Kitabı oxu: «Notes and Queries, Number 02, November 10, 1849», səhifə 2
QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 1
It is not without some slight reluctance that I notice anonymous communications, but shall endeavour to repress such feelings with regard to the modest students who may choose to announce their desiderata through the convenient channel of the "NOTES AND QUERIES." A hearty well wisher to so commendable an enterprise, shall have my first responsive scrap.
The inquiry affords no scope for ingenuity of conjecture! The foolish rime to which bishop Aylmer refers, is undoubtedly the pamphlet thus entitled:—
"A Skeltonicall salutation,
Or condigne gratulation,
And iust vexation
Of the Spanish nation,
That in a bravado
Spent many a crusado,
In setting forth an armado
England to invado."
Oxford, Joseph Barnes, 1589. 4to.
"A Skeltonicall salutation," &c.
Imprinted at London for Toby Cook, 1589. 4to.
The Oxford edition is recorded by Ames, and there is a copy of the London edition in the British Museum. Strype, in his account of bishop Aylmer, gives the substance of the letter as his own narrative, almost verbatim—but fails to identify the pamphlet in question. Park briefly describes it in Censura Literaria, 1815, ii. 18.; and there is a specimen of it in The Poetical Works of John Skelton, as edited by the Reverend Alexander Dyce, 1843.
While queries evince a sharp mental appetite, answers help to satisfy it; and so, by their united influence, a brisk circulation of ideas may be produced—which, as master Burton assures us, wards off melancholy.
BOLTON CORNEY.
NOTES UPON "NOTES, NO. 1."
Sir,—I take the liberty to send you one or two Notes on your first Number, just as they occur to me in looking it over. I will not trespass on you by preface or apology.
The "bibliographic project" I shall rejoice to see carried out; and though neither an unemployed aspirant nor a fortunate collector (of which class I hope many will be stimulated by the proposition), yet, as I once took some trouble in the matter, I should be happy to contribute some Notes then made whenever the plan is matured and the proposed appeal is made—provided (I must add, and to you I may add) I can find them.
The Liber Sententiarum was printed by Limborch, at Amsterdam, in 1692. It forms the greater part, as, indeed, it was the occasion, of his folio volume, entitled "Historia Inquisitionis cui subjungitur Liber Sententiarum Inquisitionis Tholosanæ ab anno Christi Cl[*C]CCCVI ad annum Cl[*C]CCCXXIII." Gibbon, in a note on his fifty-fourth chapter, observes that the book "deserved a more learned and critical editor;" and, if your correspondent will only place the Book of Sentences before the public in a readable form, with a map, and (by all means) a few notes, he will be doing a great service to all persons who take an interest in ecclesiastical history, or, indeed, in history of any kind. In the year 1731 Chandler published a translation of the History of the Inquisition, with a long Introduction of his own, but did not meddle with the Book of Sentences, except so far as to introduce into the text of the History some passages from it, which Limborch (as he appended the whole book) did not think it necessary to quote. I remember seeing the MS. in the British Museum within these ten or twelve years, and, according to my recollection, it was accompanied by papers which would furnish an interesting literary history of the volume. I hope your correspondent will give us farther information.
N.B.
[Mr. Brooke, of Ufford, has also kindly replied to the Query of INQUISITORIUS, by referring him to Limborch.]
QUERY AS TO REFERENCES
Sir,—May I be permitted to suggest one way in which you may be of great service to many literary men, and indeed to the cause of literature in general; and this, too, without much trouble to yourself? Would you be willing to receive "Queries" respecting references? They frequently puzzle those who are engaged in literary works, and indeed those who are merely readers, and who have not access to public libraries or the manuscript treasures of the metropolis and the universities. If, for instance, a clergyman or squire, interested in the history of his parish, should find in the county historian something which his own local or genealogical knowledge leads him to think erroneous, vouched for by a reference to the Cotton or Harleian MSS., might he apply to you? It may be supposed that you are not very far from some one of the great fountains of information, and have easy access to all; and it is probable that you might not only do a personal favour to the inquirer, but confer a benefit on the public, by correcting an erroneous statement. Of course you would subject yourself to unreasonable requests, but the remedy would always be in your own hands.
Yours, &c.
A. G. C.
[The Editor inserts this letter because he is sure that it comes from a friendly quarter, and he knows that something like what it suggests is very much wanted. He would feel great diffidence as to his powers of fulfilling all that might be expected if he were simply to reply in the affirmative: but he is quite willing to make the trial, and he thinks that (though sometimes perhaps with a little delay) he could in general obtain any information of this kind which could be reasonably sought.]
LINES IN THE STYLE OF SUCKLING
Mr. Editor,—The following lines are written in pencil on sheet 61. of the Notes of the Debates in the Long Parliament, taken down in the House of Commons by Sir Ralph Verney. The Notes of Debates, but not these lines, were published by the Camden Society in 1845. For any thing that appears to the contrary, these lines may have been written in the House as well as the Notes of Debates. The sheet 61. refers to debates which took place in March 1641-2. I am not aware that the lines have been published, nor can I assign them to their author. If any of your readers can tell me anything about them, I shall esteem it a favour.
