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MESMERISM

(Vol. iii., p. 220.)

I am much obliged to your correspondent A. L. R. for his kind notice of my pamphlet on Mesmerism, and equally so to yourself for inserting it; because it gives me an opportunity of explaining to him, and others to whom I am personally unknown, and who are therefore not aware of my circumstances and movements, why the work was not continued without delay. In doing this I will try to avoid trespassing on your goodness by one word of needless egotism. In my Preface I described my materials as a "number of fragments belonging to various ages and places," as "scattered facts and hints" which I had met with in books which were not suspected of containing such matter; and some of them books not likely to fall into the hands of anybody but a librarian, or at least a person having access to a public library. It may be easily understood that rough materials thus gathered were not fit for publication; and that, without the books from which they had been "noted" and "queried," they could not be made so: and if I had anticipated the course of events (notwithstanding an inducement which I will mention presently), I should not have thought of publishing a Part I. But when I sent it to the press, I had no idea that I should ever return here, or be at an inconvenient distance from the libraries which were then within my reach, and open to my use. As it was, I regretted that I had done so, and felt obliged to hurry the pamphlet through the press, that I might pack up these papers, and many other things more likely to be hurt by carriage, for a residence an hundred miles off; and here they are in statu quo. I have not attempted to do any thing with them, not only because I have been very much occupied in other ways, but because I do not know that I could fit them for publication without referring to some books to which I have not access. At the same time I feel bound to add, that while I still think that some of the things to which I refer might be worth printing, yet I do not consider them so important as the matter which formed the subject of the Part already published. I did think (and that was the inducement to which I have already referred) that it was high time to call the attention of disinterested and reflecting persons to the facts alleged by mesmerists, and to the names by which they are attested. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have in some degree succeeded in this design. I may perhaps some day find a channel for publishing the fragments alluded to; but in the mean time, I shall be very glad if I can supply anything which your correspondent may think wanting, or explain anything unintelligible in what is published, if he will let me hear from him either with or without his name. I am sorry to ask for so much space, knowing how little you have to spare; but I cannot resist the temptation to offer an explanation, which will be so widely circulated, and among such readers as I know this will be, if you can find room for it.

J. R. Maitland.

Gloucester, March 24.

LORD HOWARD OF EFFINGHAM

(Vol. iii., p. 185.)

The following observations, though slight in themselves, may tend to show that Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, afterwards Earl of Nottingham, was, or professed to be, a Protestant.

1st. On his embassy to Spain, Carte says (I quote from Collins's Peerage, vol. iv. p. 272.)—

"On Friday the last of this Month His Catholick Majesty ratified the peace upon Oath in a great chamber of the palace.... It was pretended that the Clergy would not suffer this to be done in a Church or Chapel where the neglect of reverence of the Holy Sacrament would give scandal."

I presume the "neglect of reverence" was apprehended in the case of the English ambassador.

2nd. In Fuller's Worthies (Surrey), speaking of Lord Nottingham, it is said—

"He lived to be very aged, who wrote 'man,' (if not married) in the first of Queen Elizabeth, being an invited guest at the solemn consecration of Matthew Parker at Lambeth; and many years after, by his testimony, confuted those lewd and loud lies which the papists tell of the Nag's Head in Cheapside."

3rd. He was one of the commissioners on the trial of Garnet and others; and told him, as he stood in a box made like a pulpit—

"Sir, you have this day done more good in that pulpit wherein you now stand, than you have done in any other pulpit all the days of your life."—Archæologia, vol. xv.

His coffin-plate has been engraved somewhere, and, if his will exists, it might probably settle the question.

Q. D.

Lord Howard of Effingham (Vol. iii., p. 185.).—There is some proof that he was a Protestant in the letter of instructions to him from King James (Biog. Brit., p. 2679.):

"Only we forewarn you, that in the performance of that ceremony, which is likely to be done in the King's (of Spain) chapel, you have especial care that it be not done in the forenoon, in the time of mass, to the scandal of our religion; but rather in the afternoon, at what time their service is more free from note of superstition."

May Lord Effingham have changed his religion between the Armada and his mission to Spain?

C. B.

IOVANNI VOLPE

(Vol. iii., p. 188.)

The Volpes were an ancient, noble Florentine family of the second class, some branches of which according to the usage of Florence, changed their name, and adopted that of Bigliotti. The object of the change was to remove the disqualification which attached to them, as nobles, of holding offices under the republic. In illustration of this singular practice, the following extracts may be cited:

"Le peuple nomma une commission pour corriger les statuts de la république, et réprimer par les lois l'insolence des nobles. Une ordonnance fameuse, connue sous le nom d'Ordinamenti della Giustizia, fut l'ouvrage de cette commission. Pour le maintien de la liberté et de la justice, elle sanctionna la jurisprudence la plus tyrannique, et la plus injuste. Trente-sept familles, les plus nobles et les plus respectables de Florence, furent exclus à jamais du priorat, sans qu'il leur fùt permis de recouvrer les droits de cité, en se faisant matriculer dans quelque corps de métier, ou en exerçant quelque profession.... Les membres de ces trente-sept familles furent désignés, même dans les lois, par les noms de grands et de magnats; et pour la première fois, on vit un titre d'honneur devenir nonseulement un fardeau onéreux, mais une punition."—Sismondi, Histoire des Républiques Italiennes, tom. iv. pp. 63-4.: Paris, 1826.

