which they had been bound up for the purpose of completing the copy, themselves dating from about the middle (Dr. Cureton supposes) of the fourth century. From the great antiquity and independent character of these remains, they will form henceforth an important item in our materials for confirming or correcting the Sacred Text. We ought to add that they are accompanied by a translation. The two pretty volumes of The Ballads of Scotland, edited by W. E. Aytoun, which have just been issued by Messrs. Blackwood, will be regarded with unmixed satisfaction by those who love these outpourings of the old national feeling for their own intrinsic beauty and poetry. To readers of this class the work will be indeed a treasure: but to the mere antiquary, who loving "a ballad in print " loves it all the better for the rudeness of the type, the coarseness of the paper, and who does not object if such rudeness and coarseness extend to the language and incidents of the ballad itself, the collection will be somewhat disappointing. No such marks of antiquity will be found in the work before us. These rare old songs have been edited with great good taste, and all must be pleased with Professor Aytoun's Introduction, and with the literary and historical notices which he has prefixed to the various ballads. Those of our classical and antiquarian friends who have admired Mr. Ashpitel's admirable picture of the Restora tion of Ancient Rome, now exhibiting at the Royal Academy, will thank us for calling their attention to the Description and Key, showing the authorities for the various Restorations, which has been published by Mr. Ashpitel, and which proves him to be as sound an antiquarian as he is an accomplished draughtsman. It is long since we have seen a volume which more completely fulfilled its object than one which has just reached us entitled Tokens issued in the Seventeenth Century in England, Wales, and Ireland by Corporations, Merchants, Tradesmen, &c., described and illustrated by William Boyne, F.S.A. How many thousand tokens are here described we will not attempt to calculate, but 576 pages are occupied in the catalogue of them. Fifty-four pages, each containing three columns, are filled with the Index of Names and Places, and forty-two plates are employed to represent the more curious varieties. Are we not then justified in calling this a very complete book upon the subject? In the very curious and valuable Catalogue of Dr. Bliss's Library now selling by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, p. 300., is a statement to which we desire to call the attention of our bibliographical friends. It is no less than an announcement that Mr. Leigh Sotheby, the learned historian of the Block Books, has in so forward a state that in one year from this time the first or more volumes of it might be published, a Bibliographical Account of the Printed Works of the English Poets to the Year 1660,-the result of forty years' labour devoted to the subject. Mr. Sotheby calculates that such account would extend to about twelve volumes octavo, and suggests, that some few of the booksellers interested in our early literature should combine to publish it. We sincerely trust they will. The work would be sure to remunerate them, and they might avoid any great risk by publishing it by subscription. BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES THE HISTORY OF ORIGINS, &C. 12mo. 1824. Sampson Low. Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct to the gentleman by whom they are required, and whose name and address are given below. ASIATIC RESEARCHES. Vols. X. XI. XII. 8vo. Boards. PENNY CYCLOPEDIA. Vol XVIII. to end, and Supplement. 2 Vols. SOUTHEY'S AMADIS OF GAUL. Vol. I. 12mo. Boards. 1803. SHAW AND NODDER'S NATURALISTS' MISCELLANY. Vols. XXIII. and XXIV. Royal 8vo. Boards. DONNOVAN'S BRITISH INSECTs. Vols. XI. to XVI. Royal 8vo. Boards. STRYPE'S ANNALS. Vol. IV. Folio. NICHOLS'S LITERARY ANECDOTES. Vol. V. 8vo. Boards. 1812. Also Vol. III. to end of Illustrations to ditto. CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. Vol. VI. (1832) to any period of Hooker's New Series. ELLIS'S POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. Vol. I. 12mo. Cloth. 1839. WALKER'S SELECTION OF CURIOUS ARTICLES FROM GENT.'S MAG. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. Boards. 