with that of the Bible of Charles le Chauve, No. 1. but has been altered, as it should seem, by the fault of the binder. Lambeccius calls it "totus ruinosus et plerisque locis vix legibilis;" but this is denied by Gentilot, who admits, however, some defects. It was written by more hands than one, in the common Caroline character, and the only ornaments are red letters in the titles. Prefixed to the Bible at fol. 16. are two poems 77 of Alchuine, containing an enumeration of the several books, lines in commendation of the Scriptures, and a prayer for Charlemagne. At the close of the second poem is written : Codicibus sacris hostili clade perustis Et Rado fervens hoc reparavit opus. From which it is concluded that the volume was written under the eye of Alchuine, by desire of Rado, who was abbat of St. Vedast near Arras, from the year 795 to 815. It is well known that a poem was addressed by Alchuine to Rado on the re-edification of the abbey after its destruction by fire ;78 and we are told by Ferreolus Locrius, the author of a Belgian Chronicle, that abbat Rado submitted a Missal to the correction of Alchuine. But Froben, in his edition of Alchuine's works, questions the reading of the line Et Rado, and contends it ought to be Ezra do, i. e. Deo, as it is actually written in another copy nearly coeval with the author, preserved in the library of St. Paul at Ratisbon.79 This, if admitted, would destroy the notion of its having been written expressly for Rado; but as the age of the MS. has never been questioned, nor the genuineness of the poem, we may safely ascribe the MS. to the end of the eighth century. (6.) The Bible in the library of the Canons of Zurich, traditionally said 78 Opp. tom. ii. i. 207. Analect. i. 643. to have been presented to the library by Charlemagne. It is a large folio, written in double columns, and the writing corresponds very nearly with that of the Museum Bible and of Charles le Chauve's, No. 1. at Paris. A specimen of the uncial letter is given by Scheuchzer,80 taken from the first chapter of Genesis, and a very satisfactory example of the minuscule may be found in Gerbert,81 who presents us with a fac-simile, tab. ii., of the whole of the Prologue to the seven Canonical Epistles, and of the disputed passage in 1 Ep. Joh. v. 7. from which three lines have been selected in our plate, No. 6. It would be very desirable to have a fuller account of this fine MS. since it evidently proceeded from the same school which produced the Bible now in the Museum, and No. 1. in the Bibliothèque du Roi. (7.) The Bible formerly in the li brary of the President de Mesmes,82 caused to be written by Theodulph, Abbat of Fleury, and afterwards Bishop of Orleans,83 the friend of Charlemagne and Alchuine, about the year 790. Prefixed is a poem written in gold letters on a purple ground, which was printed by Sirmond, in his edition of Theodulph's Works, tom. ii. p. 1046. The order of the books differs from that of the Museum Bible; and the text is that of Jerome, previous to the recension of Alchuine. It was from this MS. that the Benedictines chiefly prepared their edition of the Vulgate, forming the first volume of St. Jerome's Works, in 1693. The poem is followed by a preface in prose, also written in gold letters, giving a synopsis of the several books. To the Bible is annexed the Chronicle of Isidore, and the tract of Eucherius de Interpretatione Hebraicorum Nominum. Prefixed to the former 77 Printed in Opp. tom. ii. v. i. p. 205. Ed. Froben. and Analect. Kollarii, i. col. 618. 619. 79 Comm. de Vita Alchuini, p. liv. 80 Alphabethi ex Diplomatib. et Codicib. Thuricensib. Specimen, fol. Tig. 1730. tab. xvi. He says of it, "Conveniunt ex toto literæ cum codice Epistolarum Paulinarum Græco-Latino Bibliothecæ Germanensis, cujus fragmentum exhibet Mabillonius de Re Diplomatica, p. 346. ubi codicem hunc mille annorum judicat." 81 Iter Alemannicum. 8°. Tig. 1773. 82 The MSS. of the President de Mesmes were purchased in 1731, for the Bibliothèque du Roi, and, I suppose, this Bible among them. 88 See the Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. iv. pp. 459–474. GENT. MAG. VOL. VI. 4 F of these is a second poem, written in letters of silver, also by Theodulph,84 concluding: Codicis hujus opus struxit Theodulphus, amore Illius hic cujus Lex benedicta tonat; Nam foris hoc geminis, auro splendescit et ostro, Splendidiore tamen in tuo honore micat. (8.) The Bible preserved in the library of the church of Puy Nôtre Dame, in Anjou, supposed to have been presented by Theodulph, and, from its contents evidently a contemporary copy of the one last described.85 (9.) The Bible in the abbey of St. Germain des Près, written in the year 809, containing the sacred books