Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/239

 ii s. ix. MAB. 2i, 191*.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED (11 S. ix. 188). The lines given by MB. PEARSE,

The Lord let the house of a brute, &c., are the beginning of Tennyson's ' By an Evolutionist,' first published in ' Demeter, and Other Poems,' December, 1889. From Lord Tennyson's Life of his father we learn that the poem was made " between his attacks " during an illness in the winter of 1888-9, and that the poet himself quoted these four lines in a conversation with Bishop Boyd Carpenter.

EDWARD BENSLY. [Several correspondents also thanked for replies.]

LUIGI DA PORTO (11 S. ix. 83). Your correspondent MR. MAURICE JONAS writes of a small volume in his possession as of excep- tional interest, entitled ' Roma [?] et Prosa di Messer Luigi da Porto,' dated 1539. He refers to earlier editions of 1530 and 1535. I treated the same subject, viz., Da Porto's noveUa of Romeo and Juliet, in The Academy, 17 Aug., 1895, and I think that any one who cares to turn up that reference will find that I there exhausted this recon- dite topic. If it be true, as he says, " no copy is to be found in any library in this country," I certainly met with no difficulty in tracing the tragedy of Da Porto in my notes and letters dated from Vicenza in 1888.

Da Porto's prose consisted entirely of the 'War between the Venetians and Imperialists in 1511,' which shortened his career.

The Academy, I think, published my letter above mentioned in reply to an article by my friend Eugene Benson in an English review years after I visited the city of Vicenza, where Da Porto lived, died, and wrote.

" The Neiv Review contains an article by Eugene Benson on the immortal story of ' Romeo and Juliet.' During my residence in Vicenza (1888) I made a few unpublished notes on the artistic features of this city, rendered beautiful by Palladio's architectural skill.

" Upon this subject treated by Benson, I find in my MS. the following remarks, which will supplement his history, and may deserve a corner in The Academy.

" However few my notes on Vicenza, they would be incomplete without an allusion to Luigi da Porto, the writer of the original novella imi- tated by Bandello, and by means of English translations immortalized by Shakespeare under the title of ' Romeo and Juliet.' This author might never have won his exotic laurels except for the stamp of Shakespearian genius, and he left behind him only one volume of verses, and many letters about the ivars in Italy 1509-1513.

" He was highly thought of by the great Cardinal Bembo, who dedicated a Sonnet to him after his death on 10th May, 1529, aged 43 years. Wounded severely in battle, fighting for the

Venetians against the Imperialists in 1511, he spent the last years of his life engaged in literary pursuits. His novella was printed in 1535 by Bendoni of Venice, but a few copies of an earlier edition without date, by the same publisher, exist not less than 17 editions followed in after times !

" The story of ' Romeo and Juliet ' is supposed to have occurred in 1303, when Bartolornmeo della Scala was lord of Verona, and is variously mentioned by many other writers since Da Porto's novella was written.

" Later, I go on to say in my notes: ' In a volume containing the novella, as written by Da Porto and his copyist Bandello, I find there is reference to similar lovers' tales with the identical incident of the sleeping draught, reported to have occurred both in Siena and Bologna.' (Bandello was a Sienese.)

" We perhaps owe to Da Porto's imagination the adoption of the names of the two rival houses of Verona. Let us not forget that if this true lovers' romance were real as regards the two families, Dante, when he wrote his line in the 6th Canto of the ' Purgatorio,' ' Vieni a veder Montecchi o Cappelletti,' could not have been ignorant of the circumstances. That he knew a curse of envy and hatred rested on both these powerful houses of Verona is indisputable ; and the above line attests that historical fact, if nothing else.

" Here my notes branch off to other subjects concerning Vicenza and its celebrities, leaving the charm of the letters of Da Porto, through which I wandered vaguely in my recollections, like a bundle of faded, but aromatic herbs." Story of ' Romeo and Juliet,' v. The Academy, 17 Aug., 1895.

WILLIAM MERCER.

CHARLES -I. (11 S. ix. 151). The question asked was, What societies exist wholly or partially to carry on the cult of the Royal Martyr, King Charles I. ? and as I have made this subject my life's work for a good many years, I should be grateful if you would allow me a little of your valuable space to answer it.

Two societies are now in existence wholly and solely for that object, without any further aspirations, either historical or political : the Royal Martyr Church Union, already referred to by your correspondent, and the Society of King Charles the Martyr, founded by the Hon. Mrs. Greville- Nugent.

All Royalist and Jacobite societies in this country pay great veneration to King Charles I., for though our Royal pro to -martyr, Mary, Queen of Scots (de jure Queen also of England and Ireland), and " Prince Charlie," afterwards Charles III., the gallant hero of the '45, may be equally loved, it is noteworthy that, while all the crowned heads in Europe except two have a descent from Mary, Queen of Scots, and no one is de- scended from Prince Charles Edward, the