162 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 279. 



Part of the Catalogue of the Rich MSS., by 

 Forshall, was burnt while In sheets, 1838. 



The Great Exhibition Catalogue^ &c., burnt at 

 Clowes & Son's, Duke Street, Stamford Street, 

 1852. 



Part of the MS. of Doddridge's Expositor was 

 accidentally burnt in June, 1750. 



At the Houses of Parliament, Oct. 16, 1834, 

 and at the Tower of London, many valuable books 

 and documents were burnt. 



Robert Robinson of Cambridge collected most 

 of the materials for a history of public preaching, 

 but these he himself burnt and otherwise destroyed. 



" Throughout the Russian empire the Czar forbids the 

 study of the literature and philosophy of our ancestors, 

 and the more effectually to seal up the lessons of political 

 wisdom impressed on the minds of men by the perusal of 

 our great authors, our Demosthenes, and our Plato, — he 

 has ordered them to be burnt wherever they are found ! " 

 — From Letter from Athens in The Times of Dec. 22nd, 

 1854. 



The records of the Hospital of St. Cross were 

 burnt by a Mrs. Wright, who had been left in 

 charge of the house, temp. Jas. I. See " N. & Q.," 

 Yol. X., p. 43. 



Such are a few of the examples on record of the 

 destruction of books and papers by fire, and but a 

 few of the myriad instances which have occurred. 

 Nearly every one Is from books In my own limited 

 collection. B. H. Cowpek. 



FIRE-ABMS : SHAKSPEARE AND MILTON 

 ANTICIPATED. 



It Is very well known that Shakspeare makes his 

 carpet-knight, when visiting the field of Holme- 

 don after the battle, Reclaim against gunpowder 

 and fire-arms as a vile and cowardly means of 

 destroying brave men ; and that Milton ascribes 

 the Invention to Satan. In the former the cour- 

 tier says : 



" And that it was great pity, so it was 

 That villanous salt-petre should be dug 

 Out of the bowels of the harmless earth. 

 Which many a good tall [brave] fellow had destroy'd 

 So cowardly ; and but for these vile guns. 

 He Avould himself have been a soldier." 



1st Part Henry VI., Act I. Sc. 3. 



In Milton, Satan In council with his angels 

 proposes to dig up and temper certain metals : 



" Which into hollow engines long and round. 

 Which, ramm'd, at the other bore with touch of fire 

 Dilated and infuriate, shall send forth 

 From far with thundering noise, among our foes 

 Such implements of mischief as shall dash 

 To pieces and o'erwhelm whatever stands 

 Adverse, and they shall fear we have disarm'd 

 The Thunderer of his only dreaded bolt." 



Par. Lost, b. vi. 1. 398, &c. 



Addison says, "It was certainly a very bold 

 thought in our author to ascribe the first use of 



artillery to the rebel angels;" and that "such a 

 pernicious Invention may be well supposed to 

 have proceeded from such authors." (Spectator, 

 No. 333.) But he does not seem to have been 

 aware that the same thought had previously been 

 expressed both by Arlosto and Cervantes. 



Ariosto represents the King of Frisia as em- 

 ploying In battle the first invented cannon, by 

 means of which he twice obtains the victory : 



" Porta alcun' arme, che 1' antica gente 

 Non vide mai, ne, fuor ch' a lui, la nova ; 

 Un ferro bugio, lungo da due braccia, 

 Dentro a cui polve ed una palla caccia," &c. 

 " He bore certain arms unknown to former times, and 

 in our own only used by him ; an iron tube, two cubits 

 long, into which he rammed powder and a ball," &c. — 

 Orlando Furioso, canto ix. st. 28, 29. 



Like a true knight-errant, Orlando, having 

 conquered this formidable monarch, would take 

 no part of the spoil, except the gun, which he In- 

 tended not for his own defence, but to throw into 

 the sea ; " for he always deemed it the act of a 

 feeble spirit to take an advantage In any enter- 

 prise." Wherefore, addressing the gun, he ex- 

 claims : 



" Perche piii non stea 

 Mai cavalier per te d' esser ardito, 

 Ne quante il buono val, mai piii si vanti 

 II rio per te valer, qui giii rimanti. 

 Oh maladetto, oh abominoso ordigno ! 

 Che fabbricato nel tartareo fondo 

 Fosti per man di Belzebu maligno, 

 Che ruinar per te disegnb il mondo, 

 AH' inferno, onde usciti, ti rassigno. 

 Cosi dicendo lo gitto in profondo." 



" * That the valour of the knight may never be ascribed 

 to thee, nor the coward he enabled, by the advantage which 

 thou givest him, to overcome the brave, lie thou there below. 

 Oh, cursed instrument ! oh, abominable device ! fabri- 

 cated in the depth of Tartarus by Beelzebub, who by thee 

 intended to lay waste the Avorld ; I consign ^thee to the 

 hell from whence thou camest.' So saying he threw it 

 into the abyss." — Ibid. st. 90, 91. 



I do not remember to have seen the coinci- 

 dence noticed between the passages above quoted 

 from our two great poets, and the following senti- 

 ment of the renowned cavalier Don Quixote de 

 la Mancha, In his " Curious Discourse on Arms 

 and Letters :" 



" Bien hayan aquellos benditos siglos que carecieron 

 de la espantable furia de aquestos endemoniados instru- 

 mentos de la artilleria, a cuyo inventor tengo para mi que 

 en el infierno se la esta dando el premio de su diabdlica 

 invencion, con la qual did causa que un infame y cobarde 

 brazo quite la vida a un valeroso caballero, y que sin 

 saber cdmo d per donde, en la mitad del corage y brio que 

 enciende y anima a los valientes pechas, llega una des- 

 mandada bala, disparada de quien quiza liuyd y se espantd 

 del resplandor que hizo el fuego al disparar de la maldita 

 maquina, y corta y acaba en un instante los pensamientos 

 y vida de quien la mare9ia gozar luengos siglos. Y asi 

 considerando esto, estoy por decir que en alina me pesa 

 de haber tornado este exercicio de caballero andante en 

 edad tan detestable como en esta en que ahora vivimos, 

 porque aunque a mi ningun peligro me pone miedo, toda- 