1814. FIELDING'S WORKS. Vols. V. and VI. 8vo. Bound. 1771. Wanted by Mr. Jeans, Bookseller, White Lion Street, Norwich. Natices to Correspondents. The length of some of the articles in the present number has compelled us to postpone until next week many papers of very considerable interest, and also many Notes on Books. THE INDEX TO THE VOLUME JUST COMPLETED is at press, and will be ready for delivery with "N. & Q." of Saturday, the 17th instant. T. G. S. will see that we have in some measure anticipated his article. F. C. II. If our correspondent will repeat the Reply to which he alludes, it shall be inserted at once. G. For the origin of the supporters to the royal arms, see our 1st S. ii. 221. EFESINO. Gray's Letters, &c. have recently been republished in four vols, by Messrs. Bell and Daldy. Notices to other correspondents in our next. "NOTES AND QUERIRS" is published at noon on Friday, and is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS. The subscription for STAMPED COPIES for Six Months forwarded direct from the Publishers (including the Halfyearly INDEX) is 118. 4d.. which may be paid by Post Office Order in favour of MESSRS. BELL AND DALDY, 186. FLEET STREET, E.C.; to whom all COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE EDITOR should be addressed. Wines from South Africa. DENMAN, INTRODUCER OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN PORT, SHERRY, &c., 20s. per Dozen, Bottles included. WELL-ESTABLISHED THE DAILY-INCREASING REPUTATION of these WINES (which greatly improve in bottle), renders any comment re specting them unnecessary. A pint sample of ench for 24 Stamps. WINE in CASK forwarded Free to any Railway Station in England. EXCELSIOR BRANDY, Pale or Brown, 158. per Gallon, or 30s. per Dozen. Terms: Cash. Country Orders must contain a remittance. Cross Checks, Bank of London. Price Lists forwarded on application. JAMES L. DENMAN, 65. Fenchurch Street, Corner of Railway LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 10. 1858. Notes. THE INDIAN REVOLT, AND THE DEBATE IN LONDON A.D. 1858. THE MITYLENEAN REVOLT, AND THE DEBATE IN ATHENS B.C. 427. Of the first of the two subjects named above, I will say nothing. The details of that matter, and the speeches on the famous proclamation-debate on our policy in Oude, are known to every one. I only use the title that it may serve to mark an historical parallel which occurred to me, when reading the debate in question, and which may be acceptable to those persons who like to draw and dwell upon such parallels. In the Peloponnesian war, the Lesbians were the unwilling allies of the Athenians, to whom they were in some degree subject. The Lacedæmonians succeeded in getting these desirable Lesbians (they were capital sailors) on their side; and the Athenians immediately blockaded the revolted Lesbian city of Mitylene. The end of the process and of some fighting was, that the city surrendered; and when the Athenians entered, the first thing they did was to hang the Lacedæmonian general, Salathus, who had sustained the revolt, and there was not a mock-philanthropist in Athens who objected to the proceeding. The other principal agents in the treason were sent captives to Athens, where it was decreed that not only they, but all the Mityleneans should be put to death. A despatch was forthwith sent to the general commanding there to carry out this decree. After it had been sent off, the citizens began to look at each other, and to ask if it were according to the fitness of things that a people who owed no positive allegiance to Athens should be entirely destroyed for attempting to get rid of a forced and hated subjection. Thucydides will tell you what an uproar there was in the city on this question. There was no quieting the good turbulent folks, who loved nothing so much as a political, statistical, moral, religious, or philosophical "row," whereon to spend their time, and whereby to test the state of parties. Above all, they loved a political difficulty. Here was one which offered a first-rate opportunity for the leaders of either faction. A public assembly was convened to deliberate upon the sanguinary decree; and the debate on the propriety of confiscating the territory of Oude, lively as it was, was a small matter compared with the eagerness, earnestness, latitude of