Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/398

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL APRIL 27, 1907.

royal Infantas," and adds that a girdle of St. Margaret, in Italy, is of like efficacy .(pp. 237-42).

In pre-Reformation times this devotion was not unknown in England. In Hard- ham Church, near Pulborough, is a wall- painting, before 1100, of the Annunciation, with the inscription " + Virgo salutatur sterilis^ fecunda probatur " (Antiquary, xxxvii. v 57).

At Westminster there was " Our Ladies girdell which weomen with chield were wont to girde with," which was removed in 1535 (Wriothesley's ' Chronicle,' i. 31).

In 1508 Robert Lascelles, Esq., of Braken- burgh, co, York, by his will gave to his son Roger

'"one small girdill hernest w* sylver and gilt, y e which is one heyrelome, callyd our Lady's girdill, tor seik women w* chyled, to remayn as one heyre- lome." ' Test. Ebor.,' iv. 271.

The veneration was founded on the belief that the B.V.M. did not suffer the usual great pain and peril at childbirth.

W. C. B.

VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEAU. These two great originators of the French Revolution are strikingly contrasted in what is pro- bably an almost forgotten work, and Vol- taire's audacious plagiarism is well exem- plified. Madame Tussaud, when young, lived with her uncle at the Hotel d'Allegre, Rue St. Honore, Paris, in Louis XVI.'s rei n. M. Curtius's rooms were the resort of the most talented men in France, as Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin, Mirabeau, La Fayette, &c. ; and the young Marie Grosholtz (afterwards Tussaud) was in the habit of hearing their conversation.

"Full well she remembers the literary discus- sions, which were sometimes conducted with much bitterness by the opposing partisans of the favourite authors of the day ; observing that she never could forget the acrimony displayed between Voltaire and Rousseau in their disputes in the support, perhaps, of some metaphysical theory, in which

themselves alone could feel interested Onegrand

source of complaint, which was preferred against Voltaire by Rousseau, was that he had often Advanced different ideas, which were purely original, at M. Curtius's table, and which were intended to form the foundation of a future work, Rousseau ever specifying that such was his object ; yet had he the mortification to find that Voltaire would forestall him, by bringing out a volume con- taining those very opinions which his rival had expressed; and, in tact, the very thoughts and subjects on which he had dilated, and designed as the outlines and substance of his next production. Voltaire, perhaps, scarcely apparently listening to what was said, or taking up the opposite side of the question, would argue with vehemence against the very doctrine which he would soon after publish

to the world as his own. Thus, whilst Rousseau was conceiving and projecting materials for his work, and in the simplicity of his heart was pro- claiming all his inspirations to his friends, his subtle cotemporary was digesting all he heard, and, as quick in execution as the former in imagi- nation, he turned the fertility of his rival's brains to his own advantage.

" Bitter, indeed, was then the venom which was emitted by those two celebrated authors at each other ; most rancorous were the reproaches which Rousseau would launch forth against Voltaire, whilst his replies were not less [_aic\ deficient in their portion of gall. The latter was far more biting in his sarcasms than his competitor, who sometimes felt so irritated that, losing his self-possession, the point of his satire often lost its keenness. Voltaire, also, was ever gay, whilst Rousseau was generally the reverse, and rather misanthropic.

"When Voltaire retired, then would Rousseau give free vent to all his rage against his arch rival, till he would exhaust all the abusive vocabulary of the French language in expressing his wrath, exclaiming : ' Oh the old monkey, the knave, the rascal ! ' until he was fatigued with the fury of his own eloquence. He was younger than Voltaire by sixteen years, but they both died in the same year/' Herve, ' Madame Tussaud's Memoirs,' 1838, pp. 9-11.

F. H.

OXFORD CHANCELLORSHIP ELECTION. Contested elections of Chancellors of the University of Oxford being rare, a copy of a voting paper may be of interest, with its quaint mixture of English and Latin : Convocation, March 14, 1907. Election of Chancellor of the

University.

Voting in the Sheldonian Theatre. Ego e Coll.

Nomino

Georgium Nathaniel, Barpnem Curzon deKedleston,

Doctorem in Jure Civili honoris causa, e Coll.

Onm. Anim.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

OMAR KHAYYAM IN BASKISH. In ' An Omar Khayyam Calendar for the Year 1907 ' one finds, opposite October, the lines beginning " The Ball," &e. As the Basks are very fond of the ball-game, it occurred to me that it might interest them to see them in their own language. The following is my attempt at a version, using as far as possible the words of Leigarraga : Pelotak, baietzez edo ezetzez, eztu galdegiten ezerere, ez : baina ezkerrera, eskuinera, iaunak ioten eluen hara, badoa ! Eta hi auenak iharros behera, zeakik, huiiek bai, guziz guzia !

EDWARD S. DODGSON.

WILLIAM LEWIS HERTSLET. (See ante,

p. 250.) The W. L. Hertslet mentioned

by M. GAIDOZ was the son of William

Hertslet, British Consul at Konigsberg, by