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A FEW DODO QUERIES

The discovery and speedy extinction of that extraordinary bird the DODO, belongs rather to human history than to pure zoology, and I therefore hope that a few Queries relating to this curious subject will be admissible into your publication. I have already, in the work entitled The Dodo and its Kindred, and in the Supplementary notices inserted last year in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History (ser. 2. vol. iii. pp. 136, 259; vol. iv. p. 335), endeavoured to collect together the omne scitum of the Dodo-history, but I am satisfied that the omne scibile is not yet attained.

Query I.—Is there any historical record of the first discovery of Mauritius and Bourbon by the Portuguese? These islands bore the name of Mascarenhas as early as 1598, when they were so indicated on one of the De Bry's maps. Subsequent compilers state that they were thus named after their Portuguese discoverer, but I have not succeeded in finding any notice of them in the histories of Portuguese expeditions to the East Indies which I have consulted. The only appartently authentic indication of their discovery, that I am aware of, is the pillar bearing the name of John III. of Portugal, and dated 1545, which is stated by Leguat, on Du Quesne's authority, to have been found in Bourbon by Flacour, when he took possession of the island in 1653.

Query II.—It appears from Leguat's New Voyage to the East Indies, London, 1708, pp. 2, 37., that the Marquis Du Quesne, being desirous of sending out a colony from Holland to the Isle of Bourbon in 1689 or 1690, published (probably in Dutch) an account of that Island, with a view of inducing emigrants to go thither. I should be greatly obliged if any of your readers can tell me the title, date, and place of publication of this book, and where a copy of it is to be seen or procured.

Query III.—Are there in existence any original oil-paintings of the Dodo by Savery or any other artist, besides the five described in the Dodo and its Kindred—viz., the one at the Hague, at Berlin, at Vienna, at the British Museum, and at Oxford? And are there any original engravings of this bird, besides that in De Bry, in Clusius, in Van den Broecke, in Herbert, in Bontekoc, and in Bontius, of all which I have published fac-similes?

Query IV.—Are there any original authors who mention the Dodo as a living bird, besides Van Neck, Clusius, Heemskerk, Willem van West-Zanen, Matelief, Van der Hagen, Verhuffen, Van den Broecke, Bontekoe, Herbert, Cauche, Lestrange, and Benjamin Harry? Or any authority for the Solitaire of Rodriguez besides Leguat and D'Heguerty; or for the Dodo-like birds of Bourbon besides Castelton, Carré Sieur D.B., and Billiard?

Query V—In Rees' Cyclopæia, article BOURBON, we are told that in that island there is "a kind of large bat, denominated l'Oiseau bleu, which are skinned and eaten as a great delicacy." Where did the compiler of the article pick up this statement?

Query VI.—Is there in existence any figure, published or unpublished, of the Dodo-like bird which once inhabited the Isle of Bourbon?

Query VII—What is the derivation or meaning of the words Dodaers and Dronte, as applied to the Dodo?

Query VIII.—Sir Hamon Lestrange has recorded that about 1638 he saw a living Dodo exhibited in London. (See Sloane MSS. 1839, v. p. 9. in Brit. Mus.; Wilkin's ed. of Sir T. Browne's Works, vol. i. p. 369.; vol. ii, p. 173.; The Dodo and its Kindred, p. 22.) Is there any contemporary notice extant in print or in MS. which confirms this statement? A splendidly bound copy of The Dodo and its Kindred will be given to any one who can answer this query affirmatively.

Query IX.—In Holme's Academy of Armory and Blazou, Chester, 1688, p. 289, we find a Dodo figured as an heraldic device, a fac-simile of which is given in the Annals of Natural History, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 260. The author thus describes it: "He beareth Sable a Dodo or Dronte proper. By the name of Dronte. This exotic bird doth equal a swan in bigness," &c. &c. Now I wish to ask, where did this family of Dronte reside? Is anything known concerning them? How did they come by these arms? and are any members of the family now living?

Query X.—From a passage in the Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, 1776, p. 37, it appears that Pingré the French astronomer, published, or at least wrote, a relation of his voyage to Rodriguez, in which he speaks of Solitaires. Is this the fact? and if so, what is the title of his work?

H.E. STRICKLAND.

ON PASSAGES IN COLERIDGE'S CHRISTADEL AND BYRON'S LARA. TABLET TO NAPOLEON

I am one of those who look upon the creations of our great poets as deserving illustration almost as much as actual history; and I am always distressed when I meet with passages representing events with respect to which I cannot make up my mind as to what the author meant, or intended his readers to believe. Two of these occur to me at this moment, and I shall be much obliged by any of your correspondents giving, in your pages, brief replies to my queries, or referring me to any published works where I may find their solution.

1. What did Coleridge mean to represent or imply in his tale of Christabel? Who or what was Geraldine? What did Christabel see in her, at times, so unutterably horrible? What is meant by "the ladye strange" making Christabel carry her over the sill of the portal? &c., &c.

2. What does Byron mean us to infer that Lara saw in his hall that midnight, when he so alarmed his household with

"A sound, a voice, a shriek, a fearful call,
A long loud shriek—and silence."?