from Isaiah to the Apocalypse inclusive.86 This was also made use of in the Be nedictine edition of the Vulgate, pub lished in 1693. space These are doubtless the most celebrated and splendid copies of the entire Bible now remaining in the libraries of Europe, yet if the would permit, I could increase the list by describing several other Bibles, less remarkable, of earlier and later date, such for instance as (10.) the very ancient Bible in the Vatican, numbered 1209. written in uncials, of which a specimen is given by Blanchini, Evangl. Quadr. i. Dlxvi.; (11.) the Bible in the abbey of Marmoutier, ascribed to the seventh century, written in uncials and minuscules 87 (12.) the Bible at Toledo, certainly written before the year 990, a collation of which was printed by Blanchini,88 (13.) the Bible at Carcasson, of the eighth or ninth century, used by the Benedictines in their edi 84 Sirmondi Opp. ii. 1052. tion of the Vulgate; (14.) the Bible in the Bibliothèque du Roi, No. 3. of the ninth century, given by Anowaretha to the monastery of St. Maur sur Loire, in Anjou ;89 (15.) the Bible in the same library, No. 4. presented by the Canons of Puy en Velai to Colbert, in 1681, in two volumes, of the ninth century; (16.) the Bible in the library of St. Geneviève at Paris, of the ninth century; (17.) the Bible in the monastery of St. Gall, of the same age; (18.) the Bible formerly in the library of Cardinal Passionei, described by Blanchini, Evang. Quadr. i. Dlxv. DĺXX. of the ninth century; (19.) the Bible in the church of Narbonne, of the same period, referred to by the Benedictines; and perhaps several more in various monastic libraries of France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. It is not here intended to speak of copies of the New Testament or the Gospels, the bare enumeration of which would fill a moderate-sized volume, and which from the sixth century downwards exhibit all the pomp and splendor that the united arts of caligraphy and illumination could bestow on them. I may be permitted however to observe, in connection with the object for which these remarks were drawn up, that at Zurich and Amsterdam are preserved copies of the Gospels in all probability written by the care of Alchuine, since they have verses prefixed in which he is expressly named as the reviser;90 and at Ratisbon is a splendid MS. of the Gospels written in gold, for the use of the emperor Charles le Chauve in 870, to which his portrait is prefixed.91 85 Blanchini, Evangel. Quadr. ii. 2. Dxciv. 86 Nouv Tr. de Dipl. iii. pp. 131. 250. 339. The Benedictines speak also of another Bible in the same library, written in the 8th year of Louis le Debonaire (822) ib. pp. 192. 317. These MSS. are now in the Bibliothèque du Roi. 87 Nouv. Tr. de Dipl. iii. 254. 88 Vindic. Can. Script. pp. xlix-ccxii-ccxvi. In this MS. as in the Bible of the Theodulph, the book of Daniel is inserted between Canticles and Parlipomenon. 89 At fol. 407b of this MS. is a memorandum, that Charles le Chauve paid a visit to the monastery of St. Maur, "hoc anno, qui est ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimus sexagesimus nonus, regni vero ejus vicesimus nonus," etc. 90 Wetstenii Prolegomena in N. T. p. 84. Hug, Einleitung des N. T. § 124. 3d ed. and Biomstahl, Briefe, pt. 5. p. 14. 91 Consult the Bibliotheca Princ. Eccles. et Monast. Ord. S. Ben. ad S. Emmeramum, Ratisbonæ, p. ii. 12°. 1748. and Dissertatio in aureum ac pervetust. Evangelior. Cod. S. Emmerami. Autore P. Colomanno Sanft. Ratisb. 1786. In this last work (which I have not been able to see, and which Dr. Dibdin seems ignorant of) are three plates, and no doubt the portrait of Charles le Chauve among them. It is now time to close this examination, which has led me further than I expected, and yet I have by no means exhausted my materials. It will be necessary, in forming an opinion of the value of the Bible now in the Museum, to discard all feelings of prejudice and selfishness. The hardy assertion of M. de Speyr-Passavant, that his MS. was the earliest copy of the Latin Scriptures in existence is not true; nor is the equally confident statement, that there was no other MS. of the time of Charlemagne to be found in France, intitled to a greater degree of credit. Both are ignorant mis-statements, founded on interested motives. The Prayer-Book of Charlemagne, in spite of his impotent efforts 92 to prove it written for Charles le Chauve, must ever retain its undoubted authenticity. That the Bible now in the British Museum has superior claims to be considered the copy presented by Alchuine to Charlemagne than any other, I have, I trust, succeeded in rendering probable; and it must not be forgotten, that the names of some of the first