r. It is
beautiful to hear them singing when one is walking alone on a dark night."

Unsophisticated judgment of this sort, when met with unsought, seems to be
of real value in a question depending for its decision so much upon the
faithful record of impressions.

OXONIENSIS.

Walthamstow.

MR. CUTHBERT BEDE gives, in his list of epithets of the nightingale,
"solemn," as used by Milton, Otway, Graingle. How the last two employ the
term I do not know, perhaps they {113} copied from Milton; but he uses it,
not as an epithet exactly, but to express the frequency of the bird's
appearance. "Night, her _solemn_ bird," means the _customary_ attendant of
the night: _solemn_ being used in the classical sense, and derived front
_soles_. So Virgil, "Solemnes tum forte dapes et tristia dona ante urbem in
luco," &c.

The word _solemn_ probably acquired its present signification from the
staid manner in which Englishmen go through their customary ceremonies.
"They took their pleasure _sadly_," as Froissart has it.

SYDNEY GEDGE, B.A.

_Mysterious Personage_ (Vol. viii., p. 34.).--There is no mystery about the
legitimate claimant of the British throne. He is the Duke of Modena,
lineally descended from Henrietta of England, youngest daughter of Charles
I.: she married Philip Duke of Orleans, son of Louis XIII. and Anne of
Austria, and had two daughters; Louisa married to Charles II. of Spain (she
died without issue), and Anna Maria, married to Victor Amadeus, Duke of
Savoy and King of Sardinia. Their son Charles Emanuel III. succeeded in
1730, and was succeeded by his son Victor Amadeus III. He was succeeded by
his eldest son Charles Emanuel IV., who died without issue, and was
succeeded by his brother Victor Emanuel, who left twin daughters, the elder
of whom, Mary Beatrice, married Francis Duke of Modena, while the crown of
Sardinia passed to her father's heirs male. The Duchess Mary Beatrice of
Modena has left two sons, the elder of whom (born June 14, 1819) is the
direct, undoubted heir of the House of Stuart.

L. M. M. R.

_Ken: "The Crown of Glory"_ (Vol. vii., p. 597.).--This work was properly
rejected by Mr. Round in his edition of Bishop Ken's _Works_; and in the
preface he gives the reasons for so doing. The absence of certain forms of
expression was the chief test relied on. The book is so excellent, and the
prayers so warm and Ken-like, that its exclusion indicates much critical
acumen on the part of Mr. Round. S