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^\CHIGU,,
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^ HANDY-BOOK
OP
Literary Curiosities.
WILLIAM S. ^ALSH,
AtTTHOK OF "FAUST: THE POEM AND THE LEGSHD,"
" FAKADOXES OF A PKIUSTIHB," ETC.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY,
1909
.d by Google
3/U
N3
1101
CopvwoHT, 189a,
J. B. LlPPiNCOTT Company
.d by Google
PREFACE.
pRiUARiLV the aim of this Handy-book is to entertain. Jf it suc-
ceeds in instructing as well, there is no hann done. But a sugar coat-
ing of grateful gust has been quite as much an object with the compiler
ais the tonic which it may envelop.
It is obvious that in so large a field as is afforded by the curiosities
of literature the embarrassment has been mainly that of riches. No
single volume nor a doien volumes of this size could exhaust the
material. Nevertheless, if the compiler has been even approximately
successful, if his gleanings from the rich harvesL-field have been fairly
judicious, a gain in interest and even in value has been achieved by
consulting the limitations of space.
At one time he had thought of disarming a certain kind of criticism by
calling this '" A Dictionary of Things Not Worth Knowing," the bulk
of the matter herein contained being either in substance or in detail
that which is deemed below the dignity of encyclopEcdias, dicdonaries,
or literary manuals. However, we are gradually coming to learn that
there is no great and no small in the achievements of the human in-
telligence ; that what has ever interested men in the past must preserve
an interest for the student of human nature at all times ; that the liter-
ary trifling which pleased the keenest wits at particular periods of
mental development has a distinct historical value in the retrospect;
that the blunders of great minds are worth preserving as successive
steps towards the altar of Knowledge ; that in proverbs is embodied the
wisdom of many as well as the wit of one; and that the vagaries of slang
are dignified by the fact that slang may become the scholarly language
of the future, just as the slang of the past is nearly the richest and most
idiomatic portion of the current speech of to-day. Even the tracing
of hterary analogies, which is held in some disrepute by those who see
in it merely a low detective cunning, a joy in convicting nobler minds
of larceny and of discrediting the gifts of Nature's bounty, — even this
is an exercise which, reverently conducted, is full of instrucdon and
profit as well as curious interest. To learn that there is nothing new
under the sun is to take to heart the lesson that the right direction
of human achievement is to co-ordinate and harmonize the dis/ectt
4 PREFACE.
membra of the old and ever young, and thus arrive at the sum and
essencci— the veiy heart of things. He is the poet, the creator, the
mighty roan, who does (his, just as he is the great sculptor who liber-
ates from ihe marble the image of all conceivable beauty that already
resides therein. And, to run the analogy to the ground, one might
trace the history of that block of marble up to its native quarry with
nothing of invidious reflection on the sculptor.
A certain proportion of the articles, long and short, which are here
collected appeared in various periodicals, — in Uppincott's Magatme
and the Atnerican Notei and Queriet of Philadelphia, in the Illus-
trated American and Belford's Afagaxine of New York. This fact is
mentioned not only as an acknowledgment of courteous penntssion
to reproduce them, but also as affording an opportunity to remark
that, in the last year or so, some of these articles have been pretty
freely levied upon by makers of literary manuals, whose apparent
priority of publication might confuse the unwary as to which was the
follower and which the leader. The point is not worth insisting upon,
however, for, in a less flagrant way, most of us compilers are indebted
to our predecessors. As to myself (let us drop all awkward locutions),
I honestly acknowledge that I have found great assistance in such
books of reference as Bartlett's " Familiar Quotations," Bent's " Fa-
mous Short Sayings," and Norton's "Political Americanisms," also
in such collections of bibelots and curios as Brewer's " Dictionary of
Phrase and Fable," Bombaugh's "Gleanings for the Curious," and
Wm. T. Dobson's and Davenport Adams's various compilations.
More than this, I have consulted the English Notes and Queriet with
predatory aim, and have carried on a war of conquest amid the files
of old periodicals. Where credit was possible, it has been given ; but
where (as does happen occasionally) a particular article is almost a
cento made up from a dozen different authorities, it is well-nigh impros-
sible properly to apportion the credit. This general confession, there-
fore, must suffice.
In conclusion, I must record my indebtedness to Mr. Stephen Pfeil,
who contributed the articles on "Epigrams," "Impromptus," and
" Quodlibets," as well as a number of the shorter articles embodying
political Americanisms, etc. And a special debt of graritude is due
to Mr. Joseph McCreery , the scholarly proof-reader in the establishment
of Messrs. J, B. Lippincott Co., whose corrections and suggestions went
hx beyond the limits of mere proof-reading.
Wh. S. Walsh.
;i:v..G00^Ii:
A TABLE OF THE LONGER ARTICLES.
Bt uid CurlvQi
AgoDir ColoDb .........
AlUtmdoD
AlpbaMic Diveniou
Anb^iUiiea
AlUCAD, ...........
Amocnptu ud Auusniih-Hiuii
KUa, CuiDw
B»4iiAlept
BibKaiuiili
Biadliig
tvAplu*
Bulk,
Cpikcn
Oalmu
CoiDcUi
CgUuba
CaBpUi
DdHcMi
EdwVi
EnUdudc, flcnnu
Epjpwn
£pjaplu
Enm.Valfv
Foisefia, LIuniT
Fmbch u fthe la kpoke . . .
HudwrWucuid Wrim . .
BtRoiT, Tb( lacTMUbUUy of
Literal SvoBB, In ii .
La« Tmure* dT Ua
Muannic Lhtnnin
Mcmoria Techolca 698
McM|i1»n, Mixed toS
Mbukd at Aalhort 793
Mooosylliblt ............. j$i
Mynifiialion uid Impouun 760
Naina, Ciulaillla of 778
Nuia in FIctioD 766
Nohkum, Verae and PtoM BoS
Numben, Cnrindtia ct S14
Oiitu ud Cunu S]i
Filiodioiiifl .............. 851
Fundoiei and Puola S;}
PligUiiim ud Pla^ariiu B91
Fosjc Ftoh , 903
Quodlibd
QuMUlon ud MliqDOIUIcin
Real People La Flcllon . .
Revlcfn, Cuiinilia oT . .
Rhymea, Ecoeniricliiei oT ,
Self'ApprecluloD
SpcHing, EcceauickLta of .
TiuilaiwD, Carteaida of .
TypognphkiU Enon . . .
;i:,vG00gif
..Google
HANDY-BOOK
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
A, the first kiter of the alphabet in alt languages which, like English,
derive their alphabets directW or indirectly Ironi the Phaenician. It corre-
■ponds to the aleph of the Phtcnician and old Hebrew and the alpha of the
Gieek- Aleph means an ox, and the character is derived from the Egyp-
tian hieratic symbol, in which the Phoenicians undoubtedly saw a rude re-
semblance to the horned head of an ox. As a symbol A denotes the first of an
actual or possible series : thus, in music it is the name of the lirsl note of the
relative minor scale, the la of Italian, French, and Spanish musicians ; and in
the mnemonic words of logic it stands for the universal affirmative proposi-
tion,— e.g., all men are mortal ; while I stands for the particular affirmative
(some men are mortal), E lor the universal negative ino men are mortal),
and O (ur the particular negative (some men are not mortal). It is some-
times contended that these symbols were of Greeli origin ; but the weight of
authority makes them date from the thirteenth century, and it is not unlikely
(hat they may have been taken from the l^tin AfTIrmo, I affirm, and nEgO, I
deny. In the Greek form, a, alpha, this use of the letter as the first of a series
is even more common. Thus, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the ending, saith the Lord" {ftev. \. 8). "The a acid is converted by heat into
the ^ actcT' ( Watt's Fowna's Chtmistry). The letter A standing by itself, es-
pecully as a word, was formerly spelt in oral recitations A per se a, — that is,
A standing by itself makes the word a, and this oral phrase committed to
writing was gradually corrupted to A per C, Apersey, Apersie, and frequently
used as a synonyme for first, chief, most excellent, — tg., "The floure and A
per se of Troie and Grece" (Henrvson : Tatament ef Creiseidt, 1475).
Al, popular slang, meaning first-rate, excellent, is borrowed from the
ratings used in Llovtrs Register of Shipping. The higher classes of vessels
sue snied A, and the figure 1 following the class letter shows that the equip-
ment is complete and efficient. Hence "I am A i" means " I'm all right," and
to say of another that "he or she is A i" is to pay one of the highest compli-
nents in the slang repertoire. Thus, Shirley Brooks in " The Guardian Knot"
makes one of his characters say, "She is A i ; in fact, the ayewunnest girl I
erer taw." Curiously enough, the French have a similar commendatory ex-
pression, " He is marked with an A" (" C'est un homme marque i I'A"), the
money coined in Paris being formerly stamped with an A.
;i:v,.G00gIf
8 HANDY-BOOK OF
A ontrance (not h rautra/Kt], a French expression, meaning much (he
same as ihe English phrase " to the bitter end," originally applied to a conlesl
between two antagunisls who were each determined to conquer or to die, but
now more often uaed in the sense of " to excess," " to the utmost extent," and
applied to any custom, habit, or fashion which is carried to an eiliavagant
Ab ovo (literally, "from the egg," hence, from the beginning), an old Roman
phrase, generally with allusion to the custom of beginning a meal with eggs,
m this case forming the first part uf the phrase ai ova uiqui ad mala, from the
egg to the apples, i.i., from beginning to end ; but aometi mes the allusion is to
the poet mentioned by Horace (" Ars Poelica," 14;) who began the history of
the Trojan war with the story of the egg tiom which Helen was fabled to have
been born. Horace contrasts him unfavorably with Homer, who plunged at
<mce into the midst of things, or in mtdias ris.
AbaOOt,3 spurious word which by a remarkable series of blunders ha*
gained a foothold in the dictionaries. It is usually defined as "a cap ofatate,
wrought up into the shape of two crowns, worn formerly by English kings."
Neither word nor thing has any real existence. In Hall's "Chronicles" the
word bicBtkit (Old Fr. bittqutt, a sort of peaked cap or head-dress) happened
to be misprinted lUxKocsit. Other writers copied the error. Then Holinahed
improved the new word to abecockt, and Abraham Fleming to aioiel, and so it
spun merrily along, a sort of rolling stone of philology, shaping itself by con-
tinual attrition into something as diSerent ill sense as in sound from its first
original, until Spelman landed Ihe prize in his "Glossarium," giving it Ihe
definition quoted above. So through Bailey, Ash, and Todd it has been handed
down (o our time, — a standing exemplar of the solidarity of diclionarles. and
of the ponderous indolence with which philologers repeat without examining
the errors of their predecessors. Nay, Ihe error has been amusingly accent-
uated by calling in the aid of a sister art [hat has provided a rough wood-cut
of the myth leal abacot, which in its turn has been servilely reproduced.
Abilt,exCMMit,aTasit,«)^plt, a potent Latin phrase which loses all Iti
virility in any possible English rendition {t-g.. He has fled, retreated, es-
caped, broken forlh). It was used by Cicero al Ihe beginning of his second
oration against Catiline to express by Ihe piling up of synonymous words the
abrupt manner of the conspirator's escape from Rome.
AboUtloniBt, in American politics, spedlically a member of the anli-
slavery party, which dates from 1819, when a handful of enthusiasts rallied
around the stalwart figure of William Lloyd Garrison in a fierce crusade
against slave-owners as criminals. In 183T, Garrison founded the first Abo-
litionist paper, Thf LibiratoT. In 1833 the New England Anti-Slavery Society
was formed in Boston, and in 18^3 the growth uf abolition sentiment led to Ihe
formation of the American Anii-Slavery Society in Philadelphia, with Beriah
Green as its president and John G. Whittier as one of the secretaries. In
18^ the Abolitionists divided into two wings, one favoring abolition through
constitutional amendment, Ihe other, with Wendell Phillips as its chief spokes-
man, denouncing the constitution as a bulwark of slavery. Anti-slavery senti-
ment grew taster than the party which claimed to be its exponent. Before the
war no large number of ciliiens, even in the North, were avowed Abolitionists,
though after the war a majority of Norlbemers proudly insisted that they had
always been Abolitionists. And in Iruth they could point back to the lact that
Abolitionist was \ term of contempt which Ihe Democrats usually applied to all
Rei>ublicans, and which the men of Ihe South applied indiscriminately to all
Northerners who were not Democratt. The word itself even, in connectioo
;i:,vG00gif
LITERARY CURIOSITIES 9
viih stave-«mancipation, was not a new one. In England and all her colonies
it had been Euoiliarly applied to the anti-slaverv agitators ted by Wilberforce,
and had been accepted by them. Thus, T, Clarltson says, " Many loohed upon
the Abolitionists as monsters" {" Slave Trade," ii. 212, 1790), In America also
the term had been in use to denote the opponents of slavery who began an
inlermiltent protest even before the Revolution ; but as a party name it belongs
distinctively to (he movement of which Garrison was the first apostle.
Abraoadabra, a cabalistic word used in incantations, and supposed to
possess mystic powers of healing, especially when written in this triangular
ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
A B R A C A D
A B R A C A
A B R A C
A B R A
A B R
A B
A
The pai>er on which this was written was to be folded so as to corceaj the
writing, stitched with while thread, and worn around the neck. It was a sov-
ereign remedy for fever and ague. Possibly the virtue lay in the syllables
Abra, which are twice repeated, and which are composed of the first letters of
the Hebrew words signifying Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,— Ab, Ben, Rauch
Acadosb. The earliest known occurrence of the word is in a poem of the
second century, " Pracepta de Medicina," Iw Q. Serenus Sammonicus. It is
now often used in the general sense o[« spell, or pretended conjuring, jargon,
or gibberish.
Abwnoe make* the lleart groir fonder. This line occurs in Thomas
Haynes Bayly's song " Isle of Beauty." There is proverbial authority for this
M well as for the contrary statement that absence kills love. But written
literature is usually on Bayly's side. Charles Hopkins in his lines " To C. C"
I Gad thU abiKnce HiU mcrcjuci Ion.
Howel in bis " Familiar Letters" {i. I, No. 6) asserts, " Distance sometimej
endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it" Frederick W. Thomas, in a
abort poem, " Alwence Conquers Love," boldly traverses the titular statement :
'Til Hid thai nbKiio conquin Ion,
Bnt.ofa, btllEVdlDOll
I've lri*d, alul to pa wer to prove,
Desdemona, in Olhtlle, i. 2, says, " I dote upon his very absence." Charles
Lamb, in his " Dissertation on Roast Fig," punningly suggests a method by
which the absent may keep their memory green: "Presents, I often say,
erkdear absents." Bussy-Rabutin shows how b-ith statements may be recon-
IE £ieifiL k pcili, ii ftJIdme k gruul.
La Rochefoucauld says, "Friends agree best at a distance;" but this was a
popular proverb before bis day, and a similar moral, is presented in the French
adages, "To preserve friendship, a wall must be put between," and "Alittte
Cooglf
lO HANDY-BOOK OF
■beence does much eood;" the German, "Love yoar neietibor, bat do not pull
down the hedge ;" the Spanish, " Go to your brother's houae, but not ererj
day ;" and the Scotch, " They are aye gude that are 6u- awa." But proverbs
would not be proverlM if thev did not contradict one another. The \ialt quoted
is directly traversed by the French, " The absent are always in the wrong,"
and " Alwent, none without fault ; present, none wilhout eicuse." And e*ery
language furnishes examples to supporl this ; f.g., the Greek, " Friends living
far away are no friends ;'' the Latin, " He that is absent will not be the heirj"
the Spanish, " Absence is Juve's foe : &r from the eye*, &r from the heart,"
and " The dead and the absent have no friends."
Absolnto WUdom. A sobriquet given (o Sir Matthew Wood, a stanch
supporter of Queen Caroline in iSai, who, having been reproached far giving
foolish advice to that unhappy queen, diEGdently admitted that his conduct
might not be " absolute wisdom," and was unmercifully chaffed in consequence
Inr (he wags of the period. He was made a baronet by Queen Victoria snortly
after her accession, in acknowledgment, it was said, for pecuniary aid given to
her father, the Duke of Kent, when greatly embarrassed,
Aoddeat of as aoddent, a phrase first used by Lord Thnrlow. Dur-
ing a debate on Lord Sandwich's administration of Greenwich Hospital, the
Duke of Grafton taunted Thurlow, then Lord Chancellor, on hU humble
origin. Thurlow rose from the woolsack, and, advancing towards the duke,
declared he was amazed at his grace's speech. "The noble duke,"' he cried,
in a burst of oratorical scorn, "cannot look before him, behind him, and on
either side of him without seeing some noble peer who owes his scat in this
House to his successful exertions in the profession to which I belong. Does
he not feel that it is a* honorable to owe it to these as to being the acddeiU
of an aecidetur'
Aoro*B lots, in colloquial American, a short cut, as of one wbo leaves (he
Cublic highway to find a nearer way across private property. The phrase
as acquired especial prominence through Brigham Young's historic threat,
" We'll send them [the Gentiles) to hell across Tots."
AcroaUo {Gx. ixpoimxk ; dxpo, prefix, and arifof, nnc, order, line), a once
favorite <orm of literary legerdemain. In its simplest and most usual form it
consists of a copy of verses whose initial letters taken in order spell a word,
a proper name, or a sentence. The following specimen is by Charles Lamb:
Qo, llllle poein, and pmcnl
RctpectfLiI imii« of compltmeni,
A GfulJe Liidy bidj Ihtt ipuk ;
CounciHU li Slu. Ihough Tlum be weak.
A biminc pray. LonE, long may Uand,
Nol tDocG-d by tlmt, Iht R>^cIorv bUlb*.
No ETudgJDg cnuri dispute bla tiUK.
Al Eiuter be Ihe oflcnnEi due
With cheeriiil aptrU paiir £acb p«w
Id decern order filt'd- No aotoe
And iirkl hti ddici on Holy Pace.
Salute and iiill point ddi the " Good Man
LITERARY CURIOSITIES II
apwird instead of doirnward ; sometimes (he final instead or the firat letters,
and soroelimes both the final and the first letters, form an aciostic The latter
is known as a double aaosiic, ur, more technically, a leleslich. An ingenious
improvement requires that ihc double acrostic shall be Tormed of two words
of the same lettCTS, yet of opposite meanings, i.g. :
U.ni« Md untiF art UiE Bine-w uy yo-U ;
N-OI Id wcdlnd^ 1 wru, hu lh< uali/bee-N ;
T-o a new bcE would By— all ucepL you tmd I,
E-ach Kcking u ulier the ifitl in ibcir kfh- E.
Here is a bit of monastic verse of curious ingenuity. Not only do the first
Lnd the final letters, but the middle initials also, form the word lesus. In
technical words, the lines are at once acrostic, mesoatic, and telestic Nor is
thai all. The observant reader will discern that in the centre of the verse is
a cross tbrmed of the word Jesus, or lesus, read perpendicularly and hori<
contally :
Inter euncB mluu 1 snlii liden codl
EipclUt tcHbraa E lolo Phoebui m orbE
^cBcureowm JESUS cjUipDii unbraS
VivlficaoiqiH lEmul V ero prwocdia motU
SolemjiutW S cKprotntoKbaUS
Poe has devised a peculiarly complicated form in his
Thai mui be worn at beut. Seucb well tbe meunn —
Tbc wcrdt— ibr trlliblu I Do not forget
The triTulst poini, or you may lo« your laborl
Aod y«l IbeR u b ibii no Gordian knot
WUA one might not undo withonl a ubte,
Eqwrktea upon th* \taS where now are peering
Eyefl idiuillariag; ■oul. there lie perdu*
Tkm ekqtitnl w«ds oh uttered Id the hearing
Of poetl, by poeti— a( (he uiiie li a poet'i too.
lu latun, allbough lunually lyioa
Like tbe knlgbi Pinto— Mendci Ferdinaodo—
SlUl fefin a lyDonym for Truth. — Ceue UTiua I
Yon wHI not read tbe riddle, though you do the bat you can do.
I liiie, the third letter of the ifaird line, ihe fourth of ihe faunh, and k
Ik name Frnncei Sargent O^ood will then be iomed.
Although acrostics are now relegated to (he nursery, they were anciently
looked upon with high reverence. A rude form of acrostic may even be
found in (he Scrip(ureR, — e.g., in (wetve of (he psalms, hence called the abece-
darian psalms, — (he most notable being I^lm cxix. This is composed of
twennr-two divisions or stanzas, corresponding to the twenty-two le((ers of
the Hebrew alphabcL Each g(anzi consis(s oreigh( couplets. The first line
of each couplet in (he first division besins with aleph, a, the first line of each
couplet in the second division with beth, i, and so on to (he end. This pecu-
liarity is not retained in the translation, but is indicated by the initial letter
prefixed (o each division. The Greeks also cultivated Ihe acrostic, as may be
seen in the specimens that survive in the Greek An(hologv, and so did their
intellectual successors, (be Ladns. Cicero, in his " De Dlvinatione," (ells us
J 2 HANDY-BOOK OF
ihat " the v«rs«s of Ihe Sibyls are diEtinguished by that arrangement which
the Greeks call acrostic ; where from the first letters of each verse in order
words are formed which express some particular meaning ; as ia the case with
some of Ennius's verses." In the year 316, Publius Porphyrius composed a
poem, still eitaiit. in praise oE Constanline, the lines of which are acrostics.
The early French poets, from the time of Francis I. to that of Louis XIV.,
were fond of this trifling. But it was Carried to its most wasteful and ridicu-
lous excess by the Eliialiethan |)oets. Sir John Davies has a series of no less
than twenty-six poems under the general heading of " Hymns to Astrza,"
every one of which is an acrostic on Ihe words Elisabctha Regina. Here is a
single specimen :
Lively ipring wbicfa mukci all nev,
lolly ipriDgdaih tntex.
Angry iged winler.
filaju an mild uid Kma an cdiD,
Every meadow 60*4 with balcn,
HormoDioui birdi un^ luch a piatia
vF fiwfl ipring) this nympfa or oun,
al garlandi oT ihy flowen.
After the Elizabethan age, : , ^
■GOrnfiilly bids the hero of his " MacRecknoe"
L«ave writing plays, aad chooie for Ehy annrDand
Some peacvTuJ provinct in acruiic Uod.
And Addison gives the acrostic a high place among his examples of false wit
A fashion that is nol quite extinct was introduced by the jeweilers of the
last cenluiy, who placed precious stones in such an order that the initials of
their names formed the name of (he recipient of (he gifL Thus, the Princess of
Wales, on her marriage, presented her groom with a ring set with the follow-
ing gems :
Beryl,
Emerild,
Ruby,
Turquoise,
Iris,
Emerald
The initials, it will be seen, form the word Bertie, the name by which she
prefers to call her spouse.
Rachel, the French actress, when at the height of her popularity, received
from her admirers a diadem with the following stones, whose name -initials
not only spell her own name, Iiut present the name-initials of her most famous
characters :
Ruby, Roxana.
Amethyst, Amenaide.
Carnelian, Camille.
Hematite, Hermione.
Emerald, Emilie.
I^pis-Laiuli, Ldodice.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. \%
One development of the acrostic that is apedally vital and electric consists
in leading the iniiial letters of the words of a sentence as a single word, or,
cwtverselVi in flashing in a single word the initials of a whole unutiered sen-
tence. Thus, when the Italians outside of the Fiedinontese states did not dare
■« ]pet openly to shout for Victor Emmanuel and Italian uuiiy, they managed
the thing neatly and thrillingly by the short cry of Viva Vrrdi! Why the
popalu' composer had suddenly become so iiery popular that all Italy should
ID season and out of season be shouting bis name did not at first appear,
except to those who knew that Verdi, letter (oi letter, slood for Viciorio
Emannele R^ d'ltalia. Now, this at least was an acrostic with a soul in
iL Similarly the word Nihil was by the Anti-Bonapartisls made to typify the
Napoleon dynasty of kings in the following strangely prophetic acrostic:
N-apoleon, the Emperor,
toseph, Kine of Spain,
-ieronymus (Jerome]. King of Westphalia,
I-oachim, King of Naples,
l^ouii. King of Holland.
Anodter acrostic whose augury was justified by future events, in a pleasanter
manner, however, than was anticipated, is mentioned by Bacon. " The trivial
prophecy," he savs, ■■ which I heard when I was a child, and Queen Eliiabetb
in the flower of net years, was, —
Wh«B Hempc i> ipuD,
England'* oodc \
whereby it was generally conceived that after the aovereigns had reigned,
which had the letters of that word Hemps (which were Henry, Edward, Mary,
Philip, Elisabeth), Ensland should come to utter confusion ; which, thanks be
to God, is verified in the change of the name, for that the king's style is now
no more of England, but of Britain." The most noteworthy of this species
of acrostic, however, is the Creek word \x^.fitk, — formed from the initials of
the sentence, I^irovc Spurd; 6ctiti Sloq Sur^fi. Jeaus Christ, the Son of God, the
Savioui, — which was used as a veiled symbol for ChrisL I'he figure of a fish
is frequently found carved on the monuments of the Roman catacombs to
mark without revealing the burial-place of a Christian.
Act of PMrUament, an English slang term fbi small beer, now almost
obsolete. The allusion is to the tact that publicans were by act of Parliament
forced to supply billeted soldiers, gratis, with Gvc pints of small beer daily.
TIkr i> ■ uotv cucnnl antong the Cheln vetenm that ibe Dukt of Wdliuglon uw a
■aUiemnDisa bit wtak REuiaSon b«r. Tht dulieHM, " Damn <hc belly tbM won'! wimn
Act or PirUamnii I" The Kildier replied. " Damn the Act of PulianicDi I it voo'i Winn the
tKlly."— BASntu AND Lblahii : Diclittiary ff Slang.
Action, action, acUonl In his " Lives of the Ten Orators," Plutarch
tells how i)emoslhenes when asked what made the perfect orator responded.
" Action !" And Ihe second thing? " Action !" And the third thing? " Action I"
The saying has often been imilaled. The Marshal de Trivulce. to the query
■if L.011IS XI. as to what he needed to make war, promptly replied, "Three
things : money, more money, always money" (" Trois choses : de I'argent.
encore de I'argeiil, et toujours de I'argent"). Fifty years later the Impenalisl
General von Schnssendi said precisely the same thing ; " Sind dreietlei Dinge
notigi Geld, Geld, Geld." Danton rang another change upon the phrase ir.
August, 1793, in a speech made before the National Assembly at the veiy
moment when a discharge of cannon announced that the Reign of Terror had
been inaugurated and the slaughter of royalist prisoners had begun. "The
cannon which you hear." he cried to his dismayed auditors, " is not the signal
14 HANDY-BOOK OF
ot alarm : it is th« fiat de charge upon oar enemies. To conquer tbetn, to
crush (hem, what is necessary f Boldness, more boldness, and always bold-
ness, and France is saved" i"De I'audace, ei encore de I'audace, el loajoors
de I'aadace, et la France est saovie"). Had Danton read Spenser as well as
Plutarch f In the " Faerie Queene" (iii. 1 1, 54) are the following lines :
Id behold
St.-Just, who succeeded Danton in the Reign of Terror, put a similar sen-
timent in less epigrammatic form when he exclaimed in the Convention,
" Dare 1 that is the whole secret of revolutions." Gambetta, however, marked
the dlRerence between the present republic and its predecessor bjr the follow-
ing paraphrase : " Work, more work, and always work !" |" Du travail, encore
du travail, et loujoura du travail I")— Speech at banquet to General Hoche,
June 24, 1871. See also Agi tate, agitatb, agitate.
Actiona apeak louder than vrords. An old saw, found in one form or
anolhcr in all languages. ThuR, the French say, " From saying to doing is a
long stretch," and " Great boasters, smali doers 1" the Italians, " Deeds are
male, words are female" (" Fatti maschi, parole femine"J ; the Danes, " Big
words seldom go with big deeds;" the Spaniards, "Words wili not do for
my aunt, (or she does not trust even deeds," and " A long tongue betokens a
short hand ;" while our own proverb is varied by the alternatives, " Words show
the wit of a man, but actions his meaning ;" " Saying and not doing is cheap ;"
and the Scotch, " Saying gangs cheap." In another sense the saw may be taken
as an answer to the question of the relative value to the world of the man of
thought and (he man of action \ a question which Walton slates thus in his
" Angler," Part I. ch. i. : " In ancient times a debate hath risen. . . . whether
the happiness of man in this world doth consist more In contemplation or
action. He instances o\\ the one hand the opinion of " many cloisteral men
of great learning and devotion," who prefer contemplation before action,
because they hold ihal "God enjoys himself only by a contemplation of his
own infiniteiiess, eternity, ]x>wer, and goodness, and the like," and on the other,
the opinions of men of equal "authority and credit" who say that "action is
doctrinal, and leaches both art and virtue, and is a mainuiner of human
society ; and for these and other like reasons, to be preferred before contem-
plalion." But he decides that Ihe ijuestion remains yet unresolved. In the
present day the weight of authority is undoubtedly on the side of action, even
the authority represented by the men of thoughL Kingsley's fine line,
finds an echo in Emerson, " An action is Ihe perfection and publication of
thought" i.Nat»ri\% in Lowell, "Everyman feels instinctively that all the
beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action"
(Rouiuau nitd l/u SentimetUaluts) ; in Beecher. "Action is the right outlet of
emotion" (/Vnwrftr from Ptymimth Fulfit) ; in Jules Simon, " In the eyes
of God there is not a prayer which is worth a good action ;" and in numer-
ous sayings of Goethe and Carlyle. The other side of the question may be
summed u]i in Owen Meredith's phrase, " Thought alone is immortal" {Ltitilt),
and is prettily and poetically presented in Kemer's stanias, "Two Graves,"
— the first grave being that of a warrior, who sleeps forgotten and unrecorded,
Ihe second that of a poet, whose songs slill float in the breezes above him.
And this in turn recalls the famous saying of Themistocles, who being asked
whether the historian were not greater than the hero, because without the
historian the hero would be fbi^otten, Yankee-like turned on his questioner
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Ad eondem (1-, "to the lame degree"), an English and Ametican uni-
versity phrase. A graduate of one university is permitted to enjuy the same
degree at another, and is said lo be admitted ad tumUia (graJum understood)
at the sister university. A coach that used to run between Oilbrd and Cant-
bridge was facetiously known to the undergraduates at both universiliet m the
ad aauUm coach.
Adam. There it
from this te
ture its earliest recorded appearance is in a poem by Richard RolTe de Ham-
pole (Early English Text Society Reprints, No. 36, p. 79) :
Wktn Adam daifi and Bm tfam.
So ipir* if tbou may Apede,
U^n KW Iktn tlutTidt of man
Tbal DOW msm bli meedl
Another tradition affirms Ibat when Maximilian, presumably the lirst of th*
name, was pmeecuiing researches into his own pedigree, a wag pasted up on
the doois of the palace Ibis couplet, which is identical with the English :
Da Adam badil und Eva ipann,
Maximilian promptly retorted, —
Ich bin do Ma
OoLy thai God hath i^veo honor 10 me."
Ray, in his collection of proverbs, adds a second couplet which contains at
answer to the first,—/.;.
Upstart [upitartedl a churl and nlhered xood,
Aod ihiDCC did ipi^iie our genlLe blood
This seems lo be an after-thought of comparatively recent birth.
Adam, the old. The unTceenerate part of man's nature, in allusion ic
the doctrine of original sin. This phrase is used in the English Book of
Common Prayer, — "Grant (hat the old Adam in these persons maybe sa
buried, that the new man may be raised up in them" (Baptism of Aast tf
Riftr Ytari). Shakespeare says of Henry V., —
CondiWratiDB IDk ao aonl came
And iriuppad ibt oStndmE Adam out of Um.
KincHatryV.. i.i.
I6 HANDY-BOOK OF
Adam'a ale or wins, a humorous coltoquialisra for «ater, u being Adam's
only beveta^e at the leeloial period when he flourished, occurs as &j back as
Prynne's " Sovereign Power of Parliament," ii. 3a : " They have been shut up
in prisons and dungeons, allowed only a poore pittance of Adam's ale, and
scarce a penny bread a Jay to support Iheii lives,"
. spade. "There is no ancient gentlemen but eardener^
*"' hold up Adam's protession. He was the
U Act v., Sc I). The term is rec<^ize<l
cabulary. The sign of a spade ia much
Addsi, Deaf aa an, a proverb common to most modern languages, and
arising from the passage in Psalm Iviii. 4, where the wicked are compared to
" the dj^af adder that sto]>peth her car : which will not hearken to the voice
of charmers, charming never so wisely." Tliis is an allusion lo the supersti-
tion, prevalent in the East from time immemorial, that some serpents Aeiy
all the powers of the charmer, pressing one ear into the dust, while Ihey
Slop the other with the tail. Zoologically, this is an absurdity, as serpents
have no external ears. Shakespeare refers lo the superstition in Sonnet cxii. ;
Id 10 profouod abysm I Ihrow all can
Addition, DltflBloii, and BUenoe. In 1S73, William H. Kemble, then
State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, was alleged to have vrrilten a letter of in-
struction for G. O. Evans lo T. J. CoOey, of Washington, in which these
words occur: "He understands addition, division, and silence." The New
York Sitn, which lirst made ihe allegation public (March 15, 1872), interpreted
the words as meaning that Evans joined all Ihe arts of the lobbyist
1.!.. J -r ijgpg, (1,21 jg proverbially practised even by thieves. Kembie brougni:
it against the Sun, and, though he asked only six cents damages, Ihe
jury failed to agree.
Admiral of tho Bine and Admiral of th« Rnd are properly naval
terms, the former being applied to an admiral of the third class, who holds the
rear in an engagement, the latter to one of the second class, who holds Ihe
centre. In Enzlish slang an Admiral of Ihe Blue is a public- house keeper, in
allusion to the blue aptun which is, or was, his usual nisignia, while Admiral
of Ihe Red is a term applied 10 such of his customers as have developed a
cheery, rubicund complexion, especially on the end of the nose. Admiral of
Ihe Red, White, and Blue is a term similarly applied to beadles, hall-porters,
and other functionaries when sparling the gorgeous liveries of their office.
Adnllam, Cave ol John Bright, in the course of a B|jeech directed
against Mr. Horsman and other UlKrals who disapproved of Ihe Reform
' - ' d by Earl Russell's administration in 1866,— a bill that cr
plated a sweeping reduction of Ihe elective franchise,— said, "The right hon-
orable geiilleman is the first of Ihe new partv who has relired into wliat may
lie called his political cave of Adullam. The reference was lo Ihe discon-
and distressed who gathered around David in the cave of Adullam
(/. Samuel, xxa. 1. 2), The retort was obvious, and was Instantly made by
l.iird Elcho, who replied that the band in the cave was hourly increasing, and
would succeed in delivering Ihe House from the tyranny of Saul (Mr. Glad-
stone) and his armor-bearer (Mr. Bright). Adullamiic is now an accepted
term for a member of any smalt clioue which tries to obstruct the parly with
which Ihey habitually associate, and has some affiliation urith the American
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I?
AdTsnity. The poets uid the philosophers are fond of cheerful moralli-
ings on Ihe advantages of adversity. First and foremost, Shakespeare's lines
spring to (he minil :
Svcel lire the UKi or adwnily,
Whidi, like the uwd, usiy and venvniDiH,
At Yn Lilu 11, Act <i., Sc. i.
Carlyle admits that "adversity is sometimes hard upon a man, but." he
adds, " for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will
stand adversity" {^"■OM 3ni Nrro- IVonhip : Tkt Hero at Man ef Lrttm).
Hazlitt had already said the same thing in his "Slietches and Essays."
" Prosperity is a gieal teacher ; adversity ia a greater" \0n Ihe Cmaarsatiim
of Lordi). And the arch- plagiarist Disraeli, in " Endymion." ch. lii., gives us
Ihc aphorism, "There is no education like adversity," "Prosperity," says
Bacon, "is the blessing of the Old Testament ; adversity is the blessing of
the New;" and he quotes approvingly Irum Seneca a high speech alter the
manner of the Stoics ; " The good things that lielong to prosperity are to he
wished, bul the good things that tielong lo adversity are to be admired"
{Euays: 0/ Adveriity), Aristotle found in education "an ornament in pros-
perity and a refuge in adversity" {Diochnes Laektius : Uvti of Fam
Fiiloiefkers). Butter, in " Hudibras," finds a reason for " '
adversity which is at wise as it is witty :
He'dui aiam an &1i loWm.
Pan 1., Canto j.
Longfellow finds a refuge in patience and hope :
Ahuibc Ihv darV duguUc-
And Beaumont and Fletcher bid as assume that sorrow is not and it will
not be;
Unieu our weakneti ■pp/cbend It BO ;
Wc ODDOl be moR bitUiil lo cunclva.
In uytUnE thal'i manly, Iban Ul make
III fotnue u codtEmptltile to ui
Aa it makei Ul to otnen,
Hanrit Man'i Ftrlum, Act 1,, Sc, i,
AdvertiaiiiK Qtutlat and Coiioiu. The origin of advertising dates
back to the birlh of the commercial spirit, when human lieingB began to teel
the necessity for some means of communicating their wants and the business
they had on hand. The ancient and medixval criers (called pntcoms in
Rome) who, besides their public duties, announced Ihe time, the place, and the
conditions of sales, the hawkers who cried their own goods, the libflli of the
Romans (announcing Ihe sales of estates, and giving public notice of things
lost or found, of absconding debtors, etc), and Ihe hand-bill or poster, whicTi,
after the invention of printing, gradually superseded the town or private crier,
— these are the various steps in the evolution of the modern advertisement
The firal printed English newspaper, the Ctrtain Nfwti of this Prtstni
Wat, issued in London in 1643, contained nothing but news. Not until ten
years later, in the Mercuritu Politicui for January, 1652, do we tneet with a
we II -authenticated advertisement This relates to a panegyrical poem on
■ Cromwell's return from Ireland, and runs as follows : "Irenodia Gratulatoria,
) so Heroick Poem; being a congratulatory panegjrick for my Lord General'!
HANDY-BOOK OF
But almost a century previous, on the continent of Europe, newspaperB
and newspaper advertisements had been foreshadowed in small news pam-
phlets printed at irregular intervals in Vienna and olher parts of Germany.
The oldest newspaper paragraph approacliing (he modern advertisement that
has ycl.been resuscitated was found in one of these early news-books, pre-
served in the British Museum. The book is dated 1591, without any indica-
tion as 10 the plan of issue. The advertisement is half in prose and half in
verse, and, like its English successor which we have just quoted, is (he puS
of a new publication.
As newspapers grew apace, (he art of advertising developed with them.
In May, 1657, one Newcombe issued a weekly newspaper, Tht Piditic Aiver-
lii/r, which consisted almost wholly of advertisements of a miscellaneous
character. Simultaneously other papers increased the number and the variety
of their advertisements. Announcements of books still held a prominent
position ; quack doctors began to discover the value of puffery; tradesmen
praised (heir wares ; coffee-houses ei(olled (he virtues of those strange new
drinks, "cophee" itself, chocolate, and (hat "excellent and by all Physicians
approved, China drink, called by (he Chineans (cha, by other nations tav, alias
tee." But the major part of (he advertisements related to fairs and cock-
fights, burglaries and highway robberies, (he departure of coaches and stages,
and (o what would now be classed together under the heading of " Lost,
Strayed, or Stolen." The number of runaway apprentices, servants, and
negro boys is especially noticeable in the advertising li(era(ure of (he seven*
teen(h cen(ury. And how shall we account for (he extraordinary homeliness
uf the rogues and rascals of that period? Hardly a criminal or a runaway
but is described as "ugly as sin." They have ill-favored countenances,
amutly com[>lexions, black, rotten teeth, flat wry noses, a hang -dog expression ;
they are purblind, or deaf, or given to slabber in (heir speech. Our modern
tough must be a beauty in comparison with (hese earlier wrong-doers. By
the eighteenth century, advertising had become recognized as a means of
communication, not only for the conveniences of trade, but for political pur-
poses, for love-making, for fortune-hunting, for swindhng, and for all the other
needs and desires ol a large community. By the commencement of the
present century matters were very nearly as we find them now. The Lon-
don Timet and the Morning Pott, started modestly enough in the last quartef
of the eighteenth century, were beginning to make themselves felt as powers
in the land. As they grew and developed, they depended more and more
upon the revenues from Iheir adverlising columns. Meanwhile, (he benefils
of advertising were becoming more and more appreciated by tradesmen and
the general public.
American newspapers profited bythe example of their British predecessors.
The tiist newsi>a|*r that succeeded in establishing itself in North America
was the Boston Neva Letttr. In its initial number, dated Monday, April 14,
1704, it issued a bid for advertising in (his ungrammatical form : " All persons
who have any houses, lands, tenements, farms, ships, vessels, goods, wares, or
merchandise, elc,, to be sold or let, or servants run away, or goods stole
or lost, ma^ have the same inserted a( the reasonable rale of twelve pence
(n five shillings, and no( (o exceed." The first American daily journal, the
IndepfniUtit Gattlle of New York, in its second year, 178S, contained as manv
as thirty-four advertisements in a single issue. From that (imc on the growttl
of advertising in America has been even more stupendous than in England.
It is interesting to compare the advertising of (he pas( with that of the
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 19
pcecent The mind that is accustomed to read between the lines can trace, in
tbeir various changes and developments, similar changes and developments in
habits, customs, and methods of thinking ; can estimate the vast augmenta-
tion in business and in industrial resources, and the mighty evolution of public
and private enterprise. Let us go back through the columns of the news-
pa|>er press for the last two centuries or so, gleaning those curious and eccen-
tric advertisements which illustrate in the most amusing fashion the temper
o( their respective periods and the mutations wrougiit by time.
The class of advertise men ta now known as personals made an early appear-
ance in newspaper literature.
Bui there are i candor, a simplicity, and a tuuveU in the earlier specimens
which are less apparent in Iheit successors of the present day. There is an
opulence of phrase also which would indicate equal opulence of pocket, w~"
personals ch "" ' " " ' "
be iikely to 1
serted this nmice
Whcms, DD SuDday. April la, 1750, then wu ttto lo Chnpildc, betwKIi the boun of
feoT and five in the aftcmoan, a youDg gculleman. droKd in a light-calDrtd cou, nilh a blue
waiMccHt, (rimined with flilvtr lace, aWg with a young ladv in mounung, eoing lowud St.
Hanin'i, near Aldengaie. Thii u, thenlbre, Lo aajtuiini ihe said grnLiFman (su ■ biend) id
be IB evpedilioui u poHJble Id tb« affair, lot otherwiK he should unhappily mecl wiLh the
has been blFly terved by the aforesaid young Uuly, who, al^r acouruhipf^theBeTour monihl
^^ u could lxw<E^'beainie'a''gen'deimLD, lake ibis, sir" on!^ a'^endlyhini.
Nor would the modern head of a family deem that it comported with his
dignity to express hilarity at the disappearance of his wile in the public fashion
adopted by this advertiser in the Essex (Mass.) (nneOr of September 17, 1771:
Ran tw«v from Jtaiab Woodbury, Cooper, hii Houk Plague lor 7 loni yean, Maaury
Old Moll, alias Trial of Ve>«eaD«. He that lost will never seeli her : he thai shall keep bet.
Bid -Rialof VengeuKC. I ban ho^Tairtbe old Shoes I can 'find for Joy; and all* my
Deiebbors reioke wiih me, A aood Riddance of bad Wan. Amen.
JOSIAH WOODBI,...
Mi»s Fisher inserts the following par^raph in the Public Advirtistr of
March 30, 1759 :
a blemli
n prial-ibopt, and id vind up ihe
n by thus pulkltcly
C. FiSHBR.
The above might seem to the hasty thinker curiously characteristic of time
and place. Vet history repeats itself, as it always must. There is atavism
even in adveitisements. Characteristics that seem to Iwlong to a past age
will recur in the present Surely the Miss Fisher of the last century finds
her legitimate successor, her modern double, in the Ellen Rose of Stamford,
Connecticut, who in ittgo inserted Ihe following advertisement in all the
newspapers of her native town :
ToHV ScaHDauiiHG Fukhds,— I haf>e you do not call yourselves ChriidaDi.fbc you are
■ dltgnce IS the Chvdi. You know nothing about me. I dsn'icanforyour lying longnei;
1 wmdat ibat Ibey doii*l Ul out of yvnr tnautbs. You aci like lence cms and flying terpeDts -
> HANDY-BOOK OF
lu have bevD tcry boiy about mt for the 1a» Dine yfan wiLb your meddling: p1w« td
E a uukc io Lh« gtau. S«« if you un keep ii dp for nine yean Longer. 1 know injii I cu
in Lhe ffrau. See if you un Iceep ii dp for nine yean Longer.
; I should think Ilwl you would gel drva of ptayiiu uuiire all ihe
■•■?.rji».
Matrimonial adverlisenientsarenoworien roughly grouped under the head of
,. ^ ..i_i>i... — Bpjper managers who lack the nicer perceptive quali"'—
a department by themselves. They have a lileratuT
their oi
- - ;>i»yin« - - - ,
nething dinerent, you Kandaliilne impi
Miss Ellbh feo
Tier) roughly grouped under the he:
"Personals" by newspaper managers who lack the nicer perceptive qualities.
In truth, they form a department by themselves. They have a lilerature of
their own. In recent years they have even developed journalistic organs of
-"--^rown.
n engaging feature of these would*be husbands and wives has ever been
their freedom from bashfulness or mateuaisc hontt in the proclamation of their
own charms. Theyareatmoet alwayshandsome, or beautiful, or disiinguished-
loukiDg, sweet-tempered and accomplished, well born, well mannered, and
well eoucated. They are often wealthy, or, at least, in possession of a com-
foiiable income. One wonders how it is they have escaped Hymen so long,
and still mote why they are obliged fo seek alien means of courting him.
John Houghton, who in 1681 started a weekly entitled A CollfctUn Jor Iht
Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, which proved one of the chief pro-
mulers of early advertising, was the father of raaltimonial aimouncemcnta.
In his issue of July 19, 1695, he inserted two advertisements of wishful bride-
grooms. But the public was suspicious of the innovation, and a few weeks
later the editor found it necessary 10 explain that the " proposals for matches"
were genuine, promising, moreover, to manage all necessary negotiations
*' with the utmost secrecie and prudence." Afier that he seems to have found
custom. Imitators followed, and in 1775 a marriage bureau was even started
in London, but it came to grief through an expoil of its very questionable
metbodB in the Tewu and Ctamiry Magcaiiu of the next year. Nevertheless,
matrimonial atlvertisements waxed apace. A very curious one appeared in
Belft Wtekly Meuenger of May z%, \i<fj :
Minhew Dawion, in Bolhwell, Cumberiand. tnlendi 10 be mamcd Bi Holm Chuich.on
lhe Tliunday before Whimintidc ne<I,»henever Iha. mMV happen, and 10 relura 10 BoihweU
10 dine. Mr. Reid give, a turkey to be roa.led : Ed OeoienwD givei a lat lamb to be
B«ly Hodgwn.Mary Bmhley. Molly Fijher. Sarah Britcoe. and' Betly Ponhouje.gi.e e:.ch
of Ihem a pound of butiei. The idvertiier will provide everjillling elie fcriofeMive anocca-
■lon. And he hereby gives notice id all young women deiiroua of changing their condilion
thai he ia al preaent diaeugagcd : and adviKi ihem to coiuider thai alihodgh thert be luck in
what mad folly I 1 can't f
a I effort. Dear tribe of nni
lOt being an elderly gen Elemi
ikirw aunelhing ne
:orrigib)e tnitb-tell
dainiy, highbred, restliil, joyoua. delighl to mind, pleature to eye, child of eaillijboni of
l^^if.' where an IhouT Alas, in Spain only, MKxt.oti tontmil cIMeaux.
s the following advertiser in the London Tlvai:
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Da you Wakt a SuvAXTt NcRSily lirompu Ike qiinlion.
in vanoiu^am of Ih/ world oJuld be ayailable, Could undcnake
■uddlc-uid ; no objection -' ■'•- '■• '-—'J -jJl.
of llie woiid, CouidatI
ol of bii own mooey. Could acl as secretary or valel
-j._'_- ^_ L^g^j |j^ lon^e» aiAft. dance » pJay, fence^
y, ridicruioui or sublimf, or do anylhiag,
bom the cuiiiDB of a peruke to the storming of a cita
Addrw, «c.
Does the reader note Ihe nice condescension of this paragon in engaging
never to excel his master i He will keep his multiforin accomplishments in
check, so as not to overshadow his employer.
Here are a few more " Wants" from various portions of the globe that («ll
their own storjr and tell it joyuusly and well ;
From the Clevedon (Hjig.) Mrrcury:
Wanted— A nally plalu but eiperienced and efficient goTenicH for ihiee prli. eldest 10.
Mnsic. Frcncb, and German required. BHIliancy of converaaiion, lascination oT manner, aitd
ayonmelry of form objected 10, as Ibe bther is much at home and there are grown-up son*.
Addm Mater, Pon-Oake, Clevedon.
From Ihe Edinburgh Seottman:
Serrant— Wanted. bya family living in an Edinburgh Bal, a geneni Krvanl, who win
dndly superintend her mislieu in cooWIng and washmg, nursing the baby, etc. She will
have every Sunday and two ni^is out in each weeL, and the use of the drawing'Toam for
the teceplfcn or her Hends. Address A. F., &»/i»ifl» Office.
nionn the proDuni
The ingenuous reader may have imagined that piize-fighting and boxing
^i !_i _.!_zi !.!._ "--'f of huma ■■ ' '
iry papers
lislake. The following ts~by no means a solitary instance. It ap-
especial privilegea of the Stronger half of humanitv. A |lanc
:ntn-century papers will convince
the advertising columns of Ihe e
of his mistake. The following il _^ ^ _ _^
peaied in the Daily Post ol July 17, 171S, in the form of a challenge and
boalng. for ten poi
.rKld,ofS»l.e.Ne-lngton,.
,iudi.^™">d^U;M;dqi
ill oblige het to acknowledge
Aes, of the city of London, h
l«ol; bul i^Uhf'bmMsf^
, fdo assure her 1 will not &il
licb I shaU preseni her with 1
iSB-drivei-, well Vnown for
in my way, having been
avenot fought in thiswa
line minutes, ud gained
.meetingT,etforlhe«id
rill be more difficult for h.
ysinc
■SSs
proofs of ir
Ibal the blow, wb
dlr^metofighlh.
>nni,anddonbtn<
cr 10 digest than sh
Bui it seems to have been discovered that even these degraded ci
had not lost all the characteristics of their sex Some challenges provide
that each woman shall hold half a crown in each hand, " the first woman that
drop* the money to lose the battle." Evidently the feminine temptation to
Bse the nails instead of the fists had to be |itovided against.
Cookie
MANDV-SOOk OJf
Thlt ii lo ncqmini thi pubiic, ihai on Monday iht firn Lnsuni, being ihe Lodgi (ot
monthly mHling) Night of ihe Vttf and Accepted Uaiod* or the 93d Regiment held At tne
{wilb 9 poker) ihu lUd not been open for ume Eime paiE ; by which meaui ihe got Into AD
«y^^^en( roonij made iwo hole* through the waLI, and, by lAAt itmlAeem, dUcovered Ihe
Joulld ™i tht KOTl, BBllling to' m»l.e it known to all her sei. So BOy Itdy who U desirou.
of lenming the lecreti of FreepiMonry, by sppljing to ihat well-leimed wonmn (Mn. Bell,
IhAt lind GflMl yean in and •bout Kewgile) may^ io.tcucled In the lecnti of MlHory.
Our advertising ancestors Irequently broke into verse. Here ia a fair sam-
ple frotn the Salem (Mass.) Rigisttr of September 6, 1801, in which poelif
and prose, remonstrance and business, are quaintly intermixed .-
Tlie fbl^wing lineg were writien in the thop of the tubtcriber by 0 ton of St- Crupin,
viewing with conlempt ibe lyiaoniul and oppreuive diraoulion of a mu who hai (hnl-
Satem, 9th Mo.
Oh Shame I
And only li.
ed hiniKlf to keep an Oi fro'm hay.
AldiD"SieRhy he did hii ^n°dain^
Twenty per cent. wa> muck off at one clip, fran those kind of ihoei which art mouly
worn. It k <ifi«n moDlhi aince the Shoe War commeticed.
J, MAmiULD, jrd.
But it is tradesmen, quacks, theatrical managers, etc, people, in short,
who wish to attract the public attention to their own pecuniaty profit, — it is
this iwrtion of the race who have developed advertising, especially in the
latter half of the present century, into an art that taxes all the creative facul-
ties of the human mind. Their forerunners of past ages trusted merely to
' » goi^eous vocabulary. They used up all the laudatory
adjectives in the language, and there was an end on 't. Their
n do something odd, biiatre, outrf, extiavagant,-
tn-day know lietter. They understand such appeals are made only to the eye
■ e immediately forgotten. It is necessary to arrest attention, to startle.
sensational alKive everything. Such methods set people to wondering,
thinking, and talking. The earliest appeals of this sort were made in the
comparatively conventional direction of literature and art. Wit, poetry, and
wood-engravmg were called into play. At first it was very poor wit, poor
|H>etry, ()oor wood -engraving. When the novelty wore off it ceased to attract
attention. Then advertisers began to turn themselves into Mxcenases. They
patronized the skilful pen and the cunning pencil. The world would be
astonished if it knew now many men now famous have written puffs for
tradesmen. And two men, one in England and another in America, have won
lame for themselves in the exclusive service of the advertiser. The first was
George Robins, the English auctioneer, whose advertisements of estates for
sale were, half a century ago, conned and studied with as much gusto as the
latest poem or romance. His description of that terrestrial paradise whose
only drawback was "the litter of the rose-leaves and the noise of the night-
ingales" has become a classic The second is Mr. Powers, formerly of Wana-
maker's Bazaar, in Philadelphia. He had a facility of phrase, a virile simplicity
of style, a directness and an ingenuous candor, that indicated literary abilities
LITERARY CURIOS/TIES. 23
of a high order. When he wrote ihem, Wanamakec's advertisements won a
national reputation. Many people turned to them first when they took up
the moining papeis, sure of finding something fresh and interesting even if
ihey had no desire 10 purchase.
As to art. Ctuikshank was the first well-knuwn man to lend his pencil to
the advertiser. His capital sketch, made for a blacking-establishment, oi the
cat seeing herself reflected and spitting at the boot, is still in use after half a
century's service. A London soap-firm recently purchased the tight of re-
producing one of John Rogers's most famous little groups. And you have
but to turn to the pages of any modern periodical to recogniie what excellent
work, mostly unsigned and unacknowledged, but betraying the well-known
charade rislics of eminent artists, is done for advertising purposes. Famous
works of art, also, have been pressed ir" ■'■ ■ " — '■ — '
Hotels and bar-rooms attract custom hv hanging on their walls the authentic
works i>f great masters, old and new. Cigarette -dealers and others reproduce
uncopyrlghied masterpieces in miniature lorm, and give them away with (heir
But as the spirit of journalism has invaded literature and art, so it has
invaded the advertising business. The sensational methods of editors and
reporters have been aped by the advertisers in near-by columns. Who does
not remember the thrilling "reading notices," once so popular, which, after
holding you breathless with the account of an accident, a love-story, a tale of
adventure, finally landed you into a boi of pills or a bottle of castor oil }
Then there was the enigmatical notice, not yet extinct, which arrested atten-
tion and kept you in wondering suspense, until such time as the advertiser
deemed ripe to spring the explanation, — the notice which cried, " In the name
of the Prophet.'' and waited until you had pricked up your ears before it
added, " figs." An early example of this occurred in l.ondoii some thirty
years ago. One morning the good people woke up to find the interrogation
"Who's Blank?" staring them everywhere in the face, — in the newspapers, <m
the walls and hoardings of the town, even on the pavements. As day after
day passed, the reiterated query set everybody to thinking. "Who indeed is
Blank ?" So everylwdj' asked, but nol>ody knew. Presently the words " Fire I
Fire J Thieves I Thieves I" following the query, deepened the mystery. At
last the secret was out when the enterprising owner of a newly- paten led safe
The mysterious statement, in large letters, "714 MoRf," which simulta-
neously invaded the American press all over the country, carried wonder and
even uneasiness to many an American household. One can imagine the whole
family puzzling (heir brains over it for days. Finally, one morning. Young
Hopeful bursts out breathlessly, " Pop ! 1 know what 724 More is I" " What
is it i" cries every one, eijieclantly. " Pancakes I" And then it comes out
that 724 more pancakes can be made out of Puff's Baking Powder than out
of any other.
Tricks of the type are a lower form of art, and have now lost much of their
efficacy. It is onlv the uninventive mind that seeks to attract attention by
italics, capitals, exclamation marks, and the use of strange and uncouth letters.
Even the familiar trick of setting up announcements tn diagonal form, or
of inverting the letters, palls upon a sated public. There is still great virtue,
however, in large capitals and the force of iteration. If day in and day out
the public have the name of any article pressed conspicuously upon their
attention, that name is unconsciously fixed in the mind like a household word.
And the effect is more certain if the name appears in some unlooked-for spot
and in an unfamiliar environment. The knowledge of these facts has led
advertisers to drop their lines in other places besides the daily pa[iers.
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34 HANDY-BOOK OF
And »o it came around that bill-poslers stuck up flaring advertisements an
walls, on fences, on bill-boards. Ihal the interiors of cars and omnibuses were
decorated wilh signs, thai pavements were stencilled with trade notices, that
peripatetic artists swaimed over the country painting the names of quack
medicines on ihc palings of fences, the sides of houses and barns, on rocks,
trees, and rirer.banks.
Bill-posting was first used in connection with thr. drama. The very name
indicates this. As ^ back as 1579, John Northbtooke, in his treatise against
theatrical perfonnances, says, "They use to set up their bills upon posts,
some certain days before, to admonish people to make resort to their thea-
tres." Later, notices of houses to rent, of sales, auction, etc, were posted.
Then followed all manner of advertisements. But not until Iwoscore years
ago was bill-posting systematized into a business. Anciently the best bill-
poster was the mighty man of brass and muscle, who, knowing nothing of law
or license, tore down his rival's placard and set up his own in its stead. Some-
limes the rival would show fight Sometimes the owner of the property
would object to its desecration, and serve an injunction on the bill-poster. Un-
daunted, however, the latter would lease out his contract to another man, who
would slick up his tnlls before the court could issue a ikw injunction. At last
■he system of leasing space sprang up. The owner leased his space to the
bill-slicker, who could enforce the right as against his rival. This system
dales from 1876. It has led to the establishment of large firms, many of whom
control space throughout the entire Union, and can, at a moment's bidding,
proclaim the merits of a Soap or a patent medicine throughout the land.
Worst of all, the bill-poster has amalgamated with the peripatetic artist
of the brush. When the latter first sprang into being, he was a distinct
individuality and a most offensive one. Nothing in nature was too sacred for
him, — indeed, the more sacred, the greater the advertisement The most
magnificent scenery was profaned. The sign-painter often had to stand up to
his neck in water, or climb apparently inaccessible peaks, 10 reach the most
Striking locality for his "ad." He was hooted by the newspapers, and shot
at by enraged worshippers of the beautiful. But no danger, no dilGculiy,
The most remarkable of these early pioneers was the owner of a certain
Plantation Bitlers. He devised an enigmatic inscription, "S. T. i860. X.,"
which shortly appeared in every newspaper and on every available fence,
rock, tree, bill-board, or barn throughout the countiy, on wagons, railroad-
cars, ships, and Steamers. One day all the exposed rocks in the Niagara
rapids bloomed out with the mystic sign. Forest-trees along the lines of the
Pennsylvania Railroad were hewn down to afford the passengers a dlimpse
of the same announcement emblaioned in letters four hundred feet high on
the mountain -side. Then the manufacturer's agents went abroad. Cheops'
pyramid was not too sacred for him, nor the place on Mount Ararat where the
Ark is said tO have landed. He even announced that he would discover the
North Pole for the express purpose of decorating it with the cabalistic words.
And what did the words mean? Many puzzled their heads over them in.
vain. Not until the proprietor had retired wilh a fortune did he reveal the
secret. "S. T. tS6o. X." meant, "Started trade in 1S60 with (10."
But we have not yet exhausted all the arts of the advertiser. Something
should be said about the sad-eyed sandwich-man, braced between two bill-
boards and set adrift in the crowded streets ; something also of the various
perambulalory advertisements which have been gradually evolved froi
simple germ: of the negro genllt ■—•..-\. _— .j . . .
huge standing collar, on which is p
him ; of the army of tall men, all a
Coo^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
mnufaclurer of robber goods clad in long rubber coa
and trade-mark, and ihen cast out on the highways and ^
olis \ or the countless numbers of men and boys bedecked in fantastic c<
tumes and placed in (he streets tu distribute circulars.
A quarter of a century ago. a London manager invented a new advertising
scheme which has been the fruitful parent of many similar devices. A drama
called "The Dead Heart" was being [flayed at his theatre. He ordered ten
hundred Ihousand hearts to be printed in red, inscribed with the words Dead
Heart, and bad Ihem posted everywhere, upon the pavements, upon the walls,
upon the trees in the parks, upon the seats, and even u|>on the backs oi
revellers who were returning home in a convivial but oblivious mood.
Twenty years later, one of his imitators devised a still more startling scheme.
He was manager of the melodrama "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab."
Hiring a number of hansoms, he placed in each the dummy figure of a man
in a dress suit, with btood-bespattered shirt, and had them driven through the
principal streets. He succeeded even better than be had expected. The
fjhaslly spectacle became the talk of all London, The newspapers denounced
It as an atrocity. Il was said that nervous people had fainted, that children had
screamed, and that ladies had gone olT in hysterics. Finally, the authorities
gave the lucky manager an additional "ad." by ordering the hansoms back to
the stables under pain of arrest
Over in Vienna, a theatrical manager advertised for five thousand cats.
The strange announcement attracted general attention. At the appointed day
and hour the entrance to the theatre was blacked by a vast crowd of men,
women, and children with bags, baskets, or coat-pockelB stuffed with cats.
The manager bought them all, fixed labels around their necks announcing
(he first performance of a grand pantomime in the following week, then
turned Ihem loose, and let Ihem scamper off in all directions. Of course the
manager did not depend merely on the labels. He knew that the novelty of
the scheme would set press and public to talking, and he was right in his
calculations.
A story has recently gone the rounds of the press which is ouite good
enough to be true. A poor clergyman wishing to buy hymn-books for his
congregation at the lowest possible price, a London firm offered to supply
him gratuitously with a line of books containing certain advertisements. The
minister complied, thinking to himself that, when the books arrived, the ad-
veriisementB could be removed, but, to his joy and surprise, he found no inter-
leaved advertisements. On the first Sunday after the new books had been
distributed, the congregation found themselves singing, —
Hack \ Ihc hcnld angeli •ing.
BHcham'i Pilli art juit ihr Ibiog;
Fe«< on onb mxl inercv mild,
Two foe man and dk lot cbitd."
Advloe. An axiom of proverlnal as well as of written philosophy is
■ammed up in this phrase of Hazlilt'si "Our friends are generallv readv
verything for us except the very thing we wish them It
„ . ,. . ) Johnson offers
tl excellent reason both for the willingness on one side and the unwillingness
■m the other ; "Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superi.
ority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or most
joificions." IRamUfr, No. 87,) If this be true, then it evidently follows, to
quote his own words again from a letter to Mrs. Pioui, "The advice that is
wanted is generally unwelcome, and that which is not wanted is generally im-
pertinent. Horace Smith, therefore, suggests quite the right attitude towards
26 tiAI^DY.BOOK OP
advice, and es|]ecia11y good advice : " Good advice is one of those injurlea
which a guod man ought, if possible, lo forgive, but at all events to forgel at
once." {Tht Tin Trumps: Aiioict.) The ingenuous few that occasionally
seem to seek advice really want something else ; " We ask advice, but we
mean ap[irobation." (CoLTON : Lacon.) Yet Benjamin Franklin has so little
worldly wisdom as to say in his " Poor Richard's Almanac," "They that will
not be counselled will not be helped," To be sure, he adds ahnost in the
same breath, '■ We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct," — a thought,
by the way, which he stole from La Rochefoucaald : " We give advice, but we
cannot give the wisdom to profit by it." Saadi, in the " Gulistln," makes a
sage remark when he says, " He who gives advice to a self- conceited man
stands himself in need of counsel from another." (ch. viii., Fulei for Cmiiuct in
tife.) But he fails lu recognize that all men in this sense are self-conceited.
Yet, on the other hand, if Bailey be right, self-conceit should incline them to
hearken : " The worst men often give the best advice." {Fislui. sc. A Villagi
Feast.) In the face of all this human unwillingness, however, Alphon-iu the
Wise of Castile was bold enough to say, " Had I been present at the Crea-
lion, I would have given some useful hints for the belter ordering of the
originally been used at the coronation of his , .. , ., ....
Glaiiding for Albertus Eleclus Imperatot Optimus Vivat At his own coro-
nation at Aix-ta-Chapelle in 1440, Frederick retained the initials, with Ihb
altered meaning, Archidux Electus Imperalor Opiinie Virat It became a
favorite pastime for learned and ingenious men to fit new readings to ihe
motto. Frederick himself, in a manuscript referred lo by the librarian of
Leopold I,, quoted a flattering German version, Aller Ehren Isi Oesterreich
Voll, ("Austria is crowned with all honor,") but it is recorded that he had
to remove an equally unflattering inscription in the Burg, Aller Erst Isl
Oesterreich Verdorben.
Rasch, organist of the Schottencloster, discovered no less than two hundred
possible readings, which he gave to Ihe world about 1580. Three of these arc
especially famous : Austria Eril In Orbe Ultima, " Austria will be the last in
the world," and Auslriae Est lm|Wrare Orbi Univcrso, and Alles Erdreich 1st
Oesterreich Unlerthan, the last being a free translation into German of the
Latin of the second. The initial ingenuity of both is retained in the English
equivalent ; Austria's Empire Is Over all Universal.
, meaning a per-
tally, spirilually,
and physically, with one's self, that a higher law — a law' above all mere human
codes and conventions, and, therefore, above Ihe seventh commandment, which
was numbered among human ordinances — urged these twain to become one
flesh. A complete life or destiny could be fulfilled, not by a single individual,
but by a couple. Each must have its aflinily. The greater duty of life was
to discover this alttr ego. It will be seen that this necessitated numerous ei-
perimenls on the wav. The Free. Lovers were largely influenced by Goethe's
"Elective Affinities,'' in which human beings are likened to chemical sub-
stances that repel or attract one another by eternal laws. Only Goethe hesi-
tates to say explicitly ihat this chemical force IhrusI upon man by the demoniac
powers releases htm from personal responsibility. The Free-Lovers not only
explicitly staled this, not only asserted thai man was excusable, but went fur-
ther, and taueht thai it was his sacred duly to break through the iraditional
code and satisfy his higher self. The sect became prominent ta i&^ and
;i:v,.G00gk'
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 27
established several communilies, the most famous being at Oneida, New York.
Thej were a cunstaiit target for the humorists. Artemus Ward has an excel-
lent hit of fuuhiig on the community at Berlin Heights, Ohio. He describes
buw he set up his great moral show in the neighboibood, and how the Fcee-
Lovers came fli>cking round the doors, among Iheni " a perfeckly orful-lookin'
female," whose " gownd was skanderlusiy short and her trowsis was shameful
to behold."
" Surcclv," I Kd, vDdcv«rid lo git Look Arom her. But ihe diuue to n* and Hd '-
■■Voo.iTn.yAffinm/\"
" Wh>l upon anh b thatl" I ahoulcd,
" Doit ihDU not kiioi**"
'■ No. 1 dojitn. !■•
■'LIhid. man, & I'll uU y*!" Kd Die utange (cmalc: "for yean I ha* ymmed !brlh«.
1 knowd ihou wui in (he world, luaiwhara, iho 1 didn't know whan. My han led he
O 'lit loo DUIch. loo mutch r'andiheiobbed agio.
" Hail Ihou not yoaracd lor nwT" ihv yelled, liDgiti' her haods like a female play-actor,
" Not a yearn \" I liellered at the lop of my voice, Ihrowin' her awciy from me.— j^rffntiu
Ward. Hit Boak: Amtif !)i4 Frti-ljKtri.
Agathoclaa' Pot A^athocles, the celebrated tyrant of Syracuse, was
originally a potter: in his greatness he always affected extreme humility,
haling an earthen pot placed beside him at table to remind him of his
origin.
A poor relalLoniilhe moat imlevant thing in nature, a piece ot impertinent conraponaency,
... a dealhVllead at >Dur t>ai^uet, A^thocicl' pot, a Hurdecu Lu your gate, a Laums at
yonrdoor, n lion in your path, . . . ihe ounce of aourin a pound of iweel. — Utmb'i EUa:
fBtr RilMani.
Agitate, agitate, agitate! This advice, which seems a reminiscence of
Demosthenes's "Action, action, action I" |;. v.\ was given to the Irish people
by the Marquis of Anglesea when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under Ihe Duke
of Wellington. O'Connell caught up the phrase and followed the advice it
inculcated. Hence he was known as "the Irish Agitator." But Parnel! deemed
that a better watchword was "Organize, organize, organize 1"
AgnoatlO (Gr. k privative, and ^vucrof, knaaiing, knaan, inmiiaile). One
who believes that the finite minil can comprehend only the finite world, and
that Cod and the infinite and the causes that underlie appearances are neces-
sarily unknown and unknowable. According to a letter from R. H. Hutton,
quoted in the New English T}\cX\oraiy, tub voce, the word was "suggested by
Prof. Huxley at a party held previous to the formation ol the now defunct
Metaphysical Society, at Mr. James Knowles's house on Clajiham Common,
one evening in 1S69, in niv hearing. He took it from SL Paul's mention of
the altar to * the Unknown God.' "
Since this letter appeared in print. Prof. Huxley has himself given ua the
hintory uf Ihe word, in the Nineltcntk Century for February, iSSg. " When
I reached intellectual maturity anil began to ask myself whether I was an
atheist, a theist, or a pantheist, a materialisl or an iifealiol, a Christian or a '
free-thinker, I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready
was the answer, until at last 1 came to the conclusion that I had neither art
nor part with any of these denominations except the last. The one thing in
wbifh most of these good jieople agreed was the one thing in wnich I differed
from them. They were quite sure they had attained a cettain 'gnosis,' had
more or less successfully solved the problem of existence ; while 1 was quite
sure I had not, and bad a pretty strong conviction that Ihe problem was
insoluble. . . . This was my situation when I had the good fortune to and a
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aS HANDY-BOOK OF
place among the membeis of that remarkable confraternity of aniuonists,
long since deceased.but of green and pious memory, Ihe Melaphysical Society.
Every variety of philosophical and theoli^ical opinion was tepresenled there,
and expressed itself with entire openness ; most of my colleagues were ills of
one sort or another ; and, however kind and friendly they might be, I, the man
without a tag of a label lo cover himself with, coulo not bil to have some of
the uneasy feelings which must have besel the historical fox when, after leaving
the trap in which his tail remained, he piesented himself to his normally
elongated companions, ^o I took thought, and invented what I conceived to
be tlie appropriate title of ' agnostic' It came into my head as suggestivelv
antithetic lo the 'Gnostic' of Church history who professed lo know so much
about the very things of which I was ignorant, and I look the earliest oppor-
tunity of parading it at our society, to show that I, too, had a tail like the
Other foxes. To my great satisfaction, the term took ; and when the Spectator
had stood godfather lo il, any suspicion in the minds of respectable people
Ihat a knowledge of itu parentage might have awakened was, of course, com-
Eletely lulled." (Reprinted in Christianity and Agnosticism: a Conlreveriy.
lew York. 18S9.)
Asonjr. To pile on the agooy, originally an Americanism, is now a
common locution on both sides of the Atlantic, meaning louse harrowing
details for the purpose of inlensifying a narrative or a statement. So far back
as 1B57, Charlotte Bronte writes in a letter, " What climax there is does not
come on till near the conclusion ; and even then I doubt whether (he regular
novel -reader will consider the 'agony piled sufficiently high' (as the Ameri-
cans say) or the colors dashed on to the canvas with the proper amount of
daring.'' (Gaskell : Life of CharlolU Bronte, dh. Tav.)
AgODy Colnnm. The name bmiliarly given lo the Mcond column of the
lirst page of the London Times, containing advertisements similar to those
which in American papers are grouped under Ihe head of Personals. But
they often exhibit a frantic exuberance of capitals, exclamation -mar kH, and
interjections, and make lurid exhibitions of private and personal matters
which are well-nigh unknown to the advertising columns of cis-Allantic jour-
nals. Sometimes they are written in cipher, or some mutually -agreed -on
arrangement of words, and many a line that reads like the purest gibberish
carries sorrow or gladness to Ihe eye Ihat reads Ihe secret. Yet even ciphers
have been found dangerous. There are everywhere certain ingenious busy-
bodies (/,<., bodies who have nothing to busy themselves with) that make a
Study of Ihis column, and, finding a key to the cipher in which a clandestine
correspondence is cariied on, insert a marplot advertisement, — sometimes for
the mere fun of the thing, sometimes to stop an intrigue that is neatly ripe for
execution. The agony column itself is evidence of this. For you often find
the real agents in a correspondence notifying each other that such and such an
advertisement was not inserted b^ authority. (See CtPHRR.)
A large number of the advertisements relate 10 prodigal sons and truant
husbands. Now, you and I have never run away and hid from our families ;
probably no one in our set of acquaintances ever has. Yet the fact remains
Ihat there is a certain percentage of the human race to whom the (emplalion
to run away is irresistible. By a more or less happy dispensation, they seem
In be blessed with relatives of exceptional clemency, who, instead of leaving
Ihem alone like Bopcep's sheep, implore them through the Times and other
papers lo come home lo a steaming banquet of veal. They frequently wind up
by promising the fugitive that everything will be arranged t( ''
which surely ought to prove - ' — ■■■■ — '•-'• '"' *" '•"— —
;i:v,.G00gIi:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. ag
vaf^e. It is therefore encour^ng to run across an advertisement that deals
with parliculars and not with glittering generalities, — t.g., as when on October
2, 1851, a fugitive who is B|iolteii of as "The Minstrel Boy" (probably in a
fine vein of sarcasm, for among the items of personal descripliun appears
" no ear for music") is thus addressed : " Pray return to your disconsolate
jiiends. All will be forgiven, and Charlie will give up (he froni room."
Another favorite way of luring the victim back is to threaten that all sorts
■« calamities will visit the family he has left behind. Thus, P. F. P. is im-
plored for mercy's sake to write again r " If not, your wretched father will be
a maniac, and your poor unhappy mother will die broken-hearted." Here is
» still more pathetic appeal, ludicrous, however, in the very midst <ii its pathos :
"To A , . . . If humanity has not entirely flown from your breast, returti.
oh, return, ere it is too late, to the heart-broken, distracted wife you have
forsaken, — ere the expression of those soft eyes that won you be lost in the
bewildered stare of insanity, — ere they may gaze even on you and know you
not ; write, tell her, oh 1 tell her where you are, that she may follow you — 'her
own, her all—and die. See her once more." Here is an example that shifts
with strange abruptness from entreaty to threats ; " I entreat you to keep to
VDur word, or it may be fatal. Laws were made to bind the villains of society."
The neat laconicism of the following has even more merit :
Philip. Would Philip Uk« lo hiiroT Ma Mothir's Diatk!
A sad little history is summed up in the following advertisements, the last
two being, of course, an answer to the first :
July 15, 18, 22, and 25, 1850.
Thi Ohi-Wihgid Dovi muH dk unlets the Ckims nnuiu ta Ik a ti&Ai igalsM h«
November aj, 1850.
SoHBHSiT, S. B. Thh MATBof ttw DovB muii iak< wlnjftmvtr uoku > malirial diiiig*
November 16, lS5a
Thi Matb of the Dovk lxd> a tiual Faksvili.. Aduu iq the Briiish Iilei, alihouih Hich
■ molniiaD cinun be accomplubed wiihaui pdgDul grief. W.
Undoubtedly there is a romance also behind these three advertisements,
which followed awe another at considerable intervals; but the reader vrill
have to build one up to suit himself;
March 24, 1849.
No Doormat To-Nicht.
March 38, 1850.
DooauATuul Beaks To-Nicht,
May 28. 1851.
DOORHAT To-NlGBT.
Was this a love-message ? Was Doormat the i^reed-upon symbol for a
■trim Paterfamilias, a jealous husband ? Did the mice, anxious for play, ac-
quaint each other in this fashion that the cat was or was not away? And
what connection did Doormat have with Beans? Idle, idle questions I As
irell ask ** what songs the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when
he hid himself among women."
A curious advertisement, that tells its own storv, appears on May 21, 1838
The advertiser, who gives his real name and address, states that sotne years
previous he had saved the life of an English nobleman by rescuing him from
drowning, but that he withdrew himself, " not lo receive the unbounded thanks
and generous reward of an English gentleman." Now, however, he intimates
tliat a correspondence with the bmily might be pleasing to them and a source
Goo^k"
HANDY-BOOK OP
and muiiey, — that is lo say, he wanted money pressed on him with many
cxpiessions of gralilude. Very likely he deserved it. Certainly his way tu
-ypielly. What could be more happy than the hint about
the generous
But the most extraordinary series of advertise men is that ever appeared in
any paper, a series extending ovec a period of fifteen years and hinting at alt
sorts of mystery, romance, criine, and even madness, was contributed mainly
by a gentlenian whose real name, E, J. Wilson, is occasionally signed, while
more frequently he masquerades under the initials E. W. or E. J. W., or
under pseudonymes that would be baffling but for the unerring evideiKC of
style. That he was a mau who had suQcred a good deal, and that his sorrows
iiad unhinged his reason, is apparent enough, for the advertisements are
coiiirhcti 111 precisely the language which seems impressive to people of de-
ranged minds. Moreover, be has an insane belief in his own virtues, impor-
tance, and abilities. " I claim to rank with Cobden, Bright, and Rowland
Hill," iie says in one place, and elsewhere he asserts that he is the author of
" the decimal system at Her Majesty's Customs which pours pure gold every
day into (he coffers uf the nation." How far, therefore, his sorrows are the
result of hallucination it is not possible to say. Nor is it possible to make a
perfectly consistent and coherent whole out of the staccato story of his wrongs
as revea'led in these advertisements. But the main outlines seem to be that
he was a man of fortune with an important position in the Hritisb Customs
USice, that he married a Hebrew lady, that bis family and friends quarrelled
with him, apparently over some smuggling scheme of which he disapproved
and in whose spoils he refused to participate, that his wife and his infant
daughter were spirited away from him (he seems to hint that the wife eloped
with a lover, but this she indignantly denies), and that he s])ent a large portion
of his life, and lost fortune, place, and position, in the effort to regain the
daughter. So much being premised, a few selections here and there from the
voluminous communications ot Mr. Wilson and the rare answers of his wife
ly be found interesting, — mav pique curiosity, at least, if not satisfy it.
i^eie is almost the first of the series :
rioHsiT, HOHsn AlixisI Whu a unngf coincideiicc t Bcmcivc the lul lyllablc, uid
.b«rc WHAupcva mat inaD,oiwof trie *elf-<aii»tilutcd ucred racx^liDDwD by thai i:o^aipai,
irliDQ» l-1Qr which, of cDUTK, t ihall never be IbrgtveD— IransforiDcd— »« f Intend In Ki-ve
nuiy niDte— inio ■ city ipecire. HontH, bonat Al«i>l May ihii neoer be yourlaK.
jBDdrpur would Ihen indeed be wronged- £. W.
To tni.i frantic expostulation Alexis (very naturally) answers, " What are
pu alluding to \ Send vour addkess. Uo it immediately. 1 was much
lisappointed at not receiving it on Saturday, and have been in the greatest
igoiiy ever since. You are freely forgiven ; extend your mercy to Alexis."
vL W. seems to have preferred continuing the correspondence through the
Lolumns of the Titms, On March 19 he explains that he was alluding (o
" the customs," and adds, " You will only deceive the supetficial fools of the
Alexia evidently gets very wroth, and fourdays later inserts the following :
E. W., author of unonvmoiu comipondena, look >t home. Conirience doei not ■cCiue
xvetsl r«n, until, iudglpg from your (iiii|>enied feetini, you m ai ^t tired that your
Mil hu not uk<n. Have you icoDsdeocel Thl> ii doubled by tome, whilil olhenikink
rmi h>vc. but thai i( dwelli tir beneath iu utual Kat. Aleiii IMdi you rareweU.
ern sea, the blue -eyed r
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 3^
Impassable gale of dreary Scandinavia : Vou cost one great man his place, and
will also cusi a gieai many more their place." Does Mr. Wilson refer to
himseiras the great man? Not unlikely. In January his wife, who now
appears to be in Hammersmith, England, conjures him to call on her. "A
wilful error," she savs, " is maintained againM justice and truth 10 oppose my
right Why not coine immediately V llul, instead of going, E. J. W. simply
inserts the word SiLBNCE I in the Agony column for January 15, which leads
to the following interchange of mysteries :
January 18. 1853.
January 19, 1853.
WHUnl Hu my visioD been fiilAllcd, or <h» v>« pnv^l ! That li Ibe quollon.
E. J. W.
Same date, lower down.
SiiJHCi. •THMir Wh^I "Silence in (he Mctropollir' Silence on ihe nilway li good,
but '* Silence in the UetropoJiH" ii cxcenivdy beitei!
Possibly there is a veiled allusion here to hia address. For on the 2lst.
E. J. W., apparently in answer tu some communication by letter, inserts the
word " Incorruftchle" with his initials. And on the zsth he celebrates his
own incoiruplibitily in song ;
"°" """ ' "'' ' Ino^piiUe'E J. W.
More nonsense of a similar kind follows. Then, on February 8, the wife
ap|>ears once more to be heard from ; "G — Arthur and E. J. W. ate inex-
cusable in absenting themselves from the two indescri babies. Do nut leave
under a wilful delusion. ... All communication is intercepted in England and
abroad, and our reputations calumniated to render us homeless and friend-
less. Deceit prevails." The plot has now thickened, and conjecture can
make only the vaguest surmises. Nothing more appears until March 24,
when E. J. W. says, " Fly by kicht has got the anchor. Corruption wins,
and England's lost" On March 30 the tables appear to be tnrned : " ACHIL-
■.ES has Gcrr the lbver. Corruption sinks, and virtue swims. E ). W."
Again more nonsense follows, then an interval of silence. At last E J. W.
cries OUT. ytveuxvoirmajUle: a little later (June 37. [S54), "I'll not touch
the money. It's stolen property ;" and exactly a year later. " I tell you again
I'll not touch the money. But where's my child T' It would almost seem
that he was finally persuaded to reconsider his determination, whatever it was,
for on September 29, 1855, he writes, —
FiTV— ya. Tbc fuiare dF a builed heart and coiuciencc r ll n more than unreeling >o
■«« ihe uoliappy hour of 9 weak and erring bean In influence it 10 vlolaie id whole naiure.
abaoflon the ienderT4i ilea, and nuWe it Inrerer bankrupt oT every Ime and proper feeUng.
On November i, 1855. he breaks out, —
By IhaT bilier cup you have given, and T dranL to the drega ; ... by pfomian made to
iboaenawnomore,! will tee you. Be true loyounelf and la me. Oh.M'y, M'yl 1 would
aave you the pansi of errcc,— God forlud of cnme, — and though the paaiion. jealousy, hate,
and nadnq* yon have excited be teamed and denied, when the Ktpent you foster » weaHed,
"yea, even then, hen a your haven, when ail foraalie.
Once more she insists, —
ef happier days. Open to me a communication and a public inveitigBtioD. Mary,
There is now a silence of many months. Then in July. 1857. advertise-
ments again break out, hinting at Some myslerions money transactions under
the headings, "Nicht eine Million," "Genuc f(Ir Alles," etc. They
*eem to have resulted in F.. J. W. receiving back his daughter. But he retained
0031c
HANDY-BOOK OF
and ia I retpeclcd the Un of hmruniiy ; and you tee Ihe rciurn— 1 h:>ve Uhi ny daughui
He never siw her again, apparently, thougti he managed lo establish a cor-
lespuiidence with her in French through the Agony culumn. Then this breaks
off and anothei silence ensues, which is sufficiently explained by (his nolice,
dated October IS, 1865:
Thb HuiiT or Stone, FiDccn yean of Eloomkii depreuion. and lonf:, lad lioun of
pain ajid aorrow, have made mc what I am ; but ihe idol or our muiual jiStcuon haTipg aoir
paued into a belter lift, " Hfjrl of 5ioik" will nlcDI if " Martyr," liiih mcekneu and sub-
miulon befittino her ■ett^adopled title, coDient* id the condition itated in A Ibrmer cammunl-
calion to Mr. Pollaky, Prirate loqniiy Office, 13, FaddingtoB Gntn : nnlil then no meeting
;, Heart of Stone 1
plK* of DwetiDg.
And SO the curtain falls on the couple. Whether they made mutual and
satisfactorr explanations, whether they were happy ever after, we have no
means of discovering.
Agtfl«lllB to diffsr. This now familiar phrase dates back lo Sidney's
"Arcadia," Book 1. : "Between these two persons [Dametas and Miso], n
never aereed in any himiiir but in disagreeing, is issued forth Mistress Mopsa,
10 partake of both their perfections." ^outhey, in his " Life of Wes.
ley," has the ipsis^ma verba "agreed to differ," Tlie more antithetic phra:
"agreeing to iliEagree" is now more common.
So 1 have ulhed with Beltey, and Beuey baa lalked with me.
And we ha« aj^reed logelhtr that we can't ne«r agree.
Albt, a nickname which Shelley and his companions applied to Byron. It
is a contraction of Albanese or Albaiieser, and is an allusion to the noble
lord's fondness for that people, which he carried to so great an extent as to
become their blood-brolhtr by adoption. This fact is made plain by the alter- •
native form Albanesei appearing in a lettf- ' ct-ii— -- 1-:- —■'- —
from Venice, August 23, iSiS. Vet critics
■pent a deal of ingi
AIIm! was formed fr
it an abbreviation of Albemarle Street, whence the poems of Byron were
issued. And a third, with a subtlety of roundalnut surmise that is worthy of
all praise, finds an explanation in a romance by Mme. Coltin, entitled "Claire
d'Albe." which Shelley admired so much that he encouraged his first wife lo
translate it into English. Now, if Byron's Claire was ever dublied Claire
d'Albe, Byriin himself might become Albe 1
Albion Psiflde (F., " Perfidious Albion"). This ])hrase is generally at-
tributed to Napoleon. Hut though he undoubtedly used it, the idea long ante-
dated him. 'ITius, in Perlin's " IJescription des Royaulmes d'Anglelcrre et
d'Ecosse"(i55S) : "Onemaysay of the English that in war they are not strong.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 33
and in peace they are not faithful. As the Spaniard says, Angleterre bonne
terre mala gente (England, good country, bad people). On the other hand,
Misson, in his "Travels" (1719). says, *' I cannot imagine what could occasion
the notion I have frequently ot»efved in France that the English were treach-
erous. It is certainly great injustice to reckon trAchery among (he vices
fiuniliar to the English. 1'he following lines are said lo have lieen composed
by I'hilip of Valuis on the occasion of Edward UI.'s invasion of France :
Anetlui al Anglut cui nunqium Mm Ru est :
Dum ubi dicet ave, licul ib^Diu Clx.
Grouiliu « Guiuiiw, id HM. Fnnu.
Aldine, a name given to the books that issued Irom the press of Aldus
Manutius (LaliniKiTfurm o( Aldo Manuzio) and his family in Venice. These,
frtrni their hiatoric interest in the annals of printing and iheir inlrinEic ex-
cellence, have always been held in high repute by book-lover^.— ea|)ecially
the publii^iions of Aldus hImseIC A generous love of classic liieratute was
Aldus'g main motive when, in 1490, he founded the great house which, after
revolutionizing the art of printing and book-making, went out of existence in
1597. The Aldine publications consist ai editiontt priiidfes uf ancient classics
and corrected texts of the more modern Italians, with grammars, philologies,
and other works of erudition. They are even now reckoned with manuscripts
among the critical apparatus of scholars. Aldus, or rather his engraver,
Francesco of Bologna, invented what they called cursive tyjies (>>., italics),
which vrere first used in the edition of Virgil published in 1501, a volume
memorable, also, as the lirst octavo ever issued- Printing now became one of
the fine arts. The success of the Aldine cdilions led lo piratical counterreils
in Lyons and Florence, which even imitated the dolphin twined round an
anchor, which was the Aldine trade-mark, and the alternative mottoes, " Fea-
tina lente" or " Sudavit et alsiL" Aldus himseir'coin plained bitterly of these
pirates: "The paper of these books is second-rate, and even smells badly."
They remain to this day a puzzle and a despair In amateur book -col lectors, -
but an expert can tell the genuine not only by the superior quality of the
paper used, but by the fact that the consonants arc attached to the vowels as
m writing, while in the counterfeits they stand apart.
Alexauden at flve Bona a day. This is a phrase which Voltaire applied
to soldiers. Is it the origin of the popular American locution for the shadow
or imitator of a great original : A little Washington {or Blaine, or Cleveland,
or what not) for a cent? Certainly in France it has given rise to a similar
expression. For example, Emile Faguet (" Dii-huitiime Siicle," 1890, p. 193)
Mys, "Voltaire n'a pas ixi artiste pour un obole" (" Voltaire was not an artist
tir a cent"), or, in other words, was not at all an artist.
Alezandeo' tli« Correotor, a title assumed by Alexander Cruden (1701-
1770), the compiler of the famous Concordance of the Bible, who had been
employed in various printing-offices as corrector of the press, but who used it
in the higher sense of one divinely appointed lo correct the morals of the
nation, with especial r»ard lo swearing and the neglect of Sabbatical obser-
vance*. He petitioned Parliament for a formal appointment as a corrector
for the reformation of the penple, and, being confined for a brief period in an
insane asylum, published an account of his detention in " The Adventures of
Alexander the Corrector." (See a review in GtiUleman's Magatiof, xxiv. 50.)
Al«XBiidra limp. One of the absurdest fads of toadying 11
slight timp. Immediately a
l8lo>, ai ■■■'■-
riage with the Prince or Wales (in i860), an epidemic of lameness broke out
among the jietlicoated hangers-on of royalty, which soon spread through all
the female world of England, until it was happily laughed 01 " ' ""
Coogk"
34 HANDY-BOOK OF
Alive and kloklll(^ a cummon saying, meaning very much alive. The
allusion is to a child in the womb after quickening.
AU-firad, in English and American slang, inordinate, violent, immcMlcrate.
Not unlikely it is a euphemistic corruption of " lielt-fired."
rou."— T. HuoHBs; Tom BrmH al Oi/trd.
All fotua, To go (» run on, a familiar expression, meaning to go on
smoothly, successfully. Coke quotes it as an ancient saying ; " Hul no simile
holds on everything, according to the ancient saying. Nullum simile fuiituor
ftdAuj airrif. The saying is still a common form of comparison with law-
yers to imply that t«ru things exactly agree.
AUlteraUon. The repetition of some letter or sound at th< beginning of
two or more words in close or inimedtate succession, as, —
racleriies. In the hands of
ce of metric effect ; in those
of a bungler, it is a vexation to the spirit. The mete literary Irifler finds in
it a medium for more or less astonishing yet entirely valueless tauri de farce.
Alliteration is the parent of modern rhyme. In Icelandic and Gothic poetry
il was reduced to a system which soon passed into our literature and hccame
the metrical basis of early English poetry. Here ia an example from Piers
Plowman ;
By SjIdi AiuI, quolh /■crUo,
V» jrofcr nnT.yr<.
And (owe for lu twttic
And Dlller /atnn do br Ihy Itm
Al my Mt lymc.
In n»ninl <tiat ihou Imm
Holy Ky^c and iny>cl&
Fro fwtErt and In a/yck«) men
There in here an agreeable repetition of the same initial at the moM em-
phalic pauses of the verse. As a rule, three such letters were allowed in
every conplet, — two in the first member of the distich, the other in a prominent
part of the second. Thus the attention was arrested and the structure of
the verse indicated by a dominant letter which ruled like the key-note of a
chant. With the modern as with the classical poets, alliteration is only brought
in as an occasional ornament, — not as a structural |>art of the verse. Spenser,
Shakespeare, Milton, Gray. Tennyson, are especially happy in their use of il.
But these great artists are careful to place their alliterative words at some dis-
tance, making them answer to one another at the bezinning and end of a |>eriod,
or so arranging them that they mark the metre and become the key-words of
Heard yc Ibe aiTow hunlc In ihe airt
is tine, but the music would be ruined by a very slight transposition :
Heard ye ihe hurtling arrow lo the air t
In Ihe former case the ear i<
It had just begun lo lose ; tn
cession of another aspirant.
Generally the repeated letter is found at Ihe beginning of words, though
it may occur in the second iir final syllabic, but in cither case that syllabic
must be the accented part of the word. e.g. .'
That buihed in grim r*p<M expccti hii cvenlDg^Ry.— t^r^.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
They checrlr chauni, nod rbymu il ranilam flung.— .^tfiiii
The chuiHih chiding oT the winKr-i ii\tiA.-^t^aifiart.
In maiden medluilan, &iicy b^.—Skalmfrtrt.
God never made hii worli for man lo nuni.—Dr^n.
The lair biwe blew, the white foam Sew,
The ftirrow filioired Srce.—Culiti^i.
The rapture of itrvte.—Bjrra,.
Ns glfi beyond that bllter boon, our birth. —itfrn.
The ferrenl underlip. and that above,
Uried with lau^lcr or abashed -iih lore,
Thine amoniui girdle, fiill of th« and &ir.
And kivinp oC the Ulka Id Ihlne hair.— Jwwjunv.
Dip down upon the Ncfflhem ihort,
In the example Irom Swinburne, the sounds o( /, I, a
Tennyson, ihe sounds of </, n, and /, are interlinked wi'
But harmony is not Ihe only guerdon won by allilt
,: ■■'■'- -neHect,' ' "
high hill he t
dissonance in heighlening an enect, in giving force lo a figure, in making the
~" ""'"" """o ofthe sense, li. '-->--- j • ■• -> ^ . . .■ .
sound an echo ofthe sense, has often been proved. In Pope's famous
Up Ihe high hill he heaved the huge round BLone,
the continuous halts called for by the repetition of the aspirate produce a very
efiective idea of long-drawn effort Almost as good is Young's
But the black blail blowt hard.
The following, froin Alfred Austin's "Season," is less known, but b well
worth quoting :
Be dumb, yr dawdlen. whilit hie apelU CDnfimnd
The gathered — ecauered— aymphonwa of sound;
CyDiuU barbaric clang, cowed dutei complmln,
Ae the iharp, cniel clarion de avej the itraln ;
To dium, deaf-bowel led, drowning sob and wall.
Seared visit ihrlek, that pity may prevail.
It is not only in serious writing, however, thai alliteration has been found
efiective. In mock-heroic verse, in burlesque, and even in humorous prose, it'
frequently points a jest and sharpens an epigram. In Pope's line, —
Pu9i, pDwden, palcha. Biblei, billet- douji.
at once Ihe resemblanc* and the contrasts arc accentuated by the recurrent
^s and j's. Sydney Smith's humor was greally assisted by his clever use of
thin artifice. He thus ridicules Perceval's scheme to prevent the introduction
of medicines inio France during a pestilence : " At whal period was Ihis
great plan of conquest and constipation fulty developed ? In whose mind was
Ihe idea of deslrt)ying the pride and the plasters of France first engendered f
Without castor oil they mig[ht for some months, to be sure, have carried on
the war, but can they do without bark 1 Depend upon it, the alwence of ihc
materia medica will soon bring the'm to their senses, and the cry of BmriMi
ani/ Solui burst forlh frcrni the Baltic lo the Mediterranean." And elsewhere
he liliens Ihe poorer clergy to Lazarus, " doctored by dogs, and comforted
with crumbs." Curran describes a politician as one who. " Inioyant by putre-
faction, rise* as he rots." The anlithesis and aliiteralion of the last four words
$6 HANDY-BOOK OF
have a tremendous effecL Voliaire's farewell lo Holland U a classic : " Adieu,
canauii, canards, canaille." Very good, loo, is the following from Mortimer
Culliiia, characterizing a bishop in "The Princess Clarice" as one " who had
the respect of reclors, the veneration of vicars, the admiration of archdeacons,
and the cringing courtesy of curates." Grattan, denouncing the British mon-
archy, said, " Their only means of government are the guinea and the gallows."
One of Lord Salisbury's happiest phrases was, "The dreary drip ofdilatory
declamation." Byron's lines also will recur to the memory :
Bcwan, \al bluudtrinl Brouaham dal.oy Ihi ule.
Turn b«b lo bannockj, canliaoo.» lo kail.
fvfiKl B<iTdi and -xHeh Ktvitwirt.
The following epigram upon Bishop Pretyman (afterwards known as Bishop
Tomtine}haB merit;
Prim Pruchn, Ptiucc of Prietu uu] PrlnCE'i Print,
Pcubrobe'i pule pride in Flit't prsconlia placed,
Thy iBciiu AxW all futuR mga Km,
And Prina be Int In Pai»D PRtyaian.
That the ear finds a natural comfort in this species of assonance is evidenced
by the (act that many of our compound woriis are formed on this principle.
1 here is no Other ground for saying milkmaid in lieu of milk-girl, or butcher-
boy in lieu of bulcher-man. Kancy-free, hot-headed, browbeaten, heavy-
handed, and the like, might also be instanced. Nay, the alliterative tendency is
continued in our proverbs, which derive therefrom much of their pith and
Biint : as, Where there is a will there is a way. Money makes the mare to go,
any a mJckle makes a muckle. Love me little, love me long, etc The same
trick is observable in Ihe proverbial literature of other countries.
But alliteration becomes a defect when excessively and injudiciously em-
ployed. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was allowed to run
riot. Trapp's Commentary on Ihe Bible offers the following gems : " As
empty stomachs can hardly sleep, so neither can graceless persons, till gorged
and glutted with sweetmeats of sin, with murdering morsels of mischiev' and
" Such a hoof is grown over some men's hearts as neither ministry, nor mir-
acle, nor mercy can possibly moMily."
About this lime, too, books were sent out into the world burdened with such
curious alliterative titles as " Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sins," and
" A Sigh of Sorrow for the Sinners of Zion." But, indeed, even Dr. Johnson
published a pamphlet under the lille of "Taxation no Tyranny," — "a jingling
alliteration, says Macaulay. " which he ought to have despised."
It is in ridicule of this alliterative affectation that Shakespeare in " Love's
Labor's Lost" makes Holofernes say, —
I will tomelhing nffecl tbt lelta, for it wc^ia &dlily :
Tbe pkyftil prinecu pierced md pricked a pielty, pleiilng; prickei.
Of parody of this sort, however, Ihe most astonishing eiample may be found
in a certain poetical skit, anonymous and unacknowledged, yet none the less
the undoubted handiwork of Swinburne, and -therefore all the more notable,
because Ihe author parodied is Swinburne himselfl
Nepheudia.
From Ihe depth of the dreamy decliDc of ibe dawn ihrough a notable nimbiu ornebutoui
Pallid aad pink ai Ihe palm of Ihe flag-Rower that fltcken iiith fear el Iht fllei u they float,
ThcK Itaal «e f«l In Ihe
blood of oui
btuthet Ihat Ihick
ihiouah Ibe ihroai t
T.ickenandlbrllluathe.U'
appeal o( .a .cur'i
appalled >Eitallofi.
FalnLerwithharofthefin
■ or the fata
e than piile with Ihe
pronU-eorprideinlbapan,
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 37
SfolMu of fcvCT Uut nddau wiib nduiDcc of raihe recnuion,
l^lmpicft Ihu ^«uii ihnugh lb« slooiii of ih4 gloooinc trhen
Nay, for the nick or Ihr ilclcof the time ii alnmuloui touch oa (beltinplei oF Krror,
BaJbcd Id ihE b^^"f benifiE^bUB, b^ilfi'c 'iudf bv butiudt" b^lh'.
Sw™ii''ihc «™ " Jusp"nj'.ii.'p™n ih'aiVolS m Ih/MmbUnce ^"d"™d of a ligh :
Wild ii Ihc mirk 9nd monoloaaiu mule of mrmory, mdodiouily muie u it may be,
WUIc the hope Id Ibe bean of a ben li bniUed by ibe breach of meo'i laplen, reiiEncd u
Made meek at a rnotber wboae boaom-beati bouod with the bliu-brinf jog bulk of a balm-
brealhidl baby,
Ai ibey pope uiTough the graveyard of crc«dt under ikiea gloving green at a groan Ibr the
BUaklalhebookofhiibounty beholden of old, ^ndlta Undine ii blacker Iban bluer:
Out of blue ints bUck ll the tctaenie of ibe skiei, and iheic dewi an ibe wine of ibe blood-
idoflhinn;
Tin IbadariilinEdeaire of delight aball be free as a b>n thai ii Ireed [ram the fang) that
Tin the bean-beau of bell ahall be hu^ed by a hymn fn>m the burn that has harried ibe
And this brings us (o all that class of triflera who have used alliteration
not a« an ornament, but as an exercise of more or less misplaced ingenuity.
Latin literature probabljr affords the Tery earliest instance in this line of
Ennius :
O Tlla, luu Tmti libi tanu linnno Inlliti.
In more modem times we ate told of a monk named Hugbald who wrote an
"Ecloga de Calvis," every word beginning with t, and of a certain "Publiuni
Porduui, poetam," who au signed a Latin poem of one hundred lines, — to be
found in the Nugae VenaCes. — every word of which begins with a p. Here is
a single couplet :
Prop4erea propcraai E^TDCODaul, popUH prono,
Predpilam Plebem, pro patnun pace propoacit.
We even hear of a more prodigious effort, extending (o one thousand lines.
each word beginning with f.the "Christui Cruciflius" of Chrir*- '"■ —
The Yimous English couplet on Cardinal Wolsey has somewhat mote than
this mere verbal dexterity to recommend it :
Begot by boicbexa, but by bbhopi bred.
Hov bigh bla honor holds hla baughry head t
Here the very uncoulhness in the persistent recurrence of similar sounds
gives the effect of cumulative scorn and contempt No such allowance, how-
ever, can be made for the eccentric traveller Liiheow, who wrote a poem in
which every word begins with a /. Here are the mat two lines :
GUnceglafltoiii Geneve, floapel-guiding gem.
Great God gonni good Generc'a gbuily game.
A curious little volume called " Songs of Singularity, by the London Hermit,"
published quite recently, contains the following ftwr deferee:
A Serenade
b M lit. Sung by Major Mumadukt Munlnbead 10 Uademiriiene Madeline Mendou
My Madelbie I my Madeline I
Mark my mdodioua midnight mnau.
Much may my neldng music moan,
Hgr modulated mooolonaa.
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Uy nundolln'i inlld mlniDdiy,
My nx«i»1 DUk^c nugaiJiK^
My mouih. my mind, my memont,
Miui mjngliag murmur " MaddllDt."
Mtuccr 'mid uidnlghi majquer^c,
Muk Mooiuh maldtfu, Dumu' mkii,
'MoDgmt MuTcii'i miMi muniic maidi,
ncholym
lyouke
Much laolUfitt my mind't nacbinc ;
My mourn IbJneu'i mientiude
Uclu— mako me merry. MiiMiMl
Mxch-miking mB'i miy mach<MU,
UaniEUviins mi»« me mliireeD ;
Hell, mott me!UfluDiu melody,
'Midit MurcU'e miily mount! msirlM,
UHlmeby moouli(ht-miny me.
Madonna miji I — Madeline.
A famous example of allilerative poetry is the rollowjng, in which the initial
letters of the lines are those of the alphabet in proper sequence, forming a
■or! of acrostic. It is positively claimed for Alaric A. Walts by his suii.
There are other claimaTiis, however :
ieged Bdarade ;
DeaLinf demuciion'i dcvuuting doi>m ;
Every endenTor engineer* eisay
For lanw, tor Ibrtune, fbrmliif furiout fray;
Cauni gunnin grjpple, giviiic (uhei lood ;
HeaTCi high hlihnd. hen iAinlllwia;
Ibraham, ulam, Hmall, impt in ill.
Oppoted, oppoaing^ o
rchaWS, p
v."
nbh,'
. Tkurynii
•dom
s-r-
Xe
Ve
VT*.
•y'i youth, ye yield yoi
ur Touibrul
Ze,
iloml
y, Zarin., iu1ou.ly ual'a vM.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITER A RY CURIOSITIES.
n fr^htened fiiir furbenntnci
ng glad armli '
GWIuaaiad anilulatiaiii gsyly livni.
Ho«, hcnldlag her happineu.TilKh Hcivm
joyikicuDd, jufciKKcni joyi, love-Miil.
Kini'* bubWi liDighu, Vidwpping klepud kid.
MmiDS M^ccdb'i moDarch DKHitDhilly
Near nodding luvQ numerously nigh.
" O opu[eDI o'ertulcr, owned, obeyu,
Piapltiau prove," Pelidei' princcu prajred.
" Quench quaneilingi, quit quaking quafry't qucM,
Receive rich nnfov, ravkahmenl rciiti-'*
Snpreibely leLftth^ aiubborn kovereigD lOiHht
To tvnumli* lIul limid trcmbLtr^i ihougbt,
UbUT Ulyms, uodkiUTed, uncowed.
Vindicdw vengeance vehemenity vowed,
Wbtmi wnm vairior, wild wiih wonderment,
■Xhiblih^ 'nren[ir->'itent,
Yioldi ycnmiMly yc yoLemcitc youthlul yet,
Zem-feuinl. Zeue-ubnlng, Zeui-^leui.
Agein AchUict, trmed aeulntt aiuck,
BdKid Briicii bluthingly broughi back.
IDRESS TO THE AURORA. — An Alliterative Poem
(Una written op ihiplwprd in ndd-oceanj
CntailAg cold Canoi'e's celeatiat crown,
Deep dnrte dwentUng dive delusive down.
Entranced each eve Eurapa'l every eye
Finn fixed fcnver buena Giilhtuily,
Grecia golden guerdon glorioiuly grsnd;
Hovbelv Henviai hoidi high hb IwIIdw hindt
Ignoble UDDtance, Inapt Indeed^
Jean icttlngly iuil JupiLeT'i jened :
Xnavlib KamKha<kan>, liniglilly Kurdimen know,
Long Labrador'i llghi Iniire loominE low;
Hiifil myriad mnliiindei majeiilc inlghl.
Opal of Oiui or old Opbir's on.
Pale pyrrhic pyrea priimatic purple poun,—
QuicKeol qidverine, quickly, quaintly, queer,
Klch. iDiy, rrgal rayi tetplendent t»r :
Strange thooling *(r<:anien ttreaking AUrry t|(iea
Trail their triumphant ireue>— tienibHng ii«.
Veiled, 'vanqukhed—vabliy vying— vanlihelh ;
Wild Woden, warning, watchful— whiipen wan
Xanthilk X^re.. Xer>«, Xenopbon.
Vet yidding yettemlghi vuIf'i yell yawnt
Zcniih'i leEniic ligtag. Zodiac lonei.
BuNKBR Hill Monument Celkbbation.
Bcaide baiulion bold, bright beaatiea Mend
Deieating dnpott, — daring detdt debate;
Floarii^nE rnm far,- ran'^dam-a'flame.
Coardl greeting giuida grown gray,— gu«t grcaling gi
. Coo^If
HANDY.BOOK OF
Oft our oppii»iol» Bits
PRhimpluoiu phncH, piuuDC pALnt»tl pued,
QuKU quaiTcl queitiaf quDiu quondun quailed.
Rebellion loiued, reTOlCmg nmparta rose.
Sloui ipirlu, imidiig lervUe »oLdiea, iirovc.
Theie ibrillioE ihemei, to ihouiandl Iruly lold,
ll, vannlingi vainly veilfd.
Where. _whilBii.ce, WeUier orulike Warren wailed.
Yid^Jg''? aokiVy wi!™™ . '
Alms Mat«T [L., "fostering mather"). originally the lille given by the
Romans to Cer«s, Cybele, and other goddesses, but in modern use applied
by students to the college or seminary in which they have been educated.
Th« student in his turn la frequently called an adopted aon.
evidtDi ilui ihey betong lo ihe tame brood,— /Airvar^ Rtgitttr, p. 377.
A Creole Village.) Yet, after all, as Farmer points out, this is merely an
old friend with a new tace, for Ben ]unson used the term in its modern sense
when speaking of money :
Whilii thai for ohidi all •inue now [> uld.
And almoH every rice, Almlghiic gold.
EpiilU ta Eliatilh. Cnnlm tfRmUoJ.
Alon*. Never lasa alone than when alone. Cicero originated
this apt and striking paradox in his " Ue OfEciis," lib. iii. ch. i. ; " Nunquani
ae minus otiosum esse, quam quum otiosus, nee minus solum, quam quum
■olus esset." (" He is never less at leisure than when at leisure, nor less
alone than when he is alone,") Gibbon in his " Memoirs," vol, !., page 1 17,
has borrowed the eiptession : " t was never less alone than when by myselt"
And Rogers has vereified it in " Human Life :"
Then never leu alone Ihan when ilope
Byron has slightly varied the phrase in " Childe Harold," stanza 90 ;
Epictetus ("Discourses," ch, xiv.) may have had Cicero's words in mind
when he wrote, " When you have shut your doors, and darkened your room,
remember never to say that you are alone ; but God is within, and your genius
is within, — and what need have they of light to see what you are doing V
Alpbabetlc Dlverslona. The Iwenly-six letters of the alphabet may be
transposed 630, 448,40 1, 73] ,339,4 {9,369,000 times. This should be good news
lo all that class of people known as authors, whose business and profit it is to
transpose these letters with more ur less brilliant and remunerative result.
For all the inhabitants of the glolie could not in a thousand million of years
write out ail the possible transpositions of the twenty-six letters, even sup-
posing That each wrote forty paces daily, each page containing forty diSerent
transpositions of the letters. Of course the transpositions possible to author-
LITERARY CURIOSITfES. 41
■hip — necessaiily limiied hj the Uws of gmnmar, rhetoric, aiid occasional
common sense — are not so inexhaustible, NevertheleM, it is quite safe to
say (hat «o long as language endures it will always be possible for the man of
Senilis lo say an original thing. Vet it is strange to note how long it look the
uman race to discover that a score oi so of orlhocpic symbols would suffice
for all the needs of written speech. Nor was the discovery a sudden one. the
independent inspiration of any race or period. It was the result of evolution
taking place in accordance with lixed laws. All the known graphic syslems
ori^nated in a picture-writing as rude as thai of the American Indian or the
Afncan Bushman, and progressed by a alow and painful transition through
the conventionalized hieroglyphs representing an idea or a word to the syllS'
bary which denoted the phonetic value of syllables or portions of words, and
thence lo the final perfection of the alphabet, denoting the elementary sounds
into which all words and syllables could in the last analysis be reduced. And
from the clearest and simplest of these early alphabets, which minimized the
necessary symbols to the smallest passible quota, all modern systems of
writing, — the Northern Kunes, the Roman alpliabet, which has now finally
superseded its parent Greek, the stjuare Hebrew of the Jews, the elaborate
Sanscrit, the Neskhi alphabet, — vehicle of (lie thoughts of Turk and Persian,
as well as of all (he vast Arabic-speaking world, — all (hese have slowly
diverged, in accordance with the necessities of various classes of languages.
Utterly diverse as all (hesc alphabets are in their la(est form, scientific
paleography has succeeded in bridging over the enormous intervals which
separate them from one another, in ex|il^ning the transitions (hat lime and
space have cflec(ed, and In showing that they are all but the manifold develop-
ments of a single germ.
And what was that germ ? Greek mylh credited the invention of the
alphabet to Cadmus the Phtenician. The myth has a certain substratum
of^ truth. Cadmus may never have lived. Certainly neither he nor any other
Phixnician "invented" the alphabet. Il is not, indeed, an invention which
would occur spontaneously to Ihc mind even of (he most creative genius.
And the Phmnidans, though clever intermediaries, were not creative geniuses.
Nevertheless, they did give the alphabel to the world. Its very name may
be died in evidence, referring us, as it does, to alpha and beta, the names of
the lirsl two letters of (he Greek alphabet, and these in turn (o the Phtenician
a/eph indbelh (still the names of the first two letters in Hebrew), which signify
" %ix" and " house." We may, therefore, assume that the Phcenicians saw some
likeness between the letters so named by them and (he pictures of an ox and
a house, and (hence we are easily led to the conclusion (hat they borrowed
the symbols from some foreign system of writing which was still pictorial at
the imie of the borrowing, ot else had once been so. Now, the most highly
civilized nation with whom the Phcenicians came in contact was the Egyptian.
It was by a system of selection, therefore, among Egyptian symbols that they
developed ihe broad generalization of an alphabet No doubt the elegant
scholars of the Nile, cabined and confined within (he traditions of ancient
learning and the prejudices of early habit, looked down with scorn upon this
species of short-hand, deeming it all well enough for ignorant merchants, but
clearly unfit for educated people. Still, the Phtenidans calmly pursued their
way, usinp the borrowed alphabet in all (heir mercantile transactions, and
carrying it as an instrument of intercourse (o all the nations among whom
they dealt In the end, Ihe universities were swept away, the hieroglyphic
scribes were out of employment, and mankind was (aught lo write its lan-
guage in the A B C of (he Phcenidan trader, while the hieroglyphic and syl-
labic writings Sank into such black oblivion (ba( it (ook the life-work of several
generations of scholars to recover them.
4"
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42 HANDY-BOOK OF
It WM a wise ihough a lazy cleric whom Lulher menlions in his " Table-
Talk," — Ihe monk who, instead of reciting his breviary, used to run over the
alphabet and then say, " O my God, take this alphabet, and put it together how
you will." For in the diveiae combinations of which those twenty-four symbols
ate capable lies all that the human heart and intellect have ever conceived or
ever can conceive of truth and beauty and reverence, — all possible schemes of
philosophy, all possible masterpieces of prose or poetry, all law and science
and order and religion. In these, and these alone, lie all the records of the
past and all the possibilitieB of the future. An alphabet, one would say, is
too aacted a thing to be treated other than reverently. Yet there have
always been triflerB, even in this Holy of Holies. Some niiscreanla have
taken the utmost imaginable pains to avoid a particular letter, and have com-
posed poems, essays, and treatises witliout once raising the unmeaning taboo.
Others have made inordinate use of some letter and insisled that it should
form Ihe initial of every word. The first called their Procrustean method
lipo^rammatizing 1 the latter, alliteration. Each is treated under its proper
^»„>,nn n.i,-,,. T.™,;,. v,.„- '"und still other methods of conjuring with the
' ' ' ' ic symbols ' " '
ms irifler has discovered that there is one verse in the Bible
which contains all the letters in the alphabet : -" And I, even I, Artaxerxes
the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river,
that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of Ihe law of Ihe God of heaven,
shall require of you, it shall be dune speedily." {Etra vii. 31.) Of course it
will be seen that J is left out ; but then J and I were originally Ihe same letter.
It will further be seen that the letters are duplicated and reduplicated. Prof.
De Morgan, who in his lucid momenta was a great nialhematidan, used to
find an uisane pleasure in relieving his severer studies by composing inge-
~--'is puzzles. He set himself to nnprove on Ezra. He would produc —
sentence which would use all the twenty-six letters and use each only once.
''"'"■'' ' 'ler many fruitless attempts, he de ' ' '
>nly admit tne licensee'
the further license of looking on u and v as the same letter.
Here, however, his wits failed him. After many fiuitlcss attempts, he
" it tin ' , - .,
compromise. He would not only admit tne license of using > for/, but
ther liren ' ■ ■ ■ ■■ .......
follows :
I quani pya who flini niuck beds.
professor acknowledges that he did not at first grasp the full meaning
mty of this sentence. He long thought [hat no human being could say
r any circumstances. " At last I happened to be reading a religious
as he thought himself, who threw aspersions on hia opponents thick
eefold. Heyday I came into my head, this fellow flinea muck beds ; he
. "t.
sels into mud-holders, for the benefit of those who will not see what he sees."
Thus heartened, he published his sentence in A'otri and Qutriii, and boldly
threw down the gauntlet to all and sundry lo do belter if they could. The
gauntlet was taken up by a number of correspondents. These were Ihe best
of the results arrived at ;
Dumpy quliflhlimcli foEi nexl.
The professor magnanimously awards the palm to the last otie. "It is
""'""''""' ' ' " " eipressed under the
Marry: be cheerful;
good advice," he explains, " lo a young u>an, verv well expressed under the
' I more sober English, it would be, •"- - "^ - ■ ' ■
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 43
watch yonr biisinct*.' " It is doubtful, however, whether the young man would
understand it without the accompanying gloss.
Since that time many other people have tried their hands at the same kind
(rf trifling. But the combined intellect of the world has produced nothing belter
than this:
Quii, Jack ; thy fioni vci.— G. D. Plumb.
Now, at all events, this makes sense. But the arbitrary lugging in at a proper
name made up for the occasion spoils its symmetry, and the reduiilication of
the letter u throws it entirely out of court. Here is an effort still more in-
telligible in itself:
JoboT. Bnilygavc me k black wiliiui liojt ofqulic inult iIk,
Here the name is a very common one, and consequently less offensive (o
the finer instincts. But the continuous reduplication of letters relegates it to
the class of which the Biblical specimen already quoted remains the best
because unconscious exponent.
Another scholar has diacovcied (hat ihere are only two words in the knglish
language which contain all the vowels in their order. They are ■' abstemious"
and " facetious." The following words each have them in irregular order :
authoritative, disadvantageous, encouraging, efficacious, instantaneous, iin-
Eirtunate, mendacious, nefarious, objectionable, precarious, pertinacious, sacri-
gious, simultaneous, tenacious, unintentional, unequivocal, undiscoverable,
Teiation*.
We all know that " A was an Archer who shot at a frog," and have h.id our
early thirst for knowledge stimulated by the descriptive verses of which this
is the first line, and the accompanying pictures that showed an archer in the
earlier stages of intoxication transfixing a cheerful — nay, an liiiarious — frog,
followed by Butchers and Cows o( so alarming ari aspect that we have never
been able to look at the letters B and C without conjuring up the hurrurs that
disturbed our adolescent imaginations. These juvenite alphabets have lent
dtemselvcs to numerous parodies. In that ponderous bit ofseini-facetiouancss,
"The Doctor," — a book that always reminds one of a light'heartcd megalhe'
rium. — Southey essays his hand at what may possibly be the earliest exani)>)e.
Speaking of periodical literature, he declares that the Golden Age of Maga-
arcs has passed away :
" In those days A was an Antiquary, and wrote articles upon Altars artd
Abbeys and A rchi lecture. B made a blunder, which C corrected. D demon-
strated that E was in error, and that F was wrong in philology, and neither
Philosopher nor Physician, though he affected to be both.
gist : H was an Herald who helped him. I was an inquisi
found reason for suspecting J to be a Jesuit M was a Malhematici
N noted the weather. O observed the stars. P was a Poet who piddled in
pastorals, and prayed Mr. Urban to print them. Q came in the corner of
the page with his query. R arrogated to himself the right of reprehending
every one who differed from him. S sighed and sued in song. T told an old
tale, and when he vias wrong U used to set him right. V was a Virtuoso
W warred against Warburlon. X excelled in algebra. Y yearned for im-
mottalily in rhyme ; and Z in his zeal was always in a puzile.''
Probably the best, most consistent, and most coherent of these alphabets is
b]P that true genius, C. S. Calverley :
A ll u Ansel of bluihins clchKen ;
Blilhg Ban when iheAnieTwu hkd:
Dlilhe Dcuxlimps wLih Fnnkuf ibeGiunlii
E it ho Et', kUlini >lo-lir bul ninly ;
;i:,vG00gk"
HAND Y BOOK OF
N M the rf«e ibe lurned up ax «4cb eLancc :
Oi*lhcOIg><justihenla1u prlmeji
P ii lb> ParlQcr who vouldn'lkKp lime;
So. ■ Quadrille put Initnd of the Lancen ;
Ihe Renianilranca made br Ibe duon :
5 is the Supper when ai] wept !□ p^n ;
T i> the Twaddle they ulLed on the itain •
U ii the Uade who "^thouEhl we'd be gain' ;"
W^tlK w'alle7, whoutupllir^ht; ° "'
X li hii txa, not rigidly iinigni :
Vi( tbe Viwnlngfit cauied by Ihe Ball^
Z lUndi for Zero, or nolhiii( at all.
In one of the early numbers of Notes and Qiieriti, a coiilrtbulor sij^King him-
self " Eighty-One" published a single rhymed alphabet, and threw out a chal-
lenge to the English-speaking world to produce another equally good. Here
i* " Eighty-One^" effort :
A wu an Amy la lelde dliputei ;
B w» a Bull, not Ibe miMeit of brutet :
C wai 1 Qkoik, duly diawD upon Couiti ,
DwaiKiiwDairld, with barpt and with lulet;
Ewuin Einperor, hulediriihuluiei:
F wu a FuDeral, followed by mules ;
I wa* JutliDlan hii luiiuita ;
K waa a Keeper, who cominoDly ibooui
L wai a LemOD, the loiireBt of irtilia ;
tawui. UiDiitty— uy Lord Buit'i;
N WM MchDliOD, buiDui on flutei ;
?waia PODd.'rullorietcbeaaiidnewu;
Swai a Quaker in whliy-brown luiu ;
_ wa>aRea>on,whichPaleyrerule*!
T™Ten'^rio"(If d'tiIlb"S™lal
U wu UDCemmonlv bad cberooti :
X anEl^kSS'drili'oui b^emulS^;" '
V h a Yawn ; then, the tail rhyme that iuh>,
Z It tbe Zuyder Zee, dwelt in by coou.
The challenge was taken up by a number or readers, insomuch that the office
was floodeil (evidently the paper ciicutaleg among people of unbounded leis-
ure), and only a small proportion of the answers could be published. As good
as any was the following 1^ Mortimer Collins :
Aiimy Amy. >oi
B '• little Bel. whc
C i> CDod Chaiiolt
D LsTJlana. .he fe .
E li plump Ellen, by Edward embraced
FiipoorFanny.byrreclilei deuced;
G l> GriMlda, unlafrly dligraced :
H la Ibe Helen who llion effaced ;
I <• fair Ida, Ibal princoa ilrail.lictd ;
tto Ihe JudV Punch finda to hi> taile ;
. Katy daiUnt, bybnd lonn chaaed
L li L^uretle, In coquetry encaied ;
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
N b ga^ Nofah» o'er hills who h>i need i
P '• pntty PMiy, •» dainiily pared ^
aHMne uir Querul, in blue itookingi placed ;
ll Inil B«e. from bee IriK Item dilpliced ;
X IsXuitippe, for KoidiDf well braced^
Z ll ZcDobia,'!! puio^y ^Hd,
.Alps. HIHb pMp o'er hllla, and Alps on AJpa arise. The concluding
Hnc of a famous iimilL In Pope's " £«say on Criticism," II., 1. 32, whicti aima to
illustrate the giowing labors of science and learning. Dr. Johnson has praised
this simile as the mosl apl, Ihe most proper, the most sublime of any in the
English languaee. "The comparison," he says, "of a sludenl's progress in
ihc sciences Willi the journey of a Iraveller in the Alps is perhaps Ihe best thai
English poetry can show. It has no useless parts, yel affords a striking picture
by Itself; it makes Ihe foregoing position better understood, and enables it to
take faster hold on the atlenlion ; it assists the apprehension and elevates the
fancy." But Warton points out that the simile and consequenlly the panegyKc
belong to Drummond :
More bcif^ADefore him then he lefi behind.
Whether Pope's or Drummond's, Ihe " Essay" was hardlv published before
- "ind the Spectator making use of il : " We are complamir- -' •■•- -■- —
of lile, and are yet perpetually hurrying over the parts oj
we lind the Sptctatar making use of il : " We are complamtne of the short'
m,. _..j ....I : .1 Is oTit, to arrive at
_ , traveller upon the
Alps, who should fancy that the lop of Ihe next hill must end his journey,
because it lerminalcs his prospect ; bul he nosooner arrives at it than he sees
new ground and other hills beyond it, and continues to travel on as before."
No tkiubl the simile had passed through many more hands before it finally
reached Rousseau, who, in the fourth book of " £mile," likens successful con.
Suerors to " those inexperienced IraveNers who, finding themselves for ihe
rst lime in ihe Alps, imagine that ihe]^ can clear them with every mountain,
and, when Ihey have reached the summit, are discouraged to see higher muuit-
tains in front of them." Few could hope lo vie with Jean Jacgues in turning
an affiliated Idea lo honor and advantage. Among these few Sir Walter Scolt
cannot be numbered. In his "Life of Napoleon" he compares Ihe great
Emperor to " Ihe adventurous climber on Ihe Alps, to whom the surmounting
the most dangerous precipices and ascending lo the mosi lowering peaks only
■hows yet dizzier heights and higher points of elevation." What with indif-
ferent English, and the notion misapplied, really the poet of Ihe Pelicans is
not malerially worse :
Onui bRBking from hii black lu^ncnesa
Drowned in hit own fiupcpdout uproar all
A war of mounutDs tagcd upon hit Burfacc ;
New Alp* and Ands, fioin unfultointd viUtyi
Quite in another spirit is the use made by Sir John Herschel of the same
comparison:
.d by Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
impleia grup oTaoy
\ Iht milh in iD uJdnuie rccepUoD, act aa
jHAiUvc aidl (o il» MtainmcDI by ■f<;iuiD1LDK faim with ihe sjinptoma of ui iiuecure footing
in hii prDj[re»i. 'Uo Hach from ih? plain iab lofticK njininiu of jw Alpine CQiinlry, many
inferior cmineoirq have v> be scaLod and rriinquiihed ; but the Iflbor ia no( Lo«- The T«gion
betlor undenlood «nd Ihe more enjoyed li:^ the very misconcepiion in derail which il recd6et
Altrulsni, from the Latin aittr, " another," formed on the same basis as ego-
tism from cgs, to indicate unsellisliness, twnevulence, — in sl)ort, llie very oppo'
site of egoliam. The altruist rejoices in his neighbor's welfare, and linds his
highrst juy in advancing il ; the egotist strives only for himself. The word
was Rrsl employed by Cumle. and has been welcomed by modern agnostics as
. new code of morality, a new impetus to right
leader of the English Posilivisis, even fool
e for the Christian hope of pers<
r. Fredeiic Harrison, the leader of the English Posilivisis, even looks
Man will be immiiTlal not in himself but in his actions, and the c<
of this jHisthiimous aolivity, [his living incorporation with Ihe glorious future
of his race, "can give a patience and happiness equal to that of any martyr
of theology." Once make this idea the basis of philosophy, the standard
of right and wrong, and the centre of religion, and the conversion of the
masses " will prove, perhapi^ an easier task than that of teaching Greeks and
Romans, Syrians and Moors, to look forward to a life of careless psalmody in
an immaterial heaven." George Eliot's finest poem — indeed, her only bit of
verse that is truly poetry, and not merely fine thought thrown into metrical
form, her lines beginning, "Oh, may I join the choir invisible" — gives magnifi-
<xnt voice to this feeling. Here are Ihe concluding lines :
The cup of Mnnslh in tome gnal aocny,
Enkindit gencTQiu >rdDr. fe^ pun Tuve.
Beget the smilei thai have no cruelty,
Be Ihe tweet presence of a food dimued,
Whfne muuc il the gtadneu of the worid.
Of course the idea readily lends itself lo satire and caricature. In a review of
this very poem {.AUatttk, xxxiv. 103), Mr. Howells neatly enough characlerizes il
ai " the idea that we are to lealize our inborn longing for immortality in Ihe
blessed perpetuity of man on earth ; Ihe supreme effort of Ihal craze which,
having abolished God, asks a man to console himself when he shall be extinct
with the reflection that somebody else is living on towards the annihilalion
which he has reached." The whole of W. H. Mallock's " New Paul and
Virginia, or Positivism on an Island," Is an admirable bit of fooling, i
this doctrine of altruism as one of its chief targcLt. Here is an illusira
example, where Ihe castaways — Virginia, the curate, and the agnostic pro-
lessor — are sitting at lunch on the island ;
" Yea. my dear cuntle," enid Ihe profeuor. " what 1 am enjoying ii the champagne thai
t3u drink, and vhat you are enjoying \\ the champagne that I drink. Thit il altruiim : this
I>eDeTOlence ; this ia Ihe lublime outcome of enlighlened modem thought. The i^eaHm
of Ihe nble in ihemielves an Inw and beaaily onn; but IT we each of ut art only glad be-
cause the Dthen an enjoying Ihem. they become holy and glorioui beyond deicription,"
" They do," cried the curate, raplurouily, " indeed they do. I will drink another bollle for
J. aa l^e tD»ed off three giaHct. " tt n »ignilicani \" he
Tdi me, my dear, do 1 look ugnilicaiit t" he added, u Ik
ai he (jnishcd thnc more. *
\ LD Vijxlnia, and suddenly t
A familiar jest unconsciously embodies the same element of parody, "So
LITERARY CURIOSITIES 47
glad," "So glad you're glad," "So glad you're glad I'm glad," and so on
ada^nihoK. But, indeed, no verbal Durlesque can exceed the burlesque in
action which is afforded by the sad Tate or the Altruist Society of Si. Louis,
thus recorded by the New York Nation, April lo, iSqo;
TboH to whom viperimcatB Tor a remodellinB of >ociet]r HppeAl aiuit Ik saddened t>y tbt
^■H bhjLke En die hJnDry of the Altruiit CommiiDiI
■»ys.Mr. AJcutder Longlev, iu kte preudeni, in (b<
£^^y''ipl»'e. ind ihc .uc™ of'^lr. clorac'E'^VW ^d i»S ^^n. W^i^^ho formed >
w£ tiT^eib^ia y«r!fs he'd^^ ia ilie tommunliy uid*^ih°hv^lne 'cirHTfrauduOy In
keeping the iwrord of the community u Kcrelary, nnd in tbe election of himself u preiideiu,
■U of vhioh 1 hereby retrac:i end tpolcwiie for. Mr. Longley and Ihe remiuDiDg tnembcri
of ibe pcntagoiul communiiy, eiceiK Min Tnvli. witbdrev wtten Mc. Wird'i jouiiuili>ii<:
AmblgultlAs. Words are siippety things. They frequently refuse to do
their master's bidditig, to eipreas the meaning that was in his mind. Oceans
of blood have been spilled over the interpretation of disputed passages in
tbe Bible. Oceans of ink have been spilled over similar attempts to gel at
Ihe inner truth of some of Shakespeare's mystic phrases. There is no
more piquant subject of conjecture than to think what would happen if
Shakespeare were recalled fi'om his grave and set to reading that encellent
Variorum Edition of his works which ironUins all the glosses of all the com-
menlalorg. Perhaps he would forget his own meaning. That has often hap-
pened lo authors. We all remember the story of how certain reverent pupils
came lo Jacob Boehme on his deaih-bed, beggiJig that before he died he would
explain to them a certain difficult passage in his work. "My dear cliildren,"
said Ihe mystic, after puzzling his nead to no purpose. " when I wrote this I
nnderslood its meaning, and no doubt Ihe omniscient God did. He may still
remember it, but I have forgotten." And he died with the secret unre-
Tcaled. Klopstock's student admirers were more worldly wise, yet Ihey too
were equally doomed to disappointment. They appealed to him, not on his
dealb-bed, but in his hale and vigorous maturity. At Giittingen they had
found one of his stanzas unintelligible, and they begged for more light Klop-
stock read the stanza, then slowly reread it, while all stared agape. Finally
the oracle spoke : " t cannot recollect what I meant when [ wrote it, but I
do remember it was one of the finest things I ever wrote, and you cannot do
better than to devote your lives to the discovery of its meaning." Cardinal
Newman, in his old age, frankly acknowledged thai he could no> remember
wbat he meant when he penned those fomous lines in his hymn " Lead, Kindly
Light."—
And vith the nam Ihoie ufel Auaa unile
Whkh t halt loved Iode •ince and lott awhile.
At a large reception in London a Mrs. Malaprop in pantaloons Mged his
way up to Robert Browning and incontinently asked him to explain then and
there a difficult passage in one of his poems, " Upon my woril, I don'' know
wbat it means," said the poet, laughing, as he closed the volume thru<i into
hia hands. "I advise yoa to aik Ihe Browning Society: they'll tell y<'u all
.d by Google
48 HANDY.BOOK OF
Hawthorne wroie lo Fields on April 13, 1854, apropos of a new edition of
his " Mosses from an Old Manae." " When I wrote (hose dreamy sketches, I
liitle ihoughi ihai I should preface an edition for the press amidst the buS'
tliiig life of a Liverpool consulate. Upon my honor, I am noi quite sure that
I eiilitely comprehend niy own meaning in some of these blasted allegories;
but I remember that I always had a meaning, or at least ihoughl I had,"
When Chamier asked Goldsmith if he meant tardiness of locoroolion by the
word "slow" in the first line of the "Traveller," —
Remote, unTiJended, melaDChotr, daw,—
Goldstnith inconsiderately replied, " Yes." Johnson immediately cried out,
" No, sir, you do not mean tardiness of locomotion ; you mean thai sluggish-
ness of mmd which comes upon a man in solitude."
If such be the experience of the great masters of language and literature,
why should we wonder that the smaller men, who have command of a smaller
vocabulary, and only an imperfect appreciation of the laws of rhetoric or
even of grammar, should often find difficulty in rendering themselves intelligi-
ble? That blunder known as tieglect of the antecedent may lead to the Ui-
surdesl misapprehension. Here is a choice example, selected Irom the pro-
ceedings of the New Vork Common Council, May iz, 1S69 1 " Raolvtd, That
the Comptroller be and is hereby directed to draw a warrant in favor of David
Sherrad lor the sum of (5^ to be in full compensation for loss sustained by rea-
son of bis horse stepping mtoahole in. the pavement in South Street, at Ihe fool
of Pine Street, on the 1 7lh of February, 1869, from the effects of which he died."
Here are many astonishing statements. That David should have died from Ihe
effects of his horse sleppmg into a hole is a notable fact in itself. That he
could be compensated for his own death by the paltry sum of three hundred and
fifty dollars pauses belief. Indeed, the very ahaurdity of Ihe passage is its own
MKguard. We know what the writer meant, because what he said is so
evidently nonsense. Advertisers are frequent sinners in this respecL Here
is a sample which appeared in the London Timet in February, 1S61 : " Piano-
forte, Collage, 7 Octaves — the property of a Lady leaving England in remark-
ably elegant walnut case on carved supports. The lone is superb and eminently
adapted for anyone requiring a first-class instrument." The Saturday Rmievi
pounced upon this gem of Lnglish and commented upon it as follows : " We
have heard of Arion riding on a dolphin, and of the Wise Men of Gotham who
went to sea in a bowl ; we have heard of Helle on her ram, and of Europa on
her bull ; but we never before heard of a lady designing to cross the Eiielish
Channel in a remarkably elceani walnut case with carved supports. Indeed,
we might go so far as to ask whether the carved supports are those of the
walnut case or of the lady herself. In cither case, they would seem equally
ill adapted to struggle with Ihe winds and the billows."
This excellent lady finds a lit parallel in Ihe advertiser who wanted "a
young man to look after a horse of Ihe Methodist persuasion," the Texan who
applied for "a boss hand over jooo sheep that can speak Spanish fluently,"
the boarding- house-keeper who announced that she had "a cottage conlam-
ing eight rooms and an acre of land," the maiden or widow lady, matrimoni-
ally inclined, who advertised for a husband "with a Roman nose having
strong religious tendencies" (did she wish those tendencies to l>e Roman
also ?), or the horse-owner who signified his willingness to sell cheap " a splen-
did gray horse, calculated for a charger or would carry a lady with a switch
tail. A lady so favored by nature should certainly make the acquaintance
of the owner of a certain mail phaeton announced for sale as " the |>roperty
of a gentleman with a movable head as good as new." The latter may have
been some reladon lo the boy who produced a fiddle of which his proud
D,q,i,.cdbvGoogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 49
btber asserted thit "he hid made il out of hts own head and had wood
enough left for another," or of the London match 'peddler who used to cry,
" Bdv a penny-worth of matches &om a poor old man made of foreign
There was something gruesome in (he furrier's announcement that he wal
Ercpared to "maJie up capes, circulars, etc, for ladies out of their oitn sltins."
ut he was more than equalled by the proprietor of a bone-mill who assured
the public that " parties sending their own bones to be ground will be attended
to with fidelity and despatch. And what shall we say to the drusgisl's
printed request that "ttie gentleman who left his stomach for analysis will
pleaK oil and get il together with the result" 1
A horrid suspicion of cannibalism hangs about the advertisement of a
St. Louis man .- " Wanted a good giri to cook, one who will make a good
roast or broil and will stew well" Almost as barbarous is a farmer near
Fnlton, New Vork, who posted this notice in his field : " If any man's or
woman's cows or oxen gils in these oats, his or her head will be cut off, as
the case may be."
We are moved to gende and kindly mirth when under the head of Wanted
we read that "a respectable young woman wants washing." But we have
grown quite used to such journalistic English as " octagonal men's cassimere
pantaloons," or "woollen children's milts," or "lerra-cotta ladies' gloves," so
much so that we scarcely pause to smile at (he odd images they ought to raise
in the mind that is grammatically constituted So also with advertisements
lor such articles as "a keyless ladies' watch," "a green lady's parasol," or " a
brown silk gentleman's umbrella." And in hastily running your eye over the
papers you rarely pause to give its due meed of surprise to the appetite of a
lady who wants " to take a gentleman for breakfast and dinner," the benevo-
lence of a boarding- house -keeper who advertises that "single gentlemen are
furnished with pleasant rooms, also one or two gentlemen with wives," or the
audacity of a merchant who. in a free country, openly gives notice. " Wanted,
a woman to sell on commission." But, indeed, anything is possible in an age
where the sign " Families supplied t^ the quart or gallon" meets you at
every turn.
A quaint story is told of a member of the Savage Club in London. Stand-
ing on the steps of the club-house, he was accosted by a stranger: " Does a
gentleman belong to your club with one eye named Walker ?" " I don't
know," was the reply. " What is the name of the other eye ?"
The St. James Cosrftt chronicles the &Ct that a blind man who perambulates
the Streets of Windsor playing sacred music on an accordion beats upon his
breast a placard reading, " Blind from inflammation. Assisted by Her Majesty
the Queen," He had once attracted the compassionate attention of the queen,
who had given him a small donation. Il is satd that the public baths in I^ris
originally bore the sign, " Bains i fond de bois pour dames i quatre sous."
This was objected to because, strictly construed, it would mean " wooden-bot-
tomed baths for fourpenny ladies." So the sign was changed to " Bains 1
quatre sous pour dames il fond de Ixiis." But the hypercritics hilariously con-
tended that this was even worse. And this reminds us of the advertisement
of a school, which appeared in the London Times in March, 1838, and which
promised that boys would, for twenty-five guineas, receive various benefits,
and be "fundamentally instructed." This was in the days of Dolheboys Hall.
There was an ominous sound about the adverb, and it is not to be wondered
at that about this lime several advertisements appeared in the Agony column
for "youths" and "young gentlemen" who had run away from home.
A shocmakei hung out a sign, and then wondered why people found it so
anmsing. This is bow it read ; " Don't go elsewhere to Ik cheated. Walk in
50 HANDY-BOOK OF
here." He «ras equalled by the London firm which warned everybody againit
unscrupulous persons "who infringe our title (o deceive the public, and by
Ihe Chatham Street establishmenl which requested the public " not (o confound
this shop with that of another swindler who has established himself on the other
side of the way." The Irish advertiser was more alarmingly frank when he
inserted a "want" lur "agentleman to undertake the sale ot'^a Patent Medi-
cine. The advertiser guarantees it will be protilable to the undertaker."
A curious instance oT the difficulty of making a few words convey an explicit
and definite meaning is furnished by the repealed bilures of postal aulhorilies
who wished to inform the public that thev might write anything Ihey chose
on one side of a postal card, but on Ihe other side must confine themselves
to the tnetc address of the person. Uncle Sam tried six times, in as many
diBerent issues, before he was satisfied with Ihe result :
Nsthint; bui ihe addrss cao be plicedon ihii lide.
Write only Ihe uddRn on Ibis gide.
Write the ad<keA3 anijr on il>i> ^de, Ihe netfage od [heather.
Write the addmi od Ihii tide, ihc meuage on the other.
Thii lidt for addnH only.
The first two were evidently rejected for their clumsiness. The third, fiiutlh,
and fifth seem to limit the public to writing, and indirectly forbid priming or
lithographing. The fourth, moreover, is hopelessly ambiguous. Accurately
construed, it means that the address may be written on one side only. Any.
thing else may be written on that side. Sul Ihe address must not be repeated
on the other.
Canada says :
The addmi to be wrlites ou thii tide.
Great Britain ;
The addnu only la be irrlllen od Ihli ilde.
Here the same difficulty appears in regard to printing or lithographing the
address. They manage these things better in France :
Ce dM nl eiduiirenMni lixrti 1 1'idieue.
Vet Belgium is not satisfied. Apparently it thinks there is tautology in
"exdu«veTy reserved," and drops the adverb:
Ce cAt£ eit r^vert^ A Tjidreife.
Zijde VOD hel idrei TDOrbehoudeD.
Luxemburg, in a still more critical mood, holds that the French ought to
write more correct French than Ihey do, and places " cxcluaivemcnt" after the
Ce C6lt est niKryt eicluHTemeDI t I'ldreue.
Diese Seite i*l aur nit die AdreiH tnlimml.
Russia is of the same mind :
CAt^ r^rv£ excliulTemeai i I'mdrcue.
Italy uses no ambiguous word i
5u quetta lata Don dcve scnTenl che It solo iadiritia.
Chili's wish is stated with equal clearness :
Amende Honoiable. In modern i
ily apology and
I as may be needed. But histoi
different affair. It was in fact in ancienlFrench law a
diagiaccful punishment, inflicted for Ihe most part on offenders against public
decency. The offender was stripped to his shirt, when the hangman put a
Googk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 51
rope about bis neck and a taper in his liand, and then led him to the conrt,
where the culprit asked pardon of God, of the king, and of the court. It
was abolished in 1791, reintroduced in cases of sacrilege in 1S16, and finally
abrogated in 1830.
AnmiouL Who read* an Amarioui book? This hmous query
was oii^nally propounded by Sydney Smith in a notice of Adam Seybeit's
"Statistical Annals of the United Stales" {Edinburgh ^ni^ui. January, 1S20),
included in Sydney Smith's collected Essajps. The query created a siorm
of sufficiently humorous indignalion on this side of the Atlantic, and was
quoted and requoted only to be furiously combated in every Yankee -doodle
article that attero;)ted to Uamn forth the lilerair glories of the New World.
Of recent years, since our literary men have really begun lo be a glory to the
land of their birth, since the " American Wordsworth" and the " American
Milltm" and the " American Goldsmith" have been succeeded by Amciican
writers sufficiently native and original lo stand on their feet, and to be thcm-
Belves, and not the fancied shadows of foreigner, — since that lime the query
has been suffered to go the same road as Father Bouhours's equally memorable
question, "Can a German have wit \april\ !" Here is Ihe full context of the
question, which occurs at the conclusion of the article. It will be seen Ihal
not only the literature but also Ihe arts and sciences of our forefathers are
attacked. But il was chiefly the literary men who raised their voices in indig-
nant protest ;
■ympalhize. We hope be will Hlwaym CDDEinue lo wmlch Hnd tuBpecl hit Bovemmenl u he
now don, — nmembenDH thai it U th* canuanl Itndency ofthcmt inlniftted wilh power lo con-
ceive th4t they enjoy il by their own merits and for their own uk, and not by dejection And
X bencRt of othen, Thui fv we ue tbe Iriends uid admirtr* of Juni
cnLlEhlcned, and the moM moral peop
of ihe Ail«niic.-»nd e-
newftpapo* tciibblen
« tt&ed, the mr- -
^ .jj been exalted or tvfined by their lepubli
of iheir Revolalwo, were bom and bnd siibiecu of the King of England,— wid not amoag the
pendeal eiiiuBce, we would uk, Where are their Foiei. their Buriiei, Ihcir Sheiidaiu. their
WiluUluu, tbeit HwMn, their WUbaforca!— where their Arkwrigbu, their Watu. their
Davym!— fbdrRobenMini. Kun.Snllht, Slewatu, Paltyt.and MalihuKsr— Iheir Poraans.
Pun. Bdmeyi. or BlomfieldiT— liielr Scoiu, CainpiiellB. Byrons. Moorei, oc Cnbbei?— their
SddDIiKI, Xeublei, KeaiH. or O'Nelle !— their Wilkia. Launncei, Chantryit— or their
- ■ ■ ■ the world 60m our little
HANDY-BOOK OF
Amiona Plato, sad inagiB amioa Teiltas (1,, " Plato is dear to me,
bal truth is atill dearer"}. Thia phrase is a gradual evolution from a passage
in the "Phaedo" or Plalo (ch. 91), where Socrates is reported as saying to hia
disciples, " I would ask you lo be thinkine of ihe truth, and not of Socrates ;
agree with me if I seem lo you to be speaking the truth 1 or, if not, withstand
me might and main, that I may not deceive you as well as myself in my en-
thusiasm.". Paraphrasing this sentiment, Aristulle was wont to say, " Socrates
is dear to me, but the truth is still dearer," — this on the authority of his
iHOgrapher Ammonius, who wrote in Latin, and whose Laliiiiied version became
proverbial. But in course of time " Plato" was substituted for '■ Socrates,"
and so the phrase comes down lo us, Cicero docs not seem to have accepted
Ihe lesson of the maxim, (or he expresslv says. "Errare malo cum Platone
Huam cum islis vera sentire" (" I would ralhcr err with Plato than think
rightly with these"!, — «■'■■ the Pythagoreans. And in this very saying, curi-
ously enough, he endorsed a Pythagorean rather than a Platonic method. For
while Plato evidently approved of Socrates's preference of tlie trulh over the
individual, the disciples of Pythagoras adopted as their motto, "The master
has said it." Cicero's sentiment was echoed m the modern line, —
Bctict 10 CTT wllh Pope Ihan ihiDC wiih Pyc.
Amperauid (also ampusand, ampersand, etc), an old name for &, for-
merly &•, the contracted sign off/ = and. The name is a corruption of "and
pir St and," — i.e., "& by itself— and," the old way of spelling and naming
the character. Similarly, A, t, O, when representing words and not merely
letters, were read in spelling-lessons, "A per se A" etc These were similarly
corrupted into apersey, etc The amateur etymologist has done some ex-
cellent guessing at the derivation of the word. Here is an example : " The
sign & IS said to be properly called Empfror's hand, from having been first
invented by some imperial personage, bul by whom deponent saith not." —
Tlu MmUhly Poitel, vol. iii. p. 448.
Anagyam {Gr. avaypofi/ia ; Am, up, or Sac*, and ypa/ifia, a Ittttr). A re-
arrangement of Ihe letters of a name, a word, or a sentence. In order 10 be
perfect, the result should be a word or words reacting upon Ihe original as a
comment, a sarcasm, a definition, or a revelation. Thus, the pessimist re-
joices to find that if llic component letters of live be committed lo Ihe
smelting-pot of the anagram, they may reissue either as tvil ur vile : Ihe non-
argumentative mind smiles calmly when logica (logic) yields aUiga (dattt-
ness)i and the conservative is delighted to find the sinislerepithets/<nvdTrwit
wrapped up in revolution and rare mad fro'M in radical hefokm. Those
who attach themselves scrupulously lo the rules of the anagram uermit no
change, omission, or addition of letters therein. Others, less timid, take an
almost poetical license, and, besides occasionally omitting or adding a letter,
think themselves justified in writing, when they find such a change desirable
and that the resulting sense falls aptly, / for «. v for -w, s for i, t for i, and
vice veria. Neverthclesa, Ihe orthodox an^rammatist frowns upon thit
heretical license and characterizes its results as impure.
Although the anagram has fallen upon evil days, and is now relegated to the
children's column, along with the riddle, the enigma, and the rebus. It once
boasted a high estate and taxed the reverence of the wise, the learned, and
Ihe devout. The Hebrews held that there was something divine in this species
nf word-torture. Nay, some Rabbins assert that Ihe esoteric law given to
Hoses, to be handed down in the posterity of certain seventy men, and
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S3
theielbre cal1«d Cabbala, or Iradilional, was largely a volume of alpha-
betary revolulion or anagrammatism. The Greeks, and especiall; (he scho-
liasts of Ihe Middle Ages, echoed Ihc opinions of ihe Hebrews, believing that
there was a mystic correspondence between things and their names, and that
Inr the study of names, by the intense consideration and the turning inside-out
of Ihe k'b aiid n's of which they aie composed, these coitespon deuces might
be evolved and nature made to flash out her secrets. Men sought in one
another's names, and in the names of things of high public import, (hose pvo-
!>hetic indicatkins of character, of duty, or of destiny which might possibly
urk in them.
Lycophron, the father of the anagram in Greece, and one of the " Pleiads"
of the coQit of Ptolemy Philadelphus, is said to have earned high favor with his
prince by finding the words ttntl /ie?jTo( {oti/ of koney\ in the name Ilni^ipiZoc,
■nd the words Iw "Hpor (majW efjutui) in 'Apai™;, Ihe name of Ptolemy's
queen. Both these anagrams arc exact or pure, and, as such, are the earliest
examples that have survived to our day. Another lanious historical anagram
refers to the siege of Troy by Alexander. That monarch was about to aban-
don the enterprise in despair, when he had a dream of a Salyr leaping before
faim, whom eventually, after many elusions, he caughL This dream his
■ages converted into a prophetic anagram: "'SJmff^" (Satyr), said they,
"why, certainly, on Tipof" (Tyre is thine). This put heart in the Iting, and
Tyre was taken. But, though good in its way, this is one of the iilegitimaie
forms of anagram, arising not from the rearrangement or transposition ol
letlert, but only from their redivision or resyllabification. Another instance
is thai of Constantine III., son of the Emperor Heraclius, who on the eve
of battle dreamed that he took the way through Thessalonica into Macedonia.
Relating the dream to one of his courtiers, the latter divided Thessalonica
into syllables, finding in it, " Leave the victory to another :"
The emperor took no notice of the warning, and was badly beaten by the
enemy. But this might rather be called a species of paronomasia or pun.
Patriot resolved into Fat-riot is an even poorer instance.
The Romans seem to have despised this sort of literary trifling, Latin
anagiams are generally of modern origin. Vet among these are sonie of the
best anagrams ever made, notably that admirable one which discovers in
Pilate's question, QuiD EST VERITAS ? (What is truth 1) its own answer, Est vir
qui adtst (It is Ihe man before you). A famous cento of Latin anagrams was
made in honor of young Stanislaus Leczinski, afterwards King of Poland. On
bis return from his travels, all the family of Leczinski assembled at Ussa, to
celebrate his arrival with appropriate festivities. The most ingenious compli-
ment of all was paid by Ihe College of Lissa. A heroic dance was presented
by thirteen young warriors, each holding a shield on which was engraved one
of the thirteen letters in the name Domus Lescinia. Tiie evolutions were so
arranged that at each turn the row of bucklers formed different anagrams in
tbe following order :
First Domus Lescinia.
Second. Ades incolumis.
Third. Omnis es lucida.
Fourth. Omne sis lucida.
Fifth. Mane sidus loci.
Sixth. Sis columna dei.
Seventh. I, scande solium.
ISAURATUS:
54 HANDY-BOOK OF
Art vivif annasa (M^arl will live long), and .4rj^ nmu nub (Behold ihe new
art of ihe bard). 'I he Lalin language, indeed, lends itMlf readily to the ana-
gram, lie ing free. from Ihe ugly assortmeni of /s, lo's, and jk's lliat disfigure
most ni[>dern longuea and prove so great a slumbliiw-block in the way ofthe
word-poser. No means so ready for writing up a friend or writing down an
enemy ai that of turning Smilh into Smilhius and proving that ^milhius is
the verbal equivalent either for spirit of health or goblin damned. Thus,
Calvin, wrolh at the hearty licentiousness of Rabelais, anuratnmatiicd the
Latin form RABEi..«sitis into Rabit Loan (Bitten-mad). This was raah in
Calvin, for, □( all things on earth, to think of lighting Rabelais with his own
weapoi>s, or, for that matter, with any weapons, must need* be the most hope-
less. And so it proved. All Europe lay still and breathless waiting the sure
response. 'Twas the calm before Ihe tliunderstutm. It came at last. ■• So /
am Ri^e Laiut, Master John f And pray what ate you ? Let me see : Cal-
vin ; Jan Cttt ; yes, that's about it 1" And over Europe rushed the jest, i«
it had been a scavenger in Ihe sky ; and Calvin, we lancy, did not come out
for a weeL
Perhaps, even in the lime of the Reformation, when the anagram was
largely laid under contribution for purposes of billingsgate and satire, no
finer controversial use was ever found for it than in that example which sought
to turn the very title of the Pope into a denial of his claims, as Ihue : Suprb-
MtiS FUNTIFEX RuUAN[;s: O mm Super Fetram fixus {Q \ not founded upon
Peter).
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anagrams were quite in fashitm
a« pen-names. Thus, Calvinus (Calvin) became ..4 /(vijuu, FnANgotS RaBB-
LAIS, ^/fo/r/iwj- jVffJMT", and Agos-iino Cai:it.\Ati\, Oiiilio Cmtaitgni. More
tnoderD examples are Horace Walpole, Onaphris Muralto, Ihe very imperfect
anagram under which he published his " Castle of Otranto," and the equally
imperfect Bkyan VVallbr Fnucikr, Barty CormoaU, Potl. But the moel
bmous case, and one in which the anagram has entirely overshadowed Ihe
original name, ia furnished tiy Voltaire. This was not the family cognomen of
the great Frenchman, but simply an anagram of his right name, Aruuet, with
the two letters I. j. [Ic jeiiiu, i» " the younger") superadded, — an anagram
concocted by himself in a freak or deliberately, and so familiarized by his use
of it thai he was known thereafter universally as Voltaire, and will lie so for-
One of the most amusing applications of Ihe anagram is that on Lady
Eleanor Davies, wife of Sir John Uavies, Attorney -General in Ireland to
King James I. This lady, a fanatic who Eancied herself possessed by the pro-
phetic spirit of Daniel, grounded her belief on an anagram which she made
on her name, viz., Eleanor Davies — Revtal, 0 Danitll And though Ihe
anagram had loo much by an / and loo little by an t, yet she found Daniel
and Reveal in it, and that served her turn. Whereupon she pestered the
world with her prophecies, gaining great repute among tlie unlearned by a
lucky guess here and there, until a prediction of the Kppraaching death of
Archbishop Ciud caused her arrest. When brought before the Court of
High Commission, all appeals to reason and to Scripture proved futile. At
last one of the deans seized a pen and hit upon this excellent anagram : Damk
Eleanor Davies, Nevtr to mad a /adit. The unhappy woman, finding her
own argument turned against her, renounced all claims to supernatural
This story is related with much gusto by Heylrn in his "Cyprianas Angli-
canus"(i7i9). Doubtless it is true in all essential features, but, as the device on
which the lady founded her pretensions had been known for years, it seems
more than likely that the acute lawyer invented the shell which blew up face
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 55
ladyship in Ihe quiet of his own chamber, and chose Ihe most dramatic
moment toT expliKliiiE it.
Though the art of the anagrammalist may \x despised as puerile, none can
deny its difficulij;. Where the Ictlera are few the field is indeed circumscribed
within comparatively easy iimils of transposition ; but the possible clianges on
a iarec series or letters exceed all but a mathematician's beliet
A oare dozen of letters, for example, will admit of more than 739,000,000
transpositions. Literally, it is mind on Ihe one hand against chaotic infinity
on the other. The patience of Penelope herself would be exhausted in such
assiduous doing and undoing as Ihe process seems to require. The vexation
of oft-repeated effort and proximate Success resulting in fruitless labor is racilv
expressed by Camden ; " Some have been seen to bite their pens, scratch
tbeir heads, bend iheii brows, bite their lips, beat their board, tear their
|Mper, when they were fair for somewhat and caught nothing herein." Ad-
dUon, who numbers anagrams among his examples of false wit, tells with
unnecessary jubilance the story of a lover who, having retired from the world
to wrestle anagrammalically with his mistress's name, emerged after several
months pale and worn, but triumphant. His chagrin, however, at finding
that his lady's name was not what it appeared to be on the surface, not Chum-
ley, in short, but Chulmondeley, was so great that he went mad on the
spot, and finished in Bedlam what he had commenced in Bceotia.
From all which it may readily be understood why it is that after centuries of
endeavor so few really good anagrams have been rolled down to us. One
may assert that all the really superb anagrams now extant might be contained
in a pill-box. Such a pill-box we shall aim to present to our readers. And
first we offer an alphabetical group of the aptest anagrams on places, things,
aad persons in general :
Asi'RONOUBks : Moan-Starers.
Catalogues: Gi>t ai a due.
CMRISTlANtrV ; / cry liat I lin.
COHGRECATIONALIST : Got leant relipan.
Ckinulink: Iniur coil,
DbmoCKATICAL; ComUal trade.
Determination : / mtan It rend it.
Elbcant : Neat leg.
French Rkvolution: Vi^ence run forth.
Funeral: Real fun.
GAtXANTKIES : All great sins.
Impatient : Tim in a pet.
Is Pity Love?: Pesitivily.
La Sainte Alliancei La Sainte CanaiOe.
Lawvers : Sly "ware.
Matrimony : Into my arm.
Melodrama : Made moral.
MiciSHiPMAN : Mind kit map.
MlSANTHNOPR.' Span him not.
Old England : Ge'den Land.
Paradise Lost : Reap sad toili.
Paxisrioners ; / Aire partem.
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56 HANDY-BOOK OF
Penitentiary : Nay, / rtftat it.
Poor House; O laur h^l
Ptri-ENTATKS : Ttn Ttapoltt
PresbvteKIaN : Bisl im frayer.
Punishment; Nine thumpi.
Soldiers : Lo! I dmt.
Spanish Markiages : Rask garnet in Pm
SUEGEON : Co, Nurii!
SWBETHEAKT ; Tkeri we lai.
Telegraphs: Great ktlpt.
Universal Suffkage: Guess a fearjiil r.
A well-susiained effort in this word 'Conjuring is the fulluwing s|
"How much there ii in a word I tftnetlny.nyt I: whal, thai makaiui^ Xsw ; and
And here, still in alphabetical order, are some of the beat and most liimous
anagrams that have been made upon the names of celebrated individuals.
presence, and SfuS' address. " Has any one," asks Southey, " who knows
Johnny the bear, heard his name thus anagrammatizcd without a smile ? We
may be sure he smiled and growled at the same time when he heard it
himselt"
Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Keeper : /i born and tint far a rich Speaktr.
So it is usually given, as an anagram by one Tash. a contemporary or the
great man, but, on testing it, we can make out only, ii born and elei for a ric
tfiei, — the original being four letters shorL This shows the necessity for
Terilying reputed anagrams. It is a sad thought that many may be passing
unchallenged which are but impostures. In this case, however, deep and sus-
tained investigation has enabled us to mend the anagram. It must have been
given forth thus : SiR Francis Bacon, the Lord Keeper ; /i born and
elect for rick SfeaJier.
JoiinBunvan; NuhonyinaB. Execrable! one would naturally exclaim,
but, as it is John's own work, we must be reverently dumk
General Butler ; Gml. real brute.
Thomas CarlYLe; Cry shame to all : or, Mercy, lash a let: or, A let cry,
" Lash me I " Just after the death of the sage and prior to the publication of
his Reminiscences, the anagram a calm, holy rat was hailed as admirably
significant. An enemy hath found in the same letters, clearly lo sham.
CAROI.US Rex ; Cras ero lux (To-morrow 1 shall be light). An anagram
which Charles II. is said to have left written on one of the windows o( King's
Newton Hall, in Derbyshire.
Princess Charlotte Augusta of Walbs: P. C. Her august race it
last, O fatal netosl An anagram in which British regret over (he decease of
the Princess Charlotte enshrined itself.
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S7
Iaques Clement, the assissin of Heniy III. of France, ^xi til ce mal
nft (Who is this ill-bom person?). Very good from the point of view of
the believer in the divine right of kings, but Ihrown utterly in the shade by
the superiority of iu corollary: FiitRE Jacques Clement: Ciil Fmfer qui
m'a crU, (It was hell that created me), which may be taken as an answer to
the firsL
RiCfUKD COBDEN ; Sick cerHy bedadi
Cmablbs Dickens : Ckttr tkk lands.
DiSEAELl ; / liad, itr. A Tory anagram, of course. The Whi^s resolve
the name into idit airs. But the latter found their best opportunity in the
Alii title, DiSRAELF, Earl uF Bkacunsfibld: Self-/eoled,caH /u 6tar itt-
John Dryuen: Rhino duty' d, — which was Glorious John's life-long com-
plaint, in his own spelling, too.
Phineas Fletcher: Hath Spetuer li/eT A very good anagram, for in
the age alter Spenser's dcalh, Phineas Fletcher had more of his manner and
spirit than almost any other poet.
Gladstone; G leads not. So cried the exultant Tory in apt oppositioi
the anagram he had coined out of the name of hin sreat rival : Disraeli ;
/ Uad, sir. The Whie rather weakly remonstrated thai Gi-*dstone doesn't
lag. But though the whig achieved small success with (he family cognomen,
he reaped vast and varied results with Ihe full name, WiL . .. ._
Gladstone ; A man to vndd great wilts : or, Co, adminiilri/ti lieai wtll ; or.
Til wastt no glad war-time ; or, C, a weird mun vie all liil le : or, finally,
the dubious and perplexing statement, AHraiing me T. glad Erin wails.
Sir EdmundburvGodfrev: I fynd murdered by ro/pui.anA By Rame'smdt
Jitigf die. These anagrams, uncouth andi^imperfect as they are, were cir-
culated shortly after the death of Godfrey, the magistrate who, it will be
remembered, had taken Tilus Oates's deposition in regard to the pretended
Popish plot, and on October 17, 1678, had been found murdered on Ihe south
aide of Primrose Hill.
Henev Hallam : Real manly M. H.
Randle Holmes: Lot men's herald. This very apt anagram was prefixed
to Holmes's well-known heraldic work, "The Academy of the Armory," |68S.
Seuna, Countess of HtlNrtNiiooN : See ! sound faith clingt to no nun.
Douglas JeerolD; Sure, a droll dng I
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Won half the New World's glory.
Martin Luthbr: Lehrt in armuth [He teaches in poverty). The Latinized
form of Ihe name yields even Diore remarkable results. For example, Mar-
TINU3 Lin'HERUS, Vir mulla stmens (The man who builds up much), and Ter
imatrii vulnui (Three wounds to the mother. — church is of course understood).
D. Martinus Lin-HERUS : 67 turrii das lumen (Like a tower you give light).
But most apt of all is Ihe form Doctor Martinus Lutherus: ORom.lu/her
itt der Sekaan (O Rome, I.ulher is the Swan), an allusion to John Iluss'i
prophecy that a swan should arise from the blood of the goose (Huss),
Thomas Babington Macaulav: Ola big mouth, a manly Canlai's
Marie ANTolNErrE: Tear it, men, I atone.
Thomas Moore : Homo amor est (Man is love).
Nafoleon. The anagrams made on or about the great Corsican are num-
berless. Thus, when he came into power, the words La RivoLin'iON Fran-
^iSKwere twisted into Vilol un Corn la firara. But in 1S15 party spir'i
58 HANDY-BOOK OF
discovered in Ihe same words, Ait La Franctvevll son Rmt The best ana-
nam on Napoleon Bonaparte is the Laiin one, Bona rapia tens pent!
'ou rascal, return your stolen goods t). Written in Greek letters, the same
alToTds (he very best example
ve anagram, thus:
It' what is known a
: : »r-
. .the destroy
. . a lion,
"Z '. '.
. . goes
. . ibouL
Every syllable tells a lale of rapine.
HokATio Nelson : /ftwr a/ a Nile (Honor is from the Nile). This cele-
brated anagraiii, put in circulation when the news of (he victory; of the Nile
arrived in England, was the work of a clergyman, the Rev. William Holden,
rector of Charteris. Very inferior is the English 0 a ttatian't Hero.
Florence NiCHTiNGALE : Flit on, ckteriHgoH^l.
Noi'ES AND QtiBRlES; Eitquiriis on dala ; or, A qutstion-imdtri or, still
better, O, tend in a requtil.
William Nov: / moyl in lata. This anagram on the laborious Attorney-
General of Charles I. made a great sensation at the time. Howell, in his
Letters, says, "Wilh infinite pains and indefatigable study he came to his
knowledge of the law ; but I never heard a more pertinent anagram than was
made of his name."
Lord Palmerston ; Se droll, pert man.
Sir Robbkt Peel : TerriMe froie.
Edgar Allan Foe: A long peal, read.
■ Pilatre du Rosier : Tueifirsiederair{Voi> are (be prey of the air), pecu-
liarly appropriate to the unfortunate aeronaut who fell from his balloon, June
IS. I78|, but an omitted r and a redundant e rob the anagram of the higher
meed of praise. The suggested amendment, Tati P. R.,Roide Pair (yoa xk
P. R, King uf the Air), is puerile.
John Ruskin : No ini-nah J!
William Shakespeare: I ask me, has Will a peer t Though Shakespeare
provided against the shaking up of his bones, he uttered no curse upon those
who should disturb the letters of his name. At the hands of the rulhless
anagrammatisis they have been made to yield strange and varied results. As
J;ood as any is the above, though there is some virtue in / smear he ii Hit a
amp. The alternative spelling William Shakspeare produces We praise
Aim. asi all, which is somewhat forced and stilted.
Robert Southev : Robust here yet. This is from the pen of an admirer.
An enemy is tespousible for the following : Be thou Sour Tory.
Maria Steuasta : feritai armata [aimed truth), evidently by an admirer
of the unfuilunate Queen uf Scots. A more remarkable anagram mat! c feat is
Marta SteUarDa, ScotOrum Rbgina: Trtaa vi re^is, morle amara cado
(Thrust by force from my kingdoms, I fall by a bitter death).
Charles James Stitart: He asserts a just claim. This anagram on the
Pretender was highly popular wilh the Jacobites, who also found in the same
name, claims Arthur's seat ; and in CtiARLES, Prince of Walks, Al France
cries, O help us! Taylor, the Water Poet, had already found in CkarLcs
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 59
Stuart (f>., Charles lOca/rfnw^n^, which illustraies the necessity of being
«cquainied with the orlhugraphic licenses of the period to which an anagram
belongs. But Taylor was a clumsy anagramroaliil at best.
Jahks Stuart: j4yt(j/ MOftrr; a famous anagratn by the poel Sylvester in
dedicating to James I. his translation of Du Bartas.
Swedish Nighi'ingalh : Si'ig high, nwet Linda I a rather successful com-
pliment to Jenny IJnd, under her subriquet.
Alfred Tennyson : Fimy land aoln : ia,Faiisanelnidtrly. Slightly better
is this: ALPkEDTcNNVsoN, POET LAUBEATe : Ntat smntl or dttp learfid [ay.
George Thompson: On, iht negro'i Af. P. This excellent anagram on
the name of the noted advucaie of negro emancipation derives additional
interest from the fact that it was made by a friend al a time when I'hompson
was hesitating whether to accept a seat in the House of Commons, and is said
to have decided him to do so.
Touchet, Harie (mistress of Charles IX.) : Je charme tout (I cliarm all).
UNtTED States : In It Dtm slat (God sunds in thee), and, as a sort of
corollary to this statement, ladi lull tins (hence thou Blandest safely). Other
Latin anagrams, less excellent because their application is less immediately
apparent, are the following : Dmiatus at (he has leeth, — lu evidently meaning
Uncle Sam). Detiitt, nutal (hands off! it shakes), apt enough in 1861, when
it was made, but not al pteaenL Siilr, Hudal It (slop 1 be strips thee). Et itta
detttttt (those things aie also wanting), and A It dttittutti (Ihey keep off from
thee).
Victoria, Enci.and's Queen : Gevcmi a nict quitt land. Her majesty
herself should be startled out of her babliual composute at the enigmatic
result obtained h-om Hek Mosi' Gracious Majes-iy Alexanorina Vic-
toria: Ah, my extnaiagant, jaco-striota radical ministtr '.
Watt, Jakes : Wail, itiam, or A sttam wit.
Art^IUR WellEsleY; Truljf ht'll ttt war : ai, Kulti the lair yell ,- ox. Rule
earthly rwell (the latter expressing the opinion of those detractors who, while
the duke was alive, accused him of bemg hard and worldly). But best is
the fbllo*ing : Arthur Welleslet, Duke of Wellington : Lnwtll-fmrd
Gam/ ttmrt thy rtnewn.
A number of very clever burlesque anagrams were contributed to Mae-
millaiit Magaane in lS6a by an anonymous hand. Some of these ate worth
quoting,'-as, for example : '
Jebeuy Bentkam : The body of Jeremy Benthani never was buried. By
his own diiections it was kept above ground, a wax fac-simile of his lace and
head being fitted on to his skeleton, and his own silver hair, and the hat and
dolhes he usually wore, being placed on the figure, so as to make an exact
re presentation of him silting in his chair as when alive. Perhaps his notion
was that his achool would last, and that he should be wheeled in to preside at
their annual meetings in that ghastly form. At all events, the ligure was long
kept by the late Dr. Southwood Smith, and is now in one of the London
museums. No one can look at it without dii^usl at such an exhibition, — the
loo literal fulfilment of the senile whim of an old man. His very name con-
tains the punishment of the whim : Jeer my bent ham.
Oliver Cromwell: More citrver. Will, — an anagram beautifully repre-
senting Oliver's life when he was a quiet farmer and had a servant lad named
William ; or, Weleomer r — I vid, which expresses the opinion of Olivet's ad-
bercDts that be was a better first fiddle than the martjrr-monaich. Observe
HANDY-BOOK OP
SiK WiLLMM Hahjli'on : Thc anagram of the name of Ihis great meta-
phfaician takes the form of a bit of dramatic dialogue ;
L.L.L.: "I am I, am 1 not f
H.: " ff (double ^ou), SirP'
So profound an anagram as this mav require a little ^iplanaiion. L. L. L. is
the Learned Logic Lecturer, Sir William himself. He is interrogating H.,
one of his hearers, and, lo try his powers of Ihiiiiiing. asks him in a personal
foim a question of great metaphysical moment. The Hearer is evidently
puzzled, and cannot grasp (he notion of Sir William. 1 and then I uain, or
two Sir Williams at once.
ES Mac
laughed (o scorn the charge brought against bi
which was a standing joke against Macpherson in the library of the House of
Commons when he became a member.
John Stuabt Mtll: JuiI marl oh hii .—i.e.. not only fair exchange, but
of publicity ; or, O Ihrili, pat man. or, O man jut
thrill, — expressing two opinions of the character of Mr. Mill's philosophy.
Adam Suith : Admit hams, — it., apply the principle of dee trade first to
one patlicular article, and mark the results.
ThB Times: /trCAnnir/—>',ir., the whole planet and all that takes placeupon
It; jW«//-*u,— a reference chiefly lo the advertisements in thc second culiimn ;
and, finally, E. E. T. Smith. This last anagram we could not interpret for
some time ; but we think we have it now. Ii seems to mean that the Ttma
represents Smith, ot general English opinion, and yet not Smith absolutely
and altogether, but rather Smith when he is well backed by capital.
AnoMtor, I am 1117 own. When Andoche Junot, who had risen from
the ranks, became Due d'Abrantis and an important figure at Napoleon's
newly-formed court, a noblenian of the old r<!gmie asked him what was his
ancestry. " Ah. ma foi 1" replied the stuidy soldier, "je n'en sais rien ; moi
je suis mon anc^tre" {" Ah, sir, I know nothmg about it ; I am my own ances-
tor"). Probably he had never heard of the similar remark made by Tiberius
of Curtius Rufus : " Me seems to me (o be descended from himself." (Taci-
tus, xi. 21, 16.) Napoleon's reply to the Emperor of Austria was in a
kindred cein. The Austrian, when Napoleon became his prospective son-in-
law, would fain have traced the Bonaparte lineage to some petty prince of
Treviso. "1 am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg," said Napoleon. Under
wmilai circumstances he silenced a genealogist : " Friend, my patent of no-
Ulity dates from Montenotte," — his first great victory. When Iphicrates,
the Athenian general, had it cast up in his face by a descendant of Harmo-
dius that he was a shoemaker's son, he calmly replied, "The nobility of my
family begins with me, yours ends with you." (PLtrTAKCH : Lift of Iphicrata.)
Almost the same words were used by Alexander Dumas when asked if he
It descended from an ape (a covert sneer at his negro grandmother) ;
n literature. Here a
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
• Wbal can ihey i« in Iht lowctl kingly line in Europe, uvt Itiat il mm badi to a luc.
CCBvliil ioldicrt The man wha hai not anvihing ta boaiL of but hia iiluH'ioili anceatora il
like a potato. — the ODJy ffood belonging lo bim ii under ground. — SiK Thomas OviaauRV :
Anobor aa the Symbol of Hope, Among the ancients (he anchor, as
the hope and resource of the sailor, came to be called "Ihe sacred anchor,"
and was made the emblem of hope. The early Christians adopted ihe anchor
as an emblem of hope, and it is found engraved on rings and depicted on
monuments and on (he walls of cemeteries in (he Catacombs. The anchor
was associa(ed wi(h (he fish, the symbol cf the Saviour. The fact that the
transverse bar of an anchor below (he ling forms a cross probably helped
towards the choice of the anchor as a Christian symbol.
Andrew^ 8t, Ctou. The Cross of St. Andrew is always represented
in the shape of the letter X ; but (hat this is an error, ecclesiastical historians
pruve by appealing to the cross itself on which he suffered, which St. Stephen
of Burgundy gave to the convent uf St. Victor, near Marseilles, and which.
like the CDrnmon cross, is rectangular. The cause of the error is thus ex-
plaiaed ; when the apostle suffered, (he cross, instead of beiuE fixed upright,
rested on its foot and arm, and in this posture he was faslenedlo it, his hands
to one attn and the head, hia feet to the other arm and the foot, and his head
in the air.
VI
AngeL To irilte like an, originally characIeriEcd, not literary style, but
snmanship. So Disraeli tells us in his "Curiosities of Literature." Angelo
'ergecio, a learned Greek, emigrated first to Italy, and afterwards, during the
reign of Francis I., to France. His beautiful jicnniaiiship attracted universal
admiration. Francis I. had a Greek font of type cast, modelled from his
handwriting. Angelo's name became synonymous with exquisite calligraphy,
and gave mrth to the familiar phrase " to write like an angel," which, by a
natur^il extension of meaning, was applied to authors as well as mere pen-
Hen li» Nollr GoldiRiiib. for aborlneu called Noll.
GarHck.
Angela «ltOgetli«r, a West Indian slang term applied to habitual drunk-
ards. The sobriquet is said to have taken its rise in the following manner. A
negro employed on a sugar -plantation on Ihe Ejst Coast, Demerara, applied
for a Saturday holiday. His manager, knowing Quashie's reputation as a
faatd drinker, chaffed him as follows; "John, you were drunk on Sunday?"
" Yes, massa." " Monday, too ?" " Ves,'tnassa." And so on up to Frinay,
eliciting the same response, " But, John," remonstrated the manager quietly,
■*jon know you can't be an angel altogether." The story got abroad and
pMWd into a proverbial phrase.
;i:v,.G00gk"
«2 HANDY-BOOK OF
Angela, On th« aide of th«. In 1864, when Darwinism was an aston-
ishing novelty, Disraeli neatly eipressed the indignant misapprehension of
(he multitude in a speech before the Uiford Diocesan Society : " What is the
question which is now placed before society, with the glib assurance which to
me is most astounding / That question is (bis : la man an ape or an angel ?
I am on the aide of the angels. \ repudiate, with indignation and abhorrence,
(hose new-fangled theories." Carlyie was equally emphatic " I have no
patience whatever," he cried, " with these gorilla damnilications of humanity."
Disraeli lived to modily his views, Carlyie detested Darwinism firs( and last.
The optimistic Kmeisun saw only hope in the new doctrine. " 1 would
rather tjelieve," he said, " that we shall rise (o the state of (he angels (ban
tha( we have fallen from it."
AllS«I>' TWt>. One sf the m
ture occurs in Thomas Campbell's
Thissimile was highly praised for iis "originality." Huli((, in his "Lectures
on the English Poets," was the first to point ou( a similar expression in Blair's
"Grave."
Like thote of iin£tli, short aod ttt between.
" Mr. Campbell," adds Haslitt, " in altering the expression has spoilt it.
' Few' and 'iar between' are the same thing." Elsewhere he notes that Camp-
bell never forgave him this bit of detective worL But Blair himself was not
original. He borrowed from John Norris of Bemerlon (1656-1711), who has
the following lines in his poem " The Parting ;"
How CuUn^ Alt [be joy* we dote upm \
like ippvuiop* seeD and Hone ;
But thoK which KWDeat tmke (heir (light ',
Are the moK exqubileuiduroikE:
MoffUJily'i too wuk to bur lAcm long.
Norris again returned to the image in a poem to the memory of his niece:
Angelas (so named from (he opening words of the prayer: "Angelus
Domini nunliavit Mariae," — " The Angel of the Lord announced unto Mary"),
in the Roman Catholic Church, is a devotion in memory of the AnnundatioiL
It consists of three of the scriptural texts relating to the mystery, recited
alternately with the angelic salutadon, "Ave Maria," etc., and followed by a
verside with prayer. The devotion was of gradual growth. So early as 1347
we end the Council of Sens taking up an ordinance already passed by Pope
John Xn. (1316-1314), which recommended the failhful to say the Ave Maria
three times at (he hour of curfew (igniUgii\. The ordinance was approved,
and its observance was made obligadiry. Church-bclls should be rung at
the hour of curfcw, and all hearers should go down on their knees and recite
the angel's salutadon to the glorious Virgin, thus gaining (en days' indul-
;ence. In 1369 it was further ordained (hat at dawn there should be Ihree
;ll-sttokes, and whoever at that signal said three aves and as many pater-
nosters should obtain an indulgence for twenty days. The Angeius, as we
know it. developed out of this beginning, and was substantially the present
devotion, when, in 1416, a repetition of the Angeius three times a dav was
nded at Breslau, the example being followed by Mains and Cologne
gei
be)
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
in 1433. In 1472, Louis XI. obtained a
Ang«1us in France, ' """ '-' - -"---
gcnce to the suppliai
Angnr boTv, a term applied in the seventeentli century to the unruly
" bloods of the day whose mad Trolics nightly made tbc streets a terror to
sedate and peaceable citizens.
Off br llie ansry boyi ftv iby coovenioD.
BuuHaKTAHD Flktchu : Tlu Sctrn/ul Ladj.
AnaoE UlrBbilis (I., " Wonderful year"). A term that may be applied
to any year memorable in public or private history. Thus, one of Coleridge's
critics oiled 1797 his annus mirainlii, as during that year the poet composed
most of his finest works. And, again, 1871 has been called the anaui mira-
UIu o( the Papacy, as the year in which Fius IX., first among all the succes-
sors of St Peter, attained and passed the twenty-five years ofrule which are
credited to Peter. But, specifically, the term is applied in English history to
the year 1666. which was crowded thick with events, — the great fire of Lon'
don, the defeat of the Dutch fleet, etc. This specific use of the word has
been fixed and perpetuated by Dryden's poem " Annus Micabilis," which cel-
ebrates these events. |
Antiqiiitaa BeBOullJiiTeDttis mtmdi ( L,, " The antiquity of ages is the
youth of the world"). Thi.^ phrase occurs as a quotation in Bacon's "Ad-
vancement of Learning," book i. (1605). Bacon explains it thus: "These
times are the ancient times, when the world is ancient, and not those which
we account ancient srdau rttragrado, by computation backward from our-
selves." Whewell has pointed out that the same thought occurs in Giordano
Bruno's "Cenadi Cenere," published in 1584. Pascal, in the preface to his
" Treatise on Vacuum," says, " For as old age is that period of life most
remote from infancy, who does not sec that old age in this universal man
ought not to be sought in the times nearest his birth, out in those most remote
fi-om it ?" For a humorous, yet most effective, statement of the same axiom
by Sydney Smith, see Wisdom op Our ANCErroRS. Gladstone has taken
the words yuvenaa Atundi as a title for his book on the Homeric period.
Anxloiu Benoh, or AhzIoiib 8«a^ a familiar Americanism, originally
derived from the terminology of Methodist camp.meetings and other religious
revivals. The aniious benches are seat-s set aside for anxious mourners, — />.,
for sinners who are conscious of their sin and desirous of conversion. After the
ordinary services, an Anxious Meeting is held, where the mourners ate exhorted,
and, after they have brought forth fruit meet for repentance, they are received
into church membership. By extension, the phrase On the Anxious Bench
means to be in a stale of great difficulty, doubt, or despondency.
Any odier man, a bit of American slang which had a great run in 1860.
When a man became prolix or used alternatives, such as Brown or Jones or
Robinson, he was promptly called to order by the cry, " or any other man."
The first use of the phrase in print was by Charles G. Iceland, in a comic
sketch in the New Vork.Kwiiy Fair. A sort of forerunner has been discov-
ered in ■' Waverley :" " Gif any man or any other man."
Apaxtmailti to let^ a colloquial expression, indicating that the person
referred to as having such apartments is a tool, an idiot. — i.e., that his skull
has no tenant in the shape cri brains. The phrase may have orieinated with
the famotis mal of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, when his son Thomas jest-
ingly it^lared that he had no decided political principles, but would serve
64 HANDY-BOOK OF
whuever party paid him best, and that he had a mbd to put a placard on hia
forehead, " To let" " Ail tiglit, Tom," was the answer, " but don't (orget to
add 'unfurnished.'"
Ape*. Iisadlng ap«« io b«U. This proverbial expression is supposed
to describe the late of uroinen who die old maids, or who have otherwise
avoided the tea pons ibility of bearing children. In this sense it occurs fre-
quently in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Thus, in the "Taming of
the Shrew," Act iii. Sc i :
1 muit diDcv bflrcfbot «
wedding Jay
A mote recent example is in Dibdin's song " Tack and Tack : "
At ICDgib cried the, "I'll nurry ; vlut thould I uiry for?
I may lead apa in hell forever."
Hut it would seem that the expression had some other meaning before the
seventeenth cenlniy, which it has now lost Stanihurst, in the dedication to
bis " Description of Ireland," in Holinshed's "Chronicles," vol. ii. (1586-87),
Mys, "Hersiles . . . seemed to stand in no better stead than to lead apes
in hell." Here there is an allusion quite unconnected with maidenhood or
childlessness.
Apoatle OemB. According to Bristow's Glossary, the apostle gems a:
as follows : Jasper, the symbol of St Peter 1 sapphire, St Andrew ; chi
ceduny, St James ; emerald, St John ; sardonyx, St Philip ; carnelian, St
as follows : Jasper, the symbol of St Peter 1 sapphire, St Andrew ; chal-
cedony, St James; emerald, St John; sardonvx, St Philip; carnelian, 5"
Bartholomew ; chtysolile, St Matthew ; beryl, St. Thomas ; chrysoprase, f
Thaddeus ; topaz, St James the Less ; hyacinth, St Simeon ; amelhy;
St Matthias. A white chalcedony with red spots is called " St Stephen
A|KMt]« SpOOtia. Old-fashioned silver or silver.^lt spoons, whose handle
termmated in the figure of one of the apostles. The souvenir spoons of
to-day are their legitimate descendants. Apostle spoons were the usual
C resents of sponsors at christenings. The rich gave a set of a dozen, those
iss wealthy four, while the poor gave one. In " Henry Vllt ," Act v. Sc I,
the king wishes Cianmer to stand gadfather to the Princess Elizabeth, and
when (he prelate excuses himself, saying, —
ApostlM, or The Twelvs Apoatles, in Cambridge University slang,
"the clodhoppers of literature who have at last scrambled through the
Senate House without being plucked, and have oblarned [he title of B.A. by
a miracle. The last twelve names on the list of Bachelor of Arts— those a
degree lower than the of iroUoi — are thus designated" {Gradui ad Cantabri-
pam\. The very last on the list was known as St Paul, punningly corrupted into
St Poll. — an allusian to 1 Cor. iv. 9 : " For 1 am the lea.st of the apostles,
that am not meet to be called an apostle." In a fine burst of etymological
inspiration, Hotten suggests that apostles is derived from /m/o/iiv, — (>., "after
LITERARY CURIOSITIES, 65
the others." But Ihe rcferEnce to Ibe Twelve Apostle* is cleu enough in
itselt In Columbian College, Washington, D.C., the twelve last members of
the B.A. list receive each the name of one of the apostles.
Appetite. In Rabelais's "Garganlua," eh. v., occurs the famoua phrase
" L'app^tit vient en mangeani" (" Appetite comes in eating"). The context
is worth quoting : "The stone called asbestos is not mure i next iiiguiiih able
than is the thirst of which I am the parent Appetite cumcs with eating, said
Angeston ; but thirst goes away by drinking. Remedy for thirst p II is the
opposite of that for the bite of a dog ; always tun after a dog, and he will
never bile you ) always drink before thirst, and it will never come to you."
The Angeston referred to is supposed to be Jerome de Hangest, a famous
doctor of the Sorbonne, who SoDrished at t)ie beginiiing of (he sixteenth cen-
But where or under what circumstances he used the phrase is unknown.
Montaigne echoes Rabelais in his essay on " Vanity :" " My appetiK
me while eating." But this is a mete aulobiogtaphical detail,
original is probably in Ovid, who, speaking of Erysichthon, condemned by Ceres
to an inextinguishable hunger, aays, " All food stimulates his desire (or other
food." {M^ataarpheies, lib. viii.J The phrase is often used now in a meta-
phorical sense, as, for example, in Shakespeare's paraphrase :
Why, ibe would hing on him.
Ai If iDCTCM* oT Appelitc bad arovD
Bt what ll Ecd on.
But eren in this sense a classical prototype may be found in Quinlus Curttus,
who makes his Scythians say to Aleianiler, " Vou are the first in whom satiety
has engendered hunger."
Apple Jaok, in America, a bmiliar name for whiskey distilled from apples,
known also as Jersey lightning, from (he fact that it is mainly a New jersey
product. It may be interesting to recall John Philips's lines in " The Splendid
Shilling :"
HaluR, Johu Apple, Wit ih« daway peftch.
But this is only a curious coincidence. The John Apple, or Apple John (so
called because it is ripe about St. John's day), is a kind of apple said to keep
for years, and to be in perfection when shrivelled and withered. Henc«
Washington living's " Poor Jemmy, he is but a withered little apple-john,"
quoted m C. D. Warner's Ufe, p. 77.
Apple of Diaoord. Something which causes si
classical fable of Eiis, the goddess of hale, who thre ^ > ■, -^
her fellow- goddesses, with ihia inscription, "To the most beautiful." Here,
Pallas, and Aphrodite (Juno, Minerva, and Venus) all three claimed (he prize,
and referred their dispute to Paris, who decided in favor of the latter, — a
decision that led to the Trojan war.
"Angr^, indeed [" uy" Juno, gathering up her purple robes uid rayiO nineni. *' Soiry,
ihe wdl-known AppSe cate hai jus! been ai^^ed vxd decided.) " Hurt, forfooth \ Do ytni
avwrd of ludi ajudgc in favi
nJk mwmy loeelher. Thil 19
' ' - - DUiUty ; UH the)
prmntlT. wUch ^de wUI Ibcy taket Many ]
■gtttlied Inr Do bnetiilty ; Dot they. They
»_i J ...-V .,^ ^1
66 HANDY-BOOK OF
Hadei, HeciDr wDI perliti. poor old Prlam'i bald minuliun will be cncked. ind Tnr wm
witlbuni,bec4UKPuupreKng^dcD'bwRd Veniu id DA-«yed Jimo and $ray-cy«d MiDcrvft.—
Apple-pie order, complete, iharough oider. Plausibly conjectured to be
acoriuptionof ta/ii-*jVorder(Fr. rf^/^./MM;)), wiih leference to the com-
plete equipment of a soldier fully c»paiisoned from head to fool. The only
objection to this theory is that no instance of the latter phrase appears. Per-
haps the derivation suggested in Uarr^re and L,clatid's " Slang Dictionary" is
the true one: "Order is an old word for a row. and a properly-made apple-pie
had, of old, always an order or row of regularly-cut turrets, or an exactly
divided border." Pies are rarely now made in this fashion in England, but
quite frequently in America. An apple-pie bed, fatniliar lo school-boys, is
a bed in which some practical joker hu folded (he sheets so that a person
cannot get his legs down.
Tbcchildrrn'tEvdRiii in ipplc-plc order. ^vrt.mLBCkliarfi Llfi.iiA. Iv. p. i3i,ed.
1839
the fable of the horse-dung floating down the river with a lot of apples.
'•HowMipplaiwimr''H™AKTH"tf^p''L'(«i"iBjS.'vori?l. p'jfl'.' "™ ' " '"™'
ApprentloeB and Salmon. A curious popular (tadilion, sli'll current in
the valley of the Severn, asiterts (hat in ancient indentures masters bound
themselves not lo feed their apprentices on salmon mure than thrice a week.
A lively controversy on this subject in Neles and Qutrits ted to an offer by
(he editor of that periodical of live pounds for the discovery of an indenture
having this clause. The reward, however, was never claimed.
AproD-abrtn^, To be tied to a iroroan'a. To be under petticoat gov-
ernmenL To be ruled by a woman. There is an old le^al term, Apron-string
hold, •- a tenure of property through one's wife, or dunng her tifelinie alone.
I lliey heartily detpise
S/ielalsT, No. ja6 <r
Apropos da bottea (" apropos of boots"), a French expression which has
been adopted into English, and means apropos of nothing. The saying is
thus accounted for. A certain seigneur, having lost an important cause, told
the king, Fran;ois I., that the court had unbooted him [ravait lUbBflfl. What
he meant lo say was (hat (he court had decided against him [il avait M dHoulf)
cf. med. Lai. Jibolarr). The king laughed, but reformed (he practice of
pleading in Latin. The gendemen of the bar, feeling displeased at the change,
said that it had been tnaAt ^ profM dt betUt. Hence Ihe application of tlie
phrase lo anything that is done without motive. [Nota and Quiria, second
series, ii. 14.) The explanation is plausible, and, as there is no direct historical
evidence to confute it. may be accepted without mental slullitication. But it
fails to support the burden of proof that legitimately rests on its shoulders.
Aroadl*. in ancient geography, a pastoral district of the Peloponnesus
in Greece, is used as a synonyme tor any Utopia of poetical simplicity and
innocence. " Auch ich war m Arkadien geboren" (" I too was born in
Arcadia"), sings Schiller in his poem " Resignation." Goethe adopts this
famous phrase as Ihe motto of his Italian journeys. In Ihe l^tin form " Et
ego in Arcadia" It appears in one of Poussin's landscapes in the Louvre,
_k)Oglc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 67
inscribed on a tomb whereon a group of shepherds gaie with mingled curi-
osity and afiright
AxoUteot of bis 01m fortune. The Tamiliar proverb, Every man is
ihe architect of his own furtune, is found in most modern languages. Accord'
ine to Sallual, in his lirst oration (" De Republ. Ordinand.," i. 1), the phrase
originated with Appius Claudius Ckcus, who held the ulHce of Censor in
B.C. 313: " Sed res docent id verum esse, tjuod in carntiiiibus Appius ait:
Fab-um esse ma giumque Jbrtuna" (" But Ihe thing teaches us that that is
true which Caius says ni his poems, that every one is the architect or his own
fortune"). A century later we find Plautus asserting that the wise man is the
maker of his own fortune, and, unless he is a bungling workman, little can befall
him which he would wish to change :
Nun uplvu quldem pol ipse fincit fbrtiuum tibi
Publius Sytushas, "His own character is the arbiter of everyone's fortune."
(Ma^im 783.) ..,.,..
Bacon quotes Appiuss saying approvingly, puttmg it in the mihcalive
instead of in the Jnhnitive mood, and possibly restoring it thereby to its origi'
nal form : " It cannot be denied, but outward accidents conduce much to
fortune ; bvor, opportunity, death of others, occasion -fit ting virtue. But
chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands: Fabtr est quiique
/oriuna sua, saith the poet"
In Cervantes the idea is presented in a different form : " Every man is the
•on of his own works" {.Don QiiixoU, i. 4). Here arc some further variations 1
Men u KHIF time art mulfn of Ihdr fitd :
Tbc bull, dear Bnitiu, ia nol in our itsn,
Bat in outdvEi, ilwl »e an uoderitnga.
Tbe pK« wc catlluigc for aunelvu Is ^ven us.
There does not live on euth the man » Hatiened
That ] dctpise myHlf compared with him.
Man is made great or lilUeW hil DWD »U1.
CoLBRtDce: trans, of Schiller'a IValltiulanU Diatk. Iv. g, 77.
AroUtoOttm 1> froseo moaia Schelling has this phrase twice in his
" Pbilosophie der Kunst." At page 576 he says, " tt is music in space, as it
were a froten music," and again at page 593, " Architecture in general is
Madame de Slai*) undoubtedly had these phrases In mind when she wrote,
"Thesight of such a monument is like a continuous and stable music" ("La
*ue d'un tel monument est comme une musjque continuelle et lixee," Corinnt,
Emerson, in his essay on " Quotation and Originality," says that
ne de Stael "borrowed from Goethe's ' dumb music,' which is Vitru.
's rule that ' the architect must not only understand drawing, but music.' "
'Anr, a common sobriquet applied to the Cockney "sport!
being the name Harry spelled aa "' ■....,,.
shatfe above the toughs ; they ai , „
and load-mouthed, and on Sunday afternoons and hank holidays ai
thdr 'Arriets in everyplace of public resort. Mr. Punch lakes particular
pleaanre in showing up their harmless eccent
i"- 3).
Madami
s they pronounce it The 'Arries are just a
ire usually good.natured, but vulgar, flashy,
ly afternoons and hank holidays are seen with
'Attv smoke* a tva.pdiav
Oh I I
, M'Atry
Airy apipe a enov
Badboir 'Airyl
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Tvihinlu
Topoff i
no ihe br
■Ariv thiolu i , _. - -
To paff hit cheap dgu
"Whiic d^thTl^^
Cneirt-luai B^tai: Hm dt. ' Atry '
Mr. Muibev Arnold nuM hdp ut to define 'Arry; hr muH louj ut on* of hii fine old
nrdloAiy feoiual man, very oirdinory and excesMvely KnBua]. Id "Arry, "the life of the
seoH develop* ilKlf all round wllhoUL mil^VkDE;" hit Ckitiencc ii " coofideni, Ine/' and
from punmng him lo hi« ttotat. Forihe world al lar^e 'Arty only cxi«U whrD he ii al large:
at work, or in hia fumlly circle- . , ll u not easy to aee how (he »ocial initalotuiry il to do
onecu And hitn alone and play on hia liner feelinn ; he ia ao dull that he woiSd not anempt
Yahoo *J ' Any, the flowct of our earnest mechonica] civiliaation. By hil pleasum he it knowD,
.87^"°"™ ,0 em. ur ay nuw. ugu. 9,
Atb aat oelare artem (L., " Art lies in concealing an"), a phrase which
probably rose oul of Ovid's line in the "Art of Love, ii. 311 : "Si lalet ars
prodesl (" ir (he ail is concealed, it succeeils"). The meaninz, uf course, is
ihal true ait must always appear natural and spi>ntaneous, ana give no evi-
dence of the labor which perfected it. As Burte says, " An can never give
Ihe rules that make an arL^' ( Tie Sublimt and Beauhfid, Part I., sec 9.)
The contrary fault is indicated in Collins's lines,—
Too nicely Joiuon knew ihe i;ridc'i pan ;
Nature in hjm waa almoat Vat lit Art.
On Sir TJummi Hanmtr'i EdHlM ^Shakti^trt.
The original may be traced to the Greek of Hippocrates (" Apothegms," i.),
who reverses the order : " Ufe is short and Ihe art long." He is cumplaining
that the longest lite is only sufficient to acquire a moderate portion of knowl-
edge in any art or science. But Seneca, who tells us "the greatest of doc-
tors" used lo say, "Vilam brevem esse, longam artem," calls this an unjust
accusation gainst Nature or Providence, though he allows thai not onl^ fools
but the wise are too apt so to rail, and, among others, he quutcs Anstotte.
Exactly when Seneca's version of Ihe phrase passed into (he neater and more
logical " Ars longa, vita brevis est," it is impiMsible to say. Probably the first
attempt to English i( was Chaucer's;
The lyfe 10 than, the crafle so long to leroe,
Th' atuy %o hard. lo ihaipe (he conquering.
AiHiKtly ^Prmli, line 1.
Jm Meis(er." h
difficult, opportunity ti
the proverb may be taken is indicated in these lines of Austin Dobson's :
Art j>re«ervatlTe of all atta. The art of printing. This phrase fiitd
its origin in an inscription on the house at Haarlem formerly occupied b
Laurent Koster or Coster, one of the earliest printers in Holland, and, it
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 69
deed, held by some enlhiuiutic lellow-countrymca to be the inventor of the
art:
Memoriz Sacrum
Typographia
Ars Artium Omnium
Conservatrix
Hie Primum invenia
Circa Annum M.CCCCXL.
("Sacred to the memory of Typography, the ari conservator of all art*.
Here first invented about the year 1440.") The exact date when the inscrip-
tion was pill up is uncertain, but it is known to have been in existence about
1628.
As In [M-feMntl peiAotiim fonnat In avl (I., " As in the present forms
its^rfect in avi"). The first words of that part of the Eton Latin grammar
which treats of the conjugation of verbs. That which treats of the genders
of nouns begins, " Propria quz maribua," etc Hence a boy is said to be
beginning his as in praartti. ox propria qua maribta, when he is acquiring the
first rudiments of the Latin tongue. Bv extension, the same terms are ap-
plied to beginners in all sorts of knowledge, bookish or worldly.
A«> asoanda the laddar, Until the. A favorite expression among the
Rabbins for that which can never, ur will never, lake place, — t.g., " Si ascen-
dent asinus per Bcalas, invenietur scientia in mulieribus," — a proposition so
uncomplimentary to the better sex that we leave it in Buxtorf's Latin. A
similar phrase, with a similar meaning, is found In Pelrouius ; "asinus in
tegulis" (" an ass on the house-top").
^"■— '"■ Que meBBlenra lea aaiaailna ootnmanoent (Fr., " Let the
assassins, 01 the murderers, begin"). Alphonse Kan's famous reply to the plea
for abolition of capital punishment. In the funeral address over Karr's body
{October 4, 1890), M. Jean Aicard predicted thai even though all Ihegreat liter-
ary monument* o( the present century should crumble and disappear, Iliere was
still something that never would be lost, that some of the wisdom and the
wit to which Alphonse Karr had given permanent form, in a language which
is at once brilliant and solid, would be dug uj) again out of the ruins in
time to come, as we dig up coins and medals in Greek or Roman soil. It
is curious to note how closely Ihis corresponds with Karr's own estimate of
himself: "There will remain of me," he said, "only two phrases : /Vui fa
tkatige, plus c'fst la tahat ciaic, and On veul aMir la peine de mart, sail ; mail
que maiieurs Us assassins unnntement." It is still more cnrious 10 discover
that the latter phrase was not of Karr's own writing, but was borrowed, con-
sciously or unconsciously, from the " Heliotropium" of the German Drexe-
lius (1581-1638).' "Quondam fsex hominum, et furum, lave mi onum, effrac to-
rum ampla societas libcllos supplicea porrexerunt judicibus, rogaruntque
patibula el furcas aufertenl. . . . His a judicibus responsuni est, siquidem
aniiquatum cupiant moiem patibutandi abrugari, piius ipsi consucludinem
abrogent furandi, judices in mora non futuros, quod protinus ciuces lollant el
patibula, modo ipsi prius cessaie jubeant furta" (book iv., ch. ii., s. 1).
Athaiat " By night an atheist half believes a God." The 177th line in
Young's " Night Thoughts," V. At the end of Night IV. he had already
Ve daf ID muh ! pcnuc ihi
And mul, for onc4, ■ propb
" Men may liv* Tool*, oui fo
Of coarse there is a reference here to Psalm xiv., " The fool hath said id
7© HANDY-BOOK OF
his heart, There is no God," One of Clough's most memorable poems, the
Spirit's soliloquy iii " DIpsychus" (Part L Sc v.]> affords a parallel to Young's
lines. Here aie the most pregnanl stanzas :
" There 1> no God," ifae kicked uitfa.
Intllno IQ ihink <heR li > God,
AUloI Broao. Athol is a district in the northern part of Perthshire,
Scotland. Brose is Scotch for "broth." Athol brose is a pottage or drink
made originally in Athol by pouring boiling water on oatmeal and inlro-
ducing a few condiments. Thai it is a pleasant compound appears from
Hood s epigram :
Cbarmed wilh a dKnk which Highlanders mtnpoK,
The name "brose" or "broose" is also given lo a race at country wed-
dings who shall iirsi reach Ihe bridegroom's house on returning from church,
■he prize being a Smoking bowl of spice broth. In time Ihe name was trans-
ferred from the prize lo ihe race itself.
Audit ale, eltiplically, Atidit A kind of strone ale, brewed especially
at Trinity College, Cambridge, and so called either because it is held lo be
specially appropriate to Audit Day (the day on which students' accounts are
audited), or because it was originally brewed on that day. Only a limited
qVantity is nuw brewed once a year, professors and undeieraduales being
allowed to purchase no more than a certain number of bottles. At Cambridge
Ihe custom is al least two hundred years old. At other univeisilics it is a
fiul where is do* ibe goodly audit ale T
BVKO
rf Ihebullcry^^^mAi'crow."/ A i'ltnr'irlirld 'im°BnJ.
Audlay. To come Lord Andl«j over one,
origin of the phrase is uncertain. It has been augeesti
petpeluale the memory of a Wiltshire nobleman. Met
Earl of Castlehiven in Itelanil, who was ha
A case occurred recently at the DeviEefl police court, when a travcIluiK ftdor was chai^ei
with having impoKd upon somt people in Lydeway by pretetidine to be the son and heir oi
ihe landlady ^dcceBSed) of a public house at vhich he teenu to have called for rtfresbmen
finding the pet>ple easily Eulled, he thouBhi he would come Lord Andley aver xiitm-^NeU
aiit QurrUi. fifth seno, v.
Audley, John. A purely mythical person, like Dickens's Mrs. Harris oi
the American Tom Collins. When Richardson, the English theatrical show
man, manager of a troupe of strolling actors, deemed that bit plijera hal
. Cooglf
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 71
miked long enough, ind saw Fresh audiences readj lo rush up the sieps, he
used to put his head between the canvas and oUI out, " Is John Audley
here?" at which the curtain soon fell, and the strollers began (o a nev
crowd of hearers. "To John Audley a play," meaning 10 cut it down, still
survives in iheairical circles.
AoBtraliait flag. This is humorously said to be a shirt -tail,— an allusion
lo the fact that Australian farmers and ranchers usually wear belts instead of
braces, with the inevtiabie result that a great fold of shirt protrudes between
trousers and waistcoat.
Anto-da-tt (Port., literally, "act of faith") oriainally meant the sentence
passed on convicted heretics by the courts of the Spanish Inquisition, but the
phrase by extension grew to be applied to the public infliction of the penalties
prescribed, and especially the severer ones of hanging and burning.
Why, at theliM Auio-da-K.lB i8a< or 'as.or »onwwhe« lheii,-^l'> a tMveller'i Mory, bui ■
»ibey only Amif him in Bhogthuid painted all Dvo with aamul—HoLiiBs; Tkt PrBjtiwr
Autographs and Autograph-Htuitera. "The tolerant universe," says
Mr. Andrevt Lane, " perniils men, women, and children to be mighty auto-
eraph-hunlers belorc the Lord." But the universe would not be so tolerant
if it were mainly composed of auli^raph hunlees instead of hunters. One of
the roost eminent of the former class, no less a person, indeed, than Alfred
Tennyson, once told his neighbor, Mrs. Cameron, that he believed every crime
and every vice in the world was connected with the passion for autographs and
anecdotes and records (wab Taylor's "Autobiography"}. Another, Professor
liuxley, wrote in a private letter, " I look upon autograph -hunters as the
progeny of Cain, and treat their letters accordingly ; heaven forgive you if
yuu arc only an unusually ingenuous specimen of the same race." The letter
containing this passage was recently offered for sale in London, — a bit of
audacity that might have made Cain blush for his progeny.
Perhaps, in accordance with the larger charity of this age, it might be best
to treat autograph-hunting as a disease rather than a vice. Once the mania
has bitten a collector, be is no longer responsible. And the alarming feaiuie
about the matter is the prevalence of the complaint. Sporadic cases are.
indeed, recorded at a very high antiquity ; but it is only during the last two
centuries that it has reached the epidemic stage.
The first case ever recorded was that of a certain Atossa. Liltle is known
about her, save that she was not the mother of Darius. But she may have
been the mother of the autograph-collector. We find her described as the
first who httoTQ^ avvrafya. Shall we translate this as the first who cbIIkUJ
hei shame. But we really are no _
name of Cicero. We know that he had a collection, and a fine one, for he
speaks of it with gratnlation. The fever, even in those early days, was con-
tagious. 1[ spread to his contemporaries ; it raged with some violence among
his immediate successors. Pliny mentions one Pompeius Secundus at whose
house he had seen autographs of Cicero, Augustus, Virgil, and the Gracchi.
Yet Pliny, who bows to Secundus as his superior, himself possessed a collec-
tion valued at fi5,ooa Then came the irruplion of the barbarians, and
good-by to the collector and his collections ! We do not meet him again
until the beginning of the sixteenth century. Then he reappears in the persi
of a certain Bohemian squire, who, about the year 1507 ' , - ,
which recorded his exploits of the chase, and in whici
^2 HANDY-BOOK OF
of the memory, he collected ihe signatures of his great banter friends. This
he called his Albus Amicorum. probably in memory of the Roman Album,
from albta, "white." a blank tablet for making entries. The custom soon ex-
tended all over Germany, not merely with hunters, but more especially with
travellers, who on returning from the grand lout would proudly exhibit their
alba in pioof of the good cumpany Ihey had kept while on (he road. By the
Bevenleenth century it had reached France, and evidently it was just beginning
to be heard of by Englishmen anxious to emulate foreign fashions in 1642,
when James Howel mcluded in his " Instructions fur Forrain Travel" this
item : " Some do use lo have a small leger book fairly bound up table-bonk-
wiil (table-book- wise], wlierein when they meet with any person of note and
eminency, and journey or pension with him any time, Ihey desire him to write
his name, with some short sentence which they call Ihe mot of remembrance
the perusall whereof will fill one with no unplcasing Ihoughls of dancers ani
accidents passed." Every one rememtiers how the peripatetic scholar in
Goethe's tragedy tells Mephistopheles, masquerading in the professional robes
of the learned Doctor Faust, " I cannot leave you without piesenlirg you with
my album \ deign to honor it with a souvenir from your hand." "Gladly,"
says the Devil, and on the virgin page he writes, "Thou shall be like unle
God, knowing the goudand Ihe evil."
fosslbly the first autograph -col lector in the modern sense— that is, the first
person who made it a bi^iness to gather together letters and documents not
ibr their personal but for Iheii literary or historical associations — was Lomenie
de Brtenne, ambassador of Henry IV., who died in 1638. His rich collec-
tion was acquired by Louis XIV., who placed il in the royal library. And
to-day the names of famous collectors can be counted by the hundreds, and the
value of each individual collection frequently mounts up well into the thou-
sands. Autograph -dealers pursue a lucrative business. Their catalogues
throw a curious insight upon the sliding scale by which such memorials of the
living and Ihe dead are appraised. In this list or roll-cal! of fame, this price-
current of the great, Andrew Johnson is more highly valued than Lincoln,
Jefferson, or even Washington ; one of the most insignificant of the signets of
the Declaration is ranked above all his illustrious colleagues ; and Piron lords
it over kings and conquerors. The inexorable law of supply and demand
■leps in here as elsewhere, and r^ulales prices according to the scarcity
which limits the supply, and Ihe inierest or eminence of Ihe subject which
indies (he demand. The two rarest autographs of all are Shakespeare's and
Holiire's. Of course these are the most expensive. Of Mnli^re's there are
known to be five in existence. Of Shakespeare's il is claimed thai there are
seven, three to his will, two to conveyances of property, one in a folio edition
of the plays, possessed by Mr. Gunther, of Chicago, and one in Giovanni
Florio's translation of Montaigne. The will is in the British Museum, and cost
(1571. But Ihe folio signalnte is doubted, and two of the signatures to the will
are thought to have been filled in by amanuenses. The largest of Moliire's is
but six lines long, and is a receipt lot money, very queerly spelL Of the plays
of both authors not a fragment is known to exisL
Legitimate collectors limit theii
thai are in the market. They
beg signatures thai may be ha
have brought the autt^raph-hunier into aisrepuie. 1 ney are a sore trial to
the patience and the morality of statesmen and men of letters, who are apt to
become ferociously and even blasphemously contemptuous. Daniel O'Con-
nell, for example, once took up his pen and wrote as follows :
Six,— rU be dunocd if 1 vrill fend you my auiofraph.
■ir fad to these
rious
colle
ction c
if aulogr^iphs
lok down with :
1 Ihe s
imaieurs who
for the asking.
It i
s Ihe
laltet,
, indeed, who
. Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1%
Olheri, less hibernially hot-blooded, employ a secretary or (most exuper-
atine of all) use a type -writer, refusing autographs Co all but the most cunning
applicants. Huxley and Ruskin have each been obliged to prepare a printed
circular, at once a remonstrance and an apology, which they slip into an
envelope and send off to their begging correspondents. Mark Twain has
follovred ibeir example in this type-written message :
I ban I ihall Dot offend you ; I ihail ccRainLy uy nolUug wilh the inlemJon lo oSend you.
I miut eiplain myielf, hsweva, and 1 wUl do ii u kindly u 1 cu. Wtui you k^ me id do
One'i imptiisc is to frteiy cooKDt, buL onc't time and DcccniLry occupationt will not permit
it. There u do way hut lo declmc in aiJ cases, making dq eicreptioDt ; and I with vt call
man taito pleaumrt ip exercijlng hii trade at a paalime. WjiuDg it my trade, and 1 exercise
vcuLpur, aiid there vomd be no Improptiety id ii, but if you asked either for a specimen of
his trxde, liii handiwork, he woukj be juitiiwd in riainjE to ■ point of order, ll would never be
lair to ask a doctor for one of bis corpses to remember tiim by.
A rebuff is not always accepted by its objecL Danger and difficulty add
test to the sport ; his persistence becomes malignant, his dodges subtle and
inscrutable. The very fact that an autograph is denied to fair means will
encourage foul. The hunter drops a note to his victim, asking him in what
Sear he wrote his sweel poem of the Ancient Mariner (knowing very well that
e never wrote it, but will be tickled by the ascription], or what was the
middle name of his father, or explains that he is replenishing his library and
wishes a full chronological list of the works of his favorite author. He knows
in his heart (the sly dog) that an appeal to personal vanity will (etch an author
MV. William Black has recorded a (ew <
mt.
of his <
)wn experience
which are
amusing enough to quote :
The BOS! pemileni
bnntiog fiend, whose
It whom <be w
of books
ways an dark
and devious
bey.
riptiou. The dodges to whjch
'be'f^^^hi
his diahoLical
M^horefor
multitude pandit is to
manvui honest tei
Iterisnu
nginlo(bew»Me-p
'"^^^
uspicion that it
L auiograph-huDier.
evecheudof
ntion of .friend of
mine, who
• of hi< youth.
H
, inter to each of i
-hose autogrspb he ■
coveted, descr
ibln« himseir 1
cetiri;;
rmi^n to
°he MS addrauiS^
fatal oTp. N^ye^.
old IJrlyLe had do suspici
ioD, aDd, In
:^.L'"in'^aX.i
i'KSK'
Sl?
XI
iha. the .
;sL';£Kr
1 after him
yand charmii
ivlng in one of the Souiheni
™«!^TT,erdS^"l
■hey informed mc,li.i
«l their beaL
Ihey were.
ler frieni
llUK withal ; and it ha
of Ami^can hospiuJi
d*oI:c^"'to
ly so long as
ES
*ihe
IS certain
lo form a peifedjy falK idea
.d callous North, would 1 Dot
nigh, show
me whai a rtal SouU
™''iikri "T.
and 1 was deKTilung
it a long time
afterwarda to
Mr.
Bret Ha
?^whe"'hi''ji.'l^
on sornetljlng :
likelhis!" H<
[wihcie
SI. TheldyUkinv
italioD had
A good story is told of the late Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of the
Prince of Wales. When a small boy at school, finding himself "strapped,"
and knowing, perhaps, that his royal father was also in the same condition,
he wrote to his grandmother for a loan of five shillings. Back came a letter
full of grandmotherly reproof and advi[:e, and illostrating precept by thril^y
example in witbholtfing the live shillings. Prince Albert promptly sold the
74 HANDY-BOOK OF
rascal, using various pseudonymes, such as Gabriel Vicaire, Soriano, Ludovic
Picard, and others, wrote letters to many famous people of the day, asking for
counsel, assistance, or encour^emenl. Somelimes he was an unhappy wife
who had determined at all costs to fly from her uncongenial husband, some-
times an Jcujiirt of the circus, sometimes a young artist, unsuccessful and
templed to suicide. The great people responded like men — and women. Some
were lengthy, some curt, some eloquent, some persuasive, some sarcastic :
never mind, they all wrote. Then the clever young man hied him to a noted
collector, and disposed of a tot of valuable auti^rapns from Lacotdaire, Heine,
George Sand, AntoiKlli, Taglioni, Dickens, Abd-el-Kader. and heaven knows
how many others. Not until the collector recognized the limited number
of themes treated in his newly-acquired treasures did (he ingenuity of the
scheme stand revealed.
But ingenuity has raised up ingenuity to baffle it. The schemes of Ihi:
hunter are met by counter-schemes of the intended victim. A gentleman —
so described, at least, in the paper (Tit Boekmarl) from which this note is
cribbed — laid a wager once that he would get an autograph out of l^rd Tenny-
son, tie sat down and wrote a polite note, asking the noble lord which, m
his opinion, was the best dictionary of the English language, — Webster's or
Ogilvie's. That will fetch him, thought the man who set tlie trap. Did it?
By the next post came a half-sheet of note-pa|>er, on which was carefully
pasted the word "Ogilvie," cut out of the correspondent's own letter.
A certain eminent American has a second -cuustn, so it is said, of the same
name as his own. To this accommodating relative he turns over all requests
for sentiments or signatures. The second -cousin answers the letters and signs
bis own name. Thus all parties to the transaction are satisfied. A refine-
ment of authorial ingenuity makes the hunter pay for his autograph. Kate
Field, approached by a fiend, wrote in his album the significant information
that he could subscribe tur her periodical at four dollars a year. What ci
he do but take the hiiitf Jean Ingelow, pestered to death by importu nines,
finally made a number of copies of her favorite poems, dated them, and placed
them in the hands of her American publishers to be sold at two dollars api
— the money to be devoted to a charitable purpose.
Horace Greeley, in his " Kecollecticms of^a Busy Life," records the fact that
■ gushing youth once wrote him to this efleci :
Dkak Sir : AmoDg yvu liHnty ircuuro yon have daublleu teven] outograplu of oui
lo nic and nceite (he ihanki of yoiui mily.
Mr. Greeley promptly responded as follows ;
taaa uroB Ihc back. Itc«« hk ciaclly tif-n (iDcludlng pn>i«tl, and y«i cu havt il Tor
hair Ibu ■mouni. Vouci, ropKlTully.
(Wrote .nd frMiy
Gay< 10 GmlEy)
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 75
Wben my pulMa like a koell
Dimmed with dim and dying fayi
O'er ihc dimeEeu. Lim«l^ days.
When the UTty, drawn al ihicty,
Seeming UiriTiy, yet (tie dijly
Lncre of the nuurtict, waa Ihe motl thai I could raise T
Av« Imperatorl morituil t« atdutaiit 1 (L., " Hail, O Emperor 1 we
who are about to die salule tbee !") The cr]' wiili which the gladiators in the
arena acknowledged ihe presence of the Cxsar before beginning their lights.
Saluu
le Rijmap populace.
So sings Longfellow in his " Morituri Salulaniu<i," a poem recited al the
^ftielh Anniversary of the class of 1S25 in IJowdoin College. Suetonius, in
his life of Claudius, ch. ixi., relates how at a gladiatorial tight on Ihe Kucine
Lake, the Emperor, instead of the usual valitt (" farewell"), replied, Aveit voi,
a customary parting greeting, which the gladiators insisted on taking in itn
literal sense of " Live I" ot " Long life to you !" and refused to lighL l!ut
Claudius urged and compelled Ihem to proceed with the show.
WtniDgteD and Napoleon I 1< i< a wonderful phenomenon ihat Ihe human mind caji, al Ihe
in Ibdr eAtemal Appeaiajice. Weilin^on Ihe dumb ghosi, wi[h an ashy gray soul in a tmck-
ram body, a wooden smile in his frecimg face— and by the side of that think of the figure of
Napoleon, every inch a god I Thai figiut never disappears from my memory- 1 siill see lUm,
hign on his sieed. with etonal eyes in his marble-like, imperial face, glancing calm as dealiny
oa the guards deliiing pasr — he was then sending ibem 10 Russia, and the old grenadiers
'Heinb: Engluh Fratmniti.
Axe to grind. An. This phrase has frequently been attributed to Benja-
min Franklin, but it really belongs 10 Charles Miner (1730-1S65), and occurs
in an essay entitled " Who'll turn Ihe Grindstone ?' originally contributed to
the IViliesiam Gleaner, a country newspaper in the interior of Pennsylvania, in
iSl I. I'he author says that when he was a little l>oy he was accosted one cold
winter morning by a man with an axe on his shoulder. " My pretty boy," said
he, " has your father a grindstone V " Yes, sir," said I. " You are a fine little
fellow," said he: "will you let me grind my axe upon it?" Pleased by the
compliment of "line little fellow,". the gentleman's bidding was done by the
boy, water being procured for him and the grindstone kept in motion until the
buy's hands were blistered, the smiling gentleman keeping up his flattery
meanwhile. Before the grinding was done, the school-bell rang, and after the
ue had the proper edge on it Ihe man ungraciously exclaimed, " Nuw, you
little rascal, you've played Ihe truant ; scud to school, or you'll rue it." The
author says that he felt very much wounded and never forgot the incident,
and ever afterward when he saw one person flattering another he said lo him-
self, " That man has an axe to ^riiid."
The essay, it will be seen, is imitated from Franklin's " Don't pay loo much
for your whistle." To make the analogy more complete, the series to which
it belonged was gathered up into a book under the title of " Essays from the
Desk of Poor Robert the Scribe," Doylestown, 1815.
.d by Google
KANDY-BOOK OF
B, the second letter of the English alphabet, as it was of the Phanidan
and is in most of the alphabets borrowed from the Phcenidan, is the beta of
the Greeks, the btth of (he PhtEtiicians. Beth means a " house."
Babies In the eyeo, a common locution for the reflection of one's self in
another's pupils. Thus, Herrick in "The Kiasj"
It !• ui iciivc flamt DuH Ua
Inasmuch as lovers are fond of gazing in one another's eyes, an obvious
is sufficiently exemplined in the fotloiring passages ;
*
jmt babio in your cyo. my jBetiy >whi
'','i\.LvtSMia
So when ihou u*->I in ninms't utnnil
SuILl tbail Xnighl laok'U babHS in her e
4k.t.ndS,.Ua.
S««-bm mils Cupid No '
Loaking bilria in the eya.
DijkrroH
Apdpictur«in«ir*>«lc.g«
Wu lU our prnpiicuion.
Think yc by guing on cu:h olhcT'i lyct
To mufiiply your iSvily «l.al
BaoluIieMh, an Oriental term for a present of money, a gratuity, a pour-
TIicK uv DO* many words, wen among thoH of foreign «xiiacTion, of which ihe onhog-
nphy OIToi no lest duo (hJrt«D oJlemaLivH. We have, however, (he aurhorily of Ihe
great English dictionary now itsuing (very dclltKrately) from the CUrrndon preu, for tie-
clariag Uul backsheesh is one of the few which enjoy this privilege. Originally of Penian
^-ii frMly'''(I^lt'cHAsf^^l««, ii^l^. "whelEc^or'lio ih. ■™ "
bad Ibis Deaning. it were difficuU Haw id deiennhie, but auuredly for many
__ s|
■Ignilled aomelbing very diflerenl. In what may be called it
>d,t]ie la
lips of the dusky Orienta
r'j Magstint, August, 1S41.
eward. Prot>at>1y no oiiier single vocable ma with such pe
.- I. 1 .L. J...... r^— ,a|, 1, I, lii,, „hat the malbemalici^
:onstBjit quoniity, a ground discord which ondeHit
of a subordinate to his employer, or of ai
" Thai's exactly what 1 came here for this evening. Mist Mildred."
The young man laid adde hii hat, cane, and gloves.
" Thai's eiadly vluil I came for," he repeated, possessing himself ef her hand. " I wa«
" You mighi have savod youndf ibe trouble. Mr, Fairball," exclaimed (be giri, taking her
hand """"V- " 1 ihall never marry you.-|
iweniy-five dollars."— a.rafp THhmr. ■"* " ™ " '" ''™
Backwaid. Looking. The superstition of the ill luck of looking back-
ward, or returning, ia a very ancient one. originating doubtless from the story
of IjM's wife, who " looked back from behind him" when he was led by an
_^ooglc
of Ihe southern countries
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 77
uigel outside the doomed City of the Plain. In Robert's "Oriental Illustra-
tions" il is stated to be " considered exceedingly unfortunate in Hindostan for
men or women to look back when they leave their house. Accordingly, if a
man goes out and leaves something behind him which his wife knows he will
want, she does not call him to turn or look back, but takesor sends it after him ;
and if some great emergency obliges him to look back, he will not then pro-
ceed on the business he was about to transact." In this connection a curious
Earallel between the Bible and ilesiod may be noted ; "No man having put
is band to the plough and looking back is tit for the kingdom of God" (Luke
tx. 6z), and " He who is intent upon his work, drawing the straight furrow, never
looks back upon his friends, but keeps his mind upon his work" (Works and
Days, ii. 6i-6z).
Bacon, To save one's, a proverbial saying, meaning, in Biblical phrase,
to escape by the skin of one's teelli. In keep one's self from harm by a narrow
margin. Il Is not impossible that there is Some allusion here to the Dunmow
flitch (a. v.). A man and his wife who slopped short when on the verge of a
:1 might be said lo have just saved their bacon. An equally plau
tion IS suggested by a correspondent of NiMts and Querits, li serie
i«; "When '^
of Europe, a;
ae dead pig
of some nicely ; for loo much singeing would s
makes perfect ; and by the aid of ignited slubb
is effected. The bristles are all singed off, and the bacon remains intact.
This operation is in Portugal called cliamuscar." Hence the phrase cieira a
cMapiutca ("he smells of singeing"), which by extension was applied lo any
suspected heretic, or lo one who was secretly a Jew, ihai is to say, " to one who
tJeserved to be burnt, and acted in a way that was very likely to lead to it"
(Moraes). [t readily follows that the man might be said to have ju.st saved his
bacon who had narrowly escaped the penalty of being burned alive. The only
fault with this ingenious theory is that it lacks illustrative examples to bridge
over the chasm between a recognized metaphor and a chartered proverbial
saying. Dr. Murray traces the use of the eipression in English as far bacli
a* 1691 : "No, they'll conclude I do it to save my bacon."— Wwji/j, i. 5.
Who, ba^ig bogs, yet witbed 10 Hve their bacon.
Bad Oga> American slang for a rascal, a black sheep, a person whose
reputation is odorous.
Bag. Both as a verb and as a noun this word is put 10 many strange uses in
current slang. As a verb il may mean lo secure, to obtain (an extension of
the sporting phrase, meaning to put or enclose game in a bag), and hence to
■teal, to taptnre. In sailors^ and printers' slane, bag as a noun means a pot
of beer, and to get one's head in a bag is to driiiV. Other phrases in common
colloquial use are to give the bag or sack, meaning to dismiss from one's
tervicc ; to let the cat out of the bag ; lo give one the bag to hold, — to
leave htm in the lurch, — and 10 put one in a bag, which latter phrase Fuller
thus explains t "They [the Welsh) had a kind of pliie wherein the stronger
who prevailed pal the weaker into a sack ; and hence we have borrowed our
English by-word, to express such betwixt whom there is apparent odds of
strength : He is able lo put him up in a bagge." — Wnrl/aii: CardigaH, ii. 579.
7"
0031c
7H HANDY-BOOK OF
Baggage-Snuuber. in American slang, a name humorously given to a
lailway porter, because of his reckless way of handling luggage, also to a
thief who hangs about railway-siaiions wailing for a chance to steal the
AEiii«'yp'u't ba
(wupp«u^. Id bis long uid di — „ ,, - — j ,-,_ ,.-,
hoots off hia coiucLcnc«, nod Iherc is no rcmoise brave, fooHsh, or nckleu enough id tackle
hb htan-iiiingi ud play on ihtm.— //.nii Hiftingt, Novtmbcr 3, iSeS.
difficult task. In the old suetling-bookt
0 syllables, and seemed an almost insuperable
obstacle to the child who had encountered only words of one syllable.
baker.— LoHCPHLijsw ; //m Emtlamd Tragtdui.
