Aug. 2. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



89 



" multa flavus arena." The immediately pre- 

 ceding words, " variisque teguntur arboribus," have 

 been pronounced by a very learned critic (one 

 who has often deserved well of Virgil) to be idle, 

 otiosa. (See Wagner ad ^n. i. 678.) And his 

 opinion has been sanctioned by the usually ju- 

 dicious Forbiger. But they are not idle; on the 

 contrary, they are necessary to convey the idea that 

 the Jineadse passed up the river mider the shade of 

 the trees ; and so are supplemental to the state- 

 ment contained in the words cited by your corre- 

 spondent, which inform us only that they went 

 up the river. Hence a confirmation of the cor- 

 rectness of the received interpretation. 



James Henry. 

 34. Westland Ron-, Dublin, July 14. 1851. 



Your correspondent Eryx wishes to know, 

 whether in the passage {^Eneid, viii. 96.) — ' 

 " Viridesque secant placido aequore silvas," 

 the word secant can legitimately convey the same 

 idea that is expressed in Tennyson's lines — 



• "my shallop .... clove 



The citron shadows in the blue." 

 There can be little doubt that this well-known 

 passage in the JEneid is the original of Tennyson's 

 image ; that, in fact, it is an excusable plagia- 

 rism on the part of the latter, who, in introducing 

 his image, has, I think, missed the appropriateness, 

 and therefore increased beauty, belonging to it in 

 the original passage of Virgil. 



When ^neas is journeying up the Tiber to visit 

 Evander, the river, in order to^lessen his labours — 



" refluens .... substitit unda ; " 

 but notwithstanding this, the journey was arduous: 

 as is shown in the whole of the three lines 94 — 96. 

 " OUi remigio noctemque diemque fatigant, 

 Et longos superant flexus, variisque teguntur 

 Arboribus, viridesque secant placido ccquore silvas." 



That is to say, " They labour at the oar till night 

 is wearied out, and day also is obliged to give 

 place in its turn ; they master one by one the long 

 serpentine bends of the river, and, though covered 

 and inclosed by the varied foliage above them, 

 they cut their way through the opposing woods, 

 which lie, as it were, in their path in the shadowy 

 surface of the clear, still water." 



The word placido is surely sufficient to prevent 

 any one falling into the common-place interpre- 

 tation alluded to by your correspondent as the 

 one " usually given." H. C. K. 



Ilcctory, Hereford, July 14. 



THE VINE OF ST. FRANCIS. 



(Vol. iil., p. 502.) 



I feel much obliged for the information alTorded 

 by your Dutch correspondent. When I sent you 

 my Query on the subject more than a year ago, 



I wrote principally from memory ; but as I have 

 now the work in question lying beside me as I 

 write, and as it seems to be rarer and less known 

 than I had imagined, you will perhaps find place 

 for a more minute description of it. 



The Vine of St. Francis is a folio volume, con- 

 taining 418 numbered leaves, a "Prologhe" of one 

 leaf (next to the title-page), and a " Tafel va dit 

 boeck" at the end, of five leaves and a half un- 

 numbered. 



The title-page contains a full-length picture of 

 the saint, with a nimbus round his head, the 

 knotted cord round his waist, and his palms ex- 

 tended, displaying the sacred stigmata. Above 

 the picture is the title in red and black. I have 

 written in Italics the words printed in red : 



" Den wyngaert Ta Sinfe Franciscus vol schoonre 

 historien legenden ende duechdeli/cke leerenghen alien 

 menschen seer profytelych." 



And under the picture ^^ Cam gratia et privilegio." 

 On the back of the title-page is printed as fol- 

 lows : — 



" Dit is die generael tafel va dese wyngaert dwelcke 

 ghdeylt is in drie boecken. 



C Dat eerste boeck inhout 



Sinte Franciscus grote legende 

 Sinte Franciscus oude legende 

 Den aflaet van portiunkel 

 Sinte Franciscus souter. 



CE Dat ander boeck inhoude 



De legede va de. v. marte mind-brod's 



De legede va de seue mar. ooc mind'b. 



Sinte bonauentura legende 



Sinte lodewyc biscop legende 



Sinte anthonis va paduen legende 



Sinte bernardyns legende 



Sinte clara legende 



Sinte pno priesters legende 



Sinte lodewyc conincx legende 



Sinte elzearius graue legende 



Sinte elizabets legende. 



C. Dat derde boec inhout 



Een tractaet va S. Franciscus oorden 



Sinte Franciscus geselle leuen 



Die geleerde efi edele va S. Friiciscus oorden 



Dat getal der broedere en prouintien 



De aflaet va rome mitte aflaet des oordes 



De kaledier mitte feeste des aflaets." 



Under these tables of contents occur two stanzas, 

 the first containing five lines, the second con- 

 taining seven lyics. They commence : — 



"CO salige wyngaert seer diep gheplant 



Groyende in duechden van vruchten playsant,' &c. 



The prefiice to the Grote Legende informs us 

 that it is Saint Bonaventura's life of Saint Francis, 

 and mentions why it is called the G?-eat Legend. 

 This life ends at folio 47. 



Tlie preface to the Oude Legende, which next 

 follows, states that it is " gathered from the 



