9 th S. V. FEB. 24, 1900.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
143
describing, in the lines under examination,
in accurate if poetical form, a scientific fact
which occurred on the morning of Easter
Eve, 1300, as he was passing from the sixth
into the seventh circle.
4. A quartet of strictures on my last Danteiana calls for a brief animadversion here.
(1) MR. A. J. BUTLER asks where I find my dates in Platina. Reply : At the end of each sketch by a slight application of the multipli- cation table Thus in fine of the pontificate of Anastasius II. Platina says, " He sat in the chair one year, ten months, twenty-four days, and by hisdeath the See was vacantfourdays." As this process is observed in each case, care- ful reckoning, either to or from the pontificate of Linus, places that of Anastasius as 496- 498. The numerals certainly do not appear in any edition known to me save in an English version published within recent years, which very properly, for the con- venience of students, brackets them with the Pontiffs' names.
(2) MR. BUTLER says "eo quod communi- casset" means something more than "give audience." Very likely ; the words probably mean "communicatio in divinis," but I made no attempt at a loose rendering of them. Baronius gives the expression as a slander of the Laurentiani ; my phrase indicates my view of the maximum of the Pontiffs guilt a distinction with a difference.
(3) As to " le parole tue sien conte" I have no wish to quarrel with it as an alleged de- rivative from comptiiSy and, as such, as mean- ing clear, courteous, explicit, or ornate ; but I contend that it also contains within it a sug- gestion of brevity. This is borne out by Scartazzini's note :
" Onde Virgilio esorterebbe Dante a non far troppe parole ; interpretazione confortata clal v. 115 di questo canto ; cf r. Eccles. v. 2 : sint pauci sermones tui. "
(4) MR. BUTLER winds up his remarks on my notes thus :
"May I add that 'Gary and Tomlinson' is a rather comical juxtaposition of authorities, unless, indeed, it is meant to embrace all the intervening degrees of merit ? " If the " juxtaposition " be really " comical " to MR. BUTLER, I take praise to myself for rousing a sense in keeping with the ' Divina Commedia,' though the deed was uninten- tional, for I hyphened them (not " to embrace all the intervening degrees of merit ") simply for the reason that they lay at my elbow. However, I accept MR. BUTLER'S hint, since, in my judgment, "degrees of merit" lie pre- cisely between those two names, for I place
Tomlinson's version immeasurably above
Gary's, or any that have appeared since.
J. B. McGovERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.
'DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY':
NOTES AND CORRECTIONS.
(Continued from 9 th S. iv. 435.)
Vol. LXI.
Pp. 1-3. B. Whichcote. John Ray " often heard him," "a great divine," 'Three Dis- courses,' ed. 3, 1713, pp. 423, 451. They were both friends of Bp. Wilkins. Bp. Patrick's
- Autob.,' pp. 11, 246 ; Christie's ' Worthington
Bibliography.'
P. 9b. Re-gistrar"?
Pp. 10-14. Whiston. The discovery about longitude was first mentioned by Ditton and Whiston in a letter to the Guardian, July, 1713 ; his lectures at Button's, Amhurst,
- Terrse Filius,' i. 52 ; condemned by Black wall,
' Sacred Classics,' ii. 194-5 ; one of his con- troversies in Nelson's 'Bull,' pp. 325, 402; Pope writes of " the wicked works of Whis- ton," Curll's 'Miscellanea,' i. 78.
P. 13 b. " Grabes's" should be Grabe's.
P. 21. William Whitaker. See J. Ellis, 'Defence of 39 Articles,' 1710, pp. 117 sq. ; Wordsworth, ' Eccl. Biog.,' iv. 323-331.
P. 28 b. "Caster, Lincolnshire." Caistor and Caister are in Lincolnshire ; Castor in Northamptonshire.
Pp. 28-30. Whitby is criticized by J. John- son, ' Clergyman's Vade-mecum,' ii. pref. p. xi ; often quoted with approval by Black wall, 'Sacred Classics' ; his treatise on 'Millennium' quoted by Church, ' Miraculous Powers,' and by Fleming, 'Papacy.'
P. 30. Ed. Whitchurch. See preface to Matt. Poole's ' Annotations,' 1696.
P 33. Mr. W. J. Thorns dedicated his ed. of Stow's 'Survey,' 1842, to Anthony White.
Pp. 34-5. Francis White, Bp, of Ely, was brought from the country to S. Bennet's, Sherehog, by N, Ferrar's father, whoso funeral sermon he preached in 1620, Words- worth, 'Eccl. Biog.,' v. 78, 126; Christopher Dow in his 'Answer to Burton,' 1637, p. 25, calls him "thrice venerable"; Burton had accused him of being " well-affected to Rome."
P. 50. H. K. White's merits were discussed in the Standard, 18-25 July, 1894.
P 55. John White, D.D., d. 1615. See R. Hill, ' Pathway to Piety,' 1629 (repr. 1847, ii.
P. 56 a. For " Hinlip " read Hindlip (xlii.
93)
P 62 On Joseph White's ' Barnpton Lec- tures,' see Mathias, ' P. of L.,' 402.
