I omitted to note the paper, but preserved the lines as remarkable. I have since tried to find some account of _La Divina Comedia_, but in vain. It is not noticed in any biography of Tieck. Can any of your readers tell me what it is, or who wrote it? M. M. E. _Fossil Trees between Cairo and Suez_--_Stream like that in Bay of Argastoli._--Can any of your readers oblige me by stating where the best information may be met with concerning the very remarkable fossil trees on the way from Cairo to Suez? And, if there has yet been discovered any other stream or rivulet running from the ocean into the land similar to that in the Bay of Argastoli in the Island of Cephalonia? H. M. _Presbyterian Titles_ (Vol. v., p. 516.).--Where may be found a list of "the quaint and uncouth titles of the old Presbyterians?" P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A. _Mayors and Sheriffs._--Can you or any of your readers inform me which ought to be considered the principal officer, or which is the most important, and which ought to have precedence of the other, the mayor of a town or borough, or the sheriff of a town or borough? and is the mayor merely the representative of the town, and the sheriff of the Queen; and if so, ought not the representative of majesty to be considered more honourable than the representative of merely a borough; and can a sheriff of a borough claim to have a grant of arms, if he has not any previous? A SUBSCRIBER. Nottingham. _The Beauty of Buttermere._--In an article contributed by Coleridge to the _Morning Post_ (vid. _Essays on his own Times_, vol. ii. p. 591.), he says: "It seems that there are some circumstances attending her birth and true parentage, which would account for her striking superiority in mind and manners, in a way extremely flattering to the prejudices of rank and birth." What are the circumstances alluded to? R. W. ELLIOT. Clifton. _Sheer Hulk._--Living in a maritime town, and hearing nautical terms frequently used, I had always supposed this term to mean an old vessel, {127} with sheers, or spars, erected upon it, for the purpose of masting and unmasting ships, and was led to attribute the use of it, by Sir W. Scott and other writers, for a vessel totally dismasted, to their ignorance of the technical terms. But of late it has been used in the latter sense by a writer in the _United Service Magazine_ professing to be a nautical man. I still suspect that this use of the word is wrong, and should be glad to hear on the subject from any of your naval readers. I believe that the word "buckle" is still used in the dockyards, and among seamen, to signify to "bend" (see "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 375.), though rarely. J. S. WARDEN. _The Lapwing or Peewitt_ (_Vanellus cristatus_).--Can any of your correspondents, learned in natural history, throw any light upon the meaning in the following line relative to this bird?-- "The blackbird far its hues shall know, As _lapwing_ knows the vine."