قراءة كتاب Notes and Queries, Number 78, April 26, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
Notes and Queries, Number 78, April 26, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
practical utility which would result from the realisation of some well-considered scheme for the attainment of the great national object which we are advocating.
As an instance of the practical use of such a collection, let me inform your readers that in 1847, being engaged in an ejectment case on the home circuit, it became most important to show the identity of a young lady in the pedigree, the parish register of St. Christopher le Stocks only giving the name and date of burial. I found that when St. Christopher's was pulled down for the enlargement of the Bank of England, some kind antiquary had copied all the monuments. The book was found at the Herald's College; it contained an inscription proving the identity, and a verdict was obtained.
Our last communication is, we have reason to believe, from an active and zealous Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, who would heartily co-operate in carrying out the practical suggestions thrown out in his letter.
In Vol. iii, p. 218., you suggest that the Society of Antiquaries is the body which should undertake the task of forming a record of existing monuments in churches. Entirely agreeing in the opinion you have expressed, I would venture to offer some remarks on the subject. The undertaking is a vast and laborious one, and can only be effected by great subdivision of labour.
That the Society of Antiquaries is the fittest agent for the work, I think admits of little doubt; its Fellows are widely spread throughout the country. In every neighbourhood may be found one or more gentlemen able and willing to give their aid, and to excite others to assist. The Archæological Institute and the British Archæological Association would doubtless add the weight of their influence, and the personal assistance of their members.
The clergy throughout the country would be able and willing labourers; and surely these conjoined forces are adequate to the occasion.
One consideration suggests itself, viz., whether
the record be confined to monuments in churches, or whether it should be extended to those in churchyards? I think it should be so extended, partially—that is, that all the monuments in churches should be given; and such of the monuments in churchyards as, upon a careful inspection, may appear to be in any way worthy of preservation. We do not perhaps want the ten thousand "afflictions sore" which ten thousand John Smiths are stated to have "long time bore."
The inscriptions in churches should be accompanied with rubbings of all brasses; and, as far as possible, with drawings of the most interesting monuments.
I am satisfied the thing can be done, if it be undertaken with prudence, and continued with energy. The copies should be certified by the signature of the person making them, and they should all be transcribed on paper of the same description, so that they might be bound in volumes.
The expense would probably be considerable, because in some instances paid labour might be requisite; but it would be as nothing compared with the magnitude and importance of the result; and if, as is probable, the Society of Antiquaries might hesitate at undertaking the whole charge, I doubt not that many would contribute towards it, and amongst them
A very slight consideration of the object which it is proposed to accomplish, and the means by which it can be attained, will show that it falls properly into three distinct operations, namely, Collection, Preservation, and Publication.
The first and most important is, the Collection of Materials. In this, it is obvious, the co-operation of individuals well qualified for the work may be secured in all parts of the country, provided some well-defined plan of operation is furnished for their guidance, by some recognised centre of union. A Committee of the Society of Antiquaries, who should well consider and determine upon some uniform plan of recording the inscriptions, &c., is clearly the body who, from their position, could most effectually, and with the greatest propriety, issue such circulars. That the Antiquaries would in this receive the support of both the Archæological Societies, there cannot, of course, be any doubt.
And as we have in the Society of Antiquaries a machinery already established for the proper collection of the materials, so we have an existing and most appropriate place for their preservation in the British Museum, where they may be consulted at all times, by all parties, with the greatest facility, and free of charge.
These two great points, then, of Collection and Preservation, it is clear may be attained at an expense so inconsiderable, compared with the benefits to be gained from their accomplishment, that we cannot believe in their failure from want of funds.
For the accomplishment of the third great end, that of Publication, there is no existing machinery. But let the work of collection and preservation be once fairly entered upon—let it be seen how valuable a collection of materials has been gathered ready to the hand of a Society which should undertake its publication, and there need be little fear that from the supporters of the various Antiquarian, Archæological, and Publishing Societies, now spread throughout the country, there would be found plenty of good men and true ready to lend their aid to the printings and publishing of the Monumentarium Anglicanum.
But as the first step is Collection—and that step is the one in which the Society of Antiquaries can best move, we trust that the present year, in which this Society celebrates the centenary of its chartered existence, will be signalised by its promotion of such a Record of Existing Monuments as is here proposed; which cannot be otherwise regarded—(and we use the words of the Society's Charter)—than as "good, useful, honest, and necessary for the encouragement, advancement, and furtherance of the study and knowledge of Antiquities and the History of this Country."
Notes
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. IV.
The Pilgrimage to Canterbury.
"Whanne that April with his shoures sote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veine in swiche licour
Of which vertue engendred is the flour;
When Zephyrus eke with his sote brethe
Enspired hath in every holt and hethe
The tendre croppes—and the yonge Sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne;
* * * *
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages—
* * * *
* * * *
Befelle, that in that seson, on a day."—Prologue.
I quote these lines because I wish to show that Tyrwhitt, in taking them as indicative of the very day on which the journey to Canterbury was performed, committed a great mistake.
The whole of the opening of the prologue, down to the line last quoted, is descriptive, not of any particular day, but of the usual season of pilgrimages; and Chaucer himself plainly declares, by the words "in that seson, on a day"—that the day is as yet indefinite.
But because Tyrwhitt, who, although an excellent literary critic, was by no means an acute reader of his author's meaning, was incapable of appreciating the admirable combination of physical facts by which Chaucer has not only identified the real day of the pilgrimage, but has placed it, as it were, beyond the danger of alteration by any possible corruption in the text, he set aside these