Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/323

 12 S. IV. DEC., 1918.1

NOTES AND QUERIES.

317

LONDON, DECEMBER, 191S.

C O N T E N T S. No. 87.

NOTES : Dan teiana, 317 Statues and Memorials, 319- R. Edwards's Correspondence, 321 Epitaphiana, 3-23 Christmas Verses spoken by Children, 324 Bacon : Mohammed and the Mountain Dante's Latin Works Discrepancy in ' Adam Bede,' 325 Origin of " Macaroni," 326.

QUERIES : Col. Colquhoun Grant Raleigh on a "Poetical Scribe " Alex. Lindsay e. 1660 Bilston, Artist Bell and Shoulder Inn Rose of Denmark Inn, 326 Nelson Font Darell Family Countess Hanska's Letters Gust's ' Non Nobis ' H. B.B. Club John Crosse e. 1500, 327" Rain cats and dogs," 328 Bp. Fleetwood -St. Cuthman Staffordshire Poets, 329 FitzGerald's Omar Khayyam -Capt. John Webb : Bradshaw Family Moseley Fifteenth-Century Bishops J. W. Brown Horsfall Family, 330 La Cour on Windmill Power- Crest on Church Plate - Sir G. Brown Joseph Brown St. .Henry the Englishman Smoking in England- Gules, a chevron bruised Author Wanted, 331. REPLIES: Representations of the Blessed Trinity, 331 War Slang, 333 " Mantle-maker's twist" Hutchinson of Church La wford Azure, a Lion Rampant Guardant Sable, on a Chevron Argent Captor and his Captive's Arms, 334 " Slouch " ' Love, Care, and Strength' " Son of a Duke" Bp. Hall on Doing Nothing Roman Roads in Britain, 335- Eglinton Tournament Hussar's Sword Westcar Family Cumulative Stories' Diary of a Blase",' 336 Mrs. Charles Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass" Gone west," 337-Prudentius, 1625 New Shak- spere Society's Publications Frederick theiGreat and a Frenchman" Bold Infidelity ! "Newport and the Revo- lution Society "Sylvester night "Sugar in England- Call of Africa -Pilgrims' Road Roman Coffin: Pau- sanias, 338 Gigantic Leaden Coffin Medical Men Assassinated John Lyon, Founder of Harrow School, 339 Vision of the World-War ' Dunciad,' iii 35 -Hench- man " The Batch "Duke of Suffolk's Head, 340 " Barley mow "Hampshire Church Bells Roman Mile- stones in Cornwall Bees in the Tropics Stevenson's ' Wrong Box 'Author's Wanted, 341. NOTES ON BOOKS : ' Intensifying Similes ' 'Stories

from the Christian East." Booksellers' Catalogues. OBITUARY : Louis R. Letts. Notices to Correspondents.

DANTEIANA.

' INF.,' xxiii. 61-3 :

Egli avean cappe con cappucci bassi Dinanzi a^li occhi. fatte dclla taglia C"i? per irli mouaci in Cologna fassi.

The third line of this terzina possesses more than textual interest for students ; history is also involved in it. Both are informing though both are confused, and both rest on conjecture. I regard it as the crux of this canto, for it affects the genuineness of the text itself. Dr. Moore (T. C. xiii.) instances it as an example amongst

" a considerable group of corrections due to the adoption of a supposed more natural or more euphonious order or combination of words....

.Again in ' Inf.,' xxiii. 63, I suspect on this ground the more easy-flowing reading in B, D, &c., Che per li monaci in Cologna fassi,

nstead o.

Chf in Oologna 'a7. (Jlugni) per li monaci fassi." The famous Dantist himself prefers the

atter (Witte's) text with the substitution of Clugni for Cologna, and provides a useful and curious list of variant MSS.

p. 166) ; whilst Scartazzini, Bianchi, and

^ombardi adopt Cologna. As to the rival

ilaims of the variants and place -names Mr.' Tozer remarks :

" The MS. authority is considerably stronger "or Cologna, but it is against this reading (1) that

Bologna, being the more familiar name, would be less likely to be changed into Clugni than vice versa ; (2) that the line Che in Co \ logna \ per li rule that there must be an accent either on the
 * m6na \ ci fds \ si violates the stringent metrical

'ourth or the sixth syllable of the verse. Con- sciousness of this rule may have produced the

roportant variant, which is found in two of Witte's four test MSS., Che per li monaci in Cologna fassi ; but this can hardly have been the

jriginal reading, being evidently lectio facilior.

With the reading Che in Clugni there is a certain irregularity in the non-elision of Che, but this,

though unusual, is found in a fair number of

lines in the poem."

This is to me a perplexing passage in all its counts, as it practically destroys all hope of recovering the " original reading " of the line. I take it in detail, for it is more than a mere quibble between experts. First as to the place-names. If Cologna be in possession of a " considerably stronger MS. authority " than Clugni, then the latter must have been an innovation at some time or other. I am not unmindful of Dr. Moore's warning that " mere numerical support is a fallacious test of merit," and that " non numerare sed appendere " is a sound textual canon. Mere multiplicity may of course arise from the perpetuation of a corrupted copy, but what if that copy be uncorrupted ? This is presumably beyond discovery on the dictum of Dr. Moore again that " no existing MS., or group of MSS., stands out as possessing pre-eminent or indisputable authority." Yet of the seven Bodleian MSS. (ABEGIKM), all of the fifteenth century, which give Cologna, he says the first " has good readings and com- paratively few arbitrary alterations of the text " ; the second " seems to have remark- ably good readings, and few variations, either careless or conjectural " ; the third " seems to have a good foundation text, and has comparatively few variants " ; of the fourth he says : " I have an impression that the foundation text is a good one on the whole." The three others he holds in