The poet, it is true, seems to refuse, purposely, to let his readers into the truth, telling them:—

"Whate'er his frenzy dream'd or eye beheld,
If yet remember'd, ne'er to be reaveal'd,
Rests at his heart."

But still, I conceive there can be no doubt that he knew the truth (I speak as of realities), —knew what he intended to represent by so full and elaborate a delineation of a scene. And it is the author's meaning and intention that I wish to come at.

I will ask one more question relative to this magnificent poem (which I don't think has had justice done it by the critics), but one respecting which I hardly think there can be any doubt as to the author's secret meaning:—Is not the Kaled of Lara the Gulnare of the Giaour?

Before concluding, I will add a query on a very different subject.

3. Many of your readers have, doubtless, seen the large marble tablet erected by the Vallaisians in honour of Napoleon, in the Convent of the Great St. Bernard. A recent traveller in Switzerland (Dr. Forbes) has, I find, noticed the inscription, and questioned, as I had done, both its meaning and Latinity. I extract this author's note as expressing exactly the point on which I desiderate information:—

"Having doubts both as to the precise meaning and lingual purity of the compound epithet Bis Italicus, here applied to Napoleon, I subjoin the passage in which it occurs, for the judgement of the learned:—
'NAPOLEONI … ÆGYPTIACO BIS ITALICO SEMPER INVICTO … GRATA RESPUBLICA.'"—A Physician's Holiday, p. 468.
EMDEE.

Athenæum, January 26. 1850.

MINOR QUERIES

Howkey or Horkey.– Can anybody explain the etymology of the word Howkey or Horkey, generally used to denote a harvest-home merriment in our eastern counties? Forbes speaks of it as an intractable word, and neither he nor Sir J. Cullum have succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End, Feb. 16.

Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms.—The answer in No. 15. p. 235. to A CORNISHMAN'S Query (No. 13. p. 202) respecting "Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms," suggests another query. The work in question was a mere "exercise of sickness;" it contains only seven psalms (the 1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 137th, and 149th), and is, without pretension of any kind, a very proper diversion for a mind that could not be inactive and yet required rest; and very good verses for a man unpractised in metrical composition. The Collection of Apophthegms (also a recreation in sickness), though considerably larger and altogether weightier, was considered so trifling a work that Dr. Rawley, in his "perfect list of his Lordship's true works, &c.," appended to the first edition of the Resuscitatio (1657), either forgot or did not think fit to mention it. Yet both these trifles were not only written but published, by Bacon himself the year before his death—a thing quite contrary to his practice; for though he had written and carefully preserved and circulated in manuscript so much, he had till then published nothing that was not of the weightiest and most solid kind. Can any of your correspondents inform me how much two such books may possibly have been worth to a publisher in the year 1625; being works of low price and popular character, proceeding from an author of great name? How much is it reasonable to suppose that a publisher may have given for the copyright? or how far may it have gone towards the payment of a bookseller's bill?

J.S.

Feb. 7. 1850.

Treatise of Equivocation.—I shall feel happy if, through your very opportune medium, I can obtain some information respecting a very extraordinary and mysterious book, as to its existence, local habitation, and any other material circumstance, which has the title of A Treatise of Equivocation. The first recognition of the work is in the Relation of the Proceedings in the Trial for the Powder Plot, 1604. At signat. I. the Attourney-General, Sir E. Coke, appeals to it, and affirms that it was allowed by the Archpriest Blackwel, and that the title was altered to A Treatise against Lying and Fraudulent Dissimulation. He proceeds to describe some of its contents, as if he were himself acquainted with the book. Thomas Morton, Bishop of Lichfield, and Coventry, afterwards of Durham, in his Full Satisfaction concerning a double Romish Iniquitie; Rebellion and Equivocation, 1606, refers to the work as familiarly acquainted with it. (See Ep. Dedic. A. 3.; likewise pages 88 & 94.) He gives the authorship to Creswell or Tresham. He refers likewise to a Latin work entitled Resolutio Casuum, to the same effect, possibly a translation, to which he subjoins the names of Parsons and Allen. Robert Abbot, in his Antilogia, 1613, pp. 13, 14. emphatically and at length produces the same book and facts; but they are merely copied from the Relation of the Powder-treason Trial. Henry Mason, in his most satisfactory work, The New Art of Lying, &c., 1624, has spoken of the Treatise with the same familiarity (see p. 51.), and elsewhere, if my memory does not deceive me. Dodd, in his Church history,—when will the new edition begin to move again? Can Stonyhurst tell?—ascribes the work to Tresham. Hardly any of the similar works in these times belong to one author. It may just be added, that Parson's Mitigation contains, perhaps, all the substance of the Roman equivocation, with not much reserve or disguise. It was published in answer to Bishop Morton's work in 1607. Foulis has, of course, substantially all the above, but nothing more.

Now, the questions which I want to have solved are these:—Was the book ever extant in MS. Or print? Is it now extant, and where? Who has seen a copy? What is its size, date, and extent? Has the Durham Cathedral Library, in particular, a copy? Mr. Botfield might have informed us. In fact, where is any effectual intelligence of the fugitive to be found?