2-1 S. VI. 143., Sept. 25. '58.] NOTHS AND QUERIES. 



241 



LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBEk 25. 1858. 



AN UNUSED PALIMPSEST MS. OF FART OF ST. 

 LUKE's gospel in greek, WITH A CATENA. 



Oil August II. I received information from Dr. 

 Paul de Lagarde of Berlin, that there is a palimp- 

 sest MS. in the possession of the British and 

 Foreign Bible Society, the older writing of which 

 contains part of St. Lulje's Gospel. As I have 

 collated every accessible document in uncial 

 letters containing the jSTew Testament, or any 

 part of it, for my edition (of which St. Matthew's 

 and St. Mark's Gospels have already been issued 

 to subscribers), it was of importance to me to 

 obtain accurate information respecting this pa- 

 limpsest. After some correspondence I went to 

 London, and saw that the MS. was worth a 

 thorough exauiination ; but I also found that it 

 would require much time and attention to read it 

 properly. Through the llev. John Mee, one of 

 the secretaries, I made application to the commit- 

 tee to be allowed to borrow the MS., and at the 

 meeting of that body on the 6th Sept. this favour 

 was most kindly conceded to me. 



I am thus able to use it at home, with far less 

 of weariness to my eyes (which feel the effects of 

 collating documents dim with age), and with far 

 .less of general inconvenience, than if I had to do 

 it in the dim atmosphere of Blackfriars. The re- 

 sults of the collation will of course be given in my 

 Greek New Testament ; though as to a part of 

 the Gospel the readings cannot stand in their 

 places, but they can only appear as addenda. 



I believe, however, that biblical scholars will be 

 glad at once to have a description of this MS. ; 

 and as I have already made an index of the con- 

 tents, I am able now to furnish this. The later 

 writing is a Greek Lectionary, apparently of the 

 thirteenth century. As now folded it consists of 

 17G folios ; the leaves are of quarto size, and the 

 whole volume consists of 22 quires; each of course 

 being four doubled leaves. The older writing of 

 the Sis. would have formed 87 folios (now folded 

 across), and two half folios ; these belong to the 

 last (juire of the more modern book, which has 

 been in part made up of defective pieces of vel- 

 lum. The contents of the older writing are j)or- 

 tions of the Jimt eleven chapters of St. Luke's 

 Gogpel, with a catena from Greek Fathers amply 

 filling the margins, and in some cases the entire 

 page. Amongst other names I notice those of 

 Cyril of Alexandria, Titus, Origen, and Severus, 

 Abp. of Antioch. At present, however, I cannot 

 busy myself with more than the portions of the 

 sacred text, wliich are (juite sufliciently trying to 

 iny eyes. The older writing seems to me to be 

 probably of the eighth century. 



This palimpsest has many marks of early sec- 



tions and chapters : some of these are, I believe, 

 peculiar ; but indeed such an uncial document as 

 this, with a catena, is in itself (as far as I know) 

 unique. One set of sections, placed very con- 

 spicuously, deserves attention : for the divisions 

 and the notation are the same as that found in 

 the Cudex Vaticamis, but which I have observed 

 nowhere else ; and I have collated most ancient 

 documents of the New Testament that are known. 

 The notation of these chapters is often (but not 

 always) marked with a prefixed <|/. What does 

 this letter thus placed signify ? 



In the beginning of the book is written on a 

 piece of paper stuck in, Vlvritiocuvov (nSarrixcnos rov 

 'iTTTreds 'KvToivlov K(!fci]Toy, ■ 1820. Then in pencil, 

 "II Principe Comuto, Zante," and below in ink, 

 "Presented by General Macaulay, Nov. 6, 1821." 

 It has thus been in the possession of the British 

 and Foreign Bible Society for nearly thirty-seven 

 years, and yet it has remained unused. In the 

 Catalogue it is only described as a Lectionary 

 (from the upper writing) ; but many seem to 

 have examined it, amongst others (Mr. Knolleke 

 informs me) the late Professor Scholz of Bonn. 

 And yet, as far as I know, it has never been 

 brought forward as part of the materials for the 

 textual criticism of the New Testament. The 

 MS. has evidently suffered from the dirt not 

 having been cleaned from its pages when it was 

 brought into our more humid atmosphere. Part 

 of each of the original pages is of course nearly 

 buried by the more recent binding ; and if use 

 were made of the Patristic Catena the book should 

 be rebound with each of the original leaves ex- 

 tended, instead of their remaining so doubled as 

 to injure the ancient writing. 



I conclude this Note with two Queries : — 



1. Who was Comuto ? and what was his real 

 name — that expressed in Greek or in Italian ? 



2. Is there any known MS. which contains the 

 Capitulatio Vaticana besides this and the Vatican 

 MS. itself? 



This point might -be worthy of the examination 

 of any who have access to MSS. with Catenae. 



S. PSIDEAUX TbEGELLES. 

 6. Portland Square, Plymoutli. 



THE DANES IN WALES. 



Having lately derived considerable pleasure 

 from reading Mr. Worsaac's Danes and Norwe- 

 gians in England — a work which I look upon as 

 being a very valuable contribution to the archaeo- 

 logy of our country — will you permit me to offer 

 one or two suggestions, in the hope that otiiers 

 m.ay be induced to contribute to the stock of 

 knowledge respecting that interesting period of 

 our national progress ? 



Mr. Worsaae seems to have glanced but cur- 



