Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/472

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464


NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s.xn. DEC. 11,1915.


According to Chin Yoh's ' History of the Sun Dynasty,' written in 492 A.D., when the Chinese army invaded the kingdom of Champa (for whose geographical position see

  • The Encyclopaedia Britannica,' llth ed.,

vol. v. p. 84) in 436 A.D., it was at first repulsed by the latter people using war- elephants. Then a Chinese by name Tsung Kioh made the image of lions, frightened and dispersed the elephants therewith, and gained a complete victory (see J. Moura, ' Le Royaume du Cambodge,' Paris, 1883, torn. i. p. 469). But with the inventive Celestials this was really no marvellous a novelty, for from the ' Tso-shi-chuen,' written in the fifth century B.C., it had to be known that at the battle of Ching-puh ( 630 B. c. ), Sui-Chin of Tsin covered his horses with tiger-skin and made all the enemy's horses run away terror-stricken.

KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA. Tanabe, Kii, Japan.


BARON WESTBUBY : INSCRIPTION (11 S. xii. 422). There is no such inscription in existence. The publication of ' Essays and Reviews ' in 1860 led to proceedings being instituted against Dr. Rowland Williams and Mr. Wilson on charges of heresy. The case came before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on appeal from the deci- sion of Dr. Lushington, who had condemned each of the accused to one year's suspension ab officio et beneficio. The Privy Council allowed the appeal, and reversed the decision of Dr. Lushington. Lord Westbury, who was Lord Chancellor, delivered the judgment of the majority of the Council on 6 Feb., 1864. The appellants were allowed the costs of the appeal :

" With respect to the charge against Mr. Wilson of denying the eternity of reward or punishment, the Court held that the mere expres- sion of the hope that the perverted may ulti- mately be restored did not warrant the accusa- tion." See Nash's ' Life of Westburv.' vol. ii. p. 76.

" The judgment (which will be found in the ' Annual Register : Remarkable Trials,' p. 241) raised a storm of indignant protest from the Anglican party," and Lord West- bury was severely attacked. This proposed epitaph was afterwards written as a jeu d'esprit. MR. LEONARD PRICE'S version is quite wrong, and there is a mistake in Mr. Nash's version (vol. ii p. 78), which refers to Lord Westbury as a " merciful statesman," instead of a successful statesman. When this epitaph was in circulation in the Temple,


many years ago, I made a copy of it as follows :

In Memory of

Richard, Baron Westbury,

Lord High Chancellor of England.

He was an eminent Christian,

An energetic and successful Statesman,

And a still more eminent and successful Judge.

During his three years' tenure of office

He abolished The time-honoured institution of the Insolvents*

Court, The ancient mode of conveying land,

and

The eternity of punishment. Towards the close of his earthly career, In the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,

He dismissed Hell with costs, And took away from orthodox members of the

Church of England Their last Hope of Eternal Damnation.

Mr. Nash says that this epitaph has been sometimes attributed to the late Sir Philip Rose, but I have no doubt that it was written by Edward Henry Pember, Q.C., the leader of the Parliamentary Bar, who was a very accomplished man. I certainly heard, when it was first being talked about in the Temple, that he had stated that he had written it.

Wliere did MR. LEONARD PRICE get his version from ? Can any one produce a better or more pointed one than mine ?

HARRY B. POLAND. Inner Temple.

[Ms. THOMAS WHITE thanked for reply.]

'THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT' (11 S. xii. 377, 427). Leland in vol. i. of his translation of the Works of Heinrich Heine (p. 213) has a long note on the Jewish prototype of this story, from which I take the following :

" " The original is in Chaldee. It is throughout an allegory. The kid, one of the pure animals, denotes Israel. The Father by whom it was purchased is Jehovah ; the two pieces of money signify Moses and Aaron. The cat means the Assyrians, the dog the Babylonians, the staff the Persians, the fire the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great. The water betokens the Roman or the fourth of the great monarchies to whose dominion the Jews were subjected. The ox is a symbol of the Saracens, who subdued Palestine ; the butcher that killed the ox denotes the crusaders by whom the Holy Land was taken from the Saracens ; the Angel of Death the Turkish power to which Palestine is still subject. The tenth stanza is designed to show that God will take signal vengeance on the Turks, and restore the Jews to their own land."

There is also a note on this tenth stanza (p. 214) :

" There is a concluding verse which Heine has omitted : ' Then came the Holy One of Israel- blessed be He and slew the Angel of Death, who,' &c." j j FREEMAN.