12 s. vii. JULY 3i, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 87 to receive him, and even abused him as an Impostor, that they might not be obliged to surrender back the Estate. At first the Action was very brisk, but the Testimony of the Chart- reuse decided the Difference, and replaced Marcello in Possession of all his Effects. The scandalous Behaviour of his Relations disobliged liim so much, that he married in order to be Teyenged on them, tho' he had all his Life enter- tained an Aversion for that holy Bond, and he laboured his Revenge so successfully that he had twelve Sons in Wedlock. But his Resentment -did not end here, for this brave Senator ordered the should not be interred in his Family- Bury ing- Place, that he might have nothing in common with those who had abused him in so outragious .a Manner. He caused the Tomb I have men- tioned, to be built ten paces from the other in the same Cloisters. By his Will he gave Orders that no Body but himself should be buried in it ; and to make this Order more authentic, he had it engraved before his Death on his Tomb in the following Terms : Joannis Marcello Sebastian! Filii iHospitium usque ad novissimum Diem, In quo ipse et nemo alius condatur Ex Testamento." Unfortunately no date is given. When did Jt * the Senator John Marcello " die ? If the allusion by De Blainville is to the Isola di San Michele, he is in error in speaking of Carthusians. The monastery was Camal- <dolensian. ' JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. FRENCH ELEMENTS IN THE MILANESE DIALECT OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. In a letter addressed to Francesco Arisi, Mar. 16, 1702 Ludovico Antonio Muratori quotes a sonnet in the Milanese dialect of extraordinary interest philologically and ihistorically : Villeroy, Villeroy, no te lo dii Da no fa tant el braef con quii forloch, Che senza discrezion taien in toch E fan preson quii che no son fusgi ? "Te she so* pur d& dent ; t'han pur ciari ; E quel ch' e pesg, fra tant contra insci poch Lassass leva de ca com' on baltrocch, Comandant a caval, colz& e vesti. "Te poeu scref da Vienna i to Franzes , Che quatr' imbriagon insci da scherz T'han tolt su, men& a bef al so paes. STreuch, moasu, te diran guardand in sterz ; E ti, bassand el cio, respond cortes, Fagand un brinds pe"r forz a Carlo terz. The sonnet evidently refers to some event -of historical interest which the official his- tories do not mention and shows a very, 1 -evident imitation of a French model, with French " tournures " and peculiarities of idiom. Perhaps some reader familiar with Comparative philology can .suggest some authority which will allow me to resolvo this sonnet into its constituent elements and thus gain an insight into that satiric war-literature which nourished in the north of Italy. HUGH QUIGLEY. A SOMERSET CENTENARIAN. It is worth recording that on Sunday, -July 18, Mr. Frederick William Stabbins, of Worle, Weston-super-Mare, celebrated the 105th anniversary of his birthday. He was born a month after the battle of Waterloo was fought (June 18, 1815), and, as a boy, chatted with sailors who, ten years before his birth, served under Nelson at Trafalgar. Mr. Stabbins has been engaged in agricul- tural work all his life, and considers there is nothing to beat it both as regards health- fulness and happiness. His father attained 90 years of age' W. G. WILLIS WATSON. Exeter. DRYDEN'S ' ALEXANDER'S FEAST.' As to tho origin of this noble poem, Bolingbroke (reported by Warton, via Pope, West, and Berenger) quoted Dryden as follows : "I have been so struck with the subject which occurred to me, that I could not leave it till I had completed it : here it is finished at one sitting." Warton calls this anecdote " as true as it is curious " ; others have doubted his lordship's veracity. But for the source of the subject all the editors refer us to Suidas. Now Suidas, whether he was a man or only a book, simply says that the Orthian strains of Timotheus made Alex- ander leap from his seat and seize his arms. Dryden is not very likely to have dug in Suidas' s sticky soil, but the anecdote was a useful commonplace for writers on the power of music. Burton has this irreverent 'reference : " Timotheus, the musician, compelled Alexander to kip up and down, and leave his dinner." What brought the subject to Dryden s mind ? He is known to have been occupied with the poem on Sept. 3, 1697. Now in that year were published Jeremy Collier's ' Moral Essays,' and among them was one on Music, n which this passage occurs : " Timotheus, a Grecian, was so great a master
- hat he could make a man storm and swagger
ike a tempest. And then, by altering the notes and the time, he would take him down again, and sweeten his humour. One time, when Alexander ivas at dinner, this man played him a Phrygian air :
- he prince immediately rises, snatches up his
ance, and puts himself into a posture of fighting. A.nd the retreat was no sooner sounded by the
