_Prophecies of Nostradamus_ (Vol. iv., pp. 86. 140. 258. 329.).--In
answer to MR. DE ST. CROIX'S fair inquiry of the source whence I derived
my assertion of the existence of the first edition of Nostradamus (at p.
329.), I have to say, that it was from the very intelligent
bibliographer, A. A. Renouard. I had known him in Paris at his dwelling
in the _Rue de Tournon_ (where my friend, the celebrated Arthur
O'Connor, with his wife, the daughter of Condorcat, had apartments), and
I afterwards had some interviews with him in London at my own house;
when, on observing in his _Catalogue d'un Amateur_ the Elzevir edition
of 1668, we entered into some conversation on the subject; and, in
reference to the original edition, not much valued indeed as very
imperfect, he said, that though now rare, because long, as not worth
preserving, neglected, it still may, and must be, in the Royal Library;
"il doit necessairement s'y trouver, et non-seulement la, mais
ailleurs." I too certainly thought that the great national repository
must contain it, but I made no inquiry; and as MR. DE ST. CROIX so
diligently pursued the search without discovering it, I conclude, of
course, that it is not there; but if he authorises M. Renouard's son,
who resides in the _Rue Garanciere_, or any respectable bookseller, to
provide the little volume for him, I feel confident of his success. Nor
do I apprehend that the price will correspond with its rarity, like the
works of so many other writers; such even as the prophecies of Merlin,
as stated in the article referred to by MR. DE ST. CROIX, without
recurring to our Shakspeare's early editions, or to those of Ariosto,
Cervantes, Boccacio, Moliere, Froissart, Le Roman de la Rose, Amadis de
Gaule, the _Romances of Chivalry_ in various languages, and the
editiones principes of the classics, &c. &c., a comparison of the value
of which two centuries or less ago, as we find them in old catalogues,
with their present cost, so strikes the reader. Numerous books, on the
other hand, have experienced a proportionally equal depreciation:
"Sic volvenda aetas commutat tempora rerum;
Quod fuit in pretio, fit nullo denique honore," &c.
_Lucretius_, lib. v. 1276.