other trait of a local origin, and embellishing his tale with elements drawn from different sources, but the proof for this must first be adduced and the premisses from which I started must not be lost sight of nor slightingly pushed aside. Not only must we take cognizance of the atmosphere in which poets and romancers moved, but also recognise that the same forces which act in modern times operated also in those days. A man can only be the product of his time, he cannot soar far above the limitations of education and surroundings. If in order to understand a poet we must go to the poet's land, so also must we go to his library, to his spiritual armoury, to know whence he has taken his spiritual weapons. The genius of the poet does not shine so much in what he says as in how he says it, how he transfigures the elements with which he deals. He is the true alchemist who changes the base metals of spurious and wondrous tales into the gold of immortal poems. Out of simple apocalyptic visions of Heaven and Hell grew the immortal poem of Dante, and from very inferior Italian novels some of the most beautiful dramas of immortal Shakespeare. Lesser geniuses have transformed older Oriental tales into romances of chivalry, religious tales into phantastic compositions which delighted the masses of the mediæval public, prone to listen to everything supernatural and wondrous, not over-critical nor fastidious about the fare placed before them, and satisfied to get a glimpse of another world of men greater and braver and nobler than themselves, and of learning, indistinguishable at the time from witchcraft, by means of which the future could be read as easily as the past, and the dark powers that surrounded them could be subdued and made to serve the best and highest interests of kings and nations.

.


text:
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title: User talk:Djsasso


text: Folk-Lore/Volume 16/The Legend of Merlin


text:
Author:Lyman Abbott

Works

 * Christianity and social problems. (1886)  (of 1896 printing)
 * Industrial Democracy, (1890)
 * The Evolution of Christianity (1896)
 * A Vision of Peace, 1906
 * "Patriotism" from Armistice Day (1927)
 * "Patriotism" from Armistice Day (1927)

title: Author:Lyman Abbott


text:
Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/461

 The Laws of Baking Matzo'''

דיני אפית המצה

Paragraph 1 - One must be careful when firing the oven used to bake hametz in order to bake mazto in it. The coals must go all around, and not just the flame, because just as it absorbed [hametz] by coals, so must it emit [hametz] by coals, and there must be sparks emerging from it. Therefore, even if one fired it a few times before Passover, it is not sufficient unless one intended to render it permitted to be used on Passover, because there is concern that the coals did not go all around when one did not have the right intent. There are some who have the practice of putting a new bottom [of the oven] in to avoid having to fire it, and this is a good practice. Rem"a: When one kashers by firing, it is good to repeat the firing for the sake of baking, and not just to do one firing (the responsa of Mahar"i Bruna).

סעיף א - תנור שאופים בו חמץ, צריך לזהר כשיסיקוהו כדי לאפות בו מצה, שילכו הגחלים על פני כלו ואין די לו בלהבה, דכמו שבולע על ידי גחלים כך פולט על ידי גחלים, ושיהו ניצוצות נתזין ממנו. הלכך אם הסיקוהו כמה פעמים קדם הפסח, אינו מספיק אלא אם כן כון להתירו לצרך פסח, כי שמא לא הלכו הגחלים על פני כלו כל זמן שלא כון לכך. ויש נוהגים להטיל בו קרקע חדש כדי שלא יצטרכו הסק, ומנהג יפה הוא. הגה: וכשמכשירו על ידי הסק, טוב וישר הוא לחזר ולהסיק לצרך האפיה ולא לעשות הכל בהסק אחד (תשובת מהר"י ברונא).

Paragraph 2 - A tafka (meaning one of the tiles used to cover the roof, "kofi" in the vernacular) made of new ceramic is permitted whether one fired it from inside or outside. This is because the fire burns under it, and even though the flame does not reach its top, it boils and the bread cooks instantly and does not rise. However, firing is needed at the beginning, whether it is used in an oven, a frying pan, a stew-pot without water, or on the ground. However, some forbid putting [the bread] on first and then firing, and it is good to be careful. There is one who says that we should stop those who make thick cakes in embers (meaning hot ashes, tzinironi in the vernacular).

