er, the author adds,] "This would have
altogether excused me from a controversy upon points either
personal or purely speculative, or from entering the lists of
the declaimers, whom I leave to the triumph of their own
passions. And indeed, to one of this character, who contradicts
himself and misrepresents me, what answer can be made more than
to desire his readers not to take his word for what I say, but
to use their own eyes, read, examine, and judge for themselves?
And to their common sense I appeal."

The remainder of the tract is occupied with a philosophical discussion
of the subject of debate, in a style as cool and as free from harshness
as Dugald Stewart could desire, and containing, as far as I can see,
nothing inconsistent with the character of him, who was described by his
contemporaries as the possessor of "every virtue under heaven."

JAMES H. TODD.

Trin. Coll. Dublin, Dec. 20. 1849.

* * * * *

BISHOP BARNABY.

Mr. Editor,--Allow me, in addition to the Note inserted in your 4th
Number, in answer to the Query of LEGOUR, by your correspondent (and I
believe my friend) J.G., to give the following extract from Forby's
_Vocabulary of East Anglia_:--

"Bishop Barnabee-s. The pretty insect more generally called the
Lady-bird, or May-bug. It is one of those highly favoured among
God's harmless creatures which superstition protects from wanton
injury. Some obscurity seems to hang over this popular name
{132} of it. It has certainly no more relation to the companion
of St. Paul than to drunken Barnaby, though some have supposed
it has. It is sometimes called _Bishop Benebee_, which may
possibly have been intended to mean the _blessed bee_; sometimes
_Bishop Benetree_, of which it seems not possible to make any
thing. The name has most probably been derived from the
_Barn-Bishop_; whether in scorn of that silly and profane
mockery, or in pious commemoration of it, must depend on the
time of its adoption, before or since the Reformation; and it is
not worth inquiring. The two words are transposed, and _bee_
annexed as being perhaps thought more seemly in such a
connection than fly-bug or beetle. The dignified ecclesiastics
in ancient times wore brilliant mixtures of colours in their
habits. Bishops had scarlet and black, as this insect has on its
wing-covers. Some remai