April 8. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



321 



" OF THE BENEFIT OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST, 

 BY AONIO PALEARIO. 



The total, or almost total, disappearance of 

 books at one time largely circulated, is a curious 

 fact in the history of literature. One cause of it 

 may be found in the efforts made by the Church of 

 Rome to suppress those works which were sup- 

 posed to contain unsound doctrine. 



" Heretical books," says Mr. T. B. Macaulay, u were 

 sought out and destroyed with unsparing rigour. 

 Works which were once in every house, were so effec- 

 tually suppressed, that no copy of them is now to be 

 found in the most extensive libraries. One book in 

 particular, entitled Of the Benefit of the Death of Christ, 

 had this fate. It was written in Tuscan, was many 

 times reprinted, and was eagerly read in every part of 

 Italy. But the inquisitors detected in it the Lutheran 

 doctrine of justification by faith alone. They proscribed 

 it ; and it is now as utterly lost as the second decade of 

 Livy." 



This book was published without a name. But 

 the author was Aonio Paleario. It was trans- 

 lated into various languages, as French, Spanish, 

 English, and possibly others ; and within six years 

 after its first appearance, 40,000 copies are said to 

 have been circulated. 



A few years ago I was fortunate enough to 

 meet with a copy of the English version, which 

 was made from the French, not from the original. 

 This copy was printed in 1638, and was, according 

 to the title-page, the fourth (English) edition. 

 From it I edited the work, prefixing a short notice 

 of the author, and verifying the references to the 

 Fathers. It was subsequently retranslated into 

 Italian, and has, I am informed, been much read in 

 Italy. Some time after this publication, I became 

 aware of the existence of a copy (in private hands) 

 of the apparently first English edition, bearing the 

 date of 1573. This I was allowed to inspect : and 

 I hope hereafter to put forth another edition, in 

 which the text of this copy will be followed, and 

 two or three inaccuracies which had crept into 

 the former impression will be corrected. 



I was, however, ignorant that a single copy of 

 the original Italian existed; and all inquiry for it 

 seemed to be vain. But one was near at hand, 

 preserved with diligent care among the literary 

 treasures of St. John's College, Cambridge, by the 

 authorities there, who were well aware of its 

 rarity and value. By their obliging permission, I 

 was a few days ago permitted to examine it. 



It is a small square 16mo., bound, in beautiful 

 condition, measuring about 4£ inches by 3, and 

 containing seventy- two pages. The following is 

 the title-page : 



" Trattato vtilissimo del beneficio di Giesv Christo 

 crocifisso, verso i Christiani. Venetiis, Apud Ber- 

 nardinum de Bindonis. Anno Do. m.d.xxxxiii." 



From the date, it seems to be the first edition. 



There is an address 



" Alii Lettori Christiani. 



" Essendoci venuta alle mani un' opera delle piu pie 

 e dotte, che a nostri tempi si siano fatte, il titolo della 

 quale e, Del beneficio di Giesu Christo crocifisso verso 

 i Christiani : ci e paruto a consolatione e utilita 

 vostra darla i istampa, e senza il nome dello scrittore, 

 accioche piu la cosa vi muova, clie 1' autorita dell' 

 autore." 



This most curious volume has been for upwards 

 of a century in the library of St. John's College, 

 as the following printed notice, pasted within the 

 cover, will show : 



" In grati animi testificationem, ob plurima Huma- 

 nitatis officia, a Collegio Divi Joannis Evangelista? 

 apud Cantabrigienses multifariam collata, librum hunc 

 inter alios lectissimos eidem collegio legavit Illustris- 

 simus Vir, Dominicus Antonius Ferrari, J. U. D. 

 Neapolitanus, 1744. 



" Teste, 



"J. Cretk." 



But this is not all. The College is happy enough 

 to possess a copy of the rare French translation of 

 the same book. This is somewhat larger in size 

 than the original Italian, and consists of sixty-four 

 leaves. It contains, as will be seen by the title- 

 page, some additional matter : 



" Dv benefice de Iesvs Christ crvcifie, envers les 

 Chrestiens. Traduict de vulgaire Italien, en langage 

 Francoys. Plus, Vne Traduction de la huytiesme 

 Homelie de sainct lean Chrysostome, De la femme 

 Cananee : mise de Latin en Francoys. Venez a moy 

 vous tous qui trauaillez et estes chargez, et ie vous sou- 

 lageray, 1552." 



There is an address by the French translator : 

 "Le traducteur a tous les Chrestiens qui sont 

 dessoubz le ciel, Salut;" and at the end of the 

 volume is a " Traduction du Psalme xxxiv." The 

 French version is said to have been first published 

 in 1545. This therefore is not, it would seem, the 

 earliest edition. 



This volume also, it may be added, was given 

 to the College by Ferrari. J. Ayre. 



Hampstead. 



Stone Chisels. — I saw recently an oviform stone 

 implement which had been found on the granite 

 moors of North Cornwall, and apparently had been 

 used as a pickaxe in mining. The following no- 

 tice shows that such implements were used by the 

 ancient miners in the Lake Superior district : 



" The explorers are now much aided by these guiding 

 features, also by pits, which indicate where an ancient 

 race — probably the Aztecs or Toltecs — have carried 

 on their superficial operations on the veins. Some of 

 those I saw were twenty or thirty feet deep, which 



