Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/478

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. DEC. 12, 1003.

in Paris, once belonging to the Dominicans. the church attached to which was dedicated to St. James. No two sets of men could well have held political convictions more widely separated, yet I have been told by old people whose memories extended back to the earliest years of the nineteenth century that when they were young the two words were frequently interchanged, the adherents of the exiled royal family being spoken of as Jacobins, and sometimes, though less com- monly, the more violent of the French revolutionists and their English sympathizers denominated Jacobites. It would be in- teresting to ascertain whether there is any contemporary authority which tends to con- firm this. Were the Jacobites ever spoken of as Jacobins before 1789, when the Jacobin Club was formed ? If so, it is possible that, like so many old fashions of speech, this one may have lingered across the Atlantic long after it became extinct in Britain.

ASTARTE.

NEAPOLITAN MARVELS: VIRGILIUS. (9 th S. xii. 408.)

J. P. S. will find that abundant litera- ture is accessible on the subject of the well-known legendary necromancer Virgilius, or Vergilius. The ' Ottia Imperatoris' of Houdm should be cited as the ' Otia Im- penalia' of Gervase of Tilbury, " who, having visited Naples, was a witness of many of those wonders which were there to be seen, and was informed by his host the Archdeacon Pmatelles concerning the remainder." The story about the fly, as quoted by your corre- spondent, is a combination of two different legends: the first, that Virgilius set up a brazen fly on one of the gates of Naples which remained there eight years, during which time it did not permit any other fly to enter the city ; the second, that in the same place he caused a shambles to be erected wherein meat never became tainted.

Many of the legends of this astonishing wizard are familiar, and afford abundant amusement. The story of his device for ensuring the safety of Rome from her enemies may, perhaps, bear repetition here : *

"The emperour asked of Virgilius howe that he myght make Rome prospere and haue many landes

consaytes that he dyd. Empryuted in the cytie of Anwarfe. Byrne Johnn DoesWcke dwellynglat the Caraer porte." Edited in his series of "Ear?v English Prose Romances" by W. J. Thorns, FJS A,
 * From " The lyfe of Vilnius with many dyuers

under them, and knowe when any lande would ryse agen theym, and Virgilius sayd to the em- peroure, *I woll within short space that do.' And he made vpon the Capitolium that was the towne house, made with caruede ymages and of stone, and that he let call Saluacio Rome ; that is to say, this is the Saluacyon of the cytie of Rome ; and he made in the compace all the goddes that we call mamettes and ydolles, that were under the subiec- tion of Rome ; and euery of the goddes that there were had in his hande a bell ; and in the mydle of the godes made he one of Rome ; and when so euer that there was any lande wolde make ony warre ageynst Rome, than wold the godes tourne theyr backes towacde the god of Rome ; and than the god of the lande that wolde stande up ageyne Rome clynked his bell so longe that he hathe in his hande till the senatours of Kome hereth it, and forthwith they go there and see what lande it is that wyli warre agaynst them ; and so they prepare them, and goeth a geyne them and subdueth theym."

The more than quaint legend of the fair lady who let Virgilius hang all night outside her window in a basket and of his unseemly revenge greatly tickled the medkeval palate, and was frequently illustrated.

The authorities on the subject of the romance may be most readily consulted in the preface of the late Mr. Thoms's work, to which I have already referred.

J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

" The sage Virgilius, Bishop of Naples," is no other than the great Augustan poet Virgilius Maro, who is said to be buried in Naples. Virgilius was thought a magician in the Middle Ages. There exists a very great literature upon Virgil the sorcerer ; the best book on him is written by the eminent Italian scholar Comparetti ('Virgilio nel Medio Evo'). Virgilius is also said to have prognosticated to the Emperor Augustus the birth of Christ. Of course, everybody knows of the false interpretations of the fourth Virgilian Eclogue in a Christian sense ; but the great Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden represents Augustus on his knees, and the sorcerer Virgil showing; to him in a vision the Madonna with the child Jesus. The picture is in the Berlin Museum.

DE. MAX MAAS.

Munich.

EPITAPH AT DONCASTER (9 th S. xii. 288, 413). Besides the questions asked at the first reference, a correct transcription of the in- scription is not unworthy of consideration. From a drawing of the stone by the Rev. Geo. Ormsby, vicar of Fishlake, which appears as figure 1 on plate viii. of

" The | History and Description | of | St. George's Church | at | Doncaster, I destroyed by fire Feb- ruary 28, 1853. | By | John Edward Jackson, M.A.,