have an imperfect copy of an early edition (circa 1600) of "Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall. Odes, Eglogs, The Man in the Moon, by Michaell Drayton Esquier. At London, printed by R.B. for N.L. and J. Flaskett."
It is now thirty-five years since (eheu! fugaces labuntur anni!) the writer of this induced his friend Sir Egerton Brydges to print the Nymphidia at his private press; and it would give him pleasure, should your Notes be now instrumental to the production of a tasteful selection from the copious materials furnished by Drayton's prolific muse. Notwithstanding that selections are not generally approved, in this case it would be (if judiciously done) acceptable, and, it is to be presumed, successful.
The Nymphidia, full of lively fancy as it is, was probably produced in his old age, for it was not published, I believe, till 1627, when it formed part of a small folio volume, containing The Battaile of Agincourt and The Miseries of Queene Margarite. Prefixed to this volume was the noble but tardy panegyric of his friend Ben Jonson, entitled The Vision, and beginning:
"It hath been question'd, Michael, if I be
A friend at all; or, if at all, to thee."
Mickleham, Nov. 10. 1849.
ON A PASSAGE IN GOLDSMITH
Sir,—I observe in the Athenæum of the 17th inst. a quotation from the Life of Goldsmith by Irving, in which the biographer seems to take credit for appropriating to Goldsmith the merit of originating the remark or maxim vulgarly ascribed to Talleyrand, that "the true end of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them."
This is certainly found in No. 3. of The Bee, by Goldsmith, and no doubt Talleyrand acted upon the principle of dissimulation there enunciated; but the idea is much older than either of those individuals, as we learn from a note in p. 113. of vol. lxvii. Quart. Rev. quoting two lines written by Young (nearly one hundred years before), in allusion to courts:—
"Where Nature's end of language is declined,
And men talk only to conceal their mind."
Voltaire has used the same expression so long ago as 1763, in his little satiric dialogue La Chapon et la Poularde, where the former, complaining of the treachery of men says, "Ils n'emploient les paroles que pour déguiser leurs pénsees." (see xxix. tom. Oeuvres Complétes, pp. 83, 84. ed. Paris, 1822.)
The germ of the idea is also to be found in Lloyd's State Worthies, where speaking of Roger Ascham, he is characterised as "an honest man,—none being more able for, yet none more averse to, that circumlocution and contrivance wherewith some men shadow their main drift and purpose. Speech was made to open man to man, and not to hide him; to promote commerce, and not betray it."
Lloyd's book first appeared in 1665, but I use the ed. by Whitworth, vol. i. p. 503.
Oak House, Nov. 21. 1849.
[The further communications proposed to us by F.R.A. will be very acceptable.]
ANCIENT LIBRARIES—LIBRARY OF THE AUGUSTINIAN EREMITES OF YORK
Mr. Editor,—I have been greatly interested by the two numbers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" which you have sent me. The work promises to be eminently useful, and if furnished with a good index at the end of each yearly volume, will become a book indispensable to all literary men, and especially to those who, like myself, are in charge of large public libraries.
To testify my good will to the work, and to follow up Mr. Burtt's remarks on ancient libraries published in your second number, I venture to send you the following account of a MS. Catalogue of the Library of the Monastery of the Friars Eremites of the Order of St. Augustine in the City of York.
This MS. is now preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, amongst the MSS. formerly belonging to the celebrated Archbishop Ussher. It is on vellum, written in the 14th century, and begins thus:—
"Inventarium omnium librorum pertinentium ad commune armariole domus Ebor. ordinis fratrum heremitarum Sancti Augustini, factum in presentia fratrum Johannis de Ergum, Johannis Ketilwell, Ricardi de Thorpe, Johannis de Appilby, Anno domini Mº. CCC lxxij in festo nativitatis virginis gloriose. Fratre Willelmo de Stayntoun tunc existente priore."
The volume consists of forty-five leaves, and contains the titles of a very large and most respectable collection of books in all departments of literature and learning arranged under the following heads:—
Biblie.
Hystorie scholastice.
Textus biblie glosati.
Postille.
Concordancie et interpretaciones nominum hebreorum.
Originalia. [Under this head are included the
works of the Fathers, and medieval writers.]
Historie geneium.
Summe doctorum. Scriptores super sententias.
quodlibet. et questiones.
Tabulæ. [This division contained Indexes to
various authors, the Scriptures, canon law,
&c.]
Logicalia et philosophia cum scriptis et commentis.
Prophecie et supersticiosa.
Astronomia et Astrologia.
Instrumenta astrologica magistri Johannis Erghome
[who appears to have been a great
benefactor to the Library].
Libri divini officii magistri Johannis Erghome.
Jura civilia.
Jura canonica et leges humane: magistri Johannis
Erghome.
Auctores et philosophi extranei. [Under this
head occurs the following entry, "Liber hebraice
scriptus."]
Gramatica.
Rethorica. [Two leaves of the MS. appear to
have been cut out here.]
Medicina.
Hystorie et cronice.
Sermones et materie sermonum.
Summe morales doctorum et sermones.
Arithmetica, Musica, Geometria, Perspectiva,
magistri Johannis Erghome.
Each volume is identified, according to the usual practice, by the words with which its second folio begins: and letters of tha alphabet are added, probably to indicate its place on the shelves of the Library. As a specimen, I shall give the division headed "Biblie":—
BIBLIE
A. Biblia. incipit in 2º. fo. Samuel in1 heli.
B. Biblia. incipit in 2º. fo. Zechieli qui populo.
in duobus voluminibus.
C. Biblia. inc't. in 2º. fo. mea et in crane.
D. Biblia. inc't. in 2º. fo. ego disperdam.
¶ Libri magistri Johannis Erghome
Biblia. 2º. fol ravit quosdam. }
Interpretationes. }—A
E. Biblia incomplet. diversarum scripturarum.
quondam fratris R. Bossal. 2º. fo. me
occidet me etc.
HYSTORIE SCOLASTICE
A. Incipit in 2º. folio. secunda die.
B. inci't. in 2º. fo. emperio sane formatis. ligatus.
C. inci't. in 2º. fo. et celumque celi.
The words printed in Italics are added by