408 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 264. 



CatlioHcs call " The Litany of the Blessed 

 Virgin :" 



" Sancta Dei Genitrix; Sancta Virgo Virginum; Mater 

 Christi; Mater Admirabilis ; Mater Salvatoris; Virgo 

 Veneranda ; Consolatrix Afflictorum ; Regina Angelorum ; 

 Begina Martyrum," &c. 



If J. B. P. can discover any similarity in such 

 expressions as these — which did not begin with the 

 Jesuits — and the description of Dulcinea by Cer- 

 vantes, then all I can say is, he discovers simi- 

 larities where a Roman Catholic can alone perceive 

 contrasts. 



But J. B. P. says that Ignatius Loyola, a Jesuit, 

 is described as Don Quixote, because the house- 

 hold of Don Quixote corresponds with " domestic 

 establishments" " of the present priests of Spain ;" 

 that is, Cervantes, wishing to describe a Jesuit, 

 pourtrays a person who lives in a manner different 

 from a Jesuit. J. B. P. is not aware of the dis- 

 tinction that exists in the Roman Catholic Church 

 between the parish priest or curate (called the 

 secular clergy), and a priest belonging to one of 

 the religious orders in the same Church (called 

 the regular clergy). The former may have a 

 mother, a sister, or a niece in their household ; 

 the latter live in community together — in colleges 

 or monasteries — establishments for their own ex- 

 clusive use, and they are attended by lay brothers, 

 not by aunts, sisters, or nieces : and thus J. B. P. 

 will perceive, that if Cervantes intended to 

 describe a Jesuit as Don Quixote, he gives a de- 

 scription of his household which would be most 

 inapplicable to a Jesuit. 



Well, then, failing to describe the manner of 

 life of a Jesuit — giving something which was the 

 very opposite to it — can we discern any similarity 

 in the personal appearance of the hero of Cer- 

 vantes and the founder of the Order of Jesuits ? 

 Ignatius Loyola is thus described in Feller's 

 biography as being of middle height ; rather small 

 than large ; his head bald, his eyes full of fire ; the 

 forehead broad, and the nose aquiline : 



"A une taille moyenne, plus petite que grande. II 

 avait la tete chauve, lea yeux pleins de feu, le front large 

 et le nez aquilin." — Feller, Biographie, in verb. Ignace 

 de Loyola. 



Can J. B. P. discover any similarity between this 

 portrait and that of " the Knight of the Rueful 

 Countenance" — rawboned and Ian thorn-jawed — 

 " seco de carnes, enxuto de rostro ? " 



But then, there being nothing like in the man- 

 ner of living, nor in the personal appearance of 

 Don Quixote, to Ignatius Loyola, we come to con- 

 sider. Did Cervantes desire to render Jesuitism 

 odious or contemptible by satirising Ignatius 

 Loyola under the character of Don Quixote ? 



Upon this point I appeal to every reader of 

 Don Quixote. Is not Don Quixote a man to be 

 loved for his virtues, his generosity, his disin- 

 terestedness, his nobility in thought and in sen- 



timent ? Is he not, though you laugh at hia 

 delusions, in every word and action a Christian 

 and a gentleman — a true knight — living when 

 " the age of chivalry had gone by." Is the 

 character of Don Quixote the same character that 

 is given to the Jesuits by writers who are not 

 Roman Catholics ? Let J. B. P. answer that 

 question. 



The fact is, that J. B. P., like many others, 

 cries out "Jesuit" where there is "no Jesuit:" 

 and that as Don Quixote mistook a windmill for 

 a giant, so has he mistaken Don Quixote for a 

 Jesuit. If he will look to Ranke's History of the 

 Popes, he will find that the Jesuits were not wild 

 enthusiasts, that they were formed by Ignatius 

 Loyola to do men's work, and — they did it. 



As to the remark of J. B. P., that " recent 

 travellers in Spain tell us that every kind of 

 crime and vice, even now, in that country is hal- 

 lowed by a few Ave Marias," I pass it by, as 

 simply offensive to the feelings of Roman Catholics. 

 If it were true — and I believe it is not — it would 

 have nothing to do with what was piil4l.-.!ied in 

 1612. I should be sorry to see quoted a speech 

 of Lord Shaftesbury, exposing the paganism or 

 abominations existing in the mines or the manu- 

 facturing towns in England, to show that some- 

 thing written by Father Parsons against Pro- 

 testantism, in the reign of Elizabeth, was correct. 



J. B. P., before he ventured upon his new 

 theory respecting Cervantes, and Don Quixote, 

 and Ignatius Loyola, should have endeavoured 

 to discover what was " the dominant mania" of 

 the time. Supposing it to be Jesuitism, and 3 

 devotion to " the Virgin Mary," thon he should 

 have studied a Life of Cervantes to see whether 

 he had at any time manifested any feelings op- 

 posed to "the dominant mania." On the con- 

 trary, we find him writing verses in honour of one 

 remarkable, even in Spain, for her devotion to 

 "the Virgin Mary ;" and we find him submitting 

 his verses to the judgment of Lope de Vega, the 

 author of a pastornl written in honour of the 

 Virgin Mary, the Pastores de Belen, whilst his 

 biographers declare of Cervantes that he was a 

 Roman Catholic — not merely devout — but scru- 

 pulously devout — "hombre divoto y timorato." 

 (Pellicer, Vida, vol. i. p. 191.) W. B. MacCabb. 



ARMS OF GENEVA. 



(Vol. ix., p. 110. ; Vol. X., p. 169.) 



Accident has prevented my replying earlier to 

 the notices of Mr. G. Gervais upon my remarks 

 respecting the arms of Geneva. His last contri- 

 bution supplies, in the main, exactly what I re- 

 quired ; and I acknowledge the favour. But as 

 to his former, I question the lawfulness of ad- 



