Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/431

 9* s. x. NOV. 29, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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this conduit, which served the public at the corner of South Moulton Street, the stone face has been preserved ; it is 4 ft. in breadth and 3 ft. high, it has a bevelled coping, and in the centre of the three panels shows the orifice in which was fixed the spout or tap : above, in a medallion, are the City arms, and over this the date 1627. It is an interesting relic. The Guildhall Museum, indeed, has become a most attractive depository of old London memorials, and will, I think, soon demand more space and better light than it now has in the basement of the City Hall.

The Builder's account of the wooden pipes in Bond Street led me to the spot. I was told that the length found was 13 ft. ; that a piece had gone to Liverpool, another to Manchester, and a third to Swansea ; a short bit of pipe remained. I am not sure that the " find " was fully appreciated in London.

W. L. BUTTON.

[Wooden water-pipes in London and elsewhere are described at 9 th S. iii. 445; iv. 14, 49 (a. v. ' Howl '). 93.] ,

BISHOP HACKET'S

LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS.

(Continued from p. 402.)

NEXT to the subject of his biography Hacket appears to have had the greatest regard for the illustrious Venetian Father Paul Sarpi. He is mentioned and quoted many times throughout the work, I may say in terms of almost gushing admiration. I shall reproduce here a few extracts. Before doing so, however, let me draw attention to a point which has hitherto remained gene- rally unknown. In 1651 Fulgentio's ' Life of Father Paul ' was published in a small 8vo volume, "Translated out of Italian by a person of Quality." I have been for a number of years interested in Father Paul, and have searched in vain for the name of this anony- mous translator. It was evidently unknown to Edward Brown, who translated Father- Paul's Letters ' in 1693 (9 th S. ix. 81), for he speaks of him in these general terms :

" It was an unlucky thing that that worthy Gentleman who took so much Pains in translating his Life (written very curiously by Father Ful- gentio) above forty Years ago, should do it so obscurely and roughly, and unintelligibly by a too near pursuance of the literal Sense (as he himself confesseth in his Preface to the Reader)."

In the first extract following it will be noticed that we are indebted to Bishop Hacket for revealing the name of this anonymous translator :

" I have seen the Life of the Renowned Frier Padre Paulo of Venice, written in Italian by his Confrere Fulgeutio, and Translated tersely and

faithfully mto English by that Gentleman of great and elegant Parts Mr. John Saintamand, sometimes Secretary to this Heroical Prelate [Williams! of wh ,m I write, when he was Lord-Keeper." of T ihe -N ble Author of the History of the Council

" Padre Paulo the Frier, the brightest Star in the Hemisphere of Italy, was second to none in Divinity while he hv d ; equal with the best Doctors in Rome or biena in explicating Canon or Civil Laws ; and above all the Practisers of Padua, or in the World in understanding the ^Esculapian Art, says Ful- gentius.

"The best, to whom he [Williams] may be similized herein, is Frier Paul the Servite, of whom it is written, When any News were bruited, he seldom was mistaken in his Opinion, whether they were true or false."

"Fulgentius hath Recorded the like upon the Wonder of his Age, Father Paul of Venice, that being Provincial of his Order, and hearing many Causes, none of the Judgments that he gave (which were innumerable) were ever Repealed upon In- stance made to higher Judgment. Neither do I hnd that any of his Fraternity did maunder that the Frier was a Strippling but 28 years old, and therefore but a Novice to make a Provincial, who is a Judge and a Ruler over his Fellows."

One would think that our good bishop de- rived a certain satisfaction in being able to record that both Williams and Father Paul two men whom he honoured so highly- died much in the same way :

" But the whole Conflux of the Disease that took him [Williams] away, was in all circumstances the same with Padre - Paulo's the Servite, as the Author of his Life sets it down, that his Feet could receive no warmth, (the same Symptom that laid hold of this Prelate) and that a Catarrh destroyed him."

Mr. Gosse in his delightful 'Life and Letters of John Donne' (2 vols., 1899) has several references to Sir Toby Matthew. The following two extracts from Hacket's folio may not be without interest. The first has reference to the Archbishop of York, Sir Toby's father :

"About the middle of Autumn, Ann. 1621, Ant. de Dominis besought the King to confer the Arch- Bishoprick of York upon him. A hasty Suitor, for the Place was not void. The Error came about thus : The Arch - Bishop then in being (called familiarily Toby Matthew) was ever pleasant, and full of becoming Merriment ; and knowing that his Death had been long expected, was wont every year, once, or oftner, to cause Rumours to be raised that he was deceased. And when he had put this Dodgery strongly upon those at London, that gap'd for the Vacancy to succeed him, it was a Feast of Laughter to him, to hear what Running and Riding there was to fill up. his Room, who jear'd them behind the Lattuce.

" That most Reverend Arch-Bishop of York, his Father, being highly distasted with Sir Toby's Revolt from the Protestant Religjon, made a Vow to Dis-inherit him, and to leave him nothing. The Lord Keeper [Williams] plied the Arch-Bishop with sweet and pleasant Letters, which he loved, and