Baker's Dozeo. Thirteen. The phrase Is oficn used colloquially (or good
measure running over. In medixval limes bakers were kejn rigidly under
the eye of the law, their vocation being one on which the public heallh and
prosperity largely depended. Prom the time of King John, iheir profits were
regulated by enactment, due allowance being made for labor, cost of fuel and
law material, wear and tear of the oven, services of assistants, and expenses
attending Ihe sale. Stringent peiiallies, changed by a law of Edward 11. from
heavy lines to the pillory, were inflicted for offences against the required weight
or quality of loaves. Hence there grew up a precautionary custom for bakers
lo give a surplns loaf, called the in-uread or the vantage-loaf, to all purchasers
of a doien. To a down of rolls (burieen were allowed. This custom is siill
kept up in certain parts of Scotland, ^nd in Ihe wholesale bouk-lrade in
England 10 this day a publisher's dozen is thirteen copies. Henry Hudson,
when he discovered Ihe bay which bears his name (1610). gave lo a cluster of
thirteen or fourteen islands on the east shore Ihe name of Baker's Dozen :
these were given in D'Anville's French Alias under the title "La Douzaine
du Boul anger."
How baken thirteen knvei do give
All for ■ ifailiinE, md thrive well ud live.
TavloktmbWatsbPokt: Travili >/ Tvxivt Pntt.
in, but tbcy >je as the ndvuiUEe loaf of brwl in
HAKCARFr. DuCHBSS OF N|W<
:: Nituril /-iV/Kfe (i6j6).
Balaam, a bit of journalislic slang which was popularized by Biatiwood'i
Maginint in the days of Christopher North, is defined by Liickharl as " Ihe
cant njme for asinine paragraphs ahoul monstrous productions of nature and
the like, kept standing in type lo be used whenever the real news of the
day leave an awkward space that musi lie filled up somehow." {Lift n/Seait,
bcjL 622 (1S42).) Of course it is an allusion lo Numbers xiii. 30, where
Balaam's ass spoke "with man's voice." A balaam's box was a receptacle
for old jokes, anecdotes, and other chestnuts which were editorially used to
111) up space. It now survives in the sense of a waste-basket for rejected
manuscripts.
have twen coniieDed by the e^Ior to his baiaam basket. — Hall : Modtm Engtiih.
Bald-headed Roir, in America, a humorous colloquialism For the front
seals of the orchestra or parquet (Ihe English pit) in theatres, so named by
the fun-maker* of the press, who assume that such seals are always taken aj
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 79
old or middle-^ed respectability, anxious to get as close as possible to the
&*oriies of the foot-lights. It is a pari of the assomption that the favorites
in their turn reserve their choicest smiles for these anctenl admirers. Dr.
Wm. Hammond, in a semi-jocose essay, "Will the coming man be baldf"
(I^rum, No. t), makes indirect alluijion lo this popular lancy : "The |)rinci}>le
of natural selection, though up to this lime an insigniScant influence in causmg
baldness, is beginning lo add its great force Co the accomplish me ill of what
is evidently an object of nature. Women, who in general, even within the
knowledge of the present generalloii, did not take kindly to bald-headed men,
are gradually ovei coming their prejudices, and see lA the bare head an element
of manly beauty. Should this lendenn become wide-spread, the days of hair
~n the head of men are numbered, and a few hundred years will see the end.
Some nations, however, will reach this stage of development
knowledge
Ballads. Andrew Fletcher of Salloun is remembered in literature by a
single phrase, and that phrase is not his own. Writing lo the Mnrquix of
Montrose, he says, "I knew a very wise man thai believed that if a man
were permitted 10 make all the ballads he need not care who should make
the laws of a nation." Much ingenious conjecture has been wasted upon the
identity of the wise man. As good a guess as any names John Selden, who was
■ friend and contemporary of Fletcher's.
The French proverb, "France is an absolute monarchy tempered by
songs," emphasizes the important part which popular poetry may play in
political matters. And Bcaumarchais's phrase, " 'I'oul finit par dea chansons"
(" Everything ends with songs," Mariim de Figaro^, is a recognilion of Ihe fact
that not only do Ihe French people liiid subjects for mirlh in Ihe most serious
things, but also that the songs in which Ihey embody their mirth may have a
grave significance. The truth of this was well exemplified when Soubise
announced his defeat at Kossbach, in 1757, by writing lo I^uis XV., ''The
rout of your army is complete. I cannot say "how many of your officers have
been lulled, captured, or lost." The letter was greeted with a shout of
iaughler. Here is one of the songs :
SoublK dil, Ia Unteme k Im DLMin,
J'al beau ctaercher o£l dutbl« eH mon unrfe ;
Me I'a-I-co priae, ou raurai>-je Agar^f
(Soabise, lantern in hand, cries, "I can't
army is. Vet it was here yesterday morning,
have I mislaid it ^")
Duruy, in bis comment on this incident, says, ."The judge most Co be feared
then was not the king, it was the public, upon whom everything began to
depend, and who punished the incapacity of generals and the mistakes of
ministers with biting satires." — History ofFratut, ii. 453.
BnllooniiiK, an American slang (erm of no wide uupulariiy, meaning ex-
aEgeraliog, indulging in buncombe, pulling the long bow. The origin of the
phrase is attributed to a Yankee who boasted that he had fought a duel in a
balloon and broughl down his adversary, balloon and att. Yet just such a duel
was actually fought in Paris in 1808. A M. de Grandpri and a M. le Pique,
having quarrelled alioul a lady, agreed to have it out in balloons, each parly lo
fire at the other's Inlloon and try Co bring it down. A month was consumed
in preparing the balloons, eiactly similar in siie and shape ; and on a fine day
Ibe principals and their seconds ascended from the Tuileries Garden, armed
So HANDY-BOOK OF
wilh blunderbusses. When Ihejr were about half a mile up, and some eighty
yards apart, the signal was given, and M. le Pique missed. M. de Grandpie,
however, made a successful shot, and his opponent's balloon went down with
tremendous rapidity, both principal and second being instantly killed, — much
to the satisfaction of the spectators.
BaubtUT BOint, a rigid, puritanical hypocrite. Even befoie the Puritan
era, Banbury seems to have been noted fot the Phariseeism of its inhabj-
-o that, according to a popular saying, men were in the habit uf hanging
their cats on Monday ^ir qatchine mice on Sunday. In proof of the antiquity
of the phrase, I>r. Hurray cites from a letter addressed by Latimer to Hetiry
VIII., about 1528, the expression, "Their laws, customs, ceremonies, and
Banbury glosses." Banbury cheese was a poor, thin cheese. Thus, Shake-
speare, in " Merry Wives of Windsor," Act i, Sc 1., makes Bardolph com-
pare Slender to a Banbury cheese, in ridicule of his eponymic slendciness.
BoDyaii- or Banian-daya, a nautical phrase applied to those days on which
sailors are allowed no flesh meat. The Kanians are a caste of Hindoo traders
who entirely abstain from animal food. But it is also suggested that the term
arises from those sanitary arrangements in tropical climates which counsel the
substitution of banyans and other fruit on very hot days.
They laid me thai on Mondiyi, Wcdsodayi. ind Pridiyi ihr tbip't cDoipuiy had na
allowkDcv of meu, aod thai ilicK oiagre day« were cjilled BuiyaD-days, the reason of which
Ihey did ncrt know, but 1 harclince learned Uiey take their deDominaUon from « l«ct of d«v^
BoTliinB np the irrotig tree, an American location applied to one who
is at fault in his purpose or in the means to attain it. An allusion to the mistake
made by dogs when ihey fancy they have "treed" the game, which has really
escaped by leaping from one tree to another.
Dtlrsit i-i-H Ptisi. October. iii».
Barl. a stingy abbreviation of tl _^.
In the spring of'^ 1S76, when the Democratic parly was selecting its delegates
to the National Convention which subsequently nominaled Samuel J. Tilden
for the Presidency, the Glebt DimiKrat of St. Louis alluded to that gentleman
as the candidate with a bar'l, nieaning that he was able and willing to spend
large sums to influence his election. The phrase was caught up all over the
country, and bar'l became synonymous with wealth in the case of a political
candidate.
Bunaole gooaa, a species of maritime goose, known also as ihc Solan or
Brant goose, and anciently called aves Hibernicse (•' Irish birds"), or, in the
diminutive, Hiberniculae. The dropping of the tirst syllable of the latter
word converted Iheni into Bernicula:, and at this eiymoiogical stage their
or barnacles. Hence arose the myth thai the gonse was sprung from the
barnacle, an extraordinary instance of the power of etymology. .So early as
the twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensi* says, in his "Topography of
Ireland," —
.d by Google
bloD^lbe:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES,
i like muah-gecie, but tomewlul uiulkr, sad procluced Tr
iS'
1« Umber, BUTTDUaded by shellA, jn order id grow mora freely. Havrng
j» proccau oT time, been doEfaed with 4 iirona coa( of feaiheis. xhey dihcr IhII hico the
e^hore nx>m n pkce c>f limber, epclc4ed in ibeUi and nLmidy fonned.^^e^ do not
r ofthe earth. Hence biihopt pod clergyiaen iq tame paru of Iraluid do not
It a pl*^*> "^
On this he indulges in a lilile medixval speculation :
But thoa an thin drawn into lin. For, if • man during Lent bad dined oS Adam, our firn
dial wEiicb <• Bob.
It is not necessary to call into question Giraldus's I ruth fulness, especially as
his testimony is confinned by Holinshed and other witnesses of repute. The
barnacle shelt-hsh do atlach themselves in great numbers to any floaling
wreck or log, and their byssus or beard protruding to an extraordinary length
through the opening of the shell bears a not remote resemblance to the pni-
ions w a fledgling bird, while the process by which they attach themselves to
the timber lu^esls a bealc These (acts, with the similarity of name, sug-
gested their eventual development into the geese which frequent the coast in
incredible numbers, and whose nests, built in remote and inaccessible rocks,
were larely revealed to human search.
Bath. Qo to Bath is a popular locution meaning. You are crazy, you are
talking nonsense, — in allusion to the fact that physicians ordered invalids and
the insane lu go to Bath, to drink the medicinal waters there. Bath was a
famous resort from the early part of the sixteenth century. The miscellaneous
character of the crowds who flocked there seems to have excited the scorn of
the Eail of Rochester, who thus describes the place :
re lays her naaty tall ;
id pUfftimt thiihcT do retort,
lease, for lechery and tport.
Bath brick, Bath buns, and Bath chairs are all well known. But, strangest
of all, Bath has provided the vocabulary of French argot with the adjective
l»th or bate, = A l, or fiist-claas, used in phrases, "c'est bien bath," etc
Towards 1S4S note-paper of a superior quality made in Bath was hawked about
Paris streets at a low price. Hence papitr Balk became synonymous with
eicellent paper. Eventually the quali^ing clause alone remained and received
a general application.
Batll of Blood, a name sometimes applied to the massacre of the Hugue-
nots at Vassy, in France (1 563), at the command of the Uuke of Guise, and also
to the murder, in 1530, of seventy Swedish nobles of Stockholm by command
of Christian II. of Denmark.
Batho*. This word, inthesensewhichhas now excluded all others, — that of
an anticlimax, a ludicrous descent from the elevated to the commonplace, —
was first made English by Pope, in his Essay on the Art of Sinking in Poetry.
He inConns the reader that the essay is to be styled n^ jJoAivc, " Concerning
Depth," as a f<ril to Longinus's irepi fyxfr, "Concerning Height," — i,t., the
Sublime. " For true it is, that while a plain and direct road is paved to their
e#0C or stiUime, no track has been j;et chalked out to arrive at our ^offof or
profound; wherefore, considering, with no small grief, how many promising
Finiuse* of this age are wandering (as I may say) in the dark without a guide,
have tutidertaken this ardoona but necessary task to lead them a* it were by
/
82 HANDY-BOOK OF
(he hand, and step by step [he gentle down-hill way lu the bathos ; the bottom,
the end, the central point, the tu>n pliu ultra of trtic modern poesy !"
He collected a number of amusing instances of the " art of sinking," aa
practised by bis contemporaries. 'I'hesc arc as good as any ;
And ihou, DaJhoiuy, Ihf ertai god of Wiir,
Lieuleniuil-coloDtl to th* Earl of M»r.
Hera Argiu KSD mirtl
Even though he HbiTBl
To vHpe Tiu hundred ey
I'he lords Above jire huDEry and talk big.
The last quoted is Nat Lee's figurative description of thunder. It will be
seen that the tirst of these is an unmistakable bit of the true bathos. Pope
gives no credit for either this or the second one, and it is shrewdly Suspected
that he wrote both of them himself, possibly in jest for the purpose of^using
them in this burlesque, but more probably in all serious earnest in his juvenile
epic of " Alcander," which he was too wise ever to publish as a whole.
Horace Smith, in his "Tin Truin]>el," gives two stones that may appro-
priately be quoted :
m deck, klthoa^h iKe icmpcst had nou iocreaicd id tucb a frifhtful hutnciuM
that II wai not without peat difficuLly I could hold up my parasol 1"
Ai a worthy mmpamod lo this liltl? moreeau, wf copy the following atTecIing advenit?
ipcnt frvm a London newspaper: "If ihia should meet the eye of Emnia D , wh*:
irniniihed atfeclioD W her aiino« heart-hrollen paienfa. If nothinK
I to their jtrin: appeaf, — should ihe be determined to bring their gniy
jave,— should she never mean to revisit n home where she had passed
so many happy years, — it IS at least expected, if she be not totally lost to all sense of propriety,
that she will, without a motnent's furxher delay, send back Ihe key of the tea-caddy.'^'
There is merit in Ihe rapturous exclamation of the Frenchman, " Siiperbe !
magnifique ! in short, ]>retly well t" But of all foreigners the East Indians are
most given to this form of sinking. The following request for a holiday is
from a native clerk in India: " Most Exalted Sir, — It is with must habitually
ilevout expressions of my sensitive respect that I approach the clemency of
your masterful position with the self-dispraising utterance of my esteeni, and
the also forgolten-by -myself assurance that in my own mind I shall be freed
from the assumption that I am asking unpardonable donations if I assert Ihal
I desire a short respite from my exertions ; indeed, a fortnight's holiday, as I
am suffering from three boils, as per margin. I have the honorable delightof
subscribing myself your exalted reverence's servitor. (Signed) Jonabol Pan-
jamjaub." In addition to the regalement of the ear from the charm of style
10 his communication, the eye is gralilied by a rough but graphic illustration
of the three boils.
Courts of law fret]uently ofler excellent examples, especially the inferior
tribunals, whose magistrates feel most keenly the glory of a little brief au-
thority. A famous story is that of Ihe London " beak" who made this tre-
mendous appeal lo a witness about lo lake the oath i " Remember that the
eyes of Goil and of Her Majesty's police court are upon you." Equally famous
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 83
is the exordium of another justice's charge to a jury in a case of larceny :
" For forty centuries the thunders of Sinai have echoed through the world.
Thou Shalt not steal. This is also a principle of tlie common law and a rule
of equity." Almost as delightful, (hough eiiiiessed without the same literary
■kill, is the sentence of a president ol a court-martial : " Prisoner, not only
have you committed mutdet, but you have run a bayonet through the breeches
of one of Her Majesty's uniforms." Perhaps, however, the best of all such
judicial utterances ia (hat ascribed to a rural justice of the peace : " Prisoner,
a bountiful Providence has endowed you with health and strength, instead of
which you go about the country siealing hens."
Bsuw. In America a fondness for pork and beans Is held to be a diitin-
giiishing trait of the New-Englander, and especially the Kosloner. Boston
baked beans is the name given to a special prepaiatiun which is indeed found
in its highest stage of perfection in the New England Athens. Hence " to
know beans" — a sly hit at Boston's claims to superior culture — means to be
very smart, spry, or shrewd. Undoubtedly ihe success of the phrase has been
influenced by the analogous English expression, "To know how many blue
beans make five white ones." 1 nis is based on a familiar catch, put ni the
form of a question, the answer being " Five, if ]ieelcd."
Toow""™* " o* ■oMy ue 1 o ve, *LT. urti
" Three blue beans in a blue bladder" is an absurd phrase of uncertain origin,
used to characterize a noisy rattlepate. The most probable derivation is from
a jester's bladder with beans or peas in it ;
I'hal tniidiie nil bis wonls logcLfier,
Tib thm brue bom in ji blue bladder.
Pwoii; ^/»ia,i.Y.a5.
Bean, in poker lingo, is often used as a synonyme for a chip. It has also
meant a guinea in England, and a five-dollar gold-piece in America, probably
from the French bUn, used in old cant as a synonyme for property or mo'ney.
e guess. It has been shown
pretty conclusively that bear has an origin very remote from its present appli-
cation. Otigiinally the phrase ran "to sell the bear-skin before one has caught
the bear," and was applied to all transactions on the stock exchange or else-
where where there was no immediate transfer of goods, but onlv a payment to be
made at some future period by one party or the other, according as the goods
had advanced ur receded in price. The separation of the term from the rest of
the phrase and its eventual application only to that parly who profiled by a
fall were very gradual. In (719 we have from the "Anatomy of 'Change
Alley," "Those who buy Exchange Alley bargains are styled buyers of bear-
skins," and the 177S edition of Bailey's Dictionary informs us that " to sell a
bear" is "to sell what one hath not." Vet in 1744 we find an allusion in the
Lotidon Magatint to " bulls and bears," and in 1774 these terms are defined
in ihcir modern sense by George Colman :
My youDR nuuier Is ihv buil^Hnd Sir Chuld is ibe bear. He Agreed roruock^cxpvciineil
ti>bc np AJ UtfTC Ivmdnd by (hi* Udm; bat, bdudity, sir, i1 baa been fiUliof ever luice. — Man
Bttar-toadw, one who leads about a dancing bear for public exhibition ;
bence, in English slang, a facetious term for a discreet person in charge of
■ youth, a tutor or travelling-companion of a young gentleman or noblemant
84 HANDY-BOOK OF
employed by the parents to watch over him. When Johnson in his old age
visited Scotland in company with James Boswell. the latter was styled the
Bear-leader by the wits of Edinbui^h. The point of the joke was emphasized
by the fact that Johnson was commonly known as Ursa Major. Henry Er-
Bkine, to whom Hoswetl had introduced the great man, quietly slipped a guinea
into the Bear-leader's hand, saying, "Take that, my good man ; that's for a
sight of your bear."
I DDdelwk ■ bear lo lead,
Thiough HolluHiriuIy, and Fisnce
I locdi my lure and left ih< nib
kadm.— Tkjkkmiav: iWi^/sniii.cii. vii."" ^™"' «""*"«*
Bean? Are you there with your, a common Knglisb greeting, ex-
pressing surprise rather than welcome. Joe Miller explains it as theciclama-
tion made by a church-goer who, disgusted with a iternion on tllisha and the
bears, went next Sunday to another church, only to be confronted by the same
preacher and the same sermon. The expression was very common in the
seventeenth century,
Anorhcr, when at (be racket-court be had a ball unck into bia baiard, he would e^er and
BAoncry oui, Enea-vousU avn vos oun! which ia ridiculous in any olherUnauue but Ene-
Li,h.— JombsHdwil; lntlrmclu»u/tr Furrain, TraBi//, Stc. 3.
" Mairy come up — an you tbcn with your beant" muLiered (he dragon. — Scott ; T7tf
Betira, BrinB on yotu, a common American challenge or defiance, the
story running that a small boy in the wild West, having been much impressed
passed the family log cabin, and shouted out, "Go up, thou
with the story of Elisha and the bears, drew a bead on the next bald-headed
gent ' ' ", „
bald head ! Now bring on your bears !"
Beat the dog before the lion, an old English proverb, whose exact
counterpart is found in the French " Batire le chien devani le lion," meaning
to punish an inferior person in the presence and to the terror of a great one. —
Ceigratie's Prmch DicHonaiy, s. v. Sal/rt.
And for (o maken otfacr be war by me,
Ai by (be whelp cluflited is (be leoun.
Chauck" ; Sfmin'i Ta/r, Pan ii.
lo IHght an imperioui lioc—OHri/s. ii. 3, 1/5.'
Beat! poasldentee (L., "Blessed are those in possession"), the popular con-
densation of an ancient legal maxim, " Beati in jure conscniur possidentes,"
which linds its English equivalent in the fiimiliar proverb, " Possession is nine
points of the law." Buchmann plausibly suggests that the phrase may have
been developed through a spirit of contradiction from the lines in Horace:
Ndd pDuidentem nuha vocaverii
Rectt btsuvm.—OJri, iv. 9, 45.
("Not him who possesses many things can you rightly call happy.")
This phrase was one of the few scraps of Latin known to Frederick the
Great. Therefore it was all the more effective in the mouth of Bismarck, the
real successor of Frederick the Great, when in 1877 he ofTered himself as the
mediator between Russia and Turkej', defining his position as "the honest
broker who really wanted to do eHective business." After the signing of the
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
e Darda-
nelles, and a humanitarian solidtude for the lot oi the Christians in Turkey,
" Germany had no material Interest in the Eastern question, except indeed her
interest in preventing the outbreak of a general quarrel over the distribution
of the spoil, which Russia might provolce by replying to Europe witli a btali
foatidcniei."
BeaUng the Boonds, a curious custom annuallv observed (either on Holy
Thursday or on Ascension Day) in certain parisneB of London, when the
workhouse boys, under the conduct of a beadle or other of&cer, walk through
the parish from end to end, striking the boundaries with willow wands which
(bey carry in their hands. This is a survival from the period before maps, when
apprentices, school -children, and other parish lads were all marched out to
learn an object-lesson in this way. It is now abandoned to the workhouse
boys here and there, and is looked upon as a holiday occasion.
B««ut7 !■ only skin-deep, a common saying that in one form or another
may be found in the proverbial lore of all countries. It was a fovorite with
the old Fathers, who loved to carry out the proposition to a minuteness of
detail that would revolt the squeamish stomach of to-day. Here is one of
the least unpleasant examples, but even this is slightly bowdlerized ; " When
thou seest a fair and beautiful person, a brave Bonaroba . . . wringing thy
soul and increa^ng thy concupiscence, bethink thee that it is but earth thou
lovest, a mere excrement which so vexelh thee that thou so admirest, and thy
raging soul will be at rest Take her skin Irom her face, and tliou shalt see
all loathsomeness under it. that beauty is a superficial skin and bones, nerve,
Mnews." (CHkVSOSTOM.) In general literature the following are early examples
of its use. In "The Nosegay," by Thomas Becon (Parker Society Edition,
p. 303), occurs the passage, "And to say the truth, is beauty any other thing
than, as Ludovicus Vives saith. ' as [sic\ little skin well colored } If the in-
ward parts,' saith he, 'could be seen, how great filthiness would there appear,
even in the most beautiful person t' " The passage from Ludovicus Vives is,
"In corpore ipso quid ibrma est? nempe cuticala 6fm lolorata,'" ^ic (Lod.
Vivis. Valent Op., " Introd. ad Sap.," 61, torn. ii. cols. 72-3, Basil., 1555.) Sir
Thomia Overbury, in his poem " A Wife," says, —
And atl the cunal beuity of my wifi?
SitdUrly Moliire says, —
La beiuij du vjnge »t nn bfle onieinait,
Uh 8«ur puiHltn;, lu <du d'uD maniEU,
E( qui n'egt uucW qu'l U limple ^piderme
Nevertheless, modem science recognizes in this skin-deep beauty one oi
the most valuable motive powers of Nature, bringing into play the principle
of sexual selection which insures the mating of the fittest. B»auly, we arc
told, is one of the gifts which she lavishes on her pets, indicating to Ihosc
whom that beauty attracts that here is a prize worth striving (or. Di. Holmes,
ta " The Professor at the Breakfast Table," p. 39, says, " Beauty is the index
of a larger fact than wisdom." And again, " Wisdom is the abstract of the
past, but beantv is the promise of the future," And Schiller, in his '■ Essays,
Asthetical ana Philosophical," " Physical beauty is the sign of an interior
beauty, which is the basis, the principle, and the unity of the beautiful."
BAohamal, Banoa. This simple cream preparation served with boiled
fith wu invented (7 no less a person than Louis de B^hamel or Bechameil,
86 HANDY-SOOK OF
Marquis of Noinlet, who was famous not only as a gastronomer but as a
financier and a beau. He was ma!lre-d'hatel, or steward, to Louis XIV., in
whose reign Ihe glory of the French kitchen began. TIte noble, the brave,
and ihe fair ginled on their aprons and stood over stew-pans with Ihe air of
alchemists over alembics. The great Vatel flourished at this time, — Valel
who, like the ancient Romau, fell upon his prolessiona] swotd because the
cod had not arrived in time to be dressed for the king who was coming to
dine with Vatel 's master, Cond^. Bechamel died in 1703. He was some-
thing of an eccentric, and one of his manias was to resemble the Count de
Gramont, who treated him one day, not as a Turk would a Mooi, but as a
lord would a financier. Saint-Simon relates this circumstance in terms pecu-
liar to himself. "The Count de Gramont," says he, "seeing Bechamel) walk-
ing in the Tuileries, said 10 his companion, ' Will you bet thai I can give him
a kick, and that he will think none ihe worse of me V " This was carried out
to the letter. Bechamel, much astonished, turned, and the count made many
excuses, saying that he took him for his nephew. B<^chamel was charmed,
and Ihe two became more intimate than ever. Was Napoleon familiar with
this anecdote when he characterized Talleyrand as a man who would preserve
an uniuSled front while you kicked him from behind i
B«d of Joatlce. This expression (lit dejmlice) literally denoted Ihe seat
or throne upon which the King of France was accustomed to sit when per-
sonally present in Parllamenl ; and from this original meaning the expression
came in course of time to signify the Parliament itself. Under the ancient
monarchy of France a bed of jusiice denoted a solemn session of the king in
Parliament According to the principle of Ihe old French constitution, the
authority of the Parliament, being derived entirety from the crown, ceased
when the king was present ; consequently all ordinances enrolled at a bed of
justice were acis of Ihe royal will, and of more authority than decisions of
Parliament
The last bed of justice was assembled by Louis XVL, at Versailles, on
August 6, 17SS, at Ihe commencement of the French Revolution, and was in-
tended to enforce upon the Parliament of Paris the adoption of the obnox-
ious taxes which had ]ireviously been proposed by Calonne at the Assembly
of Notables. The resistance to this measure led to ihe assembling of the
Stales-General, and to Ihe Revolution.
Bedpoat, Id tha twinkling of a, — i.e., immediately, at once. The
original expression gave bedstaff in lieu of bedpost, a beastafT being (con-
jeclurally) an upright peg fixed into the side of Ihe bedstead after the manner
of a pin, projecting upward to keep the bedclothes in their place, and used
also as a weapon of defence against intruders. Hence, " in the twinkling of
a bedstaff," like the analogous phrase of to-day. "in the twinkling of a pike-
Btafii" would mean as rapidly as a staff can be twinkled or turned. " Between
you and me and the bedpost," or " you and me and the post," is a humorous
lag to an assertion implying confidence, secrecy.
Bee, in provincial New England and New York, an assemblage of people
for a set purpose, and especially a meeting of neighbors to unite in working
for an individual or a family. In the form of " spelling.bee," or spelling-match,
Ihe word has extended over the whole country. Quilling -bees are attended
by young women, who assemble around the frame of a bed-quilt and in one
afternoon accomplish more than one person could in weeks. Refreshments
and beaux help to render the meeting agreeable. Apple-bees are occasions
where neighbors assemble to gather apples or cut Ihcm up for drying. Kusk-
iog-bees, for husking corn, meet in bams. In some new districts, on tbe
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 87
arrival of a new settler ihe neighboring farmers unite with their teams, cut the
limber, and build him a 1i^ house in a single day ; these are termed raising-
bees. The name may have come from the likeness of these gatherings lu the
--ig of bulling bets.
Bm in tbe Boimet, a fad. a craze, a hobby, an overruling fancy or desire :
used especially in America in regard to a would-be candidate for the Presi-
dency: "He has the Presidential bee in hia bonnet." In the form "ahead Tuii
of bees" the expression can be traced back at least as tar as Gawin Douglas in
bis translation of Virgil (1512-13. published 1553).
Quhal ban be ibou in bed intb held full of b«>.— ^wij. viii,. Pnl. tB.
An illustration as well as an indirect explanalion of Ihe term may be found
in the " Faerie Queene," where, describing the human body, iipenser alludes to
tbe bees and flies in the chamber of Fantasy ;
And all ihe cbimber filled wu with fliei.
Which buued about hlio . . .
Bees were anciently imagined to have some connection with the soul. Ma-
homet admits them alone of all insects into Paradise. The analogous French
eipression is, " II a des rals dans la ifte." It is well known that the souls of
the during frequently escape in the form of a rat or a mouse. Uean Swift says
that It was the opinion of certain virtuosi that the brain is filled with little
worms and maggots, and that thought is produced by these worms biting the
nerves. Hence the expression " When the maggot biles" means when the
bncy strikes us.
Beef-eBt«ra. a familiar name for the Yeomen of the Guard, a corps organ-
ized by Henry VII. for his own protection on Ihe day of his coronation,
October 30, 1485, and which has served as a body-guard of the English sov-
ereign ever since. The word is usually derived from baffctier, but the ety-
mology is doubtful, as the Yeomen never had charge of the royal buffet or
aideteard, Preston (" History of the Yeomen of Ihe Guard," 1S85) suggests
that they may have received their name from a bird called beel-ealei, whose
strong, Ihick bill bore some resemblance to their ]>artisan.<i. Indeed, Ihe
Yeomen were often referred lo as "billmen," because they carried a weapon
with a hook like the beak or bill of a bird. The Tower Wardens, an entirely
different body of men, are uniformed like them, and popular parlance classifies
them all as beef-eaters.
Bsen tkere, an A me
"He's been there," to indicate that the person so spoken
ahrewd or eiperienced.
Tha Japwuse uy, " A man ulcei I drink ; Iben Ihe drink ukn
drink Bka ihe man." Evidently the JapuieK hive been ihere.—
;,oogic
88 HANDY-BOOK OF
Baw and Blbl«, in English politics, a sobriquet applied to that branch
of the Conserwaiive party which combated the attempt of the moderate
Uberals in 1873 to place certain restrictions upon the sale of intoxicating
liquors. The brcweta and the Licensed Victuallers' Association turned in to
help their Conservative brethren, and, as the latter were mostly of High-Church
tendencies, the alliance earned the title of the Beer and Btlde Association,
their mouth-piece, the Momaig AttocrHstr, being called the Bar and BiHt
Gaulle. By a singular coincidence, the latter nickname superseded another
closely Eimilar, the Gin and Gosptl GasMe, which the paper had enjoyed for
many years previous on account of its close juxtaposition of religious notices
and brewers advertisements.
establishments in London for one of the upjier servants, generally the steward,
to supply the others with beer, charging the amount to the head of the house,
while those who do not drink are allowed what is known as beer-money, in
addition to their wages. The lUiutraUd Ameriean tells this story, which shows
that English servants are inclined to abuse their privileges. " Among other
expense-items presented to him, shortly after his accession to the family
estate, the late Earl of Wicklow discovered 'dishing-up beer,' and, later on,
' turning-down beer.* It was not in the least difhcult for him to guess that
■dishing-up' applied to the liquid drunk by the cooks and the kitchen- and
scullery-maids when serving dinner, but he was at a loss to understand what
the 'turning-down' process might mean. In response to his interro^tions,
the steward gravely replied, " It's the beer, my lord, wot the 'ousemaids 'ave
when they go hup-stiirs to turn down the sheets at night."
B«llBBiias, Give a penny to (L. "Date obolum Bclisarjo"). This
proverb may be roughly paraphrased, " Do not kick a man when he is down."
Bclisarius (A.D. S05-565), the general -in-chief of the army in the East under
Justinian, being accused of a conspiracy gainst his master, forfeited his rank
and his fortune. Tradition asserts further that he was deprived of sight and
reduced to begsary, and, sitting at the gate of Rome, begged pennies of the
passers-by. This story has been perpetuated by Marmontel in his historical
romance of " Belisaiius." But modern historians agree with Gibbon, that it
is "a fiction of later limes, which has obtained credit, ot rather bvor, as a
strong example of the vicissitudes of fortune." (Dtctim and Fall, iv. 286, note.)
Bacon, after his bll, said to James L, " 1 would live to study, and not study
to live 1 yet I am prepared for dale aioluin Bcluario, and 1 that had borne a
bag \i.e., that containing the great seal] can bear a wallet"
B«ll, Book, and Candlo. The ancient mode of excommunication prac-
tised in the Catholic Church. The closing lines of the formula were as fal-
lows ! " Cursed be they from the crown of the head to the sole of the fooL
Out be they taken from the book of lite (here the priest closed (he bookj, and
as this candle is cast from (be sight of men, so be their souls cast from the
sight of Ciod into the deepest pit of hell (here the attendant cast to the ground
alighted candle he had held in his hand|. Amen." Then the bells were
rung in haish dissonance, to signi^ the disorder and going out of grace in
the souls of the persons excommunicated.
11*6 caidiniU roM with ■ digDili«I look.
He cilled (or hil cudli, hii Ull, and hi> book I
In holy annr, and pioiu grid*.
He utemnTy cunetf thai TUcaliy thief!
He cuned him w. board, he cuned him in bed ;
Proin the lale of hli taot to the cnmu of hil bead.
He cuned blm in ilecpine, that every night
. ilecpine, that e
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
»nad him in cttjoe, he cuned him in dhok
•xffwtA hjm iti cougEin£, in Boeciini:, b wlbl
:un«l him in nlkii«. in riding. 'in HyiDg;'
nmed him living, he curitd him dying [
Never -u bard luch a LeniblE cune I
Brad, Abovo one^ in American slang, means beyond one's capacity, and
it the Nonbern equivalent for "above my huckleberry," or "a huckleberry
above niT persimmon," phrases popular in the Southern Slates. It is not
impossible thai the phrase is an old English survival, Acm/ being the Anglo-
Saxon for a bond, letter, or contract :
And briniE b«m Dul of bcBde.
Above my bend, therefore, might mean more than I am bound or held to do.
Baneflt of olergy. The word clergy here, like the word clerk (which is
an abbreviation of tlericui), docs not refer exclusively to churchmen, but
includes all who had any pretensions to learning. William Rufus. the second
of the Norman kings of England, enacted an ordinance (1087) known by the
above title, in accordance with which a man could save his life on his proving
that he was not entirely ignorant of letters. The first verse of the mty-lirst
Psalm was chosen as the reading-test, and hence got the name of " neck-
verse." Readers of Sir Walter Scutt will remember that William of Delo-
raine boasts of his inability to read a line even were it his "neck-verse at
Haribee," — Haribee being the spot in Carlisle where Scottish moss-troopers
and thieves were wont to be "justified," — Ce., hanged The statute in favor
of " clergy" continued nominally in force till Queen Anne's reign, when it was
repealed (1700), although long before that it had become a dead letter. See
Neck- Verse.
Better bail, a humorous colloquialism lor a wi
in English literature in Sidney's "Arcadia" (iSisoj, ill. 200, «
says to Farlhenia, " My deare, my bttter halfc, I lind I must nov
Originally my better half — i.e., the more than half of my being — was said of a
very cloftC and intimate friend : c£ Shakespeare. —
When ihou art all the better put of mc f
Whnt can my on prue to afaie own Mif bring.
And whu Vl but mine ovn vhen 1 prvK th« T
SmmH XXXIX.
Yet there is a curious anticipation of the phrase in the Oriental story ofthe
Bedouin Arab who, having blasphemed the name, the beaid, and tht honor
of his chief, was sentenced to the bastinado. His wife pleaded in his behalf.
** O great prince," she said to the sheik, " the blasphemy is horrible, I confess,
and merits exemplary punishment : but il is not my whole husband who has
thus rendered himself guilty towards thee." "Not thy whole husband?"
echoed the startled sheik. "Nay," she continued, " it is but the half of him
that has committed the insult ; for am I not the other half,— I who have never
offended thee ? Now the guilty half places itself under the protection of ihe
innocent half, and the latter cannot suffer the former to be punished." The
sheik saw BO much wit in this reply that be pardoned the guilty husband.
;i:v,.G00gIf
9° HANDY-BOOK OF
Berer or Beavftr (Laiin bibert, through ihe nld French iavrt], an obsolele
English word for a snack or luncheon, especially une taken in Ihe afternoon
belween mid-day dinner and supper. Hence, a term applied lo a frugal repast
of bread and beer served out on summer afternoons in Eton, Winchester, and
Westminster Colleges till a very recent period.
" ti may be intemiing for all old EloniuH, and C« old Collcgcn !□ pulicular. la rad Ihe
iii«iiuIioD in ifa^'bH uuDibs of Ihe £fi<>'p>//iz#^:(>-^i(/r. ^ougli The t^ cf Ih^ uiid'e
wmd " tnMnsilti^T'li ii m j*oBT>L^I?U^w^^l°l^"y be'[m^MlDK°o'you' lu know ihar
LoniuvuiYe il^dX'^li^Elonuin'ihtHild ido^' For Li^'i^iii^d'l^'Re^c^ Colleger!
what lo vxpeci. The prophel'i eye mlttbl have seen ihnl the dayi of " Bever" alto wen DUin-
bered, thai ihc *' link jyiltnii" of the piQU4 raiinder had " hod fheir day," and therefore had
bcltcr"ceue lobe." " Bever" » gone, and we believe the aulborilin in 1ut»lJludaD intend
lo allow each Colleger a mu£ of (oa9I.and'Walcr on Suodayi ihroughoui the year. It i>
the day of ihe faddiu, and a vq^etarian dinner in Hoi] and eompulkory Dr. Jaeger'a under-
clothiDE an looming like nifhtmam ibroiigh the mjiu of ttie fuiurt. — Saiun/ay ftfr/inv,
June jf, .B90,
Bible atattsticB. The following facts in regard lo the Authorized Version
of the Bible are given by the indefatigable Dr. Home in his " Introduction lo
Ibc Study of Ihe Scriptures." Their compilation is said to have occupied more
than three years of the doctor's life :
Old Nm,
TnlamtHl. Tatamnl. Trtal.
Book! 39 97 U
Chiplen i}»i >6o 1,169
Wonto »3.W3 i*",aS3 '??''}*
Letun 9,738,100 8}S,3Bo j.jH^tSo
Afucryflia.
Booki, 14; chapter*, iBj^ venca, 6031 ; wordi, 135,165; letloa, 1,063,674.
But the g»x)d doctor's work is entirely cast into the shade by the statistical
exploit of some religious enthusiast (possibly a myth), who. as the result of
several years' incarceration for conscience' sake, produced this astonishing
monument of misapplied industry ;
The hMc containa ft, booki. 11S9 chapter*. 3).iT3 venes. »3,^ wordi. and }.5S«,469
lelten. The word " and" wxon 46,»J limM, the word " Lord'' 1855 times. " reverend" bul
ODce, "girl" hutonce, JD third ebapier and ihhdvcrte of Joel; tht wwds " cverlatling lire" bal
Iwice. and " everlaaling IJllpithnient" tjul once. The middle Ime ii Second Chronielea iv. rfi.
The middle chapter and the ahoneal 1> Paalm civii. Tfae middle letH >1 the eighth *«K of
Padm civiii. The Iwenly-firtt verae of the aeventh chapter of Kira conuini all the kllen in
the alphabet, eicepi the leller " J." The lineit chapter 10 read il the iweniy-sllth chapter of
chapter ol liaiah are alike. The iongeii vene ii the ninth vene of Ihc eiahih chapter of
Esther, llieihorteu ii the ihiny-iiflh vene of ibeelevcDIh chapter of St. John, vir. ; "Jeaiu
wepl." The eighlh. fifirentb, twenly-firat. and ihirty.liral vsaes of the lOTih Psalm are
alike. Each vene of ihe i36ih iWm ends alike. There are no vorda of more than aii
ayllablei.
It is evident enough thai each of these tables is (he result of independent
labor, as they do not a^ree with each other as lo the number of words and
letters in the Bible. Probably tve shall have to wait until another enihuaiast
is jugged before the figures are verified,
Blbloa, Coiloiu, a general term given lo certain editions of Ihe Scrip-
tures which are distinguished by peculiar errors of the printers, or SMue
. Coo^If
LITBkASY CURIOSITIES.
"Then the eies of them bolh were opened, and they knew that they were
naked, and ihcy sewed figgc tree leaves together and made Ihemseives
breeches."— C««. iii. 7. Printed iii 1560. In the Authoriwd Version, pub-
h'shed in 1611, this picturesque attire has been changed to "aprons."
originally identical with bogii .
"terror, the word substituted ii
" Blessed are the pi ace- makers ; for Ihey shall be called the children of
OaA."—Matt. v. 9. Printed in 1561-z. A version that should be in great
request with practical politicians of all parties.
This extraordinary name has been given to an edition of the Authorized
Bible, printed in London by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas in 1631. The
negative was left out of the seventh commandment, and William Kilbuine,
willing in 1659, says that, owing to ihe zeal of Dr. Usher, the printer was lined
^2000 or jf 3000.
The same title has been given to the Bible which its publishers called the
"Pearl Bible," from the size of the type used, which was published in 1653,
and contained the following among other errata :
NeiibcT yield ye youi memben u lOBtmmeDU of ri(hteaii>neu [for uiiiiglitei>iuuie»] unio
These errata made the Wicked Bibles very popular among the liberlines of
the period, who urged the texts as "pleas of jostilication" against the re-
proof of the divines.
Ihoriied Version which w
byar
sixteenth verse of the Epistle of Jude, where the word"mur-
Is rendered "murderers."
.d by Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
" Perjecuted him thai was born after Ihe spirit to remain, even so U is now. '
—GaJ. iv. 19. This typographical error, which was perpetuated in ihe first 8vo
Bible printed fur the Bible Society, takes its chief importance from Ihe curious
drctunslances under which it arose. A limo Bible was being printed at
Cambridge in 1805, and the proof-reader, being in doubt as 10 whether or
not he should remove a comma, applied to his superior, and the reply, pen-
cilled on the tnargin, " to remain," was transferred to the body of Ihe text, and
was repeated in ihe Bible -Society's Svo edition of 1805-6, and also in another
i2mo edition of iSig.
THU DISCHARGE BIBLE.
"1 discharge thee before God."— 1 Tim. v. j;. Printed in 1806,
wife alao,'' etc.— Zafe xiv. 2b. Printed in iSro.
"And Rcbekah arose, and her camels." — Gen. xxW. 61, Printed in 1823.
Though not technically ranked among "Curious Bibles," the most extraor-
dinary bit of Biblical eccentricity is a New Testament issued by Ihe Rev.
Edward Harwood, D.D., an eighteenth- century divine, whose happy thought
it was " to clothe Ihe genuine ideas and doctrines of the aposlles with tbat
propriety and perspicuity in which Ihey themselves, I apprehend, would have
exhibited them, had Ihey now lived and written in our language." The good
doctor, though pained that "the bald and barbarous language of Ihe old vul-
gar version" had from long usage "acquired a venerable sacred ness," was
not without a hope that an "attempt lo diffuse over the sacred page the ele-
gance of modern English" might allure "men of cultivated and improved
minds" lo a book " now, alas, loo generally neglected."
Dr. Harwood, therefore, proceeded to make the New Testament an emi-
nently genteel book. Every word thai had dropped out of vogue in polite
circles was plucked away, the very plain-spoken warning lo Ihe Laodicean
Church assuming in his version this form ; " Since, therefore, you are now in a
slate of lukewarmness, a disagreeable nieiliiim between the Iwo extremes, I
will, in no long time, eject yon from mvhearl with fastidious contempL" The
sentence is cerlainly delicious ; but when we renicnil>er who the speaker is,
we find we are laughing al something like blas|>hemy. We may, however,
laugh with a clear conscience al Ihe description of Nicodemus as "this gen-
tleman." of St. Paul's Athenian Convert Damans as "a lady of distincticHi,"
and of the daughter of Hcroilias as "a youn^ lady who danced with inim-
itable grace and elegance." "Young lady, rise," are Ihe words addressed
to the daughter of Jairus. The father of Ihe Prodigal is "a gentleman of
splendid family ;" St Peter, on the Mount of Transtiguralion, exclaims, " Oh,
■ir 1 what a delectable residence we might fix here." and Sl Paul is raised lo
Ihe standard of Bristolian respectability by having a " portmanteau" conferred
Google
LITER ARY CURIOSITIES. 93
s having been
all die, but we
shall all be changed," appears thus ; " We shall not all pay (he common debt
of natuie, but we shall, by a soft transition, be changed from mortality to
immortal ily."
Even after reading these prodigious translations we are hardly |)repared for
a meddling with the Magniiicat and the Nunc Dimiltis. But Dr. Harwood'a
passion for elegance stuck at nothing, and the " men of cultivated and im-
proved minds" must have Harwoudian versions of the two great hymns of
Christendom. Here are the openings of both :
" My soul with reverence adores roy Creator, and all my Taculties with
transport j<Mn in celebrating the goodness of God, my Saviour, who hath in
so signal a manner condescended to regard my poor and humble station.
Transcendent goodness t every future age will now conjoin in celebrating my
happiness."
"O God X Ihy promise to me is amply fuliilled ! I now quit the post of
human life with satisfaction and joy, since thou ha&t indulged mine eyes with
GO divine a spectacle as the great Messiah."
To use Dr. Haiwood's own words, this edition of the New Testament
leaves the most exacting velleity without ground for quiritation.
BibUoUept, a modern euphemism which softens the ugly word book-thief
by shrouding it in the mystery of the Greek language. So the French say,
not tvAwr, but ihipair dt livra. The true bibliomaniac cannot help teeling a
tenderness for his J>et fad, even when carried to regrettable excesses. Perhaps
he has often felt his own fingers tiiwle in view of a rare de Gtolier, a unique
Elzevir, he knows the strength olthe temptation, he estimates rightly liis
own weakness ; perhaps, if he carries self-ana lysis to the unflattering point which
it rarely teaches, save in the sincerest and finesi spirits, he recognizes that his
power of resistance is supplied not by virtue, but by feat, — fear of the police
and of Mrs. Grundy. In his inner 6oul he admires the daring which risks all
for the sake of a great passion. When a famous book -col lector was exhibiting
his treasures to the Duke of Sussex. Queen Victoria's uncle, he apologized
to his royal highness for having to unlock each case. '■ Oh, quite right, quite
right," was the reassuring reply: "to tell the truth, I'm a terrible thief."
There are not maLiy of us who are so honest. Nevertheless, the epidemic
form which bibliokleptomania has assumed is recwnized in the motto which
school-boys affix to Iheit books, warning honest friends not to steal them.
"Honest'' may, of course, be a fine bit of sarca-sm. But one prefers to look
upon it as indicating a subtle juvenile prescience thai the most honest and the
most ftiendly will steal boolis. as the most honest will cheat their dearest
friends in a matter of horseflesh.
The roll of book-thieves, if it included all those who have prigged without
detection or who have borrowed without returning, would doubtless include
the most illustrious men of all ^es. But strike ft-om the list those whose
thefts have been active and not passive, and admitting perforce only that
probably small propi»tion whose active thieving has l^en discovered and
proclaimed, a splendid array of names will still remain. It will include
learned men, wise men, good men, — the highest dignitaries of church and
State, even a pojie. And that [lope was no less a man than Innocent X. To
be sure, he wis not pope, but plain Monsignor Pamphilio, when he stole a
book from Du Mouslier, the painter, — his one detected crime. But who shall
say it was his only crime ? Tci be sure, again, Du Moustier was something of
a thief himself: he used to brag how he had prif^ed a book of which he had
long been in search from a stall on the Pont-NeuT Neverihelcs.'^. he strenu-
oiwqr objected to be stolen from. When, therefore, Monsignor Pamphilio, in
94 HANDY-BOOK OF
the train of Cardinal Barberini, paid a visit to the painter's studio in Parii
and quietly slipped into his soutane a copy uf " L'Hisloire du Concile de
Treiile," M. Du Muusliet, catching him in the act, furiously (old the cardinal
that a holy man should not brine thieves and robbers in his train. With
these and other words of a like libellous nature he recovered the History of
the Council of Trent, and kicked out the future pontiE Historians date from
this incident that hatted to the crown and the people of France which distin-
guished iho pontifical reign of Innocent X.
Among royal personages, the Ptolemies were book- thieves on a large scale.
An entire deparlmeiit in the Alexandrian Library, significantly called " Books
from the Ships," consisted of rare volumes taken from sea-voyagers who
touched at the port True, the Ptolemies had a conscience. They were
careful to have fair liaiiscripts made of these valuible manuscripts, which they
presented to the visitors ; but, as Aristotle says, and, indeed, as is evident
enough iu minds of far infetior compass, the exchange, being involuntary,
could not readily be difi'erentialed from robbery. Branlfime tells us that
Catherine de Medicis, when Marshal Strozzi died, seized upon his very valu-
able library, promising some day to pay the value to his son, but (he promise
was never kept.
Perhaps the greatest of biblioklepts was Don Vincente, a friar of (hat
Poblal convent whose library was piunderei" " "' """ "" -'-*-- -" — -'
the monasteries during Ihe regency of Que
Barcelona, he established himself in a gloomy den in the book-selling quarter
of the town. Here he set up as a dealer, bu( fell so in love with his accu>
mulaled purchases that only want tempted him (o sell them. Once at an
auciion he was outbid for a copy of the "Ordinacions per los Gloriosos Keys
de Arago," — a great rarity, perhaps a unique. Three days later the house of
the successful rival was burned lo the ground, and his blackened body, pipe
in band, was found in the ruins, lie had set the house on fire with his pipe, —
that was the general verdict. A mysterious succession of murders followed.
One bibliophile after another was found In the streets or the river, with a
dagger in his heart. The shop of Don Vincente was searched. The " Or-
dinacions" was discovered. How had it escaped the flames that had burned
down (he purchaser's house? Then the Don confessed not only that murder
bu( others. Most of his victims were customers who had purchased from hiin
books he could not bear to part with. At the itial, counsel for the defence
tried to discredit the confession, and when it was objected that the "Ordiiia.
cioiis" was a unique copy, Ihey proved there was another in the Louvre, that,
therefore, there might be still more, and that the defendant's might have been
honestly procured. At this, Don Vincente, hitherto callous and silent, uttered
a low cry, " Aha !" said the alcade, " you ate be{|inning to realize the enor-
mity of your oftence !" " Ves," sobbed the penitent thlef^ " the copy waa
not a unique, after all."
A worthy successor (o this good Itiar was Count Guglielmt Libri Carucci,
known by his uenullimale name Libri, which, curiously enough, means booki.
He was a memlier of the French Institute, a professor in the College of France,
a valued contributor to Ihe Rfvue dei Dmx AtanJei, and an inspector-general
of French libraries under I^uis Philippe. Yet he succeeded in getting away
with a large number of valuxble books and manuscripts belonging to the libra-
ries he ■•inspected." His thefts were first brought to the notice of the Paris
librarians by anonyinous leders, and then by articles in the Maniliur and the
f/atimal. In 1S4S he was prosecuted and condemned by default lo ten years'
imprisonment ; but even then his friends did not desert him. Prosper Meri-
nWe, who defended him before the Senate, refused to believe in his guilt.
When he fled to London, Sir Antonio Paniui received him with open anna,
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES, 9S
miintaintng thst he was a persecuted man, and gave him airit Matuht to
wander about the Jibrary of the British Museum. Lord Ashbumham bought
some or the stolen wares for j£8ooo. M. Delisle tiied to negotiate with
young Lord Ashbumham in 1878, but without success. Finally, m 1S90, the
stolen property was returned to the French library in exchange for Maness<i's
rare collection of German poetry and the sum of jf 6000.
or the lesser fry of biblioklepts there is no space to speak. In Paris alone
^y as a hundred thieves of this kind have been prosecuted in a single
Yet they are a small percentage of the total detectetL Jutes Janin
ns a fellow-citiien whose first impulse when he saw a book was to put
it in his pocket. So notorious was this failing that whenever a volume was
missed at a public sale, the auctioneer duly announced it, and knocked it down
to the enthusiast for a good price, which he never failed to pay. If he walked
out before the sale was over, the detectives would crowd around him, asking
if he did not have an Elzevit or an Aldine in his pockeL He would make a
careful search. "Yes, yes, here it is," he would finally cry : "so much obliged
many as
ar. Vet
ts bad. There the boi
L^ist ;" " First, the book-snatcher marks his prey ; he finds iht
In London it is just as bad. There the book-snatcher is a person well
known to dealers. Mr. Besant has described him in his story "In Luck at
taining the volume which is missing in his o
himself with a volume which closely resembles the one he covets, and then,
on pretence of turning over the leaves, he watches his opportunity to effect an
exchange, and goes away lejoicing, his ael complete."
Lockhart mentions, in his ■' Life of Scott," how at Holyrood he had placed
some lines sent to Sir Walter by Lord Uyron, together with the accompanying
present, in one of the rooms, but the lines mysteriously disappeared. He adds
that he mentions this circumstance in the hope of depriving the thief of the
pleasure of displaying his plunder.
Bibliomania, a mild form of insanity which is obtaining wide prevalence.
A bibliomaniac must be carefully distinguished from a bibliophile. The latter
has not yet freed himself from the idea that books are meant to be read. The
bibliomaniac has other uses for books ; he carries them about with him as
talismans, he passes his time in the contemplation of their bindings, illustra-
tions, and title-pages. Some say he even prostrates himself before them in
silent adoration in that joss-house which he calls his library. Bibliomaniacs
are not all alike. There are numerous sul>di visions. Some care only for
nncnt copies, some only for books printed in black letter or in italics, some
tea first editions, some for curious or famous bindings, while some make col-
lections on special subjects. But all agree in this, — that the intrinsic merit of
the book is a secondary consideration in comparison with its market value
and exceptional scarcity. The Marquis d'Argenson. in his " Memoirs," has
given an account of a true specimen. " I remember," he says, " once paying
a visit to a well-known bibliomaniac who had just purchased an extremely
scarce volume quoted at a fabulous ptice. Having been gradously pei ' ' '
by its owner to inspect the treasure, I ventured innocently to remark I
had probably bought it with the philanthropic intention of having it reprinted.
• Heaven forbid I' he exclaimed, in a horrified tone ; ' how cotikl yo
me capable of such an act of fully P If I were, the book would be
scarce, and would have no value whatever. Besides,' he added, ' I doubt,
between ourselves, if it be worth reprinting.' 'In that case,' said 1, 'its
rarity appears to be its only attraction.' 'Just so,' he complacently replied ;
'and that is quite enough for me.'"
There is a story of » wealthy English collector who long believed that a
certain rare book ir "-' ' "■■ — '^-- "■ ■""' "
90 HANDY-BOOK OF
bitter blow. He learned Ihat there was another copy in Paris. Biil he soon
Tallied, and, crossing over the Channel, he made his way to the rival's home.
" You have such aitd such i book in your library V he asked, plungiiiE at
oi\<:t in midiasm. "Yes." "Well, I want to buy il" "But, my dear afr "
"I will give you a thousand francs for it." " But it isn't for sale ; I " "Two
thousand !" "On my word, I don't care to dispose of it." "Ten thousand ["
and HO on, till at last iwcnty-five thousand francs was offered, and the Parisian
gentleman finally consented to part with his treasure. The Englishman
counted out twenty'five thousand- franc bills, examined the purchase carefully,
smiled with satisuction, and cast the book into the lire. " Are you crazy i"
cried the Parisian, stooping over to rescue it. " Nay," said the fciiglishman,
detaining his arm, " I am quite in my right mind. I, loo, possess a copy of
that book. I deemed il a unique. I was mistaken. Now, however, thanks
to your courtesy, I know it"ts a unique." The story may not be true, but it
is quite true enough to point a moral with.
In "Gilbert Gurney" Theodore Hook has painted the portrait of the true
bibliomaniac in the person of Thomas Hull (otherwise Thomas Hill of per-
ennial memory), who is represented as carrying home in triumph from the
salc'rooms a Wack.ieller tract of 14S6, with five pages wanting out of the
original seventeen, and two others damaged ; a genuine Caxton, however, the
only copy extant except one in the British MuEicum, and secured by him for
the trifling sum of seventy-two pounds ten shillings. When asked what was
the subject of the treatise, he ingenuously owned thai he didn't " happen to
know" lial, but believed it to be an essay lo prove that Edward the Fourth
never had the toothache. " But," he added, " it is, as you see, in Latin, and I
don't read Latin."
" Horace," so runs the spiteful epigram upon some other Thomas Hull,—
Honcc be hu by nuny dllT<mii lundi,
Bui D« one Honcc Ihal be undentuidi.
When a man is first touched with the fever of bibliomania he is bound lo
make mistakes. He collects the wrong things, the things that have gone out
of fashion, the bargains that are bargains only for him who sells. Probably
he begins with Aldines. Anything with an anchor is good enough for him ;
it is long before he discovers thai there are Aldines and Aldines, — that even
the genuine works of the Aldi are not equally valuable, and thai there are
Aldines which are not Aldines at all, but merely cunning contemporary
coimterfells published at Lyons or at Florence. He is in ecstasies when for
a few shillings he purchases a Juvenal or a Persius marked 1501, for the
lext-books alTlell him that Aldus Manutius began the publication aUdUimtt
firindfei in 1503. He carries his bargain to some bibliophile and exultantly
Eroclaims that the text-books are in error. Then the bibliophile proves lo
im that 1501 is a typographical error for l^ll, that the error has long ago
been noted and pointed out, and from the heights of a superior erudition pro-
claims that the book is worth less than a common Oxford lexl. Elzevirs have
snares also for the unwary. An Elzevir Cxsar is hailed as a treasure, espe-
cially if it be perfect in all respects. Yet. ten to one, the same bibliophile
will point out that this very perfection destroys the value of the Elzevir, for
the paging is correct, whereas that of the genuine Elzevir is incorrect ; and
again the tyro reciunizes that he has the wrong sow by the ears. There is a
valueless book' called " 1^ Cnmtesse d'Escarbagnas.' How can the tyro be
' ■" " ' ' ■- ■ ■ ■ ■•- - the rare edition
has purchased
{- More likely
expected to know that this valueless book is worth %zyi in the rare edition
where Comlesse is misprinted Comteese } Perhaps, after he has purchased
all this experience, the amateur grows weary of book-hunting- More likely
be perseveres and becomes a <<<<-
LITERARY CVRIOSZTIES. 97
Even now there are all sorts of shoals and quicksands. The most expert
tnbliomaniac can only know the present ; he cannot forecast the future. The
canons which govern the buyers of books are as capricious atkd incalculable
as those which govern the buyers of blue china or rococo bric-i-brac. Prob-
ably the bouk-humer hinuelf would be puzzled to say why, at a time when
the craze for first editions was at its height, certain authors were eagerly
sought alter, and certain others, far their superiors, were comparalivelv neg-
lected. No one would think of naming Charles Lever in the same breath
with Sir Walter Scutt Yet first editions of Lever have brought a great
deal more than first editions of Scott. And, to complete the paradox, it is
the smaller and leiis important works of modern novelists thai lord it over
their acknowledged masterpieces, — an original "Vanity Fair" or "Charles
O'Malley" being looked upon as a trifle in comparison with the discovery of
a "Second Funeral of Napoleon" or "Tales of the Trains." For a year or
two the so-called Idiliims Jt luxe were in high favor ; to-day they are dis-
credited, being voted too cumbersome for every-day reading.
Let US take a famous anecdote to show how ^hion rules the price of books.
In lSt2, at the dispersal of the Roxburghe Library, — described as the Waterloo
of book-sates, — a copy of the " Valdarfer" Boccaccio, printed in Venii^e in
~~ ~ up. Of this rare book only half a dozen copies ai '
of the realm, who bid in person against each other, while the crowd
looked on agajie, — and the book was finally knocked down to the latter noble-
for j£2z6cs up to that time the largest sum of money ever paid for a
■ingle volume. Seven years later the library of the marquis himsell
the market, and this identical volume became the property of Lord Spet
for j£9t8, — a price less than one-half of what his formerly successful rival had
paid. And in 1S90 another co|>y of the same edition found its way to Eng-
land, and was knocked down for £230. To be sure, this copy had some slight
imperfections.
It is all very well to say that it is the rarity of a particular volume which
makes it valuable. In a rough and ready way, that is true, of course. But
tare books, possibly uniqiK copies, may every day be seen in old-book stores,
lied up with a dozen other books and labelled "This lot for ten cents." It is
all very well, again, to say that the book should be valuable as well as rare.
Many valueless books are highly prized by bibliomaniacs. A limited supply
must be conjoined to an active demand, there must be the pleasure and ex-
citement of the chase, the subsequent calm satisfaction of possessing an envied
rarity, or the book would be mere lumber. And the difficult problem to de-
termine is why, at certain periods, all the hounds are out and all the horsemen
off for one particular fox. It is certainty not because that fox is better than
any other fox. It is certainly not because that fox is coruidered a nobler
animal than other^inr mdura which would yield eqiuil pleasure in the chase.
Of course there are many rare books which are intrinsically interesting, and
are rendered valuable by the fact that many people, able to pay l»e prices for
them, would rejoice to have them. There is the famous letter of Christopher
Columbus announcing the discovery of the New World. A copy of the origi-
nal edition in Spanish is in the possession of Mr. E. F. Buonaventure in
Paris, and is priced in his catalogue at 65,000 francs, or 113.00a. Vet it is a
mere pamphlet of tout quarto pages, thirly-fout lines to the page. This may
be a mere "bluff" on the part of that excellent bibliophile, meant to keep the
letter at a prohibitive price, so as to obtain the full value of the centennial
boom given by the Chicago Fair to the memory of the great discoverer. Cer.
tain it is that another copy of the same edition, or what purported to be such,
Cooglf
98 HANDY-BOOK OF
was disp<Med of it Ihe Brayion Ives sale in New York (1891) for ^300. A
year previous, al Ihe equally memorable Barlow sale, a copy of the Latin
edition, published in 1493, had been purchased by the Boston Public Library
for (2900.
At this same Braylun Ives sale, the sum of ([4,goo was paid by Mr. W. E.
Ellsworth, of Chicago, for a Gutenberg Bible, the first bookever printed from
movable types. Here is an account of the purchase as it appeared in the New
VorkJ««of March 6, 1891:
WbcD the liuienberg Bible wu [cached there wu u clamung of huidi and ■
tacui of a eeDuine bmk-lova h'ii a^clian for Ibis lypognphicaf niDnuiiieiil
ily, Ihe vui
reivrv id utrUnd.ratveipvcul jndportaDce
imile, it* fODdilion, faeigbl, purity of velliimr
. . . , :f. Mr.
i boudhi ii in Europe. Al his sale in ifltt* the lale Mr, Haiailton Cole piuxhased ' ' "
MiT Quariich Tor £3500, and oSind'la Mr. lv» at li imali
When
" popped," waj piimhiued bv Mr. Quariich for £3500, and e
■dvani.'c, he immeilialely decided la piircbue Mr. llole > copy, tl te
Ihe lint book prioKd Hub type, and ii from the preu ai John Guleobeig about itjo. The
W. £. Ellsworth became the purcbaier Ux tx^^oa.
Is I his f 14,800 the highest price ever paid for a book F The French Bulimia
di tlmprimirie says not. Indeed, it " sees" that sum and goes it better bv
nearly )j5,[xx]. And it also claims that a still higher sum was once offered
fur another book, and refused :
What was the higheat price ever gjveD for any book T We may venture to lay that we know
of one for which a sum of lUpDoofiancs (/lo.ooo) wat paid by lu preieni owner, Ihe Gennan
govciDmenI That book it a miiHl, fonnerly given by Pope Leo X. to King Heniy VIII.
lilleoT " Defender of iht Failh." borne ever since by English kings. Uiarlei It. made a
pment of the missal 1Q the ancestor of the tamoui Duke of Hamihoo, irhoie eilensive and
valuable library was lold some yean a^o by MeHTB. Sothebv, Wilkinson h, Hodge^ of Lon-
don. The book which secured ihe highest ofrer wu a Hebnw Bible, In the ponesiion of Ihe
Vatican. Id ijii the Jews of Venice proposed to Pope Julius II. to buy the Bible, and lupaj'
for 11 Its weight in gold Ii was so heavy that it required two men to carry it. Indeed, it
weifhad three hundred and iwenty-live pouada, thus repreaenling the value of half a. million
of francs (j£»o,oool Though being much pressed for money, in order to keep up Ihe " Holy
League" agaiost King Louis XII of France, Julius II. declined to pan wjifa the volume.
Bigot. The amateur etymologist has always had tuts of fun with this
wold. Firsl corncx old Camden, who relates that when Rollo, Duke of Nor-
mandy, received Gisla, (he daughter of Charles Ihe Foolish, in marriage, he
would nol submit to kiss Charles's fool ; and when his friends urged hiin by
all means to comply with that ceremony, he made answer in the English
tongue — Ne .se bv Gud, — i.e., Nol re by God. Upon which the king and his
courtiers, deriding him, and corruptly repealing his answer, called him bigot,
which was Ihe origin of the term. Cotgrave's Dictionary (i6ii) calls it "an
old Norman word, signifying as much is 4e par Dim, or our 'for God's sake!'
made good French, ami signifying an hypocrite, or one that seemelh much
more holy than be is, also a scrujiulous and superstitious person." As we
come down to the present, guesses come fast and furious. As giwd as any is
Archbishop Trench's, who derives Ihe word from the Spanish "bigoie, a
musiachto. " Hombre de bigoie" is indifferenlly a "la" vith a moustache or
a man of resolution, " tener bigotes" is to stand firm, *■ and we all know ihal
Spain is still the land proverbial for miislachiiBi and bigotry" {iVK^o/Jfiir^).
Dr. Murray gives up the problem, and Ihe Century Diclionarv says, " Under
Ihis form two or more inde|iendent words appear to have been confused,
involving the etymology in a mass of fable and conjecture."
BlUlngasato. One of the ancient gates of London and the adjacent &*b-
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 99
market were known as Billing's gate (presumably from a iiersonal name),
which, in the modem form, as above, the market still retains. It has been
celebrated in literature for the eilceme foulness of the language used by its
denizens, especially the female ones. Hence to ihia duy fuul language is known
as Billingsgate.
JohnHmoDcenudaiibctwiihBDgvcUihHthe could so into ihe fiih-muh«i and put a Billing!.
£ue ivooku itJ A pauioii wHhDut Hying t- void thai ^ne could undcrvund. llie docior com-
mBHadbyiMmtlyindicaling wiibhunoflc ihaiberluh had p&ued the bluc iu which h mui'a
ol&ctaria couM enihiR their Haror. The EUImgs|[>ic lady made a vFtbal aUEck, commcm
dHHlgll In ndj^ indancCr wbkh impugned [he clas&iiiciuioi] in natural hiBlory of the doctor's
yoitneU^ jrou h^ mlibegottcD villain." " Vou art a noun, woman/' " Von — you — " siam.
UBwl Ibe woBum, cbokine wilh lage at a list of tides she could not understand. " You aie a
proaoun." The beMam ihoak her lilt in ipecchloa rage. " Vou are a verb— an adverb— an
applyiud the harmiesa epithets at proper tnlervaU. 'Tbe ni&e pane of apeech com^^i
quqed VK oid woman, and ihe dumped herself <)own in the mud, tryinff with ra^
iiuwi:^.— Akvihi : Encyelcfadia Jf Amtdelts.
BUls. This would seem an unpromising subject. Yet a few specimens
are worth filing among the brici-brac of literature. The trade-bills of Roger
Payne, the great English bookbinder, are highly valued by cuiiosily-htinlers
for the eccentric remarks with wKicli he adorned them. For example, on one
for tunding a copy of Barry's " Wines of the Ancietita" he wrote, —
Hotner, the bard who tuns in highest sErains,
Had, festive gift, a gobiet [or his pain) ;
Falemias gave Horace, Viigil file,
And b»Hey-wine my British muse ibsplrt.
Bailev-wiDe fint irom Egypt's learned shore,
B« Ihu the gift ID me from Calven's ston.
An Irish election-bill has decided merits. During a contested election
in Meath, early in this century. Sir Mark Soinerville sent orders to the pro-
prietor of the hotel in Trim to board and lodge all persons who should vole
for him. In due course he received the following bill, which he had framed
and preserved in Somerville House, County Meath. A copy of it was found
in the month of April, 1826, among the papers of the deceased Very Rev.
Archdeacon O'Connel], Vicar-General of the Diocese of Meath. It ran thus:
MV BILL VoUR HONOUR.
To eating ifi fieeholders above itaiia for Sir Mirkj at 33. 6d. 1 head is to me .... /i 13 o
For ealliu 16 more below stairs and two Priats after supper is to me a 15 9
To aia bed! tD one room and four in another at two guineas every bed and not more
to be too pATticular It a to me at lout ........ ... - - 79 rs 9
For ahavina and crappluc of the heada of the 41^ freeholder! fur Su- Marks at 13d. iw
evD^ bead of them by my btolher who has a vote, is to me . - a 13 t
wai Dot expected, it to me ten hogs,—] don'I mill of the Piper or for keeping
The total ii £100 loa. ^., you may say Cta ; 10 your honor Sir Mark
ercD hundred by Bryan himself, who and 1 prays for your success always in
sd iti place of Jemmy Caji s wife.
idred by Bryan
*7- — J ^jj place 01 Jemmy v..aji"s wire,
BRVAN X GARRATY
. Coogk"
■ Qyiag IcAp fi-nm Ibe vbJ1» of
■e mouth* of two of ihe Aveu
loo HANDY-BOOK OF
The following is given as a true bill, made by an artist, Tor repairs and
retouchings to a galleiy of paintings of an English lord in the ifear 1865
To filUng up tbc chink in ibe Red Sea and repairing ihe damago of Phuaoh's hoil.
To cicaning rix of the Apoilla and adding an <nsljnly nev Judas iKlriot,
To an alteniion Id Ihe Bdicf, mending ihc CommandnieDU, and making a new Lord'i
^i«rw vamiifaiDE Moms'j rod.
To npairlng NebucbadnercaT'i beard.
To mending the pilcher of Rebecca.
To a pair i^ can for BaJaam and a new tongue for the ait.
To nntwing the picnire of Samaon In the cbaracter of ■ fox-hunter and BUbstituting a whip
for the liiebraad.
>ome Scotch cwtje 10 Pharaoh't lean
To "ea^^nS^J^ith" hMdi
^'o planting a new city In the land of Nod.
To Rpairing Solomon'a now and mahing a Den nail to hit middle finger.
To an eiact repieteniation of Noah in the character of a general reviewing hb troopi
pteparjuory to Iheir march, with tbe dove dreued at an aide-decamp.
To paintmg Noah dreued in an adminl'i uniform.
To painting Samton making a preieni of bi> jav-bone 10 Ibe propriflon of the Britiih
Bindla|;. A ratnous tract entitled " De Bibliothecis Antedituvianis" pro-
fessed to give information about the libraries of Seth and Enoch. Setting aside
this inrormalion as not up to the requirements of modern historical criticism, it
is fairly safe to assume that the earliest germ of bookbinding was to be found
amoiiE the Assyrians, who wrote their books on terra-cotla tablets, and en-
closed these tablets in clay receptacles which had to be broken before the
contents could be reached. Tamil manuscripts of extreme antiquity are also
extant, to which a rounded form has been given by the simple expedient of
using larger leaves at the centre and adding others gradually shortened at
each side. The circle is surrounded by a metal band, lightly fastened by a
hook. How ia the Greeks improved upon these primitive methods it is
difficult to say, as their literature ftimishcs no details on the sub)ec^ but there
is a tradition that the Athenians raised a stattie to Phillatius, who invented a
!;lue for fastening together leaves of parchment or papyrus. Nay, Suidas, who
ived in the tenth century, contends that the Golden Fleece was only a book
bound in sheepskin which lauRhl the art of making gnltL IMd the Romans,
profiting by the invention of Phillatius, glue their papyrus leaves into book-t ?
A pretty controversy might be raised over a passage in one of Cicero's letters
to Atticus. He asks for a couple of librarians to glue (^utinare\ his books.
Dibdin translates the word " conglutinate." That ftrst syllable is the bone of
contention. Did Cicero mean to have his manuscripts made up in books, or
did he only require the sheets to be fastened into rolls, in the usual Roman
manner? Dibdin l>elicves the former. But it is an arricle of faith with the
modern bibliophile that Dilidin made a tnislake wherever possible, and that
mistakes were iKissible to him where they would have been impossible to any
one else. Nevertheless, the papyrus rolls were in theit way handsome speci-
mens of the art of bookbinding, with their leather covers, gold bosses, gold
ir^inder, ^nd perfumed illuminated leaves. Mediicval bindings were gener-
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. loi
alljr of carved ivory, metal, or wood, covered irith itamped leather, and
fr«]iiently adorned vrilh bosses of gold, gems, and precious stones. Of course
tbey could not be kept on shelves, like modem volumes; (hey would have
scratched one another. Each had its embroidered silken case, or tkemitt, ant^
when especiallif valuable, its casket of gold. Books in libiatles, churches,
and other public places were protected from theft by being chained lo shelves
and reading-desks. When, as often happened, the volume was loo heavy to
be lifted, the desk upon which it was chained was made to revolve. A print in
La Croix's " Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance," representing the library in the
University of Leyden, shows that this custom continued down to the seven-
teenth century. Books so chained were called Catenati. With the ii
of printing, regular bookbinding, in the modern sense of the word, began.
Wixiden cavers and stamped pig-skin gradually gave way before the lighter
styles introduced by the Italians and perfected by the French. Early in the
sixteenth century morocco was introduced, the arts of the printer and the
biitder were differentiated, and new decorai' ---'>--
of enerey thus attained and its direction into the right channel. The bindings
aflectedby the great people of the court of France had a distinct individualily.
Henri [I. and Diane de Poictient displayed the crescent, the how, and the
quiver uf Diana, and the blended initials n. and D. Francis I. had his sala-
manders. Marguerite the flower from which she derived her name. The pious
Henri HI. rejoiced in figures of the Crucifixion, in counterfeit tears with long
curly tails, and in various emblems of mortality. In tiie reign of Louis XIV. it
became fashionable to emboss the owner's arms upon his books. Madame de
Maintenon had her famous copy of the "De Imitatione Chrisli" so decorated,
— the copy which contained the engraving of the lady saying her prayers at
SL-Cyr, when the roof of the chapel opens and a t^vine voice says, "Tins is
she in whose beauty the king is well pleased." But the engraving was
thought indiscreet and suppressed. These blazons needed no special skill,
and they do not improve the beauty of a volume, hut they are now valued at
exorbitant prices if they evidence that the book belonged to some famous
library or some exalted personage. In the eighteenth century, ornamental
l^res of birds and flowers became common, together with mosaics of varinus-
colored leather. The Revolution brought temporary ruin upon the an of
bookbinding. Morocco was culpable luxury, and coats of arms were an insult
to the Republic There is an oft-quoted story of the French literary man of
'794t a great reader, who always stripped o5 the covers of his books and
threw them out of his window. What had a citizen to do with morocco bind-
ilh the gildings of Le Gascon or Derome, the trappings of an effete
■ ftrh '
ing-man of any other guild, cannot use a gorgeously- bound book as one of the
implements of his trade. He puts an inky pen into the leaves of one volume,
be l^t another on its face, he uses the leg of a chair to keep a folio open and
[ the pregnant passage. But there is a class of drones, of literary
Toluptuariea and sybarites, who love to see their libraries well clothed.
Perhaps the most unique binding in the world is in the Albert Memorial
Exhibition in Exeter. England. It is a Tegg's edition of Milton (1S51). and,
according to an affidavit pasted on the fly-leaf, (he binding is part of the skin
of one George Cudmore, who was executed at Devon March 35, 1S30. The
skin is dressed white, and looks something like pig-skin in grain and texture.
Bird. A bird In Uie hand !• worth two In tbe bnab. Will Somers,
the celebrated jester to Henry VIIL, happened to call on Lord Surrey, whom
he had often, by a well-timed jest, saved from the king's displeasure, and
whok consequently, was always glad to see him. He was on this occasion
irthered into the aviary, where he fbtind my lord amusing himself with hli
9"
...Google
loa HAND y-BOOK OF
tririls. Somers happened to admire Ihc plumage or a kingfisher. "Bymj
Lady, my prince of wits, 1 will give il to you." Will gkip|>cd about with de-
light, and swore by the great Harry he was a moat noble genlleman. Awajf
Weill Will wilh his kingfisher, telling all his acquaintances whom he met that
his friend Surrey had just presented him with il. Now, il so happened that
l.ord Northampton, who had seen Ihia bird the day previous, arrived al Lord
Surrey's just as Will Somers had left, with the intention o( asking the bird of
Surrey for a present lo a lady friend. Great was his chagrin on finding ihe
bird gone. Surrey, however, consoled him with saying thai he knew .Somers
would restore il if he (Surrey) promised him two some other day. Away
weni a messenger to the prince of wits, whom he Found in rapturcH wilh bis
bird, and to whom he delivered his lord's message. Great was Will's sur-
prise, bul he was not to be bamboozled by even the monarch himselE "Sirrah,"
said Will, " tell your master Ihat I am much obliged for his liberal cifTer of Iwo
for one, but Ihat I prefer one bird in hand to Iwo in Ihe bush." This is the
good old story lold about the phrase, but, if true, Somers was quolinE rather
than originating, as Ihe proverb antedates him. The analogous Fiencn saying
is " Un tiens vaut deux tu I'auras."
Bird. A littls bird told ms. An almost universal adage, based on Ihe
popular idea that this apparently ubiquitous wanderer, from Ihe vantage- point
of the upper air, spied out all strange and secret things, and revealed them to
such as could undetsland. Thus, in Eccles, x. 20 1 "Curse not the king, no,
not in thy Ihoughl 1 and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber : for a bird of
Ihe air shall carry the voice, and thai which hath wings shall tell the mailer."
The Greek and Roman soothsayers not only drew auguries from Ihe flight of
birds, but some pretended 10 a knowledge of their language which made Iheni
privy to Ihe secrets they had to reveal. And how was Ihis knowledge
attained ? There were various recipes. Pliny recommends a mixture of
snake's and bird's blood. Melampus is more exacting. He says you must
have your ears licked by a dragon; but then few of us have any social
acquauilance wilh dragnns. Nevertheless, the art mu acquired by many.
Solomon, according to ihe Koran, was lirsl informed by a lapwing of all the
doings of the Queen uf Sheba. Mahomet himself was inslrucled by a pigeon,
whicn whispered in his ear in presence uf the multitude. In the Mahabharata,
King Nsinata is taught by a dove, which is the spirit uf God. In the old
wood-cuts of Ihe " Golden Legends" Ihe Popes are distinguished by a dove
whispering in their ear. In the Saga of Siegfried the hero understands bird-
language, and receives advice from his feathered friends. And talking birds,
as well as other animals, appear in the folk-lore of every country. Proverbial
and popular literature also abound with allusions 10 the spying habits of birds,
' n the old Greek saw, " None sees me but the bird thai flieth by," to the
;e in the Nibelungen LJed, one of many, " No one hears us but God
le forest bird." An eavesdropper is ever a gossip, so it is an easy tran-
sition from listening to repealing what is heard.
The verytastlinesof Shakespeare's "Henry [V., Part II." refer looursubjecii
W< beu our dvU iwonli and nilivt lirt
Ai fu u Fruce : I hard ■ Inrd u •ing.
Wh«e mink: 10 my ihinking pluied Ifae kui(.
Bla datqol olto dat {L, " He gives twice who gives quickly"), a proverb
shortened from the 245lh sentence of Publius Syrus, " Innpi beneficium bis
qui dat celetiler" (" He gives a double beneAt to the needy who gives
kiy"). Even a prompt reiuaal, according to the same aulhotity. should be
irompt : " Pars est beneficii quod petttur si cito neges" (" A prompt refusal
las in part the grace of a favor granted"). And Shakespeare's lines are used
o urge expedition in all things, good or evil :
d*^e f
"- X-,
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
t ven done when Mi done, then 'tven weU
QtuoiEIIj
B9 dilatory eaough Lo tuits, of her own DHtirn ; and Ihe Lord lYcssura
Bishop (Gr. hionoirof , " overlooker," " overseer"}- A curunis example of
word-chanee. as effecled by (he genius of different toiigues, is furnished by
the English biibi^ and the French hii^. Both are Trom the same root,
furnishing, perhaps, the only example o( two words from a common slem so
modifying themselves in huloruai times as not lo have a letter in common,
(Of course many words from a &r-off Aryan slem are In Ihe same condition.)
The English strikes off the initial and terminal syllables, leaving only piscop,
which (he Saion preference for the softer labial and hissing sounds niodiSed
into bishop. Evfgue (formerly evesque) merely softens (he / into v and
drops (he last syllable.
Biter Bit A proverbial phrase meaning that one is caught in one's own
trap, that the (ables have been turned. Biter is an old word fnr sharper, and
may be found with that meaning at least as fat back as 1680. But early in the
eighteenth century the humorous diversion known as a bite was introduced
into exalted circles. Swift, in a letter 10 Rev. Dr. Tisdall, December 16, 1703,
describes it thus : " I'll teach you a way to outwit Mrs. Johnson ; it is a new-
fashioned way of being witty, and they call it a bite. Vou must ask a banter-
ing question, or tell some damned lie in a serious manner, and then she will
answer or speak as if you were in earnest, and then err you, ' Madam, there's
a bite I' 1 would not have you undervalue this, for it is the constant amuse-
ment in court, and everywhere else among the great people ; and I let you
know it. in order lo have it obtain among you, and leach you a new reiine-
menL" Now, when the gudgeon refused to rise to the bait, one can well
understand that Ihe biter might be said to be bit Another very plausible
derivation of the phrase, which, even if not its actual origin, undoubtedly helped
to establish it in popular favor, is thus suggested by a correspondent in Notes
and Qutriei (siith series, iv. 544) : "A case came within my own knowledge
not long ago, where the severe remedy was tried of biting a child who had
contracted the habit of biting others, I have no doubt that il will be found
to be a recognized part of old-liuhioned nursery discipline, which gave rise to
the common expression, the biter bit."
BlttM end, originally a nautical expression applied to the end of a ship's
cable. Admiral Smyth s "Sailor's Word-Book" explains it as " that part of
the cable which is abaft tha bitU," — two main pieces of timber to which a
cable is fastened when a ship rides at anchor. When a chain or rope is paid
out to the Utter end, no more remains to be let go, Il seems, therefore, that
the phra.se "to the bitter end" was originally used as equivalent to the ex-
treme end, bul the non-nautical mind (misinterpreting Ihe word titter) gradu-
ally made il synonymous with to Ihe bitter dregs, to the death, in a severe or
pitiless manner, from a fancied analogy to such expressions as a " bitter foe."
"the biiier east wind," etc.
Bitter Street in " As you Like It," Shakespeare makes his Jaques speak
of "chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancies" (Act iv., Sc, ^), Some edi-
tions would have us read food instead of cud, but the proverbial use of Ihe
phrase discards all conjectural amendment, — the more so that in this case it is
a distinct defilement of sense and sound. The close approximation of plea*-
Googlc
HANDY-BOOK OF
authors, both before and since Martial
EKffidlis, fmcilis, jucundid, Acobus n idem \
Quarles comes very close to the Shakespearian phrase in (he line^
Spenser says, —
And here are a Tew more examples :
Behind' Ihe Bepi?!^ n
Appra.c1.ii.E comfort
tcn'\a»At
Ch«d«dby«bkr°'S"u
inful iDife
ny of life.
Cll«Y.
Under pain pleuure
Uoder pItuuR pain
ao«: ThtSfhinx.
m.1. of pleuure i. .^m^
m>: J^ilTuaeUi.
1 IweetneH m ^^^^^
, ,.... PuUnE is Buch nreet urroi
Good-nifhl, gDod-nichl I PuUnf is Huch nreet urrow
*" It 1 (lull ur Eood-Dight lill it be siocrow.
SHjkKRSPSAXS : Rmit and yoliil, Acl U.
In black and white is to preserve it in print or in writing.
least as old as Ben Jonson's time :
Ihiveitbenin black tBi -tflnlti/iaU eul l/it marranl) .—Eviry Maniu kit Humtur,
There is a current phrase for a paradoiical or illogical reasoner, " He Would
try to prove that blacit is white." Curiously enough, in the etymological sense
black ii white. The word black (Aoglo-Saion Mac, Mate) is rundameii tally
the same as the old German 6laeh, now only to be found in (wu r>r three com-
pounds,— e^., Blach/tld, a level held. It meant originally level, bare, and was
used to denote black, bare of color. But the nasalized form of black is blank,
which also meant originally bare, and was used in the sense of while, because
white is (apparently) bare of color.
Black Box. When Charles II. was king and the Duke of York heir
preiiumptive, a large parly of the common people wished to have llie Duke
of Monmouth, Charles's putative son, recogniied as heir to the crown, and a
legend was started that there eiisled somewhere a black boi containing a
written marriage contract between the king and Monmouth's mother, the
"bold, brown, and beautiful" Lucy Wallers. In '■ Lorna Doone," John Ridd
says of his mother, " She often declared that it would be as famous in history
at the Rye House, or the meat-lub, or (lie great black box, in which she was
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. It>S
Block Monday. The nams given to a memorable Easier Monday in ihe
year 1351, which was very dark and mistv. A great deal of hail fell, and ihe
cold in said to have been so inCenae that hundreds died from Jls effects. The
name afterwards came to be applied to the Monday after Easier of each
year. It is also a scbool-boy term for the Monday on which school reopens
after vacation.
Blaok IVBtob. The name by which the Forty-Second Highlanders ate
bmiliatly known in the British army. Among the many deeds of daring per-
ibrmed by them in recent wars three stand out pre-eminent. They were one
of the three Highland regiments with which Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards
Lord Clyde) br^e the Russian centre at the Alma, on Ihe 20th of Septem-
ber, 1854. Thev formed pan of the immortal "Ihin red line tipped with
steel" against which an overwhelming Kussian force shattered itself in the
memoT^le attack upon Balaklava five weeks later. In the advance upon
Coomassie during General Wolseley's Ashantee campaign, in January. 1874,
the " Ulack Watch" bore the brunt of the great fight at Amoaful, suffering
severe loss in carrying at the |H)int of the layonet a thick wood held by na-
tive sharp-shooters. Indeed, they have fully obeyed the injunction with which
their chief led them up (he Alma hill-side : " Now, my men, make me proud
of the Highland Brigade."
Blamay literally means a little field (Irish blama, diminutive of Mar, a
"field"). Its popular signification of flattery, palavering rhodomontade, or
wheedling eloquence may have originated in LordClancarly s frequent promises,
when the prisoner of Sir George Care w, to surrender his strong castle of Blarney
to the soldiers of the queen, and as nlien inventing some smooth and plausi-
« for exonerating himself from his promise, tllaniey (.
, osinic ruin, situated in the village ol Blarney, some ^ui . ...
Cork, was buMt in the early part of the Gueenlh century by Cormac McCarthy,
the Prince of Desmond. No one appears to know the exact origin of the
famous Blarney Stone, or whence it derived its miraculous power of endowing
those who kiss it with the gift of " blarney." In some way it found itself one
day upon the very pinnacle of the castle tower with the date 1703 carved upon
II It is now preserved and held in place by two iron girders between huge
merlons of the northern projecting jiarapet, nearly a hundred feet above the
feel degraded by following Ihe general example. Like the famous toe of St.
Peter's statue in Rome, the lip-service of tourists is gradually wearing it
away. The date has already been obHteraled, and the shape and size luve
altered so much that people who visit it at long intervals find it difficult to
believe it is the same slune.
Biases, in English and American slang, a euphemism lor the infernal
Tenons, from the (lames which theologians are wont to describe. This is
evidently the meaning in expressions like "Go to blaies 1'' But in what looks
at first sight like an identical expression, " Drunk as blazes," another ety-
mology has been suggested, making it a corruption of Blai^ers or Blaizers, —
£/., the mummers who took part in Ihe processions in honor of the good bishop
and martyr St. Blaise, patron saint of English wool-COmbers. The uniform
con vitality on these occasions made the simile an appropriate one.
Bl«Bsins — Cmie. Walter Scott makes one of his characters desoibe
Rob Roy as "o'er bad for blessing, and o'er good for banning." This same
antithesis had already been put into proverbial verse Ibnn :
Coogk"
Io6 HAl^DY-BOOK OF
Tw bad lor ■ blevdnc too Eood foi a cune^
I wlih is my loiil you «m btilet or wont.
In the same way Corneille said of Richelieu, after his death, —
II \ bli [rop dc nl^pour en dire ttu Inen!
BUncUnaa'a Holiday, a humorous locution, Tormerly used more widely
than at present, to deHJenate ihe lime )usl before the candles or lamps are
lighted, when It Is too dark to work and one is obliged to rest, or "take a
holiday." With the su|>erior readiness of gas and electricity, the holiday now
need be of infinilesimal duration. The phrase is found as far back as 1599,
in Nash's " Lenten Stuffe" \Harl. Mile., vi. 167) : " What will not blind Cupid
do in the night, which is his blindman's holiday?" Swift's " Polite Conversa-
tion," a mine of cmilemporary slang, does not overlook this phrase: " Indeed.
madam, it is blindman's holiday ; we shall soon be all of a color."
Blooka of Five, a phrase that became famous in American politics during
the Harrison- Cleveland Presidential campaign (|83S). The Democratic man-
agers made wide circulation of a letter alleged to have been written by Colonel
W. W. Dudley. Treasurer of the Republican National Committee. Its most
salient feature was a recommendation to secure " floaters in blocks of five."
This was construed to mean the purchase of voters at wholesale rates. Colonel
Dudley denied the letter, and instituted suits fur libel, which were abandoned
after the election.
c havehcn only a modlfiaitiop of jin old w
Tbis phciK origiiuied Cram the praclicc
pertons wiib ajob la carry ihrougb. uatd
. Ihc accuser oTSocmtes, u.uailTbu ihe i'
remariu. "doubtictt a jury nuib would r«l
mUer confidrncc if hf knew he had nine olhen wiling by him who FiMcl been bribed."
the Bibjtnrished^ by Colonel Dudley in hi)°lei«!re'hour» bef^'Se'neil elcokJJit^ld bi
very gnteTully received.— M. H. MoKGAK, in i lener to N. Y. A'a/uH of November ii. i3«9.
Blood is thicker than water.— 1>., a telation is dearer than a slran^er.
This phrase is someiimes ascribed to Commodore Talnall, of the United
Slates Navy, who assisted the English in Chinese waters, and, in his despatch
to his government, justilied his interference in these words. Sometimes it is
ascribed to Scott, who puts it in the mouth of Itailie Nicnl Jarvie in "Guy
Mannering," ch, mvii. But Tatnall and Scciti were merely Quoting an old
saw duly recorded in "Ray's Proverbs" (1671), which was probably in common
use long before. Blood stands fur traceable, admitted consangumity ; water,
for the chill and colorless Huid that flows through the veins of the rest of
mankind, homiats hemini lupi, who take but cold interest in the happiness
of a stranger. Water, too, in our early writers, was symbolic of looseness,
inattachment, falsity. " Unstable as water" is the scriptural phrase. Thicker
•ignifles greater consistency and substance, — hence closeness of attachment,
adhesiveness. " As thick as thieves," = as close as bad men when banding for
evil enterprise. Blood is alwavs thought binding. Conspirators have signed
their bonds with their own blood, as martyrs have their attestation of the
truth. " He cemented the union of the two families by marriage." is a stock
Ehrase with historians. Quitting metaphor for physical fact, we find that the
lood as well as the hair of oxen has been used to bind mortar togethir and
give greater consistency than nierc water, as is reported of the White Tower
The proverb may also allude to the spiritual relationship which, according
to Ihe Roman Catholic Church, is created between the sponsor and the child
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 107
The relaiionship by blood would
Bloody, a vulgar intensive used in a variety of ways, especially by London
roDgha. Dr. Murray rejects all derivations which would imply any profane
origin, such as 'sblood or the very absurd By'r Lady suggested by MaxO'Rell,
He holds that there is good reason to think it was atTrst a rereteiice tu ihe
habiO of the " bloods" or aristocratic rowdies of the end of (he seventeenth
and ihe beginning of Ihe eiehleenlh century. Bloody drunk mu»l originally have
meant as drunk as a blood ; thence the adjective was extended 10 kindred ex-
pressions, its popularity being greatly enhanced by its sanguinary sound and
Its affiliation with Ihe adjective in bloody murder, bloody buichei, etc
Bloody chaam, To Bliake hands acrosB the. An American phrase
which sprang up immediately after the civil war, among those peace-loving
orators, writers, and speakers who were anxious I0 oblileiatc all memories o(
the fratricidal struggle. People of an opposite temper were said to '■ wave Ihe
bloody shirt,"
Bloody ahirt In American political slang, " (o wave the bloody shirt,"
sometimes euphemized into "the ensanguined garment," means lo keep up
the sectional issues of Che civil war by appeals 10 pTejudice and passiun.
A probable origin of the phrase may be found In a Cursican custom nearly,
if not quite, o^olete. In (he days of (he fierce vmditli — (he feuds wliich
divided Corsican family from family— bloodshed was a common occurrence.
Before the burial of a murdered man \iitgridaia was celebrated. This word,
which literally means a crying aloud, may be translated a " wake," The Ixidy
of Ihe vlclim was laid upon a plank ; his useless tire-arms were placed near
bis hand, and his blood-slained shirt was hung above his head. Around the
rude bier Bat a circle of women, wrapped in their black mantles, who rocked
themselves lo and fro wilh strange wailings. The men, relalivcs and friends
of the murdered man, fully armed, Stood around (he room, mad with (hirsl
(or revenge. Then one of the women — (he wife or mother or sister of the
dead man — with a sharp scream would snatch the bloody shirt, and, waving
it aloft, begin the wofm",— Ihe lamentation. Tliis rhythmic discourse was
made up of allcmale expressions of love for Ihe dead and hatred of his
enemies ; and its slaitling images and tremendous curses were echoed in the
faces and muttcrings of the armed mourners. It was by a nol unnatural tran-
sition that (he phrase "bloody shirt" became applied to demagogical utter.
ances concerning [he Southern Rebellion.
Bln« is a favorite adjective for ihe impossible In popular phrase and fable.
The Blue Flower of the German tomanlicisis represented the ideal, the
unattainable ; and in Prance Alphonse Karr has domesllcated the similar
expression " blue roses." "Once In a blue moon" means never. "To blush
like a blue dog." an expression (hat Is preserved In Swift's " Pullle Conver-
sation," means not (o blush a( all. More than a century earlier, however,
Stephen Gosson, in (he"Apologie for the School of Abuse" (1579), speaks
with similar meaning of "blushing like a black dog." Sometimes blue is
used as an Intensive. Thus, school-boys speak of "blue fear" and "blue
funk," and the phrase lo "drink till all is blue" is a( least as old as Ford's
"Lady's Trial" (1639). "Blue ruin" is a popular English eplthr( fur an
Inferior sort of eln, and finds its analogue In the French "vin bleu" applied
to thin sour wine. In French also, as in English, blue is a synmiyme for
despondency. "To be in (he blues," " to have a fi( of the blue devils," has
id Gallic equivalent In "en voir des bleues" — a variant of "en voir des
grises" — and " en £(re bleu," " en res(er tout bleu," — all meaning to despair, to
Io8 HANDY-BOOK OF
meet with suffering or disappointment. In English slang "to talk blue" it
ti) talk immodeslly. " Blue blazes" means hell, — probably from the sulphur
associated with il. A "blue apron" is an amaleur statesman, from the blue
apron once botiie by tradesmen generally,— now restricted to butchers, fish-
mongers, poullerers, etc.
BlUA Blood. This term comes from the Spanish eiptession sangre atal
applied to Ihe aristocracy of Caslile and Atagon. After the Moors were
driven oul of Spain, ihe aiistociacy was held to Consist of those who traced
their lineage back to ihe time before the Moorish conquest, and especially to
the fair -haired and light-complexiuned Goths. Their veins naturally appeared
through their skin of a blue color, while the blood of the masses, contaminated
by the Moorish infusion and lo lesser degree by miscegenation wilh negroes
and Basques, showed dark upon Iheir bands and face^ So (he white Span-
iards of old race came to declare that Iheir blond was blue, while that of the
common people was black. Owing to inter marriage, there is very litlle
genuine blue blood left In Spain ; but - "^ — ='- '-- -■ '- --' '-■
and purely Gothic, and holding positi
in Yucatan at the present day.
In England, however, it wa.1 anciently held that the thick and dark blood
was the best. " Thin -blooded" or " pale- blooded" means weak and cowardly.
Shakespeare never loaded words more heavily with significance thati when he
made Lucio call Angelo, in " Measure for Measure," —
The wuiion MJUgl and motioni of the ■«□«!.
Blue Hen'a Chiokena, a nickname for the inhabitants of Delaware. The
accepted origin is that one Capuin Caldwell, who commanded a Delaware
regiment, was notorious for bis love of cock-fighting. He drilled his men
admirably, and they were known in Ihe army as "Caldwell's game-cocks."
The gallant captain held a peculiar theory that no cock Was really game unless
il came from a blue ben ; and ibis led lo the subslilution of Blue Hen's
Chickens as a nickname for his regiment After the Revolutionary war [he
nickname was applied indiscriminately lo all Delawareans.
Bins Ughta, an American political term. When the British fleet lay off
New London, Connecticut, during the war of iSii, blue-lighis were frequently
seen near Ihe shore. These Commodore Decatur, whose ships lay near by,
attributed to traitors ; though, indeed, facts go to prove Ihat no American was
ever discovered burning one. Goodrich, in his " Recollections," says, "Bine
Lights, meaning treason on (he part of Coniieclicut Federalists during the
war, is a standard word in the flasn dictionary of Democracy." Again, " Con-
neclicul Blue Lights are Ihe grizzly monster wilh which the nursing fathers
and mothers uf Democracy fnghlen Iheir children into obedience — just before
elections."
Blae Nose, a common nickname for a Nova-Scotian, sometimes explained
as an allusion to the purple tinge not rarely seen on Ihe noses of Nova-Sco-
lians, and presumably due to the coldness of Ihe winters ; sometimes derived
from the Blue-nosC polato, a great favorite for its delicacy, Il is more jirob-
able that Ibe name of the potato was based on the sobriquet, and not vice verso.
Hence Blue-nose potato means a Nova Sculia polalu.
Blna-a locking, a humc
an authoress or a lady of a ^
altered standard of judgment as to female educ
coniparaiive disuse. In the eighteenth century and the beginning of the
/.ooglc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I09
present it was v«ry common. The familiar explanation '\i (hat the term was
first applied to a (emale colerie in Dt. Johnson's time. But it is a question
whether it arose at Mrs. Montagu's or at Mrs, Vesey's receptions, or what
was ihe exact reason of its adoption. One story states that a Mr. Stillingfleel
was one of the males admitted lo Mrs. Montagu's evening ])arties, that his
dress was rematliably plain, even to a pair uf blue worsted stockings in lieu
of silk, but that his conversalion was so stimulating that in his absence the
remark was frequently made, "We can do nothing without Ihe blue stock-
ings." And thus by degrees the title was established. This version seems lo
be supported by a passage in one of Mrs. Montagu's letlers dated 1757. where
she observes that Mr. Slillingfleet "has left off his old friends and his blue
stockings, and has taken lo frequenting operas and olher gay assemblies."
But in the "Memoirs" of one of the greatest of all the 1)1 uc -stockings, Mrs.
Elizabeth Carter herself (published in i3i6), it is said of Mrs. Vesey's literary
parlies that "there was no ceremony, no cirds, and no supper. Even dresa
was so little regarded that a foreign gentleman who was 10 go there with an
acquaintance was told in jest that it was so little necessary that he might
appear there, if he pleased, in blue stockings. This he understood in the
literal setise, and, when he spoke of it in French, called it the Bas Dleu meet-
ing. And this was the origin of the ludicrous appellation of the Hlue Stocking
Club." Hannah More, also, in Ihe "advertisement" to her plea~ '"'
poem "The Bas Bleu; u^. Conversation," writes, "The following Ititle o
lis birth and name to the mistake of a foreigner of distinction, who gave
literal title of the Bas Bleu to a small party of friends who have often been
oiled, by way of pleasantry, the Blue -Stockings." Surely Hannah must have
known sometning definite about the derivation of the title of her own beloved
clique. She, too, slates that Ihe society used lo meet at Mrs. Vesey's, not at
Urs. Montagu's.
Bltto, Ana. The fancy thai blue was the color of truth, as green was of in-
constancy, is a very anci'-nl one, dating back to the party distinctions in ancient
Rome. In the factions of the Circus of Ihe Lower Empire the emperor Anas-
lasius secretly favored the CrwM, Justinian openly protected the Blati: thence
the former became the emblem of disaffectirm, and the latter of loyally. The
idea appears very early in English literature. Thus, in the "Squiere's Tale"
erf Chaucer, we read, —
And by bin beddc'i bed she nude > mew,
LoyDUdu foike (quod ihe) tlui kuele id blew.
Id »Ip;H Ihey were Uld ever wil be due.
"True blue" as tbe partisan color of the Covenanters, in opposition to Ihe
•carlel badge of Charles I., was first adopted by Ihe soldiers of Lesley and
Montrose in 1639, partly under the influence of the Mosaicat precepi, " Speak
to the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in tbe
borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put
upon the fringe of the borders a riband of blue" {/ifiimbcri xv. 38). The
phrase true Hue now has a general application, and means stanch, loyal, firm
m the laith.
Bo«t^ To b« in the sam«. a ptovertHal expression, common lo many lan-
guages, meaning to be embarked in the same enterprise, to be in Ihe same
condition, espeaally if nnfortanale. The words "i»e are in the same boat"
no HANDY-BOOK OF
were DMd by Clement I., Bishop of Rome (circa a.d. 91 to too), in a letter
)o the church of Cotinth un the occasiun of a dissension. The letter, which
is still extant, is prized as an important memorial of the early Church.
Hax yc pun, h likewiK [Mra bavt w*.
For in one boju wc both embarked be.
Hudson : yWrf*. iU. 1. aj. (158*).
Boa^ To baT« an oai In aitotli«r'B. To meddle with other people's
BoboUtlon, Bobolltioniat; derisive epithets for Abolition, Abolitionist,
used by the enemies o( the emancipation muvemenl in its early days. A cor-
respondent of the New York Nation remembered having seen the word bobo-
lition at least as earlv as 1814 " on a bioadsheel containing what purported to
be an account of a Iwbolilion celebration at Boston, July 14. At the lop uf
the broadsheet was a grotesque procession of negroes. Among the toasts, or
sentiments, were the lollowing :
" Massa Wilberrorce, de brack man bery good friend ; may he nebbei want
a bolish to he boot."
" De Nited Stale ; de land ob libity, "cept he keep slave at de South. No
cheer I Shake de head I"
" Dis year de fourth ob July come on de fifth ; so, ob course, de fourteenth
come on de fifteenib."
Book beer, a corruption of "Eimbecker" beer, its original home being
the little town of Eimbcck, Hanover. So famous was it all through the
Middle Ages that no other beer, nor even the costliest wine, could compare
with it in popularity. Attempts were soon made to produce it in other local-
ities. Thus the remembrance of the original name was gradually losL " Eim-
beck" became successively " Eimbock," " eio bock," and finally plain " bock."
This popular word •transformation is already several hundred years old, for in
the Land- und Poliieiordnung of 1616 a "bock meet" is referred to, which
"should only be brewed to meet the necessities of the sicL" Popular ety>
mology, of course, insists that bock beer means goat beer, bock being German
for goat, and this fancy is perpetuated by the picture of a goat rampant, which
usually appears on lavern.signs and olMfcr advertisements of the beer. Tra-
dition even furnishes a myth to explain the phrase. Long ago, it is said, the
devil appeared in the guise of a goat to a love-sick and rejected swain, and
taught him the secret of making bock beer for the customary price of his soul.
The people raved over the new decoction. The brewer prospered and married
his sweetheart. At the end of the stipulated time the devil appeared to claim
his own, but was skilfully inveigled into a bock beer intoxication, and when he
awoke from his drunken stupor he was glad to sneak home without his priie.
Bock beer, it may be added. ditTers from ordinary lager only in that an excess
of malt is added to make it sweeter. It will not keep as long as lager. Brewed
in January or February, it is placed on the market in April or May, and is in
season for about a month.
Bogus, American slang for counterfeit, spurious, fictitious, which has now
passed into general circulation. The amateur etymologist has made many
interesting guesses as to the origin of this word, but none have any philo-
logical value. Here is the most amusing and the most widely current,
copied (irom the Boston Daily Courier of June 11, 1857 \
ippijiing
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
» nr Ihc Koulbwat with ■ vsit amounl of COUDK
lut of the " forgetive
mc Kicu Well and ponioDi or ihc Southwat with i
»id '■ Bc»b1>=«-" T*" WmirD pwplt, who an n , . .
ud ha bill*, and all oiber bilS of like cbanclu, wen univcnally itylcd bogus currency,™
The earliest use of the word bo far discovered is recorded in the " Nctr
Enelish Dicliunaty" as occurring in the Painesville |0.) TtligrafA of July 6
ancf Novembei 2, l?^l^. It is (here a substantive, applied lo an apparatus Tor
coining false money. Dr. Murray has a sly hit at Ihe "bogus derivations
circumatanlially given," but does not Commit himself to any.
Boiled or Biled Bblrt, a white shirt, — especially when newly laundricd, —
a termof mild derision, if not actual reproach, which sprang up among Ihe
pioneer miners of the Western States, and is still more common in the West
than in the East
fiui they were rough id thote timet I If a man wujted a fighi on hla handi without any
■bDoying delay, all nv had lo do was u> appear in public in a while shin or a stovepipe hat,
Hid he would be accommodated. For those p«p]e hated ariitocratfl^ They had a pAt'
licular and Eaallgnanl animosity toward what they called a bilcd shin.^ — Mark TwAir^;
Boodla. There arc two American slang words spelt thus, each distinct in
meaning and apparently of different origin and etymology. The firsl and
elder word, which now appears more frequciitly in the intensified form caboo-
dle, meaning a crowd, a company, is not impossibly derived from the old
English ioOei, a bundle, and there is reason to believe that it is a survival of a
Cormer English colloquialism. F. Markham, in his " Book of Honour," iv. z,
speaks of "all the buddle and musse" of great men. The later and now
more common word, meaning money, and especially money gained by gam-
Uing. venality, at other dubious methods, or employed for corrupt political pur-
poses, may be a form of the Dutch word btdJtl, which means " pocket" and
also " purse."
The Professor bu Wn (o see me. Came In, gloiloia, al sboul twelve o'clock, last nighl.
cieatioD" in all its details &om ihal set of his. He would like to hhvc the whole bondk of
tbem (I remonstrated afainat this word, but (he ProfeHor said it was a diabolish good word,
and he would have no outer), with Lheit wives and childien, sbipvptecked on a remote isEaod,
jusi Vt see how splendidly they would leoriEaniie society. — O. W. Holhbs : Anixrai eft/u
Sriat/atI- TaiU, p. iio.
Book. "The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a
book about it." This saying has been attributed both to Beaconsfield and lo
Archbishop Thomson. But before the lime of either, Lord Kames (1696-
1782), according to Tytler's Life, had advised Sir Gilbert Elliot, whi> com-
plained of a lack of information on a certain branch of political economy.
" Shall I tell you, my friend, how you will come to understand it P Go and
write a book upon it." And over in France one of Ijjtd Karnes's contempo-
raries had given vent to exactljr the same idea ; •' The best way to become
familiar with any given subject is to write a book upon it" But a far safer
mle is that propounded by the Autocrat of the Breakftist-Table (p. 134), as
applicable to writing as to speaking : " Don't I read up various matters to
talk about at this table or elsewhere ? — No, that is the last thing I would
do. I will tell you my rule. Talk about those things you have long had in
vonr mind, and listen to what others say about subjects you have studied
but recently. Knowledge and timber shouldn't be much used till they are
Book, Beww* of tlw aum of one. A proverbial expression frequently
Iia HANDY-BOOK OF
quoted ill the Latin form, " Cave ab homiiie unius libri." The phrase is often
attributed to Teretice, but is not to be found in his extant works. Probably
it originated in the story of 8t. Thomas Aquinas, thus related by Jeremy
Taylur : " Aquinas was once asked with what coinpeiidiuin a man might best
become learned. He answered, By reading of one booh ; meaning that an
understanding entertained with several objects is intent u|)on neither, and
Southey, in "The Doctor," commenting on this passage, says, "The man
of one book is, indeed, proverbially formidable to all conversational figu-
rantes. Like your sharp-shooter, he knows his piece pcrfeclly and is sure of
hit shot." And he quotes the following lines from Lope de Vega :
Que a anidiuiw noublc
^M^li
^JT^
Johnson tells bow he once met the poet Collins, after the latter became
deraiiged, carrying with him an English Testament. " I have but one book,"
Slid Collins, "but it is the best." This is alluded to in his epitaph in Chich-
ester Cathedral :
Sougbl on one book hit Iroubted mind Is ml.
Sometimes the phrase is used in a derogatory sense. Thus, Edward Everett
applies it " nut only lo the man of one book, but also to the man of one idea,
in whom the sense of proportion is lacking, and who sees only that for which
Book-plate. A label bearing a name, crest, monogram, or inscription
pasted in a book to indicate its ownership, as well as its position in a library,
etc Mr. Leicester Warren, in his treatise on " Book-Plates," complains that
the word is clumsy and ambiguous, inasmuch as it might readily be inter-
preted plates to illustrate books. Abroad the term used is cx-liirii, and he
regreti that it cannot be domesticated.
Book-plates arc at least as old as Albert I>iirer, who engraved several, the
best-known being a wood cut designed for his friend Wilibald Pirckheimer, the
Nuremberg jurist Other contemporary engravers executed them. Beham
made one for the Archbishop Albert of Mentz, his patron, about 1534. An im-
pression, believed to be unique, is in the Print-Room at the French Biblio-
thique Nationale. In England the custom of using book-plates was uf much
later date, the oldest yet identified bearing the date 166S and the name of
Francis Hill. .The 68 is filled in with a pen. The whole number of book-
plates in the seventeenth century is very small, amounting only to those of
thirteen persons, some of whom, however, had two. As to the name "book-
plate," that seems to be of still later date, and cannot be traced back farther
than the jiear 1791, when it is used of some of Hogarth's early engravings
by his biographer, Ireland; though, twenty yean earlier, Horace Walpole
almost used it, — for he speaks of a " plate to put in Lady Orfurd's books"
being engraved by George Virtue. Book-plates uf an artistic or non-heraldic
character are comparatively modern, not to be found, perhaps, before the
French Revolution. Men fond of books were contented then with the
plain name, if they had no crest or did not care to incur the lax for show-
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. II3
The interest of the pl»te is communicated to the book, and thai of (he book
10 (he plate. But laderly an unrortuna[e fad has sprung up for book-platea
alone, book-plates dismembered frotn (lie books which give them an intelli-
gible value, and only leaving in (he holder's hand a beggarly engraving of a
COM of arms, such as he migh( have obtained out of an ordinary ])eerage.
True, not all plates are armorial. Some bear only a name and an inscripdon.
The earliest of these latter is probably Pirckheimer's " Inicium Sapiencix
Timor Domini." It is as(onishing how many l>ook-mot(oes are direcled
against the cultivated seekers of wisdom from books not their own. ^ays a
Saturday Reviewer, " We have in our possession a copy of Paley's 'Uuthic
Architecture,' on which the name and the address of the pious Mary Anne
Schimmelpenni nek having been given, we find averse from Psalm xixvii. 1
'The wicked borroweth and payeth not again,' — a sentence which makes us
hasten to affirm that we bought and did not borrow the book." The same
te»( reappears in the Iwoks of other collectors. Another text frequently
•elected as a motto is from the Parable of the Ten Virgins : " Go ye t; ■■" "
to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." The following lines, of u" "
parentage, are also great favorites :
"^ N™ nrflnmu?™' " ™
These verses remind one of the English distich which school-boys are in
the habit of scrawling in their tc;i(-books, not infrequendy illuminated with
a picture of a man swinging from what appears like a rudimentary conception
of a gallows :
For fi^ iht''g»llo«wIll ^"ouTend.'
it who used to put in all his books.
In suave and gentlemanly contrast (a
I the inscription which one of the famous Groliers
is said to have inserted on the fly-leaf of his books : "Jo. Grolierii et Ami-
corum," — Joseph Grolier and his Friends. Exactly (he same story is told of
Michel Begon, and it is further related that when (hat gentleman was cau-
tioned by his librarian against lending his books, for fear of losing them, he
replied, " I would rather lose them than seem to disltust any honest man."
A mild and palatable caution was this one used by Theodore Christopher
Lilienthai (firm (750), who placed it under a picture of lilies surrounded by
bees, — proljably an allusion (o his own name :
Uten conccui), led nulUu ibuKR libra,
Lilia noD macuUt Hd modo tjui^i mpu.
And this was long before Darwin had promulgated his views as to the
fertilUation of flowers by insects 1
The following macaronic bit of geniality is from the fly-leaf of a copy of
Virgil, 1582 :
tfU liber pcrtLDCi. beue It well En mind,
A pu» sempilenu, JcHuChiiil mtbriDge
insects which feed upon the leaves of books : hence a term for a great reader,
one who, in metaphorical language, " devours books." Probably this use of the
word has been influenced by the directions which the angel gave to St. JohT
m handing him the book with the seven seals I "Take it, and eat it up; and
114 HANDY-BOOK OF
t( shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be ii
(Ret,. X. g). The Latin form, " Accipe Ubrum et
used as an inscriptlnn on mediaeval book-plates.
tne, and were cuncd by litnRTJaiu u iti/ia audax and fei
kJ liiddi oi ihCK Ulile pUguq. One una a turt of dcatb-wj
They wen dunilicd, like o ^ _
find thai ihclr dlgaiive pooen, viKurou u Ihty wen. quaiPbcfore the mutniili of^our
Piodeni bo*^. ChiDA clay, plaaler ^ I'uu. and ocher unwliolesome AlimenlB have CDoquercd
tiK fifties ckartarum^ They ligh uid ihnveL up. Peace ID the nienwry,fbr it it now hudly
more Ihan a memory, of the Atilut nmiax, — Bofik^ofrm, vol. iv.
Boom, in American slang, the eSective launching of anything with itlat
on the market or on public attention. The " New English Dictionary" traces
(his use of the word primarily (o a particular application of its meaning uf " a
loud, deep sound with resonance," with reference not so much to the suund
as lo "the suddenness and rash with which it is accompanied." But there is
noted as possibly modifying (he meaning " asKociatiini original or subsequent
with other senses of the word." The SL Louts Glete Dtmacrat oiaxna lohave
originated the expression in 1879, when the Grant third-(<
Slatted.
'"""""°"™'":s.;:
lan affaLn, BDd Its «pecial aigmticvicc in a palilicaL tense. L he word vaa fijsl applied
Cjnill movcmenl, whii;h. on account of its ludden. nuhing characIeT, was aptly termed
Ldually the word was taken iiuo &vot until all the papers were talking aboui the Oraut
.nbi^.tL itE^Win.'lh^TUde'n boqin,an'!f ^yoihtU. Narlye^e^puWie
implished by a
!, tl«y mighi h.
Borrowed Daya. The las
rowed days." At the firesides
days is given in this quaint ihy
Manh uid 10 Apcrill,
And if you'll l»d me dayea three.
When the three days wen past andVane,
The three ailty hoggt came hirplin' hame.
Borrowing. Shakesjieare has summed up in lmmens« amount of wortdly
wisdom in Polonius's advice to Laertes :
..Googk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
^«.
The Old Teslamenl recognizes that the position of a borrower is humiliat-
ing r " The boriower is servant to the lender" (Prav. xxii. 7). " He that goes
A-borrowing goes a-sorTowing," says Kraiiklin, in " Poor Richard's Almanac"
fttf I7S7.— » phtase that he cribbed from Thomas Tusset :
Who gcKtli ■-barrowiDfi
G«tb l-VHTDwlllg.
1, slang foi
for nonsense, fudge ; originally a Turkish word ir
appeared in England in iBW, when it *
Morier's Oriental novel " Ayesha." It is probaUy derived from the Arabic
mi-JUh, "there is no sucb thing." an expression much used in Yemen and
Egypt for the single negative ruC, and in the Maghribi or Egyptian dialect
corrupted to rnUsh, which by the simple interchange of m and l^becomes Mth,
the Turkish word.
BottlA-boIder, the second in a prize-fight, one of whose duties is to hold
the water-bottle, while another assistant sponges the principal between the
rounds : hence the term is sometimes extended to one who seconds or advises,
or backs a person or a cause. In 1S51, Lord Falmerston told a deputation
who waited upon hiro to congratulate him on the success of his effort to liber-
ate Kossuth, that the past crisis was one which had required much generalship
and judgment, and that a good deal of judicious bottle- holding was obliged to
be brought into play. The London Tuiut made a furious onslaught on Pal-
merston for thus using the phraseology of the pugilistic ring, and snottiy after-
wards PutuA appeared with a cartoon representing the noble loid as the
"Judicious Bottle- Holder," — a nickname that clung to him.
Boab»-Tllll6* (Fr., literally, "rhymed ends"), a form of literary amusement
in which rhymes being given the participants, they fill up the verses. Accord-
ing to Manage, the notion of this frivolity was derived from a saying of the
French poet IJuloI, whereby be accidentally let the cat out of the bag, or, to
change the metaphor, let the public in behind the scenes. Complaining one
day c^ the loss of three hundred sonnets, his hearers marvelled at his having
abont him so large a collection of literary wares, whereupon he explained that
they were not completed sonnets, but the unarticulaled skeletons, — in other
words, their prearranged rhyming ends, drawn out in groups of fourteen. All
Paris was in a roar next day over Dulol's lost sonnets. l)ouls*rim^s became
the fashion in all the salons. Ladies imposed the task of making ibem upon
their lovers ; the btaux-esfirils amused their leisure in the same way. Manage
himself confesses that he had tried and failed. In vain Sarasin attempted to
ridicule the fad in his " La D^faite des Bonls-Rim^s." It flourished apace in
France ; it crossed the Channel in due course, and established itself in high
fkvor with the more ponderous wits of Albion.
There were public competitions of bouts-rim js at Bath, under the patronage
of the blue-stocking Lady Millar, and all the rank, beauty, and fashion of the
place — the beaux and belles, old dandies and reigning toasts — entered in
contest, and the successful competitor was crowned with myrtle. Mr». De-
lany, too, was addicted to bouts-rim^s, and very diflerent people — Dr, Priest-
ley and Mrs. Barbauld (then Miss Aikin) — worked at them in the spare
: — ^ (jf their Warrington Academy life.
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
n to some of Fanny Bumey's friends at the
1 literature, numbers among them " Lady
Millar, who kept a vase wherein fools were wont to put bad verses, and Jer-
ninghani, who wrote verses lit to be put into the vase of Lady Miliar." Let
us treat more liindly these kindly aflectations of the pasL Lady Millar's vase
has a history that is not unentenainine. When on a tour in Italy with her
husband. Sir John Millar, the excellent, though addle- pated, lady had procured
the vase at Frascati. It was an admirable bit of antique ware, l^y Millar
brought it home with her and placed it in her villa. Every Thursday she
invited her friends to that temple of the Muses, where she officiated as high-
priestess, and every one was expected to drop in the vase his or her version
of the rhymes given out ihe preceding Thursday. Only one specimen of these
effusions has survived, the composition of the then Duchess nf Norlhumber-
land. The rhymes given were brarniith, itandish, patten, laliH, iJio. Jolis.
puffing, muffin, Jiast on, Batktaston. It will be seen thai they were not very
t,if.f to fill in, also that the rhymes are a little shaky. After all, making due
allowances, the result was not so bad :
The pen wbich 1 1
Hu lolig lain UK
d, 1^01
r in piiw
From bcM rKoproTlSSirfoUol °'
V eu with MUlu u BMhtguton.
In the "Correspondence of Mrs. Delany,
to this amusement, and gives a specimen w
words which had been sent her r
WhcD fiiendihip «ich u youi
y, in fiefdor
No pliice can yield delight wllhoul ymir love.
Not content with this, however, Mrs. Delany gave a second ver
Auured of fkilbful Nanny's love.
e was afforded by Horace Walpole o
So prevalent had the amusement become that, in 1814, the " Musomanik
Society" was established at Ansfrufher, in Fifeshire, Scotland, — the parent of
numerous similar societies which cultivated this form of literature on a little
oatmeal. These worthy gentlemen actually went so far as to publish a vol-
ume made up of their improvised stanzas. Here are three efforts based on
the voxAt fat, Kuffie, mtn, ruffit. They are neither better nor worse than the
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
An cluly, hourly, in il
But then we phjlo»phic i
Hav« placid winpen a
Lu( night I left my de*li
»■« in ibe nreet 1 hev
And there, lorn off by dr
1 left my c«t-uilt and
But the king of ail Bouts-Rimeurs was a . »
tive of Albany, of Ihe name of Bogart Hin talent for improvisalloL.
to have been very remarkable. On one occasion certain of his friends, in-
cluding Colonel y B. Van Scbaick and Charles Fenno Hoffman, determined to
put il to a crucial test Van Schaick took up a copy of "Childe Harold."
"Now," he said, "the name of Lydia Kane" (a belle ol that period) "contains
the same number of letters as a stanza of ' Childe Harold' has lines. Suppose
you write them down in a column."
Bogait did as he was told.
" Now," continued the colonel. " I will open the poem at randum, and will
dictate to you the rhymes of any stanza on which my finger happens to rest.
See if you can, within ten minutes, make an acrostic on Lydia Kane whose
rhymes willl be identical with those of Byron's stanza."
The stanza happened to be the following :
And mini ihey full, the jroung, the proud, the bnve,
The rise of rapiiK ud the fsll d( Spiiii •
Their doom, not heed the nippli»ni'. >pp«a t
The VEUnn'i lUn.'youIhVlire, and muhaod'm heut of iteelT
Bogart cleverly performed his task by producing the following verse within
the stated time ;
Ytfla chumi reaiMleu, macchJett ^A, ihall reiEn,
.ffinnw.
^ndlord,
JVbr V Jot-, fire
er hojdt her infant - ,._ _,
A Love'i waim regiotu, urami, romaniic Spain.
'--■ -"-ould your fate to court! your iiepe Drdun,
would in vain to rcgil pomp a^^iea],
d lordly hiihoH koeel Ic you in vain,
- "-'—■- Ire/Love'. power, dot Churchman'! leal
« Love-i (.Um^t ■/) untainiiheil ueel.
These are a few specimens of acknowledged bouts-rimrfs. But suppose that
all poets were as honest as Dulot, as willing lo yield up the secret of their
inspiration. Do not the best of them have to seek for their rhymes? A
thought, perchance, having arrived at or about its sonorous harbor from the
sea, cannot gel in at first, but has to bob about outside till the little pilot-tug
of some rhyme comes up with the steam up and the flag flying and takes it in
tow to its moorings. Nay, may il not even occur, after one or two pilot-tugs have
come up, a bargain cannot be made, or the bat is dangerous for Ihe tonnage,
and the vessel makes for another port ? Are there not such things as rhymmg
dictionaries (the ingenious reader will perceive that we have dropped meia-
C' or for plain fact), and have we not the confessions of good poets — Byron,
example— that they have used these helps, or that, in their absence, they
Il8 HANDY-BOOK OF
have been glad to revecl to a kind of mental substitute, chasing out a suitable
rhyme lo the word same, for example, by tunning through the entire alphabet,
aim, blame, came, dame, fame, etc ? Have they not even gone furtliet and
allowed the rhymes to bring the thought into motion from the first? In her
"Recollections of Literary Characters" (iSu) Mrs. Thomson tells us ex-
pressly that this was Campbell's practice, and that he openly avowed he had
written " Lochiel's Warning" as a sort of exercise in bouts - ri raes : "The
rhymes were written first, and the lines filled in afterwards, the poet singing
them to a son of cadence as he recited them to his wondering friend." One
can imagine the scene and figure to one's self the poet shouting, —
Lochid, Lochld, a>-£w-aw4 diy,
Wftw^w, ow-ovr-^w, DW-dw, ow Ajriy.
Leigh Hunt once had an article in the UbtrcU wherein he proposed that all
poetry should be turned into a sort of bouts-rimes. A number of words, he
insists, are so invested with connected clusters of associations that ihey form
in themselves a sort of poetical short-hand, and the mere succession of them,
arranged in rhyming pairs, or as the ends of rhyming slanias not yet in ex-
istence, tells the story almost as well as if the blank couplets or stanzas were
filled up. Take these words ;
Repeat them slowly, with a pause after each, and a longer pause after each
four. Can you not conjure up before your mind a |)asloral love-scene quite
as effectively as if you had the five elegiac slanias which these ends suggest?
Here is a short poem which is complete without any e»eicise of the imagi-
nation. The rhymes need no precedent clauses ; they ate heads and tails at
once. In their simple way Ihey tell the sad story of a common domestic
tragedy :
Boy, Gua
Joy.' Boy ■
Fun. UuH.
Here is a sonnet built up on the same plan by a modern French poet, M. J.
Bowery Boy, the typical New York tough or a generation or two ago,
named from the street which he chiefly affected, a well-known thoroughfare
(Dutch bcmtitrij. from boinnen, to " till," lo "cultivate," the street having origi- .
nallybcen cut through Governor Sluyvesar I 's farm). He rather prided himself
on his uncoulbness. his ignorance, and his desperado leadinesa lo figtil, but he
also loved to have attention called to his courage, his gallanlry to wi)men, his
patriotic enthusiasm, and his innate tenderness of heart. A lire and a thrill-
ing melodrama called out all his energies and emotions.
When I ficH knew il, tmh the old Bomrv llieitrt and Ihe old Bootr^ boy wen in Itxit
fbund tini Icanlnf onamf-hydmnl, And Accnudhimwiih, '^My friend, I »anl to go lo Broad-
cigi^, " Wf ™fj ihe' "^'i yuu go.™™"''— "iifap. Tribm. "* "" "" "
Bow-wow way, a colloquial expression
powering, or grandiloquent manner. It seems to have originated
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
t appear
111 his Diary (1832), speaking
alenl for tlesc ' ■ -■- -
9 laknl for describing the \\
ifordinarjr lite which is 10 me the most
The big bow-wow strain I can du myself like an;
-'le touch which tenders ordinary commonplace
sting fmm the truth of the description and the
IS denied to me." The Bow-wow theory is a nickname occasionally
applied lo Ihe theory (hat human speech originated in the imitation of animal
sounds.
Boycott, a word much used by the Irish Land- leaguers, meaning a combi-
nation that refuses to bold any relations, either public or private, business or
social, with any person or persons on account of political or other differences.
It arose in the autumn of l8Sa Captain Boycott, of Lough Mask, Conne-
mara, was agent of Lord Eatne, an Irish land-owner. His severity made him
unpopular with the tenants, who petitioned for bis removal. I^rd E^rne
lamed a deaf ear lo all complaints. Then, in retaliation, the tenants and
their sympathizers laid a taboo upon Boycott, refusing to work for him or to
allow any one else lo do so. His servants and his farm-hands deserted him,
and if anybody undertook to assist him in anj way, or even deal with him, that
person was included in the taboo, his old friends cut him as an acquaintance
and shunned him as a seller or a buyer. Boycott saw temporary ruin staring
him in the face, when relief came in the shape of certain Ulster men, pro-
tected by arn>ed troops, who husbanded the crops. But the system grew to
be a teci^niied institution for harrying the enemies of ihr Land-league.
arly as I>ecembeT, iSSo, the Daily Nms records, " Already the sloutest-
nearted are yielding to the fear of being Boycotted." The word, usually spelt
with a small i, is now applied to all forms uf'^inlimidation by tabna The thing.
Na|ioleon strove to institute a gigantic boyco
England on the part of continental Europe. In a pamphlet called "Th'
Example of France," by A. Young (1793), loyal Englishmen are advised ti
combine tn a resolution "against dealing with any sort of Jacobin ti ^
More primitive instances will be found in the ci— ' — '-' —
•chili hiT in hii lien hi ichill dye— Ma1;n1]Evii.i.s : Trot
Man iiuiiiot be advqUBiely defined u a BcycoLiing ■nioia
•liij m. The herd proverbially BoycDtu iht Kricken den , ^•.■^y,,
•Ddbeluve, to alter Bill Sybes'iproiu of hit dog," quile like llriih)
BoycottulE flourithcft nou id lh>h uid " exclusive" circles ; but il
tiou of prtmklvo men, vhoK whale life i« Gpeni in Boycott'
pAit wfaich the imtitution plays in the Mc«uc law n veil kooi
have been diechief uenl.oroneDf ibi
babinuily uader the unctioD of terribly k
caplul i>f^ce.-^»<fi)/'/;«'i'w, Mu(
Btasil, Aa hardas. This, the .4£4<7t,nim tells us, is a common saying 01
a great part, perhaps the whole, of England, but if you ask what Brazil is you
commonly receive no satisfactory answer. A Shropshire peasant, it seems,
cui furnish the information needed. There it means iron pyrites. It is well
known by barrow -digge is and others interested in the remote past that frag-
130 HANDY-BOOK OF
ments of iron pyriles were formerly used for striking a lighl. uid therefore
it would naturaJly become a symbol of hardness. The meaning of the word
seems lo have been forgotten, or lo have become confounded with brass, for in
one of Norden's surveys, made in Ihe reign of James 1., an entry occurs which
has puzzled more than one accomplished aiilinuary. The place spoken of lies
at a point where the oolite formation " puis in" above the liaa, and the sur-
veyor lells us that at this place there is " one piece of waste lande Ihere to
buylde a melting hows, for Iher halh bene sometimes a brass mine, as it
seemelh." Copper was commonly called brass in those days, but it would be
well-nigh miraculous if copper had been found in such a situation, (hough iron
is at the present time worked in the immediate neighborhood.
Brlo-A-brao. The " New English Dictionary," following Littr^, ascribes this
word to a corruption of a^jnir^alr^iir, which Is analc^ous to the English
"by hook or tw crook." Uke that, it probably owes its origin to assonance
alone. Some fanciful etymolt^ists, however, claim that brie in old French was
an ituttiument that shot arrows at birds, while brx is from the word brmattter,
to exchange or sell, the root of which is Saxon and enters into the word
broker. Originally bric-1-brac seems to have meant second-hand goods, but,
as these are usually found in old curiosity shops, the word came to mean odd
and curious articles prized by collectors.
Bifok, in colloquial English, a Jolly good fellow. This tnt of slang can be
traced to an historical origin. Plutarch, in his Life of Lycurgus, gives an
account of the visit of an ambassador from Epirus to the city of Spatia, who
•aw much to admire and praise. But he wondered greatly that Sparta was
not a walled town, and asked Ihe explanation of its lack of defensive works.
No answer was returned that day. Early the next morning, however, — for the
Spartans rose at dawn, — the EpiTote was awakened and conducted to Ihe field
of exercise outside the city, where the army of Sparta was drawn up in baltle-
array. "There," said Lycurgus, "are tlie walls of Sparta, and every man is
•ctET on which IhoKwho deal wiib him cu ufely build. Ii liuialogoui with the W«(«b
the Nit.bMIinen on the Ohio uid MisiiHippi when ii'wu 'I"-" i-H.,nifi m >i. ilJ!rh«.i. ..r,
rut. Th« idea of the phruv ii fomiulaHd Id the " fouj.j
veloped Idio stalely vene by TouijrKm id hit ode on the Dulie of
Oh t fallen at length tliat lower of ■treoelh,
•a,^.■..^. J 1- II .i. ,^£ ^^
Nm yon
to all the wIdiS that Uew.
//fv York IffrlJ.
Btldg«water Treatlaes. The name of these famous works is derived
to be placed ai
to the person or persons nominated by h _ _
when these persons were so selected they should be appointed to t
and publish one thousand copies of a work "on the Power, Wisdom, and
Goodness of God. as manifested in Ihe creation, illustrating each work by all
reasonable arguments, as, for instance, the variety and ^rmation of God's
IS of God. as manifested in Ihe creation, illustrating each work by all
'~ arguments, as, for instance, the variety and ^rmation of God's
n the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; the effects of di-
gestion, and thereby of conversion ; the conslruction of the hand of man, and
an infinite variety of other arguments ; as also by discoveries, ancient and
modem, in Arts and Sciences and Ihe whole ealeni of Literature." David
Gilbert was at that time the President of the Royal Society, and he, with Ihe
advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the fibhop of London, appointed
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. m
the following eight persons, who accordingly wrole the Bridgewater Treatises :
Dr. Chalmers, John Kidd. Rev. M. Wh«well. Sir Charles Bell, Peler Rogel,
Rev. Dr. Buckfand. Rev. Wm. Kirby, and Wm, Prom.
Brook of millioiu. A serious obstacle to the development of great in-
dustries in Switzerland is the scarcity of coal in thai country ; but llie smaller
industries, praAting by the streams and natural water-falls that abound, are the
most numerous and active perhaps in the world. One little stream, the Aa, —
a brook, indeed, about three yards wide, — supplies the motor Ibrce for thirty
considerable manufactories within a limit of about four and a half miles, Its
entire length, li rises in the Pfiiffiger-See, east of Zurich, and flows into the
GreiHen-See, and the difierence between the level of the two lakes is only
about three hundred feet. From the amount of wealth it has created. It is
called Lt Ruiaiau da Milliata.
Broth of a boy, a phrase much affected by the Irish, yet not utiknown
ID England and America. As broth is the essence of beef, a broth of a boy
is the essence of what a buy should be, the right sort of a boy ;
Jium ms quite a brmh of A b^.
Danfyan. viii. =4.
Buckeye State, an American nickname for the State of Ohio, from its
abundant supply of horse-chestnut-trees, commonly called buckeyes.
Baoktail, a political nickname originally given to an order of the Tam-
many Society, who wore in their hats, upon certain occasions, a portion of the
tail of a deer. When De Witt Clinton was running his eventually successful
campaign for the governorship of New York, the members of Tammany were
generally inimical to him. Hence " Bucktail" came to be a nickname for all
Bnokwbeat-oakea are usually supposed to be a New England invention,
and indeed within the last quarter of a century the American visitors to Paris
have made the fortune of a tplcutiiti di baikaikeat-cakes. But in very fact the
cakes are of Fretich origin, and those who like them may eat them to-day in
their primitive simplicity as galttUs dt sarraiin at almost any viliage west of
the Seine in Normandy.
travellers o . ,
Stale. If one living there were to refuse to eat buBs, he would, tike Poloiiiua
soon be " not where he eats, but where he is eaten.''
Btigaboo, Bugbear, Bogle. When the bigoted royalist Maitland blas-
phemously asserted that God was but a " bogie of the nursery." he unwillingly
showed great philological acumen. To the eye of the etymologist, the bogie
with which nurses are wont to terrify their infant ciiarKes is, when divested of
its traditional meaning, identical with the -Slavonic BS^ and the Ba^ of the
cuneiform inscriptions, both names for the Supreme Being, which, by gradual
alterations and corruptions, have given rise to an infinite number of terms
have the Icelandic ^uM or demon, the Gothic pukt, or spectre, the English
Puck, etc., and, on the other, the familiar bug, bogie, bugbear, bugaboo, etc.
"Such," says Prof. Fiske, "is the irony of fate towards a deposed deity I"
From having figured as the unclouded sun and the chief of all the gods, the
supreme majesty of deily is in English but the name of an ugly ludicrous
fiend, a scarecrow, or, at the best, a harmless goblin. The Deity has, in very
troth, become the bogie of the nursery.
laa HANDY-BOOK OF
Very early in ihe history of (he race molhers discovered the convenience
of frightening their offspring into good behavior. Giblioii tells us Ibal
"Narses was the formidable sound with which the Syrian mothers were
accustomed lo terrify their infants." Speaking of Richard Cieur de Lion,
the same writer says, "The memorjr of this lion-hearted prince, at Ihe dis-
tance of sixty years, was celebrated in proverliial sayings by the grandsons of
the Turks and Saracens against whom be bad fought ; his tremendous name
was employed by the Syrian molhers (o silence their infants ; and if a horse
suddenly started from the nay, his rider was wont to exclaim, ' Uost thou
think King Richard is in that bush T "
Still another name used for a similar pur]M>se is mentioned by Gibbon, —
Huniades, titular King of Hungary in the middle of the fifteenth century :
" By the Turks, who employed his name to frighten their perverse children.
he was corruptly denominated ' Jancus Lain, or The Wicked.'" The intelli-
gence, or want of intelligence, of English nurses has been productive of in-
numerable bogies. To say nothing of the ancient Raw Head and Bloody
Bones (which occurs in " Hudibras"), we may gather from the foilowing extract
from Reginald Scot's " Discoverie of Witchcraft" the names of a few of the
bogies used lo torment little children within the Elizabethan age.
" In our childhood," says Scot, "our mothers' maids have so terrified us
with an ugly devil having horns on his head, lire in his mouth, and a tail
at his back, eyes like a basin, fangs like a dog, claws like a bear, a skin
like a negro, and Voice roaring like a lion, whereby we start and are afraid
when we hear one cry. Boh I and they have so frayed us with bull -beggars,
spirits, witches, urchins, elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, faunes, syTvans,
Kitt-with -I he -candlestick, tritons, centaurs, dwarls, giants, imps, calcats, con-
jurers, nymphs, changelings, incubus, Robin Guodfeliow, the spoorn, ihe
man-in -the-oak, the hell-wain, the tire-drake, the puckle, Tom Thumb, Hob-
goblin, Tom Tumbler, Boneless, and such other bugbears, that we are afraid
of our own shadows."
Sir Walter Scott, who quotes this passage in his "Demonotogy and
Witchcraft," explains some of Ihese strange terms, bul leaves it tu a "belter
demonologist than himself" to treat them more fully. In " Hudibras," liesides
Raw Head and Bloody Bones, another b<^ie is mentioned as being in common
use, — namely, Lunsford. This was Colonel Lunsford, or Luns^rt, the gov-
ernor of the Tower, and a man noted for his sobriety, industry, and courage.
Bul IJIburn and others of the same party gloried in maligning him in every
possible way. Among other scandalous charges, they led the ignorant popu-
lace to believe thai he ate children.
The loyalists affected to laugh at this accusation, and in the " Collection of
Loyal Songs" it is alluded lo thus;
From FlddiiiK uid fnnin Vaiuour,
So also Cleveland ;
The pott Itial came tioin BanI
He iwaRbt'uiTvben Limit
But Ulburn was so far successful in his aim th
ford's name became odious and was added ti
bogies.
According lo Banks's "Earl of Essex" (a play ridiculed by Fielding in his
tlTERARV CURIOSITIES. lij
'Tom Thumb the Great"), (hat noble lord was also osed as a bogie during
hU own liletiiiv
1i wai enough ht Hv, Hen
And DUTKt ttiUed incir chi
ildmi wilh ihefrighl.
Fielding lubstituled the name of Tom Thumb, though, as we have seen,
Reginald Kcol especially mentions Turn Thumb among (he b<^eB of child-
hood,— a fact which takes the edge off the inlended satire.
Napoleon — or Boney, as he was called in the nursery — has dune yeoman's
service as a b<wie in England. Boneyparty is in itself a name with a good
palpable English meaning attached to it. which can be undetsianded of the
people. It seema to have a natural affinity to Raw Head and Bloody Bones,
Boneless, and such other bugbears. Cnrmusly enough, the Duke of Wel-
lington has never performed a like service in French nurseries, though he is
the hero of certain English bogie rhymes. For example :
Kotble )
In another, the same kind-hearled Rentleman is represented as being "tall
■Tl;
fhl as Rouen steeple," and dining and supping upon a never-failing
"naughty people."
is said that Jewish tnothers sometimes frighten their children with Ihe
name of Lilith. According to the Talmudists,l.ililh was the wife of Adam
before he married Eve. She refused to obey her husband, and left Paradise
for the region of air. The legend is that her sceptre is still to be seen at
ni^t, and that she is especially the enemy of young children.
The "Encyclopxdia Met ropoli tana" boldly declares thai our word ''lullaby"
is derived from " Lilith abi I" {Lilith, avaunt !) But the Inexrrable Professor
Skeat, who destroys all (he charming old unreasonable and picturesque deriva-
tions, will have nothing to say (o this, and gives an explanation too prosaic to
be recorded here. Lilith was so bad that it was not unfitting her name should
be used to frighten li(tle boys and girls. She furnishes one of the few instance*
of a woman being udliied as a bogie.
BnlL John, a hnmorotis personification of (he British people, which origi-
nated wi(h ArbuthnoL He is represented as a bluff, stout, honest, red-faced,
irascible rusdc, in leather breeches and top-boots, carrying a stout oaken
cudgel in his hand and with a bull-dog at his heels.
Tbu pcHiknl pcnomg« Job'
A.gu'hbCerii, U._. .... _ , .... _.. .. _ . . , ..._... ___
te 1^ IDld-Und. what i>'mor<rte1,l> il^f— IhitV^ a mcrcTump of' pniuic'flcsh and'hTawi!
Ihal ridicoloiu cukalim of nunclva ■long iriOi Guy Fawkn : bui meanwhile m can hardly
■■addressed to provide board and lodging for the soldier bearing it. Hence
the proverb means that only (hose are killed whose dea(h Providence has
usigned. Napoleon was a firm lieliever in the superstition embodied in the
ii brud Hhoulden ar
laC tiANDY-BOOK OP
iijing. Thus, he said once to an officer, " My friend, if Ihal ball were destined
for you, it would be sure to find you, though you were to burrow a hundred
feet under ground." And again at MoTiteteau, in I S 14, he refused to retire
from an exposed position, saying, " Courage, my friends : the bail which is Id
kill me is not yet cast." When Nelson was warned bv a lady not to expose
himself needlessly in battle, he replied, "The bullet which hits me will have
on it ' Horatio Nelson, his with speed.' "
Mme. de S^vigni wro
distinguish M, de Turen
all eternity V
BnUo, Irisli aod not Iriab. A bull \i
Smith u "an apparent congruity and real i „ ,
covered." Cleyer, yet not quite so clever as Coleridge ; " A bull consists in a
mental juxtaposition of incongruous ideas, with a sensation, but without the
sense, of connection." Sydney Smith goes on lii point out that a bull is the
very reverse of wit ; " for as wit discovers real relations that are not apparent,
bulls admit apparent relations that are not real." He might have carried the
idea still further, and shown that, while wit is acutely self-conscious, the bull, on
the contrary, is born of a native humor, a coloring and rlistortiiig medium ab.
■otutely unconscious of itself. Its perpetrator is fully possessed of his own
meaning, but is unconscious of the literal and objective sense of his own
words. When Thomas Carlyte said in his "Oliver Cromwell" that "some
omissions will also appear in this edition," he knew what he meant, and so do
we, — the understanding on both sides is identical, — but the recognition of the
inadequacv of the words to convey thai meaning is with us atone.
So much for definition. Now, what has etymology to say on the subject ?
Very little, and that little not muth to the purpose. It was once the fashion
to derive the term from one Obadiah Bull. an Irish lawyer residing in London
in the reign of Henry VII.. whose blunders of the sort were notorious. But
Chaucer uses the word " bole" (in our modern sense of a verbal mistake), and.
as Chaucer died half a century before Henry VII. was born, that etymology must
go by the board. And with it also must go the idea that a bull, either in
etymology or in essence, has any inevitable connection with the Irish. Mr.
Edge*orth indeed has written an essay On " Irish Bulls," which almost goes
the length of asserting, first, that bulls are not Irish ; second, that there is
no such thing as a buU. Without accompanying him to this extreme, we
might readily allow that other nations err in the same delightful manner, and that
many so-called bulls are really not bulls at ail, because they are conscious and
often successful eRbrts to snatch a grace beyond the reach of art. And even
the bulls that refuse to be classified under any more complimentary head fre-
quently result not from dulnesa but from eilreme quickness iif apprehension,
the mind leaping to its conclusion without passing through the intermediate
stages of the process.
when Shakespeare speaks of a custom " more honored in the breach than
the observance," or of making " assurance doubly sure," when )c)hnson warns
you not to "sell for gold what gold can never buy." they utter what looks like
^n alisnrdity to the purely logical sense, but the higher faculties refuse to
recognize the absurdity, and gratefully occupy themselves in admiration of
their audacious aptness. The same may be said of these other much quoted
lines and phrases :
..Google
IITERARY CURIOSITIES. 125
Adun, the gDodticflt dud of Oden Biiic* bon
Hlf Kint, the fairtu of ber duunhicn Eve.
Tbe laTclieM paii
Yea, get Ifat bellcr of Ihem.
Shakbpsakb : Jm/iui Caiar, Act ii.. Sc. ..
ever wrong Hve *i jui ™l«-^
None bul hinuelr can he hi< panllel.
Thiobalk: -1*1 DimUi FaluKitJ.
FoUfhl all bl> bitllei o'er (gllin.
And ifarice he routed 0II hit loei, and Ihrke he >leir (be dun.
Slukapeue hu not only thown human nalurt mt h ii. bw b* ii wouLd be fcund In iltu-
Mkimtowhicli ]i cMinoi be opoMd.— Jhbnwn: Lnti b/ Iki PstU.
pmine.—tiid. ""^P ""■ '"■ "'■ « ng » e« nguige 11 wi
The last example is more prnpcrly a play upon wurds than a bull ; yet i(
cannot be relegated to the degraded deep of punning, because there is a play
on the idea as well as on the words. It is identical with Schiller's "To be
immortal in art a thing must first be dead in life."
On the other hand, wlien Dryden made his heroine sajr, —
the phrase is not a bull, because it is a conscious effort at antithetical eRecL
But as it falls short of its aim, as it is a step on the hither side of tht sublime,
we call it merely ridiculous, and feel that Dryden was rightly rebuked when
the Duke of Buckingham shouted from his box, —
Then 'twould be gteaier if 'twin none « all.
In his "Martinus Scriblerus" Pope supplies an instance of the "art of
Mnbine," which is shrewdly suspected to be taken from his own juvenile epic
of "Alonder." The poet is speaking of a frightened stag in full chase, who
And {tan the bind Teel will o'enake the fore.
But, again, one would not call this a bull. Here, however, are some nnmis
takable examples of the true taurine, selected from various authors of repute :
No DtK u yet had exhibited the Hructure of <he human kidneyi, Veiallui haviDg only
enmmed them in dogh— Haluh : IMtralnri of Eartfi.
UnKlTipaven, like the deities of Homer in the nr of Troy, wen leen ID mingle al every
Hep with ibe tide of lubtunary aSain.—ALisoH : Rreiru of Guitol.
It b CDrlau 10 obterve Ibe variou) iub>titute> for paper before its invention.— D'Iskabli :
Curiaiiliai ^ Liuratiiri,
it h^l noi 1^ it.-CoBHTT : Rural KiSti.
hb pc^"t^.— WHHiiHnT''rio Th^MnJa Vtar.
An unmiitakable bull (whose |lory, however, belongs to the translation and
-"' '0 the original) occurs in Isaiah xr-
forth, and smote in the camp of
and five thousand : and when they arose early In the morning, behold, they
were all dead corpAcs."
Johnson quotes Goldsmith as complaining. " Whenever I write anything the
Sblic makes a point to know nothing about it." Here is a true Hibernian
11, which, after all, is the most perfect of Its kind. To the right perpetra-
tkm of the bull there seems to go a kind of innocent and almost rollkking
Coogk"
136 HANDY-BOOK OF
wrongheadedness, which has no real counterpart outside the Irish race. The
Irish animal is lively, rampant, exhilarating, like the sprighllf hero of a Spanish
bull-light, while English and other bulls are mere commonptace calves blun-
dering along lo the shambles. When Sir Richud Steele wxs asked hov it
happened that his com|iatriots made so many bulls, he imputed it to the effect
of climate, and declared that if an Englishman were burn in Ireland lie would
make just as many. Undoubtedly he was right, though, fbr sume unimagina-
ble reason, the answer has itself been reckoned among Hiberuicisnis. Swift
was a case in point. Like Wellington, he might have answered that he was
not a horse because he was bom in a stable. Not a horse, undoubtedly, yet
the influence of the stable made him the father of many excellent bulls. In
his flist Drapier's Letter he says, "Therefore I do most earnestly exhort
you, as men, as Christians, as parents, and as lovers of your country, to read'
this paper with the utmost attention, or to get it read to you by others." Vet
the bull was not new with Swift It finds analogues both in his native and in
his adopted country.
As Ferriar points out (" Illustrations of Sterne," i. 80), it is the jest-book
story of the Templar over again, who left a note in the key-hole of his door
directing the finder, " if unable to read, tu carry it to the stationer at the gate,
now Messrs. I) utter worth's, to read it for him. Grose, in his " Olio," relates
it for a fact that in May, 1784, a bill was sent from Ireland for the royal assent
relating to franking. Une clause enacted that any member who, from illness
or any other cause, should be unable to write, might authorize another to
frank for him, provided that on the back of the letter so franked the member
gave under his hand a full certificate of his inability to write.
Let us apply the historical method to other great Hibernian masterpieces.
Who does not remember the story of the Englishmau who wrote in his
letter, "I would say more, but that there is a d — d tall Irishman looking
over my shoulder and reading every word of this," whereupon the Hibernian
excl^med, "Vou lie, you scoundrel t" Docs nut this story find its corollary
in the anecdote of the German lady who. writing to borrow money of her
sweetheart, added the following ingenuous postscript; "I am so thoroughly
ashamed of my request that I sent after the bearer of this note to call him
l)ack, but he had got already too far on the way." And is there not a kinship
between both of these and the tale of the English lady who combated George
ijelwyn's assertion that no woman could write a letter without adding a post-
script, and next day sought to prove he was wrong by writing a letter and
adding after her signature, —
P.S.— Who li right now, you or I f
1 letter home after the hour when all lights had been ordered
oui, " Aoii this postscript," said the terrible martinet : " ' To-morrow morn-
ing I shall be taken out and shot fbr disobedience of orders.'" 1'he aide-de-
camp wrote it down, and the king kept his word.
There is a story to!d of an Irish gentleman who wanted to learn of an emi-
nent singing-master. He inquired the terms.
" Two guineas for the flrst lesson," said the maestro ; " and for as many aa
you please afterwards a guinea each."
"Oh, bother the first lesson 1" said the inquirer: "let us begin with the
Yet this may have been wit, — an excellent bit of fooling, not a bull. And,
even if a bull, it is not a distinctively Irish bull. An analogue may be found
in the story uf the Englishman dining with Porson and others, who, wishing
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. \^^
to conltibate his mile lo the conversation, asked the professor, " Was Cap-
tain Cook killed on his first voyage P"
" I believe he nas," said Porson ; " but he did not mind it much, but im-
mediately entered on a second."
Mr. John Dillon quite recently made a famous bull in the House of Com-
mons, when, speaking of his friends, he said that " they had seen themselves
filling paupeis' graves." This was an avatar of the remark made in the Irish
House almost a century before by his great predecessor, Sir Boyle Roche:
"Why, Mr. [Speaker, honorable members never come down to this House
without expecting to find their mangled remuns lying on the table." It
finds a compatriotic echo in this familiar story : " India, my boy," said an
Irish officer to a friend on his arrival at Calcutta, "is the finest climate
under the son ; but a lot of young fellows come out here, and they drink
and they eat, and they drink and they die : and then they write home to
their parents a pack of lies, and say it s the climate that has killed them."
Yet precise^ the same confusion of terms exists in this sentence, tiuoted
by the Paris Figaro (February, 1890) "from a recent essay on French home-
life in the last century ;"
FrvDch domoUct Kt jui evHmple of ibe eremat devcriioD. THert war many tven who
TmLha xhrnn betny (bar maiten, allowed UicmKlvcB \o be guilLotiDcd in their place, and
wbo, whcD happier d4v> r«niiiKd, lilenily and ropectfulty went back 10 (heir wwl-
Not entirely dissimilar was the bull contained in this obituary notice in the
London Timti:
On Ihe i« Decenber, u j, Elgin Ctesceai, KenilDRDn Park. Col. Willism Buruey, K.N.,
Due of lbs very few Hirrivon of Ok PeninHila and Waterloo, in lii> 8Sth year.
Here we have the dead man represented as a survivor. He must have
borne some kindred to Johnson's hero :
Nor yet percelri
But Kill loughi <
Sir Btiyle Roche repealed his own trope in a speech on the dangers of a
French invasion: "The murderous marshal-law men {Marttillais) would
break in, cut us to mince-meal, and throw our bleeding heads upon that table
to slare us in the face." But, again, he was equalled, if not surpassed, by
the contemporary orator quoted by Taine in his " French Kevolution." who
informed a Parisian mob, "I would take my own head by the hair, cut it
oQ and, presenting it to the despot, would say to him, 'Tyrant, behold the
act of a free man.'" This surpasses the miracle of St. Denis, for, in Ihe
original and more authentic form, that holy man merely thrust his head
under his arm and walked a goodly distance with iL Careful hagiologists
now reject the more recent elaborations that he kissed it on the way, or
that he fncked it up with his teeth.
A number of other Irish bulls hold a
•ubject of death ; ihat of a Hibernian genllen
the priesthood, "I hope I may live to hear you preach m
of another who expressed the grateful sentiment. " May yuu iivc lu cai me
chicken that scratches over your grave ;" of a physician who said oracularly of
a murdered man, "This person was so ill, that if he had not been murdered
be would have died a half an hour before," and of a lady who, in her will, or-
dered that her body should be opened at her death, for fear she should be
buried alive. A parallel to these ghastly jests may be found in the anecdote
of James Smilhson, founder of the Smithsonian Institute. He had five
doctorn, and they had been unable to discover his disease. Being told that
Us case was hopeless, he called thero around him *nd Mtid, "My friends, I
128 HANDY-BOOK OF
desire that you will make a poat-mortem exammalion of me, and find out what
ails me ( for really I am dying to know what my disease is myself."
When Garrick conduled with an Irish gentleman upon the recent death
of hia father, " It is what we must all come to if we nnly live long enough,"
said the Irishman. But the idea is no mure Irish than French, for when a
Frenchman had built his chileau and completed the chapel to it, he called
together his children and said, " I hoije we shall all be buried there, if God
grants us life." And the London S^taior puts in an English claim '
when it quotes from the letter of an English clergyman sohciling a subscrip-
tion towards the purchase of a burial-ground for his parish, which had grown
:o the dimensions of a small town with 30,000 inhabitants. "It is deplorable
I) think," said this clergyman, " of a parish where there ate 30,000 people
living without Christian uurial."
It was a Dublin paper which reported in 1S90 that "the health uf Mr. Pai-
nell has lately taken a very serious turn, and fears of his recovery are enter-
tained by his friends." But a number of English pa|>ers copied the statement
without suspicion of the bull. And it was a London paper (the 7»nfi) which
thus concluded a eulogium on Baron Dowse : " A great Irishman has passed
away. God grant that many as great, and who shall as wisely love their
country, may follow him." And il was another London paper (the TtUgrafih)
which had this dubious sentence : " Earl Sydney's illness became very acute
on Sunday. Prayers were offered on his behalf at the churches and places of
worship at Sidcup, Foot's Cray, and ChiselhursL Lord Sydney, ktruKver, on
Wednesday, appeared much improved."
Here is a story which has many ramifications until it finally loses itself in
' Hewins.' sa\- ., _..
, . . . - . ly!' says I: .... _
Faith, no more is mine Hewing,' saya ne. .So we looked at each
Greek root : *' I was going," said an Irishman, " over Westminster Bridge the
other day, and I met Pat Hewins. ' Hewins,' says I. ' how are vou ?' ' Pretlv
well,* says he, 'thank you, Donnelly.' 'Donnellj
other again, and sure it turned out to be nayther of us ; and where's the bull
of that, now ?"
A similar story is told of Sheridan Knowles, an Irishman by birth, an Eng-
lishman by adoption.
The names of Mark Lemon and Leman Rede used to puMle him severely,
and, as both were frequently before the public as writers for the staf^e, he could
never bring himself to understand which of the two was the subject of con-
Sratulation when a dramatic success was achieved byeitherof them. At length
e met \jcmin Rede and Mark Lemon walking arm in arm. "Ah," said
Knowles, the moment he was close enough to accost ihem, " now I'm bothered
entirely. Which of you is the other f"
Are not the above identical with the query addressed to Thomas Sandby
by Caullield. a pure-blooded Englishman: "My dear Sandby, I'm glad to
see you. Ptay is it you or your brother ?" But the Same Story had been told
by Hierocles, the Greek Joe Miller.
Nevertheless, we cannot take back our assertion that the finest breed of
bulls are those produced by the Emerald Isle. Here is a collection of speci-
mens that have eicilcd the laughter of generations, and will continue to make
chanticleers of our children :
" Has your sister got a son or a daughter ?" asked an Irishman of a friend.
" Upon my life," was the reply, " I don't know yet whether I'm an uncle or
An equivocal compliment was that of the Irish youth who dropped on his
knees before a new sweetheart, and said, " Darlin', 1 love y« as well as if I'd
known ye for seven years — and a great deal bettber,"
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. laj
"My dear, come in and go to bed," said the wife of a yAXj ton of Erin who
had just returned from the fair in a decidedly how-come 'Vou-so state ; "you
must be dreadful tired, sure, with your long walh uf six miles." " Arrah, get
away with your nonsense," said Pat ; "it wasn't the Imgik of the way at all
that fatigued me : 'twas the briadih a! IL"
A poor Irishman offered an old saucepan for sale. His children gathered
around hhn and inquired why he partrd with it " Ah, me honeys," he
answered, " I would not be aflher parting with it but (iir a little money to buy
something to put in iL"
A young Irishman who had married when about nineteen years of age,
complaining of the difficulties to which his early marriage subjected him, said
he would never marry so young again if he lived to he as uuld as Methuselah.
An invalid, after returning from a southern tri]i, said to a friend, "Oh,
shure, an' it's done me a wurruld o' good, goin' away. I've come back
anethtr man alti^ether ; in bet, I'm quite mistlf agen."
An eccentric lawyer thus questioned a client: "So your uncle, Dennis
O'Flaherty, had no family?" " None at all, yer honor," responded the client.
The lawyer made a memorandum of the reply, and then continued : " Very
good. And your father, Patrick O'Flaherty, did hi have chick or child ?"
In an Irish provincial paper is the following notice : " Whereas Patrick
O'Connor lately left his lodgings, this is to give notice that if he does not
return immediately and pay for the same, he will be advertised."
Two Irishmen were working in a quarry, when one of them fell into a deep
quarry-hole. The other, alarmed, came to the margin of the hole and called
out, "Atrah, Pat. are ye killed intirely? If ye're dead, spake." Pat reas-
sured him from the bottom by saying in answer, "No, Tim, I'm not dead, but
I'm spacheless."
At a crowded ctmcert a young lady, standing at the door of the hall, was
addressed by an honest Hibernian who was in attendance on the occasion.
" Indade, miss," said he, " I should be glad to give you a sate, but the empty
ones are all full."
"Gentlemen, is not one man as good as another?" "Uv course he is,"
shouted an eiciled Irish Chartist, "and a great deal betther."
"Pal, do you understand French?"
"Yis.if it'sshpokein Irish."
An Irish hostler was sent to the stable to bring forth a traveller's horse.
Not knowine which of the two strange horses in the stalls belonged to the
traveller, and wishing to avoid the appearance of ignorance in his business, he
saddled both animals and brought thera to the door. The traveller pointed
out his own horse, saying, "Thai's my nag."
" Certainly, yer honor ; I know that ; but I didn't know which one of them
A domestic, newly engaged, presented to his master, one morning, a pair of
boots, the leg of one of which was much longer than the other.
" How comes it that these boots are not of the same length ?"
** I raly don't know, sir ; but what bathers me the most is that the pair down-
An Irishman, having feet of different sizes, ordered his boots to be made
accordingly. His directions were olieyed, but as he tried the smallest boot
on his largest foot, he exclaimed, petulantly, " Confound that fellow I I ordered
him to make one larger than the other; and instead of that he has made cdo
omaller than the other."
.d by Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
Ihe supcTioriiy ol
Gild any modem building tKat has luted so long at Ihe aqpent T'
An Irish magislrale, cenBaring some boys for loitering in Ihe streets, argued,
" If everybody were lo stand in the street, how could anybody gel by f
Ad Irishman got oul of his carriage at a railway-station for refreshments,
but the bell rang and the train left before he had finished his repast " Hould
on I" cried Pal, as he ran like a madman after Ihe car, " hould on, ye inurther'n
ould stame injin ; you've got a passenger on board that's left behind."
" Ii U very sickly here," said one of the sons of the Emerald Isle to another.
" Yes," replied his com))anion, " a great many have died this year that never
died before."
An old Dublin woman went lo Ihe chandler's for a farthing candle, and,
being told it was raised to a halfpenny On account of the Russian war, " Bad
luck to them I" she exclaimed, *'and do they fight by candlc'lighl V
An Irish lover remarks that it is a great comfort to be alone, "especially
when yer swateheart is wid ye."
An eminent spirit- merchant in Dublin announced in one of Ihe Irish papers
that he had still a small quantity of the whislcey OD sale vihkh mas drvnk fy
Mis lair Majesty vihUt in Dublin.
But the great protagonist of all bull -perpetrators was Sir Boyle Roche, who
was elected memlier for Tralee in the Irish Parliament of 1775. Here,
"through his pleasant interference, the most angry debates were Irequently
concluded with peais of laughter." He was known upon one occasion, after
a withering exposure or patriotic denunciation of government, lo say, with
solemn gravity, " Mr. SpesKer, it is the duty of every true lover of his country
to give Ills lasl guinea to save the remainder of his fortunes 1" Or, if the
subject of debate was some national calamity, he would deliver himself thus:
"Sir, single misfortunes never cume alone, and the greatest of all national
calamities is generally followed by one much greater." When some one com-
plained that the sergeant-at-arma should have stopped a man in the rear of
the house while the set^eant was really engaged in trying to catch him in
front, Roche considerately asked, " Do you think the sergeant 'al-arms can be,
like a bird, in two places at once f Shocked at the Umpora it morts of Young
Ireland, he broke out, "The prepress of the times, Mr. Speaker, is such that
little children who can neither walk n<
streets cursing tl - _ .,.
pending the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, " It would be better, Mr. Speaker
g their Maker!" Arguing, u
Sc^ji-g.:
3nly a part, but. if necessary, even the whole
Constitution, to preserve the remainder," One of his most famous meis was
the imperious demand. " Why shuuld we put ourselves out of the way to do
anything for posterity } for what has posterity done for us f' Supposing, from
the roai of laughter which greeted this question, that the House had misun-
derstood him, he explainea " that by posterity he did not at all mean our
ancestors, but those who were to come immediately afler them." Upon hear-
ing this explanation "it was impossible." Uarrington assures us. "In do any
serious business for half an hour." A letler supposed to have been written
by Sir Boyle Roche during the Irish rebellion of '9S gives an amusing collec-
tion of his various blunders. Perhaps he never put quite so many un paper
at a lime ; bui his peculiar turn fur " bulls" is here shown at one view. The
letter was first printed in the Kerry Magaiiiu, now oul of print :
Ds^a Si*, — Having nowmlilllepCftccKIld quiet. 1 lit down lo bUorm you if the buttle ud
GOBAuion we uv in fnm Iht bloodihinty nbdi. iuD]r of wtiom an now, (tunk Ged, kilM
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 131
whiskey. When v* fit down to dinner ire are abliged to lieep'balh handt anned. While I
Ibe bcfiBDillg that Ihia vuuld be Ihe end ; and 1 am i^I. for i1 is not half aver yet. AC
your leUer a fomu^ ago^hui I only received n iMfl momina, — indeed, hardly H mail anivct
ufe withotkt being Tobhed. No Innser m^o than ye«(crdAy the iluUi-co4i:h from DubLin waa
robbed neAT ihia town : tlie b*g4 bad iicvn very judiciouaiy ie1> behind. Tin' Teat of accident*,
and. by ^Rat good luck, there vaa nobody in the coach eacept two outAide paaaengen^ who
in full retre^ from Drogheda were advancing under Ibe Knnch »Landard : but they had no
colon, HOT any drum* except b«gpip4- Immediately eve^ man in Ihe place, including women
ud cbildiev, tan out to meet them. We aoon found our force a great deal too little, and were
I«.ol..cutlaMe.,««lp
^to the .word ;»»■
bog. In Dki, in a (bar
™TfcC^TsrSd™.i
hUnh Fte^ich commiH
whidieactlytquuo^
yoon in haate. B, R.
'Ts.-lfyondonol
adfl. a parcel of eitlpiy bottles
., filled up with IrMh names.
And nov let us conclude with a hasty summary of famous bulls which are
not Irish.
It was a German oiitor who, warming with his subject, exclaimed, "There
il no man or child in Ihts vast assembly who has arrived at the age of fifty
tears that has not felt the truth uf this mighty subject thundering through
is miT)d for centuries." Il was a Spaniard who remarked ingenuously that an
author should always write his own index, let who will write the book. It was
the Portuguese mayor of Estremadura who, in ofiering a reward for the recovery
of the remains of a drowned man, enumerated among the recagniuble marks
that the deceased had an impediment in his speech.
Edgeworth relates the story of an Engli.th shopkeeper wh'> did pretty well
in the direction of the bull proper when, to recommend Ihe diitabilitj of some
bbric for a lady's dress, he said, " Madam, it will wear fotcver, and make
you a petticoat anerwards." This is quite equal to Ihe Irishman's rope which
had only one end, because the other bad been cut away. Take, again, the
rhyming distich by Caul field on the Highland roads constructed by Marshal'
Wade:
If you bad »en ibete road> bclbn diey were made.
You'd have lift op your eyea and blened Manhal Wade.— Gnosi.
Il was Serjeant Arabin, a famous landon justice, whoonce offered a prisoner
" a chance of redeeming a character that he had irrelrievably lost," and who
told another culprit, " It is in my power to transport you for a period very
considerably beyond the term of your natural life, but the court in its mercy
will not go BO lar as it lawfully might go," When Psyne Knight committed
nuicide, Ibe drug he had recourse to was Ihe strongest ptussic acid : " I under-
stand," Rogers notes in his diary. " he was dead before il touched h
The dri^ must have realiied Artemns Ward's injunction, "immediately if not
sooner." Sir Boyle Roche himself coifld not have surpassed these parlia-
mentary utterances of certain English legislators: "Mr. Speaker, I boldly
Sir Boyle Roche himself coifld not have surpassed these parii
utterances of certain English legislators: "Mr. S[
n the affirmative, — No," and, "Mr. Speaker, if I hav
against the honorable member, it is in his ^vor."
A btill that has won enviable notoriety is this American one, embodied in a
set of resolutions said to have been passed by the Board of Councilmen in
Canton, Mississippi:
I. Reaolved, by this CiniKll, thai we build a new jail.
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HAND y-BOOJC OF
Admirable 1 The American eagle must have given a great cry of joy when
Ireland was thus excelled in its own province. Bui, alas \ wisdom in its
foolish way destroys the bliss of ignorance by showing that this was originally
an Irish "chestnut." Grose, in his "Olio," 304, records that in the ordinance
for pulling down the old Newgale al Dublin, employing Ihe old materials and
rebuilding it on the same site, il was enacted that, lo avoid useless expense,
the prisoners should remain in the old Newgale till ihe new one was finished.
And this in turn has a remote affinity lo Ihe mistake of the party of Irishmen
under James II., who, being detailed to fortify a pass against the advance of
Ihe English troops, discovered, when the work was completed, thai Ihey had
set up Ihe stockades the wrong way about, so as to secure the pass against
themselves. P'erriar, who quotes this story from Ralph's " History of England,"
thinks this the most extraordinary of all blunders. Nevertheless, as a practi-
■ ■ ' J8. V" ■"
lecled a vast number of Ihe notes issued by his bank, and, with much shouting
cal bull, it is more than rivalled ^ the action of the rebels uf 1798. Wishing
1 testily Iheir abhorrence of the Hon. John Beresford, Ihey diligently col-
and gloriti cation, burned Ihem publicly in a bonfire. Thai evening Ihe banker
was heard praying fervently in the bank parlor for his enemies, who had done
for him what his best friends had never thought of doing.
And so OUT lasl examples are Irish, after all
Btunmar. lliis is usually considered to be an Americanism. But, like
many oilier Americanisms, it is simply a legilimale descendant of an old
English word, bummaiee, which may be found in the " English Market By-
Laws" of over two hundred years ago. In the London PtHlict InleUigtneer
of the year 1660 it appears m several advertisements. Bummarcc meant a
man who retails Gsh by peddling outside of the regular market. These per-
sons were looked down upon and regarded as cheats by the established
dealers, hence the name became one of conlempi for a dishonest person of
irregular habits. The word first appeared in (he United States during Ihe
'50's in California, and travelled eastward unlil during the dvil war it came
into general use, meaning a camp-follower or straggler, especially as con-
nected with General Sherman's march from Atlanta lo the sea.
Bampw. One of the humors of etymolt^y is the derivation thai makes
the bumper Ihe grace-cup in which good Roman Catholics, during the ascen-
dency of their religion in England, used to drink the health of the ben ptre.
Unfortunately, ihe pope was never known an bonfire, but as laaU piri. — kety
father, rather ihan good father. Besides, drinking firom the grace-cup (a large
vessel which went Ihc rounds of the company after every repast, the guests
drinking from il one after another) implied nothing extraordinary, nor even
intimated that Ihe glass was unusually full. Now, a bumper is atxive every-
thing else a miehty draught, brimming over. Indeed, in the days of our
grandfalhers a distinction was made between a brimmer and a bumper. If a
small panicle of cork, dropped into the centre of a full wineglass, finals away
to the edge of Ihe glass, this is a brimmer. Add a few drops of wine, and
the same bit of cork, if dropped in again, will lake up a permanent position
in the exact centre of Ihe convex circle, standing well up above Ihe level of
the brim. This is the irue bumper. Muiray cautiously suggests, "perhaps
from Bump, with notion of a 'bumping,' i.t., large, 'thumping' glass."
BoDOO-Bteerer, in America, originally a sharper who "roped in" suckers
for a gambling game called bunco, but now a generic name for all forms of
conlidence-men. Their method of procedure is sufficiently well explained in
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES.
considcTing you never set eyes on his face before, liow you have dined to-
eelher in Cincinnali, or it may be Orleans, or perhaps Francisco, because he
finds out where you came from lasL And he will shake hands with yuu, and
he will propose a drink ; and he will pay for that drink, and presently he wilt
lake you somewhere else, among his pals, and he will strip you so clean Ihat
there won't be left the price of a four -cent paper to throw around your face
and hide your blushes."
A curious anlidpalion of the methods of the American bunco-sleeier n:
be found in Moliire's " Monsieur de Pourceaugnac." Sbrigani and Erasle :
both in league to " do" the honest country gentleman on his arrival in Pai
Sbrigani has already scraped an acquaintance when Eraste arrives on I
PmmiiuniBcI How deMghied I ai
dlfficuJcy in recaEDLiiniE me I
Pnr. Sir. I am ymu ur><uil.
-- Pray, puilon me. \Asia
I. ThERll
.1 : I vitiied oQiy ihrm u itic i
£r<u'. You don-l recollecl ^y 'ho
Pnr. Ya,iiid«d. [7i«r//B«.
Em. Vou don-l rtmember iMl I
. I vitiled OQiy Ihrm U Ihc lime 1 wu tbere. and I bid tb
. Mir. Wy.Mciuenit. lit, ^rittniA I don'l luiow who Ihit it.
Erat. Whkl'l ihE iiaizie of thu iDnleeper u Umoga who glvs >uch good .
Pamr. Pelil-I«n!
Erat. Thu^ ihc nun I Wc gcnnlly weni ihcre UHciher ID enjoy oun
the ouBc of that plan ju Limocu whor p«ople promanuet
Aar. ThE ccmetsy of the Artno T
Bras. pKcisdy. Tbu'i wherE I paued mcb pleajuil boun in EDJoylDg y*
lia. Wli«'.
Ptar. EicuH ne. I an begbmii^ to RineailMr. [ 7s Siritanl.] May ibe dtvkJ take me
Str. {Aiidilo Pimrttantitac.] Tliere an a huodnd ihing* like (hat which pan out of a
Erat. Tell oh all the newiabiHU ifae family. How b, hovit'^hEie! ihe one ihai'i luch
d Ibe one who ii lUwiiyt to pwd-tempered — Itien
r. Tlvat't wbam I onant.— the good lady yc
him f A (all, finety-madc fellow '
Jl.
12
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY BOOK OF
Erat. Who i> your Dcphcw t
/■™r. Yb.
EriH. Sod of your brother and ^tert
Era). Oman of ihe church of Now, whiil'i lh> Dunt tt Ihu church t
P«,T. Si, Sttphen.
Pnr.l Iq Str^i\ He n]enli<H^°ihe"'ha]e Sinily.
And SO Ihe wily conspirators have (heir will. In England, loo, some of the
fiuniliar confidence iricka were practised by sharps long before the present
era. Here is corroborative evidence in the " London Guide" of 1816, which
speaks as if (he tricks were then well-nigh obsolete;
tt an aJDioii obsoleie pmciice. and Ju iwin cheal, ring-droppinf, nol leu disiucoT " Whal ix
thil?" Mvs the dropper- "My wijcsyl ir thit Jft not ■ leather pune with money I Ha T ha!
ha I Lei'i have a look ai il." WfaUii he uuTi^di iu conienii hii cuinpaiuun cono up aad
claims a title lo a thare. " Not you, indeed I" repjiei Ihe Hader : " thii nDtienian waa nem
hi* pnority, Ihe finder declaro Ivinue^ no chiul id the buainai, olTen lo divide it into ihree
pans, aDd pdnii out a publlc-houie at which they may (hare the conienu and diink over their
Ad old fHend coota in, wbon the finder can baiely reco^in. Uit remenbo? him by piece-
meal. 1^ ba^telle, the draught-tuard, or cardi, eahibit the means of itakiDg the easily-
acquired property, to lately found, but which they cannot divide Just now, for want of change.
The countryman bets, and if he loses is tialted oD to pay ; if he wins It is atlded lo wbat it
cominf 10 him out of ibe pune. If. after an experiaicni or two, they discover he bu Utile or
no money, they nin off and leave liim to answer for the reckoning.
, Baking for B
s origin is thus given t Felix Walker, member of Congress for Bun-
combe County, North Carolina, was once making a long-windcd speech,
wheti, notiiHng the impatience of his listeners, he pausea long enough to
inform them that he was not speaking for their Ixnelit, but for Buncombe.
Though the story has become a classic, it seems pretty certain that bunkum, in
the modern sense, was in use almost a century ago in New England, the pos-
sible tierivation being from the Canadian French "II est buncum sa" ("II est
bon comtne fa"), " It is good as it is." The phrase has crossed the Atlantic,
and is as thoroughly accepted in England as in America.
_ B Aab, a famous problem of the medlxval schoolmen, named
after its lepuied auihoi, Dr. John Buridan, rector of the University of Paris
in 1347. 'I'he story runs that Queen Joanna of France was in the habit
of throwing her lovers into the Seine as a precaution against their blabbing ;
bat she made an excejilion in Buridan's case, who, in gratitude, invented the
problem. What il has lo do with the matter has never been explained. The
Eroblem itself runs as follows. An ass is placed between two equidistant
undies of hay. Will he feed of one or the other, or, entranced by their
opposite attractions, find it impossible to choose, and so die of starvation ?
It will be seen that the whole question of free-will is involved, for, if the ass
eats at all. he must make a choice between alternatives of eiiuai force. Many
of the schoolmen, however, were for making him die of indecision. Others
denied Ihe possibility of the balance, — which wasnoansweratall. The problem
anteilates Buridan. Dante thus states it in the " Divine Comedy ;"
If diber he cculd bdag imto hto te«h.
. Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I3S
So would A lunb between tbe raveofaigi
Of two fierce woJvfs vund rearing boUi ItUke ;
Aod to would kUfid ft dog between two doet.
PArAdiitt CuitD 4, LuMi 1-4, LoDfffeJlow'i tramUtioD,
Dante died in 1^21, so he could not have taken the thought from Buridan.
It is nearW as unlikely that a copy of Ihe " Conimedia" should have reached
Paris and been read by a scholastic who would have looked down upon la
liHgua volgare as a mere patois. Both were obviously indebted 10 some
common original.
Bnnit child fear* tiw fire, A, a proverb common to most modern Ian-
pages.
loDfua, A tulcwd dog feui cold water, \t better still. Outi doei but ejtpn» box ihtde
with a ulck lA afraid i>r iu vhadow ,
the nnmy South, where the glancing but najulleu 111
WboDI 4 ttrpoit has biltcD a lizard alanni. With a _ , . — _, _
rabbu had laid long before. One bitten by a aeqKDt l> afiAld of a rope'i end, even that
But me no bnt«. This phrase may be found in Fielding's " Rape upon
Rape," Act ii., St:, a, and in Aaron Hill's " Snake in the Gtaaa," Scene i.
But analOEOOS expressions are frequent among the Eliubetlian dramatisls.
Thus, Shakespeare says, " Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle" {Rich-
ard II., Act ii., Sc 3I, and "Thank me no thanks, not proud me no prouds"
{Rtmet>aHdyuiia.Aaui.,Sc 5); Ben Jonson, "O me no OV {TAi Cast h
AlltnJ, Act v., Sc I); Beaumont and Fletcher, ■• Pol tne no pota" (The
Km^ ej thi Burning Pettlt, Act ii., Sc S). and " Vow me no vows" ( Wit
withsut Money, Act iv., Sc. 4); Ford, "Front me no fronts" iTht Lad/i
?rHi/, Act ii. Sc I); Massinger, " End me no ends" (^ ;Vrto Wo^ to /"oy 0/,i
ZM(f, Act v., Sc. I), and "Virgin me no virgitis" {Ibid., Act ilL, Sc 3); and
Peele, " Parish me no parishes^' [ TX^ Old Wivi^ TaU). Dryden uses a siui-
ilar expression twice in " The Wild Gallant :" " Midas me no Midas" (Act ii.,
Sc I), and "Madam me no madams" (Act ii., Sc 2). Fielding himself was
fond of the locution. He has "Map me no maps" in the play already quoted
from (Act i., Sc si, and " Petition me no petitions" in "Tom Thumb" (Act i.,
Sc a). Scott, in " Ivanhoe" (chapter ix.), has it " Clerk me no clerks ;" Bul-
wer. in the *" Last Days of Pompeii" (Book iii., chap, vi.), makes one of his
characters cry, " Fool me no fools ;" and Tennyson, in " Elaine," makes
Launcelot tay, —
No d<*niDPd( I Tot God-i love, a little air I
Buttons, A aonl Rbore, a humorous phrase for one who is or bndes him-
self superior to his actual employment, probably arises from an expression in
George Colman's "Sylvester Daggerwood" (1808): "My father was an emi-
nent button-maker, but I had a soul above buttons. 1 panted fur a liberal
I»ofession."
.d by Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
C, the third letter and the second consonant in the English alphabet, as in most
alphabets derived from the Phcenician. But in the Phcenician, as in ihe Greeii,
the value of the character was thai of hardf, — Ihc Greek f. The early Latins
gave it also the k or Greek ■ sound, cepTesenling both sounds by the letter
C, and ignoring the K character. When later they readopled the dislinctiun
of sounds, Ihey retained C as the symbol of Ihe hard sound, and added a lag
to the same character to represent the /sound. Thus Ihe C, when restored
to its original and undilutea sound-sense, became our G. The Anglo-Saxon
softened the C before e, i, and j- into the sound of f4, the French into that of r.
Hence words in our language beginning with the soft sound of e are almost
invariably of French, and those beginnnig with ch of Saxon, origin. Excep-
tions like cinder (Saxon liiu/er) result from a corrupted misspelling.
^a Ira, literally. " that will go," a French phrase nearly equivalent to our
"it will all come righl in the end." Franklin applied it with great effect lo
the cause of the American Revolution when he was the miiiisler of Ihe United
Slates in Paris, and it subsequently acquired wide celebrity as the refrain of a
popular song during Ihe French Revolution of 1791 :
Hang ibe antiocnui to the lainp-po«.
TImk words fell, u all irue pauiou Invc to nmcmbcr, rrom the Up* or Fnnklin in ihe tiy-
iof limel of IIJJ. When the new! of the disastrous n;lre« through tJie Jeneyi and the
Da» indeed all wu I0K. Bui Ihe (tout h^ of ^inklin never for a moment Hincbeil. "This
—AcU/L^n-.nfi/Bry'i^UtPro/U^lUUHiltiiJ^ri^taLii.' "'' "* "" "°"'
Qa Ta aalU dire, a ^miliar French 1i>cution, whose English equivalent
might be '■ that is a matter of course," or " that may be taken for granted."
But recently it has Iwcome the tendency lo translate it literally, ''that goes
without saying," and these words, though originally uncouth and almtist
unmeaning to the unpractised eat, ate gradually acquiring Ihc exact meaning
of Ihe French.
Cabal, a junto, a union of unscrupulous self-seekers lo promme ihejr own
interests in church or state, possibly in allusion to the esoteric nature of the
Jewish Cabbala. The name was given as a sobriquet to the English ministry
after the Restoration. Thus, December 31, 1667, Pepys notes in his Diary,
*' The Archbishop of Canterbury is called no more to the Cabal, nor, by the
way, Sir W. Coventry, which I am sorry for, the Cabal at present being . ■ .
the King and Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Keeper, the Duke of Albe-
marle, and Privy Scale." Three years later, in 1670, a new ministry was
foTnied, with the fullowing members : Sir Thomas Clifford, Lord AuMey, Ihe
Duke of ^uckin^hain. Liird Arlington, and the Duke of Zaudetdale. It will
be seen that the italicized initials turm the acri^tic "Cabal," a '
i:h led to the bllacv that the word Cabal crew out of the acrostic
IS the first writer guilty of this etymological blunder, and he has been
„ — J 1... _.i__ t:_.__! — ._j 1 — 1 — II .i_ lictionaries and
closely followed by other historians, and by nearly all the dictionaries and
works of reference.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 137
CeBOw's wife mn>t b« above Biupioioa. This phrase, according lo
Suetonius and Pluiuch, oriBinaied with Cxsar under the rullowing ciicuni'
ttances. His wife Pompeia had an intrigue with Publiua Ciodius, a member
of one of the noblest ramilies of Rome and a brilliant and handsome proHi-
gale. As he could not easiiy gain access to her, he took the opportunity,
while she was celebrating the raysleriea of the Bona Uea ("Good GoddtsB,"
a dryad with whom the god Faunus had an amour), to cuter disguised in a
woman's habit. Now, these mysteries were celebrated annually by women
with the most profound secrecy at the house of the consul or prseior. The
trcsence of a man was abideous pollution: even the pictures of male animals
ad to be veiled in the room where these ceremonies were performed. While
Ciodius was waiting in one of the apartments for Pompeia, he was discovered
by a maid-servant of Cxsar's mother, who gave the alarm. He was driven
out of the assembly with indignation. The news spread a general horror
throughout the city. Pompeia was divorced by Cxs»r. But when Clo<lius
came ap foi trial, Cxsar declared tlial he knew nothing of the affair, though
his mother Aurelia and his sister Julia gave the court an exact account of
all the circumstances. Being asked why, then, he had divorced Pompeia,
" Because," answered Czsar, " my family should not only be free from guilt,
but even from the suspicion nf it. (Suetonius.) Plutarch ^ives it, "Because
1 would have the chastity of my wife clear even from suspicion," This was
very well ; but Ctesar had no mind to exasperate a man like Ciodius, who
might serve his ambitious projects. The judges were tampered with. Ciodius
was acquitted. Cicero was enraged. "The judges," said he, "would not
give any credit to Ciodius, but made him pay his money beforehand." This
expression made an irreparable breach between Ciodius and Cicero, lo their
mutual undoing. Ciodius succeeded in having a law passed fur Cicero's ban-
ishment, demolished his house, and persecuted his wife and children. Ciodius,
on his part, was impeached by Miio, the friend of Cicero. The latter was
unsuccessful. But Milo and Ciodius met, shortly afterwards, on the Appian
Way. The seivaiils of both engaged in a getieral fray, anti Milo's faction
triumphed. Cludius took shelter in a neighboring tavern, but Milo had the
house Btotmed and Ciodius draped out and slaiiu
Cake, To tak« ths, an American colloquial expreauon, applied tooue who
doe« a thing pre-eminently well, or, sarcaalically, and more usually, to one
(ho fails conspicuously. It had its origin in the negro cake-walks common
n the Southern States, and not unknown in the Notlhern. The waik usu
who fails conspicuously. It had its origin in the negro cake-walks
' " ulhern States, and not unknown in the Notlhern. The wail
, a ball. Couples, drawn l>y tot, walk around a cake especially pre
pared for the occasion, and the umpires award the prize to the couple who, in
their opinion, walk must gracefully and are attired with the greatest taste.
Hence they are said "to take the cake," — an expression which has attained its
wide currency through the burlesques in the negro minstrel shows.
Vet the negro cake-walk has respectable ancestry in the medixvat past.-
Gerard'i " Heiball " (1G33) informs us that "in the springtime are made with
the leaves hereof newly sprung up, and with egs, cakes or tansies, which be
pleasant in taste, and good for the stomacke ;" and a contemporary, speaking
of the Strictness of the Puritans, says, " All gan . . .. ^ . . .
of loss are strictly forbidden ; not so much as a game of football for a tansy."
According to Brand, in the Easter season foot-courses were run in the
meadows, the victors carrying off each a cake, given to be run for by some
better person in the neighborhood. In Ireland, at Easter and Whitsuntide,
the lower classes used lo meet and dance for a cake raised on top of a pike
decorated with flowers, the prize going to the couple who held out the longest ;
and in some parts of England a custom prevailed of riding for the bride-cake.
" This riding took place when the bride was brought to her new habitation. A
138 HANDY-BOOIC OF
pole, three or four feet high, was erected in Tront of ihe house and ihccakc pal
on top of it. On the instant thai the bride set out from her old home, a com-
pany of young men starlet! on horseback, and he who was fortunate enough to
reach the pole tirst and knock the cake down with his stick received il from the
hands of a damsel. This was called 'taking the cake.' The fortunate winner
llien advanced Co meet the bride and her attendants." — Rev. A. MaCAULav ;
Hiitary and AtttiquitUs ef Claybreek (1791).
Gak«, 'Wily dont they eat? This is said to have been the reply made
by some very young and very ingenuous princess — variously nominated by
the authorities as Marie Antoinette, the E^incess de Lamballe, or some less-
known person — when she was informed that there was a Famine among the
poor, and that many were dying for want of bread. The Ameritan Nda and
Qutrits (iv, 103) comes to the rescue of the maligned princess — whom il
asserts to be Marie Antoinette — by explaining that what she really said was,
" I would rather eat pie-crusl [croitimi) than starve." And allhough the
courtiers giggled, the laughers, says this authority, "are on the aide of the
?rinceas, tor what she said showed her good sense and knowledge of the
'yrolese peasantry. Iii the Tyrol it was customary 10 prepare meat for
cooking by lirsl rolling it up in a 'breading' composed of sawdust, with a
small amount of flour to give it coherence. It was placed among the embers
and left to cook slowly. When the meat was ready to be served, the crust
was thrown away or fed to swine. Certainly crofitons might not have been
suitable for a steady diet, but nevertheless the princess was wi.ser than those
who tell the story in the ordinary form."
Cahtt. Tau CMUlOt havft yonr oake ana eat It; a familiar English
proverb, of obvious application. It appears in this form in Heywood'i
" Proverbs :"
Would v« both cat your cake and bavi your cake t
And in Herbert's " The Siie :"
Camel. " It is easier for a camel to go through Ihe eye of a needle, than for
a rich man to enter into Ihe kingdom of God" {Afaa. xix. 14). This phrase
has occasioned much controversy among commentators, many of whom have
held thai it is hyperbolical, and wanting in that propriety which usually char-
acleriies the metaphors employed by Jesus Christ Ongen aitdTheophylact
leaned to Ihe opinion that cable should be substituted for camel, claiming that
among the Hellenistic Jews n^ij^ meant indifferenllya Cable Or a camel. St.
Anselm is said to have explained it thus : " At Jerusalem there was a Certain
gale, called the needle's eye, through which a camel con'd not pass but upon
Its bended knees and after its burden had been taken off; and so the rich man
■ should not be able id pass alone ihe narrowway that leads to life till he had put
off the burden of sin and of riches,— that is. bv ceasing to love them." (Gloesa
apud S. Anselm. in Calma Aurea, vol. i. p. 676, Olf. trans., 1841.) St. Anselm
might have gone further than this. It seems to be pretty well established that
the term needle's eye was frequently applied to a small door or wicket in an
Eastern town. Nay, such an application does nol seem unknown in the West.
Danle [Purgattrit, Canlo xv. 16) speaks of himself and his conductor Vergil
crawling through a cmna, — i.t., Ihe eye of a needle, meaning a narrow passage.
Nevertheless the question cannot be considered as settled. Taking the saying
in its most literal sense, il is scarcely more hyperbolical than that other utter-
ance of our Lord, " Strain al a gnat and swallow a camel." In any event
Christ was only making use of a proverbial expression, the comparison of any
difficulty with thai of a camel or an elephant passing through the eye of a
I.ITERARY CURIOSITIES. 139
needie beiti^ a CLmlliar Minile to Oriental hearers. (Sec Nolit and Qutriti,
fifth series, ix. 37a>
Shakespeare constraed the passage in St. Anselm's sense when he said, —
lit up a second, then a
and so on till nineteen were cut up ; and as the nineteenth was eaten by the
surviviiig ducic, it followed that this one had eaten his nineteen comrades in a
wonderfully short space of time. This preposterous tale went the round of the
newspapers in France and elsewhere, and so gave the word canard (" duck"),
in the new sense of a hoax, first to the French language, and then to all civil-
ized tongues. This story may have suggested to W. S. Gilbert his " Yarn of
the Nancy BelT."
OrdiUBl, from the Latin cardo, a binge, a name applied in earlier ages to
priests and deacons in 3 mctropolilan cnucch who acted as a sort of council
with the Ushop. It was never exclusively appropriated to members of the
Sacred College at Rome until Pius V. so limited its use in 1567. thirty-three
nam after the formal nullification by Parliament of the papal authority in
Britain. Hence the title still lingers m the English Church, and to this day
two members of the Coll ese of Minor Canons in Sl Paul's Cathedral, London,
are styled " the Senior and Junior Cardinals of the Choir," their duties being
to preserve order in the services, administer the Eucharist, and officiate at
funerals. Thanks to the secularization of church properties, other traces still
eiist in various parts of Protestant Euiope of the old hierarchical nomencla-
ture—thus, Lonl Abbot of St. Mary's, at Newry, in Ireland. The nomination
of one of the sons of George III., while in his cradle, to a Hanoverian bishop-
ric gave point, it will be remembered, to a passage in one of Bunis's most
characteristtc poems. "It once occurred to me." says a newspaper writer,
" to be presented to the Htrr AH and the Frau AiCin al a secularized abbey
in the duchy of Liineburg. The Htrr Ail was a friend and correspondent
of Strauss, and the Enm Aitin waltzed remarkably well."
Cards, Od Um. Roughly, this common locution may be deJined as in the
Allure, in order, within the range of probability. Thus, Micawber, in " David
Copperfield," says, " By way of going !n for anything that might be on the
cards," etc Here the last part of the sentence is equivalent to his favorite
location, "anything which may turn up." An earlier use of the same ex-
pression occurs in Smollett's translation of "Gil Bias" (1749) : "They wanted
to discern whether I played the villain on principle, 01 had some little practical
d^erity, bat I showed them tricks which they did not know to \x on the
lards, and yet acknowledged to be better than their own." Here the phrase
is not yet divorced from its original connection with pisying-cards.
CatptA. This is an old word for table-cloth, as tafia in French means both
irpet and table-cloth. "On the - " -■ ■■ . ■ ., ....
on the table for future consideration
infronted with a person in hii
It Ibu hb (on hail brcoi
1(]eh'i!d3c^
I40 HANDY-BOOK OF
Carpet Benight, — in allusion lo Ihe carpet on which mayors, lawyers, and
other civilians kneel when receiving the honors of knighthood, — a person who
has been knighted through court &vor, and not in recognition of services in
battle. By extension the phrase is applied lo all persons who have gained
without earning it.
Qkr[KI knithis An HKhu hAve uudledlaw. pbysic,Droih«r otu or»i:i«DC4, whereby Ibcy
have became TamoiB, and feeing Ibal Ihey are not linighEed aa iDldien, Ihey are nol ihenfon
or " Knigbu of ihe Carpeiry, or " Knigbu ai ihc GneD Clotb," (o dJuinpiuh ihem from
IhoK kn^hu tbal an dubbed aa lotdien !□ ihe field.— KjlKDLa HoLUU : AcaiUmf n/ Ar.
Cany me out, an eiptession of incredulity or contempt, which seems to
have originated in England about 1780. but is now less common there than in
the United Stales. It is sometimes elaborated into " Carry me out and bury
me decently," or, "and leave me in Ihe gutter." An American variant once
very familiar, " Carry me out when Kirby dies," has a history of its own.
Caatlea in tbe air, a proverbial phrase found ihraughoui English litera-
ture, the firs! instance noted being in Sir Philip Sidney's ■■ Defence of Poesy,"
The metaphor is obvious enough. But the French equivalent, "chSleaui en
Eapagne" ("castles in Spain"), requites explanation. M. Quitard tells us
that the proverb dales from the latter part of the eleventh century. When
Henry of Burgundy crossed the Pyrenees at the head of a great army of
knights to win glory and plunder from the Infidels, Alfonso of Castile re-
warded Henry's services with the hand of his daughter Theresa, and the
county of Lusitania, — the latter becoming, under the issue of this marriage,
Alfonso Henrique^, the kingdom of Portugal. So brilliant a success excited
the emulation of other warlike French nobles, and set them lo dreaming of
iie& won and castles built in Spain. In further eaplanation, il may be added
that previous to the eleventh century lew castles had been built in Spain,
and the new adventurers had lo build for themselves.
With eaiint nu.
« aick utd Hifferifv Chdativi 10 (he active wiry liiilt animal populaiiy nippoHd 10 tinve nioe
Uvea, thai lareie abimal ia alJ but iarariably tick (in every ■enKoTl be Ak'oid} if raihly pennined
ID/fl/Ihe m tucc«HfuUy enccuntered and killed. Hawiuange chai ihii Kcond line ihould
powerful help of rhyme, lo keep il in remeniWDcet^Af/'f 4jvi/^j*erj^i, fourth icriea.ii. 541.
Cat Th« oat lores Bah, bnt alie ia loath to ivet her feet This is
the proverb that Lady Macbeth alludes to when she upbraids her husband for
Irresolution :
Letiiu " I dare not" wait upoo " 1 would,"
Lilie ifie poor cai ui ihe ada«e.
Another old English proverb reminds you that " If you would have the hen's
egg you must bear with her cackling," while the Portuguese say, " There's no
catching trout with dry breeches." Of the same kind was the good woman's
answer 10 her husband when he complained of Ihc exciseman's gallantry :
"Such things must be if we sell ale."
Cat, To bell the. To thwart or destroy a common enemy at great per-
sonal risk. The phrase originated in .^op's fable of the colony of mice, who,
having suffered greatly from the stealthy strategy of a cat, met together lo
devise a remedy. A young mouse suggested that a bell should be hung from
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 141
Grimalkin's neck. Thus due nolice of her approach would always be given.
Greit applause greeled the suggeslion, until an old mouse put the pertinent
question, "Who will bell the cat?" The phrase has acquired additional
significance Ihrough an incident in Scotch history. James III. had greatly
irritated Ihc old nobility by his friendship for arlisls, especially for one Coch.
ran, an architect, whom he had created Earl of Mar. At a secret meeting of
the nobles it was proposed to get rid of the favorite. Lord Gray, fearing that
no practical result would be achieved, related the above fable. But when he
asked, " Who will bell the cat f" Archibald, EatI of Angus, sprang op and
cried, "twill bell the cat." He was as good as his word. He captured
Cochran and had him hanged over (he bridge of Lauder. Afterwards he
was always known as Bell-the'Cat
Cat, To wUp the, a
takes its rise, by a specie!
practised on country louts. Grose (t7)S5) describes it as "the laying of a
wager with them that they may be pulled through a pond by a cat ; the bet
being made, a rope is fixed round the waist of the parly to be catted, and the
end thrown across the pond, to which the cat is also fastened by a pack-
thread, and three or four sturdy fellows are appointed to lead anil whip the
cat ; these, on a signal given, seize the end of the cord, and, pretending to
whip the cat, haul the astonished booby through the water."
Cat, Tonch not the oat, but the glove. This is the motto of the Clan
McPheraon (formerly and, it may be, yet in the Highlands, known as the Clan
Chattan), and is liorne on the coat of arms of its chief, Cluny McPherson.
The badge of the clan is the wild-cat, formerly common in the savage moun-
tain coanlry amid which the clan has its home, where it is yet sometimes to
be met will), and the motto is meant to indicate that it is as dangerous to
meddle with the cat as with the Clan Chattan. The Scotch badge, the thistle,
with its motto, Nemo mi impum lacasit, gives the same warning.
Catob. This word is usually applied to what was formerly called a bite
(sec under Biter Bri) and now frequently known as a sell, and also to any
other tbrm of verbal trickery or jugglery whereby an unsophisticated person
is brought to the blush or taken at an advantage. A very ancient form of the
catch in action is afforded by the story of Dido's bargain with the aboriginal
Africans, whereby she engaged for a sti])ulated sum to purchase as much land
as could be compassed by a bull's hide, and, cutting the hide into thin strips,
the wily queen secured enough ground to build thereon the great city at
Carthage. A similar stoty is loMof William the Conqueror just before the
battle of Hastings, and therefore, to be strictly accurate, before he had become
the Conqueror and when he was sim])ly William the Shyster. He, too, under
exactly the same conditions, made a bull's hide encircle several miles of land, —
namely, from Bulverhythe (which the cunning elymologist would make synony-
mous with Bull-hide) to Come-Hide-in- Battel, for thither (says the same au-
Kttouiy) came lil hidr. The Bull Inn at Bulverhythe is extant to this day to
corroborate the story. Therefore deny it at your peril.
Catches of this sort have been familiarized to us by the swindling adver-
tiser. For example, there is the story of the shrewd Englishman who offered
to explain, for a very small consideration, how a good de^ of money might be
saved ; and when the unwary had transmitted the fee he received the reply,
" Never pay a boy to look after your shadow while you climb a tree to look
into the middle of next week. Excellent advice, to be sure, but hardly
applicable to every-day requirements- Another advertiser told his clients
more succinctly, " Never answer an advcrtisctnent of this kind." If counsel
14* HANDY-BOOK OF
of this tort had been taken by the world at large, the eager agriculluiisl who
enclosed a fee for information as to " How to raise beets" would have been
spared the chagrin of receiving in return the recipe, "Take hold of the lops
and pull."
A well-known story is that of (he showman who had a big placard on his
tent, announcing thai he was exhibiting a horse with his tail where his head
o>Whl to be. The inquisitive paid thetr money, were admitlcd within, beheld
> horse turned around so that his tail was in the oat-bin, laughed shame-
facedly, and then lingered outside the tent to watch theit fellow -cream res gel
victimized in the same way.
The story of another genius is thus summed up in the Chicago Trtiatat:
" His history is briefly told. After several days of thought he discovered a
sure way of making money, and, like other men, be was in a hurry to try iL
He made haste to insert an advertisement something like the following in
several country weeklies ;
" Then he hired a dray to bring his mail from the post-office, and had 10,000
of his recipes printed. Inside of two weeks something like Gooo 01 7000
farmers had contributed twenty two-cent stamps each for the printed lecipes.
Then several hundred of Ihem bought clubs and railroad tickets and started
out to interview the advertiser. At his office they were informed that he had
left to attend to some business in Europe, and he was not expected back, All
be had left was a package of 3000 or 4000 slips of paper, on which was
printed the following :
" Put your bug od a ihingle. Then bii li whh uoiher (hinglc."
In the reign of Queen Anne the "bile" became a regular institution, and is
frequently alluded 10 in contemporary atithote.
Many of these "biles" were eiiremely coarse, if not actually indecent. A
very famous one was known as "selling a bateain." It is described at full
length by Swift, and the curious are also referred to a sufficiently ample ac-
count in Farmer's "Slang and ils Analoguea," sub vKt "Bargain." The
modern catch, familiar to bar-room loafers, is oflen a descendant of the gayer
sort of bite. A few examples of ils more harmless kin may be admitted
within the chaste pages of this compilation.
Query : " How do you pronounce Caatoria ?" When the victim has glibly
given what he holds tu be the true answer and is looking round (br applause,
Tou quietly take the conceit out of him by saying, " Physicians pronounce it
»ands Jt IJ, organdsorf 13?" '
n the fact that the innocent (supposing he be caught
young enough) looks upon it as a purely grammatical question, and loses sight
of the malhemalical aspect But the wary quealioner oflo-day, knowing that
same way the questioner has a string in reserve when he twangs his bow to
this effect ; " 1 lost a ring in the river. A week afterwards I cauahl a big
salmon, and when it was served up to me what do you .«uppose I found on
opening it V If the victim is forewarned and answers, " Bones," you quietly
retort, "No; the ring."
Query : " How do you pronounce the preposition t-o ?" Tbe victim answers
correctly. You continue, "And the adverb t-o-o^' "And the numcial adjec-
Coo^Ic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I43
tive t-w-o V Both questions are answered correctly. Now is your chance t
" And how do you pronounce ihe second day of the week T' There are a few
people sdll left who will unwarily reply, "Tuesday." A pendant tu this is
only capable of oral delivery, for reasons that will be apparent at once. Ask
a man to write down the sentence " It is two miles to London." He does so
readily enough. Then confound him by asking him to write down this sen-
tence,— which can no more be printed than it can be written, and must there-
f<»e be phonetically indicated, — "There are two Oi'a in that sentence."
But enough of these puerilities. A task lietter befitting the masculine
intellect is that of learning the current "catches," whereby a man may inge-
niously obtain a drink without paying for iL Two very common ones must
suffice. The thirsty but impecunious soul approaches the bat-tender with a
reiiuest itx brandy, or what not. He takes a sip, pronounces it detestable,
and oflers to change it for a glass of whiskey. The obliging bar-tender sub-
stitutes the whiskey. The customer drinks, smacks his lips, and prepares tn
depart. " Here," says the bar-tender, "you haven't paid for your whiskey."
" No," is the innocent response ; " I gave you the brandy in exchange for it."
"But TOU didn't pay for the brandy." "But I didn't drink iL" And while
the publican intellect is vainly struggling with the mathematical puzzle involved,
the puzzler makes good his escape. Another method h, said to lie common
with a thirsty but moneyless crowd in Western bar-rooms. The spokesman
bails a passer-l^ and asks him, " Do you know any German ?" " Very little,"
is the inodesi reply. "Well, can you translate Wiu wotltn lit AaiiHf"
"Why, what will you havef" "Thanks ; make it a whiskey straight," bursts
umultaneouslv from a dozen parched throats. And the man of polyglot
information, it he have any sense of shame, will promptly acknowledge that
the drinks are on him.
A good instance of a common form of newspaper catch is chronicled in the
following gleeful manner bv the New York Commerdal Advertiser (May 18,
1SS9I, under the heading " "fat Sun Ceases to Shine ;"
Our oIBcnied conHmpomy the .^>r 19 Doi yd nDe hundnd and (XUxa y«n old, bill
fcemt ta luve lott its •ccvttonied brightnai when qiiolmg lh« faHowing hoax from tbe Sk-
vabfuh JVnu, uid cutidiDa ii, cobuary lo all that liiheRln >ud," Ijved One Hundred and
rift«o Yean wilhoui Tfnh /'
" Then «u ■ Tery old Run from MoivnlKr In atloiduice nt Pike Superior Court lut
bb aie. 'We[l,'heujd.'?iu7e lo lee'Februuy 31 I wUl be one hundred and firieen ycais
old. Anudier rrmu-kablc bcl conn«ied wiih my coniiruolon ij ihat I haven't a tooth in my
Doublleia when the 31K of Febnury comei round the Sun will know belter, or else ceue
It is not anotual with editorial wags to confound a literary aspirant by tell-
ing him that they have read every word of his poem, or what not. " Where ?"
cries the indignant tyro. "In the dictionary." In the same wa;j Barnum
tised to bring consternation into the hearts of his grocers by complaining that
their pepper WM half peas. When they protested, he would quietly ask, "How
do yon spell pepper f and the catch stood revealed.
A number of catches have descended to us from an immemoiial antiquity
in the form of question and answer. Probably the best.known are "Where
was Moses when his candle went out f" and " Who was the father of Zcbedee's
children f" We will not insult our readers' intelligence by printing the
answers. (To be sure, in the second case it misht be objected that there
is a quite unwarranted presumption that 2^bedee^ children were more than
naoally wise But let this go.) Here are a few more "chestnuts." whos*
whisken lue powibly of a less portentous growth :
;i:,vG00gk"
144 HANDY-BOOK OF
What is the best way of making a coat lasl ? Make itie trousers and
coal firsL
What is that from which you may lake away the whole and yet have
left? The word wholesome.
Which would you rather, look a greater fool than you are, or be a greater
tool than you look ? (Let the person choose, then say,) Thai's impossible.
Which would you rather, that a lion ate you or a tiger ^ Undoubtedly, the
supposilitious "you" would rather that the lion ale the tiger. But he does
licit always " calch on,"
How do you spell blind pig in two letters ? P G without an I.
When can donkey be spell with one letter ? When it's U.
If I saw you riding on a donkey, what fruit should I be reniinded of^ A
pair.
Whatcomea aflcrcheese ? Rats!
What question is that to which you positively must answer yes? What
docs y-e-s spell ?
Catohpenny. A now recogniied term for anything brought out for sale
with a view to entrap unwary purchasers. It originated in the year 1824, just
after the execution of Thunell for the murder of Weare, a murder that cre-
ated a great sensalioii. Catnach, Ihe celebrated primer of Seven Dials, in
Ij^ndon, made a large sum by the publication of Thunell's " last dying speech."
When the sale of this speech began to fall off, Caliiach brought out a second
edition, with the heading " WE ARE alive again 1" the words " we are" being
printed wilh a very narrow space between ihem. These two words the people
look for the name of the murdered man, reading it " WEARE alive again ;"
and a large etiilion was rapidly cleared off. Some one called it a "catch-
penny," and Ihe word rapidly spread, until Calnach'n productions were usu-
ally so styled, and Ihe word was adopted into the language.
Catberine, 8t "Elle a coiffee -Sainie- Catherine" (" She has dressed the
hair of St. Catherine") is a faniiliar Fieiich proverb applied to an old maid.
There is a superstition in some of ihe provinces of France that the maiden
who dresses the bride's hair on her wedding-day will surely become a bride
herself at some future lime. But, inasmuch as Saint Catherine was the patron
aaini of virgins, the maiden who waited /our coifftr Sainie- Calheriae never had
[he opportunity ; she was destined to die an old maid.
A second and simpler explanation is to be found in Ihe custom of decorating
Ihe heads of Ihe statues in churches. And inasmuch as only virgins would be
selected to decorate the head of the patroness of virgins, it was natural to
consider this office as in a measure [he function uf those who had grown to an
age when marriage was no longer a possibility. A witty Frenchman says, ii:
fixing this period, "II y a cetlames vteilles filles ty" — ' '- "- ■-■—
CatB and Dogi, To rain. To rain profusely, lo rain pitchforks. This
slang phrase first occurs in Dean Swift's " Polite Conversation" (173S) : " I
know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs" [Dia-
logue II.). Is he quoting a proverbial phrase ? Or is this an allusion to the
Dean's own lines written in 1710?
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1 45
Drowned pupplo. Hmking ipiaa mil dnncb«d Id mud.
DiKHpiian tfa City SAmtr.
Cruciu, an American political lerm, meaning a secret conTetence of the
leaders or legislators of any political party ii) regard to measures or candi-
dates. The conclDsions arrived at by the caucus are considered binding on
lb« memberB in all the public matters to which they refer. The usual etymon
refers the term to a political club founded about 1714 by Henry Adams and
bis friends, — most of whom were shipwrights, sea-captains, and persons other-
wise connected with the shipping interest. Hence the institution was known
as the Calkers' Clnb^ As its avowed object was 10 lay plans for introducing
certain persons into places of trust and power, the word caucus may have
grown out of a corruption of the name. Another less obvious but still plausi-
ble derivation is suggested by Dr. Trumbull ("Transactions of the American
Philological Association," 1372), who says its origin is the Indian cau-cau-as'n,
which he defines as " one who advises, urges, encourages, etc."
Cbom, Thoa Oreat First There is a line in Pope's " Universal Prayer"—
which is penisiently attributed to Milton. Even Charles Lamb seems to have
(alien into this misulie. if Crabb Robinson be right, who records in his Diary
that when he received his first brief he called upon Lamb to tell him of it.
" 1 suppose," said Lamb, " you addressed to it that line of Milton, —
Thou gr^xjlril OHU, leut uudenloiid."
Caveat emptor (L., " Let the purchaser beware," or " take care of him-
self"), an ancient legal phrase. It was formerly held that a buyer must be
bound by a bargain under al! circumstances. Chief-Justice Tindal, in giv-
ing judgment in the case Brown vs. Edginglon (I Scott, N. R., 504), modified
this ancient rule. He said, " If a man purchases goods of a tradesman with-
out in any may relying uimn the skill and judgment of the vendor, the latter
is not responsible for theit turning out contrary to his expectation ; but if the
tradesnun be informed, at the time the order is given, of the purpose for
which the article is wanted, the buyer relying upon the BCller's judgment,
(be tatter impliedly warrants that the things furnished ' " *
fit and proper for the purposes for which it is required"
Caviare to the general, something above the intellectual reach of the
crowd. Shakespeare makes Hamlet use the phrase ; " The play I remembered
pleased not the million ; 'twas caviare to the general" (Act ii., Sc 2). Caviare,
a preparation of sturgeons' toes, originated in Russia, and was at one lime a
considerable article of commerce between that country and England. In
and fashionable delicacy, relished only by
title frequentty given to China. It is derived from
loe Chinese words Tien Chan, — i.e.. Heavenly Dynasty, meaning the kingdom
which the dynasty appointed by heaven rules over. The term Celestials is a
nickname of ftK'eign manufacture, and S. Wells Williams, in "The Middle
Kii^dom," informs ns that "the language could with difficulty be made to
ezpreaa such a patronymic"
Cant Kot irortb a. From a very early period the names of small coins
have been used in popular speech and in literature to set a low estimate on
some person 01 tbiog. Tlius, in the old epic " Huon de Bordeaux" the
"amirtil" tell* the bero, —
'3
;i:,..G00gk"
146 HANDY-BOOK OF
which, translated into good American, would read, " A)t Ihe same, I won't do
jl, nor do 1 care for your god worth a cent" The expression is continually
met with both in Trouvire and in Troubadour lileralure. The Germans say,
"I wouldn't give a red heller for it" (" Ich rilhe kelnen rolhen Heller dafiir"), a
curious analogue to our "red cent." Eiiglishmen say, "not wurth a far-
thing," and use "twopenny" as an adjective of eitreme contempt The still
more common phrase " not worth a dam" is in ail probability of analogous
origin. It was nrst used by Englishmen trading in the East, and is held to
be an allusion lo the dim. a small brass coin current in Persia and in India,
equivalent in value lo one-fortieth of a rupee, or about a cent. In England.
owing to ignorance of itH origin and meaning, it suffered urthographicaT pro-
fanation, and came lu signify a thing of so small account as not tn ix worth
the waste of breath involved in damning it The American phrase " Not
worth a continental dam" would be nonsense unless we recogniied that at
the lime when lirsl used some faint memory of its original meaning slill
clung to the word Aim.
Cmrtam e«t quia impoaaiblle (L., " It is certain because it is impossi-
ble"). This paradoxical declaration of an overruling faith occurs in Terlul-
lian's treatise " De Carne Chrlsli," S * The coutcm is as follows : •• Nalus
est Dei Alius ; non pudet, quia pudendum est El mortuus est Dei Hlius ;
prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est Et aepullus, resurreiil ; certum al,
quia impNtibitt. Sed njEC quomodo in illo vera eiunl si i|)ai non fui( verus,
si non vers babuit in se quod figerelur, quod niorerelur, quod sepelirelur el
tarelur." Sir Thomas Browne was fond of quotin|; this expression.
. n " Religio Medici," Part i., { 9, " I learned of Teriullian certum est quia
impoisibile est I learned to exercise my faith in the ditlicultest point ; for
■■ '* ' ,t Til-
. . , , = '"hat
ly find in themselves ; but I must freely acknowledge that I could
never yet attain to thai bold and hardy degree of faith as to believe anything
for this reason, because it was impossible. So thai I am very far from being
of kit mind, that wanted, not only more difficulties, but even impossibilities,
in (he Christian religion, to exercise his faith upon." Naturally the entire
school of experimental philosophers, lo whom failh is synonymous with cre-
dulity, condemn the saying. " When one thinks," says Huxley, " that such
delicale questions as those involved fell into the hands of men like Papias
(who believed in the famous miltenarian grape story) ; of Irenseus with his
' reasons' for the- existence of only four gospels ; and of such calm and dis-
passionate judges as Tertultian, with his Cnda quia imfoasiMe, the marvel is
that the selection which constitutes oar New I'eslamenI is as free as it is from
obvious objectionable matter." It will be seen Ihal Huxley substitutes credo
for cirtum eti. The misquotation is very common. Even Sir Thomas
Browne, who knew better, falls into it at least once. Another familiar error
is the falhcting of the saying on St Augustine.
ChBOan i son jgofit (Fr., " Every one lo his taste"), a ^miliar proverb
embodying the Gallic equivalent for the old Ijlin maxim, " Uc guslibus non
est dispulandum" ("There is no disputing about tastes").
h ii Hid ihal ihc Jcui arc Ihc Aottn peoi^e of Cod. Well, cAwKndtDHCfie/, Tbcy
f)De would bv Bife ill wiigcHne dial uiy givoi public Idea it erroneous, for U hm bevn
tkldcd ro ihe ci*mur of lh« nujority; uid thii luicdy philDAophicHJ, mllhcnieh HDiD^what
RDch, uKTiioD bu cip«iiil bcuiQE upon the whal* rKce of wlutt uc lermM nuiximi aud
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 147
ejrably rklK of tfaem b the uitique uAm^v, Dt gMUim mim tit A'iPuiandtim, -^tbat tiho^d
DO dupDIioff iboul tkule. Hert (he idu dcajgned ra be conveyed i» thoi-uiy one penon
haiu just rifhl to coiuidcr hii own (baic true hi hu mny one Dther,-MhAt UUC ludTin tborl,
i»ukut)LtnuyHincthing,aincnHb1r lo do law, And meaturAbLt by no dcAnilc rules- — £.A.Pov.
Chalks. To ^ralk ona'a ohaUu, to move awav, to run awav, "to cut
one's stick." The origin is uncertain, but it is plausibly suggested that it may
be found in the pTerogative once accorded to travelling royalty, whereby the
marshal and eereeanl chamberlain designated by a chalk-mark the houses to
be occupied by the retinue, and the inmates were expected to vacate at once.
In 1638, when Man de MMicis came to England, Sieur de Labat was in-
Hlrucied " lo mark all sorts of houses commodious to the reiiuue in Colchester."
The apparently analogous phrase " to walk the chalk" haa a totally different
origin and application. It is a reference to the ordeal on shipboard by which
men suspected o( drunkenness were tried, — a straight line being drawn, along
which they were to walk.
Clurada, a form of amusement which consists in taking some word whose
every component syllable forms a word in itself, then describing each syllable
by a synonyme or a detinilion, reuniting the whole, describing that too in the
e way, and asking the reader or listener to guess what the word is. An
example is the following 1
My lirK nuka conpuiy.
My Kpond ihuns compuy.
inbtw myielf wiltul;
y whole, my whole't wonh noughl at
Sydney Smith is very hard npon this innocuous amusemeni. Indeed, he
calls charades "unpardonable trumpery," and insists that if ihey are made at
all, they should be made without benefit of clergy, the offender should instantly
be hurried off to execution, and be cut off in inc middle of his dulness, with-
out being allowed to explain to the executioner why his tirst is like his second,
or what is the resemblance between his fourth and his ninth. Yet some very
clever men have condescended lo this trumpery, amone them Winthrop Mack-
worth Praed, C. S. Calverley, R. H. Baiham, and ollierB. Here is Praed's
brat, a really fine poem in itself;
Come from my Flm, ly, come ;
The batde dawn if niffh,
And Ibe KRuning trump uid the tbuDderLag tlrum
Fjf bt, Uljiy bdicT fought ;
fSi m Iby fitber fell :
Thy tJklk b taugbt. thy ihruud u wmught ;
So FoTwum and fiucwell [
Toll ye my SecoDd toll :
Ride high Ibe Bunbeau't ligbt ;
id ling tEe hymn for ■ puled Bout
Beneath the liLeiit night ;
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gif
HANDY-BOOK OP
The tadm upoo ha baad,
The croMupon hkbnAS,
La Ibe pmyer be iwd, ud Uk lear \
Now uke Ud lo hit re« I
Call ye ny Whole, go oil
The lorded' lute udlir.
Onihel
f of a toldler'a nave I
Cimp-beU (Campbell).
H«T« are a number of charades which seem to have established themselves
in popular Ikvor :
My first begins with a B, my second begins with a B> and mjr whole is
generally said of a Ba^By. — Hum-bug !
When you stole my first, I lost my second, and you are the ontj person lo
give me my whole. — Heart's-ease 1
My Uiird ef
> ihc mdd'i beii half wiihln k.
My 'ole you eata with munofKhma.
_ . .. ..^.. (j^Q^ the cockney'a aDDoa i
Mr firti bilet yoa.
My HCODd fighu y«i.
The form of riddle sometimes known as decapiui
charade. A very few examples will have t( — '^--
Take away one letter from me, and I murder \ take away two. and I probably
shall die, if my whole does not save me.— Ki 11^ II— skill.
Cutoff my tuil.and plunil ] appear:
Cut off mv head and tail. and. wondroui [act.
Although my middle'i leTl, ihen'i nalhbl( ihae.
In whoae tcanilucent dcplhi I feaileu play,
Did. (The above haiaomeiiniabenialiijbuted ID Macauky.)
There is a word of seven letters, take away five, a male remains, take away
four, a female, take away three, you have a brave man, while the whole it \
brave woman. — He, her, hero, heroine.
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 149
I am neither fish, flesh, nor Ibnl, yet I Irequentljr stand ii|K>n one leg, and
if you -behead me I stand upon l«ro ; what is mote strange, if you agam de-
capitate me I stand upon (bar, and I shall think you are related to me if you
do not now recogniie me. — Glass — lass — ass.
The last-quoted example reminds one of the famous story of Professor
James S. Blackie, of Glasgow University. He had posted up a notice, " Pro-
KssoT Blackie will meet his classes to-morrow." A humorous dog among the
students rubbed out the c in classes. Tben Professor Blackie got even by
rubbing out the /.
Charlvart (a French word of uncertain origin), the n.
impanied by shouts and cries, and the singing oiT rather low songs, under
windows of the newly married, especially if they are advanced in vears
ir have been married belore. Disapproval of unpopular persons
,>ressed in the same way, and by exlen^on the name is now app
tumultuous discord. The custom was bruughl over lo America by the French
pressed in the same way, and by exlen^on the name is now applied lo an;
tumultuous discord. The custom was bruughl over lo America by the French
settlers <rf' Louisiana, Alabama, and the Cahadian provinces, and through
them has been pretty generally diffused over the United States, where it still
retains its hold mvarious rural coi
of Uljr Uft, from PeDiuyli
l^chJgaii, WiBCDDiln, mod I
la frequemly pncliacd.
coupJr 00 Iheir nuptial njfht, and CDuisUd or h Kr«iuid? Blade up of beadnK liD paiur btov-
ins honu. ringilu Cow-belU, playing hortt- Addles, caierwaulmg. and, in fiut, of the use oT
rvcry (Uugreeablf lound poHibte 10 make night hideous. This noibe was kept up obw, Ibf
(Uugreeabl
blank izar-
11^ naatliwu. Immediately uf '
tiidnt ibrtvAh the wuidows, and af
ofuyw^acou
■Idy OB their bridal
and boys, llieoldo' men of ihc commuDky
protealvd aEalut it.utdall icfpectablc women utterly loaiJicd it. The decadence of this rough
ibtfD of sport may be jueribed Arsl to the general dlflusJOD of educAtion ;*nd civiliEed customs
' ubceDeoiuf ODoflateyenn.aad.seGDadly, Bo (be great Eeadency orpopuitkiion towards
rn the itngWden away from the
If pi^ officers, whose bu"sineis it is to {nterfer^ with sock jn^llws ol
im touches our ■dyancidcivllilatia
ami QurrirM, vol. i. p. i6] (tgSj).
In tlie nod old city which has been immon
acnlbHpn nigbt not havr been expected, werv united in the holy bonds of matrimony upo
■be day which Folkiwed the lunenl a( the Brst nfe of the groom. The oouventional sense o
pfopfietT iti the Deighboihood was ahrvked by tliia haste in furnishing forth the msuiiag
Ublswltli the Aincml baked mcau. and upon the nighl ol the wedding a company of sons o
BcHal gatbered thenuelres together and went 10 serenade the bridal pair with honid upioa
The efauincl was at in height, and all the region was arouacd by the hideou noise, whe
A* bride appvand darkly at the wiadow above tbe riotous orvwd, and with supreme feelin
appealed to Ibcir delicacy.
'■Ain'lyaiiaahamed.''shetTied,lnhat indignation, "to come here making a distnrbuK
ttc ibU, irim we had ■ tincral only ycHerday T'—BialBM Cmriir.
13"
ISO HANDY-BOOK OF
ChtutoTed UberUna. This phrase originated with Shakespeare, " Henn
v.," Act i.. Sc I :
The lir, 1 chulend'b^blc'urMni'.
ville in 17S7 called h'
againsl this opprobrious epithcL
ChBilvli).CIiailTllliBm. The word " chauvinism," meaning a blatant thirsi
for miliiarj' gloryi is of comparalively recent origin in France. "'
"L^ Cocarde Tricolore," a comedy by two brothers, Th<!odore
and Hippolrte Cogniard, first produced at the Folies Dramatiques on March
19, 1831. The plot is laid in Africa, and treats of the conquest of Algiers.
a young recruit, who talks a great deal, displays considerable cour-
age, and is made to sing couplets with the refrain, —
j'«iiiFniBfiii,rHi]>auuvbi.—
J'up* Hit It Bedouin I
The comedy was a great success in its day, and it is not unlikely that the word
chattvinitmt originated in (he above couplet Nevenhelesa, a cuntributor to
the Paris Figara, well known under the pseudonyme of Vieux Parisien, claimed
that the dramatists were not the authors of the name. Me himself was per-
sonally acquainted with one Nicholas Chauvin, an old Napoleonic soldier
with a pension of two hundred francs, who, notwithstanding the many hard-
ships he underwent while in active service, — he was wounded seventeen
times, — talked of nothing but the glory of his Emperor. It was from him
that the authors of " 1^ Cocarde Triculore'' gave the name of Chauvin to
their young recruit The word ihnuviniime is not 10 be found in the edition
of Molin's Diclionnaire, published in 1S42 ; but that it had by this time en-
tered into common parlance is evidenced from liayard and Dumanoir's play
"Les A ides-de-C amp," produced April 1, li^i. m which one of the charac-
ters says. " VoD have left finance, but since your marriage you have entered
into chauvinism, as they my"
1 England and America, has
, anslalion of the French C'ttI
la those, as an appropriation of the Romany or gypsy word ehttst, meaning
"thing" (cf. HiniloBlani cheei,chii, also meaning "thing"), or, more probably,
as a corruption from the Anglo-Saxon word ceaan, to "choose." In the latter
case, " that's the cheese" would mean " that's what 1 would choose." By way
of illustration niighi be quoted Langland, " Now thou might cheese how thou
counlesi to call me" {Viii<m a/ Fieri Plmaman), or Chaucer, "To chese
whether she would marry or no." A story that is told lo explain how Ihe
plirase arose is worth quoting, because il is sufficiently amusing in itself, but
It has no philological value. It is said that an old woman in the north of
Ireland had a grandson of voracious appetite. Once she had purchased a
cake of brown soap, and laid it on the window-sill. A few hours afterwards
she asked, " Paddy, Where's the soap ?" " Soap f — what soap i" " Why, the
soap that was on the window-sill." "Oh, granny," said he, "that was the
cheese." This was a standing joke on Paddy, and became a popular by-
word ever after, so much so that the emittent comedian David Rees iniro-
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 151
duccd il as a gag into Ihe play or "The Evil Eye." and made it bmous
throughout England,
"To get the cheese" means to receive a check or disap|)oi ■-■"
■jr thereaneni. Beau Krummel, presuming on his iiiiiniacy w
fonnal d
the Prince Regent (afterwards George IV.), used lo take Ihe hberly of arrivii
■ ■ and always expected that Ihe party would await h
the Marquis of Laiisdowuc refused lo humor [his whim, and
>i[ •> uaiiiiuci given by that nobleman the Beau was cieslfailen lo find when
he appeared that the company were already far advanced wilh Ihe dinner.
His discomfiture was completed when the ho9t blandly asked him if he
would have some cheese, — a late course.
Chelsaa, Dead as, signifies only dead so far as action and usefulness are
concerned. Chelsea is the seat of the famous hospital for superannuated sol-
diers built by Sir Christopher Wren in the reign of Charles II. A person
who "gels Chelsea" — in other words, obtains the benefit of the institution — is
virtually dead 10 the service and to the world at large. The expression "dead
as Chelsea" is said to have been first made use of by a grenadier at Fontenoy
on having his leg carried away by a cannon-ball.
