in such pursuits; whilst Savage's Dictionary of Printing, s. v. "Records," explains all the contractions and other typographical peculiarities, to be found in the valuable publications of the British "Record Commissioners." ALBANY, June, 1858. ROBERT TOWNSEND. Another Reply.-The use of y for th arose from the change from the Anglo-Saxon to the English printed character. Our ancestors wrote Pat, Pe, Py, etc., when we now write that, the, they, etc. The English having rejected the letters and p dh and th, these characters were no longer cast in their fonts, but words of such common use were doubtless long written with the old fashioned letter, which in process of time began to be considered equivalent to y. This letter bears the closest resemblance to the discarded Anglo-Saxon P, and the practice of writing the article thus Pe would naturally, after the character had gone out of use, suggest the notion that the proper letter was y. In the reprint of Sir John Mandeville's travels, London, 1839, we find such words as agen, Jou, gif, gaf, etc., for agen, gon, gif, gaf, etc. -i. e. again, you, if, gave, etc. This is clearly a misunderstanding of the Anglo-Saxon 3, g;* with this letter all those words were anciently written, and the mistake of confounding it with 3 is analogous to that by which p is confounded with y. CHARLESTON, June, 1858. F. A. P. It extract for positive evidence that George "To The Most fruits of my Travels, when you were our Hope, Inter victrices Hederam tibi serpere Lauros. It needeth more than a single denization, being a double Stranger. Sprung from the Stocke of the ancient Romans; but bred in the New-World, of the Sudenesse wherof it cannot but participate; especially having Warres and Tumults to bring it to light instead of Muses. * * * * Your Majesties most humble Servant, Another Reply.—I saw some years ago the following explanation of the use of y for th in ye for the, ym for them, etc. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet had a letter for the sound of th, answering to the Greek and the Spanish z. BOWIE KNIFE (vol. ii. p. 210). This mursomewhat resembled the English y. This letter derous weapon received its name from Colonel was not retained in the English alphabet, which James Bowie, a gentleman by whom it was is to be regretted, and as the y was something invented, or first used. Colonel Bowie distinlike it, that was sometimes used for it. Ye was guished himself in the war of independence in not pronounced ye as some persons fancy, but Texas: he showed great bravery in several batprecisely like our modern the. See (the Lon-tles and skirmishes, and was killed with Colonels don) Notes and Queries for May 1, 1858, for an Anglo-Saxon poem containing this letter. It is the poem on the Grave, the translation of which is so strangely inserted in Longfellow's works. W. D. PHILADELPHIA. Travis and Crockett, in the attack on the Alamo, in San Antonio. Colonel Bowie lived in Louisiana, but was by birth a Georgian. He became notorious in the Southwest, on account of a terrible duel which he fought with Norris Wright and others on a bar of the Mississippi-one of the bloodiest rencontres of this class on record, in which he was wounded and two men were killed. He is reported to have been a man of daring and of comply with this request from a wish that I have to gratify, as far as may with propriety be done, every reasonable desire of the patrons and promoters of sciences. And at the same time, I feel myself flattered by the polite manner in which I am requested to give this proof of my sincere regard and good wishes for the prosperity of the university of Cambridge. I am, sir, with great esteem, etc., "GEORGE WASHINGTON." PHILADELPHIA. SPEAKING FOR BUNKUM (vol. ii. p. 37).Joseph Tinker Buckingham, in his "Personal Memoirs " (Boston, 1852), vol. i. p. 207, in speaking of Mr. Culpepper of North Carolina, who "voted for the Compensation Law,' and suffered the penalty of his independent votes," adds this note: "Buncombe County, in North Carolina, was a part of the district which Mr. Culpepper represented, and the place of his residence. In advocating the 'Compensation Law,' he said he was not speaking merely for Buncombe, but for the nation. Hence the phrase speaking for Bunkum, when reference is made to a self-electioneer ing speech, has grown into a proverb." The above statement of the origin of this phrase differs from that given by Dr. Darlington in your February number of this year. Which is correct? MOSSAHGWAMOC. DENNISON (vol. ii. p. 20).-Edward Dennison, who died in Roxbury, April 26, 1665, left only one son, William; this son died also at Roxbury, March 22, 1717-8, without issue, and the male line became extinct. The posterity of Edward, through his daughters, is numerous. L. R. P. ABBREVIATED WORDS (vol. ii. p. 183).Your correspondent, "W. D.," speaks of the substitution of y for th, by old writers, and asks an explanation. The y, thus used by old writers and printers, represents the very similarly formed Anglo-Saxon letter thorn, P, whose power was that of our English th-so difficult of pronunciation by foreigners. The Anglo-Saxon y was surmounted by a dot, ỷ, probably, the your portrait for the University, if you will be so kind as to sit, as it would be exceedingly grateful to all of the governors of this literary society, that the portrait of the man we so highly love, esteem and revere, should be the property of, and placed within Harvard College. Permit me, sir, to request the favor of your sitting for the purpose, which will greatly oblige the whole corporation. November 7th-The portrait was executed by Mr. Savage, and deposited in the University. A well finished engraving of it was also made by the same artist and published." more readily to distinguish it from the th, and also from the letter wen, P (our modern w), both of which it closely resembled.. (The similarity is more apparent in old A.