should slight so much his ancient amity with the most noble state
of Europe, for the affections which he bore to a man (meaning Sir
Kenelm) whose father was a traitor, his wife a ——, and himself a
pirate, altho’ he made not the least reply (as long as the
ambassador remained in England) to those great reproaches, yet
after, when the quality of his enemy was changed (by his return) to
that of a private person, Sir Kenelm posted after him to Italy.
There sending him a challenge (from some neighbouring state) he
found the discreet Magnifico as silent in Italy as himself had been
in England, and so he returned home.”
p. xxii 1. 13 The Memoirs were edited by Sir
N.H. Nicolas from the
Harleian MS. 6758 in 1827.
p. xxii 1. 28 “outburst of vile poetry.”
See Poems from Sir K.D.’s
papers, ed. Warner.
Roxburghe Club, 1877.
p. xxiii 1. 16 “hermit.” The portrait
of Digby in this guise, painted
by Janssen, in the possession
of T. Longueville, Esq., is
reproduced in Mr. Longueville’s
life of his ancestor. Says Pennant
in his Journey from Chester
to London, ed. 1782, “I know of no
persons who are painted in
greater variety than this illustrious
pair [Digby and his wife]:
probably because they were the finest
subjects of the time.”
p. xxv 1. 3 “duel ... with a French lord.”
See the curious little
pamphlet, Sir Kenelme Digby’s
Honour Maintained, 1641.
p. xxvi 1. I The Observations on Religio Medici,
together with the
correspondence between Browne
and Digby, are often reprinted with
the text of R.M.
p. xxvi 1. 5 “glass-making.” See Longueville, pp. 255-6
p. xxix 1. 11 Descartes. Des Maizeaux. Viede
Saint-Evremond, pp.
80-6.
p. xxxi 1. 8 A Late Discourse made in a Solemne
Assembly of Nobles and
Learned Men at Montpellier.
By Sir K.D., Kt. Rendered faithfully
into English by R. White.
2nd ed., 1658. The original was in
French. Longueville gives
a loathsome receipt for the Sympathetic
Powder from an original in
the Ashmolean. “To make a salve yt
healeth though a man be 30
miles off.” But vitriol is the only
ingredient Digby mentions;
and the receipt given by his steward
Hartman [see Appendix], and
sold by him, is more likely to be
Digby’s. Of course,
there were many claimants to the credit of the
invention of sympathetic powders.
p. xxxiii 1. 4 “house in Covent Garden.”
For a brief account of this
house, see an article on Hogarth’s
London in the English Review,
February, 1910.
p. xxxiv 1. 6 “history of the Digby family.” This has disappeared.
p. xxxiv 1. 13 “Catalogue of the combined collection.”
Bibliotheca
Digbeiana, 1680.
See also Edwards’s Memoirs of Libraries,
II,
118, and Sir K.D. et les
Anciens Rapports des Bibliotheques
Francaises avec la Grande
Bretagne. L. Delisle. 1892.