MRS. MAJOR JAMES-MISS DEPEYSTER.-When say that we have examined a list of the paintings and where did she die? PORTRAITS OF LOUIS XVI. AND HIS QUEEN.The following articles, which appear in one of our exchanges, are not without interest: PHILADELPHIA, April 27th, 1784. DEAR SIR: Congress are informed, I presume, that Pictures of the King and Queen of France, presented to them by his Most Christian Majesty, are now in this city at the Minister's House. They rest upon the floor, and perhaps their continuance there may be inconvenient. If at any time their removal shall be thought proper, I am assured, Councils would with pleasure place them in the most safe Room of the State House, and have the best care taken of them under the Direction of Mr. Peale. This communication is made, that you, sir, may have the necessary information, if the Disposal of the Pictures should be mentioned. I am, sir, Your very affectionate, humble servant, JOHN DICKINSON. Hon. JOHN MONTGOMERY, Esquire. Can any of your correspondents inform me what became of those portraits? We have long been aware of the history of these pictures, and have made inquiry unsuccessfully as to where they are now. Perhaps some of our friends can shed light on this subject. in the Governor's room, City Hall, New York, and the portraits spoken of do not appear among them. It is quite likely that they were taken to Washington when Congress removed to that city. "S.," another friend and correspondent, says: ·· 'Being at Washington a few years since, I have a faint recollection that I then heard some person speaking of two pictures presented to Congress by the French government, being saved from the conflagration of the Capitol, occasioned by the British in their visit to that city in the the time, that they had ever since mysteriously war of 1812, and that the remark was made at disappeared, and no one could tell what had beAlthough this does not satisfaccome of them. torily answer the query of yourself and correspondent, it may furnish an additional basis for instituted at Washington of persons resident further investigation. Probably, were inquiry there at the period mentioned, it might lead to some further discoveries respecting the present locality of the pictures, or their ultimate fate." Can any reader of the H. M. tell? DUTCH PSALM BOOK.-I have in my possession a book containing the one hundred and fifty Psalms of David; also six hymns. The hymns are called "The Ten Commandments, Song of Zacharias, Song of the Virgin Mary, Song of Simeon, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer." It also contains the Heidelberg Catechism and Liturgy of the Re In reference to the above inquiry, as to the present location of these paintings, "W. B. D.," a friend and correspondent, has sent us the follow-formed Dutch Church. The title page is wanting, ing: Extract from proceedings of Congress, held at New York, Friday, Feb. 11, 1785. "On the report of a committee consisting of Mr. Gerry, Mr. Ellery, and Mr. Williamson, to whom was referred a letter of 29th December last, from M. De Marbois to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Resolved, That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs give orders for a careful removal of the portraits of his Most Christian Majesty and of the Queen of France, from Philadelphia to the Hall in this city, in which Congress hold their sessions." Pierre François Barbé de Marbois was junior vice-consul for the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware. You will observe that the two portraits were removed in 1785 to New York. What has since become of them I know not, but would not be at all surprised to find them in the now City Hall, of New York, with numerous other portraits, in what is called the Governor's room. In reference to this latter suggestion we may Το and the Psalms, &c., contain 479 pp., sigs. A to Rr.; the Catechism, 145 pp., sig. A. to S., and on the fly-leaf is the date January 1, 1785, accompanying the name of a former owner. each of the psalms and hymns is affixed the music of the tune to be sung over the words of each line. The version of the Psalms is that of Tate and Brady, with some alterations. I shall be glad to obtain information as to the time when compiled, by what authority, for what church, and by whom published, and any other items concerning the book, that may be in possession of any of the readers of Notes and Queries. NEWARK, N. J. REPLIES. J. I. Y. MORGANS AND SKEPPLES (vol. iv., p. 250).— Ulrich Sower paid Robert Livingston "twentyfive bushels of good winter wheat" for his "36 Morgans of land." Skepple in the north, and Scuttle in the south, were the old names for farmbaskets--long since replaced by some modern Obituary. [October, for many years, died at Lachine, C. E., on Friday, SIR GEORGE SIMPSON, governor of Hudson Bay Sept. 7. He was for a long time connected with affairs at Hudson Bay and other places in the vicinity. terms. They should not have given place so easily, as both were of good, honest parentage, claiming descent from the Teutonic, Scandinavian, and even Gaelic tongues, through the medium of the Anglo-Saxon. They are still found in slightly different forms in the Swedish, Dutch, German, and I believe, Danish languages. Skepple has, I think, its immediate origin in the Dutch Schepel, and German Scheffel, brought over by the Hollanders, who came with Hendrick Hudson. It was more Lochbunn, Rosshire, Scotland, in or about the He was born in the mountainous parish of firmly established by the importation of the Eng-year 1796. lish and Scotch Skep, Skepp, Skepe, Skeppe, Skip, sent to America to take share in the contest that When he was very young he was Sceppe and Scape, which