CATHOLIC FLORAL DIRECTORIES
(Vol. viii., p.585.): Anthologia Borealis et Australis; Florilegium Sanctarum Aspirationum.
Since I last wrote, I have not succeeded in unravelling the mystery which envelops these two works; but I have gotten some clue to it, for which I am indebted to the extreme courtesy and kindness of two correspondents.
One of these gentlemen informs me that the Anthologia is quoted at p. 280. of Dr. Forster's work on the Atmosphere: London, 1823. My
second correspondent writes to say, "If you can procure the Circle of the Seasons, by Dr. Forster, published in 1830, you will there find very copious extracts from the books in question." Before we go any farther I would ask, is Dr. Forster the author of this book? The copy I have met with in a public library is anonymous, and is thus entitled: The Circle of the Seasons, and Perpetual Key to the Calendar and Almanac: London, Thomas Hookham, 1828, pp. 432. 12mo. It is a valuable book, and forms a complete Catholic Floral Directory. Though the Anthologia and the Florilegium are lavishly quoted, no references are given save the bare names.
It is easy to see why Mr. Weale, the "compiler" of the Catholic Florist, declined giving the information requested. The quotations in question are all second-hand from the Circle of the Seasons. The very preface of the Florist is not original; the most valuable part of it (commencing at p. 11.) I have discovered to be a verbatim reprint from The Truthteller, or, rather, from Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. i. pp. 103. 303., where some extracts are given from the contributions to this periodical from a correspondent with the signature Crito. These quotations in Hone first drew my attention to The Truthteller, and I advertised for it, but without success. It was edited, I believe, by Thomas Andrews. I have met with the second series of this periodical, published in London in 1825, and I should be glad to get the whole of it.[[1]]
In Forster's Perennial Calendar, London, 1824, the Anthologia is quoted at pp. 101. 108. 173. 211. 265. 295.: one of these passages is requoted in Hone, vol. i. p. 383. I may here remark that this work of Hone's is furnished with a Floral Directory.
I feel rather piqued, both on my own account and for the honour of "N. & Q.," at being baffled by two English books, and I am somewhat surprised that thirty years should have elapsed without any inquiry having been made respecting the remarkable quotations adduced by Dr. Forster. The Queries I now propose are: Who was the compiler of the Circle of the Seasons? Are the Anthologia and the Florilegium quoted in any works previous to Forster's time?
Eirionnach.
P.S.—Can I get a copy of the Catholic Friend, which is referred to in the preface of the Catholic Florist as a scarce and valuable work; and also a copy of the Catholic Instructor: London, 1844?
March, 1854.
Footnote 1:[(return)]
[The Truthteller was discontinued at the end of vol. i. The first number was published Sept. 25, 1824, and the last on Sept. 17, 1825. The publisher and editor, W. A. Andrews, closes his labours with the following remarks: "Having given The Truthteller a year's trial, we feel ourselves called upon, as a matter of justice to our family, to discontinue it as a newspaper. The negligence of too many of our subscribers, in not discharging their engagements to us, and the indifference of others of the Catholic body, to support the vindicator of their civil and religious principles, leave us no alternative but that of dropping it as a newspaper, or carrying it on at a loss." Only two of Crito's papers on Botany were given in The Truthteller, viz. in No. 15., p. 115., and No. 16., p. 123. He probably continued them in The Catholic Friend, also published by W. A. Andrews.
The following extract from a letter signed F., and dated Jan. 4, 1825, given in The Truthteller, vol. i. No. 16. p. 126., recommends the publication, among other works, of a "Catholic Calendar. There should also be a Catholic Calendar, something like The Perennial Calendar, but more portable, and fuller of religious information, in which, under each saint, his or her particular virtues, intelligence, good works, or martyrdom, should be succinctly set forth, so as to form a sort of calendar of human triumphs, such as is recommended by Mr. Counsellor Basil Montagu in his Essays." In a note the writer adds, "This I believe will soon be undertaken." This letter seems to have been written by Dr. Forster.—Ed.]
Thanks to Mr. Pinkerton, I am enabled to turn my surmise into certainty, and have the pleasure of clearing up a literary hoax, which has, it seems, passed without challenge till my note of interrogation appeared in these pages. The Anthologia and the Florilegium are purely imaginary titles for certain pieces in prose and verse, the production of Dr. Forster, and have no existence save in the Circle of the Seasons.
In the Autobiography of the eccentric Doctor—which is entitled Recueil de ma Vie, mes Ouvrages et mes Pensées: Opuscule Philosophique, par Thomas Ignace Marie Forster: Bruxelles, 1836—at p. 55. he enumerates the Anthologia and Florilegium among his "Pièces Fugitives," and ends the list in the following words:
"Encore je me confesse d'avoir écrit toutes ces essais détachés dans le Perennial Calendar, auxquels j'ai attaché quelques signatures, ou plus proprement des lettres, comme A. B. S. R. etc."
In the solitude of his garden at Hartwell he conceived the idea of making a Floral Directory, which he eventually carried out, and published under the title of the Circle of the Seasons. See p. 21.
Mr. Pinkerton has most kindly lent me a rare and privately-printed book of Forster's, entitled Harmonia Musarum, containing Nugæ Cantabrigenses, Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis, and Anthologia Borealis et Australis, chiefly from a College Album, edited by Alumnus Cantabrigensis (N.B. Not published): 1843, pp. 144, 8vo.
The preface is signed T. F., and is dated "Bruges, Sept. 15, 1843." In it he says:
"The harmony of the Muses has been divided into three parts—the first being the Nugæ Cantab. The second contains the sacred subjects, hymns, &c., written chiefly by a relation, and formerly collected under the title of Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis. The third consists merely of a small collection of Latin verses selected by some student, with occasional notes from the rest, and called Fragments from North and South: they have, many at least, been printed before."
It is impossible to give an idea of this extraordinary Olla; we have in it pieces of Porson, Gray, and Byron, &c., Cowper's John Gilpin, and Coleridge's Devil's Walk; at p. 19. we have "Spring Impromptu, found among some old papers," with the signature "N." attached, which turns out to be Gray on the "Pleasures of Vicissitude." I regret to say that this volume contains much that is coarse and offensive, which is the less excusable, and the more surprising, as coming from the author of the very beautiful and devotional pieces published in the Circle of the Seasons.
The Florilegium and the Anthologia of the Circle have little in common with their namesakes in the Harmonia, which latter contain poems by Southwell, Byron, Gray, Hogg, Porson, Jortin, &c., but none of Forster's prose pieces, which form so large a portion of the other Florilegium and Anthologia. Dr. Forster's life would make a very entertaining biography, and I should be glad to know more about him, whether he be yet alive, what books he printed at Bruges, &c.[[2]]
In concluding this matter, I beg to return my best thanks to Mr. Pinkerton for the valuable information he so freely imparted to me, and the handsome manner in which he placed it at my disposal.
Footnote 2:[(return)]
Dr. Forster was born in London in 1789, of an ancient Catholic family; he was himself a Protestant until the year 1835, when it appears that he became a convert to the Church of Rome: at the same time he received the additional names of Ignatius Maria. It is most probable that he is yet alive and in Belgium, where he has resided for many years. The Editor of "N. & Q." has kindly sent me a list from the Catalogue of the British Museum, of some four and thirty works by Dr. Forster. There is, however, another book by Dr. Forster not contained in the Museum list, Onthophilos, ou Les Derniers Entretiens d'un Philosophe Catholique (Brussels?), 1836.