Chapter XXVII: Appendix (1)

[Allusion is made, more than once, in this volume, to Cardinal Mezzofanti’s habit of amusing himself and his friends by writing short metrical pieces in various languages, and of composing or correcting the odes recited by the pupils at the annual Polyglot Academy of the Propaganda. In the absence of other data for judging of his skill as a linguist, these fragments, trifling though they be, are of considerable interest; and I had hopes of being able to form a little collection of them, as a contribution to the enquiry regarding him. Unfortunately my search for these remains, trivial and fugitive as most of them must have been, has been very unsuccessful. I am only able to add a few to those which appear in the sheet of fac-similes, or which have been already incidentally introduced in the course of the narrative.

The short pieces recited at the Propaganda Academy, being the property of the pupils themselves, are not preserved in the college archives. I have only succeeded in obtaining four of these pieces:—two from Rome, a Greek Anacreontic Ode, and a couple of stanzas in the Grisons dialect; and two in Angolese from the Rev. Charles Fernando, Missionary Apostolic in Ceylon.

The Abbate Mazza, Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Seminary at Bologna, has kindly sent me a Hebrew Psalm addressed by Mezzofanti, as a tribute on his Jubilee (or the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a priest), to his old friend and master, Father Emmanuel Aponte; and a Latin Hexameter Poem, descriptive of St. Peter’s Church at Rome, recited by him in the _Accademia degli Arcadi_, on his being elected a member of that body.

These little pieces, it need hardly be said, are offered merely as specimens of Mezzofanti’s power as a linguist, and not as possessing any striking excellence, whether of poetry or sentiment. It is only just to his memory to add that, judging from his well-known habit of composition, they may all be presumed to be literally _impromptu_, and are entitled to the full indulgence usually accorded to such productions.]

I. _Hebrew Psalm,[576] addressed to Father Emmanuel Aponte—on the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination._

לסיוף מהזופאנתי

א. שמך עמנואל שס טוב כשמן תורף ץל כן רצו נץריﬦ ואהיבוך וזקניﬦ
גם המה בקשו חכמה שפתיך

ב. מה גאוו צל צייﬦ רגליך מבשר משמיץ משמיץ שלוס מבשר טוב משמיץ
ישוץה

ג. אור גגה בארצסו בץﬨ באך ממזרת מאז הגדלת השמחה והרביﬨ דץﬨ
ומוםר נﬨﬨ לרﬥ דורשי בינה ואור פני אדני בכל מץשיך ראו ץינינו

ד. הנה היום החלפת כנשר לבוא משכנות אדגי ואחרי חמישים שנﬣ תוצא
עוד לחם ויין כהן לאל ץליון כהן ץולם ץל דברתי מלכיצדך

ה. לכו נננו לארנדי ﬨשוץה לעור ישץנו כי התלה זקן טוכ חסיד לו
לגשת אליו לכהן להתפלל לפניו ולכתר ץןיגו

ו. גתת ארני לעמגואל חן וכבוד כי ﬣלך בתמים למד חןכמה ועאה עדק

ז. וץﬨה לנך אזנך אלהיﬦ מלך הכבור ץנה עבדיך תלמידי זקן טוב תן לו
ארך ומיﬦ ורצון וברכה תעטרהו

Transcriber’s Note: A better version might be:

ליוסף מהזופאנתי

א. שמך עמנואל שם טוב כשמן תורק על כן רצו נערים ואהיבוך וזקנים
גם המה בקשו חכמה שפתיך

ב. מה גאוו על איים רגליך מבשר משמיע משמיע שלום מבשר טוב משמיע
ישועה

ג. אור נגה בארצנו בעת באך ממזרח מאז הגדלת השמחה והרבית דעה
ומוסר נתת לכל דורשי בינה ואור פני אדני בכל מעשיך ראו עינינו

ד. הנה היום החלפת כנשר לבוא משכנות אדגי ואחרי חמישים שנה תוצא
עוד לחם ויין כהן לאל עליון כהן עולם על דברתי מלכיצדך

ה. לכו רננו לאדני תשועה לצור ישענו כי הפלה זקן טוב חסיד לו לגשת
אליו לכהן להתפלל לפניו ולכפר עלינו

ו. נתת אדני לעמגואל חן וכבוד כי הלך בתמים למד חכמה ועאה עדק

ז. ועתה לנך אזנך אלהים מלך הכבוד ענה עבדיך תלמידי זקן טוב תן לו
ארך יומים ורצון וברכה תעטרהו

_Latin Translation._

Josephus Mezzofanti.

1. Nomen tuum, Emanuel, nomen bonum, sicut oleum effusum,
propterea excurrerunt adolescentes, et dilexerunt te. Et senes
ipsi quoque quæsierunt sapientiam labiorum tuorum,

2. Quam speciosi fuerunt in insulis pedes tui, evangelizans
predicator! prædicans pacem, evangelizans bonum, prædicans
salutem!

3. Luxfulsit in terra nostra, quando venisti ab oriente: ex
eo tempore magnificasti lætitiam et multiplicasti scientiam,
et eruditionem dedisti omnibus quærentibus intelligentiam; et
lumen vultus Domini in omnibus operibus tuis viderunt oculi
nostri.

4. Ecce hodie innovas te sicut aquila, ut intres in habitacula
Domini: et post quinquaginta annos profers adhuc panem et
vinum, sacerdos Dei Altissimi, sacerdos in eternum secundum
ordinem Melchisedec.

5. Venite exultemus Domino, jubilemus petræ salutis nostræ;
quia segregavit senem bonum sanctum sibi, ut accederet ad
eum, ut fungeretur sacerdotio, ut ovaret ante faciem ejus, ut
propitiaret super nos.

6. Dedisti Domine Emanueli gratiam et gloriam, quia ambulavit
in integritate, docuit sapientiam, et operatus est justitiam.

7. Nunc ergo inclina aurem tuam, Deus Rex Gloriæ! Exaudi servos
tuos, discipulos senis boni! Da illi longitudinem dierum et
beneplacito ac benedictione corona his illum!

II. _Greek Anacreontie Ode “On the Adoration of the Shepherds,” composed for the Propaganda Academy._

Ὁ καιρὸς ἦλθεν ᾔδη
Ὁν εἵσαν οἱ προφήται·
Υἱος δ’ ὁ του Θέοῖο
Ἐξ ουρανῶν κατήλθεν,
Ἱνα βροτους σαὤσῃ.
Αύτὸς δ’ Ἄναξ ἀνάκτων,
Ἐκ Παρθένου γενητὸς,
Θρόνον Θεῳ πρέποντα,
Οὐκ εἶχεν, ἄλλὰ φάτνον.
Ὁ δ’ Ἄγγελος παραστάς
Τοἶς ποιμεδιν, διδάσει
Ὡς κόσμου ἤλθ’ ὁ Σωτήρ.
Oἱ δ’ εὐθεώς λαβόντες
Δῶρα βρέφει φέεουσι,
Χάριν δ’ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ εὖρον.
Πένης δ’ ὅλως ἅμ’ ἆυτοίς
Ἀμνὸν τὸν εἶχε μοῦνον
Ἤνεγκε τῴ Νεογνῷ.
Ὁ Παῖς ὁρᾷ τὸν ὰμνόν,
Καί προζγελᾲ διδόντι.
Τὶ τότ’; Ἔγνω γἕρ αὑτου
Τῦπὸν—Θεοῦ περ αὐτός
Ὁ πρᾶος ἐστίν ἀμνός
Ἁμαρτίας ἀφαιρὡν
Tόυ κόσμου—Αμνὲ, χαἶρε!
Ἄρον δ’ ἁμαρτίας μου!
Ἄρον—χάριν τε δός μοι!

