Chapter 36

[489]Letter of May 23rd, 1855.[490]The Signor Churi mentioned by M. Fernando is the author of a curious and interesting volume of travels—“The Sea Nile, the Desert and Nigritia,” published in 1853. Being obliged by ill health to leave the Propaganda, and unwilling for many reasons to return to his native Lebanon, he settled in London as a teacher of oriental languages. One of his pupils in Arabic, Captain Peel, engaged him in 1850, as his interpreter in a tour of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land, and afterwards, in 1851, in an expedition to the interior of Africa, which forms the subject of Signor Churi’s volume.[491]I have been assured by M. Bauer, a student of the Propaganda in 1855, that he often conversed with the Cardinal in Hungarian, during the years 1847 and 1848.[492]A comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or South-Indian Family of Languages. By the Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A., London, 1856.[493]In a letter dated Calcutta, September 20, 1855.[494]Letter dated Calcutta, September 22, 1855.[495]See a most amusing account by Père Bourgeois, in the Lettres Edifiantes, of his first Chinese Sermon, which D’Israeli has translated. An interesting exposition of the difficulties of the Chinese language is found in Grüber’s Relazione di Cina, Florence, 1697.[496]Dated Rome, May 23, 1855.[497]What Europeans call the Mandarin language is by the Chinese designated Houan-Hoa, or universal language. It is spoken by instructed persons throughout the Empire, although with a marked difference of pronunciation in the northern and the southern provinces. Besides this, there are dialects peculiar to the provinces of Kouang-tong, and Fo-kien, as well as several minor dialects. See Huc’s Chinese Empire, I. p. 319-20.[498]See Adelung, Mithridates, III. part I. pp. 207-24.[499]Letter of February 7, 1857. I had submitted these pieces to Dr. Livingston; but as he, having been ill all the time he remained in Angola, had never learned that language, he was good enough to send the papers to Mr. Brande. The latter, besides kindly communicating to me his own opinion regarding them, has taken the trouble to forward them to a friend at Loando, to be submitted to an intelligent native in whose judgment Mr. Brande has full confidence; but as yet (March 15, 1858,) no reply has reached me.[500]See an excellent article in Morone’s “Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-ecclesiastica,” as also the Kirchen-Lexicon, vol. II. 344 and foll.[501]A friend of mine who chanced to pass as one of these carriages (which had been dismantled preparatory to its being newly fitted up,) was on its way to the Pontifical Factory for the purpose, overheard some idle boys who were looking on, laughing at its heavy, lumbering look, and saying to each other: “Che barcaccia!” (What a shocking old boat!). He was greatly amused at the indignation with which the coachman resented this impertinent criticism.[502]A sample of Mezzofanti’s own performance as a Filopiero—his reply to the verses of his friend, Count Marchesi—is given by Marchetti, in hisPagine Monumentali, p. 150.De tuoi versi il contento,Cosi nell’ alma io sento,Che versi rendo gratulando teco,Ma oime’! ch’ io son qual eco,Che molti suoni asconde,E languida da lungi al fin responde.[503]The title is “All’ Ementissimo Signor Cardinale Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Bolognese, elevato all’ Onore della Porpora Romana, Applausi dei Filopieri, 8vo., Bologna, 1838.” A similar tribute from the pen of Doctor Veggetti, who had succeeded Mezzofanti as Librarian, appeared a short time before, entitled “Tributo di Lode a Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Bolognese, creato Cardinale il Giorno 12 Febbraro, 1838.” Bologna, 1838.[504]Stolz, Biografia, p. 7.[505]A bon-mot on occasion of Monsignor Mezzofanti’s elevation, which I heard from Cardinal Wiseman, and which is ascribed to the good old Cardinal Rivarola, is worth recording, although the point is not fully appreciable, except in Italian.Mezzofanti, from his childhood, had worn ear-rings, as a preventive, according to the popular notion, against an affection of the eyes, to which he had been subject. Some one observed that it was strange to see a “Cardinal wearing ear-rings,” (chi porta orecchini.)“Not at all,” rejoined Cardinal Rivarola, “Ci han da essere tanti uomini in dignità che portanoorecchine(”long ears“—”asses ears,“) e perchè non ci ha da essere uno almeno chi portiorecchini? (ear-rings.) There are many dignitaries who haveorecchine, (asses-ears), and why should not there be at least one withorecchini—ear-rings?”[506]Perhaps it is not generally known that the brothers Antoine and Arnauld d’Abbadie, although French by name, fortune, and education, are not only children of an Irish mother, but were born, and spent the first years of childhood, in Dublin. M. Antoine d’Abbadie lived in Dublin till his eighth year. See his letter to the Athenæum, (Cairo, Nov. 15, 1848,) vol. for 1849, p. 93.[507]TheJournal Asiatique, passim; the Athenæum, 1839, 1845, 1849: the Geographical Society of France, and of England, &c.[508]M. d’Abbadie collected with great care, as opportunity offered, vocabularies, more or less extensive, of a vast number of the languages of this region of Africa. His collections, also, on the natural history and geography, as well as on the religious and social condition of the country, are most extensive and valuable. The work in which he is understood to be engaged upon the subject, is looked for with much interest.[509]When M. d’Abbadie, in one of his letters to the Athenæum, first alluded to the Ilmorma, its existence, as a distinct language, was absolutely denied.