their having been judiciously administered. The schools are well conducted by masters of great ability, as will be made evident to any one who will take the trouble to visit them.

The ancient seal of the School (of which we subjoin a cut) bears the date of 1576. It represents the master seated in the school-room, with five boys standing near him. The rod is a prominent object, as in other school seals which may be seen in Carlisle's "Grammar Schools;" some of which are also inscribed with the maxim of King Solomon, then strictly maintained: QUI PARCIT VIRGAM ODIT FILIUM.

A fac-simile of the seal, in cast iron or carved in stone, is placed

MR. URBAN, 12, Liverpool-st. THE following brief account of an early Temperance Society, which proves that we have to look back to another age for the first establishment of these institutions, may not be uninteresting to your readers.

Át the close of the fifteenth century, drunkenness prevailed to a frightful extent in Germany, and more particularly in the upper classes, and among the nobility. In the year 1600, a society was formed for the discouragement of this vice; its founder was Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, and it was named the Order of Temperance. It included among its supporters several of the reigning princes, and many of the principal nobles of Germany; dukes, counts, landgraves, rheingraves, and margraves, were among its subscribing members. Its laws, in our day, would not be considered as tending to encourage temperance; they, however, in some measure illustrate the state of society at that period, and explain what was meant by Temperance 200 years ago. We select a few :

1. Be it ordained, That every member of this society pledges himself, from its institution, which dates December the 25th, 1600, until the same day in December 1602, never to become intoxicated.

2. That the foregoing order may be the better observed by every member of

this high and well-conceived society, we pledge ourselves to be satisfied with seven glasses, of the measure of the order, (the liquor, though not named, we presume to be wine; the size of the glass is not stated) at a meal.

3. That no member of this order shall, in the course of 24 hours, take more than two head (haupt) meals, not exceeding seven society tumblers with each, and not

under any circumstances to be allowed to

drink wine on other occasions, not even as a sleeping-draught.

4. As it is likely, however, that wine may, to some, be necessary at luncheon, one glass may be taken, provided it be subtracted from the daily allowance of fourteen.

6. That no one may complain of thirst, a necessary quantity of other beverages, as beer, mineral-water, toast and water, &c. shall be supplied at every meal. But moderation is enjoined even in the use of these.

7. It is not allowable to drink Spanish wines, brandy, nor geneva; nor strong malt liquors, as London porter, or Hamborough double ales.

8. Under some circumstances, one glass of the aforesaid strong spirits may be drunk, but for every one so taken, two glasses of wine to be deducted.

9. No person shall be allowed to drink his seven glasses in one, or even two draughts, but to make, at the least, three.

10. Also, no one shall have the privilege of drinking the fourteen glasses at one sitting, nor even eight on one occasion; they must be equally divided between the two meals.

11. Those who break any of the above laws, shall be reported to the founder of the society.

12. If any member should infringe the

constitutions of the order, three staid and well-conducted brothers shall pronounce on the guilt of the accused, and, if found guilty, adjudge him to the greater or the lesser punishment at their discretion. The greater to be, that from the date of his crime, for the period of one year, he shall not be allowed to be present at any tournament, or knightly play, either horse or foot. The next punishment, that for the space of one year he be not allowed to drink wine; and as still lighter, should such be deemed proper, the culprit shall be adjudged to forfeit the two best horses in his stable, and to pay a fine of 300 dollars.

*

**

The above extracts comprise about one-third of the laws of this singular institution; they have been selected and condensed, without departing in the least from their spirit. This account may be strictly relied upon; the original document (in MS.), with the signatures and seals of more than 200 princes and nobles attached to it, is to be seen in the library of the townhall of Marburg, in Upper Hesse, belonging to the Elector of Hesse Cassel. Yours, &c. W. LAW GANE.

Mr. URBAN, Rotterdam, May 7.* IN sending me a minute comparison of the Friesian language with the Anglo-Saxon, for the preface of my Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, now printing, my friend the Rev. J. H. Halbertsma, a clergyman of Deventer, in Holland, inclosed the following remarks. If you find a place for them in your Magazine, I hope I shall induce him to send you an account of the Friesian customs, which bear a striking affinity with our own. friend is a native of Friesland, and has written many useful works, to prove the advantage of his native tongue in the derivation and explanation of English words. He is now engaged in a Friesian, Latin, and English Dictionary.

My

I allow my friend to speak in his own language, thinking it better to let a few foreign idioms remain, than to destroy its originality by correction. Yours, &c. JOSEPH BOSWORTH.

We must apologize for our delay in inserting this article, owing to its having been long mislaid.

GENT. MAG. VOL. V.