סעיף ב - טפקא (פרוש, אחד מן הרעפין שמכסין בהם הגג, קופ"י בלע"ז) של חרס חדשה לא שנא הסיקה מבפנים או מבחוץ, מתר, כיון שהאור שולט תחתיה אף על פי שאין שלהבת עולה על גבה מרתח רתח והפת נאפית מיד ואינה באה לידי חמוץ. אבל צרך להסיק תחלה, בין תנור בין כוביא בין באלפס בלא מים בין בקרקע. אבל להדביקו תחלה ואחר כך להסיק, יש אוסרים וטוב לזהר. ויש מי שאומר שראוי למחות שלא יעשו חררות ברמץ (פרוש אפר חם צינירונ"י בלע"ז).

Paragraph 3 - One fulfills his obligation with matzo that is baked enough so that no threads can be pulled from it. Rem"a: One should be careful not to remove it from the oven before this (himself) and return it, because this may lead to rising (Mahari"l).

סעיף ג - מצה שנאפית עד שאם פורסין אותה אין חוטין נמשכים ממנה, יוצאין בה. הגה: ויש לזהר שלא ללקחה מן התנור קדם לכן (דברי עצמו) ולהחזירה, כי תוכל לבוא לידי חמוץ (מהרי"ל).

Paragraph 4 - One fulfills his obligation with soaked matzo as long as it is not dissolved. However, if it is cooked, one does not fulfill his obligation with it.

סעיף ד - יוצא אדם במצה שרויה והוא שלא נמוחה, אבל אם בשלה אינו יוצא בה.

Paragraph 5 - If hametz was cooked with matzo, [the matzo] is not forbidden unless it touched the hametz, and one must remove from the place of contact to remove that spot, but the rest is permitted. Rem"a: ''If [two matzos] overlapped in the oven and were stuck such that the fire could not come into direct contact with them, we forbid them during Passover, but the other matzos in the oven are permitted. If this happened before Passover, only the place of attachment is forbidden (Trumat Hadeshen chapter 127 and his rulings in chapter 145). Matzo that is swollen in the middle is forbidden. If the upper skin rose like it does with bread during baking, it is permitted (Mahari"l). If two matzos are stacked in the oven before they bake, they are forbidden because it is like a double matzo (Mahar"i Weil). Similarly, one should be careful that they do not have contact in the oven when they are still soft, because the fire will not come into direct contact with their place of contact and it will lead to leavening (Beit Yosef in the name of the Orhot Hayim).''

סעיף ה - אם אפו חמץ עם מצה, לא נאסרה אלא אם כן נגעה בחמץ, ונוטל ממקום שנגעה כדי נטילת מקום והשאר מתר. הגה: ''מצה שנתכפלה בתנור ודבוקה עד שאין שולט שם האש, אוסרין אותה תוך הפסח, אבל שאר מצות שבתנור מתרים. וקדם פסח אין לאסר רק מקום דבוקה (תרומת הדשן סימן קכז ופסקיו סימן קמה). מצה נפוחה באמצעיתה אסורה, אבל אם עלה עליה קרום כדרך שעולה על הפת בשעת אפיה, מתרת (מהרי"ל). אם שני מצות שוכבות זו על זו בתנור קדם אפיתן, אסורים דהוי כמצה כפולה (מהר"י וייל). וכן יש לזהר שלא יגעו זה בזה בתנור בעודן לחין, כי אין האור שולט במקום נגיעתן ובאין לידי חמוץ (בית יוסף בשם ארחות חיים).''

