Dec. 8. 1849.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
83 
published until 1610. I have before me a copy, 
probably the first edition, with the following title: 
“ The Barrons Wars in the raigne of Edward the 
Second, with England's Heroical Epistles, by Mi- 
chaell Drayton. At London, Printed by J. Rt. for 
N. Ling, 1603,” 12mo.; and the poem had been 
printed under the title of Mortimerindos, in 4to., 
1596. 
I have an imperfect copy of an early edition 
(cirea 1600) of “ Poemes Lyrick and Pastorail. 
Odes, Eglogs, The Man in the Moon, by Michaell 
Drayton Esquier. At London, Printed by R. B. 
for N. L. and J. Flaskett.” 
It is now thirty-five years since (eheu! fugaces 
labuntur anni!) the writer of this induced his 
friend Sir Egerton Brydges to print the Nym- 
phidia at his private press; and it would give him 
pleasure, should your Notes be now instrumental 
to the production of a tasteful selection from the 
copious materials furnished by Drayton’s prolific 
muse. Notwithstanding that selections are not 
generally approved, in this case it would be (if 
judiciously done) acceptable, and, it is to be pre- 
sumed, successful. 
The Nymphidia, full of lively fancy as it is, was 
probably produced in his old age, for it was not 
published, I believe, till 1627, when it formed 
part of a small folio volume, containing The Bat- 
taile of Agincourt and The Miseries of Queene 
Margarite. Prefixed to this volume was the noble 
but tardy panegyric of his friend Ben Jonson, 
entitled The Vision, and beginning : 
“Tt hath been question’d, Michael, if I be 
A friend at all; or, if at all, to thee.” 
S. W. S. 
Mickleham, Nov. 10. 1849. 
ON A PASSAGE IN GOLDSMITH. 
Sir, —I observe in the Atheneum of the 17th 
inst. a quotation from the Life of Goldsmith by 
Irving, in which the biographer seems to take 
credit for appropriating to Goldsmith the merit of 
originating the remark or maxim vulgarly ascribed 
to Talleyrand, that “the true end of speech is not 
so much to express our wants as to conceal them.” 
This is certainly found in No. 3. of The Bee, by 
Goldsmith, and no doubt Tslleyrand acted upon 
the principle of dissimulation there enunciated ; 
but the idea is much older than either of those 
individuals, as we learn from a note in p. 118. of 
vol. Ixvii. Quart. Rev., quoting two lines written 
by Young (nearly one hundred years before), in 
Mision to courts :— 
“ Where Nature’s end of language is declined, 
And men talk only to conceal their mind.” 
Voltaire has used the same expression so long 
ago as 1763, in his little satiric dialogue La Chapon 
et la Poularde, where the former, complaining of 
the treachery of men, says, “ Ils n'emploient les 
paroles que pour déguiser leurs pensées.” (See 
xxix. tom. Guvres Complétes, pp. 83, 84. ed. Paris, 
1822.) 
The germ of the idea is also to be found in 
Lloyd’s State Worthies, where, speaking of Roger 
Ascham, he is characterised as “an honest man, — 
none being more able for, yet none more averse 
to, that circumlocution and contrivance wherewith 
some men shadow their main drift and purpose. 
Speech was made to open man to man, and not to 
hide him; to promote commerce, and not betray it.” 
Lloyd’s book first appeared in 1665, but I use 
the ed. by Whitworth, vol. i. p. 503. F. R. A. 
Oak House, Nov. 21. 1849. 
[The further communications propesed to us by 
F. R. A. will be very acceptable.] 
ANCIENT LIBRARIES—LIBRARY OF THE AUGUS- 
TINIAN EREMITES OF YORK, 
Mr. Editor, —I have been greatly interested by 
the two numbers of the “ Norrs anp Qurrirs” 
which you have sent me. The work promises to 
be eminently useful, and if furnished with a good 
index at the end of each yearly volume, will be- 
come a book indispensable to all literary men, and 
especially to those who, like myself, are in charge 
of large public libraries. 
To testify my good will to the work, and to 
follow up Mr. Burtt’s remarks on ancient libraries 
published in your second number, I venture to 
send you the following account of a MS. Catalogue 
of the Library of the Monastery of the Friars 
Eremites of the Order of St. Augustine in the 
City of York. 
This MS. is now preserved in the Library of 
Trinity College, Dublin, amongst the MSS. ‘for- 
merly belonging to the celebrated Archbishop 
Ussher. It is on vellum, written in the 14th cen- 
tury, and begins thus : — 
“Inventarium omnium librorum pertinentium ad 
commune armariole domus Ebor. ordinis fratrum 
heremitarum Sancti Augustini, factum in presentia 
fratrum Johannis de Ergum, Johannis Ketilwell, 
Ricardi de Thorpe, Johannis de Appilby, Anno domini 
Me. CCC Ixxij in festo nativitatis virginis gloriose, 
Fratre Willelmo de Stayntoun tune existente priore.” 
The volume consists of forty-five leaves, and 
contains the titles of a very large and most re- 
spectable collection of books in all departments of 
literature and learning arranged under the follow- 
ing heads : — 
Biblie. 
Hystorie scholastice. 
Textus biblie glosati. 
Postille. 
= P 4 = : 
Concordancie et interpretacOnes nominum he- 
breorum. 
0 er SS RS SA SSR ee 
a aa EE TEI ET 
