410
NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. v. MAY 25, 1912.
BULLOCK'S MUSEUM, PICCADILLY. The
London Museum, at Kensington Palace,
exhibits a coloured print of Bullock's Natural
History Museum, Piccadilly. The exact
situation of this and any other particulars
would be of interest.
J. LANDFEAR LUCAS.
CHILDREN BURNT AT A PASSION
PLAY.
(11 S. v. 307.)
THOUGH I know nothing whatever which supports the to me incredible assertion that a score of children in 1705 were deliberately "thrown into the flames for the edification of the faithful," it may be worth while to offer MB. LAWRENCE PHILLIPS some evidence which goes far to establish the contrary.
And first, that we may strip the question of adventitious inaccuracies, it was not at Venice, but at Bassano in Venetian territory, that the incident occurred. Mr. Bagot's book and Mr. W. N. Beauclerk, from whom he copies, both say Bassano, and so far correctly, but your correspondent has sub- stituted Venice.
Secondly, there can have been no question of a " Passion Play," as Messrs. Beauclerk and Bagot suppose. It was simply the interlude of a Corpus Christi procession.
Thirdly, there was no " Car of Purgatory," but one which represented the " Four Last Things," i.e., death, judgment, hell, and heaven. The children who were the principal victims no doubt personated angels in the scene of heaven. Their white dresses and gauzy wings afforded an obvious source of danger when in such close quarters to the fireworks which belonged to the representa- tion of hell.
And now for the evidence. The most authoritative work on the history of Bassano is that of O. Brentari, ' Storia di Bassano e del suo Territorio ' (Bassano, 1884), founded on a study of the municipal archives. In this, on p. 754, the writer says :
" On the llth of June, 1705, Corpus Christi day. in the course of the procession, a huge car (carretone) belonging to the Confraternity (Scuola) of the Holy Ghost and representing the Four Last Tnings (i quattro Novissimi) caught fire, and in consequence sixteen children lost their lives, and some were injured. A ducal edict was issued to forbid the use of such cars in future. Upon this deplorable accident Antonio Ambrosi composed twenty-eight Stanze lagrimevoli and a sonnet,
which are still preserved in manuscript in the
municipal library. The same event was also the
occasion of a satirical distich, which was heard
until quite recently upon the lips of the people,
and which ran as follows :
O Bassanesi pieni d'ambizion, Brusa putei e strazza procession."
This rude epigram in the local dialect may perhaps be translated :
Folk of Bassano, by vaulting ambition mocked, Burn your poor babies and have your procession docked.
This piece of evidence I have already quoted in The Eye-Witness (March 7), and now I may add to it a passage from the account of the poet Antonio Ambrosi given in the ' Nuova Raccolta d'Opuscoli Scien- tifici e Filologici,' vol. xxx.. Venice, 1776. (As the book is a little difficult to find, I add the British Museum press - mark ; it is 247. a. 29.) In this are printed some notes upon the literary men of Bassano, and mention is made of a manuscript volume of poems by Antonio Ambrosi, of which we are told :
" Near the end may be read certain Stan:>- laqrimeroli which describe the terrible casualties
i accidenti funesti) which resulted from the taking fire of the great car representing the Four Last Things, on Corpus Christi day, June llth, 1705. In this sixteen children (fanciulli) were burnt to death, and more than thirty others were seriously injured." Pp. 1011.
It can hardly be necessary to point out that if the children had been deliberately thrown into the flames as a human sacrifice there would not have been '* more than thirty others" who were, not burnt to death, but only " seriously injured."
HERBERT THURSTON.
[MR. F. NEWMAN and MR. F. SYDXEY EDEN also thanked for replies.]
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (US. v. 268).
1. " But what says the Greek ? ' In the morning of life, work ; in the midday, give counsel ; in the evening, pray.' " The source for this passage, which MR. EDWIN ABBOTT cites from ' Romola,' is "E/ayo, vfwv, fioi'Xal Se /xeo-cov, tv\a}. <$ ye/oovrwr.
According to Harpocration's ' Lexicon ' (s. epya vf<av), Hyperides, in his speech against Autocles, attributed this proverbial saying to Hesiod. See Baiter and Sauppe's ' Oratores Attici,' 1839-50, Part II. p. 284. The line has been included by editors among Hesiod's Fragments. Strabo (xiv. 992s) has a story of the same line, only with a coarser ending, being written on w T alls at Tarsus by the enemies of the chief authority of the town.
