434 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 57. 



from that collejre. It was subsequently discovered 

 in a sale-room bj- the late Abbe jMacpherson, rector 

 of the same colleije, who purcliased it and sent it 

 to Blairs, where it has been for, now, a pood many 

 years. That it is a portrait of Beaton's time is 

 certain ; but the artist is unknown, and the picture 

 has sustained damap;e. It is attributed, by a com- 

 petent judge, who has himself painted two careful 

 copies of it, to Titian, not only from its general 

 style and handling, but from certain j^eculiarities 

 of canvas, &c. ; on which latter circumstances, 

 however, he does not lay much stress, taking them 

 only as adminicles in proof. The portrait is a half- 

 length, about 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft.: it is that of a 

 fresii-colourcd, intellectual man, of forty-five or 

 upwards; hazel eyes; hair slightly reddish, or 

 auburn, just becoming tinged with grey; a thin, 

 small beard ; costume similar to that of Holbein's 

 Cardinal Wolsej', in the hall of Christchurch, 

 Oxford. It bears this inscription, painted at the 

 bottom of the portrait, and over the original 

 finished pjuinting, and therefore of a subsequent 

 date : 



" David Betonius, S. R. E., Card. Arcliicp. S. An- 

 drejE in Scotia, ab Hustlbiis Fidei Barbare Truci- 



datus." 



Beaton was elected to the Cardinalate in Dec. 

 1538; did he visit Rome after that ? He was at all 

 events in Paris. The Scotch College at Rome was 

 a natural habitat for a portrait of a Scottish church- 

 man so famous as Cardinal Beaton, and it would 

 be strange indeed if they had not one of him where 

 they affected a collecion of portraits of British 

 prelates. I propose to have this portrait engraved, 

 if its probable authenticity cannot be shaken. Did 

 Pinkerton engrave any portrait of Beaton ? There 

 is none in my copies of his Iconograjihia Scotica, 

 1797, and his Scottish Gnlleru^ 1799. These con- 

 tain several duplicates; but it is rare to meet with 

 copies that can be warranted perfect. If the por- 

 trait be published, it will probably be accompanied 

 by a short memoir, correcting from authentic 

 documents some of the statements of his biogra- 

 phers : any information either as to the portrait 

 or his life will be thankfully acknowledged. One 

 or two letters from Lord Buchan, on the sidjject 

 of Scottish Poi-traits, appeared in the Gentleman s 

 Magazine, vol. l.w., but not relating to this parti- 

 cular one. ScoTDS. 



ON THE POINTING OF A PASSAGE IN " AI-L's WELt 

 THAT ENDS WJiLL." 



Lafev. " Tliey say, inirac'cs are past; and we have 

 cm' pliilopopliical persons, to niiiko modern and familiar 

 tilings, supernatural aiui caustless." — .Act ii. Scene 3. 



So the p.ossage is pointed in JoJmson and 

 Stecvens, that is, with a comma after the word 



"things;" and the same pointing is used in the 

 recent editions of Mr. Knight, Barry Cornwall, 

 and Mr. Collier. 



It occurred to me that this pointing gave a 

 meaning quite out of harmony with what directly 

 ibllowSj and also with the spirit in which Lafeu 

 speaks. Let the comma be placed after " familiar," 

 and the whole passage be read thus: 



Lafeu. " They say miracles are past ; and we have 

 our philosophical persons to make modern and familiar, 

 things supernal ural and causeless. Hence is it, that we 

 make trifles of terrors ; ensconcing ourselves into siMaii- 

 ing knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to 

 an unknown fear." 



Lafeu apparently is speaking somewhat sarcas- 

 tically of those who say miracles are past, and who 

 endeavour to explain awai; the wonderful into 

 something common and well-known. Subsequent- 

 ly I found that Mr. Coleridge, in his Literary 

 Remains (vol. ii. p. 121.), had adduced the above- 

 mentioned passage, placing the comma after " fa- 

 miliar." He does not, however, make any observa- 

 tion on the other pointing ; but remarking that 

 Shakspeare often uses " modern " for '• common," 

 proceeds thus : 



" Shakspeare, inspired, as it might seem, with all 

 knowledge, here uses the word cavsclcss in its strict 

 philosophical sense ; cause being truly predicable only 

 of p/ieiiomenn, — that is, things natural, and not of 7iou- 

 mena, or things supernatural." 



It is, perhaps, rather curious, that although Mr. 

 Collier, in his note on Lafeu's speech, has (juoted 

 the above from Mr. Coleridge, the improved point- 

 ing should have escaped that gentleman's notice. 



Looking into Theobald's Shakspeare, I find that 

 he also had placed the comma as Mr. Coleridge 

 has. Mr. Theobald adds this note : 



" This, as it has hitherto been printed, is directly 

 opposite to our poet's and his speaker's meaning. As 

 I have stopped it, the sense quadrates with the context: 

 and surely it is one unalteral)le property of philosophy 

 to make seeming strange and preternatural phenomena 

 familiar and reiiucible to cause and reason." 



Does not Mr. Theobald, in his closing remark, 

 turn what in Lafeu is really an ironical outburst 

 on icoxild-he philosophers, into sometliing like a 



serious common-place i 



A. RoFFE. 



Query, In a work entitled Philosophy of Shali^ 

 speare, by W. H. Roukin, Lafeu's speech is quoted, 

 and one word changed; '■'■and we have our philo- 

 sophical ]iersons," &c., becomes '■^yet we have," 

 &c. Is there any authority for such a change ? 



A.K. 



FOLK LORE. 



The higger the Iting, the nearer the Wet. —On 

 Sunday evening, the 20th Oct., the moon had a 