assertion, and unbounded interest, which marked the great debate at Athens. The notorious Cleon, who certainly was not such a fool as Aristophanes makes him, if he delivered the speech reported by Thucydides, led the party for the stronger meaThe humanitarian side of the "house," and the outside people of the same opinion, were re sure. presented by Diodotus. The speeches of both orators will bear comparison with any speech delivered on the Oude debate. Cleon's sarcasm, his sweeping insults at an unstable democracy, his irresistible ridicule of his unlucky auditors, most of whom were more ready to hear their own voices, as he said, than good sense from others, was quite in the style of Hunt and Cobbett when in their happiest, or most impudent vein. Cleon knew but of one method of dealing with vanquished rebels,-kill them and take their goods, and then their masters will not only have crushed daring rebels, but profited by the rebellion. The honourable (and rather sanguinary) gentleman resumed his seat amid deafening cheers. But these billows of sound were hushed into calmness by the gentle and business-like Diodotus. He blamed nobody, but insinuated his own sentiments into the bosom of everybody. He attributes no unworthy motives to the actions of any one, and asks for as much civility for himself. He goes into the entire question; and shows, as was shown for the men of Oude, that to throw off the insolent yoke of new and rapacious masters, is not a deed to be met by general massacre or confiscation. There was nothing said more to this purpose the other night in our august assembly, than was expressed more than two thousand years ago in the memorable debate at Athens. One really grows in love, as it were, with the humane Diodotus: so mild, so charitable, so winning, so irresistible is he in working towards the triumphant establishment of his principle of mercy. There is, however, one little unpleasant drawback, in the ground on which this principle is founded by the right honourable speaker. He allows that, after all, justice might be with Cleon; and he admits that he too would have counselled that all the Mityleneans should be butchered, if it were expedient, and any advantage could be got by it. "If they ever so much deserved forgiveness," remarked the consistent orator, "I declare I would not advise you to forgive them, were it not that I am quite sure we shall all profit by it!" So profit and expediency moved the heathen assembly; and they who less than three days previously had voted the contrary way, now gave their voices for the motion of Diodotus, -a sample of tergiversation that will excite a sneer, and call up a moral sentiment from every Joseph Surface among us proud of the legislatures of more enlightened times. At Athens, after all, mercy was only carried by a narrow majority. Then followed the despatching of the new decree annulling the old one, already on its way, having a start of four-and-twenty hours; and then ensued the immortal race which could only happen before the days of electric wires and telegrams. The trireme that was ahead carried with it orders, not only for the massacre of the inhabitants, but for the destruction of the entire city of Mitylene; and there were none but Athenians EPISTOLÆ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM. plete victory over the monks. So faithfully did their enemies represent them, that their party at first imagined the work was written on their own side, and raised a shout of approbation. Of this there is abundant evidence. Sir Thomas More and Erasmus, independently of each other, agree that the satire would never have been detected by its victims, if it had not been for the word Obscurorum in the title. Erasmus relates that a Dominican prior in his own town (Louvain) bought twenty copies for distribution among his friends: and he adds that they were never undeceived, in England, until the appearance of the second volume, in the last letter of which the writer throws off the mask. Any one would suppose that the blocks must have been cut with a very keen razor, seeing that they did not feel the operation; but the bluntness of the tool will be the zest of the story in all time to come. Doctors of divinity did not know but what they had a looking-glass before them, when they read letters in which other doctors vary the