Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/324

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i v. DEC.,

light estimation. The question to me then is, Are not these ancient MSS., with " good foundation" texts, more likely to provide us with as near an approach to Dante's auto- graph than more recent transcripts ? I advance this notwithstanding Dr. Moore's further caveat " that mere antiquity of a MS. is no guarantee of the purity of its text," which he qualifies by the admission that " of course there is, cceteris paribus, more chance of such purity as we draw near the fountain head, since every tribu- tary stream has brought in some fresh elements of corruption." I therefore con- sider this pronouncement sufficient for my present contention. As for Clugni, Dr. Moore, though he adopts it, gives no MS. authority for its retention ; and Mr. Tozer upholds it on the ground that it " would be more likely to be changed into Cologna than vice versa, because the latter is the more familiar name." This may be, but it is a mere surmise at Its best. All that it effects, in my judgment, is to introduce into the line an alternative biographical reading. Thus, "if Clugni be meant, it would be the celebrated Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, twelve miles from Macon in Burgundy ; if Cologne, a similar monastic edifice ; and whichever it be, the range of the poet's journey ings would probably be indicated. Dean Plumptre has no hesitancy as to which reading is the more correct :

" In spite of the v.l. of Clugni, or of a con- jectural identification with a Cologna in the Veronese territory, there is little doubt that the more famous Cologne is meant ; and if so, sve have another, trace of the extent of Dante's travels. It is obv'ous that he may have travelled by the Rhine on his way to or from Bruges (c. xv. 4). In connection with Dante's travels this passage indicates a route taken from Cologne to Bruges and Wissant, and thence by Dover to London and Oxford."

Quite possibly, however, the poet may have visited Cluny while in Paris, where, or more likely in Cologne, he noted the " cappe con cappucci bassi." The Dean apparently accepts without question " the story of the hoods " which commentators have deduced from this allusion, and which, he says,

" was not without a touch of humour likely to attract a rrtind like Dante's. The monks of an abbey in Cologne, it was said, wanted a fuller recognition of their dignity, and applied to the Pope to wear scarlet hoods trimmed with fur, after the manner of the doctors of the universities . He taught them a lesson of humility by ordering them to wear hoods of a dark grey serge, so long that they trailed behind them as they walked."

Mr. Tozer rejects the tale in a curt sen- tence thus : " Nothing is known about the

cowls worn either in Cologne or at Cluny " ; Scartazzini apparently treats it as beneath notice ; Bianchi evidently accepts it ; while Lombardi, though doubtful whether it be fact or fiction, gives Landino's version from Da Buti, which is worth transcribing :

" Fatte della iaglia, &c., Cioe, chiosa il Landino a quella forma, che sono in Cologna, citta della Magna, dove i monaci portano molto grandi e malfatte cappe, in forma, che son piu simili a un sacco che a Una veste. Franceso da Buti (siegne il medesimo Landino) riferisce in qiiesto luogo (non so se e istoria o favola) esser gi& stato un Abate tanto insolente ed ambizioso, che s'ingegn6 d'impetrar dal Papa, che i monaci suoi potessero portar cappe di scarlatto^ e cinture, e sproni, e staffe a' cavalli d'argento dorato ; la qual dimanda commosse a giusto sdegno il Papa, e comand6, che per 1'avvenire Usassero cappe nere molto malfatte, e cinture e staffe di legno. II Daniello pero, ed il Volpi chiosano, recate per esempio le cappe de' Coloniesi monaci solo per esser quelle molto piu agiate e larghe di quelle che si usano in Italia."

Assuming the story to be genuine, I should judge, from the internal evidence of both Plumptre's and Da Buti's versions, that it was much more likely to have had its origin in Cologne than at Cluny ; for one can hardly picture a Benedictine abbot or Benedictine monks hankering after scarlet cowls, what- ever was the colour of their habits, whereas we are ignorant of the Order to which the community at Cologne belonged. As Gibbon remarks (' D. and F.,' vol. ii. p. 358),

"the Father of the Benedictines soberly exhorts his disciples to adopt the coarse and convenient dress of the countries which they may inhabit (Beg. Benedict. No. 55 in Cod. Regul., part ii. p. 51)."

To hark back for a moment to Mr. Tozer's second reason for rejecting " Cologna " Here the entire line is affected by metrical exigences, and the reading adopted both by Witte and Dr. Moore thereby ruled out of court :

Che in Cologna per Ii monaci fassi ; whilst " the important variant " and " more easy-flowing reading " (Scartazzini's),

Che per gli monaci in Cologna fassi, is denied all claim to be the " original read- ing, being evidently lectio facilior." Even the genuineness of

Che in Clugni per Ii monaci fassi is questioned on account of " a certain irregularity in the non-elision of Che." This is a bit of ruthless vandalism \vhi rt h closes further inquiry. But why should a " more easy-flowing reading," a " lectio facilior," hardly have been the original reading? Dr. Moore supplies (ib. xxxvi.)