III. _Latin Hexameter Poem, recited in the Arcadian Academy at Rome._

J. M.
PASTOR ARCAS.

Romuleas Arces, fulgentia Templa Tonantis
Quae fuerant dudum, conscendo munere vestro,
Arcades; et celsas sedes teneo, Arcas et ipse,
Et parvi custos nemoris. Sed non ego doctus,
Aut calamos inflare leves, aut dicere versus;
At geminare sonos gaudens, et reddere voces,
Quas longinqua edit gens, aut contermina nostræ.

Hic adsum, florens postquam est exacta juventa,
Temporaque adventans mihi tardior inficit aetas,
Adsumus hic, patriosque lares, et linquimus arva,
Pinguia quæ Rheni preterfluit unda minoris:
Linquimus et colles, varium queis Daedala tellus
Submittit florem et vites—tua munera, Bacche!
Linquimus et turres, quarum altera celsa minatur
In cœlum, impendit præfracto vertice flexa
Altera, nutanti similis jam jamque ruenti.
Adsumus hic tandem, Eumetes[577] cum tempora vittâ
Tergeminâ redimit, cœlique oracula promit.
Scilicet hic nobis suprema e sede benignus,
Annuit. Æternam tum nos advenimus Urbem.

Hic vestra assidue lustrans decora alta, Quirites,
Quaeque recens tulit, et quæ prisci temporis aetas.
Vocibus hæc refero, “Vos terque, quaterque beati,
Non peritura quibus vulgata est fama per orbem!”
Eximia at quoties cerno heic monumenta virorum,
Felsina quos aluit, quosve extulit infula Petri,
Quive aedes vestras decorant et Templa, Quirites,
Tunc animus nobis patriæ exardescit amore!
Dulcia tune nostrum pertentant gaudia pectus!

Tum Templum ingressus, quo nil præstantius aevis,
Praeteritis vidit Sol, aspicietque futuris,
Admiror molem ingentem, artificumque labores,
En mihi spectanti fulget morientis imago,
Mira senis,[578] sapiens qui dia volumina pandit!
Aspice, ut in genua is procumbens corpore toto,
Brachia demittit, languentia lumina torquet,
Et capit extrema, eternae sed pabula vitæ,
Illic cerne modo, ut malo suspenditur alto,
Saevi qui morbi contagia depulit Urbe!
Hinc miles validis incurvat viribus arcum,
Atque hinc acer equus permissis fertur habenis:—
Diffugiunt matres, puerique, ignobile vulgus;—
Ast Heros ad cœlum ardentia lumina tendit,
Dicenti similis:—“Nostrum accipe, Christe, cruorem!”
Protinus en Michael exerto devolat ense,[579]
Ac monstrum horrendum sub tristia Tartara mittit,
Parte alia occubuit cœlesti percita amore,
Et volat ad superos virgo de germine Petri![580]

Hæc præclara artis miracula, Felsina prodis,
In tua cum varios inducis vela colores!
Sed quinam effulgent niveo de marmore vultus!
En opus, en!—Algarde, tuum, et spirantia signa![581]
Attila hic, ille Leo: demissi nubibus instant
Et Petrus et Paulus, magnæ tutamina Romæ!
Attila terrarum metus, et squalentibus armis,
Horridus, ense ferox Martis, (sic namque putaret,
Ensem quem Pastor vitulæ vestigia læsæ,
Atra cruore sequens Scythiis invenerat agris,)
Elatosque gerens animos cœlique flage lum,
Sese compellans, sibi totum adsciverat Orbem.
Ergo suis atrox erumpit sedibus, atque
Bella ciet populis late, crudelia bella;
Omnia namque furens ferro populatur et igne;
Efferus incedit per membra fluentia tabo;
Respicit, et gaudet loca jam convulsa ruinis.
Immites primum Dacas juga ferre coegit;
Tum quoque Bistonios, dein Odrysiosque feroces;
Illyriumque; tuas exin, Germania, terras!
Illum nec Rhenus nec Gallia terret ovantem;
Pulsus, proh, remeat, pelagi ceu refluit unda!
Ocius ille domum rediit: pudor incitat iras;
Agmina dira legit, bellumque ferocius urget,
Ac nova Romanæ meditatur praelia genti.
Qualis percussus saevo leo vulnere, pugnam
Integrat, et late silvas rugitibus implet;
Talem Hunnorum Rex gestans in corde furorem,
Italiae ingreditur campos et milite complet.
Omnis humo fumat jam Aquileja; Mediolanum,
Et Verona ruunt; Ticinum et Parma fatiscunt:
Attila per medias cædes bacchatur et ignes:
Sed nihil ille actum reputat, dum Roma superstes.
Ire parat Romam: convellit signa, movetque
Agmina; cen apium ducunt examina reges!
Tunc illum miles dictis affatur amicis.
“Quo tibi nunc iter? Heu! acies Alaricus in Urbem,
Induxit;—mox ingreditur dum mænia Rhegi,
Connubiumque parat, fato decedit acerbo!”
Hæc audit, dubiusque hæret. Mox æstuat ira
Dux, movet et castra. Est eadem sententia menti,
Cum subito miserisque dolens, et cœlitus actus,
Magnus adest Leo, sacra vitta et veste decorus.
Constitit ille tremens, stupet, et vox faucibus hæret!
Verba deinde audit dulci stillantia melle;
Mitescunt animi dictis, et corda residunt.
“Attila quo cessere minæ, quo spiritus acer?”
Hæc miles. Contra Hunnorum Rex talia fatur:
“Nonne duos aetate graves atque ore severo,
Delapsos caelo spectas mortemque minantes,
Districtis gladiis? Feror hinc!—Jam tollite signa,
Et patrios fines, montes silvasque petamus:—
Mens hand illa mihi bello contendere Divis!”
Hæc ait, et nostris excedit finibus Hunnus.
Ast nullæ servant latebræ, nullique recessus,
Persequitur quos ira Dei. Namque Attila, solvit
Dum metibus sese, parat et dulces hymenæos,
Occubuit proprio suffusus nocte cruore!
Est Deus in cœlis fandi memor atque nefandi!
At Leo contendit Romam, jussitque lubentes,
Et Petro et Paulo persolvere vota Quirites;
Et Petrus et Paulus resonant per templa, per aedes!

Felix Roma! Tibi hæc data sunt munimina cœlo!
Et dedit Eumetem mitis Deus atque benignus!
Imperat Eumetes, et pax dominabitur Orbi!
Arcades, o Petrum et Paulum celebrate canentes;
Et vestros repetent septena cacumina versus!

Vos Petri Paulique fidem servate, Quirites!
Eternum servate fidem, servabitis Urbem!