[510]One of the writers on the Basque Grammar, Manuel de Larramendi, entitles his book, Impossible vencido, (“The Impossible Overcome,”) 8vo. Salamanca, 1729. Some idea, though a faint one, of the difficulty of this Grammar, may be formed from the number and names of the words of a Basque verb. They are no less than eleven; and are denominated by grammarians, the Indicative, the Consuetudinal, the Potential, the Voluntary, the Necessary (coactive,) the Imperative, Subjunctive, Optative,Penitudinary(!) and Infinitive.—The variety of tenses in Basque also, is very great. But it should be added that the structure of these moods and tenses is described as singularly philosophical, and full of harmony and of analogy.[511]Letter of M. d’Abbadie, May 6, 1855.[512]Manavit, p. 109.[513]Olaszhoni es Schweizi Vtazas Irta Paget Janosné Wesselenyi Polyxena, 1842, vol. I., p. 180. Mr. Watts’s Memoir, p. 121.[514]This book is in the Library Catalogue, p. 138.[515]Letter of June 6, 1855.[516]Volume X. (1842.) p. 227—279-80.[517]Christmas Holidays at Rome. By the Rev. Ingraham Kip, edited by the Rev. W. Sewell, p. 175.[518]Letter of October 11, 1857.[519]Letter of Feb. 23, 1847.[520]Italy I. 292.[521]I think it was the late Rev. John Smyth, a clergyman of Dublin, who, while I myself was in Rome, conversed with Cardinal Mezzofanti under the impression that he was speaking with the English Cardinal Acton.[522]In 3 vols., 12mo., London, 1757. It contains the original and the translation in parallel pages. The author was Sieur Townley the well-known collector, and a member of the distinguished catholic family of that name. The translation is certainly most curiously exact in letter and in spirit, and fully deserves all that Mr. Badeley has said of it.[523]The exhibition at present, and for some years back, is held in the church of the Propaganda.[524]Of the princely house of Massimo, which is said to claim descent from the greatCunctator. The marked contrast between the diminutive stature of the Cardinal, and the noble and commanding figure of the Prince, his elder brother, gave occasion to one of those livelymotsfor which Rome is celebrated. The brothers were called, “Il PrincipeMassimo, ed il CardinalMenomo.”[525]These were (1,) Hebrew; (2,) Syriac; (3,) Samaritan; (4,) ancient Chaldee; (5,) Modern Chaldee; (6,) Arabic; (7,) ancient Armenian; (8,) modern Armenian; (9,) Turkish; (10,) Persian; (11,) Albanian; (12,) Sabean;—a dialect of Syriac, which Adelung prefers to call Zabian;—(13,) Maltese; (14,) Greek; (15,) Romaic; (16,) Ethiopic; (17,) Coptic; (18,) Amariña; (19,) Tamul; (20,) Koordish; (21,) Kunkan,—one of the dialects of the Bengal coast;—(22,) Georgian; (23,) Welsh; (24,) Irish; (25,) Gælic; (26,) English; (27,) Illyrian; (28,) Bulgarian; (29,) Polish; (30,) Peguan; (31,) Swedish; (32,) ancient German; (33,) modern German; (34,) Swiss German; (35,) Dutch; (36,) Spanish; (37,) Catalan; (38,) Portuguese; (39,) French; (40,) ancient Chinese; (41,) Chinese of Tchang-si; (42,) Chinese of Canton.I was somewhat surprised to miss Russian from the catalogue. In the Academy of the present year, it appears in its proper place. See “Academia Poliglotta nel Collegio Urbano de Prop. Fide, per l’Epifania del 1858,” p. 38.[526]This youth, as I afterwards learned, was called by the strange name, Moses Ngnau. He was a native of Pegu, and returned to his own mission in 1850; but unhappily his career was terminated by an early death.[527]The journals of this week, (March 18,) relate a most astonishing feat of the great modern chess-player, Dr. Harwitz. He has just played three games simultaneously, against three most eminent players, without once seeing any of the boards, or even entering the room in which the moves were made, during the entire time! He won two of the games—the third being a drawn one.[528]The most recent information regarding this curious subject is contained in a report by Dr. Aufrecht, which Bunsen has printed in his Christianity and Mankind, III., p. 87, and foll; See also Mommsen’s Unter-italische Dialekten.[529]Letter of January 15, 1857.[530]Cardinal Wiseman told me of a priest who, after having lived for twenty years in France, was mortified to find himself discovered as an Englishman, by the way in which he said “ah!” in expression of his acknowledgment of an answer given to him by a person to whom he addressed a question in a crowd. This may explain an anecdote in Moore’s Diary, which he could not himself understand. A lady was coming in to dinner, and, on her passing through the ante-room, where Talleyrand was standing, he looked up and exclaimed insignificantly “ah!” In the course of the dinner, the lady, having asked him across the table why he had uttered the exclamation of “oh”! on her entrance, Talleyrand, with a grave self-vindicatory look, answered;Madame, je n’ai pas ditoh!j’ai ditah, (Memoirs VII., p. 5).One of the standing jokes against the capuchins in Italy is about an “alphabet” which they are supposed to learn during the noviciate, and which consists exclusively of the interjectionO!—which single sound, by the varieties of look, gesture, air, and expression which accompany it, is made to embody almost every conceivable meaning.Much light is thrown on more than one obscure passage in the Latin classics by the gesticulations which still prevail in modern Italy, especially in Naples. See the Canon De Jorio’s extremely curious and learned book, “Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napolitano.”[531]Supra, p. 379.[532]The pun is less observable in writing than in speaking; the wordsweiss-haarandweiserresemble each other more closely in sound, than in appearance. It might be rendered:“Would to God, that, as I have becomewhiter, so I had also grownwiser!”[533]This is a mistake. The work published at Philadelphia is not a general treatise on the Indian Languages, but a Grammar of the Lenni-Lennape Language nor is it an original work of Du Ponceau: but a translation by him, with notes, from the German MS. of David Zeisberger. It is in 4to. and was published at Philadelphia in 1827. Du Ponceau’s own work on the Indian languages, was published in Paris, 8vo. 1838.[534]Christmas holidays in Rome, by the Rev. Ingraham Kip.[535]Gaume, Les Trois Rome, II. 413-4.