2«A s. No 64., Mar. 21. 'S?.]) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



225 



work according to the life or powers of darkness. Nothing 

 evil or tormenting but that which nature or self does. Self 

 or nature, the three properties of desire thrown into a 

 fourth of wrath, through the loss or unattainableness of 

 their only (supernatural) good. No possible deliverance 

 from self, but by the new birth of the supernatural Deity 

 of light in the soul. Desire, the ground of life, and all 

 sensibility of life. How this manifest in outward nature, 

 by attraction, with its essential properties. The relations 

 of the visible world and all its productions to the invisible 

 and hellish world. The way of escaping from, and abolish- 

 ing all evil arising in the soul, or the art of dying to self. 

 God must be and do all. The state of heart the perfect 

 conviction of this truth induces, or the spirit of prayer. 

 Tlie marriage-feast of the soul and Virgin Sophia, or 

 full birth of the spirit of love. The one simple way to 

 attain this, as here shown, the one infallible way, because 

 the will is the leader of the creaturely life. Christ having 

 obtained an infinite power over the human nature, (by 

 his process through it, from the centre to the circumfer- 

 ence, and thence home again, thus completing and pos- 

 sessing the entire circuit and capacity of our being,) must 

 sooner or later see all enemies under his feet. 



"BOOK VIII. — A COLLECTION OF LETTERS.— 

 Being Portions of the Correspondence of the Author of 

 the Preceding Books, relating to Topics of Scientific and 

 Practical Christian Doctrine. \_End of Vol, III., Intro- 

 duction to Theosophy.'] 



It now only remains, as a practical conclusion to 

 the articles of " N. & Q.," on Law, Bohme, and 

 Fbeugr * (with whom may be associated the ho- 

 noured names of GiCHTEii and Francis Lbb), to 

 give the before mentioned advice of Mr. Law to 

 an academic friend, as to the proper mode, and 

 object to be had in view, in the study of the 

 writings of the grand master of the central phi- 

 losophy of Deity and Nature, Bohbmius, already 

 described. Meanwhile, it is left for the reader of 

 these several articles to consider, how essentially 

 necessary such a philosophy as is described in 

 them, must be to the devoted gospel missionary, 

 if he would_ succeed in making converts of the 

 ■wise, and learned, and influential in the centres of 

 religion and philosophy of the eastern nations ; 

 •which surely should be the grand aim of en- 

 lightened Missionary enterprise. Anon. 

 (_To be continued.') 



* ^° The readers of "Notes and Queries," with their 

 theological acquaintance, are informed that the substance 

 of what has appeared in that Periodical, respecting the 

 philosophy and writings of Jacob Bohme, Dionysius An- 

 drew Freher and William Law, with other particulars 

 concerning Mystical Divinity, (also as to the proper form 

 of a new edition of the works of the above mentioned 

 authors — for the information and guidance of some future 

 worthy publisher,) has been collected together, arranged 

 in due order, and printed in a separate Pamphlet for 

 gratuitous circulation ; which may be received by post, 

 on the applicant sending his name and address to Mr. W. 

 A. Browne, 24. Ludgate Street, London, inclosing two 

 postage Stamps for the expences of transmission. The 

 purport of the pamphlet being A Guide to the peculiar 

 Sciential and Experiential Knowledge needful to compose an 

 Adequate and Suitable Biography of the Accomplished 

 English Sage, Scholar, Wit, Divine, and Philosopher, Wd- 

 liam Law, for which an Editor is Required. Quis digne 

 scripserit. — « Whom no pen can justify." Gibbon. 



OEIGIN OF "EOMBO AND JULIET. 



We are told that the earliest known narrator of 

 this tale was a Neapolitan named Masuccio (by the 

 way, he must have had a surname, for Masuccio is 

 merely Tommy,) who lived in the latter part of 

 the fifteenth century. He made Siena, we are in- 

 formed, the abode of the unhappy lovers. The 

 tale was next told by Luigi da Porto, a native of 

 Vicenza, under the title of "La Giulietta," but 

 was not printed till 1535, some time after his death. 

 It was he probably (I have not seen his work) that 

 laid the scene in the neighbouring city of Verona, 

 and made the lovers of the rival families of the 

 Cappelletti and Montecchi of that city, mentioned 

 by Dante. From him it was taken by Bandello, 

 and through Boisteau, Brooke, and Paynter, it 

 came to Shakspeare, who has bestowed on it un- 

 dying existence. 



There is no reason whatever for supposing it to 

 be founded on fact ; the diiFerent localities as- 

 signed to it seem to be sufficiently conclusive on 

 that head. Whence then did it come ? or are we 

 to assign the invention of it to the aforesaid Ma- 

 succio ? Mr. Douce saw a resemblance to the 

 adventures of Abrocomas and Panthea in the 

 romance of Xenophon of Ephesus. But the re- 

 semblance is very slight indeed, hardly greater.^ 

 than that between Macedon and Monmouth. The 

 simple fact is, that the tale on which that of- 

 Romeo and Juliet is founded has always been r 

 before men's eyes, and known, I may say, to every f 

 person of any education ; and yet for three cen- 

 turies no one, as far as I am aware, has discerned 

 the affinity. For my own part I can say that , 

 though I can hardly recollect the time when I did ^ 

 not know both tales, yet the resemblance never 

 struck me till this present month of February, 

 and that by the merest accident : so I claim no 

 credit for the discovery. 



Let, then, any one read the story of Pyrafnus 

 and Thisbe in the fourth book of Ovid's Meta- 

 morphoses, and if he is at all versed in the theory 

 of the origin and the transmission of fiction, he 

 will see at once, and with hardly a possibility of 

 doubt, that Romeo and Juliet is nothing but this ; 

 tale transferred to Italy and the Middle Ages, with > 

 the necessary adjuncts and modifications. He 

 will also perhaps greatly wonder, as I do myself, 

 how so obvious a resemblance could have remained 

 so long undetected. Thos. Keightley. 



rOLK LOKE. 



John Bromptorts Description of Ireland. — 

 Under this head may well be classed credulous ^ 

 John Brompton's description of Ireland : when he '' 

 speaks of its " Barnaces " birds like the green* 

 wood " auks," which grow spontaneously from fir- 

 logs, and the mineral called iris which when set in 