CbMtDTlt A familiar Americanism for an old story, a twice-told tale. Where
an Englishman would cry, "Joe Miller 1" or a Frenchman, " Connu !" an Ameri-
can says, " Chestnut 1" All are rude but effective methods of preventing a con-
versation from degenerating into its anccdotage. The American word arose
So when etymologists came lo trace its history they found themselves utterly
at sea. Many conjectures were offered, — the most amazing being that it was
a corruption of the words "jest noL" A less rococo explanation was that the
dead chestnuts of last year, like Villon's snows of yester-year, suggested its
origin. Any one who has prowled in the forests in spring-time knows how
often a chestnut may be picked up which is fair to view, but which on exami-
nation proves to be about as valuable as a Uead-Sea apple. Again, there was
actually said to be a repealer of outworn jokes named Chestnut who had been
indicted by the grand jury as a nuisance, "because nobody could stand his
Stories." But the most plausible theory was that advanced by Joe Jefferson,
who attributed the introduction of the word to William Warren, the famous
Boston comedian ;
' Mr. leffmoDuld to a reporter <A Ibe Philadelphia Frttt, " boi
...._, 1,^ wTiUmi DiUon and t.tled ' The 6rok«
pan of ' Pablo.' The capuin I9 a ton oC Bann MunchauKn, and in telling of hit e
__.._ ., . .. ._ _.,■_„ ,. -'denl/ froai I be thick boughi ofa
oCB)
replid ibc cAptaIn, ' Booby, t aay ■ cork-tn
Warten,wbohad often ptayed the part of' Pablo/ IraBal a ' 11 a^' ill oner two yean ago. when
one of the eendemen present told a Biory of doulnful age and on^palily. ' A dwudut,' mur-
mured Mr Warren, qtioting from tite play. ' 1 have heard you tell ihe bdeibcaeiwcnty-Beven
(imea/ The appUcalioo of the line* pleaacd the leu of the table, and whea the pany broke
Dp each helped id ipread the ilory and Mr. Wimn'* coinirenlary. And that, concluded
Mr. JeSfnoD," laiihal t nally believe to be the origin of the word 'cheunut. '
ChlokVlU. Butler, in "Hudibras," ii 3, 913, has the lines, —
To iwallow nidgeoni ere they're caiched
. reckon l>eforehand on a
1$^ HANDY-BOOK OF
of the milkmaiti. SpecuUling what she would do with Ihe money for which
she sold hec milk, she decided to put il into eggs, which, when hatched, would
lead up by slow giaditions to fortune. But a sudden jar toppled ilie milk-
pail off her bead, and away went her dream of raising chickens.
Child !■ father of the nun. Wordsworth, in his exquisite little lyric
" My Heart Leaps Up," has these lines ;
The cMd b rulKT of the miui ;
And I covJd wub my diyt ta Ix
Bound each lo uch by luuunl play.
The sentiment is a commonplace. But the epigrammatic force of the lines
makes them Wordsworth's own. They are still his own, though Dryden had
already said, —
McD BR but childrcp of « Iotect growth,
All/^ Lmt, Aci iv., Sc, i;
PuraiUi Rigaintd, Book it., I. no;
though Pope had said,—
The bo)' and nun an indivldiul nuka ;
though Lloyd bad said, —
Ate childrai but of lujs ii» ; '
and thoi^h in France for two centuries the sentiment had been recognized,—
"Tirocinium,"!. 149;
Cnuld. Tls B wla« chUd tliat kncnrB hla atta father. An old prov-
erb, one of the many ways in which the popular voice expresses its misogy-
nism. The Latin form is well known : " Sapiens est filius Qui novit patreni,"
and, though these words onnot be traced back tu any classic source, the idea
is found as ixi back as Homer's Odyssey, i. 215 : " My mother tells me that
I am his son, but I know not, for no one knows his onn father." Shake-
speare retains the meaning of the proverb, with a slight change in the order
of Ihe words, when he makes his Lancelot say, " 'Tis a wise father that knows
his own child" {Merchant ef Venice, ii, 2). Other forms of the same idea are,
"The mother knows best if Ihe child be like the father" (English), and "The
child names the father, the mother knows him" (Livonian). The French
have a cheerful maxim for children who are not wise t "One is always some-
body's child, and that is a comfort."
In " Paradise Regained,'
Whoradi
iDceuanlly ind 10 bLi reiiding bringi not
(And whai he bnngm what need be eliewbett s«dlT)
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
C^Se^
1, wonh ■ iponfe, —
"Paradise Regained" was published in 1671. Sir David Brewster, in his
" Memoirs of Sii Isaac Newton," vol. ii. p. 407, records that a few days befure
bis death Newton uttered this memorable sentiment ; " I do not know what I
nuy appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only tike a boy
playine on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a
smootiicc pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of
tnith lay all undiscovered before me." Precisely the same simile may be found
in Justus Upsius (see AW« aiui Queries, fourth series, viii. 311). May they
not all be referred to the old story of SL Augustine and the boy on the sea-
shore ? Seeing the latter trying to confine a little pool of sea-water within ■
mud-bank that was contii>ually being washed away by the ocean, the holy man
found in this an object-lesson teaching that the finite intellect can never compass
the infinite ocean of truth.
Chlltorn Hondiecla, a range of chalk eminences separating the counties
of Bedlord and Hertford, and passing through the middle of Bucks, to Henley
in Oxfordshire. 'I'hey comprise the Hundreds of Bumham, Deaborough, and
Slake. They were formerly much infested by robbert. To protect the
inhabitants from these marauders, an officer of the crown was appointed,
tinder the name of the ■ Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.' The duties have
long ceased, but the office — a sinecure with a nominal pay — is still retained.
A member of the House of Commons cannot resign, but acceptance of office
under the crown vacates his seat. Whenever, therefore, an M.P. wishes to
retire, he applies for this office, which being granted as a matter of course, his
seat in Parliament becomes vacanL He then immediately resigns the steward-
ship, so that it may be vacant for the next applicant. In case of need the
stewardship of the manors of East Hundred, Northshead, and Hempholini
may be made to serve the same purpose. The custom dates from about the
middle of the eighteenth century. Its strict legality has been called in uues-
bon, on the ground that it is not an office of the kind ri
seat ; but the custom is legitimated by a long line of precedence. Only once
has the application for the Chiltern Hundreds been refused. This was in
1843. Awlcward disclosures had been made before an investigating committee
of the House of Commons in regard to corrupt compromises made with the
object of avoiding inquiry into briberies practised in the elections at Reading
and other boroughs. The member from Reading at once applied for the
Chiltern Hundrecb. But the Chancellor refused, on the ground that he would
be making himself a party to the questionable transactions.
L, especially of the tedious
" Vqu kc, oce of the boya hu puied Id bift checks, and we want to giw hjm ■ gocHJ send-
off. Bod VD the ibinc I'm od now it to rouu out tomebody to jvrk a littk cbb-miibc for lu and
wdu blm ibrouih budHimt."— Mam Twiih : JtnfAiv II, p. 333.
Chip of the old block, one who reproduces his father's peculiarities or
cbaracteriatica. The phrase may be found as far back as 1626, m a play called
" Dick of Devonshire," reproduced in Bullen's " Old Plays" (ii. 60) : " Your
&ther used to come home to my mother, and why may not I be a chippe of
the Mme blocke, out of which you two were cutte ?"
_ . . o gel the best o£ The terio
g^^^ - n__ . ._ _
..Google
tS4 NANDY-SOOK Of
D. Whai do you think of met Ibw t un ■ chintuef
Pact. WliU'ithiiT
D. The Turk [who] wu htre. A> «h irould uy, doc yoo tUnkE I un ■ Tmkct
The early editors of Ben Jonson note the likeness of this term to the Turkish
word ckuaa, a " messenger." But it was not till tSi4 that Giffurd, in hia edi-
tion of Ben Jonson, inserted a note to the effect that in 1609 Sir Robert Shir-
ley sent a messenger, or a chiaut, to England " as his agent from the Grand
tjignior and the Sophy to transact some preparatory business," and that thr
agent turned out to be a rascal, who cheated the Turkish and Persian mer-
chants in London out of some four thousand pounds and then fled before Sir
Robert's arrival. Hence, "to chiaus" became synonymous with "to cheat."
But Dr. Murray states that no trace of this incident has been found outside of
Gifford's note, and he looks upon the etymon with suspicion.
Chriatiaii can die, Hoir a. Shortly before his death Addison summoned
his rakish step-son, Lord Warwick, to his sick-bed. "I have sent for you,"
said ihe invalid, " that you may see how 1 Christian can die." Tickeli alludes
to this incident iti the famous lines,—
dJt^MlS.™*''' '■"' ™- ■'
On thi Otalh ^Aidiun.
When Marshal Ney rallied a few of bis followers for the last despairing
charge at Waterloo, he cried out, " Come and see how a marshal of France
can die 1" (" Venei voir comment meutt un marichal de France 1") The Cin-
cinnati Cammircial furnished another curious parallel in a story told by one
Mrs. Wilcoi, an eye-witness 10 the death of Genei^ Andrew Jackson (1845).
She describes it as a scene never to be forgotten. He bade them alt adieu in
the tenderest terms, and enjoined them, old and young, white and black, to
meet him in heaven. All were in tears, and when he had breathed his last
the outburst of grief was irrepressible. The Congregation at Ihe little Pres-
byterian church on the plantation, which the general had built to gratify his
deceased wife, the morning service over, came flocking to the mansion as his
eyes were closing and added their bewailment to the general sorrow. Shortly
after this mournful event, Mrs. Wilcoi encountered an old servant in the kitchen
who was sobbing as though her heart would break, "Ole missus is gone,"
ihe brokenly said to the child, "and now ole massa's gone, dey'a all gone, and
dey was our best frens. An' ole massa, not satisfied teachin' us how ti> live,
has now leached us how to die." The poor, unlettered creature did not know
that she was paraphrasing oite of the most beautiful passages in Ticlcell's
elegy upon the " Death of Addison."
Ctlront>gTaiii. A species of literary trifling, which consists in an inscrip-
tion whose numeral letters (printed or engraved in larger type than the others,
in order to distinguish them) will form a date. Books, buildings, medals, etc,
were formerly dated in this manner. Examples will render the prt>cess mt>re
clear. In Aibury church is the following inscription :
BEsVuGEN-r eX Isto PVLVehe qVI IhI sepVLtI DorMIVnt.
Here the larger letters are all Roman numerals, and, added together, the
result is 1646, This is the commonest and easiest form of chronogram. The
only limitation is that every letter which has a numerical value must be counted.
In Hebrew and Greek, however, where every letter of the alphabet has a
numerical value, even this limitatiDn disappears, and the chronogrammatist may
arbitrarily select and print in larger type the letters he needs for his purpose,
A more difticult form of Latin chronogram is exemplified in the following on
■ medal of Gustavus Adotphus :
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 155
ChrIstVs DVX eboo trIVMphans.
Here, iflbe numerals are arranged in the order of their relative importance,
we have MDCXVVVH, which is a clumsy indication of the date 1617, being
the •jtv in whicli Guslavui won (he victory so commemorated. Far neater is
this on Queen Elizabeth's death ;
My Day Closed Is In Immortalily.
This, indeed, is a rare example of what is known as a perfect chronogram.
Its special features are that only initials are used, »nd that these initials, taken
in their ordei, make the date .MDCIII, the exact Roman equivalent for t6o].
the year in which Queen Elizabeth died. To be sure, a carping critic might
object thai there are other letters in the sentence whose numerical value is
ignored. But if we didn't make believe a little bit, such a thing as a chrono-
gram couldn't exist at all. An even greater curiosity is this example, at once
a chronogram and an acrostic, in which the initial letters of each line taken in
(heir order make 1805, tl " '' ' ' "
But, at the best, chronograms are a puerile form of amusement. Hisloricai
students have a constant dread of them. They crop up in the most awkward
places. You have a sort of feeling, when you are looking for a dale and find
only a chronogram, that it is something which will go off unexpectedly with a
loud report And, however kindly your nature, you cannot help repoicine over
the bte which overlook a certain offender,— Michael Slifelius, a Lutheran
minister at Wiirlemberg. He thus chronogram malizeit a passage in John xix.
37, "VIDebVnt In oVeM transflXerVnt" (''They shall look on him whom
they pierced"), and, drawing therefrom the augury that the world would be
destroyed in the year 1533, added quite arbitrarily and of his own motion
the further information that this would happen on the 3d of October, at ten
o'clock in the morning. But when the appointed time came and passed, the
exciled parishioners pulled the prophet from his pulpit, dragged him through
the mire, and then soundly thrashed him.
The earliest known chronogram is a Hebrew one occurring in the ancient
scriptural manuscript known as the " Codex Kennicotl 89," which was written
by Jacob Halevy. Here the Hebrew letters of the word " Law" yield the date
\x&. Another old codex, known as " De Rossi 826," is dated with the words
"The Redeemer for ever," which give A.li. 118a In the East chronograms
have, ever since the invention of the art, been assiduously cultivated, anoeven
o this day they are largely and commonly used by Persian and Arabic s<
■^- ■•- *- -' -^e poel Varaini f^ -- ' -- "-'^- "^
On the tomb of the poel Vamini there is a verse from Hafii chronograi
cally giving the dale of his death. This has been cleverly translated by mr.
Bichnell so as to retain the chronogram :
1 hall, thee, halL thee : Into gLory CoMe.
This yields 1254 (year of the Hegita), equal to Anno Domini (876. Of the
Latin chronogram authentic instances do not dale from earlier than the
fifteenth century, which we may uke to be about the lime when the chtono-
gram was imported from the East to the Wesl. It flourished apace, especially
among Ihe German Reformers, who dated most of their tracts in Ihis way, and
the Jcsuils, to whose peculiar idiosyncrasy it commended itself. Perhaos the
greatest of all chronogrammalists, however, was a certain Andrea del ^obre,
one of the order of Friars Preachers, who published in 16S6 an extraordinary
..Google
1$6 HANDY-BOOK OF -
bmr de force, a book of Lalin verses containing sixteen hundred and ninety
difTereni anagrams on the words " Saiwator, Genelrix, Joseph," and the same
number of chronograms, with heaven knows how many other ingenuities in
the way of acrostics, word-squares, etc
Mr. James Hilton, an enthusiastic Englishman, who has constituted himself
the historian of chronograms in two bnlky vulumes issued respectively in iSSz
and tSSj, speaks feelingly of " the limited extent of chronogram -ma king in this
country at the time when scholars on the continent were much devoted to the
art and carried it to such a state of excellence as was never reached in the
universities or elsewhere In England." Perhaps Englishmen had something
better to do. Mr. Hilton goes on to express an awful hope that his tomes
will stimulate the art, and " make it as popular in our time as it was in
lime past" And, what is worse, he gives us reasons for the hope. Since the
appearance of his first volume, he tells us in the second, there has been a
revival. Buildings have been dated in this way. One clergyman, who had
erected a fernery out of the profits of his tracts on the deceased wife's sister
ristion, dated that fernery in the following manner (it should be premised
t the gentleman was a bachelor, and his initials were J. E. V.) ;
Mv Late VVIfe's sIs.tkr bVILt thIs VVaLL
bVt I In trVim
neVer VVkD anv wife at aLL,
NOB VVOt^T FORSOOTH,
SAlTH J. E. V.
Readers who will take the trouble to extract the Roman numerals out of the
above, and add (hem together, will 6nd they amount to 1834, which is the
desir»l date.
Cbnroh alea, also known as Holy or Whitsun ales, were merry-meetings
held in mediseval England, generally at Whitsuntide and under the shadow of
the church, for the purpose of raising church funds. Some weeks prior to the
festival the church -wardens brewed a large quantity of ale. On the appointed
day all the people of the neighborhood gathered together. The village squire
and his lady, sometimes accompanied by their jester, look part in the proceed-
ings. Bull-bailing, bear-baiting, morris -dancing, game^ and songs were in-
dulged in. In " Pericles," Shakespeare says of a song, —
On Ember ev'^l^d h^iy^lin.
iverb common to most modern languages
.z who go to church," and the Spanish "The devil lurks behind the
cross." Still another forni of the same root idea Is found in the proverb which
Defoe has versified in the familiar lines, —
I chmpcl Ihen ;
_. .imumiMtion,
u the UnEcst conercgmtioD,
Thi Tr<u-Bsrn £-<glu»«tai. Part I. ;
which b also found in Drummond :
God ntver had ■ cluptl but their, n
The devil i chspel halh niicd by to
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
ForiAa God buill ■ chunh, dMn tba devil would ■!» build a dupd,— 7U/f Tk/l,
and in Burton, Herbert, and many olhers. II is curious how the hotnelj
sense of the proverb 6nds iu echo in Ihe m;sllc lines of Emerson, where
Brahnu is represented as saying, —
But Aou, meek Lover of itie good.
Find me, ud Iiun thy buk on huvcD.
Brahma.
Cld«r, All bdk and na An American coJIoqnialism which finds its
English equivalents in the proverbs " Much cry and little wool," " Much ado
about nothing." Scheie de Vere suggests that it originated at a party in
Budits County, Pennsylvania, which had assembled to tTrink a barrel of supe-
rior ctder ; but, politics being introduced, speeches were made, and discussion
ensued, till some malcontents withdrew on the plea that it was a trap into
wbicb they had been lured, politics and not pleasure being the purpose of
tbe meeting, or, is they called it, "all talk and no cider." [AmirKanisiiu,
P- 59'-)
Clgaf. Lillr^ derives this word from eigarra, the Spanish name for grass-
hopper. When the Spaniards first introduced tobacco into Spain from the
island of Cuba, in the sixteenth century, they cultivated the plant in their
gardens, which in Spanish are called ngarrala. Each grew his tobacco in his
dgarrat, and rolled it np for smoking, as he had learned from the Indians in
tte West Indies. When one offered a smuke to a friend, he could say, " Ea
de mi cigarral" ("It is from my garden"). Soon the expression came to be,
"Este cigarroes de mi cigarral'' ("This cigar is from my garden"). And from
this the word cigar spread over the world. The name fyurra/ for garden comes
from eigarra, a grasshopper, thai insect being very common in Spain, and
dgarral meaning the place where the eigarra sings. In this way (he word
dgar comes from dgarra, Che insect, not because it resembles the body of the
grasshopper, but because it was grown in the place it frequents.
C^dm*, or CTTptognuna. The art of secret correspondence was prac-
tised from a remote antiquity. Bui the earliest efforts were directed rather
to concealing the message itself than to veiling its meaning. Among the
andents, for example, a manuscript message was applied to a sore teg instead
of a bandage ; thin leaves of lead after being written upon were rolled up
and used as ear-rings ; a bladder inscribed with a message was placed in a
bottle of oil so as to fill the bottle. Sometimes a slave was used both as
wri ting-material and courier. His head was shaved, the message seared on
bis head with a hot iron, and after the hair had grown again he was sent on
his destination. There the head vras shaved once more, and the message
became legible. The latter method had its advanUges. Intelligence might
thus be conveyed upon a skull too thick for it to penetrate, and under cir-
cumstances not very rare the absolute guarantee against penetration afforded
by the medium would be recognized as its greatest merit. But its objections
arc obvious. The chief point to be considered in a competitive examination
for the post of courier would be the speedy growth of hair, and the test would
necessarily be tedious for the examining board. Then, again, when a Slate is
trembling in the political balance, and wire-pullers are anxiously awaiting
information as to the disposal of the "sinews of politics," it would be, to
say the least, dangerous to (he seiitng of a golden opportunity to call in the
barber, force the growth of the hirsute bush, despatch the bristling Mercury,
and then literally read his bumps with the aid of a second barber.
The scytale of the Lacedemonians, so called from the staff employed in
Goo^k"
158 HANDY-BOOK OF
constructing and deciphering the message, seems to have been the earliest
approach to our modern cipher despatches. When ihe Spartan ephois wished
to forward their orders to their commanders abroad, they wound slantwise
a narrow strip of parchment upon Ihe scylale so that Ihe edges met close
together, and Ihe message was then added in such a way that the centre of
the line of writing was on Ihe edges of Ihe parchment when unwound, Ihe
scroll consisted of broken letters, and in thai condition it was despatched to
its destination, Ihe general lo whose hands it came deciphering it by means
of a scylale exactly corres|>onding lo that used by the ephors.
Other methods were gradually invented. By the fourth century before
Chiist, iCneas Taclicus. a Greek writer on military tactics, is said by Polybius
lo have collected some twenty different modes of writing, understood only by
those in Ihe seciei. Among the Romans Julius Caesar made use of a cipher
(still resorted to occasionally) which consists merely in the transposition of
the ordinary letters of Ihe alphabet, — wriliiig d for d, e for J, and so on. fiut
the plan was not original with him. It had already been In use, not only
among the Romans, but by the Greeks, the Syracusans, ihe Carthaginians,
and the Jews. Traces of it may even be found in the Scriptures. 'Ihus, in
Jeremiah xiv. z6, the piophel. lo conceal the meaning of his prediction from
all but the initiated, writes Sheshach instead of Uabel (Babylon) ; Ihat is,
instead of using the second and twelfth letters of the Hebrew alphabet from
the beginning, B, h, I, he uses Ihe second and twelfth from the end, Sh,
sh, ck.
Ill Ihe Middle Ages the aii of secret wriiing had developed to such an extent
that almost every sovereign kept by him an eipen lo transmit his corres|>ond-
ence and to decipher Ihe iiilercepted despatches of his enemies. In \tpo the
first important book on cryptography was published by John Trilhemius. It
is entitled " Polygraphia," and was undertaken at the desire of the Duke of
Bavaria. It was not originally intended for publication, Trilhemius deeming
that it would be contrary lo Ihe public interests to have the art generally
understood. His objections were subsequently overruled. Cryptography by
this time did not consist merely oF iranspased letters : these were early found
too easy of solution. Figures and other characters were used as letters, and
with Ihem ranges of numerals were combined as Ihe representatives of sylla-
bles, parts of words, words themselves, and complete phrases. Under this
head must be placed the despatches of Giovanni Micheli, Ihe Venetian am-
bassador to England in the reign of Queen Mary, — documents which have
only of late years been deciphered. Many of the private letters and papers
from the pen of Charles 1. and his queen, who were adepts in Ihe use of
ciphers, are of the same description. A favorite system of that monarch, used
by him during the year 1646, was made up of an alphabet of twenty-four
fellers, which were represented by four simple strokes, varied in length, slope,
and position. An interest attaches to this cipher from Ihe fact that it was
employed in the well-known teller addre!<sed by Ihe king to the Earl of Gla-
morgan, In which Ihe former made concessions to the Roman Catholics of
Ireland. Much of Charles's cipher correspondence fell into the hands of the
Roundheads at Naseby, and Dr. John Waliis, Ihe famous mathematician, was
employed lo decipher it
But it was with Ihe Revolution of 1688 Ihat the art of cipher- writing was
developed along the lines which have brought it to its preseni state of perfec-
Afler Ihe expulsion of James If., ihe Jacobites racked their brains inces-
santly in contriving the means of secret communication. They resorted lo
sympathetic inks, by Ihe use of which the real writing remained invisible,
while a complex cipher, written between the lines in black ink, but which had
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
A made ute oi to perplex the decipher
1 that was made um of by Mary of '
'hen she despatched her treasonable
_n the buttons of her iwo spies. Fuller and Crone. Fuller, a
Jacobites, carried his letters at once to William at Kensington. Ostensibly
they contained nothing of importance \ but on the application of a testing
liquid, words of the gravest import became legible. Crone was sought out,
arrested, tried, and condemned to death. He only saved his life by a confes-
sion which inculpated the guilty parties.
Another device was that of writing in parables. I'his was playing the game
of treason at a cheap rale ; because, though the purport of such letters might
be easily guessed, the crime of the writer remained incapable of legal proof.
Hacaulay, in his History, gives some samples of this kind of correspondence.
One of the Icllers, couched in the "cant of the law," ran thus;
Tfam ii hope ihai Mr. JackKD will toon Rcover ha uuw. The new iindlord a ■ hard
™.' ^e o^oi^ii tht°bal coubIS wm'in Mr. \»^ "^"^ - .- " ° " ° P"P-
<ns ibu be ilicMld himKir appeu- in Wounuuter H>IJ.
ought ID be befOR
The real significance of this is too obvious to escape recognition by the
simplest reader ; yet it is not actionable in law. Mr. Jackson, of course, ts
tames II. ; his estate is the kingdom ; the new landlord is William ; the free-
olders are the men of property, and so on, the whole being an invitation to
lames to make a descent on the coast with a French army (" a little matter")
before the end of Easter.
Another device of that time was one which confined the signilication uf
a missive to certain letters, which could be discovered only by the person
who had the key. Thus, if ii was required to inform a prisoner that his ac-
complice, on being tried in court, had not betrayed him, it might be done by
the following lines, inserted as the second or third paragrapli, according to
agreement beforehand :
1 have bat time for ■ few words. Rejoldnf that you are fto weU tiettlcd, I hope Id k^
^kUyou Htt better. Can you not write tooot even & word will be welcome (oyour poor wife.
icMe with your friendi. If Sanh comei id Lon.
a it D01 cenein. and may not taltc place. I know
- live much lecluded. 1( Many were here, he, r
le laai DJght, aud dewed id be ntnembered lo you ; if
K couU HI you Cree, you would ioon be at Liberty.
The secret information contained in the above paragraph is far more secure
froro discovery than anything written in cipher. The governor of the jail,
who had read it, would in most cases unhesitatingly pass it to his prisoner
without suspicion ; but the prisoner, who knew the key, would also in a few
minutes know, by simply reading and putting together every third letter after
a stop, that his accomplice, ,?i»i«, joiif mu'jii^ on his trial that could impli-
cate him, — a piece of information which the governor of the jail would, in case
of treason, be the last person to impart.
Then came the invention of the cipher, which its originators proudly termed
the chiffrf imUckiffrabli, — the indecipherable cipher. It was an extension of
the princi])le of substituting one letter of the alphabet by another. A new
clement was introduced in the shape of a key-word that was known only to
the seiKler and the recipient. When the latter (eceiverl tiie messaKe he
wrote the key-word over the ciphers, and thus introduced new and bewildering
But as the improvement in armor plates always led to new improvements in
guns, so the cryptographical armor invariably met with more and more highly
perfected ordnance to riddle iL The indecipherable cipher was decipher^ as
covetme Ih
To tAe i
i6o HANDY-BOOK OF
lU predeceuora had been. No matter how compleji the literary puzzle con*
trived, men could be found who were always ready and able to translate it
into decipherable language. The most notable instance of this great fact
occurred in America during (he Presidential muddle of tS7& Cipher mea-
sages transmitted by Mr. Tilden's agents to the disputed Stale of Uregon fell
into the hands of Che New York Tril><int. Mr. John G. R. Hassard set him-
•elf to master the problem. He discovered that the messages contained
of bribery and corruption. The Tribnnt published the explanation,
' directly to Mr. Tilden, but only
reduce Mr. Tilden himself to a
Another evidence of the dangers of dphei- writing is found in the Agony
colamn of the London Times, Ingenious spoil-sports, or parties having some
personal interest at stake, are continually employing their leisure time in dis-
e the best-laid plans and in making them go agley.
ingle instance ; On February ii, 1853, the following mad-looking
t appeared in the Timti:
iij-ng rd mtwy ni Xnfap n&j ywnj) jrt k*fri t> Jcaglitynu Km dii giy
jxy uk yraf ywzj hfiju nx uy XEXiuhyjt ; nk ny nx Igg xylWDJx bn^
key is very si .
for a, g for b, and so on in sequence. That the tey was found iiy an inleresTed
third party is evidenced by the following advertisement which appeared three
days later in the same column :
CsHunrroLA. Until iny bean h tkk have 1 tried lo limm u eipUnaiion lor you, bui
to Iht bollom. Do you Rincinba aar cou^'i Km prapouiion T Tlilnk of ■(. N pHb Dii.
Now, this is simply a full translation of the first advetiisemenl (correcting
obvious printers' errors), and the cryptogram at the close, unlocked by the
same key. reveals " 1 know you." A bomb-shell in the camp this must have
proved I The originals were silenced forever, so far as the Timts column
Soes, though the curtain is not rung down there until the third patty has this
nal shot, February 19 :
CHniHTOLA. Whii oonKue < Vout oiuilo'i pKHKnilian iiaburd. Ihivcnnnan
explRDatkin, — llie true one, — which bai perfectly Miianed boih parties, — a tliinjEwbicb wkuce
never CDutd have effected. So no moR uch ahMrdiiy.
Ciphers have their humors, as have all other lines of human effort A
famous example was the mystification practised by George Canning in 1816
opoi. Sit Charles Bagot, English minister lo King William I. of Holland. Can-
ning was then Prenner, A treaty of commerce with Great Britain was pend-
ing. Sir Charles received a despatch one dav at the Foreign Oflicc while he
was with the king and the Dutch minister Fafk. He begged leave to open it.
Leave was immediately granted, but he found that the letter was in cipher. As
he had not the key with him, he could do nothing else than ask permission to
retire. Going home, he made out the despatch as follows :
(A CifluT^
1b mallen oT commeice, the fault oT Ibe Dutch
ll oQeriog too littie and aflliing too moctu
with eoul adyaoiage ihe French an conleat.
So we'll dap on Dutch boltomi jvil twenty per cm
OfTM.— Twnty per cent ; iweaiy pet cnu.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
BnglUi— We'll cUpon Dulchboltoini jnii twnur percml. :
Fimch— Voui Inppeni Filk kvcc t*CDiy per ant.
I lu« BO olhei commandi (rom H<> Hajoty to convey lo Vour Etnllcncy UMlay. 1 an
vltb ETcat tnth and ropccl, fir. Your Excelhncy'i didx otxdScar bumblv servant,
(Siined) GaoRci Cahhihc.
H. E. theRl. HoB'bl<SirCbulnBaK>l,G.CB..T)>eHaKue.
Uticrif unable to make out what this could poasibljr mean, poor Sir Chatlei
Bagot and his secretary uf legation worried over it for days, and got into a
correspondence with Mr. Canning, who calmly refused to give them any light,
until in a happy moment it dawned un>n Sir Charles that the liveliest of Pre-
miers had tossed rSi a grave piece of fiscal diplomacy into facile verse of the
sort which had made (he " Anti-Jacobin" lamous.
But the greatest of all jokes, great because so sublimely unconscious, is the
"Great Cryptogram" which Ignatius Donnelly claimed to have discovered in
the works of bhakespeare, proving that ShaJiespeaie did not write Shake-
speare, and that the real author had laboriously woven into the text, through
a complicated cipher, the true facts of the case in good nineteenth -century
English modified by a sufficient sprinkling of recent Americanisms.
The game was much like that which used to be played with the numocr oi
the Beasl, of which Macaulay said, " If I leave out T in Thomas, B in Bab.
Cryptq
in the ]
. and M in Macaulay, and then spell my name in Arabic, I
the slightest doubt that I can prove rnyself conclusively to be the BeasL" It
finds another parallel in the fifth fit ofthe " Hunting of the Sn ark," where the
Butcher, even before Mr. Donnelly had published his book, described to the
Beaver the chief features of the Ikinnelly system in the following lines :
We add Seven and Ten, and Iben mullkily oiu
Br One ThsuHnd diminnhed by Eisbi.
By Nine H^imdted and Ninen and Two,'
Ejuctly and perfectly true.
Among the many good skits to which "The Great Cryptogram" gave ti»e
the best was poduced by J. G. Pyle, author of a pamphlet called " The Little
yplc^raiii, who, by the application of Donnelly's own system, discovered
le play of " Hamlet" the following prophetic words :
DonnOJ be, ibc mnthor, polkLciau, and mouDUbank, will worii odi the lecret of tbbpUy.
To conclude. Here is a puule which was inscribed over the tables of (he
Decalogue in a country church and is said to have remained undiscovered for
two hundred years. But any reader, who teels (hat he can conscientiously
expend dme on such an ob}ec(, may solve it at his leisure. It runs thus ;
Pravryprtctnuvrkptluprcputn .
We will only drop the friendly hint that a vowel, and the sane vowel in
every case, is to be inserted between every consonant.
Clromiutuioea over vrhloh I hava no oontroL According to George
Augustus Sala (" Echoes of the Week." Letidon Illmtrattd JVnoi, Augast 33,
1S84). this phrase, "one of (he most familiar in modern English," was first
used by the Duke of Wellington " with reference to some buamess complica-
tions in which his son was mixed up, about 1S39 or 1840 : > F. M. the Duke
of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. , and declines to interfere
in circumstances over which he has no control.' " Charles Dickens gave
freuer currency to the eipression by putting it into the mouth of Wilkins
l62, HANDY-BOOK OF
Micawber : " Circumstances beyond my individual control have, for a consid-
erable time, effected i sevetiiice of that intimacy," etc. — David Cafferjieid,
ch. XX. (1849).
Citizan of the world, — i.f., a cosmopolite, one who says with William
Lloyd Garrison, " My country is the world ; my counlrymen are mankind."
The term, which Goldsmith has taken as the title of a famous series of papers
feigned to be written by an imaginary traveller of cosmopolitan views, dates
back to Socrates, who claimed that " he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but
a citizen of the world" (Plutakch; Oh Banishment). Diogenes Laerlius
Rttributes the same phrase to his namesake Diogenes. Thomas Paine, in
" Rights of Man," chap, v., anticipated" Garrison's phrase. " My country," he
lays, " is the world, and my religion is to do good." The hisloiy of man
fhowa the gradual evolution of society from the family to the tribe, the tribe
to the city, the dty to the nation, and with the growth of man's sympathies
and intellectual range he may eventually realize the dream of Tennyson :
Saw (heVi^on dT the world, ind ill the wonder Ihal would bt ;
TUl ihe war-drum throbbed DO longer, ud the buIleHu* woe (uiled
Id Ihe PuHkmeni of man, the Fcthniion of Ihe world.
Locksliy Halt.
Civls Romaniw auiu (L., " I am a Roman citizen"). The proud boast of
ttia enfranchised citizens of Rome. Caracalla in a-D. Z13 destroyed lis special
m.'aning by extending the privileges of citizenship (0 all the subjects of Kome.
There is a famous passage in Cicero's sinth oration against Veires. where he
instances the case of Publius Gavius, whom Verres had caused lo be lieatcn
with rods in the forum of Messina : " No groan was heard, nu cry amid all hi*
pain and between the sound of Ihe blows, except the words, ' I am a Roman
citizen.' " A memorable application of Ihe phrase in modern times was made
by Li./d Palmerstiin in the House of Commons, June 25, 1B5D. The foreign
pulicy of Lord John Russell's administration was under discussion. Palmer-
Eton, Ihen Secretary of Foreign Affairs, upheld that jiolicy, especially in re-
gard to the protection affurded to Hritish subjects abroad, and challenged the
verdict of the House on the question "whether, as the Roman in days of old
held himself free from indignity when he Could say, Crvis Romania tutn, so
also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that
Ihe watchful eye and strong arm of England will protect him against injustice
and wrong "
ClEdmaiita, Uteraiy. Every now and then the world is entertained or
perplexed by a controversy over the authorship of some literary performance.
It may be a single poem or a novel that has shot into prominence and is
fought for by a dozen claimants in the present, or it may be a great literary
reputation of the past that is assailed by hardy explorers who imagine Ihey
have discovered that the owner of that reputation was an impostor or even a
myth. Homer has been assailed as a myth, Shakes|>eare as an impostor.
But the controversies on these (wo subjects are too well known lo need more
than the merest reference. One cannot even do more than call passing atten-
tion to the very clever skits in which, by reasoning clonely analogous to that of
the Baconists, Swinburne proved that Darwin wa.<i Ihe real aulhor of Tenny-
son's poems, and an anonymous contributor to Blackaxiod's Magaziia demon-
strated that Herbert Spencer wrote the novels attributed to Dickens.
In the year 1856 a now-forgotten controversy on the origin of (he Wavertey
Novels occupied the attention of the literary world- A certain Mr- William
John Fitz- Patrick contributed io Nottt and Queria, and afterwards republished
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 163
in pamphlet form, a labored aitempi to prove thai not Sir Walter Scott but
his brother Thomas (assisied by Mrs. Thomas) was the author of ihe major
part of them, and that Waller's lask had been mainly lo lick Ihem ialo
He baled his theory on the following facts. That the rapidity with which
these novels were issued from the piess, especially taken in connection with
the tact that Sir Wallet was conlempoTaneously engaged in other literary
work, is destructive of the hypothesis that they were written by Scott alone ;
that " Guy Mannering," for example, could never have been written, though
it might have been transcribed, in a fortnight ; that Thomas's comrades in the
army (he was paymaster of the Seventieth Regiment, then stationed in Canada)
agreed that they had often seen the wriling>desks of both Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
Scolt littered with manuscripts of their own composition ; that the minds of
both were stored with old Scotch traditions, anecdotes, and historical reroj-
; and that the Quebec Herald of July 15, iSlo, publisi
from Ihe correspondence of a literacy gentleman in Canada (unnamed), among
which appeared Ihe following paragraph : " With respect 10 these new publi-
cations, ' Rob Roy,' etc, I have no hesitation in saying 1 believe them to be
the prodaction of the Scoita. I say the Scotts, because Mr. Thomas Scott
(who wrote the principal part of them) was often assisted by Mis. Scolt ; and
the works were generally revised by his brother Walter before Kping lu press.
'The AntiqnaiV I can answer for particularly, because Mr. Thomas Scott
told me himself that he wrote it, a very few days after it appeared in this
countrj." To leil Ihe truth, Ihe case was flimsy enough. Bui William John
backed it up by referring Ihe reader to Ihe following passage in a letter from
Sir Walter Scolt to his brother, written during the autumn of 1814 :
Beod me a dDvd, intcnnixuiB your Hubennt and narurd humor wifh any incidtnu and
dqcriptLcHV of tceoeiy you nuv te«,-^panlculajly wlih chitmcicn and iraits of manocn.
I urilL five il alJ the cohblinf rhnt » neceuary, and, if you do but tuert yourKlT. I have
but (he leatt doubt ll wiJl be woith jfjoo; uid. 10 eocourafie you. you may, when youaend
the nuDuacriu, draw on me for j^i« at Afiy cUyi' aighi, u thai your ]ab<^n will a1 any rate
oDi be quilt tbrown away. You haie mote fun and deicripilve talent than mo>[ people :
and all that you waoi— i.*., ihe mere pimciice of composition— I cm lupply, ot Ihe devil'i ID il.
Keep ihb mailer a dead Kcret.
But, after all, the evidence of the letter amounts lo this : that Sir Waller
bad pressed his brother to write a novel. Indeed, he says as much in the
general prebce to his works, where he takes note of this very rumor "as-
cribit^ aereal part, or the whole, of these novels to the late Thomas Scoll,"
characlerizes it as one that was as unfounded as various olher rumors, yet
which "had, nevertheless, some alliance to probability, and indeed micht
have proved in some degree true." He then tells how he proposed that his
brother should write a novel, and how the laiier had even sent him a sketch
of Ihe plot, but had been forced by ill health to abandon the enterprise.
" He never, I believe, wrote a single line of the i)rojected work."
This statement ought to be conclusive. Indeed, the world has accepted il
as such. Mr. William John Fili- Pat rick's aitempi lo calumniate Ihe memory
of one of the most frank and genuine men who ever breathed proved a nine
days' wonder, and was forgotten in a fortnight.
A prepoaterous claim was made by George Cruikshank that he was Ihe real
originator of "Oliver Twist," that he had worked out the main plot in a series
of etchings, and that Dickens had illustrated him, and not he Dickens. This
story 6rst appeared in print in R. Shelioii Mackenzie's " Ufe of Dickens," a
catchpenny work published in Philadelphia, and was alluded 10 in the flrsi
volume of Forsler a hioffraDhv as "a wonderful storv oriirinallv nromulvnlef
i64 HANDY-BOOK OF
might have raised the reputation of Sir Benjamin Backbite. .
tinguished artist whom it calumniates bf fatherir ~ '~- ''
eilner not conscious of it or not caring to defend I
fended from the slander." Then Cruikshank rose in his wrath, and came to
the defence of Dr. Mackeniie in a letter to the London Timti, avowing that
ever since the publication of " Oliver Twist," and even when it was in progress,
he had, in private society when conversing upon such matters, always explained
that the original ideas and characters emanated from him. Yet, after all, his
whole slalement was simply that he had described the character of F^n to
Dickens, who took it up and made what we see of il. But the whole merit of
the character, no matter where the hint was received, depends upon the way id
which it was made lo move, and talk, and act, by the novelist. It is not ihe
mere outline, which would have done equally well in any hands, but (he tilling
up of Ihe outline, which gives to il all that is really interesting. The theme
might have been treated by a hundred different writers, and the result would
have varied in merit from the merest lay-iigurc up to the most complete and
admirable embodiment of genius. But, in fact, (he excellent Cruikshank
allowed his vanity lo urge him into all sorts of harmless absurdities. In "A
Popgun fired off by George Cruikshank," he even insisted that he had origi-
nated the pattern of a military hat worn by Ihe Russian soldiers. Having
described his own model, lie adds, " The Russian soldiers, I find, wear a hat
aomelhing of this shape now ; and no doubl Ihey saw my pattern and stole
A mote plausible claim to (he real authorship of Dumas's most famous
works, includina " Monte -Crislo" and "The Three Guardsmen," was put
forward by one M, Auguate Maquet, who was avowedly one of Dumas's assist-
ants, and undoubtedly had a share in iheir composiiion. But, like the other
assistants, he simply worked under the direclion of the creative and governing
mind. When any of these underling attempted original work they produced
only the most mediocre of novels. It is monsUous to pretend that men dull
in their own works, and brilliant only in his, have a righ( to share in the fame
of the great story-ielier, however much they may have helped him of con-
tributed to his success. It is inconceivable that the deprivation of all personal
honor or reward should have inspired or elevated genius which slackened Its
wings a( once when the question became personal. But (his ques(ion is con-
sidered more a( length under the head of Collaboration.
While the "Scenes of Clerical Ufe" were passing through BltukaeotTi
MapaintxaA drawing a(tention to the fact that in "George Eliot'' a new
genius had arisen, the inhabitants of Nuneaton and its neighborhood were
perplexed and astonished to find unmistakable por(rai(s of (heir own town-
people in Amos Barton, in Mr. Pilgrim, and in other characters. Clearly, none
but a native could have hit off these likenesses. A table-rapper, being appealed
to, spelt out the name of the great unknown as Liggers. There was no Ltggers
in the town, but there was a Ltggins, a broken-down gentleman of some small
literary pretensions. Though at first he was somewhat coy, he did not reject
the honors thrust upon him. At last he boldly accepted them. With the
appearance of "Adam Bede" his fame waxed greater than ever. A deputation
of dissenting paraons went out to see him, and found him washing his slop-
basin at the pump. To explain his indigent circumstances in the very hour
of his prosperily, he declared that he got no profit out of his works, but Ireely
gave ihem \a BlailoBoed. Tliis was voted a shame. He was lioniied in the
town, ISted at parties ; a subscription was started for him. Then the real
George Eliot deemed it was time lo interfere, and sent a letter to Ihe Timt)
denying Mr. Liggins's authorship. But it was some lime before the myth was
killed. There are several references to Mr. Uggini in George Eliot's Life
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 165
by CroBS. Here is one a\ the most interesting, the more so lh>l it terera to a
subject we have already broached : "I dare say some ' invesligatoi' of the
Braccbridge order will arise after I am dead and revive the story, and perhaps
poslcrily will believe in Liggiiis. Why not? A man a little while ago wrote
a pamphlet to prove that the Waverley Novels were chiefly written, not by
Walter Scolt, but by Thomas Scott and his wife Elisabeth,— the main evi-
dence being thai several people thought Thomas cleverer than Walter, and
that in the list of the Canadian regiment of Scots to which Thomas belonged
many of the Monei of the Waverley Novels occurred, — among the test Mimk,
— and in ' Woodstock' there is a General Moitk /"
A more successful impersonator, because she remained undiscovered until
her death by the neighborhood on which she had imposed, was a certain Mrs.
S. S. Harris (aus|>icious name I), who in 1S75 established herself in the little
tuwn of Hudson, Wisconsin. She claimed to have come from New York, and
to be the Mrs. Sidney Harris who liad written " Ruttedge," " Sutherlanda," and
other novels. She was very eccentric, affected sporting tastes, and liked to
drive Cut horses; but these traits were probably looked upon as the natural
accmnpaniments of genius, and she easily established for herself a good social
•landing, and in fact was lioniied as a literal^ celebrity. One day when
out driving with some friends she suddenly died of heart-disease, and the
publication of her obituary in the local paper exposed the fraud.
The would-be lilchers of others' laurels seem, indeed, to flourish apace in
America. Whenever a new poem achieves any great popularity in this
country it raises a host of claimants, especially if it be |iublished anony-
mously. Mrs. Akets Allen's "Rock me to Sleep, Mother," William Allen
Butler's " Nothing to Wear," Dr. Muhlenberg's " 1 would not Live Alway,"
J. L. McCteety's "There is no Death," Will Carleton's "Betsey and I are
out," Homer Greene's " What my Lover said," and J. W. Watson's " Beauti-
ful Snow," have all been the subjects of fierce controversy. The last-named
was fought for. either in person or vicariously, by a dozen people. The friends
or admirers of Elizabeth Akets Allen, Dora Thorne, and Henry Faxon per-
■isteotly brought forward their names as claimants, in spite of their equal
peraiBlence in denial. Nay, an unknown dead woman, evidently a suicide,
whose body was Ibund in the Ohio River with a copy of the poem printed but
nnsiimed upon her person, was promptly baptized "The Beautiful Floater in
the Ohio" and heralded throughout the country as the real author of " Hean-
tiful Snow." Of the active claimants the most energetic and irrepressible was
one Richard H. Chandler, whose story ran that Mr. Watson had tilched the
poem from him in revenge for a practical joke, and had published it in Har-
ftr'i WttUy. (It did, in fact, make its first known appearance in that paper
on November S, 1858.) He naively added that the reason he had never pub-
lished any other poem akin to " Beautiful Snow" was because " the publishers
sent 'em all back to him." A certain William Allen Silloway insisted that he
had published the poem in a New England journal four years prior to its
appearance in Harper't ifetily, but that the files of that paper were inacces-
sible. He had been inspired to its composition by the degradation through
drink of his wife, who was " a niece of Millard Fillmore," and who was found
dead by a policeman in a snow-dtift in Leonard Street in the winter of 1S54.
William Cullen Bryant, who made a careful examination into all the evidence
■Itainablei came to the conclusion that Mr. Watson was the true author, and
the world has generally abided by his verdict
The most eager of the claimants who disputed with Mrs. Allen the author-
ship of " Rock me to Sleep, Mother," was one Alexander M. W. Ball. His
Betensions were summed up in a pamphlet, nominally written by O. W.
one, of Cherry Valley, New York, which was published in 1867. Tbe
. Google
i66 HANDY-BOOK OF
pamphlet was reviewed with much humor by W. D. Howells in the Atlantk
for August of that year :
" It apijears from this and other sources," Biys the reviewer, " that Mr. Ball
is a person of independent prOjieTty, and a member of the New Jersey Legis-
lature, who has written a great quaiilily uf verses tirst and last, but has become
all but ' proverbial' in his native State for his carelessness of his own poetry :
so that we suppose people say there of a negligent parent, ' His children are
ns unkempt as the Hun. Alexander M. W. Ball's poems,' or of a heartless
husband, ' His wife is about as well provided Tor as Mr. Ball's muse.' Still,
Mr. Hall is nol altogether lost to natural teeling, and he has not thrown away
all his poetry, but has even so far shown himself alive to its clainu upon him
as to read it now and Ihen to friends, who have keenly reproached him with
his indifference to fame. To such accidents we owe the preservation in this
pamphlet of several Christmas carols and other lyrics, tending to prove that
Mr. Ball could have written ' Rock me to Sleep' if he had wished, and the
much more important letters declaring that he did write it and that the sub-
scribers of the letters heard him read it nearly three years before its publica-
tion by Mrs. Akers. . . . We do nol think that (he writers of these letters
intend deceit ; but we know the rauture with which people listen to poets
who read their own verses aloud, and we suspect that these listeners to Mr.
Ball were carried too fat away by their feelings ever to get back to their facts.
They are good folks, but not critical, we judge, and might eaiiily mistake Mr.
Ball B persistent assertion lor an actual recollection of their own. We think
them one and all in error, and we do not believe that any living soul heard
Mr. Ball read the disputed poem before 1S60, for two reasons : Mrs. Akers
did not write it before that time, and Mr. Ball could never have written it
after any number of trials. . . . The verses given in this pamphlet would
invalidate Mr. Ball's claim to the authorship of Mrs. Akers's poem, even though
the Seven Sleepers swore that he rocked them to sleep with it in the time of
the Dedan peraecuiion."
Clometu da Haio, an old Norman custom which s
the abbret
been instituted by Duke Rollo
English island of Jersey. Haro is held to be the abbreviation of the words
"All Rullo," -"■--- - --■J -- ^--- '---- ' -•■ - "> • " ■ '■
of Normandy, who gave to his people a personal appeal to himself and h
successors in certain cases of wrong. William the Conqueror brought the
custom over to England. To this day in Jersey if there l>e a question of en-
croachment on the rights of property, the mjured person may make his appeal
on the spot by falling on his Knees m the presence of witnesses and exclaim-
ing, " Haro 1 Harol i I'aide, mon prince, on me bit tori." The alleged
trespassers must immediately cease and await the judgment of the court. If
the person thus appealing is found to have been in the wrong, he is fined l>y
the court for having without just cause called on the name of Kollo.
the ConqiKror, and MCoumt f« the iccne hi t»phic»lly told Iw Mr. Frecmui, ihouch he
vide a ilu (or the great bUkv of St. Slephcn at Own, the Cenqueror had akea the propcnr
iif «evcTal penonk, one of wftom CbinpLaincd ihu he had not btta ctHnpemaud for hii inter.
e<t. Til* ion of ihii person, AKdiB, obKrvlng ihat the arm of Willinin mi du| on Ih>
very spot where hh fuher** Ivoiue had been iliiiaied, went boldly ioio the aikmbly collected
al the grave for the funenl. and, nialcing hit appeal to RoUo, futud* fiinherprocefdinn aniil
hbclaini of right wu decided. He addreu.-iT the comiuny in theie void. ^ "Hewlio liu
oppFCned kingdoni by hit nrmy hai h«n my opprcuor all'), and h^ Utpi mc under a con-
liiiiul fearof deHlh StDCe I have pullivtd nin who injured me, I mean not (o acqull him
now he it dead, 't'hc gioDnd wherein you are goJiig (o lay ihlt man ii mine: and I affirm
Ihat none may in AiLUre huiy their dead In grouiHl which belongs 10 another. IT after he 'n
1 under and &lhCT of our natktn, who, though dead, live* in hil lawi. 1 calie refuge in
bnhaiDm>»p
ToniKd r<
dulyburiid. Mr
tmn B diipuw of righl, »nd
iDui.lhe funeral c
oho tuuj
RninB.
1 ia n«:
duced Ihb phn
Journal (F=btu
aiy 12.
UTBRARY CUKWSITIES.
.ihority abcjvc (hem." This bnve tpet..., ,— .^
riDcc Htnry, aflerwardi Hcnrr 1., wrouahl iu cAe
iv= ipeeth, delii
.etwardi Hcnnr 1-, wrouah" ■' " "'
aiue of (be ^ound occupied by ihe p^ve,
ci"m™y,-?°SMAW-Wm'il,^in ;P*r<«t*('ir
ct to godlineas. John Wesley seems to have inlro-
etature. In his sermon on " Dress," aiul again in his
I77J), he has the words, "Cleanrintss is indeed next to
godliiietis," in quolaliuii- marks. Evidently he is quoting a current proverb.
Long before Wesley, Bacon had put much the same idea into other words :
"Cleanliness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to
God." But a closer parallel is found still farther back, in Aristotle : " Clean-
liness is a half virtue {" and before Aristotle, in the Jewish Talnmd ; " The
doctrines of religion are resolved Into carefulness ; carefulness Into vigorous-
ness ; vigorousness into guiltlessness ; guiltlessness into abstemiousness ; ab-
stemiousness- into cleanliness ; cleanliness into godliness." A mure literal
translation would sutntitote "next to" fur "resolved into," and so obtain the
exact letter with only slight violation of the spirit.
The passion for cleanliness is a comparatively recent one with the Anglo-
Saxon race. In times as near to the present as Queen Elizabeth's, Spenser
has the line, —
V'lunV Cxerw, Book iv.. Outo xi., V. 47:
i.1., for I special day of rejoicing.
We may all devoutly echo Thackeray's thanksgiving : " Of all the ad-
vances towards civilization which our nation has made, and of most of which
Hr. Macaulay treats so elotiuenllv in his lately- published History, there ia
none which ought to give a priilanlnro[iist mure pleasure than to remark the
great and increasing demand for bath-tubs at the ironmongers': zinc institu-
tions, of which our ancestors had a lamentable ignorance. And I hope that
these institutions will be universal in our country before long, and that every
decent man in England will be a Companion oi the Most Hononrable Order
of the Bath."— Jfcfr^J and TVirvda in London.
Cloud. ElT«ty olond has a sliver lining, — a familiar proverb, mean-
ing that the worst misfortunes have their compensation or their promise of
amelioration in the future. It may be a reminiscence of the lines (zai, zzz)
in Milton's " Comus," —
Wu 1 deceived, or did a ubie cloud
TuinfoKh her silver lining la ihenighlT
La Rochefoucauld says (Maxim 49), " We are never so happy or so un-
happy as we think ourselves."
Lady 5 Ikt Lakt,t»mo\i.,%a.avit.
See also Darkest Hour bEFORB the Dawn.
Clover, Foor-Leavsd. This plant derived its signilicance from the fact
that its four leaves are arranged in the form of a cross. Moreover, its com-
parative rarity and its very abnormality (if one may so express itl made it seem
noteworthy or remarkable. If a person shall wear a bit of this plant he can
delect the presence of evil spirits. It also brings a good fortune.
With a (6ar4eavcd clover, 4 douhle-teaved >ah, and a grf«n-Iopped leave [nuh].
. Coo^If
i68 HANDY-BOOK OP
A A(W-leiv«d cIdtct enables a maid to see her Ailme lover. The four-
leaved grass (Iriie-love, one-berry, herb-parU, or leopard's bane) is another
mystical crosS'leaved plant concerning which much might be said. The
quaint St. Andrew's cross (Auyntm cntx-Andna\ is a very interesting plant
of our oirn country, with cross-like (lowers. Strangely enough, it appears to
have no folk-lore attached to iL
Coala of flra. The expression, to heap coals of fire on somebody's head,
meaning to return good for evil, is an Old Testament expression, as the lat-
ter is a New, and marks the difference in spirit between Old and New, for it
flatters the immanent vindictiveness that frequently underlies forgiveness by
suggesting that you will make the enemy vastly uncomfortable. To be sure,
the phrase occurs in Romans lii. io,as well as in Proverbs xxv. 3 1 , 23, but in the
former case it appears as a quotation from the Proverbs. The context, which
is slightly condensed in the New Testament version, appears thus in the Old :
" If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat ; and if he be thirsty, give
him water to drink ; for thou shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and the
Lord shall reward thee."
If to tore^ve be heapiDg ccwl* of fire —
As God Gu ipDkea — on the h«d> OS Toei,
Mine Bhoqld be a voicuio uid rite higtber
Thu o'er the Tiuu crtiihed Olymgiiu fat.
Or fvboi goan, or blaiinE Eua ilow< :
True, tbey who tiujw were creepiUK ihiagi ; b"> »><*>
Thu fcrpenlt' Iceiblnflicu inlh doidlier throat
Eiclct— No, I
The Lion may be corded by the Giui.
AlioHiclulhdluin&Rr'tbloodl The
According to a note in Murray's edition of the "Poetical Works of Lord
Byron," this stanza was originally intended to go between stanias cxuiv. and
cxixvi, of the fourth canto of " Childe Harold," It was suppressed in proof
by John Wilson Croker, who saw the book through the press and may have
thought the stanza blasphemous. Evidently Croker'a appetite for gnats had
been ruined by a bellyful of camels.
Coat Cut yoni coat aooordlng to your oloth, — 1>., let your expen-
diture be proportioned to your means. An old English proverb, which is
probably a survival from the old sumptuary laws. One of its earliest appear-
ances in literature is in Heywood's " Proverbs," ch. ii. :
etch his leg according to his coverlet ;"
n be the bloodletting."
Cook and Bull Btory. The most probable explanation of this term as
applied to preposterous tales related in private life is that which refers it to
the old ^bles in which cocks, bulls, and other animals are represented as
endowed with speech. Matthew Ivor's " Riddle on Beauty" closes with
these lines ;
or each laul iuit,. ud flulei ud fiddlo,
or Ult lain ud rooLiah riddlei.
One of Cowpet's fables commences as follows :
I (hdl not uk Je«. Jacque. Rou»e.u
If biid> conbtxilue oi no ;
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 169
Cooksde, Tb» Blaok (a star-like piece of black leather, usually sar-
moDnled by a fan, which ia oflen seen on the hats of liveried servants), was
unknown in Britain until the accession of the house of Hanover, and was
then introduced by George I. from his German dominions. It seems to be
understood that the right to use it belongs to naval and military officers, and
the holders of some offices of dignity under the crown, such as privy coun-
cillors, officers of stale, supreme judges, ett:. But it is somewhat difficult to
draw the line, as the privilege is one of which the law takes no coeniiance.
Naval cockades have no Ian-shaped appendage, and do not project above the
top of the hat.
Cookai, Aooordlng to, and Aooordlns to Qiinter, are slang expres-
sions current in England and to a less extent in America, meaning "according
to the best authority or highest standard" Edward Cocker, who died about
1675, had a great f^me as a mathematician; but the celebrated "Cocker's
Arithmetic" was a forgery. It has been proved that Cocker had nothing
whatever to do with this once vastly popular text-book which was published in
his name. Edmund Gumcr (1581-1626) was also a noted English mathema-
tician. He invented Gunter's chain, still used fur measuring land ; Gunter's
scale (called by mariners " the Gunter"), much used in navigation ; Gunter's
line, a sort of mechanical logarithmic table, a quadrant, etc
Coaklea of the heart, a colloquialism found in such expressions as
"that will warm the very cockles of your heart," and supposed to have taken
its rise from an expression made use of by Lovrer, the anatomist, who in his
"Tractatus de Corde" (1^^) refers to the muscular fibres of the ventricles as
cxhlia. The ventricles of the heart, therefore, would be cochlea eerdii, which
"cockles of the hearL" But the
Cockney, a common sobriquet for a native of London. The "New
English Dictionary" is at great pains to trace the history of this word. It
quotesfromMinsheu's" Ductor," published in t6t7, the memorable "chestnut"
on the subject : "The tearme came first out of this tale : I'hatacittizen's Sonne
riding with his bther . . . into the country . . . asked, when he heard a
horse neigh, what the horse did ; his father answered. The horse doth neigh ;
riding farther, he heard a cocke crow, and said, Doth the cocke neigh too?
and therefore Cockney or Cocknie, by inversion thus : iitcxt, f. incoclui — 1>.,
raw or unripe in Country-men's affaires." This does not satisfy Dr. Murray
and his assistants. A cockney was originally a cockered child, one suckled
too long, a mother's darling, one tenderly brought up, — hence a squeamish or
efleminate liellaw, a milksop. The word is often used in the last sense by
Elizabethan and earlier writers. On Childermas- Day (December 28) the
students of Lincoln's Inn chose a " King of Cockneys' to be Master of the
Revels. The word ome to be applied derisively to a townsman, as the type
of effeminacy, in contrast to the hardier inhabitants of the country. Then it
was localized to mean one born in the city of London, "particularly to
cormote the characteristics in which the born Londoner ia supposed to
be inferior to other Englishmen." The townsman had his revenge t^ the use
he made of "clown." The original of "clown" in the Teutonic languages
means a clod, clump, clot. — hence a clumsy lout, a lumpish fellow. Then it
was applied to a countryman as the clown for ixctllmet, the man without
refinement or culture, the ignorant, rude, uncouth, ill-bred man.
Coglto, argo anm (I.. " I think, therefore I am"), the famous proposition
upon which Descartes founded his philosophical scheme. He starts from the
tosii of um'versat sceptitusin. He recognizes that the philosophic mind ma;
I70 HANDY BOOK OF
doubt tbe existence of the external world, ri God, even qf itself. Mind, mat
t«r, science, experience, all is or may be delusion ; nothing remains bul doubl.
" Huw, then, can we find a fresh starting-point? Evidently in the fact of
doubt alone. What is doubt } A state dt condition, — in lact, a judgment ;
and how can there be a judenient without some one to judge? Doubt, then,
JH an act of thinking. Thitiking is inconceivable without a person to think.
llius, doubt implies the menial existence of a doubter. Cii^lo, ergo turn"
(Maiiaffv: Dacartes.) Though the applicaliuu of the phrase is Descartes's,
it has some verbal kindred with St. Angus*'"- ■" " "- ""■•
faTlOT." "'■ '""" ' ""'" **"' "'"' *' ' " '^"^ "'
CobMlve power of public pltmdor. This excellent phrase is a popu-
lar misquotation that adds furce and cunciHenesa to the original, which runs
as follows ;
=7.i8j^ vtpow«-o e. .up-" . ohx . *mouN. «. ^y
Cotnoidenoea. We are losing our picturesque superaiitinna. The ccitnci-
dences in which uur ancestors would have delected a miraculous intervention
now only amuse and interest us. We reasun sagely about them. We recog-
nUe wilh Mr. Proctor that although some coincidences appear extraordinary,
yet it would be still more extraordinary if in )he whirl and tusa uf events such
coincidences did not occasionally hap|>en. Take the case of a lutlery with a
thousand tickets and but one prize. It is exceedingly unlikely that any [ar-
ticular ticket-holder will obtam the prize : the odds are, in fact, 999 to 1
against him. Hut suppose he had one ticket in each of a million different
lolleries all giving the same chance of success. Then it would not be sur-
prising for him to draw a priM ; on the contrary, it would be a most remark,
able coincidence if he did not draw one. The same event — the drawing of a
priie — which in one case must be regarded as highly improbable becomes
m the oihcr case highly probable. So it is with coincidences which appear
Utterly iniprobable. It would be a most wonderful thing if such coincidences
did not occur, and occur pretty frequently, iu Ihe experience of every man,
against the occurrence of any particular instance.
Mr. Proctor cites the case of Dr. Thomas Young as surpassing in strange-
ness all the coincidences he had ever heard nf. Dr. Young was busily
engaged in Ihe attempted decijihering of the Roselta Slone. fie had obtained
a parcel of ancient manuscripts brought from Egypt by a man named Casati,
among others a papyrus containing amid its balHing hieroglyphics three names
in Greek letters, Apollonius, Antigonus, and Antimachus. A few days later
a friend had placed in his hands several fine specimens of writing in papyrus
which he had purchased from an Arab at Thebes in iSza Dr. Young turned
with a sense of relief from his Egyptian puzzles to a plain Greek manuscript
of Mr. Grey's. He could scarcely Believe that he was alive and in hts sober
senses when the words Antimachus Antigenis [lit) struck his eyes, and, a
few lines farther back, Portis Apollonii. It was a Greek translation of the
*ery mannsctipt he had been poring overt "A most extraordinary chance,"
says Dr. Young, "had brought into my possession a document which was not
very likely, in the first place, ever 10 have existed, still less to have been ])re.
■erved uninjured, for my inlormation. through a period of near two thousand
years ; but that this very extraordinary translation should have been brought
ufely to Eurripe, to England, and to me, at the very moment when it was ntoU
Goo^If
LITERARy CURIOSITIES. \^X
of alt desirable to me to possess it, as the illustration of an original which 1
was then studying, but without any other reasonable hope of comprehending
it, — this combination would, in other times, have been considered as afTording
ample evidence of my having become an ^yplian sorcerer."
Indeed, the author of "The Ruins of Sacred and Historic Lands," who
probably credits himself with a reflective mind, is good enough to say that " it
seems to the reflective mind that the appointed lime had at length arrived
when the secrets of Egyptian history were at length to be revealed, and In east
their reflective light on the darker pages of sacred and jirofaiie history. The
incident in the Tabors of Dr. Young might be deemed providential, if not
miraculous."
Professor E>e Morgan has a budget of curious coincidences to exploit. One
was an event in his own life. " In August, lS6t," he says, " M, Senarmont,
of the French Institute, wrote to me lo the effect that Fresnel had sent to
England in, or shortly after, 1S24 a paper for translation and insertion in the
European Review, which shortly after expired. The question was what had
become of the paper. I examined the Review at the Museum, found no trace
of the paper, and wrote back (o that effect, at the Museum, adding that every-
thing now depended on ascertaining the name of the editor and tr.idng hi.'«
papers: of this I thought there was no chance. I posted the letter on my
way home, al a post-ofGce in the Hamintead Road, at (he junction with Ed-
ward Street, on the opposite side of which is a bookstall. Lounging for a
moment over the exposed \xi(fis,ticut meui est men, I saw, within a few minutes
of the postine of the letter, a little catchpenny book of anecdotes of Macaulay,
which I bouant, and ran over for a minute. My eye was soon caught 1^ Ihi.s
sentence: 'One of the young fellows immediately wrote to the editor (Mr.
Walker) of the European Revievr.' I thus got the clue by which I ascertained
that there was no chance of recovering Fresnel's paper. Of the mention of
current Reviews not one In a thousand names the editor." It will be noticed
that there was a double coincidence in this case. It was aulticiently remark-
able that the first mention of a Review, after the difliculty had been recognized,
should relate to the European, and give the name of the editor ; but it was
even more remarkable that the occurrence should be timed !io strangely as
was actually (he case.
The following curious coincidences have been collated from history by
patient investigators.
Among many superstitions peculiar to the Napoleons is that of regarding
the letter M as ominous of good or evil. The following catalogue of men,
things, and events, the names of which begin with M, shows uiat the two
emperors of Fiance have had some cause for considering this letter a red or
a black one, according lo circumstances. Marlxeuf was the first to recognize
the genius of the great Napoleon at the Military College. Marengo was the
first great battle won by General Bonaparte, and Melas matle room for him in
Italy. Mortier was one of his best generals, Moreau l>etrayed him, and Murat
was the first martyr to his cause. Marie Louise shared his highest fortunes.
Moscow was the abyss of ruin into which he fell. Metlernich vanquished him
in the field of diplomacy. Six marshals (Mass^na, Mortier, Marmont, Mac-
donald, Murat, Moncey) and tv>enty-six generals of division under Najiuleon
I. bad the letter M for their initial. Maret, Duke of Bassano, was his most
(rusted counsellor. His first battle was (hat of Mon(enotte, his las( Mont St.
jean, as the French term Waterloo ; he won the battles of Millesimo, Mun-
devi, Montmirail, and Monlereau ; then came the storming of Montmarlre.
Milan was the first enemy's capital, and Moscow the last, into which he
marched victorious. He lost Egypt through Mennu. and em)>toyed Miotlis
(o take E^us VH. prisoner. Mallet conspired against lijm ; Murat was (he
1 7a HANDY-BOOK OF
first to desert him, then Marmont Three of his ministers were Maret, Mon
talivel, and Moliien ; his firsl chamberlain was Montesquieu. His last halting-
place in France was Malmaisun. He surrendered to Captain Maitland of (he
Bellerophon, and hja companions in St. Helena were Moiitholon and his valet
Marchand. If we turn to (he career of his nephew, Napoleon IIL, we lind
the same lelter no less prominent. He was born April 30, igo8, which in
Corsica is (he last day of the feast-week of Machreal. His early military
instructions were given him by Moreith of Monttflimar. His empress was the
Countess Monlijo; his greatest friend was Murny. The taking of the Mala-
kofT and the Mameton-vert were the greatest feats of the French arms in the
Crimean war. He planned his first battle of (he I(alian campaign at Marengo,
although it was not foughl until alier the engagement of Montebello ; at
Magenta, MacMahon, for his important services in this battle, was named Duke
of Magenta, as PJligsier had for a similar merit received (he title or Duke of
MalakoH Napoleon III. (hen made his en(ty into Milan, and drove the
Auslrians out of Marignano. After (he great victory of Solferino, fouglit on
the banks and in (he waters of the MIncio, he turned back before the walls of
Mantua. Thus up to 1S60, after which the letter M would seem to have been
ominous of evil. Passing over Mexico and Maximilian, we see how vain
were his hopes founded on the three M's of the Franco- Prussian war, — Mar-
shal MacMahon, Count Montauban, and Mitrailleuse I Mayence was to have
been the basis for (he fur(her operations of the French army, but, pushed
back first to (he Moselle. i(s doom was sealed on the Maas, at Sedan. Then
followed (he capitulation of Metz ; and all the subsequent disasters were dne
to the superior skill and s(ra(eEy of ano(her M, — Moltke. Ano(her strange
coincidence noted in regard to (he Third Napoleon was that he died at Chisel-
hurst at la45 A.M., — precisely the hour when (he grea( clock of the Tuitcries
stopped after the palace was set on tire by the Commune.
Numbers as well as letlera have piavea strange tricks with the Napoleonic
dynasty. As thus : Napoleon I, was bom in 1768. He abolished the Direc-
tory and took the supreme power in 1799. Now add these dates together in
the following manner, —
1799
iSzi
and the sum represents the date of his death. Try the s
poleon III., bom 1808, became emperor i8$3 :
18s.
which, (hough not absolutely the date when he was dethroned. Is the date of
the last year of his leign, and anyhow completes (he cycle of one hundred
years from the Urth of the Firs( Napoleon.
A still more eitraordinary circumstance is that if you add in the same way
to (he da(e of the Third Napoleon's coronation that of his wife's birth (1816),
or of their marriage (1853], the mystic result is still 1869. Then, again.
„i,zcdb. Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 173
Loui( Philippe began to reign in 1830. Add to tliie in the old ^miliar manner
eillier 1773, the dale of his own birth, itSi, tbe dale ofQucen A m^l it's birth,
or 1809, the dat« of Iheir marriage, and the result in each case is 1E4S, the
year in which Napoleon III. superseded him.
Another noteworthy coincidence is the following. ' Here are the figures of
the pKlnacile :
7119796/1119000
The line divides the majority on the right from the minority oh the left. Now
copy this, omitting the three noughts and slightly humoring the ligures, and
hold the result with its face to the light ; the reverse will read very much like
the word tmptreur. Of course not every one's handwriting will exactly com-
pass this. The tail of the c|'s must be shortened and curved, the 7's made
angular. Then the final 9 will represent the initial c, the next three figures
make a not impossible m, the dividing line and the 6 together a fairly %aQA p,
the 9 next lo it an e again, the 7 an inebriate r, the 9 an ^again, the next two
figures a plausible u, and the final 7 a boon companion of the other.
...... J .. . .1 . . .1 _r ._..!_ iuTT _ jirologer had pi
always had a dread of
any date wherein that number appeared. He would never hold a royal sitting
on the zist of a month. His dread seems to have been justified by events, for
many of the disasteis of his reign occurred on that day. His marriage, which
might be looked upon as one chief cause of his eventual troubles, took place
on tlie ZTSI of April, 1770, and on the same day a violent storm arose and
raged with devastating violence. His entry into Paris was made on the suc-
ceeding 31st of June, when a panic occurred in the crowd and lifleen hundred
people were trampled to death ; the flight to Varennes was on June 21, 1791 ;
royally was abolished September 31, 1792; Louis himself was condemned
to dealh by twenty-one votes (the authority for this statement, however, ie
confessedly meagre), and on the 2ist of January, 1793, he was guillotined.
In the royal family of Belgium January has always been looked upon as an
unlucky month. When, on January I, iSqo, the palace of Laeken, with all
its magnificent treasures, was destroyed 1^ fire, the Queen of the Belgians
exclaimed, " All our disasters come in January I" It was in January that her
uster -in-law, Carlotta of Mexico, had lost her reason ; in January, 1869, that
her son died, leaving the heirship to her nephew. Prince Baldwm, who also
died in January (1891); in January (iSSi) that the palace of the Empress
Charlotte was consumed by tire, and in January (1889) that Archduke Rudolph,
her son-in-law, committed suicide.
A German statistician has discovered that the number t has played an
important part in Prince Bismarck's life. The family coat or*^arms bears over
the motto, "In Trinitate Robur." three clover and three oak leaves. Carica-
turists of tbe ex-Chancellor have for years represented him with three hairs
<sa his head. He has three children and three estates ; he fought in three
wars, and signed three treaties of peace. He arranged the .meeting of the
three Emperors, and ori^nated the Triple Alliance. He had under him the
three great political parties (Conservatives, National Liberals, and Ultramon-
tanes), and served three German emperors.
The death, in 1S93, of the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the Prince of
Wales, called renewed attention to the old superstition as to the unluckiness
of that title. Five dukes have borne it in English history. None transmitted
it to his heir. The first duke died in t368, leaving no male issue. The title
was revived in 141 1, when Henry IV. conferred it on his second son, Thomas
Planlagenet, who was killed ten years later at the battle of Beangi, leaving
no issue. In 1461, Edward IV. conferred it on his brother George, who was
murdered in 1477 and his title attainted. He was the only Duke of Clarence
174 HANDY-BOOK OF
to leave a male heir, and that heir, known as Edward, Earl of Warwick, wu
. Iieheaded in the Tower in 1499, where, lifly years Uler, the onl^ daughter
of the house, the aged and uiiforlunale Margaret, Countess ai Salisbury, suf-
fered the same penalty as her brother. In 17JJ9 a fourth eSort was made to
resuscitate the title in the person of the third son of George III., afterwards
William IV., who died without legitimate issue. In Itigo, one hundred years
later, the title was renewed for the last lime in the person of the young prince,
who died two years later, on the very eve of his marriage.
But the superstitious noted that the death of Prince Albert Victor on a
Thursday broke a remarkable spell or curse which had hung over the present
royal family of England for more than a century and three-quarters, — bringing
about the death of all the prominent memliers of that family on Saturdays.
William III. died Saturday, March iS, 17021 Queen Anne died Saturday,
- " ; I, d ■ --- " ....
Saturday, October 25. 1760; George III. died Saturday, January 29, i)J2o:
George IV. died Saturday, June 36, 1S301 the Duchess of Kent died Sati
day, March 16, 1861 ; the Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria a
grandfather of the recent deceased Prince Albert Victor, died Saturday, De-
cember 14, 1861 : Princess Alice of Kesse-Uarmstadt, Victoria's second
daughter, and sister of Albert, died Saturday, December 14, 1878. The
shadows which overhung the late prince's life are said to have been dark-
ened by a superstitious fear which caused him to keep close in-doors on
Saturdays.
There is not a more curious coincidence than that concerning Richard
Wagner, the composer, anil his famous 13's. To begin with, it takes 13 let-
ters to spell Richard Wagner. He was born in tStj. Add the figures to-
gether, thus, i-S-1-3, and you have another 13. The letters in his name and
the sum of the tigures in the year of his birth equal twice 13. He composed
exactly 13 great works, and always declared that he "set his head" oti his
after-career on (he I3lh of the munth. "Tanhauser" was completed on April
13. 1845 ; it '"" ii's' performed at Paris, March 13, i&6t. He left Hnyreiith
Septemlier 13, 1S61. September is the ninth month ; write 9-13 and aild the
three figures together, thus, 9-I-3, and you have 13. Finally, lie died on Kcb-
niarv 13, 1883.
The attention of many earnest students has been directed towards collecting
instances of famous men having died on the anniversary of their birth. First
of all comes Moses, who, according to the Talmud, " died on the seventh day of
Adar, the same day of the same month on which he was born, his age being ex-
actly one hundred and twenty years." Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564,
and died April 33, 1616. Raphael, the artist, was born on Good Friday, 14S3,
and died on Good Friday. Ijio, aged thirty-seven. As Good Friday is a mov-
able least, it does not follow that the day of the month was identical in each
case, but the coincidence has eicilcd much astonishment. Sir Thomas Browne,
author of " Religio Medici." was born October 19. 1605 ; died October 19, :682.
Timothy Swan, composer, was born July 21, 1758; died July 13, 1S41. General
McLeanTaylor, a nephew of President Taylor, was born November 21. 1828;
died November 21, 1875. Si. John of God, one of the most eminent of the
Portuguese saints, and founder of the Order of Charity, was born March 8,
1495 ; died March 8, I Sjo. John SolMCski, the king of Poland who delivered
Vienna from the Turks, was born June 17, 1629; difd Tune 17, 1696.
Attention has been drawn to the fact that M, which is the lirsi letter of
Melody and Music, is also the initial in the names of a great number of com-
posers, ancient and modern : Matcello, Monslgny, M^hul, Mozart, Martini,
Metcadante, Meyerbeei; Malibran, Mayseder, Mine, Musard. Mendelasohiv
Moscheles, etc
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 17S
Cold Day. The humor
when I gel left," meaning m _ „ . ,
eailj in the tnoruing eo gel Ihe best uf me," — this recent Americanism prob-
ably sprang bora Ihe game of " freeze-uut" poker. Each player buys a certain
stipulated amount ai chips, and when he loses them can buy no more, but is
"frozen," or, more idiomatically, "froze out," and so Ihe game continues lill
one man has all tile chips. The "froze-outs" would naturally be Ihe subjecl
of fiicelious inquiry as to the stale of Ihe thermometer, and the winner's glee
would take some such form as ihis 1 " (t may be a cold day for you fellows, but
il would have to be a good deal colder before I get left. A correspondent
of the AmtrUan Notes and Queriei, vol. ii. p. J13, strives, however, to give
Ihe phrase an old English origin. In ihe ballad of "Gil Moiice" he mids
these lines:
\a. [ will me your bUcke crtau].
Though i. be 10 your com ;
Sen jieGy mt will lue Ik wantd,
'Id it ye salt Aod Fro«i-
This is ingenious, but has no other merit.
Cold Shoulder, To turn the, to treat one with hauUiir, to cut. The
phrase seems to have been first used in "The Antiquary" (i$i6), ch. xxxiii. :
"The countess's dislike didna gang larthet at lirsl than just showmg o' the
cauld shoulder." In the glossary Scott explains it as meaning " to appear cold
and reserved." In an appreciative article on this subject the Saturday Retricvi
says, "The graceful use of the cold shoulder fairly deserves to be ranked among
Ihe tine arts 1 while, on the contrary, nothing could be more ungainly than ils
awkward application. When a tactless man meets Ihe object of his delesla-
tion he looks nervously self-conscious, and seems undecided whether lo Cut
or merely slight his enemy. After blushing in a foolish manner, he gives an
awkward bow. which, intended to be gracefril, is in reality ludicrously clumsy.
A casual observer might attribule his singular behavior toshyiie
hatred. The most successful hand at cold-shouldering is the heartless and list-
less man, who can put his victim completely out of his mind, and forget his pres-
ence, if not his existence., as soon as he has accorded him the coldest of recog-
nitions. Without insinuating that women are more heartless and listless than
men, we may observe that they are far greater adepts in this art than the opposite
sex. Most men seem more or less ill at ease when they know that they are
giving pain to others, but this is by no means invariably the case with women.
We might even go so far as to say that ladies sometimes too evidently derive
■atisbction from the annoyance of others. They understand the secret of
freezing others while preserving their own caloric ; but men cannot obtain a
like result without first becoming icicles themselves. The lords of the creation,
moreover, when wishing to appear dignified, are apt to assume an air of vacant
stupidity. They are, in (act, l>ad actors, and when a man would tike 10 knock
anotherdown,hBiintlsitaneffortto treat him with cold politeness." — November
16, 1878.
Collaboration, partnership in literature, the coming together of two or
more minds in the production of a single work. The thing is at least as old
as the Elizabethan drama, when nearly all the leaders worked more or less
in partnership, and Shakespeare himself did not disdain to revamp the work
of an inferior hand to lit it for the stage. Racine, Coriieitle, and Mdi^re
in France, Cervantes, Calderon, and Lope de Vega in Spain, all had partners
176 HANDY-BOOK OF
In some one or more of their numerous productions. Beaumont and Fletcher's
Is the earliest instance of a partnership that endured for a lengthy period
and during all that period produced notable irork. One cannot say that con-
glomerate authorship has usually been a success. It might, indeed, appear
that a richer orchestration would lesuil from an harmonious union of several
good instruments ; but ei(]>rrience seems to teach that the French journalist
was right who said that collaboration was never successful save when it was
not coTlaboration. What he meant was that one of the collaborators should
do all the work, the other only listen and advise. Two friends live together
and pass Iheir evenings side by side in front of a common hearth, a cup of
coffee beside them, a cigar between their teeth. One has a fertile imagina-
tion, the other has made a study of the stage and stage business. Conversa-
tion falls upon the subject of a drama. One composes and writes, the other
commends or blames, corrects, gives ideas, throws new light on the subject
Thai is (he ideal collaboration.
Take the case of Labiche. He is a farmer who dakes more pride in his
carelully-husbanded crops than in (he wild oats he has sown on (he stage.
His happiest hours are spent on his farm at La Solange, where he practises
patriarchal hospitality, when he determines (o write a vaudeville, his col-
laborator is summoned to (his rural paradise. For several evenings the plot
of the proposed play is discussed at table. The arc of the collaborator con-
sists in making Labiche talk, in exciting him, in goading him on. Occasion-
ally, of course, he must ed^ in a reply, furnish a metaphorical spring-board
for his wit, his invention, his ispril. Lalnche abandons himself (o his natural
genius. He invents scenes and incidents ; he makes doni-moti. Scene hrst
IS complete before (he appearance of the erttrla. When (he cheese arrives
the act is finished. The collaborator goes up-stairs to his room, writes down
all he has heard, and arranges it in orderly sequence. Ne;it day, just before
dinner, perhaps with the preparatory glass of abeinthe, he reads it all over.
Labiche suggests improvements. After soup has been served, he begins
again. In a few davs the vaudeville is practically finished : the authors leave
to the friction of rehearsals the smoothing of all rough edges.
Or (here ii Aleundre Dumas j{£t. He has no os(ensible collaborator.
But it is said of him that in very fact he has as many collaboiators as he has
friends. When a comedy is on the stocks, he lakes twenty or thirty people
into his confidence, makes them familiar with the scene that embarrasses him,
the situation which seems inextricable, leads everybody he meets to talk about
it, listens (o fresh ideas, and turns them to account.
Not unlike (his method is the one proposed by Mr. BesanI, the surviving
partner of the famous firm of Bcsant and Rice. Ke recommends it very
strongly to every young literary workman.
» frimd!— cou»int.»iiKn-.» glri idielli(™i,iYini>«-
lim hvr ur, \\*\KTt Mj hit plot, noa ducuu hii chanc-
icrt. '^e tliouldbc I pilofquickiRuginiiiDn.
DiHnf Hich gtrls. Whtn he hat ccmfided 10 ho hig chorvclert jjl in lh# rough, «
tttcy have 10 play all in the rough, he nuy reckon on preaeDily getting «![ twc
and drojfd for the »tige. Merely by lalkiog with thii girt, evtrytfiing that wl
Allien into order; the tharacten. dim and (hipeleu, have bei:oine alive, foil -g id
Aa Id every-day life, bd in imHgiDalivr work, woman is nian'f best partner, — ll
out, the least eiaciing, the most certain never lo qnarrel over her tharfi of
thsR of (he glory, her than of the pay.
It is no(eworthy that Bulwer Lytton recomr
plan, only he advises that the woman should be
'^^'Jtll
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. t-Tl
Now, as Mr. BesanI was himself a member of a successful partnership, his
Sinions are worth lisleninK lo. Let us hear further from him. He believes
at the presentment of the story must seem to be by one man. No one
would listen to two men telling it together. " We must hear, or think we hear,
one voice." Therefore one man must finally revise, or even write, the whole
work. And he conceives that the rock on which literary partnership gets
wrecked is that each member conceives he must write as much as the other.
e, there wu KDI lo me Ibe cHher (by ■ nianuKllpl iv
•■cnlice a whole dsy Lo the tiuk of mahinB 1"^ li(c-loPH enemlvB, The authors «f ihii work
(which haa pot yet teen the Light} had arnJogcd ihelr fable and their cliarpcteTt. But unlbr.
OT"wajB0lm"helMj'iEre"he"IJle%°fili ■°^-'-'"-'---™-"---'!''"?:- - -"-■ ' ..*''""'
baire l>eeD more gmctquc, nothing more ^ .__..__..._.
Bvo voicet aikd iwo bnuDi ; ihe ihjDg wm a horrid DighlnuFe,
rcviaioD cj ihe work or ihc vriting of the wnrlr.
Can, then, the other man, who has contributed only rough draughts here and
there, or even perhaps nothing at all in writing, be called a collaborator t
Most certainly he can. Indeed, Mr. Besant explodes into hearty laughter at
the general notion of collaboration, — that it is carried on by each man con-
tributing every other word, every other pa^^e, ur every other chapter.
Doctors disagree, why not literary men 7 Mr. Justin McCarthy and Mrs.
Campbell Fraed use precisely the method scorned by Mr. Besant. Mrs. Fraed
has herself told how this is done : " We talk the matter over first, and make
a scheme. Then we sketch out chapter by chapter. I write ihe bones of the
chapters I think I can do the most easily, and Mr. McCarthy does the same.
Every sentence is joint work. I really don't know which is which, and now
I wouldn't work in any other way- You see, our lives are so entireljr dlHerent
that we look at things differently-" Mr. McCarthy has always lielieved that
two heads were belter than one in novel-wrtltn^, provided the two heads
represented the two sexes. There's a man's point of view and a woman's
Eint of view, and, in studying humanity, he contends that, to get at nature,
th views should be taken.
Scribe's method, as explained to Hetr von Pulilz in an interview, was a
combination of all the others. Here is how a partnership vaudeville is pro-
duced ; " One author brings Ihe idea, and the scauolding of the piece (iharfxnlc\
is then built up by the authors in common, after which the various scenes are
distributed among them according to their special qualifications. Often the
whole play is written by one author, who afterwards makes alterations in it
according to the suggestions of his collaborator. It also frequently happens
that the songs in the piece are written by'a third man. who has nothing to do
with the plot or the dialogue." It is much more difficult. Scribe went on to
explain, for two or more authors to join in writing a longer piece. In such
cases they have to consult together about the whole of the pla^, down to the
smallest details. When an agreement is arrived at, the eiecutron of the idea
is comparatively easy, although it often happens that in Ihe writing of a play
things occur which render it necessary to alter the whole plan of the piece.
This was the case in writing the " Contes de la Reine de Navarre." " My
idea was to make the piece a graceful comedy; hut my assistant, Legouv^,
took up a very serious tone in the second act, and in writing the fifth act he
gave the play a tragical catastrophe, which was quite contrary
■ d,T>UtWe- " >.r_ .L__ j__-j.j
I protested, out we could not agree. We then decided each ti
act and read them to the actors, who would determine by a majc
which of the two should be accepted. The actors voted almost
178 HANDY-BOOK OF
mously in m; favor, and my friend Legauv^, far from showing any ill humor
at the decision, readily assisted me in compleling the piece."
Scribe was reproached unfairly— -for most ofiiis best plays were written
alone — with an inability 10 stand without help, and when he was received into
the French Academy a malicious wit suggested, when he took his seat, that
the thirty-nine other chairs ought to ^x given up to his collaborators. But
Scribe was proud of his partnerships, and dedicated the collected edition of
his plays lo his collaborators.
Among French novelists the most successful instance of a long-continued
partnership is that between Erckmann and Chatrian, — a partnership which
lasted more than thirtv years, and then, just before the death of M. Chatrian,
was suddenly and sadly ruptured. They worked much on the plan advocated
by Mr. Besant. An outline was arranged. Each was permitted to write all
that he thought or felt ; but his companion afterwards struck out and rewrote
at will. Although the lirst collaborator was then given an opportunity for
further correction or change, he was to some extent bound not to introduce
again those things which had been rejected from the first draught.
The most successful single novel ever produced by collaboration was "tA
Croix de Berny," in which Madame de Girardin, Gautier, Sandeau, and Joseph
Mery all took a hand. Their plan was one which, instead of mei^ing the
individuality of each, called for its distinct expression. For the story is cast
in the form of letters between the four characters. Elach character was
assumed by some one writer. Gautier and Madame de Girardin, as might be
expected, bore off the honors, but the other rSUs were well carried out, and
the whole affair, while unfolding a situation of strong interest and passion,
never loses the engaging element of personally. A similar experiment made
in England by nine Englishwomen, including Charlotte M. Yonge. Frances M.
Feard, and Chrislabel Roe Coleridge, proved a lailure. Here, also, the novel
was cast In epistolary form, and the nineteen characters were divided among
the nine authors. But the result is only that we meet with nineteen very dull
people.
In placing the Etckmann-Chatrian firm at the head of all French partner-
ships for the production of fiction, we have not forgotten the Goncnurls, who
were almost their equals, nor the great establishment founded by Alexander
Dumas the elder. But Dumas's shop was, properly speaking, not a firm. He
had no partners, but only clerks and assistants. He might not have been able
to carry on the immense tnisiness he transacted without the aid of these auxili-
aries, but the creative hand and brain are always his. Jules Janin, a severe
critic on other points, acknowledges so much. " Dumas's books," says Janin.
"show the mark of the lion's paw, and, good, bad, and indifferent, bear
unmistakable evidences of having issued from the smoky flame of Alexander
Dumas." Who does not remember Thackeray's charming defence of his
favorite novelist f —
They »y>l>" "lithe works bearing Duoiai'i Dane are pol written by him. Wtllt Doc*
not iht cbkf cook have aidrtvnia himt Did not Ruben .'i pupilm poini on hii canvus T
Had not LawRuce awninu for lib backgrDundi I For nwlt, being alio </■ mitiir, 1 Con-
or my novel! : and on hii urinl, at eleven a'clock, wwld uy. ■' Mr. Jonn, ir you pleaK,
lb« Archbithop muiL die this nominB in Hbout five pages. Turn to article * Dropsy' {or
whii you will) in Eocyclopiedia. Take care there are no medical blunder* In bis Jeatb.
. ._ . _ _ . le place. Color in
H^L^.K fe« temuu!'^ k> Inigbrbe^dc^otd anbbUho'pd^paning ih>( liE:. When
I come luck to dress for dioner, Ihe Archbishop is d^ad on my laWe in five pages; Bkedicine,
topognphy, theology, all right ; and Jones has gone bane 10 UiEaooily some koun. ^Cbrit-
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 179
loplHr ii ih* uchiwct of St. Ful'i. //r hu ooi laid the itodci or carried up the mortu.
Tben t> ■ mm. ikal of urpcDIcr'i Bod joino-'i ■otk in novel> whith lunly a uuan profet-
IfOnal hajul B^ght lupply. AimaTI profeuionaL hand! 1 give you my word, (here Kem to
nKDutior Donli— 1« 01 aay iht loit-making, iht ■■botiotM, the villain in th< cupboard,
aod » lonb — nrhLch 1 aboula liite to order John Footman id take in tiand, pa I deairc him to
htjni ih* coda indpoliah the bpou. Aak ■» indeed to |>opa mbberandera bed; to hide a
lially whcp my buaineaa abliE« mo to do ttio lotfc-paaugea, 1 bluih lo, though qiUie akipe in
my andy, thai you wouid tancy 1 wm fomg off in an apoplexy.
This is all very good. Yel it is doubtful if Thackeray could have worked
wilh either an assistant or a collaborator. Hii genius was too individual, his
personality too marked. The modern Anglu-Saxon, moreover, is too shy, too
reticent, to unbosom bimseif even to a single confidant with the unreserve
which collaboration calls Tor. Hence in Eneland we have nut many instances
of successful collaboiation since the time of Queen ElJiabelh.
There are, however, a few notable ones in dramatic literatnie, besiiks the
one afforded by Besant and Rice in fiction. The first successful English bur-
lesque, and the longest-lived of its tribe, was "The Rehearsal," written by
the Duke of Buckingham, with more or less assistance from Sprat, arierwards
Bishop of Rochester, Martin Clifford, and Hudibras Butler. Colman and
Garrick combined to produce one of the most popular of English plays,
"The Clandestine Marriage." Elach, however, claimed altnost the entire
credit of the production. Colman's story was thafGartlck composed two
acts, which he sent to me, desiring me to put them loeether, or do what I
would with them. I did put them lugcthei. for I put ihem in the (ire, and
wrote the play myself." Garrick, however, was able to produce the first
draught of the comedy, showing that the plot was almost entirely his own, and
be forced Colman to acknowledge that the character of Lord Ogleby was
Garrick's, as well as the levee scene and the whole of the fifth act.
Pope, in his "Essay on Man," is repotted by Lord Bathurst, apud Hugh
Blair, to have "merely turned into verse a prose essay furnished him by Boling-
broke. The latter is further said to have openly laughed at the poet for
adopting and advocating principles at variance with his known cor
When Pope's " Iliad" came up, an epigram found its way into print,-
Pope cune off clean with Homer, but they uy
Bnwma went hriore and kindly iwepi tiK way.
But this is not true of the " Iliad ;" what Broome did for that work was
merely to supply a portion of the notes. With the " Odyssey" it was differ-
ent. Pope, encouraged by the overwhelming success of the former work,
determined to take fortune at the Rood. Learning that Broome and Fenton
were at work on a version of the " Odyssey," he prevailed on them to join
him, and the town was informed that Mr. Pope haJ undertaken a translation,
and had engaged the two friends to help him. His " mercenaries," as Johnso
--■-'- --"s tVre ■---■ ■- ' ■-— '- -■- ' "— '■"
mdely calls them, had a much larger share In the performance than "
Pope the undertaker" allowed the world to suspect.
The Irterarjr partnership of Addison and Steele was hardiv more than a
Joint editorship of the first of weekly journals, save in the character of Sir
Rwer de Coverley, a production whose genesis has been thus summed up :
" llie outlines were imagined and partlv traced by Steele ; the coloring and
more prominent lineaments elaborated by Joseph Addismi ; some of the
background put in by Eustace Budgell ; and the portrait defaced by either
Stcefe or Ticliell with a deformity which Addison repudiated."
l8o HANDY-BOOK OF
popularity of their wares aiid the consequent extent of theii business, subse-
quently caught up and applied humorously, as in the extract, —
A borvC'iDckfy in AcooiIaDk Connty, Miine, rcpenled of hu ihorp pndica, joined Ihfi
church, ■nd onnoUDced ihat if he hul tiikai unfair pdvajiuge of uiy oue iu a hone-tnde he
would be gimd lo sqiiart Ihiogs hy p^yiog the diSerence io taah. It wu uarcely daylishl ihc
the nevly-convcrted jockey, midr hit »ppe«raD« ai i>iv Ucier'i door, jtvuking tlui ne had
" come nrly id avoid the niah/' The jockey promptly Milled the caae, — A'- K J>l«-
Come offl This bit of American slang, used imperatively and meaning
" Desist 1" or " Cease !" is relatively new Io modern use. It is startling, there-
fore, to find that it occurs in Chaucer's " Parliament of Fowles" (v. 494) in
exactly the modem sense. The birds grow lired of listening (o a long dis-
cussion among Ihe young eagles ; and so at last, —
" Come of!" they crydt,"alluT you wilt ui ihende!"
ComloK ercnta oaat tli«lT ahadofra bofors. This line in " Lochid's
Warning, by Thomas Campbell, has some kinship with a sentiment in
Schiller^ " Wallenslein," thus translated by Coleridge :
Of Ereat evenn airide on before ihe events.
And in to-day ainady walks to-morrow.
Actv.,Sc. ..
Shelley in his " Defence of Poetry" also has a very similar thought : " Poets
are ihe hierophanls of an unapprehended inspiralion ; the mirrors of the
gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the presenL" Cicero in his
"Divinalio" had already said. "Thus, in the beginning the world was so
made that certain signs come before certain events" {lib. i. caji. 52}. Mr, H. H.
Breen in his "Modem English Uteralure" thinks that Campbell had in mind
Leibnitz's remark, "Le pr^ntest gros de I'avenii," and ihe comments made
thereupon t^ Isaac DTsraeli. The latler, referring tu l^ibnilz's words, says,
"The multitude live only among the shadows of things in the lyiiiearances of
(he present." And in another passage he couples ihe word shadow with the
word piecuisor in such a manner (so thinks Mr. Breen) as Io express in the
clearest language the whole thought attributed to Campbell. The ordinary
relation of a shadow Io the substance by which it is formed is that of a fof-
£ovy will Dient u a thade punue,
Bui.liVe the shadow, pcovea the lul
very ingenious bit of reasoning, but it does n
islical powers than to his critical inlegrily. Campbell, in shorl, with Ihe fine
alchemy of genius, touched a commonplace and turned ii into poelry.
Company. A man la kno^vn by th« company he keapa, a familiar
English proverb which finds its analogue in must other languages. lis prob-
able original is in Euripides : " Every man is like the company he is woni
to keep" {Phaniii., Fragment 809). Cervantes has il in Ibis form ; "Tell me
Ihy company, and 1 will tell ihee what thou an" {Dim Quiiotr, Pari ii., ch.
(xiii.). Goethe says, " Tell me your companions, and t will tell yuu whal you
are ; lell me what you busy yourself about, I will tell you whai may be ex'
pectedofyou" (Rbimer.' Toilt-TaH). The French proverb is, "Dis-moi qui
In hatiles, je (e dirai qui lu es." And Ihe German, —
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. i8l
The effects of association are pointed out in the familiar proTerb, "Evil
communications corrupt good manners," and its Enripidean corollary, * The
company of just and lighleous men is better than wealth and a rich estate."
(M^HS, Fragment 7.)
Compailaiiiis are odious, a proverb found in the fcilk-liieraiure of most
European nations. Thai it was in common use at Ihc time of Shakespeare
is evident from Dogberry's maiapropiam (to coin a much-needed Word) in
"Much Ado About Nothing" (1600), "Comparisons are odorous." The (un
of this sentence would be lost upon an audience Ihal was uol familiar with
the adage. In English literature proper the phrase has been traced back as
far as Lyly's "Euphues" (1579), although it is evident it was in common use
long behire Lyly's time, since Sir John Fortescue (who died about 14S5), in
his " De Laudilnis Legum Anglix' (fol. 42, ed. 161 6), compariiig the common
and the civil law of the realm, says, "ComparatioiMS vcro, Princeps, u( te
atiquando dixisse recolo odiosse reputantur." John Lydgate (r375-i46i), in
his "Bochaa" (Book iit. ch. viii.), says, "Comparisons do oftlimc great griev-
ance." Cervantes, in " Don Quixote" (Part ii., ch. xxiii.), says, " Va sabe que
loda comparacion es odiosa." The second pari of " Don Quixote" was not
published till lifteen years after " Much Ado About Nothing," but Cervantes
seems to be quoting a well-known proverb ; and. in bet, the " Dictionary of
Proverbs" of the Spanish Academy (iSoj) gives "Toda comparacion es odi-
osa" as a proverb quoted by Cervantes, and " probably nut original with him."
The Italians and the French have similar sayings. The antiquity of the
Spanish and Italian proverbs U unknown, but the French undoubtedly goes
back as far as the thirteenth century, for Leruux de Lincy, in " Le Livre des
Proverbes Fraiifais" (vol. i. p. 376), says Ihal in a manuscript collection of
that dale he found these: " Com para isons sonl haineusea," "Comparaison
. „iiied by all n..._
of ihe world. We are told that Canute rebuked his courtiers for their flat-
tery, but it is not written that he punished them. Probably hp secretly re-
warded those who pictured him as an anticipatory Mrs. Partington, and who,
in spile of the evidence, held on to their belief that he was mure Ihan a match
for Ihe Atlantic Ocean. The stomach of kings has never proved queasy under
any load of flattery, however indigestible it might appear to his rivals.
Bacon, indeed, held that princes ought in courtesy to be praised without
regard to their deservings. since by investing them with all possible virtues
their panegyrists showed them what they should be. But, alas \ we should
be flattering the flatterers did we attribute to them motives so ni>l)le.
To look back upon the compliments showered upon Elizabeth, James 1..
and Charles II.— the most berhymed and bepraised of English sovereigns-
is to be filled with nausea. It is humiliating to Rnd even Spenser and Shake-
speare bending their lordly knees to that terrible virago known as Good Queen
Bess. Spenser applied the epithet " angel face" to her strong, masculine,
but unattractive face." -Shakespeare praised her chastity, — the chastity of
one whose reputation had at least been questioned, — and spoke of her who
was always having some httle affair with a man as walking
Both were outdone by Drayton :
<X ^Itct wu her foKbeu] hjgh :
Her bn« iwo bowi of ibony.
Frizfled and fin* In fringed gold.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
l82 HANDY-BOOK OF
Two Ups wrought out of niby rock,
Aj portal door lo priocea' cbkobcr,
A eoldcD IDDEUC in mouth of ainbv.
Her eya, God wot, wbii Huff ihcy in I
Tb« pilot In hi* wiaur tidv ;
and bjr Sir John Davies, who rang Ihe changes upon hiB queen'« beauty, wis-
dom, wit, virtue, justice, and magnanimity in six-and-twent; spedmens of
acrostic verse, declaring in one of his hymns to Astraea, —
Ri(lii glad 101 1 thai I now live.
No dDubl I ihould my binhdiy KOtn,
Admiring your (WMIIOiy I
James I. was informed that he was as upright as David, u wise as Scdomon,
and as godly as losiah. When he returned on a shot! visit lo Scotland, the
deputy-clerlt of Edinburgh assured him that the very hilU and groves, accus-
tomed to be refreshed with the dew of his presence, had, in his absence, re-
fused to put on their wonted apparel, and with pale looks bespoke their
misery at his departure from the land. But the "wisest fool in Christen-
dom" was not always caught by this sort of chaff! In a Shrewsbury address
to Tames I., his h>yal subjects expressed a wish that he might reign over them
as long as sun, moon, and stars should endure. " I suppose, then," observed
the monarch, "they mean my successor to reign by candlc-tight."
Ben Jonson alliteratively styled the First Charles the best oimonarchs, mas-
ters, and men. That seems to go pretty far. But it was nothing to the
cumplimeniB which the courtiers and flatterers of the Restoration paid to
Charles 11. That Merry Monarch was frequently informed that he was
God's pattern to mankind, — indeed, so excellent an understudy for the Deity
that while he blessed the earth there was small need iif the great Protago-
nist. There is an exquisite but unconscious satire in some verges by a
gentleman named Duke, written when this paragon had duwn to heaven, lo be
Wricontd by ill kind tpiriu and uJnu ibov<.
Wbo •« ihimulvei in Aim, ind Ibeir own likcnen love I
Here is another gem from the same poem :
Good Tini< could, but ChiHn could never uy.
Of ill bit royal life b> loit a day.
Over in Prance it was even worse. The very clergy played the sycophantic
courtier. Ftom the pulpit members of that holy profession were not ashamed
to load the royal profligate with panegyrics. They knew, and they knew that
their hearers knew, of the scandals of his court, but no one raised a syllable
of protest when the most godlike qualities were attributed to the Grand
Monarque, when he was described as the one object upon which the eyes of
the visible and invisible world were alike bent with approving wonder. Not
only the universe, but heaven and the angels were assumed lo be mainly
occupied in watching the triumphs and m^nanimily of Lnuis and his generals.
We have all of us laughed at the storyof Baron Th^nard, who, while giving
a chemical lecture before Charles X., said, " These pases are going to have
the honor of combining before your majesty." A still more snobbish phrase
occurs in one of De Bussy-Rabu tin's letters. St.-Aignan had lost one of his
sons. To console him, I-ouis XIV, granted him some favor. Thereupon
De Bussy-Rabutin wrote, "The favors accorded you by the king show me that
his majesty is worthy of the service of all the earth- It is only near him that a
parent can lind tomt fileanre \qurlque Jeucair] in losing his children."
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 183
From the ciulle to the grave, indeed, Louis XIV, was surrounded by flat-
terers. In the Imperial Library of SL Petersburg there is a sheet of paper,
on which as a boy he had transcribed souk half a dozen times, in a large
unformed hand, a lesson set by his mister, " Homage is due to kings ; they do
what they tike." And in his old age, complaining at dinner of the incon-
venience of having no teeth. " Teeth ?" cried the Cardinal d'Estr^es : " who
has any T' When he asked Mignard, who was painting his portrait for the
tenth time, whether he did not look older, the artist adroitly said, " Sire, it is
true that I see some more victories on the forehead of your majesty."
Then there is the sublime mtit of the Abb^ de Polignac, when the king
kitidly expressed his fears that the courtier was being soaked through. "Sire,"
replied the abbi!, " the rain of Marly does not wet I" but the story is some-
tiines told in another way, and the phrase put into the mouth of the king him-
self as a rebuke to a cardinal who followed him grudgingly through a shower.
Madame de R^musat tells us in her M<^moires that though she found no one
sufficiently courtier-like to maintain that it did not rain when Napoleon pre-
sented the eagles at the Champ de Mars, shortly after his coronation, she
met innumerable people who declared that they had not been wetted. She
neglects, however, to record Napoleon's philosophic comment to his Minister
of Finance, as the rain came pouring down in barrels, reducing silks and
velvets to pulp ; ■■ There's work for the weavers of Lyons !"
When the Grand Monarque asked what time it was (" Quelle heure est-il ?"),
he was answered, " Whatever time your majesty desires" (" I] est I'heure que
Votre Majesti desire").
A very curious modern parallel to this lamous phrase occurs, by the way, in
Jiiget's "Travels in the Philippines" (1875) :
C«lo«iiihrM-qujmcnoran(imiifoiih.in(al. In a minutt or two twelve o'clock •mj'ck :
BouA be long paU tw«LVc, ai ihe Scbor Padre wai bungry. " II eii I'heure que votre
■ujetlf dinR, — P. iij.
Even children adopted the language of the courts. What could be belter
than the answer of the young Uuc de Maine, the son of Louis, when his royal
father chid him for not making better progress in his studies ? " Sire, I do not
learn more because my tutor gives me a holiday for each victory of your
nMesty r'
Louis himself, the much -com pitmen ted, knew how to compliment. " Sire, I
crave your majesty's pardon if I keep you waiting," said the gouty old warrior
the Prince de Conde. "My cousin,' replied Louis, "do not hurry. It is
impossible to move quickly when one is loaded with laurels."
Of famous compliments paid to the fair sex, the supply Is so large and daz-
zling that it is a matter of no small diflicully to pick out the brightest gems ;
but if the following one was unlooked for, it certainly deserves a place among
the beat Fontenelle, when ninety years old, passed by Madame Helvetius
without perceiving her. "Ahl" cried the lady, "is thai your gallanttyf
To pass belote me without even looking at me I Now, that was a very neat
way of reminding him of her presence without alluding to the semi -blindness
that afllicted him. But he proved himself more than her matclu " If I had
looked at you, madame," replied the old beau, " 1 could never have passed
you at all." As neat a mat was uttered by General Romaine. Meeting
Lady de Bricntz, whom he had known and admired in the loveliness of her
Tontn, he commenced complimenting her, " Vou forget that I am an old
woman," she said at length. " Madame," returned the gallant soldier, " when
i84 HANDY-BOOK OF
tyai ejrcB are duilerl by a diamond, it never occurs to u» to ub a mineral oeist
for its hiitoiy." It is an old reproach against Orttntals that they are unable
\o say pretty things to ladies ; but a daughter of Louis XIV., tlte Princess de
Conti, inspired a Moorish ambassador with as gracefully turned a compliment
as can be imagined. She had rafled against the Mohammedan custom of
polygamy, when the Moor thus defended the practice. "Madame," he said,
" a plurality of trives is allowed among us because, in our cuuntry, we must
seek in several women the charming qualities which are here lo Ik found in
one." The poet Moore, who never let slip an opportunity of complimenting
the fair aei, was in the present instance hardly bind to the husband. Being
one day in the company of a beautiful woman, who wore on her bosom a
miniature likeness of her spouse, who was the reverse of handsome, he was
asked by her "whom he thought the portrait resembled," "1 think," said
ihe poet, " it is like the Saracen's Head on Snowhill."
A bold stroke (o obtain liberty by means of a compliment was that made
by M. de Mauperluis. A prisoner in Austria during the Seven Years' War,
he was presented to the Empress, who said 10 him, "You know Ihe Queen
of Sweden, sister to the King of Prussia f" " Yes, madame." " I am told
that she is the most beautiful princess in Ibe World." " Madame," replied
the cunning prisoner, " I always thought so until to-day." This was as diplo-
matic as Ihe words and action of the Marquis Medina, a Spanish nobleman.
Queen Elizabeth, admiring his elegance, and complimenting him thereon,
begged to know who possessed the heait of so accomplished a cavalier.
"Madame," said he, "a lover risks loo much on such an occasion ; but youi
majesty's will is law. Excuse me. however. If I fear to name her, but re-
quest your majesty's acceptance of her portrait." He sent her a looking-glass.
Talleyrand was a master of Ihe art of gallantry. He knew how lo ealricalc
himself very gracefully from Ihe most embarrassing dilemuiaa. Once Madame
de Slai-l, wild with iealousy al the dominion which his future wife, Madame
Gram, was establishing over his mind, flew al him, overwhelmed him with
reproaches, and concluded with, " So you don't love me any more f" " But,"
he insisted, " I do love you." " Non I non !" she cried, and then, as if to
lesl Ihe truth of Ihe assertion, suddenly exclaimed. "You love ine? Come,
now ; If Madame Grant and I both fell into the water, which would you
save V " Ah, madame. nw know how to swim," was the wily answer.
In England, fiew men have ever surpassed Sydney Smith in ihe art of deli-
cate flattery. On meeting two pretty women, Mrs. Tighe and Mrs. Cuife. he
gallantly exclaimed, " Ah, there you are, — Ihe ni^thal every one would wear,
the tie thai no one would loose. A beautiful girl walking in his garden ex-
claimed, on noticing a plant which was in some way injured, " Oh. Mr. Smith,
this pea will never come lo perfection 1" " Permit me, then," said the host,
taking her hand, "to lead Perfection lo the pea."
Very graceful, too, was his acceptance of an invitation from Dickens :
Mt DSAii UicKEHs,— I luxept your obliging lovliuiop coDdiliouiUr. If I mil Invlied by
Bui this letter finds its parallel in the compliment paid by Lord Clarendon
to Sir Matthew Hate. Handing to Sir Matthew the commission for Ihe chief-
justiceship. Clarendon very gracefully told him thai " if the king could have
found out an honesler and fitter man for that employment, he would not have
advanced him to it."
A sarcasm may often wear the garb of a compliment, and be taken for one
by the simple- wilted. The Abbi Voiscnon once made a complaint thai he
was unduly charged wilh the absurd sayings of otheis. " Monsieur I'Abbti,"
replied D'Alembett, "on ne pr£le qu'aui iichea."
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. iSj
Loiui XIV., who, like many humbler rhymesiers, somewhat overrated his
poetical powers, showed a copy of verses 10 Boileau, and asked his candid
opinion of them. " Ah, sire," said the poel, "I am more convinced than e' "~
(hat nothing is impossible to your majesly : you dcsiiei) lo write some poor
rhymes, and you have succeeded in making ihem positively detestable I"
Bui the sarcasm is often unjnlenlional, as in the case of the gentleman who
was complimenting Madame Denis on her acting a^ Vgaite. " Nay," Said the
lady, " an actress, to play the part well, should be young and beautiful." " Oh,
no; you are a pioof to the contrary." Equally awkward and equally well
meant was the remark of M. Lalande when seated at dinner between Madame
lUcamiei and Madame de Slael. " How happy I am to find myself seated
between wit and beauty !" " And without possessing either," was the Htael's
smart rejoinder, A similar remark under similar circumstances is attributed
to the Due de Laval, but in this story the retort from Corinne is said lo have
been, "That is the first compliment ever paid lo my face !'
~ ' - ■ ■ (1 or Easl-Int
The following story is told in illustration of East-Indian politeness. A
judge, who was a very bad shol, had been oul for a day's sport, and on his
return the man who went with him was asked, ■' Well, how did the judge
shoot to-day V " Oh," he replied, " the judge shoot beautifully, but heaven
was very merciful to the birds 1"
The interchanged compliments between the members of mutual admiration
societies have frequently pointed the pens of the satirists. One does not know
whether the old fratricidal strife among authors was not preferable ti
present more or less hypocritical toe-roffing. A single instance must si
When Bulwer and Dickens, on July 29, 1S65, celebrated at Knebworlh the
establishment of the short-lived Guild of Literature and Art, the Saturday
Rrtiiem characterized the proceedings as "a wonderful match of mutual
admiration and laudation." Bulwer called Dickens "a resplendent ornament
of literature." Dickens replied that Bulwer was "the brightest ornament uf
the literary class." Bulwer congratulated the county of Herts on the honur
of entertaining so distinguished a visitor. Dickens congratulated himself on
being in the house of so great a man, and averred that the county was " already
the envy of every other county in England" in possessing that nian. The
author of " Pelham" eulogized the author of " Pickwick" as one "who has
united an unrivalled mastery over the laughter and the tears of millions with
as genial and sweet a philosophy as ever made the passions move at the com-
mand of virtne." But the author of " Pickwick" would not be distanced in
the noble and dignified contest. "Ladies and gentlemen, you know very
well that when the health, life, and beauty now overflowing these halls shall
have fled, crowds of people will come to see the place where our distinguished
host lived and wrote." The comment of the Saturday Rtvitw is a vcrv seii-
siUe one. "This," it says, "is what comes of 'brmging men of letters
more familiarly together.' One writer actually reports that Mr. Dickens made
a few graceful anddignified remarks. How a man is to be envied who can .
find only grace and dignity in such 'an outpouring of rancid adulation I And
no doubt the minnows make a few graceful and dignified remarks to one
another, just as the Tritons do. So that a Guild of Literature and Ait
means an institution where, on paying your subscription punctually, you are
entitled lo be called bv the others who have also paid their subscriptions 'a
resplendent ornament,' or any other complimentary name 10 which you have
Conoatanatlon, or otuda verse, a form of poetic ingenuity in which the
last word or phrase in each line forms the opening of the succeeding line.
Its invention is ascribed to the French poet Lasphrige. The following is from
HANDY-BOOK OF
FiHoil-ilqiHleddiber
Arrive uu »up^n de quejque ime Knentive,
Atlcnrive A vouloir noiu •urprrDdn iLjm deUK.
n anonymous English example, neither better nor ir
The longs life, II
Whcnfon, come. Death, ■
In German, Koerner's magnificent " Sword Song" makes a modified use oT
concalcnalion at the beginning and end of every stanza.
n order to cheat him. One or the earliest fonns of the trick, and probably
ihe one from which il got its name, is that of inviting tbe victim, a perfect
stranger, to come and have a drink, over which the swindler waxes eloquent
in praise of his new- found rrtend, expresses the utmost confidence in him, and,
to prove his sincerity, intrusts him with pretended valuables, claiming in re-
turn a similar mark of coniidence. Of course in the end the sharper walks
off with the real valuables of hts new-found (Tiend,and the old ones he leaves
behind turn out lo be bogus. The term confidence-man applied to one who
played this game has now been largely superseded by the kindred tern
ConBoionoe. In Shakespeare's " Richard III.," Act v.. Scene 3, occurs
O comrd couciaicc, how dot! iKou afflict mt 1
and a little lower down in the same speech, —
II is only in Colley Gibber's altered version that Richard, regaining his
manhood, oie* out, —
111 Richard'! himielfaciinl
In " Hamlet," Shakespeare says, —
" " "" Ai:llfi.,Sc. I
a line which may or may not be a reminiscence of Pilpay's
£ible of "The Prince and his Minister," "Guilty consciences
/.oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 187
people cowards," or of Fublius Syrus's maxiiD (617), " A guiltv coiucienoe
never feels secure," which »re echoed also in the popular proverbs " A piillT
coDscience needs no accuser," and "Touch a galled horse and he'll wince"
(c£ " Hamlel," " Lei Ihe galled jade wince, our withers are unsiiung"). Sub-
stantially the saitie idea is expressed in the Biblical words, "The wicked flee
when no man pursuelh: but the righteous are bold as a lion" [/VrowAi ixviii. 1).
" A clear conscience is a sure card," says Lyly, in " Euphues and his EnglatlQ,"
p. 907; and Shakespeare calls it, —
A pence abovt jUI cartfalr dignitiet,
y l'!J/.,Aaai.,Sc.t.
And again, —
What lUDDgcr breaxpUle thim a Itcmn imuinted I
Thrice i> he arcoed tfau hath hn quarrd juu.
And he bul naked, Ihoueh Inclied up in Heel
Whose coiHcience with mjlutke il comiHed.
//niy VI., Pan tl.. Act ill.. Sc. ■.
Evidently imitated from Marlowe, —
I'm umed wilb mere Uuui complete iteeJ, —
The jutfice of m^ qiuml.
Lml'i Dtminitn, Act iii,, Sc. 4.
And in ils turn imitated by Pope :
"Trust that man in nothing," says Sterne, " who has not a conscience in
everything" {Sermen XXVII.). C^eorge Washington in one of his school-boy
c(q>y-boob wrote or transcribed Ihe commonplace, hence become famous,
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that'litlle spark of celestial file — con.
science." Numerous citations from poetry and prose would support the gen-
eral view that conscience is the voice of nature or of God speaking 10 Ihe
heart, so long as il is not utterly corrupt. Montaigne, however, asserts that
" Ihe laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, pro-
ceed from cn»tom" {Esiays : 0/ Cmltim) ; perhaps the first assertion of Ihe
doctnne of the eipcrimenlal philosophers, which in its latest form assumes
that conscience represents the accumulated experiences of the race inherited
in the form of an mslinct
ConMdons 'watst aavr its Ood Bud bliiah«d. There is a story, told
sometimes of Dryden when a school-boy at Westminster, sometimes of an
anonymous "school-boy at Eton," that, being required to make a verse on the
miracle of Cana, he handed up the single line, —
Tbe OHUciaui wmler uir iu God ■nd blu^cd.
But Ihe story has no foundation. The author of Ihe sentiment was Richard
Crashaw in his Latin epigram on the miracle. Here are the Latin lines and
a translation by Aaron Hill :
Undc rubor vesiHa, d Hon iiu purpura, lymphis?
Quae ID»* mitantM lam nova muUT uuu ?
Nympha pudica Drum vidit ci crtibuii.
When Chriit. at Cann'i f^aM. by power divine.
Inipind cold wiler wilb the wirmlb of wine,
" See," cried Uiey, while in reddening tide it guftbed,
■■ Tbe buhrul HTeiin hath hcd lis God. and bluihed."
It will be seen that Hill's line differs from the familiar quotation, and does
not difler for ihe belter. The line in its present form may De found in one of
Heber's poems, without either credit or acknowledgment, and he may have
first Englished it in ihis wajr. A somewhat simitar metaphor is used in an
_^ooglc
I88 HANDY-BOOK OF
anon)[inous poem feigned lo have been presented, with a white lose, by a
Yorkist to a lady of the Lancastrian faction :
IF ihii lur nne offend thy light,
Jl on Iby botom wear ;
'TwUL bliuh lo fiDd jtKlf Leu white.
And lum Luicasuian then.
* Bui If thy ruby lip It tpy.
And Varkif t turn agviD,
CoiulstenCT'B a jewel, a popular saving which cannot be attributed to
find the followii^ among other
anj particular author. The pro'
is full of comparisons between virtue and jewels. In Shakespear
M^ ivfvtt ./ W
OIkilh.
In 1867 some wag- attempted to impose on the public the information that
this line was from a ballad called Jolly Robin Roughead, in " Murtagh's ' Col-
lection of Ballads' (1754)." The poet bewails the extravagance of dress,
which be considers trie enormity of the day, and makes Kuliin say to his wife, —
But both the ballad and the book turned out to be ingenious figments.
Coiupiouoiu by it! absenoa, a phrase made popular in England by
Lord John Russell. In his " Address to the Electors of the City of London,''
Eublisned April 6, 1859, he said of Lord Derby's Reform Hill, which had just
ten defeated, " Among the defects of the bill, which ate numerous, one pro-
vision is conspicuous Dy its presence, and another by its absence." The
expression was sharply criticised, and nine days later, in a s|ieech at London
Tavern, he justified it thus : " It has Ijcen thought that by a misnomer, or a
'bull.' on niy part, I alluded to a provision as conspicuous by its absence, — a
turn of phraseoli^y which is not an original expression of mme, but is taken
liom one of the greatest historians of antiquity." This great historian is
Tacitus. In his "Annales," lib. iii. cap. 76, describing the funeral of Junia,
he thus alludes to the absence of the images of her Mmous liinsmen Brutus
and Cassius : " Sed prxfulRcbanl Cassius alque Brutus eo ipso, quod effigies
eorum non videbantur" (" But Cassius and Brutus were the most conspicuous,
for the ver_y reason that their effigies were not seen").
J. Ch)!nier, in his tragedy of "Tiberius" (Act i. Scene 1). translating the
expression into French, gave it the form which is familiar in English, —
namesof Pascal and Arnauld from Perraull's ■• History of Illusltious Men." It
was revived, too, in Talleyrand's observation when some one called his atten-
tion to the fact that Lord Castlereagh at the Congress of Vienna wore no
decorations: "Ma foi, c'est bien dislingu^." The latter story, however, i.«
doubted by historians, and the late Prince Paul Galliuin received from his
iuide,>member of the Congress, quite amither version, — namely, thai Gal lilii a
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 189
and Castlerea^h entered the council -chamber ti^elher, and Ihe latler, noticing
a gentleman in plain dress, inquired who he was, and, on being lold, " * ~
IImv low. they tiHIc. and yel (hey know not why ;
The antithesis is a very familiar one, both in prose and in
a feo parallel examples :
Fickle in cvcrythlur die, ihe French have been blihrul in one thing
(hang*.— Alisom-s HiiUrj ^ Eurnfi.
liidy to dl
uene of change*, ai
ryday
And whmt wav ever uiding, ihat doih onely itay.
E. Benlowbs: Iranilalioik irom Janus Vitalis.
Cool of the erening;. A nickname given to Richard* Monckton Milnes,
afkerwards Lord Houghlon. The story of Its origin is lold in various ways,
and the inventor of the nickname is sometimes Sydney Smith, sometimes Bar-
ham, and sometimes Count D'Orsay. The most usual story refers it to the
latter wag, and ritns as follows. Voting Milnes was at his club late one after-
noon in company with the cotiiit, when some one proposed a call on Lady
Blessington. " Oh, yes. let's call," chimed in the poet, " I'll go with you.
" Indeed," responded Count D'Orsay, loftily : "are you acquainted with her
ladyship?" "No, but that's of no CDoaequence. I'll accom|>any you. my
dear fellow." "So you shall, so you shall," retorted irOrsay, "and Til intro-
duce you as the Cool of the Evening."
In a letter to Lord Houghton from Sydney Smith, quoted below, the latter
expressly denies having ever used the phrase, and the fact that Houghton
had addressed a remonstrance to the clerical wit shows the falsity of all the
stories which represent him as having received the rebuke in perseni ;
BiAJt Mjlus^, — Never lofc your good lempeT, which ii one of jour ben qunllilcs, and
whidi hat eanied you hliheno safely through your ilartHng ecceulrlcillei. If yon lum
J . — 1 — I— _^_ w ^ *-tnft the defecu of oppothe charac-
\unnnce.-.nd"in-BoJoBei"
B of "Cool of the ETening,"
my word, not mine. They ai
Goo^k"
I have Uughed ....
bodr bu iDon Ecadjiy ukd more eajDcitly
190 HANDY-BOOK OF
ityou for iho«ibll •-•
udjly Ukl more eajaatly aliened IhHI you are ■ very kfneablc^ Elever
^ood h«an, uDlmp«achibk in a11 the retntiom of life, «Dd Ihiit yoa unpty
ncn uDKiHiwu Lu our cold ud phleEmi^ic people. J Itmnk you for erhu you uy of my
Eoodmlllte. Lord Dudley, wheo J took leave of him, maid Lome," Vou have been HU^ng
pleaKd me. Ever youn,
SvD»«v Smith.
Coon, a common abbrevliiion for raccoon, U also a slane lerm for a negio,
owing, perhaps, to his fbndnMs for the animal. In American politics, coon
was a nickname lor a Whie, first applied during the Presidential campaign
of 1836. Martin Van Buren had been styled an old fox by the Whigs. The
Democrats retaliated by calling Henry Clay " (hat same old coon," and (ace-
tiously insinuated that he had been treed by the old fox. The Whigs caught
up the epithet and adopted the raccoon as their emblem, painting its [Hclure
on their banners and carrying live specimens in their processions.
Coon, A BODB- One who is utterly ruined, e^ihauslcd, or done fur ; one
who is placed in a hopeless difficulty. Captain Marryat records the following
explanation in his " Diary" (1839), which was gravely loM him by a Yankee
acquaintance. "There is a Captain Martin Scott in the United butes army
who is a remarkable shot with his rifle. He was raised in VermonL His
U-mt was so considerable throughout the -State that even the animals were
aware of it. He went out one morning with his rifle, and. spying a raccoon
upon the upper branches of a high tree, brought his gun up to his shoulder,
when the raccoon, perceiving it, raised his paw up for a parley. ' I beg your
pardon, mister,' sata the raccoon, very politely, 'but may 1 ask if your name
isScottP 'Ves,'Teplied the captain. 'MarHn Scott?' continued the rac-
coon. 'Yes,' replied the captain. 'Captain Martin Scott?* still continued
IheanimaL 'Yes,' replied the captain; 'Captain Martin Scott.' 'Oh, then,'
says the animal, ' I may just as well come down, for I'm a goiu coon' "
Another eaplanalion gives the phrase a Revolutionary origin. An American
scout dressed himself in a raccoon-skin and ascended a tree to reconnoitre
the enemy. While thus engaged, he was surprised by a British soldier, out
hunting, and the latter, mistaking him for a genuine coon, levelled hts gun to
fire. " Hold on I" cried the startled spy ; " il yoil won't shoot, I'll come down.
I am a gone coon I" The Englishman, however, was so terrified that he
dropped his gun and (led.
C mUM tbink of lomtlhtng elK u ilie awake, or, like that (agiirioui uLmai io the Untied
Suiei wbo tecDgoized ihe coloDeJ v^ was such a dead ahoi. I am a gtiu saen. — DlCHBHS i
RtpriHlill PUcis, Lfiit AmJu.
Coon, Go tho whole, an American equivalent for " go the whole hc^."
Coon'a age, a long period of time, the coon being popularly supposed to
Cop or Copp«r (from the slang verb tocepnx seize, Latin eafU, or Heb.
cot, a "hand" or "palm"), a slang word for a policeman. The term copper,
»ne. li _ .
policeman they will, to Innoy him, exhibit a copper coin, which i:
sc, has- nothing to do with the metal, nevertheless "the professor
slang, having coined the word, assodale that with the metal, and as they pass
o calling the officer coffer." {Afancheiter Courier, June 13, 1864.)
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 19T
rattlesnake, it gives no warning of its approach. Hence It is often known aa
the dumb rattlesnake. Tlie word has been caught up as a nickname for noi-
some and noiseless enemies, and applied first to the Indians, next to the Dutch
colonists (see Irving's " Knickerbocker"), and lastly and more permanently to
the ami-war Democrats who resided in the North and sympathized more or
less secretly with the South during the civil war.
He livid 10 i:ut mdviniTOK Ibr OcDEn] Jaclucm, imd hi> ton. the 6nJ Dr. Mulbridgc,
civil war, ai a lolimKd eopperiiind.— W. D. HowmiiS : Dr, Brm'i Praelicr, Ai. Li,
CopTTight. Under the existing law of the United States, copyright is
granted for twenty. eight years, with the right of extensitm lor fourteen more;
in all, forty-two years. The term of copynght in other countries is as followsi
Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela, in perpetuity.
Colombia, author's life and eighty years after.
Spain, author's life and eighty years after.
Belgium, author's life and fifty years alter.
Ecuador, author's life and fifty years after.
Norway, author's life and fifty years after.
Peiii, author's life and fifW years afler.
Russia, author's life and fifty years after.
Tunis, author's life and fifty years after.
Italy, author's life and lorty years after ; the ftill term to be eighty years In
France, author's life and thirty years after.
Germany, author's life and thir^ years after.
Austria, author's life and thirty years after.
Switzerland, author's life and thirty years aAer.
Hayti, author's life, widow's life, children's lives, and twenty years after the
close of the latest period.
Braul, author's life and ten years after.
Sweden, author's lifi; and ten years after.
Roumania, author's life and ten years after.
Great Britain, author's life and seven years after his decease ; to be forty-
two years in any event.
Bolivia, full term of author's life.
Denmark and Holland, fifty years.
Japan, author's life and five years after.
South Africa, author's life ; fifty years in any event
Cordon bl«tl. Henry III. of France was elected King of Poland on
the day of the Pentecost, and upon the same day, by the death of Charles IX..
he succeeded to the throne of Prance. In token of his gratitude he instituted
the order of the Saint-Esprit, limiting the number of knights to a hundred,
exclusive of the officers of the order. The collar worn by members of the
order upon slate occasions was fornied of fleur-de-lis in gold, and suspended
to it was a cross of eight points, with a dove in the centre ; upon the reverse
of the cross was a design representing Si Michael slaying the dr^on. When
the collar was not donned, the cross was worn suspended to a piece of blue
silk, called the cardm Meu. As time went on, it became the custom to call
any one who had achieved eminence in his profession a cordBn Mcu, Finally
it came to be applied only to cooks, M. Litlr^ remarks that the blue apron
formerly worn by cooks may have helped to earn for them this flattering
pwlut. Tbit slang phrase is in use in the theatres as a sfnonyme lor a
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ff ANDY-BOOK OF
who corks or bottles up another actor's eflects, and in (he world
' ' ' unusually li
a question.
The Crown Ptinct'i lunch-biU wu raihcr a csrktr:
No wooder hit HlglnKH rcTuscd for lo pAy.
" Do you love him, Mabel T"
There waa ao uonuttaluble nng of triumph in [he pf«itd falher'i voice u he uldnued the
queBlion to ihe bemuEifu], queenly eitI whoilood with davocut eyea beTore hiio,
i; Vei." the Bnawaed toTily^ Ihe rich blood maatlimr her cheeli and brow.
daughler," he continued, "thai in gaining Ihe love of i young man lilie Harold flill more 'yon
have nude a conqueil (liat emiliea my pride at a talher and commends luelf lo myjud^nienl
aaamiin. HeiBOf good family, upnghl. honoEablerhigb-minded, tlie pouessorDT a campe.
lence, iuid in all reapeciB [he one whom above all olhen [ ihouid have choten at ihe guardian
of my only daUHhier't happitieu."
■■ Vet, papa, she repfied, her fMe lighling up wiih a smile, " he's a corker r^CliK,^
Corn, I aoknowledge tho, a colloquial Aniericanism, meaning " I give
in," '• I retract," usually in regard to some special point not involving the
whole question at issue. Many explanations, more or less obviously manii-
factuied, have been given as to the origin of tlie phrase. The following, how-
ever, has an air o( plausibility and may be authentic. In 1S2S, Andrew Stewart,
a member of Congress, said in a speech that Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana
sent their ha^-stacks, cornfields, and fodder to New Vork and Philadelphia
for sale. Wicklitfe, of Kentucky, called him to order, declaring that those
Stales did not send hay-stacks or cornfields to New Vork for sale. " Well,
what do you send ?" asked Stewart. " Why, horses, mules, cattle, and hogs."
" Well, what makes your horses, mulct, cattle, and hogs ? You feed one hun-
dred dollars' worth of hay to a horse. Vou just animate and gel upon the top
of vout hay-stack and ride off to market. How is it with your cattle? You
make one of them carry fifty dollars' worth of hay and grass lo Ihe Eastern
market. How much corn does it uke, at thirty-three cents a bushel, lo
fatten a hog f" "Why, [hirly bushels." "Then you put that thirty bushels
into the shape of a hog, and make it walk off to the Eastern market." Then
Mr. WickliBe jumped up and said, " Mr, Speaker, I acknowledge the corn."
Lord Thurlowsubiiequeiitly paraphrased this maxim
You never expected justice from a corporation, did
' a soul to lose nor a body to kick."
Conaptla optiml peaalma {L. " Corruption in Ihe best is the worst cor-
ruption"), a phrase much used by the early Latin Fathers of the Church.
They applied it originally to bad priests ; afterwards il was extended to de-
scribe the sins of all who had received grace and were offcndine against the
light ; and now it is a general expression, meaning, the belter the thing the
worse its abuse. And the most curious part of the whole matter is, that in
so broadening its application it has really eone round the circle and come
back lo its .star ting. point. For there is Utile doubt Ihat the phrase of the
Fathers originated with Aristotle in his " Ethics of Nicomachus" (Book viii.,
ch, X.), where, in speaking of governments, he says that "Tyranny being Ihe
corruption of the best form \i-€.. of kingly government) is therefore Ihe worsL"
Elsewhere he uses Ihe same expression in other connections. The idea, of
course, is a commonplace that appears in many olber fornu in literature, — Lf. .'
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. i
Pot (urot thinn erov foolal by TduI deeds ;
LUia Ihu fcHer imell fu wane ibu wccdk
I thai Kin nothing, not y«i thu uc ■U ;
On my Bpeckltd bide ; nm you, the pride
Of the ihy. my awin, that B lint fleck'l fail
^Ksvvwfi: TktWoTttef It.
Cotton to, meaning to like, lo take (o, lo agiee with, is olten looked upon
aa a vtilgarism, aometimes even as a modern American ism. Barllell includes
it in hia Dictionary. But this common coll uquiat ism, slill in use on both
aidea of the Atlantic, is a survival of a respectable English word. It is
fi>und occasionally in (he Elizabethan writers, but the earliest exam)>le in
literature ia probably the following, from Thomas Dianl's translation of
Horace (1567) :
So feyneth be. ibhlei tnie and false
So alwayi nlnileih he,
TbU firw with nud«. and midit with lui.
Cotton Is King. This famous ante'bellum cry, with which the Southern
slave-holders answered the arguments of ihe AtioHtionisls, originated with
David Christy as the litie of his book " Cotton is King ; or. Slavery in the
Light of Political Economy" (1855), James Henry Hammond quoted the
phrase in the United Slates Senale, March, iSsS, and it at once became a
popular by-word.
Cotmtiy, Iiove o£ Dr. Johnson, as reported by Boswell, held that patri-
otism was the last refuge of a scoundrel. Some of the advanced thinkers of
to-day (as may be seen t. v. Citizen of the World) are inclined to look
a|>on it as a provincial virtue, now tightly obsolescent in Ihe larger sympathies
that crave to encloae Ihe world. Nevertheless, none deny that in Ihe past
it has been an effective factor in civilization, and has inspired Ihe true
heroic in thought and deetL Goldsmith, in his story of Assan, draws an ideal
lubberland where there are no vices, and consequently where the love of
country ia stigmatized on account of its correlative hatred or contempt of Ihe
stranger. But he describes it only lo condemn,
in the patriot's boast, —
Sucb li the patrioi't boaH, where'er we roun, —
Hia fini, bqt country ever is at home.
Tkt TraviUtr, I. 73.
Nor did Shakespeare, who makes his Coriolanus say, —
Mudui, I bad niber elcvcD die oobly ft" their coustry Ihan one voluptuously aurfeii 01
and puts in Wolsey's mouth the advice, —
Lei all Ihe endi Ihoa alm'u at be Iby conDliy'i.
Tby Cod'i, and ttulb'i ; then if ibou foll'it, O CiDinweU,
ThoD lall'ii a bleued nianTr I
tiiitiy VIII., Act iii., Sc. a.
Probably here is a reminiscence of Horace's
Dnlce et deeDrnm e« pn> patria mod, —
which in its turn was a reminiscence of Homer, thus rendered by Pope:
And for our country 'ti> a bUia la die.
/f/rxf, Bookir.,1. ]S].
Coogk"
194 HANDY-BOOK OB
So Addison's Cato :
Whu ■ pity !• It
Tlut we CMD die blU DbCe ID save our conntry ]
Though the evolutionist looks forward to the lioK when love of country
■hall hive been merged in a world-love, the United States has been found
in the present time as large an entity as the average citizen could compass.
Indeed, the dream of the enthusiast of a country which shall Lnow no North,
no South, no West, no East, is still little more than a dream. Utterances
like the two following, from Robert C. Winthrop, represent rather the nn-
attained ideal than the actual practice of the majority :
Our CDUDiry, — arbHber boun<Sed by [h« Sl John'i and Ihe Sathae, or bowovcr olhenriBe
bounded or de*cribed, and be Ihe meAiuremeDU more or Je», — »UI1 our CouDlry, to be cber.
ubed ID aJL ouj hcaru, id be defended by all ouj handa.^ 7<wj^ ai Fantuii HaU on Uu
Qtmmtrcial aid in iSt^.
A famous patriotic sentiment, embodying a principle whose virtue might be
casuislically questioned, was the following, given at Norfolk, Virginia, April,
1S16, by Stephen Decatur :
Our country 1 In her intercoune with ronigu naliont may ibv alwayi be ia the ri^l : but
our counlry, nghl or wroDg.
There may be a reminiscence here of Cowper ;
England, wilh al{ thy faulu I love thee ■till,
as in Cowper there is an undotibled reminisceiicc of Churchill :
Be England what the will,
Wilh S\ ha Ikulu, ihe ii my cotmiry nilL
Tit Farimll, \. 17.
CoontiT. We left onr ooontry for onr ooantry's good. When
~he Reveng " '
George Bai
e famous li
Though not wilh much jclal or heat of di
The idea was anticipated by George Faiquhar in "The Beaux' Stratagem,"
written some ninety years before Bairinglon's prologue. Gibbet, the high-
wayman, in answer to Aimwell's question, "You have served abroad, sirf
says, " Yes, sir, in the plantations ; 'Iwas my lot lo be Sent into the worst of
service. I would have quitted it, indeed, but a man of honor, you know
Besides, 'twas for the good of my country that I should be abroad. Anything
for the good of one's countiy ; I'm a Roman for that." Both Farquhar and
Barringtun, it will be seen, have euphemistic reference to transportation, but
Ihe lines are now so frequently applied to any departure from one's native
land, whether voluntary or involuntary, that it may be doubted whether the
original meaning has not been as completely superseded as the form of pun-
ishmtnt to which it obliquely refers. In a complimentary sense the phrase
hadalteady been applied to Sir Francis Drake by Charles Fitzgeffry.ftmi 1596.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERACY CURIOSITIES. 195
Covsntrr, To Mnd one to, to taboo, to ostradie, to boycott,— a colloquial
phrase used mainly by English schooi-boya. Coventry may be a corruption
uf Quarantine through Cointrie, the ancient form for Coventry. The exjires-
siun "To send to Quarantine" is Tound in Swift, but no earlier exemplar of the
modern phrase is to be found than 17851 in Grose's "Dictionary of the Vulgar
Tongue."
Coir wltb the iron tall, a humnrous colioquialism for a pump, in allu-
sion to the current jest thus alluded to by Dr. flolmes in " The Professor at
the Break^t-Table ;" "It is a common saying of a jockey that he is all
horse, and I have often fancied that milkmen get a stin upper carriage and
an angular movement that reminds one of a pump and the working of a
Cradl*. Th« hand that rooka the cradle rales the world. This
English expression is anticipated in the story laid by Plularch o( Themislocles,
who called his son the most powerful person in Greece. "For the Athenians
govern Greece, I the Athenians, my wife me, and my son my wife." In the
"Percy Anecdotes" the same story is moderniied. A nobleman accosted a
lame school-master and asked him his name. " I am R. T,," was the answer,
" and the master of this parish." " Why, how sc) ?" " 1 am the master of
the children of the parish, the children are masters of the mothers, the mothers
are the rulers of the fathers, and consequently I am the master of the whole
parish." There is another sense, of course, in which the proverb may be
taken, — a sense beautifully expressed in the Spanish analogue, "What is
sucked in with the mother's milk runs out with the shroud."
In his "Nighl Thoughts,"
Our birth IsDotfajng bill Durdcalh beguD.
Long before Voung Bishop Hale had said, —
Death bordot dpDik our birth, uid oar cncU« uands in the g^vt.-^EfixtUt, Dec. Ut
Is sll tbe proud and miehiy have
BctweeJi die ovdle snd die crave,
Gmngar Hill.
Crank. It is said that Donn Piatt claimed lo have invented this familiar
Americanism, and lo have applied it originally to Horace Greeley. — the com-
parison being lu the crank of a hand-organ, which is continually engaged in
grinding out the same old tunes. Ai present Ihe word has a much wider
application, and means nol merely a man with a hobby, but more especially an
eccentric character just hovering on the border-line between sanity and in-
sanity. The word was brought nilo newspaper prominence al the trial of
Gaitean, Garfield's assassin, the most terrible instance of the crank in modern
history. A good second was Henry 1. Norcross, who, in 1891, killed himself
and wrecked Russell Sage's office with a bomb.
wilhin thr pa« ten ye»i», eicepl (iuileiii. mu <hu of J«oie» M. Dougheny, who loved the
He »DDDycd her for B long time before he wm taken care of by the ■uthorillct. Hi* *»»
ihe Hine ol^ crank trouble of pcrtecutioD and exalted ided». He aumd me that he could
ha*e married ladle* of rank and fonuue. He wrote a Ions tmioe lo enplain all natural phe-
nDmcnM, ihecremtionandalllbeidHices. HeieDi Pttsidenl Geveland > ' '
Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
lovm ■!] over Lhit coimtr>r jud Europe, ud buiste
cd la bim jdone- He carried n big rcvolvcT with hi
lleviie he gave me a lutemeni lo be publbhed ia ih
PIQUED.
IN VlSin THIS COUHTRV OH THI SlV TO Sn D
ROSALIND ON THE RAMPAGE.
Though IhtH expRiiJans wen cDoimon, Doughenv't »Stc
umted, eiamined. and lenl lo Ihe Flubuih Inune Aiylum, h
believe lhb^oleaale^illir» w^uld be'ju>T"e^^ HiT^Kd Lis the Innilulioll, you XM
' ... l,iiredDr.GMrgeW,IJoyd.lhei
imeHoffeiiiive
r^ixi. lokilt fifl'
d D?. Gfc _
jtfc ■o°SlKt'?S>"
C^edat JndBBua Apella (L., "The Jew Apella may believe ihis"), a
famous phrase in Horace's " Satires," i. ^. 96), slill in fiequenl use as an eipres-
sioii of incredulity. Horace is describing a journey. " At Gnatia," he Says,
" they strove to persuade us thai incense would melt upon the sacred threshold
without the aid of fire. The Jew A^iella may believe this, not I, for [ have
learned that the gods live in tranquillity, and if any wonderful thing happens
it is nut sent by them from the lotly vault of heaven." Apella was a common
name among the Jews, whom the Romans regarded as a credulous and supersti-
tious race. Renan, however, explains that it is not ctedulily which is most
Btiilcing in theTalmudisl Jew: "The credulous Jew, the lover of the marvellous,
known to the Latin satirists, is not the Jew of Jerusalem ; it is the Hellenized
Jew, at Ihe same time very religious and very ill informed, consequently very
superstitious. Neither the hali-sceptical Sadducee nor the rigorous Pharisee
could have been much impressed by the theurgy which was so popular in the
apostolic circle. Uut Ihe Judxus Apella, at whom the Epicurean Horace
smiled, was there to believe." {Lis Apdtres, ch. vi.)
f sing (hcluiiron, uineihin|,'l'''aibci*iMDk! ■bo'°e leeUliiivc co^pet7t,«'ihai ^, ih°>i*th'n
liiwiphic tynod. C'idAt who will— ccruinly not Jndttui AttU».—Bv»r.t : RtJUclicm sn
Crlobton, tbo Admimble, a name given lo James Crichlon, a youthful
prodigy who was the wonder of his contemporaries. Born in Scotland in 1560,
he took Ihe degree of Bachelor of Arts when he was only twelve, and of
Master of Arts when he was fourteen. Al the age of seventeen we find him
ill Paris, challenging all Ihe most famous scholars and philosophers lo a public
discussion, at which he held himself ready to answer any question in theology,
jurisprudence, medicine, logic, mathematics, or any other science, in any one
of Ihe following twelve languages, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Syrian,
Slavonic, Frenciv English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, or Flemish, either in verse
or in prose as might De desired. He succeeded in carrying out his boast, lo
the astonishment of every one, and it was then [hat Ihe title of Admirable was
bestowed upon him. In Rome, in Venice, and in Padua he earned similar
triumphs. Nor was he simply distingubhed as a scholar ; he was an accom-
plished dancer, fencer, rider, musician, painlcr, and actor, was handsome in
LITERARY CURIOS/TJES. 197
person, engaging in his manners, and a ihorough man or the world. This
prodigj was, in 1582, secured by Ihe Duke of Manlua as a tulor for his son, a
dissipated and worlhless young man. In the year 1583, Crichloii, one carni-
val night, was assailed by three niaslied men. He succeeded in disarming and
unmasking the principal une among Ihem, when, finding that it was his pupil,
Ihe duke's son, he knelt duwn and presented him with his own swotd. The
unmanly prince at once ran it through Crichton's body.
Crime, — Blunder. '• It is worse than a crime,— il is a blunder" (" C'eal
plus qu'un crime, — c'est une Taute"), a phrase attributed (o Talleyrand, and
characterizing the political murder of the Due d'Enghien, who was shot by
Napoleon's order, March, 1304. But Jacob Fouche, in his Memoires, claims
the phrase for himself in the Torm, ** It is mote (ban a crime. — it is a political
faulL" There is a certain appositeness in the Tact that phrases should be
iiilcrchangeably attributed to Fouch^ and Talleyrand, inasmuch as Napoleon
found a great likeness between them. " Foucb^," said (he dethroned monarch
at Sr. Helena, "was the Talleyrand of the clubs, and Talleyrand was the
Fouchi of the drawing-rooms."
Ciitloiain. Cnrtosltlea o£ If the world at large and if critics themselves
would only accept Mr. Andrew Lang's definition of criticism as a more or less
agreeable way of airing one's personal preferences, there might be less heart-
burning in the literary guild. Criticism has never been an exact art, and can
never hccome so. The critics have their say, and then we (urn round and
criticise Ihe Critics. One age reverses the verdict of its predecessor. Nay.
even these temporary verdicts are but (he clash of opposing opinions. The
strongest hand carries (he dayfor the moment.and (hen night comes and a
new day brings in new conditions. The critic by profession has always been
an object of authorial hatred. The envy of (he unsuccessful agains( the suc-
cessful has been described as the motive power of criticism from the days of
the Greek Callimachus (o the English Disraeli. Vet when (he author tries his
hand at amateur criticism he makes no better fist of l( than the professional.
If Quindlian fell foul of Seneca, if Athensus treated Socrates as illiletale, if
Dionyiius of Halicarnassus picked flaws in the style of Xenophon. let us not
forget (hat poets and historians have also misprized and reviled each other,
that Horace had no relish for the coarse humor of Plautus, that if (he critics
of Callimachus were unjust, he too was a critic accused of injustice. Indeed,
in Greece the quarrels between poets themselves had become proverbial, and
when Plato quotes the lines about " poets hating poets, and potters, potters."
he lifts the tnirtain on a scene of internecine strife.
Take the greatest figure in modern literature. The civilization of th«
Western world has by a majority vote conferred that distinction upon Shake-
speare. But (here is still a small bu( respec(able minority who refuse to yield
to his spell. In (he past (here was frequently a rcspec(able majority arrayed
against him. And whether a majority or minority, Ihe list was mainly com-
posed of fellow-poets, or at least of authors who were not professional critics.
The earliest voice raised against Shakespeare was (hat of his contemporary
Robert Greene, a dramatist like himself: >■ Here is an upstart crow, lieautiRed
with our feathers, that supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank
verse as the test of ycu, and being an al)so)ule Johannes factotum, is. in his
own conceit, the only shake-scene in the country." But i( may lie urged that
Greene was poor and old when he penned this, and so had turned critic for
the nonce under (he rasping inHuence of jealousy. Well, (hen, (here is Dry-
den. Shakespeare had been dead (oolong to be considered as a dangerous
rival. Dryden himself, (hough he wro(e cridcisms. was only secondarily a
cri(tc ; be had not failed in literature, but had made a most brilliant and en-
■7"
198 HANDY-BOOK OF
during success. Yet he finds ii
solecism uf speech, or some not
lameness of bis ploU, "made up of some ridiculous incoherenl Glory. ... I
suppose I need not name ' Pericles, Prince of Tyre,' or the historical plays of
lihakespeare ; iKsides many of the rest, as the ' Winter's Tale,' ' Love's
Labor's Lost,' 'Measure for Measure,' which were cither grounded on im-
possibilities, or at least bo meanly written that the comedy neither caused your
mirth, nor the serious part your concernment." These gems of thought may
be found in his "Defence of the Ejiilogue," a postscript to his tragedy of the
" Conquest of Granada." Elsewhere he says that Shakespeare " writes in many
places below the dullest writers of our or of any precedent age. Never did
any author precipitate himself from such heights of thought to so low expres-
sions as he often does. He is the very Janus of poets ; he wears almost
everywhere two faces ; and you have scarce begun to admire the one ere you
despise the other." Of the Elizabethan audiences he writes, "They knew no
better, and therefore were satisfied with what Ihev brought Those who called
theirs the Golden Age of Poetry have only this reason for it : that they
were then conleni with acorns before (hey knew the use of bread."
The "majestic Ucnham" placed Fletcher above both Jonson and Shake-
Their gnca bolb appeu.
That indefatigable play-goet, Samuel Pepys, accounted " Romeo and Juliet"
the worst play that ever he heard ; " Othello," a mean thing in comparison
with Tuke's " Adventures of Five Hours ;■ "Twelfih Night," a silly play, not
atall relating to the name or day, while with "A Midsummer Night's Uream"
he was so dissatisfied that he would never see it again, " for it is the most
insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life." Evidently he deemed it
even worse than " Romeo and Jidiet."
But Pepys only reflected the taste of his time. The critical authority of
(hat epoch, Mr. Thomas Rymer, thought that "in the neighing of a horse or in
the growling of a niaslifT there is a meaning, there is a lively expression, and
I may say more humanity, than in the tragical flights of Shakespeare." Of
that great scene between Brutusand Cassius which aroused Macaulay's enthu-
siasm, Rymer says, "They are put there 10 play the bully and the buffoon, to
show theit activity of face and muscles. They are to play for a prize, a trial
of skill and hugging and swaggering, like two drunken Hectors for a two-
penny reckoning.'' And his successor on the critical throne. Mr. John Dennis,
says that Shakespeare "is utterly void of celestial fire," and his verses are
frequently harsh and unmusical. These, of course, were the opinions of mere
critics. Hut Shaftesbury echoes them when he speaks of Shakespeare's " rude,
unpolished style, and antiquated form of wit." And Pope, in spite of his
hatred for Dennis, evidently agrees with these verdicts when he sneers at
Shakapmre (whom you 4nd every play.hooK bill
Slyle the divine, the maichlen, whu you »ill),
and protests against the extravagance of his worshippers :
And «w«r all iludK it 1o«i in Gcorge't jt^e !
Addison, too, must have shared that opinion, at least in his early days, for
he left Shakespeare unnamed in his " Account of the Greatest English Poets"
which he addressed to Sachcverell. Hume called Shakespeare "a disptopcr-
tioned and misshapen giant," and though he is willing to allow that "as a man
born in a rude age and educated in the lowest manner" he might be accounted
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. »99
a prodigy, yet "if repiesenlcd as a poet, capable of furnishing a proper en-
tertainment to a reAned or intelligent audience, ve must abate much of this
eulogy." It is said that 'Hume'a attack was originally much more vigorous
than tn its printed form. Lord Kames persuaded him to toi^e it down, fearing,
M BoBweil tellit us, that the historian " would have been disgraced byconfess-
ing total insensibililjr (O what the English nation has so long and so justly
■dmired."
Voltaire, lioirevei, was lettered by no such fears. He unhesitatingly styles
Shakespeare " a drunken savage," and " Hamlet" a piece so efoss and barbar-
ous that it would not be endured by the vilest population in France and Italy.
A country bumpkin at a fait, he observed, would express himself with more
decency and in nobler language than Hamlet in the famous soliloquy begin-
ingi—
Oh thai tliii IDO, (Do *o)ld fleab would melt.
Goldsmith attacked another famous soliloquy, that beginning.
To be at not id be, ay, ihen'i llie quenloD.—
and, afier a good deal of foolish hyperciiiidsm, scores one good point where
he shows the al)surdity of the phrase, "that bouin from which no traveller
returns," in the mouth of Hamlet just after an interview with his father's
ghost come piping hot from hell.
" Shakespeare and Milton," said ityron, " have had Iheii rise, and they will
have their decline." Again, he sneers at
Samuel Kogers, the veteran poet, was well known to have had lillle real
admiration for Shakespeare. He would frequently read aloud from Ben
Jonson's "Discoveries" the passage referring to the players who boasted that
the poet never "blotted out a line," and on the concluding sentence of Jon-
son's, " Wotild he had blotted out a thousand 1" he always laid a strong em-
phasis. He one morning challenged the company to pioduce a passage from
Shakespeare which would not have been improved by blotting, and he was
with difficulty silenced, after picking many beautiful specimens to pieces, by
the one commencing, —
How iweR (be inooDlJgh( kleept (jpon thi> baoh.
The most notable of recent Shakespeare traducers is Sardou. He directs
all the thunders of his artillery against Hamlet, "an empty wind-bag hero,"
whom Shakespeare has clothed m a dramatic fog, and wbom the German
critics have stuffed with all their cloudy concepts, with all their uncertain
lUssertations, with all the smoke in Ibeir pipes, with all the besotted obscu-
rity of their beer-cellars. The Ghost is simply ridiculous. He appears to
everybody save his wife. Why is he visible to Horatio, to Bernardo, to a lot
of indifferent people, and never to the wife who murdered him ? What a
comic scene is that of the oath 1 Horatio and Marcellus swear never to
o? Or,
„ „ t has forgotten
..is posthumous visits to the sentinels of the castle. " As to the philosophy,
I find it no better than the plot. People go into ecstasies over the famous
soliloiiuy 'To be or not to be.' I cannot myself know if our souls are anni-
hilated after death or not. But if any one is well informed upon that point,
it is Hamlet, who talks every day with his defunct father. I declare, and I
repeat, that there is nothing good in the play, in my opinion, except the scene
with (he actors, the idea of causing to be played before the king and queen a
murder similar to that which they had committed, in order i<> surprise their
tecteL As to the duet at the end, and the exchange of foils which btinga
900 HANDYBOOK OF
abbut ihe cataitrophe. Ihe weakest )i1iywright of to-day would not dare to
employ such a method to end his piece.
Milton aa well as Shakespeare has found his detractors among many of
the most eminent of his contemporaries and successois. Waller contemptu-
ously wrote of his greatest work, " The blind old school-master hath published
a tedious poem on the Tall of man ; if its length be not considered a merit it
hath no other." Winstanley, who wrote the " Lives of the Must Famous
English Poets." notes that "his fame is gone out like a candle in a snutf, and
his memory wilt always stink ;" truly a pleasant and genial ligure of speech.
Johnson abused the sonnets, and declared that he would hang a dog who should
read " Lycidas" twice. So Boswell tells us. What Ursa Major said in print
was to the same effect He declared that no man could have fancied that he
read " Lycidas" with pleasure had he not known the author : " The diction is
harsh, the rhymes uncertain, and the numbers unpleasing. ... Its form is
that of a pastoral, easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting ; whatever images
it can supply are long ago exhausted, and its inherent iinprubability always
forces dissatisfaction on the mind." Pope wrote, —
WilriHi'B ptTDOE piDLOD Dow n«ri bc^vcn can bound,
Now, terpeDi.ukc, ■□ prov he »w«pi ibc fround ;
And Uod ihcT^s lunt a school divine.
But, as Coleridge said. Pope was hardly the man to criticise Milton. Nor
was Voltaire, who in " Candide" calls Milton " the barbarian who constructed
a long commentary on ihe first chapter of Genesis in ten books of harsh
verse," and winds up his diatribe b^ declaring, "This obscure, eccentric, and
disgusting poem was despised at its birth : and I treat it to-day as it was
treated in lis own country by its contemporaries." Perhaps it may be objected
that Voltaire is only speaking dramatically in the person of Pococurante.
Thai the sentiments, however, were generally considered his own is evident
from Madame du Defland's congratulations on this very passage. " I hale
devils mortally," she writes to Voltaire, " and I cannot tell you the pleasure I
have experienced in finding in 'Candide' all the evil you have spoken of
Milton. It seemed to me that the whole was my own thought, for I always
detested him."
Coleridge saw no good in Sir Waller Scott. "Wretched abortions" is the
phrase he flung at " Ivanhoe" and " ' The Bride of Ravensmuir,' or whatever
Its name may be." The poems as well as the novels supply, he thinks, " both
instance and solution of the present conditions and components of popularity,
viz., to amuse without requiring any eRort of thought and without exciting
any emotion." Does this explain why, a little later, he said that when he
was very ill indeed, Scott's novels were almost the only books that he could
read ? Or is there evidence here of a change of heart ? Towards Ihe poetry
he never relaxed. Not twenty lines of it, he said, would ever reach posterity,
for it had relation to nothing. This opinion was heartily shared by Laiiitor,
who called Scott an ile-house writer, and said of his verse, " It is not to be
sung or danceti, it is to be jumped," Thomas L. Peacock coni]>ared Ihe
Waverley series to the pantomimes of the stage, with Ihis difference, that the
latter were told in music and action, the olher in Ihe worst dialects of Ihe
English language. " As to any sentence worth remembering, any moral or
politi<:al truth, anything having a tendency, however remote, to make men
wiser or better, to make them think, to make them even think of thinking, —
they were both alike."
Johnson could never see anything in Gray. He attacked him in print and
In his private conversation. " A dull fellow," he said to Ituswell ; and when
the latter remonstrated, — " lie might be dull in company, but surely he was
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 20)
not dull in poetiy," — Johnson continued, "Sir, he was dull in company, dull
in his closet, dull everywhere. He was dull in a new way, and that made
many people call him gieai." Of Churchill he remarked, *' I called the fellow
a blockhead at first,) and I call liim a blockhead still." Fielding also was a
"blockhead," and upon Bowy's venturing to express "astonishment at so
strange an aSKrtion," Johnaon was good enough to explain, "What I mean
by hig being a blockhead is, that he is a barren rascal." Over and over again
he showed his contempt of Swift. Dining once in. Ihe company of some
friends, the doctor said, dogmatically, " Swift was a shallow fellow, a ven' shal-
low fellow." Sheridan, with whom Swift was a favorite, dissented : " Pardon
ine for difiering from you, but I have always thought Ihe Dean a very dear
writer." Said Johnson, triumphantly, " All shallows are clear."
Horace Walpole, an acute man and fond of books, was as bitter and preju-
diced as Johnson himself. Perhaps that was one reason why be hated John-
son and found nothing better to say of him than that he was a babbling old
" Prejudice and bigotry, and pride and presumption, and arrogan
and pedantry, are the hags that brew his ink, though wages alone supply
bis bread." Boswell's book he curtly dismisses as the sloiy of a mountebank
and his cany. Of Horace Walpole in his turn, and of his "Mystei
Mother," — which Ryron praised so extravagantly as "a tragedy of the
highest order, and not a puling love-plav," — Coleridge remarkea that it
is "the most disgusting, vile, detestable composition that ever came
from the hand of man. No one with a spark of true manliness, of which
Horace Walpole had none, could have written it." Coleridge accused
Gibbon of "sacrificing all truth and reality," called his style detestable,
and added. " His Style is not the worst thing about him. His history has
proved an effectual bar (o all real familiarity with the temper and habits of
imperial Rome." In Landor's view Gibbon was an old dressed-up fop,
keeping up the same sneering glin from one end of his history to Ihe other
with incredible fixity. Of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," even his friend
Southey said, ■' It is the clumsiest attempt at German simplicity I ever saw."
Mrs. Barbauld rather grotesquely found fault with the same poem, because it
was " improbable and had no moral." Coleridge thought il had loo much
moral. Byron called Spenser a dull fellow, Chaucer obscene and contemplibtt,
and scornfully characteriied Wordsworth's masterpiece as
A duniy, fn>w2y poem called Tht EjrcuniDP,
But Wordsworth could be equally unjust Dryden's "Ode on St. Cecilia's
Day" seemed to him a " drunken song, and Itums's " Scots wha hac wi' Wal-
lace bled" was " trash I stuff ! miserable inanity ! without a thought, without
an image I"
Horace Walpole called Dante "extravagant, absurd, disgusting : in short,
a Methodist parson in Bedlam." Voltaire characterized the "Divina Corn-
media" as stupidly extravagant and barbarous," and said of its author thai
" his reputation will now continually be growing greater and greater, because
there is now nobody who reads him." That is, indeed, Ihe fate of all the
immortals, to become classics, or, in other words, books which are much
praised and little read because the people who praise them find them unread-
able.
In his "Philosophy of Ihe Human Mind" Dr. Thomas Brown has some
shrewd remarks about the number of people who willingly join in expressing
Teoeraiion for works which they would think it a heavy burden to read from
beginning to end.
"What will you say," writes Lord Chesterfield, "when I letl you that I
cannot possibly read our countryman, Milton, through V He seems to be in
ao3 HANDY-BOOK OF
something of a funk about it. "Keep [he secret for rae," he begs, "fot if it
should be knovrn, 1 should be abused by every tasteless pedant and every
solid divine in Europe;" Even the great A. K. H. B. candidly acknowledges
that be would rather read Mr. Helps than Milton.
Tom Moore declared that he found Chaucer unreadable. Lord Lansdowne
acknowledged that he was secretly of the same opinion, but did not dare to
speak of it. Charlotte Bronte in her list of Itgttula notes, " For history,
read Hume, Rullin, and the > Universal History,' if you can: I never did."
Lord Ellenborough, after prolonged and conscientious effort, gave up the
"Wealth of Nations" as "impossible to read." "Can you read Voltaire's
' Henriade' f" asked Mr. Senior of M. de Tocqueville. " No, nor can any
one else," was the prompt reply. Once at AbbMsford some one remarked in
Scott's presence that he had never known any one who had read the " Henri-
ade" through. " I have read it and live," replied Sir Walter ; " but, indeed,
in my vouth I read everything."
Professor Masson, lecturing on Sidney's " Arcadia," acknowledges that no-
body not absolutely Sidney-smitten could possibly read it through, and in
another lecture on Boyle s " Parthenissa" he boldly and candidly owns
that he had not been able to penetrate more than a few pages bevond the
introductory sentence, and anon, referring to various old-world worlnies who
are brought into the story, he adds, "how they came into the story, or what
the story is, I cannot tell you, nor will any mortal know, any more than I do,
between this and doomsday." Macaulay was an omnivorous reader. Yel
Macaulay finds in the " Faerie Queene" one unpardonable fault, the fault of
tediousness. "Very lew and very weary are those who arc in al the death of
the Blatant BeasL" Macaulay himself was not of those few, or he would have
known that the Blatant Beast does not die at all, though lamed for the time by
Calydore. The last stanza tells us that
Now he raungelh (hrou^h the world HgAme,
And ragcth »r in uch decree and «*»,
Lessing's epigram is worth quoting :
KlopUDck ii ercat, iut>liiiw, the GcraiAa Hiibm :
An pniK Ilie turd, Ixu will Uwy rcsd hint—No,
[f you will RAd, we'll ki your pralta go.
As the great of the past are often overrated, so the great of the present ve
as often underrated.
Heine, in his " Essay on the German Romantic School," points out the error
of supposing that Goethe's early fame bore any due comparison with his
deserts. He was indeed praised for " Werler" and " Gneli von Berlichingen,"
but the romances of August Lafontaine were in equal demand, and the latter,
being a voluminous author, was much more in men's mouths. The poets of
the period were Wielaiid and Ramler, and Kotzebue and IIBand ruled the
stage. And when Goethe had established himselT in his own country, it was
a much harder tight to obtain recognition abroad. In England, Jeffrey thought
that he was nogenlleman, and denounced " Wilhelm MeiKler" in the Edinburgh
Revitw. Coleridge called " Faust" a series of magic- lantern pictures, and said
that much of it " is vulgar, licentious, and blasphemous." Ue Quincey was
even more emphatic : " Not the basest of Egyptian superstition, not Titania
under enchantment, not Caliban in drunkenness, ever shaped to themselves
an idol more weak or hollow than modern Germany has set up fur its worship
in the person of Goethe." "'Wilhelm Meister'" is "a puny fabric of baby-
houses," "totally without interest as a novel," and abounding with "ovei-
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
whom indiceclly h« owed so much,
a brute ; he never wtole anvthing wurlh reading except *The Robbers,'" cried
Hugo one day (o a crowd of admirers. Somebody murmured that "The
Robbers" was written not by Goeihe but by Schilier. " And even thai is
Schiller's," continued the poet, without any apparent notice of the interruption.
" It is easy," lays Colonel Higginson, "for older men (o recall when Thack-
eray and Dickens were in some measure obscured by now-forgolteii conleni'
poraries, like Harrison Ainsworlh and G. P. R. James, and when one wiu
gravely asked whether he preferred Tennyson to Millies or Sterling or Trench
or Allord or Fabet. It is to me one of the most vivid reminiscences of my
college graduation that, having rashly ventured upon a commencement oration
whose theme was 'Poetry in an Unpoetical Age,' I closed with an urgent
appeal to young poets to 'lay down their Spenser and Tennyson' and look
'"□ life for themselves. Professor Edvrard T. Channing, then the highes'
_ ...c __•... -.......- ..__ 1 .. . J ■ laiement, with uplifted pencil,
,' he said, 'that ihcy should
lilerary authority in New England, paused in amazement, with uplifted pencil.
over this combination of names. ' Vou mean,' he said, 'that ihcy should
neither defer to the highest authority nor be influenced by the lowest f When
1 persisted, with the leal of seventeen, that \ had no such meaning, but
tenrded them both as among the gods, he said, good-naturedly, ' Ah ! that is
a different thing. I wish you to say what you think, I regard Tennyson as a
great calf; but you are entitled to your own opinion.' The oration met with
oitich applause at certain passages, including this one ; and the applause was
just, for these passages were written by my eldest sister, who had indeed
suf^ested the subject of the whole address. But I fear that its only value to
posterity will consist in the remark it elicited from the worthy professor ; this
comment affording certainly an eicelient milestone for Tennyson's early
reputation."
Carlyle was denounced as a mountebank, and his style characterized as a
travesty of English. Ruskin is now looked upon as one of the great maslers
of English style, yet he, too, was at first greeted with unmeasured ridicule.
"When Browning published his first poem, 'Pauline,'" so Archdeacon Farrar
says, "some critic or other called htm 'verbose.' Unfortunately, — as he has
told us, — he paid loo much attention to the remark, and, in his desire to use no
superfluous word, studied an elliptic concentration of style which told fatally
against the ready intelligibility of ' Sordello' and other later poems." And the
archdeacon concludes that "as a general rule an author of any merit or serious-
ness could not possibly do a mote foolish thing than take their advice." Vet
one would like to advise him to drop such a pleonasm as "a eeneral rule."
The praise of the critics is frequently as amusing as theic blame. "There
are," says Gautier, in the preface to " Les Grotesques," "strange fluctuations
in reputations, and aureoles change heads. After death, illuminated foreheads
are extinguished and obscure browsgrow bright." Who, he asks, would
to-day believe that the now- forgotten Chapelain passed for long years as the
neatest poet not alone of France but of the whole world, and that nobody
less potent than the Duchesse de Longueville would have dared to go to sleep
over his poem of " La Fucelle" ? Vet this was in the time of Corneille, Ra-
cine, Holiire, and La Fontaine. Locke endorsed the opinion of his friend
Molyneux, that, Milton excepted, all English poets were mere ballad-makers
beside "everlasting Blackmore." Rimer set Crowley's forgotten epic above
Tasso's "Jerusalem." Goldsmith says that the work he would select as the
most perlect example of English genius would be the " Rape of the Lock."
Hobbes told Sir William Davenant (hat his poem " Gondibert" would last as
long as the Iliad. Vet "Gondibert" is as obsolete as Darwin's 'Botanic
Garden," which Walpole thought the most delicious poem upon earth. Dr.
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The doctor was n
« Walpole Ihoughl that Mason was a poet " if ever there was one,"
and ex|>re»!ied a desire for his acquaintance and that of Christopher Ansley,
author of "The New Bath Guide." He had no thiral, he added, to knowlhe
rest of his contemporaries, " Crom the absurd bombast of Dr. Johnson down
to the silly Dr. Goldsmith; though the latter changeling has had bright
gleams of parts, and the former had sense till he changed ii for words and
sold it for a pension." Byron crowned Scoll as the monarch of the contem-
porary Parnassus, which was not so very tar out of the way, but the pyramid
of poets whereof Scott was the apex was oddly enough constructed. IJireCtly
below came Kogera, then Moore and Campbell together, and la.st of all at the
widened base "Souihey and Wordsworth and Coleridge, the rest oi iroAAoi."
His respect for Rogers was inordinate. He called him the "Tllhonua of
Poetry, immortal already," and condemned himself and all the revolutionary
school in comparison with that very faded Tilhonus, and the much stronger,
but scarcely immortal, Crabbe. And he thought thai tlorace Walpole was
"surely worthy of a higher place than any living author, be he who he may."
Hannah More wrote ofjohn Langhorne, —
And^Uftiu't^ fronn™< «niM ^, * '
And another literary blue, the once famous Anna Seward, predicted that
"Madoc" would outlive "Paradise Lust."
We may laugh at all the examples, both of praise and of blame, that are
here collected. Yet, at least, they are inflnilely more valuable than the par-
rot-like judgments of what are known as cultivated people, — mere echoes of
the accepted opinions of the day. The profound and often unconscious in-
sincerity of the people who admire whatever they are told to admire is one
of the stumbling-blocks in the way of righllv estimating the value of any
!;reat man's work in the world. Shakespeare has delighted many high intel-
igences, he has offended others. The crowd at various times has thuught it
was offended or delighted. Is .Shakespeare really a great man, or a mighty
imposition thrust upon the world ? It is not the scholar to whom we Can
■p|ieal. His books have biassed him. The unfeigned delight of the god in
the gallery is more valuable, because more genuine. Vet even that is not
final. The god puts "Othello" and " Hamlet" on a par with "Spattacus,"
and is as much pleased with the last burlesque as with " The TempesL" (See,
also, Sklf- Appreciation and Reviewehs)
Ctitioa. Lord Aldegonde, in Disraeli's " Lothair." propounds the famous
question and answer, "You know who the critics are ? I'he men who have
failed ill Literature and Art I" The phrase was hailed with public rejoicing,
for critics never were a popular class. But the critics had their revenge.
They showed that the saying was a plagiarism, that it had been anticipated by
a shoal of writers. The closest and most recent parallel was found in Balzai 's
"Cousin Hette," 1S46; " Enfin il passa critique, comme lous les impnisitan'.s
qui manquent \ leurs debuts" (" At last he became a critic, like all impnients
Who fail at their dibut"). The earliest was in Dtyden : "III writers are
usually the sharpest censors, for they (as the best poet and the best patron
e liilJ perfKlian of decay,
ar vaa comt aiiiklii 10 pwy.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
and Balzac may be quuted ;
. arc usually people who would have been poels, hlvoriani, biographen, if they
have tiled ihclr lalenii at one or the other, and have failed ; therefore they (Um
SRitKi : Lrcluni im ShaJuifiarr and M:Uan.
old superstition that tl
and moans like a persoti in distress. In poit)t of fact, crocodiles do emit loiia
and plaintive cries, not unlike the mournftit howlitie of dogs. Early and
begtin, the sttpenttiticn would be rcidilf propagated Both in Ijtin and in
Greek the expression was a conitnt>n une in proverbial literature. Polydure
Virgil, in his " Adagiorum Liber" (1498), says that the crocodile "wept at the
sieht of a man," and, causing him in this way to approach, devouied him.
Hence the proverb, crocodile's tears (lacrymie cnxodUi), applied to those who
falsely arouse the pity and charity of men. Erasmus, in his " Adagia,"
quotes both the Latin and the Greek form of the proverb, and in his " Col-
loquy on Friendship" gives a story from lEIian's "De Animalium Natura"
(early part of the third century) to the effect that the crocodile 511s his mouth
with water and ejects it in order I0 make the path slip|iery for his expected
prey. In the " Adagia" he explains that the crocodile macerates the skulls
of his victims with his tears that he may soften them before eating. Sir John
Maundeville, in his " Voiage" (1356), among other wonderful things, relates
that "in a certain counlree" long serpents called crocodiles slew men and
ate them, weeping. The same fable is repeated in the account of Sir John
Hawkins's vovage (1565), and malodorous comparisons are there made between
Qcodile and the tears of n
Spenser, in his " Faerie Queene," says, —
.niDulhed NUe,
Doth meele a iru^cnnie crocodile.
irneTull plight, 19 swallowed uj
Crofla-maik; which persons who cannot write are required to make in lieu
of their signatures, was not always a sign of illiteracy. Among the Saxons
the mark of the cross as an attestation of the good faith of the person sign-
ing was required to be attached to the signature of those who could wnte, as
well as to take the place of the signature of those who could not. It was, in
&ct, the symbol of an oath from its holy associations, and was generally
known as Iht mark. " God save the mark 1 an expression that may be found
2o6 HANDY-BOOK OF
in Shikespore, and is slil) in carrenl use, wis originally a form of ejacolation
approicbing to tlie cllaract«r of an oath.
Ctom TOir oT CiUa-oroBB lom, the name pupulaily given to the alphabet,
becauae in the ancient tiornbooks a lude piciuic of a cross preceded the letter
A. The explanation that the alphabet used to be arranged in the form of a
cross is now derided.
The aucnloD thai ihc alphabet w» written or primed in hombiwlit in the form of ■
ctymologiiu. Chrill'l cnw wi< crucir»nn, th<! alphabet wai callrd Chii«'t crcnt.— Ih*
pendicular, the vowela the shorter tiaiuvener Q- E D, Vei all it itnatlnaEloii, aitd ihv
fact Ihai the crosa iiDinineDced thv alphabetic raw ii wholly ignored 1 aay " itni^iulktn,"
lot 1, iike lome of your coi^cNpundrnta, doubt uiremr^y wbi^ihtr auch an (CCtpInc atrraDac-
bur they weTT pnctiCHl, and nol faddiila; they ■cidom, too, moved out <jf ■ sroove. In
addldod lo the exatnplcs of hornbooks quoted or repracoiatioiu ihat 1 have «eeD, 1 would
uvetlHse: Minjheu,.6i7,liaa"The diiUK<io«(imdChrf.l'mcra.) Row.or ABCr-
CMgrave " La crolide par Dicu,The Chriii-.-crou row. or the hombooli wherein ■ child
karri il; »llil« Sherwood ayoonymlie! the crom-row with " La croii," etc., ud with
" ('Alphabet," Ihli lut word btlni omiilsd b]t CotKiave. Again, Th. Cooper, i;}4, and
HoljnHn'a " Rider" apcali under " Alphabeium" and '* Abece Lurius" not of the '* crua
towa" lun- of ihe " cruu/' but of " toc cro^" ai tyTionymou* wiih the alphabet ; and
Thonuuiua, 1594, aaya, " The cm* row, or A B C"— AWri and Qwrriri.
Crovr, Batlug. Cti>w is an unpalatable bird, and "eating crow" is one of
the popular phrases lo iixlicate the enforced doing of some unpleasant thing,
especially the enforced confessiun of error, and is analogous to "eating ytiur
own vords." "eating humble-pie," "eating dirt," etc Indeed. some wiseacres
would derive it from the French "manger iaciott" (eating dirt oi refuse), crott
(pronounced cro) being Ihe old spelling, thus: "The dirt and crott ol Paris
may be smelt miles off" (Howcl's " lyindinopolis," 1657). But Ihe Amer-
ican phrase is sufficiently intelligible as it stands, without any far'fetchcd Ibrcign
derivation.
Two stories, good enough to become classic, have entwined themselves
around this phrase and profess 10 give its origin. Both are probably apoc-
ryphal, but both are worth preserving.
The first appeared in the KnUkerbocktr Md^atim half a century ^t>, and
concerns a thrifty boarding-house-lteeper on the Hudson and an indigent
patron. Whenever the latter remonstrated at the food he was told he was
"too panikler." "/ kin eat anything," asserted the autocrat of the table,
with a proud consciousness of superiority ; " I kin eat crow." The constant
repetition of these words wearied the boarder. Finally he resolved lo test the
old man. Taking his gun with him, he succeeded- in bagging a fine, fat old
crow. By dint of soft words and filthy lucre he induced the cook to prepare
that crow (or the table. The cook was a Scotcliwoman, and used snutt He
borrowed all she had, and sprinkled it liberally over the crow, gave it an
extra (urn, and brought it before Ihe host, saying, as he set it down, " Now,
my dear sir, you have said a thousand times, if you have said it once, that you
can eat crow ; here is one very carefully cooked." The old man turned pale
for a moment, but, bracing himself against (he l)3ck of his chair, and with, "I
kin eat crow," he began cutting a good mouthful. He swallowed it, and, pre-
paring for a second onslaught, looked his boarder straight in the eye, and
ejaculated, " I've eat crow," and took a second portion. He lifled his hands
mechanically, as if (or a (hird attack, but dropped (hem quickly over the
region of his stomach, and, rising hurriedly and unsteadily, re(reated for th«
door, muttering, as he went, " but dang me if I hanker atter il"
Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
ring the civil
ired private, having shot a tame croir on the
planter's ground, was discovered by the owner wiLh ihe bird in his possession.
Seizing the private's musket, which lay on the ground, the irate planter cried,
" As you've killed my crow, you've got to eat ii." There was no escape, and
the private had to eat. After a few mouthfuls, the planter asked, with > grin, —
"How do you like crow ?"
"Well," was Ihe reply, "I kin eat it, but I don't hanker arler it."
"All right," said the plattter; "you've done pretty well. Here, take your
gun and gel aS."
But no sooner was Ihe gun in the soldier's hands than he pointed it at the
planter, saying, "Now you've got to eat your share of crow."
And the planter, swearing and spluttering, was forced to obey. Next day
the planter came into camp and reported to Ihe colonel that he had been
insulted by a Federal soldier. Strict orders had been issued against insulting
or injuring residents. The planter's description served to bring Ihe soldier
before the impromptu tribunal.
" Did you ever see this gentleman before ?" asked the colonel.
"Oh,ya-as," drawled the soldier; "we— ah — we dined together yesterday."
Croir, To plnck, puU, or pick a. This English phrase, standing alone,
meantsimply tobusy one's self about a matter of no importance, to take trouble
for nothing, a crow being a valueless bird. To jiluck a crow with one — i.e.,
to have a q^uarrel with him — seems to be a natural outgrowth of the older
phrase, equivalent lo " I have a little affair to settle with him." The unpopular
character of the bird would add to ihe force of the threat An attempt has
been unsuccessfully made to prove that the word crow is a corruption of eroc,
pronounced ere, a French word sometimes used for whiskers. So Ihe phrase
would mean, " I will pull whiskers with him." From the strictly humorous
point of view this etymon has merit In Ireland, as well as in some parts of
America, it seems the proper thing for the threatened parly to answer, " And
I've got a bag to hold the feathers."
IT not, molve before we bd
Tbiu van ind t muu puIJi cnw.
BiTTLU : Hndiim.
We'll phick It crow tcgetber.
Qniudy n/Emrt, Ka. III.
Crtwlt? bl olamenoj. Hamlet was not the first person who said,—
] most be cruel or
CI 111., :
The Italians have a proverb, " Sometimes clemency is cruelly and cruelty
is clemency," which has been made memorable over all similar allocutions
because Catherine de M^dicis quoted it to still the scruples of her son and
nerve him far Ihe massacre of St. Bartholomew.
Qry\a% at Birth. In the Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 3, occurs this wi
known verse : " When I was born, I drew in Ihe common air, and fell up
the etuih, which is of like nature, and the first voice which I uttered 1
crying, aa all others do." Lucretius has a parallel passage which may il
be translated :
Tbe Enbnt, u viao u Nature with snai pangs of tmvail halh Kni li A>nh from Ihe wo
sT in mcxlieT Into the regioui of llgbl,^, likf k i^ar cut out from Ihe waves, naked Uj
ibc canh, in duct wuii and hclplcHDcu, and filii every place arouikd with mournful wailii
3oS HANDY-BOOK OF
ud [HMOIU UnHDIiUiou, u l> nuiinl fur one who hu u muy UI> of life in u
muy evili irhkh he miul pan through ud \aSts.~Di Rtmm Naiura, v. n
Shakespeare may have had Lucretius in mind vhen he wrote,—
When Be art born, wc ciy. ihu wo are comt
But the thought is loo common to allow the building of any argument on
the very slight resemblance. The last line, by the way, occuta in the form,
Not to be bom, or, beiog ban, lo die,
both in Drummond and in Bishop King. Sir William Jones has translated
from the Persian a fine quotation in which the lame thought is made to point
a noble moral :
On puent Laeei, a naked iKv-txirD cbdd.
Wnping thou VU'tl. while nil nround tbeeunlled;
So live, thai, linking In ihy lut long deep,
Clklni ihou may'al wnile, while all around ihec weep.
On the other hand, Sir Thomas Browne, quoting from Aristotle on " Animals"
in bis commonplace books, has the query, —
Unh, Ihougb Iheir heada be nii of ibe womb T
In the same connection he notes that children, accorjjing to the same
authority. " though they cry, weep not till after forty days, or, as Scaliger
expresseth it, vagiunt sed oculis siccls."
Cnl bono? This Ijlin phrase, which really means 'Who gains by itr
"Towhose advantage is it T is constantly misapplied in ihe sense of "What's
the good of it ^ and in this sense has become authorized by the usage of the
best writers and speakers. The origin of the expression was as follows.
When Lucius Cassius, a man of stern severity, sal as quaestor iudicii in a
murder trial, he always instructed the judices, or jurymen, to seek for a motive
by asking, Cui bono? ((*.;.. Cui bono fuertt ?) "Who was benefiled ?" by the
crime. The maxim passed into a proverb, and was immortalized by Cicero, who
quoted it in the Second Philippic and in the orations for Milo and Rosdus.
Cup. Tbero'i toouy a slip twixt tlie cup and tbe Up. In one form
or other this proverb is found in the folk-sayings of most European coun-
tries, and it was current among the Latins and the Greeks. Lycophron tells
this story of its origin. Anca:us, son of Poseidon and Alta, was a king of the
Leleges in Samos, who look eS|iecial pleasure in the cultivation of the gra|ie
and prided himself upon his numerous vinevards. In his eagerness he un-
mercifully overlazed the slaves who worked there. A seer announced that
for his cruelly he would not live to taste the wine from his gra|>es. The
harvest passed safely, and then the wine-making, and Anccus, holding in his
hand a cup containing the lirKt tuby drops, mocked at the seer's prophecy.
But the prophet replied, " Many things happen between the cup and the lip."
Just then a cry was raised that a wild boar had broken into the vineyard, and
the king, setting down his untasted cup, hurried off to direct the cWe, but
was himself slam by the boar.
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 209
Cnpar. There is a ^miliar Scotch saving, " He that will to Capar maun
to Cupar" (quoted in Scolt's " Antiquary ), equivalent to " A wilful man vill
have his way." Cupai being the head-quarters of all the judicial business of
Fife County, all disputes were carried there to be settled, and the proverb was
applied to the headstrong who would go to law against ihe advice of ciders.
There is a story of two men convicted of horse- 01 shcep-slealing ; one was
caught and condemned to death ; the other escaped arrest till his curiosity led
him to go to Cupai to see his friend eieculed, where he was identified and
shared the same fate. The above proverb ma^ have arisen from this incident
Cupar had an eaccssive number of lawyers in proportion lo its population,
and litigation seems to have been its chief industry. "Cupar justice" was
sometimes used as synonymous with Jeddart justice \q. v.).
Cnpa that obeer bnt not inebriate, — usually misquoted in the singular.
The phrase occurs in Cowper's " Task :"
And whilE tbe bubbling ucl loud-biuing urn
Throws ap it ftotiay column, and the cuh
Tint chcci but iiai iDcbriiie vail on cacb,
So letiu welcome peaceful evening in.
■niWtmttr Evnmf, Book I*., 1. 34.
Btsbop Berkeley had already applied the epithet to his favorite tai-waler,
which he describes as " of a nature so mild and benign and proportioned to
Ihe human constitution as to warm without heating, to cheer but not inebriate."
{Sirit. par. 317.)
Wbu a deUcau ipecuUtktD k b, tSba drinldng whole (obleu of lea,—
Tbe cop* tbu cheer but not inehriut.
and letUng Ibo fiimct aKcnd into the brain, to ^t couideriDg whmi we tlull have for iupper,—
epp aibd a ntber, or rabbit imothcRd In onlou, or an exceileiu vca] cutlet |.— UA£urT ; On
Grinft 3<ntnuy.
Cnifoir- It seems little short of heresy to question the tradition that
curfew (Fr. ci)inrre-/iru) came into England with William the Conqueror, or to
combat the good old definition sanctioned by so many authorities, "The
rin^ng of an evening bell, originally a signal lo the inhabitants to cover lires,
eitinguish lights, and retire to rest, instituted by William the Conqueror."
The nursery historian has waxed sentimental over the wrongs of Ihe con-
quered Saxon, and has conjured up pii:tures that must be balm to the down-
trodden CelL Even Thomson lellis us, —
The ihiveilnE wnscho u the cuifcw found
Dejected Junk iato their »rdjd bcdB.
But tbe £mnire-/hi was known before William's time, both in England and
on the Continent. He did, indeed, issue an edict on the subject ; andalthough
this edict may incidentally have helped to put down Ihe Saxon beer -clubs, which
were hotbeds of political conspiracies, its primary aim was as a precaution
against fire. TAat danger was an evcr-prcscnt one in days of chitnneyless
wooden houses. The ancient city ordinances of London abound in stringent
lire regulations. None of them, however, were more effective than the " cover-
. fire" deII, which as far back as the lime of King Alfred was rung in certain
S laces in England. William's edict rendered compulsory an ancient custom.
ut it was a wise legislative act, and not a bit of arbitrary tyranny. We find
plenty of early traces of the custom or its equivalent, as, for instance, the
Mowing of a horn at the market-place, in Continental Europe.
It is a curious instance of the conservative tendency of ihe rural mind in
England that the custom of ringing the curlew should have so long survived
its orinnaJ ligiiifiouice.
CurKw M still religioiwtj tolled in many hundreds of towns and villages.
210 HANDY-BOOfC OF
either all the year round, or — which is still more usual — from September to
April. No part of the kingdom can claim it as a special proof of its adhe-
rence to a primitive simplicjl; . Geographically considered, its survivals are b«
no means uninstiuclive. ll lolls Trom the Isle of Wight in the south, through
Kent and Surrey, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincoln, York, Durham, and
Northumberland, and even across the border, in the Scotch lowlands. And
it can be traced again through Cumberland and Lancashire, Cheshire, Derby-
shire, Stafford, Notts, Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Hertford-
shire, Monmouthshire, down to Devon and Dorset. It is, in short, perpetu-
ated all over the kingdom. Here and there it has become identified with
local customs. At Newcastle, until it was discontinued, it was the signal for
shutting the shops. At Durham, again (where it is tolled at nine o'cTock), it
heralds the closing of the college gates ; while in many Cheshire and York-
shire villages it has for centuries warned farmers to lock up their cattle for the
night. The almost universal hour at which it is tolled is eight o'clock in the
evening, although here and there it is rung instead at seven and nine o'clock.
In some places, too, there is a morning curfew, a curious variation. At Stow,
for instance, it is, or was lately, rung as early as four a.m., and at Tamworth
at the more reasonable hour of six. At Waltham in the Wolds, again, a
grateful farmer, who was lost in the snow and found his way home 1^ its
sound, left a field tu endow a tive-o'clock curfew forever.
The facts, indeed, plainly show that the custom has kept Its hold on the
Eopular sympathies through all the ages. The Pilgrims and the Puritans
rought it over with them to New England, where the curfew bell is still rung
in many towns and villages. In the " Bells of Lynn," Longfellow appeals to
the " curfew of the setting sun" as heard at Nahant ; and other allusions arc
freely found in our native poets.
Ctupldor. It has been suggested that this word was invented by the
manufacturers of a new style of^spiltoon who are credited with a classic wit.
The Latin verb cuspida means to sharpen, to point, and seems to give no clue
to cuspidor. But there is a noun mspis from the same root, which means a
sharp-pointed weapon, a lance, a spit ; and here we find the punning origin
of the word : thus, cuipii, a spit ; cuspido, the thing which points the spit.
This seems rather far fetched, the more so that there is a Portuguese verb
(uspir, to Spit, and the nouns from the same toot are cuipo. spittle ; cuspidor, a
spitler, a spitting man ; and ruipidrira, spitting-box. The Spanish equivalent
is acupidor, a spitting man. But both the Spanish and the Portuguese words
must be referred to the I^tin conspueri, to spit.
Cat on«'B Btlok, to make ofi; to leave, to escape. This common ex-
pression is thought to refer to the cutting of a staff from a hedge or tree on
the occasion of a journey. A Latin equivalent is the "Colliee sarcinulas"
("Collect the bags") of Juvenal, while a curious though accidental parallel
occurs in Zechariah zi. 10, where the cutting of a stick is described as the
symbol of breaking a friendly covenant. The phrase ii
ously elaborated into " to amputate one's mahogany."
" Cm down ibt bloody horde I"
Cried Mugher of ihc iword
" Thii conduct would dijgnice tB-g blukainan
Of hii riiDoui baHlc-l>Ud«
Wu to cut fan own itick froin ihc Shunon ih'
:r their shoulders.
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
D.
D, the fourth letter of the English, as of the Latin, Greek, and PhDcnician
alphabets, — the delta of the Greeks, the daleth. " door," of the Phofnicians. As
the inilial of the Latin denaiius, the original name also of the English penny, </.
(lower-case and almost invariably in italic) is used as the sign fur penny or
pence ; /.r.. ^ i. J., = pounds, shillings, and pence. The triangular shape
of the Greek capital & gained the name of delta for many triangular spaces
or surfaces, and especially for triangular islands or alluvial tracts enclosed
within the diverging branches of a river, as the Delta of the Nile, etc
Dafgw Soene in the HouM of Commons. During the French Revo-
lution, Burke created a dire sensation by suddenly throwing a dagger upon
the floor of the House of Commons, vociferating, "There is French frater-
nity for you 1 Such is th« poniard which French Jacobins would plunge in
the heart of our sovereign. This theatrical exhibition startled the House
for a moment, then raised a litter, which expanded into a roar when Sheridan
said, "The gentleman has brought his knife with him ; but ■uiheri't IhcfurkV
Twiss, in his " Life of Lord Eldon," says that '■ The dagger had been sent to
a manufacturer at Birmingham as a patleYn, with an order to make a large
quantity like it. At that time the order seemed so suspicious thai, iniitead
of executing it, he came to London and called on my father al the Secretary
of State's office to inform him of it and ask his advice, and he left the pat-
tern with him. Just after, Mr. Burke called, on his way to the House of
Commons, and upon my father mentioning the subject lo him, he borrowed
the dagger to show in the House. They walked down to the House tt^ether,
and when Mr. Burke had made his speech, my father took the dagger again
and kept it as a curiosity."
Dago- This word, now generally applied to Italians all over the United
States, origtruted in Louisiana, where it at first denoted people of Spanish
birth or parentage, but was gradually extended so as to appW to Italians and
Portuguese also. It is undoubtedly a corruption of Diego (James), a common
name among Spaniards, San Diego being thetr patron saint.
Hy dear Copperfield, the daisies of the field ai
DuoD viih Udi prake, a
WUinKto
'oimd, ud ja ■Umld id uiike,
■dIi, and hsluig dulilu.
HANDY-BOOK OF
So mumh wl
Tiu ParfU hlanJ, Cmo vii.
DIatUlAcL Robert Hall, according to his biographer, Cireg-
orf, Dcin^ once asked for a glass of brandy and water, indignanlly replied,
"Call things by their Tight names! Glass of brandy and walei 1 That la the
current, but not the appropriaie name ; ask fur a glass of liquid fire and dis-
tilled damnation !" Was he thinking of Pythagoras, of whom Diogenes Laer-
lius said, " He calls drunkenness an expression identical with ruin" t Or ol
Cyril Toumeur in " The Revenger's Tragedy" f
A dnmlord cl*sp Ills (eelh lad not imdo 'em
To luflcr wet dKmnaUoii lo nin tlirough 'cm.
DanuMd to VTeilasUng fiime. In Pope's " Essay on Man," Epistle
it., are the much-quoted liives, —
U puis ullun th«, Ihink how Buod diined
Or, ravBh«l with Lhc whiHhiu of a name,
Si^ CroDiwd], damned lo ev^uiing fame I
The third line is taken from Cowper's rendition of a line in Virgil,
Chuined with the fooluh whJHtlIng of h name,
Gtsr^la, Book li.
AU cnwd who rbremiw miy be dunned to Tune.
It may also be found in Savage :
w, thoiq[h Ute, redeem ihy iudh
And ^or^i
'hat elK Is damned to
Characltro/ Fiattf
Danes. To danoa attandauoa, lu wall upon another, to be at his beck
and call, to be servile or unduly obsequious. The reference is to the ancient
custom at marriages when the bride was forced to dance with all who asked
her : "Then must the poore btyde kepe foots with all dauncers, and refuse
none, how scabbed, foule. droncken, rude, and shameless soever he be"
(Chbisi'EN : Slate of Matrimony, 1543).
I had Ihou^
Tliey bad parted » much faoneitv among them
(Ai leui, «>od mnnnenl k> not thix to nilTer
A^nanofhlapUice, and BO near our favor,
To dance attendance on their lordfUp'i pleaiura.
Mnry VItl.,Ka.y.,^.t.
"To lead one a |iretiy dance," said especially of a Biddy or uncongenial
wife, lo make one enjoy what is known as "a patrol ana monkey lime,'— the
allusion being to the complicated dances of the past, when alt fallowed the
leader through a mate of evolutions. I'o make another dance lo one's music
or at one's bidding, meaning to have him under your thumb, is a reference to
the myths and legends of magic rods or musical msttumenls, which set all the
bystanders or listeners to dancing whether they wished it or not. It is said
that shortly before Bismarck's retirement, the Emperor William II. found him
in the royal nursery fiddling with great glee, while the tiltle princes and prin-
cesses were dancing. " That is the fourth generation of Hohenzollems whom
you have made dance to your music," was William's dry commenL
Danoe of Torcbea, a dance performed at the royal palace in Berlin on all
weddings in the royal family of Prussia, the torch-bearers being the ministers
of slate and the highest court ihargli. Here is a description of the dance as
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 213
perloTmed >t Ihe marriage feativities of the Piince of Prutsia with the Prin-
cess of Bavaria, December 1, iSai. The musicians having first been placed on
thestageof solid silver, in the White Hall, the newly- married pair, preceded by
ail lieutenant-generals and six ministers of stale, two by two, all holding while
torches, made (he lour of the hall, saluting the company as they went The
princess then gave her hand to the king or emperor, the prince to the queen.
the king lo the queen -mother, and the reigning queen to Prince Henry, and
the princes and princesses following, led up the dance in like professional
manner. Then followed another curious ceremony, the distribution among
the guests of the bride's garter. Of course Ibe real garter is usually not
sufficient 10 give more than a shred of a fibre of the material composing
the garter, and instead of it, pieces of silk, three inches long, woven in the
colors of the bride's hose, stamped with her monogram and a crown and
iringed with silver, are distributed.
Dantdug Amj* bis over. A popular locution, meaning that youlh and its
follies and pleasures are over. It occurs in Beaumont and Fletcher and in
Shakespeare :
My danclnf day* an done.
'nu Sciv'JuI LaJj, Ad v., Sc. 3.
" '^ *" Rmo tnJJmllil, An. 1., Sc. 5.
Dan not do an 111 tblng. Plutarch, in his essay " Of Bashfulness," tells
Dl that Xenophanes said, " I confess myself the greatest coward in the world,
for I dare not do an ill diing." Was this in Macbeth's mind when he said
(Act i., Sc 7),—
E du« do all (hat Duy becomfi ■ mao ; .
and agun, in Act iii., Sc. 4, addressing Banquo's Ghost, —
Whu miD dart, I dare ;
Apprfwcb Ihou like the ntgwA RiisiiMn bear,
llie armed ihiiiiicem. or iGe Hyrcui ligCT,
Take any ituipc but ihu, and my firm aerva
Shall never trenible.
Pope has a fine line in his translation of the " Odyssey" (Bk. ii., I. 305),—
And whet he greatly thought, he aobly dared j
which Lowell has imitated:
And what (hey dan 10 dream of, dare lo do.
CtmM.mcra>iMt Odt.
Dara, To taka a. A colloquial expression, meaning to receive a challenge
without accepting It, still surviving in the Middle Stales, and locally in other
parts of the United Slates and in England, It has good literary authority at
Its back, as the verb to dare, or lo give the dare, in the sense of to challenge.
ot ccABOtiant with ibe hooor of tucb a
m anodwr aiptriiu hero he had (bughi
um to " tlve ■ i6m" to ib« ™ioc- of
ai4 HANDV-BOOIC Ofi
Dark Ages, a vague and misleading title applied to those ages of which
Coleridge hapiitly says thai we arc in the dark. Though the degtee or intelli-
gence wa« differenl at diflcrcnt points of the Middle Ages, no one who has
studied (hat epuch with any attention could assert that there was thionghout
Western Europe a dead level either of intellectual life ot of the absence of
inlellectnal life in an; given century.
He (Tiylar] Hill calli the MIiUIe Ago. dimD( which noHy ill the invenliain wid tocwl
imrilutxpna whereby we yet live as civiliicd iqenwaeoHguuiied Drpcifected^H MUlenniuni of
DuluaB on the tkith of cenaib IdB£ put Pedams, who reckoned everything bunD became
Chrytolorti had n« ya tome, uid no Greek roou grew Ihete.—CAiLvu, on Ttfltt', Smrvn
a/ GfrmaK Pnlr J, oriiitiMy publiihed in 1B31.
Dark borae, an unforeseen or compromise candiilate in a political contesL
The term is borrowed from the turC There is a custom among racing-men
of training a horse in secret, or " keeping him dark," so that his powers map
be unknown to the betting world until the very dap of the race. Hence
jockeys frequently say that "the dark horse will win the race." It is not a
mr cry from ]ockeydom to the world of politics.
The hilt Ehvorile wu never heard of: the second favorite waa never Ktn after the dia-
laiKe poet, all the len-io^ne* weit in the reu-, and a dark horte which had never been
thouglil of niahed paH the grand-itand jn eweeping triuloph.— DlutAEU : Thj YouMg Dukt.
Darkaat hour U jnat before dairn, an old English proverb which ex-
presses more poetically the homelier adages, " When things are at the worst
they soonest mend," " When bale is highest, boot is nighest," "The longest
day will have an end," "After a storm comes a calm," and finds an equiva-
lent in other languages, as In French, " By dint of going wrong all will come
right ;" in Italian, ■•III ij the eve of well;" in Persian, " It is at the narrowest
part of the defile thai the valley begins to open," and in Hebrew, " When the
Ule of bricks is doubled, Moses comes." That the nights, as a rule, are
darkest just before dawn is doubtless true, for the moon has then reached far
on to the western horizon, while the sun is still below the eastern horizon.
Cowper says, —
Be we at deipente aiepi : the darkcH da*.
Live till lo-momw. wiU have put away.
-nu NndUa Alarm.
And Shakespeare, —
Time And (be hour nuu Ihrougb the rouaheai day.
^if«rr:t,Acti., Sc. 3.
Similar testimonies to the curative power of time abound in literature.
DarkneM vlaible. Milton successfully uses a daring phrase in "Para>
dise Lost" (Bk. i., 1. 6z),—
Yet fram IhoH flamei
No ligbt, but nther duVnta viiible.
This has been often imitated, notably by Browning:
The evU ii duU, ia noiiglH, i« sitence implyuig touad.
Tbfophile de Viau. a contemporary of Milton, has the line, —
C One hears nothing but silence, one si
close a parallel to the Millonic phrase
coincidence.
Daab It I This expletive, which looks as if it might be a fellow -euphemism
with blank it, or a substitute for it, literally means Confound it I from the
now obsolescent sense of to dash — to confound, to abash. The interjection
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Tlui ruliih hii own neu.
Th. Onl anJ Iki NifkiiiiiaU.
The verb wis still u»cd in this sense in (he time of Pope :
Dash thv proud uoena in his nlded cir,
Imilali^ ^H*r»». II., i. lOT.
Oaapbio of France. This tide was given lu the eldest son of the King
<rf France under the Valois and Bourljon dynasties. The Counts of Ailjon
and Grenoble assumed the title of Counts of Vienne, of whom Guy VIII. la
said to have been sumamed Le Dauphin, because he wore a dolphin as an
embtcni on his helmet or shield. The surname remained to his descendants,
who vere styled Dauphins, and the country which they governed was called
Daupbini. Humbert U. de la Tout de Pisa, the last of the Dauphin dynasty,
gave uu his sovereignty by treaty to King Philippe de Valois in 1349. From
that lime the eldest son of the King of France was styled Dauphin. Since
the dethronement of the elder bianch of the Bourbons in 1S30 the title of
Dauphin has been disused. The last who bore it was the Duke of Angnu-
Ifme, son of Charles X.
Day aftex the faii, an English proverbial ei|)re$sion (recorded by Hey-
wood, "Proverbs," Pan I., ch. viii.), mcanine too late.- Collins, the poet, was
once in love, and as the lady was a day older than himself, he used to say,
jestingly, that " he came into the world a day after the fair."
Day. Better the da; better the deed, an English proverb, finding it
analogue in (he French " Bon jour, bon ceuvre," or less concisely, " Aux ban
jours lea bonnes Auvres." The evident meaning is that the goodness of
5ood deed is enhanced by its being done on a good day, — i.i., a Sunday 01
oly day. But it is often jestingly perverted to mean that a bad or question
>n application for discharge out of custody of a prisoner taken on a Sunday :
"The judges of the Common Fleas are of another opinion, but I cannot
satisfy myself with their reasons. I think the better day the be(ter deed."
Uatthew Henry, a pruneunred Sabbatarian, paraphrases the proverb, "The
better day, the worse deed," in his Commentaries: Genesis iii.
D», I have loet a (1., " Diem perdidi I"). This was the exclamation of
the Emperoi Titus (known to his admirers as the "Delight of Mankind"),
which, Suetonius tells us, was made one night at supper, on reflecting that he
had done nothing for any one that day.
S^a\N:cU Tkm^ldt. 11., I. ».
In the preface to Nichol's work on " Autographs," among other albums
noticed by him as being in the British Museum is that of David Krieg, with
Jacob Bobart's autograph and the verses, —
** Think (Hut day lost wbiHC docendiDg lun
Bobart died about 1736. He was a son of the celebrated botanist of that
name. But the quotation-marks In which the lines are enclosed indicate that
they were copied and not original. In Staniford's " Art of Reading," third
HANDY-BOOK OF
Aotlhy fclEoD done.
The precept of Pliny, " Nulla dies sine linea" (" No day without a line"),
applies the ume sentiment to literary workers. Chamroct gays, "The most
completely lost of all days is that on which one has not laughed."
Dead num. or Dead marino, a colloquialism for an empty bottle, pos-
sibly in humorous tecoenilion of the (act thai the spirits have departed. But
the French also have the same phrase, un corfs mori, a dead body, for which
there can be no punning pretext. A ^muos old drinking-song has this
Down amcing the dead nun In ^im lie.
"What does your Highness mean by maiinef" was the slightly indigna...
query. " I mean by marine," replied the prince, with ready tact and courtesy,
"a good fellow who has done his duly and is prepared to do it again."
Dead IBMI'b shOM, a common locution for property which can unly be
claimed after the present owner's death. Waiting for dead men's shoes means
looking forward for an inheritance.
I fml^ a common metaphor for hollow and unsatisfactory
pleasures. The refeience is to the apple of Sodum, the fiimiliar name of a
■pedes of yellow fruit which grows on the borders of the Dead Sea. It is
extremely beautifnl (o the eye, but bitter to the tasle and full of small black
grains, not unlike ashes. Hence a wide-spread, though erroneous, belief that
nothing can flourish in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, a belief at least as
ancient as Tacitus r " Whatever the earth produces, whether by the prolific
vigor of nature or the cultivation of man, nothing ripens lo perfection. The
herbage may shoot up and the trees may put forth their blossoms \ they mav
even attain the usual appearance of maturity, but, with this florid outside, ail
within turns black and moulders into dosL" {History, v. 7.)
Cncdilv they plucked
Tbe fruiLaEC, falrlD ilghL, like that which grew
K«u that ^lummoutuUcc where Sodom unicd;
DecdvEd ; iliey fond^ ihinkin); la allay
Cbewed biitei uhe>, wh'lch Ih' oflcndtd lane
Wilh Bpoltering naiie rejecled.
Miltoh: ParaAiaLnl.
Like 10 the ippla on tb* Deod-Sea thore.
All aiba U> the uue,
Btroh: CkOd4H»rtld.XA.y^
Like Dad-Sea Itniu that lempt the e^
But turn (o aahet on tbc lipl.
Moona: Z*/ii^«M. Thi Fin-Wmkifftn.
isibly de-
...CKV^IC
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
t aUM.—Ya, Railiu [I
Deatli. An inieresting collection might be made of the eupheniisms which
poets and philosophers have invented to cover up the ugly fact of death.
"Jam viiissc" (" He has lived"), aaid Cicero. And another favuiite Koman
Enrase of unknown parentage was ■' Abiit ad plures" or " ad majores" (" He
as gone to the majority"). {See MAJORITY.) " Not lost, but gone before,"
vas Seneca's phrase, which has been transferred literally by Matthew Henry
to his "Commentaries; Matthew ii.," and adopted with (light change 1^
Samuel Rc^rs :
TboK (biLt be loved to long and sea do iqare,
Lov«d and uill lovet, — not dead, bul gone WDre,—
He ntfaen rouikd bim.
So Thackeray in the " Roundabout Papera :"
Nancy Priest Wakefield has,—
K IQ the fiuiha aide.
The idea of a river it, of course, a survival of the pagan myth of the river
Styx, which divided the dead from the living, — " He has crossed the Styx"
being another famous classical euphemism. Bunyan adapts the old myth to
Christian uses when he makes his Pilgrim cross the river. Horace calls
death the supreme journey, "supremum iter" {Cannina, It., xvii.) ; and the
general idea of journeying hence is expressed in the following locutions from
various sources, sacred and profane :
To dxput.—PiUl^. i. >3.
To go hence ud be do aott.—Pialm iiiii. 13.
1 fball eo the ny wbcDci I thall sot msm.— /oJ ivl. «.
Nkmlit. "" ""^ ™ " uni 00 V er . hak u.
Tbdr going htnce.—SKAKRsrKAas: KiMf Ltar.
"Slept with his fathers" occurs thirty-five times in the Old Testament.
The comparison of sleep with death is, in fact, a universal one from its very
obviousness. " To fall asleep," " to fall on sleep," is frequently met with in
the New Testament " Longa quies et ferreus somnus," says Virgil. Here
are a handful of similar examples from the moderns :
Dotb ii u eunul sleep.— /•wrt^ruHi nkickjmtfk Fsiieht caHadldrHattd naatlu
Coogk"
ai8 HANDY-BOOK OF
And here, grouped ir^elher, are a few miscellaneous euphemisms ;
Pui off tbii ubemade.— 3 P,l. 1. 14.
ShuSnl off Ihli mortid coil.— Shjikbspuh : Hamlti.
Tht ufe ton. ibc peaceful, lilent shotc.— SoAH JlMTHs.
[did the lilenl Umd.— J. C. VON Saus.
Fleetli u ■ ibxlow.— y^ liv. >.
Death b the •hadow of Ute.-^TwHVWH ; LtM mad Dtalk.
Fufferc mb umbnu [10 flee under the ihadDmJ — ViirciL.
The idea of Ihe equality of death, 11 may here be inteijected, is c
property. A few instances will suffice :
it Quimt, II,, Ciuila I., 59.
The pallu of glory lead b
ullatbe
gravt.-
-Giuiy: EUi
i.u. equals
To goo
daiMJba
d, thee
omiroD In of
But 10 go on with our e
«mpl« =
That dari. inn, the g™»=.
-Sc™>
■.Ltrd^lk.!.!.,,'
Tl« dark hou«.-M*<:*u
.ijt:£.
u^t.
llK long home.— £[c/. xi
Gathered UDiohla people.
-C«..
lix. 33.
Cave up the gfaoit —Jahn
».,JO.
Ai the aowei or the giui
helhail
paaiao
*y.-/-««l
-/«*. X
Popular proverbs of
this s.
irt usually have
them,— *.^. ;
ToKmchiheteg.
To Uck the bucket.
To so'o kingdom come.
I grotesque 6ippancy about
To pau in your checki {a poker term).
It would seem that the Homeric phrase li " itoAj, which, with varit
inflections, occurs both in the " Iliad" and in the " Odyssey," is exactly equi'
lent to the English euphemism "if anything should happen to him, us
" Up the Home -throwed up the .ponge, yo.
" Thrown up (he tpooge T
■; Vee ; kicked Ihe WEo."
Why. pvd, he'i 1
" Yea, I underatand."
"Yea,— death hM."
Death, Call DO man happy tmtil hla. This sentence is said to have
been uttered by Solon to Crcesus. King of L^dia (Herodotus: Clh, 32),
which CrtBsua repeated when he was on the funeral pyre (S7), and Iherel^
Coogk"
LITERARY CVklOSlTlES.
Death, One of the ne«r torrOTs o£ Arbuthnot writine to
date January 13, 173J, apropos of the dealh of [heit mutual Iriend Gay, says,
" Curll (who is one of Ihe new leiiors of dealh) has been writing letters to
everybody for memoirs of his Jife." Cuill was in the habil of issuing catch-
penny " Uvea" or " Remains" on the decease of any eminent person. The
phrase was resurrected or hit upon independently by Sir Charles Wetherell at
a banquet given by the Benchers of the Inner Temple to the King of Holland.
In describing the guests, he said of I^rd CamplJell, author of '-The Lives of
the Chancellors." " Then there is our noble and biographical friend who has
added a new terror to death" (so quoted in Lord St, Leonard's printed Cor.
rections to Campbell's '-Uvcs," 1869). Curiously enough, Campbell (vol. vii.
p. 163) ascribes the phrase to Brougham ; "Brougham delivered a very warm
panegyric upon the ex-chancellor, and expressed a hope that he would malte
a good end. although to an expiring chancellor dealh was now armed with a
new terror." Brougham must have been plagiarizing, for he himself ascribed
the Kutf to WelherelT. A more complimentary phrase is allributed to Erskine.
"My lord," said Dr. Parr to Erskine, whose conversation had delighted him,
"should you die first, I mean to write your epitaph." " Dr. Parr," was the
reply, " it is a temptation to commit suicide,"
Death or OIOT7, the motto of an English regiment, the Seventeenth Lan-
cers. On the saddle-ckiths and sabre-laches of its officers is borne the pirat-
teal symbol of a skull and cross-bones, w
one of the German campaigns of
IS surprised by a sudden attack of French cavalry. It was early n!
ing, and the men were engaged in erooming their horses. There was no time
to saddle them. Mounting bareback at a moment's notice, the regiment
charged and repulsed the enemy, the colonel leading the onset with the cry,
" Death or glory 1" Then it was they assumed the motto and symbol. The
regiment look part in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, and on
their colors are the names " Alma," " Balaklava," " Inkerman," " Sevastopol."
Thera il no doth t Whal >«iiii hi i> Innution :
Thii UTe t£ monil brsih
'whwpoiui we «U Duih!^
The last line is a reminiscence of the Ijlin phrase "Mors ianua vit«"
("Life is the gate of Death"). A poem persistently attributed to Bulwer
Lytton, but really written by J. U McCreery and first published in Arlhut't
litmt Magwtint for July, 1S63, begins as follows :
TlKTC b no Death I The am go down
They •hin'^ fo. ™m^ "°"™
In these extracts we have the Christian view of death as the beginning of
immortality. The more subtle and mystic view of the Oriental dreamers is
faithfully mirrtired in Emerson's " Brahma :"
If the TTd tUyer think he aUy«^
lliey know am well
I to^, and p<u
;i:,vG00gk"
aiO HANDY-BOOf! OF
The caulious and tenlilive oullook of pagan philosophy finds expression in a
fr^ment a( Euripides quoted by Diogenes Laertius ;
Who knows bul thu Ihis life is TcaUy death.
That was a very comfortable phase of mind into which Thales, one of the
Seven Wise Men of Greece, had argued himself. He held thai there was no
diHerence between life and death. " Why, then," said a friend, " do you nol
die T' " Because it ifofs make no difference."
Ii a iho^Lvuid dealhs in fcAiJiig or
of Shakespeare ;
' tlmca before thdt deaifa ;
mbered Massinger :
Though this in turn is imitated Ttoid the more appalling
Death hub tea ihouund Hvenl doon
To lei out IkTe.
Wbbstbh: Datitu iif Mu/fi.
Beaumont and Fletcher are more modest even than Massinger :
Death b«h » muy ionn la Let oul life.
Cmlama/lkt Cimnlry, Act ii., Sc ».
Debt to Nature. This euphemism for death is very common on the tomb-
stones of the early part of this century. An early appearance in literature is
in Francis Quarles ;
The slender debt lo Nulurr'j quickly paid,
LHlchUEed, perchance, with Ereater eav (ban made.
EmbUm., Book ii.
Fuller has words nearly similar in his sermon •' Life out of Death :" " What
is thy disease, — a consumpiion ? indeed a certain messenger of death : but
know, that of all the bailiffs sent to ariest us for the debt of nature, none
useth his prisoners with more civility and courlesie." Gay caught a faint echo
of the sentiment, and annexed it lo Macheath's song before the noble captain
was about lo go to Tyburn :
.thel..ven.
, _ . . _.d..lenitleil.
diimayed, for deal' ' ' '
DAdiofttloiis. The practice of dedicating books is obsolescent. It has
now little meaning ; at best it is only a tribute of respect or affection either lo
a private friend or a public character. In its origin il meant far mote Ihaii
this. When readers were few, writers trusted to the patronage of some great
perton, and the dedication was the means of recommending a book to his
protection, or of expressing that gratitude which was a lively sense of lavors
to come. Antoine Furetiire, the French lexicographer, said that the inventor
of dedications must certainly have been a beggar; and Young agrees with
All «her tnda demud,— rene-maken beg :
tr ^mrtal Pttun, Sitiie 4, 1. 191
le charge is
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. aar
That inventor's name, however, is
Romans — Horace, Virgil, Cicero, _ .. ..__
sume friend or patron. He, in relurn, was expected tu render some equivalent
■ ■- irkind. The practice of Augustus (naturally a vi ' - j-j-
catee) was sometimes a little less than kind. If he thought the verses good,
he rewarded the writer ; if not, he returned the com|]liment made him with
some verses of his awn. He must have rated hia poetical powers very low !
With the revival of learning the practice ol dedications was revived. But
at Unt it does not seem that any interested motives underlay them. The
dedications of the great Aldus, (or example, in his iditiones prindpa of the
classics, are models of simplicity, dignity, and self-respect. Caxloii's are more
florid and eulogistic Thus, he addreyses the Duchess of Somerset as " right
noble pnyssant and excellent pryiicesse my redoubted lady my tady Margarete
duchesse of Somercete, moder unto our naturel and soverayn lord and most
crysten Kynge henry ye seuenlh."
Bui those were the days when royalty and nobility commanded adulation,
which was given and received with a simple and touching faith on both sides.
Many authors, especially in Spain and in Italy, showed that they were not in
search of treasures, this side of heaven at least, by dedicaline their l>ooks to
the Almighty or some spedal member of the Trinity, or to the Virgin Mary
or a patron sainL This example was sparingly imitated in England, the most
notable instance being thai of James I., who dedicated a book (his answer to
Conrad Vorslius's treatise on the nature and attributes of God) tu our Saviour
in the fallowing terms ;
To Hx Honour al our Lord and SivJDur Te«u Cfaibl ihe Elcina] Sonne of At Eternal
Fllher (be oncly »GANePDI10I. Medialour und Rrcoociler sT Mankind, [n ligce of
Tlianltcfulnai, Hit moil tavmble and mctt obliged Servant, jamo, by iht Grace c? God.
KinC of Grcuc Britaiw, Franco and iRlaod, Defender of the Faith, Doelh dedicate and
There is an odd story that the printer, knowing the chronic impecuniosily
of the monarch, reftised to print his book unless he first got his money down.
He had been less cautious, perhaps, if some opulent earthly magii.tte had be;n
chosen as the patron.
Gradually the advantages to lie gained by persistent flattery of the great
and the wealthy appealed to the business aide of the great poetic heart
Rich and titled fools were pleased to earn the fame of a Mzcenas, and will-
ingly paid the trumpeter of their virtues, though rather according to the loud-
instrument were gold or brass. Not always, however. For when Arioslo
rang a blast in honor of Cardinal Ippolite of Este on the same horn which
had produced the golden melodies of his "Orlando Furioso," and hastened
to lay the book and the dedication at his patron's feet, the only reward he got
was the slighting query, " Dove diavolo, Messer Ludovico, avete pigliato tante
coglonierer" ("Where in the devil, Messer Ludovico, did you pick up so
much rubbish V) Ariosto had hts revenge, indeed. The cardinal's query
has surTived, its winged words have borne his name down to the contempt of
posterity as a mean and stingy soul who had no relish for the good, the true,
and the beautiful. Perhaps be saw the great truth which Bishop Hurd after-
wards emphasized when he likened authors to the architect of the tower of
Pharos, who inscribed his name on the marble, but had it encrusted over with
stucco, and on that stucco placed the name of the reigning prince.
Sometimes patrons became active seekers for dedicatory tally in lieu of
passive recipients. Erasmus, in his " Praise of Folly," is not unduly severe
upon certain "seemingly great and wise men, who, with a new-laahioncd
modesty, employ some paltry orator or scribbling poet to flatter them with
19»
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3»Z HANDY-BOOK OF
lies and shams, and yel the persons thus extolled shall bristle up and pea-
cock-like bespread their plumes, while the impudeni parasite magnifies the
pour wretch lo the skies, and proposes him as complete pattern of all virtues,
from each of which he is yet as far distant as heaven itself from hell."
Oldmixon, complaining of the same thing, notes as a further reason for
annoyance that (his practice led to a strange choice of patrons, without regard
to their character or capacity. Ttius, " we often find a Discourse of Politicks
addressed to a Fnx-hunter. a Treatise of Gardening lo a Citizen of London, a
piece of Divinity to a General of the Army, a Poem to a Judge, and a Play
to a Stockjobber." James I., according to his own account in (he dedication
of his " Meditation on the 1 Jird's Prayer," made a great point of the appro-
priateness of his choice. For this present work he can find no one more fit
than the Duke of Buckingham ; " For it is made upon a very short and plaine
prayer, and therefore (he fitter for a courtier : For courtiers, for the must
pari, are thought neither to have list nor leesure to say long prayers, liking
best <Burli mtise and im^ diimr. But (o confess the truth now in earnest, it
is the fitter for you tha( it is both short and plaine."
So Erasmus ingeniously found something apposite in dedicating his
" Praise of Folly" to Sir lliomas More ; " Huw I what maggot, say you. put
this in your head? Why, the first hint, sir, was your own surname of More,
which comes as near the literal sound of the word [/"-f)''!] as you yourself
are distant from the signification of it, and that, in all men's judgments, is
vastly wide."
In spite of protest and example, however, the slavish adulation of seven-
teen (h-century dedications, especially after the period of the Restoration,
cannot be looked back upon without shame and astonishment. Even so
fine a gentleman as John Evetyn, dedicating a translation of Frearl's book on
architecture to Charles II, (1664)1 indulges in a stream of outrageous rhap-
sody, in the course of which he likens the Merry Monarch to "the Divine
Architect," informs him that he was "designed of God for a blessing lo
this nation," and predicts Ihat his name " will be famous to posterity, and
when those materials fail, the benefits that are engraven in our hearts will
outlast those of marble."
- - o task by Samuel
_ . . ^ ^ raples among his
predecessors or companions amone his contemporaries, the sturdy old moralist
msists that " in the meanness and servility of hyperliolical adulation I know
not whether since the days in which (he Roman emperors were deified he has
ever been equalled, except by Aphra Hehn in an address to Eleanor Gwyn."
Here is the concluding portion of (he dedicadon (o "The Indian Emperor"
addressed (0 Anne, Duchess of Monmou(h :
round (be wny by ad untainird preKrvadon of your honour 10 make ihar peruhable good nioR
bming: And if UMuiy. Iik« wines, could be prqervrd by bting mined and embodied by oi ben
of their own unim. then your Grace's would be immonaf, since no pan o! Enrope can
alTcvd a parallel 10 your noble lord in mascuUne beauty and in goodlineu of shape. To receive
the blessiEWi and prayejl of mankind you peed only to be seen tojfelhei : We ace ready to
ctmclude that ycHj are a pur of angelt Hmf below to make vinue amiable in your penons or to
e than a match for Dryden
elf dilTen only from ihe divine pann In thia 1
if vou. whilst thev accept the will alone. , . .
Ml tongue, ud the gnat-
Google
LITER A R Y CURIOSITIES. 3 33
diuffected cui Aude do uuk or rcAsoD to wuh you leu.
It was in ridicule of this and similar adulations al ihe king's misiress that
Wfcherley dedicated his " Plain Dealer" to one Mother B — -— , a famous (or
infamous) woman of the ta»a
The author was often put lo strange shifls if he quarrelled with his
patron, or, especially, if that patron came to public grief while the work was
passing through the press. The squally times of the Revolution made it an
especially difficult task for Ihe time-server to trim his sails. Samuel Fepys
has a delightful passage in his Diary where he pictures himself making his
way with all haste to St. Paul's Church-yaiil, " to cause the title of my Eng-
lish ■ Mare Clausum' lo be changed, and the new title, dedicated to the king,
to be put to it, because I am ashamed lo have the other seen dedicated to
the Commonweal I h." Bishop Walton was equally astute, but, as befitted his
exalted tank in the Church, was betrayed into ni> unscenily or undignified
haste. His Polyglot Bible had been dedicated to Croniwell. When Charles
II. ascsuded the throne, the praises of Ihe grateful author were calmly and
quietly transferred to the ruling sovereign.
As authors grew more slavish, they exacted a higher price for selling them-
selves into bondage. Whereas literary men of the Elizabethan era had been
glad to get two pounds for a dedication, the booktneu of the Restoration
expected and received from twenty to fifty guineas, and the dramatists from
five to twenty guineas, according to the rank and liberality of the patron.
Nay, cunning plans were resorted to fur multiplying patrons and fees alike,
by aSxing a different dedication to every division of the work. So Thomson's
"Season^' has a dedication for each Season. A strange lack of business
acumen, to divide the year into seasons instead of months or days ! Almost
otw might suspect that he lived in (he epoch celebrated by Emerson :
Or ever lite wild Time coiMd iDcir
Young's " Nighl Thou[;hts," again, had a dedication for seven out of Ihe
nine Nights. This was piling it on. Nevertheless it was aboveboard. What
shall we say of one Thomas Jordan, who prefixed hi^h-flown iledications lo
his books with blanks for Ihe name, the blanks bemg separately and sur.
replitiously filled in by a hand-press, so that there was a special dedicatee for
every copy and multitudinous fees for the whole edition i Nay, it is recorded
that Mr. Jordan found an avatar in very recent years, — thai a decade or so
a^o a Berlin sharper dedii^led two thousand copies of an historical compila-
tion to as many diSerent tradesmen, sent each his special copy, and had no
trouble in collecting a small sum from each.
Pope ttas the credit of having put an end to Ihe old abject dedication and
inaugurated a better reign ; but it should not be lorgotten that Pope had
found a more profitable system of patronage, by getting lordly and wealthy
subscrit)ers for his bonks, who helped him to build up his Twickenham House
and his Grotto, lo lay out his Quincunx and plant his vines, — from which
palatial retiremenl he ever afterwards sneered at literary hacks and learned
want. Were Ihe subscriptions always voluntary ? We all remember Rogers's
joke when asked if he were reading the table of contents of a volume he held
In his hand: "No; Ihe table of discontents." showing the list of subscribers.
Nevertheless, the inde|>cndence of literature begins from Pope's time. Utway
bad formerly boasted thai he was the first to make an epistle dedicatory to his
bookseller, — adding that it was just, "for he paid honestly for (he copy."
Johnson subsetjuenlly gave his tribute to booksellers aa "generous, libera]
3^4 HANDY-BOOK OF
men," and Bosw«1l, in an oft-quoted passage, adds that "he considered them
as the true patrons oi lileralure,"— only a hair-trutli, aher all, Tor they caii
claim, and ihey pretend lo claim, no more than Olway's bookseller, — " to pay
honestly for the copy." The financial partner in an enterprise need not be
made ridiculous by the title of patron.
