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Queries
EARLY SALE OF GEMS, DRAWINGS, AND CURIOSITIES
At the risk of showing my ignorance, I wish to have it removed by answers to my present Queries.
I have before me a printed catalogue of a collection of antiques, drawings, and curiosities, which were to be sold by auction not far from a century and a half ago. It is upon a sheet of four pages, rather larger than foolscap, which it entirely fills. It seems to me a remarkable assemblage of valuable relics, and it is thus headed:—
"A catalogue, being an extraordinary and great collection of antiques, original drawings, and other curiosities, collected by a gentleman very curious … will be sold by auction at Covent Garden Coffee House, in the Little Piazza, on Wednesday next, being the 9th instant June, 1714."
This is the oldest English catalogue of the kind that I happen to have met with, and my first question upon it is, is there any older? Next, if the fact be known, who was the "gentleman very curious" who owned the collection?
We are farther informed by the auctioneer (whose name is not given), that "The antiques are all in precious stones, most of them engraved by the greatest masters of the old Greeks and Romans; the drawings are of the oldest and the best Italian masters;" and it is advertised, besides, that "the aforesaid rarities may be seen on Monday the 7th, Tuesday the 8th, and Wednesday till the time of sale, which will begin at 11 o'clock in the morning for the antiques, and at 6 o'clock in the evening for the drawings." After a statement that the "conditions of sale are as usual," we come to the list of the gems, under the heads of "Names of the Jewels," and "What they represent." There are fifty-one lots of those that are "set in silver for seals," and they are upon cornelian, beril, sardonix, jasper, &c. For the purpose of identification (if possible) I will quote two or three:—
"3. Sardonix—The head of Anacreon.
17. Cornelian—Pallas crowning Hercules.
30. Beryl—The Trojan Horse, as in Fortuna Lyceto.
51. A cornelian ring, with the head of Lais of Corinth, engraved by Mr. Christian."
To these succeed twelve lots of "stones not set," including a "Head of Christ," a "Gadetian Droll," the "Entry of Severus, the Emperor, into Britain," &c. Then we come to 22. "Camejus, for the most part modern;" and to 10. "Other extraordinary Rarities," including
4. "The Picture of Mathew of Leyden, King of the Anabaptists, done in miniature by Holbein.
7. A box with 8 Calcedonies set in gold, in which are engraved the Passion of our Saviour," &c.
The "antiques set in gold, being rings or seals," are thirty-seven in number; among them
"8. Ennius the poet, with this motto, Sine lucto memento, a seal.
"19. Homer deified, a seal.
"34. A double seal of Charles I., King of England, and Henrietta, daughter of Henry IV. of France, &c., with a motto of Castus Amor vinxit. Engraved by Simon Monuntum Preclarissimum."
The Drawings come last, and are divided into seven Porta Folios, containing respectively 21, 23, 30, 23, 24, 26 and 42 specimens. In the first two no names of the masters are given: in the third, they are all assigned to various artists, including Emskirk (I spell names as I find them), Paulo Veronesa, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Tintorett, Giulio Romano, &c. The fourth portfolio has only one name to the 23 lots, viz. Tintorett; and Filippo Bellin is the only master named in the fifth portfolio. In the sixth, we meet with Tintorett, Perugino, Mich. Ang. Bonaroti, Annibal Caracci, Paulo Brill, and Raphael. Of the 42 drawings in Portfolio 7. all have names annexed to them, excepting eight; and here we read those of Guido Reni, Gio Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, Corregio, Andrea del Sarto, Tadeo Zuccaro, &c.
I may have gone into more detail than was necessary; but, besides the Queries I have already put, I want to know if any of these gems, cameos, antiques, or drawings are now known to be in existence; and, if possible, where they are to be found.
A Curiosity Hunter.
MINOR QUERIES
Quotations wanted.—I shall be greatly obliged to any of the correspondents of your most interesting and useful publication who will kindly inform me in what authors the following passages are to be found, and will, if it can be done without too much trouble, give me the references necessary for tracing them:—
"Par un peu de sang bien répandu,
L'on en épargne beaucoup."
And
"Quadrijugis invectus equis Sol aureus extat,
Cui septem veriis circumdant vestibus Horæ:
Lucifer antesolat: rapidi fuge lampada Solis,
Aurora, umbrarum victrix, neo victa recedas."
