been named by antiquarians a triquetra, and the emblems on the reverse are suitable to the early religion of the country." After the Persian conquest, "The triquetra has gone out of fashion, and different divinities occur on the reverses."-p. 439.

I should like to know from your indefatigable correspondent, Mr. Winning, whether there are analogies for such a practice to be found among the ancient peoples with whom he is so profoundly conversant. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

R. B.

THE OFFERTORY.

SIR,-Will you allow space for a few observations from one sincerely desirous to see the present unhappy dissension in the church healed, and, at the same time, healed in a legitimate way? I am as anxious as any of my brethren can be for the spread of a catholic spirit, and the revival of catholic usages, and yet I never sympathized with the existing zeal for the restoration of the offertory. My reason is this, that such restoration would not really effect the object which the men who have taken a part in this movement aim at-namely, bringing back the church to the observance of neglected regulations; but, on the contrary, would be establishing a practice which the church never intended, and never even contemplated- namely, having the offertory as a stated part of divine service without the communion. That the existing practice of stopping short with the sermon on three Sundays out of four, or oftener, is not according to the church's intention is freely admitted; but then we should not attempt to remedy one violation of the church's law merely by substituting another. The thing, therefore, to be done is, first to ascertain what the church's intention is, and then to carry it out; or, if that cannot be done, to allow the practice which custom has established to remain, at least not to risk the peace of parishes by changing it. Now, the church's intention, I conceive, is plainly this, that whenever the communion service is read, (except in certain cases specially provided for,) the communion should be administered. This, I think, is plain on the face of the office itself. Let any candid man, forgetting the prevailing custom to which he has been habituated, read the whole office through, with all its rubrics, and I am convinced he could come to no other conclusion. The title of the office is, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," implying that the church had provided it for that administration, and for no other purpose, just as the title of the "Order for the Burial of the Dead" implies that that office is provided for the purpose specified, and for no other. The preliminary rubrics have all reference to the holy communion; and the rubrics all through the office, as well as those at the end, sanction or contemplate no curtailment of it, except in the special cases alluded to. The excepted cases are when there are not "a convenient number" of communicants present in any parish, and in parishes which do not contain above twenty persons of "discretion to receive the communion," when there

are not "three at the least" present. In these cases, the priest, for the effectual prevention of the corruption of private masses, is restrained from administering; but the very restriction implies his readiness to administer when a convenient number are present. To these cases the expressions which occur in the rubrics, (such as "when there is a communion,") supposing the possibility of no administration taking place, manifestly refer; and to take these expressions as rubrical authority for a systematic curtailment of the office, is to convert a restriction, in certain rare circumstances put upon the priest, into a plea for the uniform withholding from the people of the means of grace. It is true it is nowhere expressly prescribed that the whole of the communion service is to be invariably gone through; but neither is it expressly prescribed that the whole of the "Order for Morning Prayer" is to be invariably gone through. In each case it is assumed, as it is implied in the very title of the office, that whenever the office is used, it is to be used without curtailment, except when, with regard to each, it is otherwise ordered, and in each case the exceptions only prove the rule; and if, in addition to what has been said, further proof is desired that this is assumed with regard to the communion office, it is to be found in the rubric relating to "Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Colleges." In these it is universally admitted that it is the law (however grievously neglected) that the communion shall be celebrated "every Sunday at the least." But why? That is not what the rubric enjoins. What the rubric enjoins is, that all the priests and deacons belonging to those establishments shall receive the communion with the priest every Sunday." But this implies that, as a matter of course, the communion is celebrated every Sunday; else how are they to obey the law? But why should it be taken as a matter of course, that in these particular churches there is a weekly celebration of the communion, unless because it is the general law that there shall be a weekly celebration in all churches? Surely, if these churches were intended to be exceptions to the common rule, and if it was the object to make a weekly celebration compulsory upon them, while other churches were to be at liberty to dispense with it, this is not the way in which so important an intimation of the church's intention would be conveyed. The law would be applied to the officiating priest as well as to the recipient priests and deacons; and he would be enjoined to celebrate the communion before they should be required to receive it.