The revolution started by Pope was a ecadual one. Traces of the old
system still lingered in Sterne's time, to add point to the dedicatory jesl in
his " Tristram Shandy," where the accustomed page was left blank but for
the inscription " To Ik let or sold for fifty guineas. Indeed, so recently as
1S15 a Perthshire author, to a book that passed through at least three editions,
piefiied a dedication as grovelling and abject as the worst example in the very
worst periods of authorial servility ;
To the Right HmDnMe ihc Eari of BrHdilbanc. May >> pisiH your lonlship, wjih ovcr-
powcriAg Kncimvnu of the mosl profound humili^ 1 prostiMe myiclf ai your mblc feet,
while 1 offer 10 your iDrdihip'i hi^ coDftidfTAiion ihoK very feeble ttttempu 10 describe the
lumid eoiDIioM of heart-diilendiQf pride» atid with ferve«en( feeling of fralitude, 1 beg leave
10 acknowledge the honor 1 have to wrve ao noble a master, and the many advaolagei which
lihenlily. Tbal your lonWiip may long jhine with refuleeni briUiancy in the eullediuiion
(o whkb PiOvLdeoce haa raned you, and that your noble laniilv, like a bright conalcllation,
may diffiBe a splendor and glury through the high sphere of their Ulraclion, \i the fovenl
In losing their grossness dedicatioos have lost most of their picturesque
inleretL It is not often (hat a modern dedication arrests the attention. Yet
B inscribed to the Earl of Carlisle
from "his' obliged ward and affectionate kinsman, the author." This is the
gentleman who in the first edition of " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"
IS thus alluded to:
On one alone Apollo deigns 10 smile.
And crowns a new Roscommon in Cartisle-
But, alas 1 between the fast and the second edition the affectionate kinsmen
had fallen out. The new Roscommon was deposed from his pedestal and put
m the pillory :
The paralytic puling of Carbsie.
The inscription of "The Corsair" to Thomas Moore, of "The Prophecy of
Dante" lo the Countess of Guiccioli, and of " Sardanapalos" lo Goclhe, are
especially noteworthy among Byron's dedications for gallantry or dignified
courtesy. But the seventeen stanzas dedicating "Don Juan to Southey,
sUnias originailv suppressed, but now restored lo a place in Byron's works,
are thoroughly discreditable to his taste and his judgment
Shelley's poetical dedication of "The Revolt of Islam" lo his second wife,
Maiy Wollstonecraft Shelley, is a nobte bit of verse, and ranks with Brown-
ing's dedication of his " Men and Women" (" One Word More"), and Tenny.
son's inscription to the Queen, pre&jced to his " Idylls," as the linesl efforts of
*Jlis kind in the language.
Dickens was sumeiimes very happy, as in the dedication of "Master
Humphrey's Clock" lo the poet Rogers i
feeling, and to a man whose daily life {as all the woHd doei not know! Is one of active sympathy
with Hie poor and humblest of bis kind.
Bui there is something more than a mere well-turned complimeni in the
few lines which Sir William Napier prefixes to b»" History of the Peninsular
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 3*5
To Fitld-MuihoJ Ihe Duxi of Willthgtdti. Thn hiiKvy I dedicue lo ironr Ona
Lk^nv wen alLBched lo Czbkj.
There is a deep palhos in Sir William Stirling Maxurell's dedication of ihe
" Annals of the ArlisU of Spain :" " These pages,-which 1 had hoped 10 dedi-
cate lo my fallier, are now inscribed in affeclionale homage to his memory."
Equally pathetic, but too lone to quote enlire, is J. Stuart Mill's dedica-
tion of his " Liberty :" " To the belosred and deplored memory of her who was
the inspirer and in part the author of all that is best in my writings, — the
friend and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my strongest incite-
ment, and whose approbation was my chief reward."
Coventry Patmore's dedication of his " Angel in Ihe House" is the beat
thing in the book :
ThiiP«n
ii Inscribed
Thackeray dedicated his " Paris Sketch-Book" to a tailor who had lent blm
money, and " Pendennis" to Dr. John EUiotson, the Dr. Goodenougb of the
novel itself, who during its composition had saved the author from a serious
sickness, and " would take no other fee but thanks."
A notable dedication was that of Landor's " Hellenics" to Pope Pius IK.
in 1E47, inspired by the liberal and progressive attitude of that sovereign
during the first years of his reign. But Landor in succeeding years lost his
admiration for Pius.
I^utarch credits to Democrilus the saying, " Words are but the shadows of
actions" [Of the Training of Children). In closing a 'sermon on "Good
Works vs. Good Words" in the parish church of St Andrews, on August 35,
1871. Dean Stanley quoted Ihe following lines, explaining that it was doubtful
if they were written by one of the earliest deans of Westminster or by one of
the earliest Scotch Reformers :
Sly wcJ ii good, bol da well la better ;
Do well Kema ibe spunt, uy well is the Inter:
Say well b godly aod helps to ploue.
But do »ell i» godly lod pivet the world cue;
Then fill WFR dene, all were won, and gotteo were gftlo.
See, also. Actions sfeak louder than Words.
BoUbentM. The woman tliat deUberntM la lost This line occnri
in Addison's " Cato," Act iv., Sc 1 r
When lore once pleads admis^oD to our heart
^n >|dle of all Ihe vinue we on boui).
The womin tkat dellbenles i* lou.
(Dr. Holme* humorously paraphrases this, "The woman who eaWlatet is
226 HANDY-BOOK OF
lost," — explaining that Ihe iulkized word is ** a vulgarism of language which,
I grieve to say, is sometimes heaid even from female lips.") Perhaps Addison
had In mind the French proverb, " Chlleau qui parle, lemme qui icoute, sont
pr£ts i ae rendre*' (" The castle thai parleys and the wonian who listens are
ready to surrender").
Another change on Ihe same idea is thus rung by Lady Mary Worlley Mon-
tagu in her poem "The Lady's Resolve," written on a window-pane soon
after her marriage, in 17(3 :
While VAia CDquntH aflecl Ed b« pursued.
And ikiiak they're viiluoiu if niM grossly lewd.
Lei this ere« muLm be my virtue^ • guide,—
Id put flhe a xo blame ttut hat been tried.
This, however, is a bald plagiarism from Sir Thomas Overburr:
Thin i> th«r No I That fttiriv dolh deny
Wiihout denying. Thmhy ktpt ihey die
Safe even Jron hope- In furt (o blame it ihe
Which hiih withiHU conieni beoi only tried.
He come* uw nev tlul comei v> be denied.
A »v"'.". ys-
The line
She hair conienu trfao lilently denies,
which occurs in Dryden and Mulgrave's translation of Ovid's " Helen to
Paris," seems also to be a reminiscence of Overbury.
Delia Cruaoans, or D*lla Craaoa Scbool, the sobriquet given to a
certain school of English poelastets which, during the poetical interregnum
at the end of the eijnieenth century, persuaded the world fi>r a brief period
thai it had a divine right to rule. The school originated in 1784 in Florence.
An English bachelor of thirty, Robert Merry by name, whose pretensions (o
literature had secured his admission into the Italian Accademia della Crusca
(Academy of the Sieve), started a son of mutual admiration society among
the English residents uf Florence. They styled themselves the "Oziosi
(colloquially, the lazybones), and did their little best to earn the title. The
leading spirits, besides Merry himself, were Mrs. Pioui, who had been driven
from England by the impertinent and unmerited obloquy that followed her
second marriage, and Messrs. William Parsons and Bertie Greathead, one a
flirtatious bachelor. Ihe other the recenlly-vreddeit husband uf a beautiful
wife. They all wrote verses, largely consisting of an interchange of compli-
ments, and kept an album in which the verses were preserved. A selection
baptized Ihe "Arno Miscellany," and printed for private distribution, was
wilhin the circle uf that privacy received so rapturously that a subsequent col-
lection called "The Florence Miscellany" was kindly given to the worlil at
large in 1785. Here is a sample from a poem contributed by Mr. Merry at
his essay in a friendly competition to produce something " thai should excite
horror by description :"
Then laiHd hit doltful >Dice. Uke wdIvo Ibal roar
and so on. Such as it wan, however, the book proved a success. Readers
shuddered, laughed, or thrilled as they were bidden, the leading magazines
copied the gems of the collection, the eyes of liierary England were turned
upon Florence. A year or two later the society broke up, and its members
LITBRAHy CURIOSITIES. 217
reiuriied to their native shores. Here Mr. Mercy continued his literary labors
by publishing, Tune, 1787, a poem called " The Adieu and Recall to Love" in
the columns aiTkt World. The poem was signed '* Uella Crusca," partly as a
proud reminder of his connection with the Florentine Academy, partly, per-
haps, as a gentle hint that he strove to make his verses all wheat and iiochaK
This poem, which after all was not so very bad, but only strained and arti-
ficial, attracted the attention of Mrs. Hannah Cowley, famous as the author
of "The Belle's Stratagem," a play that deservedly retains its hold upon the
stage. She shall tell the story herself: "The beautiful lines of the ' Adieu
and Recall to Love' struck her so forcibly that, without rising from the table
at which she read, she answered them [the answer, it may be interjected, was
printed in Tht World under the signature Anna Matilda]. Delia Crusca's
elegant reply surprised her into another, and thus the correspondence most
unexpectedly became settled. Anna Matilda's share in it had little to boast ;
but she has one claim of which she is proud, that of having been the lirst to
point out the excellence of Uella Crusca, — if there can be merit in discerning
what is so very ubviuus." This explanation appears in tlie preface to her
collected poems. Now let us summon a witness on the other side. Mr.
William Gifford, of whom more anon, thus succinctly gives the story of Delia
Crusca's poetical liaison with Laura Matilda. ''While the epidemic malady
was spreading from fool to fool, Delia Crusca came over and immediately
announced himself by a sonnet to Love (it was not a sonnet, by the way],
Anna Matilda wrote an incomparable piece of nonsense in praise of it ; and
the two great luminaries of the age, as Mr. Bell calls them, fell desper-
ately in love with each other. From that period not a day passed without an
amatory epistle, fraught with lightning and thunder, tl quicquid kabent tela-
nan amvanttttaria cali. The fever turned to freniy, Laura, Maria, Carlos,
Orlando, Adelaide, and a thousand nameless names, caught the infection, and
from one end of the kingdom to another all was nonsense and Delia Crusca."
The Mr, Bell alluded to was the publisher whom these authors mainly affected,
and who also issueH a selection, entitled first "The Poetry of the World,"
and afterwards "The British Album," which tan through several editions.
Here is the publisher's advertisement :
Two baaiifbl nlama Ihii day publiihcd, cmbdllihx] with (enuiiH ponrsiu of the real
DndfF ihc 1111"! " t he BHilih i'b^.^bc'ini 'il'^c&i'aii, n^d and'cu^wd by ihcli
I»(Kctive Biilhon, of Ihe cclebriMd pocmJ of Dtlla Cnnca. Anna Malilda. Ariiy. L.ura,
Benedici, and iht cicgani CEuiio,"thE Alrican Boy:" ind oihen, ilenid Tht Bard, by
Mr. IcmlnEham ; Gcnml Canvay'i cicn 01 Miii i:-. Campbell • Manilla uf Townshcnd'i
rem on MiiB CardiDcr; Lord Dcrby'i lin« on Miu Farren'l ponnit.
The only pseudonyme in the list which it is of much interest to decipher
still remains a m3istery. It is to " Arley" that we owe the admittedly excellent
ballad of " Wapping Old Stairs," which first appeared in Tht World for
November 39, 17S7, and shines, a solitary pearl, in the pages of the " British
Album."
The reviews, magazines, and newspapers all greeted the book with wild ap-
plause. One critic said that Anastasia's poem on the "Nightingale" was
superior to Milton. Greathead equalled Shakespeare. Cesariu outdid Pupe.
Este was "incomparable," — the comparisons having all been exhausted by the
others. Yet the very titles of many of the poems were enough to condemn
them. A certain Mr. Vaughan, under the alluring name of " Edwin," wrote
melancholy poems on the death of a bug, the flight of an earwig, the mis-
fbrlunea of a cockchafer. Another expended pathos and fancy in celebrating
the demixe of a tame mouse, " which belonged to a lady who saved its life,
constantly led it, and wept at its approaching death. The mouse's eyes dropped
HAHDYBOOK OF
And hei« ii how the
While the Delia Crnscan mania was at its height, William Giffurd, then a
youne and unifnown man, came out with a satire upon it called " The Baviad."
It had some sarcastic vigot and more Billineseale [actnesi. At all events it
captured the town, and with itaauccessor, "The Mxviad," proved a heavy blow
to ihe delinquents. Perhaps Gifford, with a not unnatural vani^, believed
its effect was greater than it really was. He notes that Bell, the printer,
accused him of bespatterinz nearly all the poetical eminence of the day.
" But on the whole," he continues, " the clamor against me was not loud, and
was lost by insensible degrees in the applause of such aa I was truly ambitious
to please. Thus supported, the good effects of the satire {giuriose loquarl)
were not long in manifesting themselves. Delia Crusca appeared no more in
■The Oracle,' and if any of his followers ventured to treat the town with a
soft sonnet, it was not, as before, introduced by a pompous preface. Pope and
Milton resumed Iheir superiority, and Este and his coadjutors silently acqui-
esced in the growing opinion of their incompetency and showed some sense
of shame." Giffurd s judgment has been accepted oy posterity. Yet it is not
quite In accordance with contemporary testimony, beven years after Ihe pub-
lication ol the " Baviad," Malhias remarks that "even the Bavian drops from
Mr. Gtfford's pen have fallen off like oils from the plumage of the Florence
and Cruscan geese. I am told that Mr. Grealhead and Mr. Merry yet write
and speak, and Mr. Jemingham (poor man 1) still continues 'sillier than his
sheep.'" Indeed, I jura Matilda's dirge in the " Rejected Addresses" is a
sunding monument of Ihe vitality of Delia Cruscanism more Ihan twenty
jfears after its supposed death-Uow. The serpent was scotched, not killed ;
]| finally died b natural but lingering death.
Deluge, After na the ;Fr., " Apr^ nous le deluge"). This nonchalant ex-
pression, which has become historical partlyfrom its truth, partly from its vivid
expression of the sellishness and recklessness of Ihe epoch when it was uttered,
is attributed to Madame de Pompadour. "In the midst of the contemptible
deceptions and frivolities of the court of Louis XV.," aa3rs bainte-Beuve, "a
vague and sinister foreboding haunted the king, like anticipated remorse.
'After us the deluge,' said the marquise. 'Things will last our time,' rejoined
Ihe careless king." A very similar expression, " After me Ihe deluge." has
been ascribed to Prince Metternich, but here there is a notable distinction of
meaning, the Austrian diplomat making a mournful, if egotistic, prophecy of
great political and social evils, against wliich he considered his own [lolicy to
be Ihe only possible barrier ; while the Pompadour meant " Let us make the
most of our chances, for an awful reaction is at hand." The French Revolution
was the answer to Madame. Horace's "Carpe diem" ("Enjoy the present
day," Qdtt, I., xi. 8), and Isaiah's scornful " Let us eat and dniik, for lo-mor-
row we aball die" (uii 13), are phnaea of the same order ; but a much doter
LITERARY CURTOSITIES. 229
naXogf may be (bund in [he line of an unknown Greek poet frequently quoted
t^ Tiberius : " After my death, perish the world by fire." " Nay," said his
successor, Nero, " let it happen in my lifetime ;" and he laid Rome in ashes.
DetiOA. This term. In the expression " the Deuce !" Le., the Devil, comes,
like the latter word, from (he same root as the Latin Dim, God (see Bucaboo),
and as the sjmonyme for two, in cards and other games, liom the Latin duo,
through the French dtux (old Fr. daa). It is doubly strange that the com-
mon superstition should imagine there is luck under a deuce, not only because
of the modern association with the fiend which has OTerridden the root-meaning,
but because two has always been looked upon as an unlucky number, as the
first of the series of even numbers. The Pythagoreans regarded the unit ai
the good principle, the dtmd as the evil one.
God hua the diull DumbeT. beitig IcDowa
I>«Vil, A oaodle to th«. The French have the familiar phra^ ,
die to God [or to St Michael) and another to the deviL" Did it sprihg from
suggest that famous picture executed, as Brantfime tells us, by order
-t de la Marck. which represented SL Michael triumphing over Satan,
with Robert himself kneeling before them, a candle in each nand, and a
scroll issuing from his mouth, " If God will not aid me, the devil surely will
not bil me"7 More likely the proverb is older than the picture, as it is a
Christian recrudescence of Virgil's line, —
Flecure li Dcqueo Hipcm. Achenjuta movvbo,—
fcft, " If I cannot bend the celestials to my purpose. I will move hell." On
the same principle a discreet gentleman in the early days of Christianitjr
always took care to salute the statue of Jupiter, never knowing, as he ex-
Elained, when he might come into power again. So, also, the Spaniard on
is death-bed, when his confessor spoke of the torments wherewith the devil
afflicted the lost, feebly remonstrated, " I trust his lordship is not so cruel."
The holy nian was shocked. " Excuse me," said the penitent, " but I know
not into what hands I may fall ; and if I happen into his, I hope he will use
me the better for giving him good words." The Scotch say, " It's gude to
hae friends in heaven and hell." The Scotch and the Irish alike are careful
to call the fairies, even the malignant ones, " the good people," or " the men of
peace," so as to conciliate their good will- The ancients also avoided any
expressions which might prove obnoxious to the unseen powers of evil. Thus,
they spoke of the Furies as Eumcnides, or benign goddesses, and the stormy
Black Sea was called the Euiine, or the hospitable.
DovU and tlie deep ■««, Betweon the, a sort of rough-and-ready
equivalent ioi the old classic saying, " Between Scylla and Chaiybdis." which
is at least as old as the early part of the seventeenth century. It is used, for
example, by Colonel Munro in bis "Expedition with Mackay's Regiment"
(■637)- In an eng;^ment at Werben, between the forces of Gustavus Adol- .
phus and the Austnans, Munro, serving on the Swedish side, found his men
exposed to the fire of Swedish gunners who had not given their pieces the
proper elevation. In hii own phrase, they were " betwixt the devil and the
deep sea," — i^., exposed to danger from friends as well as foes So an officer
was sent to the batteries with a request that the guns should be raised.
There is a passage in Shakespeare which seeiDS to have reference la bokm
eaflier form of the same phrase :
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230 HANDY-BOOK OF
Tliou'dil ihun > beu :
Thou'dM'iiiHi ihelMt i- ihc mam^' *"*
A>V L^r, Act iU., Sc. <.
There is just a possibility that the expression may originally have been a
nautical one (cf. Devil to Pay, in/ra), in which case a choice between " the
devil" and the deep sea might indeed be an awkward one.
Devil o.
- 3). Elsewhere Shakespeare has put the same thought in other words :
Mrrtkant tf Vtnici. ka iii.. Sc. >.
Devil has all the good tnnea. When, in 1740, Charles Wesley wanted
airs for some of his peculiar metres, he pertinently asked, " Why should the
devil have all the good lunes?" and straightway appropriated a number Tor
hymnal purposes. But at that lime the divergence between sacred and secu-
lar music was not so great as il is now. The most popular airs were in a
■uUrious and even funereal sound,
ords of merriment, or buffoonery, or
even downright obsceiiiiy, Ihey added Ihc spice of contrast, to which the grave
faces and tones of the singers pungcnlly contributed.
Devil overlooMug Liuooln. a familiar English proverb of i
origin. It is applied to a jealous critic or backbiter.
Some fetch the origino] of thJj proverb from a Hooe picture of ihe Devil . whL<
Utcly did oveHoDk Lincoln Colledse. Truelytli
tboueh beholder* have since applied those uj
»pai(y -A Iheir Beighbon. ... To return u o
.%. — ...i . .r .L i i coltedgn, though the Mconduy k
thereof jjgitted not untuppiiy, and (hat it rdated origiiudiy to the Catbedrat
Devil's Own, the nickname of the Temple Company, a London militia
company,
. When the " Temirie CompiBiei" had
Geoise III, «a in high health and
defiled before him, Hi> Majaly iom
iired of Eiiidne^
, lion of that conn. " Tfiey are all lawyer*, lire," aaid Enliine,
" What I whu I" exclaimed the King. " all lawyenl ill lawyen* (j>ll ibem ' The Devii't
Own,'— call Ibem ■ The Devil'j Own,' " And -'The Devil'. Own" they were called accord-
ingly. Even at iIk preHnI day ibta appellation has not wholly died away, Yel^ notwith.
•landing the ro^al p^vntage of Ihii pleaiantry, I mu.t own that \ ereaily prefer lo it another
of the legal companiei, " Relained for the DelcDce."'— E«iiL STANKOn: Lift ^Pill.
Devil to pay and no pltoh ho^ a slang phrase for a condition of great
embarrassment and confusion, an emergency for which no preparation has
been made, appears to be a conuplion of the nautical expression, " Hell's to
pay," etc., full being in this case a portion of the hold of a smack left parity
free of access to sea-water, in which freshly-caught fish are thrown and thus
kept alive. It is, of course, highly important that ibe bulkheads, etc, about
"hell" should be kept water-tight, and this is dune by calking with oakum
and "paying" with hot pitch, as in the outer seams of the vessel.
a famous distich frequently held to be a trans-
la well, Ibe devil a monk wu hi
. Coogk"
LITERAR V CURIOSITIES. 231
Though il docs occur in Urquhart and Mottcux's transTalion of "Garganlua"
(Boukiv.ch. xxiv.). it is an interpolation. All tliat Rabelais does is to quote
the Italian proverb " Passato il pericolo, gabbato il santo" (" When the danger
is [lassed the saint is mocked"). The English lines have been dubiously traced
to an anonymous Latin couplet, —
which is not half so pilhj as the English, and iheTefoie suggesis i translation
rather than an original. The same moral isenrorced in Clotigh's lines quoted
under Atheism; in the English proverb "The chamber of sickness is the
chapel of devotion ;" and in the anonymous quatrain, —
God and the D(ki« ve alike idore.
Bui only when in danger, not before ;
Tlie duJEer o'er, both ue alike requited.
Cod li rorgoiten ud the Doclor illghied.
This is a liee rendering of the Latin epigram, —
"En Deu«" jtut ^' cuKO* angelus" agcr alL
Cum pwil medJcitt pi^inin, " Vade Suan I
JoHH Owm or Oxrom (queued) ;
which has been imitated also by Quarles :
Our God and »]dier we alike adore
~ 101 before;
'■ illghied.
ZHoUonaiy. Bailef, a dictionary maker himseir, tells as that Julius Scali-
ger, in certain fits of prmcely contempt fur his calling as a philulciger. was tised
to thank God that he had put it intu the hearts of some men to make dtclion-
aries. This was what Arlemus Ward would call sarkkasm. What Scaliger
reall]' thought, or what he really thought he thought, is shown b^ those well-
■■ — rn lines wherein he declares that when r .:-..i— i- -. :_;_.i
.0 be disposed of he should be set at w
Leiica conteitt ; nam (cgtga quid momon T) omnea
Pgoanun &ci^ hie Labor nbiu halxt.
a thoroughly reasonable one if taken seriously.
uport were written in all good faith over the
dictionaries in Oxford in the sixteenth century, when lexicons were chained in
the school -houses as Bibles were in the churches, by reason of their costliness
and rarity. And most of us would re-echo the thanksgiving with equal good
bith.
The history of dictionaries may seetn an unproiitable subject. Vet it is full
of gtailsome mterest and of the vitalizing spirit of humor. Before dictionaries
were, letters had their small diffusion vita vott. Saul, come to grief over a
verbal stumbling-block in a manuscript, asked Gamaliel for the short interpre-
tatitm that should clear the wav. By the lip was solved the mystery proceed-
ing from the lip; for within the portico or academe, in the cloister or under
the shade of the hill, sat Pedagogus amid his disciples, and the lip was near.
At length some scholastic of broader mind than common bethought htm,
during the absence of his flock, of lightening the labors of both. Going care-
fully over his treasured manuscript, probamy of his own copying, be would
single out the hard words and write above them the meaning, the exposition,
(be^iw. At the very Arst word which this pioneer of the old world so
^oned the teed wai town of the new-world dictioiurie* ; and there has beett
332 HANDY.BOOK OF
no stop to the growth of this seed til] the lt«« fcom it has spread its thick and
nide branches as Taras they have spread and are still spreading to this very day.
But such glosses, even when traced in beautiful red inl( over the difficult
words, defaced the skilled beautv ai goodly manuscripts. Gradually it grew
(o be a habit to place the glosseo words in a separate list at the end. Soon
the glasses of this or that man grew to have special value, and were re-copied
on a special manuscript Then, as rival glosses had their separate and distinct
charm, a number of glosses were pieced together, adding the glory and Ihe
occasional bewilderment of variety. The glosses now became known as glos-
saries, or lexicons, and, like the Glossary of Varro, dedicated to hi* contempo-
rary Cicero, or the Lexicon of Apullonius the Sophist, in the first century,
elucidating the Iliad and the Odyssey, represented the labors of many pred-
ecessors reduced to order by one master-mind. Here was the manner and
form of the modem dictionary. Taking great leaps, and making no note of
the intermediate progress, we come to the Lexicon of Suidas, compiled in the
tenth century, where the plan was first used of giving extracts from the poets
and historians it explained to explain them still furtlier, and next to the Dic-
tionary of Johannes Creslonus, in Greek and Latin, printed in 1483, a further
development. And now the subject becomes so large and varied that we must
confine ourselves to one branch, — the history of the English dictionary.
The first English dictionary proper was a thick folio volume published by
Richard Hutoet in 1552. Other dictionaries had been issued before, but they
were of the Latin, French, or other alien tongues. This was the first diction-
ary to give English definitions to English words, though it added thereto the
Latin and French synonymes, unless, indeed, the French is not in good
Richard's knowledge, when it is incontinently omitted. Here is his manner :
" Pickers or thieves (hat go by into chambers, making as though they sought
something. Dixtarii. Ulpian. Larrons qui montent jusques aux chambres,
faisant semblanl de chercher quelque chose."
A similar plan was followed in the first edition of John Baret's " Alvearie,
or Triple Diclionarie in Englyshe, Latin and French,^' first issued in 1573, and
seven years later reprinted, with the addition of Greek, as a Quadruple Dic-
tionarie. The title of this second edition stated, quaintly enough, that it was
<' newlie enriched with vatielie of Wordes, Phrases, Proverbs, and diuers light-
■ome obseruations of Grammar." In the Greek portion, however, Ihe book
labored under some disadvantages, thus naively set forth by Baret himself:
"As fi>r Greeke, I could not ioyne it with every Latin word, for lacke uf fit
Greeke letters, the printer not having leasure to provide the same."
It was probably this dictionary which was alluded to in the records of the
<n shall serve."
The first dictionary confined entirely to the English language was Robert
Cawdrey's " Table Alphabetical!, conleyning and teaching the true writing and
understanding of hard usuall English Wordes." It is a thin little volume
because confined to one language, and limited, as indeed were all its prede-
cessors, to hard words. Cawdrcy evidently had little faith in the intelligence of
his reader, for he thus innocently instructs him in the use of his book : " If
thou be desirous (gentle reader) rightly and readily to understand and to
profit by this table, and such like, then thou must learn the alphabet, to
wit, the order of the letters as they stand, perfectly without book, and where
every letter standeth : as (A) neete the beginning, (n) about the middesl, and
if) toward the end."
Cotgrave's " French and English Dictionary," published in r6i 1, made man;
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
h« calls it, in a fatherly, fondling fashion, and tells his reader, "I (who am
no God or angel) have caused such overslips as have ]>et occurred to mine
e^e or andcistanding to be placed neere the forbead of (his Verball Crealaie."
bee how his fertile brain worked : Atter is defined as " To goe, waike, wende.
march, pace, tread, proceed, journey, travell, depart," with twoscore picturesque
il lustrations, as " Aller i S. Bezel, To rest in no place ; continuallyto troU ead.
wander up and down." " Tout le monde s'en va i la moustarde, — Tis i
rulgar. Divulged all the world over (said of a book). Wast paper is made of it.
Mustard-pots are stopped with it (so much the world esteems it)."
Henry Cockeram's " English Dictionaiie," ifoj, is full of fiin. It is primaril j
a dictionary of current vernacular, and the author somewhat apologetically ei-
plains that he imMined " Ladies and Genllewomen, young schollers, darkes,
merchants," etc., desirous of a rclined and elegant speech, would like an ex-
positor of "vulgar words, mocke words, fustian lermes ridiculously used in
our laneuage," so as to gather therefrom " the exact and ample word" which
would fit them to shine. So he tells them that rude is vulgar, and allows them
the alternative of agresticall. rusticall, or iramorigerous ; that To weede is
vulgar, the choice word being To sarculate, To diruncinate, or To averuncate ;
that the phrase To knock one's legs together is vulgar, and should be called,
choicely. To intetfeere.
Among the successors of Cockeram may be briefly mentioned Blount's
•' Glossographie," 1656; Edward Phillips's "New World of Words," 165S
(Phillips, by the way, was a nephew of John Milton) ; Bailey's " Universal
Etymological English Dictionary," 1711, notable as the first attempt to present
all words, easy as well as " hard," slang as well as euphemistic, current as well
as obsolete; the anonymous "GazophylaciumAnglicanum," in l6S9> Thomas
Dyche's Dictionary, in 1733 ; and John Wesley's little Dictionary, in 1753.
Though John Wesley modestly mformed the reader on his title-page that
he considered he had produced "the best English Dictionary in the wotldi"
and adds, " many are the mistakes in all the other English dictiunariei which
I have yet seen, whereas I can truly say I know of none in this," — nevertheless,
it was only two years later, in 1755, that the first really valuable lexicon t^ the
language appeared, in Dr. Samuel Johnson's bmous Dictionary, and threw all
its predecessors and rivals into the shade.
Of course, even Dr. Johnson's work is valueless in these days, save as a
landmark in English literature. Its definitions are often inadequate, and some-
times erroneous. They have no present use as philology, though the m
' '■ "' ■■■ ■■ ' . The etymo"
5 -clothes will-
more value might
The value of the historical methnd in philo-
logical research is a recent discovery. The ancient lexicographers used
cumly to jump at the conclusion that any word or words in a foreign language
which remotely suggested an English word was the parent of the latter.
Thus, the author of the " Gazophylacium Anglicanum" derives hassock firom
"the Teutonic haie, an hare, and socht, because hare-skins are sometimes
woven into socks, to keep the fiiet warm in winter." " Haslenut," with equal
acumen, is derived from the word haitt, "because it is ripe before wall-nuts
and chestnuts." The author says of his work that " the chief reason why t
busied myself herein, was to save my time from being worse employed."
Johnson himself was fond of similar exploits. He derives motley from
20»
334 HANDY-BOOK OF
molh-like, "or, of v:
dor, — the insect iha
famous story about the derivation of curmudgeon ^ Johnson received from
some unknown source a letter deriring the word from caur mkiani, at wicked
heart, — a wild enough guess, which pleased the doctor so much (hat he
adopted it, giving due credit to "unknown correspondent." Twenty years
later. Dr. Ash, preparing a dictionary of his uwi), was struck by this Rem, and
transferred tt to his own pages. ])ut, wishing all the glory of th« discovery
for himself, he gave no credit to Johnson, and informed a wondering world
that curmudgeon was formed from tour, "unknown," and miehant, "corre-
The Rev. Frederick Barlow, iit his "Complete English Dictionary," pub-
lished in two volumes in 177X, suggests that "pageant" is derived from
"fiayen e/aitt, Fr., a pagan giant, a representation of triumph used at the
return from holy wars ; of which the Saracen's head seems to Ik a reltque."
In the same book "sash" is sagely derived from "tfaaar, Fi., to know, be
cause worn for tite sake of distinction."
But Rev. G. W. Lemon, master of Norwich Grammar 'School, who in 17S3
Eublished " A Derivative Dictionary of the English Language," carries off the
onors as a philological humorist. He referred everything to the Greek, even
such common, every-day words as " scratch -can die," " link-boy," and "crutched
friars." A story ifi at was currciil in the mnulha of contemporary jesters is
_. iij u.,-i„. ../fcT._ .-_i. J gentle-
he coined the following etymology forobesi^ : " The eiclamation of people who
see a certain Norwich Alderman: 'Oh Beasley I oh beastly 1 1 o-besitylll'"
The story added that the alderman was informed of this liljel in time, obtained
an injunction against its publication, and so the sheet was cancelled.
A very wise man was Rev. Thomas I>yche, who e«:hew3 all etymologies,
because, in the first place, they are very often so uncertain, and, secondly, they
are useless to " those persons that these sort of books are most useful to."
There is much humorous interest of a quiet and ruminative sort to be
gleaned from the definitions as well as the etymologies of the early dictionaries.
Henry Cockeram defines " pole" as " the end of the a^le-tiee whereon the
"swinker;" and "a herclick" is sketched more rouiidaljoully. bul with a
clear assertion of the right of private opinion, as "he which maketh choice
of himselle what poynis or religion he will believe and what he will noL"
Then, from classic times, the " Olympic games" are " solemn games of activ-
ity," and " Amphitrile" is not, as usual, the goddess of the sea, but the "sea"
itself.
Still funnier arc the natural history definitions. A baboon is said to be "a
beast like an ape, but &rie bigger ;*' a lyni is " a spotted beast — it hath a
most perfect sight, insomuch aa it is said that it can see ihorow a wall." The
account of the salamander reads like an elaborate joke ; " A small, venomous
beast, with foure feet and a short tatle : it lives in the lire, and at length, bv
his extreme cold, puts out the fire.' An ignarus is a still quainter zoological
curiosity, inasmuch as at night-time " it singeth six kinds of notes, one after
another, as, la-sol -me-fa-me-re-ut."
Dictionaries, indeed, embody many curious superstitions about animals.
Richard Huloct gravely describes the cockatrice as "a serpent, called the
Kynge of Serpentes, whose nature is to kyll wylh hyssynge only." "The
Barbie," says Henry Cockeram. is " a Fish that will not meddle with the
baite untill with her taile she have iiiihooked it from the hooke." Bullokar,
after a column and a half descriptive of the crocodile, ventures the Airthei
. Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 335
mfarmalion thai "he will w««pe over a man's head when he halh devoured
the bodjr, and then will eat up the head too. ... 1 saw once one at these
beasts in London, brought thilher dead, but in perfect forme, of about 3 yards
long," a detail of personal experience which shows what was tolerated and
even expected in a dictionary 3I thai lime. Bailey continues his predecessor's
natural history with ihe same delightful simplicity. The Unicorn Whale is
"a lish eighteen foot lung, having a head like a horse and scales as big as a
crown piece, six large fins like the end of a galley oar, and a horn issuing out
of the forehead nine feci long, so sharpe as [0 pierce the hardest bodies, and
the Loriot ur Golden Oriole "a bird [hat, being looLed upon bjr one wl 1
has the yellow jaundice, cures the person and dies himself." Feniiing, who is
more conservative, defines Loriot merely as " a kind of bird," which is only an
example among many of the eminently satisfying nature of Ihe information
these old dictionaries often supply.
In many cases the explanations given by our dictionary -makers are pure
blunders. Edward Phillips defines a gallon as "a measure containing two
quarts ;" and again, a quaver is staled to be " a measure of lime in musick,
being the half of a crotchet, as a crotchet ihe half of quaver." Dr. Johnson's
original definition of paitrrn as " the knee of a horse" was a remarkable
blunder. When questioned on the point, he candidly attributed it lo the
right cause, — ignorance. It was corrected in subsequent editions. ]}r. Ash,
in his Dictionary oli 1775, under "esoteric" explains it as merely an incor-
rect spelling for "exoteric'' But Johnson had neither exoteric nor esoteric.
Another of Ash's amazing entries was ■' Bihovac, rather an incorrect spell-
ing fiir bivoac," while the right word. Bivouac, is left out altogether. His
gewraphy also was weak, for he stales that "A^hrim ts a town in Ireland,
in the County of Wicklow, and Province of I.einsler." Tu<ld's edition of,
Johitson, excellent worli as it is, is not entirely free from blunders. He oddly
explains "coaxation" as *'the art of coaxing." instead of the croaking of
ftcgs. Webster, in his first issue, has some curious mistakes in cricketing
terms. The wicket-keeper, he says, is " the plaver in cricket who stands with
a bat to protect the wicket from the ball," and a long-atop is " one who is
sent to stop balls sent a long distance."
Remarkable also is Ihe personal animus which is apparent in most of these
old dictionaries. Their authors rejoiced if they could belabor an adversary
or laud their own fads or ridicule some pet aversion while pretending to
define a word.
Thus, Wesley defines Methodist as " one that lives according to the method
laid down in Ihe Bible ;" and a " Swaddler is a nickname given by the Papists
in Ireland lo true Protestants." And who are true Protestants f Methodists,
unliimiliar with Ihe gospel, thought Ihe words " swaddling-clothes" extremely
ridiculous, and so coined the epithet " swaddler" for the preacher.
Richelel, author of an early French dictionary (169S) which also has much
of this enriching flavor of personality, remarks under the head of Spicier, or
grocer, that " these people wrap some of their merchandise in gray paper, or
in a few sheets of wretched books, which one sells to Ihem because one has
been unable to sell Ihem to others. The translation of Tacitus by the little
man d'Ablancourt has had this misfortune." Richelet is cautious enough In
express this lexicographic remark as follows : " Le Toe. du fetii A. a tu ec
Dr. Johnson defines oats as "a grain which in England is generally given
to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." A Puritan is "a sectary
pretending 10 eminent puriiy of religion." A Whig is "Ihe name o( a fac-
336 HANDV-BOOK OF
tion," but I Toij' is " one who adheres to the antient cotulllurion of (he stale
and the apostolical hieiarchy of the Church of England, opposed to a Whig."
Pensioner is "a slave of slate, hired by a stipend to obey his master" (this
definition was recalled with much glee by (he doctor's enemies when he him-
self became a pensioner of the state). An excise ia "a hateful tax levied
upon commodilies, and adjudged not by the common judges of properly, but
by wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid,"
The commissioners of excise were very indignant at being charicteriied as
wretches, and consulted with the attorney-general whether an action for libel
would lie. He decided it would, but deemed it advisable that they should let
After nil, Ur. Johnson, who in the same dictionary defined lexicographer as
" a writer of diclionories \ a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing
the origin and detailing the signi&calion of words," — Dr. Johnson was q^uile
willing to turn the tables against himself. But why diclionories ? the captious
might ask. Only another error, — one of thousands, misprints, misslatements,
slips of the pen and of the memory, which Johnson with all hia patience and
learning could not avoid, and some of which, such is the solidarity of diction-
aries, have been copied with rare patience and pertinacity by his successors.
Thus, down to 1S90, al least, almost every dictionary repealed Johnson's
amusing misprint of advenline for adventive.
Some of his deSnitions are remarkable Tor the Johnsonian ponderosity with
which he obscures a subject while attempting to elucidate it. The champion
instance is net-work, which runs as follows : " Anything relicnlued or decus-
sated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections."
Definitions that sound equally humorous to the layman almund, of course,
in technical works. When one learns that a boil is "a circumscribed subcu-
taneous inflammation, suppurating, with a central core, a furunculus," one is
either amused or alarmed ; and when one find out that a kiss ia " the anatomi-
cal juxtaposition of two orbicularis oris muaclea in a slate of contraction," one
realiies with the New Paul of Mr. Mallock the solemnity of human pleasures.
But the most famous definition in philological histoiy (to be Hibernian) is
one that never appealed. When the Forty Immortals were engaged upon
the Dictionary of the French Academy the word crab (or, as some authorities
fsserl, lobster) came up for a gloss. The following was offered by one of the
number ; " A little red fish that walks backward. Furetiire, a dictionary-
maker himself, objected. "Gentlemen," he said, "the definition is no doubt
a very clever one. But it is open to three objections. In the first place, th«
animal is not a fish ; in the second place, it is not red until boiled ; in the
third place, it does not walk "backward," The objection was sustained. An
ingenious but rather casuistical effort, however, has been made to rehabilitate
it in public esteem. The climax of the crab's life, it has been urged, is only
reached when he is red, — for only after cooking do most of our race know
him ; he is purified and made whole by fire. Theologians recognize him as a
fish, and he ia eaten aa such, on Fridays, by the devouleat Catholics. Even
the ichthyoloBically learned must admit that if he is not scientifically a fish, a
scale-fish, with the flesh outside and the bones inside, he is a sort of fish, a
■' variation," aa science terms him, a shell-fish which, in hia eccentric but kindly
nature, prefers to wear the bones outside and keep the flesh nicely packed
away for the convenience of the epicure. And aa to his mode of progression,
so great and fishy an authority as the melancholy Dane says, "If, like a crab,
you could walk Kickward,"
A joke might appear to be the last thing one would seek in a dictionary.
Yet Johnson's definition of lexicographer, already given, might be classed as
such. And bis skit at his fineixC whose real name was Malloch, but wbo
Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 237
de»red to be known as Mallet, had a wicked spice of humor in iL DtfininK
aliat, he says, " A Latin word, ajgnj^ng otherwise ; as Mallei, idiai Malloui
— that is. otherwise Maltoch."
Even puns, and very bad puns, have found their way into the most ponder-
ous lexicons. Nothing could be worse than the entry in Adam Littleton's
Latin Dictionary ; " Concuiro, to run with others ; to run tt^elher ; . . to
con-<«r, oun-dog." But Ibis has sometimes been explained as a clerical
blunder. LJttlelon was dictating the definition to his secretary, who, a little
testily, adding "con-dog" as a further explanation, and the secretary, scared,
perhaps, by the tempest he had raised, meekly put down both the word and
the pun by which its meaning was emphasized. Even the ponderous Liddell
and Scott run Mr. Littleton a hard race when they say, under sycophant
(literally, an informer against those who exported y^), "The literal sense is
not found in any ancient writer, and is perhaps a mere tigmenL"
To the credit of Liddell and Scott, this ghastly attempt at a joke appeared
only in four editions, when, yielding to the pressure of public opinion, the
word figment was changed to mvention.
An unconscious joke of a belter quality occurs in the Century Dictionary,
under the heading "Question, to pop the. See Pop," which has the additional
merit of being eicellent advice.
Die in the last ditota. When William, Prince of Orange (afterwards
pending o
by which
ith England and France,
he did not see ruin ira-
is asked by the Duke of Buckingham whether he
ng over his country. " Nay," he answered. " there is one ceriam means
by which I can be sure never to see my country's ruin. I will die in the last
ditch." (Hume. ch. Ixv.) And, rejecting all terms of peace, he checked the
invasion of the French by opening the sluices and flooding large tracts of
land, drove them from Holland in 1674, made honorable leinis with England,
and Unally, after varying fortunes, brought the war to a successful close by a
treaty with France in 1678.
Olgito monatroil (U, "To be pointed out by the finger"), a familiar
phrase from Persiua's " Satires," i. z8, the context being, " It is a fine thing
to be pointed out with the linger, and hear it said, That is he I" Haililt. in
his essay *'On the Disadvantages of Intellectual Superiority," after telling
how some of his friends failed to relish hia very best things and other people
condemned him altogether, goes on to ask. " Shall I confess a weakness ?
The only tet'off I know to these rebufis and mortifications is sometimes in
an accidental notice or involuntary mark of distinction from a stranger. 1 feel
the force of Horace's di^ta mamlrari, — 1 like to be pointed out in the street,
or to hear people ask in Mr. Powell's court. Which is Mr. Haililt? This is
to me a pleasing extension of one's personal identity. Your name so re-
peated leaves an echo like music on the ear : it stirs the blood like the sound
of a trumpet." Was he wrong in his reference (the context seems to indicate
this), or was he thinking of that passage in Horace's " Ode to Melpomene,"
"That I am pointed out by the fingers of passers-by [Quod monstror digilo
prxtereunlium] as the stringer of the Roman lyre is entirely thy gift : that I
breathe and give pleasure, if I do give pleasure, is thine"? — a sentiment which
Thomas Moore has paraphrased :
If ih? pulx dT the pilriDt, soldier, or laver
Have Uirubbed ax oar lay. 'lit ihv gloi^ hLduc :
™d all Ihc witTsv^eu^I valud vu t^' own.
Dear harf tfmji Ctimlry,
Google
23B HANDY-BOOK OF
Diner-ont of the highest Instie. This epigram matical description
(frequently misquoted "of the first water"), which has been turned against
Sydney Smith himself, was applied by the witty divine to George Canning,
who wa« at the time secretary of stale for foreign affairs, "Providence has
made him a tight, jesting, paragraph- writing man, and that he will remain to
his dying day. When he is jocular he is strung ; when he ia serious he is like
Samson in a wig, — any ordinary person is a malcli for him. Call him a leeis-
lator, a reasoncr, and the conductor of the affairs of a great nation, and it
seems to me as absurd as if a butlertly were to teach bees lo make honey.
That he is an extraordinary writer of small poetry and a diner-out of the
highest lustre, I do most readily admit liut you may as well feed me with
decayed potatoes as console me for the miseries of Ireland by the resources
of his stnsi and his diicretion. It is only the public situation which this gen-
tleman holds which entitles me or induces me to say so much about him.
He is a fly in amber ; nobody cares about the fly, the only question is, How
of Royalty." The^»«
Dlnoer-beU. A sobriquet which hiH fellow -parliamentarians bestowed on
Burke, whose eloquence on great occasions was hardly more extraordinary
than his indefatigable energy and interest in all matters before the House. In
the days when he wearied everybody with details, and, as Goldsmith happily
Too deep foe hit hcann, uUl «ent on ^fining.
And thought of convincing while thty IhouEht of dining. —
a large number of the members actually did betake themselves to that occu-
pation, which circumstance earned for the ^reat orator the title of "The
Dinner-Bell." A member, who was just going into the House on one of
these occasions, meeting Selwyn and some others coming out, inquired, ",Is
the House up ?" " No," replied Selwyn ; " but Burke is."
Dirty linen. In a furious speech made to the Chamber of Deputies
during the crisis which followed the disasters of 1814, Napoleon said, " Ifyou
have complaints to make, take another occasion, when, with my counsellors
and myself, we may discuss your grievances and see if they have any founda-
tion. But this explanation must be in private ; for dirty linen should be
washed at home, not in public" {"car c'est en famille, ce n'est pas en public,
qu'on lave son linge sale"). These very words, however, had been addtessed
by Voltaire to the Encyclopidisis. An equally famous use of the term
"dirty linen," though with another application, occurred in a letter (1751)
from Voltaire to General Manstein, who had asked him to revise some papers
he had written on Russia : "The king [Frederick] has sent me some of his
dirty linen to wash; I will wash vours another time" ("Voili le roi qui
m'envoit son linge i blanchir ; je blancliitais le v6lre une autre fois"). The
reference was to some poema which Frederick had submitted to Voltaire for
critical emendation. Frederick used to excuse all his own mistakes of grant-
mar and rhetoric by saying, " We must leave him the pleasure of finding
Dome fault." But he was not magnanimous enough to forgive the cruel phrase
of Voltaire, [u repetition at court was one of the main causes which threw
the French philosopher into dislavor. Napoleon's phrase is identical in ipiril
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 239
with the English proverb " Il's an ill bird that Touls its own nett," a provcTb
■hat was old even in the lime of old John Skellon ;
Old proverbe Hyi,
Tlut byn] y> DOC facnaL
Tbu rylEIh hii owh hch.
fetmt at'lml Carntikt.
Dlaoord, a harmony not underatood. This definition occurs in Pope's
"Essay on Mm," and embodies a very familiar thought In one Torm or
another it may be found in all literature, ancient as well as modern. Here
are a few illustrative examples :
IWhal ibE diuonluii humony o( circunutucH would and could Effect.)
HoKA«;i>«W*/..ii. 19.
DiKord <A In raulc aaka Ibt twttta lay— Snusm.
Hie world b kepi id order by ditcord, and every pan of it ii a more pulicuUj coiDpoted
jv. And in all these ■( m^ei greally for (he Muler'i t\owy thai fluch an adminbJe hu-mony
(boaM be produced ooi of xicb an iDHDiie dlicord — Filthah : Urtn/vti.
For discords maVe the sweetest aits,
™™' ' ''" Biritaa : HnJiirai.
Wisely she knew the harmony of thinn,
A> wdl as thai of sounds, from discora spriiun,
DiNHAK : Ctafn'i HiU.
TUl jarriwE iDlerests of Ibenuelvcs create
Tb' accordkg music it a well-miied state.
Socb is the world's ereat harmony thai sptingi
' '° ' "pori: £ii!^^M'a>>,Ep.UI., 1.993.
It Is from conDarisa that Ihe harmony of the world results. — SAiirT-PiaHiia : Eludn lU U
Kmtnr,.
Yon had Ibat action and counteraction which, in the natural and the political world, Irom
ibe RCiTncal Slrus^e of dlacordanl powera, draws OUI the harmony of the universe.--
BintKa : Rifltclism m tkt Frinch Fncliilisn.
Apropos of the quotation from Burke. Henry H. Breen, in his " Modem
English Ulerature, says, "This remarkable thought Alison, the historian,
has turned to good account ; it occtirs so often in his disquisitions that he
sectns to have made it Ihe staple of all wisdom and the basis of every truth."
He tnight have said substantially the same of Carlyle.
Dlaoretlon to the bottw ^irt of v«Ior. This proverbial phrase is
merely a misquotation of FalslafTa phrase, "The better part of valor is dis-
cretion" {Henry IV., Part I., Act iv., Sc 2). The first edition of this play was
published in IS9S. Beaumont and Fletcher, in "A King and No King" {161 1 ),
Act iv., Sc 3, have, " It showed discretion, the best part of valor." But they
were arrant plagiarists and frequently stole from Shakespeare. The conclu-
jion of Bacon's essay on " Boldness" may be taken in illustration of Ihe aenli-
ment in its better form : " Boldness is ever blind, for it seeth not dangers and
inconveniences ; therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution," etc In its
more questionable form take the familiar quatrain, —
He that fighn and nine away
May nun and light anolher day ;
Bui he that Is in battle slalo
WiU never rise 10 light again.
A curious story anenl the above quotation is told in Collet's " Relics of
literature" (iSlo) ; "These lines are almost universally supposed to form a
pari of ' Hudibras;' and so confident have even scholars been on the sub-
ject that in 1784 a wager was made at Boolle's of twenty to one thai they
were to be found in that inimitable poem. Dodsley was referred to as the
240 HANDY-BOOK OF
arbitrator, vhen he ridiculed (he idea of consulting him on the Bubjcct, say-
ing, ' Everjr fool knows they are in " Hudibras." ' George Selwyn, who was
present, said to Dodslejr, ' Pray, sir, will you be good enough, then, to inrocm
an old fool, who is at the same lime your wise worship's very humble servant,
in what canto they are to be found T Dodsley took down the volume, but
t lind the passage ; the next day came, with no better s
and the sage bibliopole was obliged to confess ' that a man might be ignorant
of the author of this well-known couplet without being absolutely a fool !'"
Indeed, the nearest approach to the couplet in " Hudibras" it in Book iL
Canto 3!
For thoH that fly miv fichl agun.
Which ht can Kvn do ilut'i ilalD.
The sense, of course, is embodied here. But then the sense is not Butler's
alone, but is shared bv a long series of predecessors, dating all the way back
to the Greek, 'Kvkf a ^^rfjv luH mi^ /loj^cnu (" He who flees will fight
again"), which is ascribed to Meiiander. In its Latin lorrn, " Qui fugiebal,
rursus proeliabilur," it is quoted b;^ Tertullian in his boolt on ■"Persecution"
(ch. X.), which contains an answer in the negative to the question of his friend
Pabius, " Is it right to avoid persecution by flight or britwry f A paraphrase
of this imputed saying ol Mcnander's is found in Archilochus, Fragment 6,
quoted by Plutarch in "Customs of the Lacedaemonians." It has Men thus
translated i
L« vho will boait ihclr nmnit In the field.
,n«'..law«n,u«;W:
EuSHus: Afntkiimi, ij+i (traulaicd by Udatl).
Soovant caloy qm damcure
Est CailK de MB aiMieC '
Cclny qui liilt da boom bcurr
Ray, in his " History of the Rebellion" (1752), and Goldsmith, in "The Art
of Poetry on a New Plan" (I76r), quotr "^ " ' ■ ----'-
above, the second in the slightly diflerei
Forbt
May I
Buili.
Can Kver riaa and Gthl afaln.
But the authorship is unknown.
DlatMiO« lend* enohantment to tbe view. This hmiliar ejtpresKioii
occurs at the opening of Campbell's " Pleasures of Hope ;"
Wtaw funbtlght lunmli ininglei with the i^yl
Afid robca (he mouDtaln hi iLi azure hoe.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Ab ycm Aammiti, uR uid mir,
ClAd ia coLon of (be air,
BkjTcD» brown, and rough appear.
But, indeed, the idea ma^ be traced through a Buccewion of poets all the way
back to Diogenes Laerlius : " The mountains, too, at a distance appear airy
masses and smooth, but when beheld close they are roi^h" (Pyrrho). Heie
are a lew of the intermediate links :
It charmnl wiih dinant vlewi i^ happineH,
Valdkm : AgatHst Emjtyment.
IT Hascil ; 0* Ltvt.
A goodly prcxrHKi, I
The height dtlbhti I
Looks hautifuTbeo
There is alio a passage in Cotlins's " Ode
■mind the effect attributed by Campbell to sight :
Pale Heluchalyiat ^laR,
And from ber wild scqueaterBd toat.
In DDlea by dlaiance oinde eodr awcet.
Poured ihnagh (be mellow horn her pemlvc tool.
Dlvld* 0t Impora (!>, " Divide and rule," — i.t., create dissensions among
Tour sutijects, set one against the other, and you assure yourself the sovereignly).
This was the motto of [/^uis XI.
^ b)r the lordfl and commom what mJdhl be a principal motive for
.. :eBi JD Parllameni, It wae aniwered, "£ri(i> luupcnbiloflr gi fuerlilA
uuepvahUc*. Evploaum efl( iUud diverbium ; divide et impera, ci-^ -^" — "-- ' " ■-
obe^thim coueuu lata innt" [■' You wiU be luupeiable^ you I
Divide and rale, the polltkian criei ;
Unite and lend, ii walchwocd of the win.
GosTHi : ^riUkwirllick.
DItIim right of Iringa, specifically, the doctrine of the Stuarts and their
legal or clerical advisers, that the king was such by special dispensation of
Providence, and that treason or disloyalty was consequently an offence not
only against him but against God Almighty. This, of course, is merely a
•nrvival of the primev^ superstition that kings were gods. The principle
as enunciated by the Stuarts was never generally acknowledged by Enelish-
meik James I. found it a useful argument to sapplement a notorious defect
of hereditary title, which he was unwilline to strengthen by an acknowledg-
metll that he owed his throne to election by the nation. He found the Tory
or conservative element eager to endorse him in his most extravagant clainis.
Indeed, the Tadors had already found the loyalty of this class quite willing
to tolerate the fiction that they were the Lord's anointed. But there had
always been a robust undercurrent of feeling, in the middle classes especially,
;i:,vG00gif
243 HANDY-BOOK OF
which resisted the encroachments of royiU* and upheld the right of revola-
tion in eitreme cases. The Plantageneti bad never gone so far as the Tudora,
and the Tudors had never gone so far as the Stuarts. The extreote doctrilM
of divine right which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Richard II. is an
anachronism :
NdI kll Lhc waten io th« w;dc rough tea
The bKkth ai oorli^y men unnol dcpoK
Ths deputy clcclcd by the Lord.
These words belong not to the fourteenth century, but in germ, perhaps, to
the closing years ol the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth.
It is noticeable aJso that it is the mere fact of kingship, and not hereditary
right, which is insisted upon. So, in " Hamlet," the usurper and murderer.
Claudius, holds himself secure, for that
ThcR'i Bidi ctl<4iriiy doih hedR a king,
Thit treuoo CUD but peep to Aal it would.
it identi^ divine right with hereditary title, in which both E
and James I. were lacking. The revolutions against Charles I, and James II.
were the practical answer to their claims, and with the linal expulsion of the
Stuarts, and the establishment of a Whig king in William III., the doctrine
died a natural death. In the reign of Queen Anne we lind it turned into
ridicule by Pope in the well-known line, which sums up all its absurdity with
rare epigrammatic force, —
The tight diviiK of kion Io Eovcm wrong.
DMiuiad,'&x't\i.,\. iBS.
The befinnlogi of this ctabn to Divine Right go back ago bvyond the " Zcua-nurlurcd
aac««tor-wonhip. Modvo anthropology hai made it guite clear to ua ihat ali over the
world, whatever great pidi Bay !« worabipped u well, the imajler godl of every iribc and
(very bmily an ita own dead anceiton. But while each tamily McnGm to in pariiinilar
and the U%
Iter pro^niton^— the tribe ai :
dtea out very ilowiy. It i> Chrutiaiiiaed and uaDirbnued. but not dealroyed. The King of
Obbo, who catia hb people (ogether in litnca of drought, and demands aoaia and corn of them
_., . ....Klnaof Obbohaahu^ couoleipa'n in liie*SiU'rt _
fell upon the people ai a puniihmeni Ibr their pariiclpatkin in the i
iBODicaJ power of eariy chleftaiu over demoru and diKihi turvived la
b ue practice of touching lor iiing'a evil. The (acred peraon of I
aacred to Ihb day belbre the Engiiih law. And if the Egyptiatu and
Pharaohi or thdr Incu to be incarnate deitiea it waa in the age of
BsaHiel llared diltinctl)' to lay, " Kinga are godl, and ihare In a de
pendance." Tbcie an not mere fcrapa and lau of coiLttly aduladi
wadaya to believe ; the cioaer one looki at '
It' they are actually inrvlraja of thought I
ility the li.-' ■■ — " -■- — ' ' '
, ._ s living god, and the god waa in reality the dead lung.-.GBAi'T Au-ak, in ijrnkm
Doctor* disagree. Pope's lines are well known, —
Who aball decide when docion dliagice.
And ttmuirv caiuiau doubt like you and me t
Mural Eiiayi, Ep. lii.
In the first line Pop« is simply versifying a common proverb. CuthbertBede
wriles to NoUt and Queriei (March 10^ 1S83), " In a manuscript on a theologi-
cal subject, apparently written about a ranlury ago, I came upon another vei*
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Ferluipa Ibis variation may be woiih noting."
Dog. QiT« a dog ao ill nuna and hang him. This s«cms to be a
more modern veraion of the provecb given by Ray in the foim, " He that
would hang his dog gives out tirst (hat he is mad," and explained thus; " He
that is about to do anything disingenuous, unwoilhy, and of evil fame first
bethinks him of some pfaosiue pretence." The Spanish proverb corresponds
exactly with Ray's, " Quien i su perro quiere matar labia le ha de levantar ;"
and so does the Italian " Qui vuol ammazar il suo cane, basta che dica di' k
arrabbiato," and the French "Qui veut noyer son chien, I'accuse de la rage."
The German " Wenn man den Hnnd schlagen will, findet man bald ein
Stecken" has its exact equivalent in that other English proverb, " It is easy
to find a Slick if you want to beat a Anf,." But the saving which heads this
article has modified its meaning into " As well hang a dug as give him a bad
name," and, indeeti, is not unknown in that verbal dress. The same sentiment
reappears in the English " He that hath an ill name is half hanged," and the
more daring French " Rumor hangs the man" (" Le bruit pend l^omme").
Do^ Tha under. The phraj
be a modem one, and may have 1
by David Barker, which ran as ibllovrs :
The Under Doc in tkb Fight.
I Imov thtt the world, dutr the gmt big woHd,
From tlic peuul up to the kino,
Hu > difleiail tile from the lale I lell,
And a dJOercDt ■ong w HDg.
Bui for me.—ud I cue not a tlnele fig
If iber lay I un wnm* or un right,—
I khall kJway* go in for ibe weaker dog,
For the under dog lu the light.
I know that ihc world, that (he great big world.
To ■« ^^h'lW m^ be°m the fault,
But will shout fCFT the dog on top.
Bu with hian and with glui filled chock to the brim,
Here b lock lo the under dog (
The song, il will be seen, though excellent in sentiment, is hardly what one
would call a poetical gem. Vet il is worth saving as a curiosity and as the
Canmable original <M a common phrase. Of course the song might have
n written to fit the phrase. An edition of Mr. Barker's poems was pub-
lished in 1S76 by Samuel S. Smith & Son, of Bangor, Maine.
Doloe far ntento. This phrase, freouent enough in English literature,
does not seem 10 occur in any Italian author of note. Huwells says that he
tbiind it current among Neapolitan lazxaroni, but it is not included in any col*
244 HANDY.BOOK OF
several Latin cipresBions
ir'lew remote descendant. Thus :
DvlceeM doipenin loco (" ll ii •grceibleta revel oni fit occuioa").— Hchack: Odtt.
A writer in the English Notts aid Queriei (liflh series, vul. x. p. 44S) suggests
that (he phrase is an incorrect Ibrm fur " II dolce non far niente," — ur, " The
amiable man does nothing." — which, though not convincing, is pcwsible. The
ptuverbial literature of every country is full of sayings in which amiability is
rightly classed among the vices.
a dollar.
the name. It is not a distinctive American word. One may find it duly
entered in Bailey's Dictionary of 1745. Nay, it may be traced farther back
than Bailey's time. Shakespeare uses it repeatedly. In " Macbeth," for
example, are these lines:
Nor imuld n deign him burial »( hk men
TUl be dbbunM u Si. CalnH't Inch,
In Shakespeare's time there was no English coin known ai a dollar.
Numismatists are aware that an Eng)ish dollar was struck off for the first and
the last time in 1804. It is known as the Bank of England dollar. Where,
then, did Shakespeare find the word dollar ? It is merely a corruption of the
German thaler. That, in lis turn, originally meant something belonging to or
coning from a vale or valley, — the first Ihilcrs having been coined about 1486
In the Bohemian valley of Joachimsthal. Thcv corresponded quite closely
to (he modern American dollar. Under Charfcs V., Emperor uf Germany,
King of Spain, and Lord of Spanish America, the German thaler became the
coin of the worliL
The origin of (he dollar-mark is not quite so easy of solution. Indeed, it
cannot be said that it has yet been satisfactorily solved. Many explanations
have been ofleted. All are plausible, none are convincing- The most usual
one claims Ihal the mark comes from the letters U. S., which used to be pre-
fixed lo the Federal currency, and which afterwards in the hurry of writing
were run into each other. Another explanation makes it a corrupted form
of the notation |, denoting a piece of eight reals, or, as the do)lar was formerly
called, a piece of eight. A more learned and ingenious explanation traces the
dollar-mark all the way back (o primeval antiquity. From prehistoric limes
pillars have been used to signify strength and soverei^n(y. In ancien( Tyre
they were reverenced as sacred symlrols. Tyrlan coma bore (wo pillars as
supporters of the general device. When Mcleanthus, the Tyrian explorer,
founded (he ci(y known in mudern limes as Cadiz, he planted there the Tyrian
symbols of sovereignty, and built over them a temple to Hercules. In due
course as Cadiz gained power and wealth the pillars of Hercules became her
metropolitan emblem, and the name acquired further bme from being given (o
(he two mountains that stand at the entrance to the Mediterranean.
When Charles V. was crowned Emperor of Germany he incorporated the
Imperial and Spanish arms, the pillars of Hercules being made supporters of
the device. The standard piastre coined in (he Imperial mint at Seville gained
the name of " colonnato," or '■ pillar piece," from the pillars prominent in its
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 845
dollv-mark is a tesuscitalion of an old Spanish symbol, and thai in its
turn was Ihe revival of an older cusiom. For ihoi^h Ihe Tyrians were not
the fiisi lo coin money, tbey were foremost in giving it general circulation ;
their coinage was ilie currency of ihe world. Hud its device ihe recognized
money symbol. The pillar pieces of Charles V. were Ihe legilimalc descend-
ants of the pillar pieces of the Tynans. Another curious, though accidental,
analogy between the Spanish and the American dollar is suggested by the '
name which (he former gave to their coin, — ■fiaitrt. Now, this means a plaster,
and the word plaster or shinplaster is a well-known slang lerm for a paper
dollar, used especially during the Revolutionary and civil wars.
DoUar would go fortber la ttioae day*. When William M. Evaits
was Secretary of State he aci^ompanied Lord Coleridge on an excursion to
Mount Vernon. Coleridge remarlied that he had heard it said (hat Washing-
ton, standing on ihe lawn, could Ihrow a dollar clear across the Polomac Mr.
Evarts explained that a dollar would go further in those days than now.
Shirley Brooks, however, had anticlpaied Evarts, in (he following/m d'lsprit:
li Keos ihal ihe Scou
Turn oul much belter fhott
At lon^ diUKDce ihui niDBi of [be Engtubmen art :
Sfiufiu c.
IS made almost one hundred years before by
leaving the Bedford colfee-house (oge(her,
wnen oarncK oroppen a guinea. " Where can it have gone ?" said Foo(e,
after they had humed for 1 1 awhile. "Gone lothedevil,! think," said Gar-
riclt, impatiently. " Well said, David I" cried Foote ; " let you alone for
making a guinea go further than anybody else I" Foote was continually gird-
ing at Garrick for his parsimony. — unjustly, as Johnson insisted. "Garncl^"
said Foote, "walked out with the intention of doing a generous action, but,
turning the corner of a street, he met the ghost of a halfpenny, which
iiightened him." When once asked how he could place Gatrick's bust on
his bureau, Foote replied, " I allow him to be so near my gold because he has
no hands."
Dont HA It. In Stone's " Life of Sir William Johnson," iL 337, it is
stated that a distingaished Mohawk Indian, Abraham, at the treaty at Fort
Stanwix, in 1770, said 10 Sir William, " You told us that we should pass our
time in peace, and travel in securitv ; tbal trade should flourish, and goods
abound, and that tbey should be sold to us cheap. This would have endeared
all the English to us j iutwt do iMtitf it." This is apparently (he first use of
Ibil now familiar phrase.
Doubl* antondl*, a word or phrase with a double meaning, one of which
is indelicale or at least obscure. The expression has been coined nut of two
French words, dmibit, " double." and entendre, " lo hear." But it is not French,
for it is unknown in France, and sounds as absurd to a French ear as (he literal
"double to hear" would to an English ear. The nearest Gallic equivalent
would be iM nml d double entaile, " a word with a double meaning ;" but even
that would not have the ulterior sense which we have read in(o the manu-
factured phrase. And although (he expression has been domesticated in
English, has been used by good writers, and may be found in good dictionaries,
it is so gross a blunder that one cannot help hoping the common usage which
has sanctioned it so Cu' will eventually yield to reason and cr
31»
HANDY-BOOK OF
In Mrmariam, xcvl. u. j.
Donghfaoa*. A tenn of contempt applied by the Aboliiiunista to the
' Northern Democrats who sympatbited with slavery- It was afterwards
merged into the more expressive term " Copperheads.^' In (be " Memoirs of
Thurlow Weed," ii. 417, it is staled that this term was originally applied to
that Wnch or the Ijemocrai^ who lived in Ihe North and yet ap])Toved
of the caucDs measure passed in 183S which required all bills pertaining to
the holding of staves to be laid on the table without debate. This measure
identified the party as it then existed with the slave-holding interest
John Randolph is also quoted as having called the " baser sort of Northem
demagogues" doughfaces. Randolph, however, spelled (he word d-o-e, ia
allusion to the timid animal that shrinks from seeing its own face in the
water. {Mfmoruil 0/ Gftrrgc Bradbum, Boston, 1883.)
Dovralng Street, famous in London as (he street whereon stands the official
residence of the First Lord of the Treasutv, was, strangely enough, named
after a na(ive American. Geoi^e Downing, Wn in Boston. Massachusetts, in
1614, graduated at Harvard College in 1642. and soon after went (o England
and became chaplain to Okev's regiment of the Parliamentary army. Oliver
Cromwell, taking a fancy to the young man, made him residen( minister at the
Hague, where he ingratiated himself with (he exited Stuarts, After Ihe
Restoration, he was made a baronet in 1663, and in 1667 Secretary to the
Treasury, building himself a fine house in what Strype calls a "pretty open
place, having a pleasant prospect inio St. James's Park, with a Tarras-walk."
He subsequently built other houses (here, and thus made Ihe street, which is
only a New York "block" in length. In 16S4 he died, and his baronetcy
eiipired with his grandson in (764. Lee, I^rd Lichfield, bought one ot
Downing's houses, and forfeited it (o the crown when he tied from England
with James II. in i6Sg. George I. gave it to the Hanoverian minister, &Ton
Bothmar, for life, and on (he latter's death George II. offered it (o Sir Robert
Walpole, who would accept it only as an oHicial residence, to be forever
atUched to the office of First Lord of the Treasury. As the First Lord of
the Treasury has usually been Prime Minister as well, Downing Street is
often figuratively spoken of as the English government. Thus, Hillard says,
"Let but a hand of violence be laid upon an English subject, and Ihe great
British lion which lies couchant in Downing Street begins to ulter menacing
growls and shake his invisible locks."
TttSW. This word, from its muKiplicity of meanings, has been a boon (o
the punster. Thus, when Charles Mathews was asked what he was going (o
do with his son, who had been destined for an architect, " Why," answered
the comedian, "he is going to draw houses, like his father." A similar joke,
credited to various wags, represents each as asked, when informed that some
one drew very well, " Can he draw an inference f" Below a few more instances
are collated :
1 could dm* on wood w a vciy lender ■a:e. When a nwir clitid I once drew ■ iBuU cut-
toad of niniipA over a wooden Lmdtfe. The people of tbe vLlla)^ noticed me. I drew thdr
•innikui.-C. F. Biiiwhi: ArUmui IVar/i LicIht,.
To A Rich Lady.
TTie iimefti] ivory k^ :
Aa quite fofficc for n«.
;i:,vG00gk"
UTERAR Y CURIOSITIES.
Punch.
- Vou didn't Imov 1 dnv ! I louDl U ichwl."
" Pcrhftpi you only luimi lo draw your swordT"
of ihiug-— And ihoufh I diA« il mild,
-haw [ R«w I— tluit nuy he aJled my /&r«."
iihinlLyou'llgo
YKIlul-
"Ohfiot ,-
For nuking such a heap c( focAaii muuV
"Why, lo the Punjaub, 1 ihuuld ihlnk— haw
JO ,y . c. ]. Cailki: Lat Afftreat.
Droit d« grenonllle. When the loid in France had s son and heir barn,
the peasants irere obliged to watch all night beating the ponds, so that the
frogs should not disturb the baby ; this was called droit dt tUtnct dti grenouiiUs.
Dickens tnakes mention of it in his "Tale of Two Cities," where the dying
peasanl-t>oy denounces (he nobles ; " Vou know, doctor, that it is among the
rights of these nobles to harness us common dogs to carts and drive us. . . .
Vou know that il is among their rights to keep us in their grounds all njs'i'i
quieting the fri^s, in order that Iheir noble sle^p may not be disturbed. They
kept him out in the unwholesome mists at night, and ordered him back into his
harness in the day."
DnokB and drak«« is, in the words of an old author quoted by Brand,
" a kind of sport or play with an oister-shell or stone thrown into the water,
and making arcles yer it sinke." If the stone emerges once it is a duclc, and
faicteases in the following order :
1, a, A duck and a drake,
3 And a halfpenny cake.
4 And a penny id pay the dM taker ;
From this game probably originated the phrase "making ducks and drakes
with OTte's money," — i.e., throwing it away heedlessly. An early instance of
the use of the phrase may be found in Strode's " Floating Island," Sig. C. iv.
Butler, in " Hudibras" [Canto iii. line 30), makes it one ofthe important quali-
fications of his conjurer to tell
What lieuxed »lata are beU to make
On wai'iy lurface di'ck or diake.
among the Romans, and is alluded to
Jf London 1«
■ghty
louid never
''b^"
ablei
ID >pend il. ,
TOUld uiually 1
inake
boys are w<
int to do with
thevaibiui'
'be.
hoe
jmedy— Hi
imi
(PK»I
:tu.»: Tlul
VcrU>'/~Pf>
IV.'
or. A CoMlirM la Kitf tlsnty, Lond
Dad« (feminine, Dudlue or Dndette), in American slang, a swell or
masher, the personification of cloifaes and nothing else. The term probably
aroee from the colloquial English duds or dudes (Scotch duddies), meaning
dolhes. Thus, Thackeray says, " Her dresses were wonderful, her bonnets
marvellous. Few women could boast such dudes." Shakespeare, in "The
248 HANDY-BOOK OF
Merry Wives of Windsor," Act iii., Sc 5, tpeaks of » " bucke of dudes," — i.e.,
a bucket-shaped ba~'~~~ ' "~- -'—■-— — ■- • — — -■ — -'
the New York Evti
" In the ' Eunuchus
which litetally ttansUied into English would read, ' He seemed a dude,
because he was decked oul in a vest of many colors.'" In sober lact, the
eailiest lileiary appearance of (he word dud or dude as applied 10 a person is
in Putnani'i Magatine for February, 1876: "Think of her? I think she is
dressed like a dud ; can't say how she would look in the costume of the pres-
ent century." This would seem to dispose of Ihe claims put forward by the
ftiends of Mr. Hermann Oelrichs, of New York, that one day silting at the
Union Club window he saw a much overdressed youth with a mincing gajt
Brading along FiAh Avenue, whereupon one of the clubmen in concert with
r. Oelrichs began humming an accompaniment to the step, thus; " Du da,
de, du-du, du, de, du." "That's good I" said Mr. Oelrichs j "it ought to be
called a dude." And dude it has been called ever since.
I Thay'r* both ditia.'-Cltiaifa Liflil.
Dumb Ox, or SioUlan O^ or Ofeat Dninb SioUlaa Ox, a nickname
given to St. Thomas Aquinas by his companions in the monastety at Cologne,
because of his Pythagorean taciturnity, his sleek corpulence, and his plodding
industry. His master, Albertus Magnus, not knowing himself what to think,
took occasion one day befote a large assemblage >o interrogate him on very
profound questions, to which the disciple replied with so penetrating a sagacity
that Albert turned towards the youths who surrounded his chair, and said,
" You call brother Thomas a ' dumb ox,' but be assured that one day the noise
of Us doctrines will be heard all over the world."
Lmci/tr. Of ■ trulh It almou makci dm liugfa
To »« mol teaviu tha eolclen niUOj
To galba in pllu Ois plitful chaff
Thu old Peter Loinbvd ihiufaed wiih h>9 bniD,
To tiAY< it ckiuht up and loued tnln
Od Ibe benu 3 Ibc Dumb Oi o( Coliwiie.
More complimentary titles which the saint won in later days, or posthumously,
were Doctor Angelicas (" Angelic Doctor"), Doctor Mirabilis (" Wonderful
Doctor"), the Father of Moral Philosophy, the Fifth Doctor of the Church,
and the Second Augustine, — all tributes to his learning, eloquence, and logic
Dun is a word now wh<
the English language, fi „ „
England oamed John Dun became celebrated as a (irst-class collector of bad
accounts. When others would fail to collect a bad debt, Dun would be sure
to get it out of the debtor, It soon passed into a current phrase that when a
person owed money and did not pay when asked, he would have to be
" Dunned." Hence it soon became common in such cases to say, " You will
have to Dun So-and-so if you wish to collect your money."
Donmow Flltob. At the church of Dunraow, in Essei County, England,
a flitch of bacon used to be given to any married couple who after a twelve-
month of matrimony would come forward and make oath that during that
time they had lived in perfect harmony and fideNty. The origin of the custom
it lost in the mitt* of antiquity. By some it ■• dubiously referred to Robert
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 349
Fitnralter, a bvorite of King John, who revived the Dunmow Priory at Ihe
beginning of Ihe thirteenth cenEary; but it seems quite aa iikely that the
good fathers themselves, rejoicing in their celibacy, instituted the custom as
a jest upon their less fortunate jeliovrs. The earliest recorded case of the
awarding of the flitch is in 1445, when Rictiard Wright, of Badbury, Norfolk,
a laborer, claimed and obtained it But that there had been earlier cases of
similar success is clearly evidenced by this couplet in Chaucer's " Wife of
Bath :"
The bacon wu n« lei f« ibem, 1 Irow,
Thw fame men have id Enei u Duumow.
The custom seems to have lapsed and been revived from lime to time at con-
siderable intervals until 1763. when the lord of Ihe manor discountenanced it,
and removed what were known as the "swearing-stones," upon which Ihe
couple knelt to Cake Ihe requisite oaths. In 1S55, however, Harrison Ains-
worth, Ihe novelist, himself the author of a story called "TheDunntow
Flitch," resolved to revive the custom, and a couple of tlilches were in thai
year given away with much burlesque ceremony. But the popular interest
coula not be reawakened, and though in 1877 and in tS8o the flitch was again
contested for, the contemporary reports tells us that "Ihe attendance was
poor and the true joyous spirit nas absent" The custom of awarding a prize
of this sort for wedded faithfulness is not peculiar to Dunmow. For a cen-
tury the abbots of St Meleine, in Bretagne, gave the flilch ; and a like trophy,
with a gift of meal or corn, was enjoined to be given by the charter of the
manor of Whichenouvre, in Stafford, granted in the time of Edward IH.
The manors of Whichenouvre, Scirescot, Kedware, Nethetlun, and Cowler
were held of the earls of Lancaster by Sir Philip de Somerville on condition
' should maintain and sustain one bacon flyke to be given to every
" ■' ' " ^ ' -■ ■ marriage were past, provided
ong to reprint. Ad
the whole charter in the Spectator, No. 607, October 15, 1714.
could subscribe
in after the day and year of their marriage were past, provided they
At Danmow the form of the oath as it has come down lo us, evidently re-
cut by a comparatively modem hand, is as follows :
Tbal you nver mod* any nuplial Dussreuian,
SliKc you were muiied to your wife.
By iwdkchold bnwl or contenllous itiite ;
Or •ince ike ptiUi dak Kiid (men
WikMl yonrieir Btmuriect >(*lii ;
Or Ibr ■ iii»lnmoiHh ud ■ day
Repenied not, in ihonchi, any way ;
Bui coatiniied true and in deabe
Aa when you joined hands Ln boly choir;
If to ihOH condilioDs, wElhouE aay fear,
Of your own accord, you will frwy iwear,
And t>ear it home wiih love and good ieave,
Tlie ipoii 1> oun, the bacou'i your own.
It is said that at the conclusion of the first year of Queen Victoria's reign
the flitch was sent her in recognition of her rightful claims, but was returned
on the grounds that it " was not an article in use in her majesty's kitchen." —
Notetand Queries, seventh series, x. 234.
Doraaoe vile. This phrase is lo be found in Burns's " Epistle from Esopus
to Maria :"
But the same expression was used by W. Kenrick In his " FaliilafT's Wed-
»SO HANDY-BOOK OF
ding," pablUhed in 1766. Il ii also to be found in Barlce's "Thoughts on
the Cause or the Recent Discontents," published in 1773 : " It will not be
amiss to lake a view of the effects of this loyal servitude and durance rile."
Before either of these, however, Shakespeare, in the " Second Part of King
Henry IV,," Act v., Sc 4, makes Pistol say, " In base durance and conta-
gious (irison ;" and in " King John," Act iii., Sc. 4, occurs the phrase " In the
vile prison,"
Dnat, A slang t<
the term may have . . .— - - —
philosophers call dross. " l>uwn with the dust" is an old equivalent for " Hand
out your money." Dean Swift, so the story runs, once preached a charily
sermon at St. Patrick's, Dublin, the length of which disgusted many of his
auditors ; which coming to his knowledge, and it falling to his lot soon after
to preach another sermon of the like kind in the same place, be look special
care to avoid falling into the former error. His text <x\ the second occasion
was, " He (hat hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which
be hath given will he pay him agam." The Dean, after repeating his text in
a more than commonly emphattial lone, added, " Now, my beloved brethren,
you hear the terms of this loan; if you like the security, down with your
dusL"
Dust In the syea, To tiirow, to bewilder, to conhise with specious a^u-
raenL The metaphor is so obvious thai it might seem futile to trace it to any
particular source. Yel it is not improbable that it was first used with special
reference to the common militaiy expedient resorted to among others by
Epaminondas. Wishing to steal a march upon the Liacedxmonians near
Tegea and seize the heights behind (hem, he made sixteen hundred of his
cavalry move on in front and ride about in such manner as to raise a great
cloud of dust, which the wind carried into the eyes of (he enemy, under cover
whereof he execuled a successful flank movement and carried his point
(PuLYANUS : Slralagaia,vi. 3, 14). The same authority mentions that Caesar
wrested Dyrrachium from Pompeyin a similar manner. And Plutarch credits
the stratagem (o Sertorius.
Ontoh (loarage, artificial courage inspired by intoxicating drink, the ad-
jective Dutch being a play upon the name " hollands," or Holland gin.
PuLL away ml the luquebnigh, nuD. and Bwallow Dutch cDimic, ■Incc ihinc Engluh Is
ooied vmvf. — Kihcslbv : Wtttumrd ilo I cb. xi.
a sham tlefence, probably influenced by the bet that
opibe nnitoa vi
Dateb nnolo, To talk like a, a proverbial phrase, meaning to talk
severely, to reprove sharply. The Dutch were held to be unusually severe
in their military discipline, and an uncle, from the time of the Roman patnmt,
like a stepfather, has always been held to be a sorry substitute for a deati
&(hei. Horace, in his third Ode, lii. 3, has the phrase " dreading the castiga-
tions of an uncle's tongue" (" metuentes palrux verbera linguK"). But there
may also be some etymological connection with (he phrase " Dutch cousin," a
humorous perversion of "cousin.geiman."
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. sgi
ts mainly used to indicate an impoisible contingency. It is thus explained by
Luke (he miller to Maggie Tulliver in " The Mill on the Floss" : " Nay. miss.
I'n no opinion o' Dutchmen. My old master, as war a knowin' man, used to
say, says he, ' if e'er I sow my wheat wi'out brinin', I'm a Dutchman,' says he ;
and that war as much as to say as a Dutchman war a fool, or next door."
1 hcfvby ^Tc Doiicv that
«^'
'^J«&
«.JS
u pay more to oihitn, I find, UiM to
t Ydlcwplu^h. i ihall wrilE no more
,hMi^iidwith»dw»inB
mply
in.ohk
Kill, my d
utyloar»k°-°°BSdl?hJ
com rib
inc. and ought to be paid
orlhe Bill. Fti«.. fata
iihiy Dune,
■Ai;
Litttr
It Jam
«j >■«.«■,
frtfriilir tf FraMt"!
B, Ihe fifth letter and second vowel in Ihe English alphabet In PhtEnician
the name of the sign was Ju (doubtfully explained as meaning " window"), and
it was used simply as an aspirate ; in Greeli il was first utilized for a vowel
aound, otiginally as either lung or short. Later (he double value was aban-
doned, and e was restricted to denoting the short sound, as In English met
The double value was restored in Latin, and has been retained in most modern
alphabets. In English the letter does duty for a larger variety of sounds
than in any other language, and is, moreover, used as an orthographic auxiliary
to modi^ other sounds while its own value is suppressed, — e.g., in such words
as lilu, mutf, etc, where it governs the sound of /and tr, and as manag^ble,
where it preserves Ihe soft sound of the^. etc It is, consequently, the most
overworked letter in Ihe alphabet. Decipherers of cryptograms, for instance,
have discovered that when Ihe cryptogram is a simple one, the first step is to
look upon the sign oi symbol which makes its appearance most frequently as
standing for e.
Bploilbiu nntunC One from many"), the Latin motto on American crniia
and on the obverse of the great seal of the United States. The motto was
originally proposed on August to, 1776, by the committee of three — Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson — who had been appointed to
prepare a device for Ihe seal. Bui the device itself being rejected, it was not
until June to, 1782, that the motto was adopted as pari of Ihe second and suc-
cessful device submitted by Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress. (See
Seal.) In 1796, Congress further ordained that the legend shouldappear on
one side of certain specified coins. Both on the seal and on the coins it is in-
scribed upon a scroll issuing from an eagle's month. The phrase " E pluribus
una" or "unus" Is found in various classical authors. In "Morelum," a
poem ascribed to Virgil, the species of pottage which forms at once the title
and the subject is described as being made of various materials which the
peasant grinds up in a pestle. Then, says the |>nel, —
It mpDui io gynim ; paullatim lineulA vires
Horace asks (Epistle ii. 2, 212), "Quid te exempta juvat spinis de pluribus
ana?" Juvenal has a like locution. For nearly half a century before our
Union, English magaiines had carried Ihe motto " E pluribus ununi" or
"tuta," by way of noting that the new publicatiim was Ibe work of manj
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Statu,
B, ID Amtman NtUn a
bumDmn. Oaclrai
toy Rcpublici. Sutc
. nuDv. Tbit i<. one Suic or Nuion— one Kederat Republic
.. 0[ Naiiooi.— Albxandeh H. fiTEPHnNS: War tilntn llu
B poi ■! mnove (It., " Nevertheless it does move"). This Tamous phrase,
pul into the mouth of Galileo, is an unduubted fabricaliun. The good old
story, in its integrity, ran, thai Galileo was thrown into the dungeonH of the
Inquisition for teaching that "the sun is the centre of the world, and im-
movable, and that the earth moves, and also with a diurnal motion," that he
was tortured and his eyes put out, and that he was forced to recant in a hair
shirt, but as he rose from the kneeling posture in which he had signed his
recantation he whiaiiered to a friend, " E pur si muovc." The facts in the
case as now generally accepted arc, that Galileo was held in detention in the
palace of the Inquisition for doctrines uttered in 163Z, that ihoiagh he just!]'
resented the curtailment of his liberty he was handsomely lodged and treated
with the utmost consideration, that in 1&33 the council decided that Galileo be
absolved from all the penalties due to his heresies provided he first solemnly
abjured them, that but seven of the ten cardinals composing the council
signed this sentence, and that Galileo humbly professed his recantation, where-
upon Urban VIII. exchanged imprisonment for temporary banishment near
Rome, and afterwards to Siena. The famous phrase "E pur si muuve" was
never uttered, — though it may very well be assumed to be a representation in
words of what must nave been Galileo's thoughts at the time. Its first ap-
pearance in print has been traced to the "Lehrbuch der phtlosophischen
G«schichtc," published at Wiirzburgin 1774; "Galileo was neither sufficiently
in earnest nor steadfast with his recantation ; fur the moment he roue up, when
his conscience told him that he had sworn falsely, he cast his eyes on the ground,
stamped with his foot, and exclaimed, '£ pur si muove.'"
In conclusion, it may be added that Catholics claim, with Bergier, that
Galileo was not persecuted as a good aslrnnomer, but as a bad theologian :
" il ne Tut point persi^cute comme bon astronome, mais comme mauvais
th^logien" [Dictiotituiire Tkiglogiqut, 17S9). Protestants, however, and others
who are loath to lose such polemical capital as is still afforded by the story,
claim thai the sentence on Galileo included a statement that his views were
philosophically false. Into the merits of this controversy it would be useless
XUgle as an amblom. From ancl
has been looked upon as the symbol of royal or imperial power.
ensign of the Babylonish, Persian, and Etruscan kings, as well as of the
Ptolemies and the Seleucides. It was also adopted by the Roman Republic in
B.C. 87, when a silver eagle poised on a sjwar, with a thuuder-bolt in its claws,
was placed on the military standards borne at the head of the legions. The
emperors retained the symbol, Hadrian changing the metal from silver to
gold. An eagle was always let fly from the funeral pyre of ?.n emperor, to
Bear his soul up to Olympus. Hence the eagle has become esjjecially associ-
ated with imperialism, and when Napoleon dreamed of universal conquest he
revived the golden eagle of his Roman predecessors on his standard Dis-
continued under the Bourbons, it was restored by a decree of l^auis Napoleon
in iStl. A two-headed eagle, as a sign of double empire, was first used by
the Byiantine Caesars to denote their control both of the East and of the
West The double eagle of Kiuaia came into being with the marriage fA
Ivan I. to a Greek princess of the Eastern Empire, and that of Austria wbui
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 253
the Emperor of Getmany took the title of Roman Emperor. FrussJa and
Poland also have each an eagle, the one black, (he other white.
Tbe American eagle is the native bald eagle, and was first adopted on the
seal of the United Slates (see Shal) on June 30, 17SZ, against the bitter op-
position of Franklin. The latter looked upon it »s a Cxsarean emUem, and
wanled to know what was the matter with the wild turkey, as being more dis-
tinctly American and a bird suiaofris. Nevertheless, the eaele was accepted
not only on Ihc seal but on the first coin issued by the United States in 1795,
and on a majority of the sulwequcnt coins. He usually looks inebriated but
defiant, often wears a shield for a chest- protector, and sometimes shakes in
his beak what looks like a ring of nice country sausages. Franklin was
always fond of poking fun at this ornithological monstrosity, as in the following
extract, refeTrine (o the eagle borne on a bai^e which had been presented to
the Society of the Cincinnati ;
Olhtn object lo th<? laid figle as looking loo much like the djndDn, or lurkcy. For my
^«„»™ j„. .„. .5..., ^_^„ "iJ^;^'- ^: ?■"'■■ i" !-'^-' f
_ _,. He w thoclDK by lit r--r- -
brave and hopcBi CiDcinnalJ of America, who have driven all the kiD£-blr(U fnm ourcounirv.
more like a turkey. For, Ln ttulh, Ihe uirkey ii la companion a much more mpeclabie turd,
but ml the wene imbleoi lor ihat). a bird oF courage, and would not heihale 10 attack a (ren-
Nevertheless, the e»le had things all its own way, and is still rapturously
hailed as Ihe "national bird" and "the bird of freedom" by the school of ora-
tors who indulge in what is familiarly known as spread-eagleism or buncombe.
In Christian iconography the eagle is the syoibol of St. John the Evancellsl,
who is often represented on its back soaring up to heaven and gazing unblink-
ingly at the sun. We And Ihe eagle grouped with the 01, the symbol of St.
Luke, the lion of St. Mark, and the angel, or human form, of St. Matthew, in
frescos. Illuminations, carving, and sculpture, from the (ifth century onward.
St. Jerome, in ihe fourth century, in his commenlaiy 011 the vision of the
prophet Ezekiel {1. 5), declares the four winged creatures mentioned by the
prophet, and also by St. John in Revelation (iv. 7), to be the symbols of the
four evangelists. By the seventh century their use as Christian symbols had
become universal in East and West.
It became the custom quite eatty to represent the four symbols of Ihe evan.
gelists supporting the arnion, from which the deacon reads the gospels, the acts
of the martyrs, etc., and later the pulpit and lecturn, which developed out of
the ambon. In many cases Ihe place of honor, immediately under the desk.
c eagle, Ihe emblem of St. John, soaring above all others,
old Latin veri
according
The outspread wings of the eagle naturally supported the reading.desk :
thus, when the lecturn took Ihe place of the amion, (here was room for (he
eagle only, and he retains his place on the ledums in Catholic and Anglican
churches.'
BujU, So tbe ■truck. The eagle struck with the dart winded with his
own feathers is a familiar fisure in lileraturc. Rynin has it, m "English
Baids and Scotch Reviewers," in the lines commemorative of Kirke White:
L r. ;i:,. Google
354 HANDY-BOOJC OF
So tb« nruck eule, umched upon tbe pUfn,
No von tliTDUKD TDlling clcwdi la war uud.
Viewed hb OWD fuiber on the Ikul dan,
And winged the ilui) that qiuvered in biA hean ;
He nuned the pinion which impelled the Heel,
While the ume plumage thai had wnnned hii not
Dnjalc the Usl liJe-drop uf hii bleeding bruAt,
On llu Dtalk of KirlH »
Waller says, in his " LJnes to a L^iiy singing a Song of his
poaing."—
Tbe Fule't Isle uid mine ue one.
Which on the ihaft that made him die
Whaewith he'd wont to tomi go hi^.
Moore uses the same Ggute :
Like ■ young eagle who haa lent hb pinme
To Bedge the thaii by which he nteu hli doom.
See their own [ealhen plucked tn wing the dan
lEachylus has it ihus :
Said, when he jaw the fashion of (he ihift,
Tkr ifyrmidtni. Fragment 113. Plumpln'j tn
opted as his arnis the Ggi
w leathered with his own plumes {firofiriii configimur
Bht, In at one, and ont of ttie othsr, a colloquial saying, denoting
inattention, heedlessness of good advice, in which sense it is most virulently
applied in the speech a( older people to younger who have failed to profit 1^
their admonitions ; children particularly are supposed to have a vacuum be-
tween the ears, permitting the free passage of a great deal of useful knowledge
and wise counsel, without creating the desired impression, in which cases the
phrase vents the chagrin of the Ititor or counsellor. Nevertheless, after the
manner of proverbs and wise saws, which ever hunt tn couples lor their victim,
the couples being generally of opposite, often of flatly contradictory, nature,
even so the feebleness of the retentive (acuity of the very young person is,
proverbially speaking, made up for by the acutenesa and capacity of the re-
ceptive, as the saying is, " Little pitchers have big ears," or " Small pitchers
have wyde eares," as in Heywood's " Proverbs."
Chulet Lamb ui next Is Kme challcrtng woman at dinner, Obierving that he did doi
inMI,*for°it ilcame ib'u one e^ au'd'™! out lit the oth«/^£-"jK^i<ni °/ mr ' "'
Bai, Wrong sow by tbe. This forcible if inelegant mat has a venerable
»nti<)uity. It is in the " Proverbs" of John Heywood, 11I46, from which we
can mter this "eliectuall proverbe" was then long familiar to the English
longne. Ben Jonson uses it in " Every Man in his Humor," Act ii., Sc t,
"m has the wrong sow by the ear," in the sense of "he reckons without his
host," which is the accepted and ordinary significance of the phrase. They
have the same phrase in Spain. When the valiant Don Quixote makes his
ferocious charge into what he believes to be a mighty army with neighing
horses and blaring trumpets, but which Sancho Panza clearly enough per-
ceives to be only a flock of bleating sb«ep, the latter calls to the knight in th«
midst of his furious onset, —
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
You ucu
While all England was discussing the effort of King llenty VIII. lo induce
Clement VII. to grant him a divorce (rom his wife, Catherine of Aragon,
Thomas Cranmer, who wis then a docliii of divinity at Cambridge, auggesled
that the question of the legality of a marriage with a deceased brother's wife
should be submitted to (he universities of Europe. When the king heard of
the suggestion he is said lo have exclaimed, " He has got the right sow by Ihe
ear I" and caused him to be sent (or and made his emissary to the universities.
The Romans had a proverbial expression somewhat similar in form, which
occurs in Terence :
Ai the MTiBg b, I lure got ■ wolf by Ihe can.
FMrrmif, Act iii., Sc. s.
lis meaning, however, as is apparent, was entirely different, it being a proverb
for a position of extreme danger or difficulty, like our " catching a Tartar ;"
accordingly, as Suetonius relates, it was used by Tiberius, who, ^om the fear
hrealcning him at all hands, affected to refuse the imperial
power, and when urged thereto would reply, "I have got a wolf by the
Baily to b«d, early to riae. Proverbial philosophy is full of the benefits
and advantages to be derived from early rising. One of the best-known forms
which this proverbial wisdom has taken is the couplet, —
: Pi-or'sicliatil !ai 17JS,
who may have got it from Clarke, " Panemiologia" (1639).
The Muses love the morning, as does the goddess Copia, and "To rise
with the lark" at "Ihe breeiy call of incense .breathing morn," "sweet with
charm of earliest birds," is coupled wilh all manner of benefits, material and
intellectual (thus, "The early bird catches the worm") ; on the contrary, rising
late is followed by disadvantages innumerable, — i.g. :
He ihU tiiei tUe muU oat all Dmy. and ihall icme overtake his GnaiDeu M night.— /bur
RuliardSoTi-}^.
The " serving' man" is not quite so sure of all this wisdom, who declares,-
Hy hour U ddhi o'doch, (boueh il u jui infallible rule, " Saoai, ujictificBt, ei ditat, surgere
DUDe" (" That he may be healthy, happy, and wise, ler him rise early"). — A Htatik to tkr
Gtntli Prt/titin «/SjTviiiiMlw, IJ9S (rEprlnied in the Saxiurtht l.i(raT)i).-p, Tii.
And Sancho ?anza is quite sure the philosophers are wrong :
Heaven'! help ii belter that! early riling,— Z^eii Quiistr, Pan II,. ch. laiiv.
■he early bird thai pidu up Ihe worm." " Ab." leplled the ion, " but the wonn geti up'eariier
than (he 'baA."—Jtil-Brai.
Bua bnming. In his "Vulgar Errors" Sir Thomas Browne tells us,
"When our cheek bnrnelh or ear tingleth, we usually say that somebody is
talking of us, which is an ancient conceit, and ranked among superstitious
opinions by Pliny." He supposes it to have proceeded from the nolion of a
"signifying genius or universal Mercury (hat conducted sounds lo (heir distant
356 HANDY-BOOK OF
sobjecw, and taught us to hwr by touch." According to an old English
proverb, vhose second line is slightly ambiguoas, the sign is, —
\jA for love ud right for spile :
Left or right, good u night.
Ill case it be the right ear, the sufferer to this day is advised to pinch it, when
the |)crsoii speaking despitefully will immediately bile his or her tongue. In
Wiltshire it is customary to cross the ear with the fore&nger, and to say, —
If VDu're ipeakiDg well or me
Bu if vou'r ipeiJiiDg ill of me
J wiib you'll bile your tongue.
Allusions (o the superstition are common in English literature :
I Buppoie that day her ears migbl well glow.
For all Ihe iowd talked of ber.^igb udlDW.
Hbywhod: Prmrii.
Tiuil I da credit give unia tbe laying old,
WUch il, wheiui Ihe eaio doe bunie. (ametbiug on thee is told.
Tk4 OuItU ,f Cimriau, 158*.
What fire ii id my ein %
Muck Ada Aieul NeOUng, Act iU., Sc. i.
Ooe ear tingles ; Ktmt there be
tit ingnowa "^'^^^ij.^. ^^j^,.^j
As to the third example, Ihe exclamation uttered by Beatiice after a vet heating
the conversation in the bower between Hero and Ursula, there is a dispute
unonE the authorities, Schmidt and a few others huldine that no allusion is
intended to the proverbial saying, but that Beatrice simply means, " What lire
pervades me by what I have heard )"
BartlL Of tbe eartb, eaitbj. From St. Paul's First Episile to tbe
Corinthians :
For u in Adam all die, even to in Chiiit ihall all be made alive. Ii Car. av, 11.) The
firai man it of ibe earth, eanhy : the Kcoud man u the Lord from heaven. As it the earthy,
mch arc they also that are earthy : and aa is the heavenly, auch are they alio that arc heavenly.
And ai we have bome Ihe ioaEe of the earthy, we shall alio bear the image of the heavenly.
{Ibia. ,?-49 i"-^!.)
Alva, when asked by Charles V. about an eclipse of the sun which occurred
in IU7> during the battle of Muhlberg, replied, " I had too much to do on
earth to trouble myself with the heavens." The phrase has come to be used
adjectively to denote grossness, or want of refinement, but it is also used in its
literal sense :
My heact would heai hec and Uai,
Were il eailh in an eaithv bed.
Earth ■ hall. If Bkln& or
misery or torment.
Shakespeare has. —
H«U on earth, a life 01
to chooie love by anolher's eye
Mairiage ia a matter of mote
Than u be dealt in by alloni
worth
«,yrt.ip.
For what i
An age of
i. wedlock fawcU 1*
i«t'
condition of extreme
/ftiWT Vl., Ptrt I.. Act T., Se. 1.
Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Who bai Dol tijtpeiiRbut in h» poatcbion ;
Who nuH u> her hit dear Hcnd'i kcku icU ;
Who diBufa > «unim IMUR wone than hell.
tyna nw« the phrase to describe the joyless life of self-deprivation ol' the
ucetic or bennit :
Daep in yon can Honoriua loni did dwell,
CItildt Hanid, Canlo 1., Soinn xz.
The dialwne between Paustui and Mephislopheles is an earlj illustration
of the tise of the term hell to describe a condition rather than a place :
Fatal. WhEic ut vou dunDed r
Mtpk. In hell.
Fauil. Hqw gduh Ii, ihco, thit thou an oat of bell T
M>M. Why, ifali la hell, nor am I out of it ;
Tbink'M ihou that I, who aaw the &« of God,
Am not tormented with ten ihouaand hella
In being deprived of cveriaaling Uiut
M*hiowb: FmntttH.
Moore has almoet the identical thought :
And so has Milton :
One ncfi no more t
Parajiii Lett, Booliiv.,1, it.
The mind li Ita own place, and In liitir
C^ make a heaven of belt, a hell of hea>en.
Ibiil., Book ;., 1. 15*.
The last with reminiscences of Sir Edward Dyer's " My mind to me a king-
A place of vice is called a hell, — i.g., gambling-hell.
Buth, He mmti tha, a slangy colloquialism, applied to one making
unreasonable or impertinent demands ; also, as an adjective, denoting intense
greed or selfishness.
" Want tomeihing, air f " the gnnning ueward cried
" Oh, Ltqd," the aea-aick paaaenger replied,
" 1 only want the eanh.''
At the last even the moat arrogant must content themselves with the al-
lotted six feet, even though they be not driven to the extremity of craving it
as a boon, like Wolsey. who.
"^"
;i:,vG00gk"
3S8 HAt/DY-BOOK OF
And these quotations bring to mind the curious verbal analogy between the
Americanism and the old saying, slill tocallY cxtani in England, when an
nnbuTied corpse becomes offensive, that il is " calling out loudly for the
earth." The phrase was evidently in Shakespeare's mind when he wrote, —
Thai ibii foul deed ihill imcll ibovr tbc eanh
«mon min groinmg or _^^^_^ Ottar. Acl iii., Sc. i.
Base in mltiii^ except it be undentood as that ease and flow of style
which is the perfection of art, is probably a pleasant fiction, or is a notion born
of roily or affectation.
Piger icnbendi ftm liboRm ;
;;at
ej from him 4 hlol Id hi» papers. — Hgkjk(;r AMD CoNDKLL; Addreu to tfu grtat
■ly a/KtatUri, in tbc Km foUa Shikupein, 1613.
Often lum ihe Hyle [ccwrtcl with caro] if you eipecl to wrile anythlnc wgnhy of being
For ihoUEh ihc Pod'i malKr, Niiucc be.
His An dolb give ihe fashion. And Ihat he.
Upon <b( MuKi anvjk ; lun the iime,
(And hlmwUe with It) Ih« he ihinka to fiame ;
OtIbrtlHkwtell, he mnygaine ■ srome,
For s lood Poei'* made, u
Bin Joibo..: Lin., (.. ..
Pom ; Eimf an CrUkhm, Pan «., I. 161.
K™ ; Ima-Uum «? Htraci. Book u., Ep, i., 1. tog.
Vou write with eue to >how your bnedJng,
But eaiy wiiting't cur» hud reading-
Sheridah: CU^^PnUa.
To be iwell-favond tnu it a gift of fonune, but (o write uid read camei by nature. Writ*
me down anau.—DocBiRHV.
Charles Lamb was shown by Richman one of Chalterton'g forgeries. In
the manuscript there were seventeen different kinds of f's. " Oh," said Lamb,
"that must have been written by one of the
surroundings. The emigrant dubs the men and things thai he approves of
"about east," — i.e., "about ri^ht," — and looks upon that as the highest term of
approval. Major Jack Downing's famous phrase, " I'd go east of sunrise any
day 10 see sich a place," has frequentiv been cited as an evidence of the
--■'■ --astic {though quaintly exaggerated) love borne the East by its Sons.
le Mr. Horace Mann. In one of hii public addmKi.coniiiienled at imn- length on
Ity and moral ilgoificance oi the French phrau I'trUilir, and calird on hll
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 159
Easy aoooaaton, a once Tannous phraw in American politics, based on the
ciistom obsetved in the early history of Ihe country for a newly-elected Preai-
1 to hand the purtfolio of Slate to the neil most prominent man in his
Madison, and John Quincy Adams Monroe. But after a quarter of a century
the people and the politicians began to murmur at what had come to be known
as the "easy accession," One of Ihe evidences of this discontent was the
charge made againsl Henry Clay that he had obtained Ihe office of Secretary
of State under John Quincy Adams by bargain and corruption. Insteai^
therefore, of finding the position a stepping-stone to the Presidency, it proved
a stumbling-block to Clay. Though he received Ihe nomination, he was
defeated by Andrew Jackson, and Ihe practice dubbed the easy acceswon came
Bat to liT« ; Uv« to «at. " Meal, please your majesly, is half a penny a
peck at Athens, and waler I can gel for nothing," replied Socrales to Kmg
Archelaus's invitation to leave the dirty streets of his native city and come live
with him at his sumptuous courL
" We eat to live : not live to eat" This last remark is attributed to Socrales
by Diogenes Laerlius and Athenxus, both of whom quote it. According to
Plutarch, what Socrates said was, " Bad men live that they may eat and drink,
whereas gotnl men eat and drink that they may live."
Moliire has the same expression in " L'Avare:" "According to the saying
of the philosopher of old, il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour
manger" (Act lii., Sc ^).
Socrates, however, is not with the majority.
Fielding, in "The Miser," Act Hi., 80.3. renders the phrase from "L'Avare"
incorrectly, and probably with malice prepense, —
leans to the side of the sybarites :
This material enjoyment, however, is at Ihe cost of the spiritual :
To be in badi worldl lult
Il more ihu God was, who wa* bimgry bCR ;
WouJdH tbou Hii laws of futiog disHwul t
Lay ouiihy joy, yrt hope loiaveiiT
Wouldsl lliou bolh eat iby calie and h«»o ilt
Gkohcii HaiiMi: Tlu Tnoflt : TIUSlmi.
Byron, fallowing Arrian, gives this version of a supposed inscription of the
Assyrian king 1
SmrdaHafaim. Aa 1., 5c. 1.
We conclude with an extract from Burns and one front Owen Meredith 1
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Bating one's heart, a sirong but unpleasant expression for ihe self-coi-
roding mental and moral disquiet which seeks no relief in disburdening itself.
Bacon, in his essay " Of Friendship," refers the phrase to Pythagoras : " The
parable of Pythagoras is dark, but true : Car ne edito, — eat not the heart
Certainly, if a man would give it a hard phrase, those that want friends to
open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts." Bacon's authority
is proba1>ly Plutarch, who. In " D« Educalitme Puerorum," 17, ascribes the
" parable" to Pythagoras, eipluning it as a prohibition " to afflict our souls
and waste them with vexatious cares."
Spenser, in " Mother Hubberds Tale," has the lines.
Full little knawai tbau ilui hul mx tridt,
Whu bell ii i> in tuing tang to bide :
ToBU thy bevie with comfortieiic dilpuna;
and Bryant in his •' Iliad," Book i., I. 319,—
To eu hl> heut IWKy.
The humorous phrases "lo cat one's
no real analogy with the sterner phraj
something impossible of achlc
or dM.B'1 wart ■■ ere "/V
len, ifierw'urdl, if A
asSfcJ.iT'",:,
r:'Sr.;
beTog'o^'of™!;,
4ie>I 1
£S ETiSi-'^-'ftCS'arr
iiThU
.1 lat brought the
ju'tbeQiuieTie««,
^''
nud. me believe the Huff wo
■'niealmyhsiil." Thii
uld mh."— R.
h'-B<J31
..ioAW„W0-,
■ia.t,
wutbebudBit
le Offer.
rith ^ich Mr.Grimwii bmt
firmed ne«|y e«ry u«mor
1 he mwlti and
&I1 c
even >d«<ii<[n(. Tor the »k<
tverbroa(bltSth.if>u>wh
ri'SfSSt;
'^10'
'^il^'J^'hitd irSTe';
«dHpo.ed,Mr. Grimwii'. 1
B.«..1i« could h«dly enter
lunicul
»rty l>rgt OIK thit
the ».
ufn t^^oC b^ins abl.
= .0 get through it
. «ry ihicli oai
.-der.— 0;rt»r Tmi
Bobo Tanea. These are verses constructed so that the last syllable or
syllables of each line, being given back as it were by an echo, form a reply lo
the line itself or a comment upon it. In one of hia very amusing papers on
" False Wit," Addison has some hard words for this fornt of literary trifling,
" I find likewise," he says, " in ancient limes the conceit of makine an Echo
talk sensibly and give rational answers. If this could be excusable in any
writer, it would be in Ovid, where he introduces the echo as a nymph, before
she was worn awav into nothing but a voice {Mtlamorfhauj, tii. 379). The
learned Erasmus, though a man of wit and genius, has composed a dialogue
apon this silly kind of device, and made use of an echo who seems to have been
an extraordinary linguist, for she answers the person she talks with in Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew, accordini; as she found the syllables which she was to
repeat in any of those learnecl languages. Kudibras, in ridicule of this false
Google
LITER ARY CURIOSITIES. a6l
kind of wit, has described Bruin bewailing ihe loss of his bear lo a aulitaty
echo, who is of great use to Ihe poet in several dislichs, as she does not only
repeat after him, but helps out his verse and furnishes him with rhymes."
The verses alluded to as in " Hudibras" run as follows :
Th(I Echo, 6viD Ihi hollogr gi^und.
Man wiitftdly, by many lima,
QuoIh'Si' " O -hiihw^-ncked bmST^
Anthoufledt lomy"— Echo, "Jtiuii."
" I ihoughl thou 'adsl Kortied to budge m itep
Fot t«r?' Ouinh Echo. "Mirrv aiut."
So ^cn in tby quuiel bled ?
Nor did 1 ever wince or midge it
Fonhy deuHlu." Quolh ihe. "Musi Jii^A"
" To run from Ihote thou hadtl o'trcome
* Thiu connUy." Quoth Echo, "Mui/"
" Ya ihime and hoooi mighl prevail
Fof who would grudHe id ipeod bk blood id
Hiihonor'jcauwt- Quolh ihc-M/MV-V/"
In spite iif Butler, however, in spite of Addison (who himself, by the way,
cstnposed an Echo song of indifierent merit), the practice is not unamusing,
and it has h.id the sanction of many great names in the past. It is even said
that in the lust tragedy of "Andromeda" the great Eunpidei condescended
to trifling of this kind. Certainly the Greek Anthology reveals some speci-
mens, notably an epigram of Leonidas (Book iii. 6) and a short poem com-
mencing,—
" "Ax*" ¥^ l™ ovyMfaiHiFW fi— P ri ;
("Echol IJove: adviKinooDewhal.— Whatr")
Martial has an epigram on the practice, which shows it was known among
Ihe Romans, though the einant Latin examples are all of modern date, as, for
instance, the noted Latin distich made in England after the meeting of the
Synod of Dort, in l6lS:
Dordrecbti lynodus, nodus \ chonu inienr, sger ;
Convennii, vennu ; ■euio lUmmeD.-amen.
In France, from Ihe time of Joachim Dubellav lo that of Victor Hugo,
echo verses have been written by men of light and leading. Here are a few
lines from Ihe famous dialogue lielween Echo and a lover, written by the
former, which has been the model for numerous similar efforts in other
languages :
Qu|*IDij-jt »™> d'enlrer ™ ce puMge*— Sage.
oli-nDrqudie oTc'lle pour qui J^dunl—Du^!
Senl^eile tien la douleur qui me point '-Poinl.
;i:,vG00gk"
IIANDY-BOOK OF
Heaven.
O who VUI ihoW DU ihoK cklichU DO Ufh
Thou, Echo
Ilou ut moiul, iJI mcD lir
Etiu-Va.
W« thDU n«
bom »mong the u« and Ici
Andirclhen
u>y leva thai «ill .hide!
£c*^Bld..
Wh« lava
«etheyt Jn.p«ld«mjJttr
Arebolyh.
» Ac Echo. ■'"^J^^f
Thtn ull mc
whu li Uul npnin ddighl
'Ifijl^^h.
Llghiuthc
nind^ »h>i ihill Ihc will ajo
JKAt-Joy.
, joy. Ml euun ^ti.J'E™"*'
The fallowing dialogue may not be a better poem than Herbert's, but it Is
far more apt and ingeiiiuus as question and answer. It is taken from a
curious volume entitled " Hygiasticun : or the Right Coarse of PreserrinK
Life and Health unto exlream old Age ; t<^elheT with Soundnesse and
Integritic of the Senses, Judgement, and Memorie. Written in Laline bf
Leonaid Lessius, and now done into Englishe. 34mo, Cambridge, 1634."
Dialogue between a Glutton and Echo.
Gl. Who cutbi bte appnlie'i 1
Ci. I'do not like ihii ibiilnavi
Eelu.
CI. My joy'i ■ ftui, my will)
CI. Wlul r Echo, ihou ilut taadkn 1 voice
Ech,. A yoke.
Gl. May I mt. Echo, cat my fill T
Ec/u. Ill
Gl. WiU'i hun mc if I drisk 100 much T
Eelu. Much.
Gl. Thou mock'M ne, nymph ; I'll nol belie
EcJu. Brfieve'l.
CI. Do« Ihoo condemn. Ukd. nhu I do I
Eck,. I do.
Gl. I ftuil It doth exhaiul the pune.
Eck,. Wone.
Gl. Ii't tliil which duJli ihe ihanieil «ll t
Gl. la't this vhleh bria^itjfirmltietT
Gl. Whither will'l bKng my laull oilll lell
Eclu,. T'hell.
Gl, Do«t Ihou no gialtofu vinuoui klHwF
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Gi. Shall 1 ihcniD findc cue uid plaMim t
Etiu. _ Ya, Hire.
£iAff. Il briHAt.
at. To mini] or body t oclaboUiT
&A». To hoth.
Ct. Will It my lift CQ unb pnlooiT
«c*B. dliionel
<7/, WiU'i mftlu iDB vigoctma uudl dcKih T
£i-A«. TiU dtwh.
CI. WiU'i bting OK to eurul UIk T
£c*a. Yet.
Gl. Then, •wMoi Tempenuce. I'U Icni tbec
£i:Aff. 1 love tbec
CV. TbEti, iwiniiti Clunoolc, I'll late (ba>.
£r*>>. I'll lave Hm.
C/. I'll be ■ beUy-god DO mon.
Here w a Royalist effort (o make Echo throw her voice on the side of
Charles t. during his struggle with the Parliamentarians :
Whu nmeM ikon, thit than in in tliia ind uklDg T
What Qude him £m nmove horn hu raiding f
Did uiy hen deny faim HUiafuIionT
Tetl me wbereii Ibt HRDgih of faaim Uet T
Wbu didii ihDU when ibe IiinE leA hi> Firilimeol t
WImi wouldu thou do if bere tbou mlghut bebold him T
Hold him.
Bui woiddu ihou uve bim »iib iby ben ende»»or t
"""* ' Un^e,
Echo shows herself even more fiercely anti-Puritan in the following, which
D'Israeli tells us wat recited at the end of a comedy played by the scholars of
Trinity College, Cambridge, in March, 1641 :
Bu[ ihey la li(e m Imown id be ibe holy.
Oliel
Come (bey from any univenir let
Citie.
e«nimg m m^ eec™
Yei tbey preKod (bat they do edkfie ;
What do yog call It, then, to livcliry t
Whu church hive they, ud wbit pulplul
Fiul
Bm do* In chuoben the ConTenticle :
Tickle I
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
TbE godly linsi ihnwilly uc bditd.
The goilly number ihen will »0D nuuoi
Al JW the tcmpleaj (hey with leki cmhrK
All.
Nor wUI Ihey lavt w miuy censmonia,
Moniei.
Miul evcD Rll^oD down fv uiirfiictkip.
How Hull they afiecled lo the ^ovenunenl dvll
Btil to the king Ihey uy Ihey ue moH loyal.
Then God keep king ud State boat tfacK une
The following are ftotn nt> less a hantj than Dean Swili :
A Grntlk Echo on Wouan.
Stuplurd. Echo, 1 veen, will in ihe wowli miy.
1 iryj
Slu*. What miiH wc do OUT puuDn to eipnuf '
.S4r/.' How (hiUI I pleue her who nt'er loved bef^I
Etke. Be fore.
5^4*, What moat motea women when we Ibem addma ?
EcL. A dnta.
Sktt. Say, whu can keep her cbaMe whom I adoie T
Sluf'. If muaic aiiheBi rocka, love lunea my lyre.
Eiht. LIv.
^11*. Then teach me, Echo, how (hall I come by hert
Eilu. Bny ber.
&IM. When boiwht, no queation I ahaU be her 3eu.
Etf^. Her deer.
^11*. Bui deer have homa: how nual I keep ber underl
Eclu.
Ham Pheebe Dol a heavenly browT
Eckt.
Lmr.
Hereyea! Wa. ever Hu:b a purl
An the Han brighlet Iban they are?
Eckt.
L^ptr.
Echo, thou lie«, but can 'I deceive n
Her eyea eclipae ibe Han, believe m
Eekt.
Z««-.
Bui come, tbou »ucy pert romance
Who is aa fair aa Fba:^>e I an.wer I
A tragic story ia connected with the next example on onr lisL It formed a
pari of (hat " treasonable" pampblel, " Germany in its Deepest Humiliation,"
which the Nuremberg bookseller Palm published in the spring of 1806. The
treason consisted in criticisms on the policy of Napoleon, then at the height
of his power. Palm was arrested, coiiveyea lo Brunau, iried by court-martial
on August j6, condemned without being allowed the ptiviteae of pleading his
own cause either in person or by attorney, sentenced to death, and shot on the
day of his trial. Subsequently, at St. Helena, Napoleon sought to palliate
Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 265
(his high-handed outrage and throw the blame on other ahouldcra : " All that
I recollect is, that Palm was arrested, by order of Davousi, I believe, tried,
Condemiied, and shot, for having, while the country was in possession oF the
French and under military occupation, not only excited rebellion among the
inhabitants, and urged them to rise and massacre the soldiers, but also M-
tempted to instigate the soldiers themselves to refuse obediei
a translation of the Echo poem :
BONAPARTK AND THE ECHO.
Bonafttrtt, Alone, J am in Iha wqucKcrcd tpot not otcriieard.
Eclu. Hardt
B*m. S ~
Eila.
SdesUil Wbo uuwen nu t What Im
Ask.
KnDiKBL thou vbether London will bciicefbrth coo
Whether Vieoiu ud other c
Sid Echo, bosooe
enbe, thit 1 think myKlt Inmonalf
1> filled with Ibeglonror nyDamc, you Imowl
luck Ihii vail globe wlih leriDr.
] grow ialuriue 1 1 die 1
Whu wUI lu uuwer be, 1 wonder T
Btkt — 1 iHHidet.
O woudioua Echo, tell me, hUtti,
Am I for lurnBAV or celibacy T
£»&— SUly Beay.
Shall 1 1
If uellheT being grave
Sclu—K proper lla.
Bcie— Try m
to gala her heart,
and ihe'll cotdpl^n then T
EcA* — Come plain, lb«&
Coogk"
HANDY.BOOK OP
pkue ber meat, pcitHip* 'di baM
£fdi0— Conut
i«'U clwnn, for Love'i no ukUer,
Eckr-?M ber.
Ego and Echo.
Jred of Echa, t'olber day,
i^oM words an Jew BOd oftoi Amny,
At (o A qucHion ihe should uy
If courtjibip, love, uld DUtrinany.
Qu«b bcbo, pTunly, " Matter o' money."
Qiuxh Echo, very coolly, " Lei bi
What if. in >(du of ber diidain,
I find my heut ealwincd about
With Cupid-> dear, delicioiu chain
So cloKly thai I con'I nl ouiT
Quodi Echo, lau^iiiigly, " Gel ou
id wilb beauty bleit.
j( Death ahaU overtake bert
Vuoih Ciibo {fittt voh), " Take bar.'
> pure and fair u
'^eaih abau overtake berT
m {laUt voh), " Take bar."
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
We will cloK oar list with a handful oijeux d'etprit The first appeared
in the Suiuli^ Times in 1S36, when the Orpheus of Mnuc was charniing all
London at exorbitant t;
Whu an duy who pay Ihrtt guluei*
TabavatiuHor Piganlni'it
EcW-P«k D' amnlc
The second, which appeared in 1SS6, ii attributed to an echo that haunts the
Snltan'B palace at Constantinople. Abdul llamid is supposed (o question it
■a to the intentions of the European powers and his oirn resources :
L'Ah^ctcfTcf
ikciputiiT
OMs.
UaPuhuT
EtSdcimuI
The other two tell their own story :
I'd foin pniM your poeu, bui tcU me, how a it,
Wheo 1 ay «i(, " ^iquuiu," Echo aiia, " Quit il I"
Whu muit be done to conducl ■ uwipapa rl^t T— WrlH.
What would glH a blind nuui Ihc gnueU dcliihi T—Usfai.
WhUHtbebeHcoiuudgivcnby ajuKiaof tbepeacel— Pcue,
Who commit the zmial abDminaiioni r-Nilioiu
Whu or il Ihc greatal tenifist-rin.
What UB lOBM Komoi-i chirf eicrcsc I— Sigh*.
Bolipaa first, tiie rest nowhere, the bmous declaration made t^ Captain
O'Kellejpat Epsom, May 3, 1769, when the horse Eclipse distanced the field.
It has passed into a familiar illustration.
Homer h »( marc diddedtvlbc Ant of hemic poeti,Sh>k«jKuc ii not more decidedly
the fint of drumaiUtii, Demoeibenea la not more decidedly llw Bnl of onion, than Boiwell
im the fint of blDgraph«ft. He has disUnced all compeilton to decidedly ihat it i> not worth
while loplace Ibem. Edipneiifint.iindlfaeTetinowliert.— MjuzAVLar: Sm'nr^Cretir'i
Xvtmiiri Jeimm .
o adopted hj
t u Cud nlwsyi uid, " Such ii
■rt. June =j, ,760.
Explaining the meaning of his term more definitely, —
] w«DL you to cmth the inranous thing, that !■ the nuin pDlnt, It l> ncceuary lo reduce it
ID the Mate ia which it is b Eugiaud ; and you cut kucceed in tikli if yoq will. — /tiit.
Furthermore he writes, —
By Ibc I'n/itmt yen will undenlADd that I mtui aiipcntitioo ; ■■ for relieion, I iove and
iMncI it u you do (" Vuua peuaei bien que je ne paiie que de ia lupentltion : car pour ia
A quotation from a letter of D'Alembert to Voltaire, May 4, 1762, shows
that inMwu was understood by them to be of the feminine gender, agreeing
with ticit understood :
,, Google
368 HANDY-BOOK OF
fezmcz I'inSmc, mc rtpdici-voui mu cok. Ah. mon ban EHcu, Lilnct-la k pridphec
Bll«-in£ine, dte y court |^ui viic que voui uc penier.
Ai lh« fight CTVW hotter and the combaunlt morv Dumtrous, Iw Klllod upon iefoitM
rtn/imt at ihe bMttk-cry of the fjulhTuI, He rsng aIJ (he chanen upon ihcac wordl. Some-
[iims ha Died them in jnt : oAeo wEih pauUtDale vebenbence. Not unfrequeDllVp tn Iho hute
iT liniihing ha Itnir.lic would abbRviaw the word* lo £cr. I'luf.. and tomdiaie he wuuld
panapljed about ftwn danfcroui aiiack by a vplendor oT repuutlon and priqcelv opulence
^ich aniwer. The 'ln/imi of Vojuure wu nol religion, nor ihe ChriHiui rdigion, nor ihe
Romui Cuhcilic Chunh. It uw rtlvi" clmmmg luftmalMral tutktritt.and in/nrcing
thai claim ^liaiHi and pintllin. . . . It wai themoU ■ndenlBudpowertuloTallallianca.
Paktoh : ^t ^y^irt. vid. \^-^- ^1- "' "" '"*'°' '" "'''' """" "
DtUnda est Carthage {" Carthage muai be deslroyed"), ihe words referred to
above by Voltaire, are Ihe words with which the elder Calo always ended his
(peeches, whatever the subject tnight be, and thus incited the Romans to the
third Punic war.
He drapk great quantities of abiinihe oT a norulng, tmoked inceuantly. played loulelte
aleevei. FiAne and Cloribr. young millineti uT the itudeni}' dl^lricl. had punctured ihii
terrible moita on hii manly right arm.— Thackuav ; THr tiraxcmri, vol. i. lAap. jijtiii.
Bdel^«iaa means " noble whiteness" or " noble purity ;" its tender star-
shaped flowers are familiar to ail Alpine tourists. The plant is scarce and
very partial. It is Tound in the Engadine, seldtiin in the Bernese Oberland,
and has particular corners and mountains that it affects. This scarcity and
partiality [tave to the edelweiss a somewhat unhealthy notoriety. The rarer
II became, the more ambitious was ihe tourist to possess it. Every cockney
hat was adorned with the curious bloom, purchased, nol by laliorjous and
Srilous enterprise, btit fur a lew centimes. Edelweiss was sold by the hand-
I at Inlerlaken, Chamouni, and Grindelwald. Guides, porlers, and boys
were templed lo rifle the mountain of its peerless Howers. When the rage
for " art greens" broke out in England, jestheiic young ladies crowned them-
selves wilh wreaths of these soft petals, or even appeared at fancy balls in
the character of TAi Alps, smothered in edelweiss. At last Ihe Swiss gov-
eniment determined to put down by law the wholesale deslruclion of this
popular flower. It was rapidly disappearing from Ihe country, when an en-
actment made it penal lo lake a plant up by the roots. The dignity and im-
portance of legislation gave a new impetus lo Ihe interest that was attached
to Ihe plant, and going ni search of Ihe edelweiss has again become as attrac-
tive a source of danger as any to be found in Swilzerlatid.
Ildg«-tOola, Tbore's no jestinB wltb. The line is from Heaumont and
Fleieher's "The Little French Lawyer," Act iv., Sii 7. Tennyson has a
similar phrase ;
The wisdom thus embodied has found other modes of expression. — t^.. Don't
monkey with the buzz-saw, a rather slangy but forcible American collo-
&Mllt4, a sobriquet popularly given to Philip. Duke of Orleanti. father of
Louis Hiilippe, because he sided with the revolutionary parly and was fond
of quoting their motto, " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Nevertheless tbe
. Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 269
Bg^ Dr. Dc Moigan holds that ihc proverb " As sure as eggs is e^gs"
(always quoted in this ungrammaiical form) is a corruption of the logician's
announcement of identity, "A" ia .*." "From the sublime to the ridiculous
is but a step, from X 10 iggi hardly so much." {Notts and Quiries, third series,
vi. 203.)
BgTp^ a sobriquet applied to the southern portion of the State of Illinois,
— a figurative allusion to the Egifptian darkness of ignorance and immorality
that was anciently credited to this section. Itut a more honorable explanation
is that the extreme fertility of the soil made it the only portion of Illinoi
^orn-famine of 1B35, whenc" ''•--<-•■--- ■■- -i-> >- --!---- -
IS of old they went down ir
Blepbant, Ta ue tb«, American slang, to see life, to see the world,
eipecially the underside of life and the world. There is at least a very inter-
__.- :_|| bji^^gn [his ptirase and an East Indian custom mentioned
by Mo
. ^ntaigne. Quoting from Arrian's " History of India," ch. xvii., he tells
US that, though chastily was held in high esteem in India, a married woman
was allowed to part with her honor in exchange for an elephant, and indeed
gloried in the fact that she was so highly estimated. Barrire and Leiand
mention as another possible origin for the phrase an old ballad of a brmer,
who while driving his mare along the highway met with a showman's elephant.
«
B)s«Tira, the general name ^iven to the productions of Ihc famous printing-
house founded by Lewis Elzevir in Leyden, his first publication bearing date
--"- By an interesting coincidence, the last of the Aldines is dated 1583.
the new house obscurely arose just when their great predecessor was
declining. Aldiues and Elievirs are always linked together as the two chiefest
glories of the bibliojihile. Yet there are notable conlrasis in the histories of
the two great houses and in iheir publications. Aldus was a member of a
great femily, with a princelv love of learning for its own sake. The Elievirs
were merely successful tradesmen, — crafty money -grabbers, who pilfered and
pirated whenever they had a chance. And even Heinsius, the scholar who
supplied what Aldus itad and the Elzevirs lacked, a knowledge of letters, was
a distinctly unlovable character, full of malice and all uncharitableness. The
Dutch house, therefore, has none of the picturesque interest of the Venetian.
Nevertheless their editions are lyix^raphlcally as well as intrinsically beautiful.
They have always run a very close race with the Aldines, and at certain
moments have even distanced them in the favor of bibliomaniacs.
There were fourteen Elzevirs in all. The first was Lewis. His sixth son,
Bonaventure, struck out in the line which has given the Elzevirs their peculiar
eminence when, in 1639, he commenced the publication of cheap and neat
editions of the classics in duodecimo. After the death of Daniel Elzevir, in
168a, at Amsterdam, the firm rapidly degenerated in the hands of Abraham
(the second), great-grandson of the founder of the house, and came 10 an
inglorious end at his death, in 171a.
There are Elzevirs and Elzevirs, as the beginner in bibliography soon
learns to hia cost And then there are Elzevirs which are not Elzevirs. Not
ajo HANDY-BOOK OF
only arc nwny of the genuine publications of Ihe house practically worthleu
(the "good dates" range only liain about ]6z6 to 1680, aiid not all Ihe "good
date&" are borne by valuable examples}, but it comlbrtelh the soul to know
that these pirates were themselves pirated. Spurious Elievjrs are as thick as
blackberries. More than one hundred and fifty are known to experts. There
are many little niceties also about the editions which no one could intuitively
know unless he were afflicted with some form of hereditary bibliomania. Thus,
the most desirable of all Elzevir rarities is the C^sar of 163S, the acknowl-
edged masterpiece of the house, Hookmen grow rapturous over the type,
the ornaments, the paper, the priming, Ihe puiity of the lest. Now, there
were three impressions of this masterpiece issued in the one year, 1635.
The last two correct the only imperfection in the first issue, where pages 149,
335, and 475 are by mistake printed as 1 53, 345, and 37S respectively. These
are worth comparatively little. The right Cxsar with the Wrong pages IS
worth anywhere from twenty to fifty pounds. Another anomaly : (he CKSar
is the acknowledged masterpiece of the Elzevirs, therefore it is the most highly
prized ? Not a bit of it : at least not by bibliomaniacs. An entirely valueless
in 1665, sold some years ago for foi
book in the sense that it is extremely s
copies are known to exist.
Bmber-days (in Latin, yejawi quatuor Itmpera, " the four fasting sea-
sons"), the English name for the periods of fasting and prayer which the Catholic
and other liturgical Churches have appointed to be observed respectively in
the four seasons of the year. They are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturdajr
after the first Sunday in Lent, after Whit-Sunday, afler September 14, and after
December tj. The weeks in which these days fall are called Ember-weeks.
Never was a term better contrived for an etymological pitfall than this. Bailey,
rushing in with that cheerful alacrity which affords its quota of merriment to
the more fearsome philological angel of to-day, derives it "from a custom
anciently of putting Askts on their heads on those Days, in Token of Hu-
mility." But no such custom ever existed. It is a pure invention to account
for the name. Others assert that the Ember-days are so called because they
occur in Elec-ember and Sept-ember, forgetting that they occur also in months
that have no such convenient endine. A still more ancient authority, Tarllon,
in " Newes out of Pui^aiorie," describes how in his imaginary place of
torture "One pope sat with a smock sleeve about his necke, and that was he
that made the imbering weckes, in honour of his faire and tieautiful curtizen
Imbra" (p. 64 ;n Shakespeare Society reprint). Dr. Murray, who thinks it
not wholly impossible that the word may have been due to popular etymology
working upon some vulgar Latin corrujition of quatuor tempara (cf. German
Quattmbcr, Ember-tide), prefers the derivation from the Old English ymirytu,
period, revolution of lime. No doubt a fancied connection with dust and
ashes has influenced the modern form.
Emblematio, Ftgtirate, or Sliaped Poems. There is pity, or even
foreiveness, for all forms of human tolly, imbecility, error, and crime. Vet the
makers of what are known by any one of the alrave titles strain the divinity
of forgiveness to an almost diabolic tension. A famous saint, variously spea-
fied by various hagioiogists, used to say, "There, but for the grace of God,
goes Anthony of Padua," or what not, when he saw a Ihief^ a murderer, or
other malefactor brought to the bar of Justice. But no one has ever said,
" There, but for the grace of God, goes Brown," or Junes, or Kolrinson, when
some addle -pated versifier has been caught red-handed liithe act of "shaping"
a poem. Nu one, Mve a hardened criminal of this type, has ever been willing
Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 271
to admit that his heart, however untei^nerate, however anaided from above,
would stray naturally into these devious paths at dulness. Though one's
better self may revolt at the grotesque honors of the mediaival hell, one leels
that not even the theolt^ica! mind has ever conceived of a punishment severe
enoD^h to castigate these trespassers on our patience. And as oe must
long in vain for a new Dante to consign them to some as yet unimagined
deep of deeps, one rejoices at the castigalioii, severe in itself, yet mild in
comparison, which the critics have occasionally inflicted. Our heart goes out
with a great leap of joy to honest Samuel Butler when he takes Edward
Benlowes, formerly known as " the eicellenlly learned," places him across his
paternal knee, and trounces him in the following fashion : " There is no feat
of activity, nor gambol of wit, thai ever was performed by man, from him that
vaults on Pegasus to him that tumbles through the hoop of an anagram, but
Benlowes has got the mastery of it, whether it be high-rope wit or low-rope
wit. He has all sorts of echoes, rebuses, chronograms, etc. As for altars and
pyramids in poetry, he has outdone all men that way ; for he has made a
gridiron and a frying-pan in verse, that besides the likeness in shape, the very
tone and sound of the words did perfectly represent the noise that is made by
these ntenuls. When be was a captain, be made all the furniture of his horse,
fiwn the bit to the crupper, in the beaten poetry, every verse being lilted to
the proportion of the thing ; as the bridle of msdtration, the saddlt of canlatt,
and the erufftr ef eomtamy ; so that the same thii^g was both epigram and
emblem, even as the mule u both horse and ass." {Character of a Small Pott.)
Rare Ben Jonson too has his fling at these pattern-cutting poets, who he
aays coold mhion
A pair of KiiKin and 1 comb in vox.
Dryden has scoSed at them, and Addison has gibbeted tbem above all other
offenders on the pillory which he constructed for the manufacturers of false
wit But what is the method of this oflence 1 It consists in pieces of verse
so constructed, by due arrangements of short and long lines, as to exhibit the
shapes of certain physical objects, such as bottles, glasses, axes, fans, hearts,
eggs, saddles, a pair of gloves, a pair of pot-hooks, a pair of spectacles. And,
alu that we must acknowledge ic, in spite of the degradation of the offence, '
great names in the past, great names even in the immediate present, must be
gronped among the offenders. Indeed, so highly was it thought of at one lime
that the very name of the reputed inventor has been preserved to us. Let
OS hasten to place it beside that of the rash youth who fired the Ephesian
dome. Simmias of Rhodes (flourished about h.c. 324), — how dues that look
on the same line as Erostratus ?
He has left us three good-sized poems cast in these Procrustean moulds,
"The Wings," "The Egg," and "The Hatchet." The shape of every slania
in each poem corresponds with its title. So greatly were these esteemed in
the seventeenth century that an Italian named Fortunio IJceli compiled an
encyclopaedia (published in Paris, 1635) whose contents were entirely devoted
to the exploitation of their beauties.
Classic antiquity has left us other evidences of the fact that these oulraffes
had a certain vogue even at the most flourishing jieriod of Greek poetry. To
the honor of the Augustan age of the Romans it should be added that the
Latin specimetis that have come down to us belong to the decadence of the
Empire or to medizval times. The only portion of the globe where em-
blematic verses still survive is in the East, especially in China and Japan,
where we are told that they are still held in high esteem, so that poems are
stilJ fashioned in the form of men's faces or the bodies of cows or other
animals. The following curious specimen is given by Mr. W. R, Alger as an
effort of Hindoo bgennity. The lines of this erotic triplet are so arranged
HANDY-BOOK OF
s (tring, the third an arrow aimed
/■
y
'^■.
Xhote chAnni ta win, wilh til Dy empire ] vrould gUdly put.
The sixtcenih and seventeenth centuriei were the golden age of emblem-
atical poetry in Europe. And heading the Iibi of Enelish word-torturers
stands so good and great a man as George Herbeti. We quote two speci-
mens, and then pass on with our eyes veiled, lo avoid gazing loo intently on
a good man's shame :
The Altar.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
IS eflbn «xp1dns itsdf to the vjt at
Thb Ckoss.
Tile w-y of nntb :
To lli«iB the ucrcd Scrlpturu do* dlipUjr
Chrlit u ihe ddIv true Hid Living way.
Hkft predoum blood OD CaIvst^ wu glvei
To mue ihem bdn of endlcit blmlDheavoi;
And c'es OB eutli ihc diild of God am bikc
Tbd glofiou* Uculngs of hia Saviour'' gracflp
Tikat Hd Ufe-a Ion
Ml(hl be Ibelr hId.
Tmb haau lo chaoM
Tba Lord Ih* baait.
Lm> He dKkn,
■, iriio OB Calvaiy Jod^
Coogk"
274 HANDY-BOOK OF
The following appears to us, on the whole, the bdl In the langnage i
Ode to an Old Violin,
Bwl.
ChiU]Rii\iliDC,
Wlih fwind too.
CDnK. then, my fiddle.
Me i«e<i Si^gh tnnsicnl vaI
Thy polishrd neck Jn chae e
WheDo'crlhyilnngildrAvm;
There on Fincy'i wiiun I fooi
HeedlenDllhedu nut door
'iDuialll 1 feel my won no
Bui ikip o'er iha ilrinn
Ai ny old fiddle (ino,
"Cheerily, O merrily gol
You "very well 'know''
I will find mutic,
Ifyou will find bow.
Lie^ prottrnie. vanquished, by tlie melllfltuitB ai
More and mare plainiivegrown, my eye* wiib leano'i
And Reilnaiian mild loon unoalbi my wrinkled 1
Reedy Hiuthay may ujiieak. viA\-% Fbuio may iqi
The SerfKDt may giunt and the l^rombooe may bai
But tl»u my oid Fiddle, an prloce of them a
Could e'en Dryden reiura Iby pralie ID reheanc
Hia Ode lo l^eciilA would Hem nidged verae^
Now lo thy caie,
lo pipe thy ■!
HcTC, as an nfljet, we give a specimen where all the rules of the game,
such as (hey are, are violated. The sole ingenuity in this form of literary
trifling consists in so adjusting the length of poetical lines that the printer by
merely following " copy will produce the desired emblem or ligure. But the
Bubjorncd example is simply prose arbitrarily broken ugi into appropriate
lengths, the whole ingenuity being on the part of the printer. Vet sacb
•peciment are not ancommon in Eneland.
England.
D,q,i,.cd by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
The WtNBCLASS.
Wbahuhwi
huhconui
wiiboui &_ __. ._ ..
ef cyol Tber >b<K u-ny !<>»(
al the wind Ibey Ihal
Look not tbou npDn ths
biKIh like ■ aerpi
ud idnscrh LUie hd b
printed in do other shape withoat violating its poetical integiitj :
1 P«iUc,
MouHe» fit bdlle
'hCjiu qui rend
Qudie douci
^<a» cnnme U £ii
L'on T voit HIT *a Hon cMiu .
Nagn l'idi(e<™» U lo rii.
A rhomboidil dirge, by George Wither, ia good enough of its kind t
Farcveli,
You hiUi ^t^likc^tdnll
And ail you humble vakei, adlcij 1
Yon wanton bmol:! and foUUiir rocki.
My dear contpankiu all. and you, my lendcd floclu T
DcUetaled opr the faireAt dandt^ nympbi upon ibe platna.
Yon diKonlenu, wboK deep and over-deadly iDwrt
" ■■•- ' --y Imle the lnie.t heart.
S**
1^1 e
;i:,vG00gk"
376 HANDY'BOOK OF
The last exunple on oar list is this reinatkabic triumph of ingenuity on the
subject or the CTucifiiion. Mr. Bombaugh fives i< in his ■' Gleanings for the
Curious," and oils it a curious piece of intiquiiy. Bui the stractare of the
Terse, the luetre, and the rhythm indicate thai it is not earlier than the last
half of the seventeenth oentury, and may be much more recent :
...D thieves. On the top and down the middle cross is oar Saviour's
eipiession, " My God I Mjr God I why hast thou forsaken me V and on the
top of the cross is the Latin inscription "INRI," — Jesus Naiarenus Rex
Judxorum, — i.t., Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jens. Upon the cross on
the right hand is the prayer of one of the thieves. — " Lord I remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom." On the left-hand cross is the saying,
or reproach, of the other, — " If thou beest the Christ, save thyself and us."
The versification begins at the lop of the middle cross, — ■' My God I Mv
God ! In rivers of my lears." The whole is a piece of tolerable verse, which
ii to be read across all the columns, making as many lines m ihere we letlen
iD the alpli^ieL Tiie aatbonbip is unknoiro.
L.;,::;i:,..C00^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 277
1, ConjeoniiaL The wajrs of the critic, espedalljr when
commenling on s difficult passage in his bvorite author, are full of insiraction
to Ihe learned, of gladsome delight to the curious. Sometimes he insists on
reading all sorts of subtle meanings into this or that line, and then stands
aghast with admiration it the greatness of the mind thai could think the
things he himself has invented for it. Sometimes he gives it up in despair,
and decides that the author never did say what has been attributed to him,
but that the mistake of an amanuensis or a printer has been allowed to go
forth to the world unchallcnsed. Then he sets himself the task of discover-
ing what it was that the autnor did say. Occasionally, it must be owned, he
suggests a felicitous alteration. The author may or may not have said this,
but the alternative proposed ia what the author ought to have said. There is
DO liner instance than the passage "'a babbled of green Gelds" in the descrip-
tion of Falslaff's death {Henry K, Act iL, Sc 3). The folio has "a table
of green fields," which is mere nonsense in spile of all efforts to elucidate iL
Pope conjectured that this was a stage direction addressed (o a ptopertv-inan
named Greenfields which had somehow got mixed uj) wilh the lext This is
not a joke ; indeed, it imposed upon Johnson. It was Theobald who made
sense and poetry out of the passage by turning " a table" into " 'a babbled."
But mote frequently the shoe has shifted, — the commentator has put his
foot into iL A note in Bell's edition of Dryden's " Absalom and Achitophcl,"
Part I., supplies an instance. The editor'* ear is offended by the line
By palml ioHinct fhey rlunge tbcLr lord.
This, be says, is the only line in which the melody is flattened into prole.
He suggests that a slight alteration would redeem the metre:
Haw (hey by ulura] IsMind chuige Iheit lord.
The silliness of (his note is e<iualled only by its impertinence. The line
is ittetrically perfect as it stands. Natural has its three full syllables, and in-
stinct is accented on its second syllable, the usual method in Dryden's time, as
in Shakespeare's.
The champion instance, however, is supplied by Dr. Bcntley's famous (or
blamolis) edition of Milton. It was issued in 1733, and contained no less
than a thousand conjectural emendations of Ihe texL The word euundations
should be pronounced with a distinct sarcastic emphasis which can be only
faintly indicated by italics. Bcntley's premiss, his original proposition, was as
follows. Milton, as every one knows, was blind when he produced the " Para-
dise LosL" lie dictated it to an amanuensis. Now, it is obvious thai through
mistake or Inadvertence the amanuensis might frequently have set down a
word similar in sound to that dictated by the poet, but ol very different sig-
nification. So far we can follow the argument with a clear conscience. But
when the doctor goes on to urge further that the amanuensis may have inter-
polated whole verges of his own composition into the poem without Ihe poet's
being any Ihe wiser, we can only reply that the bare fact is a possibility, but
that there is no evidence, intrinsic or extrinsic, to support it. And when,
accepting this wild possibility as a fact, he goes on to imagine what it was that
Hilton really did say, and substitutes those imaginings in lieu of the lines as
they stand in the book, we cry out at this marvellous exhibition of editorial
vanity and impertinence. And the trouble is increased when we find the
doctor putting his clumsy hoof into the very choicest parterre of Millonic
tancj and trampling the flowers into a tangled mess of absurdity. Nor are our
outraged feelings soothed by Ihe extraordinary mixture of effrontery and
vanity in the stalemeni that, in the absence of manuscripts to collate, he must
rely on his own " B^adty" and " happy conjecture."
;i:,vG00gk'
HANDY-BOOK OF
MiUiotja of Auvuu^ iwordi» diawb Trom ihc thigha
AgilDU ihe Highcu : iwd Race »lih giupM umi
CElthed DD thc& lauDding iliiddl Ihc Sin at «r,
Hurlljic deJiujc* toward th« VHidc of HeaveD.
A forciUe and splendid passage. Not a word but carries exactly the right
sound and the tight sense. Not an epithet could be changed witliout lou.
'I'he doctor, however, thinks otherwise. In the second line he substitutes
Hades for cwBrds, in the fifth laxtrds for arms, in the siKlh walls for vaidt. The
first and second emendations are bad enough, the third utterly ruins a noble
conception.
But worse remains behind. One of the finest lines in Milton is this :
No li^t, but nthcT durimen vliiblc.
This expression shacks the doctor, who brings his sagacity to bear upon it
and produces this happy conjecture:
No liititp but nuher a truupicuous ^oom.
The seventy- fourth line. of the same book offends the nice critical taste of
this iconoclast :
His ear rebels at what he considers a "vicious verse." He would awajr with
it altogether and in its stead insert the following line of his own composition :
Dinnncc which lo expnu all motsurc bul>.
In the second book there is this fine phrase :
Our tarinenu iiIk may in length of lilBC
One can hardlv understand the densely prosaic structure of the mind which
would seek to destroy every particle of poetry by changing the first line thus :
One other instance must suffice. It is as flagrant as any, and is supported
by a curious tut of reasoning which should be commended to the careful
attention of all emendators.
At the conclusion of Adam's interview with the angel, Milton says, —
So pATted theV' di^ uigcl up to heaven
From the thick (hade ; ud Adam to bii bower.
Now for the doctor's argument; "After the conversation between Adam
and the angel in the bower, it ma^ be well presumed that our first parent
waited on his heavenly guest at his departure to some little distance from
it, till he began to take his flight towards heaven." Thtreftn the poet could
not with propriety say that the angel parted from the thick shade — i.e., the
bower — to go to heaven. And ifi on the other hand, Adam attended the
anael no fetlhet than the door or entrance of the bower, then " how could
Adam return to his Iwwer if he never left it f By a happy conjecture the
doctor succeeils not only in vindicating the grand dd gardener's respect
for the sodal amenities, but in securing the logical integrity of the verse.
So parted Ibey, (he aiq[ei up lo bekven,
Adam to nindute on pa« i&Kvuvt.
_^ooglc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 279
where ontjr Ihe delvers in forgotten curios have disturbed it. The following
efugratn was of contemporary origin :
On Milton's Executioner.
Did HillDD-i proH, O Chjirlo I >hy death defend t
On MlliDo'i vsK doci Btcilty conusant know
While hi wciuld Kctn his luihoi'i fuMrfa hmba,
Tl« munheroui eridc ha» Bveiiged ihy maitfaeT.
Pope's tines are better known :
Bentlejr was not the only person who sought to amend Milton. Atterbury
was congratulated on "a happy teading which vindicated Milton from degrading
his style by a very vile pun -.
And broughl hlto tbli woHd (■ world of woe) ;
the happy reading consisting in the parentheses, which utterlv destroy the
meaning of the line. What German critic was it who amended Shakespeare
at follows f—
S<i7non» in boold^ tad £aod in tverylhlng.
One of the finest hymns in the English language Is Cardinal Newman's
" Lead, Kindly Light." Bui comparatively Tew people know it in its integrity.
Properly, it consists of three verses. A fourth, which may be found in most
ProtesUnt Episcopal hymnals, was added by Dr. Bickersteth, the author of
" Yesterday, To- Day, and P'orever." The genuine verses, moreover, have in
npilations been tinkered out of shape and harn
Below will be found Ihe correct and the incorrect versions, the
being printed in italics:
Le*d, kindly Light, amid (he eadrcljog liDom,
.■- J... ,. nAiaiKtdtktiiKircluviltcm,
\.e>d Thou neon;
StiHUmJlf
The lu^I ia dju-k, HJjd [ am Ear fr
> iia*l it ila'li,
Le«l
Uan
Lead Thou me a
Uad Thn mi „
K«p Thou my (
houldK lead n>e oo ;
k-mldil tiad mtiml
\miiiiit liftii, and tfill ^'fiari
So loDg Tfay power haa bled me, lU
S» ttat 'nufrwir kmlk hliiiidmi
Wai lead nie on
•TmaiUmdmuM
;i:,vG00gk'
HAWDY.BOOK OF
The uighi li gcmc,
And trilk Ou mtm Itatt a^tt/acti tmiU
Which I hive land l<Hig linn, und loM awhile.
Wkick f Itatrt lovtd lm!g liMci, amd iMl amkiU.
Dr. Charlea S. Robmion, who 6rsi printed Ihe incorrect version in hii cot-
lection originallj (1862) known as " Songs of the Church," but since re-
baptized " Songs of the Sanctuary," has been blamed for all the emendationi.
But in a letter to the CoHgregatianaOil shortly after Newman's death. Dr.
Robinson pleads guilty only to the change of the first line : " Who changed
that second line to 'And lead me on ;' who put 'day's dazzling light' in the
place of 'the garish day;' who leii off the two commas before and after
'light,' so beginning the word without a capital to personify it; who con-
cluded that ' surely still 'Twill' was any better than ' sure it still Will ;' who
ingeniously got rid of ' moor and fen.' or 'crag and torrent,' and smoothed
down everything to the traditional ' dreary douh' and the ordinary ' pain and
sorrow,' — 1 am sure I cannot conjecture. None of that ' tinkering;' was done
in our shop." The copy of the hymn as it first came into his haii^ contained
all these changes. It had been sent to him with a package of other clippings
by "one of the highest authorities in the Church," who invited his special
attention to this above all the others, but could give hPm no infurmation as to
the authorship. Dr. Robinson's friend then went on to remark that when he
found it the piece had evidently been much obscured by a printer's mistake
concerning one word in what must have been sent to him in manuscript " I
recall his look as, in his characteristic and ^tidiously tasteful way," says Dr.
Robinson in the Cangr^aHenalut, "he proceeded to point out that in writing
the letter L many persons formed it veiT much like an S ; then also the
letter n when closed up at the top resembled an a ; go the compositor had
most likely missed the significance, for as a &ct the line began with what
destroyed the whole meaning, — > Lead, kindly Light, amid.' This would have
to be corrected so that it might read, ' Send kindly light amid the encircling
gloom 1' then something might be made of it for a hymn, and it could be put
in the portion of the book br the choir to set to music I thought the piece
was very beautiful ; nobody over this side of the water had ever told us who
composed the poetry. This was nearly a whole generation ago. I put it joy-
ously into mv book, and eventually, doing the best I could with a very awkward
metre, had it set to a simple chant, and it became popular with the leading
singers around town. All this lime (he Rev. John Henry Newman, who put
it into Lyra Apostolica, was living in Birmingham at peace, in ignorance of
nw blunder. Very likely he died in utter obliviousness of any 'impertinence'
of an American compiler who took his three verses wandering around name-
The mistake made by Dr. Rolnnson and his friend was, after all, a jnrdon-
able one. For in the version as they received it the first line made nonsense
in connection with the second :
Lead, kiddLy Lighl, smid ih« encbcilnf gtoom,
Testament exposition has taught that it was the second ^wrson of the Trinity
who led Israel through the wilderness in the form of a pillar of cloud bv day
and a pillar of Grc by night. That by Light Cardinal Newman meant Chiisl
if further evidenced by the stanus in another of his hymn* :
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Mow thil itae nn b ^twnliig M^,
Our (Ua, Ulcagucnd by ihe Ibc,
The B»l« o( every leuK.
An excellenlKitite on critical emendation ii contained in Franklin's tlotr of
how he was applied to far an inscription b^ otw John Thompson, just selling
op in business as a batter. Franklin compoaed the following sign : "John
Thompson, halter, makes and sells hats tor readv money." Bal one friend
said, " It is too long ; noi>od]r will slop to read it ; besides, it is lautologj, because
a person who makes a hat is a halter." Out came the word haOer. The next
friend appealed to objected, " If you Hay for ready money, very lew people will
enter foar shop." The objection was sustained and the uffending words elided.
** Nay," cried a third critic, " nobody will care a farthing who makes the hats,
so long as they are good." So the words tnaiei and were crossed ouL "John
Thompson sells hat&" reoiained. The last friend said, " It is ridiculous to tell
people you sell hats, for nobody will think you such a fool as to give them
away." Finally nothing was left but "Juhn Thompson." In conclusion,
Franklin remarks that this experience decided him never again to wriie any-
thing that would be subjected to the rcvisioii of others.
"Who was that silly body," asked the Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,
"that wanted Bninslo allcT 'Scots wha hae,' so as to lengthen the last line,
thus?—
And in bis homorous way he goes on to injent an appropriate anecdote. H«
bad been applied to for a poem to be read at a certain celebration. Under-
standing that it was to be a festive and convivial occasion, he had ordered
himself accordingly. But it seems that the president for the occasion was
what is called a teetotaler. So back came the poem, corrected and amended,
with Ihe following letter :
Deili Sn,— Your poem ^vagDod ulillutiDD 1o ihe coBlniitlee. Theientimeiiueipreited
iKlh nfcfence to Liquor ue noi, bowever, thcrte geoeraUy oncTtained by this communiiy. I
have Lberdbfe CDDAUled the cleTgymuiorihifplHce, who has nude w>iiieBUghi change*, wliich
be thiaki will remove all objections, and keep the valuable pcnlou of the poem. PieaK la
inlonn ne ot youi charge for bid poem. Ovr meana are Limited, etc., etc..
Here it is, with the slight alterations :
hkllBibeal
mble-boT* anujking tong-nij
Coogk"
HANDY.BOOK OF
li«»g liii« llii fy IHUMH iIm liiiglii fw <ill»
In the recent editions of ihe " Autocrat" Dr. Holmes mentions a British
Reviewer who was quite indignant at the treatnienl this " convivial sung" had
received. No committee, he thought, would dare to treat a Scotch author in
that way. " 1 could not help being reminded of Sydney Smith, and of the
surgical operation he proposed in order to put a pleasantry into the head of a
North Briton."
Elm«nld U*. This epithet was first applied to Ireland bj Dr. William
Drennan, in the following lines :
Wben Erin fim roK ^m Iht duV^wdling flt»d,
God l>]eued ihc ra«o jduid ; he uw it wu good.
Tue Eniaild of EuroH. Ii ipuklcd, il shone,
Arm of Etid, prove fliroDe ; but be goillc u bnve,
Aod, oplifled lo urike. nill U nady lo uve :
Nor one feeling of veDgeaDce_prefuiiie (o dfifile
The cauM or iLe men of the &nen]d lile.
Suoa on Erin ia GlndallBek, and allur Pmmi,
The allusion is lo Ihe brilliant green of the herbage and foliage of Ireland.
L The term is first used by Milton, who has, —
High on a ihrone oT royal Mate, which fir
OulalHiiie iIh wealth of Onnui and of lad.
Parailiit Ltil, Book U.
note that while Satan b
eminence frr a ia su
Ceonre ii the lax ■ iud p>T> "> the puhlk lor lieiDg emiotsl,— Swm : TluuekU tn
Vnrim SmkitcU.
Empire Sbita. This popular name for the State of New York was
not, as has been fancied, assumed bv its citizens out of State pride or vanity.
It was inferentially given to it by General Washington. In his reply lo the
address of the Common Council of New York City, signed by "James
Duane, Mayor," and bearing dale December a. 1784, he says, "I pray that
Heaven bestow ila choicest blessiiigs on your city ; that a well-regulated and
beneficial commerce may enrich your citizens, and that your State (at present
the seat of Empire) may set such examples of wisdom and liberality as shall
have a tendency to strengthen and give a permanency to Ihe Union at home,
and credit and respeciabilily abroati"
Lo 1 tiK Empire Stale li likaklng
Tbt ibadde* ftvD b*r huidi
With Ihe niued Nonh b waking
The niggod nuuel land I
J. G. WHtmn.
Bnd, Hie begUmiiiK of the, the answer ascribed to Talleyrand when
atked by Napoleon, alter the battle of Leipsic, what was his opinion of (he
state of (hings. " It seenu to me, Sire, that this is the beginning of Ibe eitcT
Cooglf
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 383
("II Die panlt, Sire, que c'est 1e commencement de la fin"). Those who are
nol disposed 10 believe that this cynical remark was made to his sovereign,
whose fuclunes were beginning to wane, may be inclined to think that a cur-
rent 0|iini(in during the Hundred Days was fastened on Talleyrand, who,
on his part, while often astonished at these compliments tu his genius, never
refused the paternity of a bon-miK when it was found apt and just — after the
event The phrase, however, han been attributed also to Lally-Tollendal and
to Marshal Augereau, who is said to have used it when the French army
started from Moscow on that disastrous retreat in which he bore himself so
gallantly. Shakespeare has a curious coincidence of expression, though not
of thought :
Thai li iht (lut bcginninl of our «ih1.
Midtummir N^kfl Driam, Act v , Sc I.
" End," here, seems to Ik used in the sense of " aim." But as the line occurs
in the burlesque prologue, whose humor consists in its intentional mispunclua-
tion, scholars are not quite at one as to the precise reading of the passage.
Here is the context, mispunctuaiion and all :
If we oflind li it wlih oui good will.
Tbil you ilwuld ibinli, wc come not to offend,
fiui with Eood will. To itioir our ilin^ ikill.
That to the uue tM«iaiiin( of our end.
Comidu then we come l»t in delplte.
with the verbal resemblance to Talleyrand
The very commencement of our finite life, according to Bacon, is the begin'
ning or the end laee, also. Cradle) :
IT life, u we luTe
'no ■ ■
earth, are part of on
_..• irell. All's well that, a proverb common to all languages, which
has been made especially famous as the title of one of Shakespeare's plays.
Probably its first appearance is the Latin " Si finis bonus est, tolum bonum
erit" ("If the end be well, alt is well") of the "GesU Romanorum," first
printed about 1463. In fleywood's " Proverbs" (1546) we have the modem
All ia well ibxende* well.
besides two contradictory phrases, which, taken together, at least emphasize
'' ' i . - ■ .. imparison with the end :
maknh ■ good tndiDg,
Of e good beginning coineth ■ good ending.
Gower had previously endorsed the latter saying :
'llie lUlter a good code he winneth.
Ci»lfiui<l AmtMlil.
Blt«mT. " Nobody's enemy but his own," or " Himself his worst enemy,"
is a phrase now generally used to describe an amiable but not impressive
personality, — the kindly ne'er-do-well who never willingly injures his neighbor,
but whose faults react pattly on himself and more largely upon his umily.
He often degctierates into that still lower type known as "everybody's friend,"
a84 ffAUDYBOOJC OF
who by endeavoring to pleue ever^ one pleases no one. The phrase seemt
lo have ori^nated with Anacharsis the Scythian, who gave it a very wide
application. Being asked what animal he esteemed most hostile to man, he
replied that he thought every man his own worst enemy. Anacharsia, a
brother of King Saulius of Thrace, was a wise and learned prince, who came
to Athens while Solon was framing his laws, and acquired such repute for
sagacity that he is sometimes enumerated among the seven &ages of Greece.
He it was who, being asked why he had no children, replied that he loved
children too mudi, ami who being reviled as a barbarian said, " By race, per-
haps, but not by breeding."
A mend to «11 maakind — cjicepl blDuelf.
J.MB Wt«5DAt.: Efil^k « himul/.
BnglDe. The history of this word is a philologic*! curiosity. From Greek
pgnert, " lo begei," and Latin ingenium, " engine meant, ill mediaeval English,
and occasioiully indeed down lo the eighleciilh century, simply molher-wii or
native talenL Thus Chaucer, " If man hath sapiences ihre, memorle, engin,
and intellect also" (IJS9I ; Fullenham, " Such . . . made most of their works
by translation . . . (cw or none of their own engine." Then it meant natural
disposition, temper, as in Fairfax's Tasso, " His fell ingine his grauer age did
somewhat mitigate." It had contemporaneously the sense of ^ill in contro-
versy, ingenuity ; also, in a bad sense, artfulness, cunning, trickery. From this
it came to mean the product of ingenuity, an artifice, contrivance, device ; and
the transition thence to a mechanical contrivance, machine, implement, tool,
was easy. The tH'iginal engine, as a machine, was usually something used in
watlare or in torture, as the rack, or in hunting, as a snare, net, trap, etc
The invention of the sleam-engine has specialized the word and rendered
obsolete all previous uses.
BoglBiid ezp«otB everr aaa to do hia dntj, Nelson's signal lo the
fleet Before Ihe battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1305. The story ha$ been
told in various ways. Pasco's version may be accepted as the truest. He
was Nelson's flag- lieutenant on the Victoiy. Nelson came to him on the
poop, and, after ordering certain signals to be flown, gave these further direC'
tions : " Mr. Pasco, I wish to say to the fleet, ' England confides that every
man will do his duty.' " And he added, "You must be quick, for I have one
more to make, which is fur close action." Pasco replied. "If your lordship
will permit me to substitute ixfati for cenfiiiei, the signal will soon be com-
pleted, because the word txptcU is in the vocabulary and etmfidea must be
spelt" Nelson, hastily, but with an air of satisfaction, said, " That will do,
Pasco ; make it directly." James, however. In his " Naval History," vol. iii. p.
393, says the signal Rrsl ortlered by Nelson was, " Nelson expects every man
to do his duty. He quotes Captain Blackwood, who commanded the Elury-
aluB during the engagemenL As It stands, the sentiment is a pretty enough
bit of patriotic boinb^t Dickens's humorous comment was, that if England
expects every man to do his duty "she is Ihe most sanguine and most disap-
pointed countiy in the world."
Bnglaud la tlie puadiM of women, the pargateiir of aetrvauU,
and the bell of none*, an ancient Italian proverb. Sometimes ihe
further epithet "a prison for men" is added. Gmse, In the collection nf
proverbs added lo the iSii edition of his "Provincial Glossary," thus dis-
courses on the saw : " The liberty allowed lo women in England, the portion
Hsigned by law lo widows oat of their husbands' goods and chattels, and Ibe
poUtcDcw with which all denoroiuttioDS of that sex are in geoetal treated
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
join to eilablish the trnth of this part of the proverb The liirioua manner
in which people ride on the road, horse-radng, hunting, the cmeltiea of pos-
tilions, Etue -coachmen, and cai-men, with the absurd mutilations practised
on that noble and useful animal, all but too much prove the truth of this part
of the adage. But that this country is the purgatory ai servants I deny ; at
leaat, if it ever was it is not so at present ; I fear they are rather the cause of
brining many a man to that legal purgatory, the gaol."
Bagland. nia air of Bngland la too pnie for a Blava, words at-
tributed to Lord Mansfield by Lord Campbell in his "Lives of the Chief
Justices :" " Lord Mansfield first ealablished the grand doctrine that the air of
England is too pure to be brealhed by a slave" (vol. ii. p. 41S). He refers to
Lord Mansfield s decision in the case of James Somerset, a negro slave from
Jamaica, who, coming to England in the company of his master, claimed his
freedom, and was brought into court on a writ of habeas corpus. It was
decided in that case that a slave could not exist in England, and that the
moment he touched English soil he was a free man, and the negro was set at
liberty. No words such as those attributed, however, occur in the report of
the decision in Che case (see Loflt's Reports, p. i\.
In the account of the hearing g;iven_in the "State Trials," Mansfield it
made to say, —
Emy BU wfao camet inta Engluid i> entitlKl ID Uk prMcction of (he Eni
of (he Enclnh liiw, wbiit-
may bt at colur of hit
It was Hargrave who, in his areumeni in the case. May 14, 1771, spoke of
England as "a soil whose air is deemed too pure for slaves to breathe in."
Cowpet has versified the phrase in his lines, —
SEavuoiiDOibrcaihtinEailud: If tbeir lung>
Rcccin OUT air, thai nionicDi itacy an fns I
They touch oar CDunlry aod their ihickkl tall.
Th4 roit, BooV ii. : Tht rimifMi.\.vi.
The same l^al doctrine was applied to France by Bodinus, a French jurist
boTD in the first years of the sixteenth century :
Scrri pcRpini, 111 pHmiiin Gallic fiocfl petieLraverunt eodem momeclc llbetl audi.
C Peni(a aim, aa aaon ai ihey come vithia the limiu of France, aie Fne.")
In the celebrated case of Dred Scott, however, a negro slave who had been
carried by his master from Missouri into Illinois, thence to the Territory of
Wisconsin, and back again to Missouri, and to whose case it was endeavored
ited States, asserted that
I anlury befait Ihe Declaruien oT Independence Ibe negroa
of an Jnlerior order, and allogether unfit la aaaociale with the w
pdillcal niadotu, and 10 (ar iuferior thai Ihcy had no tighli 1
rcnnScd u boinEi of an iidcrior order, and ailogethei
whiMma
PncH"*' as she Is mpoke. In the year 1S82 there was published in
England a little book under this title, which contained selections from a certain
gem of literature, originally published at Paris in i86z as " O Novo Guia em
Portagoez e Inglea" ("The New Guide to Poriugnese and English"). Simul-
taneously Mark Twain republished in America a new edition of the complete
work, with prefatory notes. The book had long been out of print. Ihniigh
known to book-collectors and firequently referred to in magaiines. lis many
■nd obviou meiita were now for the first time made known to the public at
HANDY-BOOK OF
The unique chaiacter ai ihe work consists in the fact that its author, who
openly proclaimed himself ai Joie de Konseca, had manufactured it by securing
a book of French dialogues, which, with the aid of a dictionary, he put word by
word into English. Of thai tongue he knew nothing, and, what is more aston-
ishing, learned nothing, even dunne the progress of his labor*. There resulted
a farrago of mistakes, a jumble of English and Portuguese const ructions, over
which the beaming self-conceit of the author spreads, lo borrow from Cirlyle,
"like sunshine on the deep sea." Never was linguist in belter humor with
himself. In his very prelace he begins by comparing his book, to its own
great advantage, with. all its predecessors in the same line: "The Wsrlu
which we were confering for this labour, find use us for nothing ; but those
what were publishing to Portugal, or out They were almost all composed fof
some foreign, or for some national little acquainted in the spirit of both lan-
guages. It was resulting from thai corelessness lo rest these Worki fill of
imperfections and anomalies of style ; in spite of the infinite typographical
bults which sometimes invert the sense of the periods. It increase not to
contain any of those Works the figured pronunciation of the english words,
nor the prosodical accent in the ponugese ; indispensable object whom wish
to speak the english and Portuguese languages correctly."
Consequently the author felt that " A choice of familiar dialogues, clean of
gallicisms and despoiled phrases, it was missing yet to studious porlueuese
and brazilian Youth ; and also to persons of other lUlions that wish to fcnow
the Portuguese language."
And having set himself the task of filling this long-felt want, having
avoided all the distressing faults and imperfections of his predecessors, he
confidently anticipates the approbation of the public : " We expect then who
the little book (for the care what we wrote him, and for her typographical
correction) that may be worth the acceptance of the studiout persons, and
especially of the Youth, at which we dedicate him particularly."
To begin with the vocabulary, among the " Defects of the Body" arc enu-
merated "a blind," "a lame," "a squint-eyed," and so on. The process here
is intelligible, however. The professor of languages has simply followed the
French idiom, and used nouns as adjectives. But such '■ Degrees of Kin-
dred" as "gossip mistress," "the quarter -gran dial her," and " quarter- grand-
mother" require elucidation, as also do such nice differentiations of meaning
as are implied in the terms "a relation, an relation, a guardian, an guardian.
We give up the first batch ; in the second Senhor Fonseca possibly reads a as
the masculine, an as the feminine, of the indefinite article. Under the head
of " Eatings," one's appetite is scarcely stimulated by such a menu as "some
wigs," "some marchpanes," "a little mine," "an amelet," even with such
" Seasonings" as " some pinions," " some verjuice," or " some hog's lard," and
washed down wilh such " Drinkings" as "some paltry wine." A devout Cath-
olic would be shocked to find hitnself set down to a maigrt diet of such " Fishes
and Shellfishes" as " Hedgehc^," " Snail," " Wolf," and " Torpedo."
Pass we on now to the Familiar Phrases. Almost at the outset we ire met
with the pertinent query, " Have you understand thai he says ?" and when, a
line or two farther down, we meet the mysterious direction, "Sing an area,"
we confess that we have not understand. A few mote examples must suffice :
Thla CIrl han * bcMity «tn.
It 01011 Dcnr to Uugh of ihe unhappiH.
Probably noL The conversationalist is evidently one of the unhappies, for
UTERAliY CURIOSITIES.
H< hu tcntcb the &ca with tacn ndli.
Tben, thanks be to heaven, the tables are tumei), and the veiy next entry
informs us, —
He bonu on't kIF the bnlu ;
which is reassuring when you reflect that it is a literal rendition of " II se
brflle la cervelle." Yet the slain knows not that he is slain. A little lower
down the tale of bloodshed and sudden death is resumed :
H« wu Gghuid in dual.
Tbcy ighi one's kIEi inin <Ili le butcDI a
Hs do nnl » tell (II rauiqiw dt lomber).
He w» wuiini lobckUkd.
Tikei
One is glad to know that the conversationalist survives alt these dangers. In
Ibe ** Familiar Dialogues" one accompanies him on " The walk." He is some-
thing of a poet, a lover of nature. " You hear the birds gurgling ^" he asks,
and then rapturously exclaims, '* Which pleasure t which charm t The field
has In me a thousand charms." He visits his tailor and jaanlily asks, " Will
you do me a coat?" The tailor, not a bit taken aback, replies in the Socratic
bshion, " What cloth wilt you do to ?" That little matter is arranged. The
tailor engages to bring the coat *' the rather that be possible." But evidently
he procrastinates. For when at last it is delivered the messenger is met with
the stern rebuke, " You have me done to eitpeci too," a bold version of " Vous
m'avei fait trap aitendrc." The tailor makes excuse, " I did can't to come
rather." When the conversationalist goes " Foi to ride a horse" we detect
in him the same carping spirit " Here is a horae who have a bad looks. He
not sail know to marsh, he is pursy, he is foundered. Don't you ate ashamed
to give me a jade like this i He is undshoed, he is with nails up ; it want to
lead to the farrier.'* Nevertheless he mounts. And then trouUe begins.
" Never," screams the rider, " never I was seen a so bad beast ; she will not
nor Id Iwing forward, neither put back." The stableman, evidently agitated,
begins a running tire of advice. " Strek him the bridle," he cries. " Hold him
the reins shartcrs. Pique stron gly, make to maish him." " I have pricked
him enough. But I can't make him to marsh," replies the indignant client.
"Go down, I shall make marsh," says the dealer scornfully, and the incensed
equestrian rejoins, "Take care that he not give you a foot kicks." For aught
we know, I hi ""' ^"
surrejoinder,
hii," which brings to an inglorious end our conversationalist's attempt for to
Tide a horse.
The pupil, having by this time acquired a choice slock of phrases, with a
•elect and wetl-we^ed vocabulary, is next taught lo practise the epistolary
style after the best models. And who are these models ? Madam of Sevigne
and Madam of Maintenon. One specimen from the former lady must suffice :
Madam op SevionA at their Dauohter.
I wriuyou tvcry day : il b a jar which give mc m«I favourable al ill who btc m* tome
shall baEivait>yH. D . Idon'i know u he li ctllEd: £iit at laMll teahooeu miui.whiil
HANDY-BOOK OF
■ fund of entertaining anecdotes, so ingeniotuly worded (ha(
J ■ ■ ■ ■
On tnis head the Portuguese compiler has a good story to tell, and he tells it
in his own idiomatic wa]( :
A phyricUs cighiT ynn of ic lud cnjcued of ■ hudth luultmble. Tkein friendi did
mm. What you maVt Ihen for u bear ysu u veil t" "Iiball Icll you It, gealicmen," h«
wu auweRd tfaem : " uid I uhon you in laoK time u to IbiUnr by ciunple. 1 li¥e oT
Ibe product of my ordcripg, withom tuc uiy rtmtdy who 1 conuouid Ic my ilcki,"
Where all are good ii seems a worlt of supcrerogHtton to sclecL But space
is limited, and we must confine ourselves to a few :
liuk« dogi ud little moDltetei aud who waa caireuigD tlicm too icnderly wu uk, with so
many great dealRaaon, whether the women oT her country don't had loauchildnDt
A lady, which wai to dine, chid to her aervuil that she had not uaed butttr «noagh. Thia
giri, In the eacnae him lelTil, waa biini a litUe cat on her hand, aud told that ihe came lo
take him io the crime, finiihing to rat ihe two poutidi From buiier who remaia. The ladv
took liUAediuely the at, was put into the balaucea, it had not weighed thest me an half
Two (rieDdi who fiom long they Aot wen leen meet oae'i ieli»a for hanrd. " How do it
.■• ._,. . .>._ . — <. .. .. ,. ._[j j[,^ other, "and i am mairiedfrom that I
"Not quit becauK 1 had 1
:h great deal wone ; becauae her dower wai from two iboiuaod
deada oT the rol." " That ii indeed very torry." " Not hj
A tUag it lell, aoolhcr ia nuke.
The waltt have heaniy.
Spoken <A Ihe woir one aeet the tail.
Tliexe ll not any nilo- without ■ exception.
He it like the fiih [mo the water.
To come back at their mutlona.
He ia not ID devil at he it black.
What come in lo me for an cv yet ont for another.
The none aa mlli not heap up not foam.
Hdp thy that God will aid thee.
It want to take the occaaion for the baira-
idiomatlc as the originals which tbejr
Senhor Fonseca alone who has subjected the English language
" Here ihey spike the English," an announcement that actually appeared in
a Parts shop'window, might oe taken as an appropriate motto for many strange
and murderous onslaughts on the English tongue. English was badly spiked
bj the baker in the Palais Royal who announced, "Maccaroni not baked
sooner ready," and by the barber in the Rue St-Honor^ ivho made an
attempt lo attract foreign custom by the statement, " Hear to cut off hare,
in English fashion." K. Oliver, a French conjurer, was another desperate
offender. In his programme he offers "to perform an tntinily of Legerde-
main*," such a* " the cat and burnt handketchleve who shall take up their
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 289
primitiTa forms ; the watch thrown et nailed against the wall bf a pistol shot,
the enchanted glass wine, the handsome Elsina in her trunclc, some tow
automatons who will dance upon a rope and sail do all the most difficul
tricks," the whole to conclude with " a PLantaamagoiy disposed in a manner
as not to frighten (he ladies."
" Articulation without swipe" is the puzzling commendation that accom-
panies the description of a weighing-machine, and of a bathing-girdle the
awful statement is made thai "the person, the bathing-tub, and the machine
are forming one inseparable piece."
A certain M. Hercelle-Lerusle recently put forth a highly mysterious drcu-
lar. It aims to describe the virtues of the " unparalleled balhing-rooro, dress-
ing-rooms and of showers-baths, united system Hercelle-Leruste." Despite
the assistance of a rudimentary illustration of the improved bath-room, it is
doubtful whether the full merits of the system will ever be comprehended
iTom the circular. However, it is dimly apparent that the invention is in the
lulure of what is known here as a geyser, or instantaneous water-heater, and
that improved ventilation is a special feature. So much being premised,
we can follow the sense, though withholding our approval from the literary
form of the sentence promising "a foot-bath, sitting-bath, and any one else
bath, healing itself in a minute, without which smoke spread itself over
room, thing which has never existed." Still intelligible, ihough still weak in
accidence, is M. Hercelle-Lerusle's eiplanalion of huw " persons having some
bathing- rooms" may alter said rooms for the reception of his apparatus, even
iu the case of a person "residing in house which be not the properly of her."
" I will construct this room," the inventor continues, " to make remove when
she will wish all (he objects same the invisible pipes and reservoirs, all to
make remove."
One is tempted to ask, why this partiality for the feminine set? Why, oh,
why does not this benefactor of his kind tJiBer his services also to the poor
male householder residing in house which be not (he propern of him ^ why
may not he loo enjoy a fool-bath, sitling-bath, or any one else bath ? But
then we remember Ihal persoini in the chivalrous French tongue is feminine,
and that the good Hercelle-Leruste. with nice grammatical discernment, is
gallantly attempting to make the English pronominal adjective agree with its
antecedent. And now follows a financial paragraph, from whose obscurity we
can see no escape by conjectural emendation or otherwise ; " All is foreteen
it and cheaply, because this elegant room can do il from seven hundred francs
including reservoirs, as much as len thousand francs if one desire it, since one
eat now a daysmake, all scenes and to bay there he desired draperies."
Hany and curious are the personal advantages and the comforts that attach
to a bath filled by this water-heater. For example, " We undress ones self
afresh without to be seen of some persons that are in this room," and we can
" be served in this room egally without be seen." Best of all, it is a sort of
enchanted room, where everything comes of itself. " Being there for bath or
something else, being undressed and having forgotten of linen or any one
else, yon ask them without any inconvenience with a speaking-trumpet, these
objects come to you yon take them and nobody seen jpou."
Be there any sceptics ^ M. Hercelle-Lerusle invites verification. "Gone
at niT residence." — this is the engaging form in which he issues his invitation,
— "There you will can see work 11.
Baths and bathing -establishments seem indeed to prompt to tortuous Eng-
lish. The card of an old inn at Paris announces, " Salines baths at every
o'clock," and a bath-keeper at Basle informs his English visitors that "in his
newly-creeled establishment, which the ouner recommends best to all for-
eigners, ate to have ordinary and artful baths, Russia and sulphury bagntna.
..oogic
ago HANDY-BOOK OF
pumping*, artful mineral waters, guaze iemonades furnished apartmentl for
patients."
It seems to be inevitable that whenever a foreign word has a double mean-
ing the foreigner seeking its English equivalent will stumble on the wrong
alternative and thus produce delicious confusion. Il is staggering at first to
find an English advertisement in a French paper which reads, " Castle to
pcaise presently," and yuu do not recover from your surprise until you re-
membec that the French verb Imttr means either to praise or to let. The
literal rendition of chiitau, by "castle," and the Hubslitullon of ])rc$cntiy for
immediately, are minor errors that lend an artistic and fullf -rounded complete-
ness to the whole sentence. In a similar way, when an Amsterdam refresh-
meni-house announces "upright ginger beer," you read the adieclive back
into the original Dutch and find that opregl means genuine as well as upright.
A dentist at Honlleur "renders himself to the habitalions of these wich
honor him with their confidence and executes all wich coiiceinB his profes-
sion with skill and vivacity." A vivacious dentist would not necessarily invite
the confidence of his patients.
The '' Proliferous Top," whatever that may be, is accompanied by this set
of instructions:
cable puttimc, Mun
> Amsterdam," published in Holland, claims li
an. Here is how this pseudo-Englishman
liis own language. Me is speaking of the customs of the inhabitants
days and holidays :
They go lo witk oubidc ihc Km caia ; after Ihii walk Ihey hasen w (lee puklr
gankiH, when wine. thu. clc. ii (sliT Nellher ihe mobility renuina Idle M thoe
uiDmenu. Every one invltei hli diauel. and joycutly Ihey enler pliy (inleiii ef i
leu brilliancy dun ihe former. There al the ciyini Kund of an ioiuuiiieiii thai th
ear. accompanied by the dellghtlii] handlc-oriaiu and the nullc triancle, ibeir devoi
paid to TeipiKboK. Enrywbere a omililude of lalniK; the daidng outdoea n
satisfaction. — . -j„_,— — — -
sun hiro rise a horn will be blowed." That announcement sufficiently pre-
pares the visitor for the following entry in the wine list : " In this hotel the
wines leave the traveller nothing to hope for." The style of the following is
legal in its precision : " It is clearly understood that the combustion of every
kind of wooden work which belongs to the entity of the shelter is strongly
forbidden, so that if il happened to be caused damage of any kind from the
part of the travellers or guides, the latter one will be made responsible. At
this purpose every one is requested to nott^ those eventual damages made on
the shelter huts and in the same time if it is possible." As Polonius says,
"entity of the shelter" and "eventual damages" are good.
The following is copied from a card for English visitors prepared by the
host of an establishment in the neighborhood of Pompeii. It will reveal the
secret of its meaning to no casual reader :
linen : for the eiaclne» of Ihe terrice and ibr ihe eiceilence of Ihe true French cooliery.
Iteing iltuated at a prrximLiy of that rcfeneirailoD, it vllL be propltioua lo receive ^miliaa
;i:v..G00^IC
LITER A R V CURIOSITIES.
The darkest poriion of the above is that which refers tu the tardy and ex-
pensive contour of the iron wa]'. The mystery is partly cleared up, however,
when one discovers that the iron way is literal English for cknnin dc fer, the
railroad.
Jajian and China yield some remaikable specimens. The following are >l
tjiv. tHtdi a — _, .
Tnmcnt *rc prohlibi
The tmt cuitlDe, birdi and btuu killiDE, and a
J L-i : .V -ohlbiltd.
(Signed) Osaka Fu.
■maker, named Veck Chee, published the accompanying no-
.- .ill formerly ibr sold b^ Like iBerthanlof Loaoqua dur
quo ii DP je^vc a iTuiL b«coaii« he wat dcccairul and Jom of the i aymtDi, hereaner for lale
Ihe cotle ncD io lupcct the unden^ntdl Whoever ihould be m lata ken to the counlir^^il
Ne^Menbaat it Veck Chee.
But the garden-spot of the world for. ciolic Enpliah is Suiely India. The
conjoine
Lady
gentleman addressed her by letter as " Honored Enc
One man dating an eiatnination was told to write an essay upon the horse,
which he did in the following brief item r "The horse is a vejy noble animal,
but when irritated he ceases (o do so." " ProEiess and Poverty" was thus
outlined by another essayisi : " The rich man welleis on crimson velvet, while
(he poor man snorts on fiinU" It is a Punjab school-master who gives us this
sample of epistolary English :
in m sate of ixiumph. Tbe ^LLmmie is very ffood and piaves uphesUthy. Nu deputy cotDDiia-
X addressed to the English 1
e, manager of Ihe Pe' " " '^'
n at Nayeghat, Benares. It is loo long to quote ei
room for the reasons which actuated him to appeal to their " lordships" of the
House of Common! as follows :
Tbe atnliuDt believei thai as deiire cu oriilnate wllhin ui if lu hilfillmenl ia not de-
abed by PtovUIbkc atid to Iutc further pxiwf which can be uiuvcrHliy acknowledffed is that
ike whole world when In lla infancy w«iid iwl have called for iMurlshment if the ati-wise
CoDBinr had sol ■mmged for ao palpable and nounihing a diet. The jppikani would
atrlTC to tUa coaduaion (hu tbii iHenac deaire ol aaking IroDi the government what be-
looa ID bin muat bave ariacB owing Io iti fiilfillincnt being decided by the AlDighty. The
»nb b called ibe noiber e( all ifainga, doi because ihe pmduces. bui became the munuina
aod nuraes what itat pnduca. Her Moat Gnicioua Maj«Iy, the Empteas of India, being
unacd aa Queen Uotbei, voold ncrer like to act like Eaop'i eunh, which would not "una
the fdant Di aiHnbcr grvund, alibougb never ao mnch impmved by maaon thai plant w
tf ka ov ■■ — ■—
;i:,vG00gk"
»9* HANDY-BOOK OF
Their "lordships" must have been highly astonished to find themselves
described as "endowed with all the perfections and blessings of nature."
A notice posted in a Lahore hotel has a very truculent sound :
and if ihey ihould uy bironband thit'thFy an going oul lo bTjllirait*or"diDncr, an If II^
•ay that they not tun anylhiDg Is ut, (h<y «iiL \x charged, and If not to, they will be
chiirgcd. Dr. unl«ft thry bHng it to th« notice of lil« manager, and ibould they want to aay
anything, they mutt order the maiuger for, and tioi any one eJK, and unleu they Dot btiiu
it (O the DDtice of the manager, they wtii be charged for the ieadl thinn according to hotd
rate, and no flis^ wlU be allowed a/ierward about it- Should any gentleman take wall-lamp
HonlhJjr gentkmeni vill bave to pay my ^Bcd rate nude with them at the lime, and ■honJd
1 take from Ibcm leu rate than my u»ual rate of monthly charges.
But (he Bnest specimen of Hindoo English — unsurpassed and uttsurpass-
"'"'" """" ~ir of Onoocool Chunder Moorkerjee, judge of the High
At the verj start we scent the rich treat that is in store for us. Our hearts
warm within us as we read that this admirable man, " by dim of wide energy
■nd perseverance, erected a vant^e ground above the common level of his
countrymen, — nay, stood with the rare, barring few on the same level with
him, and sat arrayed in majestic glory, viewing with unparalleled and mute
rapture his friends and admirers lifting up their hands with heartfelt glee and
laudation for his success in life."
[lis lather died when Onoocool was very young, and " unfortunate blind
bargains and speculations" by an elder brother soon reduced the bmily to
so tow an ebb that "it was threatened with Barmecide feasts." Thereupon
"Onoocool Chunder was pressed by his mother lo search for an employment
' All love the womb that their first beings bred,' and Justice Moorkerjee was
not out of the pale of it There cannot lie a greater instance of self.denial
than a mother endures during the whole existence of her ofcpring. Nothing
in the world can make her facetious when her child is not so, and nothing in
the world can make her lugubrious when her child is not s>i. Ergo, on the
contrary, a mother is loved and respected in every age."
Ergo, on the conlraiy, the filial Onoocool determined lo obey his mother.
He was successful in finding employment He was eventually admitted to
the bar. His power of arguing a question with " capacious, strong, and laud-
able ratiocination and eloquence" soon brought him in an income, which he
used "to eWticale his family from the difficulties in which it had lalely been
enwrapped, and lo restore happiness and sunshine to those sweet and well-
beloved faces on which he had not seen the soft and bscinaling beams of a
simper for many a griiD-visaged year."
It is pleasant lo follow this brilliant career. In 1870, Choonder accepted a
seal in (he Legislative Council of Ben^l, his selection for this honor being
characleriied as " most judicious and tip-lop." Within the year he resigned
from the council to accept a judgeship. " His elevation created a catholic
ravishment throughout the dominion under the benign and fostering sceplre
of great Albion." But, alas 1 he did nol live long lo enjoy his success. Eight
months later, while delivering a judicial opinion, he left a slight headache.
'■ which gradually aggravated and became So uncontrollable that he fell like a
toad under a harrow." " All the well known doctors of Calcutta did what
they could, with their puissance and knack of medical knowledge, bul it
proved after all as if to milk the ram t His wife and children had nol the
mournful consolation lo hear his last words, he remained settovoa for a few
boius and then went lo God at about 6 f.u." With one graphic stroke the
LITESARY CURIOSITIES. 293
Uograpber i^ctiiTM the despair of the famitj^i "The house presented a
second Babel ot a pretly kettle of fish." Nor was the mourning confined to
the bouse. " All wept for bim, and whole Bengal was in lachrymation — and
more I shall say, that even the learned judges of the High Court heaved
sighs and closed it on its Appellate and Original Sides."
Here is a pleasing description of the judge's personal appearance : " When
a boy he was filamentous ; but gradually he became plump as a partridge.
>lis dress was unaffected— ~he used lu wear Dhotee and Chadur on all occa-
sions except when going to court, office, or to see any European gentleman,
or attending any European parly. And even on going to iiee a Nautch or
something of the like I have never seen him in a dress fine as a carrot fresh
scraped, but ttte perfetuum in Pantaloon and in satin or btuad-clotb Chapkan,
with a Toopee well quadrate to the dress." He was a faithful Hindoo, and
chariuble withal, but judicious in his charities. "The Hon'ble Mookerjee
did bleed freely, but he was not a leviathan on the ocean of liberality ; the
mode of assignment of his charities was to sncb men as we truly wish, and
/eoommend, and exsuscitate enthusiastically. He used to give monthly
■omething to many relicts who bad no hobbotdy-hoy even to support them,
and bad no other source of sustenance left to them by their consorL"
WnjH.li Tbe Klug'a, 01 Queen's, an epithet first used in connection with
some verb, as to abuse, tleface, or murder the king's English, and apparently
suggested by phrases like "to delace the king's coin." The term has been
traced no further back than "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (1598), where ii
is pul in the mouth of mistress Quickly :
I pnj th« n to the C4acmai( pod ice if you c*n ie« mv mAater, Doctor Caiui, comiBg :
fa'hr do, L' faith, and lind anybody la the faoiue, here vlU be an old abusing of God'a tHlicDCc
and the kinc'i Engliih.— Act i., Be. 4.
Dr. Caius, the Frenchman in the play, and Evans the Welshman, "Gallia
et Gnallia," succeed pretty well in their efforts to murder the language. In
"Love's Labor's Lost," Costard comments on the wortderful Mnguistic feats
of Holofcrnes and Sir Nathaniel, the pedantic school-master and preacher, and
the faolaslic Spaniard Annado :
They huT* bevD at ■ great feaat of Isikgusfet and Hoten lt» icrapi.— Act v.,Sc 1.
Per emara, Spenser speaks of
Dan CbaucFT, well of Engllib nndetyled,
Fatrit Qmrn, Book W., Canto IL, Sl 33 :
and of hit fnend Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson says, —
A Poet, NatoraLiat, atid UiiloHan,
Who kft Karcely any ityle of writing uolouched,
[Nibll ledgit quod son onuvil.]
EHIafk m GaliUmitk.
HnlpW* <Gt. iHviyiia, a " riddle" or " dark saying ;" from dvat, a " fable,"
a " sajing"), the earliest form of the riddle, which has since burgeoned out so
luxananily into [he ct^nale forms of charades, rebuses, conundrums, etc The
eni|^a has been diflcrenlialed from these other flora of the recondite by the
definition which makes it adescriplion, perfectly true in itself, but so ingeniously
couched in metaphorical language that the sense is not obvious, so that when
put in the form of a question it shall stimulate the curiosity and yet baffle the
would-be inter[»eler. In the great majority of cases it might in fact be
called a metaphor or a poetical similitude reversed. Primeval poetry, —
the sagas in the North, Hesiod's epics in the South,— poetry in which it was
a pmnt of honor lo call nothing by its right name, illustrates this premiss
ntoct eflectively. The ship, for example, is the sea-horse. Now, reverse the
13*
994 HANDY-BOOK OF
process. Instead o> calling the ship the s'
carries men over the sea. There yuu havi
live poems the two processes are wedded, and The
form of an enigma, which is immediately answered. A he'autiful eiample is
furnished in the opening of the Servian " Hassan Aga," which Goethe has
resuBcilaled :
Whml while form ll •himineiiiig DD yon la T
'Til Ibc lenl of Huun An thlsiag.
Makuh : TrmulatidfrBm CbiIIu.
Again, there is a ^miliar enigma which is common, in one form or another,
to all primitive nations : " What runs faster than a horse, crosses waler, and is
not wet?" The sun. Now, this is identical with one of the most famous
metaphors in literature, a metaphor whose many avatars in the pa^es of
poets, philosophers, and divines will be found duty chronicled under SUN.
To repeat a single instance, it is thus expressed by Bacon : " The sun, which
passeth through pollutions, and itself remains as pure as before."
Samson's riddle was an enigma : so was ihat of the Sphinx. Though Sam-
son afterwards became a judge, one cannot hold thai his riddle was a Tair
one : " Out of the eater came forth meal, and oul of the strong came forlh
sweetness." This referred, as all will remenibei, to a dead lion in whose
mouth certain bees had made their honey. Now, it refjuired for its solution
too large a knowledge of antecedent circumstances. No wonder his wife's
people could not in three days expound the riddle. 'I'he Sphinx really played
fairer : " What is that animal which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon
on two, and in the evening on three V Answer, Man. Here morning, noon,
and evening are metaphors of infancy, manhood, and age, and there is a
further metaphorical use of the word feet, which is applied in one place to
the hands, and in another to a staif. used for support and progress.
The ancient Greelis were veiy fond of riddles of this sore One Clesbu-
lina, nicknamed Eumetis. the wise woman, was especially famous in her day,
insomuch that a comedy was named after her, "The Clesbulinas." One can-
not help breathing a sigh over the disappearance of what must have been a
magnificent collection of classical chestnuts. Clesbulina's enigma about the
cupping-glass, or rather cup]>ing-brass, won her especial renown :
HW a mm^m^ ,h"tSS '™''
Toffelherfttw
Thai you would lay
One blood wen Ihn.
Now Rul my riddle if you cu.
Another ancient riddle is credited to Cleobolus, one of the Seven Wise
Men of Greece : " A father had twelve children, and each child had thirnt sons
and daughters, the sons being white and the daughters black, and one ot these
died every day, and yet became immortal," Is not this identical with the
riddle which Necbalano, King of Egypt, proposed to Lycerua, King of Baby-
lon, in that war of riddles which Planudes has celebrated ? The Babylonish
monarch had always been a winner in these contests, because he had Msap at
his court, and j&op was mote than a match for his adversary. But at last
Necbatano conceived he had a clincher. " There is a ^rand temple," he said,
" which rests upon a single column, which column is encircled by twelve
cities ; every city has against its walls thirty flying buttresses, and each buUress
has Iwo women, one white and one black, thai go round ■"
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES.
\t old friend in anoltier form ;
Hgv Dvy All this togelJuj' fruDlc f
And ill a more recent " Recueil de Calembours" published in France, the si
recondite jesi inakts once more iU perennial appearance :
The Abb^ Hoilat has described some ensagini; traits of the Wo1ols,a simple
but jocular race who inhabit Senegal. It is their nightly custom to sit in the
moonlight or fire-light, propounding aboriginal enigmas to one another, amid
peals of laughter. If a riddle is guessed a shout goes up, " He has told the
truth I" If not, the Wulof method of giving it up is to grasp the chin and
cry, " III the name of the God of truth," And this is the snle of riddle pro-
pounded : " What runs long in the sun and casts no shallow V Does the
reader grasp his chin ? Do we hear an appeal to the eternal verities ? We
leap to his assistance with the answer, — The road. Again, " Who are the
comrades thai fight all day and never hurl each other f The tongue and the
teeth. One cannot help envying the capacity for merriment which can exiort
laughter out of such elementary epigrams. Vet the country- folk everywhere,
the jroung barbarians in our nurseries, nay, our polished ancestors, and the
classical ancients, have or had an equally rudimentary sense of humor. Many
of the riddles still current are just as primitive as any we have quoted. No
doubt our arboreal ancestors shook their sides and wagged their prehistoric
tails over precisely the same jests, — after the megatherium and the dodo had
done with them. Indeed, some of Shakespeare's quibbles belong to the same
class. (Dues not Ruskin wistfully marvel at the readiness of Elizabethan
audiences to be amused ?] All seem to proceed from the wondering child-
like intellect, just awakened to recognition of the fact that there are analogies
in nature, and giving the ready guerdon of admiration or laughter to the more
■paciotis intellects among them who had shown that human relations mi^hl
be predicated of inanimate things, either in jest or earnest. The mind with
a humorous bias made enigmas, the serious mind made metaphors,- '■--- ^
'^'--te is a leeend that the Father of Poetry was don
further ilTuslialion of the close connection between the two
o^iTt
say, poems. There is a leeend that the Father of Poetry was done to death
1 ; ^ further ilTuslialion of the close connection between the two
Lure. Asking some fishers of los what luck they had had, the
wandering minstrel was told, "What we caught we threw away, what we could
not catch we kept" Fleas, not fishes, had been the quest of these merry men
on that particular day. Homer puzzled himself into some classic form of
paresis, and finally gave up both the riddle and the ghost. But the riddle
survived to puzile posterity, Symposius, in the seventh century, put it
into Latin verse. Pierre Grognet diti it into old French:
is the following : " He
agfi HANDY'BOOK OF
laves her ; she has a repugnance to him, and vet she tries to catch him ; and
ir she succeeds, she will be the death of him.*'
Aulus Gellius, in his twelfih book of " Noctea Atticz," goes into ecstasies
over a snrpia, or what the Gieeks call an aragwia, " which 1 lately foand ;
ancient, by Hercules 1 and exceedingly crafty, comjHised in three iambic verses."
It is really worth quoting for its utlei inanity ;
Jovi ipf i Rgi DoLuh conccdcre,
t' I Imaw Dot wbohv it wu once Isn, or twice Iss. or both the Iut«r addtd tocnbtr, who.
ooa heard, wu imwiUiot lo yield even to King Jax hlmHlf.")
" I leave this unanswered," says Gellius, " lo sharpen the conjectures of my
readers in their investigations," — probably the earliest instance of a fashion
now much in vogue in journals and magaztnes of leaving the solution to the
next number. But Gcliius is merciful. " He who is tired of investigating," he
adds. " may lind the answer in the second book of M. Varro to Marcellus on
the Latin language."
The answer is Terminus {ter-minus). Ovid declares that all the crowd of
gods gave place to Jove, except Terminus, who held his ground. So the
author of the riddle doubts whether it was once less, or twice less, or ihrice
less (ler-minus, — (>., the two latter added together), who, as he once heard,
was unwilling to yield to King Jove himselC I'he force of tathos could no
further go.
There have been epochs when enigmas and other forms of riddles were
especially in vogue. Always these epochs marked a recurring season of
intellectual awakening. Such an epoch there was at the first glimmeting of
new dawn towards ihe close of the seventh century and the beginning of Ihe
eighth. This was probably the ageofSymposius, author of a collection of Latin
riddles, as it certainly was of Aldlielm, Bishop of Sherborne, and of Tatwine,
Archbishop of Canterbury, both of whom fallowed in the footsteps of Sym-
Aldhelm yields this upon the alphabet;
chadRn of Iron, by iron we die. bni children too of the bird'a wing thai Ilia » hl^ : three
That is lo say, seventeen consonants and six vowels : made wilh iron style
and erased wiiti the same, or else made with a bird's quill ; whatever Ihe
inslrumenl, three fingers are the agents ; and we can convey answer without
delay even in situations where it would be inconvenient to speak.
And lastly, here b Taurine on an " E^le-leclum," — in almost literal Iran*-
Angelic food to folk 1 oft dupenH,
Wlult KtlDdt majeUic fill Itteniive emrm.
Vet neither voice hjtve 1 nor toikgue for ip*«h.
Id btav? equipment of two wings T abine.
But wingt wiiboDKD any iliili to By :
One fool I have to itand. but not ■ rwH to (o.
It is probably to this epoch also [though some would claim a mucli higher
anIiquiM that the most famous of all enigmas is to be referred, the "i^lia Laelia
Crispis, an inscription preserved at ^l™"i« — lii<.li li»« ™.t.i*h tk> oiiHt
twails, and has finally been given up as ii
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
. ,rT»mldum, Deque •epuLchnua^
:pi. nnue
S«d cixUver idem en, et kepukhnim dbL
ijr be Tendered u follows ;
£UA L.CLIA Crispis,
NeidiermAik, nor womiin, nor bfnniiphrodlte ;
Ntkhti girl, DC '
NeiiBwbulal
ButiV
troyfidvdlhcr 1
Uv nnlka Id bea^
De*troy«d Ddlhcr by buDKer, Dor
Ludui AAtho PrUctu.
Tbk b ■ tomb hi._, ,._ .
Thk H ■ corpK biilL( do lomb wlthoin ll ;
' Various interpretations have been oBered, some better than othera, bat
none good. It has even been shrewdly saspccted that (here is no inierpreta-
tion, — that the puule is a mere hoax. Rain-water, the so-called materia
medica, the philosopher's stone, a dissected person, a shadow, an embryo, —
these and other sugeested explanations all fall to the ground. There seems
to be some color of reason to Professor Schwartz's «ug»B(ion that the
Christian religion is the trae answer, referring, in proof, to GaJatians ill. 28:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female ; for we are all one in Christ Jestis." But after the
superficial likeness to the text has been acknowledged, it is hard work to find
the other analogies.
Better remember the fate of tlomer, and desist from any further cudgelling
of the brain.
The period of the Renaissance was a great era for the enigma. Numerous
collections of all forms of riddles were put forth in the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries. Some were eclectic, some ostensibly original. Among the
latter the efforts of the Abb<! Cotin are especially famous. In England, at a later
period, Swift and others followed Cotin's example in acknowledging their
bantlings. The majority of riddles before Cotin's time had been anonjnnous.
Among these anenymx, however, ate some that have won for themselves
the glory of perennial quotation. Sometimes they are only fair, sometimes
they are very bad. Never mind : they are classics, and not the most cursory
history of the enigma would be complete without them.
Let us dip into that celebrated book of riddles already mentioned as spoken
HAtfDY-BOOK OF
called, with t
of antique titl-_, ...._., . „ . , >.
tions and Witly Proverba to make uleasanl pastime ; no less useful than be-
hooverull for any yong man or child, to know if he be quickwitted or no."
Do you want to find out if you be quick-witted ? Then unriddle me this,
an it please you :
Two leg* tat upoD thrcfi lep aad had one 1^ in her hand ; then Id came Ibim legi aad
bare away od« leg ; then up nan two l«£i and threw three legB at foun Icgi, and brought
The answer is full of picturesque detail, and runs u follows :
That it, a woman with two legi •■( on a itoole with three legi, and had a leg of munoB
in her hand ; (hen came a dog that hath fourt legi, and bare away the lee it omlton : tlwB
up naned the wodud and threw the uoole with three kg> at ihc dog with fbure legi, aad
Would you prefer a poetical riddle P Vour taste shall be gratified :
•oodaodcati^lit.
He I
Liue he could DOC finde it,
le with hi En he brought it.
DoTfol^
Because he could DOl findl
Home with hi En he brough
Ah there, old trueiienny t You see it has turned up once more, — the same
old jest that worried Homer into a premature grave.
Here are some famous biis of inanity preserved in Halliwell'* "Nursery
Rhymes of England :"
Loiu: leg*, crooked thJEha,
" ' "'(K'^^ti toog..)
Thiny while honea upon a red hill.
Now they cbamp, now they tnuop, now thev itand allL
(THth and guDis.)
Old mother Twicbell had but one aye.
Whai'i (hat whkh all love more Ihaa Ula.
Pear more than death or monal wrife t—
The poor poaaeat, the rich require.
The miHT ipendi, the ipendthrift uvea,
Dien carry (0 '^^^^^j
In a speech on the embargo which lohn Adams delivered in CongreM ii
1806, he made apt use of "an old riddle on a coffin, which I presuuM we al
learned when we were boys :"
There wai a man beipoke a ihlDg,
Which when the malier home did btiBg,
lliat lame maker did nhiae it,
The man that ipoke for It did not uaa It,
Aod he who had It did not koow
Whether he had it, ya or DO.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 299
Mr. Adams considered this " an perfea a re premutation of the origin, prog-
ress, and present state of Ihia thing called non-iiilercourse as it is possibTe
to be conceived." True, if u on -intercourse be established, the similitude
would Tail in one particular. The tenant of the coffin did not know his state,
;• But the people of the United States will be lilcrally buried alive in non-
intercourse, and realize ihe grave closing on themselves and on their hopes,
with a full and cruel consciousness of all the horrors of their condition."
The constituents of the alphabet have supplied an inexhaustible fund of
material for enigma-composers. An early instance is this by Swift on the
Vowels:
Two hmous eiam|jles, — masterpieces in their kind, — each depending on
the power of a single letter in the construction of syllables and words, were
atliibated in a vague way to Lord Byron, — a well-deserved tribute to their
elegance and skill in versification. Both were afterwards shown to be the
composition of Miss Catherine Fanshawe. She penned them in an album
tome lime in the year 1S14, while visiting at Deepdene, the beautiful seat of
" Anastasius" Hope, where Disraeli wrote "Coningsby." The first is on the
letter H :
'T»iu whiipered in heaven, 'twu mDCIcnd in hell.
And «ho caugh. fiintly the »und n il fdl :
On the CDnfinei of earth 'Iwu permitted to rest,
I> the prep of hit houK and ihe >^0<1 >
ln,the ^eaps of the iiii«!r ii hoarded t
But is lUre to be lo«I in hit prodi^l h
Jl bcsiu every hope, every wish it mv
But woe to die wretch who eipels it Tr
'Tslll lofien the heut. but. thougli di
It will nuke it acutely and iniiantly bi
But in <bon, lei it tetl like a delicaie i
Oh, breathe on ii loMy, ft diei in an 1
J alwa^ am greateat alone.
I'm Dot bi the earth, nor tfaeHon, nor the uioon :
Yoti may Kanzfa all the iky. I'm not ihere :
Vou nay plainly pen:eive m'e, for, like a baUAB
I am uwa^a utipetided Id alT,
Coogk"
300 HANDY-BOOK OF
TtuHcfa diKue DiAy pDuw ni«, uid lEckiwH, mud palM^
THough in wLi aiul in wiadoui 1 eduUy rtign,
I'm tEvhean of »U lUi.jtndhAvc lone lived ia vjiiq.
Yet I ne'er ibnlL be (oaad in like lonb.
There ia a fiimous entCTna, which is attribuieii somelimes lo Lord CheMer-
field, and sometiines lo Miss Anna S«ward. the once fiimous Swan of Lich-
field. It is even added that the latter lady left by will the snra of one thou-
sand pounds 10 any who should guess it One form of il is in twenty-two
lines, another in fourteen. The longer runs thus :
The DDbleil gbjeci in the woilu of ul,
Tbe briehtest Kenea which nature can impvl ;
The wdl'kDown tlnul In the line of pcue,
Tbe urmer'a comfon u be drives ibe ploufb,
A eoldier'* duEy. and ■ lover't vow ;
A CDDDul Bude before ihe niiptL^ tie.
A prue th4t meril Dever yet hai won ;
A [oh which prudence t^dav can retrieWfl
The deuh oT Judu. end ibe fell of Eve;
A put between Ihe inkk end iht knee,
A miler'i idnl, mnd the l»dge of Jewv
If now your happy ^niui cut divine
By the Sm letter plainly nay be fnnnd
An encieni dUy thai ia mucli rennwDed.
Three or four attempted solutions of this are extant, but none i* qnite utls>
Here is a rather pretty lancy by no less a man than Schiller :
A bridge weavea ha arcb vith pearla
lla apan, unbounded, free.
"be talleit ihipa with iwelLitlg aall
(Tbe tminbnw.)
Cowper the poet, in a letter to so grave and dignified a gentleman u the
Rev. John Newton, propounds the following enigma :
And Ihe parent ^ numbcn that cannot b* told :
I am lawful, unlawfiil, a duty, a fault ;
1 am oA«n aold dear, kchhI for nnthlnft when twughi;
And y^ded with pleaauie when taken by foice'.
And If Ihe oka it aiain I crievc dm.
Charles Jamet Foi wu not averse to lightening the carei of stateimaniUp
..oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 301
■ one of (he riddlet that have
vord there Ls oT pluni numlH
PlunU i» plun] DOW no DtoR,
Butangllng AlUanoa*. This phrase originated with Thomas Jefierton,
The anxious avoidance of "entangling alliances" has been the characteristic
or the foreign policy of the United Slates throughout iheit political history.
Equkl ADd ejiact juuice lo all men of whaurer luie or pcnuaBion, lelii^Diu or pelitlckl ;
pace, conunerce^ and honcu friendihip with >]] DAIioDf. — catJtDEllDg jHhTnca* with WHW;
Ih* •oppon of SUK goveniineDti la all tbtir riihtt. u (be moii compeunt &' ~
for our dometlic concrma, and ihe imct buln/tu a^alntt fnli-republicKD U
pRservaiiolt of ibc general BDvemmenf in LIS whole conilituLional vigor, u tb
bwdoai t£ p«r«an under the pntieciion of Ibe h^ibcflt corput ; ud trial by juriq imwIiaUy
■elected, — tbeie priociplefl ft»rm Ibe brighl coitBteUation which hai |oQe 1>dare oi, Hud gidikd
our iteu through an age of revolution and refonnaiioD, — jKFFnKSON : Firxt Inan^raJ Aa-
Bnteote Cordiale (Fr, " A friendly or cordial understanding ;" but the
French phrase is not only neater but heartier in its meaning), an expression
which seems to have been coined by Louis Philippe, or at least was &rsC made
proverlHat by his use of it in a speech from the throne in January, 1843, to
express the triendly relations existing between France and England. A com-
pliment was implied to Gulzot, who had been sent as ambassador to Enirland
m 1840, and was now minister of foreign affairs. Douglas Jertold':
on the phrase was, "The best thing I know between France and I
the sea." {Tkt A ngia- French Allianee.)
Tberr waa not only no origioalitv )iul no desbe lor il— perhapt ei
thiac thU wouUI brenk the nUH/f f#r<f£B^ of placid mutuaL ai
BnvelopM. Before Sir Rowland Hill introduced the penny. post, enve-
lopes were sparingly used in England, as double postage was charged for one
piece of paper enclosed in another, however thin each might be, and however
light the letter. Even the smallest clipping from a newspaper, enclosed in a
letter, implied a double charKc. So soon as this rule came into operation,
and so lone as it continued in force, only franked letters were enveloped,
although it had formerly been regarded as a mark of respect to use an enve-
lope, and a mark of etiquette in writing to a superior.
The penny-post was established January 10, 1840. and the use of envelopes
became common after May 6 of thai year, when stamped and adhesive en-
veloi)e3 were issued by the post-office. The first envelope-making machine
was invented by Edwin Hill, brother of Rowland. His and De la Rue's
machine for folding envelopes was patented March 17, 184^.
So &T at is known, the idea of post-paid envelopes ortgmated early in the
fB%n of Louis XIV. of France, with M. de Valuer, who, in 1653, established
3«
30» HANDY-BOOK OF
a private post with royal approval, and placed boxes at the corners of streets
for the reception oF letters enclosed in envelopes which wete sold at offices
established for that purpose. Valfyer had also artificial /ormei dc biltil, ax
notes applicable to ordinary business communications, with blanks to be filled
up by pen with such special matter as the writer desired. One such MUd has,
by a fortunate misapplication, been preserved to our time. Felisson, the
friend of Madame de Sevigne (and ul whom she said that "be abused man's
privilege of being UEly"J, was tickled by this skeleton form of corre!<pondeni;e,
and filled up the blanks uf such ^ forme wAh a letter to Mademoiselle de
Scudery, addressing her, according to the [>edanlic fashion of the time, as
" Sappho," and signing himself " Pisandie." This billet is still citant, and
is probably the oldest existing example of a prepaid envelope.
In the English State Paper Office is a letter addressed to the Right Hon.
Sir William Trumbull, Secretary of Slate, by Sir James Ogilvie, and dated
May 16, 1696. It is now attached to its envelope, ^\ x -; inches, cut nearlv
the same as out modern ones. 'ITie next known example is an autograph
letter (in an envelope) of Louis XIV. to his son by Madame de Monlespan,
the Comte de Toulouse, Admiral of the Fleet at the siege of Barcelona. It
is dated Versailles, April 29, 1706, and written, sealed, and addressed by
the royal hand. Le Sage, in his "Gil Bias" (Book iv., ch. v.), published 1715,
in describing the epistolary correspondence of Aurora de Guzman, makes
one uf his characters say that, after taking two billets, " elle les cacheta lous
deux, y mit une /mv/0/)/^, el me donna te paquel." In the British Museum
there is an envelope, exactly like those now in use, with an ornamental bor-
der, bearing date 1760, from Madame de Pompadour to the Ouchesse d'Aigui-
llon, and a letter from Frederick of Prussia, addressed to an English general
in his service, dated at Poisdam, 1766, folded in an envelope of coarse Ger-
paper similar in form to modern ones, except that it opens at the end,
those used by lawyers fur deeds instead of at the top.
f\n early allusion to envelopes in English literature is to be found in Swift's
"Advice to Grub Street Verse-Writers," 1726, wherein he playfully twits
Pope for his small economies, which betimes led him to write his verses on
bits of paper left blank or written on only one side. He tells them to have
their verses printed with viide margins, and then
man pap
non°<Slght.
It has, however, been conjectured that thit did not refiiT to anything resein-
bling our modem envelope, which could have been of little use to Pope, but
to a naif-sheet of paper used as a cover. Be that as it may, an old family in
Yorkshire preserves an envelope exactly like the square modern pattern, sent
from Geneva in 1750. In the Centlfman' s Atagauiu, May, iSil, is a copy of
a letter born Fattier O'Leary, of which it is said. " the envelope being lost,
the exact address cannot be ascertained ;" and Charles Lamb writes to Ber-
nard Barton, March 10, 18:6, " When I write to a great man at the Court
End, he opens with surprise a naked note such as Whilechapel people inter-
change, with no sweet degrees of envelope. I never enclosed one bit of
paper in another, nor understood the rationale of it. Once only I sealed
with a borrowed seal, to set Waller Scott a-wondering, signed with the im-
perial quartered arms of England, which my friend Field bears in compliment
to his descent in the female line from Oliver Cromwell. It must have set his
«ily upon '
mile
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 303
ard's " Life and Literary Remains of L. E. L." (died iSiSJ, the poetew asks
tohavesent her "slate-pencils, a quire or so of small colored note-paper, and
a pasteboard pattern of leiler envelopes."
1 include Ihe vast mulli-
r another have been honored with
the tide of epigram, and precise enough (o exclude all others, would be hope-
lee). In sttid accordance with its Greek etvmology from hartea^cv, '■ to in-
scribe," it originally was a commemorative allusion to some remarkable event
or individual, or ine accompaniment to votive offerings. Such composilions
were termed epigrams, — i.i., inscriptions, indicating simply the purpose for
which they were intended, — viz., to be inscribed or engraved on monument,
statue, or building ; Ihey were generally poetically worded. Such a composi-
tion, from Ihe very nature of the maletial on which the eulogy was to be
engraved, must necessarily be brief, and the reslrainu attendani upon its
publication concurred witli the simplicity of Greek lasle in prescribing con-
ciseness of expression, pregnancy of meaning, purity of diction, and single-
ness of thought, as Ihe indispensable conditions of excellence in the epigram-
matic style. The transition in the use of the term was easy from this, its
original application, to verses never intended for such a purpose, but assuming
for artistic reasons Ihe epigraphical form, and giving utterance to thoughts
which might have served as inscriptions. Thence to verses expressing, with
some of the terseness and precision of an inscription, a striking, delicate, or
ingenious thought, was but another step.
Of epigrams in the first sense the lines of Simonides, commemorative of
Leonidaa and his army, engraved on Ihe pillars set up at Thermopytse at the
command of the Amphiciyonic Council, are a famous example, with their
union of chaste simplicity and perfect beauty :
Go Kll the SputuiB, Itaou tlut puHi by,
TliM here, ntedieni 10 her lam, -hk Ue.
Here ia one uptm Ladas, a femous runner, of whose swiftness the most
extravagant accounts were given ;
IT Lidu TU or Rdi, in tliu Uit ncc.
Who knoinf — 'twKB HKh a devil of a pace
To this another couplet was added ;
Scarce wu ihe ftanme-iope wkhdrswn, when there
IjfUi kcmmI crowDod, yet bad ocm tuned e hair-
Coming now to Ihe non-monumental epigrammatic poems, here are a few
of Ihe more strictly epigraphic in form :
HinuelT he ilev, when he the foe would Hy—
What DudneH itiu. Tor feu of desib 10 die I
MASTtAL.
I cunol Idl thee vbo tlei buried ben :
The iculpuv^ an gave her 10 btealh
ba — but Id vain ;
And this by Antipaler of Siilon on the Messenian Arislomenes, a brave
and determined enemy nf Sparta, whose life, it is said, was saved by an eagle
when the Spartans had thrown him into a piL The opening lines are ad-
dressed to the eagle, who replies, —
.d by Google
304 HANDY-BOOK OF
" U^odc bin] 1 u pnnid and ftam,
Why lowir'M ihaa o'u dut wuiioc'* bauwr'
" 1 kLI CAch ftodlUw cvthly liinc,
Fv u o'er birdi of evoy wing
Stiprtnie the lordly eagle wl*,
Creu AiMUMnaia piirtili.
La dmJd dots, wbb pUintivc cry,
Coo o'er the gnvs vfacn connu lie \
'Til o'er llK diuDllcu hoo'i breul
•nn kingly e.glt lOTB ID ren."
Ufitm; Tnatlmtum.
But, having gone thus Cat, fuither classification or what the anc
admit as epigrams is as hopeless an effort as the attempt a
A them it is one of the most catholic of iiterarv for
it lends itself to the ei
ice and beauty boldi tbe priie
Tbdr contest fbnnt ihe maichleu haj-QiDDV,
which is markcdlr distinct from an idyl in the cohereitce or the several parts,
and in a singular converging of all to a common point, the expression of the
idea of harmony in apparent contention. Here is one by an unknown hand,
descriptive of the statue of a dancing Bacchante :
She 1 gained Ihc Ihrohold l' Slop her, nt ibe'i gone.
The epigram may be an elegy, a si
nbodiment of the wisdom of the ag
llie cvA, low^babbling uwtm
'Hid quincHTOtet deep^
Abd gently nuuing lenvct,
Briog ooioA ileep.
kir Durble, tell lo iiiturc dayv
Tlwl here Iwo vinin lUlen lii
WhoH dcub gave teen lo cyi
Soi^h!....
Thaldenth
Salurday Km
My fair uve, the no ipou
Wimld wed, though Jove
Sbe uy* ft, but I d«Di
Whv Kcoy, av lovely mnidt
Wby of ue » niBch afrudt
Your cb^i like luei to the fif
And my hair as liliee while ;
Id love a gnriuid, we'll nppovc
MelbelilVryouIbcKae.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 305
O Bnuciu, ccAK OUT acbing t%i\ \a ycx
With thy Loud niling W (he BoFter w ;
Tbiu oscc > womiiD did givt binh to ihae.
Th« broBd hi^wHy to poverty ud need
or this, which suggests Ben Jonson's song, " Dr[nk to me only with thine
•ye*:"
Tht wine-cup ii gUd \ Dcu Zenaptdli'i lip
It boasts ID have touched when mhv iloopvd dowo 10 ilp.
H*ppy wtae-cup ! I wish th«, with lipi jointd lo niiiM,
e perfect of its Icind
or Ihte, b; the Syrian, Meleager ai Gada, which has been often imitated;
A hue end cry for Love I Tbt wild Du'l Bed I
SIM now u diws he left his ray bed.
lib -9 his IDDguc ; the lul shedi ptrlty teul ;
Fleet is his foot, his heart unknown to TeAn.
Around his XTPiVK a duh of acorn he AiuAS ;
Nowh^ il he a b™ n'e^^ilt^w^^'
Pochance «'ca hcrt for heatia he lava hli uan.
Va;ihen-ghisiuDbu>lil Mark him where ht Ilal
Arcber, I apy theein you maiden's eyesi
AM of thete ezqnisite thoughta. expreased in such chaste and elegant lan-
guage, would have to be covered by any definition of the epigram as under-
stood by the collectors of that string of gems — literally, that posy of flowers —
which has come down to us known as the Greek Anthology, from which, indeed,
mo«t of the preceding are culled.
Its catholicity included even anagrams, and probably would find a place for
this ingenious curiosity, a parody on the noted grammatical line BifroHs atqtu
Ciutas, Bos, Fur, Sat, aique Saeerdot. The author, curiously enough, was a
Canterboiy clergyman :
Boe among hit neighbors' wiv
Ft,.lnga3.erin^hi.lid,e.,
No leu would it for the following lines from ibe Aratnc:
Two puts of life: and weH the tbemo
The (Otu^j^'iteriiS 1 '
knd no leu for these from the Persian, by Sir William Jones :
We^nC [bou'ut'M, whilst aJI uoimd'ibee smUed :
So live, (bat, sinkine In (by Uh long flc«p.
Calm thou uuy'u soiDc, w^ile all around thee weep,—
one of the oldest epigrams in existence, as it is also one of (he n
HANDY-BOOK OF
beiuliral. It U true that they do not agree in all poioti iritli the well-known
Ab cpiffiu ifaoald be, if righi,
01. ._ .. — *4 pajai«L keen. Bad brijchi. —
ilvbnUtUHl
A UTdv bnU thuH I
Uke w«p whh upCT bodr, baund
Bnt this is « modern definition, according to which an epigram must be a little
poem whose bum, charming as it docs the ear, must, like
Drmw venoin fonh thu drive
end with that peculiar sting which is now looked for in a French or English
epigram ; the want of this in the old Greek compositions doubtless has caused
thetn to be looked upon as tame or tasteless. The true or the best form of
arlv Greek epigram does not aim at wit or seek to produce surprise, and
"" ■'"" "' 's present in some, it was not, as now, deemed an essen-
le early Gre.
though this
chants the Latin poet, or, as he has been felicitously rendered into English,—
of the old Roman tyivtitrit animiu, and forget the freedom of the early Fes-
cennine license, and hence loo much of what they have left behind is vilialed
In brutality and obscenity. On the subsequent history of the epigram, indeed.
Martial has exercised an influence as baneful as it is extensive, and he may be
counted as the far-off progenitor of a host of verses the sctirrilitj of which
would put himself to blush. Nevertheless, among much that is simply coarse
and brutal, there may be found in Martial many epigrams wbich for polish and
rapier-pointed, if malicious, pungency are unsurpassed ;
P«U GcmeUni nuptlu MironillE,
E( cupLi, ct Duut, « precjtiur, n ooou.
Adeoov pulcbn arT Imo fcrdiu* nil val.
Quid sso ui U1> petilur el placet ? Tuidl.
The effect of this efngram lies in the sudden Aitnf ("she coughs"), which
Stops the hurried questions, bringing them down as with a pistoI-shoL The
rendering of the wm'e by G. H. Lewes happily preserves the effect .■
yMironU
Sight, ogles, prayv »nd will not be pui off.
liiheiolovelvT HldeDuiuScriial
Wlui Duku bin 0£ie, ugh, end prmyT Her CDU^ I
And here b another, with the genuine waspish characteristic of the stinging
tail:
WUIe in ibt duk w Ihy ion bud I bung.
And bevd ibe lempilag •Ires In Ihy uniEue,
Wbu Ouaei, wbu daru. whii anguiih leridurtd I
;i:v..G00^Ii:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Mupv «t DMdiinu. nunc est rai^llo Dlibiu ;
which probably inspited Bnleau to write the delidous couplet, —
ri viviii jidk 1 FlonDce UD irMedii,
S*TU1 lublcut, dil-OD, tt ciltbri uiuxin.
reproving
If brevity is the soul of wit, the following monoslich mast be deemed perfect :
Paupo vidui vult Ciuus— « eil pauper.
(•' Cinwi prelmdi lo bi poor— anil a «h«I he pmend./')
But the happiest conceit of Martial is thai contained in the following. Fxtus,
condemned to die and ordered by the empcTor to slay bimsell^ the heroic wife,
Arria, having aeized the knife and stabbed hecself, even in death feels no other
pain than that which Pxtus is now about to inflict upon himself:
When Ama from ber wounded Bide
To Peiui gave the neking Ked,
" I r«1 not what I've do^e/'ihe cried;
"Whal Pstiu iito do—/ feell"—
which Gray probably had in mind when he composed the " Epitaph on Vba.
Clark :"
Id taony to deMh reaigncd,
SbeTell (be wouud ihe left behind.
Scaliger, in the third book of his " Poetics," divides epigrams into five
classes ; the first lakes its name from nwf, or honey, and consists of adula-
tory specimens; the second from^, or gall ; the third from atehim, or vine-
gar ; and the foucth from jal, or salt ; while the fiAh is styled the condensed,
or multiplex. The cUssificalioii is bnciful and of no practical value. Of
the exceedingly numerous specimens of this style of composition, the most
numerous are the variety which might be arranged under the rubric salt, with
more or less admixture of gail and vinegar. Such, for instance, would be
Scaliger's own
Which may a man tbf gieat«« druakard call T
ng tiero colli
Now/iM and now fiatr.
Bm when, pnpuHl ibe worn lo bran
(Aa acdaa thai duie pain ua).
Qmca Didp bhmi him uitae cave.
Ha dnha Urn dmx TntantH,
And wall ha changia thui Ibe word
;i:,vG00gk"
3o8 HANDY-BOOK OF
Of the "salt" and "vinegar" epigram Ihe French are doubtless the be»l
cullivatora, and tnanv of iheir best authors have cained no small celebrity h
this deparlroent Ttie French language lends itseir more readily than any
other to the neat and sparkling eipiession of thought : for instance, —
mn i'aii ton v^^,' « ■» b&^ K> V™ '.
Fi^rt It viti^ is to paint ; hence the point of Lcbrun's couplet does not come
out distinctly in the translation :
For bul two faulu our faij poet Egl^ (be wone b:
Lebrun alone, notwithstanding Rapin's dictum, that a man ought to be con-
tent if he succeeded in writing one really good epigram, is the author of up-
wards of six hundred, and a very fair proportion of them would pass muster
with Rapin himself.
Piron, who said of himself, in the mock-epitaph composed when he failed
of admission to the " Acad^mie," that he was nothing, — not rutn an " Acade-
Ci-gl.Pi™i,quc«fti.ri™:
Pu mime AcuUmidoi^
<" Here lis Piron, i miui of no potUiunj
was, according to Grimm, " une machine k saillies, it ifpigrammes et bon-
" " He had been the life-lone satirist of the French Academy, He had
pm " rhp invulidit nf wiE." had Heiu^rihed Ihrm 3s. "fnrlv willi the wit
called them " the invalids of wit, had described them as "forty with Ihe wi
" " ■ ' jhl to be elected to a - "" -
I, he replied, "Only ihi
of four." Yet in 1750 he sought to be elected (□ a vacancy. Wben asked
If successful, he - •*-' ■'" ' - ' ■-'- '
gentlemen,' and they will answer, ' Ii is not worth mentioning' " (" II n'y a pas
at quoi"). He failed, and consoled himself with Ihe thought, "I could not
make thtrly-nine think as 1 do, still less could I think as thirty-nine do."
Three years later be was elected, but Louis XV., through Ihe influence of
Madame de Pompadour, atinulled the election, and substituted a pension of
one thousand louis. Thereupon Piron sent his will to the Academy, with the
well-known epitaph inscribed upon it.
Voltaire, among his myriad many-pointed things, wrote nothing happier
than this little verse on " Killing Time," where " Time" is supposed to speak :
Which not only has a point, but plajrs upon it
Perhaps more than elsewhere has the epigram been recognized in Prance
OS the weapon of political and literary warlare. Victor Hugo's first thought,
when in exile, was to score his betrayer in verse ; and from the publication of
his terrible " Chllimenls." Ihe empire of the perjured saviour of society, of
the Dutch champion of the Latin race, was. to Ihe literary men whom Hugo
left behind, a despotism tempered by epigrams.
