Cambridge, April 4. 1850.
P.S. Since the above was written, I have noticed that "_Tenable
Wednesday_" occurs three times in the Ordinance for "weshing of all
mannar of Lynnon belonging to my Lordes Chapell" in the Northumberland
Household Book (pp. 243, 244.). In each instance it is placed between
Lady Day and Easter Even.
[If our correspondent refers to Mr. Hampson's most useful work,
_Medii ævi Kalendarium_, vol. i. p. 370., to the words
_Tenables, Tenabulles, Tenebræ_, he will find them explained
"The three nights before Easter;" and the following among other
illustrations:--
"Worshipfull frendis, ye shall cum to holi chirch on Wednysday,
Thursday, and Friday at even for to here dyvyne service, as
commendable custom of holi chirch has ordeyned. And holi chirch
useth the iij dayes, Wednysday, Thursday, and Friday, the
service to be saide in the eventyde in derkenes. And hit is
called with divers men _Tenables_, but holi chirch _Tenebras_,
as _Raccionale Divinorum_ seth, that is to say, thieness or
derkenes, to commemorate the betrayal of our Lord by
night."--_Harl. MS._ 2247. fo. 83.]
_The Buckingham Motto._--Permit me to suggest that your correspondents
"S." and "P." (No. 18. pp. 283, 284.) are labouring under a mistaken
notion in supposing that the line
_Sovente me sorene_,
belongs to the French idiom, and answers to our phrase "Forget me not."
Such a sentiment would be sufficiently appropriate as the parting prayer
or injunction of a lover, but does not possess the essential
characteristic of a _motto_, which one selects for the purpose of
declaring his own sentiments of conduct towards _others_, not to
deprecate or direct those of others towards _himself_.
The language employed is, in part, pure Italian, not antiquated, but
exactly such as is spoken by persons of education at the present day;
and if "S." would again examine the original MS., I make no doubt that
he would find the line written _Sovente mi sooviene (sovene)_, i.e. with
the personal pronoun in the dative instead of the accusative case. The
expression _mi souviene_ is equivalent to _mi ricordo_, but is a more
elegant form that the latter; and the meaning of the motto will be "I
seldom forget,"--a pithy and suggestive sentence, implying as much the
memory of a wrong to be avenged as of a favour to be required.