| Notes:— | Page |
| Lord Bacon's "Advancement of Learning" | |
| Erection of Forts at Michnee and Pylos, by C. Forbes | |
| Hoveden's Annals: Bohn's "Antiquarian Library," by James Graves | |
| Folk Lore:—Raven Superstition—African Folk Lore —Funeral Custom | |
| Shakspeare Readings, No. VII. | |
| Minor Notes:—Portrait of Luther—Randle Wilbraham —Unpublished Epigram by Sir W. Scott—Crassus' Saying | |
| Queries:— | |
| Bees and the Sphynx atropos, by Sydney Smirke | |
| "The Craftsman's Apology," by James Crossley | |
| Palissy and Cardinal Wiseman | |
| Minor Queries:—Polidus—St. Paul's Epistles to Seneca—Meaning of "folowed"—Roman Catholic Registers—St. Alban's Day—Meigham, the London Printer—Adamsoniana—Canker or Brier Rose— "Short red, god red"—Overseers of Wills—Lepel's Regiment—Vincent Family—Passage in the First Part of Faust—Lady Anne Gray—Continental Brasses —Peter Beaver—Cremonas—Cranmer and Calvin | |
| Minor Queries with Answers:—"A Letter to a Convocation Man"—Prester John—Homer's Iliad in a Nut—Monogram of Parker Society—The Five Alls— Corvizer | |
| Replies:— | |
| English Comedians in Germany | |
| A Gentleman executed for whipping a Slave to Death, by Henry H. Breen | |
| Longevity | |
| Derivation of Canada, by Robert Wright | |
| Setantiorum Portus | |
| Photographic Correspondence:—Stereoscopic Queries —Photographic Portraits of Criminals, &c.—Photography applied to Catalogues of Books—Application of Photography to the Microscope | |
| Replies to Minor Queries:—Discovery At Nuneham Regis—Eulenspiegel, or Howleglas—Parochial Libraries —Painter—Pepys's "Morena"—Pylades and Corinna—Judge Smith—Grindle—Simile of the Soul and the Magnetic Needle—English Bishops deprived by Queen Elizabeth—Borrowed Thoughts—Dr. South v. Goldsmith, Talleyrand, &c.—Foucault's Experiment —Passage in "Locksley Hall"—Lake of Geneva—"Inter cuncta micans"—"Its"—Gloves at Fairs—Astronomical Query—Tortoiseshell Tom Cat—Sizain on the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender —Wandering Jew—Hallett and Dr. Saxby— "My mind to me a kingdom is"—Claret—Suicide at Marseilles—Etymology of Slang—Scanderbeg's Sword —Arago on the Weather—Rathe—Carr Pedigree— Banbury Cakes—Detached Belfry Towers, &c. | |
| Miscellaneous:— | |
| Notes on Books, &c. | |
| Books and Odd Volumes wanted | |
| Notices to Correspondents | |
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NOTES.
LORD BACON'S "ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING."
Considering the large number of quotations from previous writers which occur in Lord Bacon's works, and especially in his most popular and generally read works—his Essays and his Advancement of Learning—it is remarkable how little his editors have done for the illustration of his text in this respect. The French editors of Montaigne's Essays, who is likewise a writer abounding in quotations, have bestowed much care on this portion of their author's text. The defect in question has, however, been to a great extent supplied in a recent edition of the Advancement of Learning, published by Mr. Parker in West Strand; and it is to be hoped that the beginning, so usefully made, may be followed up by similar editions of other of Bacon's works.
The edition in question, though it traces the great majority of Bacon's quotations, has left some gleanings to its successors; and I propose now to call attention to a few passages of the Advancement of Learning which, after the labours of the late editor, seem still to require further elucidation. My references are to the pages of the new edition:—
P. 25. "Then grew the flowing and watery vein of Osorius the Portugal bishop to be in price."
The editor prints Orosius for Osorius, and adds this note:
"All the editions have Osorius, which, however, must be a mere misprint. He was not a Portuguese, but a Spaniard, born at Tarragona, nor indeed ever a bishop. He was sent by St. Augustine on a mission to Jerusalem, and is supposed to have died in Africa in the earlier part of the fifth century."
The text of Bacon is quite right. The allusion is not to Paulus Orosius, a Spaniard, who flourished at the beginning of the fifth century; but to Jerome Osorio, who was born at Lisbon in 1506, afterwards became Bishop of Silves, and died in 1580. His works were published at Rome in 1592, in 4 vols. folio. His principal work, De rebus Emanuelis Virtute et Auspicio gestis, which first appeared in 1571, was several times reprinted, and was translated into French and English.