"The people, now sure of their triumph, relaxed the Ordinances of Justice, and, to make some distinction in favour of merit or innocence, effaced certain families from the list of the nobility. Five hundred and thirty persons were thus elevated, as we may call it, to the rank of commoners. As it was beyond the competence of the Republic of Florence to change a man's ancestors, this nominal alteration left all the real advantage of birth as they were, and was undoubtedly an enhancenent of dignity, though, in appearance, a very singular one. Conversely, several unpopular commoners were ennobled in order to disfranchise them. Nothing was more usual, in subsequent times, than such an arbitrary change of rank, as a penalty or a benefit. (Messer Antonio de Baldinaccio degli Adimari, tutto che fosse de più grandi e nobili, per grazia era misso tra 'l popolo.—Villani, xii. c. 108.) Those nobles who were rendered plebeian by favour, were obliged to change their name and arms."—Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 435-6.: London, 1834.

"In the history of Florentine families, a singular feature presents itself; by a practice peculiar to Italy, nay, it is believed to Florence, families, under certain circumstances, were compelled to change their arms and their surnames, the origin of which was as follows. After having long suffered the insolent factions of the great families to convulse the state, the middle classes, headed indeed by one of the nobles, by a determined movement, obtained the mastery. To organize their newly-acquired power, they instituted an office, the chief at Florence during the republican era, that of Gonfalonier of Justice; they formed a species of national guard from the whole body of the citizens, who were again subdivided into companies, under the command of other officers of inferior dignity, also styled Gonfaloniers (Bannarets). As soon as any noble committed violence within the walls of the city, likely to compromise the public peace, or disturb the quiet of the state, the great bell at the Palazzo Vecchio raised its alarum, the population flew to arms, and hastened to the spot, where the Gonfalonier of Justice speedily found himself in a position, not merely to put an end to the disturbance, but even to lay siege to the stout massive fortresses which formed the city residences of the insolent and refractory offenders to which they then withdrew. But the reforming party did not stop there; by the new constitution, which was then introduced, the ancient noble families, termed by cotemporary historians 'i grandi,' and explained to include those only which had ever been illustrated by the order of knighthood, were all placed under a severe system of civil restrictions, and their names were entered upon a roll called the Ordinances of Justice; the immediate effect was that, losing all political rights, they were placed in a most disadvantageous position before the law.

"By a remarkable species of democratic liberality, a man or a family might be emancipated from this position and rendered fit for office, born again as it were into a new political life, by renouncing their connections (consorteria) and changing their arms and surnames. They were then said to be made plebeian or popular (fatti di popolo). Niebuhr has noticed the analogy of such voluntary resignation of nobility to the 'transitio ad plebem' of the Romans.

"This practice of changing arms and surnames originated from the Ordinances of Justice promulgated about that time, which expressly requires this as a condition to the enjoyment by any of the old families of popular rights. It gave rise to great varieties of surnames and armorial bearings in different branches of the same house. But it has nevertheless been noted that in all these mutations it was still the endeavour of the parties to retain as much as possible of the ancient ensigns and appellations, so that traces of descent and connexion might not in the progress of years be altogether obliterated. Thus the Cavalcanti took the name of Cavallereschi, the Tornaquinci that of Tornabuoni. Sometimes they obtained the object by a play upon the name itself thus; at other times by making a patronymic of the Christian name of the first or some other favourite ancestor; thus a branch of the Bardi assumed the name of Gualterotti, and a branch of the Pazzi that of Accorri. Sometimes they took their new name from a place or circumstance calculated to preserve the memory of their origin; thus the Agolanti designated themselves Fiesolani, the Bostichi from the antiquity of their stock, Buonantichi. In mutation of arms a similar object was borne in mind. Thus the Buondelmonti simply added to their ancient bearings a mountain az. and a cross gu. The Baccelli, who were a branch of the Mazzinghi, replaced the three perpendicular clubs, the ancient ensigns of the family, by two placed in the form of a cross.

"As the object of these provisions was to discriminate for the future those of the ancient families who had acceded to the principles of the popular institutions from their more haughty kindred, who remained true to the defence of their feudal and aristocratical pretensions, the change either of arms or surname was not required if the whole family became converts to the new doctrines; for then there was no need of discrimination, and the law was not framed out of any dislike merely to particular ensigns, but only to the principles and opinions which they had up to a certain time been understood to represent."—Mazzinghi.

