(Vol. viii., p. 18.)

In communicating a few particulars about Alexander Clark, I must disappoint your correspondent Perthensis; my subject answering in no respect to Peter Buchan's "drucken dominie," the author of the Buttery College. Alexander Clark, who has fallen in my way, belongs to the class of "amiable enthusiasts;" a character I am somewhat fond of, believing that in any pursuit a dash of the latter quality is essential to success.

Clark was by profession a gardener; and as my friends in the north always seek to localise their worthies, I venture to assign him to Annandale. My first acquaintance with him arose from his Emblematical Representation falling into my hands; and, pursuing my inquiries, I found this was but one of some half-dozen visionary works from the same pen. In his View of the Glory of the Messiah's Kingdom, we have the origin of his taking upon himself the prophetic character; it is entitled:

"A Brief Account of an Extraordinary Revelation, and other Things Remarkable, in the Course of God's Dealings with Alexander Clark, Gardener at Dumcrief, near Moffat, Anandale, in the Year 1749."

"In the month of August, 1749," says he, "at a certain time when the Lord was pleased to chastise me greatly in a bed of affliction, and in the midst of my great trial, it pleased the Almighty God wonderfully to surprise me with a glorious light round about me; and looking up, I saw straight before me a glorious building in the air, as bright and clear as the sun: it was so vastly great, so amiable to behold, so full of majesty and glory, that it filled my heart with wonder and admiration. The place where this sight appeared to me was just over the city of Edinburgh; at the same instant I heard, as it were, the musick bells of the said city ring for joy."

From this period, Clark's character became tinged with that enthusiasm which ended in his belief that he was inspired; and that in publishing his—

"Signs of the Times: showing by many infallible Testimonies and Proofs out of the Holy Scripture, that an extraordinary Change is at Hand, even at the very Door,"—

he was merely "emitting what he derived directly, by special favour, from God!"

"The Spirit of God," he says on another occasion, "was so sensibly poured out upon me, and to such a degree, that I was thereby made to see things done in secret, and came to find things lost, and knew where to go to find those things which were lost!"

This second sight, if I may so call it, set our author upon drawing aside the veil from the prophetic writings; and his view of their mystical sense is diffused over the indigested and rambling works bearing the following titles:

"A View of the Glory of the Messiah's Kingdom." 1763.

"Remarks upon the Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecy."

"A Practical Treatise on Regeneration." 1764.

"The Mystery of God opened," &c. Edinburgh. 1768.

"An Emblematical Representation of the Paradise of God, showing the Nature of Spiritual Industry in the Similitude of a Garden, well ordered, dressed, and kept, with Sundry Reflections on the Nature of Divine Knowledge, 1779."

In his Address to the Friendly Society of Gardeners, Clark gives some account of his worldly condition; of his early training in religious habits; his laborious and industrious devotion to his profession, with which he seems to have been greatly enamoured, although poorly paid, and often in straits. Subsequently to the great event of his life—his vision—our subject appears to have come south, and to have been in the employment of Lord Charles Spencer at Hanworth in Middlesex. Like most of the prophets of his day, Clark was haunted with the belief that the last day was approaching; and considering himself called upon to announce to his acquaintance and neighbours that this "terrible judgment of God was at hand," he got but contempt and ridicule for his pains:—more than that, indeed, for those raising the cry that he was a madman, they procured the poor man's expulsion from his situation. Under all these discouraging circumstances, he maintained his firm conviction of the approaching end of time: so strongly was his mind bent in this direction, that "I opened the window of the house where I then was," says he, "thinking to see Christ coming in the clouds!"

"I was three days and three nights that I could not eat, drink, nor sleep; and when I would close my eyes, I felt something always touching me; at length I heard a voice sounding in mine ears, saying 'Sleep not, lest thou sleep the sleep of death:' and at that I looked for my Bible, and at the first opening of it I read these words, which were sent with power, 'To him that overcometh,'" &c.

Poor Clark, like his prototype Thomas Newans, laboured hard to obtain the sanction of the hierarchy to his predictions:

"I desire no man," he says, "to believe me without proof; and if the Reverend the Clergy would think this worth their perusal, I would very willingly hear what they had to say either for or against."

The orthodoxy of the "Reverend the Clergy" was not, however, to be moved; and Alexander Clark and his books now but serve the end of pointing a moral. With more real humility and less presumption, there was much that was good about him; but letting his heated fancies get the better of the little judgment he possessed, our amiable enthusiast became rather a stumbling-block than light to his generation.