There is less sail than vinegar in Ihe epigram on Charles IL, —
Who nevct uld ■ foolub thioc, '
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 309
•nd he betra)^ a good deal of equanimity ind good sense when ht very
wiiiily turned it by saying, "Thai is veiy icue, for my words are my own, my
actions are my ministiv's." Neither ia (here much Atlic flavor in the " deadly
thrust" of Young at Voltaire, when, the latter having in Young's presence
decried Milton's genius, and rid'culed particularly the personification in " Para-
dise Lost" of Death, Sin, and Satan, the Englishman retorted,—
Thou ut la wiity, widud, (Dd » Ihin,
llHiu an m once ibe DcvU, Dcub, ud Sin.
In the bright keen intellect of Lesein^ According to Les»ng, it is not enough
that a poetn be terse, short, illuminaling in a flash a single point or thought ; it
must be characterized by the cpigrapbic form : " A true epigram should con-
sist of two parts ; first, that which raises out expectation, and secondly, the
satishing fulfilment. For example, in the distich of Piron above quoted, the
first fine raises our expectation. Why should Piron tell us that he is nobody f
And if he is nobody, what then t But the second tine makes the willy wtiler's
meaning clear, and we are pleased and salislied as by an inscriplion.
Now^c'i u*i«»?Bnil » an°l \"\ '
BOILUD.
Here, too, the curiowly is excited in the same manner. Of course it is re-
poceliil for the Kt>od woman to lie there ; why should he be at the pains of
telling m that r but the words "et pour le mien" give an unexpected and
happy turn to the matter ; they come with the efTect of the unexpected, and
answer oar curiosity, raised by the telling us such an evident thing. And
good for hU own repose, tool We laugh and are satisfied. The epigram
need not be in the nature of an epiiaph 1 any other mailer will do, so it has the
requisite formal elements, — the expectation raised and satisfied by a striking
or pleasing answer. We quote one of Lessing's " Sinngedichie," on the
shoemaker who forsook the last and turned to making poems :
El hat ([« Schuxer Fiui nim Dichler dch CDIrilckl,
UdiI wu cr frOhrr thil, du thut cr nixzh— cr Sickf t
which may be roughly rendered, —
OM cobbler Wu, ifac p«u he would miurh ;
He chuged hii trmde, uid yet kept on — lo pilch.
The flower of the epigram came late into the garden of English literature,
and there remain* much to be done in the way of cultivation before it will be
brought to fall bloom ; although it is true there are a few good epigrams in the
language. Henrv Parrot, in " Springes 10 catch Woodcocks" (1613), likened
the epigram lo cheese, in the simile, —
T eplBratuiim, 11 men ui(e cbeae,
ji n^ In the lu( bnwtll ;
For if it proipen, none dm cull il vnuon.
John Owen, a Welshman, an Oxonian and poor country school -master, was
prolific, if not always happy. Among his Latm epigrams, published in l6zo,
was one which gained for his book a place on the Index, and lost him a
.d by Google
HANDY.BOQK OF
(" ir Pcur CVS <nu U Rome,
Hu nva been ^puiel.-')
Ben Jonson in his " Underwoods" has many small genu which might be
classed as epigrams in the wider sense of ihe word. There aie a (cw Bimilar
in Spenser, and many in Herrick. Cowley, Waller, Dcjrden, Young, and
Goldsmith are occasionally successful, in a way, in their epigrammatical
attempts. Swift's bludgeon was too heavy. It la all gall and rinegar with
him, as in this on his own deafness ;
Dc^, giddy, belplcM, left tloDe,
To ill mv Menda ■ burdeo ETDwn ;
No inore I hear ay chuich-. bell
Tfau if ll rug oul fu my knell ;
TluB u Ibe nimUipi of ■ cm ;
No more I hear a wooun'i cUdu
Than Pope, whose name is identified with the epigrammatical spirit in oor
literature, none has proved himself more (o the manner born. His anti-
thetical couplets ate a veritable siring of epigrams, but too often have too
much the characteristic of the hornet rather than Ihe bee, and he confounded
wit and scurrility. His epitaph on Sir Isaac Newton, however, is worthy of
inclusion in the niost select collection :
I Latin prototype in his paraphrase tA Ihe
Thou'rt ntch a louchy. lory, plcuuii ^low,
Hui lo mucb wit ud miRh and spleen atnul (h«e,
Tbeie ll OD ililDg with tbee, oor wllbani Ibee.
The singular death of Moliire, who, while playing the rSUoi -a dying man in
one of his own comedies, was seized with a mortal illness, and, being carried
off the stage, died in a few hours, is commemorated in the following quaint
WkUiip (his meluichaly tomb confitied.
The numberof lampooning epigrammatic verses directed against Ibe common
foibles, the painting women and the soporific parson, the rascally lawyer and
the quack doctor, the miser and the pluiarist, are legion, and these topics
have been worn threadbare with them. Very few are worth quoting. Here
is one by Samuel Bishop which is above the average :
A fool and Vnave, wilb dlHerent riewm.
For Julia'i hand apply ;
The kUTe to mend bu igRuue •»»,
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
AlL you how Jnlii will bduTct—
Dipcnd <sb\ for a lulc.
If ilK-t > feed, ifat'll wed ihc kuve,
ITlbe'xknuve.lhiloal:
and one on a cerUtn ponderous gcnIlemaTi with heavy tread :
Whsi Edwurdi wdlu ihc kihu, the pavion cry,
" God UcH you. ^r I" ud lay Itaeir nmmen by.
Here are a few more on the most divene subjects :
MAkRIAGK IN HkAVIN.
Cria Sylrta id i ntetad dtu,
" Whu lauon cu be giTci.
Wb^'JhS^ none in^avmt"
"Tlieremrino women." Ik replmL
She quick muriu tbe je«,—
" Wamen tberv mxt bul I'm afraid
Tbcy cumoi find a pricu."
DODSLKV.
When AdiLD, waiting, lint his Itdi unfold*
In Eden'a grOTci. bealde him he hefaoldi
Bone of his bone. Aetb of bis f1«h. and know*
Bit oiHiew ileep baa proved hii laai Rpoie.
Quid Pro Quo.
'* MarrilLge. not mirage. Jane, here m your letter :
With your education, you urely knou bener,"
'*Tiaqtdn'cS™*ThfmaiV^ei-U«ch°iin°lllu»ioo.''
On thb Picture of a Loquacious Senator.
A lord of lenaloTial lunc
For to tike painter played hit (tune.
Tn lurely not the worae for thai.
Terminer sans Oyer.
" Call lileDce :" the judge lo the officer criet ;
"Tbil hobbub and taft. wfll il nerer be doni
Tboae people ihia morning have made tuch a d
We're decided ten coutet without bearing od
Abundance of Fools.
The world of foob bat locb a note
That he who would not tee an att
""Ia Mohm
The following epigram, composed in his eighteenth year, on liis gtand-
molher'a beard, coal Coleridge i legacy of fifty pounds, for "she had the
'barbarity* to avenge it by sinking me out of her will," wtMe the poet :
;i:v,.G00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
'Dked th« dupe Ibu on
•o provoked ui« di
engih of DA^
cu you fint thould ihave yonr beud
^••Omniana;' *r Semlit}t and Ci^nidf (i
Lord Erikine proved himself an episrammatiBt of no mean order when, a
■Ultn^Caltrulttbia:
ly andCid
.f no me>
the removal of a distinguished counsellar from a house in Red Lion Square,
and an ironmonger's becoming its occupant, he wrote the following epigram
on the change :
Tliii houie, vhcre once m lawyer dwdi.
For N.lim, ihu lo ihem give ™W.
To lu gave only lout.
John Gibson Lockhart produced the following epigram upon Lord Robert-
son, belter known as " Peter" or Patrick Robertson :
Mere liti Ihe OmiiiaD, jiuUe, md po« Peter,
Who broke IheUwi of GDd,uid mui.uid metre.
This he sent to his friend as part of a review, printed though never published,
on the learned lord's poem entitled " Italy." The second line effectively de-
molishes all the pretensions put forth in the first. But Lockhart meant only*
jest, and as such, after a little preliminary alarm, it was accepted by its good-
natured victim.
Thomas Moore is responsible for the following :
Of nil •jKCDlniioDi ibe DuiVei holdi fonh,
The beat that I knoir, for the lover of pelf,
li lo buy Mamu up m the price he a wonb,
And lell him et \ha oblch he Mil on himielf.
Byron thought Samuel Rivera's epigram on Ward (Lord Dudlejr) unsur-
Wud hu no heul, Ihey uy ; but 1 deny k.
Ke kAi ■ bean, and get* hit tpeeches by It.
With these may be classed the epigram " on a lady who kept her bank-notea
in her Bible :"
good
badv
ily Ibe n
company." I'he first is on a lady who published ■ volume of shocluDg
UnraRUDKelady.ho*
Your Hngleu are red, ;
the other is on a parvenu :
E> doth Shoddy kacn
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. y.%
which is not only a very excellent epigram of the satirical variety, but is a
very good bilingual pun as well. To appreciate it one must understand that
ill the French culinary art "fptgramma" is the name fur chops, and that
hence " jpigianimes dagneau" means lamb-chops, as well as epigrams of
In surveying the true requisites which a developed literary taste demands
in the modern epigram, it must be admitted, much contrary criticism non ioh-
ilal, that besides Sie " little mite of a body" and the " honey" it must have a
point, a climax ; in other words, the " sting." The common error, however, is
that the " sling" must be biting, malicious, or sarcastic ; and in their anxiety to
provide their efforts with this termination most of the epigrammatists have
quite forgotten the " honey." The sting, while demanded by the canons of the
art, need not be malicious nor sarcastic ; it need not even be witty.
If this definition of the epigram excludes from the category such exquisite
bits as the lines addressed ov SL-Evremond, who could itili see charms in the
gifted Ninon de I'Enclos in tier later years, —
No, no,— the leuoB id bupiic
Bat ihu df glowiiix with ihc fiic
At long u life will lul,—
or this in another vein, which is given as " a nearly perfect niiKteenth-century
specimen of the fine old form of Greek epigram, which did not depend upon
any particular point in one part, but is point all over :" it is a distich on one
of the Eton Fellows, — one Bethell, — a well-meaning, loud, not very solid
preacher, who was bnrsar of the college, —
The bui«r%IheU bellomllke i bull,—
Hathiws: Wii and Hnmari
aitd while we may have to give up l^ndor's
Od love, oD arlef, do every human lUng,
and possibly even this, —
These lamida tuve iidea
BuKI from ■ ucuUed bnul :
Rutly &ODI one u rat, —
yet we can still cite as examples which satisfy all requirements the following
charming four-line epigram by Aaron Hill, a now ail-but forgotten seven-
teenlh -century poet i
MoDBsrv.
\3 lampfl bUTik Bileni, with UDcroaiclouft M^i,
k> modesl cue in beAUTy shlnei most iHUhi ;
Jiulmiug duTDU with ed|e refllldcH fall.
DS no DiMhief, dati il all:
or these liigitive lines of Coleridge ;
Acquiinumce many, uil conquunUuice few,
The friend I've wepi wilh, imd ihe mud I woo.
The following, which we are proud to claim as Americait, appetired in
the A&uiiit Mtutldy for 1891 :
DlffTlNCTION.
When put Olslivian'i pile the •Aanag upUIttS,
Seek w> tbe ihide u
;i:,vG00git:
HANDY-BOOK OF
A RHYn OF Lira.
Tb( Miue bom oldattimeEu liokad with " »
Thi Dkreuct.
Ht dftfti nlooc u hb loM Ceoiiu IkcIu,
Nodding Critics,
YDUHWgoodKgiDerDodl Buluvvou;
Ailccp you wen % (Scrnu wy thu I ilipt, loo.)
In presenting them, Ihe author, warning the neophyte of the difBcullJet to
be met and oTcrcome in composing a perfect epigram, and the care he must
exetcise to get iU ingredients into the composition in their due proportion,
says, " For tlie ' honey" without the ' sting" results in a diminutive lyric, while
the 'sting* without the 'honey' produces a mere philippic in two lines. If
the present adventurer shall be found simpiv to have been tossed from one
alternate danger to the other, at least he begs to covet his retreat under an
old, serviceable, and ingenious borrowing in which none of the three requisites
is laclting ; ' Video meliora, proboque ; aeteriora sequor,' "
He is probably too modest, for at least one of the examples given, which we
have reserved to the last, scetns the ultimate perfection, the very sublimilion
of the epigrammatic muse : here are Spartan brevity, Attic »alt, a little body,
sweet honey, and a sting in the " laugh :"
At) AirroGRAFH.
A linlt «n
Bpftapba, CtulCMltiM o£ The oldest extant epitaphs arc the Egyptian,
written on the sarcophagi. But they are brief and pointless. They give only
Ihe name and rank of the deceased, and a prayer to Osiris or Anubis. The
Greek and Roman epitaphs are much more interesting. The former are the
finest in Ihe world. In connection with the inferior Roman they have furnished
the germ idea of most of the mortuary inscriptions of modern times. Thus,
the fines of Leonidas of Tarentum, which, after commemorating Crethon's
wealth and power, conclude with the reflection. —
ThiimiD.
have been the fhiitful parent of infinite variations of the same theme, M, for
example, in the lines from Henty Il.'s epitaph :
Te mc, who iboughl the euth'i «xKoI I» uull
Now iishi poor ha. a duii>w •pice, i» >]I.
Or take one of Meleager's epitaphs, which has been thus versified by S. H.
Merivale :
Hill,iiiiiTcna]iiiciilier1 UgbllyTHt
Martial has imitated this; and either to Martial or Mcleuer ate referable
the many modem variations on the same theme, thus parodied in the mock
tnKtIption (o Sir John Vanbmgh, architect as well as playwright ;
LtebcftTyod him.rajlh, for he
;i:,vG00gk"
tlTBRARV CURIOSITIES.
Id holy ilnp : tbe good m
The last uclion of (he second line has been copied and recopied on tomb-
slone after tombstone, until it may almost rank with such a perennial bvorite
as "Afflictions sore long time he bore." Sometimes the whole epitaph is
copied, with a change of name. It is carved, foi example, on Bishop Madan's
tomb, with " pious bishop" in lieu of " Acanthian Saon." As to the reiterated
conceit in memorials to inlants, that if death cuts short their joys it also cuts
short their sorrows, it has its germ in an epitaph by Lucian,
" Thou art not dead, but gone to a better laud," from a Greek epitaph (bund
in Rome, is out "Not dead, but gone before." On the other hand, the
sceptical " I was noL 1 am not I grieve nut," reminds one of the epitaphs
which Professor William K. Clifford composed for himself; and nothing in
any modern infidel is more sweeping than this i
ThteIK pu* doi bf ihit lucripdon, bui >uiid. ud hear, ud lam laiuediiiig bcTon you
IBM an, Ttinr is no boat to Haaci, na bounun Chiron, no do( Ccrbcrui, bul all Ihc d«d
A Roman husband, after mentioning the years, months, days, and even
hours that he and his depaileil wife had lived together, concludes, "On the
day of her death I gave the greatest thanks before God and men." Is not
this the direct ancestor of the much-quoted epitaph in Fire- la- Chaise ? —
Ct-gll ma frminc : ah I que c'CM biea
n all literature, that In which Shakespeare
in undisturbed, —
B1ett?le ^ lun ™%iin* Iha none*.
even this is bul a mild echo of the terrible denunciations which Roman
epitaphs frequently pronounced upon those who violated the sanctity of the
tomb, t^. :
I give 10 lta> Godl below Ibb tomb to keep, id Pluto, and to Demeter, and Penepbane,
ud the ErinBya, ud ail (he Godl beli»>. If any one >hall diifigUR thii tcpulcbre, oc ihall
open it. or move anyibing froin il. lo him let there be no eanh to walk, no sea to lail, but may
be be rooted out with all liia race. May he [eel all diieaaa, •hudderinf. and fEvtr, and mad-
Such is the conservative tendency of the epitaph-maker that even old sepul-
chral forms were retained long after they had lost their significance, such as
the initials D. M. {Diis Manibus), or the ejaculation Sisie, viator, " Stop, pas-
senger," which constituted an integral part of all Latin epitaphs. The latter
lost its approprialeness out of Rome, where private burial-places were usually
ranged along the side of the public roads, so that travellers tu and from the
Eternal City passed for miles through an almost uninterrupted succession of
tombstones.
For a long time, also, the Roman language remained the proper mortuanr
language both in England and in Continental Europe. The few British epi-
taphs that suivive from the eleventh and twelfth centuries are in Latin.
Between laoo and 1400. French epitaphs are not uncommon. The oldest
epitaph in English, found in a church-yard in Oxfordshire, dates from the year
1370. To modern readers il would be unintelligible, not only from its antique
typography but from its obsolete language. The first two lines run as follows.
atid Ibey may be taken as a sample of the whole ; " Man com & se how schal
ii6 HANDY-BOOK OF
alle ded< be : «en yow comes bad ft bare ; noth hav ven *e away fare : all ya
werines vt ve for care." The modern reading would be, " Man come and see
how shall all dead be : when you come poor and bare : nothing have when we
away fare ; all is weariness that we for caie."
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the eiiilaph lirsl began to assume a dis-
tincl literary character. But the [irejudice in Tavor of a dead language still
survived. In a conservative mind like that of Dr. Johnson it was so deeply
intrenched, that when Reynolds, Sheridan, Warton, and others petitioned
him to write an English inscription for Goldsmith's tomb, he indignantly
replied, " he would never consent to disgrace the walls of Westminster Abbey
with an English inscription."
It must be acknowledged that (here is no small poverty of thought in the
mass o£ modern epitaph -writers. Only a meagre proportion make contribu-
tions to literature. Among these, two by Ben Jonson stand pre-eminenL They
are constantly misquoted. In his collected works they appear in endless
variants. But this is exactly how they read on the tombs ;
On the Countess Doivagbr up Pembroke, sisi'ek to Sir Puilip
Undemcaih lhi< nurblehunc
SidiHr's liBter, Pembroke'i inodicr.
Datli, crc (faiHi hu( Iclll'd uother,
WiH Md virtuauj, good ■> she.
On Eli ea BETH L .
WUch. in life, did harbor glvs
To more virlue ihan doch Uvo.
L«*ve h buri«d in Ibii vault ;
Tb' olbtr l« it iIhp witb dealb i
Filter when It died la lell,
Tbui that it lived H all.— Furevel
ily admired.
rhaps the best is
» mild ;
Elto M Urt. KiUitrn,
Lit Iricndihip might dividi
The last line Is derived from a phrase so familiar in Latin epitaphs that finally
it grew, like R. I. P., to be indicated stenc^raphically. thus : De Qua N. U. A.
N. Mortis, — ((V., De qua nullum dolorem accept nisi mortis, — " who never
grieved me except by her death").
Excellent in its way is the following by Sir Henry Wotton on Sir Albertiu
Horeton and his wife ;
He firu deceued ; ibe roc ■ lilUe Iri
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
And l!ie following anonynioii
It lines have a picturesque vigor.
ton church-yard, dated 1419:
Hoc ha« who ly« here
y Yid logaihci f
A later version is quoled in Addition's " Si
be found all over tif'—"* i~— -i"!- —— t.
But they, 100, come
island. Cariyte was lond of quoting the'lasi three li
^om (he Latin :
Garrick's epitaph on Quin, in the Abbey Church al Bath, has been copied
oftener than it has been exceeded. Few are entitled to rank in a higher
And duuned the publi.
ao«d^.ho«.?a,.
Which .p-ktbd-oratSt
Cold i> ihml hSDd wtiici
,'evT™
HmllnjA«asQu,N]
-D=in,.,
WiMW'er Iby tirenglh of body.fo
In Ninrc-ihappKsi mould hon
To Ihii coinpleiioD iho
The last line is especially famous. It has frequentty been quoted as from
Sbaketpeare. Indeed, Webster's Dictionary atinbuied it to him. Bui though
Hamlet's phrase is analogous, it Is not quite the same : "Now get you to my
lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, (o this favor she must
In an essay on epitaphs which Dr. Johnson wrote for the GaidtmaiCt Miig-
aiiiu (1740)1 he especially recommends brevity and simplicity. The same
advice is hinted at in the anonymous epigram, —
Friend, in your cplupha I'm grieved
So very much u sud :
"O Rare Ben Jonson," in Westminster Abbey, ts quaint, as well as simple
and brieC "E-xi/ Burbage,'' over the grave of that celebrated actor, is shorter
still, and profession ally cliaracleiislic. " Miserrimiis," on the tomb of a name-
less occupant in Worcester Cathedral, is even more terse and expressive. On
a mouldering stone in an oliscure country church-yaid in the south of England
may be deciphered the abrupt monosyllable of three letters, " Fui," — » con-
densed memorial which cannot be paralleled. The small word of such mo-
mentous meaning comprises a volume of wretchedness, if the use of the
preter- perfect tense Is intended to imply that the desponding writer lies there,
resolving into parent dust, without hope of resurrection or futurity.
3i8 HANDY-BOOK OF
In the epitaph of Cardinal Onuphrio at Rome there bieathes ■ solemn,
almost a bitter, conviction of the vanity of earthly grandeur : " Hie jacet umbra,
cinis — nihil" (" Here lies a shadow — aahes — nothing").
Many of the monkish inscriptions of the ao-called dark ages are especially
simple and effective. Lord Byron copied two of a very touching character
which he found in the Certoea Cemetery at Ferrara ; " Martini Luigi imptora
pace," "Lucreiia Pacini implora eterna quiete." These short sentences,
so musica! in Italian pronunciation, contain doubt, hope, and humility. The
dead were satiated with life, and weary of the turmoil of existence. All the*
wanted, all they asked for, was rest. Here is another Italian inscription of
much meaning compressed into few words ; " !>tavu bene ; per star m^Ko, (to
qui" (" I was well, I would be belter, and here I am"). A certain Lelio aunM
up the hi>toi7 of a lifetime in this couplet :
Ulio lU Kpohoqui :
e similarly summed up in the
it did bdidi blm,
tnu noiuai men may lie bc*i<k htm.
On the tombstone of Dr. Walker, author of a work on " British Particles," is
biscTibed
Hm l<e> Wilkcr'i Pulidc*.
Dr. Fuller's reads,—
Hen li« Fuller'! Eimh.
It was this Fuller who remarked of Dr. Caius, founder of the college that
bears his name, " few men might have had a longer, none ever had a shorter
epitaph :"
("l™oIii..")
But Mr. Maginnis tan him a hard race :
Flsli
Douglas Jerrold suggested an admirable epitaph for Charles Knight;
Good Knlghl I
For Camden, the title of his chief work has been proposed :
CundED'i Reiuiiu.
.mple from the French. It is on a
iriginalily nc
tioiu of (amiirar plalilutles, or when original in sentiment ttre merely ludicrous.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 319
A good collection of cpiUphs forms one of the moit arouBin^ chapters in the
htoloiy q{ human vanity, spite, vulgarity, and genera! eccentricity.
The laudatory, and especially the self-laudatory, epitaphs have a perennial
They began very early. Here is one liom a slab of marble found at
Athens :
irtlKR4V«rwHftftthdrough]ygiKKlwDii»n, l&ca the — b«h id jdenncc to ri^tcDumcH bacI
IfLAlLothcrwmyB. Boi, being Hcb, I E« no ju« mum, peflberfrom Uine from whom I expected
■faoai wbat jfTKtiiude they ehov^ mr Not thty but my loni provided for aac.
The high praise which this unfortunate lady is represented as claiming for
herself leads us to hope thai the epitaph was not her own composition, but
the work of her sorrowing (liends, perhaps of those sons " who had provided
Agun, where an Athenian youth assures the reader of his epitaph that he
was a sculptor not inferior to Praxiteles, we may wonder whether that was
the young gentleman's estimate of himself or the partial judgment of his fond
But the epitaph of Przcilius, a banker at Cirta, was at least endorsed by its
objecL He informs us that it was got ready in his own lifetime, and there it
a remarkable mixture of self-salUbction and something like gratitude in what
be says of himself;
" I was alwavs wonderfully trustworthy and entirely truthful," he remarks.
" I was sympathetic to everybody : whom have I not pitied anywhere ?" Then
he slates that he had a meriy life, and a long one : " I celebrated a hundred
bappy birthdays ; good fortune never left me.
For lofty bombast nothing has ever surpassed the epitaph in Shipley Church,
Derbyshire, England, in memory of Sit Thomas Cai^ll :
the three nouns have to be n
which they govern : thus, "
deedes," etc
But the epitaph which celebrates the virtues and the talents of Lady O'Looney
is the greatest thing of its sorl in literature. Who does not know it t Who
is not always willing to read il over again t It is a thing of beauty, — a joy
Gitu-Dlece of Burke, <
"aiio .h' "
a L«dy O'Loont;
And KU Kvenl picmra 10 ibe Eihi^iLon.
She mi fim ccHuiD or Udy Jonei,
And c^ nich u Ibe kiaj[doiD oi HesTcn :
—namely, of bland, passionate, and deeply religious ladies, of artists and
exhiUtors in water-colors, of cousins to Lady Jones and grand-nieces to
Burke. Under these circumstances heaven might be a picturesque but could
hardly bf a desirable abode.
Goo^k"
330 HANDY-BOOK OF
There is a faint, a very &int, anlldpation of the great and only Ladjr
O'Looney and her epitaph in the church of Ighlham, near Sevenoaks, Kent
A mural monnment is adorned with the bust of a lady who was famous Irir
her needlework, and was traditionally reported to have written the letter to
Lord Monteule which resulted in the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot The
following is the inscription :
D. Q. D.
To tbc pRtiom niini ud honour oT Dame Dotolhy Sclhy, Rdcl •>(
Sir WlUum Sdby, Kl. , the oul v daughter ud heire al Charlo Bonhui, E*4.
She WAS 4 Dorcai.
Of ihk leud world Into ihc aoldcD ue ;
WfaoK poi of U«l and tilkn inck cnroLLcd
TV UU oC Jonah in records of gold ;
WboK ant diKloKd that ploi. which, had it taktD,
Rone had triumplMd. and Briiain'i walls had ghahen.
Who put (HI j in the y«r 1 PiteriDUfe, (a.
imnumallty \ o( her J Redeemer, 1641.
In Silton, Dorsetshire, is the following :
Be UKd In heaven when God
ahall feed the juil.
Bat this epitaph, printed in three lines, appears in the poems of Robert
Wilde, D.D, (one of the ejected ministers in 1662), whence it seems to have
been calmly conveyed. It is there called " An EpiUph for a Godly Man's
Tomb," and had a com pan ion- piece entitled " An Epitaph for a Wicked
Man's Tomb:"
Doomed 10 be nuled tor the Devil'i dinDtr.—
which apparently has not been appropriated to any tombstone.
A curious use of a familiar quotation for laudatory purposes is this :
In thii cue he bad it.
A very humble-minded gentleman, a certain Rev. Dr. Greenwood, had a
proportionately high admiration for his wile, which he thus expresMS on ber
tomb in Solihull chuich-yard, Warwickshire :
Made her prefer me, a Doctor in Ditb)ilv :
: Which heroic action. joilKd 10 all (he reu,
Made her 10 be etleemed Ihe Phfcnia of heriex :
And like that bird, a youne afae did create
To comfon thoK her li>u had made disconaolatc
My grief for her wat so aore
Forthiiand all other good women's take.
Neiet let bllHen be applied 10 a ]ying-is wotnas'i back.
) the vocal powers and incidentally to the agreeaUa
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 331
Hon lis John Queliecci, pnxesiaT to Mt Laid the Kibb. WIkh he li idQiitted <o tbe
duiir of angEli. whose lociely he aill embelllih, and where he nill diilbiguith hlnuelf by his
powers of wng, God ihall lay 10 ihe ongeb^ " CcBse^ ye calvea 1 mod lei me heu- John Que-
beCGH, the preceniDT of My Lord (he Kiogl"
It is in remembrance uf such fulsume complimentB as these that (he ghastly
j'esl was maile, that skulls grin at thought of the epitaphs above them. But
the giiii must 1>e on the wrung side of Mary Bond's skull if she has any cog-
niuince uf the inscription on her tomb. Here it is, as it still may be seen on
a monument in Horsley Down Church, Cumberland, England :
iddom kqowD lopiabe ot commeod ;
The uilenu in which <b« principiilly ciulled
Were difference of o^^on (nd^ovainE
Impofectiont.
She »u u adnlnble ecaaomiu,
And, wilham ptodignllty,
She Himelima mide her huiband
Much more FFequently miserable with her
Imcmucb thai in thirty yem' cohnbltulon.
He often huneoted that.
Maugieallhervuluei,
Of murimoiSiU comEn. "" '"""
FlDdliw ilie hid loti the il^ealon of h« hu-
bout4, family disputes '
rfT^fontj
She died of Teiuion. July >o. 176S,
Aged 46 years.
and two days, and departed (his Vlt
Novembei «.!«»,
Ed the Mlh year of bis axe.
Wniiam Bond, tuolher Id the dnzeaied.
Erected this none ai a
WeiUv monilor to Ihe wivei of this parish,
~hat [bey nuy avoid Ihe Infaaiy of liaT)B(
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
n Philadelphia, with nothing
Far more famous is the epigram which he composed npon himself, at thoage
of twenty-three, when a journeyman printer ;
TlieBodv
(Like the cover of an old book.
And lOipi of in Isnerini mi gilifng,)
Yn tiM work iucir ihall Dot'lK kw.
For i> wiU [u he lielieTed] ippeu once nun.
And more b«utii^ cdldoB,
But this epitaph is not original. It Is plagiarized from one Benjamin Wood-
bridge, and Woodbrklge was only one in a long line of successive imitator*.
This gentleman was a member of th« Srst graduating class of Harvard Uni-
versity, 1643. The epitaph he made upon himself is thus quoted in Cotton
Mather's "Ma^alia Christj Americana," a bouk with which Franklin waa
admittedly familiar:
A living, bmitblDg Hble : ubia wben
Both Coveiuoa u large engnven wen.
G^Hpel Hod law m 'h beart, bad each iu column ;
Hit bead an index 10 tbc Hcnd ToLume ;
His very name a UUe-page ; and, ncKI,
O what a monnmeni of elotioui worth,
Davii, in his " Travels in America," finds another source in a Latin epitaph
on the London bookseller Jacob Tonson. published with an English translation
in the CtnUemmfi Magatttu for February, 1736. This is its concluMon:
When Heaven reviewed tb' frifin*l Uxt,
■Twaa wich rrralai fe* perplend ;
Plsued wllh the itfr '>*» alUUd,
And u a bnier ble Iraitilalid.
But let lo lUe thit tuffltMint
Be primed on tby nmuim/.
Lett (MJlrtlftiet ef Jtmti ibouM b^
Gfcal ofiwr, a iUm* w Aee:
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Should out ssr titU for ilili gn
SUT. piiTnMr, And drop ■ uu
Hm Ha ■ noud BoDluetlR :
'/(*>,hedi " "
Tb« litMt imitation
To KU. lllU wlWD be fuuDcT dEbocd
Uli Jiw( m' /M, he died »iih Erief:
Y« he, bf cme lud lenuiiK belief.
HENRY STEVENS,
Lover of Boolu,
The TOlumeof ■*« '^' ' "*'
Euthlv libour wu daKd-
In Londoa, Ftbniir>' A, iBSfi, In the
Pftlolen aiul henlik, hy your kave.
Hen lie Ae booa of Muihew Prior,
The ton of Adun and of Eve :—
Let fiouiboD or Nuuu go higher ]
Priiv borTowed his lines from the following very andent epitaph upon a lomb-
itone in Scotland :
John CanMEJe lice here,
DeMepded from Adgm asd En ;
If uy an haul of a pedigree blghei.
He vill villingly give them lave.
Here it one of Ihe most remarkable epitaphs in literature, l>i>th intrinaicallf
for it* strange audacity, and on account of its wide diffusion and its ancient
pedigree. It it onlj one example chosen at hap-hazard fiom a thousand
variants, in England, in Scotland, in the United States, and in this special
instance is copied from a cliurch-yard in Aberdeen, Scotland :
on my iomJ, gude
uve^ 1 wen G<
«MutlD Elmrod
G«orgc Macdonald dies this epitaph in his novel ** David Elginbrod," with
lligbtljr- varying phraseology :
Htreliel, MuIinElnDhrodde;
Hne mercy o' my loiil. Lord Cod,
At 1 nd do vere 1 Lad God.
And ye mn Mutin El^tirodde.
Now, in Howel's Letters is found the following quatrain, the versification of
a pauage in St Ai^ostine :
__ heGod^'n.-
I't poHible that Love more a
Even vet, however, we have not come to the germ of the phrase. In its
origin it IS not Western, but Eastern ; not centuries, but xont old. Il occurs
over and over again in the Kig-V«da and other sacred books of the Orient,
;i:,.. Google
334 HANDY-BOOK OF
Wen ihou, Agni, ■ morul^ ud wen I an iminaiul ind ui iDvoknl^M
W« I ihou. Agni, ind wen thou I, this ui»mion >h<n>l<9 be (vM\\ni.-UiJ.
The difficulty of tracing an epitaph to its true origin, even when reference*
are given by the aulltorilies, is shown by the following story told by a writer in
the English Noirs and Queries:
All mea (/,«.,■ great many) have heard of Mrs, Manha, or Mitrgarel,GiryiiD,cdebimted in
■n cpitapb which linay give u foUon :
Here lie the bonei of Mutha Cwynn,
Who was » very pure wilhln^
And thence whs hatched a Chenjbin.
Being dcsimus to find the tnje form and also the place of (his epitaph. 1 lately searched for
and fbuDd it id three published coLlecrions each of which giva a lent difleting tram the other
liro. For the place of it one collector, Mr. Augustus Hare, savs Cambridgeshire. Had be
laid England he would have commliied hlmielf to leu, and the lefctence would have been
about equally uteTul. Another more definitely assigns it to St, Albani, Hens. By the belp
of a friend I was etiabled [o Icnm with sumethlae like certain ly that It is not to be (bund there.
naiuhly Nell^y may have been sisters. But, unhappily fot her
' appeaif that Manha G^-ynn eilber never had any existence al all, or, if she
aulay's phnuc. trolen. and marred in the stealing. ] hav<
>ff[Martha the immaculate :
'L'he'j" ve H»
reca^^he? myihitS^bSng. "l 1 iTan^Staph in'T^dingwS Chi^h, Bedtordrt^ire mu-
tioncd and partly quoted b>' Lyvons (" Magna Britannia") ui his description of that cbtirch.
1 ...- .1- ^qJ aflectaiioD. It has some liietar^ merit, and at least preaenta samething
ind closer in though'
■• Here it is in full:
ia Wentninti illwlrli Tbc
le flabby ai
,vii f— ] Januar. aiK Dnj. MDCXXXll., nal.
And bcie y* pretitKis dust is laytle
Whose purcbe temper'd clay was ma<
So fine that it y* guest betray'd.
Else the settle grew to faKe wlthiD,
And soe WIS balch'd a Cbenibin,
In hei^t it soar'd to God above,
In depth It did ID Icnowledge move.
And spread m breadth to gencralle ]o<
B^on a ploua duty ahind.
To Parent! curteale behind,
On either side an etitia] mlnde.
Good to y poore, tn Itindrcd dearv,
To servants Idnde, to friendship clear
To nothing but herself severe.
See though a Viigin :rel a BHde
To everie grace, the juslilied
A chaste Pollgamie, and dyed.
innd in Chiswick chDrch-yaril, close to I
She led and left her cloeg behind
° Mayyeai,'ijj8" °''
Inlbajothyearof h^age.
And this in its (um w singularly like an in»cripiion on the door o( the cell id
which Ettore VUconii is buried in a standing poiition in MonE!> ^
This ikeietoD foruerly contained the soul at
Ealore [nc] Viaceod.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
The business-like epitaphs combining pu& with pathoa deserve a plac
tliemselves. A famous example is said to have been inscribed by a son t
d father somewhere in Willshiie, England :
BoHUh Ihii HODe, id hop« of Zion,
An equally afleding inscription is said to be tound in the cemetery of Pire-
la-Chaise on the tom^tone of one Fiene Cabochaid, a grocer. It closes as
follows :
Hi> incontolubfe widow
dediCHta ihim monbiaeni lo his memory,
4Pd coatiniHi tbc fviic businaa ■( the
old lund, 167 Rue Mouffeurd.
In the year 186S a Parisian newspaper told this curious stoiy anent the
lAo lud noticed th* above inKiipiion w»i led by ciirioilty ID call Bl Ibe
" "" ■ " "ow Ciboduud, hi
Having eipTCHed bis
«u ihe obi.
EC the widow Cabochud, ^,"
HJe lo the relici of tbc Uile Piem Caboctaard, v
■DDOIiiiiciit I nauced yolerday at the Pire-la-Ctaaiie."
b a mylb) and diereTore never had a wife. The toinb
But possibly monumeiit and story were both "faked" by this esteemed co
temporary. This is the more likely Ihal the monument in question figures
various collections of epitaphs, with so many changes of name and venue 111
one is inclined to look upon it u a myth.
The following probably belong lo the same category. The first com
from California; the second is English, and is said to be in memory of o
Jonathan Thompson ;
Hen liea tbe body of Jeemea Humbricti who was accidentally' sbol on ibe bank of I
Puns River by a yooDi nu. He was acddaujly shot with ou cf the large Coil's levolvi
And of snch Is Ibe kingdom of heavea.
A good HusL , _
whose diacoDBDlale Widow and Orphans
coniioue la caiTv on Ibe Tripe and Trolier buslnesa
Iamb, in one of his Letters, says, " I have seen in Islington church-yard an
epitaph to an infant who died alalia four months, with this seasonable inscrip-
tion appended : 'Honour thy father and thy mother, thai thy days may be
long in the land,' etc-" But this is not so bad as the quotation from Shake-
speare, "She never told her love," placed over another infant of about the
same age.
Un intent
since grav< ,
suspicion that they are loo good to be true, but he who has any experience
monumental stupidity wilt hesitate to put limits to the stupidity it may display.
There are dt par It mamie a number of epitaphs the absurdity of which
consists in the substitution of a wrong name for the deceased person, to
■ccommodaie the exigencies of the poet. One of them runs thus :
18
Coogk"
3j6 handy-book of
oiiihiiD Blue.
Undoseuh Ihli u
Lie |1» nrniiu oT IodmIu
Hb UDK «u BlicL, but tl
UDdemath ihii Mone, uad IhreocoK uid Hn,
Ue IhE nUMliu of Wiiliun Woad-hen.
{Ar H<D, rAi>< Cock— Cock WDuldn'i coiu In ifaynu) ;
and tlill a third:
Hen Ue> John Bium,
Who wuVillnl by,! gun.
But Wood wouldn't rttyme witb Giran, to I tbought Bunn would.
VTe confess w« ate sceptical about the authenticity oT these rarious leadings,
as »1so of the epitaph on the architect Trotlope ;
Here lid Williim Trollopc
Whm doth took hi°i"^ up"'' '
Hit body filled Ihli hole up.
No doubts, however, attach to the sweet agricultural Mmplidt; wbich
breathes through the following :
Hen E Jiei, uid no WDodcr I'm dcu]»
For ibe wboel of ■ w*sod wont o*er my bead.
A facetious story is told in some quarters of a pauper who, having died in
a workhouse, was to be buried in the most economical fashion. The master
proposed to inscribe over his tombstone,—
Thomu Thorpi.
The gtiardians at the next meeting of the board indignantly forbade inch a
profligate expenditure of the rates, and ordered the epitaph to be curtailed
thus :
In the church-yard of St John, Worcester, there is an epitaph which, if
brevity be the soul of wit, has high claim to that character. 'The arrange*
ment of the verb is, at all events, original. It reads thus ;
Honat John
's dead and gone.
Here aie some miscelbneous grotesques :
In Ch[ij>wall Fauish, Englanix
Here lid me and my three daughten,
Brought here by uiing ChelleDAAm nun.
If ire lud uuck to Epiom ulU
We wouldu'l be Id tbcK ben nulH.
Fkou a New Hampshire Chi;rch-Yard.
To all my Mendi 1 bid idieu,
Ai I wu leading ibe old nun to driuk,
She kkktd, and killed me qukker'n ■ wink.
On an Eact Tbnnrssbb Ladv.
She Und ■ life of Tlnue, and dird of the cholen norbiu, caused by ealing gnu (hik, In
hoee tt *. Ueued iniinan^iiy, u the euiy age of ii yean, ; moulu, and 16 day*. Reaott,
" Go thou ud do likevlM."
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
From Thetford Church- Yard.
tijr ftudblhs ni bnrud facn,
Hy couin Juu, uid two unclet dear
My fiubv p(rab*d wilh infiammalLan in the thiflii,
And ny ■!■!« dropped down dead in :he Minona;
But tb« RAHQ vhy I'm hen anumd, ftccording to my >h<nV4nj
li owing to my good ILviug uid hanl drinking.
IT, tbcidcRi good Chnstian*. you wiab to hve long.
Don't drii^ too aucb wiofl, brudy, ^, dt Hnytbing itrong.
At Augusta, Maine,
—After LUe'i Scurin Fera
From Cornwall, England.
Hen liei the body of G.briei John,
Wbo died in the veir one ihouundimdone;
Pny for the toul of Gabriel John,
Yon m.y, if yon pleue. or let il .lone.
For Jt'i all on*
To Gmbriel John,
Who died in the yeu one ihouund and one.
From Portburv Church-Yard, nsar Bristol.
Hy loive and anvil an rtcUned,
My beHon they have loft thdr vind.
My ahop and hanmer art docayed,
And in the duit my vice i> laid.
My fire'i eiiLna.
My coal i. son..
My nail, are arove.
My work ii done.
Bntb are not at all infrequent on tombstonea. Here is one thai reappears
in to many difierent ways Ihat one cannot helj ' ' ■--
mana^cinred. This particular instance is cre
New York :
Oix in Inland, and the oiber hen.
Here are a few, a very few, of its many variants. The first, which il un-
doubtedly genuine, msy be the parent of all the others :
At Bbltubbbt, Irklanii.
Hare 11» John Blgley. whoK father and mother wen
djowDed \a tbdj pauace from America.
Hud they both lived, they would have been buried here.
UNIDEKTII'IBD.
Here lia the body of John Mound,
At Llanvmvnech, Montoombrvshire.
Here ll« John Thomai
Two buried at Oiwettry,
In Oxfordshire.
Hen Uci the body of John Eldnd,
At leas he wUl be here wben he b dead :
But now at thb lime he ia alive.
The I<lh of Augnit, '^ily-live.
The following look Irish, but, tike those just quoled, are of Sucon origin :
Ab, crwl Death I why » unkind.
To take her, and leave dk behlndT
BmIB to have Uken both or Dolber.
It WDold haire been more kind to the lurrivoc E
Coogk"
3^8 HANDY-BOOK OF
At St. Andkew's, Plymouth.
Here Uei the body of Juma VmoD, Esq., only aurvlviiic kd of Admlnl VenioD : died
tjd July, 1753.
At Momtrosk, 1757.
Here lyo tht Bodeyi of GmiE Young ud lubel Guihilc, ud ill thdr PoMcrily for mon
tllAD liity yeu« backnrds-
Occasionally ii has happened that priies haie been offered for epitaphs lo
be mitten to order. They have never been known to yield any satisfactory
results. A German paper once canvassed in this way for an appropriate in-
scription to BismarcL But all the essays sen! in were rejected. A com-
Ctition of the same sort, having General Wolfe as its subject, is remem-
red to-day only because, among others, it brought out this astonishing
quatrain :
He muched vithout dreid or Fevi
Sx the head <A hu bald gnoadivn,
_.L_. L.-Li. . .^ MuticuUr—
The eccentric Slernhold Oakes offered a reward for the best epitaph for hit
own grave. Several tried for the prize, but they Haltered him too much, he
thou^t. At last he undertook it himself; and the following was the result :
Hen llei the body at Slcmhold Oakn,
Who lived >pd died liVe other Iblki.
That was satisfactory, and the old gentleman claimed and received his own
prize.
The following was composed by three Scotch liriends, to whom the person
COmmemoiated h--" ''- ' ' ■■"•■■ ■■■- "■ -" •"--* •'■— '-"
honor him by sor . _
liiK which naturally opened the epitaph,-
PraiMl P«H Putenoo vu Frovou of DiiDd«.
The second added, —
ProTDU F«er Puienon, lieit lia be.
The third could suggest no other conclusion than, —
Hillelujihl Hilleliijeel
Intentional drolleries frequently lake the forms of pniti. Among tbcM
should rank the epitaph on Mr. Foote, of Norwich !
For Death huh now one fool wilhio (ha fiiTt ;
and the one on Mr. Boa ;
Ihe one of mwd was very good,
also the &mous one of Sir John Strange :
Here lieg on hoiMM Uwy«r,
Thu li Smngcl
A " happy conceit" it was doubtless thought. In 1640, lo write over a member
of Parliament named White, —
Hoe lie* II JohD, m huming, vfainine ll^t,
WboH ume, lUe, iniou, all alike «r Whiu I
The following is by Swift on the Earl of Kildare:
Who killed KUdatcT Wbo dared KJIdan to kiU I
Death lulled Kildare— who dare kiU whom he wUI.
Here are a few miscellaneous examples, the first on a Mr. Fish 1
re bdt for liab ; but hert'i ■ mdden cbaace 1
*a i;[nil|>uscu ujr tiiicc .jLuitri iiienu», to wpuni Itic |K4auii
d left a legacy, with the hope expressed thai they would
e record oi their regrets. The first friend cmniiosed the
y opened ihe epitaph, —
;i:,vG00gk"
tITERAR Y CURIOSITIES.
On William Button, in a church-yard near Sanbur; :
Ovun, UDoii.stui, KUdye cckuU pokil
Are |frtv«t» then, dwindled van Butwn'bokmT
Dtalh look him off, wko iiwic off ill tbe wodd.
TeagiK O'Urien's epitaph on hicnself in Ballyporeen church-jrard has a rol>
licking w>rt of humor i
Here I il length repooe,
nd the poiDt of
The following, " On a woman who bad an iuue in her leg," ii unoMng,
though probably apocryphal :
Here lieih Margutt^ Dtbenrlie Meg,
StmiEe woidaa waA ihe and exceedingly cuanil^^
For while one leg Mood Mill, the other »u niniuDg. *
This pleasing tribule to departed worth is credited to a South Carolina
graveyard:
Heit lie* the body </ Robert Goiditi,
Houlh klmighty and teelb accordln' :
Stnnger, Uead llghlly OTer Ihli wonder,
ir he open hii inoutn, yen uregone.by Ihaiulnt
Another grossly personal attack is English :
Reader! whoe'er tboulx, oh. Irtadnoi hard.
Foe Tadlo* Ilea all oia ihii church yard.
The allusion, of course, is to the dead man's unusual obesitr. The following,
which has a curioits verbal analogy, must be taken in a totally different sense,
as a fling at a noble profession :
Hen lid the corp<e of Dr. Chard,
Who Ailed the half of this church-yard.
Here is a still more unpardonable attack on a lady, possibly of those loqua-
cious tendencies too often harshly attributed to her sex :
Miaa Arabella YouDg,
Who on Ihe iiR of May
Began to bold her tongue.
'' This is as bad as the unkind hint conveyed in the following, in a church-
yard near Newmarket :
Here Ua the body of Saiah Seaua,
Who never did anght to vex one.
A special malignity is attributable to the last line by the explanation that
the lady under the next stone was the first wife of Thomas Sextan, and Sarah
was his second.
The following attacks the reputation of a whole parish. Il is in SL George's
chnrch-yard, Somerset :
Hera liev poor Chwiottc,
Who died DO hailM,
But in her vhrginity.
Though jnsi tvned nineteen,
Which within thii vicinity
ti bard to be Ibund angaacit,
a8»
;i:v,.G00gk"
330 HANDY-BOOK OF
Domestic troubles have been Ixid bare on (he tombstone fron the tine of
the Greeks and Romans. Kere is a piece oi atiocious doggerel to be •een in
Selbj' church-yard, in Yorkshire :
HcR \\a m> vlfc, ■ ud •Unen ami • thnw .
If I uid 1 ncrcltcd bcr t >h«i1d lie u».
The fotloiring, which frequently appi
credited to any locality, and may be n
Diisogynism :
Sleep on— I've goi unalhei wifs i
Foe 1 miui ID ind live witb >hc. '
My wift'i dead, and here ihe liei.
When ihe'i sone. ar how >he Ikrel,
Nobody knowi, and Dobody cam.
* Ken lla my poor vUe, wllhaui bed or blaokel,
Bui dead a> ■ door^ufl, and God be thanldt.
In the following (he tables are turned :
Hen liei ihe body of Man Ford,
WhoK Kul, we trail, i> with ibe Lord:
Bui K for hell ihe'l i:hanaed ikk life,
-Hi beiKt than bring John Ford'i wifc.
Is the satire in Ihe following examples intentional t
Maila Brown, wife of Timaihy Biown, aged ETghn rean. She Uved with
Gdy yean, and died In the conlldeni hope oTa better life.
Here lie* Benwd Lightfoot, who wu accidenially kiUed In Ibe iony-filth y<
a tombstone in Ots^o
To conclude : In many portions of England people whose relalives were
too poor to purchase monumental space within the church itself were fte-
quently buried oulside the door. The fallowing epitaph was a favorite with
this class of corpses :
Here I Lie ai the church door,
W^l* "" amooor-
I rue M Ihe Ju^ment Day,
detected the latent ambiguity in thii e[Mt4plv
D,q,i,.cd by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 33J
From a Spirit Within.
"Hi true, old iLniict, then you ll«,
Bui» RctlcH ipirit, why fontdl
Thai whai Tou rac you U lo to H— I
An anilogous story is that of the gravestone bearing the Mmple inscription, —
My Jlltle Jahnny )ua gone to kcKven ;
which one morning was found tagged with Ibe irreverent addition, —
Your™^ Jahat^rat) h»E gone 'id H— .
&a of Good FeelloK a phrase which originated with Benjamin Russell,
editor of the Batten Centinel, on the occastnn of President James Monroe's
visit to Boston in 1E17, the &rst year of his administration. It was caught
up by the press generally, and has passed into hislory as characterizing the
entire epoch of eight years during which Monioc was chief magistrate. But
the good feeling was rather apparent than teaL The animosities and eidle-
menls of (he war of l8l2 had now subsided, and the internal dissensions in
the then Republican parly, which eventually culminated in the split between
Jaclisoniles and Adamsiles, had not as yel disturbed the stirlace of the political
maelstrom.
Bria go Bragll (" Erin forever"), the andent war-cry of the Irish.
War-orla, joeuil oriffiiuUly to keep the fighling-meii nwve of the place of Ibeir own ctui in
by tlie Anglo-NDriDui poblcioul of coniidenlion for Iheir Gaelic teuinen. ilie CDminoDtK
filled for Ibe clamor oT a band oT fighLen, being at once more muaica] and Itu wcarvinB to
the 'oice than our -- humh." llie Kildan relaCien cried, " Crom aboo :" in honor <^ Crom
CauJe, a ciudel is Umetick County, orieinally a jtronghold of ihe O'Donuvuif which one
ftf the inmt^vc Ceraldine familiei^ named after the lown of KLldare. occtipied white lUrDLUd
, The 0'Neil!i ciiedoui," La«T daicg aboo I" btcaUK the Lawvdareg, or Red Hand,
I the badge at , .
ol" or^^lroOB Hand abool" The Itanilaior of Geolfrey Kea^, _ , _.
i" nugeiti aalhe meaning of "abcm" Ihe Iriah word" booa," victory ; but a&alogy w<
'SlTDilK Hand i
iti aa ihe meanii
tt Ibe French alirli ! and ciw / A parallel
J'beolha" aciually conlaina.ainceihe lallet ij the Celtic eq^uivalcnt o[ Greet
WhOe CO Ihii topic it may be iDteieslin^ to aair ihat this Itish word, or iu Welsh ectuiraleni'.
Whai ia ihe obia:! of ajt eovemcaenL? The object of all ooverameni ii rcia«E miLrrnn nnrn.
flbfc. an honest jualice, a clear highva
^11 about the Green I>le, the lileof tl
^wilhoulToE in lheS!'l-SvD«;v sSi™" ™
Bilpnlt ccelo fnlmen, mceptrumque tyraiuils (L., " He snatched the
lightning from heaven and their sceptre from tyrants"), the epigraph written
tnTnrgot for Houdon's bust of Franklin. It may be an alteration from the
me oot of the " Anti- Lucretius" of Cardinal de Polignac, i. v. 96, —
or may have been suggested by the " Asttonomica" of Manilius, a Latin poet
ODDUmporary with Virgil, —
Eripuji Jovj IbJincD vb^Hiue looaniEL, —
il tn«y, a* is more likely, have been original, and suegesled only by the
-— — ' Franklin and the historic facta of his life. This is all the mote
;i:v..G00^IC
HANDY-BOOK OF
The authorship of ihe epigraph has been claimed for Baron Treiick by ft
writer in Garttalaubi fur 1863, in a paper on the last hours of that stales-
man. He stales that the baron asserted at his trial before the Revoluliun-
ary Tribunal of Paris, July 9, 1794, that he made Franklin's acquaintance in
England in 1774, and thai the lines usually attributed to Turgot were in fact
his. Baron Trenck, however, says nothing of this in his memoirs.
The Terse was translated into French (" II 6te au del le foudre et le sceptre
aoi tyrans") bv a poor creature named Felix Nogaret, an almanac-poet, who
sent it to Franklin with much adulatory commentary, asking his opinion of the
translation. In his reply, which may be found in Fournier's " L'Esprit des
Autres," Franklin claimed (o be too liiile of a connoisseur of the subtleties
of the French tongue to sit in judgment on the "po<!sie qui doit se trouve.
dans ce vers" (a very subtle phrase, which might be interpreted either as " the
poetry which is 10 be" or as " the poetry which iwA/ to be found ii
verse"). However, as to the original l^lin. he wished to call •■t.-ii™ .
When the death of Franklin was announced in the French National
Assembly, Mirabeau, in moving that the Assembly go into mourning out
of respect for hia memory, spoke of him as a benefactor of the human race.
He declared. —
Andquity would hflvF raiud altim 10 this mighty nniui, who, 10 (he Advmtn^ <fi mitD-
A humorous play upon the words of Ihe inscription is contained in the fol-
We know whu » BogeLog ii, but what love ii. no one hu found oui. Some n«unU philca-
Dphen have nuinulDed (bat ii i* ■ kind of electricity. Thai i> pouible, for ai Ihe mamenl '^
faUing in love we feel «■ if an electrical spark had tuddenly penetrated our heart rnjin Ibe eye
rods whieh would eonduci the £vadfu] fire elaewhere. 1 fcaj. huwrver. that IJitie Amor
cannDT be aa easily roblKd oT biA ajtowa ai Jupiter of hia tightning or ihe lyraBU of (b^
•ceptn.— HuKB : Riiitiadir: Dii BMirvm Lucca.
Kotlc Bohool, 3 name applied (circa 18SS) by American newspaper
critics to a group of writers who consciously 01 unconsciously rebelled against
ihe rigid conventionalities established by the Mrs. Grundys of literature.
Such rebellion had been in the air long before their adveni ; indeed, in Eng-
land it had already taken formal shape m the poems and novels of the Fleshly
School I;. v.\ and its successors. That school was a practical indorsement
(^ the protest made by Thackeray, and after him by Henry James, by Ouida,
and by others, thai arl was foolishly fettered and limited through too eager
deference to the assumed ingenuous ignorance of the Young Person. " Since
the author of Tom Jones was buried," such are Thackeray's words, " no writer
of fiction among us has been permitted to depict to his utmost power a Man.
We must drape him and give him a certain conventional simper. Sociely will
not tolerate the Natural in our art" Perhaps in Seeking for the Natural, the
Fleshly School went too far. Perhaps Wall Whitman, Ihe first American
exponent of the theory, went too far. Il is part of the folly of ihe unlrulli
which lies in luppression, thai ii provokes the untruth of overstatement, that
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 333
hypocrisy may beget open shameleagness. But the Erotic School in America,
rave among certain vulgar and now forgotten mercenaries who followed the
lead of the leaders when they fancied it gave them a chance for booty and
notoriety, — the Erotic School in America never imitated the fiercer vagaries
of the English School. They only claimed the privilege of art to paint life as
they saw it Am^lie Rives, Edgar Saltus, Gertrude Atherton, and, on a lower
level, Ella Wheeler Wilcoi, all of whom have been roughly grouped together
under the convenient heading, are persons of sincere aim. With varying
d^rees of genius or talent, they ^ave established a precedent which must
eventually be accepted.
BtrorB, Iik« stiaws, npOD the snriaoa floir. From the Prologue to
Dryden's " All for Love :"
EiTon, like ilnvg, upon ihc Hufice 6ow :
it of^ learning. Bacon says, —
Another «Tor 11 i concett thai . , , th« b«i hu niW pKvailcd snd Buppreued ihv Ttrt :
to «I, if A man ihtnild trt^n the labor of a new search, he were but like ID \^h\ upon eoEoe-
what (brmetly i^ecLed. url by rtjfctioit brought into obiiviaoj «« if the mullUude.or Ibv
wiseil fur the multitude'i lake, were Dot ready 1o give pauj^e rather to thai which ia popu.
lar aod luptriicial, than to thai which k iuhsianii.<l and piulound : Sot Ihc milh It, thai time
tcemelh 10 he of the nature of a riyer or siream, which cairielh down lo ui that which n light
and btowQ up, and tinlcelb and drtwneih ibal which It weigbty tad tolid.— ^ifBuiefnit^fr^ ^
Ltanii^, Hobh 1.
An amnsing variant of the idea is the jest of Home Tooke. To his brother,
who had been more prosperous than himself, John Home Tooke remarked
that they had reversed the natural order of things, for "yvit have risai by yintr
grmii^: I have sunk by tny levity."
Thsugh Hine iraVc light of libcU, jrel you may t« by Ihcoi hov Ihc wind tin: u cake a
■traw. and Ihrow it up into the air. you thai! see by ihal which way the wind u, which you
ihaH DOi Ut> by casting up a noue. More eolid ihlugt do n« thtiw the compLcaku of the ilnic
•owd] ai ballad! and hbeli.— Silden: TailfTaik.- I.Htli.
valuable iloki 10 Ihc bonom, and li tost fonva.—Lelirrt ^Juriiiu.
Xbron, Vulgar. One of the most delightful books ever written is that
which its author styled " Pseudoiia Epidemica," but which is more usually
known as " Browne's Vulgar Errors," — a rather misleading title, as the errors
which it treats of are the public's, and not iitr Thomas Browne's. The good
knight, who was still sulficiently conservative to believe in witches, goes seri-
ously to work to deny the existence of the phcenii, the chimera, and the grifiin,
and to expose such fallacies as that man has one less rib than woman ; that
Mahomet s tomb is suspended in air between loadstones artfully contrived
above and below ; that storks will only live in republics and free states ; that
a salamander lives in the lire ; that children would naturally speak Hebrew ;
veigh more before meat than after, and dead than alive ; that Friar
Bacon made a brazen head which spoke ; that Hannibal ate through the Alps
Saled. Some of these errors
7 names in science and the-
with vinegar ; that crystal is ice strongly congealed. Some ol
ology had onci . . , -
Augustine, St. Gregory, and St. Jerome are ail advocates for the ice-theory of
irystals, though it is only fair to add that Pliny and others denied iL
Once upon a time a professor of electricity, we are told, was demonstrating
before an audience and failed to produce the expected resulL " Ladies and
gentlemen," he thereupon remarked, "every experiment, if oroperly made,
proves something; if it doesn't prove what you intended, it proves the oppo-
334 HANDY-BOOK OP
Eit«." This great truth, obvious as it seems, is, after all, of lery recent dis-
covery. It is astonishing how readily the philosophers of old accepted state-
ments which might at once have been proved or disproved by the test of
experiment
Thus, Aristotle took it for granted that a pot full of ashes will contain as
much water as it would without them, and nobody seems to have questioned
the statement until Sir Thomas Browne seriously made repeated tests which
proved it to be untrue. The reader will doubtless remember, in this connec-
tion, the old story told sometimes of James I. and someliines of other mon-
archs, that he called together a council of philosophers to discuss the question,
" Why is it that a vase will contain as much water if a herring be placed
therein as it would without the herring ?" and after the learned men had given
sundry ingenious answers to the query, he bade them try if indeed it were so,
and, lo 1 a herring placed in a vase (uil of water made it overflow.
Pliny asserted that the diamond wilt prevent the attraction of the loadstone
if placed between it and a piece of iron ; and although the problem was one
capable of ready solution by experiment, he went on lo ascribe the same
quality to the garlic The loadstone, indeed, attracted towards itself the
most preposterous fables, which it was left for Sir Thomas ttrowne to expose.
Thus, it was asserted that when burnt it gives oS an intolerable stench ; that
if preserved in certain salts it has the power of attracting gold, even out of
the deepest wells ; that some kinds of loadstone attract only by night ; that
one ounce of iron and ten ounces of loadstone produce a total weight of only
ten ounces. A learned Jesuit named Eusebius Nieicmbeigius believed that
the body of man is magnetical, and if placed in a boat " the vessel will never
rest until the head respecteth the north." Sir Thomas warily characterizes
this theory as " improbable and something singular," and suggests that " the
verily hereof might easily be tried in Wales, where there are portable boats,
and made of leather, which would convert upon the impulsion of any ver-
ticity."
But, ader all, the errors of the early philosophers were too nrmly intrenched
10 yield before the evidence of experimenL For when Camerarius,to disprove
the common assertion that a lion was afraid of a cock, cited the case of one
which sprang into a farm-yard and devoured all the poultry, he was silenced
by Alexander Ross's assertion that that lion was mad.
Not can it be said that all the errors which Sir Thomas combated are dead
<ven now. We still hear, not indeed from philosophers, but from people of
£lit intelligence, that the chameleon feeds upon air ; that a bear licks her cube
into shape \ that swans sing just before their death ; that a pigeon has no
gall. It is no longer asserted that the ostrich can digest iron ; nevertheless
astonishing and quite as baseless stories are still told concerning its assimi-
lative powers, and not everv one has learned the falsity of the fable that a
bunted ostrich will try to hide itself by sticking its head [nto the sand. And,
indeed, why should we outsiders discredit the slory when it originated among
the denizens of Africa, who were familiar for ages with the ostrich and its
habits }
The verb "lo ape" has crept into our language as an outgrowth of the
popular fallacy that monkeys have a passion for imitating the actions <rf men,
as parrots have for imitating Iheir language. Nothing can be further from
the truth. Indeed, if monkeys could talk ihey ought to introduce into their
vocabularies a correlative veib "lo man," lor according to all theories of
creation or evolution the monkey came first, and it is wc who are hii follow,
ers and imitalora. It is not the monkeys who have human traits, but we who
have monkey traits. Monkeys can be trained, like other animals, in various
manly arts, but they are acul«ly cousdoos of the degiadatJon ; they are tbe
;,oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES, 335
moat stubbom of pupils; the; will screech themselves house, and sham lame-
ness OT insanity, before they can be broken into obedience by even the icindesi
of trainers.
It may be usnmed that nobody noir believes in crocodiles' tears ; yet it was
once related by sober'minded travellers, and accepted as a fact, that these
leptiles gave every outward evidence of excessive grief over (he bodies of the
victims they had slain and intended lo eat, and the expression stilt remains as
an apt illustration of hypocritical sorrow. The truth appears to be that the
crocodile licks its coming banquet all over to prepare it for deglutition, and
accompanies this pleasant task with a wail that sounds plaintive, but is in
reality its crude and inartistic manner of expressing entire satisfaction with
the world and with itself.
The deadly upas-tree is another stock illustration in lileralure. Vet it is an
absolute invention, without even the authority of tradition 10 sanction its men-
dacity, and was born of the fun-loving brain of George Steevens.
Who has not heard of the Maelstrom } Who is not familiar with Poe's
story of a descent into that terrible whirlpool ? Its startling aii of truthful-
ness makes you bold your breath while you read ; you almost fancy yourself
one of the mariners swept down into the abyss ; you join in the cry of joy at
their miraculous deliverance. Foe, when he wrote the story, believed that
he was describing something that might have happened \ the Maelstrom
was an article of faith which nad never been doubted by the EiigUsh -speak-
ing races from the time that Purchas first described it in his " nlgiimage."
Edmund Gosse was, we believe, the first Englishman to explode the myth ;
at all events, in the record of his visits to the Lofoden Islands he evidently
looked upon himself as a pioneer, and regretted that truth obliged him "to
laze to the ground with ruthless hand the romantic fabric of fable" that had
surrounded the Maelstrom from time immemorial. "There is no such whirl-
pool," he said, " as Pontoppidan and Purchas describe : the site of the famous
Haelstrom is put by the former writer between Moskenceso and the lofty iso-
lated rock of Mosken ) the passage is at the present day called Moskostrom,
and is one of those narrow sliaits, so common on the Norwegian coast, where
the cutrcDt of water sets with such persistent force in one direction, thatwhen
the tide or an adverse wind meets it, a great agitation of the surface takes
place. I have myself seen, on one of the narrow sounds, the tide meet the
current with such violence as to raise a little hissing wall across the water,
which gave out a loud noise. This was in the calmest of weather; and it is
easy to believe that such a phenomenon, occurring during a storm, or when
the sea was violently disturbed, would cause small boats passing over the spot
to be in great peril, and even suddenly swamp them." Alas and alas I and
so that is all that ruthless investigation leaves us of the Maelstrdro, the pro-
digious whirlpool that
Whiiltd ID dtalb the nwriiic whiilc,
that sucked the largest ship* into its monstrous vortex, and thundered so
loudly that the rings on the doors of houses ten miles away shook at tb«
But the whirligig of time, paradoxical as ever in its revenges, has rehabili-
tated many a discredited liut, so that it is no longer a vulgar error lo believe,
bat rather is one to disbelieve, in the roc, the unicorn, the dragon, and many
another wonder erf' ancient fable.
menta. In the seventeenth century. Father Martini, a missionary to China,
met with the same fate when he gave some account of the bird in his history
fA that country, A century later, the " Arabian Nights" became bmiliar lo
33* HANDY-BOOK OF
EtiTopeans, and then it was made evident lo the mcaneat intelligence that tlie
roc naal be a fable.
At last, in the year TS43, the Rev. Mr. Williams, a missionary in Nc<r Zea-
land, wrote to Dr. BuckUnd concerning the remaiiia of an eitiaordinary
monster which had been |>ainted out to him by the natives : " On a comparison
with the bones of a fowl, I immediately perceived that Ihey belonged to a bird
of gigantic size. The greatest height of the bird was probably not less than
fourteen or sixteen feet." The natives gave this creature the name of mm.
Professor Owen was among the English scientists who examined the relics.
He expressed his belief that the great bird of Australia had existed at no verv
remote period. Other proo& have since been obtained in Australasia, which
Kce beyond doubt the recent existence of the bird in that locality also.
ere is every reason to hold that the roc was simply a more or less eiag-
(;erated representation of the moa. The tatter is said to have produced the
irgest of all known eus. Early Arabian travellers found this bird, and told
the wonderful stories about iL
A similar case is that of the dodo. The first European settlers in the
Mauritius described it as a bird somewhat larger than a swan, but shaped like
. _i — 1 1 i_ '... . .j^ juj furnished with teeth. Being unable
a pigeon
f slowly, it was easily killed. Hence its speedy
civili---^-- " ■- '- -■ '--'-
with the advent of civilization. But people soon began to deny thai
existed, and it was in danger of becoming classed with fabulous animals, when,
in 1865, a number of bones were discovered in the course of draining some
extensive marshes on the island. On being articulated by naturalists, the
remains formed the skeleton of a bird agreeing in all important particulars
with extant descriptions of the dodo.
As to the unicorn, scientists are inclined to agree with Sebastian in the
" Tempest :" " Now will I believe that there are unicorns !"— to this extent, at
least, (hat it was not evolved from the inner consdousneis, but had some
external bails of fact to rest upon. Some hold that it was nothing more nor
less than the rhinoceros, which is indeed unicornuus, — 1.^., one-horned, — but
only in that respect like the unicorn of ancient fable, whose earliest effigies
arc found carved on the columns, temples, and pyramids of ^ypL These
effigies are always in profile, and they very closely resemble the profile of a
gnu (an animal only recently made known to naturalists) ; for though that
animal has in reality two horns, yet these grow in such a manner that the
side-view reveals but one, apparently protruding from the middle of tbe fore-
head. In other respects — in bodily shape, in the flowing, horse-like tail and
mane, in the very un-horse-like cleft hools — the unicorn is a close copy of
the gnu.
Modern geological discoveries have established the fact that animals quite
as fearsome as the dragons of ancient myth once infested sea and shore, and
there can be little doubt that the early Hellenic tribes retained traditions of
these antediluvian monsters. The dragon which guarded the golden fleece
may have been an imperiiect reminiscence of that terrible carnivorous lizard,
the meealosaurus, which Buckland believes to have been over sixty feet long,
while (he sea-monster that threatened Andromeda may have been a similar
avatar of the ichthyosaurus, whose awful eyes, fully a foot in diameter, seem
to have been fashioned to resist anything save the Gorgon stare of the
Medusa.
It seems not at all unlikely that the story of Sindl>ad the Sailui may be based
at least upon facts related by sober-minded travellers, and that these various
narrations were amplified and exaggerated as they passed from mouth to
mouth, and finally welded into an epic whole by the improvisators of Bagdad.
We have already teen what rights the roc had to public rupect and confidence.
..Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 337
Tbe Old Han of tbe Sea is a more improbable entity than the roc, and yet it
may well be that he is no other than our engaging friend the gorilla, who,
according to native testimony, is afraid 10 use his gift of si>eech leet he
may be set to work, who U in the habit of carrying off men and women and
detaining Ihem in the woods, and who has a very human capacity for drunli-
Sindbad describes many marvels that are now familiar to every one : the
Hindoo custom of burying the surviving consort with a wife or husband ; the
killing of elephants for theii ivory, in Ceylon ; the method of obtaining gum-
camphor from the trees in (he Malay Islands ; the great python of India which
crushed and devoured men one after the other ; the cannibal blacks of the
Feejee Islands. Even his story of how merchants would obtain diamonds out
of ibe Valley of Diamonds, by casting therein pieces of law meat which eagles
bore upward to their nests, has been corroborated by Marco Polo. In
describing the diamond-mines of Golconda, the latter says, "There is also
an extensive and very deep valley, so enclosed by rocks as to be tjuitc in-
accessible ; but the people throw in pieces of flesh, to which Ibe diamonds
adhere. Now, you must observe, there are a number of white eagles, which,
when they see the flesh in the bottom of the valley, fly thither, seize and carry
it to different spots. The men are on the watch, and as soon as they see the
bird with the spoils in its mouth, raise loud cries, when, being lerrided, it
flies away and drops the meat, which Ibey lake up and find the diamontls
allacbed.''
And Harco Polo? Is he worthy of belief? His own counlrymen did not
think ao when he returned to them in 1195, and the nickname of " Messer
Blarco Million!" with which Ihey dubbed him is interpreted by some his-
torians as a tefleclion upon the numerous fables which he sought lo impose
upon the public. Similar incredulity has been visited upon many other trav-
ellers, even down to our lime, when Du Chaillu sought to introduce us to our
distant relative the gorilla, and to the pygmies of Cenlrat Africa. But further
research has eslabhshed the substanliu accuracy of Marco Polo as of Paul
Du Chaillu.
We have been speaking of so-called myths that were discredited, and then
credited again through a wider reach of knowledge. A still more angular
anomaly ma^ be noted, — a myth which was first discredited, then generally
credited on increase of evidence, until finally, when the evidence was all in, it
resolved itself back again into a myth. Such an instance is furnished by the
Car of Juggernaut. Hendez I^nlo earned the title of " Prince of Liais"
because, on his return from the East, he wrote an account of his travels con-
taining many improbable stories, among others that of "the pagoda of Trin-
kalmar, before whose chariot- wheels persons sacrifice themselves." This tale
was singled out as being especially laughable. But the laughers sobered down
in the succeeding centuries when traveller after traveller came back with
stories of the car of Jagganatha, or lord of the world, before the wheels of
which the frantic devotees would throw themselves with suicidal intent The
myth grew to be generally believed. The car of Juggernaut — (he usual form
into which the Hindoo name was corrupted — became one of (he stock illus-
trations of preachers, writers, and orators. Mendei Pintu was reinstated in
public opinion. But, lo 1 it has been quite recently discovered that the myth
was in very truth a myth. The festival when lagganalha is dragged in his
cat on a yearly visit from the town named after him (o his country quarters is
sometimes attended by accidents among the worshippers, whereby one or mote
may be injured or even killed, but never by voluntary suicides.
Besides these larger errors which have been embalmed in literature, there
are nuny homelier ones which freely enter into our domestic life. Thnt,
338 HANDY-BOOK OF
many a dog-owner is impressed with the idea thai brimslone la a wholesome
addition to the animal's drinking-water. But sulphur is insoluble in water,
and the most (hat can be said for it when given in this form is that it is entirely
harmless. That pipes are burst in a thaw is another harmless and yet plaus-
ible error. Pipes are really burst during the cold spell, but Ihc leak, of course,
cannot be discovered until the frozen water Ihaws. Another cntmjiliflcation
of \\iK ptsi hoc prt^ter hoc fallacy is the common superstition that bones are
more brittle in winter than in summer. More bones, indeed, are broken
during the cold months, but that is simply because there is then more liability
to accidents from slipping and falling. People who trust too much to the
evidence of their senses believe that sunlight puts out a Are, whereas it merely
pales its apparent brilliancy, jusi as it pales the light of the stars. The eye-
sight is, again, deluded by sleeping birds ; they seem to sleep with the head
under the wing ; in reality the head is turned round and laid upon the soft,
yielding feathers of the back, which frequently hide it entirely from sight.
And as to that superstition common to both England and America, that when
a snake is killed its tail will not die until sunset, it is a mere hasty generaliza-
tion from the fact that a snake is endowed with great muscular irritability, so
that its heart will contract after removal from (he body, and the tail will move
after the reptile is dead. But the continuance of (his motion has nothing to
do with the setting of the sun. Frederick Werne, in his " Campaign in Taka,"
gives an account of the killing of a large water-snake, which, after being partly
skinned, he left hanging on the front beam of the hut until morning. " In the
early morning hours," he says, " I thought I had been struck over (he shin
with a club. The dead snake had given me a wipe with i(s tail through (he
open door."
Baoape, Let as guilty ihhii. In 1875, when Bristow, Secretary of the
Treasury in Presidenl Giant's cabinel, was unearthing the frauds upon the
revenue, and instlluling proceedings against the mcmlieis of the " Whiskey
Ring." it was supposed, from the I^esidenl's previous intimacy with some of
the peisuna implicated, that he and hia Secretary were not in full accord in the
efforts made by the latter to bring (0 justice all who had been engaged in
violaliuii of the law. On a letter relating (othe prosecution, July 29, 1875, the
Presidenl made the following autographic endorsement ; " I^t no guilty man
escape, if it can be avoided. No personal consideration should stand in (he
way of performing a public duty," The matter transpired, and the words " Let
no guilty man escape" became a popular cry.
Easex Junto, a sotn-iquet applied by John Hancock in 1781 to a faction
that followed the lead of certain public men from Essex County, Massachu-
setts, who, representing the commercial interests of the country, were foremost
in (heir demands for a strong Federal government After (he adoption of
the Constitution Ihey allied themselves with the Federalist party as the most
nncom promising adherents of Alexander Hamilton. John Adams, whom (hev
an(agonized, revived the nickname, and sought to represent them as a British
faction hostile to Fiance. Tbey were held mainly responsible for the opposi-
tion to the war of i8i3, which culminated in the Hartford Convention. Pick-
ering and Fisher Ames were among (he leading spiri(s.
EBt>U-pOHible r (Fr., "Is-it-possible n, a nickname applied hy James II.
of England to Prince George of Denmark, husband of his daughter (he Piincest
Anne, afterwards Queen Anne of England. As (he events of the Revolu-
tion of 1688 followed one another in startling succession, (he comment of the
lat-wittcd prince a( every fresh item of news was, "Est-il possible?" When,
finally, he loo joined the cause of William and Mary, James is reported to
have said, " What I Est-il-possible gone, loo V
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
word would \x ptrftha.
Spirii of Swift— «pirh of Mnlyimm— your gm^in Im pwailed. iRland i> nowaiwiioD^ aod
bi tut pew duroctcr 1 hail her, mad, bowing lo h«r auguat prcKuce, I uy^ Eslo perpdiia. —
GUTTAH, 1^1.
Bt to, Brate ! (L., " And thou loo, O Brutus !"}, the exclamation said to
have been uttered by Cxsar when he discovered Bruius among the conspira-
tors allacking him. The phrase is a pure fabrication, (hough the when and
■he how of the fabrication are a mystery. According lo Plutarch, Casca haV'
ing struck the first blow, Csesar turned upon him and laid hold of his sword,
crying, " Villain Caica, what dost Ihou mean ?" whereupon Casca called u|>on
his brother for help. " Some say Cxsar opposed the rest, and continued
siruggiing and crying out, til! he perceived the sword of Bruius; then he
drewhis robe over his face, and yielded to his fate." Nicholas Damascenus
mentions no one as speaking except Casca, who, he says, "calls to his brother
in Greek on account of the tumult" Suetonius says that the dictalor was
slabbed with Ihiee-and-twenty wounds, ntlering no sound beyond a groan at
the first blow : " although some have handed down that to Marcus Brutus,
rushing on, he said. TLi£oi, ritansi {'And you, my son')." But amid all this
conflict of statemenl nobody seems to have handed down the famous Et tu.
Brute! Il was invented long afterwards, and the genius of Shakespeare
\yuliui Coiar, Act iil, Sc l) has fixed it indelibly in the popular mind. Sue-
tonius, il may be added, accuses Cxsar of having had an intrigue with the
mother of Bruius : hence the word tikvov, " son," is supposed lo imply more
than an ordinary term of aflection. But il is not unlikely thai the whole stale-
ntent of the efiecl of Ibe sight of Brutus upon Caesar may be a fiction suggested
by the currently-accepted scandal.
Btemal friendahlp. Let lU Bwreur an. The earliest use of the phrase
in English humorous literature is about 1798, in J. Hookham Freres "The
Rovers," Act i., Sc, 1 1 " A sudden thought strikes me — let us swear an eter-
nal ftiendship." The line, as well as the play, is a parody on Goethe's
"Stella," where something nearly as absurd occurs, although no absurdity
was intended. Two ladies, one the wife and ihe other the misiress of a
roving lover, inadvertently meet and discover each other. The lover, unable
lo quit Stella and unable to quit his wife, weeps with both, and blows out his
brains. The episode parodied in these lines is a proposition from one of the
women that they live together ; it comes from Stella to the injured wife :
"Madam, I have an inspiration! . . . We will remain together 1—Vour hand
on it 1 — From this moment on, I will never leave you !"
Sydney Smith, hearing a lady decline gravy at a dinner, exclaimed, " Madam,
1 have been looking all my life for a person who disliked gravy ; let as swear
eternal friendship.
In "The Orphan," by Thomas Otway, oc(
and from this veiy moment vow an eternal ir
BtoTiiBl TlgilBiiott ia the prioe of liberty. Who first used this pre-
cise collocation of words is unknown. John Philpot Curran came very near
loit in bis "SpeechupontheRlghtof Election, 1790 :" "The condition under
which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance ; which condition if
he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and [he punish-
ment of his guilt" {Spetehti, Dublin, 1S08). Demosthenes, in his Second
Philippic, sec 24, had a dim adumbration of the thought : "There is one
ail purpo« :
he ila»
that
IcmIiJ
ndo., ■■ [. ,
•Hui
>lllh<
ipUIM
«ichl^
"■n^^m"
tboughi
tofi.y
ikM)br<h<
:dlyol
'uul
r^.
340 HANDY-BOOK OF
sarcj-uard known generally to (he wise, which ii an advantage and securitj to
all, but especialiy to democraciea as against despots. What is ii ? DistrusL"
III " Poor Richard's Almanack" for 1733 may be found the maxim, " Diatrual
and caution are the parents of secnri^.
Bteroltie*, Between tiro. Carlyle, in his " Heroes and Hero- Wor-
ship," has this memoiable phrase :
Our life,— I little eIcbmi^ limcbawccD ivo ElsDlda.— 7%< //<rrvu Mm^^^ftfri.
In his essay " Signs of the Times," he had already said, —
Thepooreu <Uy(hu pmaaver lu iilhe coofliu ai two Eicttiilia; it ii made up of ciu-
rentj that iwie bvm ibe remauu Put ud flow opwudi into the temoleH Future.
In other places he has rung changes upon tlie same theme. Evidently to him
it embodied a great truth. In his " Ketniniscences" he has carefully detailed
imd uunleitd about much on ibe Hrajp, to 11
afford. Smnkiniouuidcaltbe dlniag-rnni;
w^i into a^fbt ruiure.^dn inlenecl' then,
booki; I recollect being Uiankbil (EOVggily lb
There can be no question here of imitation, conscious or i
the thought, and almost the worils, are found in Cowley :
Upha^'i---'-^"-" '" ''""
Pope has borrowed from Cowley wilhoi
Plaixdon tbia iath
A beiiif darkly wi
Striking parallels occur in two )
A MomeDl-l Halt
Of BaiHC Irem Ui
The NoniiHG llKloui ficm. Oh, make ha_.. .
uiT'jwii the comer of Ibe earth' wbcrein ht dwelli.— Maacus Aintauui ; 'Miditaiitai,w.iB.
BtlqaettA. Probably most readers remember Mr. William S. Gilbert's
"Bab Ballad" entitled ■' Etiqueiie." The account of the two Englishmen
who, after being shipwrecked on a desen island, refuse to speak to each
other because they have not been introduced, is not half so ludicrous as the
bmous story of Pliiltji ITI. of Spain, which was thus told in the Arst edition
of D'Israeli s " Curiosities of Literature ;"
Philip III. wax gravely leateil by the fireaide : (be fire-maker of tbe Court bad kindled la
apaitment, becaUK it waa aeaimt the rtifuftu. At length the Marquja de Polar appeared,
and the king ordered bim lo Camp the ttiv ; but tu encuied bimulT, allqting ibal he waa for.
Indden by tRe^fi^Kfr/f ID perform lucb a funaloD. for which the Duke dljaeda [tfr] ought lo
a degree tbal an cryaipelaa of tbe bud appeared the Qeal day, whicb, aucceeded by a violqit
Coo^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 341
tb«re is not an iota of evidence to support it, and indeed its inaccoracj is
patent on the Tace of it. In the lirelime or D'lsraeli, Bollun Corne^ pointed
out that Philip III. of Spain died in his forty-third year, and not in his Iwenly-
fouith, thai though his death was undoubtedly caused by erysipelas there was
no historical foundation for D'Israeli's story, and that, as a matter of Tact, the
story itself look its rise in the lively imagination of certain French memoir-
D'lsraeli, in the second edition of his " Cnrioaities," retained the story,
changing only the final word " age" to *' reign." In a preface to this edition,
he accuses his critic of "vulgar arrogance and thoroughly ungentleman like
style," and in his own modest, gentlemanlike way wonders how " this mole,
who is very capable to grub, thus hardily ventured to a positive denial of this
anecdote of Spanish etiquette." D'lsraeli cannot deny that he had blundered
in the matter of the king's age ; but he refers to thai not very recondite
authority, " L'Art de v^riSer tes Dates," as his authority f»r the story. The
slOTv is given in that book, to be sure, but in a very diSerenI way, which
would have been by no means too free for D'Israeli's not overly squeamish
pen ; and had D'lsraeli really gone to it foT information he could not have
bllen into error about the king's age.
,_ ,__. .,._ _. — ,.,__ -^i, of S^iiliai
good old stock-tale that
~ and it undoubtedly was
btedly wa
a pure invention. This is how it was told of the queen of Loui
ance. One day she discovered a speck of dust on her bed am
showed it to Madame de Luynes, her maid of honor. The latter sent for the
vaict-de-chambrt bedmaker to the queen, that he might show it lo the ixdit-
de-ckamirt bedmaker to the king. The latter arrived at the end of an hour,
but said that the dust was none of his business, because the bedmakers of
the king made up the common bed of the queen, but were forbidden to touch
the state bed : cimsequen tly, the dust must be removed by the oflicetB of the
household. The queen gave orders that they should be sent for ; and eveiy
day, lor two months, she asked if the dust had been brushed off, but they had
not yet found out whose duly it was to remove the specL Finally, the queen
took up a teattier duster, and brushed it off. Great was the scandal thereof,
but no one dreamed of blaming the absence of (he ofiicets ; (hey only found
that the queen had been wanting in etiquette.
And yet, (hough these stories are untrue, they might very easily be true.
Certainir they are not too strange to be true. They are not one whit more
extraordinaiT than a hundred well -authenticated stories. Have we not all
heard the old ptoverb, that the queen of Spain has no legs? The feel and
legs of queens were so sacred that it was a crime to think, or at any rale
to speak, of them. On the arrival of the Princess Maria Anna of Austria,
the bride of Philip IV., in Spain, a quantity of the finest silk stockings were
presented to her in a city where there were manufactories of that article.
The major-domo of the future queen threw back the stockings with indig-
nation, exclaiming, " Know thai the queens of Spain have no legs," When
the young bride heard (his, she began lo weep bitterly, declaring that she would
return to Vienna, and thai she would never have set foot in Spain had
she known that her legs were to be cut uff. This ridiculous etiquelle was
carried still further. One day, as the second consorl of Charles IL was riding
a very spirited hutse, Ihe animal reared on his hind legs. At the moment
when the horse seemed on the point of lalling back wilh his fair rider, the
nueen slipped off on one side, and remained wilh one of her feel hanging in
Ite stirrup. The unruly beast, irritated still more al the burden which fell on
one side, kicked with ihe utmost violence In all directions. In the first
of danger and alarm, no person dursl venture to Ihe a
r
342 HANDY-BOOK OF
the queen, (or this reason. — that, exce|iting the king and the chief at the
meninos, or little pages, no person of the male sex was allowed to touch any
part of the queenii of Spain, and least of all their feet. As the danger of Ihe
queen augmented, two cavaliers ran to her relief. One of them seized the
bridle of (he horse, while the other drew Ihe queen's fout from the gtiriup,
and in performing this service dislocated his thumb. As soon as they had
saved her life thev hastened away with all possible expedition, ordered their
fleetest horses to be saddled, and were just preparing for their flight nut of
the kingdom, when a messenger came to inform them that, al Ihe queen's
intercession, (he king had pardoned the crime (hey had committed in touching
her person.
Mirabeau made a famous reference to the Spanish phrase in ijgi. During
the brief moment when the National Assembly ceased its struggle with the
court on the king's acceptance of (he constitution, a deputy proposed that
(he homage of the nation should be borne to (he fee( of his majesty as the
restorer of French liberty. Mitabeau curtly suggested, " Majesty has no
feet," and the motion was dropped.
But (he story can be paralleled in the Spain of to-day. Thus, when
Alfonso, the tittle-boy king, was about four years of age he tripped on the
steps of the grand staircase in the royal palace a( Madrid, and plunged
head-roremos( down. For(una(ely, a footman, recently engaged, anil conse-
quently a trifle green, was standing on (he s(eps with his t»ck against (he
wall, waiting until his sovereign had passed. With rare self-sacrifice and
presence of mind, the menial faced around and caught (he flying form of
(he child, (hus saving him, if not from death, at least from serious injury.
Queen Christina was as grateful as any mother could be. But not even she,
(hough as regen( she held Ihe reins of power in Spain, — not even she could
save (he man from dismissal. Only a grandee is allowed (o (ouch the sacred
person of His Most Catholic Majesty. She did, indeed, ward off from him
any other punishment (o which he might have rendered himself liable, re-
warded him with money, and found for him a position as game-keeper on one
of the royal estates in ihe northern part of ihe kingdom.
One at the chief reasons of the Duke of Aosla^ unpopularity during (he
brief reign which he closed wi(h a voluntary abdication was that he would
study (he complica(ed etiquette of Ihe Escutial, but sought
iple manners in a country where even beggars drape (hem-
proudly in (heir tadercd mandes and address one another as "Setlor
Caballero." He one <lay told a muleteer, wilh whom he had slopped to talk
on a country road under a broiling sun, (o put on his hal, — forgetting (hat by
(he act of ordering a subject to cover himself in Ihe royal presence he cre-
ated him a grandee. Marshal Prim, who was standing by, hastily knocked
the muleteer's head-dress out of his hand and set his fool upon il. al the
same lime offering the man some gold ; bul the muleteer, who was mortally
offended, spurned Ihe money \ and a few days later, when Prim was assassi-
nated, a rumor was circulated among Ihe people — but without iruth, it seems —
(hat the mortified individual who had narrowly missed becoming a grandee
was an accessory lo Ihe crime. On another occasion, King Amadeo incon-
siderately addressed a groom of his in Ihe second person singular as tu.
Happily, the man was an Italian ; for, as a court chamberlain represented to
his majesty, a Spaniard spoken lo wilh this familiarity might have claimed
thai the monarch had dubbed him cousin, — that is, had ennobled him. Another
thing which Ihe much-worried Italian prince had lo learn was that a Spanish
king must nol sign any letter to a subjecl with any Triendly or complimentary
formula, bul must simply write, Ya El Rty (" I Ihe King").
Etiquette likewise plays a great riU at the court of Great Britain. The
,tr°o5uo
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 343
queen herself is extremely punctilious. One of ihe bcst'known IlluslralJons
occuired during her visit to King Louis Philippe or Fiance, in the lirelime of
her husband. Feeling thirsty one evening after dinner, while chatting with
the king, she intimated her wish for a glass of water. The king, like the
good bourgeois that he was, rose from his seat, went over to the Areplace,
rung his ImII, and when a servant appeared ordered him to bring a glass of
water. A couple of minutes later the man reappeared with a goblet of water
on a gold Silver and presented it to the queen. To the astonishment of
King Louis Philippe, she declined it. The man was just leaving the room
with the water untouched, when the Due d'Aumale, who had been an attentive
witness nf the whole affair, took the salver from the servant and presented it
himself to the queen. Her majesty immediately accepted the proRered gob'
let. Only then did worthy King Louis Philippe realize that his royal guest
deemed herself debarred by the unwritten taws of etiijuetle from taking the
goblet from the hands of an ordinary servant
France has abolished royally and the picturesque absurdity that is the usual
accompaniment of royalty. But in the d^ when royalty was at its apogee,
the days of the Grand Monar<iue himself, France yielded to no other court in
stiff and starched pompiisity. The etiquette which prevailed at Versailles
was of the most minutely elaborate character, and governed every movement
of the king and those about him from the very moment he opened his august
tnres until he closed them in sleep. He was the centre of the whole ; it was a
iframa, daily repeated,— the same characters, the same scenes, the same details,
— oppressive in its sameness, fatiguing in its constant pressure. We have
neither the space nor the inclinaliun to dwell on all the eilianidinary cere-
monial of the state dinner ; the twenty or thirty grandees fluttering around
the king's plates and glasses ; the sacramental utterances of the occasion ;
the gaudy procession of the retinue ; the arrival of la nef, — that is, the centre
piece of plate which contained, between scented cushions, the king's napkins ;
and Faiai dii plats, — the tasting of each dish by the gentlemen servants and
officers of the table liefore the king partook of it. The same custom was
observed with the beverages. It took four persons to serve the king with a
glass of wine and water. Well might Frederick the Great, on hearing an
account of all this tyranny of etiquette, exclaim that if he were King of
France his lirst edict would be to appoint another king to hold court in his
Contemporary Austria was not far behind. To Charles VI. especially, the
last male scion of the old line of Hapsburg, etiquette was as the breath of
life. Even before he succeeded to the Austrian throne, — as early, indeed, as
1706, when Philipof Anjou, his rival for the crown of Spain, had left Madrid, —
Charles, to the rage of his English allies, refused to enter the city because he
had as yet no slate carriage, and it would be contrary to all etir|uette to do so
without. In 1732 he had engaged to hold an important political conference
with Frederick William, King of Prussia. Vet the chief subject of debate
at the Austrian State Councif held before the interview was on the question
whether his Imperial Majesty should shake hands with the Prussian monarch
or not. After long deliberation, they came to the conclusion that he ou^ht
tiot 10 do so, as such a proceeding would inflict a lasting wound on the im-
perial dignity.
Btoa Montem, a curious ceremony, apparently coeval with the foundation
to the famous old post-road to Bath. On the way, tribute, termed "salt," was
exacted from every one along the route and from the wealthier classes for
mllet aionnd. Hence the tumulus gained the name of Salt Hill. The money
344 HANDY-BOOK OF
thnt collected, sometimes as much as eight handred pounds, was ^ven to the
head bo^ on Ibe foundation, 1o assist in defiayine tiis college expenses. Eton
Montem is supposed to have been derived from the custom prevalent at Salis-
bury and other places of electing a boy-bishop fiom the choiislers attached to
the cathedraL Tiadition affirms that part of the original ceremony had been
for a boj in clerical garb, with a wig, to read prayers. This time-honored
and picturesque costom was brought to an end by Dr. Hawtrey. On Whit-
Tuesday, June 38, 1844, Salt Hill was for the last time the scene of these
festiviticEi. Miss Edgeworih has an excellent account of the custom in h«r
story of '■ Eton Montem" in " The Parent's Assistant."
. :al (Gr., tCpijHi, "I have found it!") Archimedes was consulted by
Hiero, King of Syracuse, in regard to a gold crown suspected of being
alloyed with silver. How was the fraud, if any, to be detected f The mathe-
matician pondered over the matter, and was still pondering, well-nigh hopeless
of a solution, when he got into his bath. The bath was full and oversowed.
Then the thought occurred to him : Exactly as much water must overflow as
IS equal in volume to the siie of his body. Quidc as lightning came another
thought : If he put the crown into a vessel of water, and weighed the o'
flow, then put into the water a piece of pure gold weighing exactly as mucn
as the crown, the overflow should weigh exactly as much in one case as in the
other, provided the crown were pure. Electrified by the thought, he leaped
fi'om the bath, and ran naked through the streets, shouting, " Eureka t Eureka 1"
3ught
Is added that his teat proved that the smith had in fact cheated (he king.
The cry is now familiarly used as an exclamation of triumph at a discovery or
supposed discovery. It is the rootto of the State of California, in allusion to
the discovery of gold there.
BurcKM — Cattuty. In Tennyson's " Locksley Hall," after the hero has
ottered his wild threat to take some savage woman ■' who shall rear my dusky
race," he regains self-mastery with the words, —
Fool, again (be drvflm, the Cmcv \ \
Bal 1 count the gray butarUn lowi
Ihan ihc ChriMiu cbild.
ThiiHi(fa (he ihadow oT the (tobe wc iwccp iMothe younger day :
B«(n fifty y»n of Europe than a cycle of Caihay.
noteworthy, though obviously an accidental, coincidence occu
«y:
ow Iio( vhnber o(hen tliare Ln my feclingi on tbi]
I w«n compelled 10 fortgo Eoflind. and (olive In C
KkaonifcaBdKOkery.lthoiIld go mad.— Ox/<»
^^fanEngihkOfh..
But a closer analogy to the thaught in the passage o
following extracts :
n^ nv_.i^ )...ur of glerlouF i'<^
lawordi
li«.th
"■^""'L'i.'Sx,.
■^SA.
log!
of virtue and
■lFn(, wbo should die Id hil lUn
of a miKrablc pr(n(-rlddm lla
e[h year. ta. ■i(h ngaid
•a "'0m«''mS'"' "'~'" ""'
Perhapi (he periihini ephemeron enjoy, a longer lift (ban (he tonoix —Hid.
llic dnnrion of iht freedom aud ibe sioTy of Greece wh lhor(. Bu( a few tocb yfnn arc
wonb myriad* of aget of monlclih itumber, and one much victory u Salauli or BuBoclibnm
b of more VBluo (ban ih4 innumerable (riumplu of (lie vulgar bardi of '»»—-»« — ' ~-'-
■AiT : BUckwfTt M-vuini, yoI. L, No. 1.
;i:v,.G00gIf
LITERARY CVRWSITIES. 34S
After all, the above mereljr ring the changes upon the words of the PsilmiBl, —
F« a day In thy couru ii belKt tbu ■ Ihouund. I had nlli« be a docriiccpeT in ihE
hauK of my G4xl. thim lo dwell in the tenu of inaiKABCu.—Pi*lm luiiT. lo.
Anolher turn to the same thought has been given by Hiilip James Bailejr :
We live In deedi, ool yean ; in thought*, not brcatht ;
Ia fedlDB*, DDt in fifurd on ■ dial.
We OibAA count litne by heut-lhrob.. He moM li*ef
Who ihiolu raoH. feeli the Doblol. acu Ibe beu.
Life'a but ■ awuu udio as end -. thai end
B^nnlikg, mean, ud dkd id ail ihingt,-'-GDd.
Fbttus : Sttnt, A Canntty Trnm.
But Baiie]( in his turn was indebted to a host of predecessors :
A life ipfliit vorthily ihouid be meaaund by a nobler line, — by deedi, ncH yean.^'SHBai-
■uii : Piwrt, Act iv., Sc. i.
He wba grown aged in thii woild of woe,
Byhoh: a</rf*'««r««,Caiiioui., natiias,
^ Wbowttllita, long Uvea: for Ibiiage of odii
Sboutd not be numCered by yean, doiea. and houii.
DuBaktas: Zloriaiuf (*'«:t<i.Foiinh Day, Book il.
Bvaiy one for himMlf, and tho doTll oatoh tha blndmoat There
is an ancient Spanish legend that the devil had aschiiol of magic at Toledo.
At the close of the terra the graduating class were made to run through a
subterranean hall, the venerable president being entitled to the hindmost if
he could catch him. It was added that as the hindmost had the benefit of a
post-graduate course he turned out the best magician. But his soul was
hopelessly forfeit. This may be the origin of the proverb, which is found
widely dinused over Europe, In Cervantes, however, and in Heywood the
proverb appears, " Every man for hiraseiE and God for us all." The earliest
appearance in English literature of the now common form seems to be in
Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy," Part iil. Sec i, Mem. iii. j
Every nun for hinuelf, hi> own ends, the devil for all.
Bvvrrbodjr'a btutuMS U nobody'a bnatnaw. The maxim is quoted
by Izaalc Walton, — as belonging to anolher ;
I lemembei Ihal a wfae friend of mine did uiuatly lay. That whlcb U everybody 'a buiineaa
ia nobody'a boilnesa.— Cm//ri> Ai^lir, Pan I., ch. iJ.
It is not unlikely that the friend had in mind the phrase of Horace, —
Alieoa DtgoUa cun.
(" 1 take care of other people'i btuinnt. having loit my own.")
A limous Latin proverb, " Dominum videre plurimum in rebus suis" ("The
master look* most sharply after his own affairs"), enforces the same moral.
Similar admonitions were known to the Greeks. "The answers of Perses
and Libys are worth observing," says Aristotle : "the former, being asked
what was the best thing to make a horse fat, answered, 'The master^s eye ;'
the other, being asked what was the best manure, answered, ' The roaster's
footsteps.' " Aulus Gellius tells a story of a man who, being asked why he
was so fat, and the horse he rode so lean, answered, " Because [ feed myself,
and my servant feeds my horse." Proverbs of a similar sort abound in every
Self do, aeir have.— fivJ^'t-
Wbea the cat's awi
Lm Ud that hai a
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Bverfthlug la loToljr and the sooaa hangs Uch, an exprenion com-
mon in the ^oulhem Slates, which seems to have originated amoiiE the ne-
groes. I^Iangs is probablj' a corruption for honks, (he latter word being an
onomatopoelic reproduclion of the cry of the wild goose, which flies high on
clear dam Another but less likely explanation is that "befo' de wah" a goose
used to be hung to a tree at Southern gatherings so high thai a man on horse-
back could barely (ouch il ; the riders would rush by and grab al (he bird's
neck. Still a third explanation, bul one which bears all the marks of manu-
focture after the event, tells a story of an old negress who, in her husband's
absence, tidied up the house and hung his picture high on the wall. When
he came back he remarked (hat all was lovely, and (he wife ended the remark
ae hangs high." But (he
e quodng a popular saw.
Evil Bje, the superstition that certain persons have a blighting or malig-
l^aiit eye whicli deals death or ill luck upon the by-stander. Under various
other names, such as overlooking eye, biting fascination, this superstition sur-
vives locally in Great Britain and many portions of Europe, and under the
alternative name a( jflbthira flourishes with extraordinary vigor and tenacity
in Italy. It is one of the most ancient of myths. The Cireeks knew it under
(he name of ^aoKavia, (he Romans under that of fiurintatt. To Greeks and
Romans alike it came from the mysterious EasL Solomon refers to it in the
Book of Wisdom.
Aristotle speaks of a Thessalian female who attracted a poisonous serpent
within a magical circle drawn round her, when it instantly became lifeless.
The faculties of the Paylli, or charmers, enjoy great repute even in our own
times. Plutarch engaees in a question "concerning those who are said to
lascinate," and concludes by allowing the eiistence of such a power. " It is
known." says he. " (hat friends and servants have fascinating eyes ; and even
Others, to whose protracted gaze mothers will nut expose their children."
Pliny relates that one Calus Furius Cresinus, a frccdinan, having been very
successful in cultivating his farms, became an object of envy, and was publicly
accused of poisoning, by arts of fascination, his neighbors' fruit; whereupon
he brought into the Forum his daughter, ploughs, tools, and oxen, and.
pointing to them, said, " These which I have brought, and my labor, sweat,
watching, and care (which I cannot bring), are all my arts." Plmy also relates
aa an occurrence in his own lime that a whole olive-orchard belonging to a
certain Vectius Marcelius, a Roman knight, crossed over the public way and
took its place, ground and all, on the other side. This same fact is also
alluded to by Virgil, in his Eighth Eclogue, on Pharmaeiutria (all of which,
by the way, he slirie f '^'" '" '
Indeed, nearly all the old writers agree in recognizing the existence of the
faculty of (asdnation ; and among the Romans it was so universally admitted
that in (be " Decemvirales Tabulae" (here was a law prohibidng the exercise
of it, under a capital penalty, " Ne pelliciunlu alienas segetes, excan(anda,
ne incanlando; ne agrum defraud a nlo." Some jurisconsults skilled in (he
ancient law say (hat boys are sometimes fascinated by the burning eyes of
these infecled men so as to lose all their health and strength.
"Now." says the worthy Vaitus, who has written an elaborate treatise on
Ihli lubjea in Ladn, well worthy to be examined. " let no man laugh at tbew
. Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. %^^
BtcK'lei ai old wives' tales, noi, because (he reason passes our knowledge, let
us turn them inlo ridicule, for infinite are the things which we cannot under-
stand ; but. ralher ihan turn all miracles out of Nature because we cannot
understand them, let us make that fact (he liecinning and reason of investiga-
tion. For does not Solomon in his Book of Wisdom say, > Fascinatio malig-
nila(is obscurat bona'? and does not Dominus Pauluscry out to (he Galatians,
'O insensati Galatz, quis vos fascinavitV which the best interpreters admit
to refer (o those whose burning eyes with a single look blast all persons, and
especially boys."
The ancients seem to have thought the evil eye belonged to an evil nature
■nd was the especial adjunct of envy. And something of this same impres-
sion still survives. Even at this day, in (he Levant, passengers are invited by
the lowest of (he people to par(ake of their fate, lest (hey be "observed by a
hungry man who envies the morsel." Formerly tnfanls were considered very
sensible of the " irradiations of (he eyes." They were reluctantly subnii(tea
to (he gaze of strangers ; and in Spain an invocation of the Deity was em-
ployed to avert (he consequences. At present, in (he Spanish colonies, a
similar prayer follows the commendadou of a child, or of a young animal ;
and there also a widow is apt (o ascribe the loss of her huslund (o the evil
eye of one oF her own sex. In Egypt the livid hue, (he yellow skin, and (he
emacia(ed frame of a sickly child are by (he mother usually ascribed to an evil
eye. In the nor(hern par(s of Africa, too, the natives dread an expression of
admiration when directed (o any of (heir family, or even to any valuable ardcle,
whether anima(e or inanima(e. A( Tripoli (he death of an infant was attrib-
uted (o (he steadfast gaze of a stranger who was struck with its beauty as it
lay in the cradle. No Christian in those parts is perniiiied to embrace, or
even to look upon, a babe.
In [taly the superstition is rampant To praise anything means to admire
i(, (o admire is (o covet, to covet is to excite the latent powers of evil that may
reside in your eye. A person who should waniler through Italy, and especially
through Southern Italy, praising all he saw, would soon come (o be considered
the most malevolent of men.
The well-known haWl of Neapolitans to offer a guest anything that he may
praise has probably the same origin. It is, of comae, now, to a very Urge
extent, only a form of courtesy ; but even now another feeling lurks behind, at
least in a good many cases. Your host has been delighted by your admiration
of his possessions ; he would have been disappointed if it had not been so
warmly expressed as it was; but stilt he is a little afraid of the ill luck the
kind things you have said may bring. By offering the objects you have liked
best to you, and receiving your certain refusal lo accept tfiem, he puts them in
a bad light, and thus counteracts (he evil effects of your praise. He says to
^e. You see, their value is not great, after all.
The same apprehensions are heltl by the Jews, Greeks, and Turks who
possess the several islands of the Archipelago. When the goodness or beauty
of arw object is commended, it is incumbent in add, " God preserve it ;" and
the Greeks are further accustomed lo blow a little saliva upon it, by way of an
Vet, as a rule, (he evil eye is not held to be allied to any malignancy of
character. It is a misfortune, no( a fault. The most excellent people are
born with this baleful influence, and exert it against their will, or even without
their consciousness.
Shortly after his election. Pius IX., who was then adored by the Romans,
and perhaps the best-loved man in Italy, was driving through the streets, when
he happened to glance upward at an open window at which a nurse was
•landing with a child. A tew minutes afterward the nurse let (he child drop
348 ttANDY.BOOfC OF
Zhrll is WTTOngbt by iraat of thought. In Hood's
Bui evil is wroughl by want of thought
^u% ■onh'^v^ing).
Elsewhere he has the
Moi-
same idea in
1 other words :
livcinbrau^ ibeirvini
„
which finds numerous
FariiKDUH, If iheybi'
parallels,—!
le, to write it is DULTble
iMorb: Kiehardlll.^
: udwboi
\ndhiimU,
fm«*"^.'
SB.,
bJJk"«
A'^DFLrrCHBHlflliV*
irtr.Ad..
.Sc.J.
L'lniuR H env
("AnT.jun,p,«
The cential idea is i
« ea m in] : el 1c bienbil s'>4crit >o I'oDde.
■ iueir in metal, but m bcnilil writs Itxlf Id wata
J«ANBB.TAt7T,oV«l6l
also contained in the following :
;•■)
a^tu-sj
ib>t (mA (he Ephoiui .
piDui fi»1 Ihil railed it
(kme
> -, RklmnI lit. (slWied), Act Hi., Sc, i.
9 that bumt the temple of Diana ; he ii nIiniMl lo» thai boili It— Sin
ThohmBiowhb: Urn-Burial, t:\i.i.
Fer contra, there was right and kindly leeling in the old maxim, "De mor-
luis nil nisi bonum" (" Of the dead be nothing said but good"). This senll-
menl is attributed to Chilo, one oF the Seven Wise Men of Greece, and is
known to us chiefl)' in the Latin translation, as above, given in the life of
Chilo by Diogenes Laertius \Lives and OMnUms of EmimnI Piiloiofhers). It
was undoubtedly a Greek proverb, and its teachings were incorporated into
Lacedaemonian legislation. " That law of Solon's, says Plutarch, " is justly
ctimmended which forbids men to speak ill of the dead. For piety requires
us to consider the deceased as sacred ; justice calls upon us ti> spare those
that are not in being ; and good policy to prevent the perpetuation of hatred."
Thucydides (ii. 45) has the saying in a slightly modilied form : " Every one
ought to praise the dead ;" and Cicero, "A good name is the possession of the
dead" ("Bona fama possessio defanclorutn"). Voltaire said that satire lied
about literary men when they were alive, and eulogies lied after their death.
A CQiioiiB contrast to the Shakespearian line* first quoted is found ii^ —
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 349
When good dhd die tbdr goodno* does not pamb.
But livea ihouah [bey uv gone. At for Ih« bftd»
AI] thai wu iGein <uci and ii buried wLth them.
EuiipiDis : TtminUa, Ing. 734.
Mimnermug, the Roman tragedian, whose poetical effoiis survive only in
fragments, his given a, satiric turn to the idea:
BtIU. Of two «t1I« ohooac the iMat, a proverb common to most
modern languages, and finding an earlier expression in classic authors. Yet
authorities also recogniie thai where there is a choice of evils human atupid-
ilf will asually stumble against the greatest. ■' He that has a choice has
iniuble," say the Uuich, and the French. " He that chooses lakes the worst,"
which are nearly equivalent to the English phrase " Pick and choose and take
the worst." An American slory in point is told of the traveller who, inquiring
ihe way, was informed Ihal ihere were two roads, one long and one short, but
it mattered not which he look ; " you won't have gone far before you will regret
that yon hadn't taken the other.
Of iwo evili I haye choH Ihe Icail.
PmoB: Imilal/en if Htrari.
OftwocvUi, Ihe leuiidwiyi lobe choKD.— Thomas k Knpis: /mitatim t/Oiriil,
Book iii., cb. III.
Of hiinn« IWD the leue is for M checK.
Chaucu : Trmitiu atul Criaidi, Book il., Udc 470.
Tbm'i uiul] cbolce in raden ippla.— Shakespuki : Ttmi'g ^Ou SArm.
One pemuded bla IrieDi] id marry a litiLe womaD, beowK of evUi th? 1ea« wai to be
choHD.— OiuYiff, ainctus.iU. 11639).
Xbt nihllo nihil fit (L., "Out of nothing, nothing is made"). This saying
is found in Marcus Aurelius {MedilalioHi, iv. 4). Diogenes Laertius, in his
life of Diogenes of Apollonia, ascribes il to the latter philosopher. Lucre-
tius came ttrf close (0 the expression in
Certainly it sums up his physical Iheory, which is thai nothing was created.
Shakespeare, in " King Lear" (Act i.,Sc 1), makes Ihe king warn hisdaughter
Cordelia, when she can offer nothing in the way of protested affection, —
Bx iMd« Hsroalam [L, "From ihe foot, Hercules"). Plutarch telts m
.i-^ n.^i. = ,....., (jiculaied the heig' -''■-'■
. in Greece. A Slad
that Pythagoras ingeniously calculated the height of Hercules by comparing
^i._ 1.. _.t _j- ! .. 1. — . . . . ... .j^ hundred feet in
er, as the stadium of Olympia is longer than an ordinary stadium,
It of Hercules was longer than an ordinary foot ; and as the foot
bears a certain ratio to Ihe height, so Ihe height of Hercules can be easily
ascertained.
mlgbt aa well biLVe bid, "FTT>m a peck of app1« you may iudgeof Ibe bArreU" " Ex pede,"
wbe lure I Read, butead, " Ex ungue mmuni diflitS pedla Bcrculeoi, ejuaQue paLrem, ma-
mi, avoe ct proavoa, 6lioa, neptxea el pnmepolea !" Talk ro me about your &bt aov rrv \
Tell at about Curiar't gelling up a megathetium from a loolh, or AgiHii't dmring a par-
nail of la Dodluaveied liah from a tingle acale I Ai the " O" revealed Giotto,— •■ tbe one
weed " moi" nvcaled Ihe Siialliini-aiu-Boire-taiighl Anglaii,— lo all a nun'i aniecedenu
and poadblliiki ait lummed up <n a lingle utlerance which givca at ouce the gauge ol hii
•^(xtiniaildhliaMlllaloigaiiliatian.— HoLHCS; Aulaeratiff Iki BrtaJt/kll-TaUl.dl.l.
30
.Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
a of Nrw York State, which Is hence
And JruB lb« iky lereDe upd far
lAngfellow's use of lh« word as an interjection or an imperative is not war-
ranted t^ the genius of (he Latin language.
Bxoaptloii proTea the role. In this proverbial saying the word prove
tnajf be used in its ancient sense of test. Thus, SL Paul says, " Prove all
thiiies," etc., which means that we should lest alt things, so as to know which
good ones to " hold fast" to. An eiceplion cannot prove a rule in the modern
sense, it lends rather lo render it invalid ; but an exception may Ust a rule, and
in some cases prove it to be wrong, whilst in others the lest may show that
the so-called exception may be eipTaiiied. The alternative explanation, that
the very word exception implies there is a rule, so that the word prove means
proves the existence of, is ingenious, but hardly so satisfying as the other.
The French say, " Qui s'excuse, s'accuse" {" Who excu.ies
self, accuses himself"), — a proverb which may \x found as far back ai
"Trisor des Sentences," by Gabriel Meuricr (l530-:6oi).
Bxpwlesoe keepi a daar boIiooI, but foola 'ktUI leani In no other.
This proverb, which in its English dress is taken from Franklin's " Poor
Richard's Almanack" for 1743, can boasi of a hoaij antiquity. It is found in
Livy, in pretty nearly the form in which Franklin has It : " Slultorum eventus
magister est" (" Experience is the teacher of fools"). A shorter Latin prov-
erb ran, "Experientia docet" {" Experience leaches"), and Pliny speaks of
" the excellent school -master experience" (Epiillis, I., xx. iz|. " Credile ex-
rrto" (" Believe one who has had experience"), says Virgil (iSmid, Book xi.,
2S3), in an oft-quoled phrase, though in quotation a slight change is usually
made lo " Experto crede." Another well-worn proverb of the ancients was
" Happy he who is made wary by others' perils, which is more neatly para-
phrased in modern proverbial literature as " Wise men learn by others' harms,
fools bytheit own."
The saying of Publius Syrus, " Unfairly does he blame Neptune who suffers
shipwreck a second time,' has numerous modem analogues. An excellent
one is the English "Wit once boughi is worth twice taught," and all that
cycle which in English is represented by " A burnt child fears the fire" (y. v.),
and by this line of Shakespeare :
Other proverbs relating to the same subject are :
He thM irilt not be nilcd by Ih> rudder mutl <k mlcd by ihe mA.—Camith.
Old blrdi IK DM 10 be caught irilh <MtS.-EMilUk.
Bough! wit i« bcM.
The French have a humorous equivalent for the latter proverii, growing oat
of the following story. A young rustic lold his priest at confession that he
had broken down a neighbor's hedge 10 gel at a blackbird's nesL The
priest asked if he had taken away the young birds. ■' No," said he ; " Ihey
were hardly grown enough. 1 wilt let them alone until Saturday evening."
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 3SI
No more was said on Ihe subject ; but when Saturday evening came the young
Tellow found the neal empty, and readily guessed who it was that had fore-
stalled him. The next time he went to confession he had to tell something in
which a young girl was |>artly concerned. " Oh !" said his ghostly bther ;
"how old is sheT" "Seventeen." "Good-looking f "The prettiest gitl in
the village." "What is her name ^ Where does she live?'' the confessor
hastily inquired ; and then he got for an answer the phrase which has passed
into a proverb, " A d'autres, d<!ni<Jieur de merles 1" which may be para-
phrased, " Try that upon somebody else, Mr. filcher of blackbirds.
Exbanuw meet, a proverb found in all languages. Coleridge rightly
says that to collect and explain all the instances and exemplifications of its
"would constitute and exhaust all philosophy." The saying ci
germ thought of innumerable famous sayings m proverbial and general liter-
ature. " From Ihe sublime to the ridiculous," " In the midst of life we are
in death,'' "Great wits are sure to madness near allied." "The darkest hour
is just before the dawn," " When unadorned, adorned the most," " Discord a
harmony not understood," " Pleasure- patn," " Bitter-sweet," " Too far east is
west," — what are all these, save different renderings of the same thought?
Here are a few more instances, selected almost at random :
Tout bM.
RoUSSIAU.
Then'i Imi Ifac twinUiDg of ■ Mu
Between* pum of peace uid war;
A huffioK officer an'd ■ ileve
A greai philonj^wr and blockhead.
;i:,vG00gk'
35» HANDY-BOOK OF
A fonvuU preacher Ajid ■ ^ycr.
At wind in ih' hypocandriea pent
ftui IT ii upwiurdt chucF id fly.
ma new t ui P^P^^-_ ff^^^
But enough of this. Once started, quotations are inierminable. Indeed, it
mi^hl be said that all wisdom and all wit consist in the meeting of extremes,
— in the real reconciliation of apparent irreconcilables, which is wisdom, and
in the apparent reconciliation oi real irreconcilables, which is wit.
jecture. Some would derive it from the Welsh al mi Any, " it is very ledioi
Olheis, looking upon " All my eye and Betty Martin" as the original phiaae,
consider it a coituption of " Ah mihi beate Martini <" {" Ah ! [eTantl me,
blesBCd Martin I") " Jo« MiUer" is cited in evidence. That authority tells the
story of a sailor, who, having been attracted by the music into a Catholic
church, was subsequently asked hoir he liked the service. He replied that
he supposed it was all very fine, but he had not understotxl any of it except
something about " all my eye and Betiv Martin." Unfortunately, there is no
such Latin formulary in the Catholic Church. Still another story, having all
the marks of an invention after the fact, affirms that Betty Martin, a gypsy
woman in Shrew^Miry, gave a black eye to a constable, who was chaffed
accordingly. In truth, there seems little mystery about the origin of the
phrase "all my eye," It is h ' " "" — ' — '"" ' -■-- ' — •^-- '■■-
II my eye." It is but a humorous extension of the locution "
nave in one's eye," — i.e., to have in mind, to have in contemplation. All m
one's eye, therefore, meant that it was all in the mind and would never take
form in action; that it was seeming, — apparent, but not real. The French
have an analc^ous phrase. " Mon ceil." accompanied by a knowing wink and a
significant gesture as an invitation to inspect the organ. But when, where,
or why the name " Betty Martin" was added to the phrase is an insoluble
mystery.
The witty allu^DEU or two fAmoiu men to thli ilans phnj* nay be added lo the nnent
accDuni nf It. The Ii™ it in two llqa from a boHeique on the ^o»inua o( Fichte'a philoa^
The Diher ia Mkiaulay'B rtply, reponed by L4dy Chaciftion to Rogers, wtien uked whju h<
tbouAht of Hurlel Martinemu ■ meameric cum : " Oh ] it's all my eye KDd Hetty Maitibcau.'*
—Atrntritan Nutn and Qiiriii. iii. 131.
Tbe Icndomcu of spring ia all my eye.
Add thai b blif hted.
HooB:S»rnv.
I've Inu ODe eye, bu lhet*i a lost it' a eaay 10 aupply
Out 0' lb* (lory Ibet I've pil, fer tbet ii all my eye :
An' one iabig enouEh, 1 euch. by diligently uain ii.
To aee all I dall tier ritV way o' pay for lown' U.
LowiLL ; B^ierv Pafrrt, lirat aeriea, viil.
Bta To a«« vrith half an a]r& This expression is found in Jerem*
Tavlor, "But ha» an eye may see the different accounts" (vol. ix. p. 3S6,
Edin. ed.), and a still earlier use has been pointed out in Hugo van Linscho-
ten's " Discoiirs of Voyages into ye Easte and West Indies" ([598) : "There
is much counterfeit money abroad, which is hard to be knowne from the good,
were it not for these Karaffot, which can discern it with half an eye." (Ed.
1864. page 190.)
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
F, the sixth letter and fourth consonanl in (he English, u in the Latin and
the Phcenician and even in the early Greek alphabet, whence the Latin was
derired from the Phccnician. But in the later Greek alphabet as we know it
the letter has gone out of use. The Phoenician character had the name vav or
fomo (a "peg" or " hook"), and its form was an adaptation of the hieroglyphic
picture of the cerastes, or horned Egyptian asp, its value being approximately
that of the English v>. As this sound gradually went out of use in Greek,
the svmbol known as ihe digamma, or double gamma, followed iL In the
alphabet adapted to Lalin use, our modemy sound was given to it, the w
being written with the same character as Ihe u. The/ sound in Greek was
conveyed by the symbol #, and in words derived from the Greek the English
spelling usually suljstitutes ph ita/, as in philosophy, etc
Face. All 1117 bod; la Eaoa. It is often asserted that a Greek philos'
opher made this answer to one who marvelled at his going naked or scantily
clad in inclement weather. But the phrase, in fact, was invented by Montaigne.
"1 know not," he says, in his " Essay on the Custom of Wearing Clothes, "I
know nut who would ask a beggar whom he should see in bis shirt in the
depth of winter, as brisk and frolic as he who goes muffled up to the ears in
foTs, how he is able to endure to go ao. * Why, sir,' he might answer, 'you
go with your face bare, and I am all ^e.* " The beggar, it will be seen, is a
purely imaginary being. But the world loves a concrete personality on whom
to &tner famous sayings. So early as the lime of Fuller the imaginary being
had become a [ealini : "The beggar who being demanded how he could go
naked, returned, 'All my body is lace.' " {WortAiei: BeriiAire, \i. ii, published
in i66z.) The transition to the more august and authoritative " Greek philos-
opher" it only in the natural order of things.
D really had a (ace card
FInt pyck a qiuml ajid fall out with him dini,
The ori^nal signification of the phrase being lost, its apparent c<
with bee in Ihe modern sense of cheek slightly extended and modified its
■Deaning, though with no damage to its integrity :
E thai had Cue enough lo do ths de«d
CuiDDt w,,Qi tongue to apeak U.
MiDDLnoH : AFmir Qmtrrtl, 1617.
FmH> the Mtulo, a proverbial phrase probably derived from the stage,
where it is used by actor* in the greenroom when preparing to go on the
boards to literally face the music Another explanation traces it to militia-
musler, where every man is expected to appear fully equipped and armed,
when in rank and file, facing Ihe music
Jr 30"
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354 HANDY-BOOK OF
Faces, A ■»« of liptam«d. Webster made use of ihis figure of tpeedi,
in Kaiieuil Hall, September 30, 184a, beginning an address wilh the Words,
■' In Ihis sea of upturned faces there is something which excilea me strangely,
deeply, belbre I even begin to speak." The figure was no doubt quoted ftoin
" Rob Koy," in which the identical collocation of words occurs :
ilh equally bad &ucceu, (o s« if, hdhkib ihc lea of uplufncd
-■-—'-■ c, 1 could cOKover Iht »ttt and
a-VHx physiapKiiiiy >A Q-na.^Riih Roy,
drawn by
... . H awful Form I
Hymnintki VaU ^Oamtiaii.
And possibly the orator may have had the figure in mind, and felt its force,
in the silence that preceded his speech. The upturned (ace and rooted atten-
tion are associated in the lines of Moore ;
^rmolloii WOT iluu'^inuu chilnH
With f(« uplunicd— K uUI rrmaised.
LnBti^OuAKftlneirUAtlfriSiliry.
FaoUe prinoepa (Lat./nii/u, " tisy" printef!, "prince, chief"), easily the
first, acknowledged chieF.
noog the Engliah
Chapman speaks of one of his princely Greek heroes thus :
So fidlie be bore
Hit royall penoa,
Iliad.j^a'i.
But this has nothing to do wilh the case.
A.1K
•pptoKhtd the eixranc
etolhatdwoflDftmy
Id r«olled e.tll
J.r.c. of uking *el«r
pice llkckei.'
■Id, while
nd broken itair*
mipdtd
hlmof ihe/w/Vij,yr>fri
ledl
^hlfUl wh.
brave the wont which c
ould befa
II h ID in the D
i evadt
ng hinueir 10 thoK H
1 proBicacy
,-Scon; 7**
i«/'A'«fr;,ch.).»i,
lliul he will ineviubly cnnnnil
.«
Hi. downUl,
10, will
itolbemareprcclpil^le
Ihu awt
ell 10 ulk •
iboul IheybciZii
..lTvr»','bulln>l]U.
idi or clb
"■r^i^rtiin.
lof liDgiDa
uylog
..-Poa:
Id Ltlltr
Facings, To pnt one UtrooEh hi*, a popular colloquialiim, meaning to
call to account, to ocold, or to make some one show off his accomplishment*.
In the latter sense is apparent the military derivation of the phrase originally
applied to the regular drill, — " Face 1" " Right about face," etc.
F. EouiTOHi If m^ wi/i wiaU Mm*.
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 3SS
Factotum, from the ^mSw factrt, "lo do," and fiVm, neuter toftiiH, "all,"
" the whole ;" meaning one who does all or every kind of ivork for another.
7>>.— An ihou Ihc Damltiiu r
//«/.— Factodim hen. air.
Lnd Foulis, in his " History of the Plots of our Pretended Saints." second
I fnclotum. fail dlltribuKr of proviiloniT-
e has become famous in its applici
itions of Greene and his friends, in tlieir totality, form one of
of literature. After having referred, in a general way, lo the
subterfuge practised by
tbeolo^cal po«u, which for thdr (rkvUy imd calling, bcinc loalh lo htve profane pam<
Thin ii the HI nude proud 1^ Uiii underhand brokcry, and fac tliat rannoi wriie tine Eu-
lUh, without the heJp trfcleiha of pariah churches, will nuke himself (he father of intcriuda : *
{FarmttHa Folfy, iDlrodnaionf,—
and after having protnired his friend Nashe lo write an " Epistle" to his
"Menaphun." in which occur references to a "sorry ballei-aaket, passing
good at a moral," one ** who could not write true English" without the aid of
nie "sexlon of SL Giles beyond Ciipplegale," and innuendoes conceining
tricked up a company of laHMy foolt with their frsthen." and in which he uyi, " ll i> ■
common practice Dowadaya aiDDa^st a mtn of ■hifting companioni, thai run ihrough every
an and thrive by none. 10 leave the trade of 4ffitfrrJ>f/ whereio tbey were bom, andbuay them-
iT ihty «hauld havt need, . . . out-brave better peua with the iwelLing bombaat of blarjc
Greene finally, in his "Groat's Worth of Wit," which he finished on hU
dealh -bed, made Ihc well-known allusion lo " ihe upstarte cr'iwe," "beauti-
fied with OUT fealhers," who thinks himself as well able to " bombast oul a
blank-vcrac as the best of you, and being a veritable Johannes Factotum, is,
in his own conceit, the onlte Shake-scene in a countrie."
Fkots aT« utubborii things. The phrase occurs in Le Sage's "Git
Bias," Book x., chap. i. (Smollett's translation), but was used earlier than by
Smollett, ifiiiisitna verba, in Elliott's "Essay on Field Husbandry" (1747).
Il expresses the general, if not universal, conviclion of the incoiilrovertibility
of the evidence of the senses, of the truths of actual experience, — in short, of
fects, — and the phrase, or analogous ones, as " fads won't lie," or its variant,
expressive of the unassailability of mathematical certainty, viz., Ihe colloquial-
ism "figures won't lie," have become proverbial,
Il is possible ihat Lc S^c in his phrase may have had a faint adumbration
of the Italian proverb. " Fatii maschi, parole femine" (literally, " Facts or
deeds are masculine, words feminine," bul in application meanmg " Actions
are becoming lo a man. a woman has words"). The full text of the Italian
proverb is, "Le parole son lemine e i btii son maschi," which is so much
the worse for the facts, for notwithstanding their masculinity, or perhaps
because of il, not withe landing their apparent stubborn rigidity, facts have the
mulabilily which appertains to all things mundane ; Ihus, —
Time diaaipMea to abioiag ether the lolid angularity of facu.^EHinsoH : Eaayt. Firat
Sei^ei: HiilsTf,
The words " Faiti maschi, parole lemine," which were Ihe moilo of Lord
3S6 HANDY-BOOK OF
Baltimore, (he founder of the colony, have been adopted at the motto in the
seal of ihe State of Maryland.
Faota, So mnob the wora« for tlia. This expression is attributed to
Voltaire. Somelhiiig very like it, however, is to be lound in the brochure of
U oyer -C oil ird against Ihe opinions of the Jansenists of Port-Royal on Grace,
lie says, " lis out les lexles pour eux, mais j'en suis f3chf pour lea teites"
("The teils are with Ihem, but I am sorry for Ihe texts"). The stubbornness
of facts, Ihe quality of refusing lo yield, or to he brushed aaide without
ceremony, is a characteristic vhich is generic, being common to facts of all
kinds. With this general correspondence, however, goes, on the olher hand,
the greatest diversity, and we have " plain facts," " dry lacts," and facta which
ate "cold," "bald," etc But "General texts prove nothing." (StU>BN :
TaUfTali: Prayer.)
Fagot-Tote, in English political slang, a Vote given by an elector who hu
qualiAed more or less fraudulenllv, as by the purchase of properly under
mortgage, etc, probably derived nom the milita ' '
soldiers or sailors, hired lo appear at muster and
companies or crews.
Why. genllemen. quite apart Inm May fjuaiioD of prJDciplB, Etoihing. 1 venture to ny, can
bcu gn^y impmdnt u that which » familiarly known in homely but duhi accmate phrnH
althemaniifaciuieoffagot-voies.— GL-tliSTiJKa:>>>j(AB<fl*(*wiil.^«*,No»tBlberj5,iB;9,
FBgots and fagota, There be. This form of exitression, of comparing
things and things, is a very common colloquialism, which has thousands o?
variations, e.g., there are books and books, honors and honors, dinners
and dinners, etc., ad liialnm. This particular phrase originated with Mo-
liire, in his " M<fdecin malgr^ Lui," Act i., Sc 6, and is used by the wood-
cutler Sganarelle. who refuses to sell his wood al a lower price, sayitig it were
quite possible that wood might be bought for less, but " il y a fagots el fagols:"
A story is told of Madame de Slai^l. With great persistency she urged a
lady in mourning, a daughter of M. de Guichen. lieutenant -general of marines,
lo take part in a dance, until at last the lady was obliged lo appeal lo her lo
desist "Consider, madame." she said, "if you had the misfortune to lose
your father, could you think of dancing so soon *" " Oh," haughtily retorted
the de Stael, "there is such a difference between Others and fathers;" lo
which the olher, "True, madame; mj father served his king and country
during sixty years ; yours in a fortnight ruined both."
FnUingB leaned to vlrttia'a aide. The amiaUe weaknesses of the
country vicar, in Goldsmith's " " Deseried Village," are thus described :
Careleu their merila or their fauha to kbd,
Hii ptty ^ve trt chanty b^u.
Thoa to Telieve the wretched waa hit pride.
And e'cti h>> failingi luned lo timie'i ilde.
Goldsmith, again, has a similar descriptive bit in his play of "The Good-
Nalured Man," Act i. : "All his faults are such ihal one loves him slitl the
belter for them."
The very words ■
g with Fielding in "Tom Jones," Book x. chap, viii., and later endorsed
ery words we have used above. — " amiable weaknesses," — words oiigi-
:ing with Fielding in "Tom Jones," Book x. chap, viii., and later end( ~ '
by Gibbon and Sheridan, may have been suggested by this line. That vi
on the olher hand, through its uncompromising austerity, may lean towards
the side of wrong, was recogniied by Addison in the line, —
CuTH all hi> Ttnuea I they've nndoae hit coualry,— CUi', Ao iv.. Sc. 4.
and was epigram matically glanced at by Disraeli in his well-known character-
iiation of Gladstone, " He Das not a single redeeming defect," which is better
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
, , " A better and mo. . _ ^ _ ._ . _,___r
Addi»on. ir he had not had Ihat little weakness for wine — why, we could
scarcely have fuund a fault with him, and could not have liked him as we do,"
{EitgiM Humffristi : Coitgrei/t and Adduen.) Far different was the meaning
iif that stern moralial, itossuel, when in his sermon on the death of Anne de
Uontaga de Cleves, Princess Palatine, in 16S4, he said, "The princess had
all the virtues with which hell is filled." [See Hbu.)
Pope, in his " Essay on Criticism," Pail ii., has the lines,—
Wboevs ibioki ■ hultloi |d*ce to kc,
Thioks whu ne'er wu, nor », aor *'s ihiU b«,
which are partly imitated from Sir John Suckling, in the epilogue to "The
Goblins," —
ThiiiEi Uul HIV nn, Dor w, nor e'er nlll be,—
partly ftom Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in his " Essay on Poetry :"
Therc'i na luch tlUng Id Natbn ; and vdu'U drt w
A fiulilcH rnDDUa- which Ihe wartd nc^er uw,
Carlyle Taries the phrase : '■ The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be con-
scious of none." {Mrroa and Hfra- Worship: The Hm as a Prephrl.)
Sit Robert Peel, speaking of Lord Eldon, remarked Ihat "e'en his failings
leaned to virtue's side ;" upon which it was observed that his lordship's fail-
ings resembled the leaning tower of Pisa, which, in spite of its long inclination,
had never yet gont avtr.
Faint haait iWTer iron fair lady, a proverb that may be found in
most modern languages. Cervantes quotes it in " Don (Quixote," Part ii.,
ch, K. The Frencn anali^ue is " Ja couard n'aura belle amie." In " Britain's
Ida" (aiiribuied to Spenser, and printed in his works). Canto v., stanza t,
the second line is, —
Ab, Fool r bial ban Giir Udy ue'er conlil win.
An earlier use — the earliest yet traced in English literature — occurs in
GeoT^e Whetstone's " Rock of Regarde," Part it (1576) ;
Hh Hleat nu uUI (uOa* wrung, ihe provctbc old doth iny,
And when ulvsituR wum, the wuhiDg wi^hi no Ihrtvc*,
Fahii hwT, h4th beea a commoo pbrjkK, fure lady never wlvet.
Doubtless Dijden had this "common phrase" in mind when, in " Alexander's
Feast," he wrote,—
None but (bt bnve deKrve the hit.
The old Latin proverb " Fortes forluna adjuvat" is probably the germ.
Fair. If staa b« not fair to ma. So the popular voice usually misquotes
Ihe first line of the couplet
lr>faebeii«»tc>«e,
Whu cut 1 boB fkb the be t
GiaitaBWtTHu; Tht SktfhtriTi Xtnlaluii.
Wither has here imitated Sir Walter Raleigh,—
Whu cue I Ihiw rnjt'ihe bet
Wbu an 1 hnw chute .lie ^I-
and in turn has been imitated by Sheridan :
Coogk"
HANDY-SOOfC OF
-« philosophic :
.J0U7
iver Dee;
1 uid UQg from mofD to aight,-^
)C burden of bit fong
Fame. No lines are more quoted ihan ihese from Milton's " Lycidas :"
Fimt i> Ibe ipur ihmt the clear Ipirll d«h niK
(That lutlDfirmhvDf noble mind)
TuKOTD deligbU, and lire labonoui day!;
but the fair pjerdoD wbeo we hope to find.
id Fury wldk ib' abhorrld ihcai
'" ""* '"° ""'°' M^iitk. An 1 , Sc. ,,
And (he same association of ideas is found in Bacon :
TonlitaKildietwilbauiambitioDlitopulloff hit ipun.— £^»r> .- O/AmUttait.
But " the moat inexplicable coincidence in the whole range of literature," so
sa)|s Mr. Swinburne, is that between [he first two lines of our Miltonic quo-
tation and these lines in the tragedy of "Sir John van Olden Bamevelt,"
written fifteen years eailier (in i6z3):
Read but o'er the Horia
Of meo mo« ^m«d for co^inge and for counaet.
And VDU ihall And that the dedre for |ii>ry
(Tbat lot infinnity of noble mind*)
Waa the laal fiailly wiae nen e'er put o«.
" May there not possibly," asks Mr. Swinburne, " be some Italian original,
as yet undiscovered, of the famous line, which must have struck every reader
of the passage above cited vrith instant and astonished recognition }" But
■urely the original of the famous line is in Tacitus :
Erauqulbiu appelentior famz videretur, quaodo etiam aapieniibiu cupldo florliD aovia-
lima FiLuilur('-SDinc might contider him aa too fond of fune, for tbe deaire of^ory dinfe even
to the ben of men longer thaa ally other pauion"). — Hittoria, iv. 6.
In Moinaigne is the same sentiment, more diffusely expressed, buttressed
by a quotation from Augustine ;
and nor* unwillingly clear ibemadvet of tbJa [ihint for fame] than of another. It ii ibt moat
pcevith, ttic moat iroward. and the most obatinale of all inlirmiiiet. " Quia tli^m Jiwjtr*-
D' Israeli has pointed oi
■s Pope had in mind a single idea of Bullet
_j .i !_j j,n;^jfy_ Butler »»y»,—
Coogif
LITERAKY CURIOSITIES. 359
And cvinot Ik cxiended Tram
The Icgll leiUDl.
A'l.rf*™!, P«ti..ch. iH.
The same Ihouglil may be (bund in Sir George Mackenzie's " Esiay on Pre-
leiring Solitude \o Public Empluymenl," firsl published in 1665 : Hudibras
preceded it by Iwo yeara.
Fame H ■ revenue payable Dpty lo our ^teMli \ aDd ra deny oundvea all present saUaTac-
liop.or (OCJipoMOUriclves lotopiiich haxard for tbia, were aignat madneaa ai 10 atarve our-
■elvea or fight deHperalely for focd 10 be laid an our Iamb* aTier OUT death.
And this in turn may have suggested to Southey the jest that poets might be
able to live on posthumous fame, but not on poslhuoious bread and cheese.
Ill this connection it is interesting lo contrast the attitudes assumed by poets,
satirists, and philosophers towards this master pa^ion :
VVBM ihall 1 do 10 be forever known,
COWLBV ; Ttu MMlo,
s;:;
eep where F.
T^-Sil
s;,:e?"i.
fc
5^9Hi
i^™«uop!il^."a]l'°'
Jtct^; To Iki Ki^ral AcaJtmici
And tboie who fear
lOiu are fond
of fame.
Uanuihame.
.; Jlit AMlJur.l. ,,
Low.
■nUdoa ud die thir.t of p
'niu■ralt.^. s»'.
Wh«i
i.d..endof
fa™r 'Tial
mttofiU
fiulver, u indu ,,._..
lendwfaothae'iI™'tiini.^— KJbiik>ti°: £v^* 3"™/*.'°°
Famlliuity breads contempt. The Latin prov
COnlem[>tum parit," which seems to have been the dir(
and its congeners, may be found in the " Adagia" of E
quotes in corroboration a sentence from Plutarch that rencies iook care noi:
lo make his person cheap among the people, and appeared among them only
at proper intervals. " He considered that the freedom of entertainments
lakes away all dislinclion of office, and that dignity is little consistent with
familiarity." Plutarch himself frequently moralizes on this theme, and
declares thai "Novelty causes the imagination to add much to objects of ter-
ror, while things really terrible lose their effect by familiarity." In the first
book of Martial's epigrams, nimilwr 1 13 is as follows :
Vou'll'Dnly Pnt^at be, no^ you've riniliar irown.
Long before, however, the same moral had been enforced by Miop in hJa
apol(«ue of the Foa and the Lion, and it is found in various forms in the
Old Testament. Thus, in Proverbs the visitor too abundantly supplied with
the gift of continuance is admonished by the wise man, " Let thy foot be
seldom in thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary of thee and hate Ihee 1" and
in the Apocrypha, the son of Sirach says, " If thou be invited of a mighty
man, withdraw thyself, and so much the more will he invite thee." The
"Omne ignotum pro magnifico" of Tacitus (" Everything unknown is taken to
360 HANDY-BOOK OF
be magnificent," Agritola, 30) gives the convcTse of ihe proposition, and the
moral of a wise reserve and reticence even among the best of friends is well
pointed by the French epigram, " Le secret d'ennuyer, c'esi dc tout dire"
("The secret of being a bore is to tell everything"). And, above alt, undue
liberties should be resented. For this is a cowardly world, alternately pol-
troon and bully, and, while withdrawal into the darkness awes the poltroon, a
loo open courting of the sunlight gives a vantage-point to the bully in coward
Th«
Anc
Dua thmt bull you Totn or Jick
)rov«, b^ Ihunf^ng do your back,
Ib™end7t^i^h«i uUd
™ " '°Co«™ : On Prin^k^
oldboy'orbymy
D join felJowihip u brother Ijwniy
Chti«i«<tKIBe.-T»ACK«RA»^ 7*.
ne* wbkh nun be dnwn ; uid 1 an
■iwH conMclioo with Inleti k thnnwh
•teemed coDtributor to the Kmiul Mil
ma, lUp me on Ihe bock, and call n
yireinioMi, vol. ■„ chap. Uiii.
Master Slender's use of the term is in the true Dogberry vein :
If there bt do erut love in ihe beglnniDC, yet heaven may decRue ll upon beiltr ao
....: L ._..-jv -,ca>ioii to know one another: I hope, upon
AM : Tti Mtny Wim rf tVind^cr. Ad
ftr amtroy no greater compliment could be paid to a woman than Antony
pays 10 Cleopatra :
Age cannot wither her, nor ciutom itale
Her fnfinite vulfeiy.
S»aKiiriAaa: Aninjiand CUiifttTa, Ka^,,SK.t,
Fancy. 'Wtaera ia fanay brad 7 In the " Merchant of Venice," Act iii.,
Sc 3, Ihe following is sung behind the scenes :
Tell me where b Fancy bred.
Or In Ihe heart, or in ifae head!
Ho* begot, how nouriibcdt
It ll eDEenderedin tll>
Wlibgai - ■
There is a curious parallelism between this song and a passage in Lyiy'i
" Euphues :" " For as by basill the scorpion is engendered, and by means of
the same herb is destroyed : so love which by time and fancie is bied in an
idle head, is b^ time and fancie banished from ihe heart % or, as Ihe salaman-
der, which being a Ions space nourished in the fire, at the last quencheth it,
so afiection having taken hold of Ihe fancie, and living, as it were, in Ihe
minde of the lover, in tract of tyme allereth and changeth the heale, and
tumeth il to chilnesse."
Faae or Pbaae, used as a verb, — e.g., " It never fased him," — an Ameri-
canism, is probably a survival of the old English verb pheeze, pheese, or
phase, which Shakespeare has put into the mouth of Christopher Sly in the
first line of "The Taming of the Shrew,"—
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 361
and which h« uses also in " Troilus and Cressida :"
An he be proud with me, I'U pheeH hU pride.
Halliwell says it is a Wcsimoreland expression, meaning to beat, to chastise,
to huiitble. Sclimidl eiplains it as " probably > verb signi^ng any kind of teas-
ine and annoying." GilTord says 11 is still used in the same sense in the west
01 England. And J. Crosby informs us ihat in "the north of England thn
have a word pronounced phaze, meaning (o make an impression upon, to stir
up, to arouse ; as in * I called the man a scoundrel, but it never phazed
him.'" This, it will l)e seen, is exactly the American expression, which is
used only in the iiegalive form.
A teacher in VanderMIt (Jpiveniiy, ipeaVlag recemly of a teacher Id Kennckv, hM.
' Nothing ht« him."— 7>a>u. Amtr. PklM^. Aim., ivil. 39.
ViLuiu: Tkt Ouimat {ifAiy
Faat uid looa«, tiie name, in Shakespeare's time, of the cheating game or
Irick, now known a.1 " pricking (he garter" or prick at the loop, practised upon
the innocents at fairs and races by gypsies and sharpers. A narrow belt or
strap is doubled and rolled up, and, with the double or loop in the centre, is
laid on its edge on a board. The dupe is induced to bel tnaC he can put a
skewer into the loop while the strap is being unrolled, but by a little dexterity
the sharper can draw it out in such a way as to make this impossible. Hence
"to play fast and loose" has come to mean, lo be unreliable, and is applied lo
a person who says one thing and does another :
Betrayed I un:
O Ihb <>]k uoI of Egypl I Ihb enTC chum,—
Like a nghl £yp«y, halh, at fui and loDie,
Beguiled me la <he very heart t>S Idh.
Anieny M*d On^nfn, Act iv., Sc ».
To kU a bargain >cll <• u CDDnlng a> bii and looae.
Lnt'i UAor-i Lotl, Act iU., Sc i.
Faat biod, fast find, a proverb of great antiquity, on which Shakespeare
has bestowed this encomium ;
Fail bind. Out And ;
A proverb never HBJe in thrifty mind.
Mmiant ^ Vtmci, Act 11. , Sc. %.
Twt. All the fota In th« fire. Fat is a cant word for money, luck, or
other good thing. Thus, in theatrical slang it designates a part with telling
lines and situations, one in which the actor can show off 10 good advantage ;
among printers it is applied (o blank spaces in composition, or, more techni-
cally, leaded matter which is paid for at the same rate as solid ; and with the
general public a fat thing means something very profitable. Hence a num-
ber of derivative phrases, as to cut it fat, ^ to show oS, to exhibit one's self in
gorgeous costume, lo cut up fat, ^ lo leave a large estate, etc. Peremtra," M\
the fal's in the fire" means it's all over, it's all up, down on one's luck, etc.
The proverb is an old one, and may be found in Heywood.
I don't want to rob Miu (Jlaremont of her tat, but her pan mDlI be CDI down,— 7II<
Ri/trt,, April IS. rSN.
Printed in larga type, with c^nty oT what the unplcvsant pliulera call lat, meaalbg ll>*rt-
by blank ipacei, upon thick paper.— Holuis : Guardian Attfl. ch. iiiv.
Genileudi, in alaming wai«Icoatt and neel waichguardi, promeuadbiH about, three abrtmi,
uneoimnon fat I— &CKai<3 ^ SiiUlui ij Ba.
llie old banker died in courae of time, and, to uh ttie affeciionale phraae common 00 auch
Kcaaiona, cut up prodigiaualy well.— Til acK HUT : Bunk •>/ Snoii, ch. vii.
Q 3»
i6i HANDY-BOOK OF
Fat friend. — " Alvanley, who's your fat Triend V Thia is the well-known
snub administered by Deau Brummel to his whilom bosom-lricnd the Prince
Kegent when upon meeting him rai:e to face in company after their ruptare
the Prince seemingly failed to recognize the Beau. The version here given,
]>rul>ably the true slury of the affair, lirst appeared in print only quite recenllr,
when the incident was recalled by the success of Mr. Richard Mansfield in
" lieau Brummel" at the Madison Square Theatre, New York. In the play
Hie scene is laid in Pall Mall, ll really occurred in the Argyle Rooms,
in Kegeni Street, which have since been pulled down. " Soon after Beau
Brummel had fallen under the royal displeasure, he. Lord Alvanley, the wit,
and some other members of the mi\^jine jUw ai London society, gave a
ball at these rooms. The Prince Regent was one of the guests. When his
royal highness arrived, the hosts went in a body to receive him at the doot.
He shook hands with ail except the Beau, of whom he took no notice. As
he was walking up the ball-room on Lord Alvanley'a arm, between two rows
of his future subjects, Brummel tapped Alvanley on the shoulder, and said, in
a luu<l voice, " Alvanley, who's your fat friend f" This is the authentic
story, as related by Beau Brummel himself, when he was living in poverty in
Caen, to the man who told it to the writer." — Bykon P. Stevenson, in
lUuttraltd Amiriian, 1S90.
Fate cannot harm me, I bave dined to-day. The concluding lines in
Sydney Smith's famous poetical Recipe for Salad [Memoir, p. 374) are, —
ScrcneJy full the epicun would uy,
FjUe cannol hmn mc, 1 have dined (o-djty.
The last line is probably a reminiscence of Horace :
lIlEpoteniHii
Dili™ vIST'Si'^Mi ™
Nube polum Paid- occaptta,
Vet lole puTD ; Don umen UTUum
QuodciUkqilc rdro ol efficict.
Carmhia, Ul. •».
The witty divine may have been more directly indebted to Dryden's imita-
tion of Horace, —
Happy the man, and happy he alane.
Me who on nil lo-<Uy Su own t
To-Diorrow do Iby woiii, for 1 £ave lived u-day,—
or to Cowley's, —
Fatlier of hla csovutrr (L. " Pater Pairii" or " Parens Patriae"), the title
originally devised for Marius by the Senate and Forum of Rome, in honor of
his victories, H.C. 1 03 -1, over the northern barbarians, but refused by him.
Subsequently Cicero accepted it when tendered him as a recognition of his
services in unmasking ihe conspiracy of Catiline. It was borne with less
reas<in by several of the Caesars, and was one of the titles of Andronicus
PalKologus, of Cosmo del Medici, of Frederick I., Emperor of Germany, and
of numerous others. In American history it has been applied with special
pertinence to George Washington. The similar title, Father of his People,
was worn by the kindly and generous Louis XII. of France, and by the ami-
able Christian III. of Denmark.
Aui lillei it bound maluaB
Dc K DOiqmcT leur p4r*.
BtiuHou: URmi'YvM.
Coogk"
LITER ARY CURIOSITIES.
Tbty named him Pa»r Paiiiz."
Rejnnlds, in hin eulogium, 1783, embalming the memaiy of G. M. Mozei,
Ihe Academidan, writes, " He may truly be said in aiirysttui to have been Ihe
fatlur of the present race of artists." This reminds one of Charles II., who,
when Ihey told him thai he was called " the father of his people," laughed, and
said that "he was indeed of a good many of them."
Favorite Uf. This humorous colloquialism, wiih its parallels, "favorite
com," etc, Is traceable to Beau Brummel. Being seen limping on Bund
Street, he explained that he had injured his leg, and, added he, " Ihe worst of
it is, it was my favorite leg."
Featber In bis oap. The origin of this phrase, as designating a distinc-
tion or achievement, was probably the custom in vogue among the Ibllowers
of woodcraft everywhere to wear a trophy of their prowess, generally a feather
(in the Tyrol it is the beard of the chamois), in their caps. In Scotland it Is
still customary for the sportsman who kills the first woodcock to pluck out a
feather and wear it in his cap.
Il hoih been an aDCicnl lauioiii among ttKm llut son* ihoulde wsr ■ Iclhtr but he who
— SiCHUD Mah'uiiii: DiKtifliim^^''HuneaX"m<, iw, LiudoirM MS., V^a\.
149, in iIk Briiiib Mukudi.
When the title of king was offered to Oliver Cromwell in 1658, and he
refused the offer, saying, " Royally is but a feather in a man's cap : let children
enjoy their rattle," he may have referred to another and less distinguishing
practice :
NuuF^ IdioIA and Foolt* haue and Hill do occunome ibenuelvet 10 weare En iheii cappei
codu' leathen, « a hat with a oecke and head of a cocke on Ibe lop, and a bdl (bervon.—
Featber, To aboir tb« irblte, to lose heart, to exhibit one's self as a
coward. The pure-breed game-cock has onl^ red and black feathers. A cross-
breed bird is known by a white feather in his tail. The slightest impurity of
strain is said to destroy Ihe bird's pluck : hence cocks who showed a white
feather were never trained for the pit. The common adage, " Any cock will
fight on its own dunghill," is frequently qualiSed by the addition that il must
be one without a while feather to fight in the pit.
Feathers. Tbzee feathera, enclosed in a coronet, with the motto lek
ditti {" I serve"), form the crest of the Prince of Wales. Crest and motto
are said to have belonged to the blind king of Bohemia whom the Black
Prince overcame at Cressy, and to have been first assumed by the Black
Prince. But the story has no historical basis. The triple plume, as well as
feathers of various numbers, seems, indeed to have come into particular use
in the time of Edward III., from 1J27 to 1377. But it was not unknown
before that time. Guillim states that " the ostrich's feathers in plume were
sometimes also the device of King Stephen, who gave them with this word,
'Vi nulla invert I tur ordo,' — ' No force alters tlielr fashion.' — alluding to the fold
and bit of the leather, which, however the wind may shake it, it cannot dis-
order it ; as likewise is the condition of kings and kingdoms well established."
He does not mention the number of feathers, so it is possible that the triple
plume is more distinctly connected with Edward III. But even at that time
It was not Ihe distinctive cognizance of Ihe Prince of Wales, being trarne by
364 HANDY-BOOK OF
uthera of the toyal family. Not till the reign of Henry VIL was the triple
plume within 3, coronet restricted to the eldest Son of the Soveteign.
Hut tlie three feathers seem lo be an ancient and wide-spread symbol. In
the Santa Casa at Loietto a marble sculgilure of three feathers arranged in
nearly the same position as those borne by the Prince of Wales is described
■3 the embltmt magnifiqae of Lorenzo dei Medici, father of l^o X. Sjt
Thomas Rue, who was sent on a mission to India by James I., describes the
plume of heron's lealheis worn by the Mogul emperors of Hindostan when
they look the field Tavernier, the French traveller, says a p)ume of three
heron's feathers was worn by the Ottoman Porte, explaining that it had a
military meaning and was a symbol of command. On taking the field the
Ottoman Porte gave one of the feathers to the grand vizier, who was ac-
knowledged by the whole army as their commander-in-chiet Nadir Shah,
who in the eighteenth century conquered Asia from Bagdad lo Delhi, wore
Ihtce black heron's feathers in his diadem. It is not impossible that the
three feathers belonging lo the Persian, the Mcwul, or the Turk may have
been borrowed from the Hrahminical worship and represent the three deities
of fire, air, and water. Accordins 10 Brahminical teaching, all the gods of
the universe were resolved into these Ihree concepllons, which in their lam
are symbolized in the mystic letters A.U.M., representing the three in one,
as the idea of one supreme spirit which is sometimes personified as Brahma,
sometimes as Vishnu, sometimes as Siva. Some authorities derive " Ith
dim" from Sanscrit words meaning not " 1 serve," but " I shine." But the
weight of aulhorily seems lo favor the derivation from the Anglo-Saxon " le
Man," meaning " I serve."
Peed a oold and starve a ferar, the epigrammatic form in which a bit
of old-wife medical lore has expressed itselt
Aoolher rriind unirrd mc ii »iu policy Id " Fctd a cold ud lurve s fever." I had bmh.
So I thDUghi ii be« id feed myulf up for ihe cold, uid then keep dvk and kl the fever Harve
■vhile. In 4 caM ai Ihij kind I iddDin do dtiogi by haJvei, I aie preltv beulUy. I cod-
fcmd my coalDjD upon a lEranger who had ju»I opened hi» reftUuranl iblt momiiw. He
wailed nev me in lUpecifll] tjlence uaiil ] lud HDlslied reeding my cold, wlisi lie ibquirvd if
the people alKHit Virzuiia were mucb afflicted with cold}. 1 told him 1 thought they ««n.
He then went «u and look in hii ligD.—MAnK Twain 1 Cliaici Worki.
Feet. How's yaax pt
salutation without any definite meaning. It was very popular in Kngla
Ihe early sixties, and »said to have originated at a performance of "The Pcad
Heart," when thai play was first brought ouL One of the characters says,
"My heart is dead, dead, dead," whereat a voice from the gallery shouted,
" And 'ow's your poor feet ?" which nearly brought Ihe play to a close.
FeUoiv-feallug. In a prologue which Garrick wrote and spoke on behalf
of the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund, before the play "The Wonder" was
acted, appeared the following lines :
Their cauAe I plead.— plead il in heart and mind ;
Ilia performance in "The Wonder" marked Garrick's last appearance on
the stage, Mondav June lo, 1776. Garrick may have had in mind Ihe
passage in Burton's *' Anatomy of Melancholy," " 1 would help others, out of
a fellow-feeling )" but this in its turn is a reminiscence of Virgil :
Nod ignan nuiii. miaeria nccurrere dJKO. — jEntid, Book i., L 630.
Fait. In bis " Urania," Holmes hat a clever pun upon this word :
Boon, gloTa, may fail ; tb< hat ii alwaya/rA.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY OURIOSITIES. 365
But he had be«n anticipated by the authors of the " Rejected Addresses" in
their imitation of Cfabbe :
The youth, vith joy unfeisped,
R^ftincd Ibe W(, uid ieJl wUI he RgaiDed ;
and they in their turn had been anticipated by Thomas Heywood in a
Givt°ow ymir EnglbTSuvw. '
Fanoe, On tlie, in Ameiican political siang, undecided, neutral ; eenetilly
used in a sarcastic sense and applied 10 those men of impartial minds who
wait to see, as another pretty phrase has it, " how the cat will jump." Arch-
deacon Trench, in his " English Past and Present," points out how singular
it is not only that the same idea is embodied in the Latin pnrvaritata, — viz.,
" straddling with distorted legs," — but also that the clasHca] phrase carries
with it the same Sgurative meaning.
A kind o" hsngin" 'roand an' miin' on Ihc ftoce.
Till Providence (unlcd how id jump »n' Ki™ the moil cipenM.
Lowill: Biflnw Papin,\i.
Fergnaon. Ita all very well, Mr. Fergnaon, bnt yon oaut lodg«
here. This was once a favorite phrase in England, and is slill remembered.
Thus, G. A. Sala, writing from Wellington, New Zealand, in 1886, to the
Lendim Telrgrafh, and describing "the chockablock plethora at the hotels"
and his dis^iniul repulse by Boniface after Boniface, recalls " that famous but
inscrutable utterance of the very first year of the Victorian Epoch," and aslu,
" Who was Ferguson, and where did he seek to lodge, and on what ground
was he denied shelter i I shall not descend contented to the tomb until I
have solved the mystery of Ferguson." A contributor to Nutii ami Queriet
came at once to Mr. Ijala's aid with the following story : " About the time to
which Mr. Sala alludes, the celebrated Marquis of Waletford was in full swing,
and had a friend, a Captain Ferguson. At the end of one of their sprees they
had become separated, and the marquis found his way home to the house (rf
his uncle, the Bishop or Archbishop of Armagh, a large mansion at the south
corner of Charles Street, St James's Square. The marquis had gone to bed,
when a thundering knock came to the door. The marquis, suspecting who
was the applicant, threw up the window and said, ' It's all very line, Mr.
Ferguson, but you don't lodge here.' For many years the saying became-
popular, and the particulars took a deep hold on my memory, which still re-
tains them."— AiKfer and Quiria, seventh series, i. 46.
F«atliia letite (" Make haste slowly"), from the Greek proverb Xvt^it
gpaiiuf, a phrase made famous by the Emperor Augustus, who was fond of
quoting it, as well as the analogous " Sat celerilcr fit quidquid fiat sails bene"
("That is done fast enough which is done well enough"). So Sir Amyas Paulet,
when he saw that too much haste was made in any matter, was wont to say,
" Stay awhile, that we may make an end the sooner" (Bacon ; Apolhigml) ;
and so Shakespeare, in " Romeo and Juliet :" " Wisely and slow ; they stum-
ble thai run fast." A similar moral is conveyed by £son's fable of the
Hare and the Tortoise, and by all that cvcle of proverbial expressions
whereof the most familiar are the English " The more haste the less speed,"
"The race is not always to the swift," " Rome was not built in a day," etc.
The same Kt of proverbial wisdom has found a voice in the oft -quoted Ger-
man " Eile mit Weile," and, with Spartan brevity and considerable fidelity to
the original " Festina lenle," in the colloquial Americanism " Go slow."
sdu IcDM, eUe mil W^k, wu'lhe muim byVhich he wu «•-
3i»
Sb lohD Lai
366 HANDY-BOOK OF
pDIcdlalcl. , . . But inipUeof ihlllnuiin, or rather perhapi DW<DE lo It.a vutUlidewu
trade erni in the OHUirucIian Dl nllwayi during his adminiitraiian.— H. Bo&worth Suith:
i.'/'i!fLiniLawrtHct,',a\ ii.. ch. .U.
Ttm die, and none TSsign, 1 pithy summary of a phrase which origi-
nated Kilh Thomas Jefferson. When he became Preaidenl in 1801, he an-
niiunceii that all civil offices held at pleasure and filled by Adams after the
on this principle, Eliiur Goudnch was removed from Ihc collcctorship of New
Haven to make room for Samuel Bishop. Goodrich had managed the affairs
of the office with honesly, ability, and des|iaich. Bishop's advanced age,
feebleness, and lack of business irainiiig made him an unfortunate choice.
The merchants were highly offended. Eighty of them, headed by Elias Ship-
man, signed a remonstrance. In his reply Jefferson said, "The will of the
nation calls for an administration in harmony with the opinions of those
elected. Fur the fullilmenl of that will, displacements are necessary, and
with whom can displacements more fittingly begin than with placemen ap*
pointed in the last moments o( a dying government, not for its own aid, but
lor its successor's discomfiture? U a due participation of office is aright,
how are vacancies to be obtained 1 Those by death are few, by resignation
none." See, also. Right Man in thb Right Pjace.
Flaaoo. This is the Italian word for bottle or flask. It is said thai the
Venetian glass-blowers, in making their beautiful glass-ware, when they dis-
covered a flaw in the bulb would convert it into an ordinary flask, 01 fiatco,
whence fiasco came to be synonymous with a failure. " In Italy, when a
singer fails, even to the extent of a single false note, the audience shout 'oil,
uli fiasco,' perhaps an allusion to the bursting of a bottle," or perhaps to the
custom of the Venetian glass-blowers.
Aa liaUao ccDIctnporary, In reviewing tlie put mutlcal leuoD, Hdopted recently h lyKtcm
of syrnboU which we may commend to tKe notice of Engtiah JDurnaliiUr Appended to the
nonce of each new opera vaa the pkiure of a wine-flask, which varied in liie with the decree
of failure achieved by the particular worit. Everyone who remeniber4 that the word .^dA4
convenient pouihiJiuet opened up by ihit method. At present the critic ii oTten condemned
10 write wht>le columiu <M which the xlil mlghl be comprised in iwo worda. How much bet-
ter it would be if we adopted the delightlbl^ lene gymbolilin thui HiggeXedl OlH coluimi
would be reeerved every week, the nanaee of ihe pjecet Kt down, and opptrtite we ibould pot
■ finely-sradated fcriei of wine.fliiiks, ihowinc the preciie d^ree oT c»d and ill tucceift
atlained— ia(iH-j'«^ *«.i™.
Flat ezparim«iitain In oorpore vill (U, " Let the experiment be per-
formed on a worthless subject"). The origin of this phrase is sometimes asso-
ciated with Mark Anthony Murelus on the strength of an anecdote told in
the " Menagiana" and elsewhere. Being attacked by sickness on a journey, the
IWO physicians who attended him, believing him an obscure person, agreed to
use a novel remedy, with the remark, " Faciamus periculum in anima vil«"
(" I^t us try this ilangeroiis thing on a worthless soul"). Murelus greatly dis-
concerted them by tranquilly replying to their tjitinity, " Vilem animam
apiiellas, pro qui Chtistus non dedignatus est mori ?" {" l>o you call that a
worthless soul, for which Christ did not disdain to die P"| The accuracy of the
anecdote has, however, lieen called in question. A common American phrase
is, "Try it on the dog."
" Exprrimenium in corpore vili" ia a good rule which will ever nttke me advette to aD|r
trial of exp^rimcnla on wh^l ia certainty the nu»l valuable of all aubjecta, the peace of Ihit
Empire.— BuKiLB ; St/rcl Uarti, nl. 1. p. i-n.
Flat joatltla. mat oolnm (L., " Let justice be done, though the heaven*
(all"). This phrase became famous through its quotation by Lord ^lonsfield
in his decision in the case of John Wilkea in 176& Wilkes had been Mil-
Goo^If
I.ITERAHY CURIOSITIES. 367
tenccd to oatlawr; Tor (he publication of "The North Briton," No. 45, with-
out having been present in court. He asserted the const ilutional right of an
Englishman to a public trial in the presence of the accused. In his opinion,
reversing the sentence, Judge Manstietd says, "The constitution does not
allow reasons of state to influence our judgment. God forbid it should I
We roust not regard political consequences, however formidable they might
tie ; if rebellion was the certain consequence, we are bound to say, ' Justitia
flat, ruat ccelum.' " The words are printed in quotation in the report of the
case J but it is uncertain whence his lordship quoted. The identical words
may be found in the controversial literature of the times of the struggles be-
tween King Charles I. and Parliament j in Prynne's " Fresh Discovery of
Prodigious New Wandering Blazing Stars," second edition, 1646, and Ward's
"Simple Cobler of Agawam in America," 1647. The motto of the Emperor
Ferdinand I., which contemporaries attributed to his authorship, comes very
near in form to Judge Mansfield's quotation : " Fiat justitia, pereal mundus.
It is not likely, for obvious reasons, that this could Iw a Latinized version of
a maxim of Luther, "Justice must have her way, even should the world go
down to ruin," of which it is, however, an accurate translation.
The " quotation" of Lord Mansfield may have been an independent epi-
grammatic rendering of Cicero's " Fundamenia justilix sunt, ut ne cui
noceatur, deinde ut communi utilitati serveatur" ("The founilations of justice
are that no one shall suffer wrong ; then, that th« public ^aoA be furthered"),
which is at least just as likely as that he unearthed it out of musty and
forgotten records.
It is related of Jose))h Jekyll, the witty barrister, that he declined an invi-
tation to dinner at Lansdowne House, because of an engagement with the
judges. During the dinner, part of the ceiling in the dining-room came down,
and lekyll, commenting on the incident, raised a laugh by saying, " I was
asked to ruat eatiim, but dined instead ■iMh JisU Juilitia.
Flddl*, To pla7 flrat, to take a leading part, as the more usual "to
play second fiddle" is to take a,subordinate part. The derivation is obvious.
If my (Hcndi will ihoui Tiiounh (oRvct, hun>] '
m pretly fair pluce in my TTBde, and be allowed to HI
Kddla.— TnjicKBRAV : Luiirlo tf, E. A^I^h,)i
She bad inheiiled Trom ber mother vi extreme objectioD 10 pUyiDf . Id uiy orctiestra whal-
eYET, the •e<;Dnd fiddle.— Jakes Pavn : A Graft /rmn a Tkam, ch. li.
To hang up one's fiddle is a common eipression, meaning lo resign, todesisi,
to retire from public to private life.
Flddle-d0-dea I This exclamation has no connection with besk, the gypsy
or Romany word for " flddle," from which it has been fancifully derived by
George Borrow, from the similarity of meaning of the two expletives " bosh !
and " fiddle-de-dee 1" Its probable origin is the Italian expletive " Fediddio"
Flald of tfis Forty Footatepa. a piece of land at the back of the British
Museum, called also Southampton Fields, and once known by this name.
The tradition is that two brothers, in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, took
diflereiit aides, and here engaged each other in deadly fight. Both were
killed, and forty impressions of their feet remained on the field for many
years, where no grass would grow. The Misses Porter wrote a novel on the
subject, and the Messrs. Mayhew a melodrama.
ng foi yon 1 an English colloquial expression of contempt. Dr. Johnson
says, ^'Tefig, in Spanish 4»atabr, is to insult by putting the thumb between the
fore artd middle fingers. From this Spanish custom we yet say, in contempt,
368 MANDY-BOOK OF
' A iig for jfou.' " To this Douce has added the rollowins : " Dr. johnaon has
properly explained Ibis phrase; bui it should be added that it is of Italian
urigiii. When ihe Milanese revolted against the Emperor Frederick Barba-
rossa, Ihey placed the Empress, his wile, upon a mule, with her head towards
the Lail, and ignominioiisly expelled her from their city. Frederick afterwards
besieged and look the place, and compelled every one of his prisoners, on pain
of death, to take with his teeth n^from the posterior of a mule, the party
it the same lime being obliged to repeat to llie executioner the words Scca
la ftca. From this circumstance far la Jka became a term of dct
was adopted by other nations. The French s3.^,/mre la fig^-" [fllustratiom
of ShikapiartS Itut in a subsequent edition Douce withdrew the explana-
tion, saying Ihal it rested on the very weak authority of Albert CrantE, a
credulous and comparatively modern historian. Richard Payne Knight, in
his " iiymbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology," is inclined to give
the phrase a Priapic origin : "The hg was a still more common symbol, the
statues of Priapus being made of the tree, and the fruit being carried with the
phallus in the ancient processions in honor of Bacchus, and still continuing
among the common people of Italy to be an emblem of what it anciently
meant \ whence we often see portraits of persons of that country painted with
il in one hand, to signify their orthodox devotion to the fair sex. Hence,
also, arose the Italian ezpressionj!ir^_/&ii, which was done by putting the
thumb between the middle and Ktre fingers, as it appears in many Priapic
ornaments now extant."
h Hunt, in "The Italian Poels," iranslates the latter part of the third
Canto xxT. of the " Inferno" as follows :
-eigh
rof C
The lines in the original are, —
Literally, '■ At the conclusion of his words the thief raised up his hands with
\lt.. in the form of] both the ngs, shouting. ' Take them, God, for at thee I
aim them.' " The Pistojans, the thiel's townsmen, buill % tower on the rock
of Carmignano, and at the lop of jl were two arms of marble, with hands
that made the figs at Florence.
Shakespeare, III "The Merry Wives of Windsor," makes I^slol say,—
FlgB. In tho Dam* of the Prophet— Bga t A familiar bit of humor,
burlesquing some anliclimax, or bathetic expression, borrowed from the fig-
and other merchants of Oriental countries, who are wonl solemnly to cry
their wares in this ^hion.
" In ihc luineol' MuLiI Idriu! R«H chouiuul" " In ihc ucnc iJ our Lord MoluuniiMd
AlHwU! Popcoml PojKom!" " In thciuineDf Sidni Ali-bu-Khilehl Mdonit Nice.
iwm nulonsl "God ii gncioui! Bcmni! Fried Beuul" " Tbcn be no mlglil p«
Even the auaiDneer who >> cdling out the price oT u iljive gii(, or the bid> for > R(b« cupet,
i4 cueful to inlerUrd fail prcfqiiond lalk freely wilb alliuloDt (o bu Maker And ihe pledioric
FlUbnater. This word, one of the significations of which is a " pirate," has
a curious etymological history. Il is derived, according to Max Miiller, from
the Spanish moiA Jilibott, a small boat of peculiar rig, but the Spanish word
itself IB a corruption of the English vio^Afiyboal.
This origin, however, is now discredited, as having no support in hwtory or
Googk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 369
In lingaislic forni. The carious fact remains, however, that while ihe word
was adopted into our language from its Spanish prototype ^/I'^iu/fro, the Span'
iacda themselves derived it irom the YttaiAi fiibustUr, while the French again
is a gallicisalioii of the Dutch vrijbuiter, the English for which a/raioattr. In
" De Americaensche Zee-Roovers" (167S), written by John Oextnclin, some-
times called Exquemelin or Esquemeling (translated into English in 16S4), the
West Indian adventurers who subsequently developed into the criminals and
pirates generally known as the " buccaneers" were divided into " boucaniers,"
" Aibustiers," and " habitans," the first l>eing hunters, the second rovers, and
the last farmers with fixed habitations. They were mainly French, with an
admixture of Dutch and English." The " Aibustiers" are said to have derived
their name " Irom the English word flibuster, which means rover." This must
be referred, however, to (he word freebooter, which appears to have been
derived from the Dutch vrijbuiter.
In a narrower sense, in the United Slates, filibuster is applied to Ihe bands
of men who at various times have organized illegal military and naval ex-
peditions with the purpose of invading foreign states (mainly the Central-
American republics and Ihe island of Cuba), with a view to revolutionizing
their government. The principal expeditions ol this nilure were those or-
ganized and led by Narcisso Lopez from New Orleans against Cuba in lfko-51,
and the expeditionsof William Walker against ihe Stale ofSonora, in Nfexico,
and against Nicaragua, in 1855-58. In the latter. Walker was partially suc-
cessful, and for some time he exercised sovereign power there. Both leaders
were finally captured and put to death.
To filibuster, used as a verb, has come to designate in the United Stales, in
parliamentary language, the practice on Ihe part of a minority in a legislative or
deliberative assembly to obstruct and delay the proceedings by technical and
dilatory motions, useless speeches, and trivial objections, with the purpose of
tiring out their opponents, and thus preventing l^slation or the passage of a
resolution objectionable to them. One who filibusters in this sense is called
a filibusterer.
Fin dtt Siiolo (Fr., literally, "end of the century"), a fashionable "gag,"
indicating the supposed moral, intellectual, and political disintegration attend-
ant on a moribund century, which originated in the dilettante circles of Paris
in 1890- In February of that year a caustic picture of Parisian life, entitled
" Paris Fin de Siide," by M. Btum, was brought out at a Paris theatre. Though
the play was a bilure, part of its title, borrowed apparently from Bourgel's
"Mensonges," passed into current slang. It flallered the semi-humorous
notion that dvihzation gets worn out at the end of a century, and that a new
dawn will be ushered in by a terminal unit of measurement in our calendars.
Ttiii ippein to be a new miaiiaD. Towirdi the end o( ih« tenth century. indKd, thers
was a wide-ipread belief Jn Ihe end of the world '. fieldi were Lett untUled, hmses unrepaired ;
it was nseleet ta wdHc for pofterily wtien the Gfeal Cmnimmalion wh hi hand. But I do
not find Ihal inv tubieqiient lin de titc\e beinyed mniUd leK-cDnKiciuineH. Cariyle, It i>
Uue, Kt tht EMhion of analhtmalidng th« poor dghleemh ceniuivot bpnkmpi, and taught
u to ruanl the French Revolution aa tlie Ennd cotlapH oF an age of fltuma ; but I see no
■race oTouT grand&Ihtn contiderine their timet txcepliQDally bad, or of iheir being anxioui ID
reach iBoi. We are apt id Ibraet that a cenEury is a purely arbitrary division, so thai there
can be no iDoral or maiedal difcrcTLCc Iwiwcf 0 igoo aud 1001. Were i1 othcrwiK, lin de mitic
ought 10 have tenlald signihcance; and if Ihe KoTDaru. by placing a atone at every thou-
sandth iitp. gave us the word " milestone," a " mile of years" should be a potable division
not bvnt apprehen^D of Ihe end of the w«ld, but ^iu the lassitude of a tnillenniuni on Its
HANDY-BOOK OF
F1d« bjr dagTMB and beanUfaUy leas, usually misquoted " small by
degrees," etc., is a line in Prior's " Henry and Kmma ;"
That air and hknaonir of ihipt tapRH,
TIew by degn«i, and beauUliiily lev-
Pope has imilated it :
Fine by deTed, ukd dtiiuuly wok.
Pinia Polonisal (L., "The end of Poland I") This expression is penist-
enily ascribed (o Kosciusko when he Tell wounded under the balls of Suvarof'i
soldiers at Maciejuwice. October to, 1 794. Yet Kosciusko himself emphati-
cally and scornfully denounced il as a Russian invention. In the first place, as
he wrote (o Count de S^gur, who had given publicity to the story in his
"Decade Hislorique" (iSoo), he was all-bul murlally wounded, and could not
speak. If, however, he had retained the faculty of speech, he would certainly
not have had the presumption to eiclaim, " Finis Polunia;," since neither his
death nor the death of any one else could be for Poland a fatal misfortune.
Segur complied with Kosciusko's request that the libel should be withdrawn
from all subsequent editions ; but the first edition remained to do its mischief.
The falsehood was perpetuated in Michaud's " Bii^raphie Uiiiverselle," whence
it has passed into numberless works all over the world. — See. for the full text
of Kosdasko's letter to Segur and other particulars, jV«!iV am/ Qurniv, fifth
Fire, To, or To fir« out, a familiar Americanism, meaning to eject with
violence, to expel, to hurl out with a force and speed resembling those of a
bullet fired from a gun. An attempt has been been made to fasten the origin
of this phta<ie on Shakespeare, on the strength of the last two lines of
Sonnet CLXIV.:
Vtl IbU thiUI 1 Dc'er know, but live In doubl.
This is all very well as a bit of philol^icat jocosity. But, seriously, Shake-
speare used the phrase in an entirely different sense, as can be plainly seen
by this passage from "King Lear," Act v., Sc 3 :
Compare, too, the phrase " Hre drives out fire" in " CorioUnus," Act ii., Sc 7,
and " Julius Caesar," Act iii., Sc I.
■■ Youna man," (hundired the cainp-iii«tina amor, " wen you ev« find »iib Eiithu-
•ium?" >' It uapainrul •ubicci," he mpondtd, "but I wu. Uiu Wcdiy'm laiher iuppli«d
the eDihmtuin."— TVj-ai Si/iitt'-
Flre. BapUwn o£ " Louis has just received his baptism of fire." ThcK
are the words in which Napoleon 111. announced in a despatch to the Empress
Eugenie the momentary exposure oi the prince imperial to the fire of the
enemy at the aflair of Saarbriick on August ic^ 1870. This application of the
tetm baptism of fire to the young soldier who has happily survived his first
attack of " Kan none nfieber" (lit., " cannon -fever"), as the Germans happily
put it, without having become " food for powder," was. however, previously
made by the great Napoleon. In a conversation with O'Meara on SL Helena,
August 3, 1S17 (sec O'Meara's "Voice from St. Helena"). Napoleon I. said,
" 1 love a brave soldier, who has undergone his baptism of fire \fiapllmt dt
fat\, no matter to what nation he belongs."
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 371
The proper signi6cance of the lerm, of couru, u is well known, is the
Sace of luptism as considered apart from the outward form, the gift of the
oly S[Mri^ and is sometimes used to designate martyrdom, especialtj that
undergone at the stake.
John LanEhorive also shows bow the Christian sacrament may be turned to
metaphoricai use :
CoM « Cuwdiu mil or M1nden'mp)iiii,
Bern o'a hs babe, hs *yt diuolved in dtw,
Gavc ibc BJid prcugf of bit hilurc ycait, —
The child of marrj, bmpliicd in Inn.
Tkt CatmiTy Juiiici, Pan i.
This allusion to the dead soldier and his widow on the field of battle was
made the subject of a print by Bunbury, under which were engraved the
pathetic lines of Lanahorne. Sir Waller ScotI has mentioned that the only
lime he saw Burns, this picture was in the room. Burns shed tears over
it ; and Scott, then a lad of fifteen, was the only person present who could
tell him where the lines were to be found. — Lockhakt : Life tj Scoti, vol i.,
ch.iv.
PI
speech made by Lord Macautay (January »
"an old Venetian proTerb." The proverb in ,
Veneiiani,e pot Cristiani" ("First Venetians, and then Christians"). Ill
UTC at the time of the Interdict Thomas Francis Meagher, the Irish patriot,
made a freer paraphrase when he said, "If the altar comes between me and
my country, perish the altar I" The Venetian motto is an inversion of the
saying imputed to Socrates, " I am not an Athenian nor a Greek, but a
citizen of the world."
F^neloii was accustomed to say, " I love my family better than myself; my
country belter than my family ; and mankind belter than my country ; for I
am mure a Frenchman ttian a Fifnelun ; and more a man than a Frenchman."
Patrick Henry said, "I am not a Virginian, but an American" {Spach in
tlu f'lijpma CfrtoenHoH, 1765) ; and Webster, In a speech delivered July ty,
iSjo, " I was born an American ; I will live an American ; 1 shall die an
American I"
Flnt oatoh Tom liaie. It is an article of general belief that " Mr».
Glasse's Cookery- Book," in giving directions for roasting a hare, began the
recipe, "First catch your hare." Some have credited " Mrs. Glasse" with an
excellent joke, others have learnedly sought to prove tiiat what she really
■rtote was tcaiik (skin), or stoUk (cut up), or other aenii- obsolete word which
the printer misinterpreted. At last it occurred to a critic of unusual intelli-
gence to look up the passage in the book itself. And, lo ! it turned out that
what the author wrote, and what the printer printed, was, " Take your hare
when it is cas'd, and make a pudding," etc due is an old English word
which, in this connection, means to Uke off the skin. So Mrs. Glasse's repu-
' n of unseemly levity in treating a great sub-
though the phrase was not hers, it did eiii
, indreds of years before Mrs. Glasse's cook-book was heard
of, and seems to have been used, as at present, to curb ingenuous and unso-
phisticated ambition. Thus, Bracton, in the earlv part of the thirteenth cen.
lury, writes (Book iv., liu i-, ch. ii, J4I, " Et vul^riler dicilur, quod primo
oporlet ccrvum capere, et postea, cum capias fuerit, ilium cicoriare" ("And
it is vulgarly said that you must first catch your deer, and then, when it is
ODght, skin it." It may be interesting to add that the " cookery-book" in
372 BANDY-BOOK OF
question wa» first published under the title "The Art of Cookery by a Lady"
(■747). The name of "Mrs. Glass," not Glasse, was added in the succeeding
editions. But the real author was Dr. John Hill (r7i6-i775).
Flrat gODtlamui of Bniop*, the title which his admirers, during his
lifetime, gave to George IV. of England, as a tribute to his position, his
imposing manners, and his gorgeous clothes.
Ht (be Gm gEDlLcmul of Europe 1 Then is no uronEcr utire on the proud Engliih
society of thai cuy Ihan ihav they admired rpeoTKe. No, innnli Gnd, ve can tell of belter
vanity, wukncu, Ibey may see in that Enj^Ujid, over which the iui George pretended to
(uthority
r precedence, or such envy and ambition as we see among the
hich Ca:sar answered, wiiii great sctiousiiess, ' I assure you I
had rather be the lirsi man here than the second man in Rome.'" But Plu-
tarch does not mention the name of the village.
Lacordaire, in his " Conferences," says of Cisar's enclamaiion, " It is the
true cry of nature : wherever we are, wc wish lo be first." So undoubtedly
thought Milton's Lucifer :
But Milton was anticipated by Staflbrd, in whose "Niobe'' {i6t1) the devil is
made lo speak as iollows : " Now, forasmuch as I was an Ansel of Light, it
was the will of Wisdom lo confine me to Darkness, and make me Prince
thereof; so that 1, that could not obey in Heaven, might command in Hell ;
and believe me, I had rather rule within my dark domain than to reinhabil
Cislum imperium. and there live in subjection under check, a slave of the
Most High." There is also a parallel passage in Fletcher's " Purple Island,"
Canto vii.:
Caesar Borgia's motto, " Aut Caesar aut nullus" (" Either Caesar or nobody"),
which he caused to be engraved under a head of Czsar, expresses a similar
yearning for pre-eminence.
Ftnt Im ■W9I, firit In peaoa, uid flrat In the hau1> of hla felloir-
oitlXMia, a phrase applied by Colonel Henry Lee to Washington, and now
usually quoted with the substitution of the more euphonious "countrymen" for
"tellow-citisens." The phrase was originally wiitten as we have quoted it in
the resolutions offered by John Marshall m the United Stales House of
Representatives when announcing the death oF Washington, December, 1799,
Marshal I, in his "Lifeof Washington," vol. v. p. 767, n'A', informs us that these
resolutions were prepared by Colonel Lee, though he was not in his place lo
read ihem. A week later, December z6. Lee delivered the funeral oration
or "Eulogy" on Washington. Whether he Iben did or did not make the
now accepted substitution is a moot point. By a curious oversight, it is
left unsettled in the Memoir of Lee, which his son, the still more famous
General Robert E. Lee, prefiied lo the report of Colonel Lee's " Memoirs of
the War of the Revolution." On page 5 he gives the expression ■■ fellow
citiMHS." But on page %% he says, "lliere is a line, a single line, in the
Coogk"
£ITERARy CURIOSITIES. 373
works of Lee which would hand him over to immortality, though he had
never written another : ' First in wat, lirst in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen,' will last while language lasts."
Flnt l«ttar of tli* dmha begiiw, «tc. It is a common and time-
honored jest to blurt out the whole name or whole word, when only its
first letter is promised, as Tor example in Lyiy's " Euphues," " There is not Tar
lience a gentlewoman whom I have long lime luvcd, the first letter of whose
name is Camilla." And, again, Middlelon says, " Her name begins with Mis-
tress Page, does it not?" (Family of Lnvt, II. iii.) Nor is the jest an obsoletr
So recently'as February 21, 1SS6, the English sporting paper Tht
■et said in regard to an amateur spor ling-match, " [ have no space 10
:ribe the rouni^ in detail, nor can I say who won, seeing that the tcfeiee
(the first letter of whose name is said to be John L. Shine) declined l< „
decision." Nor, again, is the jest an exclusively English one. It may be
found, for example, in Baliac : " Et la premiere Ictlre de son nom est Maiime
de Trailles" {Un Homme d''Affaires, 1855). Yet in the (ace of all these ex-
amples an absurd conjectural emendation made by Collier in the text of
Marlowe's " Doctor Faustus" has been allowed to stand in all the editions
down to the latest. Lechery, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, says to Faustus,
" [ am one that loves an inch of raw mutton belter than an ell of fried stock-
fish ; and the first letter of my name begins with Lechery." This is the
reading of the quartoes. Collier proposed to substitute for the last word the
letter L, and the su^estion has been generally adopted.
Flab. All's fish that oomM to bla net, meaning thai he is not at all
dtBcriminating or scrupulous, is an old English proverb which may be found
in Heywood and elsewhere.
All'i Ikh ihsy gel iktt conKlb to Ml.
TuBiu 1 Fm Hundrtd FriMi ^ Gird Hvhmdry ;
Ftkrnar, AUtracl.
WhcR all b G>b thai caaclh w Bet.
CkscoiGHi: suit Clot, ISIS
FlalL To ba neither fiali nor flesh, a colloquial term of dissatisfaction,
if not contempt, applied to people of uncertain and wavering minds, trimmers,
Dondescripts, etc Thus, Shakespeare makes FalstafT cry, "Why, she's
neither fish nor flesh ; a man knows not where to have her" [Hinry IV.,
Part IE., Act iv., Scene 3). The phrase is probably a survival from Catholic
times, when every Friday it became a question of interest to decide what was
fish and what flesh meat in the eyes of the Lord. The further extension,
"neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring," which is found in Heywood's
" Proverbs," Part I., ch. i., and in numerous sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
authors, is a mere bit of humorous extravagance.
phrase applied to a person or
Lvd Ktllk wtu recounllu * Kmum be had burd in Italy on the miracle of Si. Anihonv
prebcbbg la ibe fiafaq. which in order %a Jisten ta bii pimu diacaune held iheir hcAdi out
of the water. " I can credit Ibe niracle." uid Henry Ermine, " if your lordship wu ix
cburth." ■' 1 wu certataly ihtti," •mid ihe p«r. " Then," rejoined Erekini, " cbere wae
su Itui ODe fi>b out of vuxtr^Bnckiridiiin of Wit.
Fiah Btory, a colloquial English term fur an absurd or impossible tale, a
Ssconade. The allusion Is to the boastful stories of their luck credited to
hermen, whose romances frequently lead to the conclusion that belter fish
have been caught than ever were in the sea.
HI BD UBUulh, KaUKiintt"
374 HANDY-BOOK OF
" I -would that I couUliHve Abfiolate Jkitli in you/' ■fienplinlj uifllneft lob^ " but— 4hii 1
heard you tell uncle ihat vou oncf caught a brook-ltoul ibai weighed tErce pouoda toA afi
OUDcn." Aod the lean flowed down her Uir ^oung bee, while he tapped the pouad wllh hla
loot and aoleoiuly (aied o'er the wide blue ta-'Fuill.
PUhlnC-Rod. The description of a fishing-rod as a worm at one end and
a rool at the other, which haa been ascribed to Dr. Tohnson or Dean Swilt,
existed before their lime in a less striking form. A French writer of the sev-
enleenlh century, named Guyci, has Ihcse lines:
La ligne avec u caniie eat un long initniment,
DonI le plui mince boui lieni un peiU repdle, ,
tl doot I'lulre eii lenu par un grand imbicilie.
FU^ If any on* attempte to haul down the Amarioan flag, shoot
hlfp on the spot. This famous phrase occurred in a telegram sent from
Washington by John A. Dix, January 29, 1S61, ordering the arrest at New
Orleans of Cajitain Breshwood, commander of the revenue culler McCler.
nand, which it was surmised he intended to turn over to the secessionists.
Dix was then Secretary of the Treasury. The despatch was intercepted al
New Orleans and never reached its destination. But it reached the public,
and thai was better still, for it showed them thai ihe policy of lemporiiing
Flapdoodle. According to Dean Swift,—
"Ha an old maxim of the achoali,
Tbu (U(Kiv*a Ihe food of toolt :
And, by way of variety, he will somelimes take flapdoodle, which is the same
thing spelt dilTerently, for the syllabic flap is derived frotu a root denoting (be
act uf stroking, and doodle is another word for a fool. The word is used only
humorously.
" The genileman hu eilen no (saU quanllly of flapdoodle in liit lifeline. " " Whu'a
ihalT" . . . " ll'i iheBluH ihey leed tbala on."— MxaaYAT; Ptitr Simflr.iii^v.IiMi.
Flapdoodle, they call ti, what fgcJa are led on.— T. HtiaKBi : Trm BnnrH al 0^/trd,
Flapdoodle or Fopdoodlc is also used to designate a foolish or contemptible
fellow :
Where auirdv buichen broke your noddle
And handled you like a fopdoodle.
BUTi,««; Hmdihrai.
Flat-footed, an Americanism for firm, downright, direct, firmly resolved, un-
compromising, the metaphorical meaning being lo set one's foot down Aal or
firmly. "The significance of this word in America," says R. A. Proctor, very
truly, "is very diflerent from that of Ihe French word pitd-plai, identical
though the words may be in their primary meaning. A French pied-plal is a
contemptible fellow ; bul an American >Si/-/«>/ is a man who Stands firmly for
his parly. When General GranI said lie had ' put his foot down,' and meant
to advance in thai line if it took him all summer, he conveyed (lie Americau
meaning of the expression flat-footed." (AmtrUanUmt : Knmiltdgt, June I,
18S7.)
Flea In hla ear, a popular expression for disconcerted, rebuffed, used in
such phrases as " I sent him away with a flea in his ear," or "he went away with
a flea in his ear." I( is no modern slang, for it may be found in John Fletcher's
" Love's Cure," Act ili., Sc. 3 ; in Kabelais's " Pantagruel," Book iii., ch. vii. and
zxxi. (>533) i in Nash's " Pierce Penniless" (1592), etc In France the expres-
■ions "avoir la puce i roteille" and " metire la puce i I'oreUle" are at leaal
/.oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 375
IS old a< the fourteenth century (Littrj, >, v. Pure), and corresponding exprea-
.: — — .^ (^ found in Italian, Spanish, German, and probably other lan-
guages. The metaphor undoubtedly arose Trom the physical fact that fleas
do sometiotes penetrate into the porches of Ihc ear. — a fact noticed by so
n authority as Celius, who writes (vi. 7.§ yj) when treating otthi
ear, "Si pulex inliu est, compel Icndum eo lanz paululum est; quo ipse is
inbit, et simul extra hitur."
Heati, To go tli« vray of all, a euphemism for " to die." It is evidently
a variation from Joshua xiiii. 14 (or I. Kings ii: z), " And behold, this day 1
am going the way of all the earth." The substitution of flesh for the earth
does not occur in any version of ihe Bible. Its first appearance in English
literature is possibly in Webster's '• Westward Hoe," Act ii., Sc 2 : " I saw him
now going the way of all flesh." But the fact that it appears almost simul-
taneously in T. Heywood's "The Golden Age" (i6n). ("Whether I had
belter go home by land, or by sea ? If I go by land and miscarry, then I go
the way of all flesh") seems to indicate a common proverbial origin.
FleaUy School of PoetTj. In October, 1871, an article bearing this
title was published in the Coftttmporary RnArw. Il proved to be a hitter
attack upon Swinburne, Rossctli, and William Morris, whom il classed to-
gether IS leaders of a school of poetical debauchery which found in Arthur
O'Shaughnessy, John Payne, Philip Bourke Murston, and others, its humbler
satellites. Rosseiti was the chief object of attack, " Mr, Swinburne," in Mr.
Mailland's opinion, "was wilder, more outrageous, more blasphemous, and his
subjects were more atrocious in themselves ; yei the hysterical tone slew the
animalism, the furiousness of epithet lowered the sensation, and the first
feeling of dis^st at such themes as ' Laus Veneris' and ' Anacloria' faded
away mto comic amazement II was only a tittle mad buy letting ofl' squibs ;
not a great strong man who might be really dangerous lo society. ' I will be
naughty 1' screamed Ihe little ooy ; but, after all, what did il matter f II is
quite different, however, when a grown man, with the self-control and easy
audacity of actual experience, comes forward to chronicle his amorous sensa-
tions, and, first proclaiming in a loud voice his literary maturity and conse-
quent responsibuily, shamdessly prints and publishes such a piece of writing
as his sonnet on ^fuplial Sleep." Here is another gem of criticism : " We
get very weary of this protracted hankering after a person of Ihe other sex ; il
teems meal, drink, thought, sinew, religion, for Ihe fleshly school. There is
no limit to the fleshliness, and Mr. Rossetii finds in it its own religious jusli-
ficalion. Whether he is writing of the holy Damozel, or of the Virgin her-
self, or of Lilith, or of Helen, or of Dante, or of Jenny the street- walker, he is
fleshly all over, from the roots of his hair to Ihe lips of his loes ; never a true
lover merging his identity into that of the beloved one ; never spiritual, never
tender ; always self-conscious and xsthetic" As lu the imitators of Rosseiti
and Swinburne, what is really most droll and puzzling in the matter is that
they really seem to have no diSiculty whatever in writing nearly if not quite
as well as their masters. " Il is not bad imitations they offer us, but poems
whkh read just like Ihe originals ; ' the fact being that il is easy to reproduce
tound when il has no strict connection with sense, and simple enough to cull
phraieology not hopelessly interwoven with thought and spirit. The fact
that these gentlemen are so easily imitated is the most damning proof of their
inferiority. What merits they have lie with their faults on the surface, and
can be caught by any young gentleman as easily as Ihe measles, only Ihey are
rather more diMcull lo gel nd of. All young gentlemen have animal Acui-
ties, though lew have brains; and if animal laculiies without brains will make
poems, nothing is easier in Ihc world."
370 HANDY-BOOK OF
The article nude a noise. On December a the Atketuaan made known the
Eict that Thomas Maitland was in reality Robert liuchanan. Whereupon
lh« publisher of (lie Cimttmforary and Mr. Buchanan himself, each of his own
motion, wrote a letter to the Athtttattm. These eflusions were printed side by
-;j, :_ .!._ t — J j-|jj. December 12, and pleased all connoisseurs of humor.
The publisher's letter read like a distinct denial. " You might," he said, " wi
equal propriety associate the article with the name of Mr. Robert Browning,
or of Mr. Robert Lytton, or of any other Robert" Mr. Buchanan said, " I
ceruinly wrote the article on. 'The Fleshly School of Poetry.' but I had nothing
to do with the signature. Mr. Strahan, the publisher of the Cottiemperaty
Raiievi, can corroborate me thus far, as he is best aware of the inadvertence
which led to the suppression of my name."
Mr. Strahan next appealed to (he Fait Mall Gatttte, complaining that the
simultaneous appearance of the above explanations had made him look
ridiculous, — a complaint which showed that he had sonte perception of humor,
— and acknowledging that it was he who had chosen the particular pseudonyme
of "Thomas Maitland." Nevertheless it is very evident that the suppression
of Buchanan's name was not the result of inadvertence, but of a distinctly-
avowed desire on the part of that gentleman. Mr. Rosselti and his friends
protested indignantly, and with reason, against the unfairneaa of one writer of
eoetry disguising himself^ like a bravo, in slouched beaver and muffled cloak,
I order to attack his more successful rivals, and indirectly, if not directly, to
praise himself. For " Thomaa Maitland" referred to Mr. Buchanan by nante,
and accused Mr. Rossetti of borrowing ideas from his verses.
But Mr. Buchanan, with a bravado not unnatural under the lirst smart of cx-
Kure, took the bull by the horns after the revelation of the authorship bad
n made, and republished the article in pamphlet farm, amplified and re-
written, with his own name on the title-page. The nine-days* wonder proved
a very tame thing in a fortnight, artd the whole aflair survives only in the
arcana of literary bric-i-brac.
It is right to mention that Mr. Buchanan eventually made his peace with
the Fleshly Poets. The dedication of his novel "God and the Man" (1882)
is as follows :
To AN Old Enemy.
1 would have uiuchcd ■ bay-leaf from Ihy brow,
Wnmgiiig 4 dupltl on u honocnl bod :
Pur u thy pufpoK, blaDJelc» u iby bode,
Flenr-da-LU, the heraldic device of the Bourbons and of France, so called
from the fancy that it represented three flowers of the white lily, as in England
it was called flower-de-luce on the hypothesis that it was a representation of
the white iris. But the /Uur-di-lii is not, properly speaking, a lily, nor even a
Bower, The resemblance to a lily is very remote, even if you call the lily a
conventional one. Some historians, indeed, hold that it is (he figure of a reed
in blossom, used instead of a sceptre at the proclamation of Prankish kings.
Others, with more likelihood, insist that it is neither a recd. a lily, nor any
other member o( the floral family, but the extremity of \\x frandsqut, a kind
of javelin anciently used in France. A fatal objection to any purely French
origin of the symtiil is that it was early an ornament of sceptres, robes, and
seals, not only of the Merovineian, but of Greek, Roman, Spanish, and English
kiDifS, and a symbol employed by many noble families In the twelfth and th^-
. Coogk"
LITEKAKY CURIOSITIES. ' 377
teenth centuries. It is also said that it occurs very perfectly sculptured in
bead-dresses of Egyptian gphinxes. The use of the fiatr-dt-lis as a symbol
of royalty in France cannot be traced further back than the twelfth century.
Bat away with history I Let us acknowledge the mute benign influences of
legend and tradition, and restore to the French the lily in spile of facts.
There are many complicated legends as to the origin of the flcur-iU-li!.
One of the prettiest tells how an aged heiniit in the reign of good King Clovis
sa* one night a miraculous light stream into his cell, and an angel appear to
him, bearing an azure shield on which were emblazoned three golden lilies
that shone like stars. The celestial visitor commanded the hermit to give the
shield to the pious Clothilde. By her it was presented to her newly-converted
husband, who discarded in its favor the three black toads which had hitherto
been bis device. As a result, the armies of Clovis were victorious over all his
Another legend, which probably has a substratum of hi
how the jEfur-flSr/tr is corrupted v<xn fieur-dt-luet, which ii
Another legend, which probably has a substratum of historical fact, tells
lOw the jEfur-flSr/tr is corrupted v<xn fieur-dt-luet, -'---'- =- '--
/Uur-de-Ijmit. In \.D. 1137, Louis VII., setting o
- purple iris as his heraldic emblem.
flower), which was lirst contracted \n\o ^eur-de-iure an<f afterwards vnia Jtair-
de-la, or lily flower, although it has no aAinity with the lily. The iris is still
called the Jlrur-dt-lu in the French provinces. It is said that after a certain
battle fought by the Crusaders their while banner was found to be covered with
these flowers.
At first the national flag uid the arms of France were thickly sown with
JUur-dt-lu, but the number was reduced to three in the reign of Charles VI.,
about the year 13S1. The latter monarch is also said to have added the
Bupporleri to the French arms in consequence of an adventure that happened
to him. Hunting in the forest of Senlis, he aroused an enormous stag, which
eluded the dogs, but was finally secured in the toils of the net, when a collar
of copper gill was found around his neck, with the liucription, >■ Hoc mihi
Caesar donavii" ("CKsar gave this to me"). Subsequently the young king
dreamed that he was carried through the air on a winged stag, from which he
added two winged stags for supporters of the arms of France.
Perhaps the substratum of fact to which we have already alluded was some-
thing like this. An ancient emblem of uncertain origin was early borne upon
the arms of France. Louis VII. profusely charged the national escutcheon
with the 9ame,wbenceitgained the name of jilr«f -at i<™it, gradually corrupted
%afiair-dc-lua. At first the emblem was associated with the iris, which it dimly
resembles, but subsequently the confusion of names identified it with the lily.
It may be mentioned that the ficur-dt-lis appeared on the arms of England
from the time of Edward III., who daimeo to be the rightful heir to the
French throne, until the commencement of the present century, when George
III. was on the English ihroiie. In the year 1800 Ireland was joined to
England, and modifications were called for both in the king's title and In the
national arms. The title of King of Fiance was then dropped and the fiatr-
ii!;-/u espunged from the royal quarterings.
Since the French Revolution, the /&Hr-i]>-/i> has been associated with the
royalist party and the Bourbons. It was proscrilied during the Reign of
Terror, and hundreds of persons found wearing it were condemned to death.
Wherever it was conspicuously seen in public works it was efiaced by popular
fury. Napoleon substituted the bee in its stead (sotne historians tell us that
it was three tiees, and not three toads, which Clovis originally bore on his
shield), but this emblem has given way tiefore the violet, which is the im-
perialist flower of to-day.
Fltos. Tbwe are no fllM on htm, an American term of jocular com
32*
37* HANDY-BOOK OF
mendation. It is sometimes e^itended to the form " There may be one or two
on you, hut there are no flies on me," or on Jones, or Robinson. Flies have
always furnished a convenient term of semi -humorous reproach, and their
absence, of praise. Thus, Cervantes says, "A close mouth catches no flies"
{Dan Quiiote, Part i., Bk. iii., ch. xi.), which was a proverb before his day.
Macaulay, in a letter to his sister, December 31. 1S33. chronicles his first
meeting with Bobus Smith ; " He is a great authority on Indian matters. We
talked of the insects and snakes, and he said a thing which reminded me of
his brother Sydney : ' Always, sir, manage to have at your table some fleshy.
blooming young writer or cadet, just come out, that the mosquitoes may stick
to him and leave the test of the company alone.' " " A fly in the ointment" is
the Biblical analogy for " a spot on the sun." In 1857 IJndor wrote to John
Forslet anent "Aurora Leigh," "1 am reading a'poem full of thought and
'' with fancy. ... I had no idea thatanyone in this a^was capable
such poetry. There are, indeed, even here, some flies upon the
surface, as there always will be upon what is sweet and strong." In the last
two quotations there is no humorous intent. Yet the second, especially, is the
exact equivalent of the American phrase in its less frequent affirmative form.
Flirtation. " Even in common conversation," writes Lord Chesterfield,
with reference to the fiirmatiun of new words, " I never see a pretty mouth
opening 10 speak, but I expect, and am seldom disappointed, some new im-
provement of our language. I remember many expressive words coined in
that fair mint. I assisted at the birth of that most significant word flirta-
tion, and it dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world." The
owner of the mouth in question was the lovely Lady Frances Shirley. Ches-
terfield continues, " It has since received the sanction of our most accurate
laureate in one of his comedies. Some inattentive and undiscerning people
have, I know, taken it to be a term syuonymous with coquetry ; but I lay
hold of this opportunity to undeceive them, and eventually to inform Mr.
Johnson that flirtation is short of coquetry, and intimates only the first hints
iif approximation, which subsequent ciiquetr)^ may reduce to those prelim-
inary articles that commonly end in a definitive treaty." — Thf World. No.
lot, December 5, 1754; also quoted in "British Essayists," vol. ci. p. aio.
It will appear that Ilie meaning given the word by its co-originator is exactly
the modern signification. It was suggested probably by the practice of
flirting the bn, — i.e., moving It with a quick short motion.
HcDDce like you couJ<l^£rVf a fao.
(■764).
Bui died by diinving whlikey.
A* Odt It Urd
IloiverB. In Longfellow's popular poem of this
The German poet alluded to is Frederick Wilhelm Carovi, a citiun nt
Coblenti, on the Rhine, in whose " Story without an End" a water-drop i?
represented as relating her personal experiences, when suddenly
Ibe root of H forgcl-inc-qol caiigbt the drop of *aier by the hair uid tucked her In. ihw
■he mieht become a floweret, and nriakJe n briEhlly u % btue tuj on the grvoi inuBeai
Google
LITERARY CURiOSlTlBS.
Hood also says, —
Pita t>f tkt Midtmitmtr
ind Longfellow, in " Evangeline," Part L, 3, —
of amber as encloaing and preserving insects of past ages, and used in regard
to insignilicant persons or events whose memory has been preserved through
association with something or some one of importance. Thus, Pope :
£v« lud) inulL criiics »ine iiEinl may daloi
Pmerred in Milton'i or in Shalie.pein'i name,
[^Ity, Ifl Amber D observe the fonns
Of hairi, flrurawf, or dirt, or grubs, or woniu-
Bui wonder how ihc devil ihcv gol Ihere t
EfillU It Artulkmcl, liM it^-lji.
In the last line did Pope remember Dryden ?—
Pr'lotiu'l-TIUH^iiamdliittmCiKktU."
And did Sydney Smith, in his turn, lemember Pope when he wrote of Can-
ning, " He is a fly in amber ; nobody cares about the fly ; the only question
is, Row the devil did it get thercT (For context see Diner-out of thb
Highest LurriiE.)
This peculiar property of amber has been noticed by iDany writerv, ancient
and ntodem :
The bcc cndotcd aod ihrovah ihc unbet flhown
Seenu buHcd in the juice which wu his own.
Mastial: Efltromi, Book iv. (Hay'i mrBlatioD)
A drop of aoiber, frani t poplar plant,
la, from a worthLeaa aat, become a gem.
I lav a flie wilhui a beade
or amber cleanly blui^
^^Hri^mAmttr.
•M.CcDt.I^Ex'pcr. 100.
The cbtit, cmnrlved ■ double debt lo pay.—
A bed by uight, a cheal of drawera by day.
In tU* couplet Goldsmith was plagiarizing from himself:
Dricriftian c/ an AUIur'i Sniciamirr.
FoUt-lor«. This eipressive comiiound word is a coin«e of Mr. W. J.
Thorns, and was first used in an article written by him and printed in the
j^tiemaim, August zi, 1846, over the signature " Ambrose Merton." It was
snppoaed to have been an adaplalioii. formed on the basis of the German
terms velkilud ("folk-song"}, velkimdhrchen (" popular faity-tale"), and other
similar compounds, of which it seems to be an echo ; but Mr. Thorns, in
N^t and Qurries, October 6, 1871, distinctly claims it as a happy invention
of his own. In making his claim, he quotes " Coriolanns: "Alone I
Among Ibe pruA of hit I William John Tbonui'i] bappineaa of tUttlng upon iumE> may
ba ckolQi iBioKiau at ibe word folk-loiE.— ^^rn axd i^riix, alith leiiea, lii, 141.
380 HANDY-BOOK OF
FooL A fool and bia money ora noon paitod. The origin or this
proverb is uncertain. The slory below may be an explanalion, and is given
for what it is worth :
UeoTEe BunhjiniD, hbiDrlan, Kholu. and wli, tutor » Jimei VI. oT SoUland, made > bcl
wlih a Cduttitr ihM hr ( Budianant could oalu a coana v«™ ihao ilw courow : "ut^"*"
WordiaRwJie Dieo'i counun, Ihcy do but rcckoD by Ihera; bu Ibeyare ibc aouy of
Iboli,— Hobib: i>ina/«a>r, Fact I, ch. W.;
which is to say, in the words of Demaratus, King of Sparta, "A Ibol cannot
be silent."
Fool in tlie middle. The, an old English saying, the exact contrary of
the gallant saying which is applied to a lady seated between two gentlemen,
~" a rose between two tiiorns." In the West Riding the rhyme is current,—
Hiih diddle diddle.
'lilt fool in Ihe middle.
It is sometimes explained as a reference to a piece of looking-glass placed
between two objects, in which Ihe gaier sees his own face.
Al a imnli-panyiht olhtrday.ageniliniBn and lady wire liiiiBg on a garden^eal, watdi-
Yoif know ih'e old uylog, -die fool't'n ihc inlddk.' "-^THaiKrl^Di.'iD h'sulamdQumti,
Fool-klll«r, a great American myth imagined by editors, wiio feign thai his
or its services are greatly needed, and frequently alluded to as being " around"
or "in town" when some special act of tolly calls for castigalion. Whether
the fool-killer be an individual or an instrument cannot always be gathered
from the dark phraseology in which he or tl is alluded to) but the weight of
authority would sanction the impersonal interpretation.
1-he fool-k.llet, in ih< mean lliot, ha> do( b«u idk. Wlih hit old. maiv, unloaded muikn,
I awell <tllh pride, and 10 Ihu nomber he ha>
ration thai never killed Bnyihing eicepi ihoH
lOugh to belong ID the human fonily. Silll.ihe fool-killn hai mlued
hii 1 gnaicr rea»n 10 be IhankTuI for >hit ovinight than 1 have!— Bill Nvi : Rimarki,
Fools, Feast of, a kind of Saturnalia common in the Middle Ages, based
on the Bacchanalian orgies of paganism, but in which the clergy were the
actors, and which resisted for long the censures alike of Ihe Church and of the
civil power. The bii^hops elected for the occasion were free for three days to
travesty the costume and functions of true dignitaries, even to the coining of
money. It was precisely in the sees of most importance, as those of Paris,
Amiens, and Sens, that these " feasts" were celebrated with most pomp, ex-
travagance, and license. At Notie Dame the clergy used ti
™"y a" = . . . . . „
Sravity, he pronounced a benediction, which his buffuonety turned into a male-
iction. A parody of the mass followed, with circumstances of scandalous
. . The clergy were dressed as women, buffoons, etc, their faces
besmeared with soot or covered with masks ; they played dice on the altar,
ale puddings and sausages that (hey olTeted to the "officiant," burned old
shoes on the censer and made the mock priest inhale Ihe smoke, etc Aflei
this parody of the eucharisi the orgies became more scandalous and revolt-
ing, not rarely ending in riot and bloodshed. Vet, monstrous as it was, the
mt had its apologists. There exists in the library in the town of Sens an
" Office of the Feast of Fools," composed by the archbishop of the diocese
Googk"
UTBRARV CURIOSITIES. 381
m 1312. We read of a bishop of Micon, dying so late as 1508, who be-
!|uca(hed his own proper robea to deck the Bishop of the Fools. Associate
easts were (hose of "The Innocents," "The Sub-Deacons," "The Ass,"—
all celebrated about the end of the old year and the commencement of the
new, the one ceremony leading up lo the other. Of much the same character
were the festivals of "The Abbot of Unreason" and "The Boy-Bishop," in
Great Britain.
Fools' FaradlM^ or Idmbna Fatnomm. The Latin word limbiis (a
"hem" or "border") is used to designate a r«ion near the abode of the
blessed, but yet not a part thereof. Dante located limbo between hell and that
"borderland^' where dwell "the praiseless and the blameless dead." The
old schoolmen taught that limbus, or limbo, had four divisions : lirsl, Umbus
Fuervrum, far untaplized children ; second, Umhui Patrum, for the patri-
archs and goixi men who lived before Christ ; third, Limbus Purgalmus,
where the better sort are cleansed of their sins ; fourth, li-mbus FatHorum^
for fools, idiots, and lunatics, who, not being responsible for iheir sins, are
not punished in hell or purgatory, yet cannot be received into heaven, because
they have done nothing to merit salvation.
This limbo of the schoolmen bears a close analogy to that of the Mussul-
mMis,as described in the Koran under the name of^/-,4™/("ihe partition").
This is a region lying between Paradise and Jehennam, and designed for those
who are morally neither good nor bad, such as infants, lunatics, and fools. Its
inmates will be allowed lo hold converse with both ihe blessed and the cursed.
To the former this limbo will appear a hell, to the latter a heaven. Arioslo
("Orlando Farioso," xxxiv. ■ja) speaks of a limbo of Ihe moon, where are
treasured up all precious hours misspent in play, all vain elTorts, all vows never
paid, all counsel thrown away, all desires that lead lo nothing, Ihe vanity ol
tides, flattery, great men's promises, court *ser vices, and death-bed alms.
The allusions to Limbo in our earlier literature are frequent. Spenser
(" Faiirie Queene," Book i,, Canio il, Stania 32) says,—
Whil YOice of diimnU ghotl fnm Limbo Lakt
Or Euikful iprigbl vADd^ring id empiy aire . . ,
A " fools' paradise," in its modern acceptation, is not a locality, but a mental
condition, the dweller in which indulges in illusive expectations, vain hopes,
axA insecure or unreal pleasures of any kind.
Heocc tbe FocJi' PuidiK, Iht uatHmu'i Kbuna,
Tin nir-buiLt cullc andlbe Eojd™ drcm ;
DDd hopefl of ^'3rf or iHuLnE fame
toinpti»b«d wwkj of nature • ban'
il ie« u'pwhirled iJoti
backiide of tbe world
It is in its metaphorical sense thai Shakespeare makes (he nurse in " Romeo
and Juliet" use the e»ptession, " You lead her into a fools' paradise." In a
■ 549 edition of Ihe Bible, 11. Kings iv. z8 is rendered, "Brynge me in a
HANDY-BOOK OF
I the phrase to denote
In Ihii foob' pandite lie dnnk ddlgbl.
Foolacap ia so called from [he fool's cap and bells that was formerly water-
marked upon this paper. And the way it came about was as follows. Charles
I., in order to increase his revenues, disposed of certain privileges, amounting
to monopolies. Among these was the manufacture of paper, the exclusive
right of which was sold to certain parties, who enriched themselves and the
government at the public expense. At that time all English paper bore the
royal arms in water-marks. The Parliament under Cromwell made sport of
this law in every possible manner, and among other indignities to the rojral
memory it was ordered that a fool's cap and bells should be substituted as
a walei-matk. When the Rump Parliament was prorogued, these were
removed ; but paper of the size of the Parliamentary journals, about seventeen
by fourteen inches, still retains the name foolscap.
In a statute of Queen Anne, a particular kind of paper is called "Genoa
foolscap." It has been suggested that the word foolscap is a corruption of
the Ilalian " foglio capo," a chief or full-sized sheet of paper, and even that
it is a corruption of " folio shape," the last suggestion coming from De Vere,
" Studies in English," page 167 ; but the above explanation of its origin is
doubtless the correct one.
Foot One foot, or, leu camin()n1y,oii«l*B,liith«srBT«, a colloquialism
applied to one who has some lingering disease, or who, in another common
phrase, is on his last legs.
Pcoplevrith one legin thegnvc HnK rcrrtbly long befon lh«y pui in the olha. Tfaey
■ecQi, [ike birdi, lo rvpote better on vdc leg. — Dotjcuu Jkkbolh.
I begin id ihink out cDilom as to war a a miitalte. Why draw Jrom our youiu men in the
bloom ud hevday of iheii yoalb the loldlen who lie Id Aghl out balliot Hid I my way,
no mtJi ihould go to war under fifty yearm of age, Auch men having already had their nntuial
nore crediiable or mare honorable exit (roD the world's Hagc tlian by beeoniDg fliod for
poodct, and (loriouly d^iaf in defence at ihelr home and counirjr. Then 1 would add a
Ibe giaie, Ihcy would not be likely to run away.— Hawthochii: Lttttr u F. Bimnxk, iMi.
Foot. To put one'B foot In It, a colloquialism meaning to commit a
blunder 01 fiua pat, to ruin some scheme or enterprise l>y an awkward inad-
vertence. The original eipression seems to have been, " The bishop has put hi*
foot in it," said of soup or milk when il was burnt. Grose explains the ailusioo
as meaning that when the bishop passes by in procesition, the cook runs out
to get a blessing and leaves whatever she may be cooking to take its chance
of burning. As far back as 152S, Tyndale, in "The Obedyence of a Chrysten
Man," offers another though less likely explanation : " When a thing spreadeth
not well we borrow speecli and say ihe bishop hath blessed it, because that
nothing spreadeth well that they meddle withal. If the podech jpottace] be
burned to, or the meat ovei-roasted, we say the Bishop hath put his foot in
the pot, or the Bishop hath played the cook. Because the Bishops burn who
they lust and whosoever di»plc3E<es them." It was only natural that when the
original sense of the words had lapsed from the popular mind, the metaphor
should have been taken in a semi-literal sense as implying awkwardness on the
part of the bishop or Other person who "put his foot m il." A correspondent
of Afotti and Queriet says, " I have heard a similar remark in French Flanders
^ ■■-■ 10 the soup -^ '
The phra
familiaily in France for a fault commitlei) by ignorance or imprudence, and is
recognised by the dictionary of the French Academy.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 3S3
Pep. Originally a fool pur tang: "Foppe, L q. fold" (Prmnpt Parv.,
p. 170).
The tokrnn fap, ivnificADt tiulbudn^
A IDol with JnclfBfl, KUOi^^t fooU Bjadge.
Cowhr: CMwriafrn.l. 999.
TbiH, fopperr u synonymoas with folly in
Let not tba KUpd of kIhIIov foppery e pur mv lober bouK.
M,Tcka„l ^ iftnici. An ii, Sc, j.
il full of BOUOIH aiHl H
Mil;
— now its principal — meaning, as a synonjme for
Na« ■ Fnoch Fop, Ukc a PotI, li boia », ud irou'd b>
EvH, bis Noae, hu FiivEen, hit Elbowi, hit HccIb: tbey I
vbcn tfaey ipuJt.— C. BuBHUY : 7*4^ Rifarm'd Wifi, p.
The Universal MagnBnt for 1777 gives a poetical "Receipt to make a
modern Fop r"
. One Bcmple next of modnly Hiid kdk,
TwogramiDf tniih. Of filKhood ukI decol
And iiulDcenty a bandnd-weight.
InluK into the tLull, of flathy vil
A lofiy cane, 1 iword wilh diver hUl.
The mention of the two watches is an allusion to a then existing foppish
fashion of wearing a watch and fob on each side.
FoTK«ri«a, Litoraty. At the dose of the year 1890 there died in an Alba-
nian village a must remarkable character.
His name was Alcibiades Simonides, He was a native of the island of
Syrene, opposite Caria. where he was bom in iSlS. He had many accom-
Clishments, He was eminent as a chemist, an artist, and a lithographer. His
arning was profound ; he was a fluent and persuasive speaker ; he was
gifted with extraordinary industry. Being fortunate enough to lack a con-
science, he utilized all these talents by becoming a forger of ancient docu-
ments. His Srst public appearance was in Athens at the age of thirty-five,
when he laid before the King of Greece a number of apparently priceless
manuscripts. Many were works whose total disappearance has long been
mourned by scholars. He gave a plausible explanation of how these docu-
ments had come into his posse^ision. His uncle and himself had discovered
them in the cloister Chilandari on Mount Athos. He was confronted with
some of the most learned scholars in Aihens, and saiis6ed them of the gen-
uineness of his discoveries. The king ended by buying the most interesting of
the lot for ten thousand dollars.
In a year he was back with a fresh lot, among them an ancient Homer
written on lotos-leaves, with an accompanying commentary by Eustathius.
The king's mouth watered at the sight. But he could only spare money
enough to purchase half the documents. The remainder he recommended
for purchase to the University of Athens, A commission of twelve scholars
was appointed to examine the treasure trove. Eleven reported in favor of
their genuineness ; the twelfth, Professor Mavraki, was sceptical, and called
for another examination. Then it was discovered that Simonides's Hornet
384 HANDY-BOOK OF
Teproduced all tli« miiprints of Wolff's edition. He was called upon for *a
explanation, bnt it was found that he had already disappeared, with the king's
money in his pockeL
Ycais passed. Tlie exploits of Simonides were almost forgotten. Then a
Btranpr turned up in Constantinople with a number of valuable manuscHpts,
a palimpsest history of the kings of Egypt, in Greek, by Uranius of Alex-
andria, an old Greek work on nieroglyphica, and an Asayr'
The learned world was in ecstasies. Forty thousand dollars ■
for the purchase of these antiquities.
The palimpsest manuscript was sent to Berlin, its aathcniicily was reaffirmed
by the Academy, and Professor Dindorf offered the University of Oiford the
honor of giving this valuable book to the world. The work had actually been
begun. The Egyptologist Lepsius, who naturally wished to know how far
Uranius supported or demolished his own theories, asked lo see the early
sheets, and speedily discovered, with disappoint men I and amusement, that the
book was little more than a translation into indifferent Greek of portions of
the writings of Bunsen and himself. The press was slopped at once ; the
manuscript was submitted lo microscopic experts, and il was found that the
layer of writing which had been nominally restored Was more recent than the
layer which had been ellaced : the pretended old ink overlaid the hfo).
Simonides {for it was he) was called upon for an explanation, but again he
had disappeared. He now varied his scheme. At his next appearance he
claimed that he was the possessor of an ancient manuscript, dating from the
time when the French and the Venetians rated over Con slant in opte, which
contained a record of the burial-places of many valuable manuscripts. After
being rebuffed in one or two quarters, he applied to Ismail Pasha, the Min.
isier of Public Works. Ismail was in his harem when SImunides called, so
the latter busied himself with an eiploraiion of the garden.
When the pasha appeared, Simonides informed him that this very garden
was mentioned in his manuscript. The pasha's interest was excited. He
consented lu make a trial excavation. By Simonides'* direction, work was
begun under a fig-tree. In a very few minutes a curious old box was dug up.
Within it lay a poem in manuscript, ostensibly written by Aristotle,
The pasha, ovetioyed, tilled the cunning forger's hand with Turkish coins.
But when the gardener heard of the discovery, he quietly lemarked that the
fig-tree in question had been transplanted just twenty year* before, and that
all the adjacent gruund had been thoroughly dug up at that time.
Again Simonides disappeared before he could be brought to justice. Not
the vanishing lady herseli had a more useful and mysterious gift of disappear-
ance at the opportune moment But he attempted another Bit of imposition
apon a Turkish magnate before he left the Orient. He told Ibrahim Pasha
that an Arabian manuscript was buried in a certain spot. The workmen dug
and found nothing.
" Let me dig," said Simonidet.
In a few minutes he had unearthed a bronte box, which, being opened, dis-
closed the manuscript in question.
But a dispute arose. A laborer swore that be had seen Simonides slip the
box out of his sleeve into the hole. Hard words were exchangetL At last
the question of the authenticity of the manuscript was postpon^ to the next
day. When next day arrived, Simonides, of course, had flown.
Two rnunihs later, Simonides was in London. English scholars were greatly
exercised over a marvellous manuscript in his possession, — a memorandum
of ]jelisarius lo the Emperor Justinian. Finally the Duke of Sutherland
bought il for Ihree thousand two hundred dollars, and also paid one thousand
dollars for a letter from Alcibiades to Pericles.
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 385
Anin Simonides disappeared before the fraud wa» discovered. The learned
world hoped they had heard the last of him. Bui one dny he was caught in
an Iberian cluistcr in the act of making some additions lu an ancient manu-
ScripL At that lime he had assumed the name of Baricourl. He was
promptly recc^nized, was banished fiom the eounlry, and a warning against
him was published far and wide. From that time till Ihe day of his death he
emerged once or twice from his obscuiily with a forged manuscript, but was
promptly exposed.
SImonides was the last, and in some respects the greatest, of the long line
of literary forgers. He will probably not want for successors. Credulity is a
phenomenon of persistent recurrence in the history of the race, and is as
common among experts as among ihe ignorant. Learned ignorance — i,e., the
lack of any knowledge of the world and of its pursuits save one absorbing
object of study — is commonly accompanied by a curiosity the restricted scope
of which only renders it the more morbidly active. But frauds which take
advantage of this curiosity are not the gross and vulgar frauds addressed to
ignorance pure and simple. They must be contrived with special skill, so as
to appeal to the ruling passion of the victims and arouse their enthusiasm,
without appearing to offend the conditions of which their eipcriencc quali^s
tbem to Judge.
The history of literary forgeries is almost inexhaustible. The motives
which have governed the forgers are many: piety, greed, ambition, a love of
hoaxing, a spirit of wanton mischief, a love of noluriely, — these, roughly
Speaking, are the chief, but they arc subject to infinite differentiations. There
is the pious fraud, for example. How Protean are the shapes it may assume ! —
the fraud that is meant to bolster up a personal claim to inspirUion, and so is
closely allied to greed or to ambition ; the baud that adds the final argument
in filTor of a doctrine essential to salvation, and so is philanthropic and
bumanitarian ; the fraud that flatters the vanity of the theologian ; the fraud
which real scholars have committed or connived at in support of some opinion
which they truly and earnestly held ; the fraud which is all a fraud ; the fraud
which half deceives the impostor himself; and so on, and so on.
The greatest of early fotgers was Ononucritos, the Athenian poet, the
trusted guardian of the ancient oracles of MusKus and Bacis. One night he
was caught by the son of a rival poet in Ihe very act of tampering with the
oracles of the Greek Thomas the Rhymer, — interpolating a prediction that
" the isles near Lemnos shall disappear under the sea."
Pisistratus, who was then tyrant of Athens, eipetted Onomacritns from the
city. But the discovery of his guilt proved in the long run very favorable to
the reputation of Muszus and Bacis, for whenever one of their prophecies
failed, people merely said, "That is one of the forgeries of Onomacritos," and
so passed the matter over.
And Onomacritos — what became of him 7
He teems to have continued in his career of deception. He is now believed
to have been the real author of the poems which the ancients attributed to
Orpheus, the companion of Jason. In his declining davs he deceived Xerxes
into attempting his disastrous expedition by " keeping back the oracles unfa-
vorable to the Darbarians" and putting forward any that seemed favorable, A
crowd of imitators succeeded him. Indeed, the later forgeries of the Greeks
are not to be numbered. The letters of Socrates, of Plato, of Phalaris, the
lives of Pythagoras and of Homer, many of the later oracles, the " Battle of
the Frogs and Mice," — all these and a hundred others we owe to the Chatter-
tons of antiquity. Indeed, according to Professor Paley and other scholars,
the Iliad and the Odyssey that we know to-day are not the Iliad and the
Odyssey that were known to Herodotus, for the real epics had fallen into
t ' '33
386 HANDY.BOOK OF
obscurity and been lost in their entirety when, in the time of Pericles, a Greek
Macphcrson arose, who from ancient epic materials constructed new books
of his own, and deceiveii all the learned world from that day to the time of
Professor Paley.
Thanlt heaven for Paley !
The age from Piaistiatus to Pericles was a great age for forgeries. But it
was surpassed by the Alexandrian period. When the rival dynasties of Alex-
andria and of Scleucia began emulouiily to collect rare boolis, it is reported
thai the Greeks freely forged early copies of Homer, Hesiod, and the dram-
atists. When the Clirisliait religion triumphed, impostors of a pious turn of
mind forged texts as well as copies. The works of Dionysius the Areopagite,
which were first exposed by Erasmus, and the epistle in which Abgarus
describes our Lord, are some of the notable instances. Forged gospels also,
and epistles and decretals, abounded, not on)y in Alexandria, but elsewhere in
the cultivated and Christian world. The story of the '• False Decretals" is
famous in ecclesiastical history. They were put forth in the pontificate of
Nicholas I. as portions of a new code, which to former authentic documents
added fifty-nine letters and decrees of the twenty oldest popes from Clement
to Melchiades. As they asserted the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome and
were full and minute on church property, their authenticity was not too closely
questioned by ecclesiastical scholars. But Rabelais made unending fun of
them in "Pantagruel."
