On the next page begins "De historia et ea concernentibus collecta per
ascensium;" and in the blanks round the heading of this page is one of
the autographs of the unfortunate queen, in her large bold hand,
_Maria_ _Regina_.
On the next page begin "Viginti precepta pro historica lege," which are
continued on the next two pages. In the blank spaces left round the
titles of the ninth and tenth precepta, the queen has again written,
_Ex libris_ _Mariae_
_Scotorum_ _Reginae_
On the next leaf begin the works of Sallust, with the commentaries and
other apparatus. The sheets are in eights, so that the book is more
properly large 8o than 4o, signatures A--S(but S is only a half-sheet).
The prefatory matter (including the title) is contained on a single
sheet, sig. A, of six leaves only. This is expressed by the printer's
register at the end--
"Regestum huius operis
A . a . b . c . d . e . f . g . h . i . k . l . m . n . o . p .
q . r . s .
O[=e]s sunt quaterniones preter A [q=]. est ternio . s . vero
duernio."
The colophon has not been completely given by C.; it is as follows:
"[P] Crispi Sallustii Catilina (_sic_) et Jugurthina cum reliquis
collectaneis ab Ascensio: ut cum[que] explanatis: hic suum capit
finem. Lugduni diligenti recognitione Impressus per Antoni[=u]
Blachard[6] anno domini M. quing[=e]tesimo. xxiii. pridie Calend.
Sextiles."
[Footnote 6: Not Blanchard, as C. has printed the name.]
These particulars may enable your readers to identify this edition,
which is, I believe, very rare.
After the colophon are two pages occupied by remarks on Sallust by
"Jacobus a cruce Bononiensis:" leaving the last page in the volume
blank, except that in the centre is a woodcut of larger size than that
already mentioned, which is on the title-page, but representing the same
subject, viz. SS. Peter and Paul holding the sacred handkerchief.
On the upper right-hand corner of this last page are the verses quoted
by C., and correctly quoted, except that _meae_ and _puellae_ in the first
line are _mee_ and _puelle_ in the original.
There is not the smallest shadow of probability for supposing these
verses, or any of the other MS. annotations which occur in the volume,
to be in the handwriting of Mary Queen of Scots. She wrote a large and
not by any means a scholarlike hand, which is very well known; whereas
these verses and the other annotations, are in a small and crampt
scholarlike hand of the sixteenth century, as unlike the handwriting of
Mary as any that can be imagined. In fact I was not aware, until I read
C.'s letter in "NOTES AND QUERIES," that anybody had ever supposed it to
be hers.
The note recording the donation of this book by James I. to Bishop Hall,
occurs fol. xc. It is in a large schoolboylike hand, and is correctly
quoted by C.
The book contains numerous woodcuts, which have no discoverable relation
to the text, and are inserted merely to mark the commencement of the
books, or different pieces of which the volume consists. Many of these
are repeated several times.
The ornamental letter to which C. refers is the letter O, the first in
the book. The grotesque character of it noticed by C. would not be
easily observed except it were specially pointed out. C. may be assured
that it was not particularly pointed out to Her Majesty when she did us
the honour of inspecting this and some other literary treasures of our
library in 1849.