another with imaginary estates-such as the Phlegræan Fields, the Vale of Cuna, or the Isle of Delos, and assumed the most fantastic aliases. The "Oziosi," or "Indolent," of Naples, were founded by two illustrious scientists, the brothers John Vincent and John Baptist Porta.

In the fourteenth century, when the literature of Germany was passing through a period of decay and gloom, the lamp of poetry was kept alight exclusively among the people. Then sprang into existence the "guilds" or "singing schools," composed chiefly of mechanics who sought to enrich their daily life with the blessing of song. They assumed the distinctive name of "the Master-singers," and Mentz was their birthplace; but they spread very rapidly into the other cities of Germany, and particularly into Augsburg and Nuremberg. It was their custom to assemble on holiday occasions, either in the halls of the arts or in the churches, and engage in pleasant parties and musical exercises. By certain placards, richly ornamented, and exhibited in all the public places, they invited all lovers of song and music to these assemblies, at which the following ceremonial was rigorously observed.

The candidates for the title of "Master" took their places, in turn, in a high chair, the elevation of which gave it the appearance of a cathedral throne. By them sat the four judges, or Merker, one of whom gave judgment on the subject of the poem, the second on its prosody, the third on its rhymes, and the fourth on its musical setting. For a "Master" was required not only to write his verses, but to compose or adapt music for them, and finally to sing them to the tune he had chosen or invented. On mounting the platform the candidate first briefly complimented the Masters and the audience -an adroit act of propitiation-and then set forth the theme of his composition, its particular form and number of strophes, the quality of its rhymes, and, lastly, the melody he proposed to adapt to them. "Of all this," we are told, "the judges kept an exact account. In this manner, one after the other, the contending parties sang their compositions from the chair; and when they had all finished, the judges began to examine, from hand to hand, the poem of each competitor, in the quadruple relation already pointed out." The examination at an end, they handed in their judgments to the president of the corporation, who then ascended in cathedram, with two judges on either side, and, in a loud and intelligible voice, proclaimed the result. This included, first, the adjudication of a crown to the most distinguished poet, and of a garland to the next in merit; while a penalty was inflicted on the unsuccessful competitors who had neglected the rules of the art. Amid the blare of trumpets and

the shrill music of clarions, the two victors approached the president and received the trophies of their success. Then the bursar went round with a bag, into which the defeated candidates dropped the amount of their penalties, and with loud shouts the company separated -to reunite in one of their cafés, or in some public room, and spend the evening in talk about poetry and music and in the improvisation of rhymed couplets, while passing round "the brimming beaker" in quick succession.

The Master-singers employed in the composition of their poems seven kinds of rhymes or verses : stumpfe Reime, mute or dumb verses; klingende Reime, sounding rhymes; klingende Schlagreime, sounding and beating rhymes; Weisen, oder einfache Verse, modes or blank verse; Pausen, pauses; Krönlein, coronets; and stumpfe Schlagreime, mute, beating rhymes. They were credited with having preserved the ancient melodies of the Minnesinger, to the number, it is said, of four hundred, and these were distinguished by the most singular names, as, for instance, the Feilweis, or melody of the file; the Preisweis, or melody of praise; the zarte Buchstabenweis, tender melody of letters; and geschwinde Pflugweis, quick melody of the plough. There were also the High Allegro Melody of Praise, the Hard Melody of the Field, the Longtail of the Swallow, and the Long Double Harmony of the Dove.

The guilds of the Master-singers flourished from 1350 down to the early years of the sixteenth century, when Luther, besides reforming the Church, effected a complete reform in the German language. Some, however, survived the century, and that of Strasburg was still in existence in the first half of the eighteenth century.

At the epoch of the Renaissance a large number of literary societies was formed in Germany, as in Italy, and with the same object, the purification and development of the national language and literature. One of the most ancient of these was established at Heidelberg, in 1480, under the title of "Societas litteraria Rhenana," for the cultivation of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Astronomy, Music, Poetry and jurisprudence. The members refreshed themselves after their labours by balls and feasts, at which they were accustomed, says Jugler-more Germanorum inveterato strenue potare-to drink strenuously, after the inveterate custom of the Germans.

The society of "Fructifiers" was founded at Weimar in 1617, and lasted until 1668. Among its members it numbered a king, one hundred and fifty-three princes, and upwards of ninety barons, nobles, or distinguished men of science. Nuremberg boasted of its "Order of the Shepherds and Flowers of the Pignitz," founded about 1644

by Clay and Harzdorf, with a view to the improvement of the German language. Almost contemporaneous in origin was the "Society of German Fine Fellows," instituted at Hamburg by Philip von Zesen.

In the middle of the sixteenth century a Pole named Przonka, who in his way must have been a humourist of the first water, formed in the palatinate of Lublin a gay society, which parodied the Polish republic in the liveliest manner. It was called the "Republic of Baboonery." An anonymous memoir, written in the seventeenth century, and first printed in 1840, furnishes the following curious particulars :—

Modelled on the commonwealth of Poland, that of Baboonery had the same charges and the same dignities. It had its palatines and its castellans-in a word, all the titles which were then in vogue in its founder's country. But to prove how wisely it had shaken off the yoke of national prejudice, it admitted foreign titles also when any important occasion rendered it desirable. Its diets were frequent, but very brief in duration, one sitting being generally sufficient to complete all the business. No law prevented them from being held anywhere; but for the most part they assembled in a cottage which, on that account, received the name of Gelda-a Slavonic term employed to signify a place where people babble incessantly and in breathless haste.