The Renaissance was marked by a fresh crop of classical forgeries. When
the great works of pagan aniiijuily were once more studied and admired,
when genuine manuscripts were continually being recovered by the leal of
scholars, when the whole learned world was on the qta vhrt, the forger natu-
rally found himself in his element Indeed, a startling theory has been put
forth, and ingeniously defended, by one Hardouin. He maintained that all the
so-called ancient classics, with a very few enceplions which he named, were
productions of a learned but unconscionable company which worked in the
thirteenth century under Severus Archontius. Hardouin's, it will be seen,
was a more revolutionary spirit than even Professor Paley's.
Annius, whose real name was Nanni, was a notable impostor. He was
born In Vilcrbo in 1432, and, though he wrote a rather creditable history of
the Turks, he is best known by his forgeries of ancient authors, which he
published under the title " Antiquitatum Vatiarum Volumina XVII., cum com-
ment. Fr. Jo. Antiii," These supposed fragments of antiquity contained poems
by Archilochus, treatises by Manetho and Cato. and, most valuable of all, the
historical writings of Fabius Pictor. It is a moot question whether Annius was
a knave or a dupe of other.'. But it is certain that his discoveries were frauds-
Pope Alexander Borgia, however, believed in him, and made him Matire du
Palais. With Ca:sar Borgia, Annius's relations were less cordial, and there is
even a pleasant suspicion thai he was finally poisoned by the nephew of his
father, in 1502. But tliis charge was always brought up against any member
of the engaging family of Borgias when somebodj with whom his or her rela-
tions had not been cardial was suddenly taken olf
Other famous forgeries of the Renaissance were the pseudo "Consolations"
of Cicero, really written by Charles Sigonius of Modena ; the pseudo additions
to the "Saliricon" of Pctronius Arbiter (itself a book that is decidedly sus-
pect), which were made in (he seventeenth century by Francois Niidot and
one Marchena, a writer of Spanish Iwaks ; a sham Catullus by Corradino of
Venice (1738) ; and two celebrated works of devotion, the " Flowers of The-
ology" of St. Bernard, which were really the work of Jean de Garlande, and
the " Eleven Books concerning the Trinity" of Athanasius, which have been
traced to Vigilius, a colonial bishop in Northern Africa.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 38 J
In England the eighteenth cenlury was distinguished bv the appearance of
three of the greatest literary forgers of modern times, — Macphersoii, Chatter-
tun, and Ireland.
The Ostianic queKlion is too perplexed and difficult to be entered on here
at any length. That such a poet as Ossian nas actually known to legend at
least, if not to authentic history, that fragments of his poetry may have survived
in Gaelic tradition, ate among the possibilities, if not the probabilities, of
literature. But that the poems accredited to this ancient bard, which were
first given to the world in rhythmic prose versions (" Fingal" in 1762 and
**Temora"in 1 763 1 by James Macpherson, were in whole or in major part
forgeries is now a settled fact of literary history.
A violent and protracted controversy greeted them on theit appearance.
Dr. Johnson, Hume, and Gibbon attacked them at once. But they found
defendeis in Dt. Blair, l.ard Karnes, and other famous scholars.
And the great Napoleon — who spelled the name Ocean and pronounced
it heaven knows how — gave additional fame to this mass of stilted prose by
pronouncing it one of the masterpieces of the world.
While the conlroversy was still raging, the youthful Chatlerton burst upon
■he astonished world. He was a mere boy, hardly more than fourteen, when
he took his first step in imposture with the forgery of a sham feudal pedigree
for Mr. Bergum, a pewterer of Bristol. The success of this imposition decided
bis career.
In 1768 the new bridge of Bristol was opened. A paper appeared in Far-
Ity't jaurtuii, of that aty, entitled " A Description of the Friars first passing
the Old Bridge," and claiming to be taken from an ancient manuscript It was
traced to Chatterton, who declared that he found the paper in a muniment
chest in St Mar^ RcdclifTe's.
Once started in his career, Chatlerton drew endless stores of poetry from
the muniment chesL He ascribed them to Rowley, a priest of the tilteenth
century. They were true poetry, full of fire, passion, palhns. They were
sufficiently antique in manner and method to impose on Jatub Bryant and
other scholars. But when Chatterton sent his discoveries to Walpule (him-
self somewhat of a medieval imitator). Gray and Mason detected the
imposture. Walpole, his feelings as an antiquary hurt, took no further notice
of the boy.
Chatlerton then came to London, es^'^d writing for the banksellers, failed
in all his projects, Ibund himself face to face with starvation, and died by his
own hand at the age of eighteen.
William Henry Ireland was born in London about 1776. His father,
Samuel Ireland, engraved in aquatint, and published illustrated travels. This
fiilher was at the same time an amateur of old boobs and prints, a species of
antiquary, interested particularly in whatever concerned Shakieiipeare, on the
watch for documents and autographs. The son evidently early learned to
ride the paternal hobby. A journey to Stratford -on -A von, the birthplace of
Shakespeare, which he made with his father, doubtless completed the work of
turning all his thoughts toward the great dramatist and his forgotlen or ruined
works. What happiness for young Ireland if it should happen to him to find
some lines of that precious writing, — a poem, or, who knows } a drama I But,
finding nothing, why should he not make a pretence of having found some-
thing F Why not imitate the example of Chatterton? Why not give his
lather the joy of pressing at last to his heart a fragment of the writings of the
great poet, — without counting the pleasure of circulating his own verses under
such a name, of agitating the whole republic of letters, of duping the learned }
It seems that William Ireland began by deceiving his father ; but it is diffi-
cult to believe that the latter did not later become the accomplice of his son.
388 HANDYBOOK OF
However that may be, the jroung man was only nineteen when he executed
one of the boldeat projects that ever came into the head of an imposlor. It
was reported, all at once, that Samuel Ireland, (he engraver of Norfolk Street,
was displaying manuscriptii some of which were by Shakespeare's own hand,
while others concerned hU life and his person. He got them from his son,
who, he said, had found Ihcm among some old papers in the country-seat of
a neighboring gentleman. As for the name of this gentleman, the Irelands
were not at Itberly to mahe it known. Among the documents in question
had been found a will, and frum this will conlenlions might arise ; briefly, the
public must content itself with a knowledge of the manuscripts, without
showing itself loo exacting on the question of their source.
The Teamed world was thrown into ecstasies. Men of letters, antiquaries,
and curiosity-seekers flocked to Mr. Ireland's house to test the genuineness
of the relics.
Few living scholars were more erudite than Dr. Parr, Dr. Valpy, and Dr.
Joseph Warton. George Chalmers and John Pinkerton were experts, specially
skilled in old English literature. The professional antiquaries were well
represented by Sir Isaac Heard, Garter King-at-Ariiis, and Ftancis Town-
shend, Windsor Herald ; and miscellaneous men of letters, by R. B. Sheridan,
Sir Herbert Croft, H. J. Pyc, the poet- 1 aureate, and James Boswell.
After carefully collating the principal manuscripts with the poet's undoubted
autographs, these critics expressed a firm conviction of (heir authenticity,
and a certificate to that effect was numerously signed. A collection of rarer
literary and biographical value was certainly never offered to (he world. It
comprised the entire manuscript of " Lear," varying in some important re-
spects from the printed copies; a fragment of " Hamlet ;" two Unpublished
plays, entitled " Vortigein" and " Henry the Second ;" a number of books
from the poet's library, enriched with copious marginal notes ; besides let-
ters to Anne Hathaway, I^rd Southampton, and others, a " Profession of
Faith," legal contracts, deeds of gift, and autograph receipts. The external
evidence (or the authenticity of these precious remains was pronounced by
the attesting critics to be strikingly confirmed by their internal evidence.
The inimitable style of the master was to be clearly discerned in the un-
published writings-
After heating the " Profession of faith" read, Warlon exclaimed, " We
have very line (hings in our Church service, and our Litany abounds wi(h
beau(ies ; but here is a man who has distanced us all <"
Buswell, before signing the certificate of authenticity, fell upon his knees to
kiss "the invaluable relics of our bald," and, " in a tone of enthusiasm and
exultation, thanked God that he had lived to witness the discovery and , . .
could now die In peace." And then, being thirsty, he went out and drank
hot brandy-and-water.
On the other hand, Sheridan, after weeks of persuasion on the part of Dr.
Pan, blurted forth, with an oath, " Well. Shakespeare's they may be ; but,
if so, he was drunk when he wrote them t"
The public interest excited by the discovery was so great that Mr. Ireland's
house in Norfolk Street was besieged b^ visitors, and he had to limit (heir
number by orders, and the days of admission to three in the week. The pub-
lication of (he manuscripts by subscription was soon announced. The first
volume was issued in 1796, at the price of four guineas, under the editorship
of Mr. Ireland.
Sheridan, despite his own scepticism, was eager to secure the unpublished
play of " Vortigern" for Drur^ Lane, of which he was (hen lessee. His in-
terest prevailed over that of'^ Harris, the manager of Covent Garden, who
oflered a tarie Mancie for the privilege of representation. Upon payment of
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. .389
three handred pounds, ind >n andertiking to divide the profits fox sixty
nights, " VoTtigern" was made over lo Sheridan. Linley having composed
music for the pUy, and prologues being written by the Laureate and Sir James
BlAnd Burecss, it was announced for performance in the spring of 1796, with
John and Charles Kemble and Mrs. Jordan in the leading parts. On the ap-
pearance of the advertisements, Edmund Malnne, the tirst Shakespearian
critic of the day, who had already detected the spurtousness of the published
manuscripts and was engaged upon an elaborate analysis of them, warned the
public, by handbills, to put no fiiilh in '' Voriigem. As counter-bills were
immediately issued by the Irelands, this only had the effect of stimulating
cariosity upon the subject. John Kemble, however, who was equally per-
suaded of the imposture, though bound by his engagement with Sneridan to
take the part assigned to him, used all his influence as stage-manager to make
the performance ridiculous. In the attempt lo flx it for April Fool's Day he
was overruled, but succeeded in selecting the tarce of "My Grandmother as
an after-piece. To secure an adverse verdict from the public, he is said to
have instructed a band of itaquturs to hiss at a given signal ; but the charge
of his having resorted to Such unworthy tactics rests upon very doubtful au-
thotily. The house was crowded, and ihe piece received a quiet hearing until
the tilth act was reached, in Ihe second scene of which a speech of Voriigem's
contained the ominous line, —
And whcD th» nltmn mockery is o'er.
This Kemble delivered with marked emphasis, and the clamor which followed
showed that his shot had told. Having paused for a moment, he repealed
the line in a tone of such sardonic scorn that no one in the house could mis-
take his meaning, and the rest of the piece was inaudible.
The Biory does not end here. William Ireland subsequently (in 1796) made
a foil confession of his fraud. Bui the confession was neither humble nor con-
trite ; even its truthfulness has been doubted. All through he appears to be
laughing at the public whom he had deluded. He tells his story with a degree
of impudence and humor which makes it very curious reading. One is in-
clined to pardon the scamp for the sake of his very audacity. He takes all
Ihe blame upon himself, and is at much pains to eionerale his father. He
had had, he said, but a single conlidant, a young man named Talbot, who had
surprised him one day in the very act of forgery, and who therefore became
necessarily a sharer of the secreL Ireland, however, gave proof of skill and
^nergy. Like all who have followed the same business, he procured paper
y tearing out the blank leaves of old books. He was careful to soil them
rterward, particularly on the edges, in order to give them an ancient air.
The ink that he used was a composition which turned brown when exposed
to the fire. The strings that tied his manuscripts were drawn from old tapes-
tries. He had altered an ancient engraving, bought by chance, into a pre-
tended portrait of Shakespeare in the character of SV " ""'
him, he had but a very imperfect acq _
poet, and none whatever with that of Elizabeth or Lord Southampton, s
he could not even attempt to imitate them.
The confessions of Ireland, by cutting short alt uncertainty, only irritated
the more those whom he had deceived. His career was over. He could not
remain in England. He went to France, where he lived a long time. There
he reappeared during (he Hundred L>ays, at which period Napoleon, heaven
knows for what services, gave him the Cross. He published in l333 a rather
curious work upon this epoch and the second Restoration. He passed his
life in writing for the booksellers. He has left a history of the Counlyof Kent,
•everal romances, and a poem, — none of the slighlesl value. The author has
33*
X
Google
39" HANDY-BOOK OF
had the strange fate of being himself ihe most mediocre of writers, yet of
passhig 6fr some of liis verses under the name of the greatest of poets. He
died ill 1S35.
Two very (amou9 forgeries occurred in England within the memory of men
still living.
One was Ihe volume of Shelley's letters which Moion published in 1852.
It contaii>ed twenty-five letters, said to have been wrilien by the great poet to
various of his friends. They were neither very guoJ in manner nor very in-
teresting in matter. Nevertheless, the most unimportant relics of a great
man are valuable. Robert Browning himself wrote the preface, an admirable
summary of the character and genius iif Shelley, — the finest, almost Ihe only,
bit of prose that is credited to Browning's pen. Of course the book made a
sensation. The sensation was increased when, a few weeks after ita issue, it
turned out to be a fraud upon the reading public And this was how Ihe
discovery was made.
Moxon had sent copies of the l>ook lo all his illustrious clients. Among
these was Alfred Tennyson. Now, it happened that Mr. Palgrave, son of the
hiatocian, was visiting Tennyson at the time. He picked up the volume one
day 3s it was lying upon Ihe table, and opened it at a letter to Godwin which
seemed strangely familiar. He read on, and discovered that the letter was a
plagiarism fiiim an article which his own father had conlributed lo the Quar-
terly Rtvirui in 1840.
Moion was al once iiifcirmed of the discovery. He was greatly astonished.
He had purchased the Ictlers at a public sale. They bore every mark of
authenticily. The handwriting appeared lo be genuine. The seal was the
Cit's. The addresses bore the alamp of various Italian |Ki9t-o(ficea where
had lived. The upper clerks in the English Pust-Office were appealed lo,
and could see nothing suspicious in these stamps.
Then Murray came forward with some letters which he had received from
Byron, written in the same cities and at ihe same time Comparison was
insliluled. 1 1 was found that the postmarks of Venice and Ravenna betrayed
important differences. More proof was speedily produced. Al the same
Bale where Moxon had made his purchases, the son of Shelley had bought
other Icllers of Ihe poet, which were filled with private aSaiis and family
secrets. These letters were found to be at utter variance with fact. More-
over, other letters from olher poets (Byron and Keats) had been purchased by
Murray. From inlemal evidence, these also were adjudged 10 be forgeries.
Moxon at once suppressed his book, and turned his attention lo Ihe dis-
covery of the forgers. The auctioneer, il seems, had received alt his docu-
ments from a bookseller named While. While, in turn, explained that he
had bought them from an unknown woman, who claimed to have received
them through Fletcher. Byron's faithful servant. But further search re-
vealed, behind Ihe lady, a mysterious individual who was probably Ihe author
of the fraud. This was an adventurer who, bearing a striking likeiKss 10
Byron, had taken his name, passed himself off for his natural son, and, al-
though the Byron family repulsed his pretensions, had at one lime almost
succeeded in palming off on a publisher some inedited remains of the poel.
He had disappeared and left no traces behind him. Possibly White was
not very anxious 10 betray his whereabouts. That gentleman never succeeded
in clearing himself with the public The general opinion was that he must at
least have had his suspicions, and that, in any case, he had profited too largely
from the fraud by setting out of the affair in lime and selling for three hun-
dred guineas what had barely cost him one hundred.
The olher forgery is still more mysterious, in that it clouded with suspicion
the character of so excellent and eminent a gentleman as Mr. J. Payne Col-
Goo^Ic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. Jgt
lier In 1849 that learned Shakespearian brought to public notice a cop; of
a folio Shakespeare (second edition). It was greasy and imperfect, but was
loaded with ancient manuscript emendations. Thefle Mr. Collier was inclined
to attribute tu one Thomas Perkin!^, wliuse name appeared on the fly-leaf^
and who might well have been some relation 10 Richard Perkins the actor
{circa 1633). A further presumption, equally plausible, was that thii Mr.
Perkins, who in the controversy that followed got to be familiarly known as
"the Old Corrector," had marked the book in the theatre during early pcr>
formances.
The controversy did not break out at once. Shakespearian scholars ac-
cepted with great eagerness Mr, Collier's story that he had found a curious
Trecled copy of the old folio in the shop of a bookseller named Rudd. *
arcel of second-hand volumes, il appears, had arrived from the country 01
opened the bibliopfaile's heart began to sing, for among them was the 1
day when Mr, Collier happened to be present, and wlien the p
in question. Not till after the purchase did Mr. Collier discover the emenda-
tions of the Old Corrector.
And it was not till i35z that he published selections from them in his
"Notes and Emendations," and in an edition of the "Plays." Then the
controversy broke out. Il was conducted with doubt and hesitancy at first.
No one liked lo cast, or even to appear to cast, any leflections upon the veracity
of Mr. Collier.
scum. In July, iSji), Mr, Hamilton, of the Museum, published in the London
Timtt the result of his examination of the Old Corrector.
And then il turned out that the Old Corrector was a modern myth.
His corrections had first been made in pencil in a modern hand, then they
had been copied over in ink in a forged ancient hand. The ink appeared to
be ancient, too ; bur, in fact, it was not ancient, and was not even ink. It was
The entire case is most difficult to explain. For it is equally hard to believe
that so eminent a scholar could be imposed upon as that so respectable a
man could be a deliberate cheaL
Forgat and forgiTe, a proverb which is quoted by Shakespeare in " King
Lear," Act iv., Sc 7, and which sums up one of the greatest and most difficult
lessons of Christianity. As Mr. W. E. Norris very cleverly says, "We may
t God t
. . . .neeance. trustine that in the h
skilful
says this amiable Christian, "as leaving it alway to God, who, the less I
punish mine enemies, will inflict so much the more punishment on them."
Heine goes further than his lordship :
>«iii£ about tin or levcn of my cnvcniet hanged an ihac ireti ; fn>m the depth of my heart
The Old Testament counsel to return good for evil, in order to humiliate
your enemy [see Coals of Fire), is in much the same spirit Fat finer are
the lessons of the New Testament
In the words of Sir Thomas Browne, " To forgive our enemies, yet ho|>e
God will punish them, is not to forgive enough" (" Christian Morals, Part i.,
MC XV.); and Milton pertinently asks, "Is it Charity to cloaih them with
39» HANDY-BOOK OF
curses in bis Prayer, whom he hath Ibrgiv'n in his Discoars ?" (EikaHoklaitei,
chap, «i.)
Fine, also, is Pope's phrase,—
(see HuMANl/M bst Errarb), — which finds a predecessor in Bacon's Essay,
"Of Revenge ;"
CcrttuDly, Id uking rvcdec, jt nuui I3 bul even with hii eaemy : but in pai^nE 11 over, he
hU lordihlp w*a mittuen, for Solamoo d«h not], stUcb, *' ll i* Ibe glory of a oiui 10 pan by
In his Life of Pittacus, Diogenes Laerlius quotes from Heraclitus the story
that when Pittacus had got Alcxus into his power he released him, saying,
" Forgiveness is better than revenge." Epictelus, quoting, in hia turn, from
the same source, gives the phrase thus : " Forgiveness is oetler than punish-
ment ; for the one is proof of a gentle, Ihe other of a savage, nature."
George Chapman says, —
Ii rirhied even wbeti oitn ^:vat ibey err.
Mmitur lyOllvt, Act L, Sc 1.
Vet, though injured virtue is not malicious, injurious guilt is. We all
remember how Lord Macauiay lashed Lord Mahon for Kirgelting or not
knowing that couplet of Dryden's, —
Fotgiveneu 10 Itie injured do<« belong :
Bin ihey ne'er pardon who hnTe done the wrong.—
Cmfiitu <^ Cranailm, Put U., ActL.Sc. >:
— a couplet which, as Macauiay says, embodies what has now been for many
generations considered a truism rather than a paradox. Here, for example,
are a few of its predecessors :
Quae Uoenint M odetunt (" Whom they bcve injured they ■)» bale").— SmacA : Dt Irt,
Propnum bumimi iDnnii ck odiue qiaem IflCKia ('* II belong* to bnmu nattirr 10 hate tluve
Cfai fa ingiurla nob perdona mai (" He never pardouatbtae be LnjurB"). — Italian Prtrurb,
" The historians and philosopliers," conctudes Macauiay, " have quite done
wiih this maxim, and have abandoned it, like other maxims which have lost
their gloss, to bad novelists, by whom il will very soon be worn ID rags."
Waa Thackeray a bad novelist F He was fond of harping on the iheme.
Here is one out of a doien instances ;
Do you imagine Ibcre it a gnat deal of genuine, tighl-down remone In the worLdT Don't
people rather find excuaea which make thrir mindi eaay ; endcAvnr ra prove 1Q ihcintelvea
that iberhave been lameniabLy belied and misundenlood ; and Ity and Torgive the persecucarfl
certain wtii-liiiovm ptrvoD {1 tKlieted a kutcmeni i«arding him which his fricndj iioparted to
ought to be angry and unforgiving; Tot 1 waa in (he wrong." — Rvundt^ffVt Pfiptrs : Dt
Finilmt.
Pethapg, after all, the secret of the trespasser's hardness of heart is revealed
in the lines by Adelaide Procter, in the " Legend of Provence," —
Only HeaveD
Mcani crowned, ikot conquered, when it sayi. " Forgivenl"
Fonitu) eat noittnm nonieti mlsoebltur latls (L, "Perhaps our
name may be mingled with these"), from Ovid's "The Art of Love," iii.
339. Oliver Goldsmith was a noloriotisly vapid and inane talker. Dr. John-
son called him an inspired idiot, and used to say, " No man was more foolish
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 393
wh«n h« had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had" (Boswell:
Lift. 1780), the memory of which peculiarity Garrick embalmed in the im-
ptompiu epitaph, —
Hen Kd NdIIt Goldunith, (at OtaoBa* ailed Noll,
Who viDte 1il» u ugel ud ulked lik< poor PoU.
He redeemed himaelf, however, at least upon one occasion. Walking with
Johnson in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, the Doctor took occa-
sion to quote the line from Ovid, " Forsitan est nostrum nomen miscebitur
istis." On their way home they passed under Temple Bar, and Goldsmith,
pointing to the heads of Fletcher and Townley, who had been executed for
complicity in the rebellion of 1745, whispered to Johnson, with a humorous
reference to the latter's Toryism and Jacobite proclivities, " Foisitan est
nostrum nomen miscebilui ittts" (" Perhaps our name may be mingled with
thtii'\ It may be added that Johnson's playful prediction was fulfilled. John-
Bon died December 13. 1784, and his bones rest in the Abbey by the side of
Goldsmith, who preceded him.
Forttme favoiB th« brave (or the atrong) (" Fortes (bTiuna adiuvat"
(Terence), " Audentes fortuna adjuvat" (Vireil). " Fortuna favet forlibua.''etc),
a popular Latin expression found in various forms in most of the Roman
authors. Cicero and Livy allude to it as a proverb, and Claudian, in the tine
Fon juni ludenH., Cei Muicniia mi*,
f Ponunc ra>on Ihc bold, (he KDIence of ibe laid of Ceu"),
attributes the saying to Simonides, the Greek lyric poet, who waa born in Ceos.
Euripides says, —
Tnr 6nt ihyKir, imd after <sll in God :
For 10 Ihe varker God hinuelf lendl M.
HiPKlLTTUS: Fr^.^%%.
In a negative shape it appears in Sophocles : " Fortune is not on the side
of Ihe Taint-hearted" (/rnf. S43). Its English analogue, "God helps them
that help themselves," is toijnd in Algernon Sidney's " Discourse on Govern-
ment," and in the form " Help thyself and God will help thee," it occurs in
Herbert's " Jacula Prudentum," and has been echoed by \-a. Fontaine ;
Alde^oi, le del ('aideni.— Book vi., bble iS,
But Ihe French generally prefer their witty paraphrase, —
Foirty, This number has played an important and very curious part in the
traditions, superstitions, and even laws of different peoples. It still finds
many survivals in our proverbial speech, in Our written literature, and on our
sutule-books.
The period of forty days, best known now under the name of Quarantine,
in its application to the sanitary service, has been recognized from the earliest
times in the legislation both of France and England as of mysterious import.
The origin of this recognition disappears in the darkness of early Oriental
history. We find early traces of it in the diluvial rains which lasted forty
days and forty nights, and in the miraculous fasts of Moses and Elijah. It
appears substantially in the forty years assigned as the period of Ihe Istael-
itish wanderings in the desert The spies spent forty days investigating
Canaan before -' - ' - - ■ ■ -*
ancient times t(
just forty , ....
Testament we see the miraculous Quaiantinc of Moses and of Elijah repro-
duced in the fast of the Saviour, and the Christian I «nt, or Careme, commem-
orates it. St. Louis established in France the King's Quarantine, during
394 HANDY-BOOK Of
which no man could avenge an injury. Undei the Conqueror no man wat
suffered to remain in England above forly days unlesx he waa enrolled in
some tilhing or decennary. In Magna Chacia it is provided that a widow
shall remain in her husband's main-house forty days after hia death, during
which lime her dowry shall be assigned over lo her. A man wbo held hy fee
of knight's service was bound lo respond to the king's call for a term of forly
days' service well and fitlingi* arrayed for war. By the [irivilege of Parlia-
meni members are protected from arrest for forty days after every pro-
rogation and for forty days before the next appointed assembling of Par-
liamenL Our modern sanitary quarantine was established l>y early French
law. and adopted throughout the Mediterranean, and in tlie English acts lo
prevent the introduction of the plague from the East. Yet ri>rty days neither
constitutes an aliquot part of the calendar year nor will admit of an aliquot
division into calendar months or weekb. It is a distinctly arbitrary period
of time. A hint toward an explanation of its origin may be found in tjie fact
that forty days approximate to a division of the early lunar year by the mystic
Among the alchemists forty days was looked on as a charmed number,
when, after certain rites and ceiemonies, at the expiration of that period the
philosopher's stone, or the elixir of life, might appear.
In the Middle Ages forty was a period that was looked upon by old doctors
with superstitious regard, as a lime when remarkable changes might be ex-
pected to take place in ihcir patienis.
I4ay, proverbs and literature assume that Ihat is the age at which corre-
sponding moral and mental changes do or ought to take place in the rightly
constituted mind. Luther used to say Ihal a man lives fbrly years before he
knows himself lo be a fool, and at the time in which he begins to see his folly
his life is nearly finished ; so that many men die before they begin to live.
Young tells us, —
BcwfK wiihipccdi
A rool at forty li ■ fool iodnd.
iow qffaiHt, Satire ii., I. iSi.
Thackeray has a poem on "The Age of Wisdom," which Is emphatically
put at " Forty Year. tfere are the most pregnant stanias :
Ho, pretty pan wich thr dimpled chin,
That never haa lino»n the Buber'i ihear.
Forly limea over t« Miohaelmu paia.
Crtoliag hair the bniu delta clear,—
Then yau know a tuy is as au,
Then you know the wonh of a Uu,
Once you have mine to Foily Year.
A piipular proverb tells us that at forly a man is either a physician or I fool,
wliich means Ihat if he have any brains he has learned to lake care of his
health and avoid the excesses which inexperienced youth may be pardoned for
plunging into. But the proverb does not coniemplate the mere taking of
medical counsel from others, but the observance of those rules which tlie
individual ciperience has proved to be best for the individual. Thus. Bacon's
words are a good gloss for the proverb :
Then ia a iriidoin in thia beyond Iht nilei of phytic. A man's onm obsemiion, whai he
finds good of and whai tae finds bun of. Is the btit physic to preaeevc healih.— Qf' Rrgimn
he be botbf" Tibeiiu* is mentioned as the author u[ the phrase.
larry, mayn^
we, but tb*
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 395
ascription may be due to confusion with (hat other phrase which Plutarch
records ("Preservation of Health"), that "he is a ridiculous man that holds
■lul his hand to a physician after sixty." Chamfurt said, "Every man who at
forty years of age is not a misanthrope has never loved his race."
Women as well as men may look to forty as a notable age. 1'he influence
of apt alliteration is partly responsible for the conception of the epithet
F»ir, Ut, and (bny,
which is first used by Dryden, and was popularized by Sir Walter Scott in
" Sl Ronan's Well," ch. vii., and bv Byron in " Don Juan." Before the example
iif the two latter authorities had crystallized the phrase for all time in its
present form, it narrowly escaped being ruined by Mrs. Trench, who, in a
letter dated February tS, 1S16, wrote, " Lord is going to marry Lady
, a fat, fair, and tiity card-playing resident of the Crescent"
Now, a lady at forty may be both fair and bt ; at 6fty she may only be (at.
Forty atrlpea Mive one, the punishment of castieation as administered
by the Jews. In Deuleroiiomy ixv. 2, 3 are the following instructions :
•■ And it shall be, if the wicked man [brought to the judges for trial] be worthy
to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten
before his face, according to hia fault, by a certain nuiiiber. Forty stripes
he may give him, and not exceed ; lest, if he should exceed, and beat hiro
above these with many stripes, then thy brother shall seem vile unto thee."
The Jews refined on this theme, and affected great particularity. To avoid
the accidental inHiction of more than forty stripes, they resolved to stop abort
at thirty-nine. And to assure themselves exactitude each way they invented
a scourge of thirteen thongs, and with this instrument the culprit was struck
three times. The High Church party in the English Church were wont to
allude ^cetiously to the Thitty-Nine Articles as Forty Stripes save One.
Tax, Tboa dlest on point o£ Fox k
sword, and is frequently used in this sense it
dramatists :
I hiYcMnito^en'; 'liiafoi.
BuuMONT AHP rLETCHn : Caflalo, An lil., Sc. 5.
A Toledo, or on EngUlh foi.
WnsiBK : Wkilt Dniil, Aci v,, Sc. >.
Than ij'K on poiDl of fax.
The origin of the word is obscure. It has been derived by some from tha
old French ^u/jr (L/ii/jT, a "falchion"). But the following account gives
the probable origin of foi.
There was a certain Julian del Rel, believed to be a Morisco, who set up a
forge at Toledo iu the early part of the sixteenth century and became famous
for the excellence of his sword -blades, which were regarded as the best of
Toledo. That city had for many ages previous been renowned for sword-
making, it being supposed that the Moors introduced the art, as they did so
many good things, from the East. Julian del Rei's mark was a little dog
(frrrillB), which came to be taken for a fox, and so the "fox-blade," or
simply "fox," for any good aword. The brand came to be imitated in other
placcH, and there are Soiingen blades of comparatively modern manufacture
which still bear the little dog of Julian del Rei.
Another suggested derivation of the word is that a sword of good temper
was called a fox, from the mark of a wolf (mistaken for a fox) on the cele-
tvated blades of Passau. These last were also lulled "wolf-blades."
Coogk"
39* HANDY-BOOK OF
Frano^ BvwTthlug happenn In. A humacous variation of the old saw
that "it is alwavE the uiieipected that happens." The incident which gave it
birth occurred during the wac of the Fionde. While attending the Confer-
ence of Bordeaux in 165a, Cardinal Mazariu findins himself in a coach with
three of the Frondist leaders, " Who would have oelieved four days ago,"
he cried, "that we four would to-day be riding in the same carriage?" "Oh,"
replied La Rochefoucauld, " everything 'happens in France J" (" tout arrive en
Free to ooiif«M, an ugly bit of newpaper English which has unforlunalelj'
been incorporated into the language. Lord Byron credits its origin to (he
English Parliament :
He vfai"frceto confeu" (wh«nc« comet IhEi phmKT
li-tEagliihT No:-ii>oiirvi»riiunciiun).
LoHD Bykoh : Z>« Jtiam.
J'TAesa ont. To, in English and American slang, to put out. or drive awaj,
by a cold reserve and freezing hauteur ; now used in the larger sense of to ex-
clude, and made especially popular in America through the game of freeze-
[ nlled on Jine ud Muy Bung,
I Ihoughl 1 wu bound 10 blue.
Bui the very 6rM cull Ihey ftoH me out
Ei^iMSant : ™lt' Old-F^kiimia Bam.
Fr«ooh «■ aba la spoka In the charming description of his Prioress,
Chaucer tells us, —
Fut wcl the unge the Kivice devine.
And Ftesche ibe spake ful fayie and fed&lf ,
Afier ihe Kolf of JjiouCard WW bowe.
For Frenche of Parii wu ta hire uoknowe.
Canllriury To/rr, Pralcfiu, 1. 139.
There has been some controversy among the commentators as to whether
Chaucer did or did not understand the humor of this iiassage, but the great
public has decided that Chaucer was not a born fool and that he is entitled to
all the credit of his jest. The French of Stratford atte bowe has come to sig-
nify the opposite of the French of Paris. To the natives of Stratford and its
vicinity it is undoubtedly more intelligible. Indeed, even Americans, who
[Hck up foreign languages more readily than the English, have been bin to
confess that American French was more lucid than the French of Paris. But
Id the itihabilaniB of Paris it is a source of continual amusement, and some-
times of baffled astonishment. Such words or phrases as nom-de-plume,
double -entendre, i routrance, soubriquet, are familiar to the vocabulary of
iitratford atle bowe. To the Parisian they sound as funny as do to our cars
the Parisian -English, or Parisian- American, of inlertairva, hig-tif, ros-bif, and
thrry-gobler which are met with in French newspapers and have even been
sanctioned by high literary authority. Neverlhele<i3, up to this point the
Parisian can understand while he laughs. Numerous anecdotes, however,
are extant which exhibit the dangers that may result fruui using the Stratford
variety in its more bewildering moods. There, (or example, is the stock story,
lathered upon many distinguished Englishmen, of how one of two gentlemen
occupying the same apartment in a French hotel leaves word with his con-
cierge not to let the lire go out, but unfortunately phrases it " ne laissei pas
•ortir le fon" ("don't let the lunatic escape"), which places his friend in the
nnpleasant predicament of being detained and watched in his apartment
until the return of the Stratford linguist. Then there is the equally ancient
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 397
|Mt of the EiiEliahman who dumrouiided his landlady tnp asking for a chest
of drawers under the shocking and mystifying forinula, " Je veux une poitrine
de cale^ns," "Je sens mauvais : oti est ma naisgancc ?" is the Stratford
equivalent for " I feel bad : where is my berth V just as in the same locality
"tlie smile of the calf at the banker's wife" is cotisidered the correct English
equivalent for the tamitiar " ris de Velu it la diianci^re."
A startling error was once made by an English preacher addressing a French
audience. Beseeching them to seek the water uf life, he translated it literally
after the Stratford fashion into lau de vit, which means brandy. It is, indeed,
in the minor French words that fureigners come to felicitous grief, in substi-
tutingot for lAi or dlf/ii, ill misusing articles and conjunctions. Co6ti que ca6U
is Parisian and intelligible. Co&ti qta ce<\% Slratfotdiaii and nonsense. Lord
Byron in a letter to Moore, after using the correct phrase april de corps, asks,
noiidtalantly, "Is it dbordir/ for that is more than I know." Etpritdu carpt,
if it means anything, means E|^rit of the body. There is no word, by the
way, which needs more care in the handling than the word esprit. It is as
versatile and volatile as the people whose characteristics it so aptly repre-
sents. Breathe on it harshly and all its meaning has evaporated. Even so
great and so scholarly a writer as Macaulay allowed il to suffer ill treatment. —
vicariously, indeed, yet he shares the crime by applauding it. In his essay on
the " Athenian Orators," he repeals what he considers 1 jcu de mots on the
title of Montesquieu's masterpiece : " It was happily said that Monlesi^uieu
ought to have changed the name of his book from ' L'Espril des Loia' to
'LEsprit snr les Lois.'" Now, as Mr. Breen has pointed out, the happy
saying is sheer nonsense. One of the meanings of esprit is intellectual
brilliancy. It is obviously in this sense that Macaulay would have us under-
Mand il in " L'Esprit snr les Lois." Bui he forgets that it ceases to have that
sense the moment the article It is prelixed to it. In Montesquieu's title the
words " I'esprit" are employed in the sense of the scope, the guiding principle,
the fundamental idea. The substitution of "sur les" for "des" would not
affect the meaning of Feiprit " L'Espril sur les I..ois" would mean "The
Scope upon Laws ;" in other words, it would be meaningles:
" -■ ' " derisfoundin Mrs. Sigourney's " Pie;
" (•• Down with the restaurant-keepers I") It is to be
presumed that the public exasperation was directed against the IraUres, the
"traitor*," and not the unoHending traitmrs.
The word oKmr, it might not be amiss to mention, U not French in our
theatrical use of it, Encsn does mean mote, and the French do say " encore
une tasse." another cup, or "encore une fois," once more. Bui when they
want a performer to repeat a part which has pleased them, they might say bu
(Latin for twice), or they might simply content themselves wilh the Italian
word bravo, brava, or bravi, according to the sex and number of the per-
formers whom, in the useful Stratford phrase, Ihey wish to encore. We use
bravo indiscriminately, without reflecting that it is properly an adjective agree-
ing in gender and number wilh the noun that it qualines, and can only be
applied 10 a single male performer.
A word which is fruitful of ludicrous error is that little word of three letters,
nit. As cvenr one knows or should know, it is a participial adjective in the
feminine gender, meaning born. When you say of a married lady, Mrs. Jones,
n^ Smith, you mean that Mrs. Jones's maiden name was Smith, — i.e., Ihal
she was born Smith. But when a New York paper spoke as il did of " Mrs.
Douglas Green, nee Mrs. Alice Snetl McCrea. n^e Miss Alice Snell," it was
rightly called to task by a contemporary which said, "To have been born
nn. Alice Snell McCrea was a feat worthy of immortality in the records of
SgS HANDY-BOOK OF
obstetrics; bat to have been born a second time, and (hen as Miss Alice Snell,
is an acliievemeni that musi amaze the world or science. Surely this is the
climicterieal seiisalioii of our most sensational contemporary."
There is another small and harm less- looking word, — the wordy^. Yet it it
equally dangerous in Stratford hands. Captain Gronow, in his " Reminis-
cences," gives us a good story in point. A certain Alderman Wood visited
Paris in 1S15. Having previoust/ filled the office of Lord Mayor of London,
and wishing to appiise the Frenchmen of that Tact, he ordered a hundred
visiting-cards, inscribing upon them " Alderman Wood, feu Lord Maire tie
Londres." The moxAJai, one need hardly state, means "lale" only in the
Another of Gronow's stories is of an unnamed compatriot who, having been
Introduced bv M. de la Rochefoucauld to Mademoiselle Bigoitini, that
' ' -* 'n the course of conversation, asked him in
s placed. He replied, "Mademoiselle, dans
nne loge rfitie," instead of "giilt^e." The tady could not understand what he
meant, until his introducer explained the mistake, observing, " Les diablea dei
Anglais pensent toujours i leur rosbitL"
Lord Westmoreland, a wag of the Regency day, was in Paris at the same
period. He translated the common phrase, ''I would if I could, but I can't,"
as follows; "Je voudrais si je coudrais, mats je ne cannais pas." This was a
joke, of course, but it wa-i not a bad burlesque of the French spoken by most
of his compatriots. No wonder Prince Metternjch said to Lord Dudley, " Yuu
are the only Englishman I know whii speaks good French. It is remarked,
the common people in Vienna speak better than the educated men in London."
Lord Dudley's answer was excellent. "That may well be," he replied.
"Your Highness should recollect thai Buonaparte has not been twice in
London to teach them."
Mr. Brandcr Matthews, in his amusing essay "On the French spoken by
people who do not speak French," hast preserved a delightful advertisement
which he cut out of a theatrical weekly paper. He changes only the proper
ANNIE BLACK,
The papular bvorilc uid lewliiig luly oT Thesuc Comiquc. will be al liberty nftec June
E. L. BLACK
if»t Edw»id Brown),
CHARACTER ACTOR.
" Please read this carefully," says Mr. Matthews, " and note the delightfully
inappropriate useof«/r, and the purely professional cutting short into 'comb.'
of the word ' combination,' technically applied to strolling companies. Above
all, pray remark the fact that the gray mare is the better horse, and that the
man has given up his own name for his wife's."
German as well as French enters into the curriculum of Stratford atle bowe.
In his " On the Rhine" Hood has given some excellent instances. None of
them are belter than the true story which he thus tells in a letter dated from
Coblentz, on May 6, 1835 :
OunerriBt kBDwiifew wordxifEiwIiih. Hername iiGndle,— the than for Margattt.
Jim [Mn Hood) wuiied a fnwl » boQ for me. Now. .h< hu a Uieoiy ihal the mof^ .he
■nnkea her EjiEliih un-EngLigli the man it miut be like Gemun. Jaoe bcEini by khowing
Oradle a word Id ttie dictionBry.
CraJ/t. Jul vets— huhn— benne— jal yeei.
Jant (a hnle through lier Dene). Hiiiii--bum— hem— ye>, yaw. Ken you (cei a fowl— foci
•-fool, to boil— bile— bole for dinner T
Crm/ll. Holwauert
Jami, Yaw, in pii— iiai-"po(-4imn— hulk — eht
GriiMt (a lUile off the Kent isaio). Ja, ndn— waws,
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
JajH, Y«t — no — good to cfst — chicken— ctacckeD—checluDff — chokiiu-
— Uvt casn — «En — hune— hcine— hin— mmke cheek in hroth— »up — fxnutnr— pellry— p
OrJaiaaxtuimvh). PfdinEhchuhl-ncin.
Jaitt (in dapuc). Whu shall I du I ud Hood won't help iDe : he Diil)r luigh*. Thil
erf leaving Engliind ] (She CAiu her eya " " " """ . .- -l. . . — ... — ■._....
> brigbllkauilit ■dikei her.) Here.Cn
..._ u, ,,..'„ ■~T_hiini--w»lking ■!
permission, escape, flight. The origin o( ihe p
many a philological coniesi, btit ihe dryasdusts n
up Iheir native element and blinding the onlt>okcrs. It has been plausibly
suggested that the custom of disappearing unobliusively bom a croirded
1, instead of elbowing one's way through a throng of people to reach
- -■- ■-'-' - ■' -■ - -- ■■-. of courlei " ■
the hostess, a custom which was the natural outgrowth of couriecius consider-
ation for every one involved, was borrowed by the English from the French.
Again, it has oeen sugeesied that French, in the phrase " French leave," has
no connection with the French people, except to the extent that is implied by
the etymology of the natA frank, — free, — and that the expression may simply
mean a permiaaion which has been, not granted, but assumed. But the latter
derivations, and, in a minor degree, the former, are invalidated by ihe foct
that the French return the compliment in a similar phrase, "prendre conge i
la maniire Anglaise,"or "se relirer i I'Anglaise," with precisely the sa»ie
significance. In Germany, it may be added, the phrase is identical with the
English, — " franzosischen Abschied nehmen." From Hilpert'a German Dic-
tionary it appears that the term is at least as old as the century, while the
custom which it celebrates, i.e., of withdrawing without a final leavc'taking,
was an established practice in Germany three hundred years ago.
Frenchmen are half monkeys, half tigers. This phrase, which was
revived with much gusio during the excesses of the Commune in iSjr, is a
reminiscence of Voltaire's phrase in a letter to Madame du Deffand. November
1766 : " Your nation is divided into two species : the one of idle monkeys,
o mock at everything, and the other of tigers, who " '"" ' ' '
d of the judges in Ihe Calas case, " Don t speak l<
half apes and half tigers." Sieyis subsequently, i
Mirabeau, called the French " a nation of monkeys with the throats of
("une nation de singes i larynx de perroquets").
Frl«nds and I^tendahlp. Diogenes Laertius ascribes to Aristotle the
excellent saying, ■••'-'•- ..■.-...■ -,.....•
probably had in :
thai translated ;
Two fiieodi. [wo bodlu with one lonl Iniplred.
The most bmiliar form, nowadays, in which the trope appears is the couplet
in Maria Lovell's translation of Belli nghau.scn's " Son of the Wilderness,"
belter known as " Ingomar the Barbarian :"
Tvo »uli with but ■ tingle IhoDf ht.
Two heiini that best u on*.
Zeno, when asked what a friend was, replied, "Another I," which expresses
the same thought in another way. Trench refers with commendation to that
beautiful proverb of which Pythagoras is reputed the author, but which is
referred to many other famous men, "The things of friends are common"
400 HANDY-BOOK OF
fJLoa/h Td Tuv ^iluv). " Where," he asks, " does Ihis find iu exhausiive ful-
" :nt, but in the cummunion of saints, iheir o ' '"'" -■'- —
merelv, though indeed this is a part of its fulfilment, but in their
with Hiin who is the friend of all good men ? That such a conclusion lay
iegilimalety in the words Socrates plainly saw ; who argued from it, that
since good men were the friends or the gods, thetefoie whatever things were
the gods' were also theirs ; being, when he thus concluded, as near as one
who had not the highest tight ur all, could be to that great word of the
apostle's, ' All things are yours.' "
An Uriental proverb by the caliph Ali Ben Alt Taleb, son-in-law of Mo-
hammed, has been translated by James Russell Lowell thus :
Emerson wrongly attributes the maxim to Omar Khayyim, and translates
it in this form :
Beltevc ne, a ihoiuuid IHendi tufEce Lhee Doi :
Id a lingtc enemy diDu hui uiotf ibui enoufth ;
— which may be taken optimistically as meaning that friendship with every one
is commen<kble. as enmity towards even one is wrong, or qrnically in the
sense that enmity is a more active principle than friendship, — that *ou may be
sure of man's gall, but not of his heart. The Italians enforce the &ir-»ea)her
nature of friendship in two very hard sayings ;
He thu would l»ve mur friendi ilwiild try few of Uiem.
Let hin tlul b wrclchtd uid l>eKEared (ry everybody, and then hb frkm).
" Prosperity makes friends," says Publius Syrus, "adversity tries them."
To the same effect is Ecclesiaslicus, " A friend cannot be known in prosperity,
and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity." Therefore all nations have
the proverb "A friend in need is a friend mdeed," an expression (bund In
Plautus's " Epidicus," — " Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a
friend in need.*' (Act iii., Sc 3). Yet he seems to be a rarity;
'Bybom : ChiliU Har^d. Simo ii,. Si. 66.
Hence one must be careful not to place too much dependence on others.
"Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy," is another of the
maxima of the cynical Syrus. And Diogenes Laerlius reports a still more
sweeping saying of Bias :
Biai (ued 10 uy Ihu dko ou(hi to calcnUu life boih u if they wen bied to live ■ lone
■nd ■ iliDrt time, and that ihflv ought to love one uio4lier «i if m a fUiurt dmc Ibey wouM
CORK to hate one another ; for thai ino« men wen \aA.—Biaa, v.
La Rochefoucauld saw in every new acquaintance a possible enemy. And
Chamfort warns you that there are three sorts of friends, — those who love you.
those who are indifferent to you, and those who hate you.
It is pteasanler to turn to the more optimistic view of friendship :
A man that hath friendt muK thow him&df friendly : and there ia a friend that adcketh
clofter than a hrolhq-. — Pnvtrii irviiL, ^4,
Gieater love hath no man than Ihii, that a man lay down his life for till Iriendl.— yMa
A bicnd may wcl^ be reckoned the maatcrpiece of nature.— EicBitaoH : Eiiajx; Primdtk^-
Bc thou familiar, but hy no mean* vuigar.
Grapple them \o thy vwl with hooka of Hed.
. : Juliut Cmtmr, Act iiL, Sc. ■.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 40 1
ndonds, B»ve me from m-f, is not in essence original wiih Marshal
Villus, to whom it ia generally attributed On taking his leave of King
Louis XIV. on his departure for the wars, Marshal Villara, as the story goes,
addressed his majesty, "Sire, I am going 10 light your enemies. I leave
you in the midst of mine. Save me from my friends." Referring to his
fourteeii years of hospitality al Ferney, where he was overrun by admirers
from all over the continent, Voltaire said, "I pray God to deliver me from
my (riends, I will defend myself from my enemies ; but he was merely para-
phrasing the saying of Antigonus, who commanded a sacrifice to t)e offered,
that God might protect him from his friends. " From my enemies," he ex-
plained, " I can defend myself, but nol from my friends." The thought is an
obvious one, however, and it is nol surprising lo find it widely diffused in
various forms. In Italy it is a proverb in this form : " From him I trust may
God defend me ; from him whom I trust not I will defend myselt" The very
words of Antigonus are found in their Arabic equivalent in a volume of
maxims of Honan.ben.Isaak, who died A.D. 873. The oldest recorded modu-
lation of the thought, however, probably underlies the words of the prophet
Zechariah (aiii, 6) : "I was wounded in the house of my friends,"
Siniitar expressions are found in all modern literatures. Schiller makes
Wallenstein say, "It is (he leal of niy friends that is ruining me, not the
hatred of the enemy." (Watltmtiin's Tod, KiA lii., Sc 16.)
So in English literature it frequently recurs :
Gready hi« fos he dnviA, buE niDsl hii Mendo i
H* hum the mow who UvUhly CDmmeiiib.
Canning's lines are well known :
Giv« mc th« Avowed, the end, ihe muJv foe ,
Bui of hIL plu;uc>, s;ODd Heavea, thy wnlh con send,
Ssvc, «ave, oh. uvc me frain the candid friend I
A correspondent of AU« anJ Querut, seventh series, x. 519, says that m
September, 1838, he copied the following from the walls of a small dungeon,
nearly below the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, evidently scrawled by a prisoner :
'* Di chi mi fido guardami Dio, di chi non mi fido mi gnardero lo," — " From
those whom I trust protect me, O God ; from those whom I mistrust I will
protect myselL"
Friti, let Bj\ The great fifty-Ion hammer in the Krupp Giin-Works at
Essen, Germany, gained its name and the inscription it bears, " Frili, let
Ay I" in the following manner. In 1S77, when Ihe Emperor William visited
(he gun-works, this great steam trip-hammer was Ihe first thing lo allraci his
attention. Krupp then introduced the veteran Emperor to the machinist
Fritz, who, he said, handled the giant hammer with wonderful precision, —
being GO expert with it as tu drop the hammer without injuring an object
placed in the centre of (he block. The Emperor at once put his diamond-
studded watch on the spot indicated and beckoned to the machinist to set the
hammer in motion. Fritz hesitated, out of consideration for the precious
object, but Krupp and Ihe Emperor both urged him on by saying, " Fritz, let
Sy 1" Instantly the hammer was droppeti, coming so closely to the watch
that a sheet of wriling-paper could not be inserted between. IhiI the jewel was
uninjured. The Emperor gave it to Fritz as a souvenir- Kiupp added one
Ihotuand marks to Ihe present.
oo 34*
;i:v,.G00gIf
402 HANDY-BOOK OF
FrOBt or Vintage Salnta. A popular French proverb m)«, " It is belter
to deal with God ihan with hia saints." M. Quitard believes the Minis re-
ferred to are the '■ fiosl" or " vintage saints," saints gflifs, saints vmdangeitrt,
—St. Mamertus, Sl Pancras, and St. Serval us,— whose festivals, the Iltb,
IZth, and 13th of May respectively, are noled in the popular calendar as days
when any marked depression of temperature would be fatal to the young
crops and to vines. The husbandmen held these saints responsible for any
ill weather that might occur, and the reproaches addressed lo them might
take the form perpetuated in the proverbs In the ecclesiastical annals of
Cahors and Rhodez it is recorded that the angry peasants would frequently
AoK the images and deface the pictures of the frost saints. Rabelais salin-
calTy asserts that in order to put an end to these scandals a bishop of Auierre
proposed to transfer the festivals of the frost saints to the dog-days, and make
August change places with May.
In Germany the same superstition holds, and the frost saints are known a*
" the three severe \gtslrtti^\ lords." It is believed by gardeners that nothing
is safe from frost until these days are over.
SL Urban is another patron of vinlners and vineyards, who fares ill, es-
pedallv in Germany, if his festival (May 25) be not a fair day. " Upon St
Urban s day," says Aubanus, " all the vnitners and masters of vineyards sit
at a table, either in the market-stand or in some other ojien and public place,
and, covering it with fine drapery and strewing upon it green leaves and sweet
floaers, place u]ion the table the image of the holy bishop ; and (hen, if (he
day be [air, they crown the image with great store of wine ; but if the weather
prove unpleasant and rainy {believing thai the saint has withdrawn his pro-
tection) they cast mire and puddle-water upon it, persuading themselves that
if that day be fair and c^m, iheir grapes, which then begin lo flourish, will be
good that year ; but if it be stormy and tempestuous, they will have a bad
Sl Paul and St. Vincent Ferrer are also invoked by vintners. There is an
old Latin saying, " Vincenti feslo, si sol ladiet, memor esto," which ihe French
translate into a proverb that may be Englished thus 1
If Si. Vinnni't day be Ane,
Funny-bone, or Crm^-bone, the latter being the more common loca-
tion in America, a term popularly applied lo what analomista call the inner
condyle of the humerus, a blow upon which jars the ulnar t)erve and pro-
duces a^HKytingling sensation. An old dissecting-room Joke for first-year
sludenls is, " Why is the funny-bone so called? Because it borders on the
humerus." This jest is seriously taken up by thai etymological Joe Miller,
Dr. Cobham Brewer, who explains the word funny-bone as "a pun on Ihe
word humerus,"
They hive pulled yon down flii on your b«ck I
lufuldihf LrttniU : Blmdit JaiJn of Sirnilbtrrlt.
Fnaa and Feathen, a nickname given to General Winiield Scott by hi>
detractors, intimating that he was "fussy," vain, and self-important A
curious accidental parallel Is afforded by tekyll's description of old Lady
Cork, Ihe friend of Dr. Johnson and the literati, who wore an enormou*
plume al one of her receptions. Jekyll said she was " exactly a shuttlecock,
—all Cork aitd fealhcrt."
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
G.
O, the aerenth letter and fifth consonant in the English alphabet, borrowed
from the Romans, who invented it to diScrentiaie ihe^ sound from the ^t sound,
both originally represented by the letter C(f. v.).
Oab, out of th», a colloquialism for loquacity or great powers of speech,
applied seriously or jocularly. The phrase appears to have been used for the
first lime, in literature at least, by the irreverent Mr. Colvil, in a parody upon
the Rev. Mr, Zachary Boyd's Scotch vernacular version of the Scriptures into
verse. Colvil represents Boyd as thus tranalatii^ the first verse of the book
of Job:
Thm wu ■ DUO dUIctd Job
Dwelt In (lie knd rf \}t.
He had ■ good gift of the gob :
Tbe ume que hippeu id us.
"Gab" and "gob" are identical words, and may be traced back to the begin-
nings of our tongue, meaning always, in one or another form, the misuse of
that useful but unruly member.
OoIUean. "Sbiaa luwt oonqueEed. Chllleaii! (I. "Vicisti, Galilxcl")
the exclamation which sonic eailj Christian historians put into the mouth of
the dying Julian, known as the Apostate, He received his death-wound at
the very moment of victory against the Persians, June ZJ, 363. When hie
physicians told him he could not live, he is said to have caught some of the
blood from his wound in the uninjured hand, and. Casting it towards heaven,
to have exclaimed, "Thou hast conquered, Galilean I" (i.t., ChrisL) But
Ammianus, an eye-witness, and a credible person, does not mention this.
He tella us that Julian received the intelligence with calmness, and even
expressed his satisfaction that it was the pleasure of the gods, who had
often given the boon of early death to those they loved, that he should be
withdrawn from the danger of corruption. In this mood he harangued his
friends all night, and died early next morning, calmly confident of immortality
in the halls of Jupiter.
Id the drift at the itild world'i tide,
^iSailheuiditand*^. '
SwiHauHna: Tlu Latl OratU.
dallagller. Let her go, 0«llagti«r! a humorous Americanism, mean-
ing " All right I Go ahead 1" The Gallagher who is so continually advised to
"lei her go" is as Protean a personality as Bill^ Patterson himself. He is
a deputy-sheriff in Galveston, Texas, who. having adjusted the hangman's
noose, was told by the cheery criminal to "let her go, Gallagher." He is the
custodian of a jail in St. Louis, who levelled his gun at some escaping pris-
oners and had the memorable words addressed to him by a sentinel. He is
an ancient horseman in Texas, the owner and lider of a forlorn old plug, who
excited the audience to this derisive shout of irony. He is a New York
horseman, employed to start horses by the word "go," who, failing in his
duty at the proper moment, is so addressed by the crowd. He is a conductor
employed on a line of street-car? recently opened in Galveston, Texas, or in
Chicago, or in St. Louis, or in Camden, New Jersey, — just as your fancy
pleases. Tbe novelty caused great excitement, and whenever the time came
404 HANDY-BOOK OF
round for Gallagher's car to start he was greeted with the famous words.
Exactly why Gallagher's car was the only one singled out for the purpose has
never been satisfactorily explained. And so on. and so on. The truth is, it
is impossible to fix upon the origin of the phrase. As good an explanation as
any (but not much better than the rest) is that at one time New Orleans
counted among its inhabitants a number of Gatltgos, — a class of Northern
Spaniards, remarkable, mainly, for their bow.legs. "These gentry were em-
ployed very extensively as conductors of street-cars, and it is suggested that
they were frequently started on their route with cries of " Let her go, Gal-
lego I" If this be true, then Gallaeher is not Gallagher, after all. One cir-
cumstance that counts in favor of this explanation is the remarliable number
of conductor-stories that have travelled round the papers in explan
A curious parallel to the expression, especially in connection with the first
story given above, is found in Montaigne's " Elssays," chap. x1., where he tells
how, after Louis XI. had taken the city of Arras, he caused to be executed a
number of the inhabitants, among them some buffoons " who would not leave
their fooling at the very moment of death. He that the hangman turned off
the ladder cried, ' Launch the galley I' a slang saying uf theirs."
Oairlok Club ContrOTeray. One of the most famous quarrels in recent
literary history was that which broke out in tbeGarrick Club belween Thack-
eray and Edmund Yates, and, through Dickens's championship of the latter,
led to a rupture between the two greatest novelists of iheir day. The caau
icili viis an article which appeared June 12, iSjS, in a periodical entitled
Timin Tali. It was a smartly. written, flippant, offensive bit of gossip of the
kind now, unfortunately, more common than then, professing lo give a sketch
of the author as he appeared In every-day life. Here it is in full :
LiTEKAKY Talk.
Findiiv that iHir|KD-aiid-lnkpi>nnil of Hi. Charles Dickenihju been mucb talked of and
eiienuiely quoted, we propoK ^viog each week a ikelch o< some litenry «lcbrity. Thl>
MR. W. M. THACKERAY.
Mr. Tluckeny Islbrtv-iii yeinold, ttuniBtifniin ihe lilmy wtiUeneu oThBhiir he ■)>•
din lonKwhal older. He is very tall, ilaniii^ upwanb of ifx feel two inches ; nnd ■■ be
ilarly exprvuive. but remaruble for the Iraclurt of Ilie bridge i^ the no». ttie
idii^ upwards <
No one meeting him could (ail lo recogoite in him a aendeman; hia bearing ucotd and i
viiing. hia atyle oT cDDvenailob cither openly cynical or affectedly good.natured ADd bi
oieot ; bis SnAemmie is forced, hts wii blilng. hia pride eaaily touched,— bat hia appeal
kin. auflcia no au/face dlspiay of his emotion.
HIS CAREER.
'meat, waa unknown by name id Ihe smi hulk of the public. To Fraitr'i Mag^nt he
( legulat contribulor. and very ihottly afltr Ihe commenccmenl ol Pumk he joined Mr.
" I-----
'ediT aafiamed. li wu wiih the publicatioD of tbt ihi
Lhogiaphy. and of which he ia no* dc-
m« work<— a^ich. pethapa, with Ihe exception of "ITic Newcomea." Is ifie moat perfect
UUniy dilKclloa il ibe humaa hean, dooe with ihe clereiai and moM luapauing hand— had
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 405
been odend to, uhI rejacted by, Kvcn] of thv firat publkheri in London, Bui the pubJic
bmrgk, boomed f^th their prusei, Ibe Ligbl Sirailtntrt in the monlhly uid wedily prcK re-
wu equally valued by tbelilertjy woHd, but ecarcelyio popular with the puUic, Then CAUie
" Edvond ' which fell almoat alill-horn from the prcu, and then " The Nein:uniea,"peHiapa
the ben at all. " The ViiBinlaoa," now pubiiahiDg. Ihough admiTahly written, ladig intercH
coDBendna with " Vanily Fair," culmiDaled with hit " Leclurea on the Engliih Hu-
moriauorihe Eighteenth Century," which ■ ere attended by all the courts eDdlaiblonof
London. Tbe pricea were eilravapml, the leciurer'a adulation of binh ^nd poHtlon wita
ejctrtivannt, the aocceaa wai exmvagaqi. No one auccecda beiier than Mr. lliackony in
the Ailiiiilic. George Washington becjtme the idol of hii aroihip. (he " Four (jeorgn" ihc
object! of hla biuereat atlacEfl, Theae laat-Damed teclurea have been dead lailutet in Ena-
laiid, though aa literary compoaltioni they are moat exeellent. Our own opinion li thai hit
claaea; the ariatociacy have be«« alienated by bii Ameiican onilaught on their body. and
the educated and refined are not aiiAidenlly nutneroui in cnnitittlte an audience ; momver,
tl)a« la a wnnrof heart In all he writea^ which la not to be balanced by the mat btihlant
aarcaam and tbe nut per^t knowledge of the woiVingi of the human heart.
The article, it will be seen, was impertinent, unjust, and in very bad taste.
It was an open secret that the author was Edmund Yates, then a young man
just be^nnmg to make his way in literature. Thackerajr had leasim to be
nsry, but when a man has reason he too often pushes his anger li
aUe lengths. One wishes, on the whole, that 'Diackeray had taken ni>
of the aflronL Instead, he sat down and penned the following letter.
masterpiece in its way, and admirably preserTcs throughout the
anperiar rebuking an inferior and only restrained by a consciousness of their
relative positions from any severer form of chastisement.
j6 Obsij™ SguA»a, S. W, . June 14.
E».— 1 have receiTcd two numbera of a little paps called Tmx Talk, containing notkei
mpccting myaelf, of which, aa 1 learn from the beat authority, you ar« the writer.
Id the fitat aidde of " Literary Talk" yoo think fit to publiah an incorrect account ol my
privat* denlinn with my puhlithen.
In thla weefc'a number appean a so-called " Sketch," containing a deicripiton of my man- .
and convenulon, and an » .- .. . . . . ^
i, with regu
But you itate, with regant to my converaadon, that It la either " Irankly cynical or aflect-
J1..1 . J A d; 'andofmy wotl»(Leclur-' ■^— ■ ' -■■ ' •• —
^lafLecturcak. that in %^^.^ . ..»-».
my coal according to my cloth") became the object of my bittereat ailacka.
Aa I nnderatnnd your phruea, yon Impute inalncerity to tne when 1 apeak good'tiaturedly
in private, aadgn diafaononhle motlvea to me lor aeptimenia which 1 have dfillverfd in public,
and cbaiye me with advancing iiatementa which I have never delivered at all.
Had your remarka been wntten by a peraon unknown to me, I abould have noticed them
on Iriendly temu (you may ask one of your cmplayeii Mr. — — , of— — ., wheiher 1 did not
apeak of yoo very lately In the most hiendly manner), 1 am obliged to take notice of attlclci
which 1 cottalder id tte not offeuive and unfriendly merely, but tlandenHia and untme.
We met At n club, where, before you were born, I believe, 1 and other grnilemcn have been
in tbe habit of talking without any idea ihat our conveisaijon would «upp1y paragraphs for
pmfeaiiDnal vendora of " Ulerary Talk ;" and I don't remember that out ortLlcrub I have
you will refrain from printing commenu upon tny private cDnvenjiioofl ; ihal you will forego
oiacnHioBa, however blundering, upon my private affairs: ?nd that you will hencefonh please
to consider any queailoD of my personal truth and sincerity as quite out of (he pfOvllKe of
your criildam. 1 am, etc.,
W, M. Thackiiav.
Hr. Yatea, in his "Recollections," thinks it must be admitted by the most
impartial reader that this letter is severe to the point of cruelty ; " that, what-
ever the silliiteu and impertinence of tbe article, it was scarcely calculated to
HANDY-BOOK OF
e hardly
imiKrlinent" are rather mild adjectives to
~r epithets would do something towards
liahl in saying that to some of Thackeray's
could return a somewhat effective TV quoque, especially the insi
"the fact that the club was our only common meeting -ground, and that it was
thence my presumed knowledge of him was derived." " [ felt that the sentence
in which he emphasized the fact afforded me a legitimate opportunity for a
tolerably effective rejoinder."
He therefore sat down at once, and wrote a letter, in which, after disclaim-
ing the motives impaled to him, he took the liberty of reminding Thackeray
of certain among his own intrusions into the privacy of his friends, and his
acquaintances of the Garrick Club especially : Arcedeckne exposed as Foker,
Mr. Wyndham Smith caricatured as the Spotting Snob, both with most un-
mistakable wood-cut likenesses, not to mention the Athanasius Lardner and
Mislaw Edwad Lytton Bulwig of the " Yellow plush Papers."
Before sending it, Vates determined to consult Albert Smith, but, remem-
bering that Albert also had reason to complain of Thackeray, he elected to
apply to Dickens, under whose direction he suppressed his letter, — it was
" loo violent and too flippant," Dickens thought, — and wrote as follows :
Ju«15,,B58.
my poiDiiDg out lo vou that \l is abwird to luppoH me
KAhding" 01 my " phnsn." I do not BCC«pt it in ihe \
oui ud uninie, I ihould widily hivi diiciuicd iti jutject with you, u
and rraoli deiin to lei right anything i may have [eTi *rDag. Vour la
havQ Dothlag lo add to my pmcnt reply.
Thackeray inslantly.pul Mr. 1
Street," and laid (he whole cor ,
decide whether the practice of publishing such articles would not be " latal to
the comfort of the club," and " intolerable in a society of gentlemen." Yates,
called upon to apologize or retire from the club, denied the competence of the
committee, declined lo do either the one thing or the other, and by the action
of a general meeting, in spite of the support of Dickens, Lowe, Wilkie Col-
lins, Robert Betl, and Palgrave Simpson, was made liable to expulsion. Still
recalcitrant, his name was erased from the books. He consulted legal
authority. Dickens resigned from the committee, and later wrote a privat*
letter to Thackeray, in which he acknowledged his part as Yates's adviser,
and suggested compromise and mediation, pointing out that Edwin Jan
case lo the club I have had, and can have, no part In the dispute." It was
for them to judge whether any reconcilement were possible, but he could not
conceive " Ihal the club will be frightened, by the opinion of any lawyer, out
of their own sense of the justice and honor which ought to obtain among gen-
tlemen." He enclosed a copy uf a letter he had written to the committee,
informing tbem t>f Mr. Dickens's proposition and his own answer Ihereta
Dickens, wroth at what he looked upon as a betrayal of confidence, handed the
_k)O^Ic
LITERARY VURIOSiriES. 407
«ntir« correspondence to the original aulhor of the trouble, to do with it
at he wished. " As the receiver of my letter did not rcs|iect (he confidence
in which it addressed him, (here can be none left for you (o violate. I send
you what I wrote to Mr. Thackeray and what he wrote to me, aitd you are at
perfect liberty to print the two."
Thackeray and Dickens had never been very friendly to each other. They
bad, indeed, always kept up an outward show of cordiality. Bui the natural
antagonism of two utterly diflerent natures, rather than any mere vulgar
rivalry, had kept them apart. Even before this aflair Thackeray had said to
an American admirer, " Dickens doesn't like me : he knoirs that my books
are a protest against his, — that if the one set are true, the others must he
false." On the other hand, " Dickens," says Vates, " read little, and thought
less, of Thackeray's later work."
The break between them was linal. Foisler, indeed, refers to it as a " small
estrangement hardly now worth mention, even in a nute^" But Vates insists
that it was complete and cimtinuous, and nates that Dickens and Thackeray
" never e;<changed but the most casual conversation afterwards." And he
adds that al the time nobody was more energetically offended with Thackeray
than John Forster himself. " I perfectly remember his rage when Dickens
showed him the letter of the 26th November, and how he burst out with,
'He bed — d, with his "yours, etc"'"
But to return. Yates, acting on legal advice, went to the club, was "satis-
factorily trespassed upon," brought his action ^^insl. the secretary of the
club as the nominal delendani, tost it on a kind of quibble, because he had
not brought it against the trustees, was advised to apply to the Court of
Chancery, and, finding that it would cost him some two or three hundred
pounds to get heard, was wise enough to let the matter drop.
And so the victory was with Thackeray in what had come to be looked
upon as a trial of strength between him and Dickens. As Vates himself
acknowledges, "it was pretty generally said at the time, as it has been said
since, and is said even now, that this whole affair was a sttu^le for suprem.
acy. or an outburst of jealousy, between Thackeray and Dickens, and that
my part was merely that of the scapegoat or shuttlecock."
Oaaooiuide, a term for pompous and inflated, yet none the less good'
natured, vaunting and self-conceit, borrowed from the French, who credit
this characteristic to the inhabitants of Gascony, a former province of
France, now cut up into several departments. The American, through the
Celtic side of his nature, shows in many ways a strong kinship to the Gaul, and
the gasconade certainly seems to be the father of American highlalutin and
spread-eagleism. It has the same flavor of sub-conscious humor in its exag-
geration. Thus, the Gascon who boasted that in a duel he had glued his
adversary so firmly to the wall that he might have been mistaken for a fresco,
— thai Gascon had all the wild untrammelled American imagination which
brings together the ninst hopelessly incongruous things into a momentary
appearance of congruity. Equally apt and ingenious was the conditional
threat of a Gascon, separated from an antagonist just before they had come
to blows : " Gentlemen, he ought to be greatly obliged to yuu \ if you had let
me alone I should have thrust him into the wall, and left nothing tree but his
arm to take off his hat with every time that 1 passed before him." Vankee-
like. loo, is the flavor of the young Gascon's boast that the very mattresses he
slept upon were stuffed with the whiskers of those he had slain, his ingenuous
staleineni that at home his family used no other firewood than the batons
of Ihe various marshals of France among their ancestors, and his qualified
approval of the Louvre : " Upon my honor, I like it vastly ; melhinks I see
the back of my father's stables."
db. Google
4o8 HANDY-BOOK OF
No one lo effectively u a Gascon could take Ihe wind out of the sails
of the ieas accomplished braggarts of other climes. A travelling salesman
sought to astonisli a Gascon, travelling for another house : " Do you know
that OUT annual expense for ink is upwards of two thousand francs P" The
Gascon burst into loud laughter. " Two thousand francs 1" he cried ; " why,'
in our establishment we economize to the annual amount of five thousand
francs by refraining from dotting our Ts." When Gascon meets Gascon the
by-slanders have what Americans, when they wish to be very expressive, call
a picnic " I have a iog" said one Gascon to another. " So have I," was
the reply. " But mine's the cleverest d<^ you ever saw. When some boys
attached a kettle to his tail " " He ran away ?" " No ! He cut off his tail to
save his amaur-fTOffi-t:' " That's nothing," cried his friend ; " mine did better.
Having a kettle tied to his tail " "He pulverized ilf" "No,siT. He got
into it and had himself cooked one day when provisions ran shorL"
When a Gascon conobora.tes a Gascon, there is no climax which he cannot
cap : he piles Pelion upon the groaning weieht of Ossa. A young Gascon
gentleman, laughed at for aaseiting that in his lathei's castle there was a gallery
a mile long, appealed to his Gascon valet, " Messieurs." said the latter, " you
may laugh all you please, but the gallery is certainly a mile long by two
Oaiuittet, Kaoning tli«. This phrase, which has come to be used figura-
tively, was the name of a form of punishment inHicled in the British army,
and particularly in the royal navy. The culprit, stripped naked to the waisi,
was obliged lo pass between two lines of his comrades armed with staves or
switches, with which they belabored his back as he passed through. In Ger-
many, during the Thirty Years' War, it was practised, as a punishment for
offences against their etprti di eorfii, by Ihe members of those organized mil-
itary IreeMoters. " Lanzknechte" (" Pikemen"), as they were called, and was
designated " GassenlauFen" [literally, "running Ihe lane"), whence it passed
into the armies of Europe as a military punishment. It was introduced into
England during or soon after this war. Originally it was called "lo run
the gantlope, or gang-lope," probably from the Dutch ganglBoptH, which is
identical in meaning with the German word.
Some said hfi ought lo b« li«d neck and beeli ; othen, thu tic doervad to mn the gamlope.
— FiBJiinQ : Tom Jtntt, Book »a , ch. ii.
Some etymologists prefer to derive it from the Swedish galhp, having the
same meaning as Ihe German and the Dutch term. The word "gauntlet,"
or "gantlet," in the phrase is simply a corruption, the punishment having
always been inflicted with staves, switches, or similar weapoiu ; and the
fancied iron glove, or mailed hand, or gauntlel of any kind, never played any
n/as in Gray's " Elegy in a
iirteentn :
The d«k linfilhonied cmvei of oceED be»r :
lamentable want, however, of
islation of the Latin couplet"
Plurinu gemnu laui iza lellm lepulu :
PLufima ncgleciD fra^ral odorc tobl
He also quotes from Bishop Hall :
Then t> muy ■ rich »aac laid up Id the bowcb of Ibc nitb, Bumy ■ lilt peul In Iht
botom of the n, thai nevir «u Men, doc cretwUl be.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
The parallelt might be almost indefinitely extended :
Uke boiuuoiu law« which Yunly »»« Ihe •
Of odonipnnt — """' "" '"
Why did I B«pui my In
Qeuliu. What isgenius, and how does itdiffcr ^did talen
nas not yet been settled. No definitions have compassed
idea thai genius is a gift of the gods, an inspiration, a deirn ^
and talent mere human energy and application, might be exemplified b]
army of citaliona, from the " poela iiasciinc non til" of the ancients to the
critical review. Here are a few ;
Talk DOI a gmfm haflltd. Geniui a muter of mu :
OwKN MmKDiTK : Latl Wrriit.
The iroHil it itWE^ ■*"!)! '° recove ulf nt wiih open srms. Very often ii doa not k
world dlpi ihe co1£"ov«it. 'it Wkiin^D'u^ihaft^Likeilimb. It dnn'7u^ 'id
fblly. and bpaliml of the bit and oTihe whip. But aeniiu is ilwmyt impaiienl of il» bun
ittwildbloodDikaithudlolnin.— O. w: HoLHEi: Tlu Pr^aicr, yia.
Talntco
Thi> tub the nuoo. ihu the whiI delicti.
' a>uf CV-»i,
Yet latterly a school of heretics has arisen <rho openly scoff at the supposed
difference between talent and genius, or make the difference, if any, quantita-
tive, and not qualitative. Hoirells and James ^ayn are foremost in insisting
with blatant joyousnesa on the new doctrine, and they lind many a text among
the greater men which seems to bear them out. Thus, Dr. Johnson defined
genius as " a mind of large general powers accidentally delermined to some
particular direction" (Boswell: Lift of Johnsim), or, more conciselv, " Genius
IS, in fact, knowine the use of toots" (MaPAME D'ArblaV : Mfmeirs of
Or. Burmy). Buflon characterized genius as " only the supreme capacity for
talcing pains," — a dictum which Carlyle appears to sanction when he says,
s 35
4IO HANDY-BOOK OF
"Geniiu, which means transcendent capadtf first of a1!" (Frtdrrkk ike Greal,
vol. L p. 288, popular edition). Bat no man was more alive than Carlf le to
the spiritual siKiificance of ihe miracle we call genius. " Poetical genius, —
do we know what these words mean?" he asks, "An inspired soul, once
more vouchsafed to us, direct Irotn Nature's own great fire-heart, to sec the
Truth and speak it and do it. Nature's own sacred voice heard once more
athwart the dreary, boundless element of heaisaying and canting, of twaddle
and poltroonery, in which the bewildered Earth, nigh |>erishing, has lost its
way." (Past and Present, p. 75.) In spite of these sayings, however, writers
like Swinburne (in his Essay on Thomas Dekkei] insist on such woful mis-
readinesas are contained in this sentence : " If lie wanted that 'infinite capacity
for taking pains' which Carlyle professed to regard as the synoiiyme of genius,
etc Carlyle never so professed ; he looked on an infinite capacity for taking
pains merely as a concomitant of genius, but the most infinite pains without
genius could not enable one 10 speak with Nature's sacred voice. Disraeli's
phrase might have been borrowed from Carlyle, — " Patience is a necessary
ingredient of genius" \Coniarini Fleming, Pan iv., ch. v.). Perhaps Matthew
Arnold has come closest to the form of expression which succinctly sums up
Carlyle's doclriite : "Genius is mainly an affair of energy;" for energy is
God-given, yet the direction which energy shall take is decided by human
expediency.
s better known than
iu u< lun ID midDeB noir snied.
The thought is very ancient and wide-spread. It acquired especial promi-
nence among the Greeks and Ramans, who looked on creative genius as a
direct action of the I>eity on the productive mind, a possession of the indi-
vidual spirit by the god, exciting it to a pitch of frenzy or mania. Hence
classical literature abounds with expressions that tend to assimilate the man
of genius to a madman. The "furor poeticus" of Cicero and the "amabilis
tnsania" of Horace's answer to the fcia fiavia of Plato. Indeed, Plato went so
far as to suggest that the name /«vr<f, seer, was derived from fiaive^HU, to "r^e"
or " be mad." And even to the more scientific mind of Aristotle it appeared
certain that "No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness" (Pnb-
lematirBn, 30), a proposition thai is quoted approvingly by Seneca in his essay
on " The Tranquillilv of the Mind :'' " Nullum magnum ingenium sine mix-
luiS dementise." But it must be remembered that among the ancients
genius was hardly degraded by this companionship with maditess. It was a
common belief— a belief stiil surviving among many savage tribes 1— that the
insane were themselves inspired by the action of Deity. Not till the advent
of Christianity was mental derangement branded with the mark of degradation.
In the early Church the doctrine of possession assumed a distinctly repellent
form by the introduction of the Oriental idea of an evil spirit taking captive
the human frame and using it as an instrument for its foul purposes. Yet this
doctrine had no appreciable eBect in dissolving the companionship of the two
ideas in popular thought. For the attitude of the Church was, for Ihe most
* In diH couaectioD it KAMy be noted itutt Pope, wilh evident piaHiuistic reminlscnce. tun
Dsed Drydco'i phnKotogy, though wiiti a dlffcreai ■ppliaiion ;
' nflecIloD, how allied I
What thin putiiicwi kdk Itobi tbmubi divide t
t Sm Cooper'i " DHnlaycr."
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4H
part, hosllle (o new ideas, and so to men of original powei, who were again
and again branded as heretics and as wicked men possessed by the devil.
And thus genius was attached to insanity by a new bond of kinship. It might
be imagined that the modern conception of genius and insanity, which looks
on the one as the highest product of Nature's organic energy, which sees in
the other no supernatural agency either of god or of devil, but only a form
of disintegration and dissolution. — it might be imagined that this conception
would necessitate a sharp severance of the new ideas. Such, however, has
not been the case. In modern literature we meet with an unmistakable ten-
dency to maintain the old association. Even so sane and serene a spirit as
Shakespeare asserted the affinity between poetic creation and madness;
But this is evidently " wrote sarcastical." Serious affirmation of the para-
dox, however, may be found in French writers. "Many great wits," writes
Montaigne, after a visit to Tasso in his asylum, " find themselves ruined by
their very force and suppleness." And almost simultaneously Passeral said, in
his epigram on Thuline the buffoon, —
(" The pa« and lllt Tool m of the Hmc nalun,")
Closer parallels to Dryden's phrase may be found in Pascal, " L'cxIrSme
esprit est voisin de reitreme folie" (" Eilreme wit is Ihe neighbor of extreme
folly") ; in Diderot, " O, que le g*nie et la folie se louchent de bien pris !"
(" Oh, how closely genius and folly touch 1") ; in Beaumarchais, " Que les gens
d'esprit sont b«tes 1" (" How stupid are the wits 1") ; and in La Rochefoucauld,
"The subtlest folly grows out of the subtlest wisdom." The same general
proposition is less puugently but no less directly asserted by Lamartine :
"Genius bears within it a principle of deslruclion, of deaih, of folly, as (he
fruit bears Ihe worm." And, again, he speaks of that "maladie mentale"
which is called genius. In German literature it is not strange to see Scho-
penhauer reaffirm the same idea. But even Goethe, as wholesome a mind as
Shakespeare, falls in with the majority. His drama "Tasso" is an elaborate
attempt lo uncover and expose Ihe niorbid growths which are apt (o cling
parasilically about the tender plant of genius. And against this compact con-
sensus of opinion on the one side we have only a rare protest like thai of
Charles Lamb on behalf of Ihe radical sanity of genius (Last Essays of Elia:
Sami^of True Geiaui). "Such a mass uf opinion," says Mr. \. Sully, from
whose essay on "Genius and Insanity" {NiniUetttk Cmtury, xvii. 942) much
of the above has been condensed, "cannot lighlly be dismissed as value-
less. It is impossible to set down utterances of men like Diderot or Goethe
to the envy of mediocrity. Nor can we readily suppose that so many pene-
trating intellects have been misled by a passion for startling paradox. We
are to remember, moreover, that this is not a view of Ihe great man ab cxfra,
like that of the vulgar already referred to : it is the opinion of members of
the distinguished fraternity themselves, who are able to observe and study
genius from the inside. .Still, it may be said, this is, after all. only unscientific
opinion. Has science, with her more careful method of investigating and
proving, anything lo say on thin interesting theme ? It is hardly lo be sup-
posed that she would have overlooked so fascinating a subject. And, as a
maner of lact, it has received a considerable amount of atlenlion from palhol-
o^sts and psychologists. And here, for once, science appears to support the
413 HANDY-BOOK OF
popular opinion. The writers who hare made the subject their special study
agree as to the central fact that there is a telaliun between high intellectual
endowment and mental derangement, though they differ in their way of
defining this relation. This cunclusiuii is reached Iwlh inductively by a sur-
vey of facts, and deductively by reasoning from the known nature and condi-
tions of great intellectual achievement on the one hand. and of mental disease
on the other."* Mr. Sully finds an explanation in the preternatural sensi-
tiveness of nerve which is (he usual accompaniment of genius. "The fine
nervous organiialion, tremulously responsive lo every touch, constitutes in
itself, in this all too imperfect world of ours, a special dispensation of sorrow.
Exquisite sensibility seems to be connected with a delicate poise of nervous
structure eminently favorable lo the experience of jarring and dislocating
shock. And it is this preponderance of rude ^hnck over smuulh, agreeable
stimulation of a Ser*"* '*'' '^i*^*"*.*'"*'— *-* ikJnn.. .M.«r ll.* lmr^,» ^^n>r-iy^iiB,«>a>
of harmony — which
life of imagination."
Oentle craft, a popular designation for shoemakers, which, according to
Btady ("Clavis Caleudaria"), arose from the fact that in an old romance a
prince of the name of Crispin is made to exercise the trade of shoemaking,
m honor of his namesake. Saint Crispin. There is a tradition that King
Edward IV., in one of bis disguises, once drank with a party of shoemakers,
and pledged Ihem. The story is alluded lo in the old play of "George
a-Greene"<iS99):
MuTy, becBiue you hmve drtuk wUh thv King,
And the King hmh » grsriDusly pledged you,
to Ibe woild'l I
" Let Ihero tell me where. I say,
air, lei them tell me where. I repeat it, sir ; I am entitled lo say lo Ihem,
tell me where," cried Gicnville, in the debate on Ihe budget of tjM, when it
was proposed as necessary to lay an additional tax. "Gentle shepherd, tell
me where I" hummed Pitt, quoting Ihe song of Dr. Samuel Howard. "It
was long," wrote Macaulay {Essay oh Lord Chatham'), " before Grenville lost
the nickname of ' Gentle Shepiierd' which Pitt fixed upon him."
Oeot^phload Idea, Italy only a. This was an expression of Prince
Melternich, during Ihe Austrian dominion in Italy, to denote that in Ihe policy
of the empire that country was not a state or people with any rights which,
in the comity of nations, Austria was bound to respecL
Equal in sardonic humor to this phrase was the one applied to the empire
of Brazil. In view of Ihe fact that, for all its immense size, only a narrow fringe
of coasl-linc was populated to any extent, Ihe greater part of the interior being
trackless wilderness, the empire was called an "empire en profile."
Oennan. Can a Oaimao have «rtt? {etpril), the famous question
propounded by the Jesuit Pire Bouhours (i6i&-i70if, which has exciled as
great a sensation in Ihe German and German- loving public as Ihe parallel
Question by Sydney Smith, " Who reads an American book V did among
Americans. Bui if you take es/vil in Ihe larger sense of genius, Bouhours's
remark was far Ihe more unjust. Indeed, Sydney Smith's query, as glossed
• The oHiKipal aulbiiriuiivc uiienncn un ihe tubjcci ue Mdrbu, " Li Psytholugie m«-
biill,"etc.: Hagen," Debet die VirwMidnih^ den Genis mit dem Irreiein'' {Z.ilitlLn/1
jUr Piytkialrii. Uand tiim.); and BaitcHiKk. "lienie und Wshnsinn" (Bnoliu, iSSi).
This lul contuni the \aiaa review of the vhole queuion, und li wHrun in a ilHniugUy
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 413
\i] himKtf (see American, Who rbads, elc.). was a very lair one. In the
bee of the " Nibelungenlied" and " Reinecke Pnchs," oF Olcich von Uutlen,
Opitz, Flemming, Logan, Kepler, and Leilinitz, the good Pire Douhours was
-m\y confessing his ignoiance. The neat newbirlh of German literature uf
iispended ii
ir ihe dusky pool, which he struggles towards, lull for a great while
will nui reach. Might his fate but serve as a naming to kindred meti of wit,
in regard to this and so many other subjects 1 Fur surety the pleasure of
despising, at all times and In itself a dangerous luxury, is much safer after the
toil of examining than before it." {Eisayi: Slate of German Literature.)
Ow I ^ uiandor, in American political slang, an arbitrary arrangement of
the political subdivisions of a State, in disregard of ihe natural or proper
boundaries as indicated by geography or position, so made as to give one
party an unfair advantage over the other. The oilRin of the term is as follows.
In t8) I Elbridge Gerry was elected Governor of Massachusetts by the Demo-
crats. Both legislative houses also were Democratic, though by no great
majority. To retain their hold in the future and to control the election of
United Stales Senators, Ihe party in power proceeded to rearrange the repre-
sentative districW, in order that a large number of Federal votes might be
thrown together in one or two districts, leaving the other districts controlled
by a safe majority of Democratic votes. This act was officially "approved"
l^ the governor, though it is now known that he had op(iose(l it at the start,
and he naturally shared the odium of its passage. In Essex County Ihe
tedistricting was especially absurd. Benjamin Russell, editor of the CiHum-
Han Cetilinel, a Federalist paper published in Boston, bung on his office wall
a map of thai county as rearranged. Gilbert Stuart, the painter, remarked
that Ihe map loiilced like some monstrous animal. Adding a few rapid strokes
with his pencil, he said, " That will do for a salamander." " A salamander !"
said Russell ; "call it a gerrymander." Thus Ihe word was born, and it was
immediately adopted a& a Federal war-cry. The map caricature was scattered
broadcast as a campaign document. But in spite of Ihe indignalion aroBScd, in
■pile of the fact thai in ihe next State election Ihe Federalists cast two-thirds
of alt the votes cast, the gerrymander had been SO Successful thai the Demo-
crats retained a majority m Iwth houses.
fflu»t^rBlIu,Tha, a bit of theatrical and journalistic slang for "salaries
are paid," whose origin is thus explained. During a rehearsal of " Hamlet"
by a company of English strolling players whose salaries had been long in
arrears, the Ghost, in answer to Hamlet's exclamation, " Perchance 'twill
walk again," shouted, emphatically, " No I I'm d — d if the Ghost walks any
Gttlonllali gle«, an epithet used by President Cleveland to describe Ihe
delight of the inquisilive newspaper reporter at unearthing private details or
a family skeleton. Il was at once caught up by Ihe press and the pubMt^ who
were already familiar wilh Ihe term ghoul as applied to Ihe chroniclers of
gowip.
The riiDuli iLuj irpcrud thai Mn. Yiitom. in the abKncT of Mn. ClivElani], had Licked
Hecior [ihE Pmidcni*! doe] fDrbcilli loo freih ud promucuou). 11k ghouk who hluni
Mr. Ctcvcluid BR Dot confined to iJm RepubllcAB prcu. Par from It. A ghoul of the ^aik^
fv'ffiv /*«' npotwd Itml iht KK of Hector had been muundcr^tood. vid his (ber) rent Rx
JM (HkovswI.— A'lw Yerk IViirld.
35'
L-,l,zi;i:,vG00gif
HANDY-BOOK OF
Giant aod Dwart In his "Analom; a( Melancholy," Burton quotes a
famous and oft-used figure :
J uywhh Didacui Snllft, a dwuf tundidg on tbeflhouldaiof AgUoI nay tee fuihathBii
> giuit hioitelf,— ^Vxurnliu ti Ikt Rndtr.
The original Latin runs aa ToUows :
Pigmzi giganium biiiaeru impnuii pliuqUMin ipil glEUla vldcnl (" Premis pUccd on
thr ■[loaliltn of gunti ■« more ihan iV KanK (bemKlva").~DiDiicus Stkuji: Lucah,
A few English
I parallels may
be noted :
Adwwfon.giD
.at-! ihouldui >«
A dwuf Kd fui
ihct ihui Ihe eiini
i.b«.lKhui
th.giMl'.l
DGi: 7»* FH,md. kc.. ■., I«ay ■
Sa-p^-^'T ™-^ii'i;,:''i^5iir'" ■
VinuE slone milHiildi tbe pynmids ;
tier msnumeDU dull tul When I^l's (■!!.
VouNc: Nigkl 7»«(i(/j, NightTi.,1. 309.
Glfi*. A Tamiliar proverb advises jrou, "Never look a gift-horse in the
mouth," meaning that all presents should be thankfully accepted without
criticism. That the proverb was familiar in the fourth century is evident from
Ihe fact that when some one found lault with certain writings of St. Jerome.
he tartly retorted that they were free-will ofTerings on his part, and thai it did
not behoove to look a gift-horse in the mouth, " Equi dentes inspicere donali"
(Pram, in Epiit. ad Ephts.). The sense, though not the form, is found in one of
the proverbs of the Greek parixini<^raphists, " Whatever gift any one gives,
praise." Among Latin proverbs it appears, " Nihil recusaiictum, quod dona-
tur." The thoughtful, however, went a step further, and considered Ihe
intention of the giver. This is the feeling of Virgil in the well-known
expression
Tlmm Danaot R doiu Uiataa,
(" 1 lev the Gradu eren vhca they hnng prevent*,")
and t>f Seneca, —
Quum quod ditor ipecubiv, ei dontem upice.
Ovid also thinks we ought to look at something more than the gift, and
consider the donor ;
Sic icceptinlnu Kuper
unersiun.au rqu« ou ^^^^^^
A writer in Netet and Queries, fourth series, xi. 454, who furnishes several
of the above citations, suggests that it was the monks of the Middle Ages
who thought that all was fish that came to their net, and who accepted any-
thing that was presented to Ihcm, without caring to examine too curiously into
the character of the gift. And he quotes the old monkish rhyme, —
Heywood gives the maxim in this fom
PruVtr-bl.
And it is also quoted by Rabelais, Book i., chap, xi., and by Bailer in
" Hudibras," Part i., Canio 1., 1. 490.
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 41 S
Analogies more or l«ss renioM maj b« detected in the rollowing ;
BqUlIlltlsu1<ll)Ciiochainen.— UrnvwoOD; /Vsiw^, Put L, cb. a.
M«bt biire gone funhtr ud ban find monc.—liM.
aigmanl^. This word is a minlage ai Thomas Cari^te, and was used by
him lu describe the British PhiJistine idea of respectability. But in order lu
coin the word it was necesaaijr for him to invent (acts. The word was ushered
the English language in the essay on " Boswell's Life of Johnson," which
--- J ■ 1 Frasrr') Maga^ae (i8«), vol. v., No. a8, in a sentence describing
iiess o{ the fact that a Scottish limb of a Laird of the Lairds should
be attracted to such an apparent oppoGite as was the object of his worship.
And now behold Iht worthy Bony, » prtposMwd and htld bick by nnure ud hy «1
toward uch inhir, ibey mil be lof ether. 'The iron may be a Scolliih uuuclct, M\ <S gukally
proud, irAKible, imperioiu : aevenbeleu, behold bow ihey embnue. and inseparably cleave
And in a foot-note he puts this alleged extract from the trial of one Thur-
tell for the murder of Mr. Weare, in October, 1823 :
" What do you mean by
Q."Wh»l
GentleDicD, GigmeD, ud Hi
Curiously enough, no such question and answer are to be found in the
report of the trial of Thurlell, which was published by T. Kelly in Paternoster
Row in 1824. The nearest approach to them is in a request of Thurtell, tes-
tified lo, that one Hunt, who " hired a gig," should be brought to him by one
Probe rt in his gig.
Carlyle rung many changes on his root-word "gigman," — r.f., giemanine,
gigmanic, etc There are even she-gigmen : thus, Froude reports this little
speech to his wife : " Yes, Jeaniiie, though 1 have brought you into rough,
rugged conditions, I feel I have saved you ; as gigmaness you could not have
The words have been duly legitimized and (bund their place in the language.
OUdwoy's Klt& Gildeioy, a corruption of Gillie roy, "red-headed
plly," was the tobriqua of a Scottish outlaw named Patrick Macgregor, of
the same clan as Rob Roy, who infested the highlands of Perthshire. In
retaliation for the capture of a couple of his followers, he renewed his depre-
dations with such violence that the aroused people turned out to bring
him to justice. He and a number of his men were captured, tried, and
hanged at Edinburvh, June, 1636, he being accorded a gallows high above his
/ellows, and his body maintaining the bad pre-eminence when all were hung in
chains. A contemporary ballad, put into the mouth of his Highland sweet-
heart, runs as follows :
Of GUdtny ue ftxM ihey watt,
TlK^bDUDil faiu Dklckle HTDiic ;
TeU EMtbuTTOw they led him thair,
Tlwy bong bim bigb abone rhe rot,
tn Scottish, kite, or fcyte, means stomach, or belly, and this by an easy
extension was sometimes applied to the whole body. Therefore the expres-
sion means " As high as Gildeioy's carcass." A similar phrase, " As high as
4i6 HANDY-BOOK OF
Haman," is an allusion to the disgraced bvorite of Ahasuerus who was
hanged on the gallows, filty cubits high, which he had prepared for Mordecai.
When Andrew Jackson in his last ill iieas was asked by his atlending physiciai,
Dr. Edgar, what he would have done if Calhoun and his rolluwers had per-
sisted ill iheir attempis at nulliticalioii, " Hung them, sir," he cried, "as high
as Haman I Thef should have been a terror lo traitors to alt time, and pos-
terity would have pronounced it the best act of my life."
Olotto's O, Aa round aa, a common proverb in luly even to this day.
Giotto's Tepulalion spread rapidly soon after he began to study with Cimabue,
who had discovered him, a poor shepherd-lad, scratching drawings of his
charges upon a flat stone, and had taken him home to instruct him. Po]>e
llomface VIII. invited young Giotto to Florence. The pope's messenger, in
order (o make sure that he had found the right person, demanded some
evidence of the artist's skill. With one stroke Giolto drew a peTf<»:t circle,
which satisfied the messenger that this was the great Giotto. " Rounder than
the O of Giotto" is a favorite hyperbole lo indicate impossible perfection.
Olrdle. Fuck, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Act ii., Sc I, when
despatched after the flower love-in-idleness, tells Oberon.—
The same metaphor had already been used by George Chapman :
In ulL ihi^ ricEl^bu'li ^d iibbed in^ liru>.
To pDI a ginUe round about Uw cuth.
Butt^ [fAmim. Act i., Sc. I.
OUm botuea, Peopla vrlio live In, should not throw atone*. W hen
the Scotch came over with James I., the windows of their houses were broken
)t the instance of the Duke of Buckingham and others. The Scots, in return.
l>roke the windows in Buckingham's palac
He complained to the king, who replied. " i nose wno live in gia
Steenie. should be careful how they throw stones." But James
quoting with a punning application. The proverb w
Analogous expressions are, " Satia te sanguine qucm silisti," " Dedi malum et
accepi," "Csedes Neoptolemea."
ailttttilng generalltlea. This phrase, much used in American politics,
to designate the sounding but uncompromising resolutions which make up
the greater part of the platforms of political parties in the United Slates,
originated ill a remark in a letter from Rufus Choate to the Maine Whig Con-
vention. August 9, 1S56L Speaking of a government based on Northern
anli-slavery ideas, be referred to the charter or constitution of such a pro-
posed government as being " the glittering and sounding generalities of natural
right which make up the Declaration of Independence." The letter, and
particularly the phrase quoted, created quite a noise and much vigorous pro-
test. Among olhers, Kmerson retorted that the things referred 10 in the
letter as "glittering generalities," in the Declaration of Human Rights con-
tained in the document thus disparagingly alluded to, were in fact "blating
Ood. Had I aeTved Ood as diligently as the king. " Father Abbot.
I have come to lay my weary bones among you," Wilh these words the fallen
Wolsey came among the monks of Leicester Abbey, November 36, 1539. He
died a prisoner in November of the following year, and bis last words, uttered
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 41?
to the captain of th« guard. Sir William Kingston, not to Cromwell, u in the
play, have become famous by Shakespeare's paraphrase :
O Cromwell. Cromwell,
Hwi t but KTved my God with tailT Ihe lul
I icrved my kiuE, he would doc in mine Hfe
Miivt Itfl me uEed lo mine eumiei.
Hnrf VIII., Act iiL, Sc. a.
What the deposed and dying one-time Prince Cardinal of the Church and
Chancellor of England actually did say was, " Had 1 served God as diligently
aa I have the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs."
Ood. If God did not «zlBt, it would ba noo«aMt7 to invent bim.
This line was written by Voilaire, and first used by him in a pamphlet against
an atheist \EpUrt CXI, i PAuUur du Livrt da Treii Impoilfurt), and also
in a letter to Fiedetick : "Though I am seldom satisfied with my lines, 1 must
confess that 1 feel for this one the tenderness of a father." The origin of the
phrase is sometimes referred to Archbishop Tillotson, who died the year
Voltaire was born (1694):
If Cod wen not m oeceiuiy Being of himself, he might ilmoal leem (d be mide Tot Ihe
UK lud benefit of iBtiL—Sirmtm XCIII., ed. ijti.
There is, truly enough, a great resemblance between the expressions, but
there is no reason to suppose that Voltaire copied the archbishop. That
humanity must have a gospel is an old thought. As Bacon shrewdly rematlcB,
" Atheism is rather in Ihe lip than in the heart," because " you shall have of
them that will suffer for Atheism and not recant Whereas, if they did truly
think that there were no God, why should they trouble themselves }" If it
can find none better, it will erect for itself a gospel of Mammonism, with its
LVLE : Past and Pramt, Book lii., ch. ii.)
Of course Voltaire's pride of fatherhood is not of Ihe idea, but extends
only to the form, the epigrammatic way in which he has put it. It has been
imitated and echoed since his day in many directions and with most diverse
applications. In voting for the death of Louis XVI., Millaud borrowed it,
making a change to suit the occasion ; " If death did not exist to-day. it would
be necessary to invent it."
Bismarck's variation is historic It was made in 1863, when he was Prussian
minister at Paris. Napoleon III., by his lutian policy, had weakened Austria
and jeopardized her preponderant position in the Germanic Confederation, 10
the consequent advantage of Prussia, the very power which Napoleon least
wished to bvor. Bismarck, rejoicing in the situation, said to Chevalier Nigra,
the Italian minister, " If Italy did not exist, it would be necessary to invent
her."
In his
a God, save my soul, if I have a soi
tion." The earliest appearance in literature of this saying seems to be in
King's "Anecdotes of his own Times," pp. 7-9, describmg an incident at a
dinner-party given by the Duke of Ormond in 1715: " Sir William Wyndham
lold us that the shortest prayer he had ever heard was the prayer of a com-
mon soldier just before the battle of Blenheim ; ' O God, if there be a God,
save my soul, if I have a soul.' This was followed by a general laugh. At-
terbury. seeming to join in Ihe conversation, and applymg himself to Sir
William Wyndham, said, 'Your prayer. Sir William, is indeed very short;
4i8 HANDY.BOOK OF
bat I remember another as short, but much belter, offered up likewise by a
poor soldier in the same circumstances .- " O God, if in the day of battle I
forget thee, do not thou forget me I" ' This, as Alterbury pronounced it with
his usual grace and dignity, was a very gentle and polite reproof^ and was im-
medialcly felt by the whole company.
Ood. Thai« la no Ood bat Ood, and Mohammed 1b hia Pxoph«t!
These are the words with which, it has been said, and long believed, Mo-
hammed publicly opened his reforming and proselyting career. The phrase is
among the historical apocrypha ; (he earlier biographers of the prophet do not
assert it, and it is probably an invention of a later age. The exclamation
" Allah akbar I" ("Goa is great 1") recurs frequently in the Koran ; so also do
the assertion made of the wood and stone idols of the pagan Arabs, "Ve rub
them with oil and wax, and the Hies slick to them," and " Islam, we must
submit to God." It is also true (hat Ihe prophet claimed to be the proclaimer
of a divine message. All the rest, particularly the bumptious boast of (he
second part of the sentence, is probably pure invention.
Ood bl«M the Dake of Azgyll! Every reader of Macaulay is familiar
with the Highlanders' special aptitude for the itch. The finger-posts thai
e Highland high-roada were ascribed — ur said to be ascribed — bjr the
grateful mountaineers to Macallum More's anxiety to satisfy their longing for a
salisfactoiy scratch. Hence the benediction on His Grace. In reality Ihe
posts had no such philanthropic origin. After Ihe suppression of Mar'a
rebellion in 1715-16, it was resolved to open up the Highlands by roads
for military purposes. The glens and bleak uplands arc liable to be snowed
up and the tracks hidden, hence the latter are marked out by finger-posts.
The Duke of Argyll was at once Ihe most powerful man in the Highlands
and the main support of loyally, and the posts were — justly or otherwise —
credited to him. The whole story is probably a southern sneer at the High-
landers' liability to cutaneous afflictions and their belief in Ihe omnipotent
power of their chieb. The distich celebrating the making of the roads may
Had you v^vB> Ukm roads hr/arg tlUy vtrt maJr,
Ydu •rould bold up your buds and bleu Goiend Wulc.
Ood, F«ar oL In this Biblical phrase, " fear," of course, means reverence,
awe. Sir Thomas Browne has nicely difieren Hated the meaning in bis
\/tar God, ya tm Dot ifniid bI bim.—Kili/v AfiJiel, Book 1.. s>.
Nevertheless many famous sayings ignore these nuances : as, for instance.
Pope!
Men, DDl iTcaid of C^, ifn^oT mc."
In 18S7 Prince Bismarck, addressing the Reichstag, said, " We Germans
fear God, but we fear nothing else in the world." A storm of applause greeted
the words. A few days later Prince William (the present Emperor) repeated
the words, with a slight alteration, before the Krandenburg provincial Landtag.
The whole Fatherland was in ecstasies. Patriotic journalists and orators
urged that the words be adopted as " the new German motto." And then it
was discovered that the suggested inollo is not only a chestnut, but a chestnut
of French origin. It occurs in the first scene of the lirsl act of Racine's
"Athalie," where Ihe high-priest Joash says to the military commander
Je cnJni Dim, chcr Abner, a n'ai poioi d'tuDc crainle.
Louis XIV. attended the tirsi performance of " Athalie" in 1G91, ■n<l, as ■
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4'9
contem{>oraT7 reports, the great lutociat indicated his gricioua approvil or
the sentiment by an emphaiic nodding of hia royal head. Exactly a hundred
years later the "winged words" of Racine were adopted as a raotlo by an-
other great autocrat, the Russian Empress Cathetine. In a letter to the
^kinous Swiss physician J. G. Zimmemiann, the author of the once popular
book on "Solitude," the Empress complained thai the European sovereigns,
and especially the sovereign of Prussia, failed lo see the importance of com-
bining to uphold the solidity of the monarchies against Ihe French Republic
After declaring her own love for peace under a normal state of things, she
closes her letter with the words, " Je crains Dieu, chei Abner, et n'at point
d'antre crainle," Thus the " winged words" of Racine have been adopted in
three successive centuries as a French, a Russian, and a German motto. In
English literature the phrase has been several times imitated ;
Hcncd'cinh the nujesly of God reYcre;
F«r him, and you hayt nolhlng cIk id feu.
jAHisFoiDTCB(i79i>-i7a6): AHnMrlBaGntlimaH
who afBtogimed to tkr Auiktr/tr Svnaritf-
Fnjni piety, wkoK booI sincere
Fun God, and knowi no nhs feu.
W. SHrrH : Mi/sr tkt ImtUilttiim sf tic DniH tt
Glt^iciittT OM OanctUtr ^ Cmmtriigi.
Her«babcaveGovcn0r5uiHon,a nun fearing God uid feuing nothing elK.—CABLVLa:
Pit and Pnitnt, Booli ii., cbap. xvii.
Ood ia always OD tha Bide of the heavlMt battkUona. This phrase
is usually attributed to Napoleun. But it was a common expression long
before his day. Marshal de la Ferlj quoted Jl to Anne of Austria when that
sovereign asserted that, though the enemy were the strongest, "we have God
and justice on our side." " Don't be too sure," he replied : " I have always
found God on the side of (he heaviest battalions." It may be found in Mme.
de Sevign^'s letters and in Voltaire's. A paraphrase occurs in Gibbon :
" The wmds and the waves are always on the side of the ahleet navigators."
{DkHiu and Pali, ch. Ixviii.) But before Gibbon, or Voltaire, or even the
Sevign<!, it existed in the anonymous French epigram. —
buct(«di
Ood made the ooimby, and man made the toirn. This famous
phrase, which forms line 749 of Cowper's "Task," Book i., is in the last
analysis a paraphrase of Varro :
Diviu nmiun dedit ura, on humarm cdificavit urbes (" Divine Nature gave the Aelds,
But its history in English literature has an interest of its own. Here is its
first afipearance; "God Almighty first planted a garden," So says Bacon,
sententioasly, in his essay "Of Gardens." Cowley, in his essay on "The
Garden," adds an antithesis, but makes the phrase too quaint to be quotable :
" God the first garden made, and the first cily Cain," The remark is ]iointed
enough, but is now a mere conceit. Cowper has much Ihe same thought, but
softens the antithesis, and makes it a general statement instead of a Scriptural
allusion. Theologians might question Ihe orthodoxy of his line, but it ts a
vigorous expression of sentiment if not an accurate philosophical formula,
and has therefore jiassed into the currency of popular quotation. It is not
impossible that Cowper had also in mind Ihe saying, familiar before his time,
"Ood made man, and man made money." Tne tfnsjale Slagaaiiu, voL i^
4ao HANDY-BOOK OF
p. ^11 (tSao), ittributea Ihis saw lo one John Oldland, a matic versifier "who
existed about the beginning of the last century." He is said to have Diade
the following impromplu on a lawyer who had sued him for debt :
But perhaps Oldland himself was merely ullHiing a proverbial phrase.
Ood tampon tbe wind to th« ahom lamb. This proverbial phrase,
which is frequently crediled to the Bible, was firal used in its present dress
by Laurence Sterne. It appears in the '■ Sentimental Journey" (1768), in (he
■lory of Maria :
She had crmTcllcd mil dvot Lombard^ vithout DioTirT, and ihrousb tbe flinty ro«d« of Savoy
Hilboul thoei: bt>w the lud bonie U. the could noi lelL; hut God temptrt /A# wjinf, aaid
iAvia^, t« tMj sktn iami, Sharn, indeed T and To ihe quick, tald 1.
Sterne, however, was not original. He was paraphrasiiie the French
proverb, " Dien mesure 1e froid i la brebia tondiie" (Henri Estienne : Lt
Lnrrt dt Prmitrbet tftgrammatiqtas, 1594). or "X brebis pr^s tondue Dieu
lui mesure le vent" (Labou : Prmieriti, i6ia). The latter form reappears in
literal English in Herbert's "Jacnia Prudentum" (1640) : "To a close-shorn
sheep God gives wind by measure." Sterne's subslitution of lamb for sheep
may be more poetical, but it is correspondingly inexact, as a lamb is never
shorn. Numerous equivalents are to be found in proverbial literature every-
Du DeuB iiBinJiL coraua cuia bovi (" God KDda h cuned cow thoil boma"). — Mtdimvai
GodKodicD
The last I
the Spanish,
Ood ive biut, In. This legend, which has appeared on all gold and
silver coins of the United States since 1865, has a curious history. In No-
vember, 1S61, a Maryland farmer addressed a letter to Salmon P. Chaitc, the
Secretary of the Treasury, urging that, as we claimed to be a Christian people,
we should make some recognition of the Deity on our coins. The letter was
referred to James Pollock. Director of the Mint, who endorsed the suggestion
and proposed the alternative mottoes, " Our Country, Our God," or "God our
trust." In 1862, and again in 1863, Chase urged the matter upon the atten-
tion of Congress, — in the latter year with great earnestness in the fi>llowing
terms : " The motto suggested, ' God our Trust,' is taken from our national
hymn, ' The Star-Spangled Banner.' The sentiment is £imiliar to every
citiien of our country ; it has thrilled millions of American freemen. The time
is propitious ; 'tis an hour of national peril and danger, an hour when man's
strength is weakness, when our strength and salvation must be of God. Let
US reverently acknowledge this sovereignty, and let our coinage declare our
trust in God." A two-cent bronze piece was authorised lo be coined by Con-
gress, April 31, 1864, upon which was first stamped the motto " In God we
trust," in lieu of the long-standing " E Pluribus Unum •" and on March 3,
i86j, the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Seo-etary of the
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4^^
Treasury, was aathorized to place upon all gold and silver coins sosceplible
of sach addition thereafter to be issued the motto "In God we truat." And
thus was fulfilled the suggestion of Francis Scott Key in the "Star-Spangled
Then cDoquer wc muvt, vboi OUT cause it is jujl.
And ilus frc our mflto, *' In God it our tnm,'
Oliver Cromwell is said to have advised his troops, when they were about
crossing a river to attack the eneniy, " Put your trust in God, but mind to
keep your powder dry I" .
Ooda, or QaU«T7 Oods. The Drury Lane Theatre, in London, formerly
had its ceiling painted to represent a blue skv with clouds, among which were
Cupids flitting about. This ceiling eittendea over the gallery : hence occu-
pants of the gallery were said to be " among the gods," and occupants of the
higher tiers in theatres generally came later to be called "gallery gods."
" Whom lIic g:ods love die youns,"
B(U Ihu does Dol meu the " ^Uay (adt."
Nor art Ibe vouni the chorus.
Elmira Eckan.
Ooda and the Towig. A bvorite apothegm with the ancient philoso-
phcis, meaning that lengthened life brings accumulated sin and misery, is
himiliar to us in the form celebrated by Byron :
" Whom the £Dd> loYe die vounc*' we* eeid of yore,
Dfrnjuam, Uuu> !>., Suaa II.
The nearest approach to the phrase in the Greek is in Menander :
MninKB: Frofm. Cem. Cf-.,iv. les;
which Plautus imitates thus :
r He whom I
Byron rings another change oi
CA^Tflifr^Cuu Iv
And Wordsworth says, —
The gDDd die fint,
7»r£>»riu>r, Book).
The Christian view ia even more emphatic than the paean. This is how It
is suted by R. S. Candlish, D.D., Principal of the New College, Edinburgh,
and the so-called Pope of the Free Kirk :
The death of little children muu be held to be one of the buitl of redemption. If then
had been do alotkemeDt, then would have been no Infant death. It is on account M the alone,
ment that infanta die. Their salvation ia therefore sun. Christ haa purchased for himself
Ibe joy of taking ilbem, while yet unconscious of fuUt or cotruptioo, lobe with him in para-
dise. That any children at all die— (hat so many little children die— ia not the least among
Ibe benefits that Bow from his interposition aa the ^i\aut.— Thi AISHtmiul. London, iSAi.
Church-yard literature is fond of dwelling on the same theme. 1'wo exam-
ples must suffice. In Morwen.sIow church-yard, Cornwall, is the following :
ThoK whom God loves die young 1
They see no evil days ;
3™ ^
L.:,l,zi;i:,vGOOgk"
'^^
Actii
;^.,
on the sar
nc theme :
•^^
death.
4« HANDY-BOOK OF
■fa via {hdr'blni awT
Wlut (hall WB pny for more r
They die mnd»« wLlh God.
JVs/<i AK^ Qatrui, third Hria, irll. i/i.
In a graveyard riear Hartford, Cunneclicul, is this .-
Dc Lord he lull them with hli igue ^».
WheD dcy *u loo aood to live mil me.
He took jem up (o live mil He,
So be did.
Har^r^i Ma^tine, AiifuM, 1856, p. 139.
Oold. All that glitters la not. The proverb was evidently a Tamiliar
cine in Chaucer's day. tie gives it as an on-dit:
Nelmogcfd, uHuvehodiliold. '"
Tki (XtHOBfi Vimammii Tall, line 16.430.
It seems to have made its first appearance in the " Parabolz" of Alanus de
Insulis, who died in 1394 : " Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ul
aurum" (" Do nut hold everything as gold which shines like gold").
Soon afterwarda it is found in the "Sayings (Li Dii) of Freire Denise
Cordelier," cirta 1300; "Que tout ii'est pas or c'on voil luire" ("Everything
is not gold that one sees shining").
In Eni ■ - ■
iglish literature it has made frequenl appearances since Chaucer's
All i> PM Eolde ilui ouiwud ihewuh bright.
LvDOATi: Om llu Mia^iTiU, ^ llmmait Affairi.
Gold ill <i not that dolh golden Ktm.
Spimatt : Fmtrit Qntnt, Book ii., Cinlo vIU., Stuia 14.
All tlut ^iitcn ii not n>ld.
Shaxbtuh : MtrckanI ^ y,ma. Act ii., Se. 7.
Hntanr: JaiuU FrnJntum.
All b not gold ihet gliateneth.
HiDDLMTOH : A Fmir Qusrrtl, vent i.
All, ■• they Hy, thw giitun ii not gold.
DavDU: Tfu HinJ ami ikt Panlktr.
The same mural is enlurced in various other proverbial forms, — t^. ;
£vcry glow.uronn b not m fire.— /fd/uia.
Whcfe ytm think there an fllichet of bacon Ibert are not even hooka to hang then on
ProDtl ntilU fidt>.— ^fM.
The last proverb is thus glossed by Judge Haiiburton : " Always judge
your fellow-passengers ttj be the opposite of what they appear to be. For
instance, a military man is not quarrelsome, for no man doubts his courage,
' but a snob is. A clergyman is not over stiail-laced, for his piety is not ques-
tioned, but a cheat is. A lawyer is not apt to be argumentative, but an actor
is. A woman that is all smiles and graces is a viien at heart ; snakes £asci-
nate. A stranger that is obsequious and ovei-civil without apparent catise is
treacherous ; cats that pun- are apt to bite and scratch. Pride is one thing,
assumption is another ; the latter must always get the cold shoulder, for who-
ever snows it IB no gentleman : men never aSect to be what they are, but
what they are not. The only man who really is what he appears to be is — a
gentleman." {Maximi of <ut Old Slagir.)
Good. Tls only noble to be. In " Lady Clara Vete de Vete,"
Tennyson says, —
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. »,%%
'Ti> only ndbk <o be aoad.
Kind hearta uv lUdre than conncu,
Aod vmplfl fjtilb tbui Notdiji blood.
In his Tamous Address al the Washington Centennial Service, held in St.
hul's Cha|>el, New Vurk, April 30, i3S9, Bishop Henry C. Pociet put the
same thought into piose :
If ibenbtnoDobiUlyof dcKEiiI.tll Itae mon inditpinubte Ii ll ihu there ibould be no-
comt within Iht circle of iu influence Ihty Invidnmarily pay homage to ibat which i> the one
Kiiigsiey, in his little poem " A Farewell," has this fine stanza :
Chapman, in his " Revenge for Honor," Act v., Sc 3, says, —
having already given the converse of the proposition in his "Tr^edyof
Charles, DuLe of Kyron," Act v., 8c 1 ;
He b u no end of hii aciiont blot
WboH end wUl make bim gieate« and not beit.
Oooae. The phrase "To cook one's goose" prolH^ly owes its rise to a
eaying of King Eric of Sweden, which is thus related in an old chronicle : " The
Kyng of Swedland coming to a luwne of his enemyes with very tittle c
shoote. but perceiving before nyghte that these fewe soldiers had invaded and
selle (heir chiefe houlds on fire, they demanded of him what his intent was,
to whom he replyed, ' To cook your goose !' "
Oooaa. To gooaa, or To gtve the gooae, in theairical parlance, to hiss.
This practice is now abolished in American theatres, but il still flourishes apace
in England, where the audience vents its outraged lectings againsi a play or
an actor by sibilatlon.
There ie a conk tide 10 every liuedy. Here \x_
BBDiy biledhlm. AAerao agDDiEing pawe be resumed,—
Wbal coniei oeil I caniwl gueu.
, audience were (uriout aL ihli rlhald tampering with ihe text, and dcwi
luallly.
Thii aound of fear,
Uupleailng ta Che aclot'i eat,
laelf together, and looking up ai
Funky actor Imc the word,
Twiit hi> nick off'likea ghol,'
The audacity of ihli quick-oilled mpouae ao tickled the godi Uial they no
OooM. Wliat is
434 HANDY-BCOK OF
other, that every Oliver shall have a Roland, and ever? tat a ttt Originally
It must have signified that what is good for one sex is goud for Ihe other.
The Saturday Raritw (January tt, t368) humorously protcsls Ihat (his must
have been the invention of some rustic Mrs. Poyser, full of Ihe consciousness
of domestic power, and anxious to reverse in daily life Ihe law of priority
which obtained — as she must have seen — even in her own pouUry-yard. To
read the proverb literally is the only method of escaping from Ihe philosoph-
ical difficulties in which Ihe metaphor involves us. "No doubt, when they
are dead, goose and gander are alike, even in the way they are diessed, and
there is no superiority on Ihe i>art of either. Death makes all genders epi-
cene. Except for one solitary text about silence in heaven tor a half an hour,
which some cynical commentators liave explained as indicating a leniporary
banishioent from Paradise of one of the sexes, dislincliuns of this sort need
not be supposed to continue after Ihe present lile. If we ace to lake the for-
mer reading, and to test it by what we know of life, nothing can be more
unfounded or more calculated lo give a wrong impression as lu facts. Were
il not loo late, Ihe proverb ought to be altered i and perhaps il is not abso-
lutely hopeless lo persuade Mr. Tupper to see to it ' What is good fur the
goose is bad for Ihe gander,' or, ' what is bad for the goose is good fur the
gander,' or, perhaps, ' what is a sin in the goose is only the gander's way,'
would read quite as well, would not be so cnamelrically at variance with the
ordinary rules of social life, and accordingly would be infinitely iruer and
more moral. Even Mr. Mill, who is the advocate of female emancipation and
female suffrage, never has gone so br as to say thai all women, as well as all
Yet it is apparent from the following extracts thai very early in the tnog-
raphy of the proverb it had lost all sexual application :
whiir Is uuce lor a ;oo*e is uucc iw a flander. — Otwav ; Vtnict Prtsrnrtdy 16S9.
"Wbai i> Siuce lor ■ GwK i> Siiicc for a Ginckr." When any (alamldn bcTill ilw
Roman Empire, ibe Pagans used » layii 10 ihe charge of ihe Chriiilau: When Cbrudairiiy
became Ihe tmpeiul leliiion, ihe Chnstians rclucn'd Ihe same complimenl ta ihe Pseidi.—
Ton Brown: Nev, At*jim, 1/ Cimcrtaiiim : Work,, iy. iij, ftiunh edition, 1719.
Oooae, To oay Bo to a, a proverbial English phrase, of high antiquity,
thus explained by W. W. Skeat : " To be able to say Bo ! to a goose is to be
not quite destitute of courage, 10 have an inhling of spirit, and was probably
ia the first instance used of children. A little boy who cumes across some
geese suddenly will find himself hissed ai immediately, and a great demon-
•tralion of defiance made by Ihem, but if he can pluck up heart lo cry 'bo I'
loudly and advance upon Ihem, they will retire defeated. The word ' bo' is
clearly selected for Ihe sake of the explosiveness of its first Ictier and the
openness and loudness of ils vowel. Il is curious thai (he word is found in
Gaelic Thus, the Gaelic *« is ' a sound lo excite fear in children, according lo
Macleod and Dewar.' " (Ai)/«'ini/Q«i!TT>.t, fourih series, vi, zzi.) No reliance
is 10 be placed on Johnson's statement (s. v. Bo) that ihe wuid Be is from an
old northern captain of such lame lhat his name was used lo terrify the enemy,
though it is now ascd as a word to scare children. An apparently anati^ous
phrase, "lo say bee lo a baiiledoor," or "to know bee from a baltledoor," is
not really so, bul means rather lo be possessed of elementary knowledge, to
have learned the rudiments. A hornbook, which was originally a Sal board
with a handle, was called a baltledoor, from its shape, and Ihe saying in its
original sense merely meant that the |>erson could say B when it was pointed
out on a baltledoor. Hence the distinction between the two phrases was that
in the negative one assailed the courage, the other the learning, of the party in
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4»S
Lord Cnrnn mu itn dairoai to ki Ben Jwxni, which b«liig told to B«, be wtDI to
lay lord'* hcHUe; but beiiig Id a ve^ ulieird coEidiiion, the porter nfuKd him mdnuitance,
with tone gaucy luiguagc, which the other did nui foil to reium. My lord, happEnliiE to
Dobody to flpciik for him, uid, " He undentood hii lordship dnind to lev him." " Voo-
Mend:" uld my lord; "who an you?" " Beo JouoD," Rplled the other. -'Nd, no.''
who wu l»l»r pleated at the joiie Ih^n oSended a Ihe affront. " 1 mm now conTiuced you
uc Uen Jon»n."— ./(fwiiK-j Cfil-fadia ^ AntcdtHU.
I have heard a tiory told by ari old Ayt^ire gentleman of a celebrated idiot who dwelt in
him lo reply in vEne to every observation made lo him. Lord KlLmantock Htid hit ton Lord
Boyd, wl^en riding iKar Kiimaniocit, one day happened to meet the poor fellow hi the read.
aAd determined ut malie trial of hij powen.but Lid their plana aa ai 10 ^vc blm aa little to
take bold ol aa pouible. When they came dote lo him, ijiey leant over theit horaei' neclia
Thete'l Lord Kilmaiuocli and Locd Boyd,
AWii nKd Qmmn, loonb leriei, tI. }i4.
IT 3tot7 is told of Robert Burns, but with no aalhorit; for the al
Th^bi
OooBobarry, Flaying a stang phrase with various meaning*. It usually
is written ** (o play up" or " lo play oltl gooseberry" with any one, and t^
one authority means to defeat or silence a person in a quick or summary
manner ; by another, " to play the deuce" or " to play the dickena" with an
undertaking, either in a mischievous spirit or from iiicapacily. Dr. Brewer
traces it to the origin of the French fonll, — " fouW de poimnes," " fouli de
croKilles." "He took great liberties with my property and greatly abused
It ; in fact, made gooseberry fool of it, which is a corruption of gooseberry
foul." Hence the phrase is sometimes used with the meaning of espionage,
since the person spied upon usually feels that he has been made a fool of.
National Soldiers' Cemetery at Gettysburg un Novemlier 19, 1S63. The full
text of the sentence is as follows :
God, have a ocw Irirtb of freedom, aod tbu ^^TeramcDt of the poople, by the p«o[Je. and
for the people ihall orM perith from the earth.
The phrase was not original, but a quolalion, conscious or unconscious,
from Theodore Parker, In an address lo the Anti-Slavery Society, May 13,
1854 (printed in " Additional Speeches," vol. ii. p. 35), the great Abolitionist
■poke of democracy as "a government of all the people, by all the people,
and for all the people." A lady who was a member of his household for many
yean says that this phrase, though the result of long and careful hammering
at a favorite thought, even vet failed lo satisfy him. "It was not," she sa^s,
" quite pointed enough for tne weapon he needed to use so often in criticising
the national at^on, to pierce and penetrate the mind of hearer and reader with
Ihe just idea of democrat^, securing it there by much iteration ; and I can dis-
tinctly recall his joyful look when he afterwards read it to me in his library
condensed into this gem : ' of the people, by the people, for the people.' "
But even Parker was not original. As early as 1830, Daniel Webster hail
used these words in a public speech :
The people't govsnmeoE. made for ihe people, made by die people, and aiuwerable 10 th*
36-
428 HANDY-BOOK OF
And here is how th« S4in« idea was handled 1^ Chief-Justice Marshall as br
back as 1S19;
Tbe covcmmcnt «f Um Union , ^ , ii, cmplutlcnlLy and truly, a govenniepl of the Hople.
Id form aod in tubuucv il enujiAta from Ibcip, Jti powcn arc cnntcd Inr ihcni, nnd irv lo
be exoTucd directly on them and f« tbeir benefit. — MeOtitoigk 1%. MArytand^ivatiriKA
Id 4 Wkatsm, 116.)
GOTeraOTB. The two. " As ihe Governor of North Carolina said to the
Governor of South Carolina, it's a long lime between drinks," — a favorite
convivial apothegm in America, suggesting that it is time for some one " lo
set 'em up again for the boys," or, in other words, to order a fresh round of
drinks. An historical origin has been found for the phrase, but, unfortu-
nately, with no apparent historical foundation. The slory runs that early in
the century a native North Carolinian who had moved across the border mto
South Carolina was forced to fly back again to escape attest. The Governor
of Soulh Carolina straightway issued a requisition on the Governor of North
Carolina for Ihe fugitive criminal. But the tatter Governor hesiuted. The
criminal had many and influential friends. Finally the South Carolina exec-
utive, with a large retinue, waited on his official brother at Raleigh, the capital
of North Carolina. The visitors were received with ail due honors. A ban-
3uet was given them ; wine and brandy were served. When, at last, the
ecanters and glasses had been lemoved, the Governor of South Carolina rose
to state his errand. A long and acrimonious debate followed. The Gov-
ernor of South Carolina lost his temper. Rising once more to his feet, he
•aid, " Sir, you have refused my just demand anaoflended the dignity of my
oflice and my State. Unless you at once surrender the prisoner, I will return
to my capital, call out the militia of the State, and take the fugitive by force
of arms. Governor, what do yon say f"
All eyes were turned on the Governor of North Carolina. The latter rose
ilowly lo his feel, and beckoned to a servant who stood some distance away.
His beckoning was liim and dignified, as became his position. He was slow
about answering, and again the Governor of South Carolina demanded,
" What do you say i"
"I say, Governor, that it's a long time between drinks."
The reply restored good humor. Decanters and glasses were brought oat
again, and, while the visitors remained, if any one attempted lo refer to the
diplomatic object of the visit he was cat short by the remark that it was a
long time between drinks. When the visiting Governor was ready to return
home he was escorted to the State line by the Governor of North Carolina,
and they parted the best of friends.
"The mgitive was never surrendered.
OTROea, BaoTlfloe to the. In (he progress of a speech made in the de-
bate on the Reform Bill, a member, Mr. Beresford Hope, took occasion to dub
Mr. Disraeli "the Asian Mystery," an intended slur on the latter for his
Oriental or Hebrew e:ilraclion. Hope himself was of foreign blood, the
family being of Dutch origin and related to the Amsterdam family of that
name. Hence the sting in Disraeli's retort to the gentleman, that, " when he
talks about an Asian mystery, I will tell him there are Batavian Graces in all
he says," — the Dutch or Batavian variety of Ihe goddesses three being pos-
sibly imagined by the speaker to be heavy and dull. The origin of the
remark to "sacrifice to the Graces" in the sense of polishing the style or
manners may be traced to a bit of jocular advice given by Plato to Xenoc-
rales, a philosopher noted no less for his soundness and wholesomeness than
for his roughness and uncouth vigor: "Good Xenocrates, sacrifice to the
Graces I" Voltaire being asked his opinion of " Paradise Lost" replied thai
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 42?
be thought Satan the most powerfully conceived and sitonglf drawn figure.
"The andenu," he went on to sav. "recommended us to sacrifice to the
Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil."
Chesterfield, in his " Letters to his Son," commenting on the latter's un-
graceful manners, was Ibnd of quoting the advice of Plato to Xenocrates
(Lttltr, March 9, 174S), and gracefulness was almust the very meat he lived
on ) all else was subordinated to it ; which made Johnson say of the Letters
that " they leach the morals of a harlot and the manners of a dancing-
master." (BosWEtx: Zi>!', 1776.)
But the unknoifn lampooner who composed the following lines on the same
letter* is still more vigorous and ungracious :
Vile Sunlioix I dcmoni blu^ lo ull,
Hu ib^^ iil^ i^ ibc w>^ bell,
Eicorrtd by the Grac«.
Bui llilli did ibc uneencroiu lad
Concern hiuuelf about ifacm ;
For, hue, deBeneEtle, nuuly bad,
Neverlheless, another dictum of Johnson is probably true, that "every man
of any education would rather be called a rascal than accused of deficiency in
the graces." (Boswell : Life, 1776.)
Onuneroy. The word Grametcy, used to designate the locality Gramercy
Park in New York City, is derived from " der Kromme See," which is the
name given (o thai district in an old map, still extant. The word became
famous in American politics through the sobriqtut Gramercy Sage, or Sage of
Gramercy Park, applied by his admirers to Samuel J. Tildcii, who lived in
that neighborhood.
:o Gladstone, and usually credited
. , i88z. Since then it has become
exceedingly popular, twine used derisively by his opponents, especially in the
abbreviated form, G. O. M., and respectfully, though familiarly, by his friends.
The epithet was original with Mr. Bright, if at all, only in its special applica-
tion. It was a favorite form of commendation with Dean Hook, who is said
to have applied it orally to Handel in a speech made at Leeds in 1353 or
thereabouts (Ni^s and Qveriii, seventh senes, ix. ;), as he certainly applied
it in print to Archbishop Theodore. See Hook's " Lives of the Archbishops
of Canterbury" (l36o), 1. 151.
Charlotte Brontt^, under date of June 11, 1350, mentions as one of the three
chief iiKidents of a visit to London " a sight of the Duke of Wellington at
the Chapel Royal (he is a real grand old man)." Her use of the word real
might seem to imply that the term had already been applied to some other
notability. Tennyson bas the same collocation of adjcclives in at least two
td by ..wi
h1 idih >ll .
affectionately denominaiecl themselves the Grand Old Party, similarly abbre-
A'S HANDY-BOOK OF
viated into G. O. P., and treated with similar levity by Iheir opponenls, who
eveniiully succeeded in laughing it qui of active existence.
OrandmothAr. T«aob joni grandmotlMr to Buck aggB, a familiar
English proverb, applied to (he aspiring youth who utlers iruiniiis for para-
doxes, or, more vetnacularly, who, in trying to show that he knows it all. deals
in grizzly and bewhiskered chestnuts. There is a Greek epigram, attributed
sometimes to Phjiippus of Thessalonica, sometimes to Lucilius (both of whom
lived in the early days of Che Roman Empire), which has been thus translated
t^ Rev. G. C. Swayne :
On a Stolen Statue of Mehcurv.
blhilKVl
igered Auliv bore off with
seems (o have been a proverb already in circulation, it is quoted by Cicero,
and Emesli ^^Clavi! CiieroHiana) calls it "senarius notua." It is the obvious
original of (he remarkable senlence in Tom Jones, " Polly maleCe crytown is
mydaskelon," which sounds like the rogues' dialect, bat which Partridge said
his master, a famous Greek scholar, used lo quote and translate by "Teach
yout grandmother lo suck eggs." Analogous expressions may be found in
proverbial literature everywhere.
Teach an ea^e » Sy, a doipliill la iwim.^/^in.
It [a bot Deceiury lo Icacb G»h lo swim. — Frtnek.
The goalin^ wanl id djivc the g;ecK to paHur«.
There is a rhymed version of (he proverb which is sufficiently amusing ;
Teach not a pannl's mollKI 10 eitiact
The eipbrva juica of an egc by luciioD :
Qrant uid Whlskaj. There is a popular tradition to the effect that
Lincoln, when informed that General Grant drank too much whiskey, retorted,
"Tell me what brand it is, and I'll send a barrel to each of the other generals."
But, in truth, these words were a mere fabrication : they were put into Un-
coin's mouth by Miles O'Reilly (Charies 0. Halpine) in a burlesque report of
an imaginary banquet supposed to have been held at l>elmonico's in the year
1862. They tan through the press as Lincoln's ipiiiiima wrba, and lo ihis
day it is hard to make people father them on (he real author. The sentiment
was anticipated by Bishop Wilbetforce. At a railway-station the latter met a
clergyman who was taking charge of a very difficult rural deanery. " Mr.
T ," cried the bishop, in loud tones. " 1 am very glad to have an opportunity
of speaking to you. I hear great things of your leal and success as rural
dean." "Well, roy lord," was the reply, " 1 believe some people are under
the impression thai I am somewhat mad." •' All I can say, then, is I wish you
would bite all my rural deans." Exactly the same story has been fathered on
George II., who, expressing admiration of Wolfe, was informed that I he general
wag mad. " Is he so 1" cried his majesty ; " then I wish he would bile some
"Ir. Taiewell, of Virginia, was told
1 wish he would bite me I"
OTBpe. A Uttle more grape. Captain Bracgl an htsloric saying attrib-
uted to General Zacbary Taylor at the battle ofBuena Vista, February 33,
;,oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4*9
1847. When Santa Anna rallied his broken colur
precipilalcd them with auch force upon the Ameri ^ . . =
the advance that they yielded and fell back in confusion on the reserves-
Taylor hurried to the critical point, ordered the artillery lo face about, and
gave the emphatic order, "A little more grape. Captain Bragg!" At llie
third volley the Mexicans broke and fled. The phrase did excellent service
in the Presidential campaign which sent Taylor to the White House. But old
army officers asserted that what the general really said was, " Give 'em hell,
Captain Bragg I" A correspondent of the New York World, in April, 1880,
corroborates this version from the lips of the captain himself:
In 1E4S. beine > iliidnit-al-lKW in MoInIi, Alnbaiiu, 1 wu at ■ bar diniUT whicb GedcisI
(then Captain) Bra^ aurnded a« a g;u«V- In the courK of Ibe cveauiH a gentleman silting
kDOWlh*E that expreiMon wafl never used/' We were Aurprised, for all the paper* (hroughouL
the connlry weie proclaimuiB it, abd we asLted an caplaJlalion. He proceeded lo relate the
purpoK, be replied, ' Fn- God's uke.uptau), get the baltc
advantage of itie poiiEioD sir '
charge wai mutderoua-aod the enemy fell back BhaEtered and b
the report had haitily died away, and (be smoke uill Ull|tered al
Gcneial Taylor cane nlloping down, followed by hia staff. H
- -- -- - - '- r. rtia. - •- >— ■ -— ■- ■'
papers have given polish
ydled out to me, 'That's rights give 'em bell. Captain Biaggl
Otaat. " While the grasse growelh, the horse starveth" is the form in
which a £uni1iar saw appears in Hevwood's " Proverbs," Part i., chap, xi., — a
saw so lamiliar even then that Shakespeare makes Hamlet interrupt himself
Soulhey has a humorous variation on the same Iheme when he says thai
poets may live on posthumous fame, but not on posthumous bread and cheese.
Hierocles preserves the memory of a certain scholastic who undertook to
teach his horse how lo live without eating, but comjilained that it died jusi as
it was beginning lo learn the lesson, Annlher jest-monger records the
similar failure oi an experiment lo teach a horse to eat shavings by pulling
green goggles over its eyes,
OraoB never giotn again ^hare my horse tiaa once trodden. A
form of speech eipressive of utter annihilation and irrecoverable devastation
of a conquered territory. Sometimes used figuratively, as, /.g-., by the followers
of Victor Hugo, who used it to express the total extinction l^ him of the old
classic French drama. The speech is ascribed lo Attila, the king of Ihe
Huns, or the " Scourge of God," as he called himself, who, with his hordes
from the interior of Asia, overran Europe in Ihe middie of the fifth century
A-li. It hai always been applied to the destrucliveness of the conquests of the
unspeakable Turk ; " Grass never grows where the padisha's horse has trod."
Qraoa-vrldcnr. This term — in England now usually bestowed on an un-
married mother or a discarded mistress, in America on either a divorced wife
or a wile separated from her husband — is sometimes explained as a corruption
of "grace-widow," that is, a widow by grace or courtesy, not in htl. The
explanation is plausible, but erroneous. It is really a somewhat coarse meta-
430 HANDY-BOOK OF
phor, taken from a horse turned out to grasa, but originally bore no reproach
with it, being applied to anj^ woman living apart from her husband for any
reason, good or bad The wives of aea'Ca^tains and army officers, as well aB
divorcM women, were grass'widowa. In ihisseiise the word came into general
use in this country at the time of the California gold-fever, in 1849, tu desig-
nate (he adventurer's wife, left at home fur an inilefinite pctiod and obliged 10
shift for herselC
■% also quoted "favors to come." But La Rochefou-
cauld, in his " Maxims" (298), had already said, *■ The gratitude of most men
is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits." An anonymous poet of
more recent date has written, —
A gnteiii] u»c of fiivart fau,
A Uvdy liDpc of more to comv.
La Rochefoucauld paraphrased his own saying when he defined repentance
as not so much a regret Ibr the evil we have done, as a Tear of (hat which
may result to us. Benjamin Fianlclin notes, " He that has once done you a
kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself
have obliged."
Grave to Ot«f. A &mous couplet in Pope's "Etsay on Man," Epistle
W., L 379, runs as follows :
Panned by Ihy cnavenc happily to tam
Pope has plagiarized the thought from Boiteau :
HeuRui qui, cLuis H* ven ult d'uoa vnx l«gtn
Fiu4fT da gnve ui dotu, da pkiunt «i ifv^n.
L'Art Paltiqu4, chut Mr.
Nay, be has done more than this. He has plagiarized much of the verbal
"' e from Dryden's paraphrase of Boileau :
Happy vho in hli v«h can (eotly MHr
Fnm gnve id Ughi. Inm plauut 10 timet.
An cf Ptittry, Cuna 1, 1. 7$.
the gray mares of Flanders over the finest coach-horses ol
unfortunately, the saying is much older than the invention of coaches or ine
introduction into England of Flemish mares. It occurs in the " Proverbs" of
John Heywood (tS46) :
She b (quoth he) bent to force you perforce
To liBow thai the grey nun i> the tttur l»l>t.
It will be seen that even at that early date the proverb had acquired its
modern application (o a henpecked husband. A plausible susgeslion has been
made (jVofe/aMrfgwi-icj, sixth series, iv, 456) that the provert arose out of the
filCI that a heathen priest of the Anglo-Saxons was forbidden to carry arms or
to ride a male horse (Bede r //iit. Etel., ii. 13). Grimm's " German Mylhol-
Ojgy" {i. 91, StallybrasB's translation) further records the fact that early Chris-
tian clergymen when riding about the country were not allowed to ride on
horses, but only on asses and colts. Obviously this was done in memory of
Christ's journey into Jerusalem. But is it not entirely possible that, even
when the letter of the regulation iras still regarded, the sjurit might have
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 43'
been violated b* snlHlituting a mare for i horse, especially under the influ-
ence of (be ola Anglo-Saxon custom ? Once the phrase became current,
its modern application would gradually result as ■ mailer of course.
Otsat engine* move alo^rly. Bacon uses the phrase in the following
Suto u gre»t enginn mine t\ow\j.~Aihiaiitniunl ^ Ltaminf, Book il.
The idea of slowness of motion In large bodies recurs in (he adage trans-
lated bj Longfellow :
Though tliE milla of God grind ilowly, yei Ibey griDd «ji«ediiiff imfltl,
Fr. von Loc«u: SinngHlicUi : RtlrihUUm:
or, aa George Herbert has it, —
God'l mills gtiod bIow, but lure,
^tcula PrmltHtum :
the Greek originals for which ate, —
Oramia Sify/Zana. lib. viil., 1, 14.
'Of! ftvv U'tvn filiXfi, iXinvrt ta AnTa.
LvoTKH AND Schnbdvwih: Corpitt Pafamiggrapharum
Seitus Empiricus is the first writer who has presented the whole of the
adage cited by Plutarch in his treatise '* Concerning such whom God is slow
to punish."
Oreateat faappdnaMi of the greatest rnunber, a phrase made mem.
orabic by Jeremy Ben i ham, who used it as the tonchslone of all tight legisla-
tion and the true object of virtue. Bentham acknowledges that the phrase
was not original. "Priestley," he says, "was the first (unless it was Beccaria)
who taught my lips to pronounce this sacred truth, — that the greatest happi-
ness of the greatest number is (he foundation of morals and leeislaiion." Il
must have been Beccaria, for the phrase is found in the Introduction 10 his
"Essay on Crimes and Punishments" (1764), and does nol occur anywhere ir
members, that is, the majority of the members, of any slate, is the great
standard by which everylhitig relating to that state must finally be deter-
mined." But it had lieen used by a still earlier writer .- " The moral evil or
vice," says Huicheson in his " Inquity concerning Moral Good and Evil,"
Sect 3 (1710), " is as the degree of misery and number of the sufferers, so
that that action is best which produces the greatest happiness of (he greatest
Mr. A, Hayward said of Carlyle that his great aim and philosophy of life
was " (he smallest happiness of the fewest number ■" and ano(her well-known
witticism is put by Lord Lytton into the mouth of Kenelm Chillingly : "The
greatest happiness of the greatest number is best secured by a prudent con-
■i deration for Number One."
Oreanbaok, an Americanism for paper money, first applied to (he cur-
rency issued during the civil war, which, like the jiresent bank-notes of the
United States, had a green back. Colonel Edmond Dick Taylor (iSoz-iSqi)
has the credit of suggesting the plan, al a lime when the government's credit
with Europe was exhausted, when Ihe Treasury was empty, and the sotdlets
were clamoring for money. Lincoln, in a letter lo Taylor, published after (he
la((er's death {Nra York Tribune, December 6, 1891$, gives this account of
the origin of (he scheme
-' - - .-I hive !di..
Dick Tiylor'a <
43" HANDY-BOOK OF
friendl)r to mv, and wticb troublout iJaiu (til cd iu» and ny ihoulden^ though broAd and
nvtLHiuF. were weak, aod mvidi' lurrouiuled bv auch circuoutmcc* juid tuch people that I
knew DM whom to tnut, then laid 1 Id my iitreinlly, " 1 wiU Kod for CaloDcl I'aylori h*
will know what to do." I ihink It w» in JaDuary, 1S69, on or about the Kith, that 1 did w
Vou canK, and I Bald to you,-
"Whalcanwedof
paper. luiie cnougb lo pay olT ihc army e«pen»cK, and decliiTC It legal lender."
Chate thoiigiil it a hasirdDui ihijig, but we linally accompLiibed ii, and gave to tbe people
of thb npublie ibe gmieat bletilng they ever hadi-^ih^rowD papcrio pay ibcir own debu.
It u due Eo you, ihc laihCF of the pretent greeiiback, tbat the people ibould koow it, and
I take f real pteajuie in making ii koovn. How Duny lioiei have f laughed al you lelUng
me plainly that 1 vaa loolaiy lobcnnythingbut alawyerl
™"'™J'.Lii.™ui.
Grin Uk« a Cheahlr* oat > proverbial phrase which is laid lo have
originated from the fact that Cheshire cheeses were cold -moulded into the
shape of a cat, bristles being inserted to represent the vhiskera. Charles
-■-'•''■ 'iline, and that the
>t help grinning, is
not accepted by philologists.
Orog, a nautical term for s pi riti-and- water, now eenerallj accepted even on
shore. Until the time of Admiral Vernon, the British sailors had their allow-
ance of brand; or rum served out to them unmixed with water. This plan
was found to be attended with incunvenjence on some occasions when there
was a shortage in the brandy- locker. The admiral, therefore, ordered that
in the fleet he commanded the spirits should be mixed with water licfore being
passed around among the men. This innovation at first gave great offence to
the hard; satlorit, who had been used lo taking their drinks " raw." To add to
his unpopularity, the admiral, who was conscious of the immense responsi-
bility that rested upon him, became morose and gloomy, often walking the
decks for hours without speaking or looking either to the right or to the left
In these taciturn moods he always wore an immense grogram coat thrown
loosely over his shoulders. This resulted in the sailors nicknaming him " Old
Grog, and the term soon came to lie applied to the weak mixture stintingly
given out to the men who had formerly looked for a regular allowance of
"pure stuff." " Grog" became quite popular after a time, but not until the
great original had gone to his reward.
Oromidliiigm. When plays were performed in inn yards, or in the early
theatres that were built on the same plan, the spaces under the galleries were
cupied by persons of the lower class, who were called the groundlings, from
.: j! .1. J Ti, pji,i J penny each for admission. P—
'Give me the penny — give me the peni
^ e have ^ good ground." Hence the alius
when Hamlet cautions the players not to rant :
Eaiien, 10 vcty ran. to »plii the earft uf ihe groundlingf. wh« for ihe tnoit part are capable of
nothing but uirxphcable dumb-ahowi and noife. — Hamtrl, Act Uir, Sc. 1-
QmtiAj. ^TliBt will Mn. Omiidy maj ? The words are from the
play of Thomas Morton, " Speed the Plough," Act i., Sc ). One of the char-
acters. Dame Aahtield, frequently mentions a person who, liLe Sairey Gamp's
Mrs. Arris, is never seen, — one "Mrs. Grundy," who in the dame's opinion
would seem to be a "rural oracle," for she often refers to her by remarking,
'What will Mrs. Grundy say?" whence the phrase slipped into common
Hr. Noah U. Ludlow, of St. Louis, art old American actor and stage-mtui'
.dbv Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 433
iger, whose sphere of action wis for the iDott part the West and Southwestern
States, in his leminiscences of the stage, relates an incident which occurred
at Nashville during the perrormance ollhe coniedj "Speed the Plough," and
which is curious, even though we cannot agree with him that it was the first
time that the name of " Mrs. Grundy" was applied to public opinion. It
■o happened that there was a lamily of that name living in Nashville at the
time, that of Judge Felix Grundy. Mrs. Grundy, his wife, mingled with the
best society of that city, and was highly respected ; but, being a member of
some church and averse to the practice of visiting theatres, she was not
general titter and a laugh through the audience. This, to the actors, was in-
comprehensible, until a friend explained the matter. Judge Grundy, after
Martin Van Buren's election to the Presidency, was made Attorney-General
of the United States.
don* in dn world Iw people who believe iheuuelvci lo Ik vinuous. what a queer, edifying
bmlc it WDOld be. And how poor opprrucd rogiiei piif hi looV up \ Wbo bum the Proletumis T
K, And how poor opprrucd roguei piifhl '
Cuholkl, lo be Hire Who nxit ibe I
ks 1 AA A dAngcroui diAncter, pod avoldi me ai me cJuOT— tu vmuoiu ^luurioet
Tut who pATMCUIetf who dooAo't fomveT— the virtuDua Mn. Grundy. She re
her oeigbbor'a peccAdillod lo the ihijd Aljd fouilh generaUDn. pod, if the finds i
_u Tltlln in her ulb.KILlhen up her Aflri^led gArmeuti with a iliriek, Tot fcAT tbv
idd^, bleeding wretch Ahould contamlDUe her, And pAAKa od.-^Thacicikav : Advtnlurr.
Good people, how Ihey wiangleC
They eAt, And drinli, And Kbeme. And plod,—
Ibty ^ to church on SuadAy ;
And many ve afnid of God,—
And more of Mn. Grundy.
FuDuicii LocKU : LnuLm I^rkt.
Oiuun, dewing out for. In the height uf the Australian ^old-fever,
•hips were chailered to carry passengers to Australia without having return
cargoes secured to them. T^ey were therefore obliged to leave Melbourne
ill ballast and sail in search of homeward freights. Bui the custom-house
regulations leciuired that on clearing outwards some port of destination shoald
be named, and it became the habit of the captains to name Guam, a small
island in the group of the Ladrones, east of the Philippines. Hence grew a
proverbial expression, used mainlj b; sailors, "To clear out for Guam," i.t.,
to be bound for anywhere, to start on a wild-goose chase, to embark in an
enterprise without counting results.
GhMid dies, bnt imtw anrraDdara (" La garde meurt et
pas"). These famous words, persistently attributed to General
as his answer when the remnant of the Old Guard was summoned
der at Waterloo, were as persistently denied by him. He streng
denial by two excellent arguments : nrst, he did not die, and secondly.
Nantes, his native town, in iSj;, the mvi was subsequently engraved upon
the monument erected to him by his fellow-townsmen. So late as 1S63 a
grenadier a survivor of Waterloo swore before the prefect of the Depart-
ment of Nord that he had heard Cambronne use the phrase twice. But
General Alava, who was present when Cambronne surrendered his sword to
Colonel Malkett. declared that he did not open his mouth, save to ask for a
surgeon to bind up his wounds. Victor Hugo has another version of the
aBuT in " Lei Misjrables," Cuttle, xiv., — a version that is borne out b; the
434 HANDY-BOOK OF
following anecdote. When pressed bj a prelt^ woman to repeat the phrase
he reallj' did use, Cambronne replied, "Ma Tui, madam e, jc ne sais paa aa
juste ce que j'ai dit k Tofficier anglais qui me criait dc mc lendre, mais ce
qui est certain est qii'il comprenait le Francais, el qu'il m'a lipundu naiigi."
The bombastic fabrication was due to the inventive genius of Rougeraonl, a
" ilhoi of m«:i, who. two
Hemavhave had in n . . _ , ,
(ler before a line of Russian batteries, on the retreat from
Moscow : " A marshal of France never surrenders.") After il was repudiated
by Cambronne the sons of General Michel laid formal claim to it for their
father. In America a similar phrase has more historic verisimilitude. Just
before the battle of Buena Vista, February, 1847, Mr. Crittenden, having gone
to Santa Anna's head-quarters under a Bag of iruce, was told that if General
Taylor would surrender he would be protected. "General Taylor never
surrenders," was the reply.
Quarda. Up.Qnax'dB.aildBt ttaetn! Alison and other historians assert
that the Duke of Wellington used these words at a critical moment of the
l>attle of Waterloo. But the duke himself disclaimed them in answer lu an
inquiry from J. W. Croker. " What I might have said." writes Wellington,
" and possibly did say, was, ' Stand up. Guards I' and then g»ve the commanding
officers the order to attack. My common practice in a defensive position was
to attack the enemy at the very moment at which he was about to attack our
OnWB, in the sense of "think" or "believe," as in the phrase"! guess
the mail has arrived," etc, is generally looked upon as a gross Americanism.
But, like most so-called Amerit^nisms, il is simply the survival of an old
English use of the word, which was formerly in excellent repute, as may
appear from the following extracts 1
She, ceding that be wu ■ gardeiier.— ^j> xi. ij, WkUifft't Tram.
Guco righllr of Ihinii to coiot.— Raliigh.
This woful baode, quod thv,
Yt UniBg ynogh In iwich ■ werLe to loc.
For love that me g«v« Hrengtba apd hardyknesH.
To DImke my vounde )u:ge ynogh 1 gaw. — ChAVCUL
Hit ydlow hair »u hnided in i cnsi
Behin<l her b«ck, a yards long, 1 cucu. — Ibid.
Amylim will tx hjv'd m I mole ghH*e- — SpENSBH.
Richard Gram White has said, "If there be two words for the use of
which, more than any' others, our English cousins twit us, they are ' well,' as
an interrogative exclamation, and gutst. Milton uses both, as Shakespeare
also frequently does, and htre we have them both in half a tine. Like most
of those words and phrases which it pleases John Bull to call 'American-
isms,' they are English of the purest and best, which have lived here, while
they have died out in the mother country ;
Stanliy. I
K. /lick. 1
iloi liolL— ud he Ihe i«> DD him,
sred runagate :— wliat doth lut thmt
S/aii/iy. 1 ki . „ .
JC^ Rith. Well, u you duoi T
Nolxxly, I KUos, will think it loo much — LocKl.
Even in modem England we hear of Cariyle, speaking of Daniel Webster,
;,oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 435
. - -, . lame or the instrument used in France Tor cipiul punish-
O called after Joseph Ignace Guillotin, who helped lo introduce it, but
wtio, m spile of a widely disseminaled popular error, neither invented it nor
Buffered by it. The error, indeed, is a line example of ibe way in which
poetic justice reconsttucls history. He who makes the guillotine shall perish
by the guillotine. That sounds very pretty. And the warning becomes more
efficacious when it is asserted, as popular history does assert, that Guillotin
was the very first victim to perish by the guillotine. Unfortunately tot the
accuracy of the pretty saying and the pretty story, the guillotine was devised
by Ur. Louis, a French surgeon, or, rather, adapted by him Irom instruments
already known, and the original model was coustrncled after his directions
by one Schmitt, a German harpsichord- manufacturer. The idea had been
borrowed from the wataja, a roagher sort of guillotine, which had been used
in Italy for centuries. On Harcn »S, 179*, a resoluiion was passed by the
National Assembly n .- .. ■
in question in all pria
called the Louisv^ al
a crusade against the rack, the wheel, the rope, and the stake, — all of which
had only recently been abolished, and several of which, notably the wheel,
were still in use in the southern provinces, — constantly spoke with such en-
thusiasm of Dr. Louis's apparatus that the people ended by giving his name
to it and crediting to him (he invention. On April 15, 1 791, the guillotine
was publicly used for the first time, and beheaded a bandit named P^lissier.
During; the Reign of Terror this Identical instrument cut off the heads of no
less than eight thousand victims, while other guillotines in other towns were
also kept busy, Sanson, the public executioner throughout this frightful
period, sold the original guillotine for one thousand pounds to Curtius, and
he in turn disposed of it for a larger sum to his niece, Madame Tussaud.
The blade which decapitated princes and nobles is still to be seen in that
amiable lady's Ghamber of Horrors. Meanwhile, Dr. Guillotin energetically
but vainly protested against the use of his name in connection with the now in-
&mous machine. When he died, in 1814, his children, imitating Mohammed's
action in regard lo the mountain, obtained permission to change their own
Dame, as they could not change that of the insirument
H.
H, the eighth tetter and sixth consonant of the English alphabet, derived
from the Phcenician through the Greek and I^tin, though in the Greek, after
a series of changes, it was finally reduced to what we call the rough brealhine,
now usually printed '. The Latin alphabet received it much as it appeared in
its early integrity in the Greek, its value being kindred to that of our i, though
weaker. As the vernacular forms which finally issued in Old French and
Italian discarded the Latin k, the Middle English words derived mediately
from the Latin originally dropped the h also, while those immediately so
derived retained the K But in later Old French and Middle English, clerical
pedantry sought to restore the Old Laiin spelling wherever known, though
without the restoration of the pronunciation in any case in French, or in the
case of the oldest and most Umiliar words in Enelish. For these reasons
the pronunciation and even the orthi^raphy of words whose Latin roots com-
menced with h have been exceedingly wavering and uncertain, and though
every age has had a standard of usage to which the educated few have adhered,
the many have been entirely at the mercy of their individual idiosyncrasies.
43* HANDY'BOOK OF
Yet the co-ordinating hand of lime has been at work even here, and In the
dialect of the London cockney a rule seems to have finally emerged that k is
dropped wherever it should be pronounced, and inserted wherever it is super-
fluous. Two old jests will illuslrate this peculiarity : first, that of the maid-
MTvant who, being asked whether her name was Anna or Hannah, replied,
" Anna, ma'am : Haitch. Ha, Hen, Hen, Ha, Hailch, 'Anna ;" and that of the
'Arry who, finding himself misunderstood, explained that he did Dot mean the
" 'air of the 'ead, but the hair of the hatmosphcre."
Mr. Skeat has an ingenious theory to offer, via., that in old days the English
h being strong and the French k weak, the lower classes discovered that the
letter k was not much patronized by their French-speaking masters, and, as
Jack would be a gentleman " if he could s|>cak French," they attempted to
Imitate this peculiarity by suppressing (he k where they were accustomed to
sound it; but. nature being too strong for (hem, they were driven to preserve
their h from destruction by sounding it in words which had no right to it, and
hence the confused result
I in this quaint
The Letter H's Protest to the Cockneys.
Wb«nai by you E lute been driven
And placed bv your inott le«jtied eodety
In H^Ue, Hugui>h, ind Minu«r,
And beg you'll mend yoor HelloctuioD.
Mrs. Crawford is said to have written one line of her " Kathleen Mavonr-
neen" on purpose to confound the cockney warblers, who would sing it, —
Tbe 'am of Ihe 'imler it 'eint on ihe 'ill.
A similar difficulty is prepared for the warblers in Moore's " Ballad
ir UuK'i peue to be round In the -oHd,
H> helephul beuUy heui hu hl> beue
Hunder numbmiceoui humbrelUt tree* I
The following capital parody or skit upon the well-known enigma on tbe
tetter H (see Eniumas) is by Horace Mayhew, and first appeared m 1850:
1 d»lk in the Hemnh, inci I breaiha In Ibo H«lr :
ir yon Kuchei ibe Hoccin you'll find thul
Tbe fini of iJl HuRcli In tiolympui Jim Hi.
Ye[ I'm banlihcd from 'Eaven, eipe^ed froui on
Bui, though on this Horb I'm deiiWd to ponl
But olien I'm (bund oc
OnlJ'Ark',BndyM'll]&.'r°n.e'ju»i'brt.lliV£riheHe«i
NoTlfbil ofMi"E£, bill pinly ■"'hm.'*"
Of Helemily I'm Ibe beeinning I »nd, nuuk.
Though I f oei not wiifa N»>r.1-in (ini in ihe EUlk.
I'm neycr in 'EaLth. ha*e wUh Fyiic no power,
1 dlei in e monih, but vttuet luct In ■ Hour-
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. .
— o apeak of "ihe ideous Hamerican abit of habusing haitch." But, in
verv truth, the dropping and the misuae of the aspiiale arc peculiar tu England,
and Americans have never been guilty of cither ofTence.
Habit ia aeoond nfttwe, a proverb found in Montaigne, — " Essays,"
Book iii., ch. x., — and, <rith a qualification, in Plutarch's " Pieservalion of
Health:" "Custom is almost second nature." Shakespeare, in "Two Gen-
tlemen of Verona," says, —
How UK doih bR(d ihiUthiBBiB!
Act*., Sc.4i
and again,
My mmre it Hibdunl
To whu K work! in, like Die dyu'i hand.
The latter finds a very close parallel in Chapman :
Each aanjral annt woHu but to ihia eqd, —
A familiar saw says, " Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables," — a figure
thus versified by Isaac Williams in "The Baplislery ;■'
Thnadi tutn lo cordi, and cordi id cables strong.
Imai, iS, tfaiili Mraiding OuanM.
But long before, Ovid had said, —
HI habits gatticT by upuen dcsrtd.
My venr chaini and 1 gmr frimdi.
So niDcn ■ long commiiniop Itndi
Regained my freedom with a >igh-
Bnciii: Friimar ^CMlUm.
TlieTe'i Bolhini lika beinc ined u a thioii.
n you are ^^^^. p^^^ ^^^^^^.
Sydney Smith telte a story of a gentleman residing in Paris who, living
very unhappily with his wife, used, for twenty years, lo pass his evenings at
Ihe house of another lady whose society he greatly enjoyed. His wife died.
and all his friends urged him to marry the lady in whose society lie had been
so happy. " No," he replied, " I certainly will not ; for if 1 marry her I shall
not know where to spend my evenings."
Haggia, a favorite Scotch dish, made of the heart, lungs, and liver of a
sheep, mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, sail, and pepper, all boiled together
in a lag. To be poetitally perfect, the bag should be the stomach of a sheep.
tlANDY.BOOK Of
I in bcani ii lo Ihr Bmloiiiap. or pic lo Ihe Puriuiu of Nn> Engiand. Bctng a diih
ic ongin, haggii b. of cnuiK, cxplnuvc in ilm chancier. Terrible dkuter ii oartain
w ihe handiiDg of haggli viuboui previoui IraioiDg or acquaiDiaDCC wiih iu conliitiaa-
Hl«giaci have Ixen Cdiiwd ta eaploik:, exen at contlvial leaiu, and coter the auem.
daD^nwu u Ihe Iriih exph>ivv, dypamiie. Ii will blnw a ma'
pdUKd bf a DyaieriDU Higbland liquid of a Aerjr character,
ihrtHigh il \t dcHed at intervala with die real
Iti ia nait
[ >'n^e°hj!i!
Cxaaw: TkiHk mt'cauii mtn/Utlrrhifff.
'Tia a paweriiil aea : ifaey were loo Btntng for the lini. the >tnin|eal and wlfeal DUU Ihl
pair of oien.—HowiL ; Z^M/n,' Book il., iv.
And Iran thai lucUeia hoiu or lyiani Eiiir
Haa led and Dinbod be by a alpgle hair.
Buhd: Aa/Ai^icr, P-»(«1. iSij).
Hair-pin, hutnoroua American for a man, used only in the phrase "'I'liai'
' ' ' ' " Just as Shakespeare makes FalslafF speak u
nan as a forked radish, so Americans fancy a resemblance belwee
lined hair-pin and the human figure. The phrase first became pupu-
tt iBSo.
Ay, Ihai b hut Ihe hair-pin
Til gkinaiH vhen hemea
Go Id m right their wnnp ;
Why, then btwale of UHUl.
Cartt'/Ctrm: BalLul.
Halo7on Days, a name given by the ancients to the seven days pre
ceding and the seven days following the winter solstice, the shortest day of Ihe
year. According to Pliny and others, this was the period which the halcyons
or kingfishers elected for incubation, building floating nests upon the water
in the first week and laying their eggs in the second. — their choice being dic-
tated by the fact that this period was generillj remarkable for its calm lair
tvealhcr, though in the middle of December.
Montaigne acce])ls ihis fable as a matter of experience :
Thatwhkb Kamtn byeipcnnuie know, and particularly Id iheSidlian Sea, of the qualiiy
of Ihe halcyon, aurpaiiei all humin thouihi. Of what kind o( Bnimal hu natorc e»eo »
iniKh hoDortd iht binh! The poeli. Indeed, lay thai one only laland, Ddof, which wu
before a Ooaiiac laland, wu find for llic service of Laioaa'i CDOchemeiii; but Ged haa
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
ordertd (lut the whole ocftBd ihould be lUyed, made iub1«, .
without wimlB, or ntin, whiUl Ihc halcytn pnjduca her young. %a that by her p
Dryden thus alludea to the notion ;
Amidal our mnni u quiet yoo ibull be
Aa halcyoiu brooding od a winter'i k«.
And Knts, in "Endymion," has the beautiful ligure, —
O BUBlc Sleep t O comlbiuWe bird t
Thalhioode*! n'crihe tmubled lea o( ihe mind
Till nit ii huhed nnd imooih.
Greek myth relates that Aicyane, or Halcyone, daughter of .Colna, married
Ceyx, who was drowned on his way to consult the oracle. Alcyone, ap-
Erised of his death in a dream, threw herself into ttie sea, and she and het
osbaiid were both changed into Itinglishers by the gods, who furllfer decreed
that the sea should forever after remain still while these birds built their
More than this, the kingfisher was sup^KMed to possess many virtues. Its
dried body would avert ihunder-bulis, and if kept in a wardrobe would pre-
serve from moths the woollen sluSa laid therein. A development of the
'thology assigned to the bird the power of
of the islands of the Pacific the
speare and other
: popular notion that if the sluHed
akin of a halcyon were hung up b* a thread to tlie ceiling of a chamber, in
swinging it would point with its tHil to the quarter whence the wind was
blowing :
"^Mar^'
: Tfujmi/ Malta.
Srovm : Li/i ami DialA ^ Cardinal tftlifr.
In popular parlance, the term halcyon days means any period of rest and
rejiricmg. Conkling's famous phrase, "a halcyon and vociferous occasion,"
has also passed into the currency of daily speech.
Half ia nior* than the vrhole. (N7irn>i' oM; !ii<i?nrtavi'<'V(wi}/u9vinivTDc
Hesiod: Warii and Dayt, Book yi., \. 4/!i.\ This is what Hesiod said to his
brother Perseus, when he wished to settled the dispute over their inheritance
without going to law. He meant that one-half, taken immediately, was better
than Ihe whole would be after deducting the expense and waste implied by litiga-
tion. The remark, however, has a very wide signification : thus, an anbarriu
de richaai is far less profitable than a sutliciency ; a large estate to one who
cannot manage it is impoverishing ; a man will be poorer if with increase of
wealth his increase of expenditure is larger in proportion.
Unluppy ihey to wham God tiu not rcrcaled,
' a £teal eatau't mon thvi the wl
liowisv : Buaf, iM Vm. at
ni. No. iv.
Half-Br««da. A nickname originally applied derisively lo certain Repub-
licans in Ihe Slate of New York, by the partisans of Senator Roscoe Conk-
ling. In the bitter corneal over the United Stales Senaloishi|i in iSgi lo fill
the vacancies caused by the resignation of the two New Votk Senators from
that body, and when Conkling was seeking a re-election as an endorsement
and vindication, the wavereis were called "Half- Breeds," as contiadistin-
gnished from " Stalwarts" (q, v.). %
44© HANDY-BOOK OF
Half-put kiHlnK-tima,a rough-and-ready lepariee, often jocularly made
bj a man to one of Ihe opposite sex when asked what lime il is. It may have
arisen from, and may have suggesled, the gong of which the following is a
Half-aeaB-ovoT, a nautical euphemism for "drunk," "intoxicated," which
has been generally accepted into the language. An attempted explanation of
Wilberforce's is recorded by Green in his " IJfe of Wilberforce ;" " I have
often heard thai sailors in a voyage will drink 'friends astern' till they. are
half-wav over, then ' friends ahead. ' The inference is that by the time the
•ailors had gone half the distance some of them would be full. But sailors
are carefully guarded from drunkenness during a voyage.
Durint; Ihc uUlaf a ok of colliiioD between nro ihLpijitiu.iuilar tntlStd that M th«
cooifflll him for conicmpl, " Well, uy (riesd, fit lae fol m-j office by (elliii[ me where ibiift
the hiniucle \%-, you have alrcmdy Bhown mo (be ntvuillE of hali^veu-ovcr."— ^Ali»u_L;
I^t i^ Lord Mantfitld.
Half- Way Covenant. A name familiarly given to a compromise measure
adopted at a general council held al Boston in the early days of the Congre-
gational churches in New England. By this measure the earlier rule was
relaxed by which, in addition to baptism as a first condition of membership,
each person was required, on coming to years of discretion, to give proof of
repentance from sin and faith in Christ As civil rights and political privileges
were in a large measure involved in membership, the stricter rule constituted
a substantial grievance. The new rule admitted all baptized persons to all
privileges of membership except Holy Communion, provided their conduct
of life was not openly bad. In course of titne, and in consequence nf the
preaching of Whitefield, the " Half-Way Covenant" was practically abandoned.
Hall-mark. The official stamp tbrmerlv affixed to gold and silver article*
by the Goldsmiths' Company in England, to attest their purity. " Hall-
marks" are now stamped on articles manufactured of gold or silver by the
assay offices, and the office for each district has a distinct device. Thus, th«
hall-mark for London is a leopard's head ; Birmingham, an anchor ; Chester,
three wheat-sheaves or a dagger ; Exeter, a castle with two wings ; Vork, five
lions and a cross ; Sheffield, a crown ; Newcastle- on -Tyne, three castles ;
Edinburgh, a thistle, or castle, and lion ; Glasgow, a tree and a salmon with
aring in Its mouth ; Dublin, a harp, or the figure of Hibernia, etc Besidesthese
devices showing where the assay was made, there are other marks indicating
the purity of the metal. For this pur|)ose gold is compared with a given
"andard of pure gold, which is divided into twenty-four parts, called c
Thus, "9/375" signifies that nine twenty-fourths oi the weight of the article
are pure gold ; " 12/5" is twelve carats fine ; " 15/63^" is fifteen carats fine ; a
crown and the figures iS is eighteen carats fine, or three-quarters pure gold ;
andard lor the coin of the realm, and of this quality
wedding-rings are usually made.
fur it, as it is lor gold, but its relative purity is expressed by the number of
grains of pure silver in the ounce of allov. Two qualities of stiver are marked
at the assay offices : the one contains eleven ounces and ten pennyweights of
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 44^
pore silver to the pound Traj; this is the quality called "sterling," genenll)
used by silversmiths ; the oilier contains eleven ounces and two pennywetRhts,
which IS the "standard" for English coin. The "standard" mark for England
ii a " lion passant ;" for Edinburgh, a thistle ; for Glasgow, a " lion rampant ;"
aid for Ireland, a crowned harp.
Besides these marks, there is a letter called the date-mark. Only twenty
letters are used, beginning with a, omitting _/, and ending with v. A different
leltec is used for each jrear ; and every twenty years, when the number is ex-
hausttd, the type is varied, from Roman to Gothic, thence to Old English,
etc Each omce has its special form of date-letter. Thus, the London office
from itiyj to 1856 employed Old English capitals; from 1857 to 1876, Old
English imall letters ; from 1876, still in use, Roman capitals. So by re-
ferring lo 1 table the exact year of the mark can be discovered. Lastly, the
head of the reigning sovereign coinpletes the marks.
From the auolute reliability of these marks the expression in current
phrase "to btar the hall-matk has come to mean genuine, above suspicion,
and is applied either to men or to things.
r ol Heretlo*. A sobriqutt for Pierre d'Ailly, a noted French
cardinal and polemical writer (1350-1425). He was president of the Council
of Constance, at which John Huss was condemned.
The same name was applied to John Faber (died 1^41), a native of Suabia
and a Roman Catholic divine of celebrity. One of his works bears this title,
whence the appellation.
Hampton Rottda Confeiwioe. A meeting on board a vessel in Hamp-
ton Roads, February 3, 1865, brought about by Frank P. Blair with the object
of eflecting a cessation of hostilities between the North and South, and with
a view towards joint actnn to enforce ihe Monroe doctrine against the French
in Mexico. The conferees on the part of the North were Lincoln and Seward ;
on the part of the South, Stephens, Campbell, and Hunter. The meeting was
without result
Hand. The American expressions "to show one's hand," 10 " play one's
hand for all it is worth," are poker terms, the hand being Ihe five cards dealt
out to each player. Used proverbially, the first expression means lo give
one's self away, to let Ihe cat out of Ihe bag, to be frank and open ; Ibe latter,
to make the most of one's opportunities, generally used in a bad sense, and
applied to a thoroughly unscrupulous person.
One of IbcadTrnDta^nof thcEKgadveiwrlufligiicdtctiTDrDen JatiJeialhattlKy uvKl<kiin
fbmd ta conunii ihemKlva. They can. If ibey chooie, reiiiain pcrieclly pi»iv< wbile ■
voman Deed never fhov hers. Sbemoret in myitery m* long u abe likea.and mere reticence
in her, ifaheliyoiiitfaDd&iT.inHrpnu itself u good ftenieand£oodiule,—W. D. Howhli.s;
Handi. The use of this term in Ihe sense of artisans has its justiiicaiion
in the figure of rhetoric known as metonymy, which allows Ihe most signifi-
cant part to be put for the whole. In Ihe case of a laboring-man the hand,
of course, performs the work, and is, therefore, Ihe most important member.
Hypercritidsm might urge that when we say Mr. X employs one hundred
hands, meaning one hundred workmen, he really employs double that number,
as one hundred workmen would have two hundred hands. But popular usage
laughs at hypercriticism. Similarly, when we speak of "lails" no one pretends
10 reckon more than one sail to each vessel. None the less, a nice sense of
linguistic congrutty recognises that hands is one of those words which must
not coine into contact or close relationship with other words which may sug.
HANDY-BOOK OF
ludicroas conluiiion of metaphor and fact. Sir Thomas FiUosborne
lishes an instance of what should be avoided in his Letters (eighih edilion.
S „ .
1776, |). 115): "An honest sailor of n\j acquaintance, a captain of a priva-
teer, wrote an account to his owners of an engagement in which he had tiie
good Tortune, he told them, o( having only one of bis bands shot ihrongh the
borough, was noted no less for his soldierly ability and alatcsnianship than
for his handsome person and the charms of graceful and captivating nianners.
The French troop under Turcnne called him U iel Anglau (" the handsome
Englishman"), Napoleon said of Marlborough that his was about the greatest
military genius the world has produced.
phrased "Gold maybe gold though il
in the heading it appears in the first ch: ,
field," and may be verbally original, though tbe thought had long before b
expressed by Cbaucer 1
that doili genin dedk.
7Tu Wl/t ^BaUu Tali, I. ^s^
it U knnwnc;
Tbu \t li gendl Ihit doili ganil dcdk.
Spenser imitates Chaucer :
r Q»itnt, Book vl., Cuta a., S
Analogues more or less remote may be found in the following :
Outrnu tcrlkc the iu^\.. but jaKnl wina ibe vniL
Von: Rtft^tkiUck.Cxaow.,
And many poets have insisted that appearances in this case are not deceit-
ful, for be that is handsome must handsome do.
Thcn't ntxhiui ill on dwdl in such ■ lEmple :
If ilu ill .piija»e K (air ■ houM,
Good Ihingi will iirivc to dwell with '1.
Shakestuhi: Tta Tiw/o^ Ad I., Sc a.
For of the tDule the bodle fonne doth ukc :
Tbu il a liciie to linow the gentle blood.
SpiHsn: An HjiKm iH HtHimriif Btaatii.
Handwriting and Writara. " What do vou think of my becoming an
author and relying for support upon my pen r' savs Nathaniel Hawthorne,
In a letter written when he was a student in Bowdoin College. " Indeed, 1
think the illegibility of my handwriting is very author -like." That illegibility
be retained all his life, and after his death several of his manuscripts remained
long unpublished, because no one was able to decipher their intricacies.
But there may be some question as to his adjective of " author-like." Many
writers have been even worse scribes than Hawthorne himself, but, on the
other hand, there are many whose penmanship is remarkable for neatness and
beauty. Among living authors, Howells. Tlolmes. Bret Harte. Andrew Lang,
William Norris, Frederick Locker, and George Macdonald write hands that
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Walter Scon, and Buchanan Kead possessed a pleasing running hand which
alio failed tu express any decided individuality. Longfellow's handwriting
nnua lxdd,franlc bacL-hand. Bryant's was aggressive and pleasing to the eye,
bul had no poetical characteristics ; and Keats's was rather too clerical for the
moat dainty of modern poets.
Thackeray's penmanship was marvellously neat, but so stnatl that it could
not always be read with comfort byanybut micriMcopic eyes. He is reported
to have taid that if all other methods of livelihood were to fail him he would
undertake to write the Lord's Prayer on his thumb-nail. Charles Dickena'8
writing was much less beautiful, bul almost equally minute, and his habit of
writing with blue ink upon blue paper, with frequent interlineations and cross-
lines, made his copy a burden alike to com|>ositor and proof-reader. Dou^as
Jerrold was an offender of the same son. He jotted down his jokes upon little
slips of blue paper in letters smaller than the type in which they were pres-
ently to be set. Captain Manyat's handwriting was so fine that whenever the
copyist rested fron his labors he was obliged to stick a pin where he left oft
in order to find the place again. Charlotte Bronte's handwriting appeared to
have been traced with a needle. Other experts in microscopic penmanship
are the English novelists R. D. Blackmore and William Black, who write tiny
characters that are alnmst undecipherable at first sight, and the Americans
George Cable and Julian Hawthorne. The latter forms his letters with care
and precision, but they ate almost infinitesimal in site.
Nothing Is more noticeable than the difference between the hands of those
who seem satisfied with theii words, who seem to find pleasure in the rapidity
with which they express their thoughts, and the hands of those who are dis-
satisfied with their words and are dispos^ to torture language until it expteBses
something more or something less. Mathematicians, as a rule, write untidy,
sciauiUing hands, because their thought so constantly distances their powets
of expression in words or symbols that they grow careless in their attempt to
keep pace with it Lawyers, on the other hand, usually write a precise and
orderly hand, because they are fond of verbiage and are accustomed to cm-
ploy more words than are neceasaiy to express their thought. Fluent writers
like Anthony Trollope or Professor Tyndall write an easy running hand, but
poets tike Swinburne, Tennyson, or Browning seem to throw over the words
they write shadows of dissatisfaction that they express something more or
something less, or at all events something different, as though words were a
wrong to their soul and a sort of parody on the true expressiveness of sound.
Carlyle reconstructs with pen and gall what his mind and eyes have seen, and
in his patient but crabbed and oddly-emphasiied handwriting much of his
temperament may be read. " Eccentric and spiteful little flourishes," says
one of his friends, " dart about his roanuscript in various odd ways, sometimes
evidently intended as a cross to a i, but constantly recoiling in an absurd
fashion, as if attempting a <:alligraphica1 summersault, and destroying the
entire word from which they sprung. Some letters slope in one way and
some another, some are halt, maimed, and crippled, and all are blind." Car-
lyle was himself hiehly amused at a story told by his London publishers. A
Scotch compositor had just been added to the force of their ])rinters on the
444 HANDY BOOK OF
sheets came back more illegible than the original copy. A French writer
describes (hem as sending oul from each primed wocd a dash of ink like a
rocket, finally breaking into a fiery ring of phrases, epithets, and nouns.
These were interlined, crossed, writlen upside down, miied, interlaced, and
knotted, forming a word-puziie which made even the aloutesl compositor
The manuscript of Victor Hugo, we are told, presented almost as singular
an appearance, being " a sort of ^Itle-field on paper, in which the killed words
were well stamped out and the new recruits pushed forward in anything but
good order." Hugo's manuscript has also been compared to a sheet of music
in which numerous blots look the place of crotchets and quavers.
B^on' was nearly as bad. His handwriting was a mere scrawl, and his
additions in the proof were generally greater than the original text To one
poem, which contained only four hundred lines in the first draui;ht, one thou-
sand were added in proob. Dean Stanley, a short time before his death, was
invited by a New York magazine lo contribute an article on some timely topic
A paper was promptly written and duly received, but the editor, to his great
consternation, could not read it himself, and found it undecipherable by the
most expert printers. Finally the editor was obliged ta return the manu-
tcripl to England to \x re-written, and then the timeliness of the subject
bad evaporated.
Sometimes, however, even the writer himself cannot read what he has
written. We are told of Jules Janin, for instance, that when a reckless com-
positor came to him and Ixsought him to decipher some pages of his own
manuscript, the great man replied that he would rather re-wrile than attempt
to read over again what he had once written.
Lord Etdon told George IV. that the greatest lawyer in England could
neither walk, speak, nor write. This legal luminary was Mr. Bell, a cripple,
who had great difficulty in putting his ideas into speech, and had succeeded in
hitting upon three different methods, all equally original, of putting them upon
paper,— one being intelligible to himself, but worse than Greek to his cterk ;
another, which his clerk could, but he himself could not, decipher ; and a
third, which neither he, his clerk, nor any one else could comprehend.
" I must decline reading my own handwriting twcniy-rour hours after I have
written it," said Sidney Smith ; adding, " my writing is as if a swarm of ants,
escaping from an ink-bottle, had walked over a sheet of paper without wiping
their legs." But he insisted that Jeffrey's was quite as bad, and once wrote
to tell the atch-reviewer that he had tried to read bis letter from left to right,
and Mrs. Sydney from right to left, but neither of them could decipher a single
Montaigne, a man of quality, and a man of wit, too, owns to writing so
dumsilv as not to be able to read what he had written. This apparently arose
as much from carelessness as from incompetence. In his impatience, he sacri-
ficed plainness for the sake of speed. He says, " 1 always write my letters
post, and so precipitately that, though I write an intolerable ill hand, I rather
choose to do it myself, than to employ another, for I can lind none able to
follow me, and never transcribe any, but have accustomed the great ones that
know me to endure my blots and dashes upon paper without fold or margin."
Oddly enough, when Montaigne did employ an amanuensis he chose as bad
a writer as himself, and niade matters rather worse than better. Long after
his death, the manuscript of his Italian journal was discovered in a worm-
eaten cofler in the old chSteau ; but one-third of the journal was found to be
in the handwriting of the servant who acted as his secretary, and that portion
was almost unintelligible, thanks to bad writing and spelline to match.
Lot Cases says ofNapoleon, " He left a great deal for the copjriits to do;
L.:,L,zi;i:v,.G00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 445
he was their torment ; his handwriting actually reaembled hierwlyphica, and
he «ften could not decipher it himself. My son was one day reading lo him a
chapter of the ' Campaign of Italy ;' on a Bndden he stopped short, unable (o
make out the writing. ' The little blockhead.' said the Emperor, ' cannot read
his own handwriting.' *ll b not mine, Strc.' 'And whose, thenp' 'Your
majesty's.' 'How so, jaa little rogue? da you mean to insult me ?* The
Emperor took the manuscript, tried a long while lo read it, and at last threw
it down, saying, ' lie is right. I cannot tell myself what is written.'"
It is said that Napoleon's letters from Germany to Josephine were at first
taken for rough maps of the seat of war. Rufus Choaie, whose signature has
been aptly compared 10 a gridiron struck by lightning, was equally unfortunate.
While having his house repaired, he had promised to send the model for a
carved mantel-piece. Failing to obtain what he wanted, he wrote lo his work-
man to that effect The carpenter eyed the missive from all points of view,
and finally decided that it must be Ihe promised plan ; so he set lo work li>
fashion what roust have been the most original mantelpiece thai ever orna-
mented a room. Professor Ticknor once told Mr. Choaie thai he had in his
possession two letters, one written by Manuel the Great of Portugal in 1512,
the other by Gonsalvo de Cordova a few years earlier. "These letters
strongly resemble your notes of the present trial." Choaie instantly retorted,
" Remarkable men I they seem lo have been much in advance of their time 1"
Henty Ward Beecher can hardly be considered lo have been a model scribe,
seeing that one of his daughters owned that her three guiding rules in copying
his manuscript were, 10 remember that if a letter was doited. It was not an 1 ;
if a letter was crossed, it was not a I ; and if a word liegan with a capital
letter, it did not begin a sentence.
But no penman, either American o> foreign, could have been worse than
Horace Greeley. " Good God 1" said a new compositor, lo whom a " lake"
of the editor's copy had been handed, "if Belshauar had seen this welling on
the wall, ht would have been more terrified than he was." It may have been
this very man of whom a good story is lold. Becoming disgusted with his
typographical blunders, Greeley sent a note up lo the foreman, requesting him
to discharge the man at once, as he was loo inefficicnl a workman to be any
lotwer employed on the Triium. The foreman obeyed the inslructiuns ; but,
before leaving, the compositor managed lo get possession of Greeley's note.
He at once went to a rival otBce and applied for a position, showing the note
as a letter of recommendation. The foreman pored long and camestlj' over
the crabbed penmanship. Finally he though! he saw a clue, — "Oh.Iseel
'good and efficient comftositor, and a long lime employed on (he Tritutu,
Horace Greeley,'" — and immediately set him to work. The painter of Ihe
I/m> Yeri Tri^inf . bulleli ns once received a notice in the well-known but
ever- unintelligible hieroglyphics, intending lo inform Ihe public that Ihey were
to seek "Entrance on Spruce Street" After some hours' hard study and
cogitation, the puzzled man of the brush, in sheer desperation, dashed i>ff, in
large letters, "Editor's on a Spree." and posted the hilarious announcement
on Ihe front door of the Tribune olSce,
Once upon a time Mr. M. B. Castle, of Sandwich, Illinois, invited Mr.
Greeley to lecture. To this the following reply was sent :
Deak Sir, — 1 un overworiHd, uid growing old. t ihftll be uxly ncvt February Ihird. On
Mono. proniiH 10 viu< moil on 1 eirwi .-«™ Y ^^^ GBRBtrt.
U. B. Castu, Sudwich, 111.
We can partly imagine (he great eRbrts made by the lecture committee and
others lo decipher Horace's pol-htioks, and the delight which they must have
38
446 HANDY.BOOK OF
felt al their altimale success. Thai they were aaccessftil will be seen from the
(bllowing answer ibrwatded in due time to Mt. Cireeley :
Sandwich, 111., May i«h.
DiiAK Sib,
M-e perf«cl^ Hlbfulory. Ai you tuegsi. we iruiy be able id ie« yuu other n^ia^meiitfl id
Your* mpecifUUy, M, B. Casilil
Greeley wrote as follows to decline an invitation of the Iowa Press Amo-
Out uf this, the recipients, in consultation assembled, made, —
I have wondered >ll along wheiher any aquin had denied Ihe tcandil aboui ibt Pmidenl
Dating JUK ID ihe woodi do Siuirda)'. I lieve hominy. cunHi, end R. R. tin more Ihu I
The Duke of Wellington, when sitting in the House of Lords, received a
leiier from the eminent landscapc^designer and great authority on botanical
matters, J. C. Loudon. The duke had lost sight of him for some years. It
was a note to this effect :
Mv Ldhd Dvke, — It would gntify me uttvalely If you would permU me to vliit SduIi-
5eldHye II uy lime convenleu lo you Grace, and lo inipect the '' Wueiloo beeches."
The Waterloo beeches were trees that had been planted immediately after
Ihe battle of Waterloo, as a memorial of Ihe great UghL The duke read the
letter twice, — the writing of which was not vetv clear, — and, with his usual
promptness and politeness, replied as follows, having read the signature as
"C. J. London" instead of "J. C. Loudon :"
wLMi; uuE wD^ yuu Hiould wuh to lupect thoK Uul I WOTt St lb* b&llie of Watcfjoo it quite
beyond Uk compfehouaon of
Yourt, moll mily,
This letter was received, as may be supposed, with great surprise by the
Bishop of London. He showed it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and lu
other discreet persons : they came to Ihe melancholy conclusion that the great
Duke of Welhnglon had evidently tost his senses. The Bishop of London
(Blomfield) declared that he had not written to the duke for two years, and
to receive this extraordinary intimation puzzled the whole bench of bisliops.
Explanations, however, of a satisfactory kind followed, and the friendship of
these worthy men was not changed.
Ueneral Meigs was one of Ihe poorest penmen in official life, and to one
not very familiar with his handwriting it was simply Ihe worst sort of Greek
in the world. General Sherman, through whose hands a great deal of Gen-
eral Meigs's official correspondence passed, once wrote under one of the'
lattet's endorsements, " I heartily concur in the endorsement of the Quarter-
master-General, but I don't know what he says."
Dr. Parr, the great scholar, thus criticised a friend's writing :
■ylLable hu do loDgei any confidence in aylli^e, but diuolir
_k)ogIc
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. 4
iuca with [he idcceediBf word. A pw of hk cpiHle \oa\t like tlui Boor of ■ cu(
DSC covered »iib ^d crocked niiU wbich nave ju« been rdeiucd from m coitury'i dun
ly good eflecl I have derived ^m hit »riTuig« : he brin^ ioto my oiicid the reeurreci
Yel Dr. Parr was hlmseir a conspicuous oflender. Sir William Jones once
wrule a lelter of expostulation to him. in which he said, " To speak plainljr
with you, Tour English and Lalin characters are so badty formed that I have
infinite diScully to read your lellcis. and have abandoned all hopes of
deciphering many of Ihem. Your Greek is wholly illegible : it is perfect
A Fellow of Magdalen College received one day a note from Pair to say
that he was on his way to Oxford, would sup with him that night, and would
be glad to have " two eggs" (so the recipient read the words) got ready Tor his
supper. Accordingly, on his arrival, the two eggs were served up, not with-
out fonnality, to the hungry doctor, who no sooner saw them than he flew
into a violent passion. Instead of " two eggs" he had written " lobsters."
And this recalls a whole cycle of stories of a similar nature. A hundred
years ago Lord Harry Pawlctt was paying his attentions to a lady who per-
suaded nim to present her with a couple of monkeys. Eager to oblige, Lord
Harry applied to a firiend in the East for the animals. Writing in a bad hand,
and spelhng two "too," the word was mistaken for lOO in figures, and the
nobleman was dismayed when be received a letter from his agent with the
news that he would receive fiftr monkeys by such a ship, and fifty more as
soon as they could be procured But this joke has its connterparl in the
story of a Virginia planter, a century earlier, who wrote to his factor in
England lo send him two virluous young women. Through the same mis-
apprehension of the characters forming the word "two," the factor sent him
fifty examples of the softer sex, with the promise of fifty more as soon as the
number of volunteers lor Virginia coutd be made up. Sit Edward Vernay, in
a letter to his son Ralph, dated January 19, 163S, tells the following story. A
Loftdon merchant wrote to his ^ctor beyond sea to send him, by the next ship,
3 or 3 apes. He forgot the r, and then il was 203 apes. His factor sent him
fourscore, with the promise that he would have the remainder by the next
The following jolly letter was sent to the eminent and accomplished ex-
president of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, Pro-
teisor E. S. Morse. It speaks for itself, and needs no comment beyond the
plain stalemeot that in truth his handwriting is not to be lightly dealt with :
Mt mAi Ml. Uoui,— Ii wu very pleauoi id me ta ^ > letier rrom you Ihe oiher day.
Perhapt I tbould have '
I masiered aaythlDg hi ^
Tbtn'i ■ tinriUar and perpetual . . .
ila novelty. One can lay to oue'l lelf every motnioK, " There') Ihal letter aX Mone'l. I
Itered aaythlDg heyobd the date (which 1 knew) and the ilgnalure (which I gi
-'- - -: 1 J Perpetual charm in a letter of youn ; it never di 1-" ■ ^' '
ly to one-I lelf eveiy motnioK, " There') I&. .
It haven't uy eyebmwi," Oiher lellcn are
Equally amusing is this letter from Ihe poet Hood 10 Lady Georgiana Ful-
lerton, which forms part of a famous autograph collection in New York City ;
" °^*uchJukroneDfBia'Iiih'i°effectuallydefi^ m/nkking. Like'T^y Lnmpkin,
tie done in Eugliih.
448 HANDY-BOOK OF
lb«"rh»d hu^ from H^JwwlS'polt'i MyitwiwuMnlhef ."' ' y» ". «
'fiMl'lTT^glMd'" P™ lla^/' ani ™ mcdiutina a hfni lol^cm^ El"7-T do'n'i
man rhc GibnJtar Hjin, but your own Defender— to keep your fiogcn from pen, ink. and
paper, nl (he foil of the moon, whed h key wu pUced IQ my hand which convened the he-
wilderiDg Sphynv bio a relioaa], tensible duighrer of Eve, wiih whose requeH. u toon u
Iw enigmuLcal epIttU, however, 1 ahlll carefolly preHrve, for in case my correspondcDCC
■ngwer to pUDCluafly ai the Iruh echo) die myiterioug hiLler signed Georgiana may suggeil to
an imagiiuiiive bioentpber aome Eiiile romantic episode to introduce into the even tenor of the
lUe of one who is. and will be,
Voun, deaf Madam, very tinccrel^,
or Mr. Brooks, one time President of Ihe New York Central Railroad, a
somewhat apocryphal slory is told. He once wrote to a man living along the
line of his road threatening to prosecute him forthwith unless he removed a
barn he had run up on the company's property. I'he recipient did not read
the letter, because reading it was impossible, but he made out the signature,
and arrived at the conclusion thai the manager had favored him with a free
pass along the line. As such he used it for a couple of years, no conductor
on the route being able to dispute his reading of the document.
Equally apocryphal is the (ale luld of Macready. One day he gave a friend
an order of admission (American, a "pass") for a third parly. " If I had not
known what it was," said (he latter, " I should have taken it for a doctor's
recipe." " It docs look like it," said the other : " suppose we try it on an
apothecary." They walked into (he first shop and presented the scrawl to the
clerk. He threw a quick glance over it and began to pour into a phial from
various botdes. Another glance, another ingredient, — the phial was now half
full. Then came a dubious pause ; the clerk scratched his head, and finally,
baWed, appealed to the proprietor of (he establishment. A short low dialogue
took place ; then Ihe chief, wilh an air of superior wisdom, look down anolher
bottle, tilled the phial with an apocryphal liquid, and corked and labelled it in
due form. " Filteen ]>ence for the cough- mixture," lie said, as he handed it
over to (be purchaser with a friendly smile.
One cannot help rejoicing at the following stoiy and hoping that it is (rue.
A Yale s(uden( handed in a paper to his professor, and was surprised the
next day to have it returned, wi(h a note scrawled on the margin. He studied
it diligently, but was unable to decipher the note, and so he brought his paper
back to the professor.
"I can't quite make out what this is. if you please." said Ihe student.
" That, sir T' said (he professor ; " why, that says I cannot read your hand-
writing. You write illegibly, sir."
Is it too much to ask that those who insist upon being privileged to write
illegibly should adopt the plan of the polite Frenchman, who, sensible of his
laultiness, always forwarded his letters in duplicate, wilh this explanation,
" Out of respect, I write to you wilh my own hand ; but to facilitate the reading,
I send you a copy which I have caused my amanuensis to make."
Hang togetbei. We moat aU. The possibility of being hanged seems
to have lieen an ever-present spectre in the menial retina of the Revolutionary
fitlhera. Everybody remembers Ihe greeting the Father of his Country re-
ceived from its grandmolher, when, on a temporary oi " ' ' ' '
Google
LITERARY Cl/RIOSTTIES. 449
homoever" speech, the eldei Joiiah Quincy took occasion to My, " Blandish-
nients will not fascinate us, noi will threats of a halter intimidate. For, under
God. we ate detetmined that wheresoever, whensoever, and howsoever we shall
be called to make oar exit, we wilt die freemen." (Obtervatiotu ok Iht Boston
J^rl BUI, 1774.)
There is a little bit of dialogue in one of Shakespeare's comedies, which.
if not apropos to the story which follows, must serve as an introduction-
Snout, Quince, and the rest are discussing their proposed interlude :
Br//Bm. La me pUy Iht linn loa : I will nur, thu I will do uv nun's hem good la
■^.
QuiiK*, An yofiiboulddo liloo Hmbiy.you would ir
"^ would thnelc : dul wen enough to hug ub all.
t/ifkft Dr,mm, Ka i., ». 1.
The Declaration of Independence doubtless wan calculated to create a dis-
turbance, and possibly to scare some of the ladies of either sex, in or out of
the British Parliament, uut of their wits. But it is not necessary to imagine
that Tohn Hancock had this scene in mind when he made the remark. While
the document was being signed, he look occasion to say, with Giting solemnity,
perhaps with a shade of apprehensiveness, " We niusi all hang together."
" Av, replied Franklin, quickly, " we must all hang together, else we shall
all bang separately."
it iras bom to b« lu
„ , rbwhich has its precise eguivali
langaages. Some foreign proverbs play with the idea in a spirit of grim jesL
Thus, Ihe Danes say, "He that is to be hanged will never be drowned, unless
the water goes over the gallows ;" the Italian. " He that is to die by the gal-
lows may dance on the river ;" and Ihe Dutch, '• What belong to the raven
does nut drown." Shakespeare alludes to the proverb in "The Tempest."
when he makes Goniago say of the boatswain, " I have great comfort from
■his fellow : mcthinks he hath no drowning mark upon him ; his complexion
is perfect gallows- Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging 1 Make Ihe rope of
his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to
be hanged, our case is miserable-"
Hancad If I doT a colloquialism expressing emphatic refusal, probably a
euphemism for "d d if I do." An amusing story is told of Thelwall, while
his trial for high treason was proceeding. During Ihe course of the trial, he
■ent up to Erskine, who was his counsel, a slip of paper on which be had
written the words, "[ shall be hanged if I don't ptead my own cause."
Without a word of comment his counsel returned him a slip with Ihe words
simply, " Vou'll be hanged if ^ou do," " Then," replied Thelwall, in a sim-
ilar manner, " I'll be hanged if I do." In the same vein, when Lord Thur-
low had concluded a speech in Parliament with ihe peroration, " When 1
forget my king, may my God forget me I" "God forget you!" cried John
Wilkes i " he'M see you d d first !" Burke's loUe voct rejoinder to Thut-
tow was, " And the best thing that could happen to you." Lord Thurlow was
the man of whom Charles James Fox used to say, " No man can be as wise
as Thurlow looked."
;i:,vG00git:
HANDY-BOOK OF
n, the ™t,
36 in the Hanover ship.
lENxnoH : M»ud.
Haju Ton Rippaoh. This is the German Monsieur Nong-tong-paw,—
Lt., some one asked fui who does nol exist. Hans is German for Jack, and
Rippach is a smalt village near Leipsic A German student, in a merry
humoi, calls al a house and asks for Herr Nans von Rippach, jusl as an
English spark asks for Monsieur Nong-tong-paw. A similar phrase popular at
one time in the United States was, "Have you seen Tom Collins V Another
membet of the same family is the celebrated " Nick Van Stati" of Saie's
pocni, and still another is our zoological friend the Kangaroo \q. v.).
Happj bnuUng-^onnda, the Elysium or Paradise of the Indian, which
he hopes to find in the next world, and which paints itself to his mind's eye
as a prairie chock full of buSalu and Other game. Hence the Indian's favonle
pony was killed at the burying. ground to enjoy an eternity of sport with him,
and his rifle, pistol, bow, and quiver were laid bcsid« the corpse. The phraw
has come into general use in American colloquial speech as a synonyme for
Kingdom Come or other facetious name for heaven.
Hard tatXiKj, a term current in the United Sutes in political parlance,
especially during the second half uf the decade 1870-1SS0. to designate specie
as distinguished from "soft money," by which latter was understood an irre-
deemable paper currency such as was advocated by the Greeiibac Iters.
Hard Shell, Soft Shell, in American speech, terms invented to desig.
nale the crab in its different states of crustaceous development, but by a figure
of sjieech extended so as to apply to rigid, unyielding conservatism on the one
side, and flexible liberality on the other. In religion the term was firsi applied
to the two wings of the Baptist Church. In politics a conspicuous early ir
stance of the application of the terms, in vogue from 1S48 to 18" — " "• ■'•
two factions of the Democratic party in the State of New York.
:e of the application of the terms, in vogue from 1S48 to 1854, was to the
."actions of the Democratic party in the State of New York. The conserva-
" Hunkers" (q. v.) received the name of " Hards" or " Hard Shells,"
their opponents, the " Barnburner
towards the restriction of the institution of slavery, were called "Softs" o
"Sofl Shells."
Hardly trvwt. One of the happiest hits made in Gilbert and Sullivan's
comic opera " H. M. S. Pinafore" was in the skilful repetition of the words
" Hardly ever," which furnish a sort of ever- recurring key-note after the fol-
lowing fashion, — where the captain winds up his own praises by the splendid
Is this a far-oir reminiscence of the stoiif of the French ecclesiastic who was
greatly confused by the honor of preaching before Louis XIV. ? During his
discourse he had occasion to say, " We all must die." Then, catching breath,
he turned in a complimentary way to Louis and added, " Nearlv all of us."
Something faintly similar also occurs in Shakespeare, " The Winter's Tale,"
Act i., Sc 2. When Hermione, at the request of Leontes, urges Polixenes
to prolong his stay with them, he consents, whereupon Leontes exclaims, —
HennioiK. my deu'al, tbou Kvcr tpolieM
To bAler purpove.
H,rm. Nwect '™'~~
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 451
"The Songs
CclllH.
Pkillit. No, uva, I HI
Cailin. Fyc, FhUliit be
PkBHt. Fye, Col
Wheol
When I »ll yoD I U lovi you foretu.
btfoR, ud I nlJ yoD igain,
Wbu, never t (uc.)
joY ; my hurl will sure break
'11 I fondly did >eek.
Ctllin. No, never.
fPkiUii. No, mrer.furcDevu will leave me.
When the " Westminster Play" was produced during the run of " Pinafore"
the following "gag" was introduced by the students :
Ctari-w. Tu pol nc
Sm. Qiiidt nunqiDiinr
BjirrkU. Vix unqium.
To die in harness, a coTumon English phrase, meaning to die
in action, to die with one's armor on, liamess being a now obsolescent word
for annor ; thus, " Nicanor lay dead in his harness (//. Matcah. xv. aS), and
At le*H we'll dit oilh harneu dd dui bock.
;Var**tt,Aciv., Sc,s-
A more recent use of harness in this sense occurs in Macaulay's " Lays of
Ancient Rome :"
And with hi> huHH on hU tack
Flanged headlong in the tide.
Hairy of ths VtTest, a sobriquet given to Henry Clay by his admirers.
Whcrq had been Genoa] Hnrrison during ihc preceding twelve yeara, the period of bitter
waifare between the JnckBon puiy, headed by the obsiinaie, ugaciuui, indomitable old hero,
wid tbt opposhion. In during the whole period by the eloquent, the ever-viirilani, the faithful
Mniry of lEe WoiT Had ifaiiiaoo'i voice everlieen heard during all ihii dark and tryutg
and din, witching for hi> nodding pluine T-^argint : /W/ic Mtit and Evtiiti, ii. 9;.
Hartford ConTontion, an assembly of delegates from several of the New
England States wliicli met at Hartford in December, 1814, 10 discuss measures
for opposing the admi nisi rat ion of President Madison, and more |>articiilarty
directed against the continuation of the war with England. It has been
45 » HANDY.BOOK OF
charged that the secession cA (he New England States was mooted. Peace
being soon after proclaimed, however, nothing reialled from the deliberations.
Hnato make* iraite, an English proverb, with analogues in all lan-
guages. In this form it is found first in literature in Heywood's " Proverbs,"
Part i., chap. iL But Chaucer had already said, —
l-hu may both wcriicu wd und huiily : '
Tha ttol tx doH at leuurc pufitly.
Tlu MartHanUt TtU, I. 5B5.
" Ease and speed in doing athing do not give a work lasting solidity o
of beauty." But indeed the gist of the matter is summed up in Augustus's
favorite maxim, " Feslina lente" (" Make haste slowlji"). A variant of the
English proverb reads, " The more haste, the less speed."
Hat, Oh, irh«Ta did yon gat that hat? Of all articles of attire, the
hal has ever been most vulnerable to ridicule. Any eccentricity in head-gear
is sure to draw out the jeers of the populace, who have always found them-
selves furnished with some ready-made bit of slang to complete the discom-
filure of the wearer. Just at present the accepted phrase is, "Oh, where did
you get that hat?" which is the first line of a popular song, and consequenlly
admits of all the pervasive charms of melody to heighten its effect Some
years ago there was current an objurgation to " Shoot the hat 1" Antiquarians
explained (his mystic phrase as being a reminiscence or corruption of an
antecedently popular jest which gradually grew obsolete because it needed the
elaborate machinery of two interlocutors, — a wily jester and an innocent
victim. The jester asked, " Haven't you heard the gun V and when the other
in all good faith inquired, " What gun F" he was answered, '* Why, the mayor"
(or " the Governor, or what not) " has called in that haL"
Now, these bits of popular humor are curious avatars of a phrase Iha( was
in vf^ue in the time of our Others at least, if not our grand&ihcrs : " Wha(
a shocking bad ha( 1" It originated in Southwark, had a grea( run In London,
and eventually crossed over to America, where it retained its popularity for
many years. The storv ruiu that in a botly-contested election for the borough
of Southwark a noted hatter was one of the candidates. Being a shrewd
man of business, he recognized the value of a bribe that wore no obvious
appearance of venality, ^o when he called upon or met a voter whose hat
was either out of the style or a trifle worn, he would invariably salute him
with, "Oh, what a shocking bad hat you have on I Call at my warehouse and
"< shall have a new one.'' But be repeated this invitation so often (hat it
ime a by-«ord ; the opposition forces caught it up, and at the hustings
they Indled the crowd to keep up an incessant cry of " What a shocking hat 1"
during the whole time that the enterprising tradesman was addressing them.
s;
Captain Gronow, however, in his " Recoriections," gives another origin. He
-' - -he Duke of York, second son of George III., was present at New-
e day in 1817 or thereabouts, surrounded by several noblemen and
gentlemen, when a little, insignificant- looking man pushed his way ii
ring, offering to bet on a certain horse. The duke s curiosity was abuuacu,
and he asked who the stranger was. He was told it was Lord Walpole.
"Then the little man wears a shocking bad hat," was his only comn:
Whatever the origin of the phrase, it caught the popular fancy at 0
"" " "" '" - ■-'- — --'- - '-a( (hat was odd, or seedy, or
: cry, " Oh, wha( a shocking
upected honors meekly. Quick
_^ooglc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 453
to rect^ite anv signs or irritability, loving to b>it a poor wretch to madneu,
the crowd would rarely confine Ihcmsclves to word^ They were only loo likely
to snatch the oflendiiig tile from the head o( tlie obnoxious wearer, and either
trample il in the gutter or raise it on a slick, amid wild shouts of laughter and
reiterations of the Tavorite phrase.
Hater, A good Dr. Johnson called Dean Baihurst " a man to my very
heart's content : he haled a Tool, and he hated a rogue, and be hated a Whig ;
he was a very good hater," When Charles James Fox, on the contrary, was
asked concerning a certain member of Parliament who was at once irritating
to the Whigs by his virulence and tiresome by his prolixily, he replied, "Ah,
well, I am a bad hater." Keats varied the phrase when he said of Haililt,
" He il your only good damner. If ever 1 am damned, I should like to be
damrted by him." Perhaps he remembered Selden's words in his "Table-
Talk." "to preach long, loud, and damnation, is the way to be cried up. We
love a man that damns us, and we run after him again to save us."
Hata and Cap*. The names of two political factions by which Sweden
was distracted in the middle of the eighteenth century, leaning res|>ectivel]r
tovrards France and towards Russia. The French partisans wore a French
chapeau as their badge, and the Russian sympathiiera a Russian cap, whence
the name. Carlyle's derivation is somewhat different :
" Faihion at H>u." " Futumi of Can" (ilut ii. nigta-rmt. n beini kmoiioIciu and dii-
bclincdht Fiance and war) ; KldiHDdldaonccvalluiL. fu-BhininguaiJoDsinli taiuch depfhil
They were broken up and the use of their names prohibited by Gustavus
IIL in 1771.
Havoo, Vo OTT. Havoc is Anglo-Saxon for hawk, and originally to cry
"havoc" apparently was a cry of encouragement, in Talconry. to a hawk when
loosed upon his prey. In the later Middle Ages it was a military cry to general
raassacre without quarter.
And Cisar'* ipirit, rasuuE for revenge,
Whh Ai« by Ilk >>de, come IkM Irani bdl.
Sball in the** confioa, with a ncnanik'a voice.
Cry IkaToc, and lei mlip the do« tA war.
7»/iw Cminr, Act ili., Sc. i.
n of death, in the ninth year of the reign of
s through this custom and cry that a word originally
a falcon came to mean general and relentless destruction.
) named after Hawk-Eye, th«
Hay-aMda (that is to say, rustics), in the language of American politics,
a nickname for farmers or their representatives and delegates. In Stale
legidatures "the hay-seed delegation" is a term applied collectively to the
representatives of (he rural constituencies.
Hay-irard, or Hay-i»Bideii \i.e., hedge -guard), the name of the officer
in many American townships whose duty it is to impound and keep stray
cattle until they ate redeemed by their owners. The name is of ancient origin,
and was doubtless brought over with them by the early colonists. It is found
with cognate words such as " fence-ward," " hedge-ward." etc, in old English
racords, sometimes occurring as haward. An etymology of the word, note-
454 HANDY-BOOK OF
worthy merely for its absurdity, is thai which derives ihe title of Ihis official
from his supposed duly or driving the cattle haywacd, i.t., in ihe direction of
H«'b all right! originated as a term of reproach against the Fresidenlial
candidate oF llie Pioliibiliunisi* in iSfU- He had been a Republican party
leader, and, as the only efiecl uf his candidature was lo draw ulf a portion or
the Republican vole, he was roundly denounced by his former associales.
They started the cry, " What is the matter wilh St. John ?" The answer to
this was, "Oh, he's all righl!" This was accompanied wilh a significant
shake of the head, which was meant la imply that the Uemocialic barrel had
been tapped for St. John, and Ihal he was abundanliy supplied wilh lucre
and liquid refreshmenla. The Prohibitionists adopted the cry, and used it
during the canvass in 1884. When their convention met al Indianapolis in
May, 1S8S, with more than one thousand delegates and three times thai many
of Iheir patly friends In attendance. Si. John was one of the strong men, and
he was made the peimaneni chairman. At hia lirBt appearance upon the
crowded convention jilallorm, a chorus of voices cried out. " What's the mat-
ter with St. John p" The answering shoul from the multitude came like a
tornado, " He's all Tight t" and thai was St, John's welcome by the Prohibi-
H«ad. In American slang, a man is said lo suffer from the big head or
swelled head when he has an immense iilea of his own importance. The
phrase probably arose on the prairies, where the big'head is a peculiar cattle-
disease, characletiied by a swelling of the head. The matutinal headache
after a debauch is also aubbed a head, or a swelled head, and is humorously
supposed to be attended with a dialenlion of Ihe cerebellum. To swell a
man's head means also to flatter him, or to hoax him wilh lies or figments. To
pal a head on a man is to give him a sound thrashing.
By ihmu pisTiinciy imphiiiicd id put 1 heul on me.
'■ No kh •/ Bcliil.'^' uid I " tb« minde can do \"
Whereat hv fell upon me wuh bkm uid curaea bw,
Bui railed to work thai miracle, if iiKh wu hit dviiEn :
pu ngoni , rove ouniea ^^^^^ ^^^
Hsad and Foot, the top and the bottom. We speak of the head and foot
of a class al school, of the head and loot of a table, etc In feudal limes the
baron and his wife sal on an elevated dais at Ihe head of the table. His
friends and retainers sat farther down according to rank, the salt-cellar mark-
ing the division between the "gentles and simples." Everyone knows tlie
anecdote of the old Highland chief who, on bemg asked at a dinner in Lon-
don to advance nearer to the head of the table, repfied, '■ Wherever la McNab
sits, lal's la head of ta table."
Beadlogi, JTeirspaper, or Head-Linea, an American journalistic in-
vention, which arrests the attention of Ihe reader and whets his appetite by
startling titular lines, "displayed" in all the bravery of leads and large capi-
tals, condensing and epigram matiiiiig the news in the body of the article.
They are generally supposed to be of recent date, and lo have originated
during the civil war. But as fai back as the Revolution an original hu been
..oogk-
LITERARY CVXIOSITfES. 455
found in Ihe rolloiring heading to a notable bit of ne<*s pablished in the Near
York Gautit and Ihi Wttnly Mtrcuty, October ao, 1 777 :
Gtariaus Neuis from Itu Soulkviard. IVashittgian Knocked up— TTu Bloaditsl
BaUlt in Amtrica—fi,<xo of his Mm Ceae — 100 Wagotu to Carry Iht Wouttdtd
— Gnural Hoan ii at priietU in GtrmatUowH — Waskinglon 30 Miles Bad in a
Shatlered Condition — Thiir Stoutest Frigate Taken and One Deserted — They are
Tired— And talk of Finishing He Camfiaign.
or course the " glorious newii" was all irrong. At the lime when it was
published the British cause had been hopelessly crushed. Three days before,
" the bloodiest battle" in America had, indeed, been (ought, — at Saratoga, how-
ever, and not al Germantown, — and had resulted in (lie surrender of Burgoyue
to Gales. The hard-headed old Tory editor, t^lugh Gaine, had not heard who
lost a whole army, but he had a presenlimeut of "talk of finishing the cam-
paign."
Of recent years, and especially in the West, the head-tine has been used in
the most shocking and irreverent manner, as when a wild and woolly journal
placed over its account of the execution of a repentant murderer, " Jerked to
Jesus," or when a Chicago paper chronicled the hanging of the seven Anarchist!
and dynamiters under the heading of "Seven Up. Another Western paper
prebced its announcement of the suppo-sed election of Tilden to the Presi-
dency with the words, in largecapilals, "Glory be to God," and its subsequent
doubt of that desired event with " Let us Pray." In New York Ciiy the
defeat of a favorite club of base-ball players was headed "Thy Will be
Done 1" and "Half-Shell Piety" was for many weeks the habitual heading
of a collection of irreverent jokes in a Western daily.
Head-quartan. M7haad-qnaTterBareliitllesBddle,a phrase attrib-
uted to General Pope during the war when asked by the government where
he proposed to make his head-quarters. The phrase caught on, and soon
became synonymous with close attention to duty and unwearying vigilance.
HmltI bear! in England, a parliamentary eipression of approval. It
might seem that the origin of the phrase was Scriptural, as it occurs as fol-
lows in II. Samuel xx. 16: "Then cried a wise woman out of the city. Hear,
hearl" But this, of course, is mere coincidence. According lo Macaolay,
the exclamation came into current use toward the done of the Seventeenth
century, and superseded the deep hum wilh which Englishmen were pre-
viously wont to indicate approbation not only for an orator but for a preacher.
Macaulay's words are as follows (he is speaking of the Parliament prorogued by
William III., immediately after his proclamation as king, in 1689): "In the
Commons the debates were warm. The House resolved itself into a Com-
mittee, and so great was the excitement (hat when the authority of the Speaker
was withdrawn, il was hardly possible to preserve order. Sharp personalities
were exchanged. The phrase 'hear him,' a phrase which had originally
been used only to silenw irregular noises, and to remind members of the
duly of attending to the discussion, had, during some years, been gradually
becoming whal it now is ; thai is to say, a cry indicative, according to the
lone, of admiration, acquiescence, indignation, or derision." {Jfistory of Eng-
land, ch. xi.)
Sheridan was one day much annoyed by a fellow-member of the House of
Commons who kepi crying out everji few minutes, " Hear 1 hear !" Durinj;
the debate he look occasion to describe a political contemporary who wished
to play rogue bul had only sense enough to act fool. '■ Where," eiclaiined
be, wilh great emphasis, — " where shall we find a more foolish knave or a
more knavish fool than be f ^ Hear I heart' was shouted by the liouble-
4S6 HANDY-BOOK OF
some member. Sheridan turned roand, and, thanking him for the prompt
inlbimalion, sat down amid a general roar of laughter.
B»art la hla handl, or on hla ■!««▼«, a pioverlnal phrase applied to a
person so candid (hat he cannot conceal his thoughts and motives :
Bol I will war mv hcul upon mv ilHin
For <Uwi to peck u.
Shubfuii : OltaUi,, Act L, Sc. i.
A close parallel is found In " Et animam meam porio in manibus meis," the
Vulgwe translation of Job xiii, 14, which runs in the Authorized Version, "and
put my life in my hand." Cotderius, in a nuie to the Latin, compares it with
a Greek proverb, " Hinc eiiam Gnci dicuni provcrbio, kv r$ jiipi 1^ V^i^
fit", de eo qui versaiur in summo discrimine." Cf. Proverbs ixL i, "The
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he inrnelh
it whithersoever be will."
MirandA. And tnine with my heut In it.
SHAKiBPiAn : T%i Ttmp4il. Act iU., Sc. i.
With lUi hind I live 10 you my faan.
Maiujwi : Didi>. Act ii)., Sc. 4.
HMrta — DnillM. In Longfellow's "Psalm of Life," the following is the
third stanza :
And ourheuti. thouih Hout uid brave»
That oar life b a match to the grave is a familiar figure. It may be found,
for example, in Beaumont and Fletcher :
Our live* uc bal our muiba to the gnva.
Tlu Humtrimt UninaiH, An lil., Sc. 5.
The conceit that our heart beats a dead march is closely paralleled in Tom
D'Urfey's poem "The Lady Destroyed with Love," in his comedy "Don
Quino,'' 1674 !
Hy puIh beat! m dwi inarch for lo«t repove,
And to A »lld lump of Ice my poor fonii faeui Ei froic,
Henry King, Biahop of Chichester, has a similar figure :
Hark, my pulie, like a koft drum.
Beau ber jippnnch ; 1 come^ I come.
Heine varies the metaphor x
BaT^cry I«cin3 ?b!^t'«nd a tutlT ""
There dwclli t curpcnter,— e»il it he,—
Lone; he hu driven my alecp Ixr #wpy.
So Ihil I quickly may go 10 my r«.
But if Longfellow has imitated, he has been boldly ptaRurized. The first
two stanzas of Baudelaire's little poem "Le Guignon" (Pleun Ju Mai, ed.
1861, p. 30) run as follows ;
Pour wulcver on poida u lourd.
jnu del ■^pultun* c^i^brvft.
Mod c<nir, comme on iamboar laOi,
ra buuiBI da raucba funibm.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4S7
H«aT«ii In hvi «jfc Mlllon says in " Paradise Lost," Boole viii, 1. 4SS,—
Gn« v(w in all hn uep*, h«aveD In her «y«»
In every fqtim dignity ui<J iDVfl,
The liral words are an adaptation from Tibullus's " Sulpicia :"
(" Whftw'cr she ion, where'er her neps the lumi,
A furtive grmce the utlas giri adoma.")
This passage was imiuicd also by Cardinal Bembo and Count Caatigtione :
the latter inserted his Latin adaptation in a poem he addressed to his wife,
Elizabeth Gonzaga. But whence did Milton borrow heaven in her tjief Per-
haps from Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" {Act iv., Sc 4), —
PLeadi youi fkir uuge,—
but mote probably from the "Philaater" of Beaumont and Fletcher (liL 1), —
How haven is In youi eye>,—
or from Dante's " Paradtso," iviit. 31, where Beatrice says, —
Not in midc eyet Alone is pandiK.
In Sir John Suckling's tragedy of " Brennoralt," the hero, gazing on Fran-
cesca asleep, says,—
Her <ue ii Itlic the milky wivi' th' Iky,
—an exquisite expression, which Waller has stolen and spoiled :
Amorel, the milky way
Framed 0^ Eoaoy Duaielest itan.
Heelers, in American political alang, the followers or henchmen of a party
or a politician, mercenaries who are in politics for revenue only. Orisinatly
the word had no political sienilicance, but was applied to an accomplice of
the pocket-book dropper. The heeler stoops behind the victim and strikes
one of his heels as if by mistake, su drawing his attention to the pocket-book
lying on the ground. If he stoops to pick it np, the heeler steps forward to
claim half Ibe contents, but ^rees to waive his claim on payment of ten or
twentv dollars. The dupe, having assured himself that the tlummy is stuffed
with bank-bills, gladly acquiesces. Of course the bank-bills turn out to be
counterfeits.
Heir apparent, Heir praeamptlve. Considerable popular misappre-
hension exists as to the use of these terms. The diETeience between an heir
apparent and an heir presumptive is that the heir apparent must succeed if
he survives the present holder of the dignity, while an heii presumptive,
although the heir at the moment, is liable to have his right to the succes-
sion defeated by the birth of another heir. There cannot, therefore, be at
the same lime an heir apparent and an heir presumptive. The Prince of
Wales, for example, is always the heir apparent to the throne. Should there
be no Prince of Wales. — i.e., if the reigning monarch have no sons, — then the
nearest heir in the legitimate succession becomes the heir presumptive, his
or her right to the succession being always liable to be defeated by the
birth of a direct heir to the monarch.
Hair of the Republic. A lobriqutt for Napoleon I., from the fact that
he, "the plebeian child of the Revolution," by a bold CBup J'ilaC overthrew
the Directory and made himself First Consul with sovereign powers in 1 799.
With his assumption of the title of Emperor in iSoi vanished the last
shadow of republican government in France.
u 39
;i:,vG00gk"
4S8 HANDY-BOOK OF
Hall and Vommy.To play, an English pToverbial expreision Tor vtotence
or outrage, sometimes held to be a corruption of Hal and Tommy, Hal being
(he diminutive of Henry. "The Henry here meant,'' nays a truculent con-
tributor lo^ofej nil/ Qti^ruv (second series, xii. 167)." is the remorseless brute
Henry VUL, and Tommy is Thomas Lord Cromwell, the tyrant's congenial
■gent in seizing and rifling the religious houses and turning out Iheii helpless
occupants to starve." But perhaps a likelier origin is suggested In another
correspondent, — i.t., that it is a corruption of " Hell and Damn me.
Hell ia paved with good Intantloiia, the English version of a proverb
found in most mudcrn languages, which is vastly improved in the German
form, "The road to perdition is paved with good intentions." The Scotch
equivalent is neat and epigrammalic : " Hopers go 10 hell." Both in the Ger-
man and the Scotch the obvious moral is that good intentions, not carried Out,
smooth the sinner's road to destroclioii ; that the very fad of well. meaning,
offered as an excuse for ill-doing, blinds him 10 his danger. I>r. Johnson
Suoted the proverb in its present form (BoSWeLl : Lift, annus 1775I, and in
lerbert's " Jacula Prudeniam" it is given thus ; " Hell is folj of good mean-
ings and wishes."
I well intended 10 have writlen from Ireland, but, nil* I u khh Heni old divine fnyi,
" HfII is pived with good iaicDlioDi." Them iru . . . ta much lo be seen, ud is lilllt
|Hi«.dnyi, ai:d lu all m'y epiuoiuy guod inicnIiaDi ue gone lo mucaduDiie, I luppoK, Iht
Aii//«, October 11, 18.5.
Hell of a time, a profane Americanism, which may mean either a very
good time 01 a very bad lime, but is usually used in the jirsi sense. A famous
story in which it is embodied tells how Ihe owner of two pets — one a parrot,
the other 3 monkey — returns borne one day 10 find the monkey decked with
red and green feathers, liul at first he cannot find the bird at all. At last
it hops out of a corner, stripped lure save for a single tail-feather, gets upon
its perch with such dignity as it can muster, and says, " Oh, we have had a
hell of a time." Hence "a monkey and parrot lime" is a Common euphe-
mism for "a hell of a time."
HeU to ears polite. Among Pope's " Moral Essays," the fourth epistle
is addressed to Richard Boyle, and is mainly devoted to ex|>osing false taste
in buildings, in gardening, in books, in prayer, and in preaching, the tatter
fault being thus exemplified :
And now the chipel'i tilver bell vou hear,
Mlke^eioul d^Te'upon ■'j^°io h^t^
On imintad ceilings you dciouily u*i^.
Where ipnwl the uiau oT Vemo or Luuerre.
Or Elided doudi in fair olcniion lie.
And bring nil pnndiH before vour cj'c.
I'd ten. tbe cttlhion and soft denn invite.
Who never iHntioni beU 10 can polite.
The last line is in allusion to a story related by Tom Brown in his " Laconics :"
"In the reign of Charles H. ■ certain worthy divine at Whitehall thus ad-
dressed himself to the auditory at the conclusion of his sermon : ' In short,
if you don't live up to the precepts of the gospel, but abandon yourselves to
your irregular appetites, you must expect to receive your reward in a certain
place which 'tis not good manners to mention here."
la apaii, 'Whan. Lord Bacon has this reference: "The irivial
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
WlMllt_
EngUnd
whereby it was generally conceived thai after the princes had reigned which
had the principal letters of the word 'hempe' (which were Henry, Edward,
Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth). England should c»me to utter confusion ; which,
Ihanlts be to God, is verilied only in the change of the name." {Essays: Of
PrapAecies.) With the accession of James 1. the style of the king wad no
longer " King of England," but became " King of Great Britain."
Hwa The famous phrase, " No man is a hero to his ualtl-dt-chamirc,"
has been atliibuled to Madame ite S^vign^, and, on the authority of Made-
moiselle AiaU, to Madame Cornuel {Lrtlers, p. i6i, Paris, 1853) 1 but Marshal
Catinat (1637-1712) had already said, " A man must be indeed a hero to ap.
pear such in the eyes uf his vatet ;" l.a Briiy^re, " Kaielydo great men appear
great before their valets ;" and Moniaigne, " Many a man has seemed to the
world to be a miracle in whom his wife and his valet have not even seen anything
remarkable. Few men have been admired by their servants. The experience
of history says that no one has been a prophet in his own house, or even in
his own country." {Eiiayi, ilL 2.) All these sayings were, however, antici-
pated by Antigonus I., King of Sparta, who. when Hetmodolus in his poems
had described him as a god and son of Helios (the sun), observed, " This will
be news to my body-servant."
In his " Wahlverwandlschaflen," 2. Theil, 5. Kap., Goethe refers to the prov-
erb, and says that this is merely because a hero can only be recognized by a
hero, and that the valet would probably know how to estimate his fellows.
But Schopenhauer contends that the proverb is true, because no man Is really
great.
In the following quotation Caityle repeats Goethe's mat:
Heroei, it would Kcm, exisi uLwHri, and a certain worflhip oF Ihtm I We ibill mlao tnke
Ihe libcfiy let deny Allo^cihcrihHt saying^ die wiiiy Freacbman. ihat m own isatieroio bit
valel-dc-chHcnbre. Or, il u, it u nal the hero'l blame, bul ihe vakl'i: that hit Mul, DaniLly,
h B mcAn Em/«f-90u1 ] HcevpecU hii hero LOadvanct in rojrkl iTAEC-trap|>uig9,with mva&urvd
man can be a Gnnd-htonarque ID hU valtl-de-chaoibrc. Sirip your Louii Qua1or» of bis
Hlokoiy, Old. A lairifutl of Andrew Jackson, said to have been con-
ferred upon him by the soldiers under his command in 1S13. It was, Mr.
