Query, Can any of your readers inform me if this extraordinary story is founded on fact?
139. _Rhynsault and Sapphira._--Whence did Steele derive the story of these personages in the _Spectator_ (No. 491.)? A similar story is told by Jeremy Taylor, from John Chokier (_Duct. Dubit._, book iii. chap. ii. rule 5. quæst. 3.); and that of Colonel Kyrke furnishes another parallel.
140. _Mallet's Second Wife._--I should be glad to know in what year the second wife of Mallet died. It is stated that he returned from abroad shortly before his death, without his wife.
141. _Proverb, what constitutes one?_--What distinguishes a proverb, and is essential to its being such, as distinct from a short familiar sentence?
142. _Presant Family._--Any information respecting the ancient family of Presant, which is now nearly extinct, will oblige
143. _The Serpent represented with a human Head._--Is Raphael the only painter who depicts the serpent with a _human_ head tempting Eve? and what is the origin of the legend?
144. _Dr. Wotton._--Is there any genealogical connexion between Sir Henry Wotton, the Venetian ambassador, and the Rev. Henry Wotton of Suffolk, father of the eminent Dr. William Wotton? And where is the pedigree to be found?
145. _Κολοβοδάκτυλος._--In the seventh book of Origen's _Philosophumena_, chap. xxx., speaking of Marcion, the writer says:
"When therefore Marcion, or any of his currish followers, barks at the Demiurgus, bringing forward these arguments about the opposition of good and evil, they must be told that neither the Apostle Paul, nor Mark ὁ κολοβοδάκτυλος (_i.e._ the stump-fingered), promulgated any such doctrines; for nothing of the kind is found written in the Gospel according to Mark."
Is this epithet of Mark the Evangelist mentioned by any other of the fathers, or is it known how it originated? It is also to be remarked that Luke, not Mark, according to the received opinion, was the evangelist whose authority Marcion admitted, and whose text he tampered with to suit his own views. Is Origen supported in his account of the matter by any other writer?
146. _Essex's Expedition to Ireland._--It is a matter of history that the celebrated Earl of Essex in Queen Elizabeth's time left London in March 1599, in command of a great expedition against Ireland, accompanied by a numerous train of nobility and gentry and other retainers.