Oct. 19. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



327 



Oliver Chamberlaine, " was an " English baronet." 

 The absence of his name in any of the Baronetages 

 induces the supposition, however, that he had re- 

 ceived only the honour of knighthood ; and the 

 connexion of his son with Dublin, that the state- 

 ment of AVhitelaw and Walsh, in their history of 

 that city, maybe more correct, — viz. that "Sir 

 Oliver Chamberlaine was descended from a re- 

 spectable English family that had been settled In 

 Dublin since the Reformation." I should be glad 

 to be informed on this point, and also respecting 

 the paternity of this Sir Oliver, who is not only 

 distinguished as one of the progenitors of the 

 Sheridans, but also of Dr. William Chamberlaine, 

 the learned author of the Ahridgtnent of the Laws 

 of Jamaiai, which he for some time administered, 

 as one of the judges in that island ; and of his 

 grandson, the brave, but ill-fated. Colonel Cham- 

 berlaine, aide-de-camp to the president Bolivar. 



J. R. W. 

 October 10. 1850. 



Meleteticks. — In Boyle's Occasional Reflections 

 (ed. 1669), he uses the word meleteticks (pp. 8. .38.) 

 to express the " way and kind of meditation" he 

 "would persuade." Was this then a new word 

 coined by him, and has it been used by any other 

 writer ? P. H. F. 



Luther s Hymns. — " In the midst of life we are 

 in death," &c., in the Burial Service, is almost 

 identical with one of Luther's hymns, the words 

 and music of which are frequently closely copied 

 from older sources. Whence ? F. Q. 



" Pair of Twises." — What was the article, 

 carried by gentlemen, and called by Boyle (R. B.), 

 in his Occasional Rejections (edit. 1669, p. 180.), 

 " a pair of twises," out of which he drew a little 

 penknife ? P. H. F. 



Countermarks on Roman Coin. — Several coins 

 in my cabinet of Tiberius, Trajan, &c. bear the 

 stamp ncapr; others have an open hand, &c. I 

 should be glad to know the reason of this practice, 

 and what they denote. E. S.T. 



GAUDENTIO DI LUCCA. 



(Vol. ii., p. 247. 298.) 



The Memoirs of Sig. Gaudentio di Lucca have 

 very generally been ascribed to Bishop Berkeley. 

 In AIoser'.s Diary, written at the close of the last 

 century (MS. penes me), the writer says, — 



" I have been reading Ucrkeley's amusing account 

 of Sig. Gaudentio. What an excellent system of patri- 

 arclial government is there developed ! " 



See the Retrospective Review, vol iv. p. 316., 



where the work is also ascribed to the celebrated 

 Bishop Berkeley. Edwahd F. Rimbault. 



In the corrigenda and addenda to Kippis's Sio- 

 graphia Britannica, prefixed to vol. iii. is the fol- 

 lowing note, under the head of Berkeley : 



" On the same authority [viz., that of Dr. George 

 Berkeley, the bishop's son,] we are assured that his 

 father did not write, and never read through, the Ad- 

 ventures of Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. Upon this 

 head, the editor of the Biographia must record himself 

 as having exhibited an instance of the folly of building 

 facts upon the foundation of conjectural reasonings. 

 Having heard the book ascribed to Bishop Berkeley, 

 and seen it mentioned as his in catalogues of libraries, 

 I read over the work again under this impression, and 

 fancied that I perceived internal arguments of its having 

 been written by our excellent prelate. I was even 

 pleased with the apprehended ingenuity of my dis- 

 coveries. But the whole was a mistake, which, whilst 

 it will be a warning to myself, may furnish an instruc- 

 tive lesson to others. At the same time, I do not re- 

 tract the character which I have given of the Adve7itares 

 of Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. Whoever was the author 

 of tliat performance, it does credit to his abilities and 

 to his heart." 



After this decisive testimony of Bishop Berke- 

 ley's son, accompanied by the candid confession of 

 error on the part of the editor of the Biographia 

 Britannica, the rumour as to Berkeley's authorship 

 of Gaudentio ought to have been finally discredited. 

 Nevertheless, it seems still to maintain its ground : 

 it is stated as probable by Dunlop, in his History 

 of Fiction ; while the writer of a useful Essay on 

 " Social Utopias," in the third volume of Cham- 

 bers's Papers for the People, No. 18., treats it as 

 an established fact. L. 



In addition to the remarks of your correspon- 

 dent L., I may state that the first edition in 

 1737, 8vo., contains 3.35 pages, exclusive of the 

 publisher's address, 13 pages. It is printed for 

 T. Cooper, at the Globe, in Paternoster Row. The 

 second edition in 1748, 8vo., contains publisher's 

 address, 12 pages; the work itself 291 pages. 



I find no dilference between the two editions, 

 except that in the first the title is The Memoirs 

 of Sigr. Gaudentio di Lucca ; and in the second. 

 The Adventures of Sigr. Gaudentio di Lucca ; and 

 that in the second the notes are subjoined to each 

 page, while in the first they follow the text in 

 smaller type, as Remarks of Sigr. Rhedi. The 

 second edition is — 



" Printed for W. Innys in Paternoster Row, and 

 R. Manby and H. S. Cox on Ludgate Hill, and sold 

 by M. Cooper in Paternoster Row." 



With respect to the author, it must be observed 

 that there is no evidence whatever to justify its 

 being attributed to Bishop Berkeley. Clara Reeve, 

 in her Progress of Rotnana, 178.5, 8vo., mentions 

 him as having been supposed to be the author ; 



