658 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 137. 



Sti Hugonis Pontlficis solebat. Etona; fieri electio 

 Episcopi Nihilensis, sed consuetudo obsolevit." 



Again, in the statutes as given by Mr. Heywood, 

 p. 560., it is provided that on the Feast of St. 

 Nicholas, but " nullatenus in festo Sanctorum In- 

 nocentium," the Episcopus puerorum Scholarium, 

 •who was to be elected from among tl)e boys every 

 year for the purpose, might celebrate all the divine 

 offices except the " missaa secreta." 



Can you, or any of your correspondents, inform 

 me — 



1st. What is the date of the MS. in question, 

 "with any further particulars of its history? 



2nd. What is " Pope St. Hugo's Day," and 

 •whether it was ia any way connected with the 

 election of the boy bishop in other places as well 

 as Eton ? 



3rd. Whether any reason can be assigned why 

 Holy Innocents Day, being that on which the boy 

 bishop was usually appointed, should have been 

 expressly excluded by the founder. L. C. B. 



" fl[ SPECULUM CHRISTIANOaUM MULTA BONA 

 COS TIN ENS." 



I have a small black-letter tract which bears the 

 above title : I am desirous of learning the author's 

 name, and that of the printer, together with the 

 date and place of its production. It extends from 

 signature a 1 to g 8, and ends abruptly on the 

 verso of G 8 without any colophon. On the verso 

 of the title-page is a small woodcut representing 

 the Holy Dove hovering over the Virgin, who is 

 surrounded by nine kneeling figures, all under a 

 depressed arch, supported by two pillars whose 

 shafts have a kind of chevron ornament worked 

 on them, somewhat similar to the pillars of the 

 crypt of Canterbui'y Cathedral. Perhaps if I give 

 the title-page of this curious little tract in ex- 

 teuso, it will be more easily Identified : 



" Q Speculum Christianorum multabona contlnens. 

 Primo modo. 



a De preceptis del 



CC De septein vitiis capltalibus 



C De septem virtutibus his contrariis 



C De octo tabulis : cu quibusda ofonib' deuotissimis 



a De modo se preparadi ad sacrametum eucharistie 



CE De efFectu sacramenti 



C. De antichristo 



r Expositio ofonis dnice: cum quoda bona notabili 



C. De Ramis. vii. vicioru capitaliu : et eoriim remediis 

 ■ C De contentu mundi : cum aliis notabilibus." 



It should be noted that this table of contents is 

 "by no means a fair representative of the subjects 

 on which the pamphlet treats. On the verso of 

 page E ill. is the following curious passage : — 



"CE Peccata britonum et causa depositionis eorum. 

 Negligentia prelatorum | rapina potentu | cupiditas 

 iudicu j rabies periuriorum | inordinatus cultiis vesti- 

 mentorura : detestanda luxuria | omne pctin publicum 



& notorium clamat vindicl5 ad deum. Sed precipue 

 quattuor : merces mercenarii, pctiii sodomiticum, homi- 

 cidium, oppressio innocentiu. Heu heu heu quot 

 clamores vindicte sunt nunc aute deum." 



This passage is Intrcduced without any farther 

 connexion with the subjects under discussion, 

 than the mere heading of the section gives it. 

 Permit me to trouble you with one more extract, 

 before I leave my Query in the hands of your 

 readers : 



"d De duabus scalis ; una dirigente ad celum: et 

 altera ad infernum. 



CE Scala ad celum CE Scala ad infernum 



Pcrseverantia bona Dt'speratio 



Patientia in adversis Obstinentia in peccatis 



Obedietia in preceptis Furor in adversis 



Patientia in vita Iniusticia facti 



Cotritio et cofessi poll Odiu boni et dilectio pctl. 



Cognito tui Ignorantia 



Caritas Malicia." 



On the recto of c vj. 



Any information which some of your biblio- 

 graphical correspondents may give concerning this- 

 little work, will be very acceptable. 



W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A^ 



MASSACRE OF THE WELSH BARPS. 



Barrlngton, in his Observations upoii the Statutes^. 

 raises some historic doubts whether that massacre 

 of the Welsh bards, upon which Gray founded hi* 

 magnificent ode, actually occurred : — 



" But," he says, " a manuscript history, written by 

 Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, authorises the supposed 

 tradition of a massacre of the bards ; nor could the 

 writer of that most admirable ode have made his bard 

 so warmly express, or his reader feel, the tyranny of 

 Edward, if he had not probably raised an indignation 

 and fire in his own breast, and by reading of other- 

 materials, which / have not happened to meet with," 



Plas the question of this real or pretended mas-- 

 sacre been raised, or proved beyond doubt ? 



As to Gray requiring "materials" for his fancy, 

 poets even of Inferior genius contrive to weave a 

 web out of airy nothings, and the liveliest descrip- 

 tion by an old Cymric bard of the slaughters of 

 the thirteenth century, will not carry conviction 

 of the truth of the narrative In the nineteenth. 



H. T.H. 



:^tn0r Outvies, 



Portrait of William Combe. — Lonsdale the 

 portrait painter. In a letter dated January, 1826, 

 addressed to a friend of Combe whilst living, says : 



" I shall be much obliged if you will have the good- 

 ness to cause my picture of the late Mr. Combe to be 

 sent to me. Mr. C. borrowed the picture of me to 

 show to some friend, and kept it till his death." 



