t92 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 160. 



ever-memorable sermon upon MIcah vii. 8, 9., was 

 not more out-spoken. (Prose Works, pp. 174., 

 Lond. 1838, 8vo. ; and Life, by a Layman, pp. 258 

 —273., Lond. 1851, 8vo.) 



Besides, this sermon is beyond measure valuable 

 as proving the principles upon which South him- 

 self, and so many others, must have acted during 

 the Usurpation. He declares that in times of per- 

 secution a layman may consult his safety, either by 

 withdrawing his person, or concealing his judgment; 

 but that a clergyman, as a public character, must 

 not resort to any such evasions of duty. 



And then he thus speaks of himself in language 

 which I do verily believe he would have acted out : 

 " And were it put to my choice, I think I should 

 choose rather with spitting and scorn to be tumbled 

 into the dust in blood, bearing witness to any known 

 truth of our dear Lord, now opposed by the enthusiasts 

 of the present age, than by a denial of those truths 

 through blood and perjury wade to a sceptre, and 

 lord it in a throne." 



Some time during the preceding year South 

 had been ordained, and I do not think that the 

 bitterest enemies of either the Independents or 

 Presbyterians need grudge them his so-called com- 

 pliments. But long before that time. South and 

 Owen must have been open enemies. When South 

 was magister replicans, in 1658, he turned the 

 whole system of Cromwell and Owen into ridicule, 

 and satirised Cromwell's poet-laureate (Pain 

 Fisher) under the name of Piscator {Op. Post. 

 Latvia, pp. 46. 54.). And then, if the anecdote 

 mentioned in the Memoirs of South be true, that 

 Owen was mainly indebted to him for the opposi- 

 tion to his election as University member, this 

 shifts the matter back to 1654. The learned bio- 

 grapher of Owen {Memoirs, p. 147.) does not seem 

 to doubt the truth of this statement, but certainly 

 there is some confusion somewhere : for the Me- 

 moirs of South (p. 8.) ascribe his opposition to 

 Owen as a piece of retaliation for Owen's treat- 

 ment of him when commencing A. M. The last 

 must certainly be a mistake, for Owen was candi- 

 date for the representation of Oxford University 

 in 1654, and South only commenced A.M. in 1657. 

 As to the charge against South, that he was am- 

 bitious of preferment, the facts I produced in my 

 former letter annihilate it at once. I believe that 

 very soon after bis ordination, he was an eager 

 and disappointed candidate for a canonry in Christ 

 Church, but then, as University orator, the said 

 canonry was his lawful due. 



Wood and the Biog. Brit, acknowledge this 

 fact. And South himself states it in his Latin 

 speech at the installation of the Earl of Clarendon 

 as Chancellor of the Oxford University, Sept. 9, 

 1661 (Op. Post. Lat. pp. 72, 73. and note.). Islip 

 Church and parish, in Oxfordshire, will yield the 

 best testimony to his bounty ; and his last will 

 and testament prove that in death he was not un- 



mindful of that church which, in life, he had 

 defended and adorned. I cannot better conclude 

 this very long Note than -by quoting the words 

 of Sir Richard Steele, when speaking of South's 

 sermon on The Ways of Pleasantness : 



" This charming discourse has in it whatever wit 

 and wisdom can put together. This gentleman has a 

 talent of making all his faculties bear to the great end 

 of his hallowed profession. Happy genius 1 He is the 

 better man for being a wit. The best way to praise 

 this author is to quote him." — Tatler, 205. 



Ex. 



Warmington. 



PETER belch's " OBSERVATIONS." 

 (Vol. vi., p. 267.) 



Not having perceived any answer to Mr. Cyrus- 

 Redding's recent inquiry respecting this work, I 

 beg to state that it is much less rare and much 

 better known than the querist supposes. A copy 

 was formerly in my possession ; but as It is not at 

 present in my library, I transcribe the following 

 notice of it from the Introduction to the Pictorial 

 History of Palestine. Speaking of the few wha 

 have visited Palestine as professed naturalists, it 

 is said : 



" The first of these was Peter Belon, who spent 

 three years (1546 — 1549) in exploring the Levant at 

 the expense of Cardinal de Tournon. He travelled in 

 Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. He 

 gave his principal attention to the various animal and 

 vegetable products which occurred to his notice, with- 

 out overlooking topographical matters and the manners 

 of the people. His account of Palestine is short, but 

 exceeding valuable from the number of its products 

 which he enumerates. The name of Belon is well 

 known to general naturalists ; but the results of his re- 

 searches have rarely been referred to by writers on the 

 natural history of the Bible. His name is not, for 

 instance, given by Dr. Harris in his list of authorities." 



On reference to a French biographical diction- 

 ary, I find that Belon was born in 1518, and was 

 assassinated by one of his enemies at Paris in 1564. 

 He was the author of several well-esteemed works 

 on natural history, of which the principal are l 

 De Arhoribiis Coniferis, Paris, 1553, in 4to. ; His- 

 toire de la Nature des Oyseaux, 1555, in folio (very 

 rare in this edition) ; Portraits des Oyseaux, 1557, 

 in 4to. ; Histoire des Poissons, 1551, in 4to. ; De 

 la Nature et Diversite des Poissons, 1555, in Svo. 

 oblong. 



Belon was a Doctor of Medicine of the faculty 

 of Paris. John Kitto. 



Mr. Redding will find, on reference to Brunet, 

 Manuel du Libraire, vol. i., that the work he de- 

 scribes, though not very common, must be pretty 

 well known to collectors in that department of 

 literature, as five editions are described, the dis- 



