P.S.--Can I get a copy of the _Catholic Friend_, which is referred to in
the preface of the _Catholic Florist_ as a scarce and valuable work; and
also a copy of the _Catholic Instructor_: London, 1844?
March, 1854.
[Footnote 1: [_The Truthteller_ was discontinued at the end of vol. i. The
first number was published Sept. 25, 1824, and the last on Sept. 17, 1825.
The publisher and editor, W. A. Andrews, closes his labours with the
following remarks: "Having given _The Truthteller_ a year's trial, we feel
ourselves called upon, as a matter of justice to our family, to discontinue
it as a newspaper. The negligence of too many of our subscribers, in not
discharging their engagements to us, and the indifference of others of the
Catholic body, to support the vindicator of their civil and religious
principles, leave us no alternative but that of dropping it as a newspaper,
or carrying it on at a loss." Only two of Crito's papers on Botany were
given in _The Truthteller_, viz. in No. 15., p. 115., and No. 16., p. 123.
He probably continued them in _The Catholic Friend_, also published by W.
A. Andrews.
The following extract from a letter signed F., and dated Jan. 4, 1825,
given in _The Truthteller_, vol. i. No. 16. p. 126., recommends the
publication, among other works, of a "CATHOLIC CALENDAR. There should also
be a Catholic Calendar, something like _The Perennial Calendar_, but more
portable, and fuller of religious information, in which, under each saint,
his or her particular virtues, intelligence, good works, or martyrdom,
should be succinctly set forth, so as to form a sort of calendar of human
triumphs, such as is recommended by Mr. Counsellor Basil Montagu in his
Essays." In a note the writer adds, "This I believe will soon be
undertaken." This letter seems to have been written by Dr. Forster.--ED.]]
Thanks to MR. PINKERTON, I am enabled to turn my surmise into certainty,
and have the pleasure of clearing up a literary _hoax_, which has, it
seems, passed without challenge till my note of interrogation appeared in
these pages. The _Anthologia_ and the _Florilegium_ are purely imaginary
titles for certain pieces in prose and verse, the production of Dr.
Forster, and have no existence save in the _Circle of the Seasons_.
In the Autobiography of the eccentric Doctor--which is entitled _Recueil de
ma Vie, mes Ouvrages et mes Pensées: Opuscule Philosophique_, par Thomas
Ignace Marie Forster: Bruxelles, 1836--at p. 55. he enumerates the
_Anthologia_ and _Florilegium_ among his "Pièces Fugitives," and ends the
list in the following words:
"Encore je me confesse d'avoir écrit toutes ces essais détachés dans le
_Perennial Calendar_, auxquels j'ai attaché quelques signatures, ou
plus proprement des lettres, comme A. B. S. R. etc."
In the solitude of his garden at Hartwell he conceived the idea of making a
Floral Directory, which he eventually carried out, and published under the
title of the _Circle of the Seasons_. See p. 21.
MR. PINKERTON has most kindly lent me a rare and privately-printed book of
Forster's, entitled _Harmonia Musarum, containing Nugæ Cantabrigenses,
Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis, and Anthologia Borealis et Australis_,
chiefly from a College Album, edited by Alumnus Cantabrigensis (N.B. Not
published): 1843, pp. 144, 8vo.
The preface is signed T. F., and is dated "Bruges, Sept. 15, 1843." In it
he says:
"The harmony of the Muses has been divided into three parts--the first
being the _Nugæ Cantab_. The {570} second contains the sacred subjects,
hymns, &c., written chiefly by a relation, and formerly collected under
the title of _Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis_. The third consists
merely of a small collection of Latin verses selected by some student,
with occasional notes from the rest, and called _Fragments from North
and South_: they have, many at least, been printed before."
It is impossible to give an idea of this extraordinary Olla; we have in it
pieces of Porson, Gray, and Byron, &c., Cowper's _John Gilpin_, and
Coleridge's _Devil's Walk_; at p. 19. we have "Spring Impromptu, found
among some old papers," with the signature "N." attached, which turns out
to be Gray on the "Pleasures of Vicissitude." I regret to say that this
volume contains much that is coarse and offensive, which is the less
excusable, and the more surprising, as coming from the author of the very
beautiful and devotional pieces published in the _Circle of the Seasons_.
The _Florilegium_ and the _Anthologia_ of the _Circle_ have little in
common with their namesakes in the _Harmonia_, which latter contain poems
by Southwell, Byron, Gray, Hogg, Porson, Jortin, &c., but none of Forster's
prose pieces, which form so large a portion of the other _Florilegium_ and
_Anthologia_. Dr. Forster's life would make a very entertaining biography,
and I should be glad to know more about him, whether he be yet alive, what
books he printed at Bruges, &c.[2]
In concluding this matter, I beg to return my best thanks to MR. PINKERTON
for the valuable information he so freely imparted to me, and the handsome
manner in which he placed it at my disposal.
[Footnote 2: Dr. Forster was born in London in 1789, of an ancient Catholic
family; he was himself a Protestant until the year 1835, when it appears
that he became a convert to the Church of Rome: at the same time he
received the additional names of Ignatius Maria. It is most probable that
he is yet alive and in Belgium, where he has resided for many years. The
Editor of "N. & Q." has kindly sent me a list from the Catalogue of the
British Museum, of some four and thirty works by Dr. Forster. There is,
however, another book by Dr. Forster not contained in the Museum list,
_Onthophilos, ou Les Derniers Entretiens d'un Philosophe Catholique_
(Brussels?), 1836.]
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