i. p. 65.),
"that the god did not compose the verses of the oracle. He inflamed the
Pythia's imagination, and kindled in her soul that living light which
unveiled all futurity to her. The words she uttered in the heat of her
enthusiam, having neither method nor connection, and coming only by
starts, to use that expression [Greek: eggastrimuthos] from the bottom
of her stomach, or rather from her belly, were collected {89} with care
by the prophets, who gave them afterwards to the poets to be turned into
verse."
If the Pythian priestess was really a ventriloquist, to what extent was
she conscious of the deception she practised?
J. SANSOM.
_Statue of French King, Epigram on_.--Can any of your readers inform me
who was the author of the following epigram, written on the occasion of
an equestrian statue of a French king attended by the Virtues being
erected in Paris:--
"O la belle statue! O le beau Piedestal!
Les Vertus sont a pied, le Vice est a cheval!"
AUGUSTINE.
_Lux Fiat_.--Who was the first Christian or Jewish writer by whom _lux
fiat_ was referred to the creation of the _angels_?
J. SANSOM.
_Hiring of Servants_.--At Maureuil, in the environs of Abbeville, a
practice has long existed of hiring servants in the market-place on
festival days. I have observed the same custom in various parts of
England, and particularly in the midland counties.
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