Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/38

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. L JAN. 9, MM.

pot-pourri of materials specified by law forms the staple dish, at the finish a measure of special sake from a red lacquer cup must be drained by who- soever desires happiness during the coming year. In the room is placed an 'elysian stand,' or red lacquer tray, covered with evergreen leaves, and bearing a rice dumpling, a lobster, oranges, per- simmons, chestnuts, dried sardines, and herring roe. All these dishes have a special signification. The names of some are homonymous with words of happy omen ; the others have an allegorical meaning. The lobster's curved back and long claws typify life prolonged till the frame is bent and the beard is long ; the sardines, which always swim in pairs, express conjugal bliss; the herring is symbolical of a fruitful progeny. These dishes are not intended for consumption, although in most cases the appetite is fairly keen. The orthodox Japanese not only sees the old year out ; he rises at four to welcome the newcomer, and performs many ceremonies before he breaks his fast."

N. S. S.

BERLIOZ AND SWEDENBORG. To the new and revised edition of Hector Berlioz's " dramatic legend " ' Faust,' published by Messrs. Novello & Co., are prefixed ' His- torical Notes,' signed F. G. Edwards. From these one learns that the greater part of the libretto of ' Faust' was written by the com- poser himself. Among the portions so specified is, apparently, " Scene xix. Pande- monium," which opens with a '' Chorus of Devils (in snarling tones)." In earlier editions, but not in this of Messrs. Novello, the "gibberish" which follows is ascribed, pre- sumably by the librettist, to Emanuel S weden- borg. He, however, had been dead for upwards of seventy years when the libretto first appeared, and certainly his voluminous writings will be searched in vain for such stuff or for any suggestion of it. The writer of the ' Argument ' furnished in the pro- gramme of the performance of 'Faust' by the Dulwich Philharmonic Society at the Crystal Palace on 12 December, 19031 note the fact with pleasure is careful to inform his readers that this "unearthly language" is "wrongly ascribed to Swedenborg."

CHARLES HIGHAM.

LEONARDO DA VINCI IN MILAN. The modern biographers of Leonardo, after having dis- missed as purely imaginary his travels in the East, have not yet been able to fill up the gap in his life-story between 1482 and 1487. They are, however, all agreed on the point that there is no documentary proof forth- coming of his residence in Milan before 1487, although one of them, Adolf Rosenberg to wit, mentions "several testimonies by con- temporaries" which make it probable that Leonardo went to live at Milan not later than 1483 ('Leonardo da Vinci,' Bielefeld, 1898). According to Eugene Miintz, docu-

ments in the archives of Milan show that the painter was established there in 1487, 1490, and 1492 ('Leon, da Vinci,' English edition, 1898, i. 86).

Mrs. Ady has recently suggested (' Beatrice d'Este,' London, 1899, p. 136) that he was the painter referred to, but not named, in the Duke of Milan's instruction issued to Maffei of Treviglio, his ambassador going to King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, in April, 1485. In order not to run any risk of infringing any copyrights held by Signer Alessandro Luzio and Prof. Rodolfo Renier, I will quote the passage in question in its original text from a collection published by the Hungarian Academy in 1877. The Duke of Milan, and not Lodovico il Moro, states therein that :

'perche havemo inteso, che la Sua Maesta [the King of Hungary] se delecta multo de belle picture, presertim, che habino in se qualche devotione. ritrovandose de presente qua uno optima pictore, al qiiale havendo veduto experientia del ingenio suo, non coynoscemo pare, havemo dato ordine cum epso pictore, che ne facia una figura de Nostra Donna quanto bella excellente et devota la sapia piu fare, senza sparagno de spesa alcuna, et se accinga ad lopera de presente, ne facia altro lavoro finche 1' abia finita la quale poi mandaremo ad donare alia prefata Sua Maesta. Datum Mediolani die 13 Aprilis, 1485." ' Monumenta Huug. Historica, Acta Extera,' iii. (on British Museum copy vi.) 44. Mrs. Ady is probably right in her surmise that the painter who in the Duke of Milan's estimation had no equal was no other than Leonardo da Vinci. The passage quoted above has, however, hitherto escaped the notice of his biographers. L. L. K.

CAUL. The following advertisement ap- peared in the Globe of 24 July, 1903 :

" CAUL. Large Male Caul for Sale ; no reasonable offer refused. Address Mrs. S. Harris, Broadlane, Bracknell, Berks."

Surely the name should be Gamp, not Harris. J. T. F.

Winterton, Doncaster.

CURIOUS CHRISTIAN NAMES. No collection of these having lately appeared in ' N. & Q.,' I venture to send a few, noted at various times :

Abdiel, Times, 23 June, 1882 (?).

Abednego. Authority uncertain.

Abiezer, Standard, 12 June, 1901.

Adiganz, Standard, 17 March, 1903, p. 5, col. 7.

Almyra, Times, 7 January, 1882.

Aquila, Times, 1 February, 1882.

Asenath, borne by a patient in the Chelten- ham Hospital, and also found in Standard, 23 May, 1897.

Asphodel, Morning Post, 1 March, 1888.