Notes and Queries, Number 08, December 22, 1849

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Various. Notes and Queries, Number 08, December 22, 1849

WHAT BOOKS DID OTLOH WRITE?

NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK FOR LONDON

WIVES OF ECCLESIASTICS

TOWER ROYAL

ANCIENT INSCRIBED DISH

BARNACLES

DORNE THE BOOKSELLER

REV. WM. STEPHENS' SERMONS

ROGER DE COVERLEY

MINOR NOTES

NOTES IN ANSWER TO MINOR QUERIES

QUERIES

LOVE, THE KING'S FOOL OF THAT NAME

MARE DE SAHAM—POSTUM PUSILLUM—WATEWICH

THE ADVENT BELLS

THE POETS

MR. POORE'S LITERARY COLLECTIONS—INIGO JONES—MEDAL OF STUKELEY—SIR JAMES THORNHILL

THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

MINOR QUERIES

NOTES ON BOOKS, CATALOGUES, SALES, ETC

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS

Отрывок из книги

Sir,—In Dr. Maitland's able vindication of the Dark Ages (p. 419. 1st ed.), he concludes his interesting extract from the scribe Otloh's account of himself by saying:—"One would like to know what books they were which Otlohnus thus multiplied; but this, perhaps, is now impossible." I have it accidentally in my power to identify two at least of the number; and if it was his universal practice to subscribe his name, as he does in these instances, a search into the principal repositories of MSS. would, no doubt, give a large list. A valuable MS. volume in my possession has been thus described by a learned Benedictine: "Codex Membranaceus constans foliis 223 numerando; sæculis ix. desinente, x. et xi. incipiente, variis manibus scriptus, per partes qui in unum collectus, ex scriptis variis natidæ scripturæ carlovingicæ, varia continens: 1° Vita et Passio, seu Martirium S. Dionisii; scripta fuit ab Hilduino Abbate Coenobii S. Dionisii in Francia sub Ludovico Pio." It is said that Hilduinus was the first writer who gave the marvellous story of the saint carrying his own head in his hand for nearly two miles after his decapitation. But he tells us that he abridged his narration ex Græcam et Latinorum Historiis.

2° Revelatio facta S. Stephano Papæ de consecratione altaris SS. Petri et Pauli ante Sepulchrum S. Martirii Dionisii quæ consecratio facta fuit v. kal. Aug. 754. This part of the MS. is remarkable for containing in one place the date written in Roman ciphers, thus—dccLiiii. v. kl. aug.; a circumstance so rare in MSS. of this age, as to have astonished the learned diplomatists Papebroch and Germon.

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We have here sufficient evidence that Otloh was a worthy predecessor of the distinguished Benedictines to whom the world of letters has been so deeply indebted in more recent times.

Dr. Maitland's mention of the calligraphic labours of the nun Diemudis, Otloh's contemporary, is not a solitary instance: in all ages, the world has been indebted to the pious zeal of these recluse females for the multiplication of books of devotion and devout instruction. An instance, of so late a date as the eve of the invention of printing, now lies before me, in a thick volume, most beautifully written by fair hands that must have been long practised in the art. As the colophon at the end preserves the names of the ladies, and records that the parchment was charitably furnished by their spiritual father, I think it worth transcribing:—

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