IV. _Epiphany Ode in the Angolese language, written for the Academy of 1845._[582]

He Zambi! Mubundulula,
Mubundulula coettu.
Mu Quixixi Quitombi,
Quitombi, O—vundu,
O Riala muca cuffua mucutu,
Muca! I’nhia!
Tctembuca!
Kieno ki Miscino,
Skitatu miscino,
A—ssueta a Belem,
A-beza camona,
Camona cafeli.
Nhi-bula-canu,
Una camona Zambi,
Zambi ni Riala ni,
Mubundulula via Quinixi,
Ocutanhinha u-a-gile,
Hi Riala! batessa ocutanhinha,
Beza a-camona,
A-camona cafeli,
Eyè muca muno,

V. _Angolese Ode for the Academy of 1846._

Tctembuca, Tctembuca!
I’nhai? Kieno ki,
Amona—Miscino,
Kitatu Misciso,
A-bocala monsu,
Monsu via Kian cu,
Kieno-ki! una-a-beza,
A-beza camona,
Camona cafeli.
Ah! nghi-bala cana,
Tina camona Zambi,
Monandanghi Zambi,
Mubundulula, Mobundulala, coettu!

VI. _Epiphany Ode in the Grisons, or Graubünden, Dialect._

Steila che partas legerment,
E trej reigs clomag d’alg orient,
Ti clara steila ventireila,
Meinag a Dieu l’olma fideiola!

O Telg da Dieu! o mig salvader!
D’ilg pievelg tuttig ti ey sprindrader!
Gloria al Bab che Ti ha envian!
Piugch alg Christgang ehe Ti has trostigian!

VII. [The following epigram was addressed to Cardinal Lambruschini on the appearance of his Essay on the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. It is hardly worthy of the subject.]

Tota es pulcra, DEI Genitrix, ab origine pulcra es!
Hoc decuit, potuit, fecit et Omnipotens.
Asserit invictus decus hoc Tibi fulgidus ostro
Auctor. Scriptorem protege, Virgo, tuum.

The Italian version which accompanied it is much more happy.

Tutta se’bella, o di DIO Madre;
Sin da principio bella tu sé.
Cosi addicevasi, e il Sommo Padre
Tutto potendo, cosi pur fé.

Or Ti mantiene un tanto onore,
Chi d’ostro fulgido tra lo splendor,
A’ penna invitta di grande Autore:
Proteggi, o Vergine, il tuo Scrittor!

VIII. _French Stanza given to children after their First Communion._

Demandez an bon Dieu le don de la sagesse;
C’est le veritable trésor!—demandez-le sans cesse!
Mais it faut le chercher avec simplicité
Pour guide, mes enfans, prenant la Pieté.

IX. _Italian Stanza._

Di mille voci e mille quanto al cuore
Più soave e gradita è la parola,
Che un afflitto consola,
E l’anima solleva al Creatore!

X. _English verses given to an Irish student on his leaving the Propaganda._

“May Christ be on your lips and heart!
Show forth by facts what words impart;
That, by sound words and good behaviour,
You may lead others to the Saviour.”

XI. _Written for a student._

O man, what is thy science?—Vanity:
And thou art nothing without charity.

END.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Works I., p. 42.

[2] Mithridates, Vol. II. Einleitung, p. 7.

[3] See the whole legend in Huc’s Chinese Empire, II., p. 187-8.

[4] Auswahl Historischer Stücke aus Hebräischen Schriftstellern, von den zweiten Jahrhundert bis auf die Gegenwart, Berlin, 1840, p. 10. The book is entitled _Pirki Rabbi Eliezer_, “The chapters of Rabbi Eliezer.” Its date is extremely uncertain. See Moreri Dict. Hist. VII., 361.

[5] See Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 66.

[6] According to the account of Pliny, Dioscurias, a city of Colchis (the present Iskuriah,) was frequented for commercial purposes by no less than _three hundred different races_; and he adds that a hundred and thirty interpreters were employed there under the Romans (_Hist. Nat._ VI., 5. Miller’s Ed. II., 176.) The Arabian writers, Ibn Haukal and Musadi, mention seventy-two languages which were spoken at Derbent. Strabo speaks of twenty-six in the Eastern Caucasus alone. See _The Tribes of the Caucasus_, p. 14, also p. 32.

[7] Dahlmann, p. 47. It would be presumptuous to differ from so ingenious a writer, and so profound a master of the subject which he treats; but I may observe that there are some passages of Herodotus which seem to imply a certain degree at least of acquaintance with Egyptian (for instance II. 79, II. 99), and with the ancient language of Persia, as IX. 100, &c. It must be admitted, however, that a very superficial knowledge of either language would suffice to explain these allusions.

[8] XVII. 17.

[9] This is not Mithridates’s only title to distinction. Perhaps it may not be so generally known that he was equally celebrated for his powers of eating and drinking! Athenæus tells of him that he once offered a prize of a talent to the greatest eater in his dominions. After a full competition the prize was awarded to Mithridates _himself_.—_Athenæus, Deipnosoph., Book X., p. 415._

[10] VIII. 7.

[11] Hist. Nat. VII. 24, and again XXV. 2.

[12] Life of Anthony. Langhorne’s Plutarch, v. p. 182.

[13] It was probably by some such fanciful analogy that Cecrops obtained the name δίφυης, because he knew both Greek and Egyptian.

[14] See a long list of examples cited by Bayle, Dict. Histor. I. 943. The legislation on the subject, however, was not uniform; nor is it easy to reconcile some parts of it with each other, or to understand any general principles on which they can be founded.

[15] Pænulus, act v., sc. 1.

[16] With the exception of Tacitus, who claimed to be of the family of the great historian, and made a vigorous but unsuccessful effort for the revival of declining Latinity.

[17] See Milman’s Latin Christianity, I., 28-9.

[18] In some congregations, as early as the first and second century, there were official interpreters [Ἑρμηνεύται], whose duty it was to translate into the provincial tongues, what had been read in the church. They resembled the interpreters of the Jewish synagogue. See Neander’s Kirchen-Geschichte, I. 530.

[19] Stromata, I. 276 (Paris, 1641.)

[20] Opp. I. 326 (Paris, 1609.) Hom. in Laudem St. Basilii.

[21] See Bayle, Dict. Historique, I. 408. It is curious that the victorious Mussulmen at Jerusalem enacted the very opposite. No Christian was permitted to speak the sacred language of the Koran. See Milman’s “Latin Christianity,” II. 42, and again III. 225. It would be interesting to examine the history of enactments of this kind, and their effects upon the languages which they were intended to suppress,—the Norman efforts against English, those of the English against Celtic, Joseph II’s against Magyar, and others of the same kind.

[22] Ep. VI. 27.

[23] When the Patriarch Nestorius wrote to Pope Celestine his account of the controversy now known under his name, the latter was obliged, before he could reply, to wait till Nestorius’s letter had been translated into Latin. Erat enim in Latinum sermo vertendus. This letter, together with those of Cyril of Alexandria, form part of an interesting correspondence which illustrates very strikingly the pre-eminence then enjoyed in the Church by the Roman bishop, and is found in Hardouin’s Concilia, I. 1302. See also Walch’s Historie der Ketzereien, V. 701.