[536]Letter of November 9, 1855.[537]Letter of July 14, 1856.[538]Remskiya Pisma—(by M. Mouravieff.) vol. I., p. 144.[539]See theAllgemeine Zeitung, for 1846. No. 4, p. 27. See also the Kirchen-Lexicon. B. IV., p. 729. This interview forms the subject of one of the most brilliant sketches in Cardinal Wiseman’s “Recollections of the Last Four Popes,” pp. 409, and foll.[540]Manavit, p. 113.[541]Translated by Mr. Watts.“The fire that burns within that breast of thine,Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.”Trans. of Philological Society, 1854, p. 148.[542]See an article in “Household Words,” May 13, 1854 (No. 216). See also Rohrbacher’s Histoire de l’Eglise, T. XXVIII. pp. 431-42.[543]Manavit, p. 95.[544]Quoted by Manavit, p. 98.[545]Another impromptu epigram composed by the Cardinal, while the memorable procession of the 8th of September following, was returning from the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, amid the universal jubilation of Rome, and of representatives of all the Papal provinces, has been communicated to me.Te Patre, Teque Pio, junguntur Principe corda:—Ecce Tibi unum cor, Felsina, Roma, sumus![546]Civiltà Cattolica VII, p. 877. This brilliant account of the Cardinal is given in the “Appendix” of Father Bresciani’sEbreo di Verona, and is full of most curious and interesting details.[547]Civiltà Cattolica, VII. p. 577.[548]Hiszucchetto, the red skull-cap worn by Cardinals, is preserved in the collection at Abbotsford.[549]Civiltà Cattolica, VII. 596.[550]Civiltà Cattolica, VII., p. 578.[551]I do not know what language is here meant. Perhaps it is a mistake forBavara—the Bavarian dialect of German: or possibly it may mean the Dutch of theBoorsat the Cape of Good Hope.[552]PossiblyBerberica—the Barbary dialect of Arabic.[553]This is probably meant forConcanico—an Indian language which often appeared in the programme of the Propaganda Academy, while Mezzofanti was in Rome. It is the dialect of Kunka, in the province of Orissa.[554]This is certainly meant forTepehuana, one of the Central American point of languages.[555]Probably by these names are meant the twospokendialects of the orthodox Christians of modern Egypt. The Coptic (No. 23.) is thelearnedlanguage of the Liturgy.[556]This item, as well as Nos. 47 and 53, may be ascribed to the writer’s desire to swell the total of his uncle’s languages—I need hardly say that they have no practical bearing on the question.[557]I am unable to conjecture the meaning of this name.[558]This is either a repetition of No. 56., or it designates the whole class of languages called Iberian, and not an individual language.[559]Perhaps Misteco—the Mistek; one of the Mexican group of languages. Many interesting particulars regarding them will be found in Squier’s Nicaragua.[560]This probably means the old Celtic of Brittany. No. 50 is the modern patois of the province.[561]If this be meant for Gælic, as seems likely, No. 73 can only be the Lowland Scotch.[562]I need hardly observe on the vagueness of this name. Mezzofanti learned from more than one missionary something of the languages of Oceanica; but how much I have no means of determining.[563]For Pampanga, one of the languages of the Philippine Islands—an offshoot of the Malay family.[564]The old language of Peru. It is fast recovering the ground from which it had been driven by the Spanish. See Markham’s “Cuzco and Lima.”[565]I cannot guess what is meant by this name.[566]A language of the New Hebrides. See Adelung, I. p. 626.[567]There can be no doubt that much light on this point may be derived from a thorough examination of these books and manuscripts; and I trust that some of the Cardinal’s friends at Rome, (where his library is now deposited, having been purchased for the Vatican,) will undertake the task. I have endeavoured in some degree to supply the want by a careful examination of the catalogue published in Rome in 1851, and often cited in this volume. But it is so full of the grossest and most ludicrous inaccuracies, so utterly unscientific, and so constantly confounds one language with another, that it can only be used with the utmost caution, and at best affords but little assistance for the purposes of the Memoir.[568]I should observe that I do not think it necessary to adopt the nomenclature of languages recently introduced. I will for the most part follow that of Adelung.[569]I shall refer for the several languages, to the pages which contain the notices of the Cardinal’s proficiency in each. There are two or three cases in which the proof may not appear quite decisive: but I have much understated, even in these, the common opinion of his friends.[570]In this and the few other instances in which I have referred to Cavaliere Minarelli’s list of the Cardinal’s languages, it is amply supported by the printed catalogue of his library, which contains several works in each language, evidently provided with a view to the study of it.[571]I once travelled through the entire length of France with a friend, who was an excellent book-scholar in the French language, but who, from the feeling which I describe, never could prevail on himself to attempt to speak French in my presence. During a journey of several days, I only heard him utter one solitaryoui; and even this was at a time when he was not aware that I was within hearing.[572]p. 290.[573]p. 78.[574]P. 391.[575]P. 291[576]There is little originality in this piece, the words and forms being closely scriptural. It is without points, but he occasionally, also, employed them in writing Hebrew.[577]Eumetes was the name under which, by ancient usage of theArcadi, Gregory XVI., before his elevation, had been enrolled in their Academy.[578]Domenichino’s Communion of St. Jerome.[579]Communion of St. Sebastian, also by Domenichino.[580]Guercino’s St. Petronilla.[581]Algardi’s bas-relief group of Attila and St. Leo.[582]As I have no knowledge of this or the Grisons language, I fear the orthography will be found inaccurate.

