E. W. D.
Replies to Minor Queries.
Algernon Sydney (Vol. v., pp. 318. 426.).
—I can hardly suppose that MR. H. DIXON can have made any progress in his inquiries as to Algernon Sydney, without having met with the "authorities" mentioned by your correspondent C. E. D.; and yet it is certainly strange that, if MR. DIXON had seen these authorities, he could have called Sydney "an illustrious patriot." It may be therefore as well to state that the specific evidence which destroys Sydney's claim to the title not merely of an "illustrious patriot," but even of an honest man, and shows him to have been a corrupt traitor of the worst class, is to be found in the Appendix to Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 339. 386. (8vo edit. 1790), where are transcribed the secret despatches of the French ambassador, Barillon, to Louis XIV., detailing the bribes by which he engaged Algernon Sydney to that factious and traitorous opposition which had, for a hundred years prior to Dalrymple's publication, passed off for patriotism. I shall be very curious indeed to see what light MR. H. DIXON may be able to throw on this curious and infamous case; of which the best that even Mr. Macaulay can say is, that Barillon's louis d'ors were "a temptation which conquered the virtue and the pride of Algernon Sydney."—History of England, vol. i. p. 228.
C.
Cock-and-Bull Stories (Vol. v., p. 414.).
—It may be doubted whether Mr. Faber will thank J. R. R. for republishing his absurd blunder. It must not, however, be allowed to gain a settlement in "N. & Q.," or to pass for a real explanation, while it is in reality one of the most unfortunate "cock-and-bull" stories that ever was invented. The truth is, that Reinerius, a writer of the Middle Ages, lays it to the charge of the Waldenses that they did not hold the traditions of the Church and, by way of instance, he specifies that they did not believe (as, he took for granted, all his orthodox readers did) that the cock on the church steeple was symbolical of a doctor or teacher. Reinerius did not think of adding a word of explanation about its overlooking the parish from its elevated position, or of its prescriptive right from the days of St. Peter to do a pastor's office by reminding men of the duty of repentance, or of any of the things which writers on symbolism had said, or might say. He nakedly states, "Item, mysticum sensum in divinis scripturis refutant: præcipue in dictis et actis ab Ecclesia traditis: ut quod gallus super campanile significat Doctorem." Mr. Faber, who was somewhat out of his way in dealing with the thoughts and language of mediæval writers, catching a sight of this passage, blundered between a bell and a belfry, put campanum for campanile, and thus got an idea of a "cock-on-a-bell," and that this symbol meant a doctor. Whereupon it occurred to him to set the world right with the wonderful discovery which J. R. R. has revived for the amusement of your readers.
S. R. MAITLAND.
Thomas Crawford (Vol. v., p. 344.).
—In the seventeenth century there were four professors of philosophy in every university in Scotland. Thomas Crawford was one of the professors in the University of Edinburgh from 1640 to 1662.