_Sardonic Smiles_ (Vol. iv., p. 18.).--It is very difficult to strike out the verse in Homer's Odyssey (Υ, 302.). To suppose that in him the word is derived from Sardinia, is exceedingly improbable, if not, as Payne Knight says, quite absurd because, not only is Sardinia not mentioned in Homer, but his geography, even where half-fabulous, and with other names than the modern ones, does not extend so far west. Payne Knight says the word is derived from σαρδαίνω, but where such a word is found I cannot learn. There is σαρδάζω in Suidas, "to laugh bitterly," but unluckily the very same words are given as the interpretation of σαρκάζω, and σαρκάζω is a perfectly established word. _Sarcasm, sarcastic_, are derived from it; and its own derivation from σάρξ "flesh," seems certain. This makes it highly probable that the first word in Suidas is a mistake for the other. All Greek writers borrowed so much from Homer that the occurrence of the word in them, where obviously meaning Sardinian, seems to prove nothing but that they thought it had that meaning in him. C. B. _Epitaph on Voltaire_ (Vol. iii., p. 518.).--The question is asked, "Has the name of the lady of Lausanne, who wrote the epitaph on Voltaire, 'Ci gît l'enfant gâté du monde qu'il gâta,' been ascertained?" It has; and the lady was Madame la Baronne de Montolieu, who wrote a great variety of novels, of which by far the best, and indeed one of the most interesting in the French language, is her _Caroline de Lichtfield_, first published at Lausanne in 1786, two volumes 8vo. Her family name was de Bottens (Pauline-Isabelle), born at Lausanne in 1751, and there died in December, 1832. Her first husband was Benjamin de Crouzas, son to one of Montesquieu's adversaries, after whose death she married the Baron de Montolieu. It was Gibbon's most intimate friend and literary _collaborateur_, Deyverdun, who published, and indeed corrected, her then anonymous _Caroline de Lichtfield_. Voltaire's friend and mistress, the learned Madame du Châtelet, had prepared an inscription for his portrait, which may be considered an anticipated epitaph: "Post-genitis Hic canis erit, nunc canis amicis;" but one of a very different tenor was written by J. J. Rousseau, we are told by Lord Brougham: "Plus bel esprit que grand génie, Sans loi, sans moeurs, et sans vertu; Il est mort comme il a vécu, Couvert de gloire et d'infamie." J. R.