2nJ S. VIII. JOLY 2. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



15 



walking in Bond Street with W"". Wynj^ard, late D. A. 

 Gen*., and just after telling hiin the story of the ghost, 

 [he] exclaimed — My God! and pointed out a person — 

 a gentleman — as [being] exactly like the apparition in 

 person and dress. This gentleman was so like J. VVyn- 

 yard svs often to be spoken to for him, and affected to 

 dress like him. I think his name was Hayman. 



'♦ I have heard W"'. Wynyard mention the above cir- 

 cumstance, and declare that he then believed the story of 

 the ghost. " (Signed) R. G." 



The above is taken from a copy made from the 

 original queries and answers, and given to me, 

 only a few weeks after the date affixed to the 

 queries ; and to it is added, in the handwriting of 

 the copyist, the following : — 



" A true copy from the original. The queries are 

 written in black ink in the hand-writing of Sir John 

 Harvey, Depy. Adj'. Gen', of British America, and signed 

 by him ; — the answers are in red ink, written and signed 

 by Colonel Gore. The original paper belongs to Chief 

 Justice Sewell. Sir J. Sherbrooke was lately Gov^ 

 Gen', of Lower Canada.* It is said that Sir John Sher- 

 brooke could not bear to hear the subject spoken of." 



The copyist was a near relative of the Chief 

 Justice, and died in 1832. He was one of my 

 most intimate friends. Eric. 



ATTACK ON THE SOBBONNE. 



(2"'^ S. vi. 346.) 



The lines show that G. C. had more back and 

 current reading in foreign theology, and a better 

 appreciation of the difference between Zeus and 

 Jupiter, than could have been expected here in 

 the middle of the last century. He is not, how- 

 ever, quite correct in imputing to the Sorbonne 

 the scornful expression " one Arnald." Arnauld 

 withdrew from France in 1679. He may be said 

 to have been " driven out " by the Sorbonne, but 

 it was at Liege, in " the land of dykes," that si.K 

 superiors of the University issued the decree 

 which Bayle thought worthy of preservation for 

 its exquisite latinity : — 



" Nos infra script! superiores cohventuales regularium 

 in civitate Leodiensi, certiorati de conventiculis, quje 

 habentur apud cerium Arnaldum, doctrinam suspectam 

 spargentem, censemus D. Vicarium charitative certioran- 

 dum, ut similia conventicula dissipere et prohibere non 

 dedignetur, etiam cum dicto Arnoldo conversationes. 

 Datum in conventu uiinorum, hac 25 Aug. 1690." 



_ On Nov. 18, 1751, the Abbe de Prades offered 

 himself for the degree of bachelor, and maintained 

 before the Sorbonne a thesis on the question, Quis 

 est ille in cujus facicm Deus inspiravit spiraculum 

 vit& ? He followed Locke in denying innate ideas, 

 and slightly resembled Hobbes on the origin of 

 justice; but the doctors approved and granted 

 his licence unanimously. Objectionable matter 

 was soon discovered, for on Dec. 17, the king's 



* From July, 181G, to July, 1818. 



advocate applied to the Parliament, and on the 

 22nd the abbe's licence was suspended, and the 

 Sorbonne ordered to reconsider its decision. It 

 did so, and " ate its words " most ungracefully on 

 Jan. 27, 1752, censuring the thesis as horrible 

 (Jiorrendum), and feebly excusing its own inad- 

 vertent approbation : — 



" Conscivit hoc grande nefas per thesim die 18 Nov. 

 anni proximi elapsi, in Sorbona propugnatam. Thesim 

 artificiosa prolixitate, literarum fusilium temiitate digestam, 

 qiuB legentium attentionem fatigando distrafieret, locutioni- 

 bus ambiguis, poeticis, metaphoricis, compositam, quibus 

 error sub quadam larv^ veritatis insinuaretur, ipsa vero 

 Veritas pesumdaretur," &c. 



De Prades was a man of ability, and had clever 

 friends. Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists were 

 on his side. He printed in 1753, Recveil de Pieces 

 concernant la These de M. VAbbe de Prades, in 

 which he gave the writings of his adversaries 

 fairly and stood up against them manfully. The 

 ablest were Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, and 

 the Bishops of Montauban and Auxerre. I have 

 not read all the 270 quarto pages of small type 

 and double columns, but have seen enough to say 

 that they must have been instructive and pleasant, ' 

 when books were fewer and leisure was more. 



I do not know what share the "mistresses" took 

 in the bullying, but no doubt under Louis XV. 

 they were as important in theology as in politics. 

 Probably some of them were for De Prades, as he 

 gives an allegorical frontispiece to the second part 

 of his book, with an ample explanation, in which 

 a female figure is called " La Religion soutenuc 

 par le Roy, quelle regarde avec confiance." A 

 light from above, described in language which 

 would savour of profanity if quoted, falls upon 

 her and " le fils aine de TEgllse," who is appro- 

 priately dressed as an ancient Roman. 



There is a book on the other side. La Religion 

 vengee des Impietes de la These et de fApologie, 

 Montauban, 1754, for which I have made diligent 

 but fruitless inquiry. 



Those who wish to go farther into this matter 

 than the space which can be spared in " N. & Q." 

 allows, will find enough, and directions to more, 

 in Bayle's Diet., art. Arnaidd ; Causa Arnul- 

 dina, Leodici Eborunum, 1690; D'Argens, Lcttres 

 Juives, vii. 158. ; Voltaire, Siecle de Lotiis XIV. 

 c. 37. ; Reuchlin, Geschichte von Port Royal, Ham- 

 burg, 1839; and Bouillier, Histoire de la Philoso- 

 phie Cartesienne, Paris, 1854. 



Allow me to correct what appears to be a mis- 

 print in the third of the lines quoted : — 



" Knocked down Titians, burnt-out Semele." 



For " Titians " read " the Titans," which sets the 

 metre right, and removes the anachronism and 

 auctioneering. H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