Parlon tells us, not an inspiration, bnl a growrh. " First of all. the remark
was made by some soldier who was struck by his commander's pedestrian
powers that the general was ' tough.' Next it was obseived that he was
tough as hickory. Then he was ealUd Hickory. Lastly, Ihe affectionate ad-
jective 'old' was prefixed, and the general thenceforth rejoiced in the com-
plete nickname, usually the first-won honor of a great commander," The
general, however, is said to have told 'the following story of the origin of the
epithet to one of his messmates. During the Creek War, when he was suf-
fering from a bad cold, his officers improvised a lent for him, covered itith
flakes of hickory-bark, under which he slept comfortably. Next morning a
drunken hanger-on of the camp came across the tent, and, not knowing who
was in it, gave il a kick that tumbled the sliuclure over. As the angry old hero
■Iruggled out of the ruins, the toper cried out, " Hello I Old Hickory 1 c —
out of your bark and joir " ' -■-''" •'••-- . ., . . 1 ....■._■_ :
46o HANDY-BOOK OF
he looked so lough and stern that Ihe spectators gave him a heartj " Hurrah
for Old Hickory r' and the name clung to him ever after.
Highbinder, a ruffian, a rowdy, one of a gang thai commits ruffianly out-
rages " fur fun." They were known by this name in New York and Baltimore
previous (o 1S49. According to a later and now the more common meaning.
It Is a name for one of a gang of Chinese criminals, supposed to exist in Cali-
fornia, constiluttng a secret conclave, associated for the purpose of blackmail,
and even assassination, in the interest and pay of other societies or indi-
High-Jinka, now meaning, generally', a mad frolic or great fun, was origi-
nally an old Scotch game, somewhat like forfeits, ihe penalties going to pay
the reckoning for drinks. This was written " hy-jinks," and is prorably de-
rived from hy, "haste" (A.-S. kigt), vaAJink, to "dodge," "cheat," or "make
AftcD in Mifgy'i ■! hy-jiDki,
"^" "uiiLedtcudi,
The IrollcflODie cDiBpajiy bul besuD to practise ibe
Hich-Jinla. The giine wu plByHTiii Hvenl difTooil
utin for a time a cenaia ficiliktiii character, or 10 repeal
in a puticuUr order. If ihey departed from the chu
which were compotioded fer by awallDwiDg an addli
High-minded Federalist*. After the defeat of the coalition between
the ClinlonianB and the Federalists in the State of New York in 1815, the bulk
of Ihe latter went over bodily to Ihe Clintonlans. A small faction, however,
continued in opposition, and in Ihe political campaign of iSlo were laughed
oul of conntenance for Iheir frequent reference to themselves as "high-
minded" men, and derisively called by the above appellative. From the latter
dale the Federalists, as a political parly in the State, became practically ei-
tinCL
Higher lair. " There is a higher law than the Consiiiution," An appeal
to a higher law had long been familiar in Noithern pulpits \ but the use ul the
term in the above phrase by Senator William H. Seward, in his speech on
the admission of California as a State (March 11, 1850), firsi brought it into
prominence and made il popular in the political arena. It was adapted by
the Abolitionists when they found that their plans were obstructed by existing
laws, and used by them with telling effecl. Appeals to a superior rule a«
binding on Ihe collective conscience of the nation, something higher than
constitutions or laws or public policy, are not infrequent in American politics.
Thus, Wendell Phillips, in his speech on the election of Uncoln to the Presi-
dency, November 7, 1S60, said, " When Infinite Wisdom established the rules
of right and honesty, he saw to it that justice should always be the highest
expediency." (See Fiat Justitia.)
Hindoo*. A nickname applied in igjfi to the Know No things, from Ihe
fact ihal their leader and candidate for President, Daniel Ulman, was alleged
to have been born in Calcutta.
Hludalght, an American colloquialism, the antithesis of foresight, aitd
meaning wisdom after the event, as the latter does belore the event. The
invention of the word in this sense is attributed to lienry Ward Beecher, in the
phrase, " I wish that our hindsight were equal to our foresight." The word
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 461
hind-sight had already be«n in exisiencc to signify Ihe back-sight of a gun, but
was probably nol known lo Beecher.
Hlppocratic Oath, a solemn engagement after a comprehensive formula,
said 10 have been prescribed by Hippocrates himsel/, entered into in andent
limes by young men about to commence Ihe practice of medicine. Il deals
with Ihe whole tenor of the morals of Ihe asseveralor, and endeavors to secure
Ihe utmost purity in this respect, but parlicularljr binds him in the most rigorous
manner to Ihe practice of his profession on high principles of humanity and
honor, and pledges him lo a most disinterested and exalled brotherhood
wilh all those connected legitimately with Ihe practice of Ihe healing art, and
lo acts of kindness towards Iheir children.
History, Tbe Incredibility oC When Sir Robert Walpole was ashed
what he would have read to him, he replied, "Not history, for I know that to
be false." Charles Kingsley gave up his chair of Modern History at Oxford
because he said he considered hisloiy " largely a lie." Napoleon termed it a
fable agreed upon. Dumas called il left-handed truth. Il is said Ihat Kaleigh,
having failed in an endeavor to ascertain Ihe righls of a quarrel that fell out
beneath his window, exclaimed against liis own folly in endeavoring to write
the true history of the world. Bui this very anecdote has been doubled, and
so casts another shadow upon the credibility of accepted facts. A similar
Slory is told of Leopold von Ranke. While collecting facts for his history, a
singular accident occurred in his native town. A bridge broke down, and
some persons were swept away by the river. Von Ranke inquired into the
details of Ihe catastrophe. " I saw the bridge fall," said one of the neighbors :
"a heavy cart had just passed over and weakened it. Two men were on it
When il fell, and a soldier on a white horse." •■ I saw il fall," declared an-
other, ■' but the cart had passed oscr it two hours prerious. The foot-passen-
gers were children, and the rider was a civilian on a black horse." "Now,"
argued Von Ranke, "if It is impossible to learn Ihe truth about an accident
which happened at broad noonday only twenty-four hours ago, how can I
declare any fact to be certain which is shrouded in the darkness of ten cen-
turies r
Conlemporarics even differ about facta that should be self-evident, — about
Ihe physical characteristics of their best friends. In 1888 a discussion was
carried on in NoUs and Queries whether Mr. Gladstone had a provincial
accent. Members of Parliament who constantly heard him speak could nol
agree. Some said his speech was a perfect specimen of the English of the
latter part of the nineteenth century, others that he had an accent of Lan-
cashire, where he was born, and others that he had a Scotch accent, derived
from his parents. After the death of Sir Henry Maine, the Sf. jbiiia GoEiOt,
on the testimony of some of Sir Henry's friends " who knew him intimately
and long," challenged the statement made in the Sa^rday Review'i obituary
thai be had a rather tall and well-proportioned figure. The St. Jbma Gatetti
acknowledged that the notice of Sti Henry was written by one who had lived
on terms of the closest intimacy and friendship with the deceased jurist for
mote than thirty years, "and who must, therefore, have known him as well
as one man can ever know another." Vet it asserts that Sir Henry's figure,
far from being rather tall, was rather short, — "in fact, was that of a man
slightly below the middle height." Il will be remembered that Louis XIV.,
whom his courtiers either believed or pretended to believe a tall man. was
absolutely diminutive in stature. The friends of Mrs. Browning could nol
agree as to the color of her hair. Hawthorne described it as black, and
Bayard Taylor as chestnut ; Mr. John Bigelow said that it was of a dark
cbeitniit, and Mr. Cephas G. Thompson, Ihe painter, that il was dark brown,
i:9*
402 HANDY.BOOK OF
almost black. No wonder Hawthorne wrote in his " Note'Books," " Every
day or my life makes me Tec! moce and more how seldom a facl is accurately
staled ; how, almost invariably, when a story has passed through (he n
of a third person it becomes, so far as regards the imuression iRat il m:
in further repetitions, little belter than a falsehood, and this, too, Ihough the
irrator be the most Irulh-seeking person in eiislence. How marvellous the
tendency is ! . ■ ■ Is truth a fantasy which we ate to pursue forever and never
grasp ?"
Possibly Hawthorne may have heard of the game called Russian Scandal,
which is played in this fashion. A lells a story to B, B repeals it lo C, C lo
D, and so on. Each is to aim at scrupulous accuracy in repetition. Vel by Ihe
time the story has been transmitted from mouth (o mouth six or seven limes
it has undergone a complete transformation. And the popular poem of " The
Three Black Crows" versifies a somewhat similar idea.
The modern historical investigator has succeeded in shattering our faith in
a large portion of what to our grandfathers was received historical truth.
When so much of the fabric is gone, our belief in the rest is unpleasantly
leavened with suspiciim. Until about the middle of (he eighteenth century,
(he earlier Greek and Roman his(ory-was as implicitly believed as the later,
and from its picturesque character sank even deeper into the mind. But
Niebuhr and Sir George Cornewall Lewis comp1e(ed (he ruin which earlier
doubters had begun.
There is no evidence that Romulus ever lived, thai Tarquin outraged
Lucrctia, that Brutus shammed idiocy and condemned his sons to death, (hal
Mucius Sczvola Ihrust his hand into (he fire, (hat CItelia swam the Tiber, thai
Horalius defended a bridge against an army. Coriolanus never allowed his
mother (o intercede for Rome. The number of Xerxes' army has been
grossly exaggerated, and i( was no( stopped at Thermopvke by three hundred
Spartans, but by seven (housand, or even, as some authors compute, twelve
thousand. The siege of Troy is largely a myth, and, even according to
Homer's own account, Helen must have been sixty years old when Paris fell
in love with her. Nay, other sceptics have attacked the credibility of the
later Greek and Roman history. Thev have deprived Diogenes of his (ub,
Sappho of her tover, Rhodes of its Colossus. They have asserted thai Portia
did nol swallow burning coals, that Cicsat never crossed the Rubicon, that he
never said to the pilot, " You carry Cxsar and his fortunes," nor cried out,
"Et tu, Brute 1" as he fell al Ihe base of Fompey's slalua, that Philip never
told Alexander, " Seek another kingdom, for Macedon is too small for thee."
Chemists have proved thai vinegar will not dissolve pearls nor cleave rocks,
in spite of the bbled exploiu of Cleopatra and Hannibal. Nero was not a
monster, he did not kill his mother, nor fiddle over burning Rome. Tiberius
was a pretty good fellow. And, indeed, all the Roman emperors who were
successfully put out of the way were hardly treated by servile historians who
sought to cater to (he popular tasle.
Was Pharaoh drowiiet) in Ihe Red Sea al (he crossing of the IsraelilesF
This question has troubled many Biblical scholars, and is still unsettled. The
account in Exodus says nothing of Ihe destruction of (he king in person,
(hough the passage "over(hrew Pharaoh and his hos( in (he Red Sea" (Psalm
mply that Pharaoh perished with his army. Charles S.
araohs of the Bondage and the Exodus," iear
Robinson, in his " Pharaohs of the Bondage and the Exodus," leans, however,
lo the contrary opinion. Il is curious that (he manner of (he death of
Menephtha (son of Rameses 11.), with whom the Pharaoh of the Exodus is
now tisually identified, is no( recorded in profane his(ory, (hat his mummy
has never been found, and that there is no evidence that it ever lay in hn
tomb at Tbebes.
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4^3
Even modem European history has b*en discredited. Arthur is undoubt-
edly a fable. Charlemagne has been ao beclouded by legend that it is difficult
to Mparale the true from the false ; but it is quite certain that his paladins
are as mythical as Arthur's knights. Alfred never allowed the cakes to burn,
nor ventured into the Danish camp di^uised as a minstrel. Kufus did not die
of an arrow shot at him by mistake by Tyrrel. Queen Eleanor did not suck
poison from her husband's wound. Richard IIL was not a hunchback, and
was not wicked, according to Walpole. Henry VIII., according to Proude,
was a sainl-like personage, who, by destiny rather than choice, became a sort
of professional widower. The mfamous Lucrezia Borgia is declared by
Roscoe, the English historian, and by Mr. Astor, of New York, to have been
I good and much^matigned woman. The famous Sappho did not throw her-
self from the Leucadian CliEf for love of Phaon, nor cfid she live a lewd tile,
but married and lived respectably and respected, according to the German
writer Welcker, who wrote a book to prove hei innocence. Bishop Thirlwall
and Lord Lytton both believed in the purity of her character. Fair Rosa-
mond was not poisoned by Queen Eleanor, but died in the odor of sanctity
in the convent of Godstow. Blondel, the harper, did not discover the prison
in which Richard 1. was confined. Charles IX. did not fire upon the Hugue-
nots vrith an arquebuse from the window of the Louvre during the Massacre
of St. Bartholomew. Charles V. did not celebrate his own obsequies in
his lifetime. Clarence was never diowned in a butt of malmsey, nor was
Richard II. starved to death in Ponteltact Castle. Pocahontas never saved
John Smith, and Washington never cut down the cherry-tree. The story
of Abelard and H^lo'ise has been strongly doubted, and a question has even
been raised as to whether Joan of Arc ever suffered the punishment that
made her a martyr, though details of her execution and last moments are
(bund in the civic records of Rouen. Charles Monselet quotes a paragraph
from the Menure of 16S3 announcing that certain documents recently dis-
covered led to the conclusion that Joan of Arc had been married, and that
some unfortunate victim must have been sacrificed in her place in Rouen.
The documents consisted of an attestation made by Father Riguer to the
effect thai "five years after the judgment of Joan of Arc, on the twentieth
day of May, Joan the Maid visited Mcti. On the same day her brothers called
to see her. They thought she had been burned, but when they saw her they
recognized her at once. They took her with them to Boquelon." The old
priest added as a proof of what he had advanced a copy 01 the original con-
tract of marriage between " Robert des Armoyses and Joan of Arc, otherwise
known as the Maid of Orleans."
Scientific historians have established beyond the shadow of a doubt that
the Swiss Confederation was not founded by William Tell, as the chroniclers
would have us believe. His name cannot be found in the archives of any of
the cantons. The story of bis famous shot is full of discrepancies, especially
as regards the bailiff Gessler, and, what is now considered conclusive proof
of his legendary character, at least six similar episodes have been discovered
in the mythical histories or the ballads of Teutonic nations. Denmark, Ice-
land, Holstein, England, the Rhine country, and Norvray, as well as Switzerland,
have their William Tell, under another name, and surrounded by different
geographical features, to be sure, but nevertheless in every case possessing
th« same essential points of resemblance. The traditional archer has, there-
fore, been abandoned by all serious historians as the founder of the Swiss
Confederation.
The story of Madcap Henry and the chief justice has been immortalized
by Shakespeare. The story is that Henry was arrested itx disorderly conduct,
and was brought before Sir William Gascoigne, whom he either insulted or
HANDY-BOOK OF
Is appearance until nearly a century and a half aftei the
nave taken place. It was first told in 1534 by one Sir Thomas c\^m, wnu bitcs
no authority whatever. Yet compilers, with the credulity of their class, have
accepted his statements, and, one after the other, have transferred the anec-
dote to their pages without a moment's hesitation or examination. Irtdeed,
all the stories of Henry's roystering youth and of his consequent estrangement
from his father have been disproved by documentary evidence. Year after
year, from the very date when the prince was first appointed to office down to
the time of the death of King Henry IV., we find entries upon the rolls of
the kingdom proving (hat the son was in council with the Cither and enjoyed
his confidence and affection.
The story of Bonnivard, as it is given in Byron's poem "The Prisoner of
ChiDon," and accepted bv the reading world, is almost entirely imaginary.
Instead of losing one brother by fire, two in the field, and two by death in the
dungeon, the fact is that there is no evidence that he had any brothers at all,
and none that his bther died for his faith. Byron himself acknowledges that
he was unacquainted with the history of Bonnivard when he wrote the poem.
He subsequently wrote a sonnet to his hero, in which he represents him as a
high-minded patriot appealing "from tyranny to God," and this character has
sometimes been ascribed to him by historians. In plain truth, there was little
of the heroic about Bonnivard. He was simply a good'naturcd scalter-brain,
whose high animal spirits ai
trouble ; and he seems to h:
chiefly in making immoral vi
One of the most famous of historical edifices is the Bridge of Sighs in
Venice, which connects the Doge's palace with the slate prisons. The name
wa« popularlv given it through what Howells calls "that orailence of com-
passion which enables the Italians to pity even rascality in difficulties." For,
in spile of Byron, it cannot be associated with any romantic episode of history
except the story of Antonio Foscarini, since it was nut built until the end of
the sixteenth century, and the prisoners who passed across it to judgment were
mere vulgar criminals, such as thieves and murderers.
The famous Round Tower at Newport, which popular tradition, confirnwd
ar of Juegeri
)t crush believers under its wheels, except in rare cases of acadenL
Not many years ago the mill of Sans Souci which the miller refused to sell
to Frederick the Great was brought down with a crash by the Historical
Society of Potsdam. With it disappeared the lawsuit of which the mill is
traditionally believed to have been made the subject, and the judges of such
perfect integrity that they refused to decide unjustly in &vor of the king.
The germ of the story ties in Dr. Zimmermann's highly imaginary "Conver-
■ations with Fiedeiick the Great." All he says about the mill is that it inter-
fered with the king's view from the orangery, that his majesty wished to buy
it, and that the miller refused to sell. The poet llebel to Zimmermann's
supposed fact added his own story of the lawsuit. But the mill could not by
its position have interfered with Frederick's view from the orangery, and the
records of the Berlin tribunals contain no mention of the action of ejectment
which (he king is held (o have brought against his intractable subjecL
The crew uf \£ Veneeur. insteao of going down with the cry of ** Vive la
R^publique I" shriekea fur help, and many were sdved in Lnglish boatL
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. AH
There is a famous Blor; Ihat both Cromwell and Hampden, detpairing of Ihe
were stopped by an Older of Council. That an expedition was so stopped
Itiete is no doubt, but, after a brief delay, it waa permitted to proceed with its
ei^lire freiglit of pilgrims. Of course neither Cromwell nor Hampden was on
board. There is a foolish story that Philip III. of Spain when almost suf-
focated by the heal of a roaring fire fell Ihat he could not rise from his chair
without wounding his dignity, that no one could dampen Ihe fire, because the
literature. ' Yet historian after historian has shown that there is
evidence to support it, — that it is simply a good old stock tale which has been
related of many monarchs and many courts, and which was originally a pure
proper official did not happen to be al hand, and that he contracted an ery-
sipelas of Ihe head which carried him oS 1'hc story has been gravely
accepted by many historians, and has iMcome a favorite illustration in English
Historians inform us that wolves wer« entirely extirpated in England by
the Saion king Edgar ; and so the ingenuous youth of the day are in-
structed in their historical catechisms. A reference to Rymer's "Fcedera"
■hows that these unpleasant natives kept their footing in the island even to
the reign of King Edward I., more than three hundred years later : "Anno
9, Edw. Primi. The king sent an injunction to the sheriffs of Worcester-
shire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire, reciting
that he had directed Peter de Corliel to hunt and destroy wolves in ttie forests
of those counties, with men, dogs, and snares, and enjoining said sheriBs to
*' ' ' " According to some chroniclers, Don Carios
' ' ' his father, Philip II., was a model
^ , Poets, dramatists, and anecdote-
hunters have adopted this opinion for the sake of a romantic subject. If we
are to credit a contemporary writer, Brant6me, who, thou^ a little free in
expression, is considered faithful and accurate, he was an abandoned profligate.
an insutter of everything modest and decent ; and the young nobility who
kept company with him were notorious for Ihe loose depravity of their lives,
and for the miserable ends to which they were brought in time. The account
given by the facetious Frenchman of that prince's rambles through the Streets
of Madrid is more humorous than edifying. Hume sutes deliberately that
Charles I. slept soundly at Whitehall on the night preceding his death, undis-
turlied by the noise of the workman who were erecting the scaffold ; whereas
it is certain that he passed his last night at Si. James's, far lieyond the
sound of the appalling preparations, and walked across the Park in the
morning to Ihe place of execution. Ciuy Patin, a celebrated French physician
atid iilUrateur, affirms Ihat Lord Darnley was murdered by the Puritans. He
also bestows several laborious pages to prove that Mohammed was never a
cardinal at Rome, and that there are no silver grapes in Hungary.
" As for the greater number of the stories with which the ana are stuffed."
says Voltaire, "including all those humorous replies attributed to Charles V.,
to Henry IV., to a hundred modern princes, you find them in Athanasius and
in our old authors. It is in this sense only that one may say, ' Nil sub sole
aried of supplying him with provisions, and the great Chris-
topher was in danger of starvation. The stoiy, as it used to be told, was
that the explorer, knowing that an eclipse of the moon was about to occur,
informed Ihe savages that the Great Spirit was much displeased t^ their
bihospitality, and would indicate his displeasure on a certain night bv hiding
466 HANDY-BOOK OF
the lace of the moon. Sure enough, at the appointed time the moon was
darkened, and the dismayed aborigines lost no time in glutting the provision-
markeL The story is a pretty one, its only defect being that no eclipse
occurred anvwhere neat the specified time,
Cdouard Fournier in France and Mr. Haywatd in England have shown that
almost every celebrated historical saying has either in course of time and
through force of repetition become falsified, or had from the beginning been
delibeiately invented. Francis I. never said or wrote after the battle of Pavia,
" Everything is lost save honor." In a letter to his mother occurred the fol-
lowing words: "De loutes choses ne m'est demeur^ que I'honneur el la vie
tiui est saulvie." The current version iiim b« traced lo the mistranslation of
the Spanish historian Anlonio Deveri : " Midama, todo se ha peidido sino es
la honra."
Henry IV. never said before entering Paris, " Paris vaut bien une messe."
Philip VI., flying from Ihe field of Cr*cy, and challenged late at night before
the gales of the castle of Blois, did nol cry out, " It is Ihe fortune of Fiance."
What he really said was, " Open, open ; it is ihe unfortunate King of France,"
— a version which strips Ihe speech of all its grandeur. Chateaubriand had
repealed Ihe sloiy on Ihe authority of Froissarl, and when Buchan, Ihe
learned editor of the French Chronicles, suggested the propriety of a correc-
tion, Chateaubriand refused to make it.
Other Frenchmen have mauifested equal indifference lo slricl accuracy.
When Vertol, who had iust finished a long description of a certain siege, was
reminded by a friend thai no such siege had laken place, he replied with a
memorable phrase, " Mon siege esl hiK ; and Voltaire, on being asked where
he had heard the sloty that when the French became masters of Constanti-
nople in 1204 Ihey danced with ihe women in the sanctuary of Ihe church of
Santa Sophia, replied, calmly, " Nowhere ; it is a frolic \apii^irie\ of my
The Duke of Wellington at Waterloo never uttered Ihe famous words, " Up,
Guards, and at them I" nor did General Cambronne say anything resembling
" The Guard dies and does nol surrender," in reference to the attitude of the
admirable body of men who did not die and who did surrender.
The French have a delight in matt : no event seems to them complete with-
out one, and ihey eagerly catch up every invention. The Abbi Edgeworlh
frankly acknowledged to Lord Holland that he had never made the famous
invocation to Louis XVI. on the scaffold, "Son of Si. Ijiuis, ascend to
heaven." It was invented for him on Ihe evening of the execution by Ihe
editor of a newspaper. Sieyis indignantly denied Ihat when the fate of
Louis XVL was put to the vole he eiclaimed, " La roorl, — sans phrase," or
thai when asked what be did during Ihe Reign of Terror he made answer,
"J'ai yicu" ("I lived").
But the French is not Ihe only nation which has invented historical speeches.
Pitt's celebrated reply to Walpole, beginning, "The atrocious crime of being
a young man," is well known lo have been in reality composed by Dr. John-
son, who was not even present when the actual reply was spoken ; and Home
Tooke wrote the speech inscribed on Ihe pedestal of Bcckfoid's sutue at
Guildhall purporting lo be the reply extemporized by Ihe spiiiled magistrate
lo George III.
Talleyrand was continually having credited to him Ihe good things said of
other people, tie was often much astonished by these compliments to his
genius, but if he liked the saying he assumed its responsibility without hesi-
taiion. His paternity of Ihe lamous " It is the beginning of the end" is
doubted by Fournier. The still more famous " Speech was given to man to
conceal hu thoughts" was assigned to Talleyrand in Ihe " Nain Jaune" by
. Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 467
Harel, who in this ctMe «u not oa\j a forger but a thief, because, at the
author of >-eu)ogy on Voltaire, he musl have known that the latter wrote,
" Men employ speech only lo conceal their thoughts." But, indeed, the phrase
can be traced back almost as (ar as Adam and Eve. Talleyrand was even so
fortunate as lo be crediled with the good things Said at his enpense. Thus,
" Who would not adore him, he is 80 vicious T' was said by Monlrond of
him, not by him of Monlrond, Again, it was not he who, to the sick man
complaining thai he suScied the tortures of the damned, curtly exclaimed,
" Dijl 1" Louis Blanc says that when Tallevrand was on his deathbed Louis
Philippe asked him if he sufiered. "Yes, like Ihe damned." Louis Philippe
murmured, " U^ji 1" a word that the dying man beard, and which he re-
venged forthwith by ^ving (u one of the persons about him secret and
terrible indications. But, in fact, the repartee may be found in one of L«-
brun's Epigrams, and has been attributed to a number of people.
" History repeats itself," is a common saying. But historians are often a
little too hasty in assuming that the repetition indicates falsity. We might
believe that William Tell had shot the apple off his son's head, in spile of
the fact that many archers before his time had performed the same feat, if
there were any evidence that William Tell ever existed. Columbus may have
shown the Spanish courtiers how to make an egg stand upon end. although
before his time Brunelleschi had adopted the same method of embarrassing
the enemies who sarcastically inquired Ihe method by which he proposed 10
build the dome in Florence. Nor need there be any question of plagiarism
her& When Louis XII. said, "The King of France does not avenge Ihe
injuries of the Duke of Orleans," he may have been entirely ignorant that he
had been antidpaled by Philip. Count of Bresse, who said, when he became
Duke of Savoy in 1497, ** It would be shameful as duke (o avenge the injuries
of the counL" Christina of Sweden may have said oF Louis XIV. when he
revoked the Edict of Nantes, " Kc has cut off his left arm with the right," in
spite of the fad that Valentinian had made use of the same expression. In
bet, we are all in danger of becoming 100 sceptical. "' ' ' "~ "~
Senious work lo show, taking for his base the conflicting statements in history,
that no such person as Richard III. ever existed, or that, if he did, he could
have been neitliet a tyrant nor a hunchliack. Whalely's " Historic Doubts
relative to Napoleon Bonaparte," which was published in iSio, created wide-
spread amusement by Its amazing cleverness. It proved with infinite inge-
nuity that Napoleon had never existed, and was written lo expose Hume's
axiom concerning testimony liy a reducHii ad aisurjum. Aliout ten years
after the appearance of Whalely's pamphlet, one J. B, P^ris, who probably
ftever heard of Whalely, published bis " Comme quoi Napoleon n'a jamais
exists," which resolved Napoleon inio a solar myth. And it will be remem-
bered that in bis ingenious paper on ihe greal Gladstone myth Mr. Andrew
Lang has followed in the wake of P^ris and proved conclusively that Glad-
stone is only a.iother name for the sun, and that Ihe various deeds attributed
to him are simply allegorical embodiments of the sun's doings.
Boaxe*, Some lunoaa. Many etymologies for Ihe word "hoax" have
been sugecsied, — the most plausible making it a corruption from the first
word ofAaciti-pociii, which in its turn is a corruption from the Anr tst carpus
of the mass. A hoax may be defined as a successful effort to deceive without
any motive but fun. With a further limitation of its meaning as a deception
of the many, a useful line of demarcation might be drawn between the hoax
and the practical joke which is aimed only at individuals. This definition
would exclude all the famous literary forgenes, from Chalterlon to I-ew Van-
derpoole, where Ihe object was pelf rather than amusement, such deliberate
■windlcs as Ihe South Sea. Babble, and even such lunous instances as De
466
the face of the tni-
darkened, and the
laarkeL The sio,
occurred anywherf
£doiia<-(I Fourn
almost every ceJc
through force of r
deliberately in»en'
"Everything; is |„
lowing words: " <
the Spanish hiatu
la honra."
Henry IV. nev
Philip VI.. flyint;
the gates of the .
What he really ^.
— a version whii;
repealed (he si,
learned edilor ul
tion, Chaleaubii
Other Frentli
When Vertot „
reminded by a ,
memorable pht.i
he had heard ih
nople ill 1104 ll.
Santa .Sophia i
imaKinalion."
The Duke of '
Guards, and at
" The Guard di.
admrrable body
The French I.
o« one, and il
frankly acknowl
invocation to i
editor^f ,'„*;
Louis XVI wa-
'hal when askc
"J"ai vica" I" 1
But the Fret,.
P"t'8 celebrate,
' young man," ,
■jn, who was „.
^ookt wrote IJ,
Guildhall purp,.
'°^?rge III.
_ talleyrand w
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4*9
scratched the insoiption in rude characters, and got the curiosity-dealer so
10 raanage thai Guugh should see and buy the stone.
Traps of this son are continually being laid for unsuspecting antiquarians
by the waegishly inclined, and many a supposed old coin has been found on
mvestigation to be nothing more than a sou or a centime melted in the 6re,
battered with a hammer, punched with a cold-chisel in imitation of antique
lettering, and then hidden in some place where it was sure to be discovered.
" There is a cairn," says the Rev. J. G. Wood, " broken and battered, on the
summit tA the hills near the Vale of White Horse, and visible from the rail-
way. A very well known author refers in a very well known book to that
cairn as a Danish monument, whereas I built it myself; and, by Ihe same
token, there is in the middle of it a flat-iron without any handle. Jokes of
this sort," be adds, "are very prevalent among scientiflc men. There is, fur
eiample, one of our best entomologists who prides himself on his skill in
manufacturing insects. If they have wings, he discharges the color by chem-
ical means, and paints them afresh. He subslilulcs various parts of various
beings for those of Ihe creature which he minufacturcs, cutting out from an
old champagne -cork anything that may be found wanting. He once tried to
palm off on me a most ingenious contbinaiion. The head was made of cork,
the wings were real wings, only turned the wrong side upwards, and the body
,._j. ..,._...__■ .._■... _j --J -— iiished. Unfortunately for himself,
braer of enlomologicaL rarities had visited one of those
houses where the celebrated Cardinal spider lives, and had added the legs o(
a spider from Hampton Court to the body, wings, and antennx of insects
from all parts of the world. The spider's legs betrayed him, but Ihe author
of Ihe entomological forgery was not in the least disconcerted at the discovery
of the fraud. There are no achool-boys who enjoy a joke half as much as
your celebrated scientific and literary men. Their reputation is too safe for
cavil, and when Ihey gel togelhet they are as playful as so many kittens.
The museum of the late Charles Watcrton was full of soological jokes."
Many such hoaxes have been perpetrated for the purpose of silencing critic-
asters and exposing their pretensions. Thus, Michael Angelo, wearied of
bearing modern sculpture contrasted with ancient to the disparagement of the
former, hit upon the plan of burying a Cupid, having first knocked off an arm
or so, and when it was dug up he had the satisfaction of hearing his former
detractors praise it as a genuine antique. Muietus played a similar trick upon
the critic Joseph Scaliger, a great admirer of the ancients, by palming off
upon him some Latin verses as being copied from an old manuscript Scaliger
was delighted, ascrilied them to an old comic poet, Trabeus, and quoted them
ill his commentary on Varro •■ De Re Ruslica," as one of the most precious
fragments of antiquity. Then Muretua wickedly informed the world of hia
deception, and pointed out Ihe small dependence to be placed on the sagacity
of one so prejudiced in favor of Ihe ancients. A famous hoax of this sort
was practised by Johann Meinhold upon the Tiibingen school of critics. These
gcnllemen believed their judgment unerring in deciding upon the authenticity
uf any writing, and throughout Ihe Gospels they professed to discriminate the
jirecisc degree of credibility of each chapter, each narrative, each word, with
a certainty that disdained all doubt and a hrmness no argument could move.
In 1843 Dr. Meinhold published "The Amber Witch,'*"^ professedly from a
mutilated manuscript which had been found liy an old sexton in a closet of
the church at Usedom in Pomerania. It purported to be a contemporaneous
chronide, by the pastor of Coserow, of certain events that look place in his
parish in the early pari of the seventeenth century, and was accepted as such
by the profoundest of ihe Tubingen saoatUj.
A very difTerent sort of hoax was recently practised upon English publisher*
470 HANDY-BOOK OF
and migaiine-edilors. A disappointed literar* aspirant, wear; a{ having hia
aiijcles declineti with thanks, and doubtful oi his critics' i nfil I ibiliiv, copied
out " Samson Agoiiistes," which he rechristened " Like a Giant Refreshed,"
and the manuscript, as an original work of his own, went the rounds of pub-
lishers and editors. It was declined on various pieas, and the letters he
received afforded him so much amusement that he published them in the St.
yamei' GoMttlt. None of the critics discovered that the work was Milton'^.
One, who had evidently not even looked at it, deemed it a seiisalional novel ;
another recognized a certain amount of merit, but thought it was disfigured by
" Scoltidams ;" a third was sufficiently pleased (o offer to publish it, provided
the author contributed forty pounds towards expenses.
A hoax which did not deceive the learned, but sorely puuled ihem, was that
known as the Dutch Mail hoax. Some fifty years ago, an article appeared in
the Leicester //irrii/i/, an English provincial paper, under the title of "The
Dutch Mail," with the announcement that it had arrived loo late for tranala-'
lion, and so had been set up and printed in the original. Much attention was
attracted to the article, and many Dutch scholars rushed into print to say that
it was not in any dialect with which they were acquainted. Finally, it was
discovered to lie a hoax. Sir Richard Phillips, the editor of the paper,
recently tcdd this story of bow the jeat was conceived and carried out : "One
evening, before one of our publications, my men and a boy q\
three columns of the paper in type. We bad to gel ready s
thought Dutch. I made up the column, overcame the scruples of the foreman,
and so away the country edition went with its philological puzzle to worry the
honest agricultural readers' heads. There was plenty of time to set up a
column (rf plain English for the local edition." Sir Richard met on« man in
Nottingham who for ihirw yean preserved a copy of the Leicester Herald,
hopine that some day the letter would be explained.
Madame de Genlis tells a story in piMnL The Due de Uancourt was an
intimate friend of Abb^ Delille. Both were at Spa, when one morning the
Abb^ was deeply chagrined by seeing some couplets on the birthday of the
l>uchess of Orleans, regular enough in manner, but foolish in matter, pub-
lished, with his name, in a daily newspaper. The verses weie in fact the
duke's composition. We all remember the letter on American Philistinism
which was credited to Matthew Arnold, the letter about public bores which
was credited (o Carl}^e (and which Ruskin, by the way. endorsed as "not Ihe
least significant of the utterances of Ihe Master"), and many similar forgeries,
more or less clever imitations of style, which have gone the rounds of the
press, provoked surprise, anger, applause, condemnation, and finally called
forth vigorous denials from the supposed authors. A poem called " A Vision
■ "" " ■' • ■ " , CuUen Bryant and copied as such into
t host of scrap-books. The author had
made a wager that he CO uir '" ' .,.-..
public into the impression , ...
subject for this sort of jesting, as the mannerisms of his style are easily caught ;
and every now and then a fresh imitation, claiming to be a genuine treasure
trove, slarts on its journey through (he papers.
Perhaps this is only a fan quid pro que. No man ever had a greater fondness
fur gulling the public. That gruesome tale, "The Facts in the Case of M.
Vatdcmar," was worked up with an appalling verisimilitude of detail which
imposed upon many people. Mesmerism at that time had just begun to be
talked ot The Abbi Higne, in his "Dictionary of Popular Superstition).'*
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. A,Ti
seemed more [han half inclined to believe in its truth. "We will not leave
the subject of animal magnetism," he says, "without acquainting the reader
with an extra urdi nary, we might sajr an incredible, incident which is just now
creating a great sensation in the learned world," and then he translates Poe'a
The " Ualloon Huax" was Poe's most successful imposition upon the public
One day in April, 1S44, the New York Suh astonished its readers with an
article headed thus, in magnificent capitals :
ASTOUNDING NEWS BY EXPRESS VIA NORFOLKI
THE ATLANTIC CROSSED IN THREE DAYS II
Signal Trmmfk nf Mr. Memk M^im', Flying- MmiUni 1 1 1
AiTiv^ It Suliivu-i liUnd. nor Chulcnan, Souih Csrollpn. oT Mr. Mucn. Mr. Robert
HoUind, Mr. HcBiiHi, Mr. H*iTi»n Aini<ronh, ud four ixlKn, in Ihc Scccring BiJIacm
Every one was on ibe qui vrvt. " The rush for ' the sole paper which had
the news,' " says Poe, " was something beyond even the prodigious ; and, in
fact, if (as some assert) the 'Victoria' did not al»olulely accomplish the
voyage recorded, ii will be difficult to assign a reason why she ikguld not have
accomplished it" It is not a little curious that the New York Sun Was the
very paper in which, nine years before, in Septeii.bei, 183S, the celebrated
"Moon Hoai" had appeared, overshadowing and interrupting forever the
slory of " Hans Pfaall's Journey to the Moon," which, by an extraordinary
coincidence, Poe had begun three weeks previous in Ihe Southern Literary
Mtistttger. Poe had originally intended his own story as a hoai, but his
friends, who had less faith in the gullibility of the public than himself^ per-
suaded him to ^ive up the idea of delilierate deception. " I fell back upon a
style half plausible, half bantering, and resolved to give what interest I could
to an actual passage from the earth to the moon, describing Ihe lunar scenery
as if surveyed and peisonally examined b;r the narrator." The success of the
" Moon Hoax" showed that Poe was right and his friends wrong. The
former took up the very idea which Poe claims to have abandoned, — that of
accounting for the narrator's acquaintance with Ihe satellite by the supposition
of an extraordinary telescope. The " Moon Hoax" — so called, of course, after
its bogus nature had been discovered — opened with an account of how Sir
John Herschel, with Sir David Brewster's assistance, had invented an appa-
ratus (minutely described) by which the magnifying power of an immense
telescope could be sufficiently increased lo deled minute objects in the moon.
Sir John was sent out to the Cape of Good Hope at the expense of the
English, French, and Austrian governments. " Whelher the Brilish govern-
ment vrere sceptical concerning the promised splendor of the discoveries, or
wished them to be scrupulously veiled until they had accumulated a full-orbed
glory for the nation antl reign ni which they originated, is a question which we
can only conjecturally solve. But certain it is that the astronomer's royal
patrons enjoined a masonic taciturnity upon him and his friends until he
should have oSicialty communicated the results of his great experiment."
Thill was a clever explanation of the circumstance that nothing had before
tieeii heard regarding the gigantic instrument taken out by Herschel, That
he was actually at that time at the Caue of Good Hope was generally known.
On the night of January 10, 1B35, the telescope was ready to be employed
upon the moon. The first things observed were basaltic rocks covered with
poppies \ then fields, trees, and rivers ; (hen amethyst mountains and ver-
dant valleys ; then animals like bisons, a unicorn goat, pelicans, slieep, etc.
All these things were described with a gorgeous wealth of detail. At last
472 HANDY-BOOK OF
winged creaturei were seen to light upon a piiin, lomethine between a humM
being and an orang-outang in appearance, with wings like those o[ a bait.
These beings were at once christened the Vespertilio-homo, or Bat-man.
They were doubtless innocent and happy creatures, but some of their ways
were unpubliahably singular, and were reserved for a scientllic book by Her-
schel. Heanwhile, several ministers, on a promise of temporary secrecy,
were allowed a peep at these things which were unfit for the laity.
Such was the substance of a narrative which astounded all America. Many
were deceived, many were only perplexed. Poe himself wrote an examina-
tion of its claims to credit, showmg distinctly its ticlitious character, but was
astonished at &nding that he could obtain few listeners, "so really eager were
all to be deceived, so magical were the charms of a style that served as the
vehicle of an enceedingly clumsy invention. , . , Not one person in ten dis-
credited it, and (strangest point of all t) the doubters were chiefly those who
doubted without being able to say why, — the ignorant, those uninformed in
liecause the thing was so novel, so
... ^ professor of mathematics in a Vir-
ginia college told mc seriouify that he had no doubt ai ilie truth of the whole
affair." Many prominent newspapers fell squarely into the trap. The Mtr-
lantUt Aitoeriiser thought the document bore " intrinsic evidence of being ait-
thentic" The New Yoik Timts thought it disiilayed "the most extensive
arKl accurate knowledge of astronomy," was "probable ^nd plausible," and
"had an air of intense verisimilitude." The Albany Daiiy Advertistr hsul
read the article with "unspeakaMe emotions of pleasure and astonishment i"
while the Ntw Vartcr considered the discoveries "of astounding interest,
creating a new era in astronomy and science generally." The hoax was
reprinted in pamphlet- form, and, though by this time its bogus nature had
been discovered, an edition of sixty thousand copies was readily disposed OL
Lately a single copy of that edition sold for three dollars and seventy-five
One effect of the hoax was to deprive us of the conclttsion of " Ham
Pfaall," " Having read the Moon Story to an end," Says Poe, " and found it
aniicipalive of all the main points of my * Hans P£ull,^ I suffered the latter
to remain unfinished. The chief design in carrying roy hero to the moon was
to afford him an opportunity of describing the lunar scenery ; but I found that
be could add very little to the minute and authentic account of Sir John Her-
■cbel. I did not even think it advisable to bring my voyager back to hit
parent earth. He remains where 1 left him, and is still, I believe, the man in
the moon." It is worth noting that Poe, who was ever morbidly keen on the
subject of plagiatism, distinctly says, " I am bound to do Mr, Locke the jus-
tice to say that he denies having seen my article prior to the publication of
his own : I am bound to add, also, that 1 believe him."
Mr. Richard Alton Locke, a clever New York journalist, was the author of
the hoax. Not for many years, however, was the secret divulged. Some of
the New York journals, indeed, published the " Moon Story" side by side
with " Hans Pfaall," thinking that the author of one had been detected in the
author of the other. SubMqucnlly suspicion settled down upon Nicollet, a
French astronomer who had come to America after the revolution of 1S30,
and whose object, it was said, was to raise money and to deceive his enemy,
Aragu. It was added that be succeeded in doing both. But Mr. Proctor
discredits the Arago story, and stales that no astronomer could have either
written or been deceived by the hoax. He adds thai as gauges of general
knowledge scientific hoaxes have their use, just as paradoxical works have.
"No one, certainly no student of science, can thoroughly understand how
little some people know about science, until he has observed how much will
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 473
be believed it only published with the apparent authority of a fe* known
names and announced with a sufficient parade of technical veibiage ; nor is it
as easy as might be thought, even for those who are acquainted with the facts,
to disprove either a hoax or a paradox." He therefore notes without any
wonder that in January, 1S74, he was gravely asked whether an account in
the New York World, purporting 10 describe how the moon's frame was grad-
ually cracking, threatening eventually tu fall into several separate fragments.
was in reality based on lacL " In the far West, at Lincoln, Nebraska, a law'
yer asked me in February, 1876, why I had not described the great discoveries
recently made by means of a powerful reflector erected near Parts. Accord'
ing to the Chicago TiiiKr, this powerful instrument had shown buildings in
the moon, and bands of workmen could be seen with it who manifestly were
tinder^oing some kind of penal servitude, (or they were chained together."
It is singular how often these pseudo-scienlilic hoaxes refer to the moon.
A certain Joe Mulhatton, who was connected with various papers, kept the
public continually on the mi viue with his inventions. His story of a meteor
which fell in Kansas had an air of scientific possibility that imposed upon
many. His thirteen story was widely copied and commented upon. In
Western Texas, so the tale ran, a traveller came upon the ruins of a stage-
coach, and in the coach were thirteen skeletons. And this was the explana-
tion. Some two years before the ghastly find was made, thirteen hunters hired
a atage-coach in a small Texas town, and started to explore a great uninhabited
region in the western part of the Stale, where they expected to find good
hunting. When they started, one of the party said something at>out thirteen
being an unlucky number. The others merely laughed, and the expedition
proceedetL The thirteen hunters were never seen again.
The ruins of their coach and the skeletons of the thirteen men and (bur
horses were found near the centre of a vast desert of sand and Mge-bush, and
it was evident that men and horses had died of thirst or starvation.
Id 1883 Mulhallon was in Birmingham, Alabama. One day he read in a
local paper an item to the effect that some men engaged in bonng an artesian
well in the town had struck what seemed to be a small flowing stream of water,
at a depth of three hundred feet. This gave Mulhatton an idea. A few
days later a thrilling atory appeared in the Louisville Couritr-Joumai 10 the
effect that an immense underground river flowed under Birmingham, Ala-
bama, and (he entire town was in great danger of falling in and being Swept
While excavating for the foundation of a large building, the stone crust
that supported the few feet of earth above the river had been pierced, and it
was breaking and giving way all over the city. Several buildings had fallen
down, and One corner of the City Hall had settled four feel into a fissure
which was rapidly widening, and sOon the entire building would go down into
the dark, underground river.
This story made an immense sensation when it was printed. For two days
the telegraph-olBce at Birmingham was flooded with telegrams from all parts
of the country, asking if there were any truth in the story.
The New York Herald, in 1874, created great, though temporary, alarm by
a circumstantial story that the wild animals had escaped from the Zoological
Garden and were roaming about Central Park in search of prey. The anxiety
of mothers who had sent their children out to the park, the general excite-
ment and suspense which ensued until the falsity of the story was announced,
are remembered by many.
The Ltaant Hirald of September 22, 1890, quoted a curious letter from
Bjeiina, Bosnia, which disclosed a stale of things among the Bosniaks that
recalls some of the old stories we used to hear about China. It appears thai
474 HANDY-BOOK OF
nuinbere of Boeniaks had recenily applied to the authorities for permiiaioo to
be beheaded in ihe place of Baion de Rothschild. The authorities at once Mt
themseivea to investigate the matter, and found that a tumor had been tpread
abroad among the rural population that Baton Rothschild had been sentenced
to death for some crime or other, and that he would pay a million florins to
any one who would become his iubstituie and undergo the penalty for him.
Clubs were speedily formed among the peasants who desired to share the
million, and each member bound himself to sacrifice his life for the benefit
of his (el low- members if he should draw the fatal lot that designated one of
the club at the victim. The money, of course, was lo be divided among the
rest aa a priie. In this tnanner several substitutes for the baron were pro-
vided, and they oflered themselves to the authorities read^ to fulfil their bar-
gain to (he last. No eiplanations were sufficient to convince them that Ihe
story was a hoax, and for a long time new po«talanl3 for decapitation were
still coming In, and still going away grkved and unhappy in their disappdnt-
Of bibliographical hoaxes Ihe moat complete and artistic was Ihe Fortsaa
Catalogue. In 1&40, bibliographers were electrified by the appearance of a
pamphlet purporting lo be a catalogue of the library of the late Count J. N.
A. de Porlsas, of Binche, Belgium. It contained only fourteen pages, to be
sure, and described only fifty-two books ; but each of^these was unique : no
book mentioned by any oiblic^rapher was to be found in the collection. The
count, it was represented, " pitilessly expelled from his shelves books for
which he had paid their weight in gold — volumes which would have been
the pride of the most fastidious amateurs — as soon as he learned that a work
up lo that time unknown had been noticed in any catalogue." The publica-
tion of the " Nouvelles Recherches" of Brunei had caused Ihe destruction of
une-third of Ihe count's library and broken the collector's spirit From that
time he made no further acquisitions; but Ihe bulletin of Techener "from
lime lo time still further thinned the already decimated ranks of his sacred
battalioiL" Weary of books and of life, be had died, September 1, 1EJ39, aikd
his library was now oflered for sale. The bibliographical world was fairly
agog. The titles in Ihc catalogue were of the most tantalizing description.
Urders poured in from all parts of Europe. The most expert bibtiographeis
were deceived. Charles Nodiet, indeed, suspected a hoax, but Techener
laughed at his doubts, and ordered No. 36, — " Evangile du dloyen Jjsus,
purg<! des id<^s aristocrales el royalisles, el tamen^ aux vrais prindpes de la
raison, par un bon sans-culolte." Van de Weycr and Croiat orilered Ihe
same book. The Princesse de Ligne, for the honor of her family, ordered
No. 48 at any price, — " a catalogue more than curious of the bonnes fortunes
of the Prince de Ligne," with a title that is hardly quotable. The director of
the Royal Library of Brussels obtained an appropriation lo purchase ait the
Fottsas treasures except seven, which were considered a little xoo fret lor a
public library. A number of Parisian bibliophiles met in the stage for Brus-
sels, and Iheie discovered that they were all possessed with the same inten-
tion of stealing away unnoticed, each hoping by this means to have the game
all 10 himself. In Itie course of the affair there were Ihe usual illustrations
of human mendacity and self-deception. Men remembered aeeing books that
had never existed. The foreman in Casleman's printing-oflicc at Tournayhad
distinct recollection of a bogus volume credited to his press, and recalled its
mythical author "perfectly."
On the 9ih of August, 1S40, the day before Ihe sale, an announcement
appeared in the Brussels papers that Ihe library of the Count de Fortua
would not be sold, — that Ihe people of Binche, in honor of its collector, haJd
determined to buy it entire. Eventually it traiupired that catalogue, libraiy,
_k)OgIc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
II, which was collected and published in a volume entitled " Docu-
iiieiils et Particulariljs hisloriques aur le Catalogue du Comte de Fortsas,"
Mona, iSjo^
Theodore Hook was a Camoua practical joker, and once, at least, be perpe-
Iraled a jest that disturbed all London and aroused all England. This was
the famous Berners Street hoax. Berners Street in 1810 was a quiet street,
inhabited by well-to-do families, and even people of social importance, as the
Bishops of Carlisle and of Chester, Earl Stanhope, etc On the morning of
November 26, soon after breakfast, a wagon-load of coals drew up before the
door of Mrs. Totlingham, a widow lady living at No. 54. A van-load of
furniture followed, then a hearse with a coffin, and a train of mourning-
coaches. Two fashionable physicians, a dentist, and an accoucheur drove up
aa near as they could to the door, wondering why so many lumbering vehi-
cles blocked the way. Six men brought a great chamber-organ; a brewer
sent several barrets of ale ; a grocer sent a cart-load of potatoes. Coach-
makers, dock-makers, car pet- manufacturers, confectioners, wig-makers, man-
tuamakers, opticians, and curiosity-dealers followed with samples of their
wares. From all quarters trooped in coachmen, footmen, cooks, housemaids,
and nursery- maids, in quest of situations. To crown all, dignitaries came in
their carriages, — the Commander-in-Chief, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
(he Lord Chief Justice, a Cabinet minister, a governor of the Bank of Eng-
land, and the Lord Mayor, The laller— one among many who speedily recog-
nized thai all had been the viclims of some gigantic hoax — drove to Marl-
borough Street police-office, and staled that he had received a letter from a
lady in Berneia Street, to Ihe effect thai she had been summoned lu attend at
the Mansion House, that she was at death's door, that she wished to make a
deposition upon oath, and thai she would deem it a great favor if his lordship
would call upon her. The olher dignitaries had been appealed to in a similar
way, Police.officers were despatched to maintain order in Berners Street.
They found it choked up wiih vehicles, jammed and interlocked one with
another. The drivers were infuriated. The disappoinled tradesmen were clam-
oring for vengeance. Some of the vans and goods were overturned and broken ;
a lew barrels of ale had fallen a prev to the large crowd Ihat was maliciously en-
£' yiog the fun. All day and fat iiito Ihe night this sUle of things continued
eanwhile, the old lady and Ihe inmales of adjoining houses were in abject
terror. Every one soon saw that a hoax had been [lerpetraled, but Hook's con-
nection with It was not discovered till long afletwairis. He had noticed Ihe
quietness of the neighborhood, and had laid a wager wilh a brother-wag, a cer-
tain Henry Higginson, who afterwards became a clergyman, that he woi^d make
Berners Street the talk of all London. A door-plate had rurnished him with Mrs.
Tottingham's name, and be had spent three days in writing the letters which
brought the crowd to her door. At the appointed time he and Mr. Higgin:
had posted themselves in a lodging just opposite, which he had rented Tor
purpose of enjoying the scene. He deemed it expedient, however, U
quickly in
publicly k
o the country and there remain incog, for a time. Had be been
publicly known as the author of the aulrageous hoax, be might have lared
But perhaps the must gigantic hoax ever perpetrated was that known to
history as the Great Bottle Hoax.
Early in the year 1749 a dislinguished company of Englishmen were dis-
cussing Ihe question of human gullibility. Among them were the Duke of
Portland and Ihe Earl of Chesterfield.
" 1 will wager," said the duke, " that let a man advertise the most impos-
47* HANDY-BOOK OF
Bible thine in the world, he will find fools enough in London to Gil a plaj
house and pay handsomely for the privilege of being there."
" Surely, returned the earl, " if a man should say that he would jump inio
> quart bottle, nobody would believe IhaL"
At first the duke was staggered. But having made the wager he held to
IL The jest pleased the rest of the company. They put their heads together
and evolved the following advertisement, which appeared in the London
papers of the first week in January:
«Hn « PvTHttI who pofonns tliv kcversl moat HlrpriBing Ihinjp Tollowfiis. — vil., i«L Hv ukn
■ f:QinmoD walking CiuiF rrom Any of Ihc Sitccialon, and thereupon plpyi ihc mutic of every
IB the liilit of all Ibe Specoion, and lingi'ln ii; during hii uay in the boiile, my Perioii
Uh Sn^ or Id ihe Boxct. may come In marked hatnis (if agreeable lo them) ; add ihe per-
fbmer, if dcgircd, will uifonn them who thev art. SlaH, 71. 6f/. Boxei, u. Pit, u. GaU
lery.u. Tkkett u be had at the Theane. To begin a hklf an hour after lii o'clock. The
n (alter ih<
^pieKniallon of any deceased Penon, fuch
■ mate Friend of eiLlicr ser, upoa making »
and perform u above for five Pound* each time. A propf^r guard n appointed wt prevent
The public rose to lite bait like a huge gudgeon. The duke's wildest ex-
pectations were niote than realized. For days all London was talking of the
man who was going to jump into a quart bottle. On the appointed night the
theatre was crowded to sultbcalion. Every box, every seal in the pit and in
the gallery, was taken. Standing-room was at a premium. The appointed
bour came, and still there was no sign of the expecled peifbrmance ; not even
a fiddle had been provided lo keep the audience in good humor. Evidence
of impatience had already been manifested. Now the vast audience burst
into groans, catcalls, aiid other cries, emphaiiized by the pounding of canes
Mid stamping of feet. At last a person appeared on the stage. With bows
and scrapes and profuse apologies he piolesleil that if the performer did not
appear within a quarter of an hour the money would be refunded at tli«
dours. I'here were more groans and hisses. A wag in the pit shouted that
if the ladies and gentlemen would give double price he would crawl into a
pint bottle. This lully restored good humor for the nonce. But scarcely had
the quarter of an hour elapsed, when a gentleman in one of the boxes seiied
a lighted candle and threw it on the stage. It vras the signal for a general
outbreak. The moU tune tn maist, lore up ihe seats and benches, and pro-
ceeded to demolish evctylhing within reach. Ladies shrieked, their escorts
fbughl for an exit tbroi^h the infuriated crowd. Such were the hurrr and
scramble that wigs, hats, cloaks, and dresses were left behind and lost. Mean-
while, Ihc building had been almost gutted. Everything portable was carried
into the streel and made into a mighty bonfire, over which the curtain, torn
fi-om its hangings and hoisted upon a pole, was waved by way of a flag. The
nade away with,
now, in tnose oays Foote was tbe wicKcoesi wag in tne town, \n course
he was suspected of*^ having originated the hoax. He indignantly disclaimed
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 477
the responsibility. H« had even, he averred, warned Mr. John Potter, the
proprietor of the play-house, that he thought a fraud on Ihe public was in-
tended Then the public r^e turned upon Potter. Rut it was evident that
Potter, too, was innocent A strange man had made ail the irrangeinenls fur
letting the theatre on behalf of the conjurer. On the night of the perform-
ance, Polter had allowed no one to handle the receipts save his own servants,
and he would have returned them, as announced from the stage, only the
house was sacked and the receipts stolen.
All attempts iailed to discover Ihe origin of the hoax, and not until many
years after did Ihe secret leak out
Meanwhile Ihe wits of the town would not lei the matter drop. They issued
pamphlets ridiculing the gullibility of Ihe public ; they printed humorous ex-
planations of the conjurer's lailure to appear ; they taxed Iheir brains in the
effort to produce advertisements of performances as outrageously impossible
as Ihe now famous bottle trick.
It was asserted by one paper that Ihe conjurer had been ready and willing
to appear on the fatal night, but just prior to Ihe performance a gentleman
begged hi
a private view. The conjurer consented to crawl into a bottle
The moment he had done so Ihe gentlen
pounds. The moment he had done so Ihe gentleman played on the
unnappy conjurer the same trick which Ihe lisherman in the " Arabian Nights"
found so efficacious with Ihe genie. He quietly corked up the bottle, whipped
it in his pocket, and made ofL " Thus Ihe poor man being bit hiniself, in being
confined in the Butlle and in a Gentleman's Pocket, could not l>e in another
Place ; for he never advertised he would go into two Bottles al one and the
same lime. He is still in the Gentleman's custody, who uncorks him now and
then to feed him ; but his long confinement has so damped his Spirits that
instead of singing and dancing he is perpetually crying and cursmg his ill
Fate. But though the Town nave been disappointed of seeing him go into
the Bottle, in a few days they will have the pleasure of seeing him come out
of the Bottle ; of which timely notice will be given in the daily Papers."
Here is an advertisemeni that appeared on January 17, 1749:
DON JOHN DE NASAQUlTINE.iwoni BciHhttand Compsnltmio ihc Mui thitwu
lo bii»e jumped iolo the Boltle lU Ihe Lillle Theatre in the Hiymarliei on Monday (he i6ib
fDCKciiiglhe Boiile Man will be adinitledgnlis ; ihe rut al Golham price*.
Here is another :
THE MOST WONDERFUI, AND SUR
MANPOANGO, Oculi.t mud Body Sureeon lo Emperor Mod
Sunday DEil u Ihe Lillle T-^— In ihe Haymukel ihe fnlioiiing lUrpnuDf upecatinni,— VII, :
done, the Doeior WJIE show Ibem to Wly Latiy or GoitleniAn theD preaeilt to convince them
there i» no Cheat, and then replace them In the Sockets aa perfect and enlire m ever. idly.
He dnirei any oflicer or other to rip up his own Belly, which when he haa done, he |wilhoul
uiy Equivoouion) lakea out hii Bovels, washes Ihem, ud relumi Ihem lo Iheir place, wiih-
convioce the Town thai no impoiiiian ia intended, he detuis no Money until Ihe Pofatmuiie
" "n^.— TlKV«m™°bculU will be l?m|and honeM S F M-— will come If he
Oiuor would be .here, but is engaged."
A third advertiser announced that he would Jump down his own throat, a
fourth offered to change himself into a rattle, a fifth to sbnol himself with two
pistols, "the first shot lo be directed through his abdomen to which will be
478 HANDY-BOOK OF
added another through his brain, the whole to conclude with staggering con-
vulsions, grinning, etc., in a manner never before publicly attempted." And
so on, and so on. Money seems to have been as plentiful as wit in those
days, and those who had money were glad to throw it away to see their wit
in prinL The newspapers were probably tlie only (gainers hy the hoax. At
last the excitement, having continued far beyond the traditional nine days,
burned itself out, and the public mind, as it ever must, turned to other
Hobaon'B Cholo«, colloquial English for no choice at all, an alternative
that is forced upon you, to take it nt leave it. The term la thus explained hy
Addison: "Tobias Hobson was the firsl man in England that let out hackney-
"" "" "" ' ' as led into the stable, where there
ke the horse which stood next to
alike well served according to his
chance, whence it became a proverb, when what ought to be your election was
forced upon you, to say, ' Hobson's choice.' " (Sptitatsr, No. 509.)
To the above il may be added that Thomas (not Tobias, as Addison and
others have it) Hubsoii (1J44-1631), besides his livery business, was for sixty
years a carrier between London and Cambridge, conveying to and from the
university letters and packages as well as passengers. Though he had grown
to be one of the wealthiest citizens of Cambridge, generally respected lor his
private and civic virtues, he still continued to drive his own st^e until the
plague in London stopped all traffic between the metropolis and the outside
vrorld. A few months later he died, at the ripe age of eighty-six. His death
called forth many tributes from members of the university, officers and
students, among them two poems from Milton, then an undergraduate at
Christ's College. These are curious as being the only extant specimens of
Millonic humor. They ascribe Hubson's death to his enforced idleness :
On the UNiVHHsrrY Carrier,
Who MlckeHEd u
ofih<
;P1^;
Hcreli
id old H
ob«n. Dm* hid. broke
Andh.
;.T,tlu.
hatb l>id i
edirt;
> being Tqu
S^^l
is 1 iToiigh and ov
*mh^H
■ucta ( %\
liricr, Ilu»,
if tiulh
wtnkn
Dalh
wuhilf
gU,f»h<i
For be
D«lg=
d^bh!
i"Jr
"ty^.
,>h could XX.
t.er h»v
e p«.»il
Aodtbu bebiid u'eo up his lnuii inn.
In ihe kind office of flcbamberiin
Pulled off'hii bo^, mi look any ihe lu^l.
If uv uk for him. i< AmA be uld.
" HoHop hai tupped, ADd '■ newly goDO 10 bed."
AHOyHER ON THE SAHE.
Hen lielh one who did nioit tmfy prove
Whlleb(inlsh(»ill'jD(Dn uid keep bit tratj
Made of tphcFfi-Pketnl, never id decey
Time anmben molion», yri (without a crime
't^alDU old trmh) BladDn uuinbend DOI hit tiBM )
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
And, Uke ui auhie moved witb vlwd ud ii 1^.111,
Hia principis MiD|e ccued» he ended etrmjoht.
Rett, ihai Eire* all DitD life, uyc bin hi> deub,
Juiwy, 1631.
In Geol^e Eliot's " Middlemarch," Mrs. Cadwallader makei [he astate
remaTk, "A woman's cbtnce usually means taking the only man she can geu"
Hoono-Poona, or Hokey-Pokey, a slang ictdi for charlatanism or jug-
glery. Tillotson's derivation is still accepted aa a possibility by etymologists :
" Those common juggling voids of Aaatt-pocur are nothing else but a rorrup-
tion of htc ttt cerfiui, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the
Church of Rome in (heir (rick of tiansubstanltation." (IVorii, vol. i., Serm.
36.) But Naies thinks (he expression is taken from the Italian juggterg, who
said "Ochua Bochus,"in reference to a famous magician of (hose days. In the
Mimr, vol. xxi., there is a reference to this gentleman : " Ochus Bochus was
a magician and demon among the Saxons, dwelling in forest and caves, and
we have hia name and abode handed down to the present day in Somcrset-
■hire (viz., Wokey Hole, near Wells)." Nevertheless. Skeat looks upon the
word as a mere jingling reduplication. (lokos- Pokos is the name of the jug-
irler in Ben Tiinson^ ^' Macrnetic f^adv" iift\i\^ and the masA jniiFar<4 in an
Bodg»-Podgak or Botofa-Potoh, as the lexicographers (with commend-
able caution) say, is a confused mass of ingredients shaken or mixed together
in the same pot {Fr. kochtr, " tn shake," + pot). If anybody wants to know
what art the mgredients shaken in a confused mass, what is in the po(, let
him take a warning from an experience of the late Prince Consort, and curb
his curiosity :
During tike eutio' Wtki of tibe royaJ ^oUy u BAJnanl, Prince Albcft, ill I —ml ill a very
K of tha Smcb Uka Id
BrerytlkiDg relmiiOft ta tbe mj . . .
Approachmg lb* ''galley.'* wh
" Wli«i k I , ,
" Hodge-podge, ■ir,'* wat tIbe reply.
" Htnr !■ II lUdeT wu tbe neirl gi~ .
''Why, tlwre'a mntloa inlil'l, and tunlpe isdl'l, aodi
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
" Ya,^," Hid tbe prince, who bulDcH lew
" Why. thtn'i BUIIDD inUt'l, ud tunim inl
"Vojia; bulwhuiimljl'lt"
Hie nun looked ai hiai, ud, K^g ihu Ihe
" Vc dift Eonk I" yelled <he Uigtaknder. hi
whu'ilniJI-1! Tben'i DuiiDii imlTi, ud '
Hve his royd hLghueu from bdbs npped tr
Hog. To go the whole hog, Thia phrase probably arosf from the
Arabian tlory versified in Cowper's "Love of the World Reproved."
Mohammed aHowed his followers (o eat poric, exceul one portion o( Ihe animsU,
which he did not specify, and consequently stiici Mohammedans were debarred
from eating any. Others, however, through one piece being rocbiddcn.
Thought ll hard
From liu oMtlt k^u>be detwnd,
and so, one taking a leg, another a shoulder, and so on,
Whh »pbbcry their Huce Ihty iweeKB,
Analogous expressions in English are " In for a penny, in for a pound,"
' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' imb," " Neck or nothing, for the
... , poil a horn," and "'Over shoes,
over Doou ; m Scotch, " Ne'er go to the de'il wi' a dish-clout in your hands ;"
in German, " It is all the same whether one has both legs in the slocks or
one ;" in Italian, " It is the first shower that wets i" and in French, "There ii
nothing like being bespattered for making one defy Ihe slough." When
Madame de Cornuel remonstrated with a court lady on certain improprieties
of conduct, the latter exclaimed, " Oh, do let me enjoy the benefit of my bad
Hog not bacon until hung. In the opening c:haptcr of Sir Walter
Scott's " Ivanhoc" is an edifying conversation between Wamba the fool and
Gurth the swineherd, in which the pecutiarity of the English language i*
enlarged upon, that it calls the dressed or cured meat by a different name from
that of the animal from which it came, as M = beef, calf = veal, etc, as though
by being properly dressed and hung up it becomes something more exalt^
Latinized from a Saion villein into a Norman courljet :
ur Legif
"and pork, I Ihinli, bfood
riomun rrencn; uio» wnen me onjie iiveft. ua n uii:nBq|eDi m Saion lUve, ihc Koet bjF
her S^xon name ; but becomes m Norman, mid is called pork, wbcD the it carried 10 the caacJe
ball 10 fan among ihe noblea : whal dou Ihou think of Ihh. rriend Gunh, hal"— AvibtM,
This pleasantry is older than Scott. In his " Apothegms" Francis Bacon
relates an anecdote of his father. Sir Nicholas Bacon, who when about passing
sentence on a malefactor was " mightily importuned" by the latter " for to save
his life,"—
Which, when floihing ihat he laid did avail , he « lesflh deiiied hi* mercy on account of
Undnd. " Prilhee,"Hid my lord judge, "how cane that mV "Why, ifil pleut yoo,
_. t~.4 »..r n.... t. n..nn ...H ^i^.T. 1<_ ...t I. .11 -pa Hog and Bacon have ben aa
." Rplwd Judge Bacon, " ytHud
_ . . Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 481
I cukBcK be klndrtd except you be hukged ; for Hog ■ not Bacon imEiL Lt be well tumped." —
Bacoh : Aftthtgms, 36.
Shakespeare may have had an adumbration of this jest when he lets Mrs.
Quickly say, —
" HanE'lnc" ■■ I'tiii for bacoB, 1 vuiwit you,
Mtrry Wivct »/ WiKUir. Ka iv., Sc, i.
It may be added that the parallelism between Judge Bacon's jest and Mrs.
Quickly s endamation is one of the proob advanced for their theory by the
Baconians. A similar play upon words was made by Curran. One day at
dinner he sat opposite Lord Norbury, who was famous for his severity as a
judge. " Cuiran," asked Norbury, " is that hung beef before you ?" " Vou
try It, my lord," answered Curran, " and it's sure to be."
Hoist with his own petard, to be defeated by one's own device,
caught in one's own trap. The petard was an iron canister filled with gun-
powder, used for blowing up gates, barricades, etc. The danger was lest the
engineer who fired the petard should be blown up with his own explosion.
For 'tk the ipon 10 bave Ibe eneiner
Moiu wilh bn own peurd. ud a ahall ao bard
Bat I wiU delve ODe yard beLo* ib&r nuibea.
And blow them ■■ lbs moon.
Hamlii, Ka iU., 5c. 4.
Holjr ADlanoet a league of the sovereigns of Europe, proposed bv the
Emperor of Russia, September 36, 1815, after the final overthrow of Napo-
leon at Waterloo, and founded upon the idea that religion should be made
the basis of politics, and thai thereafter the affairs of Europe should be regu-
lated by the principles of Christian charity. The act establishing the alliance
was signed br Alexander, Francis of Austria, and Frederick William of .
Prussia, and the treaty was formally promulgated in the Franifert Journal,
February a. 1S16. The kings of England and France acceded to it in iSiE,
and at a congress held at Aachen a declaration of the five monatcha was
issued, statins that the objects of the alliance were peace and legitimate stabil-
ity. Principles of such vague import soon made the league an instrument of
oppression, and it presently became little more than a conspiracy of the mon-
archs against the liberties of the peoples, and the symbol of reaction. In its
name Austria, in 1821, crushed the aspirations of the Pledmontese for inde-
Endence, and stamped out the rising in the kingdom of Naples in 1823.
ance intervened in Spain, aiding in the re-esublishment of absolutism m
that country. Subsequently France and England withdrew from the alliance,
after which it became the mere shadow of a name. By a special article of
the treaty, members of the Bonaparte family were forever excluded from oc-
cupying any European throne.
Hol]r ^ty, a designation given by various peoples to that city which is
peculiarly identified with, as the centre of, their religious faith, and eeneially
the objective point of devout pilgrimages. Thus, Allahabad is the Holy City
of the Indian Mohammedans, Benares of the Brahmanical Hindus, Jerusalem
of the Christians and Jews, Mecca of all Mohammedans, and Moscow of the
Roasians. In the time of the Incas in Peru the name was given to Cuzco,
where there was a great temple of the sun, to which pilgrims resorted from
the farthest ends of the empire.
Holjr liMlgn*, the name of several important and historical combina-
tions. The earliest was that formed in 1508 between Louis XII. of France,
Haximilian 1., Emperor of Germany, Ferdinand V. of Spain, and several
Italian princes, at the instance of Pope Julius II. (whence its name Holy
League), and directed gainst the republic of Venice. By it Venice was com-
V /■ 3?
482 HANDY-BOOK OF
pe1I«d to abandon her powessions in the kingdom of Naples to the Spanbh
crown. The ne](t was a treaty concluded In 1533 between Pope Clement Vlt.,
the Venetians, Francesco Maria Srorza, Duke of Milan, and Francis I. of
France, to compel the Emperor Charles V. to re-establish Sforza in Milan and
to release the French king's son, who was his prisoner, on the payment of a
reasonable ransom. Il was so called because the Pope stood at the head of
the league. Another was a politico-religious ai;sodation formed in France in
1576, in the reign of Henry III., under the auspices of Henri, Due de Guise,
" for the defence of the Holy Catholic Church against the encroachments of
the Reformers." Its political object was to prevent the accession of Henry
IV. and to place the Duke of Guise on the French throne. The Pope gave
it his sanction, but its teliance was upon Philip 11. of Spain.
Holy Ronun Empire, the name of the Germanic empire of the Middle
Ages, by a fiction supposed to be a continuation of the universal domin-
ion of the Romans, and the Kaisers the successors to the world-wide sover-
eignty of the Czsars. Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West by
Pope Leo III. in 3oo A.D. In 962, Otho the Great was crowned as Emperor
of the Romans by Pope John XII., and the " Holy Roman Empire of the
German Nation" lormally proclaimed. The fictioii wa-t continued under one
form or another and through many vicissitudes, which belong to the domain
of history, — the empire and the power of the imperial overlord becoming
more and more mythical.
When Voltaire directed his sharis of ridicule against this empire which was
no empire, and whose other characteristics were, as he said, twofold, — vis., it
was neither holy nor Roman. — it had, in fact, long been practically eztincL
Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French in 1S04, and finally even
the shadow of the unholy and un-Roman thing vanished in the sun of Auster-
liix. With the renunciation by Francis II. of the imperial crown and title,
August 6, 1S06, came the end.
Home, No pIao« Uke. These words occur in John Howard Payne's
famous song " Home, Sweet Home," which originally formed a part of hi*
opera. "Clari, the Maid of Milan 1"
'Mid plcuurq and p>lac4 Ihoogh wc nuy rmu,
Be it ever AO humble, there'i do place like home;
Which, lougilit Ihraugh the vorhl. i> ne'er mtl with dicwikate.
Oh, five me my lowly ihatched coiuge agiiit ;
proverb found ii
a laint likeness also in the following li
If Klid hippiDen we prlie,
And^ihc) anfool"*^ roa
iiilCotioh; TIU Firnidt.SaaB
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
"To every bird its nest is lair" is found both in Italian and in French.
" The smoke of my own house," says the Spanish, " is belter than the fire of
anolhei's." And almost every modern language has the equivalent of " Every
cock is proud on his own dunghill," a proverb which has descended to us
from the Romans. Seneca quotes it thus ; " Callus in suo sterquilinio pluri'
mom potest." Its mediaeval Ibim, "Gallus cantal in suo sterquilinio," was
probably [n Napoleon's mind when he rejected the Gallic cock as the imperial
emblem, saying, " No : it is a bird that crows upon a dunghill." Here are a
couple of mocfcrn forms :
A dog 19 Uoat DD hl> Dun duaghiti.— /VmcA.
EvCTT dos b 1 Uoo 11 \ioa.t.— Italian.
And as a counterpart, —
The fierce ox grovs tane ob tmiife grmutd.— /Vr/avavf.
» ibouHnd tebki, pined uid waaied (bed.
Woddswohth: Guilt nd Srmm.
Alu for Ibe rarity
Of ChralUn churily
Hood: TIu BridtiB/Sifllt.
Vet, oddly enough, it is (o the homeless that tKe world owes some of its
dearest descriptions of home. John Howard Payne, himself, says, " How
often have I been in the heart of Paiia, Berlin, London, or some other city,
and have heard persons singing or heard organs playing ' Home, Sweet
Home,' without having a shilling to buy myself the next meal or a place to
lay my head I Tlie world has literally sung my song till every heart is familiar
with lis melody, yet 1 have been a wanderer from my boyhood, and, in my
old age, have to submit to humiliation for mjr bread." *' How contradictory it
seems," remarks Washington Irving, in his " Life of Oliver Goldsmith,"
"that one of the most delightful pictures of home and horoe-fell happiness
should be drawn by a homeless man ; that the most amiable picture of domes-
tic virtue and all the endearments of the married stale should be drawn by a
bachelor who had been severed from domestic life almost from boyhood ; that
one of the most lender, louching, »nd affecting appeals on behalf of female
loveliness should have been made by a man whose deficiencies in all the
graces of person and manner seemed to mark him out for a cynical disparager
of the sex." The English are fond of asserting that the French language has
no equivalent for the word home, and deduce therefrom the moral that home
life is unknown to the French. Mark Twain notices this slander in his " In-
nocents Abroad :" " They say there is no word for • home' in the French lan-
guage. Well, considering that they have the article itself in Such an attractive
aspect, they ought to manage to get along without the word. Let us not
waste loo much pity on ' homeless' France. I have observed that Frenchmen
abroad seldom wholly ^ve up the idea of going back to France some lime or
other. I an not tnrprised at it now."
484 HANDY-BOOK OF
Max O'Rcll haa made a still more effective answer to the charge ii
" Brother Joiulhan :"
1 wafl nat enktlv ujTprited, on cominif to America, to hnr Uut home tile hardly en'
Fiaoce I had hean? -■— '--'■— '-^ -■■ — i j j
Ualemeat wag that tin
■eat for the Enilkh w<
How glib It the oil
To feel ibe wbole I
language they form pa. - — ^ -r --
the wo^ home in the Anglo-Saxon breait-
saylDg, for example, m clut n^tu ; and ihal (he people, '
Mition, becaiiie i< wa> always folUtoed by a
which 10 Ihii very day bat all in (ignlficance! What a
Home tbey brotight bat irarrlor doad, the Arsl line of a song without
other title in Tennyson's " Princess." The lady who could find no tears for
the crushing blow which desolated her life weeps at the siglit oF her inrant
child, and is saved. The same idea occurs in Scolt's "l^; ol the Last
Miiutrel" (Canto L, SUnza 9) :
Then &u the nulher't ton did Ktk
To dew the infant'i kindliBg cheek.
The climax of Tennyson's poem — the sudden and passionate resolve on the
part or the bereaved parent to live for the child — closely resembles a passage
in Darwin's episode of " Eliza" in the " Botanic Garden." There the mother
ha« been slain in war, the young husband abandons himself to despair, but
at sight of bis two little children he exclaims, like Tennyson's heroine, —
Theie bind 10 euth— for Iboc I pray to live.
Home Ruler*, a name more particularly applied lo the Irish members in the
British Parliament, under the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, from their
scheme of " Home Rule," whose paramount feature is Che establishment of a
separate national parliament for Ireland to legislate on and regulate all her
internal affairs, with full control over Irish resources, revenues, and police,
under condition only of contributing a just proportion to imperial expendi-
ture ; the only matters excluded fiom its jurisdiction being foreign and colonial
questions and the defence of British possessions. In its wider sense the term
includes all those English, Irish, or Scotch who favor Home Rule, as distin-
guished from their opponents, who are called collectively " Unionists" because
they favor the continuance of the present system of a union Parliament of the
three kingdoms fur all purposes.
Homo Bom; bnmani uUiil a me allennm puto (L, "1 am a man, and
I deem nothing human alien 10 me"), a famous line in Act i., Sc. i, of Ter-
ence's "The Self-Tormentor" (" Heauton-ltmorumenos"t. Sl Augustine
lells us thai at thesb words the whole audience, though many of them rude
and ignorant, broke out into thunders of applause. And well they mighu
For it was the first important litera^ enunciation of the great doctrine 01 human
brotherhood which in later ages iound expression in the "Am I not a man
and a brother ?" of Wilberforce, and the " All men are created equal" of the
Declaration of Independence. Il was the first important protest against caite*.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 485
aristocracies, and superiorities of all kinds. The exprcMion of Socrates,
sometimes quoted as its literary ancestor, " 1 am neither Athenian nor Greek,
1 am or the whole world" (see First an Englishman), — this expression only
foreshadows its cosmopolitan but hardly its humanitarian meaning. Far
closer is Seneca's imitation, " Homo sacra res hominis" {Efiistia, icv. 33).
An amusing variation of the theme is supplied by the vivacious Max O'Rell.
In " Les chers Voisins," p. 285, he says, " A Frenchman feels the influence
of the itau sexe to such a degree that with him woman is a fixed idea. Il is
his worship. Parodying the verse of Terence, he says to himself, '1 am a
man, and everything that concerns womankind interests me.'"
Bonest — Honeat^. " To be honest, as this world goes," says Hamlet, " is
to be one man picked out of (en thousand."
says Fletcher, in the " Triumph of Love," and elsewhere, —
Mm il fail awn Mil, and ituu loul ihii an.
Be h«w« l> the only pofccl man.
Pope's version is better known :
A phrase Irom Delbe may be added ; " An honest man is the best title that
can be ^ven in the world"
Tlie modeu froai oT thli uull Baor,
Bcliev« me, reader, cud hv more
Than Buny ■ bnvcr mulri* can. —
Chashaw: EfUafk Hfm Mr. Atkttn.
Heinrich Heine says of Labyette, —
Honest lnjtin, in colloquial American, is equivalent to the English "honor
bright," and is often heard among school-boys as a pledge of faith. Originally,
no doubt, the reference to Indian honesty was sarcastic
HooMty 1« the b««t policy, a proverb found in Cervantes,— " Don
Quixote," Part H., ch. xixiil, — but probably a proverb before his day. Il
has been objected that he who acts on the principle is no honest man. In-
deed, the maxim has been condemned as a scoundrelly saying, which would
lesolve a rule of right into a question of expediency. Trench's gloss, how-
ever, is good common sense. " DoubllESS," says the Dean, " there are prov-
erbs not a few which, like this, move in the region of what has been well
called 'prudential moralil; ;' and did wc accept them as containing the whole
circle of motives to honesty or other right conduct, nothing could be worse,
or more fitted to lower the moral standard of our lives. He who resolves to
be honest because, and only because, it is Uu till policy, will be little likely
long to continue honest at alL But the proverb does not pretend to usurp the
place of an ethical rule ; il docs not presume to cast down the higher law
which should determine to honesty and uprightness, that it may put itself in
its place ; it onl^ declares (hat honesty, let alone that it is the right thing, is
also, even for this present world, the wisest"
Shakespeare says, —
Ho leaan !• w> ricb u honetty,
AVt WlU tlial EnJi lfV//,AcIlU., Sc.s.
Honey-moon, the first month of marriage. Among the northern nations
of Europe there was an andenl practice for newly-married couples to drink
melheglin, ar mead, a kind of wine made from honey (hydromell, for thirty
486 HANDY-BOOK OF
days after matri^e. Hence ihe term hanry-month ot honey-moon. Attila
the Hun drank so much mead al his •eddlng-feasi that he died.
Honi Bolt qui mal j peoae ("Shame" — or, as il is more commonly
though erroneously Iranslaled, "evil — to him whoevil thinks"), the motto of the
Order of the Garter and of the Crown of England. The order was established
by Ejlward III. on A|]ril 33, 1349. But why Ihe garter was selected as its
name and symbol, and what is Ihe special significance of the motto, have
long been moot questions with historians. Camden and others suggest that
as Richard Ctenr de Lion had once distinguished some chosen knights by
causing them 10 tie a thong or garter round the leg, Edward had reminis-
cently given his own garter as the signal for a battle, probably Cr<!cy, in
which he was successful. Polydote Virgil, whose history appeared in t^j6,
nearly two hundred years after (he event, is the first authority for the familiar
story that the Countess of Salisbury, Ihe king's mistress, dropped her garter
at a ball, and that Edward picked it up and handed it back to the lady with
the remark, " Honi soil qui mal y pense," and furlhwilh founded the order.
Polydore's authority, therefore, is no authority at all. Il is extremely unlikely
that such an incident would have been suppressed by Proissart, who makes
no mention of it, though he relates the story of the countess's amour with
the king. The motto, 11 may be added, is an old French one provertMal in
France Dcfore Edward's day.
Honor. Evorrthlng !■ loat save bonor, the famous phrase attributed
to Francis 1., King of France. Guy de Maupassant thus comments upon it
in "Sur I'Eau:" "Francis I., silly though he was, addicted to courtesans
n unfortunate general, has saved his memory and surrounded his
wiin an imperishable halo by writing to his mother those few superb
after the defeat at Pavia : Tout at ferdu. madame, fori rkonnrur. Does n
o-day seem lu us as fine as a victory f Has it not illustrated the
piince more than the conquest of a kingdom ? We have forgotten the name*
of most of Ihe great battles fought at thai distant epoch ; shall we ever forget
Tmil at ferdn,/ari rkonneurf' Unfortunately, Francis I. never used the
[ihrase, but only something remotely analogous, which formed a part of a long
elter to his mother, Louise de Savoie. The letter itself has been lost. But
his mother's reply, which makes copious quotations from the letter, was
found in Ihe manuscript registers of Parliament and published in 1S3S. From
this il appears that the king^s missive began with the words, " Nothing remains
to me but honor and life which is saved' ("De touteschoses nera'est demeuri
que I'honneur et la vie qui est saulvrfe").
Three days after (he battle of Waterloo. Caulaincourl exclaimed to Napo-
leon al the palace of Ihe Elysee, " All is lost I" " Excepli I'honneur," said
Napoleon, recognizing Ihe cue.
When the Comte de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII,) was asked to
renounce his claim lo the French throne, he is reported by Bourrienne to have
said that he was ignorant of the designs of Providence, but he knew the obli-
gations of his rank; as a Christian he would perform those obtigalions to the
last ; as a son of .St. Louis he would respect himself even in chains ; as the
successor of Francis 1. he would say, as he had said, "Tout est perdu, fori
I'honneur." {Mtmeirt of Napolion, vol. ii. ch. xxvi.)
" What is left when honor is lost }" is the 265th Maxim of Publiu* Syrus.
And Ihe noble lines of Richard Lovelace spring at once to the nind :
I could D« lovt ihce. dtmr, » much.
Tt LiKaila, tn GfiHg to tkt War,.
Honor amonf thierc*. Edmund Burke, in his great speech oa the
. Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 487
Inpcachment of Warren Hastings, aivs, " Vou see how they »re bound to
one another, and how they give iheir fidelity to keep the secrets of one another
to prevent the directors having a true knowledge of their affairs ; and I am
sure if you do not destroy this honor among conspirators atid this faith among
robbers that there will be no other honor and no other Adeiily among our
servants in India." The proverb is far older than Burke. The principle in
human nature upon which it is founded has been a Truilful topic with students
of man. John Locke remarks of justice and the keeping of contracts that it is
a principle which is thought to extend itself to the dens of thieves and the
confederacies of the greatest villains :
Jufldce and trtith are the cominui (Let of tocicty, ud tber«fote even outUvi and robben,
who bt^t with all ihe world besideg, mun k««p nil«s of ^ih and «guiry among UieniBelvcs,
HaiTitt explains that honor among thieves may flourish in inverse propor-
tion to Iheir honesty towards outsiders :
Their honor lonaim in the division of ihe booty, noi la the mode of afquirina ; ihey da
DOI (often) betray one amther ; they may be depended on in g^vioE the alarm when any of
their poata are in danger of being aurpriaed ; and they wUI itand togeilier tor ttieir ill-gotlen
faini ID the last drop of their blood.
Sir Waiter Scott frequently refers to this principle. "They call us marau-
ders, thieves, and what not," says the jackman in "The Monastery," "but the
side we take we hold by." And he paints his Borderers as severe observers
of the £uth which they have pledged to an enemy :
Even the wild outlaw In hii fortsl walk
Keepfl yet some tonch of civU difcipline ;
Halb man wiih man in Kcial union dwell.
To this a parallel may be found in Sheridan Knowlea's "Virginius :"
Dog fiohia with dof. but honeaty is pot
A cur that Inia \A% tenon's, and e'en dogi,
By habit of companioosbip, al^de
Id lerma of faith and cordiality.
In view of the fact that honor is so universal among thieves, no wonder
Falslaff thinks things have come to a pretty pass when Poins and the Prince,
who had agreed to help him out in a highway-robbery, turn round and play
tricks upon him. No wonder he vows to give up thieving altogether and
turn honest : " A plague upon't, when thieves cannot be true to one another."
Moody, The aclnr, was robbed of bit watcb and money. He tiegged the higbwaymaD to
dayi after he was taken, and Moody, bearing Ami. be was at " The Brown Bear," in th<
Strand, went to ioquirt after hit waicb ; Ihii wben be began 10 tpcaV of it, the fellow exclaimed.
day* after he wi
ntt I thought you had
Honorable Bilk, originally an English phrase to designate a member of
Parliament who, being a fraudulent creditor (as Dryden used the word " bilk"),
avails himself of the privilege of Parliament in regard to arrest on civil prOMs*.
The term has somehow found its way to California, and has there a wider ap-
plication, describing all people who grovel for office and the wages of office.
Honoia ohoiif^ maimsn, a familiar English proverb, literally translated
from the medixval Latin " Honores mutant mores," which may be found in
the "Gesia Romanorum," so;, App, ix., and in Polydore Virgil's collection
of " Adagia," Prov. cciL In the form " Honors should change manners" it is
quoted in Camden's " Retnains," p. 125, ed. tSyo, and in Latin in Polydoie
4a» HAHDY-BOOK OF
VErgil's " Histoiy of England," Book xxii,, where, apeiking of Henry V., be
aays, " Hie vir, hic fuit, qui a primo docuil honores, ut est in proverbio, debere -
mutate honores" ("This man it was who from the lirst taught that honors,
according to the proverb, should change manners"). The proverb is frequently
used in a detoealory sense, meaning that honors unduly inflate the recipient^
■elf-esteem. Thus, when Sir Thomas More was made chancellor. Manners,
who had himself lately been created Earl of Rutland, told him thai he was too
much elated with his preferment ; that he verified the old proverb, " Honores
mutant mores." " No, my lord," said Sir Thomas, " the pun will do much
better in English : ' Honors change Manners.' "
Hoodlttnui, a name which originaied on the Facilic coast about 1S6S,
first applied to a gang of young ruffians in San Francisco, whence it spread
eastward, md is now generally applied, with some political significance, to a
tough, and is incorporated in the phrase "The hoodlum element in politics."
The true origin of the word is uncertain. The following are oflered for
what they are worth :
A nevipipa mia Id Su Fnndico, in iticmpiiag xo coin a word to dnimme ■ niw at
imgURd Arjtbi under the beck of one pamrd " Muldoon," hh upon the idea of dubbing
._ ■■ II .1.-.:, .: — I ; 1.. i..j_. Inwriiing ihe ■mrd Ibe Jlroka
ling Ihs nttx a. k, primed it
odiums/' — 71/ Cfft^rtgalion^iii, September 9fi, 187;
gang 01 bid buys from raurteen to Diaeieen yean oT ace wu aaociited Tor ihe putpofe
_i: — -^Tt 6oy> had t place of raideivom, and when danger Ihreueoed them iheir
_„. Doyi had a place . .. _.
urorda df warning wn, " Huddle 'em I Huddle
A 'into IrawUuin,— ^^ 'Amgtlii iCJii!)'EipTt
sctibine the «m( and Ibeir plan of o|MraIioH, wa> publulwd in d» Son Fiu
re appeared bi San FnnciB
Befonil
Clhe djeaa of thia man. The head-dreu memUed the fei, from which was luspended a
_ laiL T^i gnmini called ii a " hood," and ibe company became koown am the " hoodA-"
The rowdy element m the city adopted much of the dreu cpf (he company tefored ro, who
were lOOD daignaied ai " hoodlumi. — Sin FrxxciKs Msrmnig CaU, October 97. tS77.
Hook or b; Crook, By. A number of ingenious hypotheses regarding
the origin of this phrase may be found in current works of reference, btit, u
the majority of them are invalidated by the single circumstance that the
phrase mounts up to a much higher antiquity than the time of Ihe alleged
origin (it may be found in "Colin Clout, written about 1240), it is only
necessary to consider the two explanations which can stand this test of time-
One is that when Strongbow invaded Ireland in 1173 he swore that he was
going to take it by Hook or by Crook, those being the names of two places
m the port of Walerford. If he did make use of this expression, it is not at
alt unlikely that it was a punning allusion to a proverb already in circula-
tion. Certainly the most satisfactory explanation of the phrase makes it rise
from the ancient forestal rights granted to the poor and others of carrying
away for fuel any refuse, dead or damaged portions of trees which could be
removed without detriment to the owner of the wood by some simple means,
falling short of the axe and the saw, incidental to the felling of timber for
general purposes. Such simple means of removal were the hooked poles or
crooks oy which dead branches, etc, could be detached and pulled down and
hauled homewards. Accordingly, this right is in old records called "a right,
with hook and crook, to lop, crop, and carry away fuel." For very full in-
formation see a number of discussions upon the subject in Notts ana Querits,
first series, L 168, etc ; ii. 78, 204 ; iii. 1 16, 21Z ; second series, i. jai ; fourth
Mcies, viii. 64, etc ; ix. 77.
Hoosier State, in common parlance and political phrue, a name given
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 4S9
to the State of Indiana. Its origin is uncertain, and the best explanation is
that which derives it from the customary challenge or mode of erecting in
the local vernacular current in the early history of the Suie: " Who's yer?"
(Who's here i) pronounced hooaier. A native of^Indiana is called a " Hoosicr."
Hop0. Matthew Prior gives us the Ibllowing detinition of h«pe :
or ope >>^^^ ^^ ^^ Vanity i/ lit IVtrld, Book Ui., 1. los.
But the definition is a very ancient one, and has been referred to Plato by
lEIian {Var. ffia., rm. 39) and by Diogenes Laerlius to Aristotle, who, when
asked what hope is, answered, "The dream of a waking man." In Latin
Quinlilian echoes the phrase with a qoalificalion :
Et tpo inana. et velul untpU quxdvn, vigiUniium (" Vdin hop«t m like cnlaia drtjuu
of !!»■£ wbo whIw"). — Initituitif vi. a, 17.
Another ancient thought is echoed by Gay :
Wbile tben'i lift then'i hope, hs cried,
TTu Sick /Han and OuAnt'll
which is literally the same as Cicero's
Xrroio, dun uim c*t, >pc3 at (" While Ibc ilck mu bu lUc, ihen to hope").— J>uf*-
lanmadAUieam.ix. id.
Theocritus, in Idyl IV., L 42, says, less pointedly, —
Goldsmith expands the thought in the lines thus printed in " The Captivity,"
And even the pang precvdias dealh
Bids eipectulon rise ;
bat more GunilJar, and desenedly so, in the original manuscript, which has
fortunately been preserved to us :
The wreidti coodenui'd vith life lo put
Siill, nUUnhoperelia:
And every pang Uut mdi the been
Bida ejipecuiloa rise.
Still another change upon the fruitful theme is rung by Pope in the bmous
liia »(d, uneuv and coDfined rrom home.
Rem end eipuutei in n life to come.
Eiiay M Man, E|^le I., 1. 95 ;
which are, after all, but a versification of the passage in Pascal :
Thm we never live, but w hope to live ; and alwayt dispoaing ourtdves to Ik bappy. il
This finds an echo aUo in Massillon ;
Weneverenjoy.we always hope,— AiTMH /or S. BiiHdicflDaj.
Dryden had already said, —
When 1 coniider liTe, 'lit nU a cheat.
Vei, fool'd wiih hope, men favor ibe deceit :
To.mwraVs falw il^r^forM 4« r
Lin wQiK, and white it uyt we iliall be bleu
Google
496 HANDY-BOOK OF
"Hi d« for nothii^ tlimt we Ufe portiK ;
It pBjn our bop«t wiih sapethtna Hill dut'i dcv.
The following familiar lines, which i
Songstei," vol. iL p. 86, are crediled tt
the end of Ihe eigbteenib century :
Hope lelLi ■ flmuenniE ule.
Deluiive, vuD, ud hollow.
AfaT ]« OM hope pRviil
Leu dlMppomiment follDW.
But whjr should we banish hope, if what Cowley tells i
Hope, of ill ill> ihai DIED mdun.
The only chap ud uniTcnil cure.
Tbe New Testament reckons hope a
cominends tbose "who against hope believed
coramendalion echoed by two modern poets :
]I ii to hope, Ihough hope wen 1o«,
^■Q. Baiuuiild; Com. iuT,, Find y«Uk:
and magnificently paraphrased by Milion in bis sonnet on hia own blindnesa :
Asalnn Heaven'i hud oc wiS, dot bwe > jot
Of hem or hope ; bat ilill bear up ud Heer
Rllhl OBWuil.
Stmit XXII.
The Old Testament, however, recognizes that "Hope deferred makeih Ihe
heart sick" {Praieris jdiL iz), — a thought which has been amplified bf
FuU little ki>Dwe» thou, tlwt but nol Did*.
Wbw bell it to in luing long to bide '.
To lootc rood dayea, tlut oiighi \ni better ipem ;
ToipiiJto-dity.lo be puibeclt lo-moirowj
To leed OB hope, to pine with (eue ud larTow.
To fm thT Kule with ciouei and wiib cum ;
To eaie thy bean through comfonleufl dispaln* ;
To fawn, to crowche, to waite, to ride, to ronne,
Uuhappie whghi, bwne to deiutrous eod,
I'hai doth hii lile in » long leDdaace (pud I
UaUuT HmiitrJi Talt, 1. 191.
Nevertheless, the loss of all hope Is the final and most terrible of all evill,
""' . ^ . ^g j-jjj. j|jg inmates of hell. — ibe first in
Thui repuiwd, OUT 6iial hope
^"' PtraJiu Lttl.B<ia\.^.,\. 1^,
and tbe latter In tbe famous legend which he places over the entrance to
belh
Latciale ogni ipcnun vol di' vnmn.
(" AbudoD all bope^ ye who enter Iwm,")
Horn. Coming oat of the Uttle end of the bom. This proverbial
expression, tneaning that a man has been swindled, or taken in, or otherwise
"badly left," is not a pure Americanism, although il is almost extinct at
piMent in England. But a correspondent of iVoIri' and Queruj, seventh
•eric*, i*. 333, My* he has heard the phrase in Warwickshire. The une
Coogk"
LITERARY CURlOStTIES. 49*
conespondent describes an old panel-painting seen by him in a country curi-
osity-shop, and apparently of tlie sixteenth century, which represents a poor
wretch being thrust into the large end of a born, while his unhappy head and
one arm protrude fcom the little end. Underneath is written, —
Thi> taoni imblciQ hen dolfa thaw
Pictures simHar to this appear to have been comtnaii in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. In ■' Eastward Hoe" (1605) Ben Jonaon makes one of
his characters say, " I had the home of sureliship ever before my eyes. You
all know the device of the home where the young fellow stippes in at the
butle-end and comes stjueeied out at the buckall." Subsequenllv a ballad
seems to have been written on the subject Thus, in Fletcher's " Wife for a
Month," —
Wortfl ihu the prodigo] fool ibc ballad tpeaVt of.
Ttiw WM •queeied Ihrough a honi.
The Spaniards have a proverb somewhat akin to this : " La ley del embudo ;
el aiicho para mi, el estrecho para t(," — that is, " The law of the funnel ; the
broad end for me, the narrow for thee." Another equivalent is the Amer-
ican "Heads I win, tails you lose," or the once familiar "You no talke«
turkey to me at all," said to be the answer of an Indian to a Yankee who
proposed a shooting-match at a turkey : " If you kill it, I gel it ; and if I kill
It, you lose it"
Horn-book, a thin board of oak about nine inches long and five or six
wide, on which were printed the alphabet, the nine digits, and sometimes the
Lord's Prayer. It had a handle, and was coveted in front with a sheet of thin
horn to prevent its being soiled, ai^d the back-buard was ornamented with a
rude sketch of St. George and the Dragon. The board and its horn covet
were held tt^ether by a narrow frame of brass. Formerly the first "book"
put in the bands of the English school-boy.
Tickul: TIu Hm-Bttk.
Th^ booki of luliire imall Ihey look In bud.
To taw llrom fioaer w«t ih« Icner fair.
SHa»sTOHK: Tkt ScUalMiitTia.
Lord Lytlon, when some one pointed to the successful attempts at demo-
cratic government in the colonies as examples for monarchical and aristocratic
England, replied, " I can only say that he has not studied the hoin-book of
leg^lali^" (of Lord Palmerston's Reform Bill in ig6o).
Honw, when given to Moses as a distinctive mark, — t^., in Michael Angelo's
well-known statue, in an older figure in Roslin Chapel, and in most medixval
lepresenlalions of the law-giver,--afrord a curious instance of a misunderstand-
ing being stereotyped in stone. In Exodus xxxiv. zg ^ stq. it is said iha*
when Moses came down from the mount his face shorn. The verb for this in
the Hebrew is qiran, to emit rays, originally to put forth horns ; from qtreit,
a horn. "This meaning has developed itself from a comparison of the first
rays of the rising sun, which shoot out above the Imrizon, to Ihe horns of the
gaiclle, a compuisoD which it met with in Ihe Arabian poets." (Kkiu) S4
492 HANDY-BQOfC OF
the correct translation of Habakkuk iii. 4, " He had horna coming out ol
his hand," would be, as in the margin. " bright beams." St. Jerome made, un-
fortunately, a similar mistake in rendering " his face shone" in the passage
in Exodus according to its primitive meaniiig,/iiTnn isst eomaiam, " bis lace
was horned." From this misconception sprang tlie horned Moses of the
painters and sculptors, with some reference perhaps to horns as a symbol of
power, which in this sense are assigned to Alexander and others on coins-
From the association of horns with cuckoldry, a man who (or a considera-
tion assumes the paternity of another's bastard is said in colloquial English
to stand Moses, and is obliged by the parish to maintain iL A cognate phrasif
b in the same manner explained by Cotgrave : " Holie Mows, whose otdinaije
counterfeit having on either side of the head an eminence or lustre, arising
somewhat in the forme of a horne, hath emboldened a ptophane author to
stile cuckolds parents de MoJFse."
HoTM. A horuAl a hoTMl my kingdom for a bone I the cry with
which the unhorsed monarch appears upon the stage in Act v., Scene 4, <£
" Richard III.," while the battle of Bosworlh is supposed to be raging. It is
not an historical exclamation, but had been ^miliar to the stage even before
Shakespeare's use of it. Indeed, it is found in the older play the "True
Tragedie of Richard the Third" (1594), in this form :
A hone, I banc, > bnh how I
SIlMtiiftarl Siciily Rtprint, p. 64.
■\ peculiar to Richard III.
1) the Moor calls oat, —
A bone, ■ iMne, villain, 1 hone I
llwl 1 mar uke the ilnr itial^l, uid fly I
Shakespeare's very words were frequently imitated, copied, or btlrlesqued,
u in the following instances:
Ten kiniiloiiu lor ■ bone to enltr Tror,
HaraDOD: Am,^, Pun II. (itji).
Ha I be irauiiu ChirdI on Ihc vioEi of fan.
A boTV* 1 Jt hone T mv kingdom tbr a ban* t
Look ib«, I fpeali pCiT KrHu.
In Shakespeare the Ihoughl reappears in an entirety different form in " The
Tempest," Act i., Sc I, when Gonialo gives the ship up for lost :
Now would I eIk b lhaiuiiid furloBt* •if •£* for an acre of bainii ground ; browD bulb,
lODff lur», anytliTDg.
Horwa, FotiT-iu-liaiid. Great culprits at one time were fastened limb for
limb to four horses, which being urged in different directions, the victim was
litetallytorn limb from limb. The last person toMifferin this manner in Enrope
was Robert Francois Damiens, in 1757, for an attempt to assassinate Louis XV.
Other notable instances of this form of capital punishment were those of Pol-
trot de Uhi, in 1563. for the murder of the Due de Guise ; .Salcide, in IjSa, for
conspiring against the Due d'Alen^on ; Brillaud, in 1588, Tor poisoning the
Prince dc Qonii ; and Ravaillac, in 1610, (or the murder of Henry IV.
Diomedc. tyrant of Thrace, fed his horses with strangers who visited his
coast Hercules vanquished him and gave him to his own hones for food.
HcR Hcb dire wclcDine li for you pRpued
His baplest guciu Id Blleai Dildnigbl bled.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 493
The Sist person, according to Virgil, that drove foar-iD'hand was Ericb-
thofiius :
Gforgies, BookiiL^l, T13.
HonoB. Not baat to swap, -when oiOAalng a abreun. This remark,
which has becuTnc a colloquialism in the United Stales, was made by Abraham
Lincoln on June 9, 1864, after his renominalion to Ihe Presidency. On that
occasion he replied to ihe congratulations of ihe National Union league, "I
have not permitled myselT, gentlemen, to conclude thai 1 am the best tnan in
this country ; but I am reminded in this connection of the glory of an old
Dutch farmer, who remarked 10 a companion Ihat it was not best to swap
horses when crossing a stream."
Honoshooa and Oood Lnclc The custom of nailing a horseshoe
over the door of a house or other building as a protection asamst evil spirits
and an assurance of good luck is widely spread over England and the United
Stales. It also lingers among all the Teutonic and Scandinavian races, and
flourishes apace in Hindoslan. The horseshoe unites within itself three
lucky elements : it is crescent- shaped, is a portion of a horse, and is made
of iron. Popular superstition has long endowed iron with protecting powers.
Such powers attached in some degree lo most melals. but since, in most
counlnes, iron has been Ihe metal latest worked, il naturally inherited the
virtues of the others. The Romans drove nails into the waits of cottages as
an antidote to the plague. When Arabs in the desert are overtaken by a
simoon, they seek lo propitiate Ihe Jinns who have raised it by crying, " Iron 1
iron !" The Scandinavian exorcises the Neckan, or river spirit, with an oper.
knife in Ihe bottom of his boat, or a nail sei in a reed, singing, —
N«lun, Heckui, nail innur!
The Viisin Muy cuuih hbcI Id «ier t
Do you liDk. 1 Alt.
Celtic, Finnish, and Welsh superslilions agree lhat iron is a guard against
witchcraft II has always been held a good omen to And old iron, and, as
horseshoes are Ihe readiest form in which old iron could be found, it is
naturally Ihe form to which Ihe remnant of the superslilion has longest
Horses, in the popular mythology of England, were looked upon as luck-
bringers. In Yorkshire il is still thought that disease may be cured by bury-
ing a horse alive. A horse's hoof placed under an invalid's bed is a specific
for many complaints in rural districts. In Ireland, Camden says, "when a
horse dies, his feel and legs are hung up in the house, and even the hoo& ate
On account of its form, there is no doubt thai ihe qualities anciently as-
cribed lo the crescent have been transferred lo the horseshoe. The crescent,
like the horseshoe, is semicircular in shape and ends in two points. From
the earliest antiquity ornaments shaped in this way have been papular ~"
aixl Herrick, in hia " Ilesperides," says, —
lie hfg (b« ridta the 11
"^Xh5
;i:,vG00gk"
494 HANDY-BOOK OF
All these have this curved or forked shape terminating in t*o points. The
seal of Solomon, in felicitously styled the penlacle, was suppoMd to have
f'eat power ; il consisted of two triangles, presenting six forks. In Italy and
pain, the evil eye is averted by extending the forefinger and lillle dnnr
forward like apair of horns, the two middle fingers being bent down under
the thumb. The Chinese have their tombs built in a semiciicular form like
a horseshoe, and the Moors are also wont to use that form in ihcir atchi-
tecture. The ^t that the nimbus or halo which in old pictures surrounds
the heads of saints and angels bears a rude resemblance to a horseshoe is
no doubt one of the many accidental coincidences thai have strengthened tbb
popular superstition.
The belief in the horseshoe attained its greatest diffusion al ihe end of the
last century and the beginning of this. Aubrey, in his " Miscellanies," tells
us that in hia lime most houses in the West End of Lundoii had a horseshoe
nailed over the threshold. In 1813, Sir Henry Ellis counted seventeen horse-
shoes in Monmouth Street, but m iS4t only live ot six remained. Lord
Nelson nailed a horseshoe to the mast of Ihe Victory ; and " Lucky Dr.
James" attributed the success of his fever-powders 10 the finding of a horse-
shoe, which symbol he adupted as a crest for his carriage.
n the general sense of fast,
„ , , , i, horse-racing, and love '
horses cany with ihem a lowering of the moral lone. Thus, Portia says t
^emptuously of one of the pretenders to her hand, "That's a colt indeed,
for he doth nothing but talk of his horse" (Merchant 0/ Vinitf, Act L, Sc a),
— colt meaning a witless youngster. Pope, in his "hpistle to Miss Blount,
on her leaving the town after the Coronation," pictures hei in rural retire,
ment, flirlii^ with a country squire :
SoRic iquire, perhapi, you uke delight 10 rack.
bote lau^hi tit beany, tbousb his j«
id loves yau b«t of all tbingi — but h
Are not all these a reminiscence of Ecclesiastic us xiiviii. 35? Few pas-
sages in the Apocrypha are more familiar than that in which the Son of
Sirach asks. " How can he get wisdom thai holdelh Ihe plough, and that
glorieih in Ihe gnad, that diiveih oxen, and is occupied in iheJr labors, and
whose talk is of bullocks ?" Ever since hia day these words have been quoted
10 stigmatize the slupidity uf squires and landed gentry, who live on their
estate and like I0 talk about i» products. Thus. Dr. Johnson said of his
hospitable entertainer, Di. Taylor, the reclor of Ashborne, that his regard
for the good man did not increase, " for his talk is of bullocks," Vel Dr.
Johnson was delighted when Mrs. Thiale's mother, answering a country
clergyman's complaints thai his parishioners were unsocial, that " they talk
of runts," said, " Sir. Mr. Johnson would learn to talk of rums," implying
Ihal there was a man who would make Ihe most of circumstances and sur-
roundings. Shakespeare, in the "Second Part of King Henry IV." lAct ill.,
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 495
Sc. 3), makes his country justice eagerly divert his thoughts from the death of
his old friends to the questioti ol bullocks ;
SkaUm. To KC how muy of mine aid icquilDUim Ire dead ■
's Iliad had already applied
, repUedJ,
nmvcii ■ ant\, EHe GrecUn ttrcn^ aod pndc.
The aame passage is thus ttanslated by Bryant :
Hden, the buullTul and richly rotnd,
Aiuwired, "Thou unl Ihe mighty Aj»x there.
The bulwuk of ihe Gieelu."
The duke himself rang another chang' upon the phrase vhen he said that
be considered Napoleon^ presence in iTie field caual lo forty thousand men
in the balance. Afterwards, in conversation with Stanhope, Seplembet 18,
1836, he enplained his meaning as follows r " This is a very loose way of talk'
in^ ; but the idea is a very different one from that of his presence at Ihe battle
being equal to a reinforcemenl of forty thousand men."
In 1798, President John Adams, in view of a war with France which seemed
imminent, wrote to Washington at Mount Vernon, " We must have your
. ,, .^^^ ^j[, .. -.. .,.1 . «■ . . -. . .
One btasi upon hit bugle horn
LmJji o/lht Lakr, Cuto vt.. Sunn it.
Plutarch, in his ■• Apothegms," records that when Aniigonus II. was told
by his pilot, before a naval battle with the lieutenants of Ptolemy, that the
enemy's ships outnumbered his own, he replied, " But how many ships do you
reckon roy presence lo be worth f"
Hot and cold. To blow. When Dr. Rcid was permilled lo make his
experiment in ventilation of the houses of Parliament by alternate blasts of
hot and cold ait, the following appeared in the London Tima:
U vny uiuru Indeed,
Pgc nseoe need be lold
The wocthy Kiealilu: man
It acting OD the premkr't plan
or Msvliig \>at aad cald.
The phrase, which means to be a trimmer, 10 veer with the wind, to be
hypocritical, ukes its origin in Mst3f'a fable of the man who alarmed his
neighbor by warming his bnger? and cooling his soup with his breath.
Hot-Wator Wax. Soon after the Whiskey Rebellion [q. v.) fresh trouble
arose from an attempt of the Federal government to levy a direct tax on
houses, and, as in the former trouble, the centre of disturbance was the Stale
of Pennsylvania. When the officers came to make the necessary measure-
ments, Ihe women deluged Ihem with hot water, whence the disturbance be-
came known as Ihe Hot- Water War. In the town of Bethlehem, in March,
1 799, when the United States marshal arrested some offenders, Ihe latter were
Kscued by an armed mob under Ihe leadership of one John Fries, and the
49* HANDY-BOOK OF
disturbance assumed a serious aspect, so that the miiilia were called in to
restore order. Fries was arrested, convicted of treason, aiid sentenced to
death, and a number of his followers were condemned to longer or shorter
terms of imprisonment. All were pardoned, however, by President John
Adams. The law imposing the tax was repeated two or three years later,
under Jefferson's administration.
House. A nun's house is hla oastle. This phrase originated with
Sir Edward Coke, in his Third Institute, p. i6z : " For a man's house is his
OSXXk, it domui sua ctuqat tutissimum refiignm" ("and his house the safest
retreat (or every one ). The quotation is from the Roman law [Pom-
dats, ii. 4). A less pithy expression of the idea occurred in the opinion
delivered by Coke in Semayne's case, 5 Rep., 91: "The house of every
one is to him his caslle and fortress, as wdt for his defiance against injury and
violence as for his repose." In a speech on the Excise Bill Chatham amplified
Coke in this splendid fashion: "The poorest man may in his cottage bid
defiance to all the force of the crown. It may be frail ; its roof may shake ;
the wind may blow through it ; the storms may enter, the rain may enter, — but
the king of England cannot enter ; all his forces dare not cross the threshold
of the ruined tenement !" When an Irish attorney quoted the phrase " The
rain may enter, but the King of England cannot," I^rd Norbury, who was on
the bench, exclaimed, " What t not the reigning king ?"
The French say, "The collier (or charcoal-burner) is master in his own
house" (" Charbonnier est maltre chez soi"), and they refer the origin of the
Koverb to a hunting-adventure of Francis I., related by Blaise de Montluc
aving outridden alfhis followers, the king look shelter at nightfall in the
cabin of » charcoal-burner, whose wife he found sitting alone on the floor
before the fire. She told him, when he asked for hospiulily, that he must
wait her husband's return, which he did, seating himself on the only chair the
cabin contained. Presently the man came in, and. aAer a brief greeting, made
the king give him up the chair, saying he was used to sit in it, and it was but
right that a man should be master in his own house. Francis expressed his
entire concurrence in this doctrine, and he and his host supped together very
amicably on game poached from the royal tbresL
"Man," said Ferdinand VII. to the Duke of Mcdina-Celi, the premier
nobleman of Spain, who was helping him on with his great-coat, — "man, how
little you areT' "At home I am great," replied the dwarflsh grandee.
" When I am in my own house I am a king" is another Spanish saying.
Hnb of tbe nnlveise, or simply ^le Hnb, a abriqati for Boston, which
its ciliiens have humorously appropriated, with the consciousness that there's
many a true word spoken in jest Hub is provincial English for anything
knobby or projecting,— a boss. In the United Slates it survives chiefly as the
name for tlie wooden or melal centre of a carriage- or wagon-wheel. Hence
the Hub, metaphorically, means the centre. The jest had its origin with Dr.
Holmes, in the " Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table" (1859) :
It »M'"bIiui our p£S>H lit' d'idn-i l<no» w™ ™ r." """*'" "'^°*
" Boilon StsK-bouK li the hub <
° " sl^-' uTd 1, " 1 im cruified >
which I h. vt »in«in>n faord utu. -
cucntially uiie oT Boaion. and of all 01
I have the privilege of being ecquainled.
kcl well, by the way, 1 lign in Ihsl 1
sf It.'" " ^ Napiet and Ihto die."
•LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 497
The Rev. F. R Zincke, an Engliahtnan who (ravelled throush the United
Stales, and on his return published " Last Winter in the United Stales"
(i86g), does nol seem lo have been aware of Holmes's claim :
Thihob inAi
ud oi> wh£:b Ibt
^orccnire-ple
^ hat been Uh
romwhicb
whKl will
C, ll oftlD 1
S lh*t bl>»
ihcipokoridiau,
Ud New EnglaDd.
:»lt«l<he"hubcl'
< r<u<d wid nuuj*
The phrase
humorously la
porunce.
DJCWH.. ..
"hub of the world." or
1 any place supposed by
"hub of the 1
its inhabitan
of Ibe univeiK
universe," is now applied
t» to be of unusual iin-
^— Zoiri&i. Dalfy Nnat. Jm-
,.8A
An exccllcnl bit of Comic etymology in Nola and Qiieriis, fourth
seeks to derive hub from umUlKui. Vet tKeie is a sirange l
between the two words. For whereas to-day Boston is Ihe hub of Ihe
univeiBC, Homer describes Calypso's island as the " navel of the world," the
centre of all the seas. In jEschylus, a certain round stone in the temple of
Delphi is the " navel" or centre of the earth, and here does Orestes take
refuge when pursued by ihe Eumcnides. Pindar has anticipated .^chylus
here, and, after an era, Pausanias (like Herr Schick) had Ihe pleasure of
seeing the only genuine central hub at Delphi. "It is made," he says, "of
white stone, smooth and polished, and is the middle point of the whole world."
Delos, as well as Delphi, claims to be one of the sacred places perforated by
the earth's axis.
Jerusalem has pretensions that are not to be despised, founded less on phys-
ical science than on prophecy. It is written in the Psalms, "God is my king
of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." This can refer only to
the scene* of the passion and of the holy sepulchre, and the midsl of the earth
iDusI, Iheiefore, M found where the holy sepulchre is. The belief that Ihe
centre is there or thereabouts is ancient, for it occurs in a work by St.
Ephrem, quoted by John Gregory in reference lo Noah's prayer. Here St.
Ephrem says that Adam was buried "in the middle of the earth."
HnokleboiTj above my perainuiioii, a Southern expression, mean-
ing something beyond one's ability. Thorpe, in his " Backwoods" (pub-
lished in 1S46), speaking of the hunting achievements of one of the characters,
said, " It was a huckleberry above the persimmon of any native of the coun-
try." The explanation may be found in the fact that in many parts of the South
huckleberries are esteemed above persimmons. A slory goes that on one
occasion a number of persons happened lo meet at the store in a village in
one of ihe "huckleberry counties." A frost late in April had done much
damage lo the fruii.crop. One mourned his ruined peaches, another hia
cherries, a third his apples, and so on. At last a lanky individual, whose
tallowy face proclaimed him a denizen of the swamps, heaved a deep sigh of
relief and exclaimed, "Thank God, the huckleberries ain't touched; I'm all
right!" To him, certainly, the huckleberry was above the persimmon.
Huggina BUd Mtiggln*, the embodiment of vulgar pretension. It is
probably derived from " Hogen and Mogen," which is itself a travesly of the
adjective " Hoogmogende" (sometimes " Hoogen en Mogende") in ifie style
and title of the Dutch States-General. " Hoogmogende," while it does not
quite imply omnipotence, comes very near it (it may be pretty accurately trans,
lated "all-powerful"), a high and mighty (Hoogen en Mogende) pretension
which furnished much food for amusement in England, and was often ridiculed
by the writers of the latter part of the seventeenth century, — 1^. :
Coogk"
498 HANDY-BOOK OF
The modern application of the lerm will appear fiom the rollowiog :
Whltfonl and Miirord joined ihc nia,
Hi^sins and Muggint fram Chick Ladc,
Before ibc plug tna foun<r^
The origin of this term is involved in obscurity : it Came into
B about the middle of the siiteenlh century, and was used as a
term of reproach towards the Protestants, Many explanations of fls origin
have been given, but it has most plausibly been derived from the Swiss-Ger-
man word Eidgeitoisen ("Confederates" or " oalJl eolltagMti"), a political nick-
name borne l^ the patriotic party in Geneva a quarter of a century earlier,
and afterwards extended to ^1 secret conspirators against the crown. An
explanation given by Etienne Pasquier is interesting because in literature the
word first occurs in a letter of his. He says that it arose in Tours, from a pop-
ular superstition that a hot^oblin, known as It ray Hugm, nightly roamed the
streets of the city, whence the Protestants, who, from fear of persecution, dared
not to meet save under the cover of darkness, came to be called Huguenots,
Schflcr. in llie latal cdUion ol hii " Didionniiire d'EtymiJojpt Fransaiit,'' pari, and
L 1 »led for Jiifl word. He cloici hii article wj-'- '*■ '- ■ " '- '■
>f popular foiiDi current in the loulh cf Fruic« iot kjigTunal, tuch at ainmati. iirvrutt,
pnhapi the lafcii aulhot-
jnnuK (»M Ramania, li, <I4|, the ttyiridoiT «ii4»"«J
mdeed, M. Baudrv hu placed ii btyond doubt in Ibc ptcllmii
of ibe tibwical engnvinei oT ToiidrI and Piiiwn.-' Schel
Homannm est «trara (L., " To err is human"), a saying which seems to
owe its verbal dress to the elder Seneca {Cfiilrm., lib. iv,, dial, 3), but in senti-
ment may be found at least as far back as Theognis, eirta B.C. 540, who,
according to Buchmann, has it in the form, "Mistakes wait on mortal man."
Sophocles in " Antigone." 1023-14, Euripides in " Htppolytus," 615, and an
unknown tragic poet, reaffirm the sentiment in the same words. The epigram
upon the Greeks who fell at Chsronea, quoted by Demosthenes, Fn Cirrma,
5 289, declares that "to err in nothing is the affair of the gods." Cicero,
FhMippici, xii. a, puts the thought in this form : " Cujusvis hominis est errare,
nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseveraie" (" Any man may eti, only a fool
iiersists in error"). In modern literature the most famous repetitions of the
dea are Goethe's
El im der Meiuch, u lang et urrbl,
FamI : Prtltpti in Htavtn,
and Pope's
To ST I> hunun : lo roinTe, dlilne,
£107 <m cAudm, Put II., 1, J15,
Bayard Taylor translated Goethe a* follows :
Whlk man't d«ir« and atpiruiont Kit,
He canDDl chooK but eir.
But he has the grace tobe dissatisfied with this rendering. "It has seemed
to me impossible," he says, "10 give the full meaning of these words — that
error is a natural accompaniment of the struggles and aspirations of Man — in a
single line." He quotes a number of other versions, the worst being Birch's.
and the best, when
liable to err, while I „
uanslated l^ Bayard Taylor
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 499
A good man^ tbrougb obscnraL upbukm,
Goeihe proclaims hrs faith in human nature through all iti erron and
shortcomings. Th« same large Taith dwelt in Shakespeare :
Would men otMerringly dittil it out-
And again, —
Thi Hb or our l^fi Is of > mingled yam, (ood and 111 icgcthrr- our virtues would be pnud
\^l\nai^-—AWl WilFlkat kn^ W>U, Act iv.. Sc. 3.
Burns's appeal for charily and mutual furg;iveness is based on the same
great truth :
de ■■ biinun.
lubrother-m
Sliirnul
rhougii the
Whai'i dttu we puUv may compuw,
Heine's similar ple.i is an awful mingling of iroiiy, sarcasm, and truth :
leminds me ofa revoliing quarrel in ■ lillle hoipilal at Cracow, where 1 WJS BO iccidtnul
BpeciatDT, and where il vm leirible to hear ihe sick mocklDg and revjiing each other's iiifirjni-
uct, how emadatcd consumpUves ridiculed those who wen bloated wiih drDHy, bow one
laughed al the clflCcT In lbs nose of another, and he again jeeied the loclied-jdw and dis-
torted cyet oT his neighbon, until finally those who were mail with fever ipritng luked from
bed, and tore tbe coverings and sheets trom the maimed bodies around, and there was noth'
bg to be seen but revolting misery and mutilation.
Htimble pla. To oat, to apologize or humiliate one's self abjectly, an old
English expression that barks back to the days whi:ii Eiitilisli forests were
stocked with deer and venison pasty was commonly seen un the tables of
the wealthy. The inferior and refuse portions of Ihe deer, termed the umMa,
or HumMet, were generally appropriated to Ihe poor, who made thein inio a
pie : hence " umblc-pie" became suggestive of poverty, and afterwards was
applied to degradations of other sorts, the word " umble'^' being misinterpreted
into "humble."
Hnmbng was introduced as a slang word among the Ibh about the middle
of Ihe eighteenth century, with exactly its modern meaning or want of mean-
ing. In the interim its meaning had varied .-
There b a word very much In vogue with the people of taste and fashion, which, though
it has not even the " penumbra" of a meanlnK, yet makes up the sum total ol the wit, sense,
and judamenl of the atbreiaid people of taste and fashion '.—" This peace will prove a con-
founded humbug upon the nation. Thene theatrical managers humbug the To*n damnably I"
— Humbug is nellher an Eugliah vrord nor a derivative ftom any other language. It is,
indeed, a blackguard sound, made use of by mt»( people of dislinctiun. It is a fine mslte-
weight In couvenadoD, and some great men deceive themselves to egregiously as to think
tfaey moan something by it. — 7^ StmiritH^ij^x]^ vol. h. p, 41.
Two etymons are worth noting for their humorous value, and also because
they are often cited. The first is that of Mr. F. Crossby, who suggeiits a deri'
*ation from the Irish uim l^g (pronounced um-bug), meaning "soft cupper,"
or wotihlesa money. James II. issued from the Dublin mint a coinage of a
mixture of lead, copper, ami brass, so worthless that a sovereign possessed an
intrinsic value uC only twopence, and might have been bought after the revolu-
tion for a halfpenny: hence "humbug" as the opposite of "sierliug."
Cookie
500 HANDY-BOOK OF
The oihet is thus given by NeUi and Qutria : " Edward Nathaniel Lewer,
who was all his life connected with the London Stock Exchange, and died on
May 7, 1S76, aged eighty, once said in alt seriousness that during the Napole-
onic wars so much false news of politics and army movements came through
Hamburg that anything that smacked of the incredible was received with the
derisive phrase > That's Hamburg,' whence is derived, by corruption, the word
'humbug.' If the word does not date back beyond the period referred to, it
seems a more reasonable derivation than the very labored one wc get in Web-
ster's Dictionary."
Humphrey, To din* with Dii]c& The Duke Humphrey with whom the
dinnerless are ticeliously said to dine was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
(Henry V.'s brother), who was Protector during the minority of Henry VI.
He was a great patron of literature and the arts, and famous lor his hospital'
ily. Fuller, in his " Worthies," tells us that the proverb "hath altered the
original meaning thereof, for first it signified aliend vivert qaadrA, to eat by
the bounty or feed by the £ivor of another man, for Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester (commonly called the good duke), was so hospital that every man
of fashion, otherwise unprovided, was welcome to dine with him. But after
the death of the good Duke Humphrey (when many of his former almsmen
were at a losse for a meal's meat) this proverb did alter its copy, to dine with
Duke Humphrey importing to be dinnerless."
A more circumstantial explanation of the saying is that on the duke's death
the report arose that his monument was to be erected in SL Paul's. The re-
port proved untrue. When a wag had no place to dine he would hang around
the aisles of St. Paul's, pretending lo be looking for the monument of Duke
Humphrey. This soon became known as dining with Duke Humphrey, and
a monument (really that of Sir John Beauchamp) was pointed out as his, whom
(he dinnerless adopted as their patron.
HnokorB, or Old Htmkan, a name by which the conservative wing of
the Democratic patty in New York Slate became known in 1S44, as distin-
guished from the younger element, or " Barnburners." (See Hard Sheli.)
The (etni is derived from the Dutch word kimk (" home"). It is curious that
the latter still survives in the games of children in New York, with its original
significance : thus, " I am honk," for " I am home."
Hiirly-Bnrl7, meaning a noisy tumult or great confusion, is one of those
scaruui, helter-skelter, hobnob, binlj-toity, humdrum, hurry-skurry, etc, the
etymology of all of which is extremely obscure, and all of which were prob-
ably evolved in common speech. Dr. Johnson is reported as saying, " I have
been told that this word [hurly-burlyj owes its origin lo two neighboring
fikmilies named Hurleigh and Burleigh, which filled their part of the kingdom
with contests and violence." He was too careful, however, to put this fanciful
derivation into his dictionary.
There is an English word of rare occurrence, hurly, meaning " bustle" or
" confusion," which is probably the basis for the variant " hurlyourly 1"
For ihDuih wc be htr* u Burlcy,
We'd beloHth to mikc ■ fauriy.
BwJohsoh: Gifiiii MitaMtrfliatid.
The ** Burley" mentioned in the passage is probably a reference to the house
of Burleigh, where the masque of the "Gipsies" was performed.
Hullabaloo, a word of cognate meaning, is of Irish origin, and in its native
tongue is the name tor the coranach, or crying together at funerals.
Coogif
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 50 1
Hnirah. This word ib of purely German origin. It is generally assumed
10 be derived from the imitainie interjection hurr, describing a rapid move-
ment, from which word the Middle High-German hurren, to " move rapidly,"
or, rather, ID " hurrv," has been formed. Hurrah is, therefore, nothing else than
an enlarged form a{ kurr. In Grimm's " Worlerbuch" we find the interjection
quoted Irom a Minnesinger. It occurs also in Danish and in Swedish ; and
it would be interesting Eo know when it was first introduced Into England in
the Anglicized form of "hurray." In Germany it was frequently used during
tbe Napoleonic wars by the Prussian soldiers, and it also occurs in some
political and martial longs of those days. Since then it seems to have been
adopted also by other nations, even by the French in the form of hvurra.
That that interjection did not become so popular in Germany as a cheer al
convivial gatherings u in England is probably owing_ to the ciicumslaTtce
that preference was given there to the brief exclamation "iloch !" (brming
respectively the end and the beginning of the phrases " Et lebe hoch" and
"Hocb soil er leben." Of late the word hurrah seems to have become rather
popular in Germany. It is just passible that the English reimporied it there,
or that it was revived through the magnificent poem of " Hurrah Germania,"
written by the poet-laureate of the German people, Ferdinand Freiligrath.
Rjpeibols (Gr, mrrftSu^, "eicess," "overstrained praise," etc), a recog-
niied ^gure of rhetoric, meaning an extravagant statement or assertion, which,
when used for conscious effect, is not to be taken loo seriously or too literally.
Yet the hyperbole is often used unconsciously by the men of vivid yet un-
balanced imagination whom the world sometimes calls liars and sometimes
fools.
Aristotle says that hyperbole is a figure suited only to a person enraged or
to children who exaggerate everything. Whereupon Chevreau pertinently
notes, "I suppose, according to this maxim, that ihe man who said that hts
estate was no larger than a laconic epistle must be set down either as a child
or a very irascible person. I remember an acquaintance of M. de Calprenide
remarking to M. de Sercy, Ihe bookseller who showed him that roniance,
'This author boasts of having a large mansion and an extensive forest; I
assure you, on my honor, that he has not wood enough to make a toothpick,
and that a tortoise might make the tour of his house In a quarter of an hour.' "
This is the hyperbole of minimizing. The hyperbole of magnifying is the more
usual form. Excellent instances of the laliet style Chevreau might have found
in his own country in the sayings ofthe Gascons, some of which will be found
duly commemorated under the head of Gasconade (q. f.). To give an ad-
ditional example, what could be belter than the description given by one
Gascon soldier of another? — " Hit him anywhere, and the wound is mortal,
for he is all heatL" Vel even the Gascon is sometimes compelled to yield to
the superior prowess of his neighbor the Marseillais, if Ihe following story
be a charactenslic one :
Tluee young toldierv, a Pariaiui, a Gucod, and a MancilUiii, wce« wKlkiu^ ddv uarry
tummcr ni^E on (he ihcprc of the MFditerrmDcu, and Kcing who could frpme the Rioit
" 1." floid the Puuiui," wish thii tea were «t] ink; Ihen I'd dip my pen In it, mak«a bJK9
;he Cucon, " iriJi Ibii
The Irishman through his kinship with Ihe Gaul — for there i:
mere sound-athnily between Gael and Gaul — resembles him in
bigh-fk>wn phrases and verbal pyrotechnics.
;i:,vG00gk"
Soa HANI) Y-BOOIC OF
Here ts a Int of gorgeous rhetoric which appeared in an Irish paper ibi
May 30, 1784, 3 prcpes of the first appearance of Mrs. Sarah Siddona in
Dublin :
Ob Sitiinlar, Mn. StddoDi, bImui wboia all the world tud been uIIudie. <ipin«J ha
awful joy iL beholding ■ Diocul goddcH \ The house wu crovded witli>iundred> note Ihan
this Terptichon of ibe curtains and scenes! this Prosapinc of firt uul earthquake 1 (his
Kailerfelto of wonders I e.ceede"" ' ■" -■'■■-■- —■■ ' -'-- - -" ■■--
TS of descripilon ! Stie was nature lixlf t She v>as liie most
ut il WHS the audieoee who were iDimed : sevemf fainted before ibe curtain drew up [
be came to Itic scene of paning with her weddinB-ring, ah ! what a sight wai [here I ib*
ddlers In ibe orcheslra^ altteit unused 10 the melttng mood, blubbered like hungry ch
rying for thur bread utdbuner; and when ttie hell rang for mkuiq l>etween the acts, tbi
■tung a spoui oTihe tntintment, poured in
ingcbe overture was in (wo sharpq, (he leader ot the band actuatly piHVed
bundred and nine ladles fainied, roity-iiji <
bencbei, and were in ibal pcsiiion up id iheit ankles in lean? An aaof Pariianien[ against
her playing any more will certainly pass.
But [he Atnerican beats the world in this field. Indeed, he has invented
two words, " highfalulin'" and "spread-eagleism." which contain a vernacular
savor that far outshines the feebler Latinism of the term " hyperbole." To the
mind of the European the Yankee is a person who is cuncinually bragging
that he "kin lick all creation" (and in the few chances that have been offered
to him, it must be owned, he has shown siime possibilities of realizing his
boast), and is continually dwelling on the fact that he lives in the biggest
country, with the biggest rivets, the biggest mountains, and the biggest men
in the world. [I was this tendency that Webster once burlesqued, after
dining a little loo heavily just before addressing the citiicns uf Kochester,
New York, " Men of Rochester !" he cried, " I am glad to see you ; and I
am glad to see your noble city. Gentlemen, I saw your rall.t, which I am
told are one hundred and fifty feel high ; thai is a very interesting fact.
Gentlemen, Rome had her Cxsar, het Scipio. her Bruius ; but Rome in her
proudest days had never a water-fall a hundred and fifty feet high- Men of
kochester, go on 1 No people ever lost their liberty who had a water-fall a
hundred and fifty feet high I"
An Englishman boasting of the superiority of the horses in his country
mentioned that the celebrated Eclipse had run a mile a minute. " My good
fellow," exclaimed a Yankee present, "thai is rather less than the average
rate of our common roadsters. I live in my country-seat near Boston,
and when hurrying to town of a morning my own shadow can't keep up with
me, but generally comes into the office to find mc from a minute to a minute
and a half after my arrival. One morning the beast was restless, and I rode
him ai fast as I possibly could several limes round a large facioty,— just to
Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S^J
lake the Old Hariy out of him. Well, sir, he went so fast that the whole lime
I saw my back iliieclly beTiiie me, and was twice in danger of riding over
myself." This story has a kinship with the familiar yam o! the man who was
BO tail that he had lo go up a ladder lo take off his hat, of the man equally
small who went down-cellar lo untie his shoes, of the man who could find
no boot-jack that would fit him and was fain to content himself with the fork
in the road.
There is merit in the following story told by Texat Si/Hngt. Frank Jones,
e Rio
d embeuled a lot of money, and was tti mutt lo Mexico. " Is this connlry
safe?" asked Frank of the driver. "Safe! Why, of course it is." "No
robbers V " Robbers I Why, this part of the country has got such a bad
name that the high way- robbers are afraid lo risk their lives in these parts."
The following bit of soul-ttirring eloquence is credited to one Colonel Zcll,
who stumped several of the Western States during the Presidential campaign
which sent Grant to the While House for the second time. The Democratic
walchword throughout the campaign was " Anything to beat Grant." The
colonel was addressing an enthusiastic meeting of Kepubiicana, when a Demo-
crat suns out, " It's easy talliin', colonel ; but we'll show you something
next fall." The colonel at once wheeled abuul, and with upliued hands, hair
bristling, and eyes flashing Are, cried out, " Build a worm-fence round a
winter supply of lummer weather ; catch a thunder-bolt in a bladder ; break
a hurricane to harness; hangout the ocean on a grape-vine to dry ; but
never, sir, never for a moment delude yourself with the idea that you can beat
GranL" Had the orator been taking points from that other Western speaker
who proposed to grasp a ray of light from the great orb of day, spin it into
threads of gold, and with them weave a shroud in which to wrap the whirl-
wind which dies upon the bosom of the West ?
In the way of eloquence and graphic power nothing could be better than
this ftom a Cleveland paper's account of a suicide by hanging : " An owl
hooted loneaomely ; an old clock on the shelf ticked with terror; a dug
bowled ; it was midnight outside ; the wind sighed ; a cat crouched on the
cold hearth in tear, and a sound like the laugh of a maniac came liom the
garret" A Colorado newspaper tells how "the cry of tire rang out on the
still air about eight a.m.," and "a column of smoke poured out of the roof of
the adobe building corner of Fifth anil G Streets like the aienal-smoke of the
Utes from the mountain-heights when expecting the incursions of the Arapa-
hoes, Modoca, or other such foes," how the tire was mastered by the gallant
Aremcn, and " thus was a far-reaching conflagration checked like a worm in
the bud that never told its love." Perhaps the Washington CafiioTt story
about President Garfield was one of the most remarkable specimens of the
remarkable literature provoked by his assassination. Said the eloquent
Tbc luc Cur, when firrd u, iMforc ihr Nihilld l»iiib bl«w him into eiemliy, mhridwd
deu- vifv Avahc kil«e1t bfrildv him, "Suredhean, have no fear; I'll pull ihrougfa!" Such
beroktn, atjch uiuihDod, cauh (ht bloud to surgB m the heart of ev*ry American.
The following elegant marriage- notice appeared in 1S90 in the Dallas
504 HANDY-BOOK OF
youih ADd younff giribood throash the yew to tba luU nutoHty of young coAAliDod and
womuikood, utdu Uu so ■uipicJoiuly brougbt iDgeiher luderlhe holy tuKiiop of God'a
On the very thrahold of iheir lives (hey BUirt togetber aktng the jouTDey of «jtineDce huid
hi lund. h«an \a bean, full of ttut hope mid thai joy which mireoleft the vitiu ihat vtntch
■nd give* promUe of k much of ihat brightacH ihHt pteMKt and gives teil
The East and the South have Iheir rhetoricians, as well as the great and
wild and woolly WesL Here is a marri^e-notice which appeared in a
Georgia paper somewhere in the hflies :
MuHed ilmulluieouily, on ibe iiih uli., by the Rev. J. W. Walluc, J. H. Borrlil, Eiq.,
Columbia Cousiy, Geoigu. l^ie ceremony wu EOnduded under Ibe mo« oiKagisg forBU U
decency, and waa minlvtered with iober and impreuive dignity. I'he tubfteqnent hilarity
wai rendered doubly enlenaining by the moA pleating urbanity and decorum of (he gueita ;
fplendid lib«lity cdlect ; nor did ihe nuplial eveuing aflbrd a banquet leu grateful to (be
intellectual teDxa. The nlnd wai r^aleJ wiib all that is caplivniing in culUiquial fmitUni,
and traniponed with all that ii divine.io (he union of congenial ipiriu ;
While hnverine Kraphi lingered near.
Two paragraphs may also be quoted from English countrv newspapers as
affording excellent examples of what Lord Coleridge called, when alluding
with mild malice to the laic Sir Fitzro}' Kelly's annual discourse to the Lord
Mayorof London, "copiousness of diction :" "After a long period of unsettled
weather, it must have gladdened every one yesterday morning when the sun,
with all his glorious brilliancy and splendor, shone forth with golden ray, scat'
tering cloud and mist, and with his cheering beams and glowing smile i;ausing
(he birds to sing, Ihe trees of the forest to rejoice, and the Rower* of the Aeld
to unfold themselves in bright array." " We ate being constantljr reminded
of the inexorability of death, — the certain, and it may be sudden, visit of ' the
angel with the amaranthine wreath,' as death is so beaulifully designated by
Longfellow, — and it is our painful duty to-day to chronicle the melancholy
fact that one who had played his part, and played it well in life, has passed
through nature to eternity."
Indeed, in spile of their phlegmatic temperament the English have occa-
sionally manifested a talent for hyperbole which dimly intimates what they
might do if they once threw off the national ntauvaiit hsnte. It was a British
barrister who, in the middle of an affectins appeal in court on a slander
■ait, treated his hearers to the following flight of genius : " Slander, gentle-
men, like a boa- constrictor of gigantic size and immeasurable proportions,
wraps the coil of its unwieldy body about its unfortunate victim, and, heedless
of the shrieks of agony that come from the uttermost depths of its victim's soul,
— loud and verberating as the night-thunder that rolls in (he heavens. — it finally
breaks its unlucky neck upon (he iron wheel of public opinion, forcing him
first to desperation, then to madness, and finally crushing him in the hideous
jaws of moral death."
The examples so far cited are those in which the humor is of an uncon-
scious, or at most only a sub-conscious, sort. But as a distinct literary figure
Ihe value of over-statement, of exaggeration, — of hyperbole, in short. — has
been recognized by many of the masters of sa(ire and of innocent fun. Ral>e-
lais's humor largely depends upon it. Gargantua, with his insatiable maw,
taking a huge mouthful of salad wherein six pilgrims were involved, who
fuund refuge from bis tusks in the hollows and recesses of his cavemout
Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. JOj
month, wherein they subsisted for months, — Gargantua riding to Paris on a
neat mare, who knoclis down whole forests with every swish of her tail, —
Gatgantua who, en passant, robs Notre Dame of ita bells, and, after a battle,
calmly combs the cannon-balls out of his hair, — is a magnificent conception,
more laughable in its wild extravagance than the methodical and statistical
creations of Swift.
Falstaff is a true Rabelaisian humorist, as in his description of Justice
Shallow, who is ** like a man made after supper with a cheese-paring," and
who, "when he was naked, was for all the world like a forked radish, with a
head fantastically carved upon it with a knife," or when he tells red-nosed
Bardolph, " I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire and Dives that
lived in purple, for there he is in his robes, burning, burning. . . . Oh, thou
art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light ! Thou hast saved me a
thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt
tavern and tavern ; but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have brought
me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe." Better slilTis
his description of his newly-levied recruits : " You would think that I had a
hundred and fifty tattered prodigals, lately come from swine -keeping, from
eating draff and husks. A mad lellow met me on the way, and told me 1 had
unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the dead bodies. . . . There's but a
shirt and a half in all my company ; and the halfshirt is two napkins,
tacked together, and thrown over the shoulders like a herald's coat without
sleeves ; and the shirt, to say the truth, stolen from my host of St. Alban's. or
the red-nosed innkeeper of Davenlry. But that's all one ; they'll find linen
enough on every hedge."
Dr. Johnson had-some
was attacking Scotchmen,
had taken possession uf a barren part of America and wondered why they
should choose it, " Why, sir," said the Doctor, "all barrenness is compara-
tive. The "Scotch would not know it to be barren ;" and when Boswell
slated that a beggar starving in Scotland was an Imjiossibility, Johnson's
reply was, "Thaldoes not arise from the want of beggars, but from the im-
pos.iibilily of starving a Scotchman." Which reminds one of Jekyll's com-
ment on the Irish beggars, that they had helped liim to solve one problem that
had always vexed him, — what the beggars of London did with their cast-ofT
clothing. Sydney Smith, another deumet of the Scotch, would often throw
loose the reins of his fancy and dash into the wildest and most frolicsome
metaphors, as when he told a lady the heat was so great " I found there was
nothing for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones," or when, seeing a
child stroking a turtle's back, thinking it would please the turtle, he exclaimed,
" Why, child, you might as well stroke the dome of St- Paul's to please Ibi
dean and chapter." Nothing could be more Rabelaisian than bis burst of
astonishment when told that a young neighbor was going to marry a very fat
woman double his age .-
bDrtmodcir ihc magklnm ahould inwiferc. Tlun'ii cnougli of hFr lo liiniiih wLm lor k
wbolfl p4Hlh. One niBn marry her! — it ii njonsiniDi. You might people m colony wilh l>er,
vided there nie hvqueni n
lo try wilking round I , .- ._ ,
. Or you might read the Riot Acl uid diBpene her. In short, yon niLghl da Anything
DlKd. Or you mightier-' ■'--■'■— * ' '-'• '■— '--
III bcr bui many her.
IS that this impromptu description, dashed off on the spur of the
HANDYSOOK OF
id, " 1* >l«Ti In sBa'i ny ind ahnin
, _ ^- — -., — -.^^ PC It w> uti uiHi 11 would uke ui bonat lun more Ibut »
"■--' ■- ' — it'iilV. on hb bulk, which U
l_bv Loiiii Xiy. on hb bulk, which ihe king lold him had
jUready walked IhriH limcf mind the Due d'Aumodi (his nomlot.
A man wu uked by hi* friend when he Uae uw hji jolly comnde . " Oh,
" I uiled oo him yetierdiy u hit lodging!, tad ihere 1 lound hicn silting idl tijund .
Smith's jest at Lord Russell's small size is well known. "There is my
fHend KosselJ," he said. " who has not budjr enough to cover his mind ; his
intellect is indecently exposed." Foote caricatured the smaltness of Garrick
in another way, equally
-■^-7, half thesizeof 1
much earlier altempl in the same line is found in Alhenxus, who tells ui
that Demetrius Poliorceles said of Ihe palace of Lysimachus that it was in no
respect difierenl ftiim a comic theatre, for that there was no one there bigger
than a dissyllable.
Is the following sublime or ridiculous ? That is easily answered : It is not
sublime. Is il meant lo be sublime Or ridiculous ? One would give the same
answer, yet not so glibly. Perhaps Heine himself was not quite certain. If
one may haiard a guess, he started out to be very sublime, and then, fearing
that he had fallen short of sublimiiy by a step, saved himself from ridicule by
consciously going just a step beyond il ;
Explanation.
Wilder inmbled Ihe wai™, '
The wow-while b'^wa'dancing.
And then my bnut iwelled uplike the ■«
And, lonflng. then teiied ue a deep bt
For thee, thou lovely lonn.
Who emy where an aeai
And cvei^whcRdotl call.
Id the fuiding oT breeiet, IhertMi^ngof ooui,
And in ibc tighing of du my ud heart.
Wiih a llghi leed t wme In the (and,
'■Acaa.llDvehuiiheel-
Bni wicked warei came waihiag fail
Over the Under conriUioD.
And bote it away.
TboD (oe fraiite reed, ihau falK ihlftlns nnd,
Ye iwITt-flowing waKn, I tniH ye no more \
The heaTen gn>wi daiker, Diy bean growi wild
Into ^kna'f hot glowing guir, and with Hch a
Fiery, Baming, ghiol giaver,
"A^^Il^St™eJ.'*- ' " "'"'
Above me, the endleu flaming vent,
Hrpoeriay la the bomag« vlo« pajm t
on hommage que le vice rend ii la veriu"). Tl
in Rochefoucauld's " Reflections." Massillon extended the'phrai
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 507
" Le vice Tend hommage i la vertu en s'honorant de ses apparences" (" Vice
pays homage to virtue in honoring itself by assuming ita appearance"). And
Cowper amptiGed it still Turther in verse ;
Hypocrvy, d«I«« bcr u w« Duy,
L The ninth letter and third vowel in the English alphabet, borrowed
through the Latin and Greek Troni the Phosnician. (See Alphabet.) The
Pheenician alphabet eave to it the consonant value aiy, the Greeks converted
it into > vowel, and the Romans used it both aa vowel and as consonant
I.H.S. These letters are frequently iraiisUlcd as the initials of the sentence
"In hoc salus" ("In this safely"), or "Jesus Honiiimm Salvator" ("Jesus
Saviour of Men"), These meanings were, indeed, read into llie letters al a verj
earlv day. But originally they were merely an ablirevialioii of the Greek name
for Jesus. The chief manuscripts uf the New Testament were wrillen through-
out in Greek capital letters. Well-known names and words were always ab-
breviated. Thus, whenever the name '1HI0T2 (Jesua) occurred, the scribes
wrote onl^ the first three letters, IHH, with a dash over the ila, or H, as a sign
of abbreviation. When the Latin scribes came to make copies uf the old
Latin versions of (he Testament or of other ecclesiastical writings, they
adopted (he old Greek abbreviation for Jesus, and transliterated it, as they
imagined, into I H S, foTget(ing lha( the Greek H was not an H, but a long %.
Later, (hey saw in the mark over the H (he sign of the cross, and read the
initials as "Jesus Hominum Salvator," an error that has been perpetuated
to the preseiTt day. In the Middle Ages the L H. S. was held to have an
esoteric meaning, and was believed to exert a mysterious influence against
the powers of darkness. After (he plague in Florence it was put up on the
walls of the church of Santa Croce. It was also stamped on the large wafer
out of which (he host is consecrated, on the hilts of swords, and even on the
backs of playing-cards, to increase their value. When Ignatius Loyola in
1540 founded the Order of Jesus, he borrowed the L H. S. with a new inter-
pre(ation, placing it under a cross and reading it " In Hoc Salus." This is
still in use by the Jesuits, frequently in the form of a monogram, made by an
H with the I in (he middle extending upward and ending in a cross, the whole
being entwined with an S, (bus forming a complete cabalistic monogram.
I •ay, or A'aajr, the nickname which Chinamen bestow upon Englishmen,
from their frequent use of the expression. A similar iskriqutt is common
among the French gamins at Boulogne. So the French in Java are called
by the natives " Orang-dee-dong" = the "lUUs-iionc people," and both in Eng-
land and in America are locally nicknamed "ding-dongs." At Amoy the
Chinese used to call out after foreigners, " Akee ! akee 1 a reminiscence of
the Portuguese Aqui! {" Here t") And in America Germans are saluted as
"Nix cum arouse^ and "Wie Gehls."
IbecJa'B Pilot, Christopher Columbus. Spain, in poetical language, is
called Iberia, much the same as England is called Britannia and America
Columbia. The name is probably derived from the Iberi, a people, known to
the Romans, who lived on the banks of the Iberus river, the modern Ebro.
508 HANDY-BOOK OF
IdDDcbedwl
Toworid»iiD
loe^ To break the. Used metaphorically in the sense of removing re-
Etraini and preparing the way Tor intercommunication. The metaphor is
employed !>; Shakespeare, probably the originator or the simile :
Pttneluo- Sir, uikdentand you tbi> oT me in Hwth ;
The youngest daughter whooi you heaikca for
Her biher heepi from all nccen oT luiion.
Unlil ihe elder liiKr firH be wed :
Tlie younger then ii fiee, ind nol before.
Tnmw. If ii be to, wr. ihai you ate ihe man
Miut iKid u all, and n>e amangit the te«,
And IT you krtak Ikr iet, aod do Ibii feal,—
Ac^eve the elder, tct llie yoanfcr Iree
Ttminf ^ Ikt Shrm, Acll., Sc a.
lel on parle Frui9als (" French is spoken here"), a common sign in Eng-
lish shop-windows, seen also in America and in other non-Gallic countnea.
Max O'Rell, in "John Bull and his Island," says, smartly enough, "On the
windows of all Ihe fashionable shops you see Id tH parU Framfait. Oh, in-
definite pronoun, here refers generally to the person who happens to be absent
from Ihe shop when you enter it ; I have experienced this many limes."
But Max O'Rell had been anticipated by Mark Twain in "The Innocents
Abroad :"
In Parii we ollen law In ihop-wlndDwi (be ilrn " Enillib Spoken Here," iu« » one Ket
in Ihe wlndowt m home Ibe ilcn " Id od parte Fnncaii?' We alwayi Invaded ibeie placet
aloBce^-andinYariably received lbeh>lbTmannn,fianied In lultleM French, Ibal ibe clerk
*b<i did ibe Eagllih for ibe eilabUihineni bad juD gooe to dhiner and would be back in an
hour. — would HonileurbDy loiHlbingt We wondered why chote panlei hipiKned tauke
eienplaiy Cbriwian would be hi the leui likely lo be abroad on tuch an ernod. Tbe uulh
wai. ilwaia hue fraud,— a mare ID llap Ibe unwary,— chaff lo calch Oed^ngl with. Ilie^
bad DO Engtub-murdcnng clerk. They ttiuied to ibe iJEn lo invefgk forei[ncra iolo Iheir
to writing for Ihe magazines.
No doubt an editors waste-basket would furnish many illuslrative example*
of the humors of ignorance. It has been said that only an editor can rightly
estimate Ihe number of fools in Ihe world. Perhaps the man who said that
was righL The mere cccenlridties of spelling are beyond number. An ex-
cellent example of what may be done in a limited space is Ihe following:
"They were very Hiricked on these wholy days." In one narrative a "weekly
mother" has figured, — a portentous parluritive phenomenon. Another author
describes Ihe heroine's "masses of raving black hair." On a later page, by
the same hand, appears " a female figure, down which flowed a beautiful set
of hair." A valuable advertising agent this writer would make to the Sutber-
Here is a misquotation that has decided merits :
There is a divinUy ibm ihapca our endt,
A single instance will show what danger lurks in foreign tongues : "G —
V— was a brilliant society man, and had been Ihe idol of Ihe d/cdld/ of two
nd so on and so on. Booksellers, librarians, and olher people
e supposed, more or less facetiously, to come in contact with Ihe inul-
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 509
ligent claues, also have their anecdotes of curious mistalce* made I9 patrons
" Have you Cometii ?" said a ladv (o a cleric in a Iraolc-slore.
"Comelh, ma'am?" replied the clerk, in perplexily.
"Oh, well." said the lady, "I saw a book called 'Goelh.' a
there might be a companion book called 'Cometh.'"
It was some lime bef-- --- ■—'-■■ '---
bookseller realized that Goethe was in the
Western Athens, says that formerly his fellow- townsmen used to pronounce
the name to rhyme with teelh, but now they pronounce it to rhyme with
'Tbe librarian of tlie Portland (Maine) public library tuinishea an amusing
budget of anecdotes. A small boy anxiously inquired, " Is this the Republi.
can library?" Another asked for the first book that Rose ever wrote, Rose
being interpreted to mean E. P. Roe ; still another wanted a book by the
ume opera, — " author" and " opera" probably being equally meaningless to
his youthful understanding ; and a Coufth wanted one of Oliver Twist's books
about Little DorriL The following is a list of titles recently called for in this
TITLES GIVEN. BOOKS REQUIRBD.
Jane's Heirs, Jane Eyre.
John Ingersolt, John Inglesant.
Illuminated Pace, Face Illumined.
Prohibition, Probation-
Bullfinch's Agent Fables, Bullfinch's Age of Fables.
Patty's Reverses, Patty's Perversities.
Little Lord Phantom, Little Lord Fauntleroy,
Silence of Dean Stanley, Silence of Dean Maiiland.
Mona's Charge, Mona's Choice.
Zigzag's Classic Wonders, Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands.
Boots and Spurs, and
Boots and Shoes, Boots and Saddles.
Mary's Ijmb, Mary Lamb.
Fairy Tails, Fairy Tales.
Chromos <rom English History, Cameos from English History.
Not in the Perspective, Not in the Prospectus.
Sand Maid, Sun Maid.
The British Encycio Dom Pedro, British Encyclopaedia.
Bat the laugh is not always on the side of the book-clerk or the library
attendant. A lady went into a music-store in Philadelphia and asked for
"Songs without Words." The clerk stared at her in astonish men L "But,"
he said, "you know, that is impossible: there cannot be songs without
words." "Can you tell me where I can find 'Rienzi's Address'/" asked a
young ladj of a clerk in Brooklyn. " You might look in the Directory," he
suggested.
In the famous shop of Herr Spithoever, in Rome, an American damsel,
asking lor Max O'Reil's book on the United Stales, was scornfully advised
that "Marcus Aurelius vas neSer in der Unided Shtades." In a large library
in Philadelphia, a young lady asked for "English as She is Spoke." The
assistant librarian, in a tone of indirect reproof which reached the delighted
ears of the young lady, bade the boy get " English as It is Spoken."
The perfenily of man is amusingly illustrated by an anecdote Max Miillcr
toM in Ibe course of a recent lecture at Oxford: "I was lecturing at the
43"
510 HANDY.BOOK OF
Royal Inatitate, in London. The audience there is the most enlightened and
critcal one has to face in the world, — but it is mixed. It lieine necessary to
prove that Hebrew was not the primilive language of mankind, I had devoted
a lecture to this subject. I explained how it arose, and placed before in;
audience a genealogical tree of the Aryan and Semitic languages, where every-
body could see the place which Hebrew really holds in the pedigree of human
speech. After the lecture was over, one of niy audience catne to thank me fur
having shown so clearly how all languages, including Sanscrit and English,
were derived from the Hebrew, the language spoken in Paradise by Adam
and Eve I"
The learned philologist was overwhelmed with dismay, and, thinking the
fault lay in his inability to elucidate his point, told Professor Faraday that he
must really give up lecturing. But the latter consoled his friend with an
anecdote from his own experience. He said, —
" I have been lecturing m the Institute many years, and over and over Hgain,
after I have explained and shown how water consists of hydrogen and oxygen,
some stately dowager has marched up to me after the lecture to say in a con-
fidential whisper, ' Now, Mr. Faraday, you don't really mean to say that IhU
water here in your tumbler is nothing but hydrogen ?'
Educated people may be found in England who believe that Henry Clay
makes the cigars which go by his name, that Daniel Wet^ler wrote the
Unabridged Dictionary, that Washington Irving was an cccenlilc preacher.
Fame, indeed, is an old lady who shudders at the Atlantic voyage ; and there
is nothing which so startles an American traveller into realizing that he is
actually abroad as to tind the reputations and authorities which had awed him
from his cradle not only unhonored, but al»o1utely unknown.
But it is not on American subjects alone that English people, people of
culture and refinement, are curiously ignorant. Men who have devoted great
attention to the classics and mathematics frequently have but little current
information. Ignorance of this sort is said to have lost the English the island
of Java. The story luns that the minister by whom it was ceded to Holland
in 1816 was under the impression that it was too small and insignilicanl to
contend about; and among the most firmly rooted traditions of American
diplomacy is one which represents the English commissioner as agreeing to
the surrender of Oregon "because a country in which a salmon does not rise
to the fly cannot be worth much."
A curious incident occurred during the Crimean War. Commodore Elliot
was blockading a Russian squadron in the Gulf of Saghalin, on the east
It of Siberia. Thinking he had the Russians in a cul-dr-iac, he (
enlly waited for them to come out " """ '" - --- -■-
to attack them. As the enemy did n<
artd found, to his astonishment, that Ri
he had been waiting for them in the south they had quietly slipped out \>f the
north, teaching both him and the British government a rather severe lesson
in geography, as it had been thought that Saghalin was an isthmus ; and they
were totally unaware of a narrow channel leading from the gulf to the Sea
of Okhotsk.
Speaking of the small circle in which even the greatest move. Lord Beacons-
field used to tell the story that Napoleon 1., a year after he Ijecame emperor,
determined to find out if there was any one in the world who had never
heard of him. Within a fortnight the police of Paris had discovered a wood-
chopper at Montmartre, within Paris, who had never heard of the Kevolulion,
nor of the death of Louis XVI., nor of the Emperor Napoleon.
Mr. Roebuck, in a speech made at Salisbury in t86i, asserted that when
be told a "shrewd, clever Hampshire laborer'* that the Duke of Wellington
placently waited for them to come out. as the water was too shallow for him
to attack them. As the enemy did not come out, he sent in to investigate,
artd found, to his astonishment, that Russians and ships had vanished I While
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. S * •
was dead, the man replied, "Ah, air, I be very sorry for he, f>ut who was
A con lemporanr m^azinist shortly aftecwatds dwell at some length upon
this anecdote, deducing from it that the Hampshire laborer was a true gentle-
man, in being above the meanness of pretending to know a thing of which he
was ignorant.
There must be many tiue gentlemen and many true ladies in the world I
The Miss J., lor example, whose letters to and from the Duke of Wel-
liDgton were recently published, Was a true lady. In the preliminary biog-
raphy (page 2) we are told that she belonged to the " smaller English gentry,"
and was brought up a< "one of the best schools in England, where many of
her companions were of noble birth ;" and yet this young woman of twenty,
this companion of the aristocracy, when she made her first epistolary attack
in 1834, confessedly in the hope of getting the duke to marry her, "was not
aware that he was the conqueror of Bonaparte, and did not even know when
the battle of Waterloo took place."
All effort has been made to prove
' the same kind. In England the fi
"General Grant was once invited to dine at Apsley House by the second
Duke of Wellington. A most distinguished parly assembled to meet him.
During a pause in the middle of the dinner the ex-President, it is related,
addressing the duke at the head of the table, said, 'My lorti, I have heard
that your father was a military man. Was that the case T "
The anecdote is repealed in Sir William Eraser's book, " Words on Wel-
lington." But in the very same book, one hundred pages farther on, Sir
William regretfully owns that he asked the second duke what really look
place, and was assured there was not a word of truth in Ihe story.
Anecdotes run in cycles. Mr. Roebuck's conversation with the Hampshire
laborer bears a striking resemblance to a story thai is found in many jesl-
books, touching an oltf lady " in a retired village in the West of England,"
who, when it was told her thai Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, was dead,
exclaimed, " Is a', is a' ? The King o' Prussia I And who may he be ?"
It is the fashion to speak of Shakespeare as a writer of world-wide renown.
Yet it appears that there are many true gentlemen in the world who have
never h^rd of him.
While passing through Stratford-on-Avon, Mr. Toole, ihe English comedian,
saw a rustic sitting on a fence. "That's Shakespeare's house, isn't it T' he
asked, pointing to the building. "Yes." " Ever been there ?" "No." "How
long has he been dead?" "Don't know." "Brought up here?" " Ves."
"Did he write ''""•^^»'- i^i*- >^- £-.»...-/.. zt^m^^ij ... ..»«*i.\»., ^e >k..* .^.* >■*
" Oh, yes, he m
wrote for the Bible."
" Come and dine with nK to-morrow," said a T. G. to a friend Ihe other
61,.
" Afraid I must decline ; I'm going to see * Hamlet' "
" Never mind ; bring him with you."
" Have yoti seen the ' Merchant of Venice' I" asked a New-Yorker.
" No ; what does he sell ?" queried the Chicago drummer in return.
Bui these are jokes from the comic papers, and lack authenticity,
George Moore, the English novelist, once had a play al Ihe Odion, in Pari*.
At the same lime an adaptation of " Othello" was being rehearsed at the
same theatre. One morning Moore called to see the manager.
"What name shall I give, monsieur ?" asked the anttitrgt.
" Tell M. Porell that the English author whose play he has accepted desires
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
whose play has Just been accepted," he said to the official.
"Quite right, answered the latter. " Send him in. Monsieur Shakespeare,
A correspondent of the English Notts and Qutrits recently supplied two
instances of remarkable ignorance that came under his personal notice.
Although they occurred at the opposite ends of England, ihey are, oddly
enough, both connected with the Wavcrley Novels. He was once con-
cerned in the letting of a "public," as it would be called, in Cumberland, on
the road to iicotland, named " The Dandle DinmonL" Some one who called
at the office to make inquiries al>out it said, " It's a very curious name. What
does it mean ?" Yet he was a Borderer, and liie neighborhood of Carlisle b
no ereal distance from liddesdale. "I tried," says the correspondent, "to
explain lo him who Dandie Dinmont was ; but how far he was the wiser for
my elucidation I know noL"
The other was in Devonshire. The narrator was on the outside of a coach
which ran at that time through a district where there is now a railway. Passing
a house called " tvanhoe Cottage," he heard another passenger, who was
talking to the coachman, say, " I nave often wondered what the name of that
house means." The "often" showed that he was of an inquiring mind;
and yet he was evidently ignorant of the very existence of Scott's splendid
Tenmrson is fond of telling, apropos of his early residence at Haslemere, a
story Ota cert^n laboring-man. "Who lives there ?" asked a visitor, pointing
to the Laureate's house. "Muster Tennysun," answered the laboring-man.
" What does he do ?" was the next inquiry. " Well, muster, 1 doan't rightly
know what lie does," answered the rustic, scratching his head. " I's often
been axed what his business is, but 1 think he's ihe man as maks the poets."
An Oxonian tells the following story to show how ignorant a very learned
man can manage to be of what almost everybody else knows. One of the
professors was in conversation with a friend who happened 10 refer to Ihe
novelist Thackeray, and was much surprised to see that the professor did not
imderstand.
" Why," said the friend, " don't you remember the author of ' Vanity Fair' ?"
" Oh, ah, yes I" was the answer. " Bunyan ; clever, but not orthodox."
Such ignorance, however, is not confined lo English professors. Hon
iliarly known as Sockless Jerry, was complimenting Daniel
Webster in one of his speeches, and, in glowing terms, referred to his diction-
ary, A friend pulled Jerry's coat-tail and informed him that Noah was Ihe
man who made the dictionary. " The deuce you say I" replied Ihe impertur-
bable Jerry. "Noah built the ark."
In 18S7 the principal of a public school in Pennsylvania wrote lo
Natlianiel Hawthorne, care of Ticknor ft Fields, asking for his autoeraph, as
it was proposed to hold a literary fair to obtain money for a school libtary.
Evidently Ihe library was badly needed. Similarly a lelier was received in
Philadelphia from Ihe compiler of > proposed " Directory of Authors," which
was addressed to Edgar Allan Poc, and requested some biographical par-
II is a pity the directory has nol yet been published. I.et us Irusl that
publication has only been suspended. It would be a valuable worli.
And this reminds one of Lady Bulwer's story of Ihe Society lady.
" Who is this Dean Swift they are talking about?" she whispered lo J^ady
Bulwer, during a pause in ihc conversatioii. " I should like to iDvite him to
one of my receptiont."
.dbvGoogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 513
"Alas, midinie, the Dean did something that has abut him out of society,"
" Dear me 1 what was that V
"Well, about a hundred years ago he died."
The elder Dumas used to lind amusement in telling a slory in point con-
cernine Victor Hugo and himself. "One fine day, he says, "Hugo and
myselfwere chosen as witnesses of a marriage, and we went to the iRoine to
give our names and addresses. The author of ' Ruy Bias' was then in the
meridian of his fame, and. what is more, he was an Academician and a peer
oF France. 'Your name?' asked the official at his little -window. 'Victor
Hugo.' ' With an / T queried the scribe. ' As you wish,' said Hugo, with
adrairable coolness. I was then asked my prufessiun. Now, I had brought
out at this time more than twenty pieces. My name for ten years might have
been seen at the foot of the fmlUtons of twenty joucnals read everywhere
and of which I had tremendously increased the circulation, and I found
myself unknown by this servant of the government, — a man who could read
and write 1 I kept my seir-possession. nevertheless, seeing that Hugo was in
the same case as myself, and when the clerk, surprised at my silence, again
asked my profession, I answered, 'prefrUtatrt.'"
Tallejrrand's wife was the reverse of brilliant, and he used 10 excuse his
marriage on the ground that "clever women may compromise their husbands.
stupid women only compromise themselves." One day tt
.. r, ^cled to dinner, and Tal'
sible conversation by Ic
tately, on her way to the library Madame lurgol the name. She could
M. Denon was expected to dinner, and Talleyrand conjured Madame to pre-
.. ., , !L, .i._ ■-- '^tingover Denon's works, Un-
pare herself for sensible conversation by lool
only remember it ended in en. The librarian smilingly handed her a copy of
" Robinson Crusoe." Madame easily mastered its contents, and at table aston-
ished her guest by exclaiming, " Mun Dieu, monsieur, what joy you must have
felt in your island when you found Friday 1"
Practical jokers are often fond of assuming a similar ignorance for the pur-
pose of taking down undue self-importance. When Mr, Moody, the revi-
valist, was at the height of his reputation, be entered a drug-store in Chicago
to distribute temperance tracts. At the back of the store sat an eldeny
citizen reading a morning paper. Mr. Moody threw one of the tracts on the
paper before him. The old gentleman glanced at the tract and then bcnig-
nantly at Mr. Moody. " Ate you a reformed drunkard ?" " No, I am not,"
said Mr. Moody, indignantly, "Then why in thunder don't you reform?"
asked the old gentleman.
But the best of all these stories is told of Attemns Ward, As he was once
travelling in the cars, dreading to be bored, and feeling miserable, a mao
approached him, sat down, and said, —
"Did you hear Ihe last thing on Horace GreeleyT
"Greeley? Greeley ?" said Ariemus. " Horace Greeley ? Who i* her
The man was quiet about five minutes. Pretty soon he MJd,—
"George Francis Train is kicking up a good deal of a row over in Eng-
land : do you think they will put him in a baatite ?"
"Train? Train? George Francis Train?" said Artemus, solemnly. "I
never heard of him,"
This ignorance kept the man quiet lot fifteen minutes ; then he said, —
" What do you think about General Grant's chances for the Presidency ?
Do you think Ibey will run him ?"
"Grant? Grant? Hang it, man," laid Artemus, "yon appear to know
more strangers than any man I ever saw."
The man was furious. He walked up the car, but at last came back Mid said, —
" You confounded ignoramus, did you ever hear of Adam ?"
• ' ' ' 1, "Whatw ■■ ■
Artemus looked up, and said, " What was his other
■ Cookie
514 HANDY-BOOK OF
Ignoruioa !• bUaa. One of Gray's most faniiliar mintages occurs al the
end of stanza to of his " Ode on a Distant Prospect of Etoa College ;"
Yel iih I why ■hculd thiy knoir iheii bu.
'vssf
TlujMtl tlalmn. Act t., Sc. l ;
and Prior comes still closer:
comfoft Bowl :
TX^
Here are two modern instances :
Grief ihould be ihe L
• ■ wiedgt . ... ,
TbeTrMO? Knowledgt b DJi~ihu~c^~LJ<'c.'
BvBOH : lUan/rtd, Aci i,, :>c I.
The thought may be traced back as far as the Bihtc : " He that increaseth
knowledge increaseth sorrow." {Ettlet. i. lij.)
But compare the above with Socrates t " I le saul that there was only one
C>d, namely, knowledge, and only one evil, namely, ignorance." (bltxlKHU
ERTIUs: Livet and OfiiiiioHS ef Emintnl Phitoiopht j.) Bosauet thought
that " Well-meant ignorance is a grievou!. calamity in high places," and
Goethe echoed Bussueti "Nothing is more terrible than active ignoraniic."
IgnoranoA la the motlwr of dsvoUou. In lils "Church Iliaiuryuf
Britain" Fuiler says, " I shall here relate what happened at the convocation
at Westminster I1640I. A disputation is appointed by the council, nine
Po|iish bishops and doctors on that side, eight Protestant doctors on the
other side. Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord-Keeper, moderator. Tlie first i|uestion
was about service in an unknown tongue. The first day passed with the
Protestants. The second day the Popish bishops and doctors (ell to cavilling
against the order agreed on, and the meeting dissolved. Ur. Cole stands up
and declares, *I lelTyou that ignorance is the mother of devotion.'" This is
sometimes referred to as the origin of the familiar expression. But it is far
older. Luther quotes it satirically in assailing a peculiar order of Italian
monks, "The Brothers of Ignorance." Dryden says, —
■Du Maidn Q^t; Aci i., Sc, 3.
Iguorancw, Our amalL The spelling-book and the dictionary are the
two great forces that conserve our language in its purity ; they are also the
most effectual bars to progress. Indeed, that marvellous English tongue,
which has proved so resonant, so flexible, so ductile, in the hands of out great
masters of prose and verse, would have had no existence if l>r. Johnson and
Noah Webster had come over in the train of the Conqueroi. When there is
a recognized standard, a recognized authority, language is no longer the fluent
thing it was at first ; it becomes crystal liied, it resisu corruption and innova-
Coogk"
LITER AR V CURIOSITIES. $ IJ
t treason to dispute. Yet it
Trcuon iolb ncrer pnupcr. Whal'i the reucui !
The most consecvaiive lawyers, Ljitleton, Coke, Blackstone, are constraEned
to acknowledge the laieni right of Tcbellion against constituted authority when
it becomes lyrannical and unbearable. Success succeeds, prospecoos treason
justifies ilseir, and establishes a new code of loyalty. In the last analysis the
monaich is only the eiptession of the will oi the people. That will is always
the true sovereign, and may overthrow the exponent it once set upon a |ied-
estal. The authority of King Dictionary rests upon cunimon usage, sanc-
tioned by the aristocracy of the intellect. Common usage makes the aristoc-
racy subservient, and overrides the king's veto. But this result is attained
only after a long and bitter iighL
Take the word reliaUe, for exam
acknowledge it You will find it ii
lish leidcons of the present You will look for it in vain in Johns
Walker. It is a useful word, it supplies ■ want ; to our accustomed ears it
even sounds well. It was a barbarism to our cultivated ancestors. When it
first appeared in print it was greeted with contempt and ridicule by pedant
and pedagogue. They adduL-ed eicellent arguments for their scorn ; they
showed conclusively that, as le rely is a neuter verb, it cannot precede an ac-
cusative without the intervention of the preposition tn or upon. " If we must
have a new word," they urged, with nice sarcasm, " if Iruttaortky and trtd-
iile, which were good enough for our fathers, are not good enough for us,
then let the new word be relionable, not reliable ! We are familiar with audi-
rtmabU, rimilt, faUt
ready to haniL Because the soverc'ign will of Ihe'people has not so decreed.
An earlier instance of the same son, equally defiant of analogy and philo>
[•wical loyalty, and indeed whose triumph is a matter of some regret Is
afinrded by the |>ersistent pluralizing of words that are properly and rightly
singular ; as, circumstances for circumstance. The word circumstance means
the sutriHinding environment of a central fact or truth, the detail of a story,
and so it wan used up tu a late time. I'hus, Milton wrote,—
Ten Di lh« uim, ihe circuniHun defer.
If the J had not added a redundant syllable, it is not at all unlikely that later
editors would have corrected "circumstance" into "circumstances," as they
actually have done with prose aulhois. For example. South wrote (" Sermons,"
1693), " So apt is the mind, even of wise persons, to be surprised with the super-
ficies or circumstance of things ;" and in later editions (ftf, that of 1793) the
word is made circumstances. Bacon and his contemporaries talked of physic
and metaphygic, we of physics and metaphysics. We have added the useless
final J to ethics, politics, morals, mechanics, acoustics, and a multitude of words
by which we name particular arts and sciences. Rhetoric seems to be the only
one that has escaped, why or wherefore is a mystery. We shudder at such a
baibariam as " I am in hopes," yet who can tell when it may become classic?
In spite of the fact that physiologists speak of the brain as an individual
organ, our popular speech will have it brains, as, " a man of brains," "
blew his brains out ^''' WitK 9 Ivlal^it wnc* nT ih* fan ihal lu^lili
science is singular, we :
" the brains is" t
;i:,vG00gk"
Sl6 HANDY-BOOK OF
Nay, this persistent pluralization carries us often to the verge of n
Garrick wrote, " Heart of oak are our ships," meaning by heart of oak the
choice timber of which the best ships are built We continually misqaoie
the line into the absurdity of " heart! of oak," etc Even Tennyson says, in
his sonnet on Bonaparte, —
He (hobglii ici qiKll ilw Htibbom beam of oak.
But here there is probably a vaiiani meaning. Hamlet declares of the man
that is not passion's slave, —
I will war him
which is a fine phrase, and intelligible withal. Nowadays we insist »n )i|>cak-
ing of heart of hearts, as though each man carried a heart 'system in his breast
revolving around a common centre. But the cultivated minoriiv have Iteen
forced to accede even in this insUnce to the majority. Thus, Keble says,—
It is idle tu protest The rebellious people has so willed it
The word Behring Sea is a remarkable instance of how. in linguistic matters,
wrong can become right if it be insisted upon long enough. Veit Beiing is
the way in which the first explorer of those waters spelled his name, iiut
English-speaking people for some time spelled it indifferently Bering, Beer-
ing, or Behring, and finally settled down to the last-named form. That form,
accordingly, was accepted almost everywhere until very recently. Biographical
dictionaries, as well as geographies, gave Behring as the correct denomination
of explorer and explored, and all the weight of the United States government
was necessary to suppress the treasonable misspelling.
It is wonderful, however, what confusion prevails in uiir geographical no-
menclature. There is no uniform rule for the spelling and pronunciation of
non'English names. Accident, the whims of our geographers, and the per-
sistent Ignorance of Ae public at large are the determining factors. And a
pretty mess Ih^ have made of it
Sometime* we turn out an entirely ne'
Venice for Venetia, Florence for Firenze, e
times we reject it _ . „, . „ .
for the pronunciation, as in those extraordinary bits of alphabetic acrobati
which have followed the recent discoveries in Africa. But our very worst
confusions result from the fact that in former times French was the only
foreign language which an educated Englishman was familiar with, and con-
sequently he derived his knowledge of continental Europe through the
French. It was only natural, therefore, that French names uf places should
creep into the English language.
Now, the French names themselves are the outcome of a noble Gallic
struggle to master the foreign pronunciation, and then to |iut the pronuncia-
tion so mastered into phonetic form. Thus. Hague and Prague are the nearest
Frencb equivalents fur the German sounds, which in German spelling ate
represented by Haag and Frag. Bui when Hague and Prague are incorporated
into the English language they are pronounced as if they rhymed with plague,
and then neither to the ear nor to the eye do they represent the German Haag
and Ptag.
It has often happened that English and American travellers have passed
through Prag without knowing where they were. A Frenchman would
iec<»niie it ^ the pronunciation.
" r remember once meeting a compatriot." says a writer in the lUuttrattd
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 517
AmeruoH, " in the capital of Bavaria. We call it Munich ; the native*, jou
will remember, call ii Miinchen.
"'What a wondetful town this is,' said Brother Jonathan ; 'and to think
that I never heard of Miinchen in my lira '. Why, it's not mentioned in any
geoeraphy that ever 1 studied !' "
Mr. Grant Allen has {louied out the vials of his wralh with well-deserved
and well-directed energy against the foolish grammatical nicely of pedants
who ate always correcting good, sound, idiomatic English into conformily
with their own half-educated ideas of exltenie accuracy ; who would insist,
like Mr. E. A. Freeman, upon restoring such words as triumph, ovation, deci-
mate, to the strict elymological nieanii^ thai they bore in Roman military life,
forgetting the natural and beauliful growth of metaphor, the extension of
meaning, .the exaggeraliun and melnnymy that are lamiliar factors in the
genesis of vocabulary; who would reject what Macaulay calls the low vul-
B.riam of mutual friend, really a harmless colloquialism which the genius of
ickens has stamped forever upon (he language, because ihey remember that
the root of mutual in Latin implies reciprocal action ; who dispute amitui
their opponent instead of with him, in ignorance nf the fact that the viarawith
means against in the early forms of Ihe English language, and still retains
that meaning in withstand, withhold, withdraw, and dozens of other instances;
who will not say " these sort of people are," but " this sort of people is" (an
imooasible locution in speaking), not perceiving that popular instinct has
rightly caught at the Implied necessity for a plural subject to the really and
essentially plural verb. As a redtutio ad abturdum of their own argument, he
cites Ihe case of metropolis. Now, ihe superfine people object to calHiig
London a metropolis, or even to the use of Ihe ordinary phrases " Metropol-
itan Police," '- Metropolitan Board of Works," and so forth. According to
these purists, Canterbury is really the metropolis of Southern England. And
why? Because in later ecclesiastical Laiin Ihe Greek word metropolis meant
the molher-cily from whose bishopric other bishoprics derived Iheit origin,
" But," says Mr. Allen, " if we are going la be so very classical and Hellenic
as this, we might respond that bv a still older Greek usage meltopulls means
the mother-state of a colony, and so that neither Canterbury nor London, but
Sleswick-Holstein, is the original and only genuine metropolis of England. Is
not this the very midsummer madness of purist affectation? The English
language is the English language, and in that langui^e metropolis, by long
prescription, means the chief city or capital of a country."
In fact, the rile of Mrs. Partington is neither useful nor honorable. It is
vain to attempt to beat back the Atlantic Ocean or to arrest Ihe onward
match of nations. The meaning which people choose to put upon words
thev have got to bear, and there's an end on't And as with meanings, so
with pronunciation. Poor old Samuel Rogers complained that con'template
was bad enough, but bal'conv made him sick. That was only thirty-five
years ago. To-day an outrageil public sentiment would forbid him loconiem'-
plate the beauties of nature from his balco'ny.
Nevertheless, there are misuses of words which result from pure blunders,
and while these are in the bud it is just as well to nip them, lesl they blossom
oat into flowers of rhetoric
Let us make a note of some of the most flagrant examples while Ihey
are Stilt treasonable and have not prospered so br as to be stamped wilh Ihe
approval of Ihe sovereign people.
' ' o prevent people from "expecting" what they really only
suspect, or from " predicating when they are prcdi
to warn them that they cannot make up for withdrawing a necessary u iron
bouquet t^ iulrodiicing an uonecesiary and indeed harmful h into sobriquet
nwary against speaking of De Toe-
or, apparently, has come tci slay,
(ille or VAbbi de Lameniiais, but
518 HANDY-BOOK OF
anil thai avillain only becomes arenegade and an apostate by being converted
into a villian. Yel these aie errors of spelling, which would seem also to
predicate (not predict) errors of pronunciation thai are becoming strangely
prevalent among people who appear otherwise well bred and welt educated.
II seems almosl hopeless to warn Ihe unwary a{ ' ' .- ^. — .
qiievtlle and De Lamennais. That en
French people speak of M. de Tocque
when they drop the complimentary prefix it is always Tocqueville o
mennais. Is il loo nice a distinction for the general public to rect^iie inn
things are hung and criminals are hanged ? Macaulajr informs us thai though
few people remember the rules which govern the use of tall and ahaU, no
educated Englishman misuses those words. Yet does it not seem that the
educated men of our generation, in England and America alike, are unmind-
liil of Ihis distinction, and thai a similar negligence is creeping into literature?
Is this the beginning of Ihe end ? Must the rules which govern sluxll and wilt
bll into the same disuse as other rules that have sought to impose upon the
public a distinction too subtle to be apprehended readily and instinctively ?
When will people stop speaking of the Russian Czat, or Tsar, as the mod-
ern fad dictates.' The title is nol used now in Russia, foe il means simply
king. The Russian autocrat claims the higher title of Emperor. He ts so
Styled by the educatei! among his subjects, while the peasantry call him Gos-
Sudar, or lord. Peter the Great made a determined diplomatic fight in order
to obtain his recognition as Emperor, and Ihis was al last conceded to him by
the English, partly because for commercial pur|K»es they wanted his alliance,
and partly because some members of the Russian embassy in London had
been imprisoned or otherwise maltreated, so that it was by way of compensa-
tion to make Ihe concession Peter so much desired. If. however, we are
unwilling to concede Ihe higher dignity, why nol call him simply king ? We
don't speak of Ihe French Rei, of Ihe Italian Re. Why, then, the Russian
Czar or Tsar ?
The " Emptor of Germany," also, is diplomatically wrong, although rto
doubt William II, would be glad lo take that title. "German Emperor" is
the correct locittion. Frederick Baibarossa and hta line were indeed Em-
perors of Germany. Bui in 1S71 Ihe other German states were much too
jealous of the Prussians lo restore the old empire for the benefit of Ihe Prus-
sian king. Instead, they raised up a new empire, and gave its head a new
tille, as a standing memorial of the various forces that brought it into being.
The Emperor himself must furnish us with an instance of another frequent
error. In a speech made in 1890 he described Frederick the Great as
his "ancestor, thereby committing the same mistake as did <3ueen Victoria
when she talked to Macaulay of "my ancestor, James IV'andthe historian
teminded her majesty thai James tl. was merely her "predecessor." The
Emperor on another occasion has referred to Frederick as "my relative," a
sulncientiy absurd manner of describing a man who has been in his grave for
" """ than a century.
Perhaps Ihe great stupid public has
somehow miicd him up with Heinrich Heine.
A still more persistent error is that which turns Francis Bacon, Baron
Verulam and Viscount Si. Albans, into Lord Bacon. Properly speaking, be
might be called Lord Veiulam, or Lord Su Albans, but he is no more Lord
Bacon than Lord Heaconsiield was Lord Disraeli. It is true that a reason
for thus miscalling him has been found in the disgrace which deprived him of
the Great Seal and banished him from the House of Peers. Having nothing
bul Ihe barren titles, being nobody save Francis Bacon, ex-Lord-ChaiiceUor,
LITERARY VU/flOSIT/ES. 5 19
and I nominal viscount without anjf of the privileges of rank, Lord Bacon
became a sort of courtesy title. It was natural to call him by the name he
had made great, and to style him " Lord" as an ex- Chance! lor, rather than to
apeak of him by the titles he had disgraced, and which were virtually set aside.
So he was first Lord Chancellor Bacon, then Lord Bacon.
For a great number of years English people, even historians of repute, in-
sisted on talking of Admiral Van Tromp, meaning the great Dutch admiral
who almost brought his fleet into London. Van Tromp is no more known in
the Netherlands than Von Gladstone in England, or Von Blaine in America.
His name was Tromp, and is so engraved on his tombstone. The " Encyclo-
pedia Britannica" in its ninth edition set the right fashion almost for the first
time, correcting its own error in the eighth, and it is to be hoped that Van
Tromp has now disappeared forever.
A curious but common error is exemplified in the following toast, volun-
teered in honor of Aaron Burr at the Boston banquet of Federal chieftains,
April 24, 1S04 : *> Aaron's rod : may it blossom in New York, and may Fed-
eralists be still and applaud while the great serpent swallows the less I" The
symposiarch had forgotten that the rod which l>lossomed in the Biblical story
was not the same with the rod that swallowed serpents. The latter was
really the rod of Moses wielded by Aaron for miraculous purposes as the
vicegerent or "prophet" of his brother. The former was one of the twelve
rods selected to be representative of the twelve tribes of Israel, with the
understanding that the high -priest hood should belong to him whose rod was
found to have blossomed overnight after they had all been placed in the
"Tabernacle of the Congregation." To make the test perfectly lair, Moses
was commanded to write Aaron's name on " the rod of Levi."
A little attention to lines of latitude would probably diminish the almost
irresistible tendency of some tourists to write of the Atores. for instance, as
** these southern islands" and " this southern clime." The Azotes arc not so.
very much nearer to the equator than is the city of New York. Such re-
markable statements as that of a recent purveyor of fine writing, thai the
mountain-peaks which inspired his eloquence "almost touched the zenith,"
cannot be classed among the blunders here recorded, but deserve to rank
among s|>ecimens of " English as she is wrote." But it is certain that a little
brushmg up of elementary information would save many writers from appear-
ing to improve upon nature, itiot^h their pages would thereby be deprived of
an element of unconscious humor which now and then provokes a smile.
Has the term "a pair of balances" come to stay? One would fain hope
not. It is a ])ure absurdity. The very word balance means a pair of scales
{from til, " two," and lanx, " a pan or scale"). Yet the solecism is found in
Tyndale'a rendering of Revelation vi, 5, and in all subsequent versions, with
the exception of the Douay, until the revision of tSSi restored the word
"balance," which had been used in Wiclifs translation. The expression "a
pair of balances" must have come in vogue between the time of Widif and
that of Tyndale.
A very common mistake is made in the use of the word "edition." Thus,
popular novelists [requenlly describe their heroine as reading a complete
edition of "Longfellow's Poems." But no single heroine, nay, not half a
dozen Samsons, could hold a complete edition of anybody's poems. The
word needed is "copy." An edition of a book means all the copies printed
trom a set of type at the same lime.
Another term the novelists delight in is the bar sinister. There is no
such term in heraldry. Indeed, the very name involves an absurd contra-
diction in terms. Bend sinister is more plausible. Yet there are heralds who
insist that no sign for illegitimacy was ever known to their science.
Goo^k"
5«> HANDY-BOOK OF
mad In a nntBhall (L. "Ilias in nuce"), a proverbial phrase Tot any-
thing infinites imally small. According to (he elder Pliny, there existed in his
day a copy of Homer't " Iliad" which some indefaligable triflcr had copied in
such minute characters that the whole manuscript could be enclosed in a nut-
shell. But history fails to say whether it was a filbert- or a walnut-shell, which,
of course, would make some diflerence. P. D. Huet, the learned Bishop of
Avranches, in hit " De Rebus ad eum pertinentibua" (171S), p. 197, assures
us that he at one time looked upon this as a fiction, but that further examina-
tion proved it (o be at least a possibility. In the presence of several gentle-
men he demonstrated that it was feasible to write seven thousand five hundred
verses on a piece of vellum ten inches in length and eight in width. Thus
the two sides would contain fifteen thousand verses, the total number in the
" Iliad." If the veltum were pliant and firm, it could then easily be folded
op and enclosed in the shell of a large walnuL Professor Schrieber, a
German inventor of a sterei^aphic process, in order to of&et this wonder,
transcribed both the " Iliad" and the " Odyssey" into so small a compass that
both books complete could be hidden in (he shell of an English walnut
Books have been printed the size of a postage -stamp, and only recently
a volume was sold measuring eleven -sixteenths of an inch by half an inch,
containing six portraits of trie Czar and other celebtities. An Oriental
scribe once wrote in letters of gold a poem of eight lines, the whole of
which he enclosed within a grain of allspice and sent as a present to the
Shah of Persia. Bui the untutored monarch showed small appreciation of
the gift. Indeed, it is even said that he threw (he penman into prison, where
he languished several months until released through the influence of the
American consul. In iSSj a Jewish penman at Vienna, Austria, wrote four
hundred letters on a common-sized grain of wheaL He sent it to the em-
peror, who had failed (o sign a bill to allow the Jew 10 become a clerk in
some one of the royal departments, giving as a reason (hat it was absolutely
necessary to have an uncommonly good penman In (hat deparlment. After
finishing the cereal wonder and despatching it (o his majesty, the Jew picked
up a common visiting-card and wrote on (Re edge a prayer for (he imperial
In the year 18S1 the Chicago Inler-Ocean made mention of a gentleman
who had written the entire first chapter of the Gospel of St. John on the back
of a postal card. That little notice, innocent as it was, caused the editor
several sleepless nights.
Within the next three dajrs posul cards and slips of paper with minute
specimens of penmanship began to pour in from all directions. Among the
hundreds of samples submitted for inspection, the editor acknowledged that
the greatest curiosity was a postal card from John ]. Tavlor, of Sttealor, Illi-
nois, upon which were written four thousand one hundred words in legible
characters, (he whole embracing the first, second, and third chapters of SL
John, and nineteen verses of the fourth chapter of the same, and also (he
sixth and seventh chapters of St. Matthew, besides having nine words, in
which mistakes occurred. Crossed out.
All of this wonderful produclion, which would make three columns of the
InUr-Oaan set in minion tvoe, could be plainly read with (he naked eye.
Since that |>eriod, however, Mr. Taylor's record has been frequently eclipsed.
Harper's Young PiepU records that Joseph English, of Boston, Massachusetts,
wrote with a pen an entire speech containing four thousand one hundred and
silly-two words on a postal card. On another postal card William A. Bowers,
of Boston, wrote eight chapters of the Bible which contained (wo hundred
and on& verses, or five thousand (wo hundred and thirty-eight words ; while
W. Frank Hunter, of Topeka, Kansas, succeeded in wridng (he fiilb, sixtl^
_k)OgIc
LITERARY CVRIOSlTfES. t,i\
seienth, eighth, ninth, and part of the tenth chapters of St John, or six thou-
saitd two hundred and one words in all, on a space of equal size.
Last and grealesl came Walter S. McPhail, of Holyoke, Massachusetts,
" who claims to have traitsfetied to the back of a postal card ten thousand two
hundred and eighty-three words. These comprise the ninth to the twentieth
chapters of SL John, inclusive, and are written with a pen so as to be per-
fectly legible — through a magnifying-glass."
Addison, in the " Spectator," No. 59, refers to that famous picture of King
Charles the First which has the whole book of Psalms written in the lines
of the face and the hair of the head. " When 1 was last at Oxford," he says,
" I perused one of the whiskers ; and was reading the other, but could not go
so far in it as t would have done, by reasun of the impatience of my friends
and fellow-travellers, who all of Ihem pressed 10 see such a piece of curiosity,
I have since heard that there is now an eminent writing-master in town who has
transcribed all the Old Tesiameiii in a full-bottomed periwig ; and if the
fashion should introduce the thick kind of wigs which were in vogue some few
years ago, he promises to add two or three supernumerary locks that shall con-
tain all the Apocrypha. He designed this wig originally for King William,
having disposed of the two books of Kings in the two forks of the foietop ;
but tl - ' ■ ■ ' ■ ' ' -' -■...,..
left ir
n the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. Tradition says that King
Charles 1 1, was so anxious to gel hold o( it that when all his offers of purchase
were refused, he told the college they might ask him for anything as a reward
if they would but give him the picture. The Fellows complied. Then for a
reward they asked to have the picture given back tu them.
But a newspaper story* credits one Guslave Dahlberg, a student in the
Swedish University, with a wonder far exceeding this. He has made r — ■--■'
of King Oscar, the whole in microscopic letters, forming short and long e
^a irom the Bible. The right eye of this wonderful portrait is made u|)
■3 from the Psalms of David ; the left, of verses from the Prover
of Solomon, the book of Chronicles, and the Song of Solomon, ^
in all three hundred and seventeen words and seventeen hundred and nine
letters. The king's uniform is composed of the whole of the first fifty Psalms.
The exact number of words and letters in the whole portrait is not staled, but,
judging from the fact that it look seventeen hundred and nine letters (o make
one eye, the whole number of letters in this Iriumph of the penman's art cannot
fall much short of fifty thousand. In making the name of the king alone
Dahlberg used all of the one-hundred-and- twenty -sixth and one-hundred -and
twenty-seventh Psalms. The portrait, which is said (o look life-like and natural,
is on tinted paper of the kind known as " Haynes's Standard," and is so small
that 3 United Stales half-dollar laid upon it comparatively hides it from view.
But all these feals with the pen have been overshadowed by the achieve-
ments of William Webb, of London, England.
In i386, Mr. Webb invented a machine composed of exquisitely graduated
wheels and running a liny diamond |>oint at the end of an almost equally tiny
arm, whereby he was able to write upon glass the whole of the Lord's Prayer
wilhin a space measuring the two-hundred-and-ninely-fourth of an inch in
length by the four-hundred-and-fortieth of an inch in breadth, or about the
siic of a dot over the letler i in common print.
With that machine Mr. Webb, or any one else who understood operating
it, could write the whole three million 6ve hundred and sixty-sii thousand
44'
Jll HANDY-BOOK OF
fonr hundred and eighty letters of (he Old and New Testaments eight timei
over in the apace of one inch square. When this wonderful microscopic
writing was enlarged by photography, every letter and point was perfect, and
it could be read with case.
The British Museum, among its many curiosities, has probably the most
tinique collection of miniature books in the world.
Here is a rather dilapidated book of songs, bound in brown leather, little
more than an inch square, called " The Maid's Delight," dated London, 1670.
Next is a little brown Bible, known, from its diminutive size, as the Thumb
Bible, dated London, 1693. Its eilt edges are excellently preserved. Here
is a very small summary of the Bible, in perfect condition, made curious from
the fact that it has the tiniest of illustrations. By its side rests a complete
copy of Dante, with an engraving of the author. It is only one and a half
inches wide, yet it contains four hundred and ninety-nine pages, on which are
printed one hundred cantos.
Short-hand writers, loo, have a miniature volume containing the New Tes-
tament and Psalnui, bound in a green cover, — once velvet or plush, — with
silver clasps and bands. It is a wonderful little book, written in short-hand,
by Jeremiah Rich, as far back as two hundred and thirty-one years ago. On
tlie fly-leaf are these words: "The pen's dexterity by these incomparable
contractions, by which a sentence is as soon written as a word, allowed by
authority and passed the two Universities with great approbation and ap-
plause, invented and taught by Jeremiah Rich, 1659. John Lilbiinie offered
to give the author a certificate, under his own hand, that he took down h'"
Rich's cha
Academjr,
~ " ^" ■ ■ e art of manufacturing miniatures.
Their fingers must indeed be deft if they could carve correct and striking
portraiis of William IIL and George L on the halTof a walnut -shell, —a feat
which has Iweu accomplished. Some time ago a British needle-manufacturer
Seni out to China a number of exceedingly fine needles, saying that he thought
nobody in the Celestial Empire could be found lo drill a hole as small as that
necessary for the eye. He received them back with holes drilled through the
very points, — truly a wonderful piece of workmanship.
But even this palea before the work now being done by a naluralisL
His hobby consists ii> collecting the fine dusl with which the wings of molhs
and bullermes are covered, and forming them into the most artistic and pic-
turesque designs. He mounts each single grain of dusl separately, so as to
make oouquets of flowers, fern-leaves, and butterflies hovering round. This
he does in a space occupied by the eighth of an inch. In another design he
has a vase of paision-flowers made of upward of five hundred grains of dust;
and again he has represented a not of fuchsias, with buiterllies and birds, in
three -sixteenths of a square inch. This marvellous mounting in miniature
will be more readily understood when it is mentioned that there are so many
single grains of dust on a butterfly's wing that no man has ever succeeded in ,
counting them.
This same naturalist mounted a couple of hundred of the tiniest eggs of the
smallest insects, so as to make a perfect geometrical design, yet the whole did
not cover a space a quarter of an inch in diameter ; while another ardent
naturalist selected and arranged three thousand six hundred young oysters
within a circle a liiile less than three-eighths of an inch in diameter.
Tiny shells arrive in this country from Barbadoes, a hundred of which
could be placed on a space covering the eighth of a square inch. An in-
genious individual has made a perfect shot-gun capable of firing a consider-
. Goo^k"
LttERARV CURIOSITIES. 523
able disrance, yet only measuring two inches in length, and now detectives have
managed to find a photographic camera so small as to be contained within the
limits of a breast-pin. An enterprising photographer succeeded in taking the
portraits of one hundred and five eminent personages en a piece of glass no
bigger than a pin's head.
Miniature portraits and pictures necessarily call for some comment. Thej
are painted on ivory. First of alt, you make your skelch in pencil, then it is
transferred to the ivory. The tiniest lake a number of da^s to work up. In
the old days the subjects would give eight to a dozen siltmgs of from one to
two hours, but now photography is often called in in order to obviate the
number of sittings. Van Blarenberghe was so clever at painting miniature
pictures in water-colors that he could represent a battle-scene, with battalions
marching, horses galloping to and fro, colors flying, and fair lollow-t he-drums,
— hundreds of ^ures, every uniform correct anoevery face a study, — all on
the lid of a snufTbox Watteau excelled as a painter of the sweetest of little
Cupids upon lockets.
Uk. Of tllatt Uk. an expression of frequent occurrence in newspapers in
the sense "of the same sort or stamp." The phrase is Scotch, and is, in
Scotland, exclusively applied to a gentleman whose family name is the same
as that of his estate. Mentia ef Mtmies is an example ; as is Atutmilur ef
Amtrulker. The number of families to whom the title is applicable is ex-
tremely limited, and it is regarded as more honorable than those of the new-
made nobles. Several of the oldest and highest of the Scotch nobility were
earlier of thai Hi, as the Dukes of Hamilton, Gordon, etc 7<i/ Chisholm,
TAf O'Connor Don, is an analogous and not less distinguished title, indicating
that its bearer is chief of the name.
" of Sophocles and the " III gotten is ill spent" of Plautus. A ct
proverb tells us, " Happy is the rich man's son whose father went to hell,"
meaiiine that as the fatiier has suffered the retribution which follows avarice
and dishonesty, the son may be able to put the money he has hoarded to sue-
Didst Ihou never liar
Thai thlagi ill got had ever bad Hieeeit T
And tiappv always wu k for Ibal ton
WhqK Euhei farliii hoardiDC *eni la hdll
Jfinry VI., Pari 111., Act il., Sc. i.
ma we Iiave,Aiid nukM tw rather b«ar thoaa. Hamlet's lanious
soliloquy beginning " To be or not to be" contains the following among many
pregnarl passages :
Who would tiirdeli hc*t,
UiH ihai ihc Jmu] uf tumnhinii after lieath.
The imOiKuver'tl touni'- '">■" -h™, ■»....
No iraveller mumi, v>
nan JIf Ir alhiri lial tut tir™. lof eft
TlUB vonKiciKe ibn nuke towardi of u> all ;
And Ihi» the nailTe hue at resolution
H ii<:klied o'er with the ptfle ujlt of ihougbt.
if Pacuvius Calavius. He h
5^4 Handy-book op
His fellow- citizens rose in muliiiy against Iheir m^islrales. Harangaing
them in the market-plice, he counselled them that they should mention (he
name of every senator they wished deposed and suggest in his stead a
worthy and acce|)table person. Then he began the roH-caJ]. The lirst name
mentioned was receivea with a cry «r execration. Out it wenL But when it
came to Ihe question of a successor i great turmoil arose. One name after
another was hoiited down. " In (he end, growing weary of this bustle, they
began, some one way and some another, to steal out of the assembly ; every
one carrying back this resolution in his mind, that the oldest and best-known
evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and unified."
To the same efTecI was a saying of Socrates, thus recorded by Plutarch :
OM miul like ui equal ponlon. mou pmunt would be coounled lo ukc 'ihcir own uid
ibepui.— CwHiiUHHi It Aftlltnius.
K off their m „ _, _. ..
burdens of their neighbors. But when the change is made the n ._ ._.
unhappier than ever, the new evils seem far greater to unaccustomed shoulders
than the old, and there is general joy when Jupiter, having taught a salutary
lesson, allows every one to resume his former condition. From this tale
Addison draws the moral never to repine at one's own misfortunes, nor to
envy the happiness of another, since it is impossible for any man to form a
right judgment of his neighbor's sufferings.
As the motto of his pa|iei Addison makes a long quotation from the open-
ing lines of Horace's first satire, " which implies, says Addison, " that the
hardships or misfortunes we lie under are more easy to us than those of any
Other person would be in case we could charrge conditions with him."
Xllnmlnated Dootor, a title bestowed upon Raymond Lulle or Lully, a
distinguished scholastic (1235-1310. and author of the system called "Ars
Lulliaiia," which was taught throughout Europe during several centuries, and
whose purpose was to prove that the mysteries of faith are nut contrary to
Tiie same appellation is sometimes given to John Tauler, a celebrated
German mystic (1194-1361), who professed to have seen visions and heard
Impending CrUla. "The Impending Crisis of the South" was the title
of a book by H. K. Helper, of North CariHina. published in iSsS. As events
proved, the political forecasts of the volume were prophetic It had a pow-
erful influence in precipitating the conflict, and its title became » watchword
with orators on both sides.
Imperlnm «t LlbertaB. Lord Beaconslield, in a speech at Guildhall,
November 9, ili79, said, "One of the greatest of Romans, when asked what
was his politics, replied, ' Imperium et libertas.' That would not make a bad
programme for a litilish minister." Was the reference 10 Nerva, of whom
Tacitus {Agricola, ch. iii.) said, " lie joined two things hitherto incompatible,
firincipatem at libtrlalem" ?
Impossible to not a French ^ord. a famous phrase attributed to Napo-
leon T. by Colin d'Harlay. Uther authorities quote it in the form " Impossible
is a word I never use," or " Impossible, a word found only in the dictionary
of fools." But before Napoleon something of the same sort had been said Vf
Google
LITERARY CURIOS/TIES. 5*5
Mirabeau. " Monsieur le Comte," laid his secrelary. " the thing you require
is imjmssible." "Impossible!" cried Miiabeau, starting (Vom his chair;
" never menlion that sluiiid word again 1" (" Ne me ditcs jamais ce bite de
moi 1") And. before Mirabeau, Lord Chatham, in a til of the gout, received
one of Ihe admirals in his sick-room, only to be told that to get the required
expedition afloat was "impossible." "It must sail, sir, this dajr week, was
the eagle-ejed man's fire-liashine reply. As he rose from his chair, the beaded
perspiration burst from his forehead with the agony caused him as he firmly
planted the gouty foot upon the floor, and, suiting the action to the word,
added, " 1 trample on impossibilities !" He fell bact fainting, but he conveyed
his lesson, and the fleet sailed. Wellington once exclaimed, " Impossible ! Is
anything impossible? Read the newspapers." And here are other analogous
expressions :
To him ihal willi, nolbing iiimpOHiblc.— Kossuth.
NfHhing u iniiiDuible ; tlien an ways whicli lead in cverylhing, (nd if ve had sufficirai
will we ^ttoiM alwayi have nifficieni muni.— La RocHEnxiCAiri-ii. Maiim a;;.
' Fc" IhiDgi aie impoBihk lo tlillgencr and skill.— Jon use k : Rasiilas, ch. xii.
We ntight be Dibn*be : wc mi^l be all
We dream of, bappy, high, majetlical.
Shelliv: >/£•-> a<ul Maddelt.
A most extraordinary illustration of Shelley's words might be found In the
career of Benjamin Disraeli. Once when Premier of Enatand he addressed
Ihe boys at Rugby in these words ; " Boys, you can be anything vou determine
to be. Thirty years ago, when I was a boy, 1 determined to De Premier of
England."
But to return. Napoleon's accredited phrase, " Impossible, a word found
only in the dictionary of fools," is the obvious origin of Bulwer-Lyiton's
fiunoos lines in " Richelieu" (Act ii,, Sc 2) :
In ihe leiicon of youth which f«e reiervn
For a brwbl manbowl, there ia no ancb wonl
AalaU.
The sujietior judgment of the multitude has once more been evidenced in
the persistent misquotation, " In the bright lexicon of youth tnere is no such
word as fail," which is good prose subsliluted for bad veise.
After all, what are all the above quotations but more oi less splendid para-
Khrases of the old saw, " Nothing is impossible to a willing heart" i This may
: found in Heywood.
ImpromptlW- Lilera scripia mantt, but ions moli are creatures of an
hour, soon sinking into oblivion, to be born again, by a species of metempsy-
chosis, under a diHerent form and another parentage. Readiness, originality,
are the rarest gifts of the gods. " The impromptu is precisely the touchstone
of all wit," said Moliire, truly enough. "There is nothing so unready as the
readiness of wit," repeats that " FrelKhnian Air iran-^/Z^ni'^, as Voltaire called
him, Comte de Rivarol. The man whose nappy thoughts all come on the
stairs ia a proverbial flgure. If ready wit is so exceedingly rare, the ability lo
improvise songs, to extemporize in verse, is as rare, if not still rarer. The very
small number of genuine instances that have been preserved testify to this.
A very few pages would suffice to print all the wet] -authenticated examples in
Ihe language. It will not do to judge most of them by any very high literary
526 HANDY-BOOK OF
atandard : such a proceediDg would be as foolish, and as fatal, as lo analyze ■
juke, ll is their si>onlai>eily which lells : thoroughly Co appreciate one must
approach them with a predisposition to be surprised or amused, and in a mood
not too critical ; the niomenl and the occasion that gave them life and point
must, if possible, be recalled, and the scene and circumstance in which ihcy
orielnated re-enacted in the imagination. Vou must hear the hum of conver-
sation at Miss Keynoids's (" Renny dear's") tea, when, suddenly, Ur. Johnson's
.__ "To be sure, sir," attracts all ears, or imagine you are at a jovial
. jn of sparks in the early years of the century, and, midst the clinking
of glasses and roar« of laughter, Hook, at the piano, is pouring forth his
deliciooa nonsense.
If many are here included of no very high merit, the answer is, that this is
not a collection of elegant extracts, but of impromptus, and that a too rigor-
ous critique would have attenuated to vacuity an already sufficiently limited
class of literary curiosities. There are, indeed, quite a number of very clever
alleged improm[itu9 floating among the drift-wood of literature, but they are
mostly without suflicient voucher ofgenuineneiiii. The remark of De Quincey
applies with peculiar force to <.\i\igtnri, that " Universally it may be received
as a rule, that when an anecdote involves a slinging repartee, a collision of
ideas fancifully and brilliantly relating lo each other by resemblance or con-
trast, then you may challenge it as false."
The lathers of these supposed sun-bursts of smartness are usually desig-
nated t^ some indefinite phrase, as, "a celebrated Irish wit," or "a clerical
gentleman in Blankshire," el extent faribia. The tirst of these great un-
knowns is responsible for the fullowing. During a discussion at a dinner*
party, Lord E , who, much better than he deserved, was blessed with a
beautiful and accomplished wife, dropped the remark that "a wife was only
a tin canister tied to one's tail." Here was the " Irish wit's" opportunity ; he
Heized it, and, hastily scribbling something on a scrap of paper, presented
it to the mortilied wife of his foolish lordship. 1'he truthful eye-witness that
invented this story forgets to say that the wit was rewarded by the lady's nioat
Krateful smile nhen she read this :
l^onJ t^— , u woman presuniiDg to Tall,
And poor l^v Anne, while the AUbJect he carriei on,
SeeDU bun u nit lordihip'i dcgnuluif compuisoD.
but whcnTDR degradiDB f Cotuldeml ariAhi,
Acuualer't/fJiVW.andiMf/M/.uidArtfA^.'
And thould any din iti while purity hide,
Ttuu'slht hullof the/a/Zrla wbumllltlKdl
'"'> the category of invented impromptus probably also belongs that of the
two scholastics who had frequent disputes on the divinity of Christ. Chaitcing
to meet in a convivial company, one of them wrote the following lines, an((
with assumed severity, handed them to the other :
Tu Judsc limilit Dpminumque Deumquc negauj \
(" V<Hi, Judu-iike, your Lord ind God denied ;
Judat. unlike id you, npcntiuit klglked.")
Whereupon the "heretic" retorted, —
Tu liniul ei liniilii Juda, lu di«iniill»iue :
iwre like JihLI bcTud 1
Goo^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S'7
the Conneciicul House of RepresentatiTes by a prayer, was requested hv (he
Speaker lo remain sealed by nim during the sittina. At the time the State
of Connecticut had no general law or divorce, and (o obtain annulment of
the bonds of matrimony it was necessary for the parties to make applic!
'0 the legislature. The clerical gentleman, having witnessed an instance oi
■"' ' ' ' ' arrying, wrote and handed the following lo the
& (rritlen on the window
" Th> queen i> wllh us," Whin »uhlne hv,
■' For »tacn ihe found in in £ ki u> •uy/'^
Ho^Tong tSc'l! kK^^wb^'Ae Cdi ynu oui.
And the following is said to have been dashed off in a court-room by a flippant
young barrister while the tedious and ruddy-faced Serjeant C , bewigged
and clothed in purple gown, was making an interminable argument:
s Ihey go by, n
If true, then in one respect it least the hun
The gentlemen that write with ease, and write well, ire, according lo the best
authorities, a literary myth. To prove the popular theory incorrect is as diffi-
cult as il is priiverbially hard to prove a negative, and practically the whole
question reduces itseu to a balancing of probabilities. The foik-loriscic
ballad is the product of generation upon generation of accretion and polish.
Of the true genesis of the most ancient poetry extant we have plenty of
theory and correspondingly little historic fact Of the well-authenticated
examples of calemporising the most notable are probably the Italian, par-
ticularly the Florentine, improvvisatori. These dainty rhymers, who never
would permit their songs lo be written down, — "ctisi se perderebbe la poca
gloria," — makine the Italian summer nights melodious with the tinkle of the
guitar, flourished dowm lo nearly modern times. Their themes, however, were
extremely limited. Their most common subjects were the commenilation of
Ihcir several mistresses, or Ihe contending oftwo swains for the same maiden,
or a debate which was Ihe best poel, after the manner of eclogues ; indeed, they
put one in mind of Virgil's Ihird, fifth, and seventh eclogues, where the shep-
herds cunlend in alternate verse ; and Virgil's shepherds seem sometimes lo
be lied down by the thoughls in the preceding stanza, just as these Tuscan
exlem[)OTe poets were by the rhyme of the one who had immediately preceded.
The immediate influence of these canzonari on English literature is beautifully
orlrayed in (he idyllic picture of Sir Waller Raleigh and himself as painted
.. c,!,...,..^ G.^..i..r u.!.... hh. ...,.% were neighbors and visitors on their Irish
He tiuiDff OK be
PrcnoOd me I
me ID play anme pleuut bt :
;i:,vG00gk"
5»8 HANDY-BOOK OF
cmulinff, my pipe tie took in hand.—
ly pipe, bdoR tui 2iDii1«d of many,—
■ ' ■' ■ m (for well ihM skill he cood),
I^^V^^.
By cbuige oT lurni each
Sumc oC the feats, however, of ihe impn
" When I H» at Florence, at uur resident's Mr. C," wciles Spence, '
Ihoughi it impossible for them tq go on so readily as Ihey did wilhout having
arranged ihin^ beforehand. He said il amazed everylwdy at first ; that he
had no doubt it was all fair, and desired me, tu be salished of it, to give (hem
some subject myself, as much out of the way as I could Ihinlc of. As he in-
sisled, I offered a subject on which they cuuld not be. well prepared. It was
but a day or two before that a band of musicians and aclors set out from
Florence to introduce operas for Ihe first time al the Empress of Russia's
court This advance o\ music, and that sort of dramatic poetry which the
Italians al present look upon as the niost capital parts of what Ihey call tdrtii,
so much farther north, was the subject I offered them. They shouk their
heads a little, and said il was a very diScull one. However, in two or Ihree
minutes' lime one of them began with his oclave upon il i another answered
him immediately, and Ihey went on (or five or six stanzas, alternately, without
any pause, except thai very shoil one which is allowed Ihem by giving off of
Ihe lune on the guitar at the end of each slanza. I'hey always improvise to
music" It is a pity thai the relator did not preserve a record of this contest i
it would have proved a veritable curiosity. Komethiiig in this line were the
exhil^tions <^ the Signora 'I'addt in 1S24 at Naples and elsewhere of her
wonderful power of improvising lyric poetry and melody at Ihe same lime.
She would not only adopt whatever stories or incidents might be suggested
as her subjects, But would uller her improvisations in any metre prescribed
and fit her words lo music the time or measure of which should be dictated
Reluming to England and Raleigh, the story is about as well authenticated
as any of the detaih> of his career, that when a young adventurer, seeking the
queen's favor, he wrote on a window which she musl pass the line, —
Fain would I climb, yel Tear I to fall,
which catching her eye, Elizabeth immediately completed the couplet ^1 'dd-
ing,—
ir Iby heart bill tb«. cUmb no< •! all.
Other prompt rejoinders are attributed 10 Queen Elizabeth. When asked b]t
a priest whether she allowed the real presence in the sacrament of Ihe Li rd^
Supper, she adroitly replied, —
ChriH wat Ihe word Ihal iuk« it ;
He took the bnd and brake it;
That I believE and lake \\.
Even more clever was her reply, and in a Latin hexameter too, lo the inso-
lent message of Philip II,, delivered by Ihe Spanish ambassador in these
Tr, veto, ne persai bdio dttendeR Belgai ;
tYcnii, jubeo tt londetE u'ltu^
She instantly answered, —
SI
;i:,vG00gk'
LITER AR y CURIOSITIES. 5 89
Much more doubtful is the tradition which, without gnfficieni reaion, seek*
to fasten on Shakespeare the epila()h on a rich usurer, one Combe, said to
have been extemporized by the poet in a tavern at Stratford:
T«i in > Sundnd ihi divit lilowa.
If Boy uke who llei in Ihii lombe,
" Hob," qiioih llw devU, •' 'lit mir John-O-Combc."
Another version, which at least gives the jest more point, is that John
Combe was a rich Stratford butgess and intimate friend of Shakespeare.
During a discourse, not unaccompanied, we may imagine, with a discussion
of beer, Mr. Moneybags remarlced to the poet that in ail likelihood he would
write his epitaph, and if he postponed it until it was actually needed the
interlocutor would never <ee it ; therefore he would have him compose it,
whatever it was, at once. With a laugh Shakespeare immediately complied
by reciting this verse :
T*n <D Ihc hundred Iki ben enttand,
'Tu a huDdT«d ID tea bu loul i» not vvcd.
" Ofao." qoMh the dc'^, "'lu my JobD^-ComlM."
In the Warwickshire dialect "» combe" means "has come." Was it in
memory of l.tiajcu-d'' afrit that Combe left the poet a legacy of five pounds f
Only less apocryphal than the foregoing is that ascribed to Ben Jonson.
It appeals that "rare Ben" had been invited lii a conviviality at the Falcon
Tavern. At the time he was heavily in debt at the hostelry. Mine host's
heart softening, he offered to accept payment in (he poet's own coin, — to wit,
he would wipe out the score if he would insianier compose a rhyme in which
he would tell what God and the devil, what the world and mine host himself,
would be moat pleased with: to which the poet promptly responded, —
God l> belt pleoHd vtacn men linHlu Ibcir iId ;
Tbs deril ii bal pluled wben ibey seniit ihereln ;
The worid'i beii pkiied wben Ibou cl«i telt food whKi
And you're b«*t pleaied when I do [uy for mipc.
Leaving now the mythological and advancing into the historical ages of the
impromptu, it may be remarked by way of prelace that, the spoil laneousness
of their creation apart, impromptus are in all other respects a most hetero-
geneous lot. They assume every imaginable form, and their contents may be
a parody or a polemic, a clever thought epigrammalically expressed, a bit
of drollery, grolesquerie, or persiflage. The object is generally to elicit an
approbatory smile ur to raise a laugh.
A very effective impromptu was that of the Duke of Dorset The duke,
John Dryden, Bolingbroke, and. Chesterfield were in the habit of spending
their evenings together. On one occasion it was proposed that the three
aristocrats should each write a something and place it under the candlestick,
and that Dryden (who was at that period in very indiBerent circumstances)
should determine who had written the best thing. No sooner proposed than
agreed to. The scrutiny commenced, judgment was given. "My lords,"
said Uryden, addressing Bolingbroke and Chesterfield, "you each of you
have proved your wit, but I am sure you wiil, nevertheless, agree with me
thejudg
Not a
i be observed that the noble '
. . a whit less effective, however, was the well-timed speech by a me-
chanic. At the time when Sit Richard Steele was preparing his great room in
" York Building" lor public orations, he happened to be considerably behind-
530 HANDY-BOOK OF
band in hia payments to the vorkmen : and coming one day among them to
see what progress had been made, he ordered the carpenter to get into the
rostrum and make a speech, that he might observe how it could be heard.
The fellow mounted, and, scratching his poll, told Sir Richard that he knew
not what to say, for he was no orator. " Oh," cried the knight, " no matter for
that ; speak anything that comes uppermost" " Why, then. Sir Richard,"
says the fellow, " here have we been working for your honor these six months
and cannot get a penny of money. Pray, sir, when do you design to pay (ft f
"Very well, very well, said Sir Richard; "pray come down. 1 have beard
(|uiie enough. I cannot but own you speak very distinctly, though 1 don't
much admire your subject"
The following lines are sometimes claimed for Jane Brereton, but arc more
generally ascribed as an impromptu to Lord Chesterfield. When he saw
Beau Nash's full-length picture flanked to right and (o left by the bosta of
Newton and Pope, he exclaimed, —
Tbt plcniR placed ih« bum betmen
WiHiaTa ud'wil^ IlitTe i^,
Bui FoIIt'i >' AiU lenph.
This suggests one of the best-known nob of William R. Travers. In the
palmy days of the Fiske Gould partnership the steamboat Mary Powell had
been Completely lefitted and furnished, and a party of gentlemen were invited
by the owners to inspect her appoinlments. among them Mr. Travert. The
saloon of the vessel had been decorated in a magnilicenl manner, and two
life.siie oil-paintings of the owners, Fiske and Gould, hung up, one on e«ch
side. In the midst of the hum of admiration from the guests, the portrait*
aiiraciing particular attention, " Very fine," cried Travers, " you on one aide
and Gould on the other, but where ia our Lord V
Even the sober dona sometimes aie infected. Shortly after the tumult at
the University of Oxford had been quelled, on which occasion troops had to
be called in. King George I. sent to the Univeraily of Cambridge a present
of books, which circumstance induced Dr. Grapp, of Tory Oxford, to write
this epigram :
Our royal nn
Thai Itaniedbody w , , .
Bui books to Canibnd£« |a*e, u veil dbccnEnf
Thai Ihu right loyil body nnlcd I«nila|.
To this alur Sir William Thompson retorted with this very clever improv*
The king lo Ovferd sent K troop of hone.
For Toriei kaow no ugumni bni force ;
For Whig* aUow do fotcc but argumcDt.
The following it credited to the poet Fiaed, who, while a member in Parliv
mem and observing the Speaker asleep, wrote and passed up Ibis squib :
Sleep, Mr. Spcjiker I Huvey vill loon
Move to ibaliih <h> lun udlbe nuxn r
Hume will, no doubt, be ukinE the kdk
Of the Home on a queitiun of uitecn poux ;
When Burke had concluded his exceedingly bitter speech against Warren
Hastings, the latter, it is asserted on the authority of Mr. Evans, hi* private
•ecretary, promptly penned and handed around these lines t
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
•n have w« woodend that od Irub gtound
louse Tor hiin," be retorted w
lU Ulkof
A very «Iegant impiomptu is that of Dr, Young, the author of (tie " Night
Thoughts." Walking in his garden al Welwyn with two ladies, one of whom
afterwards became h>s wife, a visitor was announced. "Tell him," said the
doctor to the servant, " 1 am too well engaged to change my situation." The
ladies, however, declared that this would not do, and, as the visitor was a dis-
tinguished gentleman, begged their host b^ all means to go in ; finally, the
doctor remaining obdurate, they grasped him each bjr an arm, and gently but
firmly led and thrust him out of the garden. Finding himself worsted, the
doctor succumbed with a grandiloquent bow, and, laying his hand upon his
heart, declaimed in his impressive and expressive manner these extempore
Thu Adam loolicd wbn from the garden driven,
And diui dllpated Drden lenl from bnvCD,
LUh him 1 ED, but yd to eo I'm toath ;
like him i «a, for angeli BrDvc ul balh.
One of the neatest impromptus is another of Young's. Sealed at a table
after dinner, In company with a numbei of gmt d'uprU, he borrowed Lord
Chesterfield's diamond- mounted pencil, and with the diamond scratched upon
a wineglass, —
Accepi a miiulc, lutead of wit
Sh two dull liHi tiy Slanbope'i pencil wiiu
The neartkcss of genius to madness is again illustrated by the retort of
poor Nat Lee, when Sir Roger L'Estrange came to visit him in the mad-house.
Shocked by the appearance of his friend, the visitor could not suppress an
expression of solicitude for the sad alteration. The ear of the lunatic over-
heard the remark, and his quick eye caught the change of expression in the
tace of the visitor. In a flash he retorted, —
1 am itrugc Lee altered, yoa are BtiU L^-BtraDge.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, the apostle of common sense, the dread of the fool
and the aiiecled, of the untruthful and inaccurate, whose conversation was as
happy and witty as his writing was pedantic and labored, had the truly Tuscan
gift of improvisation. No man ever lived of whose sayings and doings the
world has nearly so accurate a report, and the examples of his aptness in this
Johnson was discoursing with Boswell on a certain writer of poetry. " He
has taken to an odd mode," said Dr. Johnson. " For example, he'd write
Now, gray evening is common enough ; but evening gray he'd think finer,—
Stay, shall we make out the stanza?—
HANDV-BOOK OP
'what \ bliu?'aDf^h1ch ihc'w
Where is bliss? would have been better."
added a ladicroas stanza, bul would not repe
It was somewhal as Tollows ; the last line I ai
WhilElthiu
Later, when caught ir
found in the generally printed text ;
Thui I Bpoke^ uid tpeatdn^ ilgh'd ;
ScAKf repRB'd ihe itarting lev ;
When (he uniling iMat npLied,
Come, mv lAd, utddivk toncbcq'.'
BoswELi. : Uft, Hi. in (ed. of Blrlibn:k HLI1).
Mrs. Fiozzi relates a number of instances in her " Anccdoies of Johnson."
Thus, he came la her one day and handed her a paper on which he had writ-
ten a few lines, provoked, it was believed, by a volume of puems published by
I'homal Warton : " Clever fellow, and I like him well enough," he said.
WbeiTMe'cr 1 timi my virw.
Ode, uid degy, uid soDDei.
I. Piozzi having playfully
I am live-and-thirty ; yet
Stella was fed with them till forty-six," without a stuDiner or hesitation, and.
as the lady says, certainly without any notion or intention of doing such a
thing, half a moinenl previously, he burst out, —
" (}ft in dangir, yM aUva,
Long may better ytui aniva,
ttoter yeui ibu lUny-Ava.
Contd philoiophen connive
UfiE to ucp M iblttv-live.
Tine U> fanin iluuli] Dcver drive
O'er the boundi of Ihiny-five.
High lo iDir, ud deep lo dive,
Nwure eivei u Ihlny-fire.
Udia, itock >ud tend your hive,
Tiifle WH al ihiny-five ;
For, bowe'er we bout and urin.
Life declinn from ihirty-GTe.
He Ibu ever hope* (o thrive
MuubegiiibylEiitylive;
And all oho wiKly widi Is wive
Miut iook on ThimJe u ihiny-fiTC.
And now," said he, a:i the lady look down the verses, "yon may see what
it is lo come to a dictiunary-maher ; you may observe that the rhymes run in
alphabetical order exactly." One day when he called on Mrs. Pioui her
daughter was consulling with a friend about a new gown and dressed hat she
thought of wearing lo an assembly. While she hoped he was not listening to
their ctwversaliun, he broke out g»y)yi—
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 535
" Weu the gawn uid mr ihe hi
" :blbvpleuuR> while lb
IV pleuuro while Ihey lut;
HuUt (hoi aJiK live, like ■ cu.
SooD Iheie Dine Ute* would be puL"
He was moat happy in extemporizing translations, often finding odd and
ludicrous parallels. When a translation of a lamous ballad, beginning " Rio
Verde, Rio Verde," was commended to him, "I could do it better myself,"
he uid, " as thus :
Glany wtuer, gluuy wnia-.
Chid* contuKd In nnliuil tLjtugliiFr,
'Should yoa like it in English ?' said he, 'thtis:
Would you hope lo nln my hear
Bid your IcAaiaE douhti depBjt ;
He who blindly m»u will find
As an instance of caricature imitation might be quoted (he one given by
Mrs. Pioui, who says that one day when some one was praising these verses
by Lope de Vega, —
O d de fUco 4verEQence,
O elia de KT nuuTuriau.—
more than be thought they deserved. Dr. Johnson observed with some
animation "that they were founded on a trivial conceit, and that conceit ill
explained and ill expressed. The lady, we all know, does not conquer in the
same manner as the lion does. Tis a mere play on words, and you might as
well say that
This readiness of finding a
the course of his conversatio
mime were quoted to him, —
be cried out gayly and suddenly,
Who nils o'er fne
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
:alian improvvisalore, who, when the Doke
:c in the year 174a or 1743.—
he uid, " woald do jnsi as well in uur tongue, thus :
l( H your coming priikccs disappear,
Cofneo> CQne eve^ (Uy and iiay a yai
To whidi he replied, without hesitating, —
r h^^'[lli^ humi
WiUi nimbk glidf .he .kaicrm play ;
These pteti; Italian verses, too, he Englished, says Mrs. Pioul, doing it all'
impraatdso in the same manrKr :
Viva ! viYa La padrona J
Tuiia bella, a tuna buona.
La padrona * up angioIdU *
Tuiia buooa e uuialiclla :
Viva I viva la padroaa I
Long nuy Qrc my Lar¥dy Hetty I
Always youDg uid alwayi pmiy ;
Alwayi pnlly, alnyi young.
