April 26. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



321 



" And as a looking-glass, from the a^^peet. 

 Whilst it is whole, doth but one face reflect, 

 But being craek'd, or broken, there are shown 

 Many half fiecs, which at first were one ; 

 So Love," &e. 



To the coincidences which have been ah'eady 

 pointed out regarding that exquisite line in the 

 Bride of Abydos : 



" The mind, the music breathing from her face," 

 the following from Carew may perhaps be added : 

 " The harmony of colours, features, grace, 

 Resulting airs (the magic of a face) 

 Of musical sweet tunes, all which combin'd, 

 To crown one sovereign beauty, lie confined 

 To this dark vault." — Epitaph on the Ladij S. 



All will recollect the wonderful description of 

 the shipwreck in Don Juan; and more particu- 

 larly the incidents so grajjhically related in stanzas 

 52 and 53 of the Second Canto : to a part of which, 

 the following passage from Lee's CEdipus bears 

 some resemblance : 



" IMethought I heard a voice, 

 Now roaring like the ocean, when the winds 

 Fight with the waves; now in a still small tone 

 Your dying accents fell, as wrecking ships. 

 After the dreadful yell, sink murm'ring down, 

 And bubble up a noise." 



I have now before me a print of John, the first 

 Lord Byron, engraved from a jiainting in the col- 

 lection of Lord Delaware ; in which he is pour- 

 trayed in armour, with a truncheon in the left 

 hand, and the right arm hare to above the elbow. 

 Can this have suggested to Lord Byron the idea 

 of describing "Alp the renegade" as fighting with 

 " the white arm bare," in the Siege of Corinth ? 



Byron refers to Smollett as an authority for 

 " blatant beast," apparently forgetting that the 

 figure originated with Spenser. Again, in a note 

 to Don Juan respecting his use of the phrase 

 " reformadoes," he remai ks : 



" The Baroa Bradwardine, in Waverhy, is authority 

 for the word." 



It occurs, however, in Ben Jonson, and may be 

 found in Blount's Glo.ssographia ; Phillips's World 

 of Words, and other old dictionaries of the same 

 period. T. C. Smitu. 



THE EEPUBLIC OF SAN MAKIKO. 



Amidst the Apennines, far removed from the 

 ordinary track of tourists, is thediminutive republic 

 of San Marino, which boasts never to have been 

 subjugated. AV'iietlier it has escaped invasion be- 

 cause it has escaped notice, or because burglars 

 never attack an empty cott.nge, is a point which I 

 shall not stop to discuss. Few travellers visit it, 

 but tlie trouble of doing so would be amply repaid. 

 The situation is higldy romantic ; and the view 

 from the suirunit of the bold escarpment, upon 



which the town is perched, extends over a wilder- 

 ness of mountains. 



The population of the territory is said not to ex- 

 ceed 6,000 or 7,000 souls. Its whole income is de- 

 rived from a moderate duty on tobacco; and its 

 standing army (for it possesses this indispensable in- 

 cidenttopoliticalindependeiice) is chieflyemployed 

 in vain attempts to prevent the evasion of that duty. 



Among the greatest and most highly esteemed 

 curiosities of the place, is a statue of Christ on the 

 cross, with a head of real hair, which is cut twice a 

 year, and always grows again! This faculty of re- 

 production is as profitable as it is wonderful ; for, 

 besides the resort of pious visitors, drawn by the 

 capillary attractions of such a miractilous piece of 

 sculpture, the locks that are cut off are stated, by 

 the ecclesiastical functionaries in charge of the 

 stattio, to be a stire preservative against all harm 

 to the wearer, and are of course in request as an 

 article of coimnerce. My object in communicating 

 to you these notes, is to introduce to you a copy, 

 which I transcribed myself, of one of the state 

 papers preserved in the archives of the republic. 

 It appears to be a letter of encouragement, ad- 

 dressed by the Priors and Gonfaloniere of the 

 republic of Florence to that of S. Marino, during 

 a siege that the latter was undergoing. Perhaps 

 some of your readers may be able to point out the 

 precise occasion that called for the letter. 



Sydney Smirke. 



" Magnifici viri amici nri car"", Ilabblamo vedato 

 la lettera vi scrive il Governatore, et habbiamo inteso 

 la volunta dello exercito della Chicsa. Dovete essere 

 di buono animo et stare con^tanti et fermi : et perdere 

 la vita insieme con la liberta che e meglo alio huomo 

 uso a essere libero, essere morto cho essero servo. 

 Iddio a chi place la liberta vi aiutera difenderai : et 

 noi et la Tira lega non vi manchera ; havete inteso le 

 provision! facte efdi denari et di gente ad Arimino ; et 

 faremo delle altre tante che saranno abastanza. Valete. 

 Ex palatio nro die viij. Junij, M.ccccLxviuj. 



" P"0';cs libertatis et | p j; Florentlaj. 

 Vexdlifer Justitia; ) '^ 



'• Barth. Scala. 



" Magnificis Viris honiinibus terra; Sa Marini amicis 

 liris car°"^" 



ST. FRANCIS. 



I think Mrs. Jameson, in her Legends of the 

 Momistie Orders, has left unnoticed the very re- 

 markable book of the Conformity of St. Francis s 

 Life with that of Jesus Christ, a work, the blas- 

 phemy of which is only equalled by its absurdity. 



The book was written by Bartholomew of Pisa, 

 a monk of the order, and licensed in 1399 by the 

 general of the Minorites. 



" Approbatum est a fr. Ilcnrico ord. frat. Minorum 

 general! minlstro et servo ctca?tcris ministris ctditlini- 

 toribus capituli generalis apud Sacrum locum de As- 

 sisio die 2 August! a. n. 1399." 



No. 78. 



