e, it is
highly probable that the "mark" referred to in Ezekiel's vision was the
Samaritan _Tau_, as seen on ancient Hebrew shekels, resembling a St.
Andrew's cross.

A circumstance relating to the Paschal sacrifice mentioned by Justin
Martyr, in his conference with Trypho the Jew, and which he asserts without
contradiction from his learned opponent, is worthy of a note:

"This lamb, which was to be roasted whole, was a symbol of the
punishment of the cross, which was inflicted on Christ, [Greek: To gar
optomenon probaton, k.t.l.] For the lamb which was roasted was so
placed as to resemble the figure of a cross; with one spit it was
pierced longitudinally, from the tail to the head; with another it was
transfixed through the shoulders, so that the forelegs became
extended."--Vid. Just. Martyri _Opera_, edit. Oberther, vol. ii. p.
106.

Your correspondent H. N. appears to have fallen into several errors, which
(having appeared in "N. & Q.") ought not to pass unnoticed.

1. He confounds the basilica with the cruciform cathedral, and with "the
plan of the Roman forum."

Basilica (from Gr. [Greek: Basilike], a royal dwelling) was the name given
by the Romans to those public edifices in which justice was administered
and mercantile business transacted. Several of these buildings, or the
remains of them, still exist in Rome, each forum probably having had its
basilica. Vitruvius, who constructed one at Fanum, says it ought to be
built "on the warm side of the forum, that those whose affairs call them
thither might confer without being incommoded by the weather." Yet H. N.
says: "The basilica seems to have originally been the architectural plan of
the Roman forum." The most perfect specimen of the antique basilica is that
discovered at Pompeii, on the south side of the form and at right angles
with it. By consulting a good plan of Pompeii, or glancing at a plan of its
basilica, any one may see that it was not cruciform, but "in the form of a
long parallelogram," with a central space and side porticoes, answering to
the nave and aisles of a church. The early Christians adopted the basilica
form for their churches: those built in the form of a Greek or Latin cross
are of much later date. Yet H. N.'s learned friend exclaims, when viewing
the temple of Muttra, "Here is the cross! the basilica carried out with
more correctness of order and symmetry than in Italy!"

2. H. N. assumes that the Jew