I am obliged to M. for his notice of my paper upon this poem, and
gratified by his concurrence with my remarks.
Very likely M. may be right in his explanations of the "incuria"
imputed by me to the great author, and I may have made a mistake,
without pleading guilty to the same charge: but if M. will refer to the
4th and two following Sections of sixth canto of the Lay, he will find
it thus written:
"Me lists not at this tide declare
The splendour of the spousal rite," &c.
Again, Sec. V.:
"Some bards have sung, the Ladye high
Chapel or altar came not nigh;
Nor dust the rites of spousal grace
So much she feared each holy place," &c.
Again, Sec. VI.:
"The spousal rites were ended soon."
And again, in Sect. VIII. are these words:
"To quit them, on the English side,
Red Roland Forster loudly cried,
'A deep carouse to yon fair bride!'"
Now, in the ordinary acceptation of these words the spousal rite means
nuptials, and a bride means a newly married wife; and as the ceremony
of the spousal rite is described as taking place with much pomp in the
chapel, and at the altar, it looks very like a wedding indeed. But if,
after all, it were only a betrothal, I willingly withdraw the charge of
"incuria," and subscribe to the propriety of the
"Minstrel's"
information, that the bridal actually "befel a short space;"
"And how brave sons and daughters fair
Blest Teviot's flower and Cranstoun's heir."
And now a word touching M.'s hint of giving a corner in the "NOTES AND
QUERIES" to the "Prophecy of Criticism." If he will forgive me the
remark, I do not think the phrase a very happy one. Criticism does not
prophecy, it pronounces, and is valuable only in proportion to the
judgment, taste, and knowledge displayed in its sentence. Above all, the
critic should be impartial, and by no means allow himself to be biassed
by either prejudice or prepossession, whether personal or political.
Still less should he sacrifice his subject in order to prove the
acuteness and point of his own weapon, which is too often dipped in gall
instead of honey. To what extent these qualifications are found in our
modern reviewers let each man answer according to his own experience:
but as critics are not infallible, and as authors generally see more,
feel more, and think more than the ordinary run of critics and readers
give them credit for, I doubt not that a place will always be open in
the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in answer to the fallacies of criticism,
wherever they may be detected.
A. BORDERER.
As your correspondent A. E. B. has endeavoured to strengthen the case in
favour of the word precise being the proper reading of "prenzie," will
you allow me to suggest a few further points for consideration in
inquiring into the meaning of this word?
I am afraid your etymological readers are in danger of being misled by
the plausible theory that "prenzie" is not an error of the press or
copyist, but a true word. In reference to this view of the case, as
taken by your several correspondents, allow me to suggest, first: that
Shakspeare was no word-coiner; secondly, that, for application in a
passage of such gravity, he would not have been guilty of the
affectation of using a newly-imported Scotch word; and, thirdly, that,
as we may reasonably infer that he was essentially popular in the choice
of words, so he used such as were intelligible to his audience. A word
of force and weight sufficient to justify its use twice in the passage
in question, if merely popular, would surely not so entirely have gone
out of use; whereas if merely literary it would still be to be found in
books.
My greatest objection to the word precise is its inharmoniousness in
the position it holds in the verse; and this objection would not be
removed by adopting Mr. Singer's suggestion of accentuating the first
syllable, which must then be short, and the word pronounced pressis?
How horrible! Besides, if that were the case, as Shakspeare does not
vary in his accent, the corroboratory passage on which the advocates of
precise depend would read, then, thus:
"Lord Angelo is pressis,
Stands at a guard with envy, scarce confesses," &c.;
the double ending rhyme giving it the air of burlesque. The
appropriateness of precise, moreover, depends chiefly upon its being
assumed to express the quality of a precision, which has not only not
been proved, but which I am inclined very much to doubt.
Has it not been a true instinct that has guided the early English
commentators to the choice of words of the form of "princely,"
"priestly," and myself to "saintly," and do not the two passages
taken together require this form in reference to a character such as
that of a prince, a priest, or a saint? For instance, the term
pious might be applied to Angelo, equally well with priestly or
saintly; but it could not correctly be applied to garb or vestments,
while either of the latter could.
In what respect is the "cunning" of the "livery of hell" shown, if "the
damnedst body" be not invested in "guards" of the most opposite
character? Shakspeare never exactly repeats himself, though we
frequently find the same idea varied in form and differently applied.
The following passage from Othello, Act II. Sc. 3., appears to be
intended to convey the same idea as the one in question, and thus
strengthens the opinion that, if not saintly, one of like form and
meaning was intended:
"Divinity of hell!
When devils will their blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now."
