Notes and Queries, Number 25, April 20, 1850. Various
p>Notes and Queries, Number 25, April 20, 1850
OUR FURTHER PROGRESS
We have again been called upon to reprint our first Four Numbers; that is to say, to print a Third Edition of them. No stronger evidence could be afforded that our endeavour to do good service to the cause of sound learning, by affording to Men of Letters a medium of intercommunication, has met with the sympathy and encouragement of those for whose sake we made the trial. We thank them heartily for their generous support, and trust we shall not be disappointed in our hope and expectation that they will find their reward in the growing utility of "NOTES AND QUERIES," which, thanks to the readiness with which able correspondents pour out their stores of learning, may be said to place the judicious inquirer in the condition of Posthumus, and
"Puts to him all the learnings that this time
Could make him the receiver of."
And here we may be permitted to avail ourselves of this opportunity, as, indeed, we feel compelled to do, to impress upon our correspondents generally, the necessity of confining their communications within the narrowest possible limits consistent with a satisfactory explanation of the immediate objects of them. "He that questioneth much," says Bacon, "shall learn much, and content much; but especially if he apply his Questions to the skill of the Persons whom he asketh. For he shall give them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge. But let his Questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a Poser; and let him be sure to leave other Men their turn to speak." What Bacon has said so wisely and so well, "OF DISCOURSE," we would apply to our little Journal; and beg our kind friends to remember, that our space is necessarily limited, and that, therefore, in our eyes, Brevity will be as much the Soul of a communication as it is said to be that of Wit.
NOTES
ROGER BACON: HINTS AND QUERIES FOR A NEW EDITION OF HIS WORKS
Victor Cousin, who has been for many years engaged in researches on the scholastic philosophy, with the view of collecting and publishing such of its monuments as have escaped the diligence of scholars, or the ravages of time, has lately made the discovery in the library at Douay of a copy of an inedited MS. of Roger Bacon, entitled Opus Tertium, of which but two or three other copies are known to exist; and has taken occasion, in some elaborate critiques, to enter, at considerable length, into the history and character of Roger Bacon and his writings.1 The following is a summary of part of M. Cousin's observations.
The Opus Tertium contains the author's last revision, in the form of an abridgment and improvement, of the Opus Majus; and was drawn up at the command of Pope Clement IV., and so called from being the third of three copies forwarded to his holiness; the third copy being not a fac-simile of the others, but containing many most important additions, particularly with regard to the reformation of the calendar. It also throws much light on Bacon's own literary history and studies, and the difficulties and persecutions he had to surmount from the jealousies and suspicions of his less-enlightened contemporaries and rivals. The Opus Tertium, according to the sketch given of its contents by Bacon himself, is not complete either in the Douay MS. or in that in the British Museum, several subjects being left out; and, among others, that of Moral Philosophy. This deficiency may arise, either from Bacon not having completed his original design, or from no complete MS. of this portion of his writings having yet been discovered. M. Cousin says, that the Opus Tertium, as well as the Opus Minus, is still inedited; and is only known by what Jebb has said of it in his preface to the Opus Majus. Jebb quotes it from a copy in the Cottonian Library, now in the British Museum; and it was not known that there was a copy in France, till M. Cousin was led to the discovery of one, by observing in the Catalogue of the public library of Douay, a small MS. in 4to. with the following title, Rog. Baconis Grammatica Græca. Accustomed to suspect the accuracy of such titles to MSS., M. Cousin caused a strict examination of the MS. to be made, when the discovery was communicated to him that only the first part of the MS. consisted of a Greek grammar, and that the remaining portion, which the compiler of the Catalogue had not taken the trouble to examine, consisted of many fragments of other works of Bacon, and a copy of the Opus Tertium. This copy of the Opus Tertium is imperfect, but fortunately the deficiencies are made up by the British Museum copy, which M. Cousin examined, and which also contains a valuable addition to Chapter I., and a number of good readings.
The Opus Majus, as published by Jebb, contains but six parts; but the work in its complete state had originally a seventh part, containing Moral Philosophy, which was reproduced, in an abridged and improved state, by the renowned author, in the Opus Tertium. This is now ascertained, says M. Cousin, with unquestionable certainty, and for the first time, from the examination of the Douay MS.; which alludes, in the most precise terms, to the treatise on that subject. Hence the importance of endeavouring to discover what has become of the MS. Treatise of Moral Philosophy mentioned by Jebb, on the authority of Bale and Pits, as it is very likely to have been the seventh part of the Opus Majus. Jebb published the Opus Majus from a Dublin MS., collated with other MSS.; but he gives no description of that MS., only saying that it contained many other works attributed to Bacon, and in such an order that they seemed to form but one and the same work. It becomes necessary, therefore, to ascertain what were the different works of Bacon included in the Dublin MS.; which is, in all probability, the same mentioned as being in Trinity College, in the Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum Collecti: Folio. Oxon, 1697.
According to this Catalogue, a Treatise on Moral Philosophy forms part of Roger Bacon's MSS. there enumerated; and if so, why did Jebb suppress it in his edition of the Opus Majus? Perhaps some of your correspondents in Dublin may think it worth the trouble to endeavour to clear up this difficulty, on which M. Cousin lays great stress; and recommends, at the same time, a new and complete edition of the Opus Majus to the patriotism of some Oxford or Cambridge Savant. He might well have included Dublin in his appeal for help in this undertaking; which, he says, would throw a better light on that vast, and not very intelligible monument of one of the most independent and greatest minds of the Middle Ages.
Oxford, April 9th.
CRAIK'S ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE
If I knew where to address Mr. G.L. Craik, I should send him the following "Note:" if you think it deserves a place in your columns, it may probably meet his eye.
In the article on the Lady Arabella Stuart (Romance of the Peerage, vol. ii. p. 370.), a letter of Sir Ralph Winwood, dated 1610, is quoted, in which he states, that she is "not altogether free from suspicion of being collapsed." On this Mr. Craik observes, "It is difficult to conjecture what can be here meant by collapsed, unless it be fallen off to Romanism." Now it is not a little curious, and it proves Mr. Craik's capability for the task of illustrating family history from the obscure allusions in letters and documents, that there exists cotemporary authority for fixing the meaning Mr. Craik has conjectured to be the true one, to the word collapsed. A pamphlet, with the title A Letter to Mr. T.H., late Minister, now Fugitive, was published in 1609, with a dedication to all Romish collapsed "ladies of Great Britain;" which bears internal evidence of being addressed to those who were converts from the Church of England to Romanism.
Theophilus Higgons, whom the above initials represent, was himself a convert to the Church of Rome.
It may be worth while making a further note, that the copy of the pamphlet before me belonged to Camden, and is described in his autograph, Guil. Camdenj. Ex. dono Authoris. It forms one of a large collection of tracts and pamphlets, originally the property of Camden, which are now in the library of the dean and chapter here.
It is curious that another document quoted by Mr. Craik in the same volume (p. 286 note), seems to fix the meaning of a word or expression, of obscure signification, in the authorised translation of the Bible. In Judges, ix. 53., we read, "A certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all tobrake his skull." I have heard some one, in despair at the grammatical construction of the latter clause, suggest that it might be an error for "also
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