428 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 265. 



in matrimonio rato et consummato dispensare non 



{)osse sumraus Pontifex ; unde nuUus nnnquam id 

 egitur attentasse." (De Matrim. No. 58.) 



There are, however, Roman canonists who would 

 not so limit the pope's authority. Such are cited 

 by Cardinal Nicol. de Tudescis, Abp. of Palermo 

 (Latin, Panormitanus), super prima parte 1""' 

 JDecretalium, De Electione, cap. Significasti, fol. 

 119. col. 4, where he quotes, Bal. in c. j. qualiter 

 do. et prie. prive, as saying, — 



" Papa est omnia super omnia. Et idem Bal. in c. cum 

 super CO. j. de caus. pos. et proprie, quod Papa est supra 

 jus, et contra jtcs, et extra jus ; et dicit Host, in c. cum 

 venissent, c. de judi. quod potest papa aquare quadrata 

 rotundis." 



I leave the abbreviations to be unravelled by the 

 learned in such terms. The plain words in Italics 

 are intelligible, though rather dogmatic than con- 

 vincing. 



Your Querist's words, " marriage contract," might 

 however be treated by a " member of the Romish 

 communion" as meaning no more than sponsalia, 

 or espousals. Of these Dens has said : " Sponsalia 

 differunt a matrimonio, quod matrimonium inducat 

 vinculum indissolubile jure naturse, non sic spon- 

 salia ! " (De Sponsal., No. 1 .) The dissolution of 

 such marriage contracts by papal authority does 

 not involve any prohibition against contracting 

 another inarriage, which it is ordinarily intended 

 to facilitate or legalise. 



In any cases which D. may have heard or read 

 of the dissolution of the marriage tie by any court 

 whose decisions are governed by the papal law, he 

 would find, on inquiry, that the arguments and 

 decision turn almost exclusively upon the offered 

 proofs of some reason for disallowing the legality 

 of the marriage. Blackstone has observed that 

 " the canon law deems so highly, and with such 

 •mysterious reverence, of the nuptial tie, that it 

 will not allow it to be unloosed for any cause 

 whatsoever that arises after the union is made." 

 {Comm., vol. i, p. 441.) But the papal lawyers 

 have devised impediments of various kinds to the 

 legality of a marriage ; so as to leave it at least 

 as liable to be contested as the ordinary title-deeds 

 to English estates. And if any one of these im- 

 pediments be alleged and proved to have existed 

 at the time of the marriage, a papal court will 

 declare the marriage to have been a nullity ; and 

 this sentence is declared to be pronounced for the 

 saving of the souls of the parties, by inhibiting 

 them from regarding each other as man and wife. 

 This of course leaves either party as much at 

 liberty to contract marriage with some other per- 

 son, as if he or she had continued single up to that 

 time. 



By a strange anomaly, our ecclesiastical law 

 continues in the state, in which it was not in- 

 tended to remain for any longer time than might 

 suffice for the composing and enacting of the 



" Reformatio legum ecclesiasticarum." Our eccle- 

 siastical courts are still bound to regulate their 

 decisions by the papal canon law, so far as it is 

 not contrary to Scripture, nor to our national 

 laws ; and they are consequently unable to allow 

 the husband of an adulteress any other relief than 

 that of a divorce a mensd et thoro. To obtain 

 the dissolution of his marriage, he must appeal to 

 the sovereign authority of the legislature, and 

 procure a special act of parliament, which will 

 generally, but not necessarily, enable him to marry 

 again. It is but too obvious that, under this 

 system, such persons as are not rich are practically 

 refused the relief which would be conceded to 

 the wealthy. Henrt Waltek. 



To the Query of D., whether parties divoi'ced by 

 authority of the Pope are ever allowed to marry 

 again, I beg to answer decidedly that they never 

 are. See the Council of Trent, Sess. 24. canons 5. 

 and 7. F. C. H. 



TOBACCO-SMOKIWG t QUEEN ElilZABETH. 

 (Vol. X., p. 48.) 



The following extract is taken from the Itine- 

 rarium Germanice., Gallice, Aiiglice, Italice, scriptum 

 a Paulo Hentznero, J.C, published in Nurem- 

 berg, A.D. 1612, 



The author visited England in 1598, and re- 

 lates, among many other things, how one of his 

 friends had his pocket picked in London, whilst 

 present at the civic ceremonies and pastimes of 

 St. Bartholomew's Day, He afterwards describes 

 the sort of theatre used for bull and bear baiting, 

 and In the place is found the notice of tobacco- 

 smoking and clay pipes : 



" Utuntur in hisce spectaculis'sicut et alibi, ubicunque 

 locorum sint Angli, Iierba Nicotiana quam Americano 

 idiomate Tahacam nuncupant (Pcetum alii dicunt) hoc 

 modo frequentissimb ; Fistulae in hunc finem ex argillS, 

 factse, oriticio posteriori, dictam herbam probe exiccatam, 

 ita ut in pulverem facilfe redigi possit, immittunt, et igne 

 admoto accendunt, unde fumus ab anteriori parte ore at- 

 trahitur, qui per nares rursum, tanquam per infumibulum 

 exit, et phlegma ac capitis defluxiones magna copia secum 

 educit." — Pp. 132,133. 



Perhaps also the author's description of Queen 

 Elizabeth, whom he saw at " Grunwidge," may 

 not be uninteresting to some : 



" Hos sequebatur Eegina, aetatis, uti rumor erat, Lxv. 

 annorum, magna cum maj estate, facie oblonga et Candida, 

 sed rugosa, oculis parvis, sed nigris et gratiosis, naso pau- 

 lulum inflexo, labiis compressis, dentibus fuliginosis (quod 

 vitium ex nimib saccari usu, Anglos contrahere verisimile 

 est), inaures habens duasmargaritisnobilissimis appensis, 

 crinem fulvum sed factitium ; capiti imposita erat parva 

 quaedam corona, quae ex particula auri celeberrima illius 

 tabulaB Lunajburgensis * facta esse perhibetur ; pectore erat 



[* Two Queries have appeared in our pages respecting 

 this Luneburg table, which still remain unanswered. See 

 Vol v., p. 256. ; and Vol. vii., p, 355,— Ed.] 



