Notes and Queries, Number 210, November 5, 1853. Various
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to explain the phenomenon of Newton's appointment: while, as to the Mastership it may almost be said that Montague was more indebted to Newton for his peerage, than Newton to Montague for that promotion which any minister must, under the circumstances, have granted.
In no account of Newton that I ever read is it stated that Mrs. Barton was an intimate friend of Swift, probably through Halifax. Having been told that there is frequent mention of her in Swift's Journal to Stella, I examined that series and the rest of the correspondence, in which her name occurs about twenty times. One letter from herself, under the name of Conduitt (November 29, 1733), is indorsed by the Dean, "My old friend Mrs. Barton, now Mrs. Conduitt," and establishes the identity of Swift's friend with Newton's niece: otherwise, it proves nothing here. The other points to be noticed are as follows.
1710, September 28, November 30, March 7; 1711, April 3, July 18, October 14 and 25, Swift visited or dined with Mrs. Barton at her lodgings. He was also at this time on good terms with Halifax, and dined with him November 28, 1710, and with Mrs. Barton on November 30. According to the idiom of the day, lodgings was a name for every kind of residence, and even for the apartments of a guest in the house of his host. For anything to the contrary in the mere word, the lodgings might have been in the house of Lord Halifax, or of Newton himself. But, on the other hand, the future Dean, much as he writes to Stella of every kind of small talk, never mentions Halifax and Mrs. Barton together, never makes the slightest allusion to either in connexion with the other, though in one and the same letter he minutes his having dined with Halifax on the 28th, and with Mrs. Barton on the 30th. There must have been intentional suppression in this. All the world knew that there was some liaison between the two; yet when Swift (1711, Nov. 20) records his having been "teased with whiggish discourse" by Mrs. Barton, he does not even drop a sarcasm about her politics having been learnt from Halifax. This is the more remarkable as the two seem to have been almost the only persons who are mentioned as talking whiggery to him. To this list, however, may be added Lady Betty Germain, well known to the readers of Swift's poetry, who joined Mrs. Barton in inflicting the vexation, and at whose house the conversation took place. It thus appears that Mrs. Barton was received in a manner which shows that she was regarded as a respectable woman. The suppression on the part of Swift may indicate respect for his two friends (that he highly respected Mrs. Barton appears clear), and observance of a convention established in their circle. But perhaps it is rather to be attributed to his own position with respect to Stella, which was certainly peculiar, though no one can say what their understanding was at the date of the journal. This journal came again into Swift's hands before it was published; so that we can only treat it as containing what he finally chose to preserve. Allusions may have been struck out.
There is another point which our modern manners will not allow to be very closely handled in print, but on which I am disposed to lay some stress. On September 28, 1710, and April 3, 1711, Swift visited Mrs. Barton at her lodgings. On each of these occasions she regaled him with a good story, which there is no need to repeat: there is no harm in either, and they are far from being the most singular communications which he made to Stella; but they go beyond what, even in that day, will be considered as the probable conversation of a maiden lady of thirty-one, with a bachelor man of the world of forty-three. But they by no means exceed what we know to be the license then taken by married women; and Swift's tone with respect to the stories, combined with his obvious respect for Mrs. Barton, may make any one lean to the supposition that he believed himself to be talking to a married woman.
The reserve of Swift puts us quite at fault as to the locality of Mrs. Barton's lodgings. They may have been in Lord Halifax's house; but if not, it requires some supposition to explain why they were not in that of Newton, with whom she had lived, and with whom she certainly lived after the death of Halifax. Perhaps, when farther research is made in such directions as may be indicated by the only unreserved statement of the existing case which has ever been printed, the conclusion I arrive at, as to me the most probable, may either be reinforced, or another substituted for it. Be this as it may, such points as I have discussed, relating to such men as Newton, will not remain in abeyance for ever, let biographers be as timid as they will.
DR. PARR ON MILTON
Amongst my autographs I find the inclosed letter frown Dr. Parr. It is written upon a half-sheet of paper, and in a very cramp and illegible hand. To whom it is addressed, or when written, I am unable to say. As it relates to the opinions held by Milton, perhaps you may think it worth insertion in your work, particularly as Milton has been the subject of some papers in "N. & Q." lately.
Dear Sir,
I send you Johnson's Life of Milton. My former feelings again return upon me, that Johnson did not mean to affirm that Milton prayed not upon any occasion or in any manner; but that he was engaged in no visible worship; that he prayed at no stated time; that he had not what we may call any regular return of family or private devotion. Pray read the sequel. That he lived without prayer can hardly be affirmed, this surely is decided in my favour: it may wear the appearance of contradiction to the former passage, that omitting public prayer he omitted all; in truth, the expression just quoted is too peremptory and too general. But the sense of Johnson cannot be mistaken, if you attend to the different views he had in each sentence; and I repeat my former assertion, that Johnson did not think Milton destitute of a devout spirit, or totally negligent of prayer in some form or other.
PARTS OF MSS
As an instance of the unfortunate dispersion of the parts of valuable MSS. through different countries, occasioned probably, in the case now to be mentioned, by public convulsions and the wild fury of revolutionary mobs in France, will you afford me space to quote an interesting description of a MS. from the catalogue of a library to be sold at Paris in December next? The MSS. and printed books in this library belonged to the eminent bookseller J. J. De Bure, whose ancestor was the distinguished and well-known bibliographer Guillaume de Bure. The publicity given to descriptions like the present through the medium of "N. & Q." may ultimately lead, on some occasions, to the scattered volumes being brought together again, either by way of purchase, or in exchange for other works.
Oxford.
"Catalogue des Livres rares et précieux, manuscrits et imprimés, de la Bibliothèque de feu M. J. J. De Bure, ancien libraire du Roi et de la Bibliothèque Royale, etc.
"No. 1395. Le Second Livre des Commentaires de la Guerre Gallèque, par Caius Julius Cæsar, traduict en françois. In-8, mar. noir, avec des fermoirs en argent.
"Manuscrit sur vélin.
"L'ouvrage ne porte pas de titre; on lit seulement sur le plat du volume, Tomus Secundus, et au verso du 21 feuillet; c'y commence le Second livre des Commentaires de la Guerre Gallèque.
"Ce manuscrit a été fait pour François Ier; le chiffre de ce Prince se trouve au premier feuillet. Le Vol. se compose de 94 feuillets de texte, et de 4 feuillets de table. L'Ecriture est très-belle, et paraît être de l'un des meilleurs calligraphes de l'époque de Francois Ier; beaucoup de mots sont en or et en azur.
"On remarque 22 miniatures, 15 médaillons d'Empereurs et d'autres personnages Romains, 12 figures d'engins ou machines de guerre, et 2 fleurons; en tout 58 peintures.
"Ce n'est point, à proprement parler, une traduction des Commentaires. L'auteur suppose, dans le préambule de cette partie de l'ouvrage, que Francis Ier au Commencement du Moys d'Auguste, l'an 1519, allant courir le cerf en la fourest de Byevre, y fait la rencontre de César.
"De là, il établit un dialogue entre les deux personnages. François Ier s'enquiert des circonstances de la guerre des Gaules, et César lui en donne les détails tels qu'ils out été écrits par lui-même.
"On ne présente malheureusement ici qu'un Tome ii. Le Tome i. est au Musée Britannique: on le trouve indiqué sous le No. 6205. dans le Catalogue of the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, London, 1808,