Any of your readers who are acquainted with the common careless
handwriting in use at the time, will greatly oblige by informing me if
it be beyond likelihood that a word commencing with the letter s
should have been read as though it began with p.
I have no intention of continuing the contest on the meaning of
"eisell," nor should I have felt it necessary to notice the remarks of
J. S. W. in No. 91., had they been avowedly in opposition to mine and
MR. SINGER'S. But when the advocate assumes the ermine, and proceeds to
sum up the evidence and pass judgment, I feel it only right that those
points in which he has misrepresented my argument should not be passed
over. I did not say "that the word cannot mean a river because the
definite article is omitted before it." What I did say was, that
"English idiom requires an article unless it be personified." Milton's
lines merely confirm this, though I am willing to admit
that
the argument is of little weight When, however, J. S. W. expresses his
surprise that "a gentleman who exhorts," &c., had not looked to the
general drift of the passage, I fancy he cannot have read my first
observations with regard to it, in which I say "the idea of the
passage appears to be," &c. What is this but the "general drift?" Before
finally leaving this subject, allow me to explain, that, in objecting to
the terms "mere verbiage" and "extravagant rant" of a correspondent, I
took them together. I included the latter perhaps hastily. But,
however "extravagant" the "rant" of his real or assumed madmen may be, I
am satisfied that there is no "mere verbiage" to be found in
Shakspeare.
SAMUEL
HICKSON.
Some years ago, in the library of a noble earl in the north of England,
I met with a "fair and perfect" copy of this rare book. The following
is a list of the plates which it contained:—
- 1. View of the Manor of Weston, Somersetshire, p. 360.
- 2. Monument of Richard Perceval, p. 406.
- 3. Manor of Sydenham, co. Somerset, p. 24.
- 4. Portrait of Richard Perceval, p. 120.
- 5. Another of the same, ib.
- 6. Portrait of Alice Perceval, p. 138.
- 7. Portrait of Sir Philip Perceval, p. 144.
- 8. View of Loghart Castle, Ireland, p. 192.
- 9. Castle Liscarrol, Cork, p. 215.
- 10. Portrait of Catherine, wife of Sir Philip, p. 320.
- 11. Portrait of George Perceval, p. 322.
- 12. Portrait of Sir John Perceval, p. 325.
- 13. View of Castle Kanturk, Cork, p. 335.
- 14. Portrait of Catherine, wife of Sir John Perceval, p. 361.
- 15. Portrait of Robert Perceval, p. 368.
- 16. Portrait of Sir Philip Perceval, second Baronet, p. 376.
- 17. Monument of ditto, p. 386.
- 18. Portrait of Sir John Perceval, eighth Baronet, p. 389.
- 19. Portrait of Catherine, wife to ditto, p. 396.
- 20. Portrait of the Hon. Philip Perceval, p. 400.
- 21. Portrait of John Perceval, Earl of Egmont, p. 403.
- 22. Map of part of the estate of John Perceval, Earl of Egmont, p. 404.
- 23. Portrait of Sir P. Parker, ancestor of the Countess of Egmont, p. 451.
- 24. Portrait of Catherine, wife of ditto, p. 452.
- 25. Portrait of the Countess of Egmont, born 1680, p. 453.
- 26. View of Mount Pleasant, near Tunbridge Wells, p. 461.
- 27. Portrait of John Viscount Perceval, p. 467.
- 28. Portrait of Catherine, wife of ditto, p. 467.
- 29. View of Beverstan Castle, p. 496.
The copy here described contains the "folding plate" mentioned by
your correspondent; and as it was a presentation copy from the
Earl of Egmont to Earl Ferrers, the presumption is that it is an
unmutilated one.
EDWARD F.
RIMBAULT.
In answer to the Query of your correspondent H.T.E., I beg to state that
the folding map of part of the estate of John Perceval, Earl of Egmont,
does occur in my copy of The House of Yvery, at page 92. of the
first volume. Lowndes, in his list of the plates, assigns this map to
the second volume; but its proper place is as above. Perhaps this
mistake of Lowndes may have given rise to the doubt as to the existence
of this map; but I suppose any copy of the work without it must be
considered imperfect.
J. H.
I am sure that you will not be sorry to hear that "NOTES AND QUERIES" is
a great favourite with young people; and I hope you will have no
objection to encourage our "pursuits of literature" by admitting into
your delightful miscellany this little contribution.
I have been reading Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest these
holidays; and when I saw MR. BREEN'S Queries respecting St. Gregory and
Queen Brunéhaut, I remembered that the historian had mentioned them. On
referring to the passage, at p. 11. of the translation published by
Whittaker and Co., 1843, I found that (1.) "Le Saint Pape Grégoire," who
"donna des éloges de gloire" to Queen Brunéhaut, was Gregory the
Great;—that (2.) This illustrious Pope did actually degrade himself
by flattering the bad queen;—and (3.) That the proof of his having done
so is to be found in a passage of one of Gregory's letters given by
Thierry, and appearing in the foot-note "12" at p. 11. of Messrs.