J. O.

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AMCOTTS PEDIGREE.

(Vol. viii., p. 387.)

Although I may not be able to furnish your inquirer with full pedigree of this family, my Notes may prove useful in making it out.

From a settlement after marriage in 1663, of Vincent Amcotts of Laughton, in the county of Lincoln, gentleman, I find his wife's name to be Amy; but who she was is not disclosed. It appears she survived her husband, and was his widow and relict and executrix living in 1687. Their eldest daughter Elizabeth married John Sheffield, Esq., of Croxby, and I have noted three children of theirs, viz. Vincent, who died s.p.; Christopher, who, with Margaret, his wife, in 1676 sold the Croxby estate; and Sarah. What farther as to this branch does not appear, although my next Vincent Amcotts may be, and probably was, a descendant. This Vincent Amcotts was of Harrington, in the county of Lincoln, Esq.; and who, from his marriage settlement dated May 16 and 17, 1720, married Elizabeth, the third of the four daughters of John Quincy of Aslackby, in the county of Lincoln, gentleman: and I find the issue of this marriage to be Charles Amcotts of Kettlethorpe, in the county of Lincoln, Esq., who died in 1777 s.p.; Anna Maria, whom married Wharton Emerson; Elizabeth, who died previous to her brother Charles; and Frances, who married the Rev. Edward Buckworth of Washingborough, in the county of Lincoln, Clerk, Doctor of Laws.

After the death of Charles Amcotts, we find Wharton Emerson at Kettlethorpe, having assumed the name of Amcotts: he was created a baronet in 1796, the title being limited in remainder to the eldest son of his daughter Elizabeth. Sir Wharton Amcotts married a second wife, Amelia Campbell, by whom he had a daughter, but what became of her does not appear. Elizabeth, the daughter and heir of Sir Wharton Amcotts by his first wife Anna Maria Amcotts, married in 1780 John Ingilby, Esq., of Ripley, who in the next year was created a baronet: and they appear to have had eleven children, viz. John Charles Amcotts, the present Sir William Amcotts Ingelby, in whom both titles are vested, Elizabeth, Augusta, Anna Maria, and Ann; which last three died in infancy; Diana, Vincent Bosville, who died at a year old, and Julia and Constance. Thus far my Notes extend.

W. S. Hesleden.

Barton-upon-Humber.

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SIR RALPH WINWOOD.

(Vol. viii., p. 272.)

I have an original letter of Sir Ralph Winwood's in French, addressed "A Monsieur Mons^r Charles Huyghens, SecrÉtaire du Conseil d'estat de Mess^rs les Estats À la Haye," which, as it may possibly be interesting to your correspondent H.P.W.R., I here transcribe:

"Mons^r.—Vos derniÈres m'ont rendu tesmoignage de vostre bonn' affection en mon endroict. Car je m'asseure que vous n'eussiez jamais recommendÉ vostre filz À ma protection si mon nom n'eust estÉ enregistrÉ au nombre de vos meilleurs et plus affectionnÉs amys. Je m'en vay, dans peu de jours, trouver Sa Ma^tÉ en son retour d'Escoce, et j'espere sur la fin du moys de 7^bre de me rendre À ma maison À Londres. Sur ce temps-lÀ, s'il vous plaira d'envoyer v^re filz vers moy, il sera le bien venu. Son traittement rendra tesmoinage de l'estime que je fais de vostre amitiÉ. De vous envoyer des nouvelles, ce seroyt d'envoyer Noctuas Athenas. Tout est coÿ icy. La mort de Concini a rendu la France heureuse. Mais l'Italie est en danger d'estre exposÉe À la tirannie d'Espagne. Je vous baise les mains, et suis, Mons^r, vostre plus affectionnÉ servit^r,

Rodolphe Winwood.

"De Londres, le 7^me de Juillet."

The year is not indicated, but the allusion to the death of Concini (the celebrated MarÉchal d'Ancre, who was assassinated by order of Louis XIII.) proves that this letter was written in 1617, and very shortly before the death of the writer, which occurred on the 27th of October in that year.

M. Charles Huyghens, to whom the letter is addressed, was probably the father of Constantine Huyghens, the Dutch poet-politician, who was secretary and privy counsellor to the Stadtholders Frederick Henry, and William I. and II., and who, not improbably, was the son here mentioned as recommended to the protection of Sir R. Winwood, and who, at that date, would have been twenty-one years of age.