On these grounds, then, I cannot concur with the present movement for the restoration of the offertory, though respecting many of the clergy who have taken part in it, and in other matters coinciding with their views. It is not that I think that that restoration would not be an improvement on the common practice of the church, because I think it would, and a great one too; and to any clergyman who had a willing people, I should say, By all means introduce the offertory, even though you should be unable to go further, and carry out the full intentions of the church by introducing weekly communion." But when the restoration of the offertory alone is based on the obligation to comply with the rubrics, then I examine the

rubrics, and find that it would not be a compliance with them; that it would be, in fact, as I said before, only a substitution of one irregularity in place of another. But it would be worse than that, for it would be the introduction of an irregularity under the guise of being the opposite. The existing practice is an admitted irregularity, in which the church herself is not implicated, however some may think that custom has legitimated it. But the change proposed is alleged to be a full carrying out of the intentions of the church. As such it is sought to be introduced; and therefore, if introduced in proportion as men were loyal to the church, as such they would be satisfied with it. Their loyalty would indispose them to seek or countenance any further change; they would not set up to be wiser than the church; and thus a formidable obstacle, which at present does not exist, would actually be created by the success of this movement, in the way of the great reform, which we really want, and which all good men must desire to see-the restoration of the weekly communion. That would be a real carrying out of the church's intentions; and let the clergy turn their thoughts and their energies to that, not as a matter merely of formal compliance with a rubric, but as the remedying of the great, the crying, the fearful evil of our existing system. There is no sense (to put it on no higher grounds) in a rule not to dispense the means of grace to the people oftener than once a month. The difficulties in the way of effecting this reform, I am persuaded, are not so great as is imagined. But let the clergy at least keep it in their view. If there are difficulties, remove them. Prepare people's minds for the change; and if the clergy are sincerely desirous of effecting it, in the end they must succeed. They have the church on their side, they have the scriptures on their side, and the piety of the country will go along with them.

Your obedient servant,

F. B. W.

GRADIVUS AND SERAPIS.

SIR, AS Mars Quirinus presided over spring, so Mars Gradivus ruled over scorching summer: Mars, cum sævit, Gradivus dicitur : cum tranquillus est, Quirinus, (Serv. Æn. i. 296.) Thus Osiris was considered to be the warmth and moisture of spring, whilst Typho represented the heat and drought of summer, which brought ripeness and decay, (De Isid. c. 33.) The temple of Quirinus was within the city, quasi custodis et tranquilli; whilst that of Gradivus lay extra urbem, quasi bellatoris vel Gradivi, (Serv. in Æn. i. 296.) At his temple without the walls was kept the Lapis manalis, which, in seasons of drought, (propter siccitatem,) was drawn round the boundaries, (per limites,) to appease Gradivus, and to obtain rain, (Fulgent. et Fest. sub v. manalis; see above, vol. xviii. p. 665.)

A Phoenician title corresponding to Mars Gradivus is Baal Chaman. Movers derives it from Hebr. chamah, fervescere, and explains it by Baal fervidus, or Sol fervidus. (Phöniz. p. 346, 160.) Chemi, the Coptic term for Egypt, is the same word; so that Egypt was sacred

to Baal Chaman, or Ham. Diodorus Sic. translates Chemmis or Chemmo by Panopolis, (i. 18;) but Pan belongs rather to Mars Silvanus than to Gradivus, though it is difficult always to preserve the distinction between them.