Whittaker's edition, as follows:
"Excellentia ergo vestræ quæ proba in bonis consuevit esse
operibus."—"In omnipotentis Dei timore, excelleltiæ vestræ mens
soliditate firmata."—Epist. Greg. Papæ, apud Script. rer.
Gallic. et Francic., tom. iv. p. 21.
EDITH C.
Preston, Aug. 1851.
It is, I think, indisputable that the St. Gregory commemorated on the
tomb of Brunéhaut is Pope Gregory the Great. Among his Letters are
several addressed to the Frankish queen, betokening the unqualified
esteem in which she was held by the Roman pontiff. See Gregor. Opp.
(tom. ii., edit.
Paris, 1586), Lib. v. Indict. xiv. ep. 5; Lib.
vii. Indict. i. ep. 5.; Lib. ix. Indict. vi. ep. 8.; Lib. xi. Indict.
vi. ep. 8. I will give a short specimen from the first and last
Letters:
"Excellentiæ vestræ prædicandam ac Deo placitam bonitatem et
gubernacula regni testantur et educatio fidel
manifestat."—Col. 766.
"Inter alia bona hoc apud vos præ ceteris tenet principatum, quod
in mediis hujus mundi fluctibus, qui regentis animos turbulenta
solent vexatione confundere, ita cor ad Divini cultus amorem et
venerabilium locorum disponendam quietam reducitis ac si vos
nulla alia cura sollicitet."—Col. 1061.
Much to her merit, in the eyes of Gregory, arose from her abjuration of
Arianism, and the patronage she extended to religious houses. At the
same time, it is impossible to acquit her of the serious charges under
which she labours.
"Elle est diffamée," says Moreri, "dans les écrits des autres
auteurs, par sa cruauté, sa vengeance, son avarice, et son
impudicité."
C. H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
I entirely dissent from your correspondent's statements that "the Lord
Mayor is no more a privy councillor than he is Archbishop of
Canterbury." First, as to the argument on which your correspondent's
conclusion is founded. He assumes first that the title of Lord is a mere
courtesy title; and, secondly, that it is because of this courtesy title
that the Mayor is deemed a privy councillor. The second assumption is
the erroneous one. It is not necessary to have the courtesy title of
Lord in order to be a privy councillor; nor are all courtesy lords
styled Right Honorables. Your correspondent's assertion in this respect
is a curious blunder, which every day's experience contradicts. No one
styles a courtesy Lord "Right Honorable" except such persons as will
persist in the equally absurd blunder of calling a Marquis "Most Noble."
The Boards of the Treasury and Admiralty are not designated "Right
Honorable" merely because of the courtesy title of "Lord" being attached
to their corporate name, but because these Boards are respectively the
equivalents of the Lord High Treasurer and Lord High Admiral, each of
whom was always a member of the sovereign's Council. No individual
member of the Board is, by membership, "Right Hon." Your correspondent's
precedent is equally inconclusive on the subject. He says, "Mr. Harley,
when (1768) Lord Mayor of London, was sworn of His Majesty's most
honorable Privy Council." This precedent does not prove the argument;
and for this simple reason, that the individual who holds the office is
not "Right Honorable," but the officer is. Mr. Harley was not, as an
individual, a privy councillor, till he was made one: he could only have
appeared in council as "the Lord Mayor," and not as "Mr. Harley." The
description, therefore, of "The Right Honorable A. B., Lord Mayor,"
which has probably misled your correspondent, is, like the "Most Noble
the Marquis," a blunder of ignorant flattery; the correct description
being "A. B., the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor:" or rather, the A. B.
ought to be suppressed, except the individual, for a particular reason,
is to be personally designated, and the style should be written, "The
Right Honorable the Lord Mayor." This distinction between the officer
and the man is almost universal in our system. Our Judges are Lords in
court (yet, by-the-bye, this courtesy "Lord" does not give any one of
them at any time the title of Right Honorable, another instance of the
fallacy of your correspondent's reasoning), and they are Sirs in
individual designation. In Scotland the Judges assume the titles of
Baronies during their tenure of office, but become mere Esquires on
surrender of it. The Lord Mayor is always summoned to the council on the
accession of a new sovereign, and was formerly, when his office was of
greater practical importance than at present, accustomed to put his name
very high on the list of signatures attached to the declaration of
accession. A commoner might by the bare delivery of the great seal
become "Lord" in the Court of Chancery, and be the President of the
House of Lords, where he would sit by virtue of his office, without
having any title to speak or vote. Mr. Henry Brougham did so for one if
not two nights before his patent of peerage was completed. The same
distinction between officer and individual applies to the Lord Mayor,
who is Right Honorable as Lord Mayor, but in no other way whatever.
