108 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°<i S. VI II. Aug. 6. '59. 



MEDIiEVAIi ARCHITECTUKE OF VENICE. 



Most travellers are disappointed on entering 

 those houses in this city which have elevations of 

 mediaeval character. The interior in almost every 

 case is of Italo-classic architecture ; in fact, ex- 

 cept on the fronts, there is scarcely a vestige of 

 that of the middle ages throughout the city : and 

 yet the houses do not appear to have been rebuilt. 

 Some of these fronts are executed in a sort of 

 cement, and many appear comparatively modern. 

 On inquiring as to this peculiar feature, I found 

 there was a tradition that when any member of a 

 Venetian family had distinguished himself in the 

 wars that were always raging between the Re- 

 public and the Turks, he or bis relatives imme- 

 diately, as a sort of trophy, caused the front of 

 the house to be " Saracenised," as my informant 

 called it — much as our old Indian officers, some 

 years ago, used to build pagodas in their gardens, 

 or old captains of whalers to put up a pair of 

 whale's ribs over their gates. The plan, or rather 

 design, of the fronts of the Venetian houses, whe- 

 ther mediseval or not, is just the same ; a triple 

 arcade in the centre of each story, and one or 

 more isolated windows on each side of this. The 

 transformation would be very easy ; the substitu- 

 tion of a pointed ogee arch, and some tracery, more 

 or less elaborate, for the old circular arch. There 

 would be no need to pull down anything, nor to 

 alter the inside. Can any of your readers refer 

 me to written authorities in support or explanation 

 of this tradition, which certainly puts Venetian 

 architecture in a different light to that in which 

 it has lately been regarded ? A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



Bacon on Conversation. — Speaking of conver- 

 sation, in his Advancement of Learnings Bacon 

 says : " But this part of knowledge has been ele- 

 gantly handled, and therefore I cannot report it 

 for deficient." To what author or publication 

 does he refer ? Having myself ventured to write 

 an Essay on the subject, and wishing for addi- 

 tional information, I should be obliged for the 

 notice of these or any other references. With 

 Swift's and La Bruyere's observations I am ac- 

 quainted, and mention this to save the trouble of 

 alluding to them. Francis Trench. 



Islip. 



A Charity-box for Distressed Gentlemen. — In 

 the Dublin Freeman s Journal (Oct. 13, 1764) the 

 following notice may be found : — 

 " To the Pvhlick. 



"By permission of the Right Hon. Benjamin Geale, 

 Esq., Lord Mayor of the City of Dublin, a Charity Box, 



with the City Arms thereon, is now carried in such parts 

 of this City as shall be judged most expedient, for the 

 sole benefit and relief of three distressed gentlemen, now 

 confined in the City Marshalsea, which it is humbly 

 hoped will engage the attention and tender consideration 

 of the humane and benevolent. 



"I certifie the above gentlemen are in real distress. 

 " Wm. Dklamain, Marshal." 



Was this a common mode of raising money for 

 debtors in Dublin and elsewhere during the last 

 century ? And can you refer me to any notices 

 similar to the one I send ? Abhba. 



Prayer on setting forth an Expedition, probably 

 in the Reign of Elizabeth. — 



',' Most Omnipotent maker and guider of all the world's 

 mass, that only searchest and fathomest the bottom of all 

 hearts' conceits, and in them seest the true original of all 

 actions intended, Thou, that by thy foresight dost truly 

 discern, how no malice of revenge, nor quittance of in- 

 jury, nor desire of bloodshed, nor greediness of lucre, hath 

 bred the resolution of our now set out army, but a heed- 

 ful care and weary watch that no neglect of force, nor 

 over surety of harm, might breed either danger to us, or 

 glorj' to them. These being grounds, Thou that didst 

 inspire the mind, Ave humbly beseech Thee with bended 

 knees prosper the work, and with best fore- winds guide 

 the Journey, speed the victory, and make the return the 

 advancement of thy glory, the triumph of their fame, and 

 suret}' of the realm, with the least loss of English blood. 

 To these devout petitions, Lord, give thou thy blessed 

 grant." 



I have copied this prayer from a contemporary 

 manuscript, written by one who lived in the reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth, as well as in those of her two 

 successors ; but I suppose it to belong to the for- 

 mer period. I have not followed the spelling, as 

 it is peculiar to the writer, and the composition 

 appears to better advantage without it : and, as 

 he was certainly not the author, but only a tran- 

 scriber, there is no good reason in this case for 

 retaining his orthography. I am desirous to ask, 

 1. Whether any other copy of it is extant, either 

 in print or manuscript ? 2. If so, whether its oc- 

 casion is known? and 3. Its probable author? 



John Gough Nichols. 



"Liberavi animam meant.'" — This phrase occurs 

 at the end of a letter addressed by the late Mr. 

 Justice Alderson to a friend about to be per- 

 verted (Life, p. 229.), and the sense in which he 

 used it is the same as that of his biographer (p. 

 160.), who says of the learned baron, — 



" In talking on a matter which interested him, he was 

 not careful so much to pick and choose his words as to 

 give free vent to the current of his thoughts — lilerare 

 animam." 



Here it is evident that he intends liberare ani- 

 mam to be the equivalent of sedulb dixisse, as 

 Terence : — 



" Ego, seduld hunc dtxisse credo. Veriim ith. est, 

 Quot homines, tot sententiae. Suus cuique mos." 

 Phormio. ii. iii. 13. 



The expression liberavi animam meam does not 

 occur in the Latin Vulgate in the first person, but 



