Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/250

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. x. S*T. 20, 191 1.

1235, he could hardly have fetched " the .Maid of Xonvay to' Scotland " in 1290. Cary's eye had clearly not observed the impossibility, for which alone an apology was due.

Dean Pluraptre is even more unintelligible in his reference to Scott's note. Not only did the identification error escape his vigilance, but he confidently prints " 1290 " as the date of Michael Scot's death. This would almost show that he acquiesced in the identi- fication theory. If so, his usual discrimina- tion was gravely at fault here. Surely he must have known that a consensus of authorities places that event in 1234 or 123o at the latest. Or it may be that, in a momentary inattention, he confused the date of Bacon's death 1294 with that of "Scot's. But while the Dean's comment begins with bad history, it closes with an accurate statement :

" Roger Bacon speaks scornfully of him [Scot] &s a pretender to science, and this may have influenced Dante's judgment (' Op. Tert.,' i. 25). -Comp. ' Phil.' in loc. "

Another, and a not impossible, view of Dante's dislike of Scot is furnished by the Rev. J. Wood Brown in his ' Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot,' 1897. After observing that " we are to see in him a Pascal of the thirteenth century," he -says :

" His [Dante's] reference to Michael Scot is undoubtedly a case of the like kind [a Ghihelline bias]. As a seer whose attention was fixed on the past he was naturally impatient of those who pretended to unfold the future. Scot, as the author of prophetical verses, seemed to Dante a fair object for censure, .is one who had degraded the sacred art of the bard to serve the purposes -of a charlatan. .. .An additional proof that this was in fact the reason for Dante's harsh dealing with Scot may be seen in the ' Dittamondo ' of Fazio degli Uberti....It was to reinforce this unfavourable judgment based on other grounds that Dante adopted the legend already popular regarding Scot's magical studies .... Such then were the magichc frode of which Dante accuses Scot, and it is easy to see that the sting of the verse lies just here ; in the unreality it attributes to the magician's art, much as if the poet had called him in plain prose, ' no mage, but a common juggler.' "

Not even these conjectural readings of Dante's mind exonerate him from gross in- humanity to Scot ; and a tu quoque is in- evitable. If Scot dared to indulge in " prophetical visions," so did he ; if Scot was a " common juggler," Dante was the Magus Magorum. Happily for mankind, the visions of both dreamers were just dreams and nothing more. J. B. McGovERN.

St. Stephen's Rectory,^C.-on-M., Manchester.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS HOLCROFT.

(See ante, pp. 1, 43, 83, 122, 163, 205.)

1786. During this year there appeared Holcroft's ' Prologue ' to Mrs. Inchbald's ' The Widow's Vow ' (produced at the Hay- market, 29 June, 1786), the play being published anonymously (London, G. G. J. & J. Robinson, Paternoster Row, 1786). The ' Prologue ' was reprinted in The Town and Country Magazine, July, 1786 (18: 383), and The Universal Magazine for the sa'r.e month (79: 41), in which the play was listed as a " new publication."

1786. " An amorous Tale of the chaste loves of Peter the Long and his most honoured Dame Blanche Bazu, his Feal Friend, Blaise Bazu, and the History of the Lovers' Well. Imitated from the original French, by Thomas Holcroft. London : Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row. M.DCC.LXXXVI." Octavo, 4+1-236 pp.

The work was mentioned in the ' Memoirs ' (p. 107), and advertised in the Robinsons' second edition of Mrs. Inchbald's ' Child of Nature,' 1789 ; but was reviewed as early as November, 1786, in The Universal Maga- zine (79: 279), and in The Monthly Review \ for June, 1787 (76: 521). There were French editions in 1765 and 1778, either of which Holcroft may have used.

1786. " Sacred Dramas ; Written in French, by Madame la Comtesse de Genlis. Translated into English by Thomas Holcroft. London : printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Pater- noster Row, 1786." Octavo, 16 + 1-347 pp.

The contents of the above :

The Death of Adam Hagar in the Wilderness

The Sacrifice of Isaac Joseph made known

to his Brethren Ruth and Naomi The Wife

of Sarepta The Return of Tobias.

It is rather strange to find Holcroft, who

was an avowed atheist, translating these

pieces, and we can look on it as scarcely

more than mere hackwork. It is men

tioned in The Town and Country Magazine

for September, 1786 (18: 487); in The

Universal Magazine for April, 1786 (78: 223) ;

in The English Review for July, 1786*- (8: 35) ;

and in The Monthly Review for November,

1786 (75: 397); but the preface was dated

London, March, 1786. We have record

of another edition at Dublin, 1786 (British

Museum Catalogue) ; and of one at Fre-

dericksburg, printed by L. G. Mullin, for

the Rev. Mason L. Weems, 1797, probably