judges in matters of this description, particularly in France, (where they had their own MSS. to consult and, as it were, to defend) have given their written testimonies in favour of this proposition. For myself, I should be very glad if these observations might elicit from any other person more profoundly versed in the subject, any further arguments or illustrations which might definitively settle the question. F. M. MR. URBAN, FONT AT CARDEN ON THE MO. I PERUSED with pleasure and instruction in your October number an account of the little Church at Nateley in Hampshire, from the pen of your intelligent, and very intelligible, contributor, E. I. C. I say with pleasure, because, latterly, your pages have been comparatively barren of those communications upon ecclesiastical antiquities, for which your Magazine has been so long the depository, and which are yet so anxiously expected in it by a certain class of readers, who, like myself, in perusing such accounts hold converse deep,' and for the last time, with the pious founders and skilful architects of many venerable structures which caprice and time are daily dooming to desolation. I was however most interested by the description of the base of the western column of the doorway; a kind of base which certainly is rare in England, and, as pourtrayed in your engraving, so similar to the capitals of door-way columns of the 11th and 12th centuries, that it might well be taken for a 'capital reversed." But in Germany, whence I have just arrived from a short tour in search of the Romanesque,' directed by the Rev. Mr. Whewell's usefulNotes on German Churches,' I twice met with such capital-like foliaged bases, viz. at Carden on the Mosel, and at Cologne on the Rhine; and I dare say that during a more extended journey I should have seen many more. In both instances these bases form parts of columns which are small and isolated. Those of Carden belong to the curious Font of which I send herewith an illustrative drawing; and I confess that until I had examined the whole Font, of which the upper part was hidden by an embroidered silken cloth, seeing only the lower portion of the columns, I thought that these bases were merely capitals reversed. The columns at Cologne above alluded to, are on the north side of the cloister of the very ancient church of St. Maria Capitoline in that interest 92 His argument is :-The verses in the Prayer-book were written by Godescalc; there was a Godescalc living between 848-870.-ergo, he wrote the Prayer-book ! But the verses expressly declare the book was written shortly after the year 781; and could not an earlier Godescalc have been the scribe? The name is not uncommon, and in effect we find a Godescalc, Deacon of Liege, in the middle of the eighth century. See Hist. Lit. de la Fr. iv. 57. Font at Carden on the Mosel. ing city. But here they perform a more important office than at Carden, being the supports of some of the open arches surrounding the ambulatory. The bases of these columns are, as I have before said, foliaged, [Dec. shafts and capitals being of other marand are made of white marble, their material, but also of Italian workmanbles; all, probably, not only of Italian ship. These columns are interesting from another circumstance, which, although irrelevant perhaps to the principal object of this communication, viz. the foregoing general animadversion upon foliaged bases, I will briefly describe in hopes of arresting the attention of E. 1. C. or any other gentleman to so unusual a feature of Romanesque or early Gothic architecture, and possibly of obtaining information where the like exists at home. I cannot send you a drawing of these columns above alluded to, but they may be I trust intelligibly described as isolated columns, having, above their plinths, peculiar, low, truncated cones, sculptured with upright foliage; and, above this, the torus, shaft, astragal, and foliaged cushion capital so columns of the Romanesque and Trancommon to all sition styles; having, moreover, two other peculiar members, repetitions formed of two truncated four-sided as it were of the usual capital, and pyramids, one upon the other, but both inverted and embellished, with forms, resembling, though on a smaller scale, the fascia and mouldings of the small horizontal mouldings of different frieze and cornice of genuine Roman architecture. the notice, by some Correspondent, of Permit me, in conclusion, to beg that kind of base-ornament so often of large Romanesque and Norman seen laid upon the angles of the plinths claw. This I have seen in Germany columns, which Mr. Rickman calls a like a broad flat crumpled dockleaf, 'very like' a claw, but in England it and therefore probably the prototypeis usually, when