was a basket of wicker- was then going on between the Hudson Bay work or straw, wider at the top than at the bot- Company and the Northwest Company of Cantom, holding generally, a bushel. Skep is still so ada. Owing to his tact and plausibility of speech used in many of the provincial dialects of Eng- and demeanor, he was instrumental in bringing land. Brockett's Glossary" says, bushel Skeps, and Skeps of various sizes;" but a coalition, by which the Northwest Company "We have together the two contending parties, and forming that they are almost invariably bushels, I think retained over one-half the capital stock, and a probable from the fact that it is the most porta-majority of the offices in the territory for their ble size, and farmers of course find it more con-resident associates. In a few years he was apvenient to have their grain and seed baskets of a pointed governor of what is called the Hudson up to the time of his death. Bay Company's territories, an office which he held uniform size. It has been only in the last twenty years that the encroachments of city refinement have driven the Scuttle from its home in the Virginia plantations. I have often heard my mother say that, when my father carried her home, a bride, to his patrimonial estate, and she was about, for the first time, to witness the operation of winnowing the grain, she was much astonished to hear the old servant, who had the management of it, call for the Scuttles, and expressed her surprise that they should measure grain in Coal-Scuttles. Her doubts of the cleanliness of the proceeding were removed when the wicker Scuttles made their appearance. Of Morgan, I can as yet find no trace in any of my dictionaries; but I hope to discover it soon. ANOTHER ANSWER.-"A morgen was a Dutch measure, little less than two English acres, and containing 600 square Dutch rods; a shepel or Dutch bushel, was nearly three English pecks."-Thompson's "Long Island,” vol. ii., p. 170. and large tracts of land granted to it, that the The Hudson Bay Company was first established, nature and resources of the surrounding territories might be inquired into and reported upon to the English government. the company attempt to fulfil the obligations imBut not till 1836, did posed upon them by the charter. In that year the directors of the company directed Mr. Simpson to make immediate preparation for the equipment of an expedition to connect the discoveries of Captains Ross and Back. He did so with such forethought and zeal, that the expedition was of his nephew, the late Thomas Simpson, noted in perfectly successful. It was under the conduct Arctic discovery. In the midst of difficulties and dangers, for a Arctic coast of America, from the mouth of the space of three years, the expedition traced the Mackenzie river to Point Barrow, and from the mouth of the Coppermine river to the Gulf of Boothia. In consideration of the services of the Arctic expedition spoken of above, her Majesty Queen Victoria conferred the honor of knighthood on Governor Simpson, and an annual pension of £100 on his nephew. This honor the governor received in 1840. At Philadelphia, June 16, Mr. JOHN BINNS, & venerable citizen of that place. He was born on the 22d day of December, 1772, in the city of Novi or Nova EBORACI (vol. iv., p. 216).—1 | Dublin, Ireland, and sympathizing warmly with think the word Eborăcum, neuter, according to its termination, and so find it in dictionaries where any gender is given. In poetry either a feminine or neuter adjective might be used. the liberal party of his native country and of England, he became connected with revolutionary movements, which led to his arrest at Birmingham, on the charge of high treason. For The style of Scillacio is extremely inflated, and by no means easy to render into English. Few would be satisfied with another's translation of some obscure passage, and this renders the reprint of the original, as here given, necessary to the completeness of the tract, although Mr. Mulligan's is on the whole accurate and idiomatic, carefully prepared, and annotated where needed. Of the narrative itself, and the strange error it contains of making Columbus sail eastward instead of westward, we need hardly here attempt to dwell on at length. nearly two years he was confined in prison for Notes on Books. Nicolaus Syllacius De Insulis meridiani atque Indici maris naper inventis. With a translation into English, by the Rev. John Mulligan, A. M. New York: 1859. 4to, xviii., 105, lxiii. pp. THIS is a remarkably beautiful work printed privately by Mr. James Lenox, and, as may be inferred, preserves from total loss a bibliographical treasure. It is an account of the second voyage of Columbus, by Nicolo Scillacio. The original is a work of such rarity that few persons have ever heard of it, and only two copies are at present known to exist. One of these, not in good condition, is in the library of the Marquis Trevulzio, of Milan; the other, which is in fine order, belonged to M. Olivieri, of Parma, and was purchased with his books by the Marquis Rocca Saporiti, of Milan, from whom it passed into the possession of Mr. Lenox. Scillacio was a native of Messina, graduate and teacher at the University of Pavia, where, after his return from a voyage to Spain, in the train of Arcimboldi, archbishop of Milan, he lectured on philosophy. In the appendix is given an account of the same voyage by Dr. Chanca, the physician of the This is followed by a most interesting and accurate account of six different editions of the first letter of Columbus, all printed before the close of 1493, in Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, of two editions of an Italian poetical version, issued in 1493; of an edition in German in 1497, and an abridged one, in the same language, in 1522, and the Latin edition in the "Bellum Christianorum Principia" issued in 1533; and also of Scillacio's and Chanca's account of the second voyage. This is followed by an account of the relations of the the third and fourth voyages, and of the rare Italian edition of the latter. and could have been prepared in few libraries; The portrait of Columbus in the Codice Diplomatico, Genoa, 1823, is beautifully re-engraved in the work. Had Scillacio ever dreamed that his treatise would have ever received a dress so fine three centuries after, his idea of his literary ability would, doubtless, have transcended all bounds, and his style reached the sublimity of turgidity. A History of Williams' College. By Rev. Calvin Durfee. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 1860. 8vo, 432 pp. THE history of an institution which owes its origin and its name to the gallant soldier, whose tomb every traveller visits, by Lake George, as he nears the Bloody Pond, possesses some general interest. Dr. Durfee gives a biographical sketch of the founder, and of Presidents Fitch, Moore, Griffin, His Spanish visit resulted in a friendship with and Hopkins, with a chapter on the administraa Spanish gentleman named Coma, living near the tion of each, and a second on the religious history Spanish coast, who, on the return of Columbus of the college. The volume contains, also, an from his second voyage, wrote to Scillacio an ac-account of the buildings, library, and apparatus; count of it, which the latter published in 1494, an account of the progress of the College or early in 1495, probably from the Pavian press studies, and a description of the surrounding of Francisco Girardenghi. country. Historical and Literary Intelligence. A PORTRAIT of Professor Charles C. Rafn, the secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen, has been ordered of a Danish artist, by the Hon. George Folsom, who intends to deposit it in the gallery of the New THE "Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America," by the Abbé Do-York Historical Society. menech, has appeared in London in an English dress, in 2 vols. 8vo. That the abbé is competent to give a thorough work on American ethnology and antiquities, we are far from believing, and can only view with regret the appearance of works which make the truth more hopelessly involved in confusion and obscurity. NEW ORLEANS is about to redeem the honor of the country by erecting a monument and striking a medal to the honor of Robert Fulton. The ground for the monument has been laid apart, and the model adopted. If carried out, it will be most honorable to the ancient city. THE second part of the third volume of the new series of the New York Historical Society will shortly be issued, and is intended to comprise a general index to the entire collections, transactions, and proceedings of the Society, affording a key to the important historical information scattered through the fifteen volumes which they have brought out under these various names. THE "Narrative of the Canadian Exploring Expeditions," the preparation of which is intrusted to Prof. H. Youle Hind, who fills the chair of Chemistry and Geology at Trinity College, Toronto, will be an important addition to our knowledge of this continent. It will include a full report of the two expeditions dispatched by the Canadian government in 1857 and 1858, at a cost of $60,000, for the exploration of the southern part of Rupert's Land, or the basin of Lake Winnipeg, including the country within the new orown colony of Red River, as well as the region traversed by the proposed overland route from Canada to British Columbia. Much of this large area has never before been described, or, indeed, visited by white men, until crossed by these expeditions, the second of which was under the command of Prof. Hind, and is known as the Assiniboin and Saskatchewan Expedition. Particular attention was paid to the physical geography, geology, and climate of the territory by the scientific corps; and as a practical photographer was one of the staff, the illustrations of the grand and romantic picturesque scenery, and of the ethnology of the native Indian tribes, will be very abundant. The work will probably appear this autumn (forming two volumes, octavo), from the house of Messrs. Longman. MR. MURRAY, the London publisher, announces a new work by Mr. Motley. It is a continuation of his previous history, and is entitled “The United Netherlands, from the Death of William the Silent, to the Death of Olden Barneveldt; with a special view of the English and Dutch Struggle against Spain, and a detailed History of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada.” THE History of Hadley, Mass., by the late Sylvester Judd, of Northampton, which was unfinished at the time of his death, is to be completed by Lucius M. Boltwood, of Amherst, from the manuscripts left by Mr. Judd. DR. BARNEY, of Richmond, Virginia, is privately reprinting, in fac-simile, a few copies of Raphe Hamor's "True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia," printed originally in 1614, and will follow it by copies of other Virginia rarities. The C. B. RICHARDSON & Co. have nearly ready a fac-simile reprint of the "Bay Psalm book," the first English book printed in America. edition is limited to fifty copies, many of which have been eagerly subscribed for by those who wish, at least, a fac-simile of a book so rare as to bring $786. THE same house announce a limited edition of Washington's Diaries from 1789 to 1791, edited by Benson J. Lossing, with his Journal to the Ohio, in 1753. It will correspond in size with