[24] Even Pope Vigilius himself professes his want of familiarity with the Greek language. See his celebrated _Constitutum_ in Hardouin’s Coll. Concil III. col. 39.

[25] See the original in Labbe’s _Concilia_, VIII. 835. Both the original and the translation will be found in Leibnitz’s “System of Theology,” p. 52, note.

[26] See Milman’s Latin Christianity, IV. p. 58, and again 367.

[27] The titles of nearly two hundred of his works are still preserved.

[28] Rohrbacher Hist. de l’Eglise, XIX., 569.

[29] He is the author of a History of Spain, in nine books; and besides his very remarkable attainments as a linguist, was reputed among the most learned scholars of his age.

[30] See the account in Labbe, Collect. Concil. VII. 79. The writer observes; Cum ab apostolorum tempore auditum non sit nec scriptum reperiatur, quemque ad populum eandem concionem habuisse tot ac tam diversis linguis cuncta exponendo. The fact is also related by Feyjoo, Teatro critico, IV. p. 400. An interesting account of this remarkable scholar will be found in the _Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus_ II. _pp. 149-50_.

[31] The Family of Barbaro produced many distinguished linguists, according to the opportunities of the time. Francesco Barbaro, born in 1398, was one of the earliest eminent Greek scholars of Italy. Ermolao, the commentator on Aristotle, was said by the wits of his time to have been such a purist in Greek, that he did not stop at consulting the devil when he was at a loss for the precise meaning of a word—the much disputed ἐντελεχέια of Aristotle!—See Bayle’s Dict. Hist. Art. _Barbaro_ I. 473.

[32] Venice was long remarkable for her encouragement of skill in living languages. It was a necessary qualification for most of her diplomatic appointments; and, while Latin, in Europe, was still the ordinary medium of diplomatic intercourse, we find a Venetian ambassador to England, in 1509, Badoer, capable of conversing like a native in English, French, and German.—See an interesting paper, “Venetian Dispatches,” in the Quarterly Review, vol. xcvi. p. 369.

[33] M’Crie’s Reformation in Spain, I. p. 61. See also Hallam’s Literary History, I. p. 197.

[34] See the Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. I. pref. p. vii.

[35] See Hefele’s _Der Cardinal Ximenes_: one of the most interesting and learned biographies with which I am acquainted, p. 124.

[36] Vol. II., p. 788.

[37] Naima’s Annals of the Turkish Empire, translated by M. Frazer, for the Oriental Translation Society. For this fact I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Watts, of the British Museum, but I am unable to refer to the passage.

[38] Pilgrimage to El Medinah, II. p. 368.

[39] Ibid. I., p. 179.

[40] Burton’s Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah. III., 368.

[41] Annals of the Turkish Empire, p. 45.

[42] A melancholy instance of the capriciousness of this sort of reputation, and of the unhappiness by which, in common with many other gifts, it is often accompanied, is recorded in the Paris journals of the early part of this year. A man apparently about fifty years old, named Tinconi, a native of Constantinople, was found dead at his lodgings in the Rue des Vieux Augustins, having perished, as it afterwards appeared, of hunger. This ill-fated man was possessed of an ample fortune, and had held high diplomatic appointments; and, besides being well-versed in ancient and modern literature, he spoke not fewer than ten languages, and knew several others! Yet almost the only record of his varied accomplishments is that which also tells the story of his melancholy end!

[43] See his life by Pococke, prefixed to the translation of his work _De Termino Vitæ_. 1699.

[44] See Dr. Paul De Lagarde’s learned dissertation, “De Geoponicon Versione Syriacâ” (p. 3, Leipsig, 1855). This dissertation is an account of a hitherto unknown Syriac version of the “Scriptores Rei Rusticæ” which Dr. De Lagarde discovered among the Syriac MSS. of the British Museum. He has also transcribed from the same collection many similar remains of Syriac literature, partly sacred, partly profane, which he purposes to publish at intervals. Some of the former especially, as referring to the Ante-Nicene period, are, like those already published by Mr. Cureton, of great interest to students of Christian antiquity, although the same drawback—doubt as to their age and authorship—must affect the doctrinal value of them all.

[45] This laborious and prolific writer, whose works fill nearly 20 volumes, is said to have used the same pen for no less than forty years, and to have been thrown almost into despair upon its accidental destruction at the end of that period.

[46] Some of these visited the English universities. Of one among the number, named Metrophanes Critopulus, who was sent by Cyrillus Lucaris to be indoctrinated in Anglican Theology, and who lived at Oxford at the charge of archbishop Abbott, a very amusing account is given by the disappointed prelate in a letter quoted by Neale (History of Alexandria, II., 413-5.) He turned out “an unworthy fellow,” “far from ingenuity or any grateful respect,” a “rogue and beggar,” and in other ways disappointed the care bestowed on him.

[47] One specimen may suffice, which is furnished by Mr. Neale: “_Collavi_ (_I have collated_) sua notata cum textu Bellarmini.” Neale, II., p. 402. The Easterns seldom seem at home in the languages of Europe; Italian, and still more French orthography, is their great puzzle. I have seen specimens of Oriental Italian which, for orthography, might rival “Jeames’s” English, or the French of Augustus the Strong.

[48] Panagiotes was a native of Scio, and was known in his later life under the sobriquet of “the Green Horse,” in allusion to a local proverb, that “it is easier to find a green horse than a wise man in Scio.” The appellation was the highest tribute that could be rendered to the prudence and ability of Panagiotes; but it is also a curious confirmation of the evil repute, as regards honesty, in which the islanders of the Egean were held from the earliest times. The reader will probably remember the satirical couplet of Phocylides about the honesty of the Lerians, which Porson applied, in a well-known English parody, to the Greek scholarship of Herrmann.

————Λέριοι κάκοι ὄυκ ὁ μὲν ὅστδ’ όυ
Πάντες πλήν Προκλέους και Πρόκλεης Λέριος.

[49] An elaborate account of them will be found in Neumann’s _Versuch einer Geschichte der Armenischen Literatur_. Leipzig, 1836. On the exceeding importance of the Armenian language for the general study of the entire Indo-Germanic family, see the extremely learned essay, _Urgeschichte der Armenier, ein Philologischer Versuch_. (Berlin, 1854.) It is published anonymously, but is believed to be from the pen of the distinguished Orientalist named in page 22.

[50] I do not think it necessary to mention (though he is a little earlier) Felix of Ragusa, the principal librarian, or rather book collector, of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary. He is said to have known, besides Greek and Latin, the Chaldee, Arabic, and Syriac languages.

[51] Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria, p. 27.

[52] The history of this MS. is a strange one. In the sack of Pavia by the French under Lautrec, it was carried off among the plunder. Teseo was in despair at the loss, and was returning to Rome with a sad heart. At Ferrara, he chanced to see a quantity of papers at a charcoal burner’s, just on the point of being consigned to the furnace. What was his delight to find his precious Psalter among them! He began the printing of it at Ferrara without delay, but did not live to see its completion.

[53] Adelung’s Mithridates, I., 646. See also Biogr. Universelle, II., p. 25.

[54] Biograph. Univ. XV. 239.

