Feb. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



99 



of this gentleman as the son of Arthur Moore will 

 be probably acceptable to C, Ma. Carrutiikrs, 

 and J. M. S., I send you the ibllowing passage 

 which I have just stumbled upon in p. 19. of Jlie 

 Brohdignngian ; heing a Key to Gullivers Voyage 

 to Brohdignag. In a Second Letter to Dean Swift: 

 London, 1726 : 



" This observation, Mr. Dean, we both know to be true, 

 and I have had the honour of hearing it confirmed by 

 Arthur Moore, Esq., at his rural seat in Surrey. I am 

 likewise assured that his hopeful son Jemmy resolves to 

 cast this race of upstarts in a comedy which is shortly to 

 make its appearance upon the Theatre Royal in Drury 

 Lane." 



This is the second part (there are altogether 

 four) of A Key ; being Observations and Explan- 

 atory Notes upon the Travels of Lemuel Gulliver. 

 By Signor Corolini, a noble Venetian now residing 

 in London. In a Letter to Dean Swift. Traris- 

 latedfrom the Italian Original. 



" Qui vult, Lector, decipi decipiatur ; 



" Out comes the Book, and the Key follows after." 



London, printed in the Year 1726.* I should like 

 to know from some of your readers familiar with 

 the literature of the time, whether Signor Corolini 

 was not related to Dr. Barnveldt, who attacked the 

 Rape of the Lock ; and also to the author of the 

 Key to the Dunciad? I have not a copy of the 

 latter work to refer to, but I have a strong im- 

 pression that it bears on the title a couplet very 

 like that on the Key to Gulliver. 



By-the-bye, having given us a Bibliography of 

 The Dunciad., you ought to complete your work 

 by a Bibliography of The Key to that poem, and 

 of the various books to which it gave rise. S. R. 



BOOKS BURNT. 



{^Continued from p. 78.) 



During the persecution of Christians under the 

 pagan emperors, it was not uncommon for their 

 books to be condemned to the fire. Thus, in the 

 martyrdom of Saturninus, who suffered under 

 Diocletian in a.d. 304, we read that a fire was 

 kindled to consume the sacred books which had 

 been given up for the purpose ; but a sudden fall 

 of rain extinguished the flames and saved the 

 volumes. The martyr Euplius (a.d. 303) was led 

 away to execution with a copy of the Gospels 

 hung about his neck. The same year an edict 

 was issued by the emperor, ordering all the sacred 

 books of the Christians to be surrendered to the 

 civil magistrates, or to be seized in order to be 

 burnt. This edict was published throughout the 



* There is no publisher's name, but the last three pages 

 are occupied with a list of New Books, printed for H. Curll 

 in the Strand. I presume the ^ is a misprint, for the first 

 book on the list is Pope^s Familiar Letters to Cromwell, Sfc. 



empire, and as far as possible carried into effect. 

 Those who timiiily gave up the books were called 

 traditores, of whom freciuent mention is made in 

 the records of the times. The first council of 

 Aries, in 314, decided (Canon 13) that those of 

 the clergy should be deposed who gave up the 

 sacred Scriptures, the vessels used in the service, 

 or tlie names of their brethren. 



Zonaras informs us (book iii. Leo Isaur.) that a 

 royal edifice had been erected, wherein many 

 volumes of sacred and profane literature were 

 deposited, and where from ancient times he was 

 allowed to dwell who, having proved his supe- 

 riority in letters, was styled the OEcumenical Doc- 

 tor. His associates were twelve other learned 

 men, who were maintained at the public expense, 

 to whom whoever was ambitious of acquiring 

 knowledge resorted, and whom the emperors 

 themselves consulted in the business of the state. 

 Leo would have deemed the accomplishment of 

 his designs no longer uncertain, if the sanction of 

 these men could have been obtained. He laid 

 before them his views : he made use of caresses 

 and of threats. But when nothing could prevail, 

 he dismissed tliem, and, commanding the building 

 to be surrounded with dry wood, consumed them 

 and the rich treasure which they guarded, of 

 30,000 volumes, in the flames. (Berington's Lit. 

 Hist., pp. 361-2., Bohn's edition.) 



Constantinople was taken in 1204, and it is 

 probable that many works perished in the three 

 fires which raged in the city, and some writings 

 of antiquity which are known to have existed in 

 the twelfth century are now lost. {Ibid. p. 393.) 



In the year 1453, when Constantinople was 

 taken by the Turks, 123,000 MSS. are said to 

 have disappeared. It is well known that they 

 were not all destroyed, as many were removed. 



Cardinal Xlmenes is reported, at the taking of 

 Grenada, to have doomed 5000 copies of the 

 Koran to the flames. 



In 1059, Berenger was compelled to burn the 

 work of John Scotus Erigena against Paschasius 

 Radbert. The book is now lost. 



Early in the sixteenth century the Emperor 

 Maximilian gave an order that all Jewish books 

 should be burnt except the Bible, because they 

 were filled with blasphemies against Christ. 

 Reuchlin and other learned men opposed it ; 

 whereupon Reuchlin was required by the em- 

 peror to examine the books. He did so, but he 

 saved all that contained no attacks upon Chris- 

 tianity, and burnt the rest. This lenity ofiended 

 the Dominicans, who charged Reuchlin himself 

 with heresy. Hochstraten assembled a tribunal 

 at Mayence against Reuchlin in 1513, and secured 

 the condemnation of his writings to the flames. 



Not long after, anonymous publications con- 

 taining evangelical doctrines began to be printed 

 and privately circulated at Modena, but they 