L. M.
The poet's family was originally of Stroode in Slinfold, Sussex, not
Kent, as Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chan., vol. iv. p. 258.) states,
and spelt their names Cooper. The first person who altered the spelling
was John Cooper of London, father of the first baronet, and he probably
adopted the spelling in affectation of the Norman spelling; the family
having in those days been styled Le Cupere, Cuper, and Coupre in
Norman-French, and Cuparius in Latin, as may be seen by the grants made
to Battle Abbey. The pronunciation was never changed. All the Sussex
branches continued the spelling of Cooper until the time of Henry Cowper
of Stroode, who died 1706. In
Lord Campbell's Lives of the
Chancellors (p. 259.) the first letter is signed "William Cooper."
W. D. COOPER.
Cowper.—There is an affectation in the present day for pronouncing
words, not only contrary to established usage, but in defiance of
orthography. The Bar furnishes one example, and "polite society" the
other. By the former, a judge on the bench is called, instead of "My
Lord" and "His Lordship," "My Lud" and "His Ludship;" and in the
latter, Cowper is metamorphosed into Cooper. Now, I fancy that "My
Lord" is a vast deal more euphonious than "My Lud" and Cowper, as
Shakspeare has it, "becomes the mouth as well" as Cooper. We don't
speak of getting milk from the coo, but from the cow; and Cow
being the first syllable of the poet's name should not be tortured into
Coo, in compliment to a nonsensical fastidiousness, whoever may have
set the example. As Cowper the poet has been hitherto known, and by
that name will be cherished by posterity. John Kemble, the great actor,
I remember, tried to alter the pronunciation of Rome to room, and
was laughed at for his pains, though he had the authority of a pun of
the bard's own for the change: "Old Rome and room enough." But
Shakspeare was but an indifferent punster at the best, as is proved by
Falstaff's refusing to give a reason on compulsion, even though
"reasons were as plentiful as blackberries;" corrupting raisin into
reason, for his purpose, which is as far-fetched as any instance of
the kind on record, I think. But I digress, and beg pardon for running
so away from the cow.
JOHN BULL.
Lord Campbell, in his entertaining Lives of the Chief Justices, says,
in paragraph introductory to the life of Sir Edward Coke:
"As the name does not correspond very aptly with the notion of
their having come over with the Conqueror, it has been derived
from the British word 'Cock' or 'Coke' a 'Chief;' but, like
'Butler,' 'Taylor,' and other names now ennobled, it much more
probably took its origin from the occupation of the founder of
the race at the period when surnames were first adapted in
England. Even in Queen Elizabeth's reign, as well as that of
James I., Sir Edward's name was frequently spelt 'Cook.' Lady
Hatton, his second wife, who would not assume it, adopted this
spelling in writing to him, and according to this spelling, it
has invariably been pronounced."
Lord Campbell, who seems rather fond of such speculations, however, in
the case of Lord Cowper does not give the etymology of the name. But he
gives a letter written from school by the subsequent chancellor, in
which he signs his name "William Cooper." However, elsewhere, in a note
he speaks of the propensity evinced by those who have risen to wealth
and station to obliterate the trace of their origin by dropping, adding,
or altering letters and among them he mentions "Cowper" as having its
origin in "Cooper." Mr. Mark Antony Lower, too, in his Essay on English
Surnames, classes Cowper among the surnames derived from trade.
Possibly, therefore, notwithstanding the alteration, the original
pronunciation has been continued.
TEE BEE.
—I have four
varieties of this coin:
1. The one which J. N. C. describes, and which is engraved by Lindsay,
in his work on the coinage of Ireland, and is considered the rarest
type.
2. A precisely similar type, with the exception that the "P" is
beneath, instead of being on the side of the portrait.
3. A more youthful portrait, and of smaller size than the preceding, and
a trifle better executed. It wants the "P" altogether, and has for "MM."
a small quatrefoil. The engrailing also very different.
4. A totally different, and older portrait than any of the preceding.
"MM." and engrailing the same as No. 3., and it also wants the "P."
The reverses of all four appear to differ only in very minute
particulars. Pinkerton, in his Essay on Medals, vol. ii. p. 127.,
after stating that the Irish halfpence and farthings were all coined in
the Tower, and then sent to Ireland, there being no mint in that
country, remarks—
"In 1760, however, there was a great scarcity of copper coin in
Ireland; upon which a society of Irish gentlemen applied for
leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being
granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of George II.,
and 'VOCE POPULI' around it. The bust bears a much greater
resemblance to the Pretender; but whether this was a piece of
waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in
drawing, must be left in doubt. Some say that these pieces were
issued without any leave being asked or obtained."