-S. MSS., than it is in the printed characters.) As the earliest charters of the Anglo-Saxon kings were written in Latin, the peculiar sound of our English th found place only in some of the proper names; and, in these, the scribes endeavored to express it by various combinations of Roman characters, as th, dh, or td. In a similar manner, the sound of the letter w, unknown to the Latin tongue, was represented by a repetition of the Roman character u, as uu. When the Anglo-Saxon began to be generally used as a written language, the introduction of new characters, to express sounds not found in the Latin, became conducive to convenience and exactness, and almost a necessity. And thus, p took the place of th, dh, and td; and the double u was represented by the character P. Westwood, in his Palæographia Sacra Pictoria, ("Anglo-Saxon Books of Moses") states that the earliest extant example of the use of the letter is in a charter of A. D. 693; and that þ is first found in a charter of the year 814. In the earlier Mss., the distinction between þ and y was very well preserved; but, as writing became a more common accomplishment, the scribes, through haste or carelessness, gradually truncated the P, and left the y undotted, until, at length, the same character became the representative of both letters-the context alone in"W. D." dicating which one was to be used. will find one of the earliest English examples of this confusion of letters, in the Fac-simile (about A. D. 1380) attached to Pickering's edition of Wycliffe's New Testament (London, 1848). It is scarcely necessary to add that the peculiar sound of our English th began, gradually, to reattach itself to one of the combinations of letters, that indicated it in the early Latin chartcertain tenure of the character y. And thusers; in preference to holding a divided and unparadoxical as it may appear in these latter days, the altered condition of our language and literature forces us, for the sake of exactness, to express a certain sound by the same combination of letters, that a similar desire for accuracy caused our forefathers to abandon, a thousand years ago. In regard to "abbreviated words," it may be as well to state that one of the principal difficulties to be encountered in the perusal of Mediæval MSS., consists in the varied and multitudinous abbreviations strewn over their pages. Wright's Court-Hand Restored is an admirable guide to one who may have occasion to engage = ROBERT TOWNSEND. extract for positive evidence that George "To The Most Another Reply.-The use of y for th arose from the change from the Anglo-Saxon to the English printed character. Our ancestors wrote Pat, Pe, Py, etc., when we now write that, the, they, etc. The English having rejected the letters and p dh and th, these characters were no longer cast in their fonts, but words of such fruits of my Travels, when you were our Hope, SIR: Your Gracious acceptance of the first common use were doubtless long written with the old fashioned letter, which in process of Will and Power to the finishing of this peace; as now our Happinesse; hath actuated both time began to be considered equivalent to y. being limn'd by that unperfect light, which was This letter bears the closest resemblance to the snacht from the houres of night and repose. For discarded Anglo-Saxon P, and the practice of the day was not mine, but dedicated to the serwriting the article thus Pe would naturally, af- vice of your Great Father, and your Selfe: ter the character had gone out of use, suggest which, had it proved as fortunate as faithful, in the notion that the proper letter was y. me, and others more worthy; we had hoped, In the reprint of Sir John Mandeville's trav-ere many yeares had turned about, to have preels, London, 1839, we find such words as agen, Zou, gif, gaf, etc., for agen, gon, gif, gaf, etc. i. e. again, you, if, gave, etc. This is clearly a misunderstanding of the Anglo-Saxon 3, g;* with this letter all those words were anciently written, and the mistake of confounding it with 3 is analogous to that by which p is confounded with y. CHARLESTON, June, 1858. F. A. P. sented you with a wel-peopled Kingdom; from whence now, with myselfe, I onely bring this Composure: Inter victrices Hederam tibi serpere Lauros. It needeth more than a single denization, being a double Stranger. Sprung from the Stocke of the ancient Romans; but bred in the New-World, of the Sudenesse wherof it cannot but participate; especially having Warres and Tumults to bring it to light instead of Muses. ** * * Your Majesties most humble Servant, GEORGE SANDYS." Another Reply.-I saw some years ago the following explanation of the use of y for th in ye for the, ym for them, etc. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet had a letter for the sound of th, answering to the Greek and the Spanish z. It BOWIE KNIFE (vol. ii. p. 210).