Notes and Queries, Number 04, November 24, 1849 | Page 3

he refers to Mabillon, _De Re Diplomatica_, p.
52.
On referring to Mabillon, I find that the passage runs as follows:--
"Christiani posthabitis scripturis sanctis, earumque interpretibus,
Arabum Chaldæorumque libris evolvendis incumbentes, legem suam
nesciebant, et linguam propriam non advertebant latinam, ita ut ex
omni Christi collegio vix inveniretur unus in milleno hominum genere,
qui salutatorias fratri posset rationabiliter dirigere litteras."

So that although Mabillon says that scarce one in a thousand could
address a Latin letter to another, yet he by no means says that it was on
account of their general ignorance, but because they were addicting
themselves to other branches of learning. They were devoting all their
energies to Arabic and Chaldæan science, and in their pursuit of it
neglected other literature. A similar remark might be made of
respecting many distinguished members of the University to which I
belong; yet who would feel himself justified in inferring thence that
Cambridge was sunk in ignorance?
CANTAB.
* * * * *
ADVERSARIA
[In our Prospectus we spoke of NOTES AND QUERIES becoming
everybody's common-place book. The following very friendly letter
from an unknown correspondent, G.J.K., urges us to carry out such an
arrangement.
"Sir,--I beg leave to forward you a contribution for your 'NOTES AND
QUERIES,' a periodical which is, I conceive, likely to do a vast deal of
good by bringing literary men of all shades of opinion into closer
juxtaposition than they have hitherto been.
"I would, however, suggest that in future numbers a space might be
allotted for the reception of those articles (short of course), which
students and literary men in general, transfer to their common-place
books; such as notices of scarce or curious books, biographical or
historical curiosities, remarks on ancient or obsolete customs, &c. &c.
&c. Literary men are constantly meeting with such in the course of
their reading, and how much better would it be if, instead of
transferring them to a MS. book to be seen only by themselves, or
perhaps a friend or two, they would forward them to a periodical, in
which they might be enshrined in imperishable pica; to say nothing of
the benefits such a course of proceeding would confer on those who
might not have had the same facilities of gaining the information thus
made public.
"In pursuance of this suggestion, I have forwarded the inclosed paper,
and should be happy, from time to time, to contribute such gleanings
from old authors, &c. as I might think worth preserving.
"G.J.K."

We readily comply with G.J.K.'s suggestion, and print, as the first of
the series, his interesting communication, entitled:]
1. _Writers of Notes on Fly-leaves, &c._
The Barberini Library at Rome contains a vast number of books
covered with marginal notes by celebrated writers, such as Scaliger,
Allatius, Holstentius, David Haeschel, Barbadori, and above all, Tasso,
who has annotated with his own hand more than fifty volumes. Valery,
in his _Voyages en Italie_, states that a Latin version of Plato is not
only annotated by the hand of Tasso, but also by his father, Bernardo; a
fact which sufficiently proves how deeply the language and philosophy
of the Greek writers were studied in the family. The remarks upon the
_Divina Commedia_, which, despite the opinion of Serassi, appear to
be authentic, attest the profound study which, from his youth, Tasso
had made of the great poets, and the lively admiration he displayed for
their works. There is also in existence a copy of the Venice edition of
the Divina Commedia (1477), with autograph notes by Bembo.
Christina of Sweden had quite a mania for writing in her books. In the
library of the Roman College (at Rome) there are several books
annotated by her, amongst others a {52} Quintus Curtius, in which, as
it would appear, she criticises very freely the conduct of Alexander.
"_He reasons falsely in this case_," she writes on one page; and
elsewhere, "_I should have acted diametrically opposite; I should have
pardoned_;" and again, further on, "_I should have exercised
clemency_;" an assertion, however, we may be permitted to doubt,
when we consider what sort of clemency was exercised towards
Monaldeschi. Upon the fly-leaf of a Seneca (Elzevir), she has written,
"_Adversus virtutem possunt calamitates damna et injuriæ quod
adversus solem nebulæ possunt_." The library of the Convent of the
Holy Cross of Jerusalem at Rome, possesses a copy of the _Bibliotheca
Hispanu_, in the first volume of which the same princess has written on
the subject of a book relating to her conversion: [1] "_Chi l'ha scritta,
non lo sa; chi lo sa, non l'ha mai scritta_."
Lemontey has published some very curious _Memoirs_, which had
been entirely written on the fly-leaves and margins of a missal by J. de
Coligny, who died in 1686.
Racine, the French tragic poet, was