 * }


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 the joints" and "that the 'bifid' ending of the leg on the figures does, in fact, not at all give the impression of two claws, but resembles closely the also broken end of the right leg of the last pair in the figure of  Thor. & Lindstr." Other reasons are cited by this eminent authority on the scorpions in favor of the closer relationship of Proscorpius with Palaeophonus, notably the cylindrical character of the joints, while in the later scorpions the tibia is compressed and convex longitudinally on the under side; and, also, the comparatively short joints of the legs. Pocock expressed similar doubts in stating [ 1901, p. 309] that "the apical segment of the leg is simply bifid at the tip, a feature which may be due to fracture, or may represent a pair of sclerites like those borne at the tip of the distal segments of the fourth leg of Limulus, or may be explained on the supposition that the end segment terminated in a sharp point as in Palaeophonus, and was furnished near the tip with a movable spine or spur." Pocock further points out "that there is no agreement between Scudder and Whitfield as to whether the segment stated to possess these claws is numerically the third or sixth from the base," and that further discussion of the matter is therefore idle. According to Scudder's interpretation the claws would be at the end of the third or fourth segment and are therefore not to be compared with the tarsal claws of other scorpions which were at the seventh joint.

Fritsch has raised the same objections as Thorell to Whitfield's and Scudder's view of the presence of two terminal claws, considering them as due to the wrong interpretation of fragments and pointing out that the tarsal joints which would carry the claws, must be much smaller.

The disagreement between two such trained observers as Scudder and Whitfield as to the number of joints is probably the best proof of the very unfavorable state of preservation of the leg in question, which, in fact, is in its distal portion but a faint impression, precluding positive assertions. Our view is that only the articulations drawn in by Scudder are such, since along them the joints are slightly set off, one of the other lines


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 being the margin of the palpus pressed through the joint of the leg; and that the "claws" are torn fragments of another joint, the latter being especially suggested by their blunt, unequal, triangular form, in contrast to the hooklike form of the double claws of the later scorpions, and the

fact that their outer edges lie in the direction of those of the preceding joint. The leg, if complete, would also be relatively too short.

Scudder has also drawn a small spine at the base of the "penultimate" joint, which Whitfield [p. 187, footnote] states he has been


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 entirely unable to find. We have also failed to find in this place more than a faint, uncolored impression that is probably accidental. Palaeophonus bears a spine in a corresponding position on the second tarsus, and this fact may have induced Scudder's inference.

Although the presence of the two "claws" on which the separation of Proscorpius from Palaeophonus was mainly based [see Whitfield, p. 183] may be wholly illusory, Proscorpius is nevertheless a good genus. This is evinced by the marginal position of the eye lobe and the greater width and different lateral margin of the tergites. The general form of the carapace and the character of the legs, as far as perceivable, indicate that its closest relationship is with the other Siluric scorpions.

There are still two joints of another leg distinguishable on the left side. The three legs drawn by Fritsch on the right side of the carapace are due to deceptive shadows on the photograph, produced by irregular organic patches that lie in a higher layer of rock and apparently have nothing to do with the scorpion. It is desirable that this covering matrix be removed and a possibly complete right margin of the carapace exposed.

Fritsch was the first to observe the portion of the comb discernible on the left side. The specimen itself shows the fragments still more distinctly than the photograph, because the surface bearing them slants away from the light. Fritsch recognized fulcra and comb teeth and states that these remains indicate that this organ was of similar structure as in the younger scorpions.

The inspection of the specimen in good light has brought out the interesting fact that the test distinctly retains the bristles with which it was covered. They are most distinctly seen, and also thickest, on the carapace, but also visible on the tergites. The photograph fails to show them.

We may be allowed to touch upon the fascinating question of the original habitat of this waterlime scorpion, even though it can not, in the absence of the ventral side, furnish any direct evidence as to its mode of breathing.


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 Another act, cap. 22, settled servants' wages, and that at a rate which it would not be wise to mention to modern economists, unless we presume there was a handsome margin for perquisites; the wages, for instance, of a bailiff are 26s. 8d. a year; and those of the agricultural labourer 4d. or 3d. a day according to the season, his meat and drink being assumed to be worth 2d. or 1½d. a day: perhaps the proportion was not so bad. Most of the other acts of 1495 are what we should call private acts; the exceptions dealing with dishonesty in tradesmen, sheriffs, officers and jurors.

