Despreaux speaking of the cæsura in French versification, asserts, Que toujours dans nos vers—le sens coupant les mots, Suspende l'hemistiche—en marquant le repos. M. Despreaux seems to have forgotten that hemistich is a composite Greek word signifying a demi-line, and that consequently his own admired verses have no meaning at all. * * * * * Every one is acquainted with the excellent _commencement_ of the Annals of Tacitus. From this, principally he has acquired his reputation for concision. It is singular that no notice has ever been taken of the extreme prolixity of their _conclusion_. * * * * * There is a dissertation upon Hebrew, or Samaritan medals by Père Soucier, in which he proves the existence of Hebrew money struck by the Jews upon the model of the coins current before the captivity. All the Hebrew medals, however, bearing a head of Moses or of Christ, are manifestly forgeries. * * * * * {582} There is a book by a Jesuit, Père Labbe, entitled La Bibliothèque des Bibliothèques. It is a catalogue of all authors in all nations who have written catalogues of books. * * * * * Lucretius, lib. v. 93, 96, has the words, ——terras— Una dies dabit exitio. Ovid the lines, Carmine sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti Exitio terras cum dabit una dies. * * * * * Albert in his Hebrew Dictionary, pretends to discover in each word, in its root, in its letters, and in the manner of pronouncing them, the reason of its signification. Loescher in his treatise De causis Linguæ Hebreæ, carries the matter even farther. * * * * * In Judges is this expression, ‘And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter.’ The phrase ‘to smite hip and thigh’ arises from these words. No meaning, however, can be attached to them as they stand—but the original will admit of a different signification, viz: ‘He smote them with his leg on the thigh,’ and alludes to the wrestling matches which were common in the east. In this sense the phrase exactly answers to the ‘crus femori impingere’ and the σκελιξειν or αποσκελιξειν of the ancients. * * * * * It is a remarkable fact, that during the whole period of the middle ages, the Germans lived in utter ignorance of the art of writing. * * * * * The silver shekel of the Hebrews has on its face the rod of Aaron with the inscription, Jeruschalaim Hakkedoucha, Jerusalem the Holy, and on the reverse a cup with the words Chekel Ischrael, money of Israel. * * * * *