2"d S. VII. Ji/NE 4. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



449 



LONDON. SATURDAY, JUNE 4. 1859. 



No. 179. — CONTENTS. 



XT ^^« 



Notes ; — 

 Italy : Vincsnzo da Filicaja, by Spencer Hall - - - 449 



James II. : Maria D'Este, by Thompson Cooper - - - 4S0 



FoLK-I/oBE : — Rockland's Guild — "Weather Distich— Christ- 

 mas Thunder — Origin of I'ancaltes on Shrove Tuesday - 450 

 Bell Inscriptions and Bell Founders, by H.D'Aveney - - 451 

 The Legend of" Bethgelert," by C. Girdlestone . - - 452 

 Minor Notes :_ Sir Robert Southwell — Dr. Moor and Robert 

 Burns — Index to Periodicals — A Quotation Applied, &c. - 452 



QOBBIES : — 



Old Book Note by a Martyr - - - - _ - 453 



Old Print - - - - - - . - 454 



"Mop," by Cuthbert Bede - - - - - - 45t 



Minor Qukries : — Richard Prince, of Madras — The Union, 1707 

 — Scottish Marriage Law — Rev. George Holiwell — " History of 

 Judas" -Dean Swift's " Memoirs," &c. - - - - 455 



Minor Qiteries with Answers : — " Herb John in the Pot " — Le 



Vaillant — Dr. Everard — ilichael Drayton — Gen. Vallancey - 456 



Replies : — 



St. Paul's Visit to Britain ...... 457 



Laylock, or Lilac, by Rev. Thomas Boys,&c. - - - 4hO 



William of Wykeham - . - - - - - 4ei 



Ceremony for the Souls of the Slain in Battle, by S. Redmond - 462 



Replies to Minor Qderies : — Coekshut — Ancient Entries — 

 " Parafe"— The Arrows of Harrow — Watling Street— Watling 

 Street : The Milky Way — Bugs— What is a Spontoon ? &c. - 463 



ITALY : VINCENZO DA FILICAJA. 



It is hardly requisite to offer excuse for sub- 

 mitting to your readers the following sonnet of 

 Filicaja's. It is singularly illustrative of the con- 

 dition of Italy since the days of the fall of inipe- 

 rial Rome, and equally applicable to the present 

 as to the past. Vincenzo da Filicaja was born at 

 Florence on Dec. 30, 1642, the descendant of a 

 family of dignified repute, decaying beneath the 

 influence of adverse fortunes. So wears down the 

 life of many a noble mind still equal to its original 

 high purpose. Nature made him a poet. Love 

 excited his first efforts. But to him, as to Dante, 

 Death was the destroyer of Hope. Dante found 

 relief in political excitement — and the personifi- 

 cation of Grief in the spiritual realisation of the 

 Beatrice of his great poem. In intense Hate also, 

 he extinguished Sorrow. Throughout his life, 

 Filicaja found no solace for his loss : 



" One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin." 

 Filicaja and Shenstone would alike have written 

 as throughout life they felt, with memory bur- 

 dened with such sorrow, " Heu quaiito minus est 

 cum reliquis versari, quain tui meminisse!" Upon 

 the death of the lady of his love, Filicaja retired 

 from Florence, and immured himself in the coun- 

 try. He destroyed all his earlier compositions, 

 however, endeared by association. Long after- 

 wards he married, but his life was devoted to 

 study in the strictest retirement, the education of 

 his family, and the severest exercises of religion. 

 Man catuiot disobey the will of Nature. Nature 

 had made him a poet. Tlie siege of Vienna by 

 the Turks in 1683, and its glorious deliverance by 

 Sobicski, aroused his mind from its solitude of 



thought. It was thus inspired that he wrote those 

 fine Canzoni which at once attracted the notice of 

 Europe, and the patronage and protection of 

 many royal houses. The Emperor Leopold I. and 

 Queen Christina of Sweden were foremost to 

 mark their appreciation. The latter undertook 

 the education and maintenance of two of his sons, 

 enjoining the strictest secresy that she might not 

 feel ashamed for having done so little. This was 

 much from the intellectual murderess of Monal- 

 deschi. Mr. Hallam, relying probably on Comiani, 

 alludes to Filicaja's retirement from Florence in 

 consequence of his poverty, and consequent ne- 

 glect. It is difficult to fix the period to which 

 this remark refers ; but, according to Tiraboschi, 

 his situation was greatly ameliorated by his pa- 

 trons. He died on the 25th Sept. 1707, at sixty- 

 five years of age, with that which should accom- 

 paJny old age — "as honor, love, obedience, 

 reverence, troops of friends." The following is 

 the sonnet by which he is most known : — 



" Italia, Italia, tu, cui feo la .sorte 

 Dono infelice di bellezza, ond' hai 

 • Funesta dote d' infiniti guai, 



Che in fronte scritti per gran doglia porte: 



Deh fossi tu men bella, almen piu forte, 

 Onde assai piii ti paventasse, o assai 

 T' aniasse men chi del tuo bello ai rai 

 Par, che si strugga, e pur ti sfida a morte ! 



Ch^ gill da r Alpi non vedrei torrenti 

 Scender d' armati, nh di .sangue tinta 

 Bever r onda del Po, — Galiici armenti ; 



Nfe te vedrei del non tuo ferro cinta 

 Pugnar col braccio di straniere genti, 

 Per servir sempre, vincitrice, vinta." 



Your readers will find notices of the life and 

 poems of Filicaja in the following authors : Tira- 

 boschi, Storia della Letterat. Ital., tomo viii. pp. 

 469 — 471., 8vo., 1812 ; Corniani, Secoli, tomo viii. 

 p. 238., Svo., 1812; Sismondi, Litterat. Ital, tomo 

 ii. p. 273., 1813; Muratorl della Per/etta Poesia 

 Itnl, tomo iii. p. 392., Svo., 1795 ; Hallam, Litera- 

 ture of Europe, vol. iv. p. 398., 8vo., '1839. 



Of these, the remarks by Mr. Hallam will be of 

 chief interest to the English reader. The great 

 resources of Mi*. Hallam's mind were derived alike 

 from original power and the most extensive cul- 

 ture. His judgment was always under the gui- 

 dance of truth, always superior to any vacillating 

 impulse. The delicate appreciation of the beau- 

 tiful arose from the finer sympathies of his nature. 

 His style is always the sincere and energetic ex- 

 pression of his thought. To those who seek to 

 estimate the value of event, or the influence of 

 the intellectual greatness of the past, he will long 

 be respected as a guide, as cherished as his me- 

 mory must ever be by his friends. 



I know not whether any English translations 

 beyond Lord Byron's lines have been published of 

 the Sonnets : your readers probably could supply 

 some information on this point. Spencer Hall. 