fully worked, more base, which has given rise to this desultory paper. or the successor, of the kind of foliaged PLANTAGENET. Mr. URBAN, Hartburn, Morpeth, Oct. 17. AS you have not unfrequently admitted into your Miscellany curious pieces of composition in the dialects of our country, I have procured from the Shetland Islands a specimen of the language still spoken among the common people there, with the hope of seeing it perpetuated in your pages. I had endeavoured to procure in manuscript or print some glossary or list of words peculiar to that group of Islands; but, instead of such a work, received the following facetious letter, which was many years since sent by a gentleman of Shetland to his friend in Liverpool; several copies of it have been circulated in manuscript, but I am assured that it has never appeared in print. The narrative, it is plain, has been contrived to embody in it as many words and phrases peculiar to the vulgar language of the district as its compass would admit of. Though the translation with which I have accompanied it, has undergone the revisal both of scholars and a native of the country, it is still, I fear, not free from errors; for this is the only specimen of the Zetlandic tongue that I have seen; and my knowledge of the Anglo and Scoto-Northumbrian dialects does not furnish me with a key to some of its terms and phrases. I have, however, endeavoured to render it as easy and literal as I can. The words of the original should, I am told, be pronounced exactly as they are spelled. J. H. Twartree deys sinsyne, wir Jonie wrett me tree or fower lynes wi Andru Hey, itt wiz kummin dis weigh whidder or no, an se he tuik hit wi him. Heez a fyne sheeld dat Andru, gude lukk sitt i his fes-an sek an a boorlie man az heez growan tù, an wid be ower weel faard gin hitt wiz na fore yun busks o' hare it he heaz apun his fes. O dwyne yun fasin, gin hit beena da vyldest itt ivvir dere faan apun yitt. I kenna whatt itts lek, bitt am shùre itts no lek nethin kirsint. Se mith I gitt helt az I tink hit wid gluff da ful teef himsell. What tinks du whinn Andru kam in, I wiz dat weigh drumfoondit, itt I kent him no for a sertan tyme. I nevvir gat sek an a flegg i ma lyfe insep e nycht kummin fre da ela, itt I mett Tammie o' Skae (saal be in gloary) abùn Trullia watter, rydin apo Peter o' Hundegird's blessit hoarse, wi a sheep best a fore him. Or dan annidder tyme it I kam apo Jeemie Tamsin markin up wir pellat Rùll i da hùmin o' da eenin aboot twa bocht lent abùn da krù dekk o' Oxigill i da hill o' Valafiel, bitt hit wiz na fur himm itt I glufft, bitt du kens I nevvir hedd ne gritt lekkin fur da hills, at datt partiquhalar tyme o' nycht, an whinn I lichtit apo himm, hee wiz staandin wee hiz feet paald fornent a brugg, a lokkin da rùll aboot da kraig, wee a bluidie tnyfe atill hiz teeth, an da rumple o' da steag* wiz waadg'd up till a grett mukkle odias whyte stean, se itt da kretar kùd na hae ne pooster ta mùv neddir da te weigh or da tidder, mair iz ginn heed been shoarded in a A staig or stag in Zetland, is a young stallion in the north of England, a colt of a year old. Two or three days since our John wrote me three or four lines by Andrew Hey, who was coming this way whether or not, and so he took it with him. He is a fine fellow that Andrew. Good luck sit on his face! And such a stately man as he is grown too: and would be over well looking if it was not for yon bushes of hair that he has upon his face. O confound yon fashion! if it be not the ugliest that they ever fell upon yet. I know not what it is like, but am sure it is not like any thing christened. So might I get health, as I think it would frighten the foul thief himself. What think you, when Andrew came in, I was that way stupefied, that I knew him not for a certain time. I never gat such a fright in my life, except one night coming fra the market that I met Tommy of Skae (his soul be in glory!) above Trullia water, riding upon Peter of Hundegird's blessed horse, with a sheep beast before him. Or than another time, that I came upon Jemmy Tamsin fastening our stallion colt in the dusk of the evening about two sheep folds in length above the sheep-cote dike of Oxigill, in the hill of Valafiel; but it was not of him that I was afraid; but you know I never had any great liking for the hills at that particular time of night. And when I lighted upon him, he was standing with his feet striding out before a brow, and holding the colt by the neck, with a bloody knife between his teeth, and the rump of the colt was wedged up to a very great, large, white stone, so that the creature could not have power to move either the one way or the other, more than if he had been fastened in a noose. And so |