St. Gregory expound the same doctrine. Fifty-four illustrations follow, each explained by a proposition that enunciates with great formality some of the marvels of natural science. We are told of bees without fathers, of birds impregnated by the bill, of geese born from trees, of asbestos that burns forever, of pearls made fruitful by the dew, of the phœnix restored by fire, and of many other absurdities. The authorities cited seem to have been selected with a truly catholic spirit: we find among them Valerius Maximus, Peter Comestor, Terence, Boethius, Job, Livy, and Isidore.
One edition of this work contains an imprint in sprawling and almost unreadable characters, which bibliographers interpret as the letters F. W. 1470. The letters F. W. were no doubt the initials of Frederich Walther of Nordlingen.
The quality of the science taught in this History of the Blessed Virgin enables us to form a just idea of the real value of the scholastic philosophy then regarded as the perfection of wisdom. The silly speculations set forth in the book were the husks upon which a devout people were fed.
AN EXERCISE ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.
This is the translated title of a thin block-book of ten leaves, which was intended to explain the Lord's Prayer by illustration. The blocks are printed in brown ink on one side of the paper. The Exercise is in the popular form of dialogue.
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In the illustration No. i, the monk Frater begs the angel Oratio to teach him the Lord's Prayer. And these are the lessons that are taught: 2. Our Father who art in Heaven. Christ, the Monk, and the Angel kneel. 3. Hallowed be thy name. The Monk, the Angel, Christ, and the Church represented by a female figure, are kneeling. On the right the Virgin and Holy Child. 4. Thy kingdom come. A representation of Purgatory: in the upper part, the wicked surrounded by flames; in the lower part, Jews and Pagans in the fiery lake.
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5. Thy will be done. The Almighty in the clouds, and before him the Angel and the Monk kneeling. On the right, a good Christian and an Angel. In the centre, two bad men who are rejecting the Eucharist. In the foreground, the Jews and Pagans throw down the cup and are pouring out its contents. Scroll in No. 5. Frater and Oratio kneeling before God. Fiat voluntas tua sicut in cælo et in terra. Let Thy will be done in Heaven as on earth … The Angel to the right. Qui stat bideat ne cadat. Let him who may stand take heed lest he fall ... The Good Christian. |