[55] There is another Pigafetta (Felippo), some years the junior of Antonio, who was also a very extensive traveller, having visited Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Croatia, Hungary, the Ukraine, and the northern kingdoms. He was sent into Persia on a diplomatic mission by Sixtus V. But I have not been able to find any record of his skill in languages.

[56] Thevet’s _Thresor des Langues_, p. 964.

[57] Raimondi had spent many years in the East, and was acquainted with most of the Oriental languages, living and dead. He projected a polyglot bible which should contain the Arabic, Syriac, Persic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Coptic versions, accompanied by the Grammars and Dictionaries of these languages. But the death of Gregory XIII., on whose patronage he mainly relied for the execution of his project, put a stop to the undertaking.

[58] A copy of this work is found in the Catalogue of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s Library, by Signor Bonifazi. It is in 4 vols., fol., Milan, 1632.

[59] Conciliatio Ecclesiæ Armenæ cum Romana, ex ipsis Armenorum Patrum et Doctorum Testimoniis. 2 vols fol., Romæ 1658—It is in Bonifazi’s Catalogue of the Mezzofanti Library, p. 20.

[60] Feller’s Dict. Biog. art. _Galani_.

[61] The learned Jesuit, Father Giambattista Ferrari, author of the _Nomenclator Syrus_, is an exception to the general rule. He does not appear to have been a member of any of the Eastern missions. Angelo Canini, the eminent Syriac scholar, though born in Italy, belongs rather to the French school.

[62] Wadding assigns his death to the year 1638; but it is clear from the preface of the Thesaurus that he was dead several years before its publication, which was in 1636.

[63] _Alcorani Textus Universus._ 2 vols, fol., Padua, 1698.

[64] Biogr. Uni. XV. 263, (Brussels Ed.)

[65] He must not be confounded with a German Orientalist, Christopher Sigismund Georgi, who lived about the same time.

[66] Biographie Universelle, Vol. XXVI, p. 128.

[67] For this interesting anecdote of Father Ignazio de Rossi, I am indebted to Cardinal Wiseman, who learned it from the companions of the good old father upon the occasion. His Eminence added, that it was done as a mere amusement, and without the least effort or the remotest idea of preparation.

[68] Through the kindness of the Cavaliere Pezzana, Royal Librarian and Privy Councillor of Parma, I have been fortunate enough to obtain copies of some of Mezzofanti’s letters to De Rossi, which will be found in their chronological order hereafter.

[69] It is a magnificent folio, entitled “Epithalamia Exoticis Linguis Reddita;” one of the most curious productions of the celebrated press of Bodoni. Parma, 1775.

[70] The _Panglossia_ in honour of Peiresc was the work of many hands, and cannot fairly be compared with the Epithalamia of De Rossi. I have never seen a copy of the latter, nor does De Rossi himself, in his modest autobiography, (_Memorie Storiche_, Parma, 1807, p. 19), enumerate the languages which it contained.

[71] The ingenious mechanician, Prince Raimondo di Sansevero, of Naples, had some name as a linguist. He is said to have known Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and several modern languages. But his knowledge was very superficial.

[72] _Theatro Critico_, IV., p. 401, Art. _Glorias de España_.

[73] _Bibliotheca Hispana_, Vol. IV., p. 75.

[74] Thus amusingly “Englished” in Wanley’s “Wonders of the Little World,” p. 285:—

“A young man have I seen,
At twenty years so skilled,
That every art he knew, and all
In all degrees excelled!
Whatever yet was writ,
He vaunted to pronounce
(Like a young Antichrist) if he
Did read the same but once.”

[75] P. 457. The work was printed in the same volume with Peter Martyr’s _De Rebus Oceanicis_. Cologne, 1574.

[76] Bruce’s Travels, III, 134.

[77] Duret refers for some notice of Covilham, to the rare work of Alvarez, _De Historia Ethiopum_. In the hope of discovering something further regarding this remarkable and little-known linguist, I endeavoured to consult that author; but I have not been able to find a copy. It is not in the British Museum.

[78] Galatinus de Arcanis Cath. Veritatis Libri XII. (Frankfort 1572), B. III. c. 6, p. 120.

[79] There is considerable difference of opinion as to his birth-place. But Nicholas Antonio, in the Bibliotheca Hispana, says it was Frexenal. Vol. III. p. 207.

[80] Enfans Celebres, p. 198. Baillet says it was an edition of Seneca’s Tragedies; but this is a mistake. The _In Senecæ Tragedias Adversaria_ did not appear till 1574.

[81] _Teatro Critico_, IV. 401.

[82] Feyjoo IV. p. 401. “Seguramente podemos creers in alguna rebaxa.” The _Bibliotheca Hispana_ enumerates twelve languages, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, French, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, and English. I. p. 207.

[83] This is, strange as it may seem, the lowest computation, and rests on _Lope de Vega’s_ own testimony, written in 1630, five years before his death. Speaking of the number of his dramatic fictions, he says to his friend,

_Mil y quinientos_ fabulas admira.

By other authors the number is made much greater. According to some, as his friend, Montalvan, he wrote _eighteen hundred_ plays; and Bouterwek, in his History of Spanish Literature, puts it down at the enormous estimate of _two thousand_. “_Spanish Literature_,” I. p. 361.

[84] Montalvan says _four hundred_. The _Bibliotheca Hispana_ says (vol. iv., p. 75) “_eighteen hundred plays, and above four hundred sacred dramas_.”

[85] A long list of grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, catechisms, &c., in more than forty-five different languages, compiled by the Spanish missionaries, is given in the Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. IV. pp. 577-79.

[86] M. d’Abbadie assures me that Father Paez is still spoken of as “Ma alim Petros” by the professors of Gondar and Bagënndir.

[87] Neale’s _History of the Patriarchate of Alexandria_ (London, 1837) II. 405.

[88] Letter to M. Le Leu de Wilhem, quoted by Neale, II. 402.

[89] Biographie Universelle, IX. 301.

[90] Of the latter work I have never seen the Italian original. I know it only from the Spanish _Catalogo de las Lenguas de las naciones conocidas, y numeracion, division, y classes de estas, segun la Diversidad de sus idiomas y dialectos_. 6 vols 4to. Madrid, 1800-5.

[91] Anthony Rodolph Chevalier, a Hebraist of some eminence, born in Normandy in 1507, three years before Postel, has perhaps some claim to be mentioned before him, inasmuch as several of his versions are inserted in Walton’s Polyglot; but his history has hardly any interest.

[92] See Adelung’s Mithridates, I. 646. Postel published in the same year, the first grammar of the Arabic language ever printed. Paris 1558.

[93] _Thresor de l’ Histoire de toutes les Langues de cet Univers._ Cologne, 613, p. 964.

[94] Adelung, in the appendix of the first volume of his _Mithridates_, has enumerated several other Pater Nosters, Thevet, Vulcanius (the latinized form of _Smet_), Merula, Duret, Mauer Waser, Reuter, Witzen, Bartsch, Bergmann, and others. None of these collections, however, possesses any special interest, as bearing on the present inquiry, nor does it appear that any of the authors was particularly eminent as a speaker of languages; unless we are to presume that Thevet, Duret, Gramaye, and Witzen, may, in their long travel or sojourn in foreign countries, have acquired the languages of the nations among whom they lived. Of the last three names I shall say a few words hereafter.