Wert thou yet fairer than thou art,
Which lies not in the power of art;
Or hadst thou, in thine eyes, more darts
Than Cupid ever shot at hearts;
Yet, if they were not thrown at me,
I could not cast one thought at thee.
I'd rather marry a disease
Than court the thing I cannot please;
She that will cherish my desires,
Must feed my flames with equal fires.
What pleasure is there in a kiss,
To him that doubts the heart's not his?
I love thee, not 'cause thou art fair,
Smoother than down, softer than air,
Nor for those Cupids that do lie
In either corner of thine eye;
Will you then know what it may be?
'Tis—I love you 'cause you love me.
J. BRUCE.
24th Oct. 1849
NOTES UPON ANCIENT LIBRARIES
A knowledge of the intellectual acquirements of the middle ages must be mainly formed upon a consideration of the writings which directed them, or emanated from them. Unfortunately such materials are very imperfect, our knowledge of the existence of works often resting only upon their place in some loosely-entered catalogue—and of the catalogues themselves, the proportion still remaining must be small indeed. Under these circumstances the following documents, which are now for the first time printed, or even noticed, will be found to be of considerable interest. The first is, in modern language, a Power of Attorney, executed by the Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, appointing two of the monks of his church to be his procurators for the purpose of receiving from the convent of Anglesey, in Cambridgeshire1, a book which had been lent to the late Rector of Terrington. Its precise date is uncertain, but it must be of about the middle of the thirteenth century (1244-1254), as Nicholas Sandwich, the Prior of Christ Church, was the second of four priors who presided between the years 1234 and 1274.
"N. Prior Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis discretis viris et religiosis Domino Priori de Anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro conventui salutem in Domino. Cum sincera semper caritate noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres Gauterum de Hatdfeld et Nicolaum de Grantebrigiense Ecclesiæ nostræ monachos latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. Johannes Crisestomus de laude Apostoli. In quo etiam volumine continentur Hystoria vetus Britonum quæ Brutus appellatur et tractatus Roberti Episcopi Herfordiæ de compoto. Quæ quondam accommodavimus Magistro Laurentio de Sancto Nicholao tunc Rectori ecclesiæ de Tyrenton. Qui post decessum præfati Magistri L. penes vos morabatur et actenus moratur. In cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus."
The contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not common.
In the Reverend Joseph Hunter's valuable treatise upon English Monastic Libraries2 occurs a notice of an indenture executed in A.D. 1343, whereby the priory of Henton lent no less than twenty books to another monastic establishment. The deed is described, but not printed. It will be seen that the instrument we have given above is nearly a century earlier; and the minute description of the book given in this document supplies some very curious facts illustrative of the mode of putting together ancient books, which have not hitherto been remarked, for the simple reasons that no opportunity for comparison like that presented by the present case has yet been noticed. Among the Cottonian MSS. (Galba E. iv.) is a perfect specimen of an ancient Library Catalogue, which, although not altogether unnoticed, deserves a more careful examination than it has yet received. It relates to the magnificent monastic foundation from which emanated the deed we have printed above, and is headed "Tituli librorum de libraria Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis et contenta in eisdem libris tempore H. Prioris." It is written in that bold hand which prevails so extensively in ecclesiastical MSS., with but little variation, from the middle of the fourteenth century, to the end of the fifteenth,—a hand which is not always clearly written, and which therefore, in itself, does not materially assist in the distinction of a date. Now having first assigned the credit of this noble Catalogue—in which are entered about 600 volumes, in nearly every one of which, besides the substantive (or initial?) work, are particularised numerous detached writings, varying from two or three to five-and-forty distinct "tracts"—to Prior Henry Chichely (1413—1443), the founder of All Souls' and St. John's Colleges, Oxford, and who, "built the library of the church, and furnished it with books," we will see whether the book "qui intitulatur Johannes Crisestomus," &c. was returned to Canterbury, and had a place in the list;—and this, we think, is satisfactorily shown by the following entry:—
"Johannes Crisostomus de laude Apostoli.
In hoc volumine continentur
Idem de laude Redemptoris.
Brutus latine.
Nomina Regum Britanniæ sicut in ordine successerunt.
Nomina Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensis sicut in ordine successerunt.
Tabula et questiones Bede de ratione temporum.
Tabula ejusdem et expositio super tabulam de lunationibus.
Descriptio Britanniæ Insulæ.
Expositio super Merlinum, imperfecta."
It may perhaps be supposed that this proves too much, as, besides the direct title of the volume, eight "tracts" are here entered, while in the Power of Attorney only two are noticed. But we would maintain, nevertheless, that it is the identical book, and explain this variation in the description by the circumstance that the library having, in the space of nearly two centuries, been materially enriched, numerous works, consisting in many cases only of a single "quaternion," were inserted in the volumes already existing. An examination of the structure of books of this period would confirm this view, and show that their apparent clumsiness is to be explained by the facility it was then the custom to afford for the interpolation or extraction of "sheets," by a contrivance somewhat resembling that of the present day for temporarily fixing loose papers in a cover, and known as the "patent leaf-holder."
The second document is a list of certain books, belonging to the monastery of Anglesey, early in the fourteenth century, allotted out to the canons of the house for the purpose of custody, or, perhaps, of study or devotion.
