Oct. 5. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



299 



In a letter from Mr. J. C. AYalker to Mr. Pin- j 

 kerton, of 19 Jan., 1799 (published in Pinkerton's 

 Literary Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 41.), Lord 

 Charlemont is referred to as believing that Gau- 

 dentio di Lucca is founded in fact ; that Bishop 

 Berkeley, when he was at Cairo, conversed with 

 persons who had attemled a caravan, and that he 

 learned from them what he narrated in the account 

 of Gaudentio. Tiiis passage is cited in Southey's 

 Common-place Book, p. 204. ; but the work is i 

 manifestly fictitious, and it does not appear that 

 Berkeley, though he twice visited the Continent, 

 was ever out of Europe. 



The date of the publication of Gaudentio is 

 quite consistent with the authorship of Berkeley, 1 

 ■who died in 1753; but the notice in the Gentle- 

 maris Magazine only proves the existence of a 

 rumour to that effect ; and the authentic Life of 

 Berkeley, by Dr. Stock, chiefly drawn up I'roni ■ 

 materials communicated by Dr. R. Berkeley, 

 brother to the Bishop, and prefixed to the col- 

 lected edition of his work (2 vols. 4to. Lond., 

 1784), makes no allusion to Gaudentio. There is 

 nothing in the contents of this work which renders 

 it likely that the authorship should have been 1 

 carefully concealed by Bp. Berkeley and his ' 

 family, if he had really been the author. The 

 literary execution of Gaudentio is good ; and it is 

 probable that the speculative character of the 

 work, and the fact that Berkeley had visited It;dy, 

 suggested the idea that he had composed it. The 

 belief that Bishop Berkeley was the author of 

 Gaudentio di Lucca may therefore be considered as ! 

 unauthorised. 



The copy of the edition of Gaudentio of 1786, 

 which is preserved in the British Museum, con- 

 tains in the title-page the following note, in pencil : 



" Written originally in English by Ur. Swale of 

 Huntingdon. See Gent. Mag. 1786." 



The Gentlemans Magazine for 1786 does not, 

 however, contain any information about the au- 

 thorship of Gaudentio ; and the name of Dr. Swale 

 appears to be unknown in literary history. At 

 the same time, a positive entry of this sort, with 

 respect to an obscure person, doubtless had some 

 foundation. On the authority of this note. Dr. 

 Swale is registered as the author of Gaudentio iu 

 the printed catalogue of the British Museum 

 Library, whence it has passed into Watt's Bibl. 

 Brit. Perhaps some of your correspondents, who 

 are connected with Huntingdon, may be able to 

 throw some liglit on Dr. Swale. 



Lastly, it siiould b^ added, that the writer of 

 the article " Berkeley," in the Biographic Univer- 

 selle, adverts to tiie fact that Guudenlio di Lucca 

 has been attributed to Jiim : he proceeds, however, 

 to say that — 



"Tliu author of a Life of Berkeley affirms that Berke- 

 ley is not tliJ author of tlnit bjok, which he supposes 



to have been written by a Catholic priest imprisoned 

 in the Tower of London." 



I have been unable to trace the origin of this 

 statement ; nor do I know what is tlie Life of 

 Berkeley, to which the writer in the Biogr. Univ. 

 refers. The Life published under the direction 

 of his family makes no allusion to Gaudentio, or 

 to the belief that it was composed by Bishop 

 Berkeley. 



The JEncyclopedie Metkodique, div. " Econ. pol. 

 et dipl." (Paris, 1784), torn. 1. p. 89., mentions tha 

 following work : — 



" La Rupublique des Phliosophes, ou rUlstoire des 

 Ajaoiens, relation d'un voyage du Chevalier S. van 

 Doelvett en Orient en I'an 1674, qui contient la de- 

 scription du Gouvernament, de la Religion, et des 

 iVIoeurs des Ajaoiens." 



It is stated that this romance, though composed 

 a century before, had only been lately published. 

 The editor attributed it to Fontenelle, but (as the 

 writer in the Encycl. Meth. thinks) probably with- 

 out reason. The title of Berkeley to the author- 

 ship of Gaudentio has doubtless no better founda- 

 tion. L. 



[Uunlop, Hist. Fiction, ili. 491., speaks of this romance 

 as " generally, and I believe on good grounds, sup- 

 posed to be the work of the celebrated Berkeley;" add- 

 ing, " we are told, in the life of this celebrated man, 

 that Plato was his favourite author: and, indeed, of 

 all Knglish writers Berkeley has most successfully 

 imitated the style and manner of tliat philosopher. It 

 is not impossible, therefore, that the fanciful republic 

 of the Grecian sage may have led Berkeley to write 

 Gaudentio di Lucca, of which tlie principal object 

 apparently is to describe a faultless and patriarchal 

 form of government." The suijjeet is a very curious 

 one, and invites the further inquiry of our valued cor- 

 respondent. — Ed. ] 



ON A PASSAGE IN " THE TEMPEST. 



I was indebted to Mr. Singer for one of the 

 best emendations in the edition of Shakspeare I 

 superintended (vol. vi. p. 539.), and I have too 

 much respect for his sagacity and learning to pass, 

 without observation, his remarks in "Notes and 

 Queries " (Vol. ii., p. 259.), on the conclusion of 

 the speech of Ferdinand, in " The Tempest," 

 Act iii., Sc. 1. : — 

 " But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours! 



Most busy, least when 1 do it." 



This is the way in which I ventured to print the 

 passage, depending mainly upon the old copies. 

 In the folio, 1G23, where the play for the first time 

 appeared, the last line stands : 



" Most basic lest, when I doe it ; " 

 and in that of 1632, 



" Most busie least, when I doe it :" 