most stupid ignorance with the most revolting obscenity. The accounts which men under the vows give of their own lives would disgust an immense majority of those who had lived in the utmost license of courts and camps. To take something short of the worst, if any one who has access to the work will find out the letter of Lupoldus Federfusius in the first volume, and bear in mind that the satire was not at once detected, he will be greatly amused. The book opens with a question of grammar, propounded to Ortuinus by a B.D., arising out of a convivial meeting of theologians. To make it intelligible, observe that a Master of Arts was noster magister, but a Doctor of Divinity was magister noster. Tum Ma .... et ... et et non obstat This is another of those works which are discussed by literary historians, who forget that the ordinary reader would learn more from a few "Tunc Magistri hilarificati inceperunt loqui artificispecimens than from opinions and descriptions. aliter de magnis quæstionibus. Et unus quæsivit utrum Its interest has been revived in our own day by dicendum Magister nostrandus, vel noster Magistrandus, the late Sir W. Hamilton, in a very learned arpro persona apta nata ad fiendum Doctor in Theologia Et statim respondit Magister Warmsemmel, ticle (Edinb. Rev. March, 1831, reprinted, with et tenuit quod dicendum est noster Magistrandus additions, in the Discussions, &c.). Referring to Sed nostro tras, -trare, non est in usu, this article, it will be enough to state here that gister Andr. Delitsch, qui est multum subtilis, Luther's great movement was preceded by a war jam legit ordinarie Ovidium in Metamorphosiis etiam legit in domo sua Quintilianum et Juvencum, et of the theologians against classical literature and its cultivators, especially Reuchlin; that this scho- ipse tenuit oppositionem M. Warmsemmel, et dixit quod debemus dicere Magister nostrandus lar, in the course of the fight, published a volume quod nostro -tras, -trare, non est in usu, quia possumus of the letters of others to himself, entitled Epistolæ fingere nova vocabula, et ipse allegavit super hoc HoraIllustrium Virorum; that Ulric von Hutten, as- tium. Tunc magistri multum admiraverunt subtilitatem, sisted by others, thereupon drew up the Epistolæ et unus portavit ei unum cantharum cerevisiae NeuberObscurorum Virorum (1516), an ironical collec-gensis. Et ipse dixit, ego volo expectare, sed parcatis mihi, et tetegit birretum, et risit hilariter, et portavit M. tion, purporting to be written by the theological Warmsemmel, et dixit, Ecce, Domine Magister, ne puenemies of the classics, to aid and comfort Or- tetis quod sum inimicus vester, et bibit in uno anhelitu, tuinus Gratius against the poets, as they were et M. Warmsemmel respondit ei fortiter pro honore Slecalled. This Ortuinus was himself a scholar of sitarum. Et Magistri omnes fuerunt læti; et postea fuit some note, the only one who had joined the theo- pulsatum ad vesperas." logical party; he was, therefore, selected as the chief object of ridicule. The effect was a com .... Advice is asked on the following point : — salutem, quod Scholares discunt Grammaticam ex Poetis secularibus, sicut est Virgilius, Tullius, Plinius, et alii? Videtur mihi, quod non est bonus modus studendi. Quia, ut scribit Aristoteles primo Metaphysicæ, multa mentiuntur poetæ; sed qui mentiuntur peccant, et qui fundant studium suum super mendaciis, fundant illud super peccatis." The following is an account of the attempts to introduce the heathen mythology in a nonnatural sense: "Debetis scire quod ego pro nunc contuli me ad studium Heydelbergense, et studeo in Theologia: Sed cum hic audio quotidie unam lectionem in Poetria, in qua incepi proficere notabiliter de gratiâ Dei, et jam scio mentetenus omnes fabulas Ovidii in Metamorphoseos, et scio eas exponere quadrupliciter, scilicet naturaliter, literaliter, historialiter, et spiritualiter, quod non sciunt isti Poetæ seculares. Et nuper interrogavi unum ex illis, unde dicitur Mavors; tunc dixit mihi unam sententiam quæ non fuit vera: sed etiam correxi eam, et dixi, quod Mavors dicitur quasi mares vorans; et ipse fuit confusus [accedunt pluria consimilia]. Ita videtis quod ... isti Poetæ nunc student tantum in sua arte literaliter, et non intelligunt allegorias spirituales, quia sunt homines carnales; et ut scribit apostolus Corinth. 