At these diets unanimity was not required; the majority decided everything. Intrigues and underhand manoeuvres had no existence; senators and nuncios were equally proof against corruption; so there was never a rupture, never a barren issue. They examined into the qualifications of the most distinguished persons in the land, who, according to the judgment arrived at, found themselves decorated with a patent of such or such an office in the republic of Baboonery. If any individual displayed an ambitious temper and at the same time a leaning towards a gentle, tranquil life, he immediately became a bishop. The man who continually boasted of his valour without having given any proofs of it was promoted to field-marshal. Others suddenly obtained ministers' portfolios as the reward of their political futilities and their vast projects, conceived without the slightest knowledge of the interests of princes. In a word, impartial treatment was dealt out to every person, often according to his taste, and always according to his merit. A grand banquet was held at the close of each session; and the reader may rest assured that on this occasion the health of the new dignitaries was always drunk with all the honours, and that their panegyrics were warmly pronounced.

I think it is possible to trace a resemblance between these patents

of the republic of Baboonery and the brevets issued by the "Régiment de la Calotte." It was in a similar vein of humour that the society frequently administered a sharp lesson with respect to the distribution of Court favours, a prodigious change taking place in the position of a grandee on his passing from the republic of Poland into that of Baboonery. For instance, a primate notorious for love of his own interests found himself metamorphosed into a mendicant friar ; the plundering palatine was transformed into a tax-collector, the skulking general into a courier, and the unjust magistrate into a shopkeeper.

It happened one day that this satirical association was being discussed in the presence of King Sigismund Augustus, who asked if it had elected a king. Przonka gravely replied-no doubt with an ironical smile on the lip and a twinkle in the eye-"Heaven forbid, sire, that we should ever conceive such an idea in your Majesty's lifetime! Reign happily over us, as well as over all Poland!" Though, in the circumstances of the time, such an answer was susceptible of an evil interpretation, Sigismund took the implied sarcasm in excellent part. By the way, the elder D'Israeli, in his "Curiosities of Literature," strangely misrepresents this incident, making the Polish sovereign good-humouredly observe that he considered himself "as much king of Baboonery as king of Poland "—a rendering which spoils the jest and mars the moral.

For several years these censores morum, under the disguise of an imaginary republic, discharged their satirical shafts at each passing folly and instance of human weakness, in much the same spirit as that in which Steele and Addison, through the pages of the Tatler and the Spectator, and their imitators in the World and the Connoisseur, endeavoured to refine the morals and manners of English Society. They were fortunate enough to see the actual fruits of their labours; for the dread of being exposed to the laughter of the public effected, it is said, a happy change in the conduct of all classes. Ridicule is no remedy for vice, but it is often a cure for folly. At length the republic fell into decay, either through the disastrous consequences of the revolutions which swept in swift succession over unhappy Poland, or from want of men with adequate tact, humour, and insight to superintend its delicate operations.

After all, we must be of opinion, I think, that the machinery was too cumbrous and artificial for the purpose it was intended to serve ; and that it was almost as open to satirical attack as the follies and fashions at which it aimed its arrows.

W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.

S°

TABLE TALK.

CONDITIONS OF PRIVATE PRINTING IN PARIS.

few Englishmen-four in all-belong to the new Société des Bibliophiles Contemporains, Académie des Beaux Livres, that has been established in Paris by M. Octave Uzanne, that I have hitherto rarely dealt with its proceedings. Its "Statuts" are now before me, and the opening portion of these arrests my attention as worthy of the regard of my readers. It consists of the authorisation of the Prefect of Police for the existence of the society. On the condition of submitting to this worthy its rules, notifying under pain of suspension or immediate dissolution all change in them, informing the Prefecture annually of the names, professions, and domiciles of the members, and supplying, four days in advance, the place, day, and hour of its general meetings, and other similar matters, the society is permitted to exist. What, then, is the organisation concerning which this fuss is made? It is neither political nor religious. It is simply an association of book-lovers, seeking to issue in the most artistic form obtainable a few books of recognised value. Similar societies, less ambitious in aim, exist in dozens in England, and need no form of authorisation. Any of my readers can start, if he pleases, a similar institution to-morrow. Yet in Paris the police authorisation is necessary, and is printed at the head of the 66 Statuts."

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666

DR. FURNIVALL ON CHAUCER'S BIBLIOGRAPHY.

OMMENTING on my observations as to the necessity for a Bibliography of Chaucer, Dr. Furnivall characteristically writes, 'Concerning the books, however, we know nothing.' Why not, say 'I'? Bradshaw gave a note on them in my second edition of Thynne's Animadversions,' and Skeat has lately gone carefully into them in his 'Chaucer's Minor Poems.' The fault is yours, not ours." To which I reply-1. No fault is found by me. edition of the Minor Poems was before me when I wrote. statement remains unaffected by what Dr. Furnivall has said. My two notes on Chaucer were written obviously and avowedly from

2. The 3. My