[489]Letter of May 23rd, 1855.

[490]The Signor Churi mentioned by M. Fernando is the author of a curious and interesting volume of travels—“The Sea Nile, the Desert and Nigritia,” published in 1853. Being obliged by ill health to leave the Propaganda, and unwilling for many reasons to return to his native Lebanon, he settled in London as a teacher of oriental languages. One of his pupils in Arabic, Captain Peel, engaged him in 1850, as his interpreter in a tour of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land, and afterwards, in 1851, in an expedition to the interior of Africa, which forms the subject of Signor Churi’s volume.

[491]I have been assured by M. Bauer, a student of the Propaganda in 1855, that he often conversed with the Cardinal in Hungarian, during the years 1847 and 1848.

[492]A comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or South-Indian Family of Languages. By the Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A., London, 1856.

[493]In a letter dated Calcutta, September 20, 1855.

[494]Letter dated Calcutta, September 22, 1855.

[495]See a most amusing account by Père Bourgeois, in the Lettres Edifiantes, of his first Chinese Sermon, which D’Israeli has translated. An interesting exposition of the difficulties of the Chinese language is found in Grüber’s Relazione di Cina, Florence, 1697.

[496]Dated Rome, May 23, 1855.

[497]What Europeans call the Mandarin language is by the Chinese designated Houan-Hoa, or universal language. It is spoken by instructed persons throughout the Empire, although with a marked difference of pronunciation in the northern and the southern provinces. Besides this, there are dialects peculiar to the provinces of Kouang-tong, and Fo-kien, as well as several minor dialects. See Huc’s Chinese Empire, I. p. 319-20.

