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your lordship hath been conversant in, a lover of, and related to that nation.' The following is all that Mr. Thorowgood says of the translator:-"I was not unwilling, upon request, to premise these lines in memory of the noble Captain (unknown to me, yet), my countryman both by birth and education, of Norfolk and at Ely. His family is of great note and nobility in the former; his father was dean of the latter. He has been a military man, it seemeth, in Hungary and Germany, but was afterwards employed in state affairs by the two last kings, which, with the success, is related by himself, as also the manner how he came by the original copy.' Upon the subject of the vision the writer expresses himself somewhat cautiously, but yet with an evident disposition to believe the Captain's story. Having referred to several other instances on record of similar appearances, he proceeds: "These were, doubtless, marvellous phantasms and representations; but that is a wonder of wonders, and so it is said to be called and commonly seen in Ireland, which had been much spoken of before by persons of credit, but it is now reported by the mouth and under the hand of a minister (Mr. Samuel Smith), who had relation some time to Colonel Hampden" (he means the famous patriot); "and thus he writes, subscribing his name 'It is most certain that there is a visible ghost, which walks in the shape of a Christian, and most probably in a woman's shape; it walketh the whole length of one street and part of another. In the daytime it is seen only as a woman's head of hair upon the top of the water; in the night it constantly passeth over the bridge. It is all white, refrains none, hurts none it meets withal, but only passeth softly by and goeth its course. It hath formerly spoken with a loud voice, saying, Revenge! and no other word; now it only hisseth as a snake or a goose.' This Irish ghost of the Reverend Mr. Samuel Smith's may match old Aubrey's spirit, which showed itself not far from Cirencester in the year 1670; and "being demanded whether a good spirit or a bad, returned no answer, but disappeared with a curious perfume, and most melodious twang."

VOL. I.

D

II. NAMES OF AUTHORS IN THE MIDDLE

AGES.

M. BAILLET, in his 'Jugemens des Savans' (reprint of 1723), has given a curious list of disguises of every class under which the names of authors have appeared. We shall make a few extracts, which will amuse some readers and perhaps be useful to others. In addition to M. Baillet, we have looked into some other old French writers. The oldest author who has gone under different names, according to Baillet, is Moses, whom he follows Huet in asserting to be at once Thoth, Adonis, Thammuz, Osiris, Serapis, Apis, Orus, Anubis, Typhon, Zoroaster, Pan, Apollo, Bacchus, Vulcan, Priapus, Prometheus, Minos, Orpheus, Esculapius, Proteus, Tiresias, Janus, Evander, and several more. We were somewhat surprised at this list, till we saw Proteus among the number. However, the author gets on firmer ground as he comes nearer his own time.

The practice of changing the name was forbidden in France by Henry II. in 1555, except by letters patent. The Council of Trent, in 1546, required, under pain of excommunication, that the real name of the author should appear in every work on religious subjects, and the edicts of various kings appeared in France in support of the order of the Council, but without much success; indeed, only six years after the decree of the Council, a controversial work was printed at Paris by the English Bishop Gardiner, under the title of Constantius. Bellarmin wrote under the name of Matthew Tortus and several others.

At the revival of letters in Europe, the prevailing fancy was for ancient Latin and Greek names, and neither Christian name nor surname (when there was

NAMES OF AUTHORS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

57

one) was exempt from invasion. Peter of Calabria wrote under the title of Julius Pomponius Lætus; Marco Antonio Coccio under that of Marcus Antonius Curtius Sabellicus; Cristoval de Escobar under that of Lucius Christophorus Escobarius. Florent Chrétien, the tutor of Henry IV., took the name of Quintus Septimius Florens Christianus; the first because he was a fifth son, the second because he was a seven months' child. Many who were named John preferred Janus to Johannes, as being more pagan. John Paul of Paris, who ought to have been Johannes Paulus Parisius, preferred Aulus Janus Parrhasius.

Among the disguises of names is that of the scurrilous Pietro Aretino; the booksellers, after his death, fearing that his religious writings would hardly sell under that name, transposed it into Partenio Etiro.

Among those who have changed their names to conceal the lowness of their origin is the celebrated mathematician Gilles Personne, whom nobody knows under that name, but who is a great lord or squire, to all appearance, as well as a philosopher, under the title of M. de Roberval. He took the name of a small village, with the consent of the proprietor.

