Chapter C: M. I

_Buchanan and Voltaire._--Voltaire has obtained credit for a very smart epigram, and one which the _Edinburgh Review_ (vol. xxi. p. 271.) calls "one of his happiest repartees." It was, however, stolen by him, either designedly or unwittingly, from the celebrated Buchanan. Here are the two versions, and the point will be observed to be the same in both:

"An Englishman visiting Voltaire in his retreat at Ferney,
happened to mention Haller, in whose praise the philosopher
enlarged with great warmth. The other observed that this was very
handsome on the part of M. de Voltaire, as Haller was by no means
so liberal to M. de Voltaire. 'Alas!' said the patriarch, 'I dare
say we are both of us very much mistaken!'"

Is not this the same as Buchanan's epigram (_Ep._, lib. 1. ed. Wets.)?

"IN ZOILUM.

"Frustra ego te laudo, frustra me, Zoile, lædas
Nemo mihi credit, Zoile nemo tibi."

PHILOBIBLION.

_Indignities on the Bodies of Suicides._--We are all aware of the popular repugnance to permitting the bodies of suicides to be interred within the "consecrated" or "hallowed" precincts of a churchyard. Burial at cross-roads was the usual mode. In many parts of Scotland such burials had to take place under cloud of night, to avoid the interference of the rabble. But it would appear from the extract given below, that public indignities were inflicted upon such corpses, to testify public detestation of this crime. The extract is taken from the _Diarey of Robert Birrel_, Burges of Edinburghe:

"1598, Feb. 20. The 20 day of Februar, Thomas Dobie drounit
himself in the Quarrel holes besyde the Abbay, and upone the
morne, he wes harlit throw the toune backward, and therafter
hangit on the gallows."

Perhaps some correspondent of "N. & Q." may be able to point out similar instances of such a revolting procedure.

The "Abbay" referred to was the Abbey of Holyrood.

The "Quarrel," or Quarry holes, seem to have been fatal, in many cases, both to "man and beast;" for Sir David Lyndsay, in one of his poems, says:

"Marry, I lent my gossip my mare, to fetch hame coals,
And he _her drounit into the quarry holes_."

R. S. F.

Perth.

Queries.

"GOD'S LOVE," ETC., AND OTHER POEMS.

I should be very glad if, among the many learned contributors to the "N. & Q.," there should be any one who can give me information respecting a rare volume of English poetry, of which I do not recollect to have seen any notice, or any other copy than that in my own possession.

It is a 12mo., or rather small 8vo. volume, and, by the type and general appearance, was probably printed rather before than after 1660. It consists of three portions:

1. "God's Love and Man's Unworthiness," which commences thus:

"GOD! how that word hath thunder-clapt my soul
Into a ravishment; I must condole
My forward weakness. Ah! where shall I find
Sufficient metaphors t' express my mind?
Thou heart-amazing word, how hast thou fill'd
My soul with Hallelujahs, and distill'd
Wonders into me!"

This poem is in two parts, and extends to p. 82.

2. "A Dialogue between the Soul and Satan," p. 83 to 124, including a short supplementary poem entitled "The Soul's Thankfulness and Request to God."

3. "Divine Ejaculations." One hundred and forty-nine in all. Each consists of six lines. I extract the tenth as a specimen:

"Great God! Thy garden is defaced:
The weeds do thrive, the flowers decay:
O call to mind thy promise past,
Restore thou them, cut these away.
Till then, let not the weeds have power
To starve or taint the poorest flower."

The copy now before me has no title-page or prefatory matter of any kind, and it wants the second sheet, p. 17 to 32. Yet I do not think it imperfect, for though the paging goes from p. 16 to p. 33, yet the catch-word on the 16th page is answered by the first word on p. 33, and the sense is consecutive.

It seems to me, therefore, that the author changed in some degree his plan, as the work was proceeding at the press, and that the little volume having thus the appearance of negligence and incompleteness, no title or preface was ever printed, and the book never issued for sale.

On this, or any other point, but especially on the question who was the writer of so much verse, I wish to receive information from some of the readers of your very entertaining and often instructive miscellany.

T. S.

PRAYING TO THE DEVIL.

I always thought that this unfashionable sort of worship was confined to some obscure fanatical sects in the East, and was not prepared to find an apparent record of its having been practised, amidst the frivolities and plotting of the French Court, by no less celebrated a lady than Catharine de Medicis. In the _Secret History of France for the Last Century_ (London, printed for A. Bell, at the Cross Keys in Cornwel, (_sic._) &c. 1714), I find such an odious charge advanced. I do not draw attention to it with the slightest shadow of belief in a story so ridiculous and incredible; but to ask, whether there existed any foundation for the following statement regarding the "steel box," and if so, what were its contents?

"In the first Civil War, when the Prince of _Conde_ was in all
appearance likely to prevail, and _Katherine_ was thought to be
very near the End of her much desir'd Regency, during the Young
King's Minority, she was known to have been for Two days together,
retir'd to her Closet, without admitting her menial Servants to
her Presence. Some few Days after, having call'd for Monsieur _De
Mesme_, one of the Long Robe, and always firm to her Interest, she
deliver'd him a Steel Box fast lock'd, to whom she said, giving
him the Key, _That in respect she knew not what might come to be
her Fortune, amidst those intestine Broils that then shook_
France, _she had thought fit to inclose a thing of great Value
within that Box, which she consign'd to his Care, not to open it
upon Oath, but by an Express Order under her own Hand._ The Queen
Dying, without ever calling for the Box, it continued many Years
unopen'd in the Family of _De Mesme_, after both their Deaths,
till at last Curiosity, or the Suspicion of some Treasure from the
heaviness of it, tempted Monsieur _De Mesme's_ Successor to break
it open, which he did. Instead of any Rich Present from so great a
Queen, what Horror must the Lookers on have, when they found a
Copper Plate of the Form and Bigness of one of the Ancient _Roman_
Votive Shields, on which was Engraven _Queen_ Katherine de Medicis
_on her Knees, in a Praying Posture, offering up to the Devil
sitting upon a Throne, in one of the ugliest Shapes they use to
Paint him,_ Charles the IXth. _then Reigning, the Duke of_ Anjou,
_afterwards_ Henry _the_ IIId., and _the Duke of_ Alanson, _her
Three sons, with this Motto in_ French, _So be it, I but Reign._
This very Plate continues yet in the Custody of the House of
_Mesme_, of which Monsieur _D'Avaux_, so famous for his Ambassies,
was a Branch, and was not only acknowledged by him to be so, when
Ambassador in _Holland_, but he was also pleas'd at that time, to
promise a Great Man in _England_, a Copy of it; which is a
Terrible Instance of the Power of Ambition in the Minds of
_French_ Princes, and to what Divinity, if one dares give the
Devil that name, even in Irony, they are ready to pay their
adoration, rather than part with their hopes of Empire."--Pp. 6,
7.

R. S. F.

Perth.

Minor Queries.

_John Ap Rice's Register._--Two ancient charters, formerly belonging to the abbey of Bury St. Edmund's, and now in the possession of the corporation of King's Lynn, bear the indorsement of J. Rhesensis, _i.e._ John Ap Rice, the commissioner who was sent by Hen. VIII. to investigate the affairs of this abbey; and whose letter upon the subject to secretary Cromwell is published in _Letters relating to the Suppression of the Monasteries._ On one of the charters the indorsement has been erased all but the name; on the other it runs thus:--"Relat' in regi[=u] Registr' ad v'b[=u], 1536, J. Rhesens', Registr'." Is anything known of the Royal Register referred to?