The latter I have only seen subjoined to a print of Guido's celebrated Aurora, at Rome; and I should have supposed it might have been written for the occasion, had I not been told, upon authority in which I put confidence, that it is to be found in some classic author. If so, the lines may possibly have given rise to the painting, and not the painting to the lines.
Dawson Turner.
Yarmouth, October 28. 1850.
Avidius Varus.—Can you, or any of your readers, tell me who Avidius Varus was, referred to in the following passage:
"Sed Avidii Vari illud hic valeat:
'Aut hoc quod produxi testium satis est, aut nihil satis.'"
I find reference made to him as above, in one of the Smith manuscripts; but I cannot discover his name in any catalogue or biographical dictionary. Is he known by any other name?
J. Sansom.
Death of Richard II.—By what authority has the belief that Richard II. died in Pontefract Castle, in Yorkshire, arisen? Every history that I have consulted (with the exception, indeed, of Lord Lyttleton's) coolly assumes it as a fact, in the teeth of the contemporary Froissart, who says plainly enough—
"Thus they left the Tower of London where he had died, and paraded the streets at a foot's pace till they came to Cheapside."—Froissart's Chronicles, translated by Johnes, vol. vii. p. 708.
It is barely possible that our modern historians may have been misled by Shakspeare, who makes Pontefract the scene of his death.
Another circumstance which militates against the received story, is the fact that all historians, I believe, agree that his dead body was conveyed to burial from the Tower of London. Now, it seems odd, to say the least, that if he really died at Pontefract, and his corpse was removed to London, that no one mentions this removal—that Froissart had not heard of it, although, from the nature of the country, the want of good roads, &c., the funeral convoy must have been several days upon the road. Can any one give me any information upon this question? I may just say that, of course, no reliance can be placed on the fact of the "very identical tower" in which the deposed king died being shown at Pontefract.
H. A. B.
Sir W. Herschel's Observations and Writings.—Will you permit me to propose the following Queries in your excellent paper.
1. I have a note to the following effect, but it is without date or reference. The late Sir W. Herschel, during an examination of the heavens in which he was observing stars that have a proper motion, saw one of the 7.8 magnitude near the 17th star 12 hour of Piazzi's Catalogue, and noted the approximate distance between them; on the third night after, he saw it again, when it had advanced a good deal, having gone farther to the eastward, and towards the equator. Bad weather, and the advancing twilight, prevented Sir William's getting another observation. Meantime the estimated movement in three days was 10″ in right ascension, and about a minute, or rather less, towards the north. "So slow a motion," he says, "would make me suspect the situation to be beyond Uranus." What I wish to inquire is this: has it been established by calculation whether the new planet discovered by Adams and Le Verrier was or was not the star observed at the time and in the place specified by Sir William Herschel?
2. Have Sir W. Herschel's contributions to the Philosophical Transactions ever been published in a separate form? and if so, where they can be obtained?
H. C. K.
Swearing by Swans.—
"At the banquet held on this occasion, he vowed before God and the swans, which according to usage were placed on the table, to punish the Scottish rebels."—Keightley's History of England, vol. i. p. 249. ed. 1839.
What authority is there for this statement respecting the swans? What was the origin and significance of the usage to which allusion is here made?
R. V.
Winchester.
Automachia.—I am the possessor of a little book, some 2½ inches long by 1½ wide, bound in green velvet, entitled Automachia, or the Self-conflict of a Christian, and dedicated
"To the most noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the Lady Mary Nevil, one of the daughters of the Right Honourable the Earl of Dorcet, Lord High Treasurer of England."
The book commences with an anagram on the lady's name:
"Add but an A to Romanize your name
Another Pallas is your anagram,
Videlicet
Maria Nevila
Alia Minerva."
And then follow some "Stanzes Dedicatory," subscribed—
Most deuoted to your honourable vertues.—J. S."
On the last page is—
"London, printed by Milch Bradwood, for Edward Blount, 1607."
The Automachia is a poem of 188 lines, in heroic metre, and is followed by a shorter poem, entitled "A Comfortable Exhortation to the Christian in his Self-conflict."
Do any of your correspondents know of the existence or authorship of this little work? It is not in the British Museum, nor could the curators of the library there, to whom it was shown, make out anything about it.
The discovery of its authorship might tend to throw some light on that of "The Pedlar's Song," attributed to Shakspeare, and appearing in Vol. i., p. 23. of "Notes and Queries." The song contains the line—
"Such is the sacred hunger for gold."
And in the Automachia I find the "auri sacra fames" described as—
"Midas' desire, the miser's only trust,
The sacred hunger of Pactolian dust."
