قراءة كتاب Notes and Queries, Number 232, April 8, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
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Notes and Queries, Number 232, April 8, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
to his son.
Here, then, are above a dozen striking coincidences in this one example; and they are given with but slight dislocation or transposition. Other examples might be adduced, but I must reserve them for another communication.
Dewsbury.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.
Meeting occasionally, in reading new French works and journals, with sentiments and criticisms by eminent living writers on the characteristic peculiarities of some of the most distinguished French authors of the age of Louis XIV. and subsequently, perhaps you will allow me to send you, from time to time, "notes" or extracts from the criticisms alluded to, in case you should be of opinion that they may be agreeable to some of your readers, who may not be aware of the healthier and more Christian tone that now pervades one, at least, of the most influential organs of public opinion in France. Let us begin with La Rochefoucauld, as recently reviewed in the Journal des Débats.
Oxford.
"La Rochefoucauld.
"Pourquoi La Rochefoucauld m'inspire-t-il une répugnance invincible? Pourquoi cette souffrance en le lisant? Ah! le voici, je crois. La morale de La Rochefoucauld c'est la morale Chrétienne, moins, si je puis m'exprimer ainsi, le Christianisme lui-même; c'est tout ce qui peut humilier et abattre le cœur dans la sévère doctrine de l'Evangile, moins ce qui le relève; c'est toutes les illusions détruites sans les espérances qui remplacent les illusions. En un mot, dans le Christianisme La Rochefoucauld n'a pris que le dogme de la chute; il a laissé le dogme de la rédemption. En faisant briller un côté du flambeau, celui qui désenchante l'homme de lui-même, il éclipse l'autre, celui qui montre à l'homme dans le ciel sa force, son appui, et l'espoir d'une régénération. La Rochefoucauld ne croit pas plus à la sainteté qu'à la sagesse, pas plus à Dieu qu'à l'homme. Le pénitent n'est pas moins vain à ses yeux que le philosophe. Partout l'orgueil, partout le moi, sous la haire du Trappiste, comme sous le manteau du cynique.
"La Rochefoucauld n'est Chrétien que pour poursuivre notre pauvre cœur jusque dans ses derniers retranchemens; il n'est Chrétien que pour verser son poison sur nos joies et sur nos rêves les plus chers.... Que reste-t-il donc à l'homme? Pour les âmes fortes, il ne reste rien qu'un froid et intrépide mépris de toutes choses, un sec et stoïque contentement à envisager le néant absolu; pour les autres, le désespoir ou les jouissances brutales du plaisir comme dernière fin de la vie!
"Et voilà ce que je déteste dans La Rochefoucauld! Cet idéal dont j'ai soif, il le détruit partout. Ce bien, ce beau, dont les faibles images me ravissent encore sous la forme imparfaite de nos vertus, de notre science, de notre sagesse humaine, il le réduit à un sec intérêt."—S. De Sacy, Journal des Débats, Janv. 28.
SHROPSHIRE BALLAD.
Your correspondent B. H. C. (Vol. viii., p. 614.) gives, from recollection, a Northamptonshire version of the old "Ballad of Sir Hugh of Lincoln." It reminded me of a similar, though somewhat varied, version which I took down, more than forty years ago, from the lips of a nurse-maid in Shropshire. It may interest the author of The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, to know that it was recited in the place of his birth. Its resemblance to the ballad in Percy's Reliques was my inducement to commit it to paper:
It hails, it rains, in Merry-Cock land,
It hails, it rains, both great and small,
And all the little children in Merry-Cock land,
They have need to play at ball.
They toss'd the ball so high,
They toss'd the ball so low,
Amongst all the Jews' cattle
And amongst the Jews below.
Out came one of the Jews' daughters
Dressed all in green.
"Come, my sweet Saluter,
And fetch the ball again."
"I durst not come, I must not come,
Unless all my little playfellows come along,
For if my mother sees me at the gate,
She'll cause my blood to fall."
She show'd me an apple as green as grass,
She show'd me a gay gold ring,
She show'd me a cherry as red as blood,
And so she entic'd me in.
She took me in the parlour,
She took me in the kitchen,
And there I saw my own dear nurse
A picking of a chicken.
She laid me down to sleep,
With a Bible at my head, and a Testament at my feet;
And if my playfellows come to quere for me,
Tell them I am asleep.
"OF THE BENEFIT OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST," BY AONIO PALEARIO.
The total, or almost total, disappearance of books at one time largely circulated, is a curious fact in the history of literature. One cause of it may be found in the efforts made by the Church of Rome to suppress those works which were supposed to contain unsound doctrine.
"Heretical books," says Mr. T. B. Macaulay, "were sought out and destroyed with unsparing rigour. Works which were once in every house, were so effectually suppressed, that no copy of them is now to be found in the most extensive libraries. One book in particular, entitled Of the Benefit of the Death of Christ, had this fate. It was written in Tuscan, was many times reprinted, and was eagerly read in every part of Italy. But the inquisitors detected in it the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone. They proscribed it; and it is now as utterly lost as the second decade of Livy."
This book was published without a name. But the author was Aonio Paleario. It was translated into various languages, as French, Spanish, English, and possibly others; and within six years after its first appearance, 40,000 copies are said to have been circulated.
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to meet with a copy of the English version, which was made from the French, not from the original. This copy was printed in 1638, and was, according to the title-page, the fourth (English) edition. From it I edited the work, prefixing a short notice of the author, and verifying the references to the Fathers. It was subsequently retranslated into Italian, and has, I am informed, been much read in Italy. Some time after this publication, I became aware of the existence of a copy (in private hands) of the apparently first English edition, bearing the date of 1573. This I was allowed to inspect: and I hope hereafter to put forth another edition, in which the text of this copy will be followed, and two or three inaccuracies which had crept into the former impression will be corrected.
I was, however, ignorant that a single copy of the original Italian existed; and all inquiry for it seemed to be vain. But one was near at hand, preserved with diligent care among the literary treasures of St. John's College, Cambridge, by the authorities there, who were well aware of its rarity and value. By their obliging permission, I was a few days ago permitted to examine it.
It is a small square 16mo., bound, in beautiful condition, measuring about 4¼ inches by 3, and containing seventy-two pages. The following is the title-page:
"Trattato vtilissimo del beneficio di Giesv Christo crocifisso, verso i Christiani. Venetiis, Apud Bernardinum de Bindonis. Anno Do. M.D.XXXXIII."
From the date, it seems to be the first edition.
There is an address