The acts of 1497 are few and not important; cap. 3 repeals the wages act of the session of 1495; cap. 6 relieves the merchant adventurers of England from the fines imposed by the merchant adventurers of London, who claimed, under colour of a fraternity of S. Thomas of Canterbury, to tax them for dealing in foreign marts: the most significant acts concern the money grants.

This brings us to the last parliament, that of 1504. This assembly passed forty statutes, some of them comprehensive and historical enough, as cap. 34, which enumerates with names and dates the successive revolts and conspiracies which had been visited with attainder; others are acts of reconciliation and restoration. The more important statutes I can only name now; cap. 14 is on maintenance and livery, increasing penalties and extending the power of the Star Chamber; cap. 15 is on Uses, a step in the growth of the doctrine afterwards fully enunciated in the statute of Henry VIII; cap. 27 settles the custom on wool taken at Calais for the payment of the garrison, to the amount of £10,022 4s. 8d. for the next sixteen years.

Other statutes are interesting mainly in relation to details of trade and to minute points of legal proceedings, and do in their particulars throw light on a few social questions on which light is much needed. Still, on the whole, the survey of the legislation of the reign does not much impress us; in spite of the one or two really important notes we have marked, there is no trace of a grand or constructive genius such as might be looked for in the opening of a new


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 era; it is really business-like and humdrum, the work of men who welcomed legislation only just so far as it helped them to get on steadily in the course, the quiet course which they had marked out for themselves. There is nothing, moreover, in the record, either of the financial or legal proceedings, that suggests any political struggles in the parliament itself; the story that Sir Thomas More in a parliament in 1502, prevented the Commons from granting an aid for the marriage of Margaret, although told on good authority, falls to the ground, for the good reason that no parliament was held in 1502 and that in 1504 the grant was actually made. More probably was instrumental in limiting the sum. Outside of the circle of attainders and restorations very little was done which was likely to excite opposition or obstruction; and as to the little that was done at all, it seems that Lord Bacon's dictum is too much to say for it: that such was the excellency of the king's laws that he may be justly celebrated for the best Lawgiver to this nation after King Edward I. It is not well to analyse the words of an express panegyric, but Bacon's theory of government must have been, to say the least, peculiar, if he overlooked the great statutes of Edward III on taxation and on church liberties, not to speak of the elaborate legislation of the next reign. Richard II was, however, no great lawgiver, and Edward III's good laws were mainly concessions to popular demands; if the words I have quoted refer to the king's possible personal agency in legislation, they may have a meaning, otherwise not. I have already mentioned Blackstone's very different opinion, that all the laws were calculated for the benefit of the exchequer.

I must now pass on to the foreign transactions and negotiations of the reign, which are most important and most tedious; most important because they are closely connected with the opening of the new drama, the equipment of England for her part on the stage; most tedious because they go on without crisises [sic] and without issues, like a game at chess which has a charm only for an adept, or a well contested game at croquet which never comes to an end. If I cannot help being tedious about this, I will at all risks be brief.


