Notes and Queries, Number 51, October 19, 1850 | Page 5

is: "Incipit summa viciorum seu tractatus moral' edita [_sic_] a fratre vilhelmo episcopo lugdunes. ordinsq. fratr? predicator." The description given by Quetif and Echard (i. 132.) of the primary impression of Perault's book only makes a bibliomaniac more anxious for information about it: "in Inc. typ. absque loco anno et nomine typographi, sine numeris reclamat. et majusculis."
11. Was Panormitan's Lectura super primo Decretalium indubitably issued at Venice, prior to the 1st of April, 1473? and if so, does it contain in the colophon these lines by Zovenzonius, which I transcribe from a noble copy bearing this date?
"Abbatis pars prima notis que fulget aliemis Est vindelini pressa labore mei: Cuius ego ingenium de vertice palladis ortum Crediderim. veniam tu mihi spira dabis."
12. Is it not unquestionable that Heroldt's Promptuarium Exemplorum was published at least as early as his _Sermones_? The type in both works is clearly identical, and the imprint in the latter, at the end of _Serm._ cxxxvi., vol. ii., is Colon. 1474, an edition unknown to very nearly all bibliographers. For instance, Panzer and Denis commence with that of Rostock, in 1476; Laire {325} with that of Cologne, 1478; and Maittaire with that of Nuremberg, in 1480. Different statements have been made as to the precise period when this humble-minded writer lived. Altamura (_Bibl. Domin._, pp. 147. 500.) places him in the year 1400. Quetif and Echard (i. 762.), Fabricius and Mansi (_Bibl. Med. et inf. Latin._), prefer 1418, on the unstable ground of a testimony supposed to have proceeded from the author himself; for whatever confusion or depravation may have been introduced into subsequent impressions, the _editio princeps_, of which I have spoken, does not present to our view the alleged passage, viz., "�� Christo autem transacti sunt millequadringenti decem et octo anni," but most plainly, "M.cccc. & liij. anni." (_Serm._ lxxxv., tom. ii.) To this same "Discipulus" Oudin (iii. 2654.), and Gerius in the Appendix to Cave (p. 187.), attribute the _Speculorum Exemplorum_, respecting which I have before proposed a Query; but I am convinced that they have confounded the Speculum with the Promptuarium. The former was first printed at Deventer, A.D. 1481, and the compiler of it enters upon his prologue in the following striking style: "Impressoria arte jamdudum longe lateque per orbem diffusa, multiplicatisque libris quarumcunque fere materiarum," &c. He then expresses his surprise at the want of a good collection of _Exempla_; and why should we determine without evidence that he must have been Heroldus?
R.G.
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FAIRFAX'S TASSO.
In a copy of Fairfax's _Godfrey of Bulloigne_, ed. 1600 (the first), which I possess, there occurs a very curious variorum reading of the first stanza of the first book. The stanza, as it is given by Mr. Knight in his excellent modern editions, reads thus:
"The sacred armies and the godly knight, That the great sepulchre of Christ did free, I sing; much wrought his valour and foresight, And in that glorious war much suffer'd he; In vain 'gainst him did hell oppose her might, In vain the Turks and Morians armed be; His soldiers wild, to brawls and mutines prest, Reduced he to peace, so heaven him blest."
By holding up the leaf of my copy to the light, it is easy to see that the stanza stood originally as given above, but a cancel slip printed in precisely the same type as the rest of the book gives the following elegant variation:
"I sing the warre made in the Holy Land, And the Great Chiefe that Christ's great tombe did free: Much wrought he with his wit, much with his hand, Much in that braue atchieument suffred hee: In vaine doth hell that Man of God withstand, In vaine the worlds great princes armed bee; For heau'n him fauour'd; and he brought againe Vnder one standard all his scatt'red traine."
Queries.--1. Does the above variation occur in any or many other copies of the edition of 1600?
2. Which reading is followed in the second old edition?
T.N.
Demerary, September 11. 1850.
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MINOR QUERIES.
_Jeremy Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium._--Book I. chap. 2. Rule 8. �� 14.--
"If he (the judge) see a stone thrown at his brother judge, as happened at Ludlow, not many years since."
(The first ed. was published in 1660). Does any other contemporary writer mention this circumstance? or is there any published register of the assizes of that time?
_Ibid._ Chap. 2. Rule 3. �� 32.--
"The filthy gingran."
Apparently a drug or herb. Can it be identified, or its etymology pointed out?
_Ibid._ ��. 50.--
"That a virgin should conceive is so possible to God's power, that it is possible in nature, say the Arabians."
Can authority for this be cited from the ancient Arabic writers?
A.T.
_First Earl of Roscommon._--Can you or any of your correspondents put me on any plan by which I may obtain some information on the following subject?