_Key Experiments._--Can some one of your correspondents afford me an explanation of the principles controlling the following experiment: Two persons, taking a large key, hold it balanced by the handle upon the forefinger of their opposite hands; the key should be tied in a thin book, with the handle projecting so far that the finger may easily pass between the book and the handle; the book serves to balance the key by its weight, and exhibits more plainly any movement of the key; both persons then wish the key to turn to the right or left, and, after a few moments, the key will take the desired direction. The earnest and united wish of the operators appears to be the motive power. The divination by "the Bible and key," given in your Vol. i., p. 413., and Vol. ii., p. 5., is evidently based on the same principles; and the mention of that superstition will be an apology for my making your pages the medium of the present inquiry, which is perhaps scarcely fitted for a publication designed for literary purposes. J. P. Jun. _Shield of Hercules._--In which of the English periodicals can I have met with a drawing of the Shield of Hercules, as described by Hesiod? BATAVUS. Amsterdam. _"Sum Liber, et non sum," &c._-- "Sum Liber, et non sum liber, quia servio Servo. Sum Servus Servo, Servus et ille Deo." The above lines are written in the fly-leaf of a copy of the _Iliad_, Greek and Latin, which formerly belonged to Sir Isaac Newton, and bears his autograph. Can any of your correspondents inform me whence they are taken? or may they be considered as the original composition of Newton? The autograph is "Isaac Newton. Trin. Coll. Cant. 1661." G. E. T. Minor Queries Answered. _Whipping a Husband--Hudibras._--In the first canto of _Hudibras_, part ii. l. 885., are these lines: "Did not a certain lady whip Of late her husband's own lordship? And though a grandee of the house Claw'd him with fundamental blows; Ty'd him uncover'd to a bed-post, And firk'd his hide, as if sh' had rid post. And after in the Sessions Court, Where whipping's judg'd, had honor for't?" My copy of the poem, with Hogarth's plates, has no note on this passage. To whom does it refer? A _Bury Guide_, published in 1833, states that it occurred in that town in 1650 to a nobleman who had discovered an inclination to desert the Hanoverian cause. BURIENSIS. [Zachary Grey has given a long note on this passage, and states that it was William Lord M-n-n, residing at Bury St. Edmunds, whose lady, possessing the true disciplinarian spirit, tied his lordship to a bed-post by the help of her maids, and punished him for showing favours to the unsanctified Cavaliers; for which salutary discipline she had thanks given her in open court.]