Neither can I admit, upon the authority of THEOPHYLACT, that there was any gradual or partial cessation of business in Rome during the hour which we call "between eleven and twelve o'clock in the forenoon." Julius Cæsar left home, commenced the business of the senate, was surrounded by thronging applicants, and was assassinated--all during that hour: and, unless THEOPHYLACT can show that therefore, and on that account, it became distasteful to succeeding emperors, he must excuse me from admitting his interpretation. A. E. B. _Nelson's Signal_ (Vol. iv., p. 473.).--I send you Nelson's exact words as conveyed by signal at Trafalgar, as noted down by several ships in the fleet: England [253] expects [269] that [863] every [261] man [471] will [958] do [220] his [370] d [4] u [21] t [19] y [24] Let me add, that the refrain of the best song on the Battle of Trafalgar, gives the exact words of the signal: "From line to line the signal ran, England expects that every man This day will do his duty." You should have heard this chanted in the singing-days of W. H. S. _Cooper's miniature, &c._ (Vol. v. p. 17.).--I have a painting on copper of Oliver Cromwell. It is oval, and about six inches by four. It resembles the engravings of him which have Cooper's name attached to them. In the distance is a "white horse," faintly sketched in. My father, in whose possession it long was, set a very great value upon it. I have not had sufficient opportunity to inquire--Did ever Cooper paint in oil? B. G. _Roman Funeral Pile_ (Vol. iv., p. 381.).--The ceremony of a Roman funeral concluded with a feast, which was usually a supper given to the friends and relatives of the deceased; and sometimes provisions were distributed to the people. (Vid. Adams' _Roman Hist._, 3rd edit. p. 283.) Basil Kennett, in his _Antiquities of Rome_, published 1776, further observes (p. 361.) that-- "The feasts, celebrated to the honour of the deceased, were either private or publick. The private feasts were termed _silicernia_, from _silex and coena_, as if we should say _suppers made on a stone_. These were prepared both for the _dead_ and the _living_. The repast designed for the dead consisting commonly of beans, lettuces, bread and eggs, or the like, was laid on the tomb for the ghosts to come out and eat, as they fancied they would; and what was left they burnt on the stone." No authority is cited either by Adams or Kennett for the custom, but your correspondent _John ap William ap John_ might perhaps refer to "_Petri Morestelli Pompa Feralis, sive justa Funebria Veterum_," with some probability of success in finding the subject there treated at large. FRANCISCUS.