* * * * *
_Epitaph_ (Vol. iii., p. 57.).--The name of the "worthie knyght" is _Sir
Thomas Gravener_, as A. B. R. might have seen in the printed Catalogue of
the Harleian MSS. Who he was, is a more difficult question to answer; but
there was a family of that name settled in Staffordshire, as appears from
MS. Harl. 1476. fol. 250. The epitaph in question (at fol. 28 b of the old
numbering, or 24 b of the new, _not_ fol. 25 b.) is inserted among several
short poems written by Sir Thomas Wyatt; and the epitaph itself has a
capital W affixed to it, as if it were also of his composition: but I do
not find it inserted in Dr. Nott's edition of his poetical works, in 1816;
nor does this MS. appear to have been consulted by Dr. Nott. And here I may
take the liberty of remarking, how desirable it is that your
correspondents, in sending any extracts from old English MSS. to the "NOTES
AND QUERIES," should adhere strictly to the original orthography, or else
modernise it altogether. A. B. R. evidently intends to retain the ancient
spelling; yet, from haste or inadvertence, he has committed no less than
forty-four _literal_ errors in transcribing this short epitaph, and three
_verbal_ ones, namely, _itt_ for _that_ (l. 11.), _Hys_ for _The_ (l. 14.),
and _or_ for _and_ (l. 17.). Another curious source of error may here be
pointed out. Nearly all the MSS. contained in the British Museum
collections are not only distinguished by a number, but have a _press-mark_
stamped on the back, which is denoted by _Plut._ (an abbreviation of
_Pluteus_, press), with the number and shelf. Thus the Harleian MS. 78.,
referred to by A. B. R., stands in _press_ (_Plut._) LXIII. _shelf_ E. In
consequence of the Cottonian collection having been originally designated
after the names of the twelve Caesars (whose busts, together with those of
Cleopatra and Faustina, stood above the presses), it appears to have been
supposed that other classical names served as references to the remaining
portions of the manuscript department. In A. B. R.'s communication, _Plut._
is expressed by the name of _Pluto_; in a volume of Miss Strickland's
_Lives of the Queens of Scotland_, lately published, it is metamorphosed
into _Plutus_; and the late Dr. Adam Clarke refers to some of Dr. Dee's
MSS. in the _Sloane_ (more correctly, _Cottonian_) library, under
_Plutarch_ xvi. G! (See _Catalogue_ of his MSS., 8vo., 1835, p. 62.) The
same amusing error is more formally repeated by Dr. J. F. Payen, in a
recent pamphlet, entitled _Nouveaux Documents inedits ou peu connus sur
Montaigne_, 8vo., 1850, at p. 24. of which he refers to "Bibl. Egerton,
vol. 23., _Plutarch_, f. 167.," [_Plut._ CLXVII. F.], and adds in a note:
"On sait que dans nos bibliotheques les grandes divisions sont marquees
par les lettres de l'alphabet; _au Musee Britannique c'est par des noms
de personnages celebres qu'on les designe_."
[mu].
* * * * *
_Probabilism_ (Vol. iii., p. 61.).--Probabilism, so far as it means the
principle of reasoning or acting upon the opinion of eminent teachers or
writers, was the principle of the Pythagoreans, whose _ipse dixit_,
speaking of their master, is proverbial; and of Aristotle, in his Topics.
But probabilism, in its strict sense, I presume, means the doctrine so
common among the Jesuits, 200 years ago, and so well stated by Pascal, that
it is lawful to act upon an opinion expressed by a single writer of weight,
though contrary to one's own opinion, and entirely overbalanced, either in
weight or numbers, by the opinion of other writers.
Jeremy Taylor, in his _Ductor Dubitantium_, tells us that this doctrine,
though very prevalent, was quite modern; and that the old Casuists,
according to the plain suggestions of common sense, held directly the
contrary, namely, that the less probable opinion must give way to the more
probable.
All this may be no answer to the deeper research, perhaps, of your
enquirer,--but it may possibly be interesting to general readers, as well
as the following refined and ingenious sophism which was used in its
support:--They said that all agreed that you could not be wrong in using
the more probable, best supported, {123} opinion of the two. Now, let that
in the particular case in question be A, and the less probable B. But the
doctrine that you may lawfully take the less probable in general is the
more probable doctrine; meaning at that time the doctrine of the greater
number of authorities: therefore they said, even upon your principles it is
lawful to take B.