Birmingham.
_Latin Epigram on the Duchess of Eboli._--In his controversy with Bowles
touching the poetry of Pope, Byron states that it was upon the Princess of
Eboli, mistress of Philip II. of Spain, and Mangirow, the minion of Henry
III. of France, that the famous Latin epigram, so well known to classic
readers, was composed, concluding with the couplet:
"Blande puer lumen quod habes concede parenti,
Sic tu cæcus Amor, sic erit illa Venus."
Can any contributor to the "NOTES AND QUERIES" suggest what authority his
lordship has for his statement? Many years since, a curious paragraph
appeared in one of the public journals, extracted apparently from an
historical work, specifying the extraordinary political embroglios which
the one-eyed duchess occasioned, eliciting from one of the statesmen of her
times the complimentary declaration, that if she had had two eyes instead
of only one, she would have set the universe on fire. A reference to this
work--I fancy one of Roscoe's--would be of material service to an
historical inquirer.