Q. Who was Taylor, the author of “Holy Living and Dying?”

A. Jeremy Taylor was an English theologian and bishop, and an author of some eminence. He was born in Cambridge in 1613, and died at Lisburn, Ireland, in 1667. He received his education at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated about 1633. In 1638 he became rector of Uppingham, in Rutland. He was a decided adherent of Charles I, whom he served as chaplain in the civil wars. “The Liberty of Prophesying,” published in 1647, was, perhaps, his greatest work. He afterwards published his “Holy Living and Dying,” which is now, perhaps, the best known of his works. This was followed by “The Great Exemplar, or The Life of Christ,” and several other works. In 1658 he removed to Lisburn and was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor in 1660.

Q. Where can a copy of the revised Greek text—of the New Testament—used by the revision committee be obtained?

A. Send to Harper & Brothers, New York.

Q. Will The Chautauquan please give me information in regard to the origin of “The Curfew?”

A. The Curfew was a bell rung at nightfall, designed to give notice to the inhabitants to cover their fires, extinguish lights and retire to rest. The practice was instituted by William the Conqueror.

Q. Please give a list of some of the best works on “Mythology.”

A. “Student’s Manual of Mythology” by White, “Ancient Mythology” by Dwight, “Manual of Mythology” by Murray, and “Ancient Mythology” by Keightley.

Q. Who was Tullia, who drove her chariot wheels over the body of her father?

A. Tullia was the daughter of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, who reigned from about 578 to 534 B. C.

Q. By whom was the Turkish government designated as “the sick man of Europe?”

A. By Nicholas of Russia.

Q. Is the work, “The Treasury of David,” a commentary on the psalms by Mr. Spurgeon?

A. No. It is literally a treasury of all that Spurgeon has been able to collect of value from all authors upon the Book of Psalms. There is no aim at originality, except in conception and method.

Q. Who is the author of the Latin proverb, Qui non vetat peccare, cum possit, jubet, and what is the translation?

A. The author is Seneca, and the translation is, “He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.”

Q. When and where will occur the next General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church?

A. A year from next spring, in the city of Philadelphia.

Q. Which is the older of the two American poets, Whittier or Holmes?

A. Whittier was born in 1808, Holmes in 1809.

Q. Who is the author of “An ill wind that bloweth no man good?”

A. It is from “Idleness” by John Heywood.

Q. Will you please inform a subscriber of The Chautauquan what is date of birth and death of the poet John G. Saxe?

A. Born 1816; living still.

Q. I would like to know something about the Jewish Talmud, and where I could obtain a copy of it. Will The Chautauquan please inform me?

A. Talmud is from the Hebrew word lamed, and signifies to learn. It contains the complete civil and canonical law of the Jews, embracing the Mishna and Gemara. The former is the doctrine, the latter the teaching as the words imply. They reveal much of the customs, practices, and notions about legal, medical, ethical, and astronomical subjects that belonged to the Jewish nation of antiquity. A good copy of the Talmud is that which bears the name of Barclay, and published by John Murray, London.

Q. I frequently see reference made to the “Miserere.” What is meant?

A. The psalm usually selected for acts of a penitential character. It is the 51st psalm. It is also applied to a musical composition adapted to this psalm.

Q. Is spiritualism on the increase or decrease at present?

A. At a meeting of spiritualists in New York, a few days ago, one of the number affirmed, without mentioned contradiction, that the number of good mediums is less than it was twenty years ago, and he bewailed the degeneracy which made it impossible to get satisfactory manifestations now-a-days. He said that manifestations are getting weaker, and he feared that in twenty-five years not even a good rap would be vouchsafed. Spiritualism will increase and decrease and continue as long as a peculiar class of mortals are permitted to live in the world.

Q. Who was Marie de Medici?

A. Marie De Medici was the daughter of Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany. She was born at Florence in 1573, and married in 1600 to Henry IV. of France. On the death of Henry she became regent, for which office she proved herself utterly incompetent. On account of offense given to her subjects by her partiality for unworthy favorites, she was imprisoned, but escaped, and was afterward imprisoned by her son, Louis XIII. After a second escape she died at Cologne in 1642.

Q. What was the “Kit-Cat Club,” and when did it flourish?

A. A club formed in London in 1688 by the leading Whigs of the day; so called after Christopher Cat, a pastry cook, who supplied the mutton pies, and in whose house it was held. Sir Godfrey Kneller painted the portraits of the club members for Jacob Tonson, the secretary, and in order to accommodate them to the room in which they were placed, he was obliged to make them three-quarter lengths; hence, a three-quarter portrait is still called a kit-cat. Steele, Addison, Congreve and Walpole were all members of the club.

Q. What is the origin of the phrase, “To pour oil on troubled waters?”

A. It is said that Prof. Horsford stilled the surface of the sea in a stiff breeze by pouring a vial of oil upon it; and Commodore Wilkes saw the same effect produced during a storm off the Cape of Good Hope, by oil leaking from a whale ship. The phrase probably originated from the old proverb, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”

Q. Please inform me through The Chautauquan where I can get a good Spanish-English dictionary?

A. Seoane’s Spanish-English and English-Spanish Dictionary, price $6.00; the same abridged, for $2.50, can be obtained from any prominent publishing house.