Notes and Queries, Number 05, December 1, 1849Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 05, December 1, 1849
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
"'We were at sea,' says Rodriguez, 'Father Francis, John Raposo, and
myself, when there arose a tempest which alarmed all the mariners.
Then the Father drew from his bosom a little crucifix, which he
always carried about him, and leaning over deck, intended to have
dipt it into the sea; but the crucifix dropt out of his hand, and
was carried off by the waves. This loss very sensibly afflicted him,
and he concealed not his sorrow from us. The next morning we landed
on the Island of Baranura; from the time when the crucifix was lost,
to that of our landing, it was near twenty-four hours, during which
we were in perpetual danger. Being on shore, Father Francis and I
walked along by the sea-side, towards the town of Tamalo, and had
already walked about 500 paces, when both of us beheld, arising out
of the sea, a crab fish, which carried betwixt his claws the same
crucifix raised on high. I saw the crab fish come directly to the
Father, by whose side I was, and stopped before him. The Father,
falling on his knees, took his crucifix, after which the crab-fish
returned into the sea. But the Father still continuing in the same
humble posture, hugging and kissing the crucifix, was half an hour
praying with his hands across his breast, and myself joining with
him in thanksgiving to God for so evident a miracle; after which we
arose and continued on our way.' Thus you have the relation of
Rodriguez."--Dryden's _Life of St. Francis Xavier_, book iii.
EDW. HAWKINS.
* * * * *
JOHN AUBREY.
As the biographer and editor of that amiable and zealous antiquary JOHN
AUBREY, I noticed with peculiar interest the statement of your
correspondent, that the date of your first publication coincided with
the anniversary of his birthday; but, unhappily, the coincidence is
imaginary. Your correspondent has, on that point, adopted a careless
reading of the first chapter of Aubrey's _Miscellanies_, whereby the 3rd
of November, the birthday of the Duke of York, afterwards James the
Second, has been frequently stated as that of the antiquary himself. See
my _Memoir of Aubrey_, 4to. 1845, p. 123. In the same volume, p. 13,
will be found an engraving of the horoscope of his nativity, from a
sketch in his own hand. So far as his authority is of any value, that
curious sketch proves incontestably that "the Native" was born at 14
minutes and 49 seconds past 17 o'clock (astronomical time) on the 11_th
of March_, 1625-6; that is, at 14 minutes and 49 seconds past 5 o'clock
A.M. on the 12_th of March_, instead of the 3rd of November.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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