[95] A portion of the edition contains a Latin preface, explanatory of the plan and contents; but the majority of the copies have this preface in Russian; and, in all, the character employed throughout the body of the work is Russian. This character, however, may be mastered with so little difficulty, that, practically, its adoption can hardly be said to interfere materially with the usefulness of the work; and the use of the Russian character had many advantages over the Roman, in accurately representing the various sounds, especially those of the northern languages.

An alphabetical digest (4 vols. 4to. 1790-1) of all the words contained in the Vocabulary (arranged in the order of the alphabet without reference to language) was compiled, a few years later, by Theodor Jankiewitsch de Miriewo, by which it may be seen at once to what language each word belongs. But this digest is described as unscientific in its plan and execution; and it was commonly believed that the Empress was so dissatisfied with it, that the work was suppressed and is now extremely rare; but I have been informed by Mr. Watts of the British Museum, that copies of it are now not unfrequently offered for sale. A copy has been for some years in the British Museum.

[96] It is true that some part of its materials have since become superannuated by the fuller and more accurate researches of later investigators, (see Bunsen’s Christianity and Mankind, III. 47.) But it is nevertheless a work even still of immense value.

[97] Strange and incredible as this anecdote may seem, it is told seriously by Scaliger himself, who adds that the same extraordinary power was possessed also by Jerome Cardan and by his father. See the curious article in _Moreri_, _voce_ “Scaliger.”

[98] Enfans Celebres, p. 196.

[99] An equally eulogistic epigram, by Heinsius, is quoted by Hallam, Literary History, II. 35.

[100] Scaligeriana, p. 130. This collection is the first of the series of _anas_ since so popular.

[101] Ibid. p. 232.

[102] On Scaliger’s powers of abuse, see M. Nisard’s brilliant and amusing Triumvirat Literaire au XVI. Siecle, p. 296, 302, 305, &c. The “triumvirs” are Lipsius, Scaliger and Casaubon.

[103] Feller’s Dict. Biograph., vol. V. p. 312.

[104] Mithridates, I. 650.

[105] Cologne 1615.

[106] I cannot help thinking that Adelung quite underrates this curious work. I have seldom consulted it but with pleasure or profit. And the concluding chapter, “on the language of animals and of birds,” on which great ridicule has been thrown, is in reality a very curious, interesting, and judicious essay.

[107] Mr. Kenrick, in the preface of his recent work on Phœnicia, confesses that “the most diligent reader of ancient authors with a view to the illustration of Phœnician history, will find himself anticipated or surpassed by Bochart.”

[108] Bochart’s death was the consequence of a fit with which he was seized during a vehement dispute which he had with Huet, in the academy of Caen in 1667, respecting the authenticity of some Spanish medals. Huet appears to have long felt the memory of it painfully. He alludes to it in a letter to his nephew, Piadore de Chersigne, above forty years afterwards; and seems to console himself by thinking that Bochart’s death “ne lui fut causèe par notre dispute, sinon en partie.” It is curious that Disraeli has overlooked this in his “Quarrels of Authors.”

[109] Feller’s Dict. Biograph., vol. X. p. 476.

[110] Perhaps I ought to mention Renaudot’s contemporary, the Jesuit, Father Claude Francis Menestrier, (1631-1704), who although not a great linguist, is at least notable for the rather rare accomplishment of speaking Greek with remarkable propriety and fluency, and still more for his prodigious memory, which Queen Christina of Sweden tried by a very singular ordeal. She had a string of three hundred words, the oddest and most unconnected that could be devised, written down without the least order or connexion, and read over once in Menestrier’s presence. He repeated them in their exact order, without a single mistake or hesitation!—_Biographie Univ., Vol. XXVIII._, _p._ 293.

A still more extraordinary example of this power of memory is related by Padre Menocchio (the well-known Biblical commentator, Menochius) of a young Corsican whom Muret met at Padua, and who was not only able to repeat in their regular order a jumble of words similar to that described above, but could repeat them _backwards, and with various other modifications_! The youth assured Muret that he could retain in this way 36,000 words, and that he would undertake to keep them in memory for an entire year! See Menocchio’s _Stuore_, Part III., p. 89. The _Stuore_ is a miscellaneous collection, compiled by this learned Jesuit during his hours of recreation. He called the work by this quaint title (Ang. “_Mats_”) in allusion to the habit of the ancient monks, who used to employ their leisure hours in weaving _mats_, in the literal sense of the word. This fanciful title is not unlike that chosen by Clement of Alexandria for a somewhat similar miscellany, his Στρώματα [Tapestry], or perhaps the more literal one “Patchwork,” assumed by a popular writer of our own time.

[111] Many of the French missionaries in China, of course, were distinguished Chinese scholars. The Dictionary of Pere Amiot, for example, although not published till after his death, is still a standard work. It was edited by Langlés in 1789-90.

[112] For instance his _Memoire dans le quel on prouve que les Chinois sont une Colonie Egyptienne_; a notion which was warmly controverted by his fellow pupil, Deshauterayes. De Guignes argues from the supposed resemblance of the Chinese and Phœnician characters. His great Chinese Dictionary, with Klaproth’s supplement, (2 vols. fol., Paris, 1813-19) is in Mezzofanti’s Catalogue, p. 6.

[113] Although of French parents, Ruffin was born in 1742 at Salonica, where his father was living in the capacity of chief interpreter of France. Feller, vol XI., p. 163.

[114] Biogr. Univ. XIX., 172 (Brussels ed.)

[115] Biogr. Univ., vol. LXX., p. 189-200.

[116] Auguste Herbin, a few years Remusat’s senior (having been born at Paris 1783), was cut off in the very commencement of a most promising career as an Orientalist. He died in 1806, before he had completed his twenty-fourth year.

[117] M. Eugene Borè has been in Armenia what the two D’Abbadies have been in Abyssinia—at once a scholar and a missionary—the pioneer of religion and civilization, no less than of science.

[118] I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to acknowledge the valuable assistance on many points which I have received, in the form both of information and of suggestion, at the hands of this distinguished philologist and traveller. I am but speaking the common feeling of the learned of every country, when I express a hope that, before long, the world may be favoured with the results of his long and laborious researches in the language, literature, and history of Ethiopia.

[119] Journ. Asiat. 3me., Serie, Vol. VI. p. 79.

[120] Under this head are included all the members of the German family—Dutch, Flemings, Swedes, Danes, Swiss, &c. I have found it convenient, too, to include Hungarians (as Austrian subjects), although, of course, their proper ethnological place should be elsewhere.

[121] Better known by his Grecised name, Capnio (καπνιον, _Rauchlein_, “_a little smoke_.”)

[122] Bibliander was a Swiss, born at Bischoffzell about 1500. His family name was _Buchmann_ (Bookman), which, in the fashion of his time, he translated into the Greek, Bibliander.

[123] Duret says they were “beyond numbering”; but so vague a statement cannot be urged too literally. _Thresor_, p. 963.

[124] Zurich 1545. It is a small 12mo.

