m mentioned by Mr. Singer?
And--when did he live?
H.C. DE ST. CROIX
_An Infant Prodigy in 1659._--The following wonderful story is thus
related by Archbishop Bramhall (Carte's _Letters_, ii. 208.: Dr.
Bramhall to Dr. Earles, Utrecht, Sept. 6-16, 1659):--
"A child was born in London about three months since, with a
double tongue, or divided tongue, which the third day after it
was born, cried 'a King, a King,' and bid them bring it to the
King. The mother of the child saieth it told her of all that
happened in England since, and much more which she dare not
utter. This my lady of Inchiguin writeth to her aunt, _Me brow
van Melliswarde_[4], living in this city, who shewed me the
letter. My Lady writeth that she herself was as incredulous as
any person, until she both saw and heard it speak herself very
lately, as distinctly as she herself could do, and so loud that
all the room heard it. That which she heard was this. A
gentleman in the company took the child in his arms and gave it
money, and asked what it would do with it, to which it answered
aloud that it would give it to the King. If my Lady were so
foolish to be deceived, or had not been an eye and ear witness
herself, I might have disputed it; but giving credit to her, I
cannot esteem it less than a miracle. If God be pleased to
bestow a blessing upon us, he cannot want means."
It can hardly be doubted that the Archbishop's miracle was a
ventriloquist hoax.
CH.
[Footnote 4: The name of the Dutch lady, mis-written for De
Vrouw, &c.]
_Allusion in Peter Martyr._--Mr. Prescott, in his _History of the
Conquest of Mexico_ vol. i. p. 389. (ed. 8vo. 1843), quotes from Peter
Martyr, _De Orbe Novo_, dec. 1. c. l., the words, "Una illis fuit spes
salutis, desperasse de salute," applied to the Spanish invaders of
Mexico; and he remarks that "it is said with the classic energy of
Tacitus." The {102} expression is classical, but is not derived from
Tacitus. The allusion is to the verse of Virgil:--
"Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem."
_AEn._ ii. 354.
L.
_Hogs not Pigs._--In Cowper's humorous verses, "The yearly Distress, or
Tithing-time at Stoke in Essex," one of the grumblers talks
"of pigs that he has lost
By maggots at the tail."
Upon this I have to remark that an intelligent grazier assures me that
pigs are never subject to the evil here complain
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