{604}
P.S. Owing to some unaccountable inadvertence, I have only just seen the
number of "N.& Q." containing the highly interesting communications of H.
B. C. and MR. STEPHENS. Will MR. STEPHENS allow me to ask him where he
procured his tale, for I agree with H. B. C. that it is "desirable to fix
the localities as nearly as possible." My version came from the
Gloucestershire side of the county.
[Footnote 1: This story is from Northamptonshire, and by some oversight was
omitted in my _Dialect and Folk-Lore_.]
[Footnote 2: I use the term _elves_ advisedly; for though, of course, the
creed of _rantism_ does not recognise the existence of the mere poetic
beings, yet it absolutely inculcates belief in all sorts of _bona fide_
corporeal demons: which, like the club-footed gentry of the saintly
hermits, are nothing more than Teutonic _elfen_ in ecclesiastical
masquerade.]
* * * * *
DR. THOMAS MORELL'S COPY OF H. STEPHENS' EDIT. OF ÆSCHYLUS, 1557, WITH MSS.
NOTES.
As your valuable paper is in the hands of scholars of every description in
every part of the world, the following communication may meet the eye, and
be of no slight interest to some of your classical readers, and, at the
same time, give a stimulus to hunters at bookstalls. Some time since, in
one of my hunts, I stumbled upon a very fine copy of Pet. Victorine's
(Vettori) edition of Æschylus, printed by H. Stephens, 1557. I was much
gratified in finding it had belonged to the celebrated Thomas Morell, D.D.,
F.R.S., F.S.A., the lexicographer, and had his book-plate and autograph.
The margins were filled with many conjectures and emendations written in
two very ancient hands, and, besides, some MSS. Scholia on the _Prometheus_
and _Poesæ_. In carefully examining them I found many were marked with the
letters (A) and (P). I remembered the present very learned Bishop of
London, in the preface to his edition of the _Choæphoræ_, mentioned the
vast assistance he had received in editing that play from a copy of this
very edition of Æschylus (H. Stephens, 1557), lent to him by Mr. Mitford,
the margins of which were similarly marked. The bishop observes these
emendations were by Auratus and Portus, two learned French scholars; and
that Mr. Mitford's volume contained several other emendations without the
signatures (A) and (P), which he, for distinction's sake, marked (Q). Now
my copy also possessed these readings marked (Q). The bishop further
observed, that the writer of the MSS. notes was a cotemporary of Casaubon's
from a remark at p. 14. of the volume. The learned bishop's description of
the volume will be found in the _Museum Criticum_, vol. ii. p. 488. I at
first imagined I had met with this identical volume; but a closer
examination proved I was mistaken, as my copy, besides all those carefully
noted by Dr. Blomfield, contained many other emendations, but had _not_ the
note at p. 14. of the _Prometheus_. Whoever was the copier or writer of the
marginal MSS. in my volume, was evidently a Frenchman, as some of the notes
are in French. The handwriting is very ancient and contracted, and has the
appearance of being of the early portion of the seventeenth century. The
most interesting part, however, of the story still remains. Dr. Thomas
Morell edited the _Prometheus_, 4to., 1773. The title is as follows:
_Æschyli P. V. cum Stanl. Versione et Scholiis, [alpha], [beta], (et
[gamma] ineditis), &c._ Now these Scholia [gamma], which he professes to
give for the first time, I found to be those in the very ancient hand in
the margin of my volume. He frequently also gives the various marginal
readings, and styles them "Marg. MS." Moreover he occasionally adopts these
notes without any acknowledgment, especially where they throw any light on
the text. The volume then is of great curiosity and value. From a curious
note at the end of the _Prometheus_, Morell takes nine iambic lines, to
which is affixed "Ad Calcem Dramatis MS. Regii." From this it would seem
the Scholia were taken from a MS. in the Royal Library at Paris.
We may observe then as a remarkable circumstance, that while Bishop
Blomfield was describing the copy belonging to Mr. Mitford, a similar copy,
with more notes, and of equal antiquity as to the MSS. emendations, was in
existence, and had once been in the possession of, and of much assistance
to the great Dr. Morell. Where Morell got this volume, and how he should
not have acknowledged the aid he derived from it, is a mystery. As I
mentioned before, the handwriting is far prior to Morell's day. The volume
is rendered still more interesting by its having many of Stanley's
emendations, about which such a controversy arose from the observations
made by Blomfield in his preface to the _Agamemnon_. And I am almost
induced to think it might originally have belonged to Stanley, who made a
similar use of it to what Morell did. Many of the emendations are _still
inedited_. This valuable volume, therefore, is of great interest, (1) from
the vast number of MSS. readings, and (2) from its having been formerly in
the possession of Dr. Morell, and the circumstances above mentioned. It is
a very large and clean copy of the now scarce edition of H. Stephens; and
your bibliographical readers will be astonished to hear I purchased it for
_one shilling_! I may mention I showed it to the Bishop of London and Dr.
Wordsworth, Canon of Westminster, who were both interested with it. The
latter showed me in return several volumes of MSS. collections for a new
edition of Æschylus, made by his lamented brother the late Mr. John
Wordsworth, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, perhaps the profoundest
Greek scholar next to Porson the University of Cambridge ever possessed,
and who so ably reviewed Professor Scholefield's Æschylus in the
_Philological Museum_. The classical world can never sufficiently regret
that death prevented us from receiving at his hands a first-rate edition of
this noble poet, as he had been at much pains in travelling all over the
Continent, and examining all the MSS. extant; and from his known partiality
to the author, and {605} vast learning, would doubtless have done ample
justice to his task.