192
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. XL MAR. e, 1915.
for clearing away the young men who had
gained influence over the new King. They
were exiled ; but having again obtained the
upper hand, they got Vieira banished to
Oporto, and then to Coimbra, where he was
put into the hands of the Inquisition, being
accused of enunciating principles condemned
by the Church. Arrested 2 Oct., 1665, he
remained in the prisons of the Holy Office
until 24 Dec., 1667. His innocence must have
been clear, seeing that no retractation was
demanded from him, and he was dispensed
from being present at the ceremony of the
"auto-da-fe." In 1669, at the instance of
Queen Christina, he was invited by his
(General to Rome, where he was welcomed by
the Pope, and by the most distinguished mem-
bers of the Sacred College. The Queen desired
to attach him to herself with the title
of her confessor, but bad health prompted
his return to Lisbon in 1675. The Pope,
Clement X., among many marks of interest,
gave him a writ (bref) * which forbade the
Portuguese inquisitors to take cognizance
in the future of anything concerning Vieira.
Queen Christii a tried to get him to return
to Rome in 1678, but he excused himself on
account of his age. When his health allowed
him he returned to Brazil. He was made
(General Superior of the Mission of the
Maragnan. In 1688 he was appointed
Visitor of the Province of Brazil, an office
which authorized him to choose in the
different houses the men fit for the missions.
He passed his last years in the College of
Bahia, and died 18 July, 1697, aged 89.
Another Antonio Vieyra published in 1773 n Portuguese and English dictionary, which has been often republished.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
_See the article, three pages in length, on Vieyra (Antoine) in vol. iv. of Chauffepie's
Xouveau Dictionnaire historique et cri- tique/ The chief authority cited in Chauffe- pie is Xiceron, ' Memoires cles Hommes 1 1 lustres," torn, xxxiv.
EDWARD BENSLY.
GUILIELMO DAVIDSONE (11 S. xi. 148). It
may interest MR. SOLOMONS to know that I wrote a sketchy biography of Sir Wm. Davidson, with extracts and copies of Jus autograph letters, some eight or ten years ago, in the leading Dutch historical review,Fruins Hislorische Bydragen.vervolqd door Professor Blok. The text is, of course in Dutch ; but the extracts and copies of
Davidson's letters are printed in his quaint
Scots-English. I have got a reprint of the
article stowed away somewhere which I will
gladly put at your correspondent's disposal.
In return I should feel indebted to him for
a look at the book he mentions, which is
unknown to me. W. DEL COUBT.
47, Blenheim Crescent, W.
LATIN GRACE : " BENEDICTUS BENEDI- CAT ; ' (11 S. xi. 149). I have always under- stood the above grace, spoken before dinner,, to mean " Let the Blessed One the Divinity give His blessing to the feast"; and that the " Benedict o benedicatur/ ' after the meal, means " To the Blessed One let praise (or thanks) be given for the feast. It has been my fortune for many years to hear the above grace spoken, and on some occasions to speak it myself, in the Inner Temple Hall ; but I am unable at the moment to tell its origin or its date. WM. E. BROWNING.
EIGHTEENTH- CENTURY PHYSICIAN UPON: PREDESTINATION (11 S. xi. 67). The allu- sion in ' Tristram Shandy ' may, I think, have reference to a great controversy which raged in the early part of the eigh- teenth century round the works of Dr. William Coward. In 1704, upon the pub- lication of Coward's ' The Grand Essay ; or r A Vindication of Reason and Religion,' &c., complaint was made with regard to the author in the House of Commons (10 March,. 1703/4). Coward was himself brought to the Bar of the House, and a few days later, on 18 March, his works were burnt in Palace Yard by the common hangman. This caused the author to become far more famous than before, and his books were sought after and read for many years.
In 1702 Coward had first attracted atten- tion by his
" Thoughts concerning Human Soul, demonstrat- ing the Notion of Human Soul, as believ'd to be a Spiritual and Immortal Substance unitedtto Human Body, to be plain Heathenish Invention,"&c.
He laboured to prove the natural mor- tality of the soul, and argued that it is not an independent entity, but is merely the life of the body.
Of Coward a good deal is known. He was born at Winchester in 1656 or 1657. His mother's name was Lamphire, aiicl his uncle was Dr. John Lamphire, Prin- cipal of Hart Hall, Oxford. Coward was educated at Winchester, and was ad- mitted a commoner of Hart Hall in May, 1674. In 1680 he was elected Fellow of
