Notes and Queries, Number 40, August 3, 1850 | Page 3

permission to copy the title and a few of the
sonnets, which were such as we could not imagine would have given
pleasure to the chaste mind of Milton; each of them containing, as the
title indicates, an _équivoque_, which would bear an obscene sense, yet
very ingeniously wrapped up. The first sonnet opens thus:--
"Queste Sonnetti, o Tina, ch' i' hó composto, Me gl' há dettati una Musa
buffona, Cantando d' improviso, alla Carlona, Sul suono, spinto dal
oalor del Mosto."
The second may serve to show the nature of the _équivoque_:--
"Tina, I' so legger bene, e rilevato La Storia di Liombrune, e Josafatte,
Se ben, per esser noto in queste fratte Sotto il Maestro mai non sono
stato.
"E il lere del dificio m' ha giurato, Quand' egli ha visto le Poesie ch' i'
hó fatte, Ch' elle son belle, e i piedi in terra batte, E vuol ch' io mi sia in
Pisa adottorato.
"Io canto, quand' io son ben ben satollo, Sul Chitarrin con voce si
sottile, Ch'io ne disgrado insien Maestro Apollo.
"Vien un poco da me, Tina gentile, Che s' egli avvien che tu mi segga
in collo, M' sentirai ben tosto alzar lo stile."
Antonio Malatesti was a man of mark in his time, being distinguished
for his talent as an improvisatore. Among his friends were Galileo,
Coltellini, and Valerio Chimentelli, who have all commendatory poems
prefixed to Malatesti's "Sphinx," a collection of poetical enigmas,
which has been frequently reprinted. Beside his poetical talent, he
studied astronomy, probably under Galileo; and painting, in which he
was a pupil of Lorenzo Lippi, author of the "Malmantile Raqquistato,"
who thus designates him under his academical name of Amostante
Latoni (canto i. stanza 61.):--
"E General di tutta questa Mandra Amostante Laton Poeta insigne.
Canta improviso, come un Calandra: Stampa gli Enigmi, 'Strologia, e
Dipigne."
Malatesti was a member of the Academy degli Apatisti, of which
Milton's friends Coltellini and Carlo Dati had been the principal
founders. The house of the latter was a court of the Muses, and it was at
the evening parties there that all who were distinguished for science or

literature assembled: "Era in Firenze la sua Casa la Magione de'
Letterati, particolarmente Oltramontani, da lui ricevuti in essa, e trattati
con ogni sorta di gentilezza."[1] Heinsius, Menage, Chapelain, and
other distinguished foreigners were members of this academy; and it is
more than probable that, were its annals consulted, our poet's name
would also be found there.
S.W. SINGER.
Mickleham, July 15, 1850.
[Footnote 1: Salvino Salvini Fasti Consolari dell' Academia Fiorentina,
1717, p. 548. Milton's stay of two months at Florence must have been
to him a period of pure enjoyment, and seems to have been always
remembered with delight:--"Illa in urbe, quam prae ceteris propter
elegantiam cum linguæ tum ingeniorum semper colui, ad duos circiter
menses substiti; illie multorum et nobilium sanè et doctorum hominum
familiaritatem statim contraxi; quorum etiam privatas academias (qui
mos illie cum ad literas humaniores assiduè frequentavi). Tui enim
Jacobe Gaddi, Carole Dati, Frescobalde, Cultelline, Bonmatthaei,
Chimentille Francine, aliorumque plurium memoriam apud me semper
gratam atque jucundam, nulla dies delebit."--_Defensio Secunda_, p.
96., ed. 1698.]
* * * * *
PULTENEY'S BALLAD OF "THE HONEST JURY."
On the application for a new trial, in the case of The King against
William Davies Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph (1784), wherein was raised
the important and interesting question, whether in libel cases the jury
were judges of the law as well as the fact, Lord Mansfield, in giving
judgment, remarked in reference to trials for libel, before Lord
Raymond:
"I by accident (from memory only I speak now) recollect one where the
Craftsman was acquitted; and I recollect it from a famous, witty, and
ingenious ballad that was made at the time by Mr. Pulteney; and though
it is a ballad, I will cite the stanza I remember from it, because it will
show you the idea of the able men in opposition, and the leaders of the
popular party in those days. They had not an idea of assuming that the
jury put it upon another and much better ground. The stanza I allude to
is this:--
"'For Sir Philip well knows, That his innuendos Will serve him no

longer, In verse or in prose; For twelve honest men have decided the
cause, Who are judges of fact, though not judges of laws.'
"It was the admission of the whole of that party; they put it right; they
put it upon the meaning of the _innuendos_; upon that the jury
acquitted the defendant; and they never put up a pretence of any other
power, except when talking to the jury themselves."
In Howell's State Trials (xxi. 1038.) is a note on this passage. This note
(stated to be