Mr. H. C. DE ST. CROIX may be assured that the first edition of the Prophecies of Nostradamus is not only in the National Library, but in several others, both in Paris and elsewhere. It is now, however, very rare, though until lately little valued; for at the Duc de la Vallière's sale, in 1783, it produced no more than seven livres ten sols,--not quite seven shillings. De Bure makes no mention of it: nor was it in the library of M. Gaignat, or various other collectors; so little sought for was it then. Printed at Lyons "chès Macé Bonhomme, M:D:L:V.," it thus closes--"Achevé d'imprimer le iiii iour de Mai, M.D.L.V." It is a small octavo of 46 leaves, as we learn from Brunet, and was republished the following year at Avignon, still limited to four centuries; nor was a complete edition, which extended to ten centuries, with two imperfect ones, published till 1568, at Troyes (en Champagne), in 8vo. Numerous editions succeeded, in which it is well known that every intervenient occurrence of moment was sure to be introduced, always preceded by the date of impression, so as to establish the claim of prophecy. I have before me that of J. Janson, Amsterdam, 1668, 12mo., which is usually associated with the Elzevir collection of works, though not proceeding from the family's press either in Leyden or Amsterdam. Several attempts at elucidating these pretended prophecies have been made, such as _Commentaires sur les Centuries de Nostradamus_, par Charigny, 1596, 8vo.; _La Clef de Nostradamus_, 1710, 12mo.; and one so late as 1806, by Théodore Bouys, 8vo. The distich "Nostra damus," &c. was the playful composition, according to La Monnoye, of the celebrated Genevan reformer Théodore de Béze. By others it is attributed to the poet Jodelle: but the author is still uncertain. Nostradamus, born in Provence, died in July, 1566, aged sixty-eight. His second son published the Lives of the Poets of his native province in 1575, 8vo.