246 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No, 202. 



nppliecl to the mountain pass bordering on Loch 

 Katrine ? J. G. T. 



Trosachs Hotel. 



[The name Trosachs signifies in Gaelic the rough or 

 bristled territory ; a signification perfectly applicable to 

 the confused mass of abrupt crags which, in some con- 

 vulsion of nature, has been separated from the neigh- 

 bouring mountains of Ben Vennu and Ben An. This 

 glen was first rendered an object of popular attention 

 by Sir Walter Scott, in his poem of The Lady of the 

 Lake.'] 



Quarter. — Whence comes the use of the word 

 Qua?ier, as applied to sparing of life in battle ? 



J. G. T. 



Trosachs Hotel. 



[A correspondent of the Gent. Mar;., vol. Ixvi. p. 920., 

 suggests, that it may be traced to the reverence for the 

 sacred symbol of our faith, which the early Christian 

 warriors wore depicted on their military habiliments: 

 Orlando, who bore this emblem on his sliield, was 

 called ' II Cavaliere del Quartlero ; ' though it is some- 

 thing singular that he won the device from Almonte, a 

 Saracen chief.] 



JACOB BOHME, OR BEHMEK. 



(Vol. viii., p. 13.) 



Some fiarther particulars respecting the writings 

 of that remarkable character, who, according to 

 your correspondent, " led astray William Law, 

 and through him tinctured the religious philoso- 

 phy of Coleridge, and from whom Schelling stole 

 the corner-stones of his Philosophy of Nature" 

 may perhaps interest the readers of " N. & Q." 



Who Bohme, or Behmen, was, may be seen by 

 a. reference to Francis Okely's Memoir of him, 

 and to the article In the Penny Cyclopcedia (vol. v. 

 p. 61.) written by Dr. Bialloblotzky ; which, with 

 the exception of a few trifling errors, is carefully 

 compiled. The true character of his philosophy 

 has been ably and fully described In the later 

 writings of William Law, especially in his Anim- 

 adversions on Dr. Trapp (at the end of An Appeal 

 to all that Doubt or Disbelieve the Truths of Reve- 

 lation) ; in The Way to Divine Knowledge ; The 

 Spirit of Love ; his Letters ; and in the fragment 

 of a Dialogue, prefixed to the first of the four 

 volumes in 4to. of Behmen's Works. 



Behmen's writings first became generally known 

 in this country by translations of the most im- 

 portant of them \>y a gentleman of the name of 

 Elllstone, and of minor ones by Mr. Humphrey 

 Blunden and others. Elllstone dying before he 

 had completed the translation of the great work 

 upon Genesis, it was continued by his cousin, 

 John Sparrow, a barrister in the Temple ; who 

 also translated and published the remainder of 

 Behmen's writings In the English language. Re- 



specting these Individuals, William Law, In a 

 letter written In reply to one received from a 

 Mr. Stephen Penny, speaks In the following terms : 



" The translators of Jacob Behmen,- Elllstone and 

 Sparrow, are much to be honoured for their work ; 

 they had great piety and great abilities, and well ap- 

 prehended their author, especially Elllstone : but the 

 translation is too much loaded with words, and in many 

 places the sense is mistaken.* 



" A new translator of Jacob Behmen is not to have 

 it in intention to make his author more Intelligible by 

 softening or refining his language. His style is what 

 it is, strange and uncommon ; not because he wanted 

 learning and skill in words, but because what he saw 

 and conceived was quite new and strange, never seen 

 or spoken of before ; and therefore if he was to put it 

 down in writing, words must be used to signify that 

 which thej' had never done before. 



"If it shall please God that I undertake this work, 

 I shall only endeavour to make Jacob Behmen speak 

 as he would have spoken, had he wrote in English. 

 Secondly, to guard the reader at certain places from 

 wrong apprehensions of his meaning, by adding here 

 and there a note, as occasion requires. Thirdly, and 

 chiefly, by Prefaces or Introductions to prepare and 

 direct the reader in the true use of these writings. 

 Tills last is most of all necessary, and yet would be en- 

 tirely needless, if the reader would but observe Jacob 

 Behmen's own directions. For there is not an error, 

 defect, or wrong turn, which the reader can fall into, 

 in the use of these books, but is most plainly set before 

 him by Jacob Behmen. 



" Many persons of learning in the last century read 

 Jacob Behmen with great earnestness ; but it was only, 

 as it were, to steal from him certain mysteries of 

 Nature, and to run away with the philosopher's stone; 

 and yet nowhere could they see the folly and impos- 

 sibility of their attempt so fully shown them, as by 

 Jacob Behmen himself." 



A well-engraved portrait of John Sparrow may 

 occasionally be met with in some of the small 

 quarto English treatises of Behmen. 



The four- volume edition of Jacob Behmen's 

 Worhs, In large 4to., 1764-81, Is an unsatisfactory 

 performance ; having, in fact, nothing In common 

 with the projected edition by William Law, as 

 expressed in the above letter. Nevertheless, it 

 has been useful in many respects; especially as 

 being Instrumental in making the productions of 

 Dion. Andreas Freher more generally known: 

 This edition, moreover, is incomplete ; as several 

 important treatises, besides his Letters, are en- 

 tirely omitted. The order, too, in which the pieces 

 are Inserted from the Book of the Incarnation Is 

 altogether wrong. 



It is a common, but erroneous supposition, that 

 William Law was the editor of this edition. From 

 his work, The Way to Divine Knorvledge, printed 

 some years after the date of the letter quoted 



* This remark especially applies to the Answer to 

 the fourth of the Theosophic Questions. 