[498]See Adelung, Mithridates, III. part I. pp. 207-24.

[499]Letter of February 7, 1857. I had submitted these pieces to Dr. Livingston; but as he, having been ill all the time he remained in Angola, had never learned that language, he was good enough to send the papers to Mr. Brande. The latter, besides kindly communicating to me his own opinion regarding them, has taken the trouble to forward them to a friend at Loando, to be submitted to an intelligent native in whose judgment Mr. Brande has full confidence; but as yet (March 15, 1858,) no reply has reached me.

[500]See an excellent article in Morone’s “Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-ecclesiastica,” as also the Kirchen-Lexicon, vol. II. 344 and foll.

[501]A friend of mine who chanced to pass as one of these carriages (which had been dismantled preparatory to its being newly fitted up,) was on its way to the Pontifical Factory for the purpose, overheard some idle boys who were looking on, laughing at its heavy, lumbering look, and saying to each other: “Che barcaccia!” (What a shocking old boat!). He was greatly amused at the indignation with which the coachman resented this impertinent criticism.

[502]A sample of Mezzofanti’s own performance as a Filopiero—his reply to the verses of his friend, Count Marchesi—is given by Marchetti, in hisPagine Monumentali, p. 150.De tuoi versi il contento,Cosi nell’ alma io sento,Che versi rendo gratulando teco,Ma oime’! ch’ io son qual eco,Che molti suoni asconde,E languida da lungi al fin responde.

[502]A sample of Mezzofanti’s own performance as a Filopiero—his reply to the verses of his friend, Count Marchesi—is given by Marchetti, in hisPagine Monumentali, p. 150.

De tuoi versi il contento,Cosi nell’ alma io sento,Che versi rendo gratulando teco,Ma oime’! ch’ io son qual eco,Che molti suoni asconde,E languida da lungi al fin responde.

De tuoi versi il contento,

Cosi nell’ alma io sento,

Che versi rendo gratulando teco,

Ma oime’! ch’ io son qual eco,

Che molti suoni asconde,

E languida da lungi al fin responde.

[503]The title is “All’ Ementissimo Signor Cardinale Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Bolognese, elevato all’ Onore della Porpora Romana, Applausi dei Filopieri, 8vo., Bologna, 1838.” A similar tribute from the pen of Doctor Veggetti, who had succeeded Mezzofanti as Librarian, appeared a short time before, entitled “Tributo di Lode a Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Bolognese, creato Cardinale il Giorno 12 Febbraro, 1838.” Bologna, 1838.

[504]Stolz, Biografia, p. 7.

[505]A bon-mot on occasion of Monsignor Mezzofanti’s elevation, which I heard from Cardinal Wiseman, and which is ascribed to the good old Cardinal Rivarola, is worth recording, although the point is not fully appreciable, except in Italian.Mezzofanti, from his childhood, had worn ear-rings, as a preventive, according to the popular notion, against an affection of the eyes, to which he had been subject. Some one observed that it was strange to see a “Cardinal wearing ear-rings,” (chi porta orecchini.)“Not at all,” rejoined Cardinal Rivarola, “Ci han da essere tanti uomini in dignità che portanoorecchine(”long ears“—”asses ears,“) e perchè non ci ha da essere uno almeno chi portiorecchini? (ear-rings.) There are many dignitaries who haveorecchine, (asses-ears), and why should not there be at least one withorecchini—ear-rings?”

Mezzofanti, from his childhood, had worn ear-rings, as a preventive, according to the popular notion, against an affection of the eyes, to which he had been subject. Some one observed that it was strange to see a “Cardinal wearing ear-rings,” (chi porta orecchini.)

“Not at all,” rejoined Cardinal Rivarola, “Ci han da essere tanti uomini in dignità che portanoorecchine(”long ears“—”asses ears,“) e perchè non ci ha da essere uno almeno chi portiorecchini? (ear-rings.) There are many dignitaries who haveorecchine, (asses-ears), and why should not there be at least one withorecchini—ear-rings?”

[506]Perhaps it is not generally known that the brothers Antoine and Arnauld d’Abbadie, although French by name, fortune, and education, are not only children of an Irish mother, but were born, and spent the first years of childhood, in Dublin. M. Antoine d’Abbadie lived in Dublin till his eighth year. See his letter to the Athenæum, (Cairo, Nov. 15, 1848,) vol. for 1849, p. 93.

[507]TheJournal Asiatique, passim; the Athenæum, 1839, 1845, 1849: the Geographical Society of France, and of England, &c.