[125] Gesner’s Mithridates is perhaps remarkable as containing the earliest printed specimen of the Rothwälsches, or “Gipsy-German.” He gives a vocabulary of this slang language, of about seven pages in length. It is only just to his memory to add that in his Epilogue, which is a very pleasing composition, he acknowledges the manifold imperfections of the work, and only claims the merit of opening a way for inquirers of more capacity and better opportunities of research.

[126] Mithridates, I., 649.

[127] Biographie Universelle, Vol. VIII., 485.

[128] Feller, Vol. VIII., 136.

[129] Mithridates, I., 596.

[130] Biogr. Univ., Art. Kircher.

[131] Even at his meals Ludolf always kept an open book before him.

[132] Feller’s Dict. Biog. VII., p. 622.

[133] Biographie Universelle, Vol. XLI., p. 180.

[134] Adelung’s Mithridates, I., 660.

[135] They are given in the second volume. Witzen’s letters to Leibnitz are of the years 1697, 1698, and 1699. Opp. Vol. VI., Part II., pp. 191-206. The specimens of the Pater Noster are in the Collectanea Etymol., ib. 187.

[136] I., 664.

[137] See several interesting examples in the first of Cardinal Wiseman’s Lectures “On the Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion,” I., p. 25. The two lectures on the Comparative Study of Languages exhaust the whole history of philological science down to the date of their publication. Ample justice is also rendered to Leibnitz’s rare philological instinct by Chevalier Bunsen, Christianity and Mankind, III., 44. See also Guhrauer’s “Leibnitz: Eine Biographie,” II., 129.

[138] See Denina’s La Prusse Litteraire, III., 83.

[139] He wrote chiefly in Russian. See Meusel’s Gelehrte Deutschland, a dry but learned and accurate Dictionary of the living writers of Germany in the end of the eighteenth century, begun by Homberger in 1783, but continued by Meusel.

[140] Biogr. Univ., VI., 399.

[141] Biog. Univ., p. 402.

[142] Denina (Prusse Litteraire, III., p. 31) observes that the name of Michaelis would appear to have had the profession of Oriental literature as its peculiar inheritance.

[143] For a complete enumeration of his works see Meusel’s Gelehrte Deutschland, II., 563.

[144] 3 vols., 8vo., London, 1827.

[145] Biographie Universelle, LVIII., p. 4.

[146] Feller, I., 66. See also Bunsen, III., 42.

[147] Vol. I., p. xx.

[148] Bunsen’s “Christianity and Mankind,” III., p. 44.

[149] See preface of the _Vocabularia Comparativa_. Also Biographie Universelle, XXXII., p. 440.

[150] The Japanese he learned from a shipwrecked native of Japan whom he met at Irkutsch; probably the same mentioned in “Golownin’s Narrative.”

[151] Biogr. Univ., LXVIII., 532.

[152] Life and Letters of Niebuhr, I. p. 27-8.

[153] “Christianity and Mankind,” III., p. 60.

[154] As a mere linguist I should name Dr. Pruner, a native of Bavaria, but long a resident of Egypt, where he was physician of the late Pasha. M. d’Abbadie states that Dr. Pruner is reputed to speak twelve languages, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Latin, German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish.

[155] This Grammar has appeared in successive sections, commencing in 1833, and only completed in 1852.

[156] Klaproth, the great explorer of the Caucasian languages, does not properly belong to Schlegel’s school, as he comparatively overlooks the great principle of Schlegel—the grammatical structure of languages.

[157] Castrén was an accomplished writer both in his own language and in German, and a poet of much merit. His Swedish version of the old Finnic Saga “Kalevala,” is perhaps deserving of notice as having furnished in its metre the model of the new English measure adopted by Longfellow in his recent poem “Hiawatha.” Castrén’s birth-place is close to Uleåborg, the spot resorted to commonly by travellers who desire to witness the phenomenon of “the Midnight Sun.”

[158] Bunsen, III., p. 274.

[159] Bunsen, III., p. 53.

[160] Ibid, 270.

[161] In his “Comparative Grammar of the Drâvidian or South-Indian Family of Languages.”

[162] The fiercest of them all is contained not in the Journal, but in a pamphlet which was distributed to members of the Society.

[163] Dr. Paul De Lagarde, for instance, has the reputation of knowing above twenty languages.

[164] Christianity and Mankind, III., 271.

[165] Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, I. 450-3.

[166] Cancellieri, Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria, e sugli Uomini smemorati, p. 50-1.

[167] Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called “the Admirable Crichton.” Edinburgh, 1819.

[168] _Wonders of the Little World_, p. 286.

[169] II., p. 223.

[170] “New Atlantis.” Bacon’s Works, II., 84.

[171] Life of Edward Lord Clarendon, I., p. 35.

[172] Literary History, II., 85.

[173] Church History, III., 87.

[174] Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 131.

[175] Ibid.

[176] Rose’s Biographical Dictionary, XI., 166.

[177] Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 131.

[178] Wilkins was an eminent mathematician, and one of the first members of the Royal Society. But his reputation as a humourist was his chief recommendation to Buckingham. His character in many respects resembled that of Swift. One of his witticisms is worth recording. After the first appearance of his well-known Voyage to the Moon [“Discovery of a New World, with a Discourse concerning the Possibility of a Voyage thither”], the eccentric Duchess of Newcastle jestingly remarked to him that the only defect in his account was that it omitted to tell where the voyagers would find lodging and accommodation by the way. “That need present no difficulty to your Grace,” said Wilkins; “you have built so many _castles in the air_ that _you_ cannot be at any loss for accommodation on the journey.”

[179] He published the “Pantheisticon,” the most profane of all his works, under this pseudonym. I regret to see that an elaborate attempt to recall this long-forgotten book into notice, is made by Dr. Hermann Hettner, in his “Geschichte der Englischen Literatur von 1660 bis 1770,” the first volume of which has just been published at Leipsic (1856). Dr. Hettner has even been at the pains to translate largely from its worst profanities.

[180] Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 110.

[181] Among the crowd of bubble companies which arose about the time of the Revolution, was the “Royal Academies Company,” which professed to have engaged the best masters in every department of knowledge, and issued 20,000 tickets at twenty shillings each. The fortunate holders were to be taught at the charge of the company! Among the subjects of instruction languages held a high place; and the scheme of education comprised Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Spanish! See Macaulay’s History of England, IV., 307.

[182] Disraeli has a curious chapter on Henley, _Miscellanies_, pp. 73-8.

[183] A plan for the promotion of Oriental studies, under the patronage of the Company, formed one of the many magnificent schemes of Warren Hastings, himself no mean linguist. Hastings consulted Johnson on the subject; and it is observed as an evidence of his extraordinary coolness and self-possession, that his letter, acknowledging Johnson’s present of Sir W. Jones’s Persian Grammar, was written in the midst of the excitement of one of the most eventful days in his chequered life. See Croker’s Boswell’s Life of Johnson. VIII., 38-42, and Macaulay’s Essays, p. 593.

[184] Even during an attack of ophthalmia he did not relax in his application to study, but used to get some of his schoolfellows to read for him while he was himself disabled from reading.

[185] Lord Teignmouth’s Life of Sir William Jones, II., 168.

[186] II., 168.