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 Whitfield inclined to the view that the creature was aquatic mainly because he failed to find the stigmata on the supposed ventral plates. Thorell and Lindström considered, in which they observed a possible stigma on the ventral plate, as an undoubted air breather and have acclaimed this as the most important proof of a Siluric terra firma, with an air-breathing fauna. Laurie, in describing  says [1899, p. 576] it does not necessarily follow that this scorpion was an air breather, since "the characters which mark it as a scorpion may well have been developed before the terrestrial mode of life and consequent modification of the respiratory organs took place." He adds that "unfortunately these respiratory organs are necessarify so delicate in texture that we know very little of their structure and arrangement in any of the fossil Arthropoda"; and Pocock [ 1901, p. 305] shortly after Laurie, argued that the Swedish  lacked the stigmata, considering the stigma or spiraculum described by Thorell as a fortuitous crack in the integument, the part of the plate exposed belonging, according to his interpretation, not to the third mesosomatic somite, but to the second, which bears no stigmata in the scorpions. Pocock goes further and claims that the last two plates of the mesosoma of, considered by Thorell as tergites, are sternites and fail to show the stigmata which constituted Thorell's reasons for considering them as tergites. Pocock also failed to find the stigmata in, which Peach thought to have seen, and, believing that this Scottish specimen exposes the ventral side, he assumes a sceptical attitude to the presence of stigmata in the Siluric scorpions. The idea that the Siluric scorpions lived on land, he says, is "less easy to reconcile with the facts that both the known specimens are relatively in an admirable state of preservation, and were met with in strata of undoubted marine origin, containing abundance of admittedly marine


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 organisms, than the belief, which I hold, that Palaeophonus lived in the sea, probably in shallow water, its strong sharply pointed legs being admirably fitted, like those of a crab, for maintaining a secure hold amongst the seaweed or on the jagged surface of rocks, and for resisting the force of the rising and falling waves."

We have seen above that Fritsch believed there were indications of lung sacs in, but inspection of the specimen has failed to reveal any traces of respiratory organs.

Although the discussions of the authors cited demonstrate that the ventral side of the mesosoma is not shown well enough in any of the four Siluric scorpions to settle the question of the presence or absence of stigmata or the life habit of these scorpions, we feel that Whitfield's, Laurie's and Pocock's suggestion of their probable aquatic habitat is well worthy of serious consideration. It is therefore pertinent to summarize here the arguments in favor of this view.

1 All four scorpions have been found in marine beds and in such good preservation that it is difficult to assume they drifted out to sea; especially since the beds containing them do not afford any other remains of land animals or plants. On the other hand, we should note in this connection that they all four occur in association with eurypterids, and these are considered in this publication as having been principally inhabitants of estuaries. But this association may, as indicated under 3, have rather a phylogenetic than a physical cause.

2 If the Siluric scorpions agree with the recent ones in respect to the body form and arrangement of the prosomatic appendages, then it does not follow, as pointed out by Laurie [''loc. cit.'' p. 577], that they have reached the same point of specialization in respect to their respiratory organs. "The terrestrial mode of life and consequent adaptation to airbreathing may have come later."

3 As Pocock has shown that the arrangement of the parts constituting the ventral side of the prosoma in Palaeophonus indicates that the latter "occupies an intermediate position between Limulus and the


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Rh

3.—(1) In this Act “public authority” means—
 * (a) subject to section 4(4), any body which, any other person who, or the holder of any office which—
 * (i) is listed in Schedule 1, or
 * (ii) is designated by order under section 5, or
 * (b) a publicly-owned company as defined by section 6.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, information is held by a public authority if—
 * (a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person, or
 * (b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

4.—(1) The Secretary of State may by order amend Schedule 1 by adding to that Schedule a reference to any body or the holder of any office which (in either case) is not for the time being listed in that Schedule but as respects which both the first and the second conditions below are satisfied.

(2) The first condition is that the body or office—
 * (a) is established by virtue of Her Majesty’s prerogative or by an enactment or by subordinate legislation, or
 * (b) is established in any other way by a Minister of the Crown in his capacity as Minister, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales.

(3) The second condition is—
 * (a) in the case of a body, that the body is wholly or partly constituted by appointment made by the Crown, by a Minister of the Crown, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales, or
 * (b) in the case of an office, that appointments to the office are made by the Crown, by a Minister of the Crown, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales.

(4) If either the first or the second condition above ceases to be satisfied as respects any body or office which is listed in Part VI or VII of Schedule 1, that body or the holder of that office shall cease to be a public authority by virtue of the entry in question.

