P.S.--At p. 123. of Vol. vi. are inserted some other parallels, noted by me in the course of my reading. For one of these so inserted, that relating {152} to Sylla, I was taken to task (see Vol. vi., p. 208.) by P. C. S. S. Now, the parallel between the two passages ("_Parallel_, resemblance, conformity continued through many particulars, likeness," Johnson's _Dictionary_) is this: Both verses endeavour to picture the mingled red and white of the "human face divine" (one satirically, the other eulogistically), by comparing their combined effect to that of the red hue of fruit seen through a partially superfused white medium--meal over mulberries, cream over strawberries. If there is not sufficient "resemblance" or "likeness" in the two (in the opinion of P. C. S. S.) to justify me in placing them _alongside of one another_ ([Greek: parallêla]), I really cannot help it. I have now ascertained that the words "Sylla's a mulberry sprinkled with meal" are to be found in Langhorne's _Plutarch_, as a translation of the original Greek quoted by P. C. S. S. [Footnote 1: Continued from Vol. iv., p. 435.; Vol. vi., p. 123.] * * * * * ANTIQUITY OF THE POLKA: A NOTE FOR THE LADIES. The description of the _lavolta_ in Sir John Davies's poem on dancing, _The Orchestra_ (1596), shows that it must have closely resembled the dance which we fondly boast of as one of the great inventions of the nineteenth century. It runs as follows: "Yet is there one, the most delightful kind, A lofty jumping, or a leaping round, Where arm in arm two dancers are entwined, And whirl themselves with strict embracements bound; And still their feet an anapæst do sound; An anapæst is all their music's song, Whose first two feet are short, and third is long." The "anapæst" is conclusive; it points exactly to the peculiar nature of the polka, the pause on the _third_ step. Moreover, it appears, that as there is no especial figure for the polka, so there was none for the lavolta; for it is classed among those dances "Wherein that dancer greatest praise has won, Which, with best order, can all orders shun; For everywhere he wantonly must range, And turn and wind with unexpected change." Who can doubt after that? The polka was certainly danced before Queen Elizabeth! To this valuable historical parallel I may add that the galliard and coranto also were apparently danced _ad libitum_ (observing only a particular measure), just as our waltz and galop also are: "For more diverse and more pleasing show, A swift, a _wandering_ dance, he [Love] did invent, With _passages uncertain_ to and fro, Yet with a certain answer and consent, To the quick music of the instrument." B. R. I. * * * * * SEVEN SCORE SUPERSTITIOUS SAYINGS.