(Vol. viii., p.585.): _Anthologia Borealis et Australis; Florilegium
Sanctarum Aspirationum_.
Since I last wrote, I have not succeeded in unravelling the mystery which
envelops these two works; but I have gotten some clue to it, for which I am
indebted to the extreme courtesy and kindness of two correspondents.
One of these gentlemen informs me that the _Anthologia_ is quoted at p.
280. of Dr. Forster's work on the Atmosphere: London, 1823. My {569} second
correspondent writes to say, "If you can procure the _Circle of the
Seasons_, by Dr. Forster, published in 1830, you will there find very
copious extracts from the books in question." Before we go any farther I
would ask, _is_ Dr. Forster the author of this book? The copy I have met
with in a public library is anonymous, and is thus entitled: _The Circle of
the Seasons, and Perpetual Key to the Calendar and Almanac_: London, Thomas
Hookham, 1828, pp. 432. 12mo. It is a valuable book, and forms a complete
Catholic Floral Directory. Though the _Anthologia_ and the _Florilegium_
are lavishly quoted, no references are given save the bare names.
It is easy to see why Mr. Weale, the "compiler" of the _Catholic Florist_,
declined giving the information requested. The quotations in question are
all _second-hand_ from the _Circle of the Seasons_. The very preface of the
_Florist_ is not original; the most valuable part of it (commencing at p.
11.) I have discovered to be a verbatim reprint from _The Truthteller_, or,
rather, from Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. i. pp. 103. 303., where some
extracts are given from the contributions to this periodical from a
correspondent with the signature _Crito_. These quotations in Hone first
drew my attention to _The Truthteller_, and I advertised for it, but
without success. It was edited, I believe, by Thomas Andrews. I have met
with the second series of this periodical, published in London in 1825, and
I should be glad to get the whole of it.[1]
In Forster's _Perennial Calendar_, London, 1824, the _Anthologia_ is quoted
at pp. 101. 108. 173. 211. 265. 295.: one of these passages is requoted in
Hone, vol. i. p. 383. I may here remark that this work of Hone's is
furnished with a _Floral Directory_.
I feel rather piqued, both on my own account and for the honour of "N. &
Q.," at being baffled by two English books, and I am somewhat surprised
that thirty years should have elapsed without any inquiry having been made
respecting the remarkable quotations adduced by Dr. Forster. The Queries I
now propose are: Who was the compiler of the _Circle of the Seasons_? Are
the _Anthologia_ and the _Florilegium_ quoted in any works previous to
Forster's time?