The identity of the Volpes and Bigliottis is attested by ancient sepulchral monuments of the family in Santo Spirito at Florence. To mark the ancient origin, they retained or assumed the fox (volpe) as their arms. Borghini, in his Discorsi (Florence, 1584-5), mentions the family as an instance of the name giving rise to the arms, and mentions Sandro Biglotti, 1339, as the first who assumed the fox as his ensigns. The distinction and influence enjoyed at Florence by the family is indicated by its having contributed ten Gonfaloniers of Justice to the republic; an office corresponding in rank with those of Doge of Venice and Doge of Genoa. Details of several branches of the family will be found in Saggi Istorici D'Antichità Toscane di Lorenzo Cantini: Firenze, 1798.

Among the junta of twenty noblemen of Venice, chosen in 1355, on the discovery of the conspiracy of Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, we find the name of "Ser Niccolò Volpe":—

"Questi [que' del Consiglio de' Dieci] elessero tra loro una Giunta, nella notte, ridotti quasi sul romper del giorno, di venti nobili di Vinezia de' migliori, de' piu savii, e de' piu antichi, per consultare, non pero che mettessero pallottola."—Vitæ Ducum Venetorum,—though the title is in Latin, the work is in Italian,—published in Muratori's Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, tom. xii. p. 634.

The following particulars are extracted from the Biographie Universelle:—

"Ivo. Biliotti, d'une famille patricienne de Florence (qui avoit fourni dix Gonfaloniers de Justice à cette république, et placé ses armes sur les monnaies de l'état), fut un des derniers défenseurs de la liberté de sa patrie, et un des meilleurs capitaines de son temps. En 1529, il defendit le fort de Spello, en Toscane, contre les troupes liguées du pape et de l'Empereur Charles Quint. Il obligea le prince d'Orange, qui les commandait, à se retirer, et se distingua aussi au siége de Florence. Il passa au service de Francois I^er, roi de France, avec de Gondi et Pierre de Strozzi, ses parents, et fut tué au siége de Dieppe. Une partie de la famille Biliotti, proscrite par les Médicis, se refugia à Avignon et dans le comtat Venaissin, vers la fin du 15^e siècle. Le 29 juillet, 1794, le chef de cette maison, Joseph Joachim, Marquis de Biliotti, chevalier de St. Louis, âgé de soixante-dix ans, aussi distingué par ses vertus que par sa naissance, fut la dernière victime du tribunal révolutionnaire d'Orange, qui fut suspendu le lendemain de sa mort."

The only particulars of Iovanni Volpe furnished by the Gwerclas MSS. are given in the annexed pedigree. The marriage of his daughter Frances with my ancestor, Richard Hughes of Gwerclas, arose from the latter (before his accession to the family estates and representation, consequent on the decease without issue—February 6, 18 James I., 1620-1—of his elder brother, Humffrey Hughes, Esq., of Gwerclas, Baron of Cymmer-yn-Edeirnion, High Sheriff of Merionethshire in 1618) having been secretary of the princely Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland, to whom Iovanni Volpe had been physician. There can be little doubt that Iovanni was descended from a branch of the Italian Volpes which had retained the ancient name; a supposition confirmed by the tradition of my family, and by the fact of the fox being assigned to his daughter Frances as her arms, in an emblazoned genealogy of the house of Gwerclas compiled in 1650 by the most accurate and eminent of Welsh antiquaries, Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, Esq.

I may add, that among the Gwerclas pictures are portraits of Richard Hughes and Frances; the latter exhibiting in features an complexion the unmistakeable impress of Italian lineage.

William Hughes.

Twyford, Hants, March 18. 1851.

Giovanni Volpe or Master Wolfe (Vol. iii., p. 188.).—This person was certainly never "physician to Queen Elizabeth," but he may have received from her Majesty the appointment of apothecary, as he did from her successor. On New-Year's day, 1605-6, John Vulp presented to the king "a box of Indian plums," receiving in return 7 oz. di. di. qr. of gilt plate; he is then named the last of five apothecaries who paid their votive offerings to royalty. (Nichols's Progresses, &c. of King James I., vol. i. p. 597.) In 1617 he had risen to be the king's principal apothecary, and by the name of John Wolfgango Rumlero received "for his fee by the year 40 li.," as appears by the abstract of his Majesty's revenue attached to the pamphlet entitled Time brought to Light by Time. From the name here given him, it may be conjectured that he was rather from Germany than Italy. However, he also went by the plain English name of Master Wolfe.

He is thus alluded to in the epilogue to Ben Jonson's Masque of the Metamorphosed Gipsies, when it was performed at Windsor in September, 1621:—

 
"But, lest it prove like wonder to the sight
To see a gipsy, as an Æthiop, white,
Know that what dy'd our faces was an ointment
Made and laid on by Master Woolfe's appointment,
The Count Lycanthropos."
 

As he was a man of such prominence in his profession, probably many other notices of him might be collected if duly "noted" as they occur.

J. G. N.