[508]M. d’Abbadie collected with great care, as opportunity offered, vocabularies, more or less extensive, of a vast number of the languages of this region of Africa. His collections, also, on the natural history and geography, as well as on the religious and social condition of the country, are most extensive and valuable. The work in which he is understood to be engaged upon the subject, is looked for with much interest.

[509]When M. d’Abbadie, in one of his letters to the Athenæum, first alluded to the Ilmorma, its existence, as a distinct language, was absolutely denied.

[510]One of the writers on the Basque Grammar, Manuel de Larramendi, entitles his book, Impossible vencido, (“The Impossible Overcome,”) 8vo. Salamanca, 1729. Some idea, though a faint one, of the difficulty of this Grammar, may be formed from the number and names of the words of a Basque verb. They are no less than eleven; and are denominated by grammarians, the Indicative, the Consuetudinal, the Potential, the Voluntary, the Necessary (coactive,) the Imperative, Subjunctive, Optative,Penitudinary(!) and Infinitive.—The variety of tenses in Basque also, is very great. But it should be added that the structure of these moods and tenses is described as singularly philosophical, and full of harmony and of analogy.

[511]Letter of M. d’Abbadie, May 6, 1855.

[512]Manavit, p. 109.

[513]Olaszhoni es Schweizi Vtazas Irta Paget Janosné Wesselenyi Polyxena, 1842, vol. I., p. 180. Mr. Watts’s Memoir, p. 121.

[514]This book is in the Library Catalogue, p. 138.

[515]Letter of June 6, 1855.

[516]Volume X. (1842.) p. 227—279-80.

[517]Christmas Holidays at Rome. By the Rev. Ingraham Kip, edited by the Rev. W. Sewell, p. 175.

[518]Letter of October 11, 1857.

[519]Letter of Feb. 23, 1847.

[520]Italy I. 292.

[521]I think it was the late Rev. John Smyth, a clergyman of Dublin, who, while I myself was in Rome, conversed with Cardinal Mezzofanti under the impression that he was speaking with the English Cardinal Acton.

[522]In 3 vols., 12mo., London, 1757. It contains the original and the translation in parallel pages. The author was Sieur Townley the well-known collector, and a member of the distinguished catholic family of that name. The translation is certainly most curiously exact in letter and in spirit, and fully deserves all that Mr. Badeley has said of it.

[523]The exhibition at present, and for some years back, is held in the church of the Propaganda.

[524]Of the princely house of Massimo, which is said to claim descent from the greatCunctator. The marked contrast between the diminutive stature of the Cardinal, and the noble and commanding figure of the Prince, his elder brother, gave occasion to one of those livelymotsfor which Rome is celebrated. The brothers were called, “Il PrincipeMassimo, ed il CardinalMenomo.”

[525]These were (1,) Hebrew; (2,) Syriac; (3,) Samaritan; (4,) ancient Chaldee; (5,) Modern Chaldee; (6,) Arabic; (7,) ancient Armenian; (8,) modern Armenian; (9,) Turkish; (10,) Persian; (11,) Albanian; (12,) Sabean;—a dialect of Syriac, which Adelung prefers to call Zabian;—(13,) Maltese; (14,) Greek; (15,) Romaic; (16,) Ethiopic; (17,) Coptic; (18,) Amariña; (19,) Tamul; (20,) Koordish; (21,) Kunkan,—one of the dialects of the Bengal coast;—(22,) Georgian; (23,) Welsh; (24,) Irish; (25,) Gælic; (26,) English; (27,) Illyrian; (28,) Bulgarian; (29,) Polish; (30,) Peguan; (31,) Swedish; (32,) ancient German; (33,) modern German; (34,) Swiss German; (35,) Dutch; (36,) Spanish; (37,) Catalan; (38,) Portuguese; (39,) French; (40,) ancient Chinese; (41,) Chinese of Tchang-si; (42,) Chinese of Canton.I was somewhat surprised to miss Russian from the catalogue. In the Academy of the present year, it appears in its proper place. See “Academia Poliglotta nel Collegio Urbano de Prop. Fide, per l’Epifania del 1858,” p. 38.

I was somewhat surprised to miss Russian from the catalogue. In the Academy of the present year, it appears in its proper place. See “Academia Poliglotta nel Collegio Urbano de Prop. Fide, per l’Epifania del 1858,” p. 38.

[526]This youth, as I afterwards learned, was called by the strange name, Moses Ngnau. He was a native of Pegu, and returned to his own mission in 1850; but unhappily his career was terminated by an early death.

