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DEC 3 1886
LIERAT

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES AND QUERIES,

WITH ANSWERS.

"The cosmos is the champion of the Just."-WISDOM OF SOLOMON.

VOL. III.

DECEMBER, 1886.

No. 12.

Questions and Answers.

LIBERTY CAP. (Vol. III, p. 172.) When, where, and by whom was the "Liberty Cap" originated and adopted, as used in all our American illustrations? M. O. WAGGONER, Toledo, O.

The "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," under this caption says the goddess of liberty, in the Aventine Mount, was represented as holding in her hand a cap, the symbol of liberty. In France, the Jacobins wore a red cap; in England, a blue cap with a white border, is the symbol of liberty; and Britannia is sometimes represented as holding a cap on the point of a spear. These symbols were taken from the Romans. When a slave was manumitted by the Romans, a small red cloth cap, called pileus, was placed on his head. As soon as this was done, he was termed libertinus (a freedman), and his name was registered in the city tribes. When Saturnius, in 263 A. D., possessed himself of the capitol, he hoisted a cap on the top of his spear, to indicate that all slaves who joined his forces and marched under his standard should be free. When Marius incited the slaves to take up arms against Sylla, he employed the same symbol; and when Cæsar was murdered, the conspirators marched forth in a body, with a cap elevated on a spear in token of liberty.

D. M. DRURY, Williamsburgh, N. Y

Methods of Divination.

The following list of terms used to express diverse modes of divination, with explanations, will be found unusually complete and may interest students of occult science. The expressions have been gathered from various sources : Aeromancy, by appearances in the air.

Cleromancy, by dice.

Cledonism, by certain lucky or un-
lucky words.
Clidomancy, by keys.
Coscinomancy, by sieves.
Crithomancy, by dough of cakes.
Cromniomancy, by onions.
Crystallomancy, by a magic lens.

ABBREVIATIONS IN CATALOGUES OF AUTOGRAPHS. (Vol. III, p. 187.) What are the full words for which the following letters stand, found in catalogues of autographs for sale: D. S.; A. L. S. R. S.; L. S.; A. O. S.? To some names there is added other letters, as to that of Gen. Enoch Poor, one of our revolutionary heroes, n. d.

ALICE G. ADAMS, Boscawen, N. H.

The abbreviations are for words as follows: D. S., Document Signed; A. L. S., Autograph Letter Signed; R. S., Receipt Signed; L. S., Letter Signed; A. O. S., Autograph Order Signed; N. D., No Date. H. K. A., Penn Yan, N. Y.

"ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS

THE PRICE OF LIBERTY." (Vol. I, pp. 284, 317; Vol. III, p. 165.) Mr. Wendell Phillips used these words in his speech, “Public Opinion," delivered before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society, at the Melodeon, January 28, 1852. In a letter written to the subscriber, a short time previous to his death, Mr. Phillips writes: "Miss Ward asks a question which no scholar has yet been able to answer. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty' has been attributed to Jefferson; but no one has been able to find it in his works, nor elsewhere."

I have already given this information to the public. Will it not be wise to let the questionings cease, after Mr. Phillips's assertion that "no scholar has yet been able to answer" the query. person can give light, a hearing will be acceptable to every one.

When any

ANNA L. WARD, Bloomfield, N. J.

GOD AND THE HUMAN SOUL. A Suffee fable representing God and the human soul illustrates their oneness as follows:

And
So

The Soul knocked at the Beloved's door, and a voice from within cried, "Who is there?" Then the Soul answered, "It is I." the voice of God said, "This house will not hold me and you." the door remained shut. Then the Soul went away into the wilderness, and after long fasting and prayer, it returned, and knocked once again at the door. And again the voice demanded, "Who is there?" Then the Soul said, “It is THOU," and at once the door opened to the Soul.

NAMES OF THE GRACES, FATES, AND FURIES. (Vol. III, p. 172.) What were the mythological or classical names of the three Graces, Fates, and Furies? CAMILLA.

The Graces were denominated Charités by the Greeks. Some writers attach great importance to the radical sounds in this designation-K, r, t (or s); and certainly many classic and other mythologic names are formed from these sounds; as the Harits of India, Apollo's title of Chrestos, etc. The three charités were named Aglaia (brilliancy), Euphrosynê (joyous mind), and Thalia (bloom). Nonnos, however, at a later period named them Pasithea (all-divine), Peithô (persuader), and Aglaia. The Spartans and earlier Athenians, however, had but two. Hômêr makes their number unlimited and represents them as daughters of Aphroditê; doubtless, as geniuses inspiring hilarity, admiration, and love. Another writer has set them forth as daughters of Helios and Aglaia,-the sun and his splendor. They were gener

ally depicted by artists as nude, but Sôkrates, himself a sculptor of merit, represented them with garments. It was an Athenian jest that he clothed the Graces, but they did not clothe him. In the later · Christian category among the various changes and new adaptations of the old forms, the three Graces become Faith, Hope, and Charity.

The Furies are named the Eringes and Eumenides-the angry ones, and the daughters of kindness. We can take our choice. They, too, have a record somewhat confused. When Dêmêtêr, the Great Goddess-Mother is pursued by Poseidôn (the ante-Olympyian god of Greece and Libya primitively the father of Pallas-Athena and Persephone) she is designated by Pausanius and Kallimachos, as Erings. The name comes from the old Aryan dialect, and in Sanskrit is Saran-ga. Max Müller makes the last the real name of Helen. Hômêr and other writers use the word Erings abstractly as cursing, guilt, abstraction. There were originally an indefinite number of them; and indeed Aischylos has a whole chorus of them in pursuit of Orestes, and they seem to be the personified stings of remorse. He calls them Semnai, the revered ones. Euripides does not limit their number; but he twice calls them the Three. Apollodorus names them Tisiphonê (the avenger), Megaria (the sorceress), and Alêktô (the neverpausing). The name Eumenides carries us back to remembrance of the Persian Gathas and litanies, where Vohu-maingo is made very prominent. The term means literally daughters of the good mind; hence, the gracious ones, very properly, no doubt; for all these terms ought to be regarded in the good sense primarily. The daughters of the Good Mind cheer the good with delightful thoughts and memories; they are Dirae and Furies only to the wrong-doer. The torch and thong of serpents mean good as well as evil. They were represented as daughters of the Night, denoting the Unknown Past; and as dwelling in Erebus where the souls or shades of all men dwelt.

The Fates, Parcae, or Moirai are in like manner made three by later classic writers. Hômer has but one, Moira, and in the Odysseia uses the term abstractly as we do, in the sense of personal destiny. The signification of moira is part, the part apportioned, lot or allotment. Fatum is that which is pronounced. Usually the Supreme Divinity was considered to be arbiter of fate; but Aischylos makes Zeus also subject to it. Still, the Olympian Zeus was only a "Younger God,"