ch _alone_ as sacred. I. The Chinese Jews have not the ancient
Hebrew character, but the comparatively modern square Chaldee one, as in
our printed Bibles. II. Gozani states that the Jews of Kaafung Foo, in
Honan, had some traditions from the Talmud. The Mishnah, constituting the
text of the Talmud, is manifestly a compilation _subsequent_ to the closing
of the Jewish canon; the quotations from the books following those of Moses
being constantly in use therein. III. On Gozani mentioning Jesus the
Messiah, the Chinese Jew said they had a knowledge of Jesus the son of
Sirach. As, however, the book of the last-named writer is unknown in
Hebrew, Gozani, who was ignorant of that language, may have mistaken him
for Jesus (=Joshua) the son of Nun, with which book the Chinese Jew was
acquainted.[3] In either case, _more_ books than the Pentateuch were
undoubtedly held sacred by these Chinese Jews; therefore the connexion with
the ten tribes (house of Israel), as distinct from the house of Judah (the
Jews properly so called), cannot be inferred. The authorities for the
Samaritans are Scaliger, Ludolf, Prideaux, Jahn, Huntington, Winer,
Schnurrer, and Kitto. For the eastern Jews: Josephus, Peritsol, Manasseh,
Basnage, Buesching; Fathers Ricci, Aleni, Gozani, and other Jesuits, in the
_Lettres edifiantes et curieuses_, vol. xviii.; and the _Chinese
Repository_, vol. i. pp. 8. 44., vol. iii. p. 175.

Circumcision is too general a practice in the hotter regions of the south
and east, to permit such practice to be deemed proof of Jewish descent,
unless corroborated by other customs peculiar to the Jews. Besides the
physiological characteristics of the native Australians preclude us from
deducing their natural descent from either the _Jews_ or the ten tribes.

T.J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

[Footnote 3: The opprobrious name of Christ amongst the Jews is Jesus son
of Sadta, which Gozani may have mistaken for Sirach; indeed,--the Chinese
pronunciation of Hebrew is quite peculiar, as they cannot pronounce, for
instance, the letters _b_, _r_, _th_, naming them respectively _p_, _l_,
_z_.]

* * * * *

POETICAL TAVERN SIGNS.

(Vol. viii., pp. 242. 452.)

I made a note of the following specimen of poetical tavern sign, in one of
Mr. Mark Lemon's Supplements to _The Illustrated London News_ (Dec. 27,
1851). I here transcribe it to add to MR. WARDE'S collection:

"The following is a literal copy of a si