_short_ words, conf. Boileau,
satire iv. 97. 8.

[Illustration]

"Lui faisant voir ses vers et sans force et sans graces,
Montes sur deux grands mots, comme sur deux echasses."

On which one of his commentators makes the following note:

"Boileau, pour se moquer des mots gigantesques, citoit ordinairement ce
vers de Chapelain:

'De ce sourcilleux roc l'inebranlable cime.'

Et il disposoit ce vers comme il est ici a cote. Dans cette disposition
il semble que le mot 'roc' soit monte sur deux echasses.'

I commend to [Phi].'s attention this instance of a "low" word supported on
two "high" ones.

K. I. P. B. T.

_Lord Howard of Effingham_ (Vol. iii., pp. 185. 244.).--It has been
supposed that the Earl of Nottingham was a Catholic, and having held office
in the reign of Queen Mary, he probably was so at that time; but he
certainly was a Protestant during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in the
beginning of James I. was at the head of a commission to discover and expel
all Catholic priests. (Vide _Memorials of the Howard Family_.)

R. R. M.

_Obeahism.--Ventriloquism_ (Vol. iii., pp. 59. 149.).--T. H. will find, in
the authorities given below, that Obeahism is not only a rite, but a
religion, or rather superstition, viz. _Serpent-worship_. _Modern Universal
History_, fol. vol. vi. p. 600.; 8vo. vol. xvi. p. 411.; which is indebted
for its information to the works of De Marchais, Barbot, Atkyns, and
Bosman: the last of which may be seen in Pinkerton's _Collection_, vol.
xvi., and a review of it in _Acta Eruditor._, Lips. 1705, p. 265., under
the form of an "Essay on Guinea." In Astely's _Collection of Voyages_,
there is an account compiled from every authority then known, and a very
interesting description of the rites and ceremonies connected with this
superstition. According to the same authors, the influence of the Obeist
does not depend on the exercise of any art or natural magic, but on the
apprehensions of evil infused into his victim's mind. See also Lewis's
_Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies_.

The following references will furnish a reply at once to two Queries; to
that here noticed, and to that on "Ventriloquism" (Vol. ii., p. 88.).

The name of the sacred serpent, which in the ancient language of Canaan was
variously pronounced, was derived from "ob" (inflare), perhaps from his
peculiarity of inflation when irritated. See Bryant's _Analysis_, vol. i.