Constantine was himself the father of the still more celebrated Christian Huyghens, the astronomer and mathematician. The seal on the letter, which is in excellent preservation, is a shield bearing the following arms: 1. and 4. a cross botonnÉ, 2. and 3. three fleurs-de-lis.

W. Sneyd.

Denton.

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TRENCH ON PROVERBS.

(Vol. viii., p. 387.)

I hope that neither Mr. Trench nor his critic E.M.B. will consider me interfering by my making an observation or two on the correct rendering of the latter part of Ps. cxxvii. 2. Mr. Trench is perfectly correct by supposing an ellipsis in the sentence alluded to, and the words

should have been translated, "He will give to his beloved whilst he [the beloved] is asleep." The translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation is unintelligible. Mr. Trench has the support of Luther's version, which has the sentence thus:

The celebrated German Jewish translator of the Old Testament agrees with Mr. Trench. The following is Dr. Zunz's rendering:

The following is the Hebrew annotation in the far-famed Moses Mendelsohn's edition of the Book of Psalms:

"The holy and blessed One will give it to his beloved, in whom He delights, whilst he is yet asleep and without fatigue."

I need not adduce passages in the Hebrew Psalter, where such ellipsises do occur. E.M.B. evidently knows his Hebrew Bible well, and a legion of examples will immediately occur to him.

Moses Margoliouth.

Wybunbury, Nantwich.

If E. M. B. will refer to Hengstenberg's Commentary on the Psalms, he will find that Mr. Trench is not without authority for his translation of Ps. cxxvii. 2. I quote the passage from Thompson and Fairbairn's translation, in Clark's Theological Library, vol. iii. p. 449.:

"??? for ??? is not the accusative, but the preposition is omitted, as is frequently the case with words that are in constant use. For example, ???, ???, to which ??? here is poetically made like. The exposition He gives sleep, instead of in sleep, gives an unsuitable meaning. For the subject is not about the sleep, but the gain."

C. I. E.

Winkfield.

Has the translation of Ps. cxxvii. 2., which Mr. Trench has adopted, the sanction of any version but that of Luther?

N. B.

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ON PALINDROMES.

(Vol vii., p. 178. &c.)

Several of your correspondents have offered Notes upon these singular compositions, and Agricola de Monte adduces

as an example. As neither he nor Mr. Ellacombe give it as found out of this country, allow me to say that it was to be seen on a benitier in the church of Notre Dame at Paris. If it were not for the substitution of the adjective ????? for the adverb ?????, the line would be one of the best specimens of the recurrent order.

I notice that a correspondent (Vol. vii., p. 336.) describes the Palindrome as being universally sotadic. Now, this term was only intended to apply to the early samples of this fanciful species of verse in Latin, the production Sotades, a Roman poet, 250 B.C. The lines given by Boeoticus (Vol. vi., p. 209.),

owe their authorship to his degraded Muse, and many others which would but pollute your pages.

The hexameter "Sacrum pingue," &c. given by O. F. (Vol. vi., p. 36.), is to be found in Misson's Voyage to Italy, copied from an old cloister wall of Santa Maria Novella at Florence. These ingenious verses are Leoline^[2], and it is noted that "the sacrifice of Cain was not a living victim."

I have seen it stated that the English language affords but one specimen of the palindrome, while the Latin and Greek have many. The late Dr. Winter Hamilton, the author of NugÆ LiterariÆ, gives this solitary line, which at the best is awkwardly fashioned:

Is any other known?

Some years since I fell in with that which, after all, is the most wonderful effort of the kind; at least I can conceive of nothing at all equal to it.

It is to be found in a poem called ????a ?a????e???, written in ancient Greek by a modern Greek called Ambrosius, printed in Vienna in 1802, and dedicated to the Emperor Alexander. It contains 455 lines, every one of which is literal palindrome.

I have some hesitation in giving even a quotation; and yet, notwithstanding the forced character of some of the lines, your readers will not fail to admire the classic elegance of this remarkable composition.

Charles Reed.

Paternoster Row.

Here is a Palindrome that surrounds a figure of the sun in the mosaic pavement of Sa. Maria del Fiori at Florence:

Could any of your correspondents translate this enigmatical line?

Mosaffur.

E. I. Club.

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