[527]The journals of this week, (March 18,) relate a most astonishing feat of the great modern chess-player, Dr. Harwitz. He has just played three games simultaneously, against three most eminent players, without once seeing any of the boards, or even entering the room in which the moves were made, during the entire time! He won two of the games—the third being a drawn one.

[528]The most recent information regarding this curious subject is contained in a report by Dr. Aufrecht, which Bunsen has printed in his Christianity and Mankind, III., p. 87, and foll; See also Mommsen’s Unter-italische Dialekten.

[529]Letter of January 15, 1857.

[530]Cardinal Wiseman told me of a priest who, after having lived for twenty years in France, was mortified to find himself discovered as an Englishman, by the way in which he said “ah!” in expression of his acknowledgment of an answer given to him by a person to whom he addressed a question in a crowd. This may explain an anecdote in Moore’s Diary, which he could not himself understand. A lady was coming in to dinner, and, on her passing through the ante-room, where Talleyrand was standing, he looked up and exclaimed insignificantly “ah!” In the course of the dinner, the lady, having asked him across the table why he had uttered the exclamation of “oh”! on her entrance, Talleyrand, with a grave self-vindicatory look, answered;Madame, je n’ai pas ditoh!j’ai ditah, (Memoirs VII., p. 5).One of the standing jokes against the capuchins in Italy is about an “alphabet” which they are supposed to learn during the noviciate, and which consists exclusively of the interjectionO!—which single sound, by the varieties of look, gesture, air, and expression which accompany it, is made to embody almost every conceivable meaning.Much light is thrown on more than one obscure passage in the Latin classics by the gesticulations which still prevail in modern Italy, especially in Naples. See the Canon De Jorio’s extremely curious and learned book, “Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napolitano.”

One of the standing jokes against the capuchins in Italy is about an “alphabet” which they are supposed to learn during the noviciate, and which consists exclusively of the interjectionO!—which single sound, by the varieties of look, gesture, air, and expression which accompany it, is made to embody almost every conceivable meaning.

Much light is thrown on more than one obscure passage in the Latin classics by the gesticulations which still prevail in modern Italy, especially in Naples. See the Canon De Jorio’s extremely curious and learned book, “Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napolitano.”

[531]Supra, p. 379.

[532]The pun is less observable in writing than in speaking; the wordsweiss-haarandweiserresemble each other more closely in sound, than in appearance. It might be rendered:“Would to God, that, as I have becomewhiter, so I had also grownwiser!”

[532]The pun is less observable in writing than in speaking; the wordsweiss-haarandweiserresemble each other more closely in sound, than in appearance. It might be rendered:

“Would to God, that, as I have becomewhiter, so I had also grownwiser!”

[533]This is a mistake. The work published at Philadelphia is not a general treatise on the Indian Languages, but a Grammar of the Lenni-Lennape Language nor is it an original work of Du Ponceau: but a translation by him, with notes, from the German MS. of David Zeisberger. It is in 4to. and was published at Philadelphia in 1827. Du Ponceau’s own work on the Indian languages, was published in Paris, 8vo. 1838.

[534]Christmas holidays in Rome, by the Rev. Ingraham Kip.

[535]Gaume, Les Trois Rome, II. 413-4.

[536]Letter of November 9, 1855.

[537]Letter of July 14, 1856.

[538]Remskiya Pisma—(by M. Mouravieff.) vol. I., p. 144.

[539]See theAllgemeine Zeitung, for 1846. No. 4, p. 27. See also the Kirchen-Lexicon. B. IV., p. 729. This interview forms the subject of one of the most brilliant sketches in Cardinal Wiseman’s “Recollections of the Last Four Popes,” pp. 409, and foll.

[540]Manavit, p. 113.

[541]Translated by Mr. Watts.“The fire that burns within that breast of thine,Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.”Trans. of Philological Society, 1854, p. 148.

[541]Translated by Mr. Watts.

“The fire that burns within that breast of thine,Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.”Trans. of Philological Society, 1854, p. 148.

“The fire that burns within that breast of thine,Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.”

“The fire that burns within that breast of thine,

Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.”

Trans. of Philological Society, 1854, p. 148.

[542]See an article in “Household Words,” May 13, 1854 (No. 216). See also Rohrbacher’s Histoire de l’Eglise, T. XXVIII. pp. 431-42.

[543]Manavit, p. 95.

[544]Quoted by Manavit, p. 98.

[545]Another impromptu epigram composed by the Cardinal, while the memorable procession of the 8th of September following, was returning from the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, amid the universal jubilation of Rome, and of representatives of all the Papal provinces, has been communicated to me.Te Patre, Teque Pio, junguntur Principe corda:—Ecce Tibi unum cor, Felsina, Roma, sumus!