(5) The Secretary of State may by order amend Schedule 1 by removing from Part VI or VII of that Schedule an entry relating to any body or office—
 * (a) which has ceased to exist, or
 * (b) as respects which either the first or the second condition above has ceased to be satisfied.

(6) An order under subsection (1) may relate to a specified person or office or to persons or offices falling within a specified description.

(7) Before making an order under subsection (1), the Secretary of State shall—
 * (a) if the order adds to Part II, III, IV or VI of Schedule 1 a reference to—
 * (i) a body whose functions are exercisable only or mainly in or as regards Wales, or

title: Page:Ukpga 20000036 en.pdf/7


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 At the opening of the reign of Henry VII there were, I think, only two points at which English foreign politics touched the interests of the continent, Brittany and Burgundy. Brittany Henry was, for substantial reasons of personal gratitude, bound to help; and a marriage with the heiress Anne, supposing that he was not obliged to marry Elizabeth of York, was a conceivable contingency. Burgundy under Maximilian was likewise involved in the alliances of Brittany; both were hostile to, or afraid of France which, under Anne of Beaujeu and Charles VIII, was rather preparing for than actually engaged in her scheme of aggrandisement. From 1485 to 1491 Brittany is the point round which English diplomacy moves. Maximilian is unable to go to war: Henry is unwilling to go to war; France is able and willing; but it requires at least two combatants to fight a respectable battle. Duke Francis, who had been Henry's friend in his exile, had been constantly opposed to Lewis XI, and was intent on securing the succession for his daughter. By receiving Orleans and Dunois in 1485, he had set himself against Anne of Beaujeu; in 1486 he had prevailed on the estates to settle the succession; in 1487 he had been openly attacked by Charles VIII, and had betrothed his daughter to Maximilian. Henry had not as yet moved; he was busy in negotiations all round, but he did allow Edward Wydville to collect volunteers for a campaign in 1488 against the French, followed, as Henry's few campaigns always were, by an immediate truce. That year Duke Francis died. For the three following years Henry talked of war, and war really went on occasionally as if it was stimulated by the little peaces that interrupted it. In 1489, Charles and Maximilian made peace at Frankfort, and Brittany joined. In 1490, Henry made a league with Maximilian and the Catholic Sovereigns to defend Brittany if it were attacked; in 1491 it was attacked and they did not defend it. That year Charles VIII took Nantes and married Anne of Brittany. Then, in fulfilment of his engagements, as well as in compliance with the wish of the nation, Henry, in good time, made his expedition to Boulogne in the Autumn of 1493, which ended in the peace of Etaples concluded in November,


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 Eurypterida on the one hand, and recent scorpions on the other, standing, if anything, rather nearer to the former than to the latter"; it is probable that Palaeophonus and the closely related Proscorpius still shared an adaptation to water-breathing with their nearer related ancestors and relatives.

4 This suggestion is further strongly supported by the very primitive character of the walking legs of the Siluric scorpions and the fact that they appear better adapted to a marine life than a terrestrial one, as pointed out by Pocock. In fact the legs of Palaeophonus [text fig. 87] are so much like those of the eurypterids that they at once suggest a like use, and a like habitat of the animal; hence a different one from that of the later scorpions.

5 In view of the latter suggestion, the fact of the association of the Siluric eurypterids becomes significant in indicating that these similar creatures had also a similar mode of life and the same habitat. If they were still as nearly related as Pocock asserts, it is proper to assume that the two diverging branches had not yet sought different fields of action.

6 The possibility of a creature of the shape of the Siluric scorpion finding congenial conditions in the waterlime sea is clearly brought out by Eusarcus, which bears, especially in its earlier growth stages, a striking resemblance to the scorpion [pl. 36, fig. 1] as evinced by its specific name, and that of the British congener,. We have little doubt that Eusarcus and Proscorpius were close competitors in the same field. Through these Eusarci,