2«« S. IX. Mar. 17. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



201 



but that if it be a stag which has not that pro- 

 perty, he is to pay only 6 solidi. A lower com- 

 position is imposed for the smaller and less 

 valuable animal. In either case, the composition 

 is ei^lit-fold, if the animal be stolen. Canciani 

 explains "intricare" to be "in laqueos trajicere" 

 or " vulnerare." 



The gloss bramit in one manuscript refers to 

 premen, Old German ; bremman, Anglo- Sax. ; 

 brummen, High German ; which correspond in 

 meaning to rugire. Brummen in Lower Saxon 

 and brim in English denote the state of the sow 

 when she is ready to receive the boar. See Ade- 

 lungin brummen and brunft, Richardson in brim. 

 Bramer in French is likewise used for the noise 

 of the stag during the rutting season. The Italian 

 has bramito in the same sense. 



Aristotle (H. A., v. 14.) remarks that the voice 

 of the male animal is generally of a deeper note 

 than the voice of the female. He cites the voice 

 of the stag as an example, stating that the male 

 makes a noise during the season of copulation, 

 and the female when she is frightened. 



The celebrated Harvey, in his Exeixitationes 

 de Generatione (of which there is an English 

 translation in the collection of his works pub- 

 lished by the Sydenham Society, 1 vol. 8vo., 

 1847), illustrates the generation of viviparous 

 animals from the history of that of the hind and 

 doe ; for which selection he gives the following 

 reason : — 



" It was customary with his Serene Majesty, King 

 Charles, after he had come to man's estate, to take the 

 diversion of hunting almost every week, both for the sake 

 of finding relaxation from graver cares, and for his health ; 

 the chase was principally the buck and doe, and no prince 

 in the world had greater herds of deer, either wandering 

 in freedom through the wilds and forests, or kept in 

 parks and chases for this purpose. The game during the 

 three summer months was the buck, then fat and in 

 'season; and in the autumn and winter, for the same 

 length of time, the doe. This gave me an opportunity of 

 dissecting numbers of these animals almost every day 

 during the whole of the season when they were rutting, 

 taking the male, and falling with young." — Exerclt. G4. 

 p. 466. 



_ In a subsequent passage, Harvey laments that 

 his house was plundered during the civil war, and 

 that some of the fruits of his scientific labours 

 were destroyed : — 



" And whilst I speak of these matters, let gentle minds 

 forgive me, if, recalling the irreparable injuries I have 

 suffered, I here give vent to a sigh. This is the cause of 

 my sorrow: — Whilst in attendance on His Majesty the 

 King during our late troubles and more than civil wars*, 

 not only with the permission hut by command of the 

 Parliament, certain rapacious hands stripped not only my 

 bOBM of all its furniture, but what is subject of far 

 greater regret with me, my enemies abstracted from my 

 museum the fruits of many years of toil. Whence it lias 

 come to pass that many observations, particularly on the 



• Jlnrvey alludes to the verse of Lucan : — 



" Belli! ]h r Kmilhios plus quant, civilhl campos." 



generation of insects, have perished, with detriment, I 

 venture to say, to the republic of letters." — E.verc. 68. 

 p. 481. 



A singular argument is derived from the habits 

 of the deer, and confirmed by a reference to 

 Harvey's treatise, by Martyn, in his Dissertations 

 upon the dUneids of Virgil. This critic thinks 

 that " Virgil designs to be exact in his chronology, 

 by his marking not only the year, but the very 

 time of the year, when iEneas arrived at Carthage." 

 He then cites the description of the herd of 

 deer which J3neas descries near the coast of 

 Africa : — 



" Tres littore cervos 

 Prospicit errantes: ho3 tota armenta sequuntur 

 A tergo, et longum per valles pascitur agmen." 



^En. i. 184-6. 



He proceeds to infer that this was the period 

 when the stags were in season, and were still 

 separate from the females ; and therefore that 

 Virgil marks the summer as the time of year 

 when .<Eneas landed in Africa, and visited Dido 

 at Carthage. How far Virgil possessed himself, 

 or assumed in his readers, this knowledge of na- 

 tural history, I do not venture to decide ; but I 

 will only remark that if the poet intended to re- 

 present iEneas as arriving at Carthage in the 

 summer, he must suppose that the stay of the 

 Trojans at the court of Dido was longer than the 

 narrative appears to indicate : for, when ^Eneas 

 is about to depart, Dido remonstrates with him 

 for setting sail during the winter : — 



" Quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem, 

 Et mediis properas Aquilonibus ire per altum." 



iv. 309. 



G. C. Lewis. 



THE SOCIETY OF DILETTANTI. 

 (2 nd S. ix. 64. 125.) 



As no reply to the inquiries of your correspon- 

 dents respecting the Dilettanti Society has ap- 

 peared, perhaps the following rough notes may be 

 acceptable. They have been delayed in the hope 

 that the respected son of the Athenian Stuart 

 (as he is familiarly called), who is a reader of 

 " 1ST. & Q.," might possibly be able to communi- 

 cate some particulars respecting the unobtrusive, 

 yet valuable labours of this Society. It need 

 scarcely be stated, that the word Dilettanti, as one 

 of disparagement and ridicule, is quite modern. 



In the year 1734 some gentlemen who had 

 travelled in Italy, desirous of encouraging at home 

 a taste for those objects which had contributed so 

 much to their entertainment abroad, formed them- 

 selves into a Society, under the name of the 

 " Dilettanti," and agreed upon such regulations 

 as they thought necessary to keep up the spirit of 

 their scheme. Mr. James Stuart and Mr. Ni- 

 cholas Revet t were elected members in 1751, and 

 the Society liberally assisted them in their excel- 



