_Burial towards the West._--The usual posture of the dead is with the feet eastward, and the head towards the west: the fitting attitude of men who look for their Lord, "whose name is The East," and who will come to judgement in the regions of the dawn suddenly. But it was the ancient usage of the Church that the martyr, the bishop, the saint, and even the priest, should occupy in their sepulture a position the reverse of the secular dead, and lie down with their feet westward, and their heads to the rising sun. The position of the crozier and the cross on ancient sepulchres of the clergy record and reveal this fact. The doctrine suggested by such a burial was, that these mighty men which were of old would be honoured with a first resurrection, and as their Master came on from the east, they were to arise and to follow the Lamb as He went; insomuch that they, with Him, would advance to the Judgement of the general multitudes,--the ancients and the saints which were worthy to judge and reign. Now, Sir, my purpose in this statement is to elicit, if I may, from your learned readers illustrations of this distinctive interment. R.S. HAWKER. Morwenstow. _Medal struck by Charles II._--Voltaire, in his _Histoire de Charles XII._, liv. 4., states that a medal was struck in commemoration of a victory which Charles XII. gained over the Russians, at a place named Hollosin, near the Boresthenes, in the year 1708. He adds that on one side of this medal was the epigraph, "Sylvae, paludes, aggeres, hostes victi;" on the other the verse of Lucan:-- "Victrices _copias_ alium laturus in orbem." The verse of Lucan referred to is in lib. v. l.238.: "Victrices _aquilas_ alium laturus in orbem." Query, Is the medal referred to by Voltaire known to exist? and if so, is the substitution of the unmetrical and prosaic word _copias_ due to the author of the medal, or to Voltaire himself? L. _National Debt._--What volumes, pamphlets, or paragraphs can be pointed out to the writer, in poetry or prose, alluding to the bribery, corruption, and abuses connected with the formation of the National Debt from 1698 to 1815? F.H.B. _Midwives licensed._--In the articles to be inquired into in the province of Canterbury, anno 1571 (_Grindal Rem._, Park. Soc. 174-58), inquiry to be made "Whether any use charms, or unlawful prayers, or invocations, in Latin or otherwise, and _namely, midwives in the time of women's travail of child_." In the oath taken by Eleanor Pead before being licensed by the Archbishop to be a midwife a similar clause occurs; the words, "Also, I will not use any kind of sorcery or incantations in the time of the travail of any woman." Can any of your readers inform me what charms or prayers are here referred to, and at what period midwives ceased to be licensed by the Archbishop, or if any traces of such license are still found in Roman Catholic countries? S.P.H.T. * * * * * {409} REPLIES.