E. S. TAYLOR.
I would have referred J. N. C. to either Pinkerton or Lindsay, where he
would find a full account about his Irish halfpenny, but as he may not
possess a numismatic library, perhaps you will allow me to trouble you
with the extracts. Pinkerton says:
"In 1760 there was a great scarcity of copper coin in Ireland
upon which a society of Irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon
proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those
appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and 'VOCE
POPULI' around it. The bust bears a much greater resemblance to
the Pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the
engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be
left to doubt."
Pinkerton does not here specially refer to the
type, where "the
letter P is close to the nose:" but if J. N. C. can turn to Lindsay's
Coinage of Ireland, 1839, he will find his coin engraved in the fifth
supplementary plate, No. 16., and in the advertisement, p. 139., the
following remarks on it:
"This curious variety of the 'voce populi' halfpence exhibits a P
before the face, and illustrates Pinkerton's remark that the
portrait on these coins seems intended for that of the Pretender:
it is a very neat coin, perhaps a pattern."
BLOWEN.
—The sign is of
greater antiquity than may be expected. See Cocke Lorelle's Bote:—
"Also Annys Angry with the croked buttocke
That dwelled at ye synge Of ye dogges hede in ye pot.
By her crafte a breche maker."
THOS. LAWRENCE.
Ashby de la Zouch.
—As no one
has hitherto appropriated these fine lines, as to the author of which
your correspondent inquires, I may mention that they are taken from the
"Chorus Sacerdotum," at the end of Lord Brook's Mustapha. (See his
Works, fol. 1633, p. 159.) The chorus is worth quoting entire:
"O wearisome condition of humanity!
Borne under one Law, to another bound:
Vainely begot, and yet forbidden vanity;
Created sick, commanded to be sound:
What meaneth Nature by these diverse Lawes?
Passion and reason self division cause.
Is it the mark or majesty of power
To make offences that it may forgive?
Nature herself doth her own self defloure
To hate those Errors she herself doth give.
For how should Man think that he may not do
If Nature did not fail and punish too?
Tyrant to others, to herself unjust,
Only commands things difficult and hard,
Forbids us all things, which it knows is lust,
Makes easy pains, impossible reward.
If Nature did not take delight in blood,
She would have made more easy ways to good.
We that are bound by vows and by promotion,
With pomp of holy sacrifice and rites,
To teach belief in good and still devotion,
To preach of Heaven's wonders and delights;
Yet when each of us in his own heart looks,
He finds the God there far unlike his Books."
I should like to see a collected edition of the works of the two noble
Grevilles, Fulke and Robert, Lords Brook; the first the friend of Sir
Philip Sidney, the second the honoured of Milton. The little treatise on
Truth of the latter, which Wallis answered in his Truth Tried, is
amply sufficient to prove that he possessed powers of no common order.
JAMES CROSSLEY.
—The work referred to by your correspondents is so
manifestly not the Composition of John Bunyan that it is extraordinary
that the title-page, which was evidently adopted to get off the book,
should ever have imposed upon anybody. The question, however, put by
your correspondents F. R. A. and N. H., as to who G. L. was, has not yet
been answered. The person referred to by these initials is the real
author of the book, who was George Larkin, a printer and author, and
great ally and friend of the redoubted John Dunton, who gives a long
character of him, in his Life and Errors, in his enumeration of London
printers. (See Life and Errors, edit. 1705, p. 326.)
"Mr. Larkin, Senior—He has been my acquaintance for Twenty
years, and the first printer I had in London. He formerly writ a
Vision of Heaven, &c. (which contains many nice and curious
thoughts), and has lately published an ingenious Essay on the
noble Art and Mystery of Printing. Mr. Larkin is my alter ego,
or rather my very self in a better edition."
The book itself was first published about 1690, and went through many
editions in the early part of the last century.
JAMES CROSSLEY.
—I am much obliged to MR. CROSSLEY for having
corrected the error (for which I cannot account) in the title of the
pamphlet in question, which was certainly not by "the author of the
Critical History of England," and certainly was by Dennis, as is marked
by Pope's own hand in the copy now before me. As MR. CROSSLEY puts
hypothetically the correctness of my quotation, I subjoin the whole
passages.
"After having been for fifteen years as it were an imitator, he
has made no proficiency. His first imitations, though bad, are
rather better than the succeeding, and this last Imitation of
HORACE the most execrable of them all."—P. 7.
Again:
"An extravagant libel, ridiculously called an imitation of
Horace."—P. 11.
And again:
"Of all these libellers the present Imitator is the most impudent
and incorrigible."—P. 15.
MR. CROSSLEY says he has a fragment of the "Imitation of the second
satire of the first book of Horace," published by Curll in 1716. This,
which I never saw, nor before heard of, would solve the difficulty; and
I respectfully request MR. CROSSLEY to favour us with a transcript of
the title-page, which is the more desirable, because all Pope's
biographers, and indeed he himself (to Spence), have attributed his
first imitation of Horace to a much later date, certainly subsequent
to 1723. The imitation, therefore, of that satire
of Horace,
printed in 1716 by Curll, is valuable as to Pope's history, and great
curiosity and as MR. CROSSLEY states that Lady Mary is not mentioned
in that edition, I am curious to know how Pope managed the rhyme now
made by her name.
MR. CROSSLEY adds that this imitation was reproduced in "folio, printed
by J. Boreman about 1734, with some alterations from the former
edition." Would it be trespassing too much on your space and his
kindness, to request him to give us a few specimens of the alterations,
particularly the "change of initials" which MR. CROSSLEY mentions.
MR. CROSSLEY seems to think that this poem was not reprinted after the folio
in 1734, till it appeared in a supplement to Cooper's edition in 1756.
This is a mistake. It was published by Pope himself, with his other
imitations of Horace, in the collection of his works by Dodsley in 1738;
and though only entitled "in the manner of Mr. Pope,", excited very
natural surprise and disgust. His having deliberately embodied it in the
general collection of his works, is Warton's only excuse for having
reproduced it.
C.
—In accordance with the
wish of your correspondent SPERIEND, I have examined the series of early
editors of this celebrated astrologer in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and
the following is the result of my inquiries.
The earliest edition of the Prophecies of Nostradamus is not to be
found in any library in Paris, but was published in 1555 (so says the
latest account of the prophet, by M. Eugène Bareste) but contains little
more than three centuries (or cantos, as they might be called) of
prophecies; each century containing a hundred quatrains. The next
edition, which before the French Revolution belonged to the Benedictines
of St. Maur, is entitled:
"Les Prophéties de M. Michel Nostradamus, dont il y en a trois
cens qui n'ont encore jamais esté imprimées. Adjoustées de
nouveau par ledict Autheur. A Lyon, chez Pierre Rigaud, rue
Mercière, au coing de rue Ferrandière. Avec permission."
It has, in MS., on the title-page, "1555 et 1558." M. Bareste says of
this edition:
"On prétend qu'elle est de 1558; mais nous ne le pensons pas, car
elle a été probablement faite l'année même de la mort de
l'auteur, c'est à dire, en 1566."
However, as there is no known edition between 1555, the date of the
first, and 1566, this doubtless is the earliest containing the ninth
century; and at No. 49. of this century is to be seen the following
quatrain:
"Gand et Bruceles marcheront contre Anvers,
Sénat de Londres mettront à mort leur Roy;
Le sel et vin luy seront à l'envers,
Pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy."
I can find no edition of Nostradamus dated 1572; but in the editions of
1605, 1629, 1649, and 1650, the prophecy is given as above, almost
letter for letter, so that there can be no doubt it was not first known
in that form in 1672. As to the number of this quatrain agreeing with
the year of King Charles's death, it is most probably an accident; for
out of the nine hundred and odd quatrains composing the twelve centuries
(the 7th, 11th, and 12th being imperfect), and which are nearly all
regularly numbered, it is, I believe, the only one in which this
singularity occurs. On the fly-leaf of a copy of Nostradamus in the
Bibliothèque de Ste Geneviève (dated 1568, but really printed in
1649), I found, in an old handwriting, a couplet that may be new to the
English admirer of the astrologer:
"Falsa damus cum Nostra damus, nam fallere nostrum est
Et cum nostra damus, non nisi Falsa damus."
If SPERIEND wishes for more information on the subject of the life and
works of Nostradamus, I should recommend him to look at the work I have
quoted above, which treats very fully on all matters connected with this
"vaticinating worthy." It is entitled Nostradamus, par Eugène Bareste:
Paris, 1840, and will doubtless be found in the British Museum.
H. C. DE ST.
CROIX.
I have an edition of 1605 of these prophecies, Revueës et corrigées sur
la coppie imprimée à Lyon, par Benoist Rigaud, 1586, but without place
or printer's name. It contains (century nine, stanza 49.), the quatrain
quoted by SPERIEND.
The following quatrain may be thought to apply to Cromwell (century
eight, stanza 76.):
"Plus Macelin que Roy en Angleterre,
Dieu obscur nay par force aura l'empire:
Lasche sans foy sans loy Seignera terre,
Son temps s'aproche si près que je souspire."
The edition of 1605 does not contain the line quoted by SPERIEND, "Sénat
de Londres," &c.; nor any address "A mes Imprimeurs de Hongrie;" but, in
addition to the ten centuries contained in the edition of 1568 (the
original edition), it contains the eleventh and twelfth centuries;
also 141 stanzas of additional "Presages, tirez de ceux faicts par M.
Nostradamus en années 1555 et suivantes jusques en 1567:" and 58
"Predictions Admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siecle, Recueillies
des Memoires du feu M. Nostradamus, par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire en
Languedoc, dès le 19 Mars, 1605, au Chateau de Chantilly."
My edition is not mentioned by Brunet nor in any of the French
Catalogues that I have been able to consult.
R. J. R.
—The following is an extract
from a review in the Gentleman's Magazine of Dec. 1849, of the Life
of
Shirley; it may be interesting as explaining some part of
the verse in the game of "Thread the Needle:"
"Lord Nugent, when at Hebron, was directed to go out by the
needle's eye, that is, by the small gate of the city; and in
many parts of England, the old game of thread the needle is
played to the following words:
"'How many miles to Hebron?
Three score and ten.
Shall I be there by midnight?
Yes, and back again.
Then thread the needle,' &c.
"Now this explains and modifies one of the strongest and most
startling passages of Scripture, on the subject of riches; for
the camel can go through the needle's eye but with difficulty,
and hardly with a full load, nor without stooping."
The above was copied out from the magazine on account of its explaining
the camel and the needle's eye: it does not tell much upon the Query
concerning the game of "Thread the Needle;" but it may be interesting,
and so is sent with pleasure by
E. F.
P.S. A friend suggests, could the game have come from the Crusades?
A line of players, the longer the better, hold hands and one end of the
line, which thus becomes almost a circle, runs and drags the rest of the
line after it through the arch made by the uplifted arms of the first
couple of the other end of the line—a process nearly enough resembling
threading a needle. There are subsequent evolutions by which each
couple becomes in succession the eye of the needle.
C.
—Those of your
readers who know that I am connected with Billingsgate market would look
to me for the reply to R. J. R.'s Query. I must therefore inform them
that only thirty or forty years back salmon were taken in rather large
quantities in the Thames; but since the introduction of steam-boats and
the increase of traffic, the fish have gradually, I might say suddenly,
disappeared, for during the last twenty years very few salmon indeed
have been taken: those that found their way to market have realised high
prices; not that Thames salmon was ever esteemed for its flavour, but
only for its extreme rarity of late years.
The hindrance to salmon taking the Thames is the steam-boat and other
traffic, which, agitating the water, frightens them (they being a very
timid fish), and stirs up the mud, which chokes them; for there is no
doubt that ever after a salmon enters a river, it lives by suction. It
is possible that one or two salmon a season even make up our river now,
for becoming frightened, and rushing on having back and head nearly out
of water, and the tide with them, they would get a long way in a night,
and possible reach clear water above bridge with life, but in a very
weak state. I believe that, under the most favourable circumstances,
salmon would not again frequent the Thames in any large quantities, it
being too southern; and there is no doubt but that the fish have been
fast decreasing of late years, for some of the best rivers in the north
are now without salmon.
BLOWEN.
Billingsgate.
—The insect which J. E. found
on the Linaria minor is probably either the Euphitecia Linariata or
E. Pulchellata. The former species is known to feed on Toad flax, and
there is little doubt that the latter does also. If J. E. found any of
the caterpillars he may identify them by referring to Westwood's
British Moths, vol ii. p. 59., where the caterpillar of Euphitecia
Linariata is engraved and described as "yellow or greenish, with dark
chesnut spots on the back and sides."
B. P. D. E.
—The editor of the
Christian Poet referred to in a paragraph signed S. T. D. has not the
School of the Heart by Quarles at hand, and cannot now examine whether
the two small pieces quoted in the former volume under the name of
Thomas Harvey from SCHOLA CORDIS in forty-seven emblems, 1647,
belong to one or the other writer. The only authority, from which he
recollects to have gathered them, he believes to be Sir Egerton Brydges'
Censura Literaria, or his Restituta, which are very voluminous and
miscellaneous, and are at present beyond his research. From internal
evidence, he thinks the two poems are not by Quarles, though not
unworthy of him in his best vein.
J. M. G.
Hallamshire.
P.S. Since the foregoing note was written, I have found the copy of Sir
E. Brydge's Restituta, from which I copied the extract of Schola
Cordis, in the Christian Poet.
"Schola Cordis: or the Heart of itself gone away from God,
brought back again to Him, and instructed by Him. In 47 Emblems.
