Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/406

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. MAY u,i9io.

Gladstone, one on each side of an altar, inscribed "Session 1873." The burning sacrifice is marked " Public Interest,'' the smoke " Party Tactics." Disraeli, with his hand over his mouth, is smiling ; Glad- stone is severely grave, holding a " lituus " in his right hand.

Disralius. " I always wonder, Brother, how we chief Augurs can mee f on the opening day without laughing ! "

Gladstonius. " I have never felt any temptation to the hilarity you suggest, Brother ; and the remark savours or flippancy."

It should perhaps be noted that augur and haruspex are not synonymous. The former foretold events by the flying, singing, &c., of birds ; the latter by inspecting the entrails of victims, and examining every circumstance preceding or attending the sacrifice.

Nicolas Lloyd in his ' Dictionarium Historicum, 1 &c., editio novissima, 1686, or perhaps Charles Stephens, who began the dictionary, writes, s.v. ' Augures J :

" Notum illud Catonis, mirari se si augur augurem aspiciens sibi temperaret a risu : nemp6 quik occulto Syncretism colludebant inter se, sibi conscii fraudis et imposturse."

Here augur appears for haruspex. Although in Bailey's ' Facciolati,* among the ' Verba partim Grseca Latine scrip ta .... a nobis improbata et expulsa,* " Syncretismus " is interpreted " repentina concordia inter inimicos," the meaning io. the above passage appears to be " collusive lying " (or " deceit"). ROBEBT PIERPOINT.

[Replies also from DR. LEEPEE, and C. B. W.I

THE GREEN PARK AVENUE (11 S. i. 345). The spot was usual for Peace fireworks, and was that chosen for those at the Peace of Paris at the end of the Crimean War.

G. P. A.

' RAPE OF PROSERPINE, ? BY PAUL VERONESE (11 S. i. 328). Search through the pages of Lanzi, Vasari, Pilkington, Bryan, and a number of biographical dic- tionaries, has failed to reveal any ' Rape of Proserpine J painted by Paul Veronese. His ' Rape of Europa l is, however, well known. ' The Rape of Proserpine 2 was rather a favourite subject with the old masters. About thirty years ago three paintings so named were to be found in this country : the first by Francesco Primaticcio in the Stafford, House Gallery, the second by Niccolo delP Abbate (called also Niccolo da Modena) in the same collection, and the third by Rubens at Blenheim.

W. SCOTT.

YULE LOG (11 S. i. 129, 255, 296, 357). South Lincolnshire used to warm itself by the Yule log on Christmas Eve, and after a time to have the wood removed that it might be preserved until New Year's Eve, when it was again set alight, and, I believe, expected to burn until the New Year came in. I must be much out of heart when I do not watch the log fulfilling this require- ment elsewhere than in South Lincolnshire.

ST. SWITHIN.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS (10 S. xii. 430 ; 11 S. i. 293). To the authorities given might be added Pluvinel, ' L'Instrvction dv Roy, en L'exercice de Monter a cheval,* third part, figures 37-49 inclusive.

A. RHODES.

The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. By Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Edited and pub- lished in Mexico by Genaro Garcia. Translated into English, with Introduction and Notes, by A. P. Maudslay. Vol. I.

The Voyage of Capt. Don Felipe Gonzalez to Easter Island in 1770-1. Transcribed, translated, and edited by Bolton G. Corney.

The Travels of Peter Mundy, 1608-67. Vol. I. Europe, 1608-28. Edited by Sir Richard Temple. (All published by the Hakluyt Society.)

THE three volumes before us show how admirably the Hakluyt Society keeps up its work of printing the valuable narratives of travel and enterprise in earlier days. Here is a storehouse of real romance for the reader, with many side-lights of interest to the scholar and historian.

Friar Alonzo Remon published the ' True History ' in Madrid in 1632, and his version was translated into several languages, including English. But modern research has discovered that his meddling with the text involved extensive corruptions and additions, garbled facts, and changed names of places and persons. Senor Don Genaro Garcia obtained a copy of the real text of the book, and verified it by means of consulting a photographic reproduction, which had been on view for some time, with the proviso that i should not be copied and printed. Extracts from his introduction and another by the translator put us in a position to enjoy the narrative of Diaz, a fine soldier and naive recorder who is always interesting. Maps, notes, and illustrations, and a full bibliography complete the volume. Cyprian Bridge as an enthusiast in all that con- cerns Pacific navigation, explains in his Intrc duction that the collection of journals and dis- patches in this volume relates to a voyage in 1 1 which had for its object the annexation to Spai of land in the Eastern Pacific Ocean vague designated the "Island of David." Whattheshii found was Easter Island, so. named by Mynheei
 * Dr. Corney, who is introduced to us by S