t is the same which Moses saw--the miraculous bush.
The assertion is false, and the alleged fact a mere
invention."--Geramb's _Pilgrimage to Palestine, &c._, English
trans.

March 1. 1847. The bush was exhibited by two of the monks at the back
of the eastern apse of the church, but having its root within the
walls of the chapel of the burning bush. It was the common English
bramble, not more than two years old, and in a very sickly state, as
the monks allowed the leaves to be plucked by the English party then
in the convent. The plant grows on the mountain, and therefore could
be easily replaced.

Viator.

_The Crocodile_ (Vol. ii., p. 277.).--February, 1847, a small
crocodile was seen in the channel, between the island of Rhoda and the
right bank of the Nile.

Viator.

_Umbrella._--It was introduced at Bristol about 1780. A lady, now
eighty-three years of age, remembers its first appearance, which
occasioned a great sensation. Its colour was red, and it probably came
from Leghorn, with which place Bristol at that time maintained a great
trade. Leghorn has been called Bristol on a visit to Italy.

Viator.

_Rollin's Ancient History, and History of the Arts and
Sciences._--Your correspondent Iota inquires (Vol. ii., p. 357.),
"How comes it that the editions" (of Rollin) "since 1740 have been
so castrated?" i.e. divested of an integral portion of the work, the
_History of the Arts and Sciences_. It is not easy to state _how_
this has come to pass. During the last century comparatively little
interest was felt in the subjects embraced in the _History of the Arts
and Sciences_; and _probably_ the publishers might on that account
omit this portion, with the view of making the book cheaper and more
saleable. It is more difficult to assign any reason why Rollin's
Prefaces to the various sections of his _History_ should have been
mutilated and manufactured into a _general_ Introduction or Preface,
to make up which the whole of chap. iii. book x. was also taken out
of its proper place and order. A more remarkable instance of merciless
distortion of an {492} author's labours is not to be found in
the records of literature. Iota may take it as a fact--and that a
remarkable one--that since 1740 there had appeared no edition of
Rollin having any claim to integrity, until the one edited by Bell,
and published by Blackie, in 1826, and reissued in 1837.

Veritas.

Glasgow, Dec. 7. 1850.

_MSS. of Loc