(Vol. iv., p. 86)
I am sure that you will not be sorry to hear that "NOTES AND QUERIES" is
a great favourite with young people; and I hope you will have no
objection to encourage our "pursuits of literature" by admitting into
your delightful miscellany this little contribution.
I have been reading Thierry's _History of the Norman Conquest_ these
holidays; and when I saw MR. BREEN'S Queries respecting St. Gregory and
Queen Brunehaut, I remembered that the historian had mentioned them. On
referring to the passage, at p. 11. of the translation published by
Whittaker and Co., 1843, I found that (1.) "Le Saint Pape Gregoire," who
"donna des eloges de gloire" to Queen Brunehaut, _was_ Gregory the
Great;--that (2.) This illustrious Pope _did_ actually degrade himself
by flattering the bad queen;--and (3.) That the proof of his having done
so is to be found in a passage of one of Gregory's letters given by
Thierry, and appearing in the foot-note "12" at p. 11. of Messrs.
Whittaker's edition, as follows:
"Excellentia ergo vestrae quae proba in bonis consuevit esse
operibus."--"In omnipotentis Dei timore, excelleltiae vestrae mens
soliditate firmata."--_Epist. Greg. Papae, apud Script. rer.
Gallic. et Francic._, tom. iv. p. 21.