'To be raffled for: The finding of Moses, and six Fat geeze(!!). Tickets at the bar.'" R. C. WARDE. Kidderminster. _Rome and the Number Six._--It has been remarked lately in "N. & Q." that in English history, the reign of the second sovereign of the same name has been infelicitous. I cannot turn to the {491} note I read, and I forget whether it noticed the remarks in Aubrey's _Miscellanies_ (London, 8vo., 1696), that "all the _second_ kings since the Conquest have been unfortunate." It may be worth the while to add (what is remarked by Mr. Matthews in his _Diary of an Invalid_), that the number _six_ has been considered at Rome as ominous of misfortune. Tarquinius Sextus was the very worst of the Tarquins, and his brutal conduct led to a revolution in the government; under Urban the Sixth, the great schism of the West broke out; Alexander the Sixth outdid all that his predecessors amongst the Tarquins or the Popes had ventured to do before him; and the presentiment seemed to receive confirmation in the misfortunes of the reign of his successor Pius VI., to whose election was applied the line: "Semper sub sextis perdita Roma fuit." W. S. G. Newcastle-on-Tyne. _Zend Grammar._--The following fragment on Zend grammar having fallen in my way, I inclose you a copy, as the remarks contained in it may be of service to Oriental scholars. I am unable to state the author's name, although I suspect the MS. to be from a highly important quarter. The subject-matter, however, is sufficiently important to merit publication. "The _Zend_, of disputed authenticity, and the _Asmani Zuban_, a notoriously fictitious tongue, compared." "It is well known that Sanscrit words abound in _Zend_; and that some of its inflexions are formed by the rules of the Vyacaran or _Sanscrit_ grammar. "It would therefore seem quite possible that by application of these rules a grammar might be written of the _Zend_. Would such a composition afford any proof of the disputed point--the authenticity of the _Zend_? "I think it would not, and support my opinion by reasons founded on the following facts. "The _Asmani Zuban_ of the Desstu is most intimately allied to Persian. It is, in fact, fabricated out of that language, as is shown by clear internal evidence. Now the grammatical structure of this fictitious tongue is identical with that of Persian: and hence by following the rules of Persian grammar, a grammar of the _Asmani Zuban_ might be easily framed. But would this work advance the cause of forgery, and tend to invest it with the quality of truth? No more, I answer, and for the same reason, than is a grammar of the _Zend_, founded on the Vyacaran, to be received in proof of the authenticity of that language." KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE.