Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/393

 n s. vi. OCT. 26, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

321

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2(1, 1912.

CONTENTS. No. 148.

NOTES : Danteiana, 32 1 London's " Territorials " in 1588 and 1599, 323 Inscriptions in the Chelsea Hospital Burying-Ground, 325 The Rev. Herbert Rix Petition to the Hon. Mary Conway, 1629 Cawthorne, 327 Cop- peras House" Selling of a horse " by Mr. Pepys Tavern Signs, 328.

QUERIES: Milton's ' Lycidas ' Bouquet's ' Present State of the Arts in England 'Eyre Family, 328 " Regium praeceptum Scaligeri "Mrs. Anna Jameson" Callan- dar's cat" Crucifix on the Edgar Tower, Worcester Inscriptions on Brasses : Cobham : Clere ' The Old Man's Legacy ' Greenstone Hursley Park and Compton Monceux Manor, Hants, 329 Treatises on longevity Seals of Thomas, First Marquis of Dorset ficotsmen in Italy Sir Christopher Dominick Knight Anne Hall Cromwell's Signature Authors of Quota- tions Wanted, 330.

REPLIES: A Fleetwood Miscellany, 331 A French Counting-out Rime, 333 French Sonnet : Felix Arvers, 334 References in 'Marius the Epicurean' Lord Truro's Universal Information Bureau Barnard Family Maidens' Garlands, 335 Thomas Ewbank Price of Tobacco in the Seventeenth Century ' Memoirs of Scrib- lerus,' 336 Erasmus or Tindale Decipherment of Old Tombstone Inscriptions, 337 Shakespeare's Signatures, 338 Authors Wanted Lawrance Irish Genealogy Mordaunt's Index to ' Jackson's Oxford Journal,' 338.

NOTES ON BOOKS: 'A New English Dictionary' "Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature."

Booksellers' Catalogues. Notices to Correspondents

Jltrtes*

DANTEIANA.

1. ' INF.,' xix. 82-i :

Che dopo lui verra, di piu laid' opra, Di ver ponente un pastor senza legge, Tal che convien che lui e me ricopra.

Clement V., " the lawless Pastor " here referred to, is the fifth and last Pope Dante consigns to hell. Between him and Boni- face VIII. intervened Benedict XI., con- cerning whose brief pontificate and very existence the poet maintains an ominous silence, speculation as to the reasons whereof is as futile as it is beyond my present purpose. Equally unprofitable in my view is the im- material and vexed dispute as to whether the first line quoted is a vaticinium ante or post eventum. The issues are not vital on either supposition, neither can a definite judgment be passed thereon.

Of wider interest here and elsewhere is the central question Do stern facts sup- port Dante in his treatment of Clement V., when arraigned at the bar of historical inquiry ? If not, the severe epithets of the passage quoted are worse than libellous ; if otherwise, those epithets come short of severity : in either case, " Fiat justitia. ruat coelum."

Dante's epithets are elastic, and can be stretched over a wide area of misdemeanours, within which Dupin (' Hist, of the Church,' Eng. ed., 1713, iii. 229) enumerates some of minor consequence :

" He was elected on the 5th of June, 1305, was called Clement V., and crowned at Lyons. He revoked the Bull Unam Sanctam, and the other Bulls of Boniface which prejudiced the interests and rights of the King of France. He restored the Colonnas to their dignities. He revoked and declared null all that Pope's judgments ; gave absolution to all whom that Pope had excom- municated, excepting, however, Sciarra Colonna and Nogaret ; but he suspended the Process relating to the person of Boniface, and referred it to the Council which he assembled at Vienne in 1311."

The attitude of the Popes of this period towards each other is passing curious. Clement V. was no friend of Boniface VIII., whom Benedict XI. just failed to canonize, yet he assigns a throne in heaven to Celestine V., whom Dante immortalizes by providing him with a seat in hell. But there were worse indictments against Cle- ment than these, which fully justify the Eoet's strong expletives and conduct towards im. Dean Plumptre epitomizes them thus, with authorities for his charges :

" Every act of his must have seemed to Dante iniquitous and disastrous. He transferred the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, made himself the servile instrument of Philip the Fair in the sup- pression of the Knights Templars, and was besides conspicuous for simony, nepotism, and personal profligacy (Vill.,viii. 80 ; ix. 59 ; Milman, 'L.C.' vii. 171-324). Of him we hear again in ' Par.' xvii. 82 as having tricked Henry VII. with fair promises which were not kept, and his doom is again proclaimed in ' Par.' xxx. 143148. For a brief moment Dante too had been deceived like the Emperor (Ep. 5), and the fact that he had been tricked gave a fresh bitterness to his indignation."

This is an almost verbatim rendering of Scartazzini's comments minus the references Raynal., ' Annal.,' ad an. 1307 and 1312, and Guid., 'Vit. Clem.' in Murat., 'Scrip.,' iii. 676, together with the significant addition :

" E ne fece tante altre delle sue, da meritarsi anche troppo 1' elogio qui fattogli dal poeta."