2., Animalis homo non percipit ea quæ sunt Spiritus Dei..... Diana significat beatissimam Virginem Mariam, ambulans multis virginibus hinc inde. Et ergo de ea scribitur in Psal., Adducentur virgines post eam. . . . . Item de Jove quando defloravit Calistonem virginem, et reversus est ad cœlum, scribitur Matth. 12., Revertar ad domum meam, unde exivi..... De Actæone vero qui vidit Dianam nudam, prophetizavit Ezechiel c. 16. dicens, Eras nuda et confusione plena, et transivi per te, et vidi te.... Item fabula de Pyramo et Thisbe sic exponitur allegorice et spiritualiter: Pyramus significat filium Dei, et Thisbe significat animam humanam. Et ista est via qua debemus stu dere Poetriam." "Tunc ergo hospes noster, qui est bonus humanista, incepit quædam dicere ex Poetria, ubi laudavit valde Cæsarem Julium in suis scriptis, et etiam factis. Profecto cum hoc audivissem, erat mihi bene adjuvatum, quia multa legi et audivi in Poesi a vobis dum fui in Colonia, et dixi: Quoniam quidem igitur incepistis loqui de Poetria, non potui me longius occultare, et dico simpliciter, quod non credo Cæsarem scripsisse illa commentaria, et volo dictum meum roborare hoc argumento, quod sic sonat: Quicunque habet negotium in armis et continuis laboribus, ille non potest Latinum discere. Sed sic est quod Cæsar semper fuit in bellis et maximis laboribus, ergo non potuit esse doctus, vel Latinum discere. Revero puto igitur non aliter quam quod Suetonius scripsit ista illa Commentaria, quia nunquam vidi aliquem qui magis haberet consimiliorem stilum Cæsari, quam Suetonius. Postquam ita dixissem, et multa alia verba quæ hic causa brevitatis omitto, qula ut scitis ex antiquo dicterio, Gaudent brevitate moderni: tunc risit Erasmus, et nihil respondit, quia eum tam subtili argumentatione superavi. Et sic imposuimus finem collationi, et nolui quæstionem meam in medicina proponere, quia scivi quod ipse non sciret, cum non sciret mihi solvere illud argumentum in poesi, et ipse tamen esset Poeta: et dico per Deum quod non est tam multum ut dicunt de eo, non scit plus quam alius homo: in Poesi bene concedo quod scit pulchrum Latinum dicere." "Et quando disputatio fuit, tunc ego in laudem ipsius metrificavi illa carmina ex tempore, quia ego pro parte sum humanista. "Hic est unus doctus Magister, Qui intimavit bis vel ter Distinguatur ab esse existentiæ; Et de prædicamentorum distinctionibus: Quod nemo fecit ante eum Per omnia secula seculorum." The following, it must be distinctly stated, is an attempt at hexameter and pentameter; in honour of Paulus Langius: "Hic liber indignum vexat Jacobum Wimphelingum, Langius quem Paulus fecerat mirifice. Metrice qui scripsit, etiam quoque rhetoricavit Jam erit confusus Jacobus et omnino trusus Two volumes of such matter as this, though frequently witty and piquant, are rather difficult to get through. Luther acknowledges to Reuchlin that the battle of the scholars and monks was a preliminary, and an essential one, to his own success and there is no doubt that the work before me was the charge which gained the victory. For all this, Sir W. Hamilton, who has spoken with more admiration of the letters than any one else, could not keep up his attention to the end, as the following makes manifest. Erasmus, as we have seen, alludes to the mask being thrown off in the last letter of the second volume. Hamilton says that this probably refers to the last letter but one, which, he adds, contains some verses, of which he quotes a phrase or two. The verses are as follows: prædicare, Magister Ortuine, quas unquam in vita mea nunquam per Deum Sanctum audivi, quas vos et alii Colonienses magistri nostri (cum supportatione) fecistis honestissimo et doctissimo viro D. Joanni Reuchlin; et tamen cum audivi, non scivi in tantum mirare, quia cum estis bicipites asini, et naturales Philosophi, intenditis etiam misere et nebulonice vexare ita pios et doctos viros Et ergo ad furcas cum vobis omnibus, ad quas perducat vos lictor cum sociis suis, vobis dicentibus orate pro nobis." The last sentence of this letter, and of the book, seems intended to show that the Reuchlinist did not put away dirty thoughts when he put off the mask of the theologian. In another communication I shall make some remarks on the history of this satire. SWIFTIANA. pense of the search, the inscribed board of Jonathan