140 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 95. 



of Horace, printed in 1716 by Curll, is valuable as 

 to Tope's history, and a great curiosity; and as 

 Mr. Crosslby states tliat Ladj Marij is not men- 

 tioned in that edition, I am curious to know how 

 Pope managed the rhyme now made by her name. 

 Mr. Cbossley adds that this imitation was re- 

 produced in " folio, printed by J. Boreman about 

 1734, with some alterations from the former 

 edition." Would it be trespassing too much on 

 your space and his kindness, to request him to 

 "five us a few specimens of the alterations, par- 

 ticularly the "change of initials" which Ma. 

 Crossley mentions. Mr. Crossley seems to 

 think that this poem was not reprinted after the 

 folio in 1734, till it appeared in a supplement to 

 Cooper's edition in 1756. This is a mistake. It 

 was published by Pope himself, with his other 

 imitations of Horace, in the collection of his works 

 by Dodsley in 1738; and though only entitled 

 " in the manner of Mr. Pope" excited very natural 

 surprise and disgust. His having deliberately 

 embodied it in the general collection of his works, 

 is Warton's only excuse for having reproduced it. 



C 



Prophecies of Nostradamus (Vol. iv., p. 86.). — 

 In accordance "with the wish of your correspondent 

 Speriend, I have examined the series of early 

 editors of this celebrated astrologer in the Biblio- 

 theque Nationale, and the following is the result 

 of my inquiries. 



The earliest edition ot'the Prophecies of Nostra- 

 damus is not to be found in any library in Paris, 

 but was published in 1555 (so says the latest 

 account of the prophet, by M. Eugene Bareste) 

 but contains little more than three centuries (or 

 cantos, as they might be called) of prophecies ; 

 each century containing -a hundred quatrains. 

 The next edition, which before the French Revo- 

 lution belonged to the Benedictines of St. Maur, 

 is entitled : 



" Les Prophoties de M. Micliel Nostradamus, dont 

 il y en a trois cens ((ui n'ont encore jamais esto im- 

 priinees. Ailjoustoes de uouveau par ledict Autheur. 

 A Lyon, cliez Pierre Iligaud, rue Merciere, au coing 

 de rue Ferrandierc. Avec permission." 



It has, in MS., on the title-page, " 1555 et 

 1558." M. Bareste says of this edition : 



" On pretend qu'elle est de 1558 ; mais nous no le 

 pensons pas, car clle a ete probablement faite I'annee 

 meme de la niort de I'auteur, c'est a dire, en 1566." 



However, as there is no known edition between 

 1555, the date of the first, and 1566, this doubtless 

 is the earliest containing the ninth century ; and 

 at ]S"o, 49. of this century is to be seen the follow- 

 ing quatrain : 



" Gand et Briiceles niarclieront contre Anvers, 

 Senat de Londres mettront a mort leur Roy; 

 Le sel et vin luy seront a I'cnvers, 

 Pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy." 



I can find no edition of Nostradamus dated 1572 ; 

 but in the editions of 1605, 1629, 1649, and 1650, 

 the prophecy is given as above, almost letter for 

 letter, so that there can be no doubt it was not first 

 known in that form in 1672. As to the number 

 of this quatrain agreeing with the year of King 

 Chai-les's death, it is most probably an accident; 

 for out of the nine hundred and odd quatrains 

 composing the twelve centuries (the 7th, ] 1th, and 

 12th being imperfect), and which are nearly all 

 regularly numbered, it is, I believe, the only one 

 in which this singularity occurs. On the fiy-leaf 

 of a copy of Nostradamus in the JBibliotheqtie de 

 S'" Genevieve (dated 1568, but really printed in 

 1649), I found, in an old handwriting, a couplet 

 that may be new to the English admirer of the 

 astrologer : 



" Falsa damus cum Nostra damus, nam fallere nostrum 

 est 



Et cum nostra damus, non nisi Falsa damus." 



If Speriend wishes for more information on the 

 subject of the life and works of Nostradamus, I 

 should recommend hiui to look at the work I have 

 quoted above, which treats very fully on all mat- 

 ters connected with this " vaticinating worthy." 

 It is entitled Nostradamus, par Eugene Bareste : 

 Paris, 1S40, and will doubtless be found in the 

 British Museum. H. C. de St. Croix. 



I have an edition of 1605 of these prophecies, 

 Beveues et corrigees sur la coppie imprimee a Lyon, 

 par Benoist Kigaud, 1586, but without place or 

 printer's name. It contains (century nine, stanza 

 49.), the quatrain quoted by Speriend. 



'liie following quatrain may be thought to apply 

 to Cromwell (century eight, stanza 76.) : 

 " Plus Macelin que Roy en Angleterve, 

 Dieu obscur nay par force aura rcrapire : 

 Lasche sans foy sans loy Seignera terre, 

 Son temps s'aproche si pres que je sousplrc." 



The edition of 1605 does not contain the line 

 quoted by Speriend, " Senat de Londres," &c. ; nor 

 any address " A mes Imprimeurs de Hongrie ; " 

 but, in addition to the ten centuries contained in 

 the edition of 1568 (the original edition), it con- 

 tains the eleventh and twelfth centuries ; also 141 

 stanzas of additional " Presages, tirez de ceux 

 faicts par M. Nostradamus en aimees 1555 et 

 suivantes jusques en 1567 :" and 58 "Predictions 

 Admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siecle, 

 Recueillies des Memoires du feu M. Nostradamus, 

 par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire en Languedoc, 

 des le 19 Mars_, 1605, au Chateau de Chantilly."_ 



]My e<!ition is not mentioned by Brunet nor in 

 any of the French Catalogues that I have been 

 able to consult. R- J- R- 



Thread the Needle (Vol. iv., p. 39.).— The fol- 

 lowing is an extract from a review in the Oentle- 

 man's Magazine of Dec. 1849, of the Life of 



