324 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Oct. 27. 1855. 



terrific and astonishing. Rocks piled on rocks soar high 

 above each other's head, frowning in gloomy majesty over 

 the narrow and horrible recess that forms the passage into 

 that black and frightful chasm." 



James Yatb Johnson. 



A Parallel, A.i>. 1254 = 1855. — 



"England began now to surfet of more than thirty 

 yeares peace and plenty, which produced no better etfects 

 than ingratitude to God, and murmuring at their king. 

 Many active spirits, whose minds were above their means, 

 offended that others beneath them (as they thought) in 

 merit, were above them in employment, cavilled at many 

 errours in the king's government, being state-Donatists, 

 maintaining the perfection of a Commonwealth might 

 and ought to be attained: a thing easy in the theory, 

 impossible in the practice, to conform the actions of men's 

 corrupted natures to the exact ideas in men's imagin- 

 ations" — Fuller's Church History of Britain, Anno Regii 

 Henrici, 3", 38, 1254. 



W. C. Trevelyan. 



®uer(«jS. 



MAECALDl's "LIFE OF MAKY QUEEN OF SCOTS." 



A curious MS. Life of Mary Queen of Scot- 

 land, written in Italian, and now in my possession, 

 I make the subject of the following Note. This 

 Life is contained in a' single volume (12mo. in 

 size), is divided into chapters, which are not 

 numbered, but dated as the events occur, and 

 contains 64 pages, written in a clear and hand- 

 some hand, unquestionably, I think of the six- 

 teenth century. The volume is addressed, " All' 

 ill" Sig" il Sij>" Alessandro Petruci," by the au- 

 thor, who writes himself " Fran''° Marcaldi," and 

 the dedication is dated in " Siena, a viij di Fe- 

 braio, mdlxxx." On this very day, seven years 

 after, the queen suffered on the scaffold. This 

 singular comcidence is the more interesting, be- 

 cause in the last chapter of the volume, which 

 closes the life, the author says, "although then 

 imprisoned, strong hopes were entertained of her 

 being liberated." This chapter, which is entitled 

 " II presento stato di Scotia," is to the following 

 effect : 



« Mortonio, ultimo Governatore di tutti, odioso alii no- 

 bili, nel mese di Maggio, con autorita del Re et baroni, 

 nel publico consiglio, fu privato et cassato di tal governo, 

 et fu relegato nella provintia. Ma lora, il Re essendo in 

 etade di tredici anni, ha preso il Governo del Regno, se- 

 condo le legi della patria, et ha eletto alcuni baroni pur 

 suoi curatori spetialmente delli baroni della Regina, et 

 ogni cosa e retta dal loro consiglio, et questi sono vinti- 

 quattro consiglierl nobili, alcuni di quali sono cattolici et 

 altri della perfida setta. Ma il Re et tutti li nobili amano 

 con grande amore la Regina di Scotia, et continuamente 

 il Re procura, anzi ha ordinato, che siano mandate Am- 

 basciatori per la liberatione della Regina con certe condi- 

 tion!, pero, per il che la Regina di Scotia ha sentito grande 

 contento et consolatione, et la Regina d' Inghilterra pre- 

 sentendo questo, gli lassa maggior liberta, et ternendo gli 

 Scocesi, manda Ambasciatori in Scotia, esortandogli che 

 conservano la pace et solita amicitia, et che non ricivano 



No. 313.] 



soldati forestieri, ne' suoi confini. Adunque,' quando 

 1' animo del Principe dipenda dalla volenta della Regina, 

 sua madre, e grandissima speranza che lei debba esser 

 liberata, et la religione di S*« Chiesa sia restituita nella 

 Scotia, perche li Principi di giorno in giorno sono comossi, 

 et incitati ad abbracciarla, la qual cosa Iddio Omnipotente, 

 il qual e datore di tutte le vertu et ogni bene, favorisca a 

 gloria sua, e a benefitio g'randissimo della Republica cris- 

 tiana, et comune utilita di S"' Chiesa ; et cosi sua Divina 

 Maesta si degni di concedergli questa gratia in questo 

 turbolentissimo tempo," 



The quarrel of Darnley with the Queen on ac- 

 count of Rizzio, as given by our author, is too 

 curious to be omitted, and I therefore transcribe 

 it in full : 



"Ma quello che non potevano ottenere con forze et 

 armi, di novo tentavono co' inganni et fraudi. Imperoche 

 accusavono alia presentia del Re Henrico un certo Davido, 

 huomo cattolico, suo secretario, il qual dicevano haver 

 concertato insieme con la Regina di dargli la morte, per il 

 che il predetto David fu bandito, et la Regina fu custodita 

 strettissimamente. Ma poi conosciuta lafraude et inganno, 

 furano richiamati tutte li banditi in Scotia ; et Henrico, il 

 sequente giorno, conosiendo la sua colpa, et tanta scelerita, 

 doraando perdono secretamente, con grandissime lacrime 

 alia Regina, et lei gratiosamente perdonandogli, lo riab- 

 braccio, et ambidue di notte fuggivano dalle mani di 

 quelle huomini, et accortamenti entravano nel casteUo 

 Dumbaro." 



These details, which are given with all the mi- 

 nuteness of an eye-witness, must in part be in- 

 correct. The breach between Darnley and the 

 queen, on account of Rizzio, which was never 

 healed, did not occur until after the secretary 

 was assassinated. Of Rizzio's death, so frightful 

 in all its circumstances, as singular as it may ap- 

 pear, our author says nothing. 



I would end this Note with a Query. Can any 

 of your readers give me any information con- 

 cerning Francisco Marcaldi ? The volume just 

 described contains this note in the handwriting of 

 a beloved parent : 



" Di questo Marcaldi non mi riesi di trovar nessun no- 

 tizia. Non ne parla ne Moreni ne Firaboschi." 



Anon. 

 New Orleans. 



" SOUTHAMPTON S WISE SONS. 



Allow me to preface a short Query with a long 

 Note : — 



Some fifty years ago, perhaps more, a company 

 was formed to construct a canal between South- 

 ampton and a village called Redbridge, situated 

 at the junction of the river Test with the Southr 

 ampton Water, at which point the said canal was 

 to join the one running thence to Andover and 

 Salisbury. The project was carried out : the 

 canal commencing at or near what is now termed 

 the Platform, at the lower end of the town, thence 

 ran into and through " Hound well" by a cutting 

 (ever since known by the name of the " Town 

 Ditches "), and by a tunnel under the upper end 