the large-paper copies of the "Life and Writings of Washington," and to be limited to one hundred copies. AMONG the choice books forthcoming is a fine large-paper edition of Bancroft's "History of the United States." It will be limited to fifty copies, and be got up in the very finest style. C. B. Richardson & Co. are to issue it. MR. MUNSELL announces a "Bibliographical Account of American Family Histories," prepared by William H. Whitmore, of Boston. A VERY limited edition of the "Relation de la Nouvelle France-1673-9," being the last General Relation of the Jesuit missions in Canada prepared for publication, has just made its appearance. "5 men killed and three scalped by the enemy being surrounded by 100 men, he returned the to the eastward of Montmorency. Capt. Cose-fire, and killed the soldier, a Highlander belongman of the regt. dangerously wounded, he being fired on when placing some sentinels at an advanced post. "A soldier of Capt. Carden's company of Light Infantry deserted to the enemy, after killing his comrade. "A deserter from the enemy informs that they intend to attack our battery at Point Levy, also Col. Burton's post; saying that the 13th inst. 1600 men crossed the river on that intention, but returned the 14th on pretence of being discovered. "The weather continues good. Little doing. Posted by the battery as usual; neither shot or shell during the night by either sides. "18th. This morning General Wolfe reconoitred the opposite or north shore above the town; seems to think a landing practicable. "In the afternoon Major Dalling marched with two companys along the south shore three miles to the westward of our post, in order to look for places most convenient for the troops to ascend at the landing on the north shore. He found two or three. "On our return to our cantonments we were ordered to take a little rest, as we were to escort General Wolfe in the morning. "19th. At 10 o'clock last night the General came to our cantonments in order to see the shipping pass the town; at 10 o'clock the Sunderland and Squirrell men-of-war with the two transports passed the batterys; 31 shott fired at them, none of which touched. Marched to escort the General, who went on board the Sunderland in a whaleboat; at 3 o'clock in the morning Captain Carden and Fraser's compannys with some Rangers marched to a settlement about 7 miles up the river above the town, to endeavour to take prisoners. We crossed a river near it with not the proper precaution; discovered two or three straggling fellows who got off; it seemed by the fires in the houses they had been inhabited lately. Found a note on the door of a house begging that we should not sett it on fire. Returned to our cantonments by 10 o'clock at night, and on our arrival marched with the General 4 miles back; the same communication we came by, where we remained all night. About 11 o'clock the enemy sett up the Indian hoop, and fired small arms; most probably occasioned to a small aların. ing to Capt. Fraser's company. It was with great difficulty his life was suffered from the fury of the men who were exasperated at the scoundrel's action. He seemed to know little excepting the haunts of the straggling inhabitants. "10th. This evening an intelligent deserter from the enemy confirms that the 13th curt. 1500 men having crossed the river in order to attack our battery and post, but on landing a false alarm made them fire on each other; two Canadians were killed, the Indians fled then, and the detachment returned without presuming to look at one of our sentinels. "21st. Rainy weather; marched to escort Admiral Holmes to Capt. Goram's post, being 2 miles from our post. He greatly difficulted how to get on board the shipping as they lay 6 miles above Goram's. "Arrived the General from on board the Sunderland, who informed us he had ordered Colonel Carleton to land at Point au Tramble with Amherst's and Fraser's Grenadiers, and a small detachment of the 3rd B. of R. Americans, which order was put in execution at daybreak in the morning of the 22nd. They were opposed by some Canadians and Indians, who gave way soon. Fraser's Grenadiers pursued too far, killing two Indians, and obliging the remainder to fly, leaving everything behind. Major Prevost, Lu M'Douwel, and one volunteer wounded, with 14 men killed. "Made a Jesuit a militia officer, and some peasants, with 150 ladys prisoners. Among which is the Marquis de Beauport. Remained at Goram's post this night. "Two soldiers of Capt. Simon Fraser's Coy. wounded by a pistol accidentally firing. "22nd. Marched from Goram's post as an escort to the General; on our return to our cantonments received orders of marching. At night the town much bombarded, set on fire, and burnt the most of the night. The enemy fired during the night a good many shot and shell; two ships endeavouring to pass the batterys sustained most of the fire, was obliged to set back with contrary winds, without which they could pass. "The ladys taken yesterday returned this day; Capt. Smith, Aide de Camp to General Wolfe, not politely used by the French in town. "23rd. Remained in our cantonments all day under orders for marching; detained for want of "20th. Last night the General went on board a guide. At 1 o'clock this night marched the the Sunderland; at eight o'clock this morning whole detacliment of Light Infantry, with 30 marched to our cantonments; on our way we Rangers, under the command of Major Dalling. took a Canadian and his boy about 12 years old At the time of our departure the town sett on prisoners; one of our men fired at him, and not-fire, and burnt most of the night. withstanding his seeing it impossible to escape, "25th. Arrived this morning on the lower set |