LEGEND OF THE FORGET ME NOT. · In Current Notes for April, page 40, is an inquiry respecting the Legend of the Forget me not, and though the enclosed, copied from a periodical published many years since, is a different version from that noticed in the inquiry, it is sent on the chance that it may be deemed interesting to many of your readers, the work in which it was first printed, being now difficult of obtainment. E. A. BENTHAM. LA FLEUR DE SOUVENANCE. Farewell! my true and loyal Knight! On yonder battle field, Many a pearl and gem of price will gleam on helm and shield: But bear thou on thy silver crest this pure and simple wreath, A token of thy Ladye's love-unchanging to the death. They seem, I know, these fragrant flow'rs, those fairy stars of blue, As maiden's eyes had smiled on them, and giv'n them that bright hue; As only fitting but to bind a Lady's hair or lute, And not with war, or warrior's crest in armed field to suit. But there's a charm in ev'ry leaf, a deep and mystic spell; Then take the wreath, my loyal Knight, Our Lady shield thee well; And, though still prouder favors deck the gallant knights of France, Oh, be the first in ev'ry field, LA FLEUR DE SOUVE NANCE! A very cloud of azure flow'rs in rich profusion bloom; Winds of the lake! your passing sighs breathe of their rich perfume. In nameless beauty all unmasked, in solitude they smile, As if they bloomed but for the stars, or birds of that lone isle: For never yet hath mortal foot touch'd that enchanted shore, Long hallowed by wildly imagined tales of gore. Full well I love those distant flow'rs, whose pure and tender blue And wouldst thou venture for my love as thou wouldst for Seem fitting emblems of a faith, unchanging as their hue; renown, Then win for me those azure flow'rs, to deck my bridal crown." One parting kiss of his fair bride, and swiftly far away. Like the wild swan whose home he sought, young Albert met the spray Of rising waves, which foamed in wrath, as if some spirit's hand Awoke the genii of the lake, to guard their mystic land. The flow'rs were won, but devious his course lay back again; To stem the waters in their tow'ring rage he strove in vain: Fondly he glanced to the yet distant shore, where in despair His betrothed stood with extended arms, mid shrieks and pray'r. Darker and darker gather'd on the tempest in its wrath, Th' eddying waters with vengeful ire beset the fatal path. With the wild energy of death he well nigh reach'd the spot, The azure flowers fell at her feet-IDA, FORGET ME NOT! The words yet borne upon his lips, the prize seem'd almost The words so lined through are not erasures, though that is the modern mode of erasing words or phrases which are objectionable. The earlier scribes by these lines implied that a particular emphasis should rest on these words, and that the reader should observe their import in particular, as we now underline them in writing, or print them in an italic type. TRANSLATIONS OF BISHOPS.-When did the practice commence? or is there any record of the first person who was thus preferred or translated to a sec, other than the one to which he was first appointed? Carlisle, Dec. 8. F. M. In Atkins' History of Gloucester, it is said, Gilbert Foliot, Abbot of that Monastery in 1139, was consecrated bishop of Hereford, Sept. 5, 114, and translated to the see of London, in 1163, being the first instance of the translation of a bishop in England. The assertion is very erroneous, as prior to that date. Gerard, bishop of Hereford, circa 1095, was translated to York, in 1100. Still earlier. Herman, bishop of Winton, in 1046, was translated as bishop of Shireburn, in 1050. He removed the latter see to Salisbury, and was deceased in 1078, or before. There may possibly have been even earlier translations among the Anglo-Saxon bishops. PICTORIAL NIMBUS, OR GLORY. work, the Legends of the Madonna,' does not as I am sorry to observe that Mrs. Jameson's beautiful stated in a note appended to my inquiry in your October number, furnish any exact information on the subject referred to. Whether Didron's Christian Iconography is more to the purpose I am not able to judge, as the work is not in