Te Patre, Teque Pio, junguntur Principe corda:—Ecce Tibi unum cor, Felsina, Roma, sumus!

Te Patre, Teque Pio, junguntur Principe corda:—

Ecce Tibi unum cor, Felsina, Roma, sumus!

[546]Civiltà Cattolica VII, p. 877. This brilliant account of the Cardinal is given in the “Appendix” of Father Bresciani’sEbreo di Verona, and is full of most curious and interesting details.

[547]Civiltà Cattolica, VII. p. 577.

[548]Hiszucchetto, the red skull-cap worn by Cardinals, is preserved in the collection at Abbotsford.

[549]Civiltà Cattolica, VII. 596.

[550]Civiltà Cattolica, VII., p. 578.

[551]I do not know what language is here meant. Perhaps it is a mistake forBavara—the Bavarian dialect of German: or possibly it may mean the Dutch of theBoorsat the Cape of Good Hope.

[552]PossiblyBerberica—the Barbary dialect of Arabic.

[553]This is probably meant forConcanico—an Indian language which often appeared in the programme of the Propaganda Academy, while Mezzofanti was in Rome. It is the dialect of Kunka, in the province of Orissa.

[554]This is certainly meant forTepehuana, one of the Central American point of languages.

[555]Probably by these names are meant the twospokendialects of the orthodox Christians of modern Egypt. The Coptic (No. 23.) is thelearnedlanguage of the Liturgy.

[556]This item, as well as Nos. 47 and 53, may be ascribed to the writer’s desire to swell the total of his uncle’s languages—I need hardly say that they have no practical bearing on the question.

[557]I am unable to conjecture the meaning of this name.

[558]This is either a repetition of No. 56., or it designates the whole class of languages called Iberian, and not an individual language.

[559]Perhaps Misteco—the Mistek; one of the Mexican group of languages. Many interesting particulars regarding them will be found in Squier’s Nicaragua.

[560]This probably means the old Celtic of Brittany. No. 50 is the modern patois of the province.

[561]If this be meant for Gælic, as seems likely, No. 73 can only be the Lowland Scotch.

[562]I need hardly observe on the vagueness of this name. Mezzofanti learned from more than one missionary something of the languages of Oceanica; but how much I have no means of determining.

[563]For Pampanga, one of the languages of the Philippine Islands—an offshoot of the Malay family.

[564]The old language of Peru. It is fast recovering the ground from which it had been driven by the Spanish. See Markham’s “Cuzco and Lima.”

[565]I cannot guess what is meant by this name.

[566]A language of the New Hebrides. See Adelung, I. p. 626.

[567]There can be no doubt that much light on this point may be derived from a thorough examination of these books and manuscripts; and I trust that some of the Cardinal’s friends at Rome, (where his library is now deposited, having been purchased for the Vatican,) will undertake the task. I have endeavoured in some degree to supply the want by a careful examination of the catalogue published in Rome in 1851, and often cited in this volume. But it is so full of the grossest and most ludicrous inaccuracies, so utterly unscientific, and so constantly confounds one language with another, that it can only be used with the utmost caution, and at best affords but little assistance for the purposes of the Memoir.

[568]I should observe that I do not think it necessary to adopt the nomenclature of languages recently introduced. I will for the most part follow that of Adelung.

[569]I shall refer for the several languages, to the pages which contain the notices of the Cardinal’s proficiency in each. There are two or three cases in which the proof may not appear quite decisive: but I have much understated, even in these, the common opinion of his friends.

[570]In this and the few other instances in which I have referred to Cavaliere Minarelli’s list of the Cardinal’s languages, it is amply supported by the printed catalogue of his library, which contains several works in each language, evidently provided with a view to the study of it.

[571]I once travelled through the entire length of France with a friend, who was an excellent book-scholar in the French language, but who, from the feeling which I describe, never could prevail on himself to attempt to speak French in my presence. During a journey of several days, I only heard him utter one solitaryoui; and even this was at a time when he was not aware that I was within hearing.

[572]p. 290.

[573]p. 78.

[574]P. 391.

[575]P. 291

[576]There is little originality in this piece, the words and forms being closely scriptural. It is without points, but he occasionally, also, employed them in writing Hebrew.

[577]Eumetes was the name under which, by ancient usage of theArcadi, Gregory XVI., before his elevation, had been enrolled in their Academy.

[578]Domenichino’s Communion of St. Jerome.

[579]Communion of St. Sebastian, also by Domenichino.

[580]Guercino’s St. Petronilla.

[581]Algardi’s bas-relief group of Attila and St. Leo.

[582]As I have no knowledge of this or the Grisons language, I fear the orthography will be found inaccurate.

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