422 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Dec. 1. 1855. 



' of the MS. It formerly had been, I was told, separated 

 into two volumes: when I saw it, it formed one large 

 thick octavo. It is incomplete at the beginning and end, 

 having lost about half the book of Genesis, and nearly all 

 the Apocalypse. This last is supplied by another hand, 

 in cursive Greek, of the date probably of the tenth cen- 

 tury. As I remember, it contains one or two of the 

 smaller books of the Apocrypha, but not the books of the 

 Maccabees. 



"The Gospels and Epistles seem, as nearly as I could 

 judge, to be tolerably complete. The celebrated verse in 

 the First Epistle of St. John, as is well known, is not in 

 the text. I saw nothing of the Epistles of Barnabas, 

 Poh'carp, Clemens Romanus, the Pastor of Hernias, nor 

 anv of the writings of that period. 



"I asked particularly whether it was known that the 

 MS. had come under the notice of the Complutensian 

 editors, when Cardinal Mai said it was universallj' be- 

 lieved at Rome that every MS. of any value whatever, 

 through all Italy, had been carefully examined by Car- 

 dinal Ximencs or his assistants ; that knowing, even as 

 early as the time of Origen, the Greek text had been cor- 

 rupted bj' the Gnostics, and later by the Arians, that 

 scholar had made the most careful selection he could from 

 these 3ISS., and he had borrowed and conveyed them to 

 Alcala for the purpose of collation, and for correcting his 

 celebrated PoJyglott, and with the intention of afterwards 

 returning the MSS. to their respective owners; that it 

 was generally stated, after the publication of the Polyghtt, 

 the most precious MSS., by the error of a servant, were 

 sold, instead of a quantity of waste-paper — some say to 

 a maker of fireworks ; and it is for this reason there is 

 such a paucity of early codices of the sacred Scriptures. 



" With regard to the date, the Cardinal pointed out a 

 note at the end of one of the books — a sort of colophon 



— which states it was transcribed a.i>. 70 ; but this, I 

 venture to observe, would prove that the Christian era 

 was used as a means of computation even before the siege 

 ef Jerusalem. He considered, however, the MS. could not 

 be later than the middle of the second centurv. 



"In reply to questions as to the Orations of Hyperides 



— the notes and illustrations were by the Rev. Churchill 

 Babington, the fac-similes by IMessrs. Netherclift and 

 Durlacher; they show the smallest mark and every flaw 

 in the pap}'rus, and are equal, if not superior, to the best 

 facsimiles of the French. The book was published by 

 subscription, and I believe is now very scarce. Mr. 

 Arden, no question, has the lithographic stones, and Avith 

 his usual courtesy would, no doubt, permit some copies to 

 be taken oft. 



" With many thanks for the kind communications of 

 several photographers, I fear it would be necessary to 

 reduce the page so much to get a clear image in the 

 camera, that the text would be scared}^ legible. A quarto 

 page of uncial Greek, reduced to three or four inches 

 square, would, I fear, be of little practical utility. It 

 would, however, be very easy to try the experiment on 

 some other MS. I fear, also, it would be necessary to 

 strain the page and get it perfectly flat, or the curl of the 

 vellum would alter the focus and distort the image. 

 Once more apologizing for taking up so much of your 

 valuable columns, 



" I have the honour to be. Sir, 



" Your obliged and faithful servant, 



" Arthur Ashpitel. 



" 2. Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, Nov. 23." 



" Sir. — In common with many others, I feel a very 

 deep interest in the proposition of Mr. Thoresbj', that the 

 New Testament portion of the Vatican MS. should be 

 photographed. 



No. 318.] 



" I may, perhaps, be allowed to add some particulars to 

 what has already appeared in your columns, partly in 

 correction of what has been stated, and partly in reply to 

 inquiries that have been made. 



" The New Testament is not now a separate volume, 

 but it and the Septuagint are all bound in one; and this 

 is as it should be, for the}' are all one MS. 



"The Codex exhibits no trace of intentional mutilation. 

 It is true that the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy, Titus, 

 and Philemon are wholly wanting, as Avell as the Apoca- 

 lypse, so far as the ancient writing is concerned ; but this 

 arises from the MS. having been injured at both ends, so 

 that in the beginning the greater part of (genesis is gone, 

 and in the New Testament the old writing breaks-off in 

 Hebrews ix. As the pastoral epistles, in the arrangement 

 of old Greek MSS., stand after that to the Hebrews, they 

 are thus of necessity w^anting. Not so, however, the Ca- 

 tholic Epistles, which occupy their usual Greek location, 

 after the Acts and before Romans. 



"A later hand has remedied the defects in part, after a 

 manner, by prefixing the missing part of Genesis, in- 

 serting a portion lost from the Psalms, and adding the 

 latter part of the Hebrews, and the Book of Revelation. 



" If the testim.ony of one who has examined and col- 

 lated personally almost everj' known Greek MS. of the 

 New Testament, is needed to show the importance of this 

 proposed step, then let me add, that I believe that the 

 carrying out of Mr. Thorcsby's proposition would be one 

 of the greatest services that could be rendered to textual 

 criticism ; and no one could feel more deeplj'- obliged to 

 him than m3'self. In ni}' Account of the Printed Text of 

 the Greek New Testament (page 15G.), I have mentioned 

 the pains and trouble which I took in the hope of ob- 

 taining the readings accurately of this most important 

 MS. 



" The MS. ought to be examined as well as photo- 

 graphed ; because the manner in which the letters have 

 been traced over again bj' a later hand is such, that here 

 and there implicit dependence on the photographed copy 

 might lead to inattention as to the fiiinf, pale, original 

 reading. 



" If anj' one who used the photographed copy were pro- 

 perly on his guard, by such places having been noticed, 

 then the work proposed by Mr. Thoresby would be satis- 

 factor}' in the extreme. 



" I saw at Cambridge, about a month ago, a beautiful 

 photograph -of one page of the Codex Augiensis lying in 

 the MS. itself, in the library of Trinity College. 

 " Your obedient servant, 



« S. P. Trkgelles. 



" G. Portland Square, Plymouth, Nov. 2.3." 



EPITAPHS. 



North Mimms, Herts, date 16 — : 



" Thus youth, and age, and all things pass away. 

 Thy turn is now as his was yesterday ; 

 To-morrow shall another take thy room, 

 The next day he a prey for worms become ; 

 And on your dusty bones shall others tread, 

 As you now walk and trample on the dead, 

 'Till neither sign nor memory appear. 

 That you had ever birth or being here." 



Thundridge, Herts. On Eobert Gardiner and 

 his wife, who died aet. 21, 1658 : 



'• Roger lies here before his hour — 

 Thus doth the Gardiner lose his flower." 