[187] He displayed great disinterestedness in the public service by voluntarily relinquishing, several years before his death, (1836) a large pension which he held under the crown.

[188] 1765-1837.

[189] Memorials of My Own Time, p. 180.

[190] Lockhart’s Life of Scott, I., p. 323.

[191] Life of Thomas Young, M.D. By George Peacock, D.D. London, 1855.

[192] See an interesting memoir in the National Review, II., 69-97.

[193] Christianity and Mankind, III., 48.

[194] Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion, I., 180.

[195] See especially an exceedingly learned and interesting article in the Dublin Review, Vol. XXXIX., pp. 199-244. on Dr. Donaldson’s _Jashar_.

[196] Illustrated London News, Feb. 10, 1856.

[197] See a memoir of Dr. Samuel Lee in Jerdan’s “Portrait Gallery,” Vol. V.

[198] Journal of a Residence in London. By Nathaniel Wheaton, A.M., p. 85.

[199] People’s Journal, Vol. I., p. 244.

[200] Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, art. Burritt.

[201] I must here acknowledge my especial obligations to Mr. Watts; not alone for the facilities kindly afforded to me in consulting books in the British Museum Library, but for the valuable assistance in discovering the best sources of information which his extensive acquaintance with Slavonic literature enabled him to render to me in the inquiry.

[202] For some account of this traveller see Otto’s Lehrbuch der Russischen Literatur, p. 231.

[203] König’s Literarische Bilder aus Russland, p. 33.

[204] Ibid.

[205] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p 246. Pameva was not properly a Russian, having been born in Moldavia; but he became a monk at Kiew, which thenceforward was the country of his adoption.

[206] Grammatica Russica et Manuductio ad Linguam Slavorum, Oxford, 1696.

[207] See Guhrauer’s “_Leibnitz, eine Biographie_,” Vol. II., pp. 271-5, for the details of this magnificent scheme.

[208] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 179.

[209] See an article on “Russian Literature,” _Foreign Quart. Review_, Vol. 1., p. 610.

[210] See an interesting notice in Otto’s Lehrbuch, _sub voce_.

[211] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 294. 5.

[212] See König’s _Literarische Bilder aus Russland_, p. 38, also Otto’s _Lehrbuch_, p. 204, and Bowring’s _Russian Anthology_, 1. 205. 8. His works fill 6 vols. 8vo. 1804.

[213] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 257.

[214] Biograph. Univ. VIII. p. 87.

[215] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 246.

[216] See an interesting sketch of this institute, by M. Dulaurier: L’Institut Lazareff des Langues Orientales, Paris 1856.

[217] Dulaurier, p. 48.

[218] Historic View of the Language and Literature of the Slavonic Nations, by Talvi—the pseudonym of Theresa A. L. von Jacob, (formed of her several initials), daughter of the celebrated Professor von Jacob, and now wife of Dr. Robinson the eminent American Biblical scholar, p. 73.

[219] Ibid.

[220] Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia and China, 2 vols. 8vo, 1827.

[221] Historical View of Slavonic Languages, p. 32.

[222] Ibid, p. 98. His Georgian Dictionary obtained the Demidoff prize. See catalogue de l’Academie Imperiale a St. Petersbourg, p. 58.

[223] 3 vols. 4to. Moscow, 1840.

[224] Literarische Bilder aus Russland (König), pp. 312-21.

[225] Literature and Language of Slavonic Nations, p. 244.

[226] In one vol. 4to, Petersburg, 1851.

[227] De Origine et Rebus Gestis Polonorum, Lib. XXX., ibid. 244.

[228] Lit. and Lang. of Slavonic Nations, p. 178.

[229] The _Thesaurus_ (4 vols, folio, Vienna 1680) supposes in its author a knowledge of at least eight different languages, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Latin, Italian, French, German, and Polish. Meninski was a man of indomitable energy. In two successive pamphlets which he published in the course of a controversy which he carried on with his great rival, Podestà (who was professor of Arabic in the University) he went to the pains of actually _transcribing with his own hand in each copy_ the quotations from Oriental authors, as there were no Oriental types in Vienna from which they could be printed! Meninski’s Thesaurus, however, is best known from the learned edition of it which was printed at Vienna (1780-1802) under the revision of Baron von Ienisch, himself an Orientalist of very high reputation, and for a considerable time interpreter of the Austrian embassy at Constantinople.

[230] Literature of Slavonic Nations, 270. See also an interesting memoir in the _Biographie Universelle_. He was born at Warsaw in 1731, and survived till 1808.

[231] See Biographie Universelle (Supplement), Vol. LVII., p. 589. Italinski continued and completed D’Hancarville’s great work on Etruscan Antiquities.

[232] Ibid., p. 190.

[233] See an interesting memoir in Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, Vol. III., pp. 280-1.

[234] See Staudenmaier’s “Pragmatismus der Geistes-gaben,” [Tübingen 1835], and Englmann’s “Von der Charismen im allgemeinen, und von dem Sprachen-charismen im Besondern.” [Regensburg, 1848]. See also a long list of earlier writers (chiefly Rationalistic) in Kuinoel’s “Commentarius in Libros N. T.” vol. IV. pp. 40-2; also in Englmann, pp. 15-23.

[235] Jost’s Geschichte der Israeliten, VI., 166.

[236] P. 15. The example and patronage of Frederic tended much to promote the revival of Oriental studies. Many of the earliest versions of the works of Aristotle from the Arabic, were made under his auspices or those of his son Manfred; among others (compare Jourdain’s “Recherches sur les Traductions Latines d’Aristote,” p. 124, Paris 1843; also Whewell’s “History of the Inductive Sciences,” I., p. 343;) that of Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, a learned Orientalist and an accomplished general scholar, although his traditionary character is that of “the wizard Michael Scott.” His namesake, Sir Walter, has immortalized him, not as a scholar, but as

“A wizard of such dreaded fame,
That when, in Salamanca’s cave,
Him listed his magic wand to wave
The bells would ring in Notre Dame!”

Roger Bacon’s skill in Arabic and other Eastern tongues was probably one of the causes which drew upon him the same evil reputation. I should have mentioned Bacon among the few notable mediæval linguists. He was “an industrious student of Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and the modern tongues.” (Milman’s Latin Christianity, VI., p. 477). Perhaps I ought also to have named Albert the Great (Ibid., p. 453); but I am rather disposed to believe that the knowledge which he had of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic authors, was derived from Latin versions, and not from the original works themselves.

[237] Gerbert travelled to Spain with the express purpose of studying in the Arabian schools. See Hock’s “Sylvester II., und sein Jahrhundert;” also Whewell’s “Inductive Sciences,” I., 273.

[238] Duret’s _Thresor_, p. 963.

[239] Paul IV. is mentioned by Cancellieri, as having known the entire Bible by heart. He names several other men, (one of them _blind_,) and _six ladies_, who could do the same; he tells of one man who could repeat it in Hebrew.

[240] Kemble’s Social and Political State of Europe, p. 9.

[241] His full name is “Phra Bard Somdetch Phra Paramendt Maha Mongkut Phra Chom Klau Chau Hu Yua.” _Bowring’s Siam_, (Dedication.) The account of the king is most interesting.