Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/314

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NOTES AND QUERIES

306


NOTES AND QUERIES. [2d s. N w. f APML w. se.


aussi malheureuse ; et en philosophic que nos pro- gres sont lent. Helas ! 1'art est longue et la vie est courte.* Mes amis voudroient me consoler par 1'idee d'un nom qu'ils disent que ie laisserai apres moi ; ils disent que j'ai assez vecu pour la gloire et pour la nature ; mais que sera la re- nommee pour un ephemere qui n'existera plus ? 1'liistoire que deviendra-t-elle lorsqu'a la 18 ieme heure, le monde lui-meme, le Moulin Joly tout entier sera arrive k sa fin pour n'etre plus q'un amas de ruines?'

" Pour moi, apres tant de recherches actives, 51 ne reste de bien reels que la satisfaction d' avoir passe ma vie dans 1'intention d'etre utile, la con- versatio^ aimable d'un petit nombre de bonnes dames ephemeres, et, de terns en terns, le doux sourire et quelques accords de la toujours aimable Brillante."


BAYLE AND HIS CONTINUERS.

I saw your notice to a correspondent (2 nd S. i. p. 264.) on the very day on which I chanced to look into D'Israeli for another purpose, and I was struck by the account which D'Israeli gives of the Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres. He tells us that Bayle abandoned this work in 1687, haying commenced it in 1684, and published thirty-six volumes (months would be more accu- rate) ; that Bernard continued it with inferior skill, and Basnage with more success, in his His- toire des Ouvrages des Sgavans. The odds are that D'Israeli means James Basnage, the author of the Jewish History; and not, as he ought to have ineant, Basnage de Beauval, his brother. Mor- hof makes James Bernhard a continuer of Bayle's Nouvelles Sfc., and sets down the Ouvrages des Sqavans as a distinct work. Brunet, in his first edition, makes Roque and Barrin the immediate continuers of Bayle, and J. Bernard and J. Le Clerc their successors. Various bibliographers make Bayle go on much longer than 1687.

An old note, of which I neglected to mark the source, states that Bayle, having conducted the work three years, resigned it in 1687 to Beauval ; who shortly afterwards gave it up to Buys, by whom it was continued until 1709. This note gives, as I find, a correct account. The Preface of the Histoire 8fc., acknowledges itself as the continuation of the Nouvelles, gives an account of the change of name, and announces the retirement of Bayle. The title-page bears, as editor, " Mons. B****, Docteur en Droit," which, though not giving stars enough for either Basnage or Beau- val, has as many as the line will hold. Perhaps it was thought desirable to use a number of stars which might indicate Buyle. It took the name of Beauval's journal, by which Chauffepie, for in- stance, designates it when referring to a period

  • Hippocrate.


long after that at which Beauval had left it. He continued as B**** until September, 1690; when one star disappeared, and4he editor became B***, which continued until 1709, when the work ceased. The number of stars now corresponds to the name of Buys : but this alone is inconclusive, since the previous number did not correspond to Beauval. But whereas B*** is only Doctor of Laws up to 1705, he becomes also Fellow of the Royal Society in the first title-page of 1706. On looking into the list of Fellows of the Royal Society, I find that " Mr. Buys, Esq., of. Holland," was elected in February, 1706.

There is reason to suspect that Bayle, though he abandoned the active duties of editorship in 1687, continued some assistance and superin- tendence even up to his death in 1706. That he contributed, up to 1704 at least, is certain : and it is also certain, that on the death of Bayle (December 28, 1706), the journal expired. It was not published during the whole of the year 1707. The trimestrial number for the first quarter of 1708 appeared with B*** in the title-page, and an advertisement to the effect that the editor had been trap occupe par un autre ouvrage. We may safely conclude that, at Bayle's death, the work dropped as a matter of course, and that the revi- vification was an afterthought.

Morhof, who is perfectly correct in the few words he says on the Histoire frc., affirms that the Nouvelles $-c., were continued up to 1718 by Bernhard : and others make the same statement. Will some one give a distinct account of the con- tinuation of the Nouvelles Sfc. f I suppose Bayle's volumes (1684-87) are always considered as be- longing to the continuation under the same name. But I think it appears above that it would pro- bably be more correct to join these first volumes to the Histoire Sfc. : unless indeed the universal critic can be shown to have given as much aid and countenance to Bernhard, or whoever else it was, as to Beauval and Buys.

It seems so likely that D'Israeli confused one Basnage with another, that it may be worth while to remind your readers that three of the name were known in literature at one time James de Franquenei the Basnage, Henry de Beauval his brother, best known as editor of the Histoire -c. ; and Samuel de Flottemanville (another brother ?), who wrote against Baronius in 1692. Are there any more ? A. DE MORGAN.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACAULAT.

Instructions to Judges. The instructions given by James II. to the judges, before they set out upon their circuits in the summer of 1688 (re- ferred to by Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 419.), are printed, from a copy amongst the Tanner MSS., in Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa (vol. i. p. 391.)- Two addi-