hire and Devonshire. Can any
of the contributors to "N. & Q." inform me if attributable to the
extraordinary wetness of the season?

R. H. B.

_Variety is pleasing._--Looking over my last year's note-book, I find the
following _morceau_, which I think ought to be preserved in "N. & Q.:"

"Nov. 30, 1851. Observed in the window of the Shakspeare Inn a written
paper running thus:

'To be raffled for:
The finding of Moses, and six
Fat geeze(!!).
Tickets at the bar.'"

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

_Rome and the Number Six._--It has been remarked lately in "N. & Q." that
in English history, the reign of the second sovereign of the same name has
been infelicitous. I cannot turn to the {491} note I read, and I forget
whether it noticed the remarks in Aubrey's _Miscellanies_ (London, 8vo.,
1696), that "all the _second_ kings since the Conquest have been
unfortunate." It may be worth the while to add (what is remarked by Mr.
Matthews in his _Diary of an Invalid_), that the number _six_ has been
considered at Rome as ominous of misfortune. Tarquinius Sextus was the very
worst of the Tarquins, and his brutal conduct led to a revolution in the
government; under Urban the Sixth, the great schism of the West broke out;
Alexander the Sixth outdid all that his predecessors amongst the Tarquins
or the Popes had ventured to do before him; and the presentiment seemed to
receive confirmation in the misfortunes of the reign of his successor Pius
VI., to whose election was applied the line:

"Semper sub sextis perdita Roma fuit."

W. S. G.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

_Zend Grammar._--The following fragment on Zend grammar having fallen in my
way, I inclose you a copy, as the remarks contained in it may be of service
to Oriental scholars.

I am unable to state the author's name, although I suspect the MS. to be
from a highly important quarter. The subject-matter, however, is
sufficiently important to merit publication.

"The _Zend_, of disputed authenticity, and the _Asmani Zuban_, a
notoriously fictitious tongue, compared."

"It is well known that Sanscrit words abound in _Zend_; and that some
of its inflexions are formed by the rules of the Vyacaran or _Sanscrit_
grammar.

"It would therefore seem quite possible that by application of these
rules a grammar might be written of the _Zend_. Would such a
composition afford any proof of the disputed poin