VIOLIN INSCRIPTION. This distich is said to have been inscribed on the violin of Palestrina, the "Musica Princeps" of the sixteenth century: Viva fui in sylvis; sum dura occisa securi; Dum vixi tacui; mortua dulce sona. Thus translated into French : La hache m'arracha mourant du fond des bois; Palestrina's violin was made by a great musical instrumentmaker at Bologna, who had the same lines graven on his lutes, bass-viols, &c. STORY OF A RELIC. The following curious story is in a rare little Portuguese book. The work was printed at Vienna in 1717, and is an account of the embassy of Fernando Telles da Sylva, Conde de Ville Mayor, from the Court of Lisbon to that of Vienna, to demand in marriage, for the eldest son of King Pedro II., of Portugal, the hand of the Archduchess Maria Anna, of Austria. It was written by Father Francisco da Fonseca, a Jesuit priest, who accompanied the ambassador in quality of almoner and confessor, and is full of amusing matter, particularly in reference to the strange opinions concerning our laws, government, and religion, which the worthy padre appears to have picked up during his short stay in England. The original of the annexed translation is to be found at pp. 318, 319, 320, § 268, of Fonseca's Narrative. As we are now upon the subject of miracles wrought by Relics in Vienna, I shall proceed to relate another prodigy which happened in the said city, and which will greatly serve to confirm in us those feelings of piety with which we are wont to venerate such sacred objects. The Count Harrach, who was greatly favored by the Duke of Saxony, begged of him, as a present, a few of the many relics which the duke preserved in his treasury, assuredly less out of devotion than for the sake of their rarity and value. The duke, with his usual benignity, acceded to this request, and gave orders that sundry vials should be dispatched to the count, filled with most indubitable relics of Our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, of the Apostles, of the Innocents, and of other holy persons. He directed two Lutheran ministers to pack these vials securely in a precious casket, which the duke himself sealed up with his own signet, and set off to Vienna. On its arrival there, it was deposited in the chapel of the count, which is situated in the street called Preiner. The count immediately informed the bishop of the arrival of this treasure, and invited him to witness the opening of the casket, and to attend for the purpose of verifying its contents. Accordingly the bishop came, and on opening the casket, there proceeded from it such an abominable stench that no man could endure it, infecting, as it did, the whole of the chapel. The bishop thereupon ordered all the vials to be taken out, and carefully examined one by one, hoping to ascertain the cause of this strange incident, which did not long remain a mystery, for they soon found the very vial from which this pestilent odor was issuing. It contained a small fragment of cloth, which was thus labelled: "Ex caligis Divi Martini Lutheri," that is to say, A bit of the breeches of Saint Martin Luther,” which the aforesaid two Lutheran ministers, by way of mockery of our piety, had slily packed up with the holy relics in the casket. The bishop instantly gave orders to burn this abominable rag of the great heresiarch, and forthwith not only the stench ceased, but there proceeded from the true relics such a delicious and heavenly odor as perfumed the entire building. YANKEE. The word Yankee is believed to have been derived from the manner in which the Indians endeavored to pronounce the word English, which they rendered Yenghees, whence the word Yankee. The statement in Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York, concerning the tribe of Yankoos, is a mere joke. The word Yankee undoubtedly had the Yenghees origin referred to above, but it does not seem to have been very common until the time of the Revolutionary war. I have not met with it in any writings previous to that time; and in letters in which the word occurs, written in 1775, it is referred to in a manner which shows that the writer considered it something new, and intended to be contemptuous, used as it was by their then enemies, the British soldiers. Noah Webster, in his Dictionary, gives the Yenghees origin of the word, upon the authority of Heckewelder; and that fact may account for its being looked upon in New England as something novel. Heckewelder is excellent authority upon Indian subjects; but he spent his time principally among the Delawares and the Six Nations, and was not likely to be well acquainted with the Massachusetts Indians, who spoke a different dialect. Several of the regiments of British regulars who were transferred to Boston after the beginning of the troubles, had been stationed in the middle colonies, and had considerable experience in Indian warfare, and may have thus acquired a knowledge of the word. The 18th, or Royal Irish, for instance, had been engaged in nearly all the battles which had taken place in the colonies during two French wars, and they had acquired much familiarity with American affairs. That the word was rather uncommon in New England, is shown by various letters written from thence. One from the Rev. Wm. Gordon, published in the Penna Gazette, May 10, 1775, giving an account of the skirmishes at Concord and Lexington, says, "They (the British troops) were roughly handled by the Yankees, a term of reproach for the New Englanders, when applied by the regulars." Another letter, published in the same paper a few weeks afterward, dated "Hartford, Connecticut," gives an account of the capture of several letters from English officers in Boston to their friends in England, and says, some of them are full of invectives against the poor Yankees, as they call us." From these facts it seems probable that the word was so unusual in New England that the writers thought themselves obliged to explain it. It was soon adopted, however. In a few months thereafter the citi zens of Newbury fitted out a privateer called the Yankee Hero, and the name was used when speaking of the New Englanders, being spelt at times Yankie, Yanko, Yankoo, Yanku, and Yankee. At this day it is only applied in the United States to the inhabitants of New England, but foreigners use it to denote all the Americans. In the Poetical Works of John Trumbull, LL.D., published at Hartford, 1820, in two volumes, in the Appendix appears the following Note: Yankies.-The first settlers of New England were mostly emigrants from London and its vicinity, and exclusively styled themselves the English. The Indians, in attempting to utter the word English, with their broad guttural accent, gave it a sound which would be nearly represented in this way, Yaunghees; the letter g being pronounced hard, and approaching to the sound of k joined with a strong aspirate, like the Hebrew cheth, or the Greek chi, and the I suppressed, as almost impossible to be distinctly heard in that combination. The Dutch settlers on the river Hudson and the adjacent country, during their long contest concerning the right of territory, adopted the name, and applied it in contempt to the inhabitants of New England. The British of the lower class have since extended it to all the people of the United States. This seems the most probable origin of the term. The pretended Indian tribe of Yankoos does not appear to have ever had an existence; as little can we believe in an etymological derivation of the word from ancient Scythia or Siberia, or that it was ever the name of a horde of savages in any part of the world. In a curious book on the Round Towers of Ireland, the origin of the term Yankee-doodle was traced to the Persian phrase, "Yanki dooniah," or "Inhabitants of the New World.” Layard, in his book on Nineveh and its Remains, also mentions "Yanghidunia" as the Persian name of America. DEATH'S PAINTER. Most persons have heard of the story of an Italian painter who embodied the idea of Death on the canvas so truthfully that the contemplation of it caused his own death. I always thought it was fabulous till I met with it in the translation of Vasari's Lives of the Painters, vol. ii. p. 305, now being published in Bohn's Standard Library. The name of Fivizzano is there given to the painter, and the following epigram is said to have been inscribed beneath the picture: Me veram pictor divinus mente recepit. Admota est operi deinde perita manus. Which may be thus translated: Me with such truth the painter's mind discerned, STEAMBOATS. In the Grenville Library in the British Museum is the following work, to the name of which, in the catalogue, is appended the accompanying note: GRENVILLE CATALOGUE (Vol. i. p. 351). Hulls, Jonathan. A Description and Draught of a new-invented Machine for carrying vessels or ships out of, or into any harbour, port, or river, against wind and tide, or in a calm. For which his Majesty has granted letters patent, for the sole benefit of the Author, for the space of Fourteen years. London, 1737. folding plate.* 8vo. R.† This new-invented machine is a steam-boat. It entirely puts an end to the claims of America to the invention of steam navigation, and establishes for this country the honor of that important discovery. |