and afterwards openly), and now they triumph at the news of the new governor's appointment, and boast that they do and shall enjoy greater authority and higher privileges than they can even desire or demand; for, to adopt their own language, he is a creature of theirs, and I hear that they intend to exert every means in their power to carry whatever they propose and approve. I determined, as in duty bound, to inform your Majesty of this in a private letter I sent by Gaztelu, who is ignorant of its contents; for I am fully aware that they have spies stationed everywhere to inform them of all your affairs as well as other people's; I also know how hostile they are to all persons invested with the slightest authority, when they chance to hear that those ministers have, against their (the Jesuits') will, had anything to do with your Majesty's affairs; nor am I ignorant of the mischief which their secret hostility may do those persons. As the introduction of private matters in this letter would only tire your Majesty, whom it is my sole aim and object to please, I omit every thing calculated to offend your royal person and dignity. God grant your Majesty a happy life, and prolong it many years for the glory of His holy name.-Antwerp, Feb. 18th. Your Majesty's chaplain and servant, Benito Montano, kisses your royal feet. T Notices of Arias Montano. Now that we have seen the severe judgment passed on the Jesuits by Árias Montano, it will not be out of the way to transfer to this place a passage from a work not published' [till the end of the last century.— Translator] entituled, Memoirs of events relating to this Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo, from the laying of its first stone on the 23rd of April, 1563, when the first monks came to it, till its completion, and down to the year 1591, with the principal events that occurred in Spain and other countries in those times, written by Fray Juan de San Jerónimo, who was at the Escurial the whole time of its building, and was entrusted by Philip the Second with the account-book of all the expenses laid out on the works. Juan de San Jerónimo died in the year 1591. Patris Josephi de Sigüenza: Continuation of these Memoirs, down to the following year 1592, written by the same Sigüenza. "On the 1st of March, 1577, by command of our lord the King, Dr. Benedicto Arias Montano, Chaplain to His Majesty and prelate (comendador) of the order of Santiago, came to this monastery to inspect, expurge, and put in order the Royal Library of San Lorenzo, being a man well fitted for so important an undertaking and so high a trust. Now, these were the doctor's qualifications: in the first place, he was a learned clerk 1 It was published in the library of the Rabbins by José Rodriguez de Castro. and a great divine; he was familiar with all the sciences and deeply acquainted with the Hebrew, Chaldaic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, German, French, Flemish, Italian, Portuguese, and Castilian languages, all of which he knew and understood as well as if he had been brought up in the countries where they are spoken. This doctor was the person who, at the command of His Majesty King Philip, our Lord, went to Flanders to superintend the printing of the Royal Bible of five languages at Antwerp by Plantinus the printer, as may be seen by referring to the book and the prefaces he wrote to it while there. "This doctor was a native of Frejenal near Seville': so abstemious was he that he only took one meal every twenty-four hours, and even then he did not eat meat or fish, but only vegetables and fruits and the liquor of the olla whether it were oil or gravy: he slept on hard boards, on which he laid a mat and a Bernia blanket: in humility he surpassed all who were acquainted with him: so affable was he that he made every one regard him with affection and love; the learned courted his friendship, and the gentry were edified by him; officers, architects, painters, and men of talent found something to learn of him: the said doctor was ten months at this house, expurging the library and making the Greek and Latin catalogues 2 The author of these memoirs must have been wool-gathering when he wrote these words. Frejenal, though in Andalusia, is on the very borders of Estramadura, and not within a hundred miles of Seville!-Translator.] in it: he divided the books into sixty-four classes, keeping the printed works separate from the manuscripts he ordered Roman statues and portraits of Supreme Pontiffs, Emperors, Kings, and learned persons to be placed in the library. At the beginning of September in the aforesaid year '79, Dr. Árias Montano came to this house to inspect the library, by command of His Majesty, who assigned him the house of Santoyo for his residence." This should be '77, which is the year mentioned at the commencement of the last paragraph but one. The error appears to have escaped the notice of Don Adolfo de Castro, who has copied this document verbatim from the Biblioteca de los Rabinos Españoles. -Translator.] 1 4 Árias Montano died at Seville in 1598, aged 71. Notas literarias de Pellicer, par° 4to., printed in the Biblioteca de los Rabinos Españoles.-Translator. THE END. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY METCALFE AND PALMER. PUBLISHED BY JOHN DEIGHTON CAMBRIDGE. MATHEMATICS. Plane Coordinate Geometry, Problems in Illustration of the Principles of. By WILLIAM Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes, 8vo. 16s. Correspondence of, including Letters of other Eminent Men, Differential Calculus, Geometrical Illustrations of the. By M. B. PELL, B.A., Motion of a Single Particle, A Treatise on the, and of two Particles acting on one Practical Astronomy, Lectures on. By the Rev. J. CHALLIS, M.A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy in the University of Cambridge. A Manual of the Differential Calculus, With Simple Examples. By HOMERSHAM COX, B.A., 4 |