Serapis: On the Eugubine Tables, among other deities, is mentioned the god Serphe Marte. As Romulus was son of Mars and Rhea, I suppose the feminine form of Serphe occurs in an unnoticed title of Rhea. According to Ælian, Romulus and Remus were sons of Mars and Servia, Zepßía; she was a descendant of Æneas, (Var. Hist. vii. 16.) As this Serbia carries us to the East, I shall not hesitate to connect the name with the lake Serbo, or Serbonis. Egypt, says Herodotus, begins at the lake Serbonis, in which Typho is said to be hidden; the length of the country between the city Ienysus, Mount Cassius, and Lake Serbonis, is about a three days' journey, and is fearfully devoid of water, ävvdpov kotɩ deivws, (iii. 5.) Hence it is evident that the lake was named after the evil spirit hid therein, and that Serbo, or Serphe, was a title of Typho, who, like Mars Gradivus, personified heat and drought, (De Isid. c. 33.) "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, di avúòpwv TÓTWV, seeking rest," (Matt. xii. 43.) On this eastern ground it is easy to discover the meaning of the name Serbo. The optical deception of the appearance of water from the glowing sand of the desert, commonly known as the mirage, is called in Hebrew and Arabic, sherab, serab, (see Isa. xxxv. 7; and Bishop Lowth's note.) The EgyptoTuscan dialects have no medials, and sherab is evidently the same word as sheraph, to burn,also a fiery present, (Num. xxi. 6.) Now a serpent of a fiery colour, though of a harmless nature, was the symbol of Serapis or Esculapius, (Ælian, Animal, viii. 12.) But Serapis, or Serbo, is only another form of Typho, for both were struck with thunder: Ζεὺς γάρ. . . . Ασκληπιὸν στέρνοισιν ἐμβαλὼν φλόγα, Eurip. Alcest. init.; Æneid, vii. 773. The temple of Serapis in Egypt, like that of Marte Serphe, at Rome, was erected without the walls of the city: nullum itaque Ægypti oppidum intra muros suos aut Saturni aut Serapis fanum recepit .. fana eorum extra pomoerium locaverunt, (Macrob. Sat. i. 7.) The character of Serapis belonged to the mysteries, and was early misunderstood; hence Macrobius has endeavoured to explain away the circumstance, extra pomoerium; but Mars Gradivus also, whose temple lay without the city, was lord both of the healing and destroying powers of nature. Mars pater te precor ut tu morbos visos invisosque prohibessis, &c., (Cato, R. R. c. 141.) Another name of this healing Pluto was Beelzebub: "Go, inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease," (2 Kings, i. 2.) The Pharisees knew of this Beelzebub as the curer of diseases, (Matt. xii. 24;) and, in the pseudo-gospel of Nicodemus, Pilate ascribes the healing power of Christ to Esculapius, év Oe 'Aokλŋnių, cap. i., (see Münter's Karthager, p. 91.) Under the head of Serapis, Dr. Prichard says, "We now come to a subject which presents greater difficulties than most other parts of the Egyptian theogony-namely, to the nature and relations of Serapis, (Egypt. Mythol, p. 89.) Wilkinson has come to the

conclusion that" Serapis was at no time Egyptian; he was always foreign to their worship, and treated as an intruder by the Egyptians; and at most he may be considered a Græco-Egyptian deity, attached to rather than belonging to the Pantheon of Egypt," (Anc. Egypt. iv. p. 366.) But after what I have said concerning Marte Serphe and the dæmon of Lake Serbo, I cannot suppose that Serapis was quite so foreign to the Egyptians as is commonly thought. Marte Serphe, Serapis, or Beelzebub, was consulted at Babylon on behalf of the dying Alexander. The worship of Serapis was common to the whole Cushite race.

The best known character of Serapis or Esculapius is Pluto, (De Isid. c. 28; Diodor. Sic. i. 25;) and it is as Pluto that he was the giver of health and productiveness. Februus in Tuscan is equivalent to karax@órios, and he was worshipped by the Luperci for productive crops, (Lydus, iv. 20.) When Publicola, in a pestilence, by the favour of Pluto, did not lose his children, he sacrificed to him on a subterranean altar, and instituted games, (Val. Max. ii. 4, 5.) This Pluto was evidently identical with Esculapius, Serapis, or Marte Serphe; and was the same as Neptunus Equestris, to whom Romulus sacrificed on a subterranean altar, when he wanted wives and children for his people, (xxiii. 418.) The number eight connects Neptune with Esculapius; it was the sacred number of Neptune, (Plut. Thes. fin. Isid. c. 10;) and also of Esculapius, according to Damascius. Asclepius of Berytes was eighth son of Sadyc, in addition to the seven Dioscuri, or Cabiri, and was named Esmun, (Octavius.) Being a handsome youth, and fond of hunting, he was constantly tracked by the mother of the gods; and rather than yield, he emasculated himself, (Damasc. in Photio, Jablonski Pantheon, i. 296.) This account is merely a variation of Venus and Adonis, and shews plainly that Esculapius, or Serapis, was a character of the sun in its yearly course. The consistency of the whole mythologue is preserved by making him the winter sun, when the productive power of nature is exhausted. Serapis was the winter sun, Sol Inferus, or Pluto. Among the Phrygians, Cybele fell in love with Attis, who was afterwards named Papas, (Diodor. iii. 58.) This Papas is Babys, the Egyptian Typho; he is also Abobas, which, according to Hesychius, is a Syrian title of Adonis; all these terms I have already connected with the Roman Fabius and the Aventine, (See "Hebe," vol. xxv. p. 179.)

Bedford.

W. B. WINNING.

NOTICES AND REVIEWS.

Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymri. By the Rev. John Williams, M.A. London, 1844.

It is now considerably more than a century since any inquiry of the least moment has been instituted concerning the early state of the British Isles, and particularly that portion of it affecting the church. The question, at one time one of great anxiety, seems during this