“The Book of Seventy-seven French Protestant Ministers,
    presented to Will’m III.”

If any of your readers can refer me to the above works I shall be glad.  They may be in the British Museum, although I have searched there in vain for them.

J.S.B.

Water-marks in Writing-paper.—­Can any of your correspondents indicate any guide to the dating of {311} paper by the water-mark.  I think I have read of some work on that subject, but have no precise recollection about it.  I have now before me several undated MSS. written on paper of which it would be very desirable to fix the exact date.  They evidently belonged to Pope, Swift, and Lady M.W.  Montague, as they contain their autographs.  They are all of that size called Pro Patria, and two of them have as water-mark a figure of Britannia with a lion brandishing a sword within a paling, and the motto Pro Patria over the sword.  Of one of these the opposite page has the initials GR, and the other has IX; but the paper has been cut off in the middle of the water-mark and only exhibits half the figure IV.  Another sheet has the royal arms (1.  England and Scotland impaled, 2.  France, 3.  Ireland, 4. the white horse of Hanover,) within the garter, and surmounted by the crown, and on the opposite page GR. within a crowned wreath.  There is no doubt that they were all manufactured between 1715 and 1740; but is there any means of arriving at a more precise date?

C.

Puzzling Epitaph.—­The following curious epitaph was found in a foreign cathedral:—­

  EPITAPHIUM.

“O quid tuae be est biae; ra ra ra es et in ram ram ram ii.”

The following is plainly the solution of the last four lines:—­

  ra, ra, ra, is thrice ra, i.e. ter-ra=terra.
  ram, ram, ram, is thrice ram, i.e. ter-ram=terram.
  ii is i twice, i.e. i-bis=ibis.

Thus the last four lines are,—­

  “Terra es et in terram ibis.”

Can any one furnish a solution of the two first lines?

J. BDN.

    [We would suggest that the first two lines are to be read “O
    super be, quid super est, tuae super biae,” and the
    epitaph will then be—­

      “O superbe quid superest tuae superbiae
      Terra es, et in terram ibis.”—­ED.]

MSS. of Cornish Language.—­Are there any ancient MSS. of the Cornish language, or are there any works remaining in that language, besides the Calvary and Christmas Carol published by the late Davies Gilbert?

J.A.  GILES.