my possession. In Mrs. Jameson's volume some of the few examples from Dutch artists represent the Nimbus in the form of rays proceeding from the head of the Virgin and the Child; and I have an old picture on which are the painter's initials I. A. V.; where both of these figures are represented with this head of glory-the latter with the rays very marked and very striking. The head of the Virgin has a thin circle of light, and a small point or two of condensed rays issuing beneath from the back part of the corner of the head. The subject is the Adoration of the Shepherds, one of whom presents a lamb. The infant Child is lying on a white cloth, and the Virgin Mother in a kneeling posture, is looking upon him, with her hands closed in the attitude of prayer. The artist, I think, must have been Flemish or Dutch, and probably the Nimbus referred to, may be characteristic of the painter. Query whom? Your correspondent F. R. N. H. in his interesting communication seems to corroborate my views, that the rayed or flame like Nimbus is a characteristic of Dutch Art. Our correspondent E. B. has only to refer to Didron, a volume which the pul lishers of Current Notes could readily luminous fluid or flame-like Nimbus was a characteristic of supply; to correct his erroneous supposition that the the Dutch School. It is found in Hindoo representations executed in far distant ages, and Didron adverts to the adoption of certain anachronisms and erroneous applications by artists of more recent times, while his historical inquiries are supported by unquestionable objects of Archæology. The subject of the glory or Nimbus occupies in Didron, pp. 129-200; and his Christian Iconography is one of those works of authentic information that should find shelf room in every library in the world, either public or private. M. Christ in 1750, noticed the Monogram I. A. V., but most erroneously ascribes it to Josse Ammon of Zurich. Brulliot, whose Dictionnaire des Monogrammes professes to embody all previously published articles in that subject, refers, Vol. II. p. 169, to Christ, simply to record the misappropriation by that writer. The monogram, however, remains unapplied. WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES: A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON Antiquities, Biography, Beraldry, Bistory, Languages, Literature, Natural Bistory, Curious Customs, Kr. SELECTED FROM ORIGINAL LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS ADDRESSED DURING THE YEAR 1857, TO THE PUBLISHERS, WILLIS AND SOTHERAN, No. 136, STRAND, LONDON. MDCCCLVIII. INDEX TO THE SEVENTH VOLUME. * Indicates that woodcuts illustrate those Articles. Actresses; the Two Marshals? reply,61. | Chatel, Abbé, reduced condition and Admonitory Lines, 33. Adventurer, by Hawkesworth, 13, 15. death, 11. Children's games incorruptible, 56. Andrea Ferrara Sword-blades? reply, Chronogram by Howell, 8. Angels' Visits, references, 53. Anomaly of Wealth, 37. of Armourers' Company, 5. Artificial Diamonds, 90. Churchwardens, origin of name and Church-bell inscriptions, 24. a drab Civic Chaplets or Garlands, 92, 93. Artois', Comte d', Milk-maid familiari- Astley, John, painter, notice of, 76 n. Barbers' and Surgeons' banquets, 7- Barbers and Peruke-makers, 12, 13. Beard's Epitaph on Dunstall, 59. Border Minstrelsy, 35, 36. Bortism, a new Sect, 25. Covent Garden Theatre Foundation Glastonbury Tor or Tower? reply, 85. Glen, Robert de, monogram or seal, 3 n. Covent Garden New Theatre, first Glencoe Massacre, 44. Coward, derivation of the word? 7, Cowley the Poet's descendants? 36. Cromwell's marriage record, 19. De Foe, register entry of burial, 19. Bothwell, Lady Anne, Lament, 61, 62. Dictionaries compared to Watches, 87. Brandenburg Wine, 64. Brighton detested by Johnson, 84. British Museum expenditure, 44. Browne's Pipe of Tobacco' imitations, 74. Buckinghamshire rhymes, 17. Budding Rose, Lines to a, 31. Doll, the pippin-woman, her fate, 7 n. Edinburgh in last Century, 72. Bute, Anne Countess of, Letters, 57, 58. Englishmen cursed with Tails, 72. Byron's Childe Alarique, 39, 40. Enigma, Carmine Latino solvendum, 63. 55. Fellowships, Widowers eligible? 71. |