Swift's desk may, it is more than probable, be yet recovered. The biographers of Swift tell us that when his mother was greatly reduced in circumstances, his brother-in-law, William Swift, showed much practical kindness and sympathy towards her. It would also appear from Lord Orrery's Remarks on the Life and Writings of Swift (p. 16.), that William Swift likewise assisted the future Dean by "repeated acts of friendship and affection." His lordship adds: "I have a letter now before me which, though torn and imperfect, shows his gratitude and devotion to the uncle whom I have just now mentioned, and whom he calls the A. DE MORGAN. best of his relations." We have heard so much of "Swiftiana" lately that I am induced to contribute my mite towards it. Swift, Berkeley, and other distinguished Irishmen received no inconsiderable portion of their education in the ancient College of Kilkenny. The modern building stands on a different site, and is, I believe, of altogether a different character. The elder establishment* had been an addendum to the Priory of St. John the Baptist. The following details were communicated to me in 1855 by Alderman Banim of Kilkenny, one of the authors of the celebrated O'Hara Tales. I afterwards heard that the anecdote had been published in another form; but I never saw it in print, and Alderman Banim believes the facts in question to be very little known. When the old College of Kilkenny was about to be removed the materials were sold by auction. A thriving shopkeeper named Barnaby Scott purchased the desks, seats, and boards of the school-room. On one of the desks was cut the name in full-JONATHAN SWIFT-doubtless with Swift's pocket-knife, and by Swift's own hand. Mr. Barnaby Scott, solicitor, the son of the purchaser of the old desks and boards, died in 1856; but previous to his death he orally detailed the foregoing and the succeeding circumstances to Alderman Banim. Mr. Scott distinctly remembered having seen the incised autograph when a boy, and added that this particular board was, with others of the same purchase, used for flooring his father's shop. It no doubt still occupies the place wherein it was fixed, seventy years ago. The house has been lately rebuilt; but the floor of the shop was not removed, and I am informed that if any person desires to communicate with Mr. Kenny Scott, and give him a sum adequate to cover the ex An accurate and interesting description of the old College of Kilkenny appears in John Banim's tale of The Fetches. As few biographies have been subjected to fuller or more trivial illustration than those of Dr. Swift, it may interest some of the Dean's admirers to trace one of the sources of that income on which Uncle William so generously drew when Mrs. Swift and her son Jonathan were struggling hard against evil fortune. The Claims at Chichester House in 1701 (p. 16.) records the right of "William Swift of the city of Dublin, gent,' to an estate for sixty years by lease dated Dec. 26, 1677, formerly belonging to Mich. Chamberlain, and situated on "the south side of a lane in St. Francis Street, called My Lord of Howth's land." Again, at p. 139. we find William Swift seised of the estate in fee of Berrymore, co. Roscommon, by lease and release dated Nov. 29, 1680, from John Campbell and Priscilla his wife, formerly the property of L. Flinn and Alderman McDermott. Witness John Deane. Until the brothers, Godwin, William, Adam, and Jonathan Swift (the Dean's father) removed from Yorkshire to Ireland, the name of Swift was, I believe, unknown in that country; and from various circumstances I infer that the "Wm. Swift, Gent." who figures in the Claims at Chichester House was the generous uncle of the poet Swift. The book referred to is very scarce. The last copy offered for sale in Dublin was at the late Mr. Justice Burton's auction, and fetched the high price of 41. 4s. An old woman lately died in St. Patrick Street at the advanced age of one hundred and ten years. A friend of mine asked her if she remembered the appearance of the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick. She described it to him minutely, and added that the great man never went outside the deanery house that he was not attended through the streets by a vast crowd of washed and unwashed admirers. WILLIAM JOHN FITZ-PATRICK. Stillorgan, Dublin. |