Aldo of Bassano, a peasant, began by styling himself Aldus de Bassano. After some residence at Rome, he preferred Aldus Romanus, and then adopted the Manucci, a distinguished family at Rome, calling himself Aldus Manutius Romanus. Afterwards, becoming acquainted with Alberto Pio, Prince of Carpi, he engrafted, by consent, another name upon his previous ones, and was Aldus Pius Manutius Romanus, the well-known printer.

There is a reverse sort of instance in Barthelemi, secretary of the Duke of Ferrara (died 1545), who took the surname of Ferrinus on marrying the daughter of a rich iron-merchant.

A French author could not bear his own name of Disne-Maudi (Dine in the Morning), but changed it to Dorat: but he gave his daughter to a M. Goulu (Mr. Guttle) without any stipulation as to change of name.

The Père Canard (in English, Father Duck) translated his name into Latin, and was called Anas. Another Jesuit, with the unlucky name of Comère, was disgusted at the sounds Père Comère, and greatly improved his name by merely changing a letter-he was then Père Comire.

Apelles is said to have hidden himself behind his pictures to hear the remarks of the public. The Jesuit Scheiner published his book on the spots of the sun, &c. (A.D. 1612) under the title of 'Apelles post Tabulam' (Apelles behind the Picture).

One man took the name of Idiota (a Private Person); another of Dacryanus (the Weeper); a third of Hamartolus (the Sinner), from modesty. Our "lovers of truth" and "enemies of humbug" in the newspapers are modest the other way, as stale fish mends in summer.

But the modesty of the first mentioned was undoubtedly for their contemporaries, not for us; they little thought, perhaps, that in a few centuries their real names would be as good symbols of obscurity as could well be.

The first author whom Baillet mentions as having feigned a name for pure deception's sake was the angel Raphael, as related in the story of Tobias. We do not know what works this writer left; probably they are lost. The number of private names which have been dropped in favour of others derived from estates is well-known. Thus Boileau was during his life M. Despréaux.

Mathematicians were in the habit of putting to works which treated any subject after the manner of an ancient author, the name of that author, with another derived from their own country: thus Vieta is, in one of his works, Apollonius Gallus; Snell is Eratosthenes Batavus; Adrian Romanus is Apollonius Batavus.

A Portuguese statesman took the name of his son, under which to publish a work on his own family, which his good sense told him was rather a foolish occupation. This method of deception was adopted in several other instances: Des Cartes would not at first believe that Pascal's Treatise on Conic Sections' (written when

he was very young) could be other than the work of his father.

Some have feigned relationships to make their works answer a purpose. A German Jesuit styled himself Conrad Andra, brother of James: the latter was a Protestant.

The formation of surnames out of the Christian names of parents is every common: the best known instance is Galileo Galilei (Ġ. the son of G.).

The nicknames will give a notion of the state of wit among the older moderns, which is not very flattering to them. Casaubon hit Scioppius very hard by calling him Scorpius; but J. Scaliger hit Temporarius still harder by changing him into Stercorarius; and Salmasius changed Kerkoetius into Cercopithecus. Some heretics called S. Athanasius, Sathanasius; and Ambrosius, Ombrosus. An Italian made Gronovius into Grunnovius. Scioppius turned Scaliger into Sacrilége by transposition of letters: the transposition is more perfect in "adversus J. Sacrilegum" (Scaligerum). Maimbourg, in writing on matters connected with the churches of Rome and France, styled himself Français Romain.

It was also common, in writing against an opponent, to assume as opposite a name as possible; thus Nicolas Crassus junior was answered by Nicodemus Macer senior, and Constantius à Monte Laboris by Anastasius à Valle Quietis.

Some changed their names into Latin or Greek of similar meaning: thus, Thalassius Basilide stands for Marin le Roy, Oxyorus for Montagu, Leucander for Whiteman, Pelagius for Morgan, Victorius Rusticus for Nicolas Villani, De Sacro Bosco for Holywood, De Mediâ Villa for Middleton.

In being retranslated, some authors had their countries changed; thus the Italian Capegistus Niger was often called Kopwisch der Schwartz; and Schwartzerdt, or Melancthon, was called Terranera.

The following list will show the general rules by which, particularly among the French, modern names

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