Runic Epitaphs found at Hartlepool. Rhabanus Maurus has left a Runic

alphabet of the Marcomanni, called by

others Nordmanni, and (see Ueber Deutsche Runen von W. C. Grimm, Gottingen 1821 on the whole, and p. 149 in particular,) Northalbingii-seated on the northern banks of the Elve, of course one and the same spot where the Saxons, the allies of the Angles, were residing. When we compare the form of these letters with the Runic alphabet of the Anglo-Saxons [Hickes' Gramm. Goth. et Anglo-Saxonica, in the Thes. L. L. Sept. tom. I. p. 135, 136], we shall perceive, upon the whole, a striking resemblance, which is to me a convincing proof that the Anglo-Saxons brought along with them from their native country the Runic alphabet into Britain. That these letters were once in common use among them, has been lately proved by the discovery of two sepulchral stones at Hartlepool, bearing Runic inscriptions. Hartlepool is a peninsula in the county of Durham, where a convent was founded by Bega about the year 640. She was succeeded by Hilda, a lady of noble birth, who removed to Whitby in the year 658, and was there abbess of a convent, in which the celebrated Cadmon was a

monk. An accurate delineation of these sepulchral stones is given in your Magazine for Sept. 1833, p. 219.

The cross on these stones proves

that they covered Christian corpses. The two letters in the two upper quarters of the greater stone, mean perhaps Christ, the Alpha and the Omeya. The smaller stone, which is also the oldest, Runic letters on the larger and more does not present these letters. The modern stone give these words: Hildi Thuhth; and on the older stone, Hilmmi Eath. The first word is evidently a proper name, signifying however hildi or hilde, properly, affectionate; and Hilmmi or Hilmme, or Helmme, galeatus [Icelandic, Hilmir, protector, rex]. Let it be observed, that e is not denoted by a particular character in the the i, which vowel being later deold Runic alphabet, but indicated by noted by a point, was called stungen Jis, and served to indicate the e. Now the i twice at least appearing on these stones, where e is to be expected, this. seems to be something of a proof, that

U

these stones were engraved before the introduction of stungen Jis amongst the Scandinavian Runes, of Meh amongst the Anglo-Saxon Runes, and of Mech amongst the Northalbingian Runes.

As all proper names indicate a quality of mind or body, reputed excellent by our forefathers, we are doubtful whether the second word denotes a proper name, or an epithet containing the encomium of the deceased. I deen the latter the most probable, notwithstanding the two epithets are changed by the Frisians into proper names; for thucht they say by assimilation of the ch to the t, Dotte, and for eath, Eade. Thucht seems to be an adjective signifying sound, powerful, and virtuous, from þéo, vigeo, þyhð, viget, péan, vigere, whence Dutch duchtig, sound; Scotch doughty, powerful, able.

Eath, ea lenis, tractatu facilis, whence easy, points out virtue, reputed as such by Christians, not by the warlike Anglo-Saxons. Perhaps it was a nun, renowned for her meekness of mind, whom this stone covered. The reporter says about the bones found under the stones, that he is strongly inclined to consider them the remains of a female. The difference between the proper names of men and women will not help us, as the same names are often common to both, even at this day, at Hindelopen, in Friesland, and other places.

The greater stone bears the inscription HILDE THE VIRTUOUS; and the smaller and older stone, HILMME THE MEEK.

Hilme and Hille, by assimilation for Hilde, are still prevalent proper names in Frisia.

What intended to observe, was the perfect likeness of the letters on these stones with the Runic alphabet of the Anglo-Saxons, and of the Northalbingians, where this alphabet differs from the old Scandinavian For instance, the h occurring in both the

stones with the figure, in the ScanЖ

dinavian alphabet is drawn

; the d, engraved in the greater stone, just as in the Rune dæg by Hickes, and the Rune tag in the Codex of St. Gall, No. 270, the d and th in the old Scan

gure

1, is on the oldest stone drawn

, just as with Rhabanus Maurus, and nearly as with Hickes; the a is the only exception, having on the older stone in the word eath, perfectly the same figure as the a with Ulphilas. I have not found the figure elsewhere but on the Celtiberian coins, whose letters bear a striking likeness with the old Runes. The Celtiberian alphabet is the passing over from the Oriental letters to the Runes. Sestini gives (p. 202) to this figure the sound of 1; but founded on what grounds I do not know. I take the figure on the stone for the undermost part of the

Scandinavian Rune
Anglo-Saxon Rune

Ж

Ж

hagl, of the calc, of the

Northalbingian Rune chilck, with Rhabanus Maurus, and of course standing for ch. About the remaining Runes on the sepulchral stones, there can be no question, being obvious in all the Runic alphabets.

THE Writer of the Article in the Westminster Review, vol. xiv. pp. 56-93, and an occasional Correspondent of your Magazine, requests the favour of being allowed to convey his thanks to the learned and ingenious Author of "The new English Dictionary" now publishing by Mr. Pickering, Mr. Richardson, p. 45, for the public expression of an opinion so favourable, of a paper which is, in fact, as he designates it, an Essay on a subject of great importance, and is more than a Review. But at the same time I wish to point out to Mr. Richardson (and to have a memorial in the same Volume which contains his observations,) two mistakes into which he has fallen, in the notice which he has been pleased to take of the plan of an English Dictionary, which is there with a considerable degree of minuteness developed.

First it was not to his communication to any Encyclopedia that the