But yet Odo was Bishop of Bayeux at this time; and notwithstanding what Marbode afterwards said of Bayeux, when he invited his old pupil to meet him there, viz. "Sedes præsulibus sufficit illa tribus," yet Samson, even then, was not Bishop of Bayeux, but of Worcester.
The original words of Vitalis are, "Sansoni Baiocensi," Samson being (temp. Will. I.) Canon and Treasurer of Bayeux, as well as Baron of Dover, and Canon of St. Martin's there, Dean of Wolverhampton, and chaplain to William. He was a married man, and apparently at the time in question only in deacon's orders. One of his sons, at a later period, became Bishop of Bayeux, as did also a grandson, whose mother (according to Beziers) was "Isabelle de Dovre, maîtresse de Robert Conte de Glocester, bâtard de Henri I., Roi d'Angleterre." Upon which I would found a Query, viz., Was this grandson of Samson, whose name was Richard, an uterine or a half brother of Roger, Bishop of Worcester? Both are described as sons of Robert, Earl of Gloucester.
At p. 261. Alberede is described in the text of the translation to be a daughter of "Hugh, Bishop of Evreux," whereas in the original she is said to be "Hugonis Bajocensis episcopi filia."
In a note to this passage we are informed that Hugh, Bishop of Lisieux, died at the Council of Rheims (Oct. 1049), and that he was eldest son of Ralph, Count d'Ivri &c. On the contrary, we are told at p. 428, note 2, that it was Odo's predecessor (i. e. Hugh d'Ivri) in the see of Bayeux, who died at the Council of Rheims, Oct. 1049. Again, in a note at p. 118, we learn that Hugh d'Eu, who succeeded Herbert as Bishop of Lisieux in 1050, or the year following the Council in question, did not vacate that see until 1077.
Before I close this Note, I should be glad to inquire what grounds the editor has for asserting (p. 32, n. 1.) that Thomas, Archbishop of York, "was not a chaplain to the king" before his promotion. Thierry, Histoire de la Conquête, &c. (Par. 1825, tome ii. p. 18.), says: "Thomas, l'un des chapelains du roi, fut nommé archevêque d'York." And by Godwin (De Præsul. Angl., tom. ii. p. 244.) we are told that Odo—
"Eum (Thomam) Thesaurarium Baiocensem constituit, et postea Regi fratri commendavit, ut illi esset a sacras."
Anon.
A CURIOUS EXPOSITION.
The following curious illustration, which I met with the other day in a book where few would be likely to look for it, seems to me fairly to deserve a place among the Notes of your interesting publication. It forms the moral exposition, by Cornelius à Lapide, of Ex. vii. 22.: "And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments," &c.