1647. 12mo. pp. 196."
Inscribed, without a signature,
"To the Divine Majestie of the onely-begotten, eternall,
well-beloved Son of God and Saviour of the World, Christ Jesus,
the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords; the Maker, the Mender, the
Searcher, and the Teacher of
The Heart:
the Meanest of his most unworthy Servants
offers up this poore Account of his Thoughts,
humbly begging pardon for all that is
amisse in them, and a gracious
acceptance of these weak endeavours
for the Advancement of his
Honour in the Good of others."
The third edition, dated 1675, ascribes these
emblems to the
author of The Synagogue, annexed to Herbert's Poems. This, according
to Sir John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton's Angler, was Christopher
Harvie: but Wood, in his Athenæ, positively affirms that the author
of The Synagogue, in imitation of the divine Herbert, was Thomas
Harvey, M.A., and first Master of Kingston School in Herefordshire. To
him, therefore (adds Sir Egerton Brydges), we may presume to assign
it, until a stronger testimony shall dispossess him of a tenure, which
reflects honourable reputation on the copiousness of his fancy and the
piety of his mind.
—I agree with MR.
BREEN that this inscription on the tomb of Margaret of Austria, in the
beautiful church of Brou, is "somewhat enigmatical," a literal
translation failing entirely to make sense of it. But perhaps MR. BREEN
may be willing to accept the interpretation offered by a writer in the
Magasin Pittoresque for 1850, where, describing the monuments in the
church of Notre Dame de Brou (p. 22.), he says:
"Cette légende bizarre est assez difficile à expliquer, si l'on
ne regarde pas le mot infortune comme un verbe. Avec cette
hypothèse, la devise signifierait: 'La fortune a rendu une
personne très-malheureuse?' Cette explication est d'autant plus
plausible que la vie de Marguérite d'Autriche fut affligée de
bien de revers. Destinée à regner sur la France, elle est
répudiée par Charles VIII., son fiancé; elle épouse le fils du
roi d'Aragon, qui la laisse bientôt veuve avec un fils qu'elle a
aussi la douleur de perdre peu après; enfin, remariée à Philibert
le Beau, elle le voit mourir au printemps de son âge."
There is little doubt, I think that the inscription was meant to typify
the misfortunes of Margaret; but the preceding solution is still, in a
grammatical point of view, unsatisfactory. If fort could be transposed
to fait, the reading would be simple enough; but in these cases we are
bound to take the inscriptions as we find them, and the Rebus in stone
was the especial delight of the sculptors of the fifteenth century.
D. C.
St. John's Wood, July 28. 1851.
—Ackey weights were, and I believe
are, used on the Guinea Coast for weighing gold dust: 1 ackey=20-1/32
grains Troy. The Ackey Trade must be, I suppose, the African gold dust
trade.
W. T.
—H. A. B. asks at the
end of his Note, "Why a coruscation of joy, upon a wedding day, should
forebode evil?" and "Whether any other instances are on record of its so
doing?"
As these questions have remained unanswered for some weeks, I am tempted
to suggest that your correspondent may have laid too much stress on the
fact of the joy having been expressed at a wedding, and that the
passage he quoted from Miss Benger's Memoirs of Elizabeth, Queen of
Bohemia, may be simply an allusion to the old belief (still more or
less prevalent) of "high spirits being a presage of impending calamity
or of death." (See Vol. ii., pp. 84. 150.)
The late Miss Landon, in one of her novels, furnishes an additional
notice of this belief:
"The ex-queen of Sweden has had one of the gentlemen of her suite
put to death in a manner equally sudden and barbarous; and what
excites in me a strong personal feeling on the subject is, that
Monaldeschi, the cavalier in question, dines with me the very day
of his murder, as I must call it. Such a gay dinner as we had!
for Monaldeschi—lively, unscrupulous, and sarcastic—was a most
amusing companion. His spirits, far higher than his usual
bearing, carried us all along with them: and I remember saying to
him, 'I envy your gaiety: why, Monaldeschi, you are as joyous as
if there were nothing but sunshine in the world.' He changed
countenance, and becoming suddenly grave, exclaimed, 'Do not call
me back to myself. I feel an unaccountable vivacity, which I know
is the herald of disaster.' But again he became cheerful, and we
rallied him on the belief, which he still gaily maintained, that
great spirits were the sure forerunners of
misfortune."—Francesca Carrara, vol. ii. chap. 6.
Perhaps some of your readers may be able to say whether Miss Landon had
the authority of any cotemporary writer for the anecdote. Is not the
warning, "Sing before noon, and you'll sigh before night," also a
proof of the dread with which "coruscations of joy" were looked upon
by our forefathers?
C. FORBES.
Temple.