-This mursomewhat resembled the English y. This letter derous weapon received its name from Colonel was not retained in the English alphabet, which James Bowie, a gentleman by whom it was is to be regretted, and as the y was something invented, or first used. Colonel Bowie distinlike it, that was sometimes used for it. Ye was guished himself in the war of independence in not pronounced ye as some persons fancy, but Texas: he showed great bravery in several batprecisely like our modern the. See (the Lon-tles and skirmishes, and was killed with Colonels don) Notes and Queries for May 1, 1858, for an Anglo-Saxon poem containing this letter. It is the poem on the Grave, the translation of which is so strangely inserted in Longfellow's works. W. D. Travis and Crockett, in the attack on the Alamo, in San Antonio. Colonel Bowie lived in Louisiana, but was by birth a Georgian. He became notorious in the Southwest, on account of a terrible duel which he fought with Norris Wright and others on a bar of the Mississippi-one of the bloodiest rencontres of this class on record, in which he was wounded and two men were killed. He is reported to have been a man of daring and of Obituary. At Hempstead, L. I., June 21, ZACHARIAH GREENE, a revolutionary soldier and minister of the gospel, in his ninety-ninth year. A correspondent of the Evening Post bestows this tribute to his memory:-"He was the last survivor of the army headed by Washington, in New York, in 1776, to whom the Declaration of Independence was read, at the Park, and who responded to it by the shout of freedom and union. Mr. Greene was then in his 17th year, and was one of the hollow-square within which that charter of our liberties was proclaimed. He was, doubtless, the last of that heroic band. He informed the writer, some months since, that he had made diligent inquiries and could not ascertain that any one excepting himself of the army, who was present on that occasion, was living. He served in the army, and was engaged on several occasions that put his courage and fortitude to the test, until by a bullet wound in his shoulder at the battle of White Marsh, he was compelled to retire from the army. He was educated at Dartmouth, studied for the ministry, and for seventy-two years adorned his Christian calling. In private life, he was the most estimable man I ever knew. I have known him intimately more than forty years, and I never knew him out of temper, excepting when political fanatics threatened the dissolution of the Union. "They divide this Union," said the old man, with an eye that was lighted by the fire of the Revolution; "they talk of destroying this Union! They cannot do it. It is cemented by the blood of the fathers. They cannot do it. It is sanctioned by God for his wise and holy purposes." There was no truer patriot breathed than Mr. Greene. In his published reply to an invitation to a Fourth of July celebration at Tammany Hall, a few years ago, his language was: "If I could stand on the summit of the highest mountain, and make my voice heard all over the land, I would say, Hold fast to the Union; do nothing to injure the Union." At his funeral his character of revolutionary patriot was honored by a portion of the military of Kings and Queens counties. His ministry was eulogized by the clergy, and his private character was testified to by the profound homage of the assembled multitude, including the executive of the State, the aged inhabitants of the county, and the whole village of Hempstead. One of the most interesting features of the ceremony was the long line of children who were in the procession. They all knew and loved Parson Greene, for not one of them ever passed him without a kind look or expression. Goldsmith, in his prophetic fancy, could not have adopted a closer model for his Auburn parson, or for his Vicar of Wakefield, than was exhibited in the life of Mr. Greene. The children literally, "pluck'd his gown to gain the good man's smile." He was also "passing rich, with £40 a year." For in the simplicity of his life, and with his rigid habits of temperance in all things, he lived to bring up a large family on $300 salary, a parsonage of sixteen acres, a small pension from government, and the incidental perquisites of an officiating minister in uniting in marriage more than 2,500 persons." Pa., of which he was a native, the Hon. JOB R. At his country seat in Montgomery County, TYSON, an eminent citizen of Philadelphia. He was born in 1804, studied law, was sent to the State Legislature, and in 1854 was elected to Congress from Philadelphia. Our historical literature is greatly indebted to him for the active part he took in securing the publication by the State of the Pennsylvania Archives. He employed himself much in matters of literature and art, and delivered various addresses. He married a daughter of the enterprising shipping merchant, Thomas P. Cope, of Philadelphia. At the McLean Asylum, in Somerville, Mass., Hon. ALBERT HOBART NELSON, of Woburn, died 27th June, aged 46. He was son of Dr. John and Lucinda (Parkhurst) Nelson, and was born in Milford, Mass., 12th March, 1812. He was fitted for College at Concord Academy. After leaving College he entered his name as a law student in the office of the Hon. Samuel Hoar, of Concord, Mass.; but soon afterwards entered the Law School at Cambridge, where he completed his studies, and was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1837. On his admission to the Bar, he began the practice of law in Concord, where he remained until 1841, when he removed to Woburn, which was his subsequent home, although he had an office in Boston. He was a well-read lawyer, a fine speaker, and a most pleasing, persuasive, and successful advocate before a jury. He was much in public life. For several years he held the office of District Attorney for the counties of Middlesex and Essex. He was elected as a Whig Senator from Middlesex District, to the Legislature, in 