2nd s. N" 81., July 18. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



53 



fessed himself in heart a Protestant ; but apologised for 

 not publiclj- conforming, by alleging that it would render 

 the eve of his mothers life unhappy. In another very 

 long one, Pope endeavoured to persuade Mr. Brooke to 

 take orders, as being a profession better suited to his 

 principles, his disposition, and his genius."] 



liOBD chesterfield's CHARACTERS OF EMINENT 

 PERSONS OF HIS OWN TIME. 



(2"'i S. iv. 7.) 



There is not the slightest doubt of the genuine- 

 ness of these "characters." Flexney's edition 

 would seem to be the first that appeared. They 

 were also printed (in two foimis) as an Appendix 

 to the quarto edition of Chesterfield's Works 

 (1777), and the octavo edition (1779), to which 

 Dr. Maty prefixed a biographical memoir. I do 

 not know if C. C. means to state that his copy 

 contains only the characters named by him in his 

 contribution to " N. & Q." The editions super- 

 intended by Dr. Maty contained, besides those 

 recorded by C. C, the following : George II., 

 Lord Townshend, Pope, Lords Bolingbroke, Gran- 

 ville, and Scarborough, the Dukes of Newcastle and 

 Bedford, and Mr. Pellmm. The most recent edi- 

 tion (1845) of Chesterfield's Works (Lord Mahon's 

 Stanhope)^ contains four additional characters : the 

 first is massed as " The Mistresses of George II.," 

 the others are Dr. Arbuthnot, Lady Suffolk, and 

 " Lord Bute, with a Sketch of his Administration," 

 Lord Mahon had access to the whole of Lord 

 Cliesterfield's MSS., in the possession of Mr. 

 Evelyn Shirley. Among them the noble editor 

 found, not only the originals of the characters be- 

 fore published, but of the others which I have 

 named above. 



In a letter of Walpole to Cole, October, 1778, 

 we have evidence, if it were needed, that from 

 the very first, the characters were accepted as 

 genuine: — 



" Lord Chesterfield," says Walpole, " one of my father's 

 sharpest enemies, has not, with all his prejudices, left a 

 very unfavourable account of him, and it would alone be 

 raised by a comparison of their two characters. Think 

 of one who calls Sir Robert a corrupter of youth having 

 a system of education to poison them from their nursery ! " 



Walpole adds, that Chesterfield, Pulteney, and 

 Bolingbroke were " the three saints " who reviled 

 his father ; and Chesterfield himself, in his " cha- 

 racter " of P.uUeney says : — 



" Resentment made him engage in business. He had 

 thought himself slighted by Sir Robert Walpole, to whom 

 he publicly vowed not only revenge, but utter destruc- 

 tion." 



J. DOBAN. 



XrE CELEBRE BARRIOS. 



(2"'i S. ii. 468.) 



The only account of Barrios which I can find 

 is,— 



" Barrios ou Barios de (Daniel Levi) appele aussi 

 Michel, theologien et poete juif espagnol, vivait dans la 

 seconde partie du dix-septifeme sibcle. II resida h, Am- 

 sterdam, se livra k la culte des lettres et de la poesie, ct 

 laissa en langue espagnole ' Le Triomphe du Gouverne- . 

 ment et de I'Antiquite Beige,' ' Relation des Pontes et des 

 Ecrivains espagnoles d'Origine juive;' ' Coro de las 

 Musas ; ' ' L'Histoire Universelle des Juifs,' ' Casa de 

 Jacob,' ou 11 est question de I'etat actuel des Juifs." — 

 Nouvelle Biographic Universelle, iv. 583., Paris, 185-4. 



High as the above-cited authority is, I think 

 " Michel " was another writer, and not " appele 

 aussi." I have a volume entitled, — 



" Flor de Apolo por el capitan Don Miguel de Barrios 

 en Bruselas, 1665, 4to., pp. 526." 



Bound with this are three comedies by the same 

 author, printed with a different type, and on 

 rather darker paper. Each is separately paged. 

 Their titles are, "Pedir Favor al Contrario," 

 "El canto junto al Eucanto," and "ElEspanol 

 de Oran." 



The " estilo culto " abounds, but I think Bar- 

 rios has taken Quevedo rather than Gongora for 

 his model. He writes more like an accomplished 

 soldier and man of the world than one given up to 

 literature ; and appears from his dedications on 

 more familiar terms with people of rank, than 

 would have been conceded by Spanish grandees to 

 a Jew of the seventeenth century. One sonnet 

 (p. 310.) is " a la Union de Don Diego de Rosa 

 y de Doiia Blanca de Pina, cunada del autor" 

 Are these Jewish names ? 



In favour of his Judaism it may be urged that 

 Barrios has several Old Testament subjects, such 

 as the mourning of Jacob for Rachel, the victory 

 of David, &c., and I have not found any direct 

 admission of Christianity or celebration of catholic 

 saints — remarkable omissions in Spanish poetry 

 of that age. 



Pedir Favor al Contrario is a tiresome comedy 

 "de capa y espada," at p. 49. of which Don 

 Basilio says : 



" Que no encuentre mi sana. 

 Sen dudo que fugitivo 

 Sii teinor de mi la esconda 

 pesia al Hado ! que empia 

 Con la espada de su fuga 

 Carta al mi venganga el kilo" 

 . I have not found " I'eau pour secher les plaies," 

 but it is obviously Virgil's " vulnera^ siccabat 

 lymphis," and very likely to be appropriated and 

 exaggerated by Barrios. 



As a specimen of a writer so little known may 

 be acceptable, I transcribe a sonnet, 



" Al Engauo y DesengaTio de.la Vida. 



" Triste del hombre que de Dios se olvida, 

 Sin que 4^ sueno de gu error despierte, 



