derson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms,
Old St. Ronan's, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Bonarts Well_
(time, George III.).

EPPS, cook of Saunders Fairford, a lawyer.--Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.). EQUITY (_Father of_), Heneage
Finch, earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In _Absalom and Achitophel_ (by
Dryden and Tate) he is called "Amri."

Sincere was Amri, and not only knew,
But Israel's sanctions into practice drew;
Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem,
Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him ...
To whom the double blessing doth belong,
With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.

_Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).

EQUIVOKES.

1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should not die but in Jerusalem," which
he supposed meant the Holy Land; but he died in the Jerusalem Chamber,
London, which is the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey.

2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he should die at Jerusalem, and
he died while saying mass in a church so called at Rome.

3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat'ana,
which he supposed meant the capital of Media. Being wounded
accidentally in Syria, he asked the name of the place; and being told
it was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined to end my life."

4. A Messenian seer, being sent to consult the Delphic oracle
respecting the issue of the Messenian war, then raging, received for
reply:

When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, O, seer,
From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near!

In order to avert this calamity, all goats were diligently chased from
the banks of the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a _fig tree_ growing
on the river-side, and its branches dipped into the stream. The
interpretation of the oracle flashed across his mind, for he
remembered that _goat_ and _fig tree_, in the Messenian dialect were
the same word.

[Illustration] The pun would be clearer to an English reader if "a
stork" were substituted for _the goat_: "When a stork stoops to drink
of the Neda;" and the "stalk" of the fig tree dipping into the stream.

5. When the allied Greeks demanded of the Delphic oracle what would be
the issue of the battle of Salamis, they received for answer:

Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell
How thousands fought at Salamis and fell;

but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to
fall by "thousands," was not stated.

6. When CROESUS demanded wh