A. M.
Poa cynosuwides.—Poa cynosuwides, the sacred grass of India, is mentioned in Persoon's Synopsis, as also an Egyptian plant: does it appear on the Egyptian monuments? Theophrastus, quoted in the Præparatio Evangelica of Eusebius, mentions the use of a certain ποα in the ancient sacrifices of Egypt.
F. Q.
Vineyards.—Besides those at Bury St. Edmonds and Halfield, are there any other pieces of land bearing this name? and if so, when were they disused for their original purpose?
Clericus.
Martin, Cockerell, and Hopkins Families.—Can any one give information respecting the families of Martin, Cockerell, and Hopkins, in or near Wivenhoe, Essex?
Clericus.
Camden's Poem on Marriage of the Thames and Isis.—I should esteem it a favour if any reader of the "Notes and Queries" would inform me where I can find a Latin poem of Camden's on the "Marriage of the Thames with the Isis." In his work styled Britannia (which was enlarged by Richard Gough, in 3 vols., fol. Lond. 1789), in vol. i. p. 169., under Surrey, Camden himself quotes two passages; and in vol. ii., under Middlesex, p. 2., one passage, from the above-mentioned poem. I have in vain made many endeavours to find the entire poem. I have examined the original work, as well as all the translations of Britannia, sive Florentissimorum Regnorum Angliæ, etc., chorographica descriptio; Gulielmo Camdeno, authore, Londini, 1607, folio. All these contain the quotations I have specified, but no more, and I am anxious to see the whole of the poem.
¶S.
National Airs of England.—Among the national gleanings which are sent to your journal, I have not seen any that relate to the traditional music of England. We allow our airs to be stolen on all sides, and, had not Mr. Chappell acted the part of a detective, might never have recovered our own property. Ireland has taken "My Lodging is on the cold Ground" and "The Girls we leave behind us," while Scotland has laid claim to all her own at least, and Germany is laying violent hands on "God save the Queen."
Under these circumstances, would it not be a good thing, for those who have the power, to communicate the simple air of any song which appears native to our country, together with the words? I fancy that in this way we should gain many hints, besides musical ones, highly interesting to your readers.
? (3.).
P.S. It has struck me that the origin of the word mass may be found in the custom, referred to in an early number of "Notes and Queries," of messing persons together at dinner in former times.
Poor Pillgarlick.—Whence comes the expression, "Poor Pilgarlick," and how should the words be spelt?
H. P.
Exeter.
Inscription on a Portrait.—Can any of your correspondents explain the meaning of the following inscription:—
io par. pla
vx
placed at the top left-hand corner of an old portrait in my possession, supposed to be that of Philip II. of Spain?
C. Edwards.
Burton's Parliamentary Diary.—The sale of clergymen for slaves is alluded to in vol. iv. of Burton's Diary. This has received elucidation at p. 253. of your present volume.
Tobacconists.—At p. 320, vol. i., of Burton's Parliamentary Diary it is stated, that
"Sir John Reynolds said he had numbered the House, and there were at rising at least 220 present, besides tobacconists."
What and who were the persons designated as tobacconists?
P. T.
"The Owl is abroad."—On what ground is the fine base song, "The Owl is abroad," attributed to Henry Purcell? Dr. Clarke has done so in his well-known selections from Purcell's works; and Mr. G. Hogarth, in his Memoirs of the Musical Drama, speaking of Purcell's Tempest, says:
"There is a song for Caliban, The Owl is abroad, the Bat and the Toad, which one might suppose Weber to have imagined."
Is it not really the property of John Christopher Smith, the friend of Handel? Amongst the few books of printed music in the British Museum Catalogue is The Tempest, an Opera, composed by Mr. Smith, in which is the base song in question. On the other hand, I do not find it in Purcell's Tempest. If, as I imagine, it belongs to Mr. Smith, it seems peculiarly hard that the credit of the composition should be taken from him, to be given to one who stands in no need of it.
A. R.
Scandal against Queen Elizabeth.—The following note occurs in vol. iv. p. 135. of Burton's Parliamentary Diary:—
"Osborn,—see his works (1673), p. 442,—says, 'Queen Elizabeth had a son, bred in the state of Venice, and a daughter, I know not where or when;' with other strange tales that went on her I neglect to insert, as fitter for a romance than to mingle with so much truth and integrity as I profess."
Is this rumour any where else alluded to? and if so, upon what foundation?