1848 and 1849; and in 1855 he was appointed one of the Executive Council, which station he resigned a few months afterwards, having received the appointment of Chief Justice of the Superior Court. He continued his seat on the Bench until the 6th of March last, when he was compelled to resign it in consequence of ill health. Mental alienation ensued, which increased to such a degree that it became necessary to place him in the Asylum for the insane at Somerville, where he remained until his death. In the discharge of his duties as prosecuting attorney he was candid and courteous. His elevation to the Bench was entirely satisfactory to the Bar of Suffolk County, and the manner in which he discharged the duties of the station evinced the judicious decision of the Executive in making the appointment. His ample experience at the Bar had made him familiar with the rules of evidence and practice; and his instinctive legal perceptions and quickness of mind enabled him to decide promptly, and generally correctly, the questions that came before him. Judge Nelson married, September, 1840, Miss Elizabeth B. Phinney, daughter of the late Elias Phinney, of Lexington, Clerk of the Courts in Middlesex. His widow and one daughter survive him. He had one other child, a son, who died in infancy. readers, says the Philadelphia North American, remember Dr. Janeway as the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, which formerly worshipped at the corner of Third and Arch, in an edifice which has long since given way before the encroaching march of improvement. His congregation was one of the largest then in Philadelphia, and he was greatly beloved by them. He left to assume the presidency of the Western Theological Seminary, at Alleghany City. For many years he has been a trustee of the two colleges at Princeton, and has been associated with other institutions. Dr. Janeway was a distinguished writer on theological subjects. At Brooklyn, L. I., at the Navy Yard, June 29, Lieut. HENRY BROOKS, is said to be the last surviving officer of the Kane Arctic Expedition. Mr. Brooks had for some time been subject to fits of an apoplectic nature. It appears that he was taken with one of these fits, and, feeling it approaching, tried to take hold of something At Philadelphia, June 27th, the Hon. ROBERT near. The fit overtaking him suddenly, he T. CONRAD, aged fifty-one. He was a native of missed his hold, and fell backwards on the pavePhiladelphia. He was educated for the bar ment, striking his head with so much violence in the office of his uncle Mr. Thomas Kittera. as to break the skull. He was taken to the His tastes led him from law to literature. He Naval Hospital, where he expired soon after the wrote a tragedy entitled Conradin before his above occurred. Mr. Brooks was one of the men twenty-first year, and was much employed in the who composed the Kane Expeditions, and was newspapers and periodicals, publishing the Daily Dr. Kane's first-lieutenant. In the navy, he Commercial Intelligencer, which was merged in held the post of boatswain, which he retained in the Philadelphia Gazette, in which he held a the Navy Yard till his death. Since the return pecuniary interest and leading editorship. of the expedition from the Arctic regions, Mr. Abandoning this occupation in consequence of Brooks has not been to sea, being disabled by ill health, he returned to the law, and became losing his toes by the frost. He was in the Recorder of the Northern Liberties, and after-possession of medals from Queen Victoria, Lady wards Judge of the Criminal Sessions for the City and County of Philadelphia. When the latter court was dissolved he resumed his connection with newspaper literature, becoming associated with Mr. M'Michael in the editorship of the North American. Upon the consolidation of the districts with the city he was elected to the mayoralty by the Whig and American parties. In 1856 he was appointed to fill a vacancy at the bench of the Quarter Sessions, and served in that capacity till last autumn. In literature he is best known as the author of Aylmere, a tragedy purchased by Mr. Forrest, and in which that actor sustains his well known part of Jack Cade. In 1852 Judge Conrad published this play in a volume entitled Aylmere, or the Bondmen of Kent; and other Poems. Judge C. was also celebrated as a popular political speaker. At New Brunswick, N. J., June 27, the Rev. JACOB J. JANEWAY, D.D., in his 84th year. Until a very recent period he had enjoyed good health, and the closing days of his well-spent life were serene and unclouded. Many of our elder Franklin, President Buchanan and others, presented to him for the manner in which he distinguished himself during the trials of an Arctic winter. Mr. Brooks was of Swedish birth, 45 years of age, and leaves a wife and family. At Suffield, Conn., June 30, CALVIN W. PHILLEO, an active politician and popular writer. He was the author of the serial tale "Twice Married," originally published in Putnam's Monthly, and of the incompleted story "Akin by Marriage,' in the Atlantic Monthly. In 1849, leaving the Democratic party, he became a Free Soiler, but subsequently returned to the Democrats. and was a member of the Democratic State Committee at the time of his death. At New Haven, July 9, the Rev. A. B. CHAPIN, D.D. of that city. Dr. Chapin had for years been a great sufferer by rheumatism, which so enfeebled him that he was unable to walk without the aid of crutches. He was born at Somers, March 10th, 1808. His education was first directed with reference to his entering the ministry of the |