Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/451

 12 s. VIIL M A Y ?, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 369 THE YEAH 1000 A.D. It was very gene- rally assumed by writers on architecture during the last century that the approach of the millennial year, accompanied by the apprehension that the end of the world was at hand, discouraged building and the repair of buildings towards the end of the tenth century. How far has more recent re- search and scholarship upheld this view about the alleged terrors of the year 1000, and their consequent influence on archi- tectural development ? A few extracts from nineteenth- century writers may be given : HAWKINS (1813). Towards the latter part of the tenth century an opinion had been advanced by some persons, that the world was intended to exist no longer than one thousand years from the birth of our Saviour. . . . Under this expectation, which, if well founded, would have rendered any other conduct useless, the churches and other religious edifices, which, at various periods, had been erected in most parts of Europe, had been permitted from time to time to fall, for want of repair, almost universally into a stata of decay. But in the year 1003, when the time predicted had elapsed without the accomplish- mtnt of the prophecy, the Christians in all parts of the world began to recover from their panic, and vigorously applied themselves to the repair of the old and the erection of new churches and monasteries. RAM&E (1843). Au dixieme siecle il s'etait generalement repandu une idee ridicule qui contribua puissamment a laisser tomber en decadence les arts et les sciences. Toute la chretiente croyait a la fin du monde, et 1'an 1000 etait designe" comme Fannee fatale ou tout devait perir. . . . Enfin Fan 1000 arriva : la peur de la chretient & fut apaisee lorsque, centre 1'attente generate, le monde se conserva tel qu'U avait ete auparavant. Alors une nouvelle ardeur de batir s'empara des esprits ; on repara a 1'instant les a.nciennes eglises .menacees de de- struction par le temps. BLOXAM (1845). At this epoch also the ex- pectation of the destruction of the world, at the expiration of a thousand years from the first i advent of our Lord, which notion, as the close j of the tenth century approached, had become < prevalent amongst many, having proved un- ' founded, many churches, which had in conse- quence of that belief been suffered to fall to decay, were repaired, and a new impulse was given to the erection of others. PARKER (1849). It is most probable that at this period the Christians in England partook of the general belief of Christendom that the world was to come to an end in the year 1000, and of the lethargy which accompanied that belief. CORROYEB (1887). L'an 1000 est une date I celebre dans Fhistoire des terreurs supersti- tieuses du moyen age. C' etait une croyance j universelle au Xe siecle que le monde devait. finir 1'an 1000 de F Incarnation. . . . Mais lorsque la date fatale eut passe sans tenir ses sombres promesses, Fhumanite se sentit renaftre et revivre. Alors d'innombrables pclerinages et de magnifiquej? edifices sont nes en Europe de ce grand mouve- ment de foi religieuse. Thus the writers of the last century, more or less echoing one another. But now comes M. Justin de Pas, secretary who pokes fun at the *' romantic imagina- tion " of the older writers, and in a book published at St. Omer in 1914 writes ; Xous savons malheureusement (ou heureuse- ment) que les terreurs de Fan mil n'ont existe que dans Fimagination des chroniqueurs qui, les ont inventees plusieurs siecles apres Feche- ance fatale, et qu'on peut les releguer sans scrupule au rang des vieilles lunes. Hence my question. Is M. de Pas justi- fied in his apparently very definite opinion ? My own books do not furnish a reply, and I write at a distance of twenty miles from a good reference library. F. H. C. OLD NOVELS AND SONG-BOOKS. I shall be extremely glad to have any reader t-jll me who wrote the following novels, and also inform me where I shall be likely to find the books at the present day : Fatherless Fannie' published circa 1860. Nan Darrell, or the Gypsy Mother ' circa 1860. A Royal Bride.' Isola.' Badly Matched.' In Rank Above Him.' I am inclined to think that the last four novels appeared originally in The Young Ladies' Journal during the late 'seventies and early 'eighties. I shall also be glad to know where I can buy the Song-Books of Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams, two popular English singers of 60 years ago. ROBERT J. O'DONNELL. Morris Run, Penna. NAPOLEON AND LONDON. At the cen- tenary of the death of Napoleon it may be possible to settle the query whether he was ever in London. Some years ago a corre- spondence appeared in The Standard in which Mr. John Burns stated that there was evidence to this effect, the suggestion being that, as a young man, Napoleon accompanied his friend Talma, the actor, to England, and sought an appointment under the East India Company. Certain writers were quoted to confirm this, but Lord Rosebery informed me that he could not accept it. J. LANDFEAR LUCAS. 101, Piccadilly.
 * of the Society of Antiquaries of Morinia,