Live myTonf; Mai* lhai[\
Long may lira mylovdy Italy t*
This extempore defiiiiitoii of a point of admiration is also attributed to him :
Dr. Percy, by the publication of his " Rcliques," had made a Turore in bvor
of ballad poetry with which Dr. Johnson was by no means in thorough sym-
pathy. In the year 1771 the learned antiquarian published "a long lallad in
many fits ; it is pretly enough." It was called " The Hermit of Waikworth :
a Ballad, in Three Camas." At one of Miss Reynolds's teas it was the subject
of discii!ision, and some one expressed great admiration of It in particular
and of ballads in general (or their simple beamy or beautiful simplicity.
A stanza wai read from the unforluiiale " Hermit." * " Why, sir," cried John-
son, " I could produce yuu as good stuff in ordinary iiariative converiation.
For instance :
;i:v..G00^k"
LIIEKAHY CURIOSITIES, 335
1 then did mtn jioalher nun
Wiibhlshuiiihiiliud,"
5« BoswHLL, Ltft. YoL U. p. 136 {ed. It Bi>U>«k Hill).
'. Ill make such poetry sabservient to my immediale uae," he condnued,
iiig to Miss Reynolds, —
" I thcrtfort pray IbK, Rcony d«ar,
With cmm uid ugu toAsicd mil,
AwMtaer cup of ta.
" Koc Itu Ihu I, my cenile maid,
Shall long deuin cEe cup,
When DD« unio ihe txjliom I
H»v<! dninV the liquor up.
" V« hear, alu ! ihii mounifiil mnh.
" Have you heard Johnson's criticism on Percy's ballads ?" asked a friend of
Garrick (he nexl morning. " I( is all over lown," replied ihe latter. On still
another occasion, at Streatham, he caricatured this legendary ballad poetry:
Tbe tender iDfuI, meek uid mild.
temporiang. A party of
party of
plimentary device be drawn by lot, and the poet challenged l(
compliment on the gentleman who had drairn it Agreed and done, and here
is the result ;
Vatnty.—'ihxwti. by Lord Macclofidd,
Be vabi, my lord, you have a right ;
For who, like you, can boul Ihu oiibl
Traughi with wch bciuly. wll, uidgncet
hutmtiUlilf.—'iAi. Muihun.
Iiuenilble con Murnham bet
InttnjtaHffy, — Mr. Adauit.
In Adami, where ll toolu to charmlnf :
Who wmvcn, u he nil may boul.
Which Tirtue he >b>ll follow Dmit.
ImtaiUnei.—l»t. St. John.
Si. John, your vice you cu-t difown :
For in ihl> age 'ill too well kuowB
That inpudenl Ibal nun matt be
Wbo darel from lolly u be bee.
Yet bTinh uoi, Gmrd, lho«'« i
In nil Ihat'i wortby you ixcttii
;i:v,.G00gk"
53<S HANDY-BOOK OF
A Bl»mk wu dixim by Ur. L^ge.
If khe m bunk Jw L^av desltfiied.
SuR Foman. It no LoSler bifid :
For we thAll fill the paper gl™
With cvny viniM unihr baven.
C^BwroEKr.— Ocnenl CulUrd.
Canning, being challtngcd to find a rhyme on Juliana, immedialelj pro-
duced thia ;
Walking in the ibiidy nove
With my Juliuia,
For loiengo I g*ve my Ion
Ipecacuanha lozenges, however, were unknown at the time, and this cir-
cumstance makes the story doubtful. The same maybe said of one attributed
to Goldatnith. He was put into the hands of a dancine-masler, for whom the
awltward, ugly, pockmarked lad was a butt of ridicule ; he made all manner o(
fun of him, and called him his liltle ,%sop. Uoidgmith, nettled by the jest,
stopped short in his hornpipe, and cried, —
Our herald balb proclaimed Ibis laying :
S«e j&op dancing and hia noniHy playing.
The repartee which was thought wonderful in a boy of seven years becomes
slill more so when it is remembered that in after-years Garrick. in his dis-
tich on Goldsmith, describes his conversation to be " like that of poor Poll."
Ttie slory of Bunis's alleged itnprovised diatribe against Andrew Horner is
probably culled from the Book of Ananias. Burns's power of extemporizing
was magnificent, and there is no need of going outside of his acknowledged
writings for brilliant examples. As they are easily accessible, only a few of the
brightest and lightest and most spontaneous will be given. Those who want
to see Bums angry should read the following, and then compare it with the
Andrew Horner lit. Surely here are invective and rage, but with none of the
scurrility which makes the other unreadable. The hnes were written by the
indignant poet on a window of the tavern at Inverary, when he was smarting
under the ating of an imaginary slight ;
Whoe'er he be diM Hjounu ben,
I phy much hi* caae.
The Lord their Cod. hi> Gnce.
There'i naething her* but Higliland pfitle
And Hi^land tcab and hunger ;
IF Providence hu scnl me bere,
'Twai lureJy xa bk anger.
Here is the poem on Andrew Homer :
s!lu^WDkMuff'ion«J?a™™. '
Aod culai it in a comer ;
Bui wiliiy he chanetd bia plan,
Slwped it to KomcthiilD iilce a man,
And u'd il Andtc« Homer.
The fbllowing is not printed in his works, but is generally credited to him,
and certainly has much of his native archness. At a kirk the preacher was
hurting denunciation at simicrs, and [lainiir^g in lurid colors — quoting, after the
Scotch fashion, many lexis — the pains and lerruts of elernal damnation. A
beautiful girl who was silling in a pew before him was becoming greatly
agitated, noting which, the poet look her Bible and wrote on its fly-le>( —
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Fmlr nuld, you need not uke the hint,
The faUowing linei •
Burns on the poet'* fir>
than reputable i
The following was extemporised in the Court of
LoKD- Advocate Campbrlx.
He clenched hli pamphleu in hii li<i.
He quoied ud be Untnl,
"iff£S5r
Mr. Ersrink.
Hi* iDTtuiip tax. vi' niefu' e'
And eyed the fHEhenng tl4
Like wjod-driveu hul ii did i
On being requesied to say grace at the table of the Earl of Sellcirk :
Some hu Dell and canu eat.
And ue Itae Lord b« tluuikil.
Bushe, the Irish Chief Baron, made this impromptu verse upon two agi-
tators who had refused to fight duels, one on account of his afiection for bis
wife, and the other because of his love for his daughter :
Two heroei of Erin. abbomDI of ilsuKhier.
One bonoied bi> wUe, and Ilie (xko hii diughla.
The grealeal, the very king amor.g improvisators, however, was Theodore
Hook, although, unhappily, of his wonderful feats there remain only the
merest scraps. His impromptu essays, being for the most part hits at passing
events, have been, with few excentions, swept from the face of the literary
Elobe. The coincidence of a Boawell and a Johnson is an event that has
appened but once in the history of the world.
As a rule, men endowed with mere conversational talents, howsoever brilliant
their wit and perfect their success, must be content, like actors, whom they in
a measure resemble, with the applause of their contemporaries.
In Hook's case we must be content mainly with the information that in the
art, if art it may be called, of pouring forth culemporaneous poetry, music and
words, rhyme and reason, he stood alone. Mrs. Mathews gives this account
nd EtncT«lly lUangen Ici Mr. Hook, b
53* HANDY-BOOK OF
tmpOKd * rone upolJ every penon id ikc rooin^ full of tbc most polntqd wjl
»t riiynm, unhHiuupgly niHring idio hit tub^eci, u he npidly proceeded,
be ntx lecD proor tliAL no BDIicipation could h*v* bAcn farmed of n
Batter aiid oppDnumuei for hu ftood-aeLured rene.
He was, indeed, not always equal, and aomelimea he failed. But when the
call was well timed and the company auch as eiciled his ambition, it is impossi-
ble to conceive anything more marvellous than the felicity he displayed. He
accompanied himself on the piano-forle, and the music was frequently, though
not always, as new as the verse. He usually stuck lo the common ballad-
meaaures, but one favorite sport was a mimic opera, and then he seemed to
triumph without effort over every variety of metre and complication ofstanta.
On one occasion he sang a sonz upon a company of sixty persons, each verse
containing an epigram. Sheridan said il was the most eitraordtnary exerlion
of the human inlellecl he had ever witnessed.
While il is true he was without rivals, of course he Ibund imitators. One
of these gentlemen probably saw reason to remember his allempi at rivalry.
Ambitious of distinction, he took an opportunity of striking off into verse
immediately after one of Hook's happiest efforts. Theodore's bright eyes
flashed and lixed on the intruder, who soon began to flounder in the meshes
of his slanias, when he was put out uf his misery at once by the following
couplet from the master, given, however, with a good-humored smile that
robbed it of all offence :
One of the participators relates the following occurrence at a gay young
bachelor's villa near Highgate, when the other literary lion was one of a very
different breed,— Mr, Coleridge. Much claret ha<] been shed before the
"ancient mariner" proclaimed (hat he could swallow no more of anything,
ut)les9 it were punch. The materials were forthwith produced, the bowl was
Elanted before the poet, and, as he proceeded in his concoction. Hook un-
idden took his place at the piano. He burst into a bacchanal of egregious
luxury, every line of which had reference to the author of " Lay Sermons"
■nd Ihe" Aids to Reflection." The room was becoming excessively hot. The
first glass of the punch was handed lo Hook, who |>aused to quaff it, and then,
exclaiming that he was stifled, flung his glass through the window. Cole-
ridge rose with the aspect of a benignant patriarch, and demolished another
pane ; the example was followed generally, — the window was a sieve in an in-
sunt ; the kind host was farthest from Ihe mark, and his goblet made havoc
of the chandelier. The roar of laughler was drowned in Theodore's resump-
tion of the song, and window, chandelier, and Ihe peculiar shot of each indi-
vidual destroyer had apt, in many cases exquisitely witty, c ' '
walking home Coleridge declared to Ihe relator of (his slory, in a i
lent leclure on the distinction between talent and genius, thai Mr. Hook was
as true a genius as Uanle.
Among other things, the names of those present afforded not unfrequently
matter for his songs, and once he is said to have encountered a pair of most
unmanageable patronymics. Sir Moses Ximenes and a Mr. Rosenagen, a Dane.
" The line antiphonetic lo the former has escaped us," says Mr. Barham in hi*
"Life of Hook," vol. i. p. 35, but the latter, reserved till near Ihe conclusion,
was thus played upon :
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 539
Yh man of my Miue li nquind,
Bui no I like ■ fiddler ihai'i iiccd,
rU R«en-Bj^, and go on.
The rollowini; lines were left »t Theodore Hook's house, in June, (834. by
his friend >nd Diographer. Hook was publishing at this time his "Sayings
and DunES i"
^ A> Dick nud I
At Fulhmm Bridae I (pocked m^ ey*,
iig> -.ui I
StUl kMjrfig 1^ eye
On ike house, " if he • in,— I ihoi
Sayi Dick, xye he.
" Fuher, luppoK you land and •
" What, land mid jm,"
Sayi 1 B he,
" Together t why, Dick, why, be
" I will, tir," oyi Willim. politeu of men :
So hAvlng no card, Iheaa poetical biayran
An Ike record* I Icsve of my dcungs and laylnn.
Richard R. Bakhah.
One day, while Hook was delighting and astonishing some friends with
hi* improvised songs, the maid <^me in, and, unconsciously falling into melre,
announced, —
Pleax, Mr. Winter hu called for Ihe laiet.
Hook immediately fell into the jingle, and, Tacing the abashed girl, continued, —
1 adviie you 10 give him whuever he aiei.
For Ihonek hU name'i Wlpier, hi> actioni are Mi'mmary.
Hook was one of a dinner-party where the conversation turned on the
Trojan war. Then the peciiliarilies of the Latin language were discussed.
A slight lull in the conversation occurring, one of the party, alluding to
Hook s exlemporiting powers, challenged him to make on the Spot a joke oul
or the Latin gerunds. Hook made a few humorous remarks, referring 10
iSneas and Dido, and then eilempoHied iwo lines, thus :
ular and eminent physicians in Marseilles, says the Figaro.
company adjourned lo (he drawing-room, where cofiee »
Gisial said to bin honored guest, —
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S40 HANDY-BOOK OF
" My dear Dumas, I know you are a capEtal hand at improvising. Pray
oblige me with four lines of your own composing here in this album.
" Wilb pleasure," the author replied. He took his pencil and wrote, —
For Uk hcdlli ud wcU-beinc of our deu old lawn
Dr. Giiu] bu bcm uulau*— very.
RouJl : Tbt bapiul i> dov pulled dovn,
" You flatterer T' the doctor interrupted, as he was lookimg over the writer**
shoulder. But Dumas went on i
And ID lu place we've a ceinelery.
The talent al improvising in rhyme has cropped up in some very out-of-the
way places. An instance comes from North Carolina. James Dodge was
at one lime the clerk of Ihe Supreme Court of that Stale. A number of dis-
tinguished lawyers, among them Hillman, Dews, and Swain (the last-named
being president of ihe Stale University), thought it would be capital fun to
have a joke al the clerk, so one of them composed and handed him, amid Ihe
laughter of the company, Ihe following epitaph :
Here lies Jiniet Dodge, who dodg«d *ll good.
And. ifte^dodging alt hccDuld,
Mr. Dodge read Ihe paper, smiled, sat down, and, quickly writing somethine
al the foot of the verses, handed it back lo the gentlemen, who were still
laughing. This is what he had done :
Here liei a Hiltman uid ■ Swiin ;
Their Lot In no man chooH :
They lived la sin, uid died ia pun.
And tlte devil got hb duu (Dewi).
In. This word is used in American slang with many attributed meanings.
The single phrase "to be in it" has several nuances. "I'm in for ihe siuff"
means " I am aflet the boodle," often with an ulterior meaning, looliing
towards briliery and corruption. " He isn't in it" means Ihat the individual
alluded to is left out in the cold, is hopelessly distanced, defeated, or worsted,
r prospectively or actually. Possibly this was originally a ract-lrack
expression. Of a horse who has no apparent chance of victoiy, or who has
l)een badly beaien, il is said thai he is not, or was not, in the rao
expression is now usually shortened lo " not in it" in lieu of "
"To be in it," on the other hand, means to lake an interest — pecuniary, per-
sonal, or menial — in anything ; to agree to ; to comprehend.
If yJu™ e»n jHlto^With™ rm'to!"— A'miius'wTRa * '^™ ""*
Popt. Black eye, noK out c^ plumb, dothei torn T Bean in ■ Bght, haven't you, my toBf
/'■/i. Whai'i Ihal you're uyingt Why, you muK bave been ina figblt Mow.lallih*
Mf Stn. Well, Popi, then wii a fighl, but I wan't in ii l—Aict.
In boo algno vinoea (I., "Under this standard thou shalt conquer").
mpaign against Maien-
uus iii.li, ii-i], 1,0113 laiui lie J usl before crossing Ihe Alps held a general review
of his troops, during which he prayed fervently to the God of the Christians
for assistance, Al noon of the same day, gazing up in the heavens, Constan-
tine saw above Ihe sun the monogram and the molto. Again in Ihe night*
time the sign appeared to him in a dream. On awakening he copied it down
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S4I
on a piece of paper, and sent for some Christian teachers lo eiplain il. They
informed him Ihat XP were the first Iwo letters of the Greek word XP12T0S,
or ChrisL Constantine thereupon adopted the sign as his device. He caused
a new standard to be made, which he called the Labarum. It consisted of a
long gill staff with a transverse bar, from which hung a piece of purple Bilk,
adorned with the images of the emperor and his children. Ai the top of the
staff was a wreath of gold, enclosiiig the sacred sign.
" Conslanline's own narrative to Eusebius," says the " Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica," "attribuled his conversion to the miraculous appearance of a flaming
cross rn the sky at noonday, under the circumstances already indicated, The
«ory has met with nearly every degree of acceptance, from the unquestioning
faith of Eusebius himself lo the mcredulily of Gibbon, who treats il as a
fable, while not denying the sincerity of Ihe conversion. On the supposiiion
that Constantine narrated Ihe incident in good faith, the amount of objective
reality thai it possesses is a question of altogether secondary importance."
luoedis p«r igpea snppoaitos oineri dolcwo (!-, "Vou are walking
upon fite covered with deceitful ashes"). This familiar quotation is from Horace
(Odes, ii. I, 7), the person addressed being Pollio, who was writing a history of
Ihe recent civil war. A curious analogue is Ihe expression used by Count de
Saivandy at a ball given at the Palais Royal in Paris, June 5. 1830, to the
King of Naples by nis brolher-in-law, then Duke of Orleans, bul a lew weeks
later Kin^ Louis Philippe. Charles X. was himself present Al Ihe height of
the testiviliea Saivandy, a former minister lu Naples, said to Ihe host, with a
prescience of coming events, >* You are giving us quite a Neapolitan fSle : vre
are dancing upon a volcano." On Jmy 30 the three days' revolution oc-
curred which sent Charles X. in exile to England and placed the citizen-king
on the throne.
Tber* uv to muiy daDgerotu picfklli tbu Id ordsr (o be ufe odc miut illp Ifarough (hfi
irorid Aomcwhat lightly aod BuperBdaSly — ddc imut glide And Dol preu looliard on any
poiDI. Plcanire lukLF ii pftinful ia its latenBity. tnndit prr ^ms, etc. — Moktatghk :
Inoh. Give btm ui Inch and hell take an ell, an old English proverb,
applied lo a grasping and covetous nature, or to one who abuses another's
patience or generosity. It is found thus in lleywuod :
For when 1 t/tit you u inch you tooke u A\,—Prin,trb,.
Give u inch, he'll taliE u dl.— Wmsibb : Sir Ttoimi Wfait.
InOToyable (Fr., literally, "(he incredible." bul never used in its English
equivalent), the name for a fashion of male costume which sprang up under
the French Directory :
ilf till of wide oiuillD ..-...-
unplilude probably u^JfylDE that tbfl w
IHU. Hb hair fell (c "—' •■ ■■
ie, 1816, John Adams, lying
e given in his name on the ,
approaching Fourth of July. He replied with tTie above words. Asked
whether he would add anything to them, he replied. " Nol one word." On
the morning of the 4th, hearing the noi: " " '
cause. When told it was Indep '
forever." Before evening he «
HAtTDY-BOOK OP
The concluding words were, " It is my living senliment, and by Ihe blMSing
of God it shall be my dying sentiment, — Independence now, and Independence
forever." The same supposed S]>eech opened with Ihe famous sentence,
'* Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my heart and my hand to
this vote." This sentence was derived from an actual conversation held be-
tween Adams and Jonathan Sewall in 1774, and duly recorded in the " Works
of John Adams." vol. iv. p. 8 : "I answered that the die was now cast ; 1
had passed the Rubicon. Swim 01 sink, live or die, survive or perish with
my country, was my unalterable determination." It will be noticed that
Adams's phrase " Swim or sink" in lieu of " Sink or swim" adds to the logiol
unity of the sentence at the expense of its euphony. Long before Adamt,
Peele had said, " Live or die, sink or swim" {Edward /.), — lets tautological,
but less magnificent.
Index. In early English literature a number of words were at various
Kitiods used to indicate a list or summary of the topics treated in a book, — viz.,
egister, Calendar, Summary, Syllabus, Indei, and Table, or Table of Con-
tents. After a faint struggle the first four dropped out of Ihe contest, and left
the field clear lo the two other contestants, who eventually compromi*cd their
claims. The table of contents became Ihe name of the ordered and Some-
times classified list placed usually at the beginning of a book, and the index
that of the alphabetical list placed usually at the end. On the whole, we may
say that the victory remained with the word Index, inasmuch as the alpha-
betical list is infinitely the more valuable of the two.
Yet its value and the degree of honor to which it is legitimately entitled
were not always acknowledged. In older English authors we Gnd continual
gibes at what was known as index -learning. Thus, John GlanviUe writes in
his " Vanity of Dogmaliiing," " Methinks 'lis a pitiful piece of knowledge
that can be learnt from an index, and a poor ambition to be rich in the inven-
tory of another's treasure." And Swift and Poiie both use an image which
has become classic In the " Dunciad," Old Dulness explains to her votaries
How indei-lHining lunu no uudep< pj>1t,
Va holdi the «J </ Klencc by ibe uil.
Swift was before Pope. In the " Tale of a Tub" he had said,—
ihem u men do Indi,— leun ditir liilct cxtcdy. And ihca brag of ihcir ■cquaiaunn; or,
teeoiidly, which ia indeed Ihe chak:er, the proToiiDdeT, and politer melhod, lo grt » tbonugh
intighl LDiD tbc /fuErx, by wblch Ibc whole booL is govemed uid turiwd, like tiihca by tDB
uil. For 10 enter the puace cf leBmina At the great gate TAqiiid an eipeDH of time libd
fbmu ; IhereJbre men of much hjuie and little ceremony mx- ■- -- '- ^-- -■- - ■-- -'-
ing the body of the book. Bui, though the idle deserve no crutches (lei n'
staff be used by them, but on them), pity it is the weary should be denied
lienefil thereof; and industrious scholars prohibited the accommodation of ai
Index, most used by those who most pretend to contemn it." Carlyle heartily
approved this sentiment His citations of the Gettnan historians who sup-
plied the materials for his " Frederick the Great" form one ci
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 543
r their neglect to provide indexes as a guide through the wide-spread,
' ; trackless desert of their writings " to the poor half- peck of cinders
1 wagon-load iif ashes, no sieve allowed." Lord Campbell is re-
ported to have proposed that any author who jjiililished a book without an
index should be deprived of the benefit of the Copyright Act.
It was towards the close of the sixteenth century that the value of indexes
first began to be appreciated, though only in a staccato sort of lashion. Some
books, like Lyndewood's " Constitution es Proviiiciales" {London, 1515). Juan
de Pineda's "History of the World" (Salamanca, 15SS), and Bamnius's
"Annales Ecclesiaslici" (l^S8 to 1607), possessed full and excellent indexes,
which are still the admiration of the scholar and the bibliophile. And even
where an author published an important book without an index he seems
sometimes to have had an uneasy consciousness that he was not doing the
right thing by the reader. Thus, Howel's " Discourse concerning the Pre-
cedency of Kings" (1664) has a preliminary notice, nominally from "The
Bookseller to the Reader," which runs as follows : " The reason why there is
o Table or Index added hereunto is, that every page in t!
f signal remarks that were thev couch'd in an Index it wou
■3 big as the book, and so make the Postern Gate to bear no proportion t<
the building." This is atnuung enough as a magnificent bit of egotism, but
the plea is one which the true index-lover cannot lor a moment admit.
An index need not be dry. There are instances in literature where il
„. .. = 1I.P0' . --
o-Mastix." Carlyle rightly relers 10 it as "a book still extant, but
e drv. 1
interesting, nay, delightful, portion of the book. Take Pr^nne'i
: to be read 'by mortal." Well, many a mortal might still find
amusement from its index. It is very evident that the index, and perhaps
the index alone, had been read by Attorney- General Noy. When engaged
in the prosecution of Prynne for publishing this very book, he pointed out
that the accused "says Christ was a Puritan in his Index." Here are a few
amusing extracts from the same index :
CroHDg of tha bee »hcD nea go Id playi ibuu Is Ihc Devil.
Devilfl — InvcDton und fomeaten oT lUcc-playi and dancing. Have itagc-pLayi b hell
Heaven — no sUige-plays then.
These Ints of wisdom, so lightly and succinctly treated in the index, are
weighted down in the book itself with such a mass of verbiage as to be abso-
lutely fbrbiddit^.
Mr. Burton, in hit " Book-Hunter," justly observes that an expert contro-
versialist need not exhaust himself in the body of the book, but "if he be
very skilful he may let fly a few Parthian arrows from the index." This great
truth had already been discovered and acted upon by Dr. William King,
whom D'Israeli calls the inventor of satirical and humorons Indexes. Thus,
in his index to the femous book which the Christ Church wits published
against Benttey's " Phalaris" (1698), we have reference to Dr. Bentley's
"modesty and decency in contradicting great men" followed by the names
of Plato, Selden, Grotius, Erasmus, and ending with "everybody." The last
entry, "his profound skill in criticism," refers the inquirer "from beginning
A further elaboration of this idea was to take the work of an antagonist
and turn it to ridicule in a satirical index. This was not inliequenlly dnn
for political efiect, af - •'-- '-"■■" — v. — . ... <
Parliai ' '
ea\ efiect, as in the case of William Bromley, a Tory member of
It who, in 1705, was a candidate for the Speakership. His opponent*
HANDY-BOOK OF
inde UiTiger (ban 'tU by uniting oth^
(he pR9enf Dulio> wag mother
Dr. Parr had in his possession a copy of this book so inckxed which had
formerly belonged lo Bromley himself. In it was the manuscript note, "This
edition of these travels is a specimen of the good natuie and good maiiiieis of
the Whigs. This printing of my book was a very malicious proceeding; my
words and meaning being very plainly perverted in several places. But the
performances of other? may be in like manner exposed, as appears bv Ihe
like tables published for the travels of Bishop Buinct and Mr. Addison.''
Perhaps it was with some premonitory anticipations of these wilful perversions
of the index-maker (hat a once celebrated Spaniard, quoled by the bibliogra-
pher Nicolaus Antonins, held that the indei of a book should l)e made by the
author, even if Ihe book itself were written by some one else. Macaulay,
too, rect^nized how an author's words can be turned against himself when
he wrote to his publishers, " Lei no d d Tory make the Index to my
Nevertheless, if authors were lo make their own indexes we should be
deprived of many good stories of mistakes and misapprehensions, which,
however exasperaling lo the anxious inquirer, have afforded pleasant food for
mirih for many generations. The story about Mr. Best's great mind is a
classic As usually quoled il occurred as an entry in the index lo Binns'
B«i^ Mr. Jiudce, his greu iniDd.
And when the reader turned to the designated page, full of anticipatory
admiration, he found only " Mr. Justice Best said that he had a great mind to
commit the man for trial." Alas ! the ruthless scientific investigator who has
deprived us of William Tell, and King Alfred's cakes, and Washington's
hatchel, could not allow this little gem to escape his devastating eye. Beyond
a doubt the entry does not occur in Binns' "Justice." Nobody has been able
to find il elsewhere. In all probability it is an anecdote invented out of the
whole cloth as a personal fling against Sir William Draper Best, Lord Chief
luslice of the Common Pleas from 1824 lo iSig, and il is even said lo have
been invented by Leigh Hum and first published in Ihe Examiner.
Another classic is (he ofl-quoled entry, —
Mill on Liberty.
Mr. Wheatley, in his excellent liiile monograph "What is an Index f" as-
IS that this is not an invention, but actually occurred in a catalogue. And
;s a number of companion -blunders which are quite as good,
c following are from ihe index of the "Companion lo the Almanack"
(London, 1643) :
Coiuni, Sir WillcHi(hby.
Old Strnfnrd &iAgc.
" Slyl*.
he gives
The f<
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Flih, method of pi
Scodud, >UH oT.
In one of tbe Tolamcs of Ihe Rolls seiiei there is a blunder of a dlflerent
kind. Jude in the body of the book is misprinted Inde, consequently the
"land of Jude," that is, Judea, is indexed India, with the following extraordi-
nary result :
tadw . , . conquend by Judju Macatbeiu aod his bntbrcn, 56.
A similar mistake occurs in a French bibliographical list, ivhere Wbite-
knighls, the former s«al of a Lord BUndford, is given as "le Chevalier
Blanc." Another foreign book cautiously but correctly explains that a learned
society of the West Riding is noi a "sociiii hippique."
Index-makers are often betrayed by similarity of names, or by different ren-
ditions of the same name, into ludicrous blunders. Thus, in an index to the
" Letters of Sir George Cornewall Lewis" (1870) appear the following entries ;
Mill, Jolm, hii uiicic oo Civiliiaiion. 49- Hi* Diiliwue on Theury uid Pnctlcc, 49. Hi*
-' Hiiioiy of Btliiih Indii," 71. Hit booE od Logic, ix., m.
Mill. John Sluut, hii Ictlcr 10 Sir A. Duff Gordoa, i^erring la Mr. Auilin'l Vticle 00
Evidently in the index-maker's opinion John Mill and John Stuart Mill are
two distinct persons. In revenge, John Mill and James Mill ate blended into
one. Turning first 10 p. 49, we find Sir George speaking in disparagement
of a "dialogue on theory and practice in the Leitium Revievi bv old Mill in
the character of Plato. Per amira," he adds, " there is an article on Civiliza-
tion by John Mill which is worth reading." There may arise historians in
the fnture who, on the joint evidence of (he text and of the index, will con-
struct a theory that at thirty years of age John Mill was prematurely old.
This identification of the father and the son bears a certain literary analogy to
the theological heresy of the FaCripassians. Again, under reference to Arch-
bishop Whalely in the irvdex appears "His book of gardening, 160." The
inquirer, turning to page 160 for information about a U>i>k he has never heard
of, learns, "Whalely, the author of the book on gardening, was either '
father or the uncle of the Archbishop of Dublin." From text and index ct
tnned it follows that Archbishop Whatcly was either his own father t
uncle. Extraordinary as these mistakes may appear, Ihey are not without
parallel in our own and in foreign literature. Thus, in an edition of Vape-
reau's " Dictionnaire des Contemporains" John Forster the editor of Ihe
Examiner is mixed up with John Foster the moralist, and of Francis
Newman we are told that his work on the " Soul" was responsible for numer-
ous returns to Ihe Christian faith. The index-maker who rolled Louis the
Pious and 5l Louis under one heading no doubt thought he had achieved
a very clever feat and taught his author to be more careful of his epithets.
Emperors and Popes are great snares to the index-makers ; so are Ferdinands,
Fredericks, Henrys, — any royal name which is to be found in more than one
country.
There are some mistakes, however, which are sufficiently venial. In the
case of people who have two or three surnames, it is only natural that the
index-maker should be at fault. It would not be easy at a first attempt to
assign his proper position to Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer Lytton, first
Loid Lyuon and a baronet j and similar difficulties arc suggested by the name|
546 HANDY-BOOK OF
of Robert Hwley, Earl of Oxford, and Horace Walpole, Earl of Otford. The
rule which must authorities are noir agreed upon, that tiie names of peera
should be arranged under their lilies and not their family names, is subject lo
ous rect^iiized exceptions. Thoujb Lord Lytlon would now go ouder
I, and the Earl of Oxford under Oxford, the Earl uf Oiford would be
classed under Walpole, because thai is the name by which he is familiarly
known to the public Another source of confusion is afforded by women who
assume a new name with eveni marriage and remarriage.
A still more delicate point is involved in the case otGeorge Eliot. During
the larger portion of her authorial life she was known as Mrs. Lewes ; but she
was never legally Mrs. Lewes. Her maiden name was Maty Ann Evans,
her name by her last and only legal union was Mrs, Cross. Yet, on the whole,
librarians prefer to catalogue her as Mrs. Lewes.
Cross-references ate a frequent source of confusion lo the careless ot in-
competent We can all sympathize with Coblwtl's complaint in his " Wood-
lands :" "Many years ago I wished lo know whether 1 could raise birch-tiees
from the seed. I then looked into the great book of knowledge, the ' Ency-
clopedia Britannica :' there I found in the general dictionary, —
BiacH xoK—tti Btlula (Bouoy IuIeii),
I hastened to Belula with great eagerness, and there I found, —
Betula— iH Bini tr«.
T'lat was all ; and this was pretty encouragement."
Again, in Eadie's " Dictionary of the Bible" (1850) there is a reference
" Dorcas, tti Tabitha," but there is no Tabitha 10 be seen when one look*
where she ought 10 be.
CtoM-referencing has other curiosities. In Hawkins's " Pleas of the Crown"
there are some most amusing instances of apparent nfn uquitun:
CoDvicu^inCltrzy.
DcKth, art Appeal,
lUBg,l«Triioi
Sicks'cu, jirSaii: '
Some index-makers make no cross-references, but enter the same subject
under all its possible heads. This often leads to unnecessary duplications
and increases the bulk of the index without corresponding gain. An instance
may be dted from the index to St George Mivart's "Origin of Human
Reason," where a short story of a cockatoo appears no fewer than firieeit
Abiiird lajc about a Cackuoo, vji.
AD«cdot«, abaurd anc, jibout a Cockatoo, 136.
Bubo, ud > CockilDO. 13&
Cockatoo, jtbturd ulf coDCfming 00c, 136.
EnOKUbly tbiurd ule of a Cockatoo, 136,
Tale aboui a niioDal Cockatoo, ai auerted, t j6.
Very Abaunl cmIc Mboul ■ Cock^oo, r 16.
WoDdcrfuU)' fuoliili ute about a Coctuoo, ijfi.
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES 547
shelves is " D. The Poor." This at first blush sounds like an echo o{ William
K, Vanderbill's phrase, " D— — ihe people."
A lombslone mighl seem a strange place on which to find a cross- reference.
In Barnes churcb-yard, England, the following inscription appears on the
monument to a once'famous actor :
Mr. J. MoDdy,
A ulivt c^ Ihe Puiih of Saint Ckmeni Duel
■nd ma old member of Dmry Lape Theatre.
F« Ui Memointee the Europeui MaguiiK: lor h>> proTeuioiul alulitieisoe ChurchUI'i
Great inconvenience often results from the ignoring of the in)p<irtanl catch-
words to which readers would nattirally refer. Tnus, of Ihe index to the
handsome edition of Jewell's " Apology" by Isaacson (itjaj). Mr. Whealley
Bwecpingly asserts, " I think I may say (hat there is hardly an entry in llie
index that would be of any use to the consuliet," and he gives a few speci-
Btiu/fA a rewjrfn;tiDP.
«PrDteiuDU art Heniki, let the Papiati noie Ihtm to fron Scripiure.
wlilidrawing tbemieLirei fniai the Church of Rome, Pntoiaiiu bare ehx emd ftom
ChriH and the Apoaila.
Tkt Pope axumei Rsal Rowa.
He finds equal reason (o disapprove of the Catalogue of the British Museum.
"Could any |)lan be adopted," he asks, "by which the followring books would
more thoroughly be hidden out of sight than by the following arrangement? —
KtHD, A Kind of a Dialogue in Hudibnulicki ; deilgned for the use ol the unlhlnktllg
andiukarDed. (1739.)
KiHoa. Hav to make acveial klpda of nuniatun pumpa and a fire-Qugine ; a bwk for
Artd he also pathetically describes a vain search for the date of Ihe first
edition of Ihe Latin "Gradus," which eventually turned up among " Diction-
Worse than Ihe neglect of the proper catch-word is the total omission of
the very things which ought to be chronicled in an index. Paradoxical as it
may seem, the fact remains a fact that it is the less important details which are
most important in an index. The important topics you can easily find with-
out an index. They belong to the essential logic of Ihe work, therefore you
know not only that they are there, but, approximately, where lo find them.
Not so with some minor point of detail, some name, some title, some minute
fact, some illustrative anecdote or quotation, which, being embedded in the
general discussion, may therefore be anywhere. Now, the mechanical index-
maker loo often argues that these things do not matter to the main story, so
they need not be in the index. But it is precisely because they do not mailer
to the main story that they ought to be pul in the index. It is exactly for
the kind of things which the index-maker leaves out that the index is really
wanted. The things which he puts in we could find without his help. With
Ihe things for which we really need his help he refuses to help us.
The path of the index-maker, therefore, is beset with difficulties. And the
reason thai indexes are seldom done well is, that they are quite above the
powers of those who commonly undertake them, while they ate thought to
be beneath the powers of the only people who really can do them. Most
people think that an index is a purely mechanical work, which can safely be in-
trusted to any harmless drudge. Now, this idea is all wrong. Index-making
is no merely mechanical business. It calls for careful thought, for a con-
' 'e knowledge of the subject of the book indexed, for some sort of
HANDY-BOOK OF
And u we have few perfect indexes, nay, few tulerable ones, we cannot bat
admit the justice of the following acrostic, contribuied 10 NtUi ohJ Queries,
second series, i. 481 :
, 1, of India and Europe, a term applied to the Aryan race,
which was the parent stock of both Hindoo and European. Max Mtiller
once said that the coining of this word not only marked a new epoch in the
tlaiy of language, but ushered iii a new period in >he history of the world.
Alien races, who had long looked upon each other with averted eyes as
■tiangers and inferiors, found in the linguistic bond evidenced by consotianis,
vowels, artd accents an intellectual fraternity, if not an actual genealogical
relalionihip. It was not so much that either the one or the other party felt
very much raised in their own eyes by this discovery, as thai a feeling sprang
up between Ihem that, after all, ihey might be chips of the same blodi. And
he quotes approvingly from an American authority, who aflirms that " the dis-
covery of the Sanskrit language and tilEralure has been of more value to
England in the retention and increase of her Indian Empire than an army of
one hundred thousand men." Perhaps we may doubl whether the practical
■nixing effect of the conclusions of philology is quite as great i
ng race-priMudice as Max MiiUer believes ; but their power in bioi
Ing the minds of'^men is certainly very great. Questions of politics and 81
manship will hardly be influenced by linguistic generalize
of the antiquity of our Aryan relationships ought (o give us a fuller sympathy
with the other civilizations of our slock, and a sounder foundation for our
respect for those of our own Germanic branch.
Indnlcenoe, in the terminology of the Roman Catholic Church, docs not
mean, as many imagine, a permission to commit sin, or the purchase of for-
giveness for sins committed. Il is taken from Roman jurisprudence, where in-
duiffntia, meaning graciougness, is used as the opposite of seneritas, A parent,
a creditor, or a magistrate shows indulgence when he mitigates or remits a tine
or punishment. TKal is all. In the Catholic Church an indulgence is not the
pardon of sin, but the remission or miiigalion of ecclesiastical penalties. It
IS never exercised save towards the penitent whose sin has been forgiven.
Indulgences came up in the early Cliurch, when persona had lo be dealt with
who had renounced the Christian religion and then asked for reinstatement
in the Church. Among the first indulgences in the Christian Church is SL
Paul's (II. Cor. ii. 6-11) towards the sinner at Corinth (I- Cor. v.). Such
kindness towards a repenting sinner was called philanikropy, a rerm used
repeatedly in the New Testament and also at the council at Ancyra (the
modern Angora in Asia Minor), A.D. ^14, where bishops were authoriied In
mitigate the length of an offender's penitence, this act being called philanlhrop-
ing. The schoolmen tried to find a working theory for such clemency, by
assuming that the Church could administer the treasure of good work* accu-
(nutated by the saints and by the founder of the Christian religion- Christ,
so ihey taught, had done more than to saiis^ for all sins of repentant man-
kind, and the excess of his work could be applied to the benefit of peoltenl
•inneri. In the same way many saints, through works ofsapererogMioii,liaiI
LITERARY CURIOSITIES, 549
done more than vindicate their right to heaven, and the balance due them lay
in the ecclniaslicil treasury, ready to be applied (o the sufferers in purgatory
or the repentant on earth. This theory is oHered by Alberlus Magnus and
St Thomas Aquinas. The Protestant Church rejected the theory, but in
practice retained the exercise of indulgences, precisely as parents, teachers,
employers, creditors, judges, and heiSs of government practise indulgence,
either by mitigating a sentence or by its entire remission. The Catholic
Church, on the other hand, affirmed at the Council of Trent (sess. xiv., ch.
21. 3. 53S) that it had the right to grant indulgences, that they are "most
saluiaiy," that they are to be retained, and that those are anathema who
affirm them to be useless. The people at large, even many in the Catholic
Church, have frequently misunderstood the nature of indulgences, and many
Catholic agents have scandalously abused the privilege. The official doctrine
of the modern Catholic Church is simply this, that it may exercise clemency
towards the penitent whose sins are forgiven, and that the privilege of granitng
indulgences is vested in the Pope, not in the bishops, and slill less in the priests.
Inflnano*. In American current phrase, to have political influence is to
have power to secure appointment to public office, or by hugger-mugger to
be able to secure favors from legislative and other public functionaries and
Tnn To many writers, an inn appears to be the ideal of comfort and
happiness. Indeed, Dr. Johnson expressly called a tavern-chair "the throne
of human felicity," and declared (hat nothing that had been contrived by man
had produced so much happiness as a goo<r tavern or inn. (Boswell ; Life,
1776.) FaUlaff asks, "Shall I nut take mine ease in imnt mni" {Henry I i'..
Purl I., Act iii., Sc 1), — which seems to have been a proverbial saying, for
in Hcywood's " Proverbs" we find the line, —
Let the wDcId «ggc, and uke minE cue Id irlne Idik.
A very curious coincidence is worth noting. Miss Reynolds informs us
that while Johnson was reciting Shenstone's poem " The Sun" he slipped
in the following extempore lines 1
Now, before Johnson, Shenstone himself had written on the window of ai
inn at Henley, —
Wlwn'ci hit Hua nuv h*>t been,
Mav ugh ID thinklit Hill W (ound
ked upon
tially fron
IB ftom a dwelling." Later w
like pilcriiiu ta th' ei
The w\i'i u ion, ■
n HeeveD i> our hoir
..Google
HANDY-BOOM OP
The dccpni uF bill 1 up* And goc* id bed :
Wba diet b«Iiine« hu leu and Lett lo pay.
KiANCia guAHLKS : Dhani Fancin (iSjj).
The TCrKCS of Quarica have passed into church-yard lileralure, and, variety
ain|]lilied, and paraphrased, appear on numerous English tombstones. Here
IS an example (torn Barnwell church-yard, near Cambridge, England :
Mm-, life i> like > winW. day.
Some anly bnaUul uiil iwiy ;
Oiha> lo dinner my and ue ruU-ftd,
Large b hii debi who Mngeia out ibe day,
Dalh u Lbe waiter, Kole few run on lick.
L> transmit to (he Senate, in
e papers with reference to certain suspensions from office
maac auring a recess of the Senate. On February iS, resolutions were
presented in the Senate by the Republicans censuring the Attorney -General
ior refusing to give information as to the suspensions, and announcing that it
would not confirm persons nominated to succeed suspended officials where
the reasons for suspension were not given. The Republicans based their
action mainly on an Act of Congress, passed in 1S67, which provided that
"in cases of sus|>ensiini from office during a recess of the Senate, the Fresi-
denl should report, within twenty days after the next meeting of the Senate,
such suspension, with the evidence and reasons fur his action in the case."
President Cleveland stood by his Attorney.Uenetal. and in a message to the
Senate, March 1, l386, tie argued that the Constitution gives to the President
(he sole right of removal or suspension, and that he is responsible to the
people alone, that those sections of the Tenure of Office Act which directed
(he President 10 report to the Senate his reasons fur suspension had been
repealed, or had become obsolete :
deiueiudi ihae lawa an bcuughi forth, appanntly Ihe lepciled u well u iIk unrepealed,
and put in ihe way of an ejiecuure wba ii willing. If permitted, lo attempt aa improvemeul
Id the Dieihods of administmtiDn.
The WDtds "innocuous desuetude" were caugh( up by the newapapen,
imitated, burlesqued, and ridiculed.
Ids and Onts, i.t., those who are in power and in possession of the politi-
cal offices, and those who are not but would like to be. The words are more
definite and distinctive of the real difference between opposing factions of
political partisans than ordinary party names, which latter often stand for cer-
tain sets of political jjrinctples and convictions, at one lime or in one Sule,
and something quite different at or in another.
Ina1d« track, in politics, as on the race-course, the shortest route to
victory. Sometimes used synonymously with "influence" {f. v.).
Iiutitntioii. "The institution" was a common euphemism for slavery in
1 am not ffoioa inio tbe klavery quevion. 1 nm DM an advocate lor " Ibe Iiutltiujoii."—
Thacksuv: A'n-./aJMf />d/rr., No. 17.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 551
Inanlt andZiiJniy. In his Table of "The Bald Man and the Gnat,"
Phzdrus relates how a bald man seeking to crush a gnat that had settled upon
his pale only succeeded in striking himiielf a heavy blow. The gnat jeeringly
Phzdrus relates how a bald man seeking to crush a gnat that had settled upon
his pale only succeeded in striking himiielf a heavy blow. The gnat jeeringly
said, " Yoa wanted to revenge the sting of a tiny insect with death ; what will
you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury ?"
IntaniatloaaL This word is (he invention of Jeremy Beniham. It seem!
now almost inconceivable how the world could get along without it " Tht
word international introduced by the immortal Bentham, and Mi. Carlylc's
gigmani»," says Hall {Modtm Engliih, p. 10), "are significantly character
istic of Ine utilitarian philanthropist and the futilitarian misanthropist respec-
cilled^r
lied drail dViniH OI«hl nthcr ta Ik lermed dr^t mlrt ll
Priitciflti If MeraH.
IntOTTtiiited aentenoe*. " How you frighted me 1" cried Lamb in a
letter to Thomas Allsop in the summer of 1839. " Never write again ' Cole-
ridge is dead' at the end of a line and lamely come in 'to his friends' at the
beginning of another. Love is quicker, and lear from love, than the transi-
tion ocular from line to line." Allsop's offence was doubtless unintentional.
Yet many wags have of malice prepense adopted this method of raising the
expectations, hopes, or (ears of (he party addressed, to dash (hem to ear(li
again (he next moment with a laugh. Lord Erskine. for example, was in the
habit of making a very effective pause in all letters replying to solicitations for
subscriptions. He wrote, "Sir, — 1 feci much honored by your application to
me, and I beg to subscribe" — here the reader had to turn over the leaf—
" niyself your very obedient servant," etc.
tJne of the best instances of (his (ona of pause occurred in a letter received
by a popular physician. This gentleman was pleased with a certain aerated
water, and by his assiduous recommendations procured for it a celebrity it
justly deserved. The doctor acted solely in the interests of humanity gen-
erally, and expected no return. To his surprise, (here came one mornmg an
eStisive letler from (he company, saying (hat his recommendadons had dune
them so much good that they " ventured to send him a hundred " Here
the page came to an end. " This will never do," said the doctor ; " it is very
kind, but I could no( (hink of accepting anything." lie turned the page, and
found the sentence ran — "of our circulars lor dislribution."
Much more satisfactory to the recipient was Lord Eldon's note to his friend
Dr. Fisher, of the Charterhouse : " Dear Fisher, ' •
Dr. ristier, 01 the Lharterhouse : " Ueat fisher, — I cannot to-day give you
the preferment (or which you ask. Your sincere friend, Eldon. ( Turn aver.)
* gave it to you yesterday."
Dean Swift could not have concocted a more bitter joke than that of the
:, thought the delighted legatee ; but on turning the leaf the
55' HANDY-BOOK OF
bequest was discovered to be ten thousand thanks. What a wet blanket fok
"great expectations" I
An amusing story of a similar kind is told of a lady, a Roman Catholic,
who in her last illness promised the priest to leave him a sum of money for
chaiiiable uses. When she was dying, she begged Ihe priest to come neater
10 the bedside, and gasped out, " Father — I've — given — you " " Slay," said
the priest, anxious to have as many witnesses as possible to the expected
statement, " I will call in the family ;" and, opening the door, he beckoned
them all in. " I've given you," repealed Ihe old lady, with increasing difficulty,
— "given— ^ou — a great deal of trouble."
This inddent may remind the reader of a passage in one of Lord Boling-
broke's letters, in which, writing to a friend, he says, " I am very sorry my
Lord Marlborough gives yon so much trouble. It is the only thing tie will
give you."
A nrife gave her husband a sealed letter, beKing him not to open it till he
got to his place of business. When he did soTne read, —
" I am forced to tell you something that I know will trouble you, but it is
my duty to do so. I am determined you shall know it, let the result be what
it may. I have known for a week that it was coming, but kept it to myself
until to-day, when it has reached a crisis, and I cannot keep it any longer.
You must not censure me loo harshly, for yuu must reap the results as well ai
myself! I do hope it won't crush you."
Here he turned the page, his hair slowly rising.
" The coal is all used up I Please call and ask for some to be sent this
afternoon. I thought by this method you would not forget it."
He didn't
At the New York Chautauqua Assembly in the summer of 1889, when Dr.
Henson, of Chicago, came to lecture on "Fools," Bishop Vincent introduced
him thus ; " Ladies and gentlemen, we are now to have a lecture on ' Fools,'
\yi one of the most distinguished" — long pause and loud laughter — "men of
Chicago." Dr. Henson, whose readiness ol wit holds every emergency captive,
began his lecture, when silence was at length restored, by saying, " Ladies
and gentlemen, t am not as great a fool as Bishop Vincent — long pause and
uproarious laughter — " would have you think."
The value of an explanation is finely illustrated in the old story of a king
who sent to another king, saying, "Send me a blue pig witha black tail, or
else " The other, in high dudgeon at the presumed insult, replied, " I
have not got one, and if 1 had " On this weighty cause they went to war
{at many years. After a satie^ of glories and miseries, they finally bethought
them that, as their armies and resources were exhausted and their kingdoms
mutually laid waste, it might be well enough to consult about the prelimi-
naries of peace. Before iTiis could be concluded, a diplomatic explanation
was first needed of the insulting language which formed the groimd of Ihe
quarrel. "What could you mean," said the second king to the first, "by
saying, ' Send me a blue pig with a black tail, or else ' ?" " Why," said
the other, " I meant a blue pig with a black tail, or else some other color.
But," he continued, " what did you mean by saying, ' I have not got one,
and if I had '?" "Why, of^ course, if I had, I should have sent it."
The explanation was entirely satisfactory, and peace was concluded accord-
In its obituary notice of the Rev. Charles Spurgeon a Washington paper
repeated and attributed to that clergyman a very ancient gag. The itury ran
that one warm summer day he began his sermon with the words " It's a d d
hot day," and when he had electrified his audience out of all actual or poten-
tial somnolence he blandly added, "as I heard a somewhat irreverent young
Coogk"
LITSSAJiV CUJtIOSITJES. S5J
man axj at the door-slep," and then weni on to preach agaitif I the sin uf levity
and Uasphemy. The same slory has also been bihered upon Bcecher. A
correapondcni ot the paper forthwith wrote to show what an ancient and
peripatetic raunder the story is :
In 1846^ tbe year before Mr. Spuqjeoa eaia«d the pulpit a5 a *' boy pnacber," I was the
youD£«( flpprenlicfl in ■ prinriPE-office, the foreman <rf which used 10 repeal a tlory exactly
identical with the above, exce^ that he laid it 10 the char^ of a minister who had laboicd
*nd died in Erie, Pamsylvania, yeara before, when the forenan vai a boy. Twenty yean
later the itory wu revived, with Henrv Ward Beecher'i name in it. After it had gone the
hirth. He amilingiy replied that he was lired af denying the mith of the stary as applied 10
hiqiaeif, and fell contpciled to let it run. And now that same old lie comes to Ehe surface
some dusky icbolar trom Central Africa sits upon the cmmblmg arches of the Congnssional
Library and views the ruins of the Capitol, It will UUI be in circulation, modified ooty by
inseniikg the oamc of the latest renowned preacher.
An equally ancient chestnut is attributed to Spurgeon by the Rev. Mr.
Haweis, who says that once, in the middle of his sermon, the preacher shouted
out, " What's that Ihee says, Paul, ' I can do all things' } I'll bet thee half a
crown o' that." So the preacher took out half a crown and put it on the
Bible. " However," he continued, " let's see what the apostle has to say fur
hiinselC" ijo he read on, "'through Christ that strengtheneth me.' Oh,"
says he, "if that's the terms of the bet I'm off t" and he put the half-crown
back into his pockeL The same story had already been told of Rev. Rowland
Mill.
A good story is told of a cantankerous Kentucky Hard-Shelt who read from
Revelation, " And there appeared a great wonder in heaven : a woman "
Pausing here, he added, " Ves, John, it was a wonder if there was a woman
there. It was the first one and the last one as'll ever get there."
And here is another good old chestnut that every now and then bobs up
again from out of the waters of oblivion ; An old preacher, after service on
Sunday, announced his leading for the following Sabbath. During the week
some mischievous boys managed to paste together two of (he leaves of his
Bible JHst where he was to read. So on Sunday the minister read as follows ;
" And Noah took unto himself a wife who was" — and here he turned the leal^ —
"forty cubits broad, one hundred and forty cubits lone." With a look of
astonishment he wiped his glasses, re-read and verified the pass^e, and then
said, " My friends, although I have read the Bible many times, this is the
first lime I have ever seen this passage, but I take it as another evidence of
the fact that man is most fearfully and wonderfully made."
Lord Palmetslon once made use of some very effective pauses which he
could not have prepared beforehand. While electioneering at Taunton he
was greatly troubled by a butcher who wanted him to support a certain Radical
policy. At the end of one of his lordship's speeches the butcher called out, —
" Lord Palmetslon, will you give me a plain answer to a plain question ?"
" I will."
" Will you, or will you not support this measure, — a Radical bill i"
Lord Palraerslon hesitated, and then, with a twinkle in his eye, replied,
"I will" — he stopped (tremendous Radical cheers) — "not" — continued his
lordship (another stop and loud Conservative applause) — "tell you." Whereat
he immediately retired.
A certain Mr. Martin, member of the House of Commons, had a reputa-'
tion for wit which survives in only a single example. He had delivered a
furious invective against Sir Harry Vane, and when he had buried him under
a load of sarcasm, he said, " But as for young Sir Harry Vane " and so sat
down. The House was astounded. Several members exclaimed, —
« 47
. Coogif
HAlfDV.BOOK OF
he will be old Sir Harry."
A memoi able scene in the same house was that when Disraeli's maiden speech
was cut short by his tel low-members. Here is the Morning CkronUUi report
of the J&ui'n.' "'Notwithstanding the noble lord, secure on Ihe pedestal of
power, may wield in one hand the keys of 5l Peter, and ' Here the honor-
able ntember was interrupted with such loud and incessant bursts of laaghter
that it was impossible to know whether he really closed his sentence or noL"
Richard Monckton Millies (afterwards Lord Houghton), who was sitting be-
side Disraeli, and, when the latter muttered, "The time will come when you
will hear me," replied, " Ves, old fellow, so it wilt," — Milnes wrote in a letter
that the Attorney -General had the impudence, nut knowing Disraeli person-
ally, to go up to him in the lobby and say, " A very pleasant speech of yours,
Mr. Disraeli. Will you be kind enough to tell me what Lord John held
besides the keys of Sl Peter ¥' " The red cap of liberty, sir."
Interview, a feature of mcxlern journalism of distinctly American in-
vention, and still flourishing jnosl vigorously in ila native soil, but not un-
known in England, while i
delightful name of inlfniu
claim that he was the uriaiiial interviewer. "1 started ilie practice of inter-
viewing many years ago, he remarked to a reporter of the New York Evtni/ig
Ttlegram, just before his death, " in the columns of the Boston Advirliar.
My first interview was widely discussed, and my plan was immediately imitated
by Editor Dana, of the Sun, who, the day after my interview appeared, sent
topics." Mr. Hudson, however, in his " History of American Journalism,"
says the practice was commenced by the New York Herald in 1S59, at the
time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry. This authority does not
mention the name of the original interviewer, but he says that the first inter-
viewee (readers will please not confound this with the Franco- English word)
was Gerril Smith, the well-known Abolilionisi, who was called upon at his
home in Peterborough by a representative of the Herald. The interview
was published in full in conversational style, and created a
was the origin of inlerviewine- Interviews were had on the eve of the rebel-
lion, in iSte, with leading rebels at their homes, — one, in particular, between
Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs and a special correspondent of
the Htraid, with entertaining and instructive results." After the war thev
were continued with leading statesmen, army and navy officers, and politi-
fiul all this was in a staccato and amateurish sort of way. As a regular
institution, as part of the reportorial profession, the interview seems to dale
from about 1S08. This was probably the period Mr. Redp^th had in mind
when he claimed to be the original interviewer. At that time Ihe two most
Interesting figures in American political life, from the point of view of the
reporter, were Charles Sumner and General Butler. Both were willing to
talk, Ihe former on Ihe Alabama question, the latter on his Greenback crusade.
The public was eager to hear from both. And so day after day ihcy were
interviewed. The politicians all over the land were agog at this new pulpit
opened for their occupancy. Quick to see the advantages of the system, Ihcy
coyly requested to be interviewed also. Whenever a candidate came up for
omce, whenever a politician wished to call attention to himself, to explain some
scandal ihat had attached to him, to l>oom a political projecl in which be was
interesled, he always managed to get himself inlervicwed. Abuses crept in.
At the New York i^o/wii observed, June 18, 1869^ "The interview as at piesent
litehary curiosities. 555
miniged is generally the joint production of some humbug of a hack politician
and another humbug of a newspaper leporler. The oncTives by being nolO'
rious, and ihe other by seeking out notorieties and being spicy, — by sltinging
together personalities aboul them. Sometimes, of course, it happens that
the opinions given are those of an able and respectable man, but this is verv
rare, and it is still rarer that wh^n this does happen they have been honestly
learned by the person who gives them to the press. Usually lie has made a
rascally use of a chance opportunity, or in some indirect manner has learned
what So-and-so has said among his friends, and this he puts down, mixed
with other matters, as having been said to himseIC" There was a good deal
of truth in the Nalion't charges. Yet the general tone of the article was too
despondent. Abuses existed, as we have said, indeed, they still exist, yet the
inlei^iew has, on the whole, vindicated its right to existence. One may per-
haps assume a tacit recognition pf this fact in the answer which the Maiien
itself! nearly fifteen years afterwards, made tu (he strictures of the London
press on this very subject. "The attitude of the English newspapers towards
.-_.. ..f — ■ !_ ^ curiously contradictory one,'' says Ihe Nation of November
39, 1E83. " When interviewing began to be a regular eiilerpris
the English leader-writers denounced it as the miat dreadful form whrch
American impertinence had yet assumed. They continue to denounce it in
much the same terms now, bul, strangely enough, they ignore the actual preS'
ence of Ihe interview in iheit own columns. All the leading London papers
employ American correspondents, who send daily despatches concerning all
important American events, and their longest despalchcs are nearly always
interviews with illustrious Englishmen who are visiting this country. It ha.i
frequenlly happened that a London journal has contained on the same day a
leading article denouncing interviewing, and a column cable message, cosling
several hundred dollars, which was an Interview iiure and simple." And ihen
it tells the story of how a London journal published a long cable despatch,
reproducing the substance of an interview with Herbert Spencer in New
Vork, and sitnullaneoualy a scathing leader condemning the irrepressible Im-
pertinence with which Mr. Spencer had been worried during his entire visit
in America, until he had been forced to give his views in order to obtain
peace. The plain truth is thai. Instead of being worried into an interview, Mr.
Spencer prepared it himself and sent il through a friend to all the New York
newspapers for simultaneous publication. Other foreign visitors have taken
to the interviewing system with equal favor.
There is Max O'Rell, for example. One of the most genial and amusing
chapters in "Jonathan and his Continent" is that on the interview. He ac-
knowledges that he found it something of an ordeal. But the humor of the
sitnation and the cleverness of his interviewers prevented it from becoming
annoying. Even before sailing he had received a cable from an enterprising
journal askine him for his preconceived ideas of America. His ship had
hardly entered the harbor of New York when it was boarded by a boat-load
of reporters. They asked him questions, they took his portrait. Finally, he
put them off till the afternoon.
" Oh, that first afternoon in New York, spent in Ihe company of the inter-
viewers !" he cries. " I shall never forget it I"
Bored at Urst, he Soon began to be amused. "One wanted biographical
details, another the origin of my pseudonyme. One wished to know If I
worked in the morning, Ihe afternoon, or the evening; another whether I
worked sitting or standing up, and also whether I used ruled paper and quill
pens. One reporter asked me if I thought in English or in French, anuthei
whether General BoulangcT had any chance of soon being elected President
of Ihe French Republic If I crossed my legs during the conversation, if I
55* HANDY-BOOK OF
took off mjr glasses, nothing escaped these journalists ; everything was jotted
" Tbe questions they asked really appeared to me so commonplace, so trivial.
"This brought about a little scene which was quite comic ir I looked at
one reporter a little tiftener than the rest, while I told an anecdote, he would
turn to his brethren, and say, —
"'This story is for my paper, you have no right to take it down ; it was told
especially to me.'
" ' Not at all,' would cry the others, ' it was told to all of us.'
*' In spite of this, ttie hannony of the meeting was not disturbed, and it was
easy to see that an eicellent spirit of fellowship prevailed in the fraternity.
" With the eice[)lLon of a phrase or two, occasionally jotted down, they took
no notes of my answers Id their questions, and I wondered how it was possi-
ble that, with so few notes, they would manage to make an article of a hun-
dred or two hundred lines that would be acceptable in an important paper,
out of an interview so insignificant and so devoid of interest, according to my
idea, as this one.
'* After having spent nearly two hours with me, the reporters shook hands,
expressed themselves as much oUiged lo me, and went their way,
" tlow childish these Americans must be I thought I ; is it possible that a
conversation such as I have just had with those reporters can interest them f
"Next day, I procured all the New York morning papers, more from curi-
osity, I must say in justice to myself, than from vanity, for I was not at all
ptoud of my utterances of the day before.
"Judge of my surprise, on opening the first paper, lo find nearly two columns
full of amusins details, picturesque descriptions, well-told anecdotes, witty
remarks, the whule cleverly mingled and arranged by men who, I had always
supposed, were mert sttnneraphers.
•■ Everything was faithfully reported and artistically set down. The smallest
incidents were rendered interesting by the manner of telling. The Major,
for instance, who, accustomed lo this kind of interview for many year?, had
peacefully dropped asleep, comfortably installed, with his head on the sofa
pillows and bis feet on the back of a chair ; my own gestures ; the descriptio
of the pretty and elegantly-furnished office, — all was very crisp and vivid.
They had turned everything to account ; even the arrival ol the lemon squash
was made to furnish a little paragraph that was droll and attractive. Vou
might have imaBined that the whole thing was the 6tsI chapter of a novel,
commencing with the majestic entry of a steamer into New York harbor.
" Well, I laid to myself, the American journalist knows, at any rate, how to
make a savory hash out of very little."
Nevertheless, no fair-minded man can deny that great abuses still exist in
the methods of reporters and interviewers. They have too little regard for
the sanctities of daily life, for the feelings of (he living or the memory of the
dead, if their wares are only marketaUe. A good story is told of an Eastern
traveller who had put up at a "hotel" in a mining town in Colorado. Ilia
window looked on a piazza filled with loafers, ft had no shades. So he
pinned a shirt across to screen him while he was dressing. It was almost
immediately torn down, and to his angry remonstrance the intruder only
replied, "I wanted to see what there is so damned private going on here.
The loafer's surprise and curiosity were doubtless natural. Still, the traveller
was entitled lo the screen. Now, the newspaper reporter, like the loafer
does not always understand this great truth.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S57
The most vivid recent instance is afforded by the wedding of President
Cleveland. It will tie letnemtiered that this took place in the While House in
June, lSS6, and that subsequently the couple spent their honey>inoon in Deer
Park, Maryland. Naluially, the President did not cate to have his domestic
affairs paraded before the world. No reportorial witnesses were permitted
within the White House. But the divine voice of the public cried out for
news, the great ear of the public was extended for gossij), and the reporters
were not to be baffled. They could not gain admittance, but they surrounded
the White House, they caught glimpses of the bride and the bridal guests as
they drove up to the While House steps, they recorded that the bride's cheelis
were tinged with soft color, that her observing p^e caught sight of (he fact
that one of the ladies in descending from her carnage allowed a glimpse of
"rather more of her anatomy" than was usual in public, whereupon Miss
Folsom "with a dainty kiclt gathered her skirts about her, and jumped to
the walk with only her boot-lips protruding." Nothins of the ceremony itself
could be seen by the reporters. Expecting that the President would try to
slip away unobserved, "a numt>er of newspaper men," we are quoting from
the reports, "stationed themselves near the southwest entrance lo the grounds
with carriages convenient, to follow the President in case he should make his
exit by that gate." This was reported to the President, who baffled his tor-
mentors by taking another and almost unused route. Balked of their prey,
the reporters made a wild break for the at-'" — '- •■ — ■" — ■'■- ■—■-
off towards Deer Park, " '- - -' '
ried a number of special correspondents, who will reach Oakland about s^„-
rise. None of the hotels open at this season, and thf question of providing
the journalistic pilgrims with food and shelter will have to resolve itselfwhen the
unexpected colony invade the mountain precincts of the Pteaidenl's retreat."
their destination. Many slept on the bare ground. None had sufficient food.
Yet for two weeks they nobly held their ground, — a starving army besieging a
home of plenty. The President had taken the .precaution to employ eight
detectives lo guard the approaches to his relreat. These being found insuffi-
cient, the number was increased to twelve. The interviewers hid behind
hushes and strove to sneak under fences. But the Argus-eyed watchers were
too many for them. The bridal couple passed their honey-moon in unchron-
icled privacv.
' Mr. Frank G. Carpenter, himself a newspaper man of large experience, tells
this story :
y^^-RtWorU. llri««ltywiUKnrioin'tErvif«°Stii"oISgBl1.onjioli.ics. Sen«M[ii.
to ihf lubjee™.iii!viDK.' "whin 'Lesley liked™ ^"lo'ihVpmjpecu'of llw party 'swiaK*
■\ou ihouid »Iia.t°he"fir«°lfuig'4 "the "morning, Mid liig»ll>. - You wilL want . cup
Hen Lewil» bnlic In, " Bui, Scnuoi, 1 wan) to uk you as lo the Presidential lilualion."
" I WH Bpouing of the raior, Mr. Lcwiley. 1 would adwlie you to get one of the Sheffield
"Ah,' Mr, Lewiley, 1 Vorgoi lo ipeak alwiit liie •cap. The Anal loap you wHI find on the
market b that made in New England by a man nameJ " And then Insalls mentioDed the
■inme of one of the noted loaD men of the United Sialu, and wept on with a quaner of
L.;,::;i:,..C00^k"
558 HANDY-BOOK OF
The nait <Uy cTcrybodv in Wuhingtoo wu laughing ovei thia fnttrrkw, ud by Iha
fbllowlOB week i1 wu copied inio Dcarlr every paper in the United Suiefl. Seutor IngmlU
did nol objeci to il until he uw it on one of ibt •dvslising puga of Harft^t Wttkly. The
ibayinfl'Wwp nun had taken a iriclure of Senator IngaJli and had paid lor a whole pu« of
Htr^t'i Wtiktf for this ud the inierview adveniiing bii loap. Mr. Lewiley bought
Capnol, he met Seuiot Ingalli, ud sa^d,—
" Senator, then arc lame thingt in niy life of which 1 feel very proud> aiH] fone for vhich
appreciated that fact ai I do now,"
" How »t" laid Senator IncaUi.
" I find that I have been thehumble lueanB. Senator, of making ^ou truly famouf. 1 have
Ayer. ud the other really ^rm who lind their place id the advcntsing coIuduu of grant
"What do you mean?" laid Ingalli.
'* J meaD thb," Hid Ijewaley, and he thereupon banded the Senator the paper. Ingalla
screwed his d«ible-ipecUcied eyes close to the paper a moment without speaking, and then he
"My God. Lewiley, you've ruined me!"
"Oh,Bo, lthhikBM/'«aidLew.ley. -■ ' - ■ ......
,— I wiil prevent ine reappearance of that advcrtiscnvent ;" and thoeupon the Senator
to his room and tetwaphed to the soap nan that if lie did not take that advcrtiseinent
if the Hper he woukf be suhiect to a uit for damages. The tesult was that the advertlae-
The ncvipaper man, indeed, is a dangeroim person to fool with. He il
Mltemely ingenious in his methods of Tclalialion. Here is another story in
point. On« Bennett was city editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer somewhere
In the sixties. It was Bennett's plan, if news were scarce, to make small
children — offspring of the brain onl]r — fall from the Newport ferry-boat into
the Ohio River, where they would inbllibly have beeti drowned but for the
gallant rescue of some by-stander, usually a personal friend of Bciiiielt's.
One of these friends. Kelttim by name, gtew very weary aflei he had figured
several limes as a savior of drowning innocents, and requested that liennelt
should desist So, in next day's Etiquircr, Kellum read that a beautiful little
giti, child of a prominent citizen in Newport, had fallen into the river, and
that Mr. Kellum, who was standing near and could have rescued her, refused
to render the slightest assistance. A few minutes later the maddest man in
Cincinnati arrived in the Enquirtr office, threatening the direst venceance on
Bennett. But Bennett calmly pulled off his coat, and said, " See here, Kel-
lum, you are a good enough fellow in your way, but I can't stand anjr inter-
ference with my department. If I make any statement in the Enquirer you
mustn't come round here contradicting it. Itiat isn't journalism."
The following story is told of a Democratic convention in Missouri. Each
interviewer from the Sl Louis Glebe -Demixrat wore a badge of white Mliii
pinned to his coat-lapel with a silver star, and bearing this legend :
CiOU-DhOCHAT iHTBItVIIWIHC COUt.
I'll call tbee Hamlet.
King, Father, Ro;ral Due. Oh, auwer oe.
As he finished with his victim, each inlerviewet banded him a check, which
be put in his hat-band, and thus evaded any futibet bother with the reporter*.
These checks were inscribed as follows ;
:t foreigners, and among them the
D,q,i,.cd by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. SS9
English, are learning Ihe same (ricks. I( was an English Bctibe who during
the Franco- Prussian war, when Ihe French general Balaille occupied Saar-
briicken fur a brief period, and had his meals sent from a hotel in the (own to
his (en( on (he hiti, — it was an English scribe who disguised himself as a kmgh(
of (he napkin, and, in consequence, was enabled to send to his paper an account
of what he had seen and heard. Again, when the Lieutenancy of (he City of
London went tu Windsor lo present its congratulations on the recovery of
the Prince of Wales, an English newspaper man, in an iroitalion Windsor
uniform, joined the deputation, and, although stopped at ihe door of (he
Throne Room, eventually sat down with the luncheon-party in the Waterloo
Chamber. I( was a German reporter who, during the visit of Emperor Wil-
liam and King Humbert lo Naples, disguised himself as a waiter, and suc-
ceeded in establishing hiniself behind the Kaiser's chair during the banquet
that Ibllowed the naval review. And, again, it was an Englishman, Mr. Beatty
Kinniim, vho was able during the Franco. Prussian war, as correspondent
of the Daily Telegraph, to obtain a copy of the convention entered mlo be-
tween Jules Favre and Prince Bismarck for the capitulation of Paris. Dr.
Horitz BuBch, in his diary of the war, records the tatter's astonishment
diary
appeared in the Ttlcgraph ai the following day.
Ipse 'dixit (L., "He himself said it"), an assertion without proof, a
dogmatic expression of opinion which neither courts nnr will yield to argument
The phrase comes to us through the Romans from the disciples of Pythagoras,
who, when asked the reason of (heir doctrines, would only reply, Avrilf f^
("Me said sa") The further development of the phrase into ipsedixitism, =
the practice of dogmatic assertion, is happily rare.
Thai day of IpKdiiiu, I null, it oer.— J. H. Nihhah : LtlUri, 1873.
Iiiah. No Irish need apply. In advertisements for servants in American
papers (his phrase was repeated so often that it grew to be a popular by-word
and the shibboleth of the Know.Nothing party and their sympathizers.
mdlMllByMir.— HAKiiTwliB^Ai^faV/'. P-wt ™' "^ "'
Iron and blood (Ger. " Eisen und Blut"), a famous phrase of Bismarck's,
persistently misquoted in the more euphonic form " blood and iron." The
Eerm of the phrase in Bismarck's mind is found in a letter from St. Peters-
urg to Baron von Schleinitz, the Prussian minister of foreign affairs, written
May iz, 1859, which did not, however, see the light of print until 1866: "I
Eerceive in our relations with the Bund a fault of Prussia's which we must
eal sooner or lateryirivi^j^nf." The more famous phrase was uttered in
a speech before the Budget Commission of the Prussian House of Delegates,
" -■■■ '■ -fiisd. ■ ■
id of hei
but this cannot be accomplished by speeches and resolutions of a majority,
but only by iron and blood." Vet the phrase was an old one even in Ger-
many. Heine had anticipated it as it stood in the first draught when, in
some manuscript memoranda printed after his death, he said, " Napoleon
healed the sick nation through sword and fire." (Scherbr ; History ef
Gtrman IMerature, n. 116.) Schenkendorf, in "Das Eiserne Kreuz," had
HANDY-BOOIC OP
intictpaied the tecond form when he said that only iron and blood could save
his countrymen; but he had borrowed from Arndt's bmous lines, —
ZwU do TipCER DCDDI ilch HCR dET UsdeT
And, centuriet before. Quimilian, in his " Declamations," had defined
slaaghteT as meaning blood and hen : "Caedes videiur significare sanguinem
el ferrum." But the phrase caught the fancy of the world as descriptive of
the character and methods of Bismarck himself, and is the undoubted origin
of his famous sobriquti, the Iron Chancellor.
Iron Dake, a sabriqutl by which the Duke of Wellington was generally
known in his later days. It was originally applied, not to the man. but to
an iron steamboat called " The Duke of Wellington," which plied between
Liverpool and Dublin. The name so well expressed the popular idea of the
sternness of his character and his want of feeling towards the masses that it
was soon transferred from the steamboat to the old soldier himself.
Iron entered Into hla Bonl, nie, a common phrase for extreme agony, —
probably a reminiscence of the ancient custom of torturing the flesh .with in-
struments of iron. The phrase seems to have been first used in the Prayer-
Book version of Psalm cv. l8 : " Whose (eel they hurl in the stocks : the iron
entered into his soul." The passage is translated in the King Jbiiks Bible
as " He was laid in irons," and in the Revised Version, "He was laid in chains
of iron."
1 nw tlia iroD entv into bit Hul. jmd l«lt what Krt of pain it wu tlwt aructfa from hope
Ironclad oeth, the name ^ven to the oath of office prescribed bv Con-
gress after the close of the civil war as a safeguard against future disloyalty
on the part of citizens of the reconstructed Southern States.
bona In the fixe, a familiar locution, found also in the French language,
meaning; many and various thines to attend to. " He has too many irons in
the fire is not dissimilar from the American " He has bitten off more than he
can chew," and signtties that he has undertaken more than he can perform.
The figure is pro^bly borrowed from the smithy. A story is told of Sam-
uel Foote that he was much bored by a pompous physician at Bath, who told
him that he thotight of publishing his own poems, but had so many irons in
the fire thai he really didn't know what to do. "Take my advice, doctor,"
said Foote, "and put your poems where your irons are." But precisely the
same story is told of Dr. Tohnson. When Miss Brooke, author of "The
Siege of Sinope," said she had too many irons in the lire to read her play
over caretully, Johnson retorted, " Put your tragedy where your irons are.
And before either Johnson or Foote the story appeared thus in the"Nain
Jaune," a French collection of imi mots: " A gentleman who had the unfortu-
nate talent of throwing once a month a volume to the public asked a friend
to speak frankly of one he was threatening to bring out : ' (f that is worth
nothing, I have other irons in the fire.' ' In that case,' replied the friend, ' I
advise you to put your manuscript where you have put your irons' {■ Dans ce
cas je vous conseifle de mettre voire manuscrit oji vous avei mis vos fers'j."
Ironeldae, a surname given to Edmund H., King of the Anglo-Sanons
(9S9-1016) ; furthermore, a name Kiven to Cromwell's soldiers alter their
victory at Marston Moor. The United States frigate Constitution was
familiarly known as "Old Ironsides." She was launched at Boston. Septem-
ber 30, 1797, and became celebrated for the prominent part she took during
UTBRARY CURIOSITIES. 561
the expedilion to sappress the Baibary corsairs, particularly in the bombard-
ment oT Tripoli, in 1BO4. and for the gallantry displayed l^ her officers and
men during the War of iSts.
bony. In tbe well-known " Verses on his own Death" Swift humorously
RefiMd it fitn, and khowed iu lue.
This, even as a tni of humorous exaggeration, is an absurd claim. That the
gieal Dean was one of the mighliest master* of irony in the English langua^
may be granted. But irony (rIpLrvua, " dissembling"} was a well-known figure in
Greek literature, and was handled with marvellous dexterity by Arislophanes,
by Plato, and by Socrates. Il was bo pervading an element in the iatter's
discourse that even his contemporaries spoke of it as his "customary irony,"
and in more modern times Sacratic and inmii have come to be almost con-
vertible terms :
Meal •ociuick Udy t
Or, If yon will, ironlck I
Bu Jonsom: Snvhxt.
Nay, a still more ancient insUnce is found in the Old Testament, in Elijah's
ridicule of the prophets of Baal (/. Ktngt x*iii. 27), when in answer to his
challenge they damor to their god to send fire from heaven upon the altar :
" And It came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said. Cry aloud,
lor he is a god ; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey,
or peradventure he sleepcth, and must be awaked." Even if the Dean con-
fined his boast to the English language he would find it difhcutt of vindication.
Nowhere in Swift is there Irony more admirably sustained than in Antony's
speech over the corpse of Cxsar, deriving as it does additional intensity from
contrast vrith his impassioned soliloquy in the preceding scene, which reveals
the world of fury that Antony is really suppressing when he reiterates that
Brutus is an honorable man.
As good a definition of irony as any is that by E. P. Whiiiple. Irony, he
says, IS a kind of saturnine, sardonic wit, having the self-possession, com-
plexity, and continuity of humor, without its geniality. It is " an insult con-
veyed in the form of a compliment ; insinuating the most gallinE satire under
the phraseology of panegyric ; placing its victim naked on a bed of briers
and thistles thinly covered vrith roae-leaves ; adorning his brow with a crown
of gold, which burns into his brain ; teasing and fretting, and riddling him
through and through, with incessant discharges of hot shot from a masked
battery ; laying bare the most sensitive and shrinking nerves of his mind, and
then blandly touching them with ice, or smilinaly pricking them with needles."
It is with special reference to the irony of Swilt that Whipple pens this char-
acterization, and he deems that the most exquisite piece of irony in modern
literature, and at the same time the most terrible satire on the misgovernment
of Ireland, is Swtfl's pamphlet entitled " A Modest Proposal to the Public for
Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from being a Burden to
their Country, and for making ihem Beneficial to Ibc Public" Il was pub-
lished in 1729, when people were starving in hundreds from the famine
and the dead were left unburied before their doors. And what was Swift's
plan? It was to turn the children into food. "I have been assured," he
says, "by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London that a
young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourish-
ing, and wholesome food, whether slewed, roasted, liaked. or boiled ; and I
make no doubt il will equally serve as a ragout." He argues out the propo-
56a HANDY.BOOK OF
Bition with the calm delibcratiun of a slatistician, or of a projector sii«e*ting
the importation of food from abroad " A child," he continues, " wiTT make
two dishes at an enlerlainmenl (or friends ; and when the family dines alone,
the (ore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish." The expense o( fatten-
ing a child for the table will not be great, nut above two shillings per annum,
"rap included," and he believes "no gentleman will repine to give ten
shilhngs for the carcass of a good fat chlid." This would leave the mother
eight shillings net profiL further, the flesh of young lads and maidens not
exceeding fourteen or under twelve might be found an admirable sutistitute
(or venison on squires' tables. Me considers and answers with mock argu-
ments all objections thai might be raised to the scheme " as a little bordering
on cruelty," and is careful to add that he has nr) personal motive, as his own
children " are all past the age when he could make a profit of them." The
purport of Ibis tract has been strangely misunderstood. It has been de-
nounced as ghastly, cold-blooded, callous, cynical. Even Thackeray, himself
a master of irony, cites it as an evidence of the Dean's hatred for children.
These critics are as much in error as the French author who, taking the Pro-
posal seriously, drew therefrom a frightful picture of the extremities to which
the Irish people had been reduced.
In truth, tlie calm exterior is but a thin veil, through which the scorn and
indignation of the writer shoot with blistering and blighting force. He does
not wear his heart on his sleeve. This does not prove that he is heartless.
On the contrary, it shows that his heart is in the ri^ht place.
Another most effective example o( Swift's peculiar manner is his " Ai^u-
meni against Abolishing Christianity." The title in full is itself an admirable
bit of adm sarcasm ; " An Argument to prove that the Abolishing of Chris-
tianity in England may, as things now stand, be attended with some incon-
veniences, and perhaps not produce those many good effects proposed thereby."
He starts out with a semblance of hesitation and timidity, as of one who (eels
that he is arraying himself against the general consensus o( intelligent opinion.
He hastens to guard against misinterpretation. Of course he is not defend-
ing real Christianity : that would be proper for none but an uncivilized age.
His aim is only to show the practical uses of the conventional fiction that now
prevails. Leave the people a god to revile, or they might be tempted "to
reflect upon the ministry." He acknowledges that it seems ridiculous that a
set of men should be suffered, much less hired, to bawl one day in seven
against the constant practices of all men alive during the other six. But he
points out that more than one-half the pleasure o( enjoyment lies in the fact
o( a thing being forbidden. Doubtless it costs a good deal to maintain ten
thousand parsons and a score of bishops ; doubtless, too, their tevenuet
couple of hundred young gentlemen of wit, pleasure, and free- thinking, ene-
mies to priestcraft, narrow principles, pedantry, and prejudices. But, after
all, parsons have their uses. Their diet is moderate enough to let them breed
a healthy progeny, without which the nation would in an age or two become
one great hospital, for the lives led by men o( pleasure only entail rottenness
and politeness on their posterity. And after the present refined way o( living
it is not certain (hat more than one hundred young gentlemen of fashion
could be kepi on the parsons' revenues. The offer of such scanty support
might even offend their dignity. As (or the argument that one day in seven
is Tost by the practice of Christianity, this is mere cavil. Sunday serves ex-
cellently for a dose o( physic ; the wits need not change the course of their
lives ; the churches are fitted for all the purposes oi assignation, or ofii;r
conveniences and incitements to sleep. But supposing the parsons to go, and
the churches, what would become of the bee-thinkers, the wits, the strong
Goo^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S«3
mm of profound learning f How would they be able to shine
ir distinguish themselves } Who would ever have suspected Aseil for > wit,
or Toland for a philosopher, if Ihe iiieihauslible stock of Chiistianily had
not been al hand lo provide Ihem with material? For had a hundred such
pens as these been employed on the side of religion iliey would have im-
mediately sunk into silence and oblivion.
Defoe 8 "Shortest Way with the Dissenters," which was written in 1702, has
been sometimes held to be the literary predecessor of these tracts of SwifL But
Defoe had none of the coruscating wit which illuminates the productions of
Ijwifl and makes their meaning intelligible 10 all save the dullards. It has
been said that Ihe " Modest Proposal" was taken seriously by a Frenchman.
On the other hand, the "Shortest Way with Ihe Dissenters" imposed on
almost all England. It was really a burlesque on the intolerance of the
High-Church element in Che Tory party. Defoe assumed the chaiactet of a
bigoted " High-flyer," and proposed, with apparent seriousness, that " who-
ever was bund al a conventicle should be banished the nation, and the
preacher hanged." So well was the character maintained thai a Fellow of
Cambridge College wrote lo his bookseller. " [ received yours, and with it
thai pamphlet which makes so much noise, called 'The bhurlesi Way with
ihe Dissenters,' for which I thank you. I join with that author in all he says,
and have such a value for the book, that, next to the Holy Bible and the
Sacred Comments, I take it for the most valuable piece I have. I pray God
pul It into her Majesty's heart to pul what is there (iroposed into execution."
Not only were Churchmen imposed upon, but Dissenters also. Defoe had lo
write a serious protestation that it was all a joke, and that he meant lo expose
only Ihe non-juring faction among Ihe Tories by pulling their secret wishes
into English, " Tis hard," he complains, " that' this should not be perceived
by all the town ; so that not one man can see it, either Churchman or Dis-
senter," This was just before his surrender to the Tory government, which,
furious at discovering the trick that had been put upon jl, (sentenced him to
Ihe pillory.
Defoe was not the only person who found irony a two-edged sword. The
sense of humor is no universal birthright Even in America [he blond of the
thick-wllteil middle-class English sometimes asserts itself alHive the lighter
and clearer fluid which comes to us from Gaul and Gael. When "The New-
comes" was in course of publication, a passage in one of the chapters alluding
10 "Mr. Washington" was so far misunderstood by the dullards here thai the
fact was referred to by the New York correspondent of the Times. Whereupon
Thackeray addressed the following letter to thai journal :
SiK,— Allow me m word of cxpIuintiaD Iri uiswcr lo a sirangv chir£C which has been
bmuuUHblit me la lb« Unlicd Slat«. umI which your New York CDrrefpondenl hu made
public Id thii country.
In tlic fint dumber of a perlodlciil itorv whLdi I HDl now publishinf appeAn d iwnlence in
whfcch I ihoold havt never ihDUffhl of findinff any hfu-m until it haa b«ii diKovered by tome
Initio DTcr llie water. The fiul warda uetti«e :
" When pi(-taili |pew dd th« backi of ihe British geoiry. and their wivei wr>re cushions on
Ihclrbeadl, over which they tied their own hair and dia^uitcd it with powder and pomatum;
■be ajipoiitkin atUcktd nightly Ihe noble inid ia Ihe hllK riband : when iJr. Waibinglon was
'd'e^irtafewj
■figure* of
>lUc(inl
.l^'iln^l
SSsjtri
w.
«aino(,ny
>r ™e apol^'which 1
bu been w oddly
1% 1770 and
Appre«i«.") Il«.c
lettL.
.fthechap-
lylhe-
=ld»«t!^
564 HANDY-BOOIC OF
wilh ill hoopt and powder — Barr^ jind Foi ihunderiDg at Lord North uteep on the TRaniry
Wmhiogion who wu tcadlne Ihe rebdi wai ■ very comgeout K^div, Bod wotiby oT a beiier
Great " ihe PrDlolaai Hero." or NapalEDn " ihe ConicaD Tyiaiil" or" Geireral Bonapaiit."
Waafaiii|[t<>n '*Mr. WaAhington^Taad that the Americasa wan called rcbcLB during Ihe whole
of Ibal isnteai T Rcbelt !— of cdutk Ihcy were rebelt ^ and 1 ihould like 10 koaw what naiive
Americmi would uol have been a rebel in that cauaeT
Aa Irony 1> daugeroua. and hu bun the Teelinn of kind Menda whom I would doi wi>h to
GoS'i meo. * ^ "* ' ' . P . » ■ ,
.s holding a dialogue at Mur
Munich had any claim to the ttlle of "
grain of Altic salt
"That," be cried, lolerablv loudly, "Ii isAf 10 be found in Beriin. Tbn, and (her*
only, ia wil and [n>ny. Here tney bave Hood white beer, — but no irony."
"No,— wehaven (B:ocirDuy/*ci4ed Nannetl, the pretty, well-fonned waidng-mald, who al
ihv inatant aprang put ua. " bvt you can have any other aort of beer."
Il grieved me 10 tha heart thai Nanuol ahouJd take iroay to be any aort of bfcr, werv it
tb^ ctme too late into the world 10 invent gunpowder, and ihcrcfore undeiiook to find out
aomethiog which would answer aa well. Once upon a time, my dear, when a man had tajd
be undone, and people taid that the tnan was an a». That waa diaagreeable. In Bciiin,
only profeaaon and high official! could vy alupid things in public, leaaer people could only
make aaaes of themselvea in private; but all of iheac regulatiotii were of no avul, — auppreued
fiupiditiea availed ttienudvea of eaDaordinary oppoTtunitiea 10 come to light : tboae below
reaciionary meana, whereby every piece of aiupidily could change its nature, and even be
metamorphoaed into wildom- Tne proceaa ia altog^er simple and easy, and consiata limply
in a man'i declaring that the iiupid word or deed of which he hai >wn ir-Hliv m.n< i^Hnt
ironically. So, my dear girl, all Ihingt get along
thia worid,— aiupidily become
__, ..^-„- -_„ ^ , —uural coaraetieu ii changed to
lllery, real madneai ii humor, ignorance, real wit, and thou ihyteir an filially Ihe
i would luve aaid more, but pretty Nanaefl, whom I had up to this point held fast by Ibe
!^^r« ""a'teet t ■'iMer'l'^Mirm^b^^' ^t the BuHiner himadf^ookelmH irony ii^
excelience, he laid, inuing, " Thirte are your Athenltina \"
In Heine the ii^iny is paramount over everything. Ydh Can never be sure
of his mood. Vou can never take his word at its apparent meaning. There
a tear behind every laugh, a laugh behind every k
substratum of mockery, Ihete is an awful depth of pathos 1
When he gushes out into lyric ecstasy there i^ a liemble of hi
his eyes dance while he describes his own sufferings, he interrupts his finest
poetry with a wild laugh al his reader'* emotion ana hi* own, lie gaies into
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S^S
the Noilh Sea bom (he ship's bulwarks, and his fancy paini
under the waves, with quaint medixval figures going hither
highly-colored, gorgeous, holiday scene, and in a corner he beholds the ideal
maiden of his dreams, he holds out his arms to her, and then, just in time, the
captain lays holds of his heels with a loud cry of, —
Why, doctor, wlui ihc doil »il« youT
Or be cries out in his agony, —
Whu IvlUi ll ID mc (bU tnlhuiiulic youlhiud nuideni irown my mirbii bull with
What'a»U> it (O^ thll iinhE ma of^imi'^w'uid^nfl mccnK for mc t Alas. Sbiniz i>
two (houuikd mllet from Ib« Rue d'AmutnUin, where, id ihedreary loliiDdcDf my BJck-rDOm,
1 £et DO BCCDt untcH IE belbe perTDIki* of warmed-over poullicti, Alu, the irony of heaven
ureuha heavily apOD me] Ine greal SDIhor of the uoivene, Ihe AriatophAoei of Heaven,
luv oltLy pJdfDl aiiempu in compHmoD nviih his, and how miurabiy 1 am beneath bim in
George Eliot has wisely said that the paradoxical irreverence with which
Heine professes his theoretical reverence is pathological, the diseased exhibi-
tion of a predominant tendency urged into anomalous action by the pressure
of pain and mental privation, as the delirium of wit starved of its proper
nourishment. But "il is not for us to condemn," she adds, " who have
never had the same burden laid on us ; it is not for pygmies at their ease lo
criticise the writhings of the Titan chained to the rock." There are humor
and poetry, lit up by a flashing and glancing iron^, in Heine's famous dictum,
"The Englishman loves liberty like his lawful wife, the Frenchman loves her
like his mistress, the German loves her like his old grandmother. And yet,
after all, no one can ever tell how things may turn out. The grumpy English-
■- ~ii ill temper with his wife, is capable of some day putting a rope
round her neck and taking her lo be sold at Smithfictd. The ii
may become unlaithful
ing about the Palais Royal after another. But the Gern
is adored n
alnndon his old grandmother ; he will always keep for her a nook by the
chimney-comer, where she can tell her fairy-stories to Ihe listening children."
Heine has asserted his kinship with Byron. There is, indeed, a strong
affinity between his humor and that of Don Juan and of Beppo. The cyni.
cism, the mockeiy of others and of self^ the hatred of hypocrisy and cant,
dwell alike in both. Examples are easy to cull :
So for a good old-gendcmanly vice
liiJ.. Canto ui.. Stanza 41.
Tbal (Jl4Dn«ung, Dvecpoweriog Imell,
TheiDCabi of cheuul, iht dlniHr-bell.
Here we have the same startling transitions, the tricksy malice, the wild
laugh full in the lace of an admiring reader, that Heine so delights in.
Iiony of Fat«, or Saroaam of Dsatiny, two familiar phrases embody-
ii^ the Irulb which may be found expressed or implied in the literature uf
most countries as the result of (he common observation and experience of
mankind. History and the daily life of all of us teem v ' '
objects long and impatiently pursued attained at last with ir
C003IC
HANDY-BOOK OF
tr dread which have brought with
_ .... ishes ; of evenia from which the
ulmusl good oi cvrl has been eipecled which have passed without leaving a
trace ; and of persons or things which have haidly been heeded at all yet which
have luined otil lo be the arbiters o> the lutning-|iointsoroUT fortunes. When,
after an interval, we look back, we are in a position lo see the full extent of
this mockery of fate. It is a consciousness of this great truth that forms the
paihc^ and the power of the old Greek drama. Nonhere is it etiunciated
more strikingly than in two master-works of Sophocles. In the midst of the
public confusion and misery with which "CEdipus Rex" opens, the royal
house alone is calm and secure. The king, beloved and revered, is the ob-
ject towards which all eyes are turned for succor. Yet this very man not
only is, but by unconscious steps proves himself to be. the very fount and
source oF the calamity, and is left at the end of the play a hopeless, self-
of "CEdipus Coloneus," the same fallen and pitiable being. Yet I his seemingly
destitute wanderer is now the object of the special protection of heaven ; he
is not only a pious but a sacred and prophetic man, and two powerful states
are to contend with each other for the possession of his person and the right
of paying honor to his tomb. The reader hardly needs to be reminded of
the tremendous parallel in the opening scenes of " King Lear."
Inepresslble Conflict, a locution current during the anti-slavery agita-
tion, supposed to have been originated by William H, Seward in an address to
a public meeting at Rochester, New York. October 25. "858 : " It is an irie-
pressible conflict between opposing and enduring fortes," — ic, Freedom and
Slavery. If not invented, the phrase at least was brought into prominence
by him through this utterance.
iMbella This color, a sort of yellow, was chosen by the great Condi for
his own. The origin of the name is curious. When the Spaniards were
besieging Oslend, in 1601, the Archduchess Isabella, wishing to encourage
the troops, and thinking success near at hand, made a vow of never changing
her linen before she enteted the town. Unfortunately for this princess, the
siege lasted three years longer. It maybe conceived that during this time her
linen lost some of its original brightness 1 and her ladies, to console her and lo
follow her example, had their linen dyed of a color which afterwards became
the fashion, and which was called Isabella.
I»olatiOD. That we are alone In this world, that each man lives in a her-
mitage of his own thoughts and carries a great silence about with him, is a
sentiment that finds constant expression in literature, nowhere more beautifully
than in Matthew Arnold's stanza, —
The iiiandi (mI iht enciiipicig low.
And rbcD (heir cndlc» bounds ibey know,
SaHatiand.
Thackew has put the idea into humorous prose in the following passage
from "Pendennis:"
Keble says, with gentle patho^ —
D,q,i,.cd by Google
LlTBBAkY CUmOSTTIES. 567
Why ifaDuld we faiDi uid rw 10 nvc akiiic,
Since lit ilone, » HeavcD hai viJItd, wt dkt
Knowi hair the na»Di wby w( imile and tiiL
These fine lines are by Christopher P. Cranch ;
All ina- 1^™ ™uiihr"f»il.
ne analogy with Carlyle ;
t. thai afe thap«d inia a body, inio wt Appotrancc ; jmd thai Fade away
nv»il>ililyr Oh. Heaven, it IS lnyxerioui.il i> a-ful to coniidenhat oe
Thii Being of mint, vhutvct ii realty i>, couiiu of ■ little fleah, a little bnath. and the
Ivan IvaDOTitob, a fictitious personage supposeil to be the etnbodiment
of the peculiarities of the Russian people, in the same way that John Bull
stands for the English and Jean Crapaud for Ihe French. He is represented
as a lazy, good-natured fellow.
J, the tenth letter in the English alphabet, oriBinally only another form of
I, and in the Latin, as in the mtidern Italian, used with eiaclly the same value.
In England, with a consistency which makes it a taie jewel in out orlhi^-
laphy, il is used only to represent the consonant sound d%h. There is one
exception, and one only, Ihe word halltlujai, though thai is now sometimes
wiitlen as it is pronounced, halleltdak. When that innovation is fully eslab-
lished there will be no further blot on the integrity of this austere and uncom-
pcomising consonant
Jack, the diminutive or colloquial form of the name John. Elymolt^sts
have gone on repeating that Jack is the Anglicized form of Jacqties, which in
its turn is French for the Jacob of the Old Testament and the James of the
New, Ihe Jago, Diego, or lago of Ihe Spaniards, Ihe Giacomo and Giacobbe
of the Italians, etc When these etymologists come lo establish Ihe connection
between Jacob and John they can only perform a neat little bit of philological
acrobatism, which dazzles but not convinces. The probability is that there is
no connection ; the etymon is all wrong. Jack has an entirely different origin.
As lambkin and manikin are the diminutives of lamb and man. and Tompkin
and Walkin of Thomas and Walter, so Jonkin and Jankin were the original
diminutives of John, and they, in their turn, being loo long and cumbrous for
nar^ery use. were cut down lo Jocky and Jacky, and finally to Jock and Jack.
Jack, the more French of the two, has always been more current in Ihe south
of England, and Jock in Scotland. The frei^uencyof Ihe name in all sections
of Great Rtitain has led lo the employment of the diminutive as ;
lot lad or boy, and, alone or in comptraitio
568 HANDY-BOOK OF
ances which do the work of a common servant or are subjected to rough
usage. Meat'jack, smoke-jack, boot-jack, jack-knife, jack-plane, — all are so
many iribuies Co the popularity of (he name John, So also are jack-in-the-
boi, jack-in-the-pu1pit,iack-o'-lantern, and such proverbial phrases as every
man Jack of them, Jack at a pinch, and Jack of all trades (q. v.). The collo-
quialism, more common in America than in England, which nicknames the
knave in cards as the Jack, bears witness in like manner to its universal
applicability. A common seaman is still a Jack-tar. Nor can one pass over
the ofl-quoted cases of the black-jack, the jack-fool, the union-jack, and the
jack-pudding, or the extension of the name to the animal world, in the jack-
daw, the jack, or pike, and the jackanapes.
Jack of all trades, or Jack at all trade*, often quoted with the addi-
tion "and master of none," a colloquial expression for a person who has
many accomplishments but no serious and settled pursuit, who does a number
of things cleverly and not one pre-eminently well, who knows a little of
everything and knows that little wrong.
In the middle of the eighteenth century England appears to have been full
of gentry who, having a vast amount of misinformation on all possible sub-
jects, were willing to impart it for a consideration, and who employed the
leisure left them % their professorial duties in various and apparently incom-
patible branches of trade. A single specimen will suffice. Here is the way
the famous Roger Giles described himself in hand-bill advenisemcnls :
Roger <;U«, Impeccpliblc Pcnnnuor, Smgin. Puroch Clarke, &c., Romford. Ea«<, hin-
Blluun oD thi luwcH lurmi, ind fyiti:! ii > Mnny ■ pucE, Sclli god-faihen cordial ud
■Inp-ilc, and undenahei to Sux-^ any Ladii lulca by Ihe yiar and id on. Voung Ladii aod
liuifen; likevisc Ulun, mobub, tusugci and other gudcD iiuffi, aim fruiii. inch ti hud-
Inke, inguofl, loolhtuckp. ile and linware, and oiher eatables. Sarve, Ireacle, wuiegar-and all
other hardwan. Funher In particular he ha* laid in aiiock of iripc, china, «p»m talii, lolli-
popi and other [ncliela, such u oyaten. applet and Hble beer, alio dik, latEn and heanh-
B» laid efca tvry day by me, lioger Giln. P.S.— f toclura on jofgrd'y.
Jaolcanapea, an impertinent coxcomb. A curious derivation of the name
is that of Mr. W. Chatto. In 1379 was brought to Viierbo the game of cards
called by the Saracens Haib: Jackanapes is the Jack o' naibs. Jackanape is
the adjective form of the word :
I will teach a tcurvy jackanape prieit 10 meddle and make.
Nn^ Wiv,i 1/ Windier, Act I., Sc. 4.
Jaok-PtiddlnK a buffoon. It is curious that each country names its stage
buffoon from its favorite viand. The Dutch call him " Pickelhariiig" (soused
herring); the Germans, " Hans- Wurst" (jack-sausage); the French, "Jean
Potage;" the lulians, "Macaroni;" and the English, "Jack-Pudding."
Jacluoilitas, a nickname for the followers of Andrew Jackson, in vogue
between 1821 and 1S3Z, as opposed lo the Adamiil^i, followers of John Quincy
Adams. According to a standing joke, common for a generation after Jack-
son's death, there were slitl " lacksonitcs" in the rural districts who con-
tinued to vote for the " Hero of New Orleans," quite oblivious of his death,
or even stoutly denying it, and denouncing the report as a Whig lie.
Jaooblna. the name by which a coterie or political club of turbulent
extremists in the French Revolution is generally known. The club WH
Coogk"
UTERARy CURIOSITIES. 569
fanned at Vera»Hl«3 in 1789, under ihe name of the Club Breton. The
name of "Jacobins" had been previously applied in France to the Dominican
friars, from the Rue St-Jacques in Paris, where they first ealablished them-
selves in 1219, and when Ihe Breton Club removed to Paris they met in the
hall of the former convent of the Uominicans, whence they and their partisans
in turn were called Jacobins.
Jaoobltea, the name given in England to the adherents of James II.
and his son and grandson, from Jacobus, the Latin form of James.
Jaoqiiari«, La, a peasants' insurrection in France, I3^S. The complain-
ing peasantry had been facetiously referred for redress of their grievances lo
Jacques Bon-homme (Johniiy Goodman, a sort of fairy zood -luck) ,—(>., no-
body. At length a leader appeared who called himself Jacques Bonhomme,
and declared war to the death against every gentilhomme in France. In six
weeks' time some twelve thousand of the insurgents were cut down, including
Jacques Bonhomme their leader.
Daeu )c vUUge UD fTDl huiMjfir
Uvc-to}, Jjtcqoci, l^ve-ioi,
Jaft ii American slang, a slate of intoxication. Originally jag meant a small
lOad, and when load grew to be a synoiiyme for a "drunk, jag was humor-
ously substituted for a small drunL But it is now applied to the most im-
posing form of intoxication ;
Tibe word " jw" cut be found in any dicilDDar^, but its popular meaninE, in prseni um.
pUlned, I[ may be prolitabJc to tnm the tfymotogyof Vat word from ju
^ e prolitabJa
probable odein.
Jag. i.*Aiiniil'iaad,uof'hi^^^'^>mw. Etyoi. doubdiil.
1. A uddle-big, II pedlu^i nlla.
Jac (Gaelic fv{f}. The noddiDEof ihv h«ad; thon Irnfular lounda, then ihe *art of figurcg
J*aa». One vho jogi. In Sctn. ■ pedlsc.
jAc^BHV. Tbe iDiU^ nime [or ■ kind of couK duV lugar nbtaioeil rrom tbe Juice of
I, The pedlar ides, Ihe condition of mlad and body mutt riequentty lo be noilced in pet-
> Tbe suggeilion of acrid aJcobolic irrenglh in a ioliil, aa Jugar. which becomea fluid eiuily.
4. The common prorlDCiat use of the word to eaureu ihe idea of 4 iigbt burden, a small load
of iTT^ular thape, as, "a Uttle jag of hay" which is gleaned with a pitchfotlt in the wake of
the harvvu-waEoa which carries the bulk of the crop.
The preaent nae of the word cornea most clearly, perhaps, from the lait of ihcae four poa-
ju ll thai state t^ eahilaration produced by the aldorpilob Id the human body of a peater
m-lesi qiuiDClty of alcoholic tiquor. In its primary use it implied only "a little Load," but
Ihe word ii daslrc.
In Bud divisions are : fa) The Quiet Gentlemanly Jag : (h) tbe Wiiidward Jag, In which
biy Htaighl course ('Z. Slormooth H/rn) ; (c) the Kunninc Jag. under whose influence
varie^ of the condition ; and (d) uie Rip-iiaTing Ja^, used as a synonyme far the Boiling
l>ronk, where the man betrays an overweening desire to maim, liaughler, slay, and deal
impartial h
HAtTDY-BOOK OF
" Jarnac'B thrust"), a famous thrust ii
Chuienwjiyc and Jjinuc, both peen of Frutce, Imd
DUKhcr-in-Uw. ThckLnelud idtercH«d himKlf m (hi
ihe whoU qiKHloii ibould b« rcfvrnd lo tbe arbitramcni
jud^, vho, howtvvr, ID Junac'i ddpair, l&id them all H^de uid decided upon the ivord.
Id hn difliculTv he uHighl (he advice or ■ ihed old luiUn twordgmAn, who bade hint be of
J[Ood heart, HDd confided ta him aiecrct trick of muordtniftDahip deviked by himjeirmnd bever
Armed with ibb horrid niK, Janiac repaired to the Kcpe of tbe evcounKr, where, in (he
pretence of the kbtg, Henry It,, and all the hi|^h officiali of the Itincdom, the two litigaaia
were put face (o face, ChaateDeraye. confident in hit akill, prttied h«ly upon (he leu evpe^
ntnced Jankac, when niddenly the latter, to the aatDnlahmenl of (be ipcctahn, put in tuch a
cm a* had never before been teen, and tevered the tendon of hli enemy't left lea. An inttani
«(&, by a zepe(ition of (he tame amke, he cut the tinew of tbe right Dne^ and the unfortunate
Chaa(eneraye fell hani«tiin|[ to the earth. In ihiiBore plight he still cuniinued upunhitkneet
to nuke pataet a( hit antagoDltt and \b endeavor to canry on (he combat. Hit iword, how^
iarnac wat diipoeed, very much againtt Ihecustomtcf the time, to grant him hit life, but (he
umiUaiion was too much for (he beaten and crippled man, and. refuting all atsistance, he
memorial™ thit'ei.caul.lit-™rV<.iT.W™^aH'ii™*^ '" "" '^ "" ""^" " '
Jay, in American slang, a fool, a simpleton, a guy, — of which latter word
it may be a corruplion. The eipression is much used in the theatrical profu-
sion, both as a nouti itid as an arijeclive, A jay town means a town which
does not patrijnizc stage performances, and a jay audience is a slim, or an
JayhairkeTS, a name for guerillas or bush-rangers, which originated during
the Kansas troubles in 1856, and was subsequently applied generally 10 po-
litical marauders ; probably derived Irom jay-hawk, a bircT of prey noted
for its wanton ferocity, killing other creatures, it is said, in sport. In later
C:ars the inhabitants of Kansas humorously nicknamed themselves Jajr-
awkers.
Jeames, an obsolete forin of the name James, which was one time often
■pelt thus and so pronounced. It was revived for ironical purpose by Thack-
era]', who made it a conlemptuoiu embodiment of fiunkyism, and since the
publication of "Jeames's Diary" it has obtained proverbial curren(;y as a
designation for a footman or a flunky.
ballandtbe^deltoKea'len'iooarfj'mnet,— A.K. H,Kti),"'" ' "^ ' "
n epithet to the London Afaming Post, the
Jean Crapand, anglui "Johnny Frog." A fictitious personage, the
humorous embodiment of the idiosyncrasies of the French people, as Brother
Jonathan is of the Yankee,
Jean de Paris, a name applied with sardonic humor to the guillotine,
Jean dee Vlgnes. Jean was the name and des Vignes the sobriquti a( a
drunken marionette performer of considerable ability. The French jongleurs
call the poupje to which they address themselves "Jean dei Vignes," and the
French Protesunts of the sixteenth century so called " the hosL" When a
person does an ill action the French say, "11 (ait comme Jean des Vigaeei"
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 571
•an illicit maTiiage U called " le mariage de Jean des Vianes." Hence Assoucji
says, "Moi, pauvre sot, plus sol que Jean des Vignes r'
Qui jumait accompupc ud< ^pijhclc hoDD^ie.
JcindciVigiiaJcuilwIie. Uuviii-je! TrDUva boD
Qu-cn u buu cbcmin jf m-urile.
VirgiU TravtUi, vii.
Jaddart, or Jedirood, Jnatioe. Jeddart or Jelhart was the Ibnnet, and
is still the local, name Tor Jedburgh, the capital of the shire of Roxburgh,
£>cotland. Jedwood designates the whole district lying on the little river Jed, on
which Jedburgh stands. In ancient limes this burgh was a place of consider-
able strength and importance. From its situation on the borders, as well as
from the character of the clans t>y which it was surrounded, 11 was especially
exposed (o violence and rapine, and was repeatedly sacked by ihe English,
and once, at least, burned to the ground. The long-suffering of its natives at
length came to an end, and when an Englishman or olher marauder was
captured the rule came to be, " A short sKrift and a long tope." But the
canny burghers did not altogether dispense with legal forms. Afler the culprit
was executed, an assize was held by Ihe Warden of the Marches, evidence
e pronounced in due form of law. Hence (he well-known
Vou've hard men uik of Jeddait law,
Wbenbr ihey fim do hug ud dnw,
llwn lil in judgment ificr.
A variant of this is, —
E dA have bcud of Tcddut law.
And thook piy tide* with laughter,
Scott frequently alludes 10 Jeddart law in his poems and border minstrelsy.
In his " Fair Maid of Perth" {ch. jiiiiii,), I>ouglas, dealing with (he murderers
of Rothesay, asks, " Have we not some Jed wood men in our troop?" and,
receiving an affirmative reply, says, "Call me an iiiijuesl of these together;
they are all good men and true, saving a liille shifting for their living. Do
you see to the execution of these fellows, while I hold a court in Ihe great
hall, and we'll try whether the jury or the provost- marshal do Ihcir work nrsi ;
we will have Jedwood justice, — hang in haste and try at leisure." Macaulay
alludes to " Jeddart justice" in his essay upon Moore s " Life of Byron."
Olher accounts have been given to explain the expression. Thus, Crawford,
in his Memoirs, says, "Jedburgh justice — ' fitsi hang a man and syne judge
him' — took its rise in 1574, on the occasion of ihe Regent Morion trying and
condemning with vast precipitation a vast number of people." But had this
explanation, or any other than the popular one, been well fininded, il would
wilhoDt doubl have been noticed by Scott. Analogous expressions are " Cu-
Juslice," " AlHngdon Law," " Lydford Law," and even our own "Lynch
1." "Abingdon Law" takes its name from Abingdon, Berkshire, £ng-
...iJ, where, during the Commonwealth, Major-General Brown used first to
hang his prisoners and then try ihem. Lydford is an obscure corporation
of Devonshire, where a court of stannaries (certain royal prerogatives con-
nected with Ihe working of Ihe tin-mines) was anciently held. The saw.
" FirKl hang and draw, then hear the case by Lydford law," is supposed to
allude 10 some absurd rulings of Ihe mayor and corporation, who were but
mean and illiterate persons.
The same speedy juslice was praclised in Spain al Peralvillo, where Ihe
Holy Brotherhood used lo execute without trial robbers taken red-hand.
Hence the Spanish saying, " Peralvillo juslice, afier the man is hanged try him."
K
57* HANDY-BOOK OF
JeffsTBoniMi aimpUolty, a
especially by the Demucralii. The n
liy Thomas leRerson (o any Ibnii of
ubjccied lo the title Miiiter. He abolished ihe Presideiiiial levees, and ihe
Slury was long told, Ihough latterly challenged as apocryphal, thai in going lo
the Capitol to assume the Presidency he rode on horseback alone, and, dis-
mourning, lied his horse to Ihe hitching- post.
Je DO sala qnol, literallv, " I know not what," but used both in French and
in English — il may almost be parsed as an English substantive — in the sense
of the indefinable, of a vague and nameless charm. The more modern chit has
to a certain citenc supplanted il.
Ihe f Jipreujoa ji now adapted info our LantfUAge, but I qualian whelheT you bHVt any dnr
ideiiof II, and indeed il ii more euily fell ihan defined, il iia molt ioeuLiomble qoAlity, aad
lulonu every oihcr. I will endeAVDr lo give VDim eeqeml polion of if , Ihou^ 1 cannoi u
a compuuDd of all dir dgtce«ble quAliiiea of body and mind, in which no one c^ theip prv-
dODiklialea in auch a manner u id ^ve ejicJuaioD id any other. It b nol menwit, mere beauiy.
-e leuning nor
indeed me
re any one Ibia
E, Ihal produc
oil. though Ihty all
lelhing lowarda i
'inglolhU/m
r tail f »»' tha
t OIK Uke> a liking lo
JK
iva mihci
thTn 10 uMbtr.
sSa-,7S
Ontfcclion
with him lo
t'a Kir prepo^oKd ii
n favor dT
1. (,"*«"/
poKhimloha
U |t>d Ki«'."g^LuuK, and
good humor. A gen
an powerful iDgredii
«., graceful moli
svji-S
.•;=s.-;a»
rss
fi^Tlh^Gi^cea,
which 1 can c
.oly do by the > «
i»> ,mm.
[ £«n oBly diifio.
ihe „ « 1
:a«^»D/lylbe
(inico. No
but
happy he who poauHea Ihi
iched he who p
<iaw»e> none o( Ihen.— Ch&
Though England admitted the claim, her sailors constantly evaded il, and
carried on a large contraband trade with these colonies. On April 10, tyjl.
Ihe English vessel Rebecca, Captain Robert Jenkins, was visiled by the coast-
guards of Havana. Finding nothing contraband, they sought to exiorl a
conression from the captain by hanging him up to Ihe yard-arm, with the
cabin-boy fastened lo his feet as a make-weighi. The rope broke, however,
and, findmg him still recalcilranl, they Ihen cut off one of his ears, and bade
him take it to his king. Jenkins relurned lo London and claimed vengeance.
But England did not care lo quarrel with Spain jus! then, and all was appar-
■' ' - . Sei '■ . - . . . X ■ .. ~ . . ..
■Inglisl
had preserved it in wouumg, •im ti.iiuiicu il utmic mi: nui™ u. ...^unii-iiia
in March, 173S. When asked concerning his feelings during the ordeal, be
replied Ihat he had commended his soul lo God and his cause lo hifl country.
The British nation was aroused. " Jenkins's ear" and Jenkins's Itusl in his
country formed party walchwoids, and were echoed and re-echoed throughout
the country. The sailors went aboui I.ondon wearing Ihe inscripliotl " Ear
for ear" on [heir hats. The large merchants and ship.owners espoused theit
William Pitt and Ihe naliuti in general desired war with Spain. Walpole
reluclanlly yielded to papular clamor. On July 10, 1739, an order in council
was issued (or reprisals and granting lettem of marque. On October 19 war
was formally declared. Jenkins's ear had served its purpose. If the English
people were poetical, says Carlyle, this ear would have become a conslella-
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 573
tion, like Berenice's Crown. Ve[ there were not wanting doubters then and
afterwards. Burke, in his " Regicide's Peace," scornfutly alludes to " the Table
of Jenkins's ear." Walpole's btt^rapher calls it " a ridiculous story." Tyndal
insinuates that Jenkins had lost his ear on a quite different occasion. Others
boldly asserted that it had been left behind on the pillory. Finally, according
to Horace Walpole, when Jenkins died it was found that his ear had never
been cut off at all 1
Jftrtcho, Go to, is an expression that has lost its birthright of appositcness
and is now used as a sort of euphemism for " Go to Hades." Originally it
was an allusion to the scriptural story found in II. Samuel r. e, as well as in
I. Chronicles lii. 5.— how that when David's servants had half their beards
cut off and were not presentable al court the king advised Ihem "to tarry at
Jericho till their beards were grown." Hence young men were bidden " to
larry in Jericho," or "slay in Jericho," meaning, "Wait till your beard is
grown ;" saliiically equivalent lo saying thai the parly addressed was young,
or " fresh," or ineiperienced. The transition from IhiS to sending lo Jericho
was easy enough.
The following lines from Heyward's " Hierarchic" may be quoted in
evidence :
Who would to curb luch iniDlaici. I know.
Bid nich yuuDg boyci 10 suy in Joicha
Book iv.,' p. loS.
About fifty years ago a ribald thyme was current, to the following effect :
Who wcnl 10 Jericho
Then inn ludai^^ol.
And Captain Muryat,
And Himel Maninoii.
Another explanation is that King Henry VHI, had a house in the Manor
of Blackmore, some seven miles from Chelmsford, whilher he used to retire
when he wished to be free from disiurbance or lo indulge in animal pleasures.
To this place, which had formerly been a priory, the name Jericho was given
as a disguise. Hence Ihe answer " He has gone lo Jericho" conveyed the
informalion to all inquirers after the monarch that he was amusing himself in
Essex. In 1880 the Rev. W. Callandar, vicar of Blackmore, wrole that Ihe
place " habitually goes by Ihe name of Ihe Jericho Estate, or Ihe Blackmore
Priory. There is a brooklet running through Ihe village which I have heard
called Ihe -Jordan.'" So far, so good. Bui there is no evidence that the
slang phrase arose from this custom of Henry VIII., especialiy as the ex-
planation (irsi given is entirely satisfactory,
Jerry-bnllder, a term for an inefficient, careless, or hasty builder, used in
England with the same sense as Buddensiek is in America. Its origin is also
very similar. " Jerry Brothers, Builders and Contractors," was a Liverpool
tirm of Ihe early pari of this century, who earned an unpleasant notoriety by
putting up rapidly-built, showy, but ill -constructed houses, so Ihat their name
eventually became generic for such builders and their work, first in Liver-
pool and afterwards throughout England. It will be remembered that Charles
Buddensiek was a builder of flimsy apartment-houses in New York. A
row of these buildings collapsed before they were completed, burying several
of the workmen under its ruins. Buddensiek was convicted of man^aughter
and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.
Jonoy Ughtnlng, an American phrase for apple-jack or apple-brandy, a
spirit distilled from cider, for which Ihe Stale of New Jersey is particularly
HANDY-BOOK OF
The fini (hina Ihat wat done
Wu bundinE ToiDd lbs kid.
That all mlglit iDiack bi> miin.
A Rub of lighloing Mxi
Ere tbcy to cburch did pud
To blve il chiiiKneif )«.
iitf-J /■-,./ <.j89).
J«raBaJ«iD ArUaboke. A curious example of folk-etymology is that
which has turned the Italian Giraale ArticiKco\a\o "Jerusalem artichoke."
The Italian name means the sunflower ariichoke, the vegetable \Hilianihwi
tubfrosui) being a perennial of the same family as Ihe common sunflower
(Hdianthus annuus). which it resembles in stem, leaves, and flowers. A
further extension of the name-error lutiis ihe soup made from the artichoke
tubers into " Palestine Soup."
Je«a«, To give him, ■•
' "mes inlenainea as ■' particular [esse _.
mjes
thrash him severely, sometimes inlenaified as " particular Jesse" or "d — -— d
particular Jesse." Charles Eliot Norton re ' "" " "' - -"~ ...
3 parly war-cry current in the Presidential campaign of 1856.
the Republican candidate, had tiFteen years 1>erure made a runaway match
with Jessie, daughter of Thomas H. Benlon, and the popular favor with which
runaway matches are apt to be regarded was made much of ir '*
lady's name being freely used in song and story by her husband's political sup-
irters." But the phrase is much older than 1856, and Ihe war-cry was merely
punning allusion. One derivation takes us "back to the days of falconnf.
Tbe^» was a ihong by which the bird was attached
retrieved badlv it appears to have been the custom '
ition of Ihe Ihoiig. But Mr. Leiand's suggestion i
irase is derived from ihe allusion in Ihe Bible to ,
which he rendered, a text continually repeated among the Puritans.
Jeaoitioal composltiana, or BqulvoqnoB, an ingenious sort of literary
trifling, wherein the arl consists in so writing and arranging Ihc lines (hat two
opposite meanings may be elicited according as they are read downward or
across. An early and excellent specimen was once well known in New
England as "The Jesuit's Creed," and is sometimes attribuled to Dean Swift
Bui Collet, in his "Relics of Ljteralure," creitits it lo the iVakly Paiput
af Advice from Rome, No. IJ, May 6, 1679. Al thai date Swift was in his
cradle. Here il is, in Ihe original Latin and in the Pacquet'i translation :
Pro Gdc unco suu Que docet Aaolicuia,
Affinru quE Romina VUkuur mibi vana.
WboM ubl<-> btcad mid wine.
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 575
A good example, in prose, of the same kind of drollery is afforded by
the following letter, said lo have been written by Cardinal Richelieu to the
French ambassador in Kooie, but probably an invention u( a later day :
Sut^Uou.CDiiipirK aSanyudbybirlb, ■ Friar of ihc order of Salni BtnEdJcI,
la glvt bim a Hiiuble chancter, lognhrr viih > lellcr cT crcdcno
which I luTC ■cconlingtv graUEcd u his real inetll, niber, I OIUU hv, ihaa
ys Emponuolly: for, b«Ueve me. Sir, his modQiy ia only exceeded by Qii vort
I ghould be wrry Ihal yon ihoidd be waniiag In xrvtng hinon nccouni of beii
miiiDfonded of hiA real character; I ihould be affiicied If y«i wei
«1 topie other gentlcmep ha« been, ipuled on that Kore, who now eireem hit
I think it my duty to advenite you that you are moHt panicularly desire
nor TeDture to tay anytbing before bim, that may eiiher offend or diipleaie hi
Done whom 1 ihould more regret to tee neglccied.at noonecan bemoreVionhy to ]
ohUgo
aaying aayihbg more on thk auhject.
The " Lansdowne MSS." yield the following,—
lection, — which might have been composed by soi
of (he Georges :
n with all my heart The Tory paiiy here
". , . . Moet batenit do appear
And for the Swlemenl 1 CTCr have denied
The Kanovej
- fight fcrt ■
-ofightfc . ._ ._.„
To G(ht for (Hnrge-i lawi Will Englasd'i rain biuig.
Itii my mind and heart In thi> opinion 1
Though none wllJ lake my pan ReHilie to live and die.
The next on our Hat is said to have been circulated among the United
Irishmen previous to the rebellion of 179S :
I piiie above all eanhly ihingt The RighK of Man and Common Senae
Above aU men huipraite I'll ling The plague of Pnncta, Thomai Paine
The royal banaeia are diiplayed Defeit and ruin leiie ike cauu
And may fucceu the itandard aid Of France, ber lihctty and lawK
The following was the way an aristocrat of the old regime denounced the
French Revolution while seemingly upholding it :
A la nouvdle loi Ji veui tbt fidUe
Jc lenonce dana rime An r^^ime andeo ;
Comnke ^prcuve de ma C^ Je croia la loE nouveJIe
l< cmb cclle qu'on bllme Oppoi^ t tout bien ;
Dku TDUi donne la paia Ueaileun lea IWmocntea
NoUcaae tittolit Au diable aJlei-youa en ;
Qu'il conhnde k Jamaii Tou> let Arialnmtea
Heialeun de I'AiKmbUe Oni eui aeuli l< ban aeua.
The newly-made law 'Ti> my wiah to eiteem
From my aotd 1 abhor Thearicient r^ime;
1 maintain the old code la oppoeed LO all good I
May God give yoD peace, Meaueun Demoiirau.
May He ever conb^nd All the ArialocroU
The Auenbly all raiad Are the tola men of aenw.
. Coogk"
57* HANDY-BOOK OF
The AmeTJcan R«vo1ulion produced a very good example :
Huk I hork I (he mimpet lOundi, Tlii dio of wir'i iluiiu.
iVho frllK tbc ConEreu join ;
Id Ihem 1 much deliAbI,
■VbD »ilb Ibe Cong
Who iDdvpcDtieDce
WbD wilb ibe CongTEU licht ;
WbD Don-toiiuiice hold. They hive my h»
May they for >kye> be lold. Who ICI a wliiEgi
Dn^Juifirld Nonb. ud fluu, M>y daily bluvnf
Confusion ind dlspuu, On Congreu evcnuun ;
To Nonb ind Bridih loid . May bouon iiill be done.
1 wbb a block and cord, To Gtnera] WasbingioD.
During the civil war, al the time of McClellan's noniination for the Presi-
dency, a number of administration papers published the following ingenious
burlesque on the Democratic platform, which they held to be an attempt to
straddle every question, and a bid for the votes of all parties :
Hnrtabror The old Union
SeccKion bacune
We fwki Tor The Coutiiution
Tbc CoDrtduncT li a league witb hell
TbenbellT^ ItM^
S^^mi<^ WuTno1™iolerued
We fight not for The ncgro'i fiecdom
Wc miur tuccnd Al every baard
The Union We love
We never md L« (bunion llido
We want The Union •! h <ni
Foreign intervention It played out
We cbetiih The old flag
The tan and ban It a flaunting tie
Southern chivalry la hateful
Death to lelf Davie
Abe Liocoln lin'i the Government
■ 1 Mob law
r Shall triumph.
Read crossirise, it gives a satirical presentation of the sentiments of the Demo-
cratic platform, but when split in the middle the left-hand column represents
the extreme "Copperhead" and the lighi-hand the extreme "Abolitionist"
Hitherto we have confined ourselves lo political and religious squibs. Here
are a couple of peai^ful, secular compositions, the first resolving itself into a
satire on woman and marriage, and Ihe second, read in any manner you choose,
persisteniljr reiterating the lover's praise of his mistress \
MAI
Who'SrSi^d by hi. -^e''
ritlUOtiV.
* «« ^,u'™ "Sl^t^u. ''^"*'
Adam coidd find nvBolid peace
WhenEve»..ei.enfora,nMe,
Until he taw a oomani Face
Adam wa> in a Kappy Hate.
^■?:±'^^J^i>rci:,^s^^
Hypocruy, deceit, and pride.
Who will DOC yield to wuman'a tway It tree ^m quarrellbg
E anditrife.
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Address to mv Mistkhss.
So (kit,'
Fbwbeni,
Mine eye,
Kssr-
With life, with hap^, nHth «rt,'
Voor Ikce, your tongue, doth nile,
Doth reod, doth leul, my heul.
YcHU ba. TO" ""sue. my boon,
Wlib beami, wiih Kund, with ikUl,
Doth bind, doth chunn, your wil,
Mine eye, mine eer, doth fill.
Ohcel Otongurl Oirlll
With fniwDe, with check, wish ■mul.
Wrong not, vex not, wound not,
Thbeye. ' thiieu, ' thi> heart,
Your&oe, your tongue, your wk,
Chulei Wcsle]' is credilcd wilh tbe following " Musical Creed i"
Hendel d'ye lee'e A downright errant hlot^
The nu for me 1> John Sebuilin Bech,
Who un write well Why none but Germen John
But old Hudel Ch^i to be ipel upon ,
George ia For eir The NupideH oT coons
Beyond compere Is Bach Bt jpmceAd tunce,
Give then the feme To Bach'i chronutic pete.
A leM literatf, but Miill ingcniotis, form of equivocation is illtislrated b;
the story of the Milwaukee merchani who, dutine ihe civil w»r, drew on the
wall of hu) •tore % negco's head, and beneath the legend, —
Di* Union Foreber.
Another stocL story relates ihal during the Presidential campaign of 1S71 a
non-committal editor sought to propiiiate alt parties by placing at the head
of his editorial column the ticket "Gr and n," allowing his sub-
scribers a choice of interpretation between Grant and Wilson and Greeley
and Brown. (It is added that an ardent Republican subscriber advised him
to " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ]") LippiiKell'i Mapaiiu called attention to
the fact that this editor was a probably unconscious plagiarist from the French
army officer who at a mess-meeting gave the toast, —
"Gentlemen, I drink to a thing which — an object that Bah ! 1 will Out
wilh it at once. It begins wilh an R and ends with an K"
" Capital t" whispered a young lieutenant of Bordeaux promotion. " He
proposes the RipuMiipu, without offending the old fogies l^ saying the word."
"Nonsense I He means the Radieale," replied another.
" Upon my wotd," said a third, as he lifted his glass, " our friend must mean
la ReytaUi?'
" 1 see 1" cried a one-legged veteran of Frdschweiler ; " we drink to /a Re-
So the whole patty drank the toast heartily, each interpreting it to his liking.
Jew that SbakMpeore Axvw. An anecdote which persistently recars,
with much embroidery of detail added by each successive reporter, made its
first appearance, so far as known, in J. T. Kirkman's *' Life of Macklin" (1799),
voL L p. 364. Shylocit, it will be remembered, had been degraded to a comic
z mm 49
HANDY-BOOK OF
duplaytd such UDVqual mtril u justiy entitled him lo that very comprehdiHve. thougb cdd-
cue, compliment paid (o hiiD b^ Mr. PopCj whu ul IQ the Hitgc-bOK on the ihjtd pight of Iht
repfoducuoD, and wbo emphatically vvcUiEned, —
Tlu.i.AeJew
Thai Shakapan drew I
The book is ill wrilleti, as may be seen from the above, and no authoritiea
are cited. The anonymous author of a somewhat better tnography. " Memoin
of Macklin" (1S04), does not mention the story of the couplet, which is pre-
sumptive evidence that it was then discredited. In iSi2 it reappears in the
** Biographia Dramalica," voL L p. 469, in this cautious forin ;
tablidied hii tame ai an actor in the chaimoCT
. . Macklin't perfarDnnce of (hit cbaraclet *a
,.. u»u ™, « it --■' " '-■ — ■
Thb i. tlie Jen
Thu Shaktapeatc dm 1
li has been Hid that Ihii genilemari wai Mr. Pope, and tlut he meant hii paneanic c
Uacklin as a sadic acainil Lord LaDsdowDe.
In 1S53, the anecdote, trailing clouds of gtory, comes out in this fasbion :
Ob the third night of repreicDIation all eyes were directed id the uagt-boi. where sal
lliile deformed man : and uhilsi uihen wauhed hii reuum. u If to leam hi> Drunim rl i)
01 Shyloi
Februarr, IT«, Macfclii
Shvlock iDibe-Merchaiuaf Venke. .
id meet me at our synagogue ; go good Tubal ; atourtyna.
I seen to rise, and, leaning fram the boa as Macklin passed
This is the Jew
That Shakespeaie dicw.
pe.andpintthU age, from his Judgment In oritidsm ibenwaa
wrr. (December, 1853).
Now, it is doubtful whether Pope was in London at all when Macklln
brought out Shylock. That he was in Bath on February 4, 1741, is evidenced
by a letter of that dale to Warburton. But, even if he had returned to Lon-
don, it is unlikely that he was at the theatre (certainty he was not in the pit).
His health had been ailing since 1739, when he described himself as "sleepy
and stupid enough" in the evenings. " My eyes fail, and the hours when most
people tndulge in company, I am tired, and find the labor of the past day suf-
6cient 10 weigh me down, so I hide myself in bed, as a bird in the nest, much
about the same lime, and rise and chirp in the morning."
Jew's eye, Worth a. This eapresaion is supposed to have arisen out
of the practice of torturing the Jews to exact money. Drawing teeth or
plucking out an eye was frequenlly resorted to if the demand was not com-
plied with. The threatened member could be ransomed only by paying the
sum exacted. King John, having required a rich Jew of Bristol to pay him
ten thousand marks, when the demand was resisted ordered that one of the
Jew's teeth should be tugged out every day till the money was forthcoming.
The sufferer endured seven days before he would give in, which when he did,
John jestingly observed, " A Jew's eye may be a quick revenue, but Jews' teeth
give the richer harvest" According to serious philology, however, Jew's eye
u simply a corruption of the Italian gifia (a "jewel").
Shaicespeare puns upon the word when he inakes Launcelot say, —
There will come a Christian by
WUI be worth a lewna' aye.
Mtnkanl ,f yi.k,. Ad U., Sc s
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 579
JlDgo — Jlngoiutt. In the Basque language the word "Jingo" means God,
and is a common rotm of adjuration. Possibly [he English caughl Ihe oath
"by Jingo!" from the Basque sailors. Bui HalHwell derives the word from a
corruptionof Si. Gingoulph. The word "Jingoism" has acquired a new mean-
ing in British politics since 1877. At the height of the anti-Russian excite-
ment, when Lord Beaconsfield, the Premier, was determined 10 protect Turkey
from Russia, and Gladstone was advocating non-interference, a song became
very popular in the English music-halls, Ihe refrain of which was, —
We_don-l mmi 10 fight.bul, by Jingo, if w. do,
"Jingo" was derisively cast as a nickname at the warlike party, and was
ptoudly accepted by them. The term has ever since been applied to those
who pander to popular favor by noisy advocacy of popular measures.
The following parody of the song appeared in Ihe Fail Mall Gairltt:
Wi don't wnni lo fight, but, by Jingo, if wt do,
We've PmeiUDtuldCUboUc.Turli, inlidcl, uul Jew;
Wi'n " God" ud " MKminaii," "Allmfa," " BudiQu." " BnbDU," and " Vbhou :"
We've mlkml tU the deltla, fo whu «M RunU do •
Uld u mpecut
abroad a nid to have bsea not long uo w
en b'jr \
'IT opponenu, and by kadicall it la a|j|>]Hd fnely,
rapecSblTa* Ihl name of Whig or t^,— Ihe word jingo. An En^i.h_
Iberdif
\ nlaaitt io fli
^^R.' 'if""""
whkh will t
„_ . rhig very clearly definvd^lw
•ilh riuaive ^yfulnesi, ihai it was Mi. Gladslone'i tamiliu' ipirit. Tha
jKd by Liberal spokera, even by rhe moii moderate and eminent of ihcm, aa
laait* lo fling at their oppoii — •" '— "-J-—'- ■■ ' ■--• ' — '•■ — ' —
aiUe, indeed, and by no meant refined, but far ieu objeclioi
ibal w« Dnfntwiataly hear even frDU the Ljbeial woikingr
SmtnnUy Jimrm(iaaa).
Job. Sheridan's definition of a political job is as pat to-day as ever : he
says, " Whenever any emolument, profit, salary, or honor is conferred on
any person not deserving it, that is a job ; if from private friendship, personal
attachment, or any view except the interest of the public, anyone is appointed
lo any public office. . ■ . that is a job." To which may be added, legislation
obtained to procure some private end or profit. An amusing etymology of
(he word job is that of Soulhey, who derives it from the Job of Ihe Bible ;
For a job in the working or operative aenie it evidently lointEhing which it rei^uijea pa-
tience to pertbrm, in the phyucal and moral senae, aa wbeD, for example, in the language of
the vulgar, a pcnonai bun or misfbrtiine it called a bad job, it it lomething whlcb It requires
paiieikce to aupport j and in the political aenaa it ia aomeihing which it requirea patienct in
UK public to endure; and in all ihcae fenaea the origin of the word maybe traced to Job, who
ia tbe proverbial eacmpkr of ihia virtue. — Tkt Docttr, ch. cvv.
Jeb'a Turkey, Afl poor oa. Judge Haliburton, aulhor of " Sam Stick,"
popularized the interesting facts that Job's turkey had but one feather in his
tail, and had fo lean against Ihe fence to gobble. Obviously, Ihe reference is
to the deplorable indigence lo which Job was reduced «
Satan, the fact thai Job couldn't have a luikey (for ih
America) was probablv not present to the mintf cif the i
pression. The Engl' ' " ' ■
the fence lo bark,' ;
the Indian proverb "la
IS of the year, from their
580 HANDY-BOOK OF
scarcity of food, lurkej^a, in a wild State, become eilremel]' thin. Thii cir-
cumstance has given rise lo a proverb in the Indian language." Jennings
asserts that he l«ard the proverb from " an Omawhaw."
Jookey of Notfolk, a lebriguet applied to Sir John Howard, a stanch
adherent to the house of York and of Richard III. He was noted alike for
the magnificence of his household and for the high offices held bjr him. He
accompanied Richard lo Bosworth Field, and entered the fight notwithstanding
the friendly warning which was posted on his tent the night preceding the
battle :
Ipckty of Norfolk, bi noi 100 bold,
Fsr DIckoD, Ihy okuter, 1> bougbt uid lold.
He paid the penalty for his fidelity with his life, being among ihoee who
were left dead on the field.
Jooldng wi' dffafloolty. The origin of this phrase is (unauthoritatively)
said to be as follows. A Scotch editor, wishing lo enliven the columns of his
journal, looked round him, and at last discovered what he w - ■ -
, ^, , '" sub-editor a young man just over-
Bowing with natural wit and humor. Jocks just pour freeTj from his lips.
Now, this is a grand thing for the paper, because, for my part, I confess that
I jock wi' dee&:ulty."
J^Ui-K-dr«uiw. a lackadaisical fellow, always in a brown study and half
Y« I,
A dull ud muddy-merded mvc^, pe^k,
ADd caA uy nolhlnr.
/hmltl. An li., Sc. ..
John Company, an Anglo-Indian term for the Honorable East India
Company, which personified itself lo Ihe Hindoo imagination as a mythical
being, neither roan nor woman, kept especially busy visiting calamities on the
heads of all who doubled its actual cxislencc.
Johnny Reba, a sebri^urt given by the soldiers of the Union armies to
the Confederates during ihe late war of the Rebellion ; said to have originated
in a colloquy between pickets. — the Confederate picket objecting to being
dubbed by the Union soldier as a "Johnny Bull," in allusion to Ihe counte-
nance given by Great Britain to the cause of the seceding States.
the bill was finally passed in iSja.
Jon«8. Davy Jonaa's Iiookar, a nautical term for the depths of Ihe
ocean,— 1'.<'., the graves of those that perish at sea- It has been suggesled
that Jones is a corruption of Jonas, wlio lived for three days in the whale's
belly, and thai once having turned Ihe prophet into a Welshman it fol-
lowed naturally that he should be given the name of the Welshman's patron
saini, David, the commonest of all patronymics in Wales. Bishop Andrews
in one of his sermons alludes to ihe expresdon "He hath beene where
lonas was" as being said " of any that hath beene in estrente peril!." (Nintfy-
Six SermoHi, p, 515, folio.)
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 581
Jonaa, In-I-go (a play apon ih« name of the famous architect, Inigo
Jones), a nickname given in ihe eacly pact of Queen Victoria's reign to an
enterprising youngster of ihe name of Jones, who attained a certain celebrity
through the freijuency with which he minaged to make his way, unperceived
by sentinels and servants, into the private apartmenla of Buckingham Palace,
Where he was more than once found concealed under a sofa. The sobriquet
was afterwards transferred to Richard Munckton Miines, as a tribute to the
latter's unruffled audacity and " cheek." See Cool of the Evening.
Judex dtunnatOT anm Docena abaolTltur (L, "The judge is con-
demned when the criminal is acquitted"), the 4a7th Maxim of F'liblius Sytus,
adopted by the founders of the Edinburgh Rtvina as the motto of their
periodical.
JnliAime Bonp. This
to Boston about the time
" Reslorator" on Milk Street. lie is also memorable as the inventor, or at
least the instigator, of the idea of selling food in hermetically-sealed cans.
After his return to France, at the Restoration, he sold his right or patent to a
noted restaurant in the French capital, and the new proprietors sold the soup
Junker party, a nickname for the strict Conservatives in the Prussian
Landtag, from the large majority of that party belonging to the unprogressive
rural aristocracy, who in (>ermany ate called, with a touch of opprobrium,
"Junker ;" the class corresponding, in a measure, with the Enghsh squire-
archy, uncompromising supporters of the established state church and the
established order of things in general.
Junket. In American politics this nameis^iven to any useless legislative
investigation, where the inquiry is the ostensible object, the real purpose,
however, being to provide for the members of the investigating committee a
frollckine tour of the country at the public expense. It is also applied to
any similarly purposeless and ostensibly official tour of administrative and
"* e bodies or officers.
Junto, The, asmatl group of men who, in the reign of King William III. and
under this name, dictated the policy of the Whig parly, exercising an author-
ity, in the words of Macaulay, "of which there is, perhaps, no parallel in
history, ancient or modern.'' Its leading members were Russell, Lord-
Keeper Somers, and Charles Montague.
Jnatloe tbe hfgheat expediency. Wendell Phillips, in his speech on
the election of Lincoln. November 7, i860, uttered this sentence; "When
Infinite Wisdom established the rules of right and honesty, he Saw 10 it that
justice should be always the highest expediency." This is not unlike " Hon-
esty is the best policy.'
AgoUiuu II., King of Spuu (i.e. yfi-jfit), IkIde Hiked which hr caniideccd tbc hJEhm
•lliii™*™YoKth'mwuidteno'n™f^™loty"pLmii™ ° "ig. "o
Tliou bll'it > blcHcd mi
1^ ibeo if Ibou fall'
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582 HANDY-BOOK OF
Ty sals, JV rest* (Fr., " Here I am, here I remain"), the reply oi
Marshal MacMahon, during the siege of Sebastopol, when advised by General
P^lissier, (he French commander-in-chief, (o abandon the Malakoff, a position
he had carried by assault September S, 1S55. Victor Kmmanuel used the same
expression after the occupation of Rome, when he had transferred the capital
of Italy from Florence. But, after all, lather had anticipated them both in
the famous declaration made at the Diet of Worms : " Here I stand ; 1 can
do no otherwise ; God help me. Amen."
If uiT onf will uukrfT IbeK quealloiu for me with tometliiiig mon id lh« polnl Ibui
-«;
e lUisTacIorily auwcnd, I uy of agnouiciim in Ilu m
Bl. the eleventh letter and eighth consonant of the English alphabet, de-
rived from the PhcenJcian through the Latin and the Greelt. I) was little
used in Latin, on-account of the double function that was placed upon Clg. v.).
Kanjsaroo. When Captain Cook discovered Australia he saw aoroe of
the natives on the shore viith a dead animal of some sort in their possession,
and sent sailors in a boat to buy it of Ihem. When it came on board he
saw it was something quite new, so he sent the sailors back to inquire its
name. The sailors aslied, bui, not being able 10 make the natives understand,
received the answer, " I don't know," or, in the Australian language, " Kan-
ga-roa" The sailors supposed this was the name of the animal, and so re-
ported it. Thus the name of the curious animal is the " 1-don't-know," which
IS almost equal to (he name given to one of (he monstrosities in Bamtim's
Museum, the " What-is-it r
K«ttl« of fish, A pr«tt]r. proverbial English, meaning a bad botch, a
muddle, a amtre-temps. Sir Walter Scott, in a note in " St. Koiian's Well,"
explains that " a kellle of fish is a flU-thaatpttn of a particular kind, which is
to atVitt files-cMamfitlre] what tbe piscatory eclogues of Browne or Sannaiaro
are to pastoral puelry." A salmon is the principal dish provided in these
picnics. But, acting on the principle attributed to the mythical Mrs. Glasse,
It must first he caught. Then it is boiled in brine in a large catdron, or
what our Saion ancestors would call a cyUl, hung gypsy-fasbion on an extem-
pore tripod over a tire of \agi.
But when Mr. Western, in "Tom Tones," rushes into the presence of Mrs.
Western and Mr. Allworthy with the vociferous cry, " Fine doings at my
house I A rare kettle of lisn I have discovered 1" we may be sure that he is
using the phrase not in its literal but in its proverbial sense. That sense,
however, i>> hard to discover.
In the " Eleventh Annual Report of the Insiiectors of Salmon Fisheries,"
Mr. Inspector Walpole, in reporting on the lisnetieB on the coast of Sussex,
says, "The kettleinets, it may be interesting to note, probably derive their
name from the Hddtlus, ax kiddli, which is mentioned in Magna Charta aiKl
many earlier lishery statutes. In their turn, tbe kettle-nets are, I conceive,
responsible fur the old proverb ' a pretty kettle of lish.' "
Palmer, in " Folk Etymology," suggests that when a kettle-net full of fish
was drawn up, with its plunging contents, the confusion, flurry, and disorder
of the process might easily have been made synonymous with a colloquial ex-
pression which would convey the idea of an imbroglio, a "mess," or a cmt-
tn-ttmpi of any sort ; or possibly the expression may come from the Scotch
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 583
-word Jkietle, to puzzle or perplex. " A Uttie of fUh" is also suggestive of a
" muddle," the term being derived, we are told, from the apparatus of pulleys
employed in dragging (he flukes of the anchor towards the bow after il has
been hoisted to the calhead. If the pulleys get out nl order, il is called a
" kittle of fish," but why one cannot understand, uiiiess il be a mere cor-
ruption of "a pretly kettle of fish," already established as an equivalenl for
something gone wrong. It is impossible to tix Ihe exact dale when ihis phrase
was first adopted ; but perhaps it was used in derision by some early Saxon
cook who, having overboiled his fish, spoiled his whole i;^ri'/-ful,
ml^ht in moralt. rh«ihort4^hifd poliiician isa peat lo hiicouniry ; ih« ihon-ughied moral-
ill ia A cunc to him»f If. U ii only when (licIl a moralitt luru teflBlHlor or agitalDT, and
therdore drop* the fuiae of motaliti for ihai of polilldaq, that Ik hecomn dangeroui 10 ihe
pcac« of otben aa well ai to hii owp, and illustrates the nisdomof Dr. JohnsoD'H obierva-
lion, adopted and amplilied t>y Mr. Buckle, thai there is nofrealcr social nuisance than your
(ton Bi calling " a pretty kettle of tA." —SatHrdaj Sivim.
Kattle-dmin, an afternoon tea. The term is sometimes thoughl to have
originated in English barracks, where officers' wives entertain their friends
at tea just after dress-parade, and the final ral-tal-tal of Ihc drums gives Ihe
signal for reunion over the teacups, Bui "drum" was a name given lo even-
ing parties as far back as the eighleenlh century, and possibly "kettle" has
been prefixed lo impart the idea of a teakettle.
Anyvay, a kettle-drum happens to Ik a pleasant »rt of meal,— scarcely a meal at all, thjt
only an excuse for meeling u^elher in an ea->y manner at an interval when one has nothing
hRak&st-p* Tiies, even if they wer« iacdined to talk before Escing the day's work ; and the
ponderous tonnality of the dinner which bsbiaa procriba, 10 say nothing of Its often Gndlnj;
men tired atid jaded, forbids that free interchange of sentlnients which rentlera Jnbnton'a
tavern tUnner^ or the sodable feasts of Holland House so pteaianl a rtirospcct In uae days
and nights of hnrry, Uuch of the AHendlj talk of a miuilry-house or the bvetirxess of a Lon-
don maniion cryitalliiea round ibe keitle-tlTum.
Though afiemoDU lea is a product of advaocw] dviliniioD, its analogues may be fnund In
mtttmU. concerning which antiquaries have always been puiiled, u having been "food
taken in the afternoon, to be eaten after mid-day, and jusi bdbre dinner ; whence," he adds,
" — "lincall It anfAwu," or dinner preludr ■»-»-■-----■ _ ._* ..._.. .* . .
taken Ui Ibe afternoon jus
('before di
croquel l<
lus gaihered his gueju around hii
oi'pmsive afienioon.,ii»ta.cnp
0 many othet,, there!)
in in the ihady arbor at
Uaat please ; me and y.
No Svt^'dock teas Ibr m
five^'dock tea with yon!" said Mr. Plao
" Not mnch, my dear. Vou can whoop it
our brother William will keep down 10 pUi
len who ain-t got reel intimate with biletTsh
S?ISi
Ktcii. Kicker, To kick is an expressive Americanism for to object, to
find fault, lo grumble. The Detroit Free Press quotes the following sentences
in poinlr "Citizen Jones kicks against bein§ assessed so high for his Fourth
Slreel property." " Anson raised a double -jointed, gilt-edged kick when the
Binpire gave him out in the second innings yesterday." "The High School
girls kicli against long study-hours," etc A kicker means a chronic grumbler,
and in politics the term is applied to a Mugwump, an Independent, — U., one
irtio kicks over the traces.
Coogk"
$84 HAl^DY-BOOK OF
klckinff bccvi
But, like many another " Aioericanisni," Ibis is simply a recrudescence and
exlenaion of a good old English phrase which may be round in the Authorized
Version of the Bible, and even in Tennyson :
WbcRbi* Uck r< It DT iKrificc uhI m quk efferini, which I hive cobuduuIhI t—
/. SamtuI il. 39.
YoD hold tlK w
"To kick against the pricks" [Actt iz. 5], a metaphorical allusion to
ploughing-oMD kicking against the goads, is common in England and
America fot any ineffectual resistance (0 superior force.
To kick one's self, often nsed with an infinite variety of adjuncts, — i.t., to
kick one's self " all over the house," " ail over the place," etc,— means to feel
or express violent dissatislaction with one's sel^ to be mortified or chagrined.
This >s a pure Americanism.
^icsKiJr. SoBauloHhuvUyonlhencs.cbT Whu s he dwig now T
^MCtHmtt, Of iriut UK will ihu be 10 him T
Baictmtr. H« wuB k 10 kick hiniKir with.— /Vc4.
Kick the bnok«^ a slang phrase common on both sides of the Atlantic,
meaning to die. The allusion is probably to the way in which a slaughtered
pig is hung up, — viz., by paiuing the ends of a bent piece of wood behmd the
tendons of the hind legs and so suspending it to a hook in the beam above.
This piece of wood is locally termed a bucket, and so, by a coarse metaphor,
the phrase came to have its present meaning. A correspondent of A^ata and
QturUi, tirst series, ix. 107, offered a derivation which should be quoted as a
curiosity : " One Baisover, having hung himself to a beam while standing on
the bottom of a pail or bucket, kicked the vessel away in order lo pry into
futurity, and it was all up with him from Ihal moment. The physician who
attended George Colman in his last illness paid one day a later visit than
usual, and explained it by saying that he had been called in lo see a man who
bad bllen down a well. "Did he kick the bucket, doctor?" faintly inquired
the patient.
Ktokaluiws, the name for light French ragouts or mad<-dishe« of a
unsatisfactory tiatare ; air' ---' " - "■- — -----' "-^
ia an Angliciied form of t!
perhaps mentally associat
have twisted the same woi
ease being indicated by 1 1 , .=
German tor dude or jackanapes. The development of the present English
form of the word is shown by the following extracts :
Only let mee love none, no, noi the spon
Or dlies' quelque ch«e», ]h not report
My mind tnTiflpon.
Domo : /■«.. {i6jj(, p. g.
LimttrAtm. Some fooUsb FrwKb qiiek|iiech«e, I whiuu you.
Braimick. QuelouechaK t O inwruce Id uprtme poftclion t be meuu Icekihoee.
Dhvdbn: llu KtHdKttftr.
■ Coo^If
LITERACY CURIOSITIES. 585
KiUcetuty G*ta have an ill name Tor rerodly. "As quarrelsome as Kil-
kenny cats" is a popular proverb. Over a hundred jrears ago, it is said, a
great battle of felines took place in the neighborhood of the town, which was
participated in br all the cats in Ihc cily and county of Kilkenny, aided and
abetted by cats Item other parts of Ireland. One thousand cats were found
dead nexl morning upon the Qeld of battle, and many were identified by IheJr
" ning from remote regions of the country.
But the most famous legend concerning Kilkenny cats is Ihat two of ihem,
ighting in a saw-pit, bit and scratched so long anil so ferociously that at last
only two tails were left in the arena : each nad devoured the olher. An
anonymous bard has versified the incident as follows :
Tfa« cmcc wen two cut of KilkcnDy,
Which thought there wu one cat too muy.
So they mewed nod they bit.
And they •cralched mnif they fit,
Tni, eicepllDE ihcii mill ud the tip> of their udU,
Iniimd <i two at. then weno'i uiy.
This seems nothing but a bit of broad Irish humor, or perhaps even a
typical Irish bull ; nevertheless an attempt has been made to rationalize the
myth in the following story ;
Dating the Irish rebellion of 1798 or iSoj— for authorities differ— Kilkenny
was garrisoned by a regiment of Hessian soldiers, whose favorite pastime in
their barrack-rooms was to throw two cats, tied together by iheir tails, face to
bee, across a clothes-line. The officers, learning of this barbarous sport,
determined to put an end to it For this purpose an officer was ordered to
inspect each barrack-room daily. Bui the soldiers, learning of this system of
espionage, detailed one of their comrades to watch (he officer. One day the
sentinel neglected his duty, and the officer was heard ascending the stairs
while the cats were fighting. There was no lime to disengage them. A
trooper hastily drew his sword and with one blow severed the [ails of the cats,
who thereupon escaped through the vrindow. When the ofEcer entered he
severely demanded whence came the bleeding tails upon (be floor, whereupon
the trooper informed him, with a ready wit worthy of his Irish surroundings,
(hat two cats had been Bghling desperately (ogelhet, that it had been impos-
sible to separate (hem, and (hat they had ended by devouring each other, —
all but the Uils.
Some authorities reject this story as obviously manufactured after (he event,
and insist on considering the inter.destrucdve cats an allegory of (he neigh-
boring municipalities of Kilkenny and Irishtown, which from A. a 1377 to (he
close of the seventeenth century contended so fiercely about boundaries that
(hey muttially impoverished each other and left only a trace of (heir former
selves. De Gubernalis, on (he other hand, ingeniously surmises that the
origin of the myth may be (raced (o the German superslilion which dreads
the combat between cats as presaging death to the one who witnesses iL
ItllTnatnhiiiii Trsaty, the name given by the English Conservatives
to an arrangement alleged to have been made between Gladstone and
certain Irish members of Parliament who were imprisoned in Kilmainham
)iil dating the agrarian troubles of iSSo-iSSi, whereby the prisoners were
released on agreeing to support the liberals, Mr, Gladstone agreeing in (urn
to certain concessions to be made by him to Ireland.
King. ni« king la dead! Long 11t« th« king! In the French mon-
uchicil period, when a king of France died, a herald appeared upon (he
balcDflf of the royal palace, and cried three limes to (he crowd below, "The
king ia dead I Long live the king 1" (" Le roi eat mot( I Vive le roi I")
Again at the funeral ceremonies, when the royal corpse was committeti to it*
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586 HANDY-SOOIC OF
last resline-place in the vaults of Saint-Denis, these words were solemnly re-
pealed. They were heard for the last time in France on the death of Louis
XVIII. Seven days after be had breathed his last his remains were taken
with great pomp to Saint-Denis, where they lay in slate from September 23
to October 24, the day appointed for the funeral. An enormous crowd
Satheied to witness a ceremony which had been strange to France since th«
eath of Louis XV. in 1774. The funeral services over and the body being
deposited in its crypt, the grand chamberlain — no less a personage than NT
de Talleyrand— waved Ihe standard of France over the catafalque. TheD
the Uuke d'Uiis— acting as grand master of the toyal house— lowered ht»
baton, and, placing the end in the opening of the crypt, cried, "The king is
dead 1 The king is dead !" This was thrice repealed by the king-at-arms,
who after the third cry added, " Let us all pray to God fot the repose of the
•.-__ „ j^ profound silence fell aver the assembly. Clergv and spectators
fell on their knees and prayed in silence. Then the Duke
lifting his baton, raised the cry, " Long live the king I" Aeam mis was inrice
repealed by the king-at-arms, who added, " Long live King Charles, tenth
of the name, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre 1 Cry all,
Long live the kmg I" The cry was echoed by a thousand voices. Drums beat,
trumpets brayed, the military band burst into strains of music that echoed
and re-echoed through the church. Without, salvoa of musketry and artil-
lery announced that sorrow must give place to joy, and that if Louis XVIIL
were no more, Charles X. was king.
The phrase has been frequently parodied and paraphrased, as in the jn-
■tances subjoined :
PoHchiptHe ii invuliKisUa. The Invulucrablliiy </ [he hemn of ArimtD b not h fully
Btablbbed a> thai ef PaUchintUc. 1 doubt ir hb bed remained Id hb molliei'* bind when
■bf plunged him imo ihe Siyx. Whai ig certain i> that PoUchlnclle, pierced wiih many
ncwnds by the l>nvl, hanged by Ihe eiecmlDiier, and carried off l>y the devil, InUlibly n-
■I^un in a qiuner of an hour, in bii dramallc cage, h trick»ine, u trrA, ukd u gilLinl
a* ever, dreaminE of noihlng bat dandeatine love-aSun and elMike trnnka. PoUchiiwlle ii
dead, long lire Folichinelle I li >• ihit phenomenon which luggaMd <he idea of ibe ic^ii-
laacy, MoDtetquleu would have uid this if he had known. ISiie cannot know everythTng.
dialely fire up over ■nolher.and iu*lhe kiiig"e*e^dre^ 'n'piance^H Ihe queen never din In
ny heart, where the word ii /a rtimt til msrtl.vitn U Tllv I— iia«K: RtatbiUir.
BUng can do no m-ong. Although verbally the phrase as it now stands
is English; the idea which it conveys may be traced m its primary but since
modified ibrm to times fat anterior to English history, when a very wise but
by no means faultless king composed the Book of Proverbs. King Solomon
writes, " A divine sentence is in the lips of the king : his mouth transgress-
elh not in judgment" {Prm/irbs xvi. la) Perhaps there is more historical
connection than at first meets the eye tietween our English maxim and this
proverb, which, honrever, does nol imply impeccability, but infallibility, — for
instance, in uttering judgment. The proverb was quoted by certain theolo-
gians in support oilhe dogma of infallibility. Now, with respect to the Eng-
lish Church, an English king assumed the pope's place ; more, he was invested
by his devoted servants with attributes that seemed to transcend those of the
pope himself. Parliament, prohibiting appeals to Rome, vested in Henry
VIII. the right of deciding ecclesiastical causes. Cranmer admitted his
(Uperiority to all law, ecclesiastical or civil, which is nearly equivalent to
saying Ihe king can do no wrung. English jurisprudence has olher similar
maxims relating to Ihe crown, — t.g., " The king is under no man, yet he is in
•aUcction to God and to the law, for the law makes the king" (Bractoh, lib
I, lol. 5), and " The king never dies" (Branch : JUaximt, fiAh cd., 197}. But
Goo^k"
LITESARY CURroSITlES. S^?
It Is understood in Ihis connection that "the person of the king is bylaw
made up of two bodies : a natural body, subject 1o inrancy, infirmity, sickness,
and death ; ind a political body, perfect, powerful, and perpetual." The first
appearance of the sayinfj in its [iresenl form is in 2 Rolle's Reports, p. ^04,
tetitp. James I. The maxim, however, has iiol been interpreted by all English-
men and in all ages alike. Thai second Solomon, James I., would probably
have much preferred the idea of 3 king conveyed by Cowell ; ■' He is mpra
legem by bis absolute right." The view generally entertained by modern
Englishmen is well expressed by Blackstone :
TtiBt the king can do dd wrong 19 n neccHary uid fundamental pnncjple of the Englisb
coDBUiulion, muping only . . . ihal, in lh« Unl place, whatever may be amiu in the con.
duct of public eHain is not chargeable perunatly an the king ; nor u he, but his mininen,
That is, responsibility for wrong committed is not monarchical, but minis-
terial. The ofTending ministry under pressure of public opinion goes out.
In this sense the king can do no wrong. Wrong may be done, but it is nut
done by the sovereign.
To return to the parallel of royal and papal infallibility. This latter is not
to be understood as an attribute of the pope personally 01 fer st, but of the
pope speaking ix tatAidra, — the pope in council. So, also, according to the
maxim, it is not the individual kin^ who can do no wrong, bul the king in
council ; the administrative authority of the council being conslitntionally
merged in that of the government for the lime-being.
King Cotton, a popular personification of ihe great staple of the South-
ern Slates of the American Uniork His reign seems to have been first pub-
litly proclaimed by James H, Hammond, of South Carolina. In a siieech
delivered by Hammond in the United States Senate on March 4, 1858, he said,
" No ; you. tlare not make war upon cotton. No power on earth dares make
war upon it. Cotton is king. Until lately Ihe Bank of England was king ;
but she tried to put on her screws, as usual, (he fall before the last, on the
cotton crop, and was utterly vanquished. The last power has been conquered,
Who can doubt, that has looked at recent events, thai cotton is supreme ?"
But earlier by some three years (in iSsO David Christy published a book
entitled " Cotton is King ; ot. Slavery in the Light of Political Economy."
King of ReptllBB, a nickname given to Bernard Germain Etienne de la
Ville, Count Ucifpide (1758-1815), both on account of his researches into
natural history embodied in a work called " Hisloire des Reptiles." and
because of the eloquence with which he justified the arbitrary measures of
Ni^leon,
Klng^ beard, I tiave slDgod th« Spaalah. The episode which occa-
sioned this exclamation of Francis Drake happened in T5S7. Negotiations
were going on between the representatives of Philip II, of Spain and Queen
Eliiabelh for a definitive modus Vivendi. Notwithstanding, both sides con-
tinued their preparations for war. It was no secret thai Philip was collecting
ot building the ships for the " Invincible Armada ;" all Europe was talking of
the enormous fleets with which both theTagusand Cadiz harbor were reported
lobeaowded. " With some misgivings, bul in one of her bolder moments, ihe
queen allowed Drake 10 take a flying squadron down the Spanish coast. She
hong about his neck a second in command to limit his movements ; but Drake
look his own way. leaving his vice-admiral to go home and complain. He
■aikd into Cadii harbor, onrnt eighteen galleons which were lying there, and,
tenaining leisurely till he had finished his work, sailed away, intending to
repeal the operation at Lisbon, li might have been done with the same ease.
Coogk"
588 UANDYSOO/C OF
The English sqaidron laj at the mouth of the river within sight of Santa
Cruz, and the great admiral had to sit siill and fume, unable to go out and
meet him far faita de ante, — for want of sailors to man his galleons. Drake
might have g»ne in and burnt them ail, and would have done it bad not Eliza-
beth felt that he had accomplished enough, and that the negotiations would
be broken off if he worked more destruction. He had singed the king's
beard ; and the king, though patient of affronts, was moved to a passing emo-
tion." (Froude: Spanish Story ef tkt Armada.)
King* rlM and set. In Shelley's lyrical drama of " Hellas" his Sublime
Highness Mahmoud exclaims lo Hassan. —
The Konhip oT Iht woitl, bui no repD^.
Bacon has a similar figure : " Princes are like lo heavenly bodies, which
cause good or evil times, and which have much veneration, bui no rest." The
Ibought, of course, is found in Shakespeare :
Uneuy lis the hsid thai wan ■ CTDim,
But this is a truism which has been echoed and re-echoed down the ages
rince kings and crowns were. There is a far-off resemblance also in Shelley's
tine to Sterne's (question, " Kingdoms and provinces, and towns and cities,
have they not Iheir periods ?" Bui that question was anticipated by Builon and
answered thus : " Kingdoms, provinces, cities, and towns have their periods."
Kiaa. ni« euTied klaa to ahare. One of (he most beautiful slanaas
in Gray's Elegy is this :
For ihem no man i he billing hunh ihall bum.
Or cTiinb hii liD«i the envied k^u u> ihare,
Thomson, Klopstock, Collins, Dyer, and Gessnet all have passages very
similar lo (his, and so has Virgil (Giargia, ii. 523) 1
He feeli the fjufaer'a unil Ihe huiband;> bli» ;
But all these copy Lucretius {Dt Rtrum Natura, iii. 907) ;
Pnerlpere, ei ticlln pecLua dulcedine luigent.
No io% Ih^ bSrtf wivaT-^iS^beTbd^,
Wh«e buie bdf met ihee, emuloui 10 luldi
The duicel kru Ihal rmiwd Ihy lecrel kmI,
This beautiful address is said by Good, to whom we owe the above transla-
tion, to be "a perfect copy of Ihe Athenian Dirge ;" or perhaps the author
got the first germ of (he thought from Homer's lines, thus rendered by
Kioa tbe rod, a familiar locution, meaning lo accept punishment without
remonslrance, to acknowledge Ihat the smiting hand is cruel only lo be kind.
Lord Lyilon ("Owen Meredith") was seated one day at dinner next lo a
lady whose name was Birch, and who, tradition says, was beautiful, if not
over-inlelligenl. Said she lo his Excellency, —
" Are you acquainted with any of Ihe Birches V
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 589
Replied hU Eieellency, "Oh, yes, 1 knew some of Ihem most intimately
while at Eton 1 indeed, more intimately than I cared to."
"Sir," replied the lady> "yon forget that the Birches are relatives of
" And yet they cut me," said the viceroy ; " but," and he smiled his wonted
«milc, "I have never felt more inclined to kiss the rod than I do now."
Mrs. Birch, sad to aay, did not see the point, and, so the gossips have it,
told her husband that his Excellency had insulted her.
John Pomfrcl (1667-1703) varies the metaphor :
And Hill adoR Ibe biind ihu (ivei ihc tilaw'
Virui to hii Fritnd unJtr AffiicHm.
Pope may have bad Pomfrcl in mind when he wrote, —
The Umb ihy rioi doDHU to bleed lo-diy.
Hid be ihy rtuon, would he diip jind pliy t
Pleued u the UsI he cropi ibe tfowery food.
IK IS contemptible?"
Kitoben Cabluat, a name derisively applied lo three friends of Presi-
dent Andrew Jackson, — Francis P. Blair, editor of the Glebe, administration
organ, Amos Kendall, one of its chief contributors, and Isaac (4ill, of New
Hampshire. Jackson frequently held private consultations with these gen-
tlemen, admitting them by a back door, so as lo avoid observation, and ihe
Whig parly held that it was by their advice thai so many Whigs were re-
moved from office to make room for Democrats. The following rhymes were
very popular at [he period :
Kirv Andrew had five tniuy 'uuires.
Wham be held h>> lud to Jo :
He alio had three pllot-fi«b
To live the thuti their cue.
Tbve wu M(l siDd Lod ud Jick and Lev,
Add Roger of Taney hue.
The five squires were Martin Van Buren, Secretary of Slate ; Louis Mc-
Lane, Secretary of the Treasury ; John Branch, Secretary of the Navy ; Levi
Woodbury, Branch's successor ; and Roger B. Taney, Altorney-General.
Kite, Klta-flTlnK. Kite is a colloquialism both in America and in England
for ficlilioiu commercial paper. Hence kite-flying means raising money on a
ficlilious bill. The phrase seems lo have originated in Ireland, as il is Urst
met with in Irish literature, — t.g. :
Here's bUUplBniy. — loocbilli and ihon billi, but even the kites, which 1 can flyai well a>
any ban, wonlnbe the ttioney for me Dow, — MAalA Edchwoxtk ; Lapr Mud Law^
Ad Eoglteh jud^ wa* once trying a case in Inland teg'Tditig certain false KcuritiH for
raiaing money , which in that country are popularly known Bfl "kites." This term, which wu
applied ID tba aotea in quesiioD by the coonael, completely puiiled Lord Redeidale. "KLu^
_k)ogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
following. Two men livine in different towns exchange checks larger than
their deposits in bank. Each deposits in his own bank and draws. Of course
the deficiency of each must be made good, but several days' lime may be
gained before the respective checks find their way home.
EUi««, A sor« (Fr. " Mai de geuou"), a euphemism common in France,
aiid occasionally used in England, and applied to a woman who is pr»nant
The impresario V<^ron, in his Memoirs, tells an amusing slory about TagUoni.
He had resigned his position at the French Opera. Taglioni had still a year's
engagement to run with his successor. Soon after V^ron's resignation. I'lgli-
oni sent round to the new director to say Ihal she could nol dance, as she
had a bad knee (mat dt genou). All the ordinary and enlraordinaty physicians
and surgeons connected with the Opera were hastily summoned to consult as
to what could be done for Taglioni's knee; for if she did nol appear, the
opera-house might almost as well close up.
The consultation was brief and serious. The eminent physicians and sur-
geons paid the fair dancer a visit in her apartments. The knee was examined.
They could discover no swelling, no redness, but at the least (ouch Taglioni's
face put on an expression of the greatest suffering. The learned gentlemen
lost their tempers discussing tendons and nerves, and eventually decided that
Ihe bad knee baffled their skill, and that they must await developments.
Three or four years later, a gentleman who had been present at the consul-
tation wai called to St. Petersburg. Taglioni was (hen dancing at the Im-
perial Theatre. The gentleman called upon her, artd found her fondling in her
arms a beautiful little girl.
" Whose pretty lillle daughter is thai ?" he asked.
Taglioni burst out laughing, and replied, —
"Cfit rneti mal dt gmeii" ("It's my bad knee").
Knifing, political slang for a form of treachery which consists of organ-
iMd and secret measures to defeat a parly candidate while oslensibly support-
ing him. The resort is generally had to omitting to furnish Ihe necessary
ballots on election-day, and other chicanery, but principally an underhand
supporting, in consideration of favors relumed or promised, of the opposing
candidate.
Knock apota out of. When the use of fire-arms was more genera] in
the United Stales than it is now, gentlemen used to train the eye by shooting
al cards, and when they had acquired sufficient proficiency to be able to shoot
through any given spot on a card nailed to a tree at (he regulation distance
Ihey were said to be able to " knock spots" out of anybody or any(hing. By
extension the phrase means (hat the person spoken of is proficient in any other
accom pi ishment.
Knock onder the table, generally contracted to " knock under," a
common expression to denote submission. Johnson says. " Submission ia
expressed among good Tellows by ' knocking under the table.' "
He that fliuchei hit gUu, and to drink ii not able.
Lei him quurcl no nHve, but knock under ihe ubie.
ToH BitowH : Wti-*i. iv. i6.
Itsequivalent, to "knuckle under," appears to be the older phrase. Knuckle
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
IS fbrroerW the kn«e, hence to knuckle under meant simplji to
under arose (he prai
Knocked into a oooliad hat, a stang phrase, signi^ing Ihc demolition
of an antagonist, either physically or Gguiatively hy argument, etc The
usual derivation of the phrase is the obvious one that it means 10 be So beaten
as to be limp enough to be doubled np and carried flat under the arm, like
the cocked hat of an officer.
Another explanation is suggested, which seems belter, since it is derived
IroiD a figure less unfamiliar to Americans than an officer's cocked hat A
"cocked hat," in the same of bowls or tenpins, ia a figure in which only the
two corner pins and the head pin are left standing, forminE a triangle. Any
one at all acquainted with the game knows that to roll down with a single
ball all the tenpins of a frame except the three indicated— il^., to knock them
into a cocked hat — would be a feat sufficiently remarkable lo become the
foundation for a by-word.
Knoir. To knovr her mu to lore bar. Fitz-Greene Halleck's lines
Du his fellow-poet Drake have imperishably embalmed the memory of both:
Fheudof mybeller diyit'
" Ontkt "talk (/^iifk R«Uma„ Drakt.
RogerB may have sn^ested the third line :
She wai i^ood u sht ns fair,
None — Done an eajth above her 1
Aj pure ia thoughi u aogeU ait :
7^ bsov ha wu lo love her.
yaifiuilnt, Slania i.
But Rogers in turn was indebted to Bums :
Love but ber, and love fonvB.
At FtnJ Khi.
An equally famous compliment is that which Steele paid to Lady Elizabeth
Hastings :
dUte chick Id looK behavior; lo love her wu b liberal educalioD.—TVif/irr, No. 49.
inels lo Vittoria Colonna is not unlike Steele's
Here is Hartley Coleridge's version :
For it uih wettned my bean from low deairea.
A dose parallel to the last clause is found in Beaumont and Fletcher;
TIa FdiliifHl Frind,.
Enow, All yon. There is a jest current especially among the ingenuous
youth of America, and known also in England, which assumes the most pro-
tean forms, irovR the distinctly American " I've got a spare minute ; tell me all
you know," or "There's a half-dollar ; quick, tell me all you know, and give
me the change," to the Anglo-American gibe thus recorded in Southey's
" Doctor :" *' Some of my contemporaries may remember a story once current
at Cambridge, of a Vjcklcss undergraduate who, bein^ examined for hia
d^jiM and nuii^ in every subject upon which he was tried, complained that
59« HANDY.BOOK OF
he had not been qneationcd upon the things that be^knew. Upon which the
examining roaster, moved lesa to compassion by the impenetrable dulness of
the man than lo uinr b; his tmreasonible complaiiil, tore off about an inch
of paper, and, pushing it towards him, desiied him to write upon that all be
knew." The jest has a veneiablc antiquity. For all we know, it may have
been the retort made to the First Han when he endeavored to teach his
gorilla grandmother how lo aaclt eggs. Two well-known variations are the
rebuke of the clergyman to the young man who said he would believe nothing
which he could not understand, "Then, young man, your creed will be the
shortest of any man's I know," and the reply of Dr. Parr to the youth who
tauntingly asked him why he did not write a book ; " Sir," said the doctor, " I
know how I could soon write a very large book." " How so ?" " Why, sir,
by putting in all that I know and all that you do not know."
Knoir nothing I knotr that I. Socrates, in his "Apology" lo the
couTt of his fellow-citiiens who condemned him to death tor impiety, ex-
claimed,—
He d wiKst mmong you, O citlHiu, who. Like Socrslet. haa come id know IbU be is bl
tniih worth DotbingaAngarda wiBdoin. — Plato: Tkt Afolafj ^ SocrateM,
This phrase has usually been condensed into " I know only that I know
nothing. Thus, Sir Thomas Browne says, " Heads of capacity, and such as
are not full with a handful, or easy measure of knowledge, think they know
nothing till they know al! ; which being impossible, they fall upon the opinion
of Socrates, and only know they know not anything ;" and Congreve,
"Vou read of but one wise man, and all that he knew was that he knew
nothing." Congreve's reference may be to Solomon, but the nearest approach
to the sentiment in Ecclcsiasies is m chap. i. v. i-j : " And I gave my heart
to know wisdom, and lo know ntadness and folly ; I perceived that this also
is vexation of spirit." Later on (il. 13, 14) the Preacher expressly says, " 1
saw that wisdom eiccllctb folly, as far as liebt excellelh darkness. .The wise
man's eyes are in his head ; but the fool walketh in darkness." Nevertheless,
as the end of both is death, he conceives that all is vanity. To the Socradc
mind the only difference between a wise man and a fool is that the former at
least knows that he knows nothing.
Numerous echoes of this doctrine of universal nescience are found in all
literature. Thus, Diogenes Lacrtius, in his Life of Pyrrho, tells us that
Xenophanes speaks thus :
And DO nun knowi dlilhicllv anyiUni,
And DO mu e>er will,
and that Democrilus says, " But we know
down." The 598lh maxim of Publiur " -
who has discovered thai he is nol so."
In Shakespeare the thought takes this turn:
The fool dolb lUnk he i* wiie, but the wue mu knowi hinueir 10 be ■ (vA.—Ai Yf*
IJi./l,Actw.,Sc.i.
Owen Fellham, in his once-popnlar " Resolves," says, in his twenty-seventh
essay, on "Curiosity in Knowledge," —
Our knowledge doth bul show us our ignonmcc. Our most studioiu ■ctuiId]' Is but ■ dis-
covery of what ire canno* koow ;
and Pope, In his " Essay on Man," Epistle iv., 1. 158,—
TcS^'y™ "n)"wb«i is™7K ^t
To see all siben' Ikuha, and feel our owb;
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 593
I BU igriDT«Bi how I wa« fonaed, ukd how 1 wfti bom. T wts pofectly ignonni. for ■
ituuter or my tUc, of (bt ruou of ill thai I »*, Imrd, ud felt, ud wu > men punt,
iilLingby role !□ Imiutioo of «ha [>an<x>. Wbcn 1 looked about mE and irilhin idf,! con-
nived tui tomelblpg exiHed from jtll etcniUy. ^ce there are bcuig> jictually cainiDg, 1
luded ihai (here ii aoine beioa bcccuary aod DTCESuHly ctvmal. Thiu ibe ftnt step
_ .b 1 look lo uuiaile myivlf Irom my i[narmDca overpaucd Ih4 UmiisoF all aoea-^ihe
bmiDdarica of time. But wben 1 wda dcairoiB of ptoc«dibg ia thia infiaite career, 1 coul
eluded ibai ibcre ii aome beiua beceuary aod DtcesuHly eternal. Tliui ibe ftnt at
f a tingle path, nor cleaHydiHlPsui: „ . .
emplale eternity, I have UleD back ioto the abyu of my DriginaJ ignon
erpetcdve aiinolepath, nor cleaHy diHlPEuisbatinEie objects aod fi^m tbclUnil wl
But (he finest eiprosion il finds is that put into the inoath of Faust bj
Goethe, in the soliloquy which opens the drama i
I-Te iiudied ao* Philoaophy
Aad Jiuiaptudeoce, Medicine,
And even, alai 1 Theolojy.
I'm Magiltcr. yea. Doctor, bight.
And KO that nothing can be known.
Goelbe owns that his drama is founded on the old puppet-play, one version
of which was also utilized by Marlowe. "The puppet-play," says Goethe,
"echoed and vibrated in many tones through my mind. I also had gone
from one branch of knowledge to another, and was early enough convinced
or the vanity of all." Bayard Taylor translates several of the early versions
of Faust's soliloquy, shoifing that Goethe fallowed the words very closely,
onW casting them in a rhythmical and more spirited form.
It is probable that the author of the fullowing lines had drawn inspiration
from the old puppet-play, and also from Shakespeare ;
Yet all that I hare leam'd {huge toylea now paat)
By longejipeTience, and Infamona ichoolei,
Wbo IhinkTbTmMi^^nt'wb^ ^ grealeU foala.
WiLUAK, Eaiil or SniuKG : Sitrialumi m'M fJu Mmii.,
In another place Goethe acknowledges in cSect that it was only his youthful
ignorance that made him a poet : " Had I earlier known how many excellent
things have been in existence for hundreds and thousands of years, I should
have written no line ; I should have had enough else lo do." Michael Angelo,
in his last days, made a design of himself as a child in a go-cart, with Ibis
motto under it ; '■ I am yet learning," Macaulay, the year before his death,
wrote in his diary, " Alas, how short life, and how long art 1 I feel as if I had
just begun to understand how to write, and the probability is that I have very
nearly done writing." Rubens made the same complaint in regard lo painting,
and Mozart In regard to music St Jerome telU us that Theophrastus at one
hundred and seven years of age lamented that he was obliged to quit Ii
a time when he had just begun to be wise. Let us concluife with an Arabian
proverb which only partially agrees with the foregoing :
He who knon not, and knewa not that he knowi not; he is a fool, ahun bin.
He who knows, an^ knowa not that he knows; be'ia asleep, «iie him.
He who knows, ud knows that he knows; he ilwlie, ralh>w him.
9 tbat when Thales was asked
Coo^If
594 HANDY-BOOK OP
cept descended from heaven. It was inscribed upon the temple of Apollo
at Memphis wilh that other famous saying. Vii^i/ ajan, better known to us in
the Latin iatta Nt qitid tiimis {.q.v.). Many moderns have echoed Thales's
saying,— f.^. .■
Know thni ihyicir, pcnume not God ta usn :
The proper atudy a( miuikiiid it nun.
Por. : £.Mr >■ Man, Ep. ii.
The hlghtll pwnt M vhlch miui can ittaiii l< 1h< conKJoiuneu of hit own g
(houEhu, Ihe knowledge of hinuelf.— Goithi : TabU-Taik.
Id thai the saying was lucltily impossible of fulfilment ;
y not be dejected wilh our deformities, has wisely thrust
But Montaigne held that
ly thrust
. , r de Maistre,
looking-glasses multiplied around us which reflect light and truth with geo-
metrical enactness. As soon as the rays reach our vision and paint us as we
are, self-love slips its deceitful prism between us and our image and presents
a divinity to us. And of all the ptisms that have existed since the first (hat
came from the hands of the immortal Newton, none has possessed so power-
ful a refractive force, or produced such pleasing and lively colors, as the prism
of self-love. Now, seeing thai ordinary lookmg-glasses record the truth in
vain, and that they cannot make men see their own imperfections, every one
being satisfied with his face, what would a mural mirror avail ? Few people
would look at it, and no one would letogniie himself" "Oh, the incompa-
rable contrivance of Nature," exclaims Erasmus, " who has ordered all things
in so even a method that wherever she has been less bountiful in her gifts,
there she makes it up with a larger dose of self-love, which supplies the
former defects and makes all even, " Could all mankind," says John Norris,
"lay claim to that estimate which they pass upon themselves, there would be
little or no difference beiwiil lapsed and perfect humanity, and God might
^ain review his image wilh paternal complacency, and still pronounce it
good." "Blinded as men are as to their true character by self-love, every
man," says Plutarch, " is his own first and chicfest flatterer, prepared therefore
to welcome the Batterer from the outside, who only comes confirming the
verdict of the flatterer within."
Evidently these gentlemen wonid not echo the prayer of Burns ;
To'l«oluS'» M^Sei/iee Ulf "*
One of Dr. Holmes's most ingenious paradoxes is that wherein he makes
his Autocrat announce to the startled breakfast-table that when John and
Thomas, for instance, are talking together " it is natural enough that among
the six there should be mote or teas confusion and misapprehension." He
calms all suspicion as to his sanity by enumerating them, as follows :
1. The real John ; known only to his Maker.
2. John's ideal John ; never tne real one, and often very un-
Three Johns, like him.
3. Thomas's ideal John ; never the real John, nor John's
John, but often very unlike either.
( 1. The real Thomas.
Three Thomases. J 3. Thomas's ideal Thomaa.
( 3. John's ideal Thomas.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S9S
" Only one of the three Johns is taxed ; only one can be weighed on a plat-
fotm -balance ; but the other iwoacc just as important in the con veraatiun. Let
us suppose the real John to be old, dull, and ilMooking. But, as the Higher
Powers have not conferred on men the gift of seeing themselves in the true
light, John very possibly conceives himself to be youthful, wiliy, and fasci-
nating, and talks from the point of view of this ideal." So, likewise, with the
three Thomases. " It follows that, until a man can be found who knows him-
self as his Maker knows him, or who sees himself as others see him, there
must be at least six persons engaged in every dialogue between two. Of these
the least imiwrlanl, philosophically speaking, is the one that we have called
the teal person." Now, the central meaning of this passage is thus sum-
marized by Alphonse Katr : " Every person has three characters : thai which
he exhibits, that which he has, and thai which he thinks he has," The
Frenchman and Ihe American may have hit u[ion the same idea independently,
but the liket>ess is certainly startling. The idea finds a piedecessur, loo, in a
sermon of Adam Liltlelon's (oVm 1678) ; " Every person is made of three
Egos, and has three Seifs in him," and this appears " in the reflection of Con-
science upon actions of a dubious nature, while one Self accuses, another
Self defends, and the third Self passes judgmeni upon what haih been so
done by (he man." This be adduces as among various " mean and unworthy
comparisons, whereby to show that though the mysterious doctrine of the
Trinity far exceeds our reason, there want not natural instances to illustrate
it." The passage is quoted by Southey in " The Doctor." Here the analogy
is less complete than that between Holmes and Karr.but il is still interesting
enough to be noted.
Know ys the land. One of the most remarkable similitudes in litera-
ture is In the following stanzas, Ihe first from Byron and Ihe latter from
Goethe .-
Know yt ihe land where die cypma asd myrtle
An tmbtemi of dnds llut mi done in Ihdr clime .
Wben die nge of ibe viillure. the love of the turtle.
Now melt inio xhtoo, now rnnddcn lo cilme T
Tki Bridtiif Abydai. Cams 1., Stania i.
Where the seld oiBngi riows in the dnp thicliti'i staoia.
When a wind ever ufiloni ihe blue henven blowi,
And tfac novel aie of Laurel and (uyitle aod loee ?
Mignnt Snf, in "miJiclm AfiiiUr."
Byron, of course, is the plagiarisL But he has produced a passage equal
in beauty to the original, and the beau^ of it is essentially Byronic It is not
a question of improving on a great original, — Goethe's lines are unsurpass-
able,— but of producing a different and equal beauty out of a parallel idea.
Knowledge ia powei. The coinage of this phrase is generally and
perhaps justly attributed lo Lord Bacon. The sentence which has been thus
rendered into English occurs in his " Medilationes Sacrx : De Haereslbus,"
thus : " Nam el ipsa scientia potestas est," and il is in accord with the whole
teachings of his philosophy. In his essay "Of Studies" he says, " Expert
men can execute, and perhaps judge of, particulars, one by one ; but the
general counsels, and the plols and marshalling of affairs, come best from
those that are learned." Three hundred years before Bacon, however, the
Persian Saadi uttered the same sentiment :
Knowledge il > peieiinlal .pring of wealth, and ifa nan ofeduizaiian ceuei to be opulenl,
yei he neeTnot be lorrowful. fn knowledge of iuelf it richei.— Gulistah : 0/l»i BtTcils
4^£^W4/ua, Taleli.
This is nothing remarkable, as it is only [he expression of an opinion of
the wise of all ages. " Crafty men," continues Bacon in his essay, " ctrntemn
Coogk"
59* HANDY-BOOK OF
Kludies ■" and ih« ci%^ and wocldly-wise point of view ia probably best ex>
e eased by Hobbes, in "Leviathan," ch. t, "Of Power, Worth, Dignity,
onor, and Wotthineas :"
Poto«T is the prtKDL inrini to pitiaue tonie Allure ■ppmmi good, . . . Good niccnt 9
pawn - btcpuse it makcih rflpuntion of wiidom, or good fbriuDC ; vhkb imakef men ciiber
. . . Form n power; beciiue, being a pmniK ij^ e<hh], il recoinnKDilelh mcD lo tht favor
uny man : nor am >i all, but in few, and in ihem, but of ■ few thinn. For uiencc ii of ihu
Variations on the theme are namerous :
•bowlhtolfcr'— Audisoh' ra*C»flrrfM.!'No. 3.' '' " "*** y raua oin man
Simple 19 it miiy seem, it wu a great ditcovery that Iht key of knowledge ihould tuiD
both wayi. ihai ii could open a> well ■• lock ihe door of power to the oudt.— Lowau.:
Ama.f mf Bnakt : Nta Entlatui Twe Cinturui Af-
Shakespeare's dictum, —
Iinorance it the cone of God.
KoDwIedcg tbe wing whereby w« fly to beano,
Hmrj Uj., Pari /}., An iv., Sc. 7,—
finds a close parallel in the Persian Shih-Nimah :
CbooK knowledge,
If tbou detbeat > bleuing from ihe Univcml Provider ;
And il ia oy knavledge ihsit tbou mu« nnder Ibytelf prattewonby^
Knowledge under difflcnltiea. This phrase, which is now unc of the
commonest forms of speech, is said <o be due to Lord Brougham, who sug-
gested it to Mr. Craik as an improvement to the title of his volume written in
i8a8, "The Love of Knowledge overcoming Difficulties in its Pursuit," which
was accordingly changed to "The Pursuit of Knowledge under DiHiculttes"
(Charles Knight: Patiagts of a Warking Ufi, ii. 135). The book first
appeared in two volumes, 1S30-18JI, among the publications of the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The sentence is put in the mouth of
Mr. Weller, senior, on his finding Sam writing a valentine, " Pickwick" was
published in 1837, and the phrase was then already current
Know-Nothlnga, a name popularly given in the United Stales to a ile-
velopment out of the " American party.'' It was a secret political order which
sprang up in lS^t,and was organiied in New York by E. Z. C. Judson, better
known as " Ned Buntline." None but " Native Americans" — i.t., natives of
the country — were allowed admission. To alt questions put lo members as
to the movements of the organiiation the prescribed reply was " I don't
know," whence the nickname. Itie secret name of the order is said lo have
been " Sons of '76." Among the cardinal tenets of the organization were
bitter opposition to Roman Catholics, a "pure American" common-school
system, repeal or radical modification of the naturalization laws, ineligibility
to public office of any but native-bom Americans, and hostility 10 foreigners,
whom the enormous emigrations into the United Stales it was feared would
soon make prepunderanL After some notable successes at the polls, the
organization went to pieces, tbe American party having first split into "North
Americans" and " tiouth Americans" on the slavery question and disappeared
from national politics in 1S60.
In Massachusetts there is an odd local application of the word. A serious
railroad accident in 1S54, just before the election of Governor Gardiner, the
"Native American" candidate, resulted in the enactment of a law requiring
all trains to stop before reaching a "giaile" crossing. The recommendatioa
of Soulhetneis, originally oi|!anized June, iSbb, by a
n foi purposes of amuBemcnt duniig (he stagnation thai lullowed ir
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S97
of its past^e was one of Ihe Erst official acts of Ihe new governor, whence
these croisinga were called ^ Know-nothings."
Kootoo, or Kotow, in Chinese, to "bow," to. "salaam," now accepted
into Ihe vocabulary uf familiar English on both sides of Ihe Atlantic as a
synonyme (bi to flatter. lo be obsequiously potile, to boot-lick.
Mr. Thickeny hai iiid mon, and man cfFccIiully, abuul ihdIh and inobbitm ihiD my
cm occuioDtd by lb* apccuclc of one arier uiDiber dT U» ariHocnc)> of lunire nuking ibe
kiMOD lo tbe irutocAcy of acddeQt.— Hakkift MMtTTHBAU : Anitiiggra^ky.
Knklnx-KIan (a cormplion of the Greek word utiAot, "a circle," Ihe
" klan" being added to increase the alliterative force uf the jingle), a
- " ■ ■ ■ ■■ '., by : '
, - . -- - iduring t
aiely after the war. Its foundets had builded belter than they knew. Branch
orders were established all over ihe South, and i( became an immense politi-
cal organiiation, whose dual objecl was to maintain order against the internal
lawlessness that was Ihcn rife al the South and lo resist the encroachments
of Federal authority, especially by using all means at hand, either lawful or
unlawful, fair or foul, lo prevent the threatened ascendency of the negro race,
of campaign was ihe intimidation of negro voters and of " catpel-bag " set-
tlers from the North. Many outrages were undeniably committed in Ihe
midnight raids of masked members of ihe Klan, and the reports of these out-
rages, often intensified, exaggerated, and even manufactured out of the whole
doth for partisan effect, served to keep up the bitter feeling in the North
which found vent in the waving of the bloody flag. A. W. Tourgee's " A
Fool's Errand " gives an excellent picture of the condition of things in the
South at the time when ihe Klan was most prevalent. It was nominally dis-
banded by its presiding Grand Wizard in February, 1869, but Kukiujt raids
were common (or several years after that dale. An allernalive lille was "The
Invisible Empire." It was also sometimes known as "The Knights of the
L.
It, tbe twelfkh letter and ninth consonant of the English alphabet It coniea
to us through the Greek and Latin from the Phmnician. (See Alfhabkt.)
As an abbreviatk>n it stands for tibra, pound sterling, and is written either in
lower-case italic after Ihe sum, or in the conventional form ^ before il, thus,
100/,, or ^loo. " The three L's" is a nautical phrase, formed possibly on the
basis of " the three R's," and meaning "lead, latitude, and lookout," the
three chief things to be considered in keeping a ship from running aground.
Iiabor. He has had tail labor for his pains, a proverbial expression,
meaning that he has had neither thanks nor reward for trouble taken, work
or good deed done.
Tbev have Doucht but iheir loyle for their he«4.th«r laiim for ilicu- marc
bri»lllaaor £a|lbh prouabe) ibeir lab«ir foe ibeir Uiuallc—THOHAS NuH (]
OuGntltmtit Snultnli ^Mh Vtuvtrtilia. (Inlroductocy to Rolwt GnoM'i Mt
598 HANDY-BOOK OF
Laborare est oraie (L., "To work i> to pr^y"). This appears to have
been originally " Laboiare et orare," and as such may have been derived from
Jeremiah {LamentoHims iiL 41). So in Pseudu- Bernard there occurs, with
reference made to Jeremiah for authority, "Qui oral et laborat, cor leval ad
Ueum cum manibus." (5. Bbknard; Opera, vol. ii., col. 866, Paris, 169a)
The idea had been expressed before by Gregory Ihe Great, with the liulisti-
lution of "operari" for "laburare," and by many others alter him. Just how
and when the alteration of the "e(" into "est" in the proverb was accomplished
may iHit with certainly be told, but we find it as an ancient maxim of the
Benedictine monks. The sentence reappears in various modilications of lorm,
thus, "Scriplum est el 'oralio mea in sinu meo converlelur' (Ps. xxxiv. 13,
Vulg.), et ^ui pro alio oral pro se ipso laborat." (Radulfiius Ardeus,
Hemilt&a, 1., " De Temfert" 14S5.) This may perhaps inlimale a transition
towards the use of the proverb which is now most commonly thought of. It
occurs in verse as follows, " Tu supplex ora, tu piolcee, tuque Iabora7' in " Car-
minam ProverUalium Loci Communes" (p. 156, London, i;SS), a common
text-book which was often reprinted. "Ora el labora" is the motto of the
Earl of Dalhousie. and " Orando laborando" of Rugby SchooL
ItBOoniC, an adjective signifying short, brief, terse, and derived from Lacon,
one of the names of Spaita, because the Spartans were held to be especially
expert in condensing their meaning into the fewest possible words. Thus,
when Xerxes summoned Leonidaa to yield up his arms, the latter answered,
"Come and take them." Equal conciseness was aimed at in Ihe despatches
from the seats of war : the victory of Plata-a was announced, " Persia is hum-
bled." and the end of Ihe Peloponnesian war, "Athens is taken."
It was an Athenian, however, who, after one of his countrymen had made a
brilliant and showy speech, full of rhetorical promises, rose and said, " Men
of Athens, all that he has laid, I will de."
Philostratus Ictls us how Allicus, in digging under a house, found a large
treasure of money. Being in fear of informers, he deemed it best 10 notify the
fact to Nerva, Ihe reigning emperor, who wrote him the laconic reply, " Use
it" His heart still failing him, he wrote again, saying it was too large to use.
" Then abuse it" came the answer.
When Menecrates, a physician who from his wonderful cures was styled
Jupiter, addressed Agesilaus a letter, —
M. Jupiter to King AgoUuu. Hallb,—
Agesilaus answered, —
ICing Acoiliui 10 Mtnecrun. HitttoMt*.
But the most famous laconictsm in ancient, indeed, in all, history is Caesar's
announcement to his friend Amintius of his victory over Pbarnaces, at Zela,
in Asia Minor, B.C 47, " Veni, vidi, vici," which it were a work of supereroga-
tion to translate into " I came, 1 saw, I conquered." John Sobieski, when ne
sent the Pope the Mussulman standards captured before Vienna, attempted
to improve upon Caesar with this affected bit of humility 1 " 1 cime, I saw,
God conquered." Turenne's paraphrase was much better, because there was
no mock-modcsly about it. After the battle of Diinen, which resulted in the
recovery of Dunkirk from Ihe Spaniards (June 14, 1658), he announced the
victory as follows ; " The enemy came, was beaten, I am tired, good-njght \"
Suwarow's concjtie announcement of the capture of Prague, in 1794,
" Hurrah I Prague ! Suwarow," was answered quite as concisely by Cath-
erine U. ; " Bravo I Field-Marshal ! Catherine."
When he took 1'ulukay, Suwarow wrole, —
Slitvii bogu. ■lava vani
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S99
which can only be lamely transllled. —
Glory to God, gloiy lo you 1
TunOul ia ukm, ud 1 am thtn.
Blake's despatch announcing a victory over the French has a magnificent
Pleuc y<>iir honor ud glory. Ill
During Ihe Spanish war o( independence, in liloS, Saragosaa was summoned
by Ihe French Id surrender in these terms : " Head-quarters — Santa Engracia
--Capitulation," The reply was equally succinct: "Head-quarters — Sara-
gassa— War lo the knife." At the end of sixty days the French were forced
rison after the battle of Lake Erie is a
Three famous laconicisms at modern history lake the reprehensible form of
a pun. When the ships of the Invincible Armada turned their sails, Drake
is said lo have sent lo Elizabeth the single word Caalharidti (" the Spanish
fly"). General de Bourmonl's message lo the French war minister in 1830
when his prisoner, Ihe Dey of Algiers, escaped, is reported to have been
Perdidi difith which translated into English means, " 1 have lost a dey."
But how should Ihe French war minister be ext>ected to translate ihe message
into English, or understand il when translated ? Both the above, indeed, are
obviously apocryphal, and may have been invented long after the event, as
companions to General Napier's famous despatch from India, Ptccavi ("I
have Scinde"), which is often given as authentic, but was really a typical
juke of Piauh.
Few miltlary men were more direct, concise, and terse than General Grant.
A masterpiece is ihe letter to General Buckner, dated at Camp Donelson,
February 16, l86a :
' Confcd. Amy.
SiK, — Yoiin of itiU date proposing Axmbtice, >nd appaiouAg of CominiuiDDen 10 leule
urma of Capilulation, ii juH received. No terms eacept sn uncDDdilional md immediUe
nmvndcr cui be acovpted.
] propose to move iipinedlaiety upon your works.
«n..ir, veryrei y.youro^. ^^ Qy.f^„^ Srig.-Gtn.
Wellington sometimes pot a great deal of meaning into a few words. When
asked what would be (he result of Ihe military operations of De Lacy Evans
in Spain, he replied, "Two volumes octavo." And to a cavalry officer, unex-
pectedly ordered to the Cape of Good Hope, who applied to Wellington for
leave to return to England, he briefly said, " Sail or sell."
The slory about Dr. Abernethy and his lady patient is a classic He was a
man of few words, and the lady knew it. Being shown into his private office,
she bared her arm and said simply, " Burn."
" A poultice," said the doctor.
Next day she called again, showed her arm, and said, "Better."
"Continue the poultice."
Some days elapsed before Abernethy saw her again. Then she said, " Well.
Your fee ?"
" Nothing," said the doctor, bursting into unusual loquacity. " You are the
most sensible woman I ever met in my life I"
Abernethy was once asked by a gourmand what was the best cure for the
gout. " Uve upon sixpence a day, and earn it," was the answer.
This is as good as the American doctor's recipe, " A quart of sawdust, and
make it yourselt"
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6oo HANDY-BOOK OF
Ctasatc also are Talleyrand's two tellers 10 a widow. The first, wriiten on
the death of hei husband, read simply, " Hilas, madame I" and the second,
written some months afterwards, on receiving news of her engagement, " Ho 1
ho ] madame."
But Talleyrand may have had in mind Boileau's criticisms on the elder
Corneitle. On the "Agesilaus" he wrote, —
J'ai ni I'Ai^slIu,
That was a terse and terrible reply of Frederick the Great to the Jew
banker, who, dreading subsidies and loans, prayed the king to allow him to
travel for the benefit of his health :
D«T Ephraim, nothing but dealh >h>ll pan in.
Voltaire and Piron had challenged each other to see which could produce
the shortest letter. Shortly after Voltaire left for the country, having pre-
vioualy despatched the following letter, —
which is excellent Latin for "Go."
But the shortest correspondence ever known took place between Victor
Hugo and his publisher, just after the publication of " Les Mis^rables." The
poet, impatient to learn of the success of the book, sent off a letter which
contained only the following;
I
and he received the following entirety salbfactory answer :
Everyone remembers the tamous advice which Af nrA gave " To those abool
to marry. Don't."
The shortest letter that ever appeared in the London Timut is said to have
been the following, under the heading " How to Make Burial Harmleu,"
December 27, 1289:
Sii,— Pnl la the coffin qnicklimc. '
J. HosKTMS-AUMHAU.
COOHM, OXOH., December 9i.
Lord Aberdeen, the Premier of the coalition ministry, was remarkable (or
his taciturnity. When, by way of reconcilinK him to accompanying her on a
sea-lrrp. the queen smilingly inquired, "1 beTieve, my lord, you are not often
sea-sick r* he replied significantly, "Always, madam." "But not tvrf sea-
sick?" "Very, madam,' said the uncompromising minister.
There was succinct energy in the Jacobite curse which was wriiten on
folded slips of paper and handed to likely persons in the streets of Edinburgh
during the time of the last Pretender. It ran simply, "May God damn
Hanover) Vivatyacobta!"
" Have you read my last speech f' asked a prosy parliamentarian of Cur-
T-i. ,f ,jj brief: "1 hope I have." A poet r"- '— ' ""—
■ "ybadly.
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 6oI
Epiuphg ire BometiTneB adTnirably laconic, as a sort of revolt by the uncon-
lenlional few against the prolixity that is (he fashion among the many.
"Efen nyi" (" Exactly nothing") is the single phrase carved on an ancient
nanument of while marble in the graveyard of the new church of Amsterdam,
in whidi there is also sculptured a pair of slippers. And thereby hangs a
ale. The decedent, it is said, had conceived the idea that he would live a
.-ertain number of years. Desirous lo make the best of them and leave none
)f his means unenjoyed, he made a nice calculation, and so apportioned his
Killh that it would last just his expected lifetime. Fortune befriended him ;
le died at the nioment he had reckoned upon, and had then so far exhausted
lis estate that, after paying his debts, there was nothing left but a pair of
Uppers. His relatives put up the tombstone and the legend.
Charles Lamb said, " A speaker should not attempt too much, but should
cave something to the imagination of his audience ;" and he tells how, on
cing called on to return thanks for a toast to his health, he rose, bowed to
is audience, and said, " Gentlemen," and then sat down, leaving it (o theit
naginalion to supply the rest.
J, K. Paulding, when Secretary of the Navy, wanting some information as
> the source of a river, sent the following note to a village postmaster :
Sii,— Tkl> DcpirUonit dcrica (o know how far ibe TombiobH Rinr luu up.
Rapcafnlly youn, etc.
By retarn mail came, —
5la,— Tht Tombigbn don not run up ■■ tiU ; II niiu ion.
Very rapecdully yours, elc
The letter was referred lo Kendall, the Postmaster-General. Not appro-
itlng his subordinate's humor, he wrote. —
Not at all disturbed by his summary dismissal, the postmaster replied,—
Sii,— TIh Tcvcnaet of Ihii oKn loi Ih* qiuncr cndtns SvptemtieT ju have been ulseiy-
lU. 1 mist my hccokt b liulnicHd to ii4)ut the balance.
Mis superior officer was probably as much disgusted with his precise cor-
ipondent as the American editor who, writing lo a Connecticut brother,
^nd full particulars of the flood" (meaning an inundation in that State),
eired for reply, " You will End them in Genesis."
\ ^unoUB and witty Englishman is said lo have been asked, during bit
lerican travels, to make an after-dinner speech at the " ladies' night" of a
ston club. It was a literary dub, he was a literary man. It was naturally
«cted that he would glorify his profession and that of his hearer*.
le rose, however, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, 1 come not here to
ill eyes were turned upon him.
Ladies and gentlemen," he repeated, "I come here not lo talk."
eople began to laugh, seeing that brevity was really the soul of his wit.
I come not here to talk," said he. "1 come not here lo talk." Then,
I another glance at the fruit, and a modest gesture of deprecation, " I
e not here to talk."
iid he sat down, while every one laughed and applauded,
mile Aueier's letter of regret in answer to an invitation to dinner was
t and pilliy :
1000 rcmerciments,
1000 regrets,
1000 compliments,
Et 1000 [Emile] Augier.
3LA S»
;i:,vG00gk"
6oa HANDY-BOOK OF
In Lancashire the word tttanl, " nothing," and its companion onif, " anything,"
have been known to tbim a complete coiiversalion between two buaincsa-men,
one being a seller and the other a buyer. As they met on 'Change the former
said, -Owlf" the latter replied, " Nowt," and in this laconic fashion what
would have taken some men &ve minutes' conversation to determine was done
Lawyers are not noted for brevity of speech, yet an eminent English jurist,
probably on the theory that opposites are apposiles. is said to have been won
by a laconic damsel while on his way to hold couil in a country town. The
girl was returning from market when the judge met her.
" How deep is the creek, and what did you gel for your butter ?" he asked.
" Up to the knee ; ninepence," was the answer, as the girl walked on.
The judge turned his horse, rode back, and soon overtook hei.
"I liked your answer just now," he said, "and I like you. I think you
would make a good wife. Will you many me t"
She looked him over and said, " Yes."
" Then get up behind me, and we will ride to town and be married." Which
was accordingly done.
The shortest marriage service in the world is that daily performed in the
office of the Milwaukee justices: "Have him?" "Yes," "Have herf"
"Yes." "Married. Two dollars."
The shortest charge known to English jurisprudence was given by a judge
in a breach of promise case. After the lawyers had ulked for several hours,
his lordship said to the jury, " How much ?
A practical laconicism is reported of the first President Harrison during
the campaign which made him President. At a mass-meeting at Ripley, Ohio,
he was expected to speak ; but he arrived much fatigued, and. after thanking
the audience for their interest in his success, he begged to be excused from
making a speech, as he did not feel able to undergo the exetlion. " 1 cannot
make a speech," he said, " but I can do something else : 1 can kiss all these
young ladies ; and 1 am going to do it." With that he turned to a lot of pretty
iris who were ranged around the stage, and kissed every one in succession
efore the whole crowd, each smack being received with shouts of delight
that shook the building.
Another limous American was less gallant. SiociuHMi't MagoBta tells the
story of how a lady, having obtained the privilege of an introduction to the
renowned Brigham Young, said, " 1 was always very desirous to see you,
Governor Young, and to make the personal acquaintance of one who has had
such extraordinary influence over my own sex." Whereto the Governor
curtly replied, "Vou was, was you T'
Lady Blessington condensed an infinite amount of sarcasm into two words.
Meeting Napoleon III. in the Champs- Elys jes, he asked hei, " Do you expect
to remain long in Paris?" "And you?" replied the lady, who took this
neal revenge for having tieen snubbed by her quondam friend and visitor.
An inquisitive French bishop once caught a Tartar in the Duke de Roque-
laure. The latter, passing in haste through Lyons, was hailed by the
bishop with " Hi ! hi I" The duke stopped.
" Where have you come from ?'' asked the prelate,
" Paris."
"What is there fresh in Paris T
"Green peas."
" But what were the people saying when you left ?"
" Goodness, man I" broke out the angry questioner, " who are yon f What
are you called V
e
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 603
" Ignorant peopl«calt me 'Hi I hi I' Gentlemen call me (he Dukede RiMjue-
laure. — Drive on, postilion !"
Thai is how ihe sloty appears in French. Horace Smilh, in his "Tin
Trumpet," gives an English version. The hero this time is " a welMinown
civic wag." In travelling post, he was obliged to slop at a village to replace
a horse's shoe, when the PanI P17 of the place bustled up to (he carriage
window, and, without waiting for the ceremony of inlroduclion, exclaimed, —
" Good'inorning, sir t — horse cast a shoe, I see. I suppose, sir, you be
Here he paused, expecting the name of the place to be supplied ; but the
dliien answered, " You are quite right, sir ; I generally go (here at this
" Ay — hum — do ye f — and no doubl you be come now from "
" Right again, sir ; I live there."
"Oh, ah, do ye? But I see it be a London shay; pray, sir, is there any-
thing stirring in London T
" Yes ; plenty of other chaises, and carriages of all sorts."
" Ay, ay, of course ; but what do you folks say ?"
" Their prayers every Sunday."
''That is not what I mean. I wish to know whether there is anything new
and fresh."
" Yes ; bread and herrings."
" Anan 1 you be a queer chap. Pray, muster, may I ask your name V
"Fools and clowns call me 'Muster,' but 1 am, in reality, one of the fi'ogs
of Aristophanes, and my genuine name is Brekekekex Koax. — Drive on,
poftilion.''
An American judge is said (o have intervened in an odd way to prevent a
waste of words. Silling in court, he saw from the piles of papers in the
lawyers' hands that the first case was going lo be a long one, and asked,
"What is the amount in question V
"Two dollars," said the plaintiff
" I'll payit. Call Ihe next case."
He had not the patience of taciturn Sir William Grant, who sal for two days
listening to Ihe argnmenls of counsel as lo the conslruclion of a certain act,
and when they were through quietly remarked, "The acl is repealed,"
There was once a form of laconicism which was very popular among Amer-.
ican humorists, and which consisled in stating cause and ultimate effect of
some disaster without any intermediary eiplanalion, as ;
An Indiana man b« icd dollan Ibu he could ride Ihe ay-Thnl in a uv-nim and at hl>
An Iowa woDLUi gave her huBband morphine 10 cut* him of shewing lolvcco. Il cured
him. but she {• doing her own spring ploughing.
A Loclipan. Ne» York, lid nude ■ wager of two doUin ih» he could eai twenty-four
leaving n nd loM of ihlny-£iglit dollan on hii coffin.
>i believed br '
d ? keg of damp gufipovder with a red-hot pok
.. .. .._«».^. .. ^ ..^....-». ^, Jim bienda that he hai golK to Europe, althoU|^1l a
^und «ome liuman bouei and a piece of thjri-iail about twenty mil» from Louiavill
John Smith, in Nebruka, uld be could handle a lattlnnake Ihe lamc as a snake-chM
A man vamed hli wife in New Orleani not to light the Gre with keroient. She d
heed the warning. Her dolhet Btled bit ucMind wife remarkably well.
Vet this slyle of humor, distinctively
6o4 HANDV-BOOK OF
the thirty »nd ninth year of his reign was diseased in hia feet, unlil his disease
was exceeding great : yet in hia disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the
physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth
year of his reign."
John Edwin, a once popular English actor of the last century, is credited
with the authorship of one of the briefest and most effective sermons ever
delivered. His teil was, " Man is iKirn to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards,"
and this was the aeiDion : " I ahall consider this discourse under three heads :
first, man's ingress into the world ; secondly, man's progress through the
world ; thirdly, man's egress out of the world And —
A nun'! Lngrcu inia iHt world Is naked and bare,
Hii prDEitst Ihrough ihe world i« Iniiiblv and car? :
And lastly, hii cbtcu dui of the woHd Is DolMtdT Ilddvi *hetr«.
If n do well here, we ihill do well there :
I can tdl you no more if I preacll a whole year."
Tin EcttntrUilitt rf JckH MJmn (ad ed.), I. ;4, Loo., 1791.
John Cunningham, a contemporary hnmorisi, was equally laconic In hit
lines on an alderman :
He are, drank, ilepl, talk'd polilio, and died.
Several epitaphs of this kind will be found grouped under the head of
Epitaphs,
Of all modern nationalities the French are the masters of that btevi^
which is the soul of wit. Their passion for mirf!, for short, jAthy, sententious
sayings, is at once cause and effect of their success in this line. It was a
Frenchman (Joubert) who described hiinself as having " the cursed ambition
to put a whole book into a page, that page inlD a phrase, and that phrase
into a word." And it was another Frenchman, Pascal, who apolc^ired for
writing a long letter on the ground that he had not had time to write a short
one. But Pliny had said the same thing before him in his " Letters" (Book
i.. Epistle 20) :
Ek hit apparet ilium pennulta dixine ; quum ederet, omisiste ; . . . ne dubitan poul-
Ubfum, grmndem quldem, uduid tamen, coarclave.
("Fracn ihii It ii evident th^l he aatd very much; bur^vheohe waspubliBhiBf,heDiiulltd
much ; . . . fo thai we may not doubt thai what he aald nore dlffuely, u be wai at the
time forced to do, having aRervarda retreached and corrected, he condensed iiuo on* ilnclo
Iiadd»r, Walking nuder a. A widely-spread superstition in Enf^and
forbids a man to walk under a ladder. Some people fancy that this origi-
nated from a cautious dread of what a workman upon the ladder might drop
apon them. Vet the same people will carefully avoid passing under a ladder
which is quite untenanted, and know well that they do so not to avoid the
fall of a tile or a paint. pot, but to avoid the fall of ill luck upon their heads.
In former days, when hanging was done after a more primitive and simple
&shiou than it is to.day, the victim at Tyburn or elsewhere had generally to
pass under the ladder which stood against the gallows for the convenience of
the eiecuiioner. And he passed under that ladder with the fair certainty
of being immediately hanged. What the unhappy criminal at Tyburn could
not avoid the exquisite in Piccadilly avoids to-dajr, even at the expense of
his polished boots, by turning into the road-wav. There is a touching hu-
mility in Ihe practice. Whtcb of us knoi
may assure that young man thai he was n . . _ . ^ .
so certain of himself that he can afford to imitate the criminal e
■ingle and harmless particular.
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 605
IiadiM of UangoUeo. These ladies,— wli use full names and (Hies were
the Hon. Caioline Pcmsonby and Lady Eleanor Buller, — weary □( society
(some say disappointed in love), withdrew to a properly which Ihey bought
near Llangollen and passed their time amid the simple pleasures of country
life and in (he exercise of works of charity and a generous hospitaiily. Re-
fusing all oflers of marriage, [hey remained constant to each other till divided
by death. Lady Butler died in 1819, at the ripe age of ninelv, and Miss Pon-
sonby followed in 1831, aged Bevenly-six. A monument in Llangollen church-
yard commemorates their virtues.
It is to them Wordsworth addresses his sonnet composed in the grounds
of Plass Newidd, near Llangollen, 18x4- We quote the concluding portion :
GItd CablllEuBdi, in ihE Cambrian tongue,
la ouri, thn Vale of Frinkdship, let tbii ipol
Be DunEd ; when, &iililul id a low 'roo^ cot.
On Din'i tunki, ye have abcxle to long :
9>len in lave,— a biTe allawtd u climb.
Even on Ihli eanta, above Ibe reach of Tinut.
De Quincey also refers to them in "Confessions of an English Opium-
Eater :''
-. ,_ i?™' ''■llUe*l»disTen IriJhT-^STiiL'Kii'
■onby and l^dy Eleaaor Uucler, a »itier of Lord Otoiond.
"UdAj — WomuL Much may dwell in a word. The use or misuse of
the two terras which head this article will reveal a man's true self, his social
surroundings, his antecedents, his personal refinement, breeding, sense, taste,
more definitely and unmistakably than any other shibboleth that can be pro-
posed. Each word is unobjectionable in itself. Each has its limitations.
These limitations sometimes intersect each other, so that the terms may at
times be interchangeable. But each may be employed in such a manner as
to prove that (he speaker is not a gentleman, but a gent. Or even if he be
not altogether and on all occasions a gent, he has at least so much of the
geiitish element as will be certain to break out now and then in its unmistak-
able ugliness. John Smith, who calls his wife his good lady, who registers at
a hotel as "John Smith and lady," may be a good fellow, a pleasant com-
panion— at your club. But, dear Mr. Jones, don't invite him home to dinner
with Mrs. Jones, — with your wife. He may appear at the table in his shirt-
sleeves. On the other hand, the man who talks of his women.foiks, save in
unmistakable jest, is to be treated in just as gingerly a fashion. " Lady" is
the delight of that peculiarly odious sort of men who look down upon women
as a kind of inferior animal, to be flattered to their faces as simpletons unable
to enter into rational conversation, and to be classed together in an indiscrimi-
nate lump as " the sex," or the " female sex," bom to play a part antagonistic
to that of the worthier race, who are detestably described as their " lords."
It is the delight, also, of the sort of women, equally odious, who are unpleas-
antly and arrogantly conscious of some defect of breeding. When a woman
■ays. " I want you to understand that I am a lady." she publishes the fact that
she is not and cannot be a lady. Good -breeding, refinement, lady-hood, if
you please, is tacitly conceded or it does not exist It appeals to something
deeper than words. Words can neither make nor unmake. To |)ul your
trust in a word is to lose the thing it represents. Even if you achieve the
word, it is tarnished and vulgarized when you grasp it. It is the opposite
of its original meaning. It is tuau because it does not shine. Thus It hap-
pens that in this country the term lady is rapidly being abandoned to the class
who are not ladies at all. When you have come to sales-ladies or washer-
6o6 HAtfDY-BOOK OF
ladies fou have reached a hopeless <]eep. A sales-woman may be a lad;, a
■ales-lady never. "Sales-lady" indicates a lack or humor, of self'tespecl, a
barbarous willingness tn outrage the English language. It is vandalism, pure
and simple. Now, the Vandals were a splendid race, who had an important
mission to perform ; but they were not gentlemen, Ihey were not ladies.
Statisticians have decided thai there are more "ladies" among colored than
among while people. Indeed, the very word colored is a "lady"-like eu-
phemism, deneral Sherman's slory of the colored gentleman who rang at
his door.bell and asked, "Does a woman named Sherman live here? 1 want
to see the ladv who cooks for her," is one of a thousand which doubtless have
been ulilizeil by these slatisticians.
*' Ah, Mn. GcDicel, hov do you do lo-^y t 11 u an an lince I ha* e hcd you. How it
yow dauahiir Kalk ! I haven i i«n her for ■ Idiie lime.
■'She'>qiiiu»«U,th»kyou: shi'i ultt-lmly no* ■! Plush ft SiHt'iuon."
" IndHd I And yoor daughtn MHmieT"
" Oh, Mami* is fore-lady in the n«v (omaio-cuDlog niabUshmaii."
" I hido'l he«rd that, li Lulo al home now *"
"Oh, bailhc? Then y«i have only Lrna al honiE, 1 pnsumeT"
"Oh,iwl Lma hu jus accepted a aituaiioa as a Dune4ady io (he famdy cf Jndg* K.
^Nm "K ™n™
LadT-blrd, or Lady-bofL a variety of beetle, known also locally In Eng-
land as the fly-golding. Bishop Barnaby or Barnabee, and God Almighty^*
cow. A curious thing in relation to the latter name is that it exists in
Spanish also as vaquUh de Dioi. Children in England and in America set the
insect on their linger and sing, —
Lady-bird, lady-biid. fly away home ;
Vour houie ■> on fire, your chiJdren all |ODe.
In Suffolk and Norfolk the rhymes are changed, in the former ninning,—
Bithop, Buhop Bamabee,
TcU me when youi oeddipg bt :
If il be lo-monov day^
Take your wiusi and fly away,
and in the latter, —
lUahop, BUhop Banubec,
Some obscurity hangs over this popular name, which has certainly no more
relation to the companion of Saini Paul than lo drunken Barnaoy. It is
sometimes called Benebee. — which may possibly have been intended to mean
the blessed bee ; sometimes Bishop Benetree, — i>l which it is impossible lo
make anything. The name may be a corruption i.f Barn Bishop,— whether
in scorn of that silly and profane mockery, or in pious commemoration of il,
must depend upon whether il was adopted before or since the Reformation.
The bishops of old wore scarlet and black in their robes, which may account
for the episcopal dignity conlened on Ihe scarlet and black beelle ; while il
may perhaps take Ihe rest of its title from its appearing in the month in
which the festival of SainI Barnabas occurs.
In Scotland Ihe lad^-bird is styled Lady- Planners {Natti and Queria, I, i.\.
The subjoined rhyme is peculiar to the county of LaJtarki
Coogk'
LITERAliY CURIOSITIES.
Fke own tiver, Sec own in,
Like the swallow, martin, redbreast, wren, and cricket, the lady-bird has
the benefit of a long-standing belier that any one wilfully killing it will infal-
libly break a bone or meet wilh some equally troublesome punishment before
the year is out,— a notion probably springing out of its being supposed to be
under the special protection of the Virgin Mary.
Ziak« Scbool, Iiokv Poeta, Lakers, or Lctkiata, the sobriquet of a
group of poets, including Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, from their
residence in or connection with the Lakes of Cumberland. The epithet was
first coined derisively by the Edinburgh Revicm, and the genesis is as fol-
lows. In its very first number (October, i3o3) the Revitw had an article on
Southey's "Thaiaba." It started out by classing him as one of "a sect of
poets that has established itself in this country within these ten or twelve
years" who "seem to value themselves very highly for having broken loose
from the bondage of ancient authority ana reasserted the independence of
genius." The Revirw goes on to admit that these poets have alKindoned the
old models, but fails to discover that they have yet created any models of
their own, and is much inclined to call in question the worthiness of those
to which they have transferred their admiration. For, so far from being
original, the school derived its inspiration from —
I, The uiii-»cial pfinciples and ditleinpered lenilbiliiy of Rouueau, hla dlicaaieut
vith ibc present coDitliitUoa of lodcty, hii pAruJoiical monUly, and Itia perpdujU hanker-
ingl after lome unattainable Btaie of TDJUpluolu vinue and pezfeclion. a. The lloiplklty
of BOmc ol Cowper'i laoKUBce and vcnification, iDlercbanged occaaionaliy wilh the immoctnet
of AmbroM Fhillpt or £e quainiDCM of Quarltt and Dr. Donoe. Ftom the diliieiit study
.r.L_. t .-=,_. L J-..,,. .K ; ..... „t be coUeeted, hy
origpmilt wc have no douht that an entire ichooL of poetry may he
.... ceof which the very aeotlett of our readett ipay toon be quaEmed ^
the iweeioeu of Laiabe [tic] and all ^ aaguificence of Cotetidge.
Now, some months after this article was penned, its reputed author, Mr.
Francis Jeffrev, in the course of a visit to the Lakes, spent a day or two at
Keswick, in the residence of Mr. Southey, Here, according to Coleridge,
"he was circumstantially informed by what series of accidents it happened
that Mr. Wordsworth, Mr. Southey, and I had become neightxirs, and how
utterly groundless was the supposition that wc considered ourselves as be-
longing to any common school but that of good sense, confirmed by the long-
established models of the best times of Greece, Rome, Italy, antl England,
and still mote groundless the notion that Mr. Southey (for, as to myself, I
have published so little, and that little of so little importance, as to make it
almost ludicrous to mention my name at all) could have been concerned in
the formation of a poetic sect with Mr. Wordsworth, when so many of his
works had been published not only previous to any acquaintance between
them, but before Mr. Wordsworth himself had written anything but in a dic-
tion ornate and uniformly sustained ; when, too, the slightest examination
will make it evident that tielween those and the after -writings of Mr. Southey
there exists no other difference than that of a progressive degree of excel-
6o8 HANDY-BOOK OF
lence. — from progressive development of power and prc^ressive bcility, from
habit and increase of experience. Vet among the first articles that this man
wrote after his return from Keswick we were characteriied as Mhe school of
whining and hypochondriacal poels that haunt the Lakes.'"
The article to which Coleridge refers appeared in October, 1807 (xi. llj).
It was a review of Wordsworth's " Poems, in Two Volumes," the author of
belonging " to a certain brotherhood of poets, who
ibout lh( ' ' ' "
: haunted For some years about Ihc Lakes of CumberUnd,"
iselves are denounced for vulgarity, affeclatioii, anc
eally, as Coleridge asserted, very smalt community of feeli
poems themselves are denounced for vulgarity, affectation, a
There was really, as Coleridge asserted, very small community of feeling oi
similarity of genius between the poels thus arbitrarily grouped together.
Tu j_-__j __.L — -eijndeed_ ,nd thecal! sought, in the words of Cht"
the old Powers that were, — antiquated, superannuated Authorities. Not,
ach other, indeed, and they all sought, in the words of (
toph'er North, who, with De Quinccy and Haililt, formed the greatest critical
exponents of the so.called scliool, to free English poetry from " the ST
however, be it remembered, the hallowed influence of Ihe true olden time, —
the glories, then somewhat obscured, though still unfaded, of the great aees
of the native genius of England, — but the cold, correct, classical school tnat
reigned about the same time with a aueen of the name of Anne, and that
either arrogated to itself with laughable self-sufficiency, or had bestowed
upon it in melancholy ignorance, the high-sounding title of the Augustan
Age." The war agairist the Lake School was waged with courage and
enthusiasm, not only by the Edinburgh Reviewers, but by outsiders. The
tnighliest of these volunteers was Uyron, who drew his best inspiration from
Wordsworth, yet always ridiculed hini, and who detested Southey as a poli-
tician, a man, and a poet. To the latter he inscribed his " Don Juan" m m
satiric dedication, suppressed in the early editions, but recovered and printed
after Byron's death. 11 begins with a bitter satire on (he whole school :
Bob Sonihey I Vau'n ■ poM—PMI-luruie,
Allboui^ 'IH Inie llul vou'r turn'i^Dul ■ Tory M
Wlih >[] ilic LakcnnD^d ouT of p^at '
Like "<bDi>ud-tiRniy°^lBcl!^riina 11 pye;
" Which pre bdof Dp«i'd, tfacy bwu 10 tjof"
rnili aU •Dog anil nEo liinilc hiJdi good),
■■ A dainty dUi to •« bdbrt the King,"
Or ReseBl, who admiru luch kind of food :
And Co1aid«, too, bat lilrly uktn wing,
fist Uk* ■ hawk uncunibcr'd with hl> bood,—
Elptilnlnl meliphyiia to itiE Bllian-
1 WLih he would explain hit tapluklioD.
Ihe flyiDe.fith
1 loir 100 tilgb Bob,
And he who undemindi il vould'^ M
To add ■ Morji 10 Ibe Tows of Babel.
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 609
You. gnuknmi I by dhit oi tang icdiulDn
PiWB beller compBDv, hiTC kept your oirn
At Knwick, ud, OirooEfa ttlll-iwiulDUEd fioiaa
Thai ^oa-i hu wmlhi for you iloac :
Then b 1 nunwncu in lucb > nolion.
Which makn me wiih you'd change your takes for ocuu.
Minor rhymtsten sought to assist the poet-peer in his ciusade. A popola*
couplet thus spoke of the Lakers ;
They lived in Ihe Lake*, an appropriate qoaiter
The establishment of Blaetwoal's Magtaint, picsided over by so enthn-
siasiic a Laker as John Wilson, contributed 10 by a critic with such lyrical
fiervoT of admiratiDii as De Quincey, and in a lesser degree the growing in-
fluence of Lamb, Haililt, Hunt, and other worshippers, proved mighty
weapons of defence against the Edinburgh and ila allies. Even Jeffrey struck
his flag at last, ^ave up Pope and his poetry, and confessed that Words-
worth, with all his heresies, often eihibiled far higher powers. But not all
the original Lakers shared in this triumph. The Edinburgh Review had
been inclined to class in the school Hazlitt, Leigh Hum, and Lamb. We
have seen, indeed, that Lamb was mentioned by name. The others are in-
ferentially alluded to here and there. When Btackweod joined Ihe fray alt
this was changed. A more precise method of differentiation was sought,
Lockhart, one of the leading spirits of the magazine, hated the London ad-
herents of the Uke School more than Wilson loved the indigenous Lakers.
He accordingly proceeded to find a nickname for them. In Ihe second
volume of Blaciwoed, p. 3S, he says, —
While the whole critical world la occupied with balancing ;he merit*, whether in theory or
to think it at all neceeiary to aaya ainflc word about another new schDofor poetry which haa
^lu« Ipfling oil unona Ul. This vchool bat not, t beliere, am yet received any Dame; but
the detlguJm of Thi Cockkit School. Iia chief boctor and Profeuor i> Mr. Lei^
Hunt, a Eoan certainly of aome taLtntt, of exlnvagani pretensiont both in wit poeny, and
politici, and withal of caquiaitely bad taate, and eirlremeiy vulgar model of thinking, aiMi
?_ _i, .. f,. pjj^p^nie mont] dcprtivity of theCocksey School i» atiother
-in which h
may be fotyotun i
Krlbbler, had the auurance to addrda one of the moil nobly boni of English [
ie of toe Grar genluaea whom the world ever produced, u " Hy dear Byron
d dea[Hacd by Ihe iLluiniDiia perloo whom tt moft hnriy cone
er loathiiu; and diiguai in the public mind, which will always
6lO HANDY-BOOK OF
number! (there are five in all) also concern them
Hunt, but occasionally give a vicious dab a( his so
an instance Trom the fifth and lasL After explaining Ihat (he egoti
ly give a vicious dab a( his so-called d
fifth and lasL After explaining Ihat (I
pardonable because they are great ana unappreciated r
genial critic proceeds, —
The cgDtiiin of ihe Cockueyi ii ■ Gu rnon intjipljcable jiSut. None of Ihem >n njcs of
C'\t%, qoqt of lh»m an rata of tolitary mediuiive lubilB ; — tJiey br leciunrt of the Surrer
JtuiioD.uideditonDrSiuicUy pmpen, HDil so foixh. They have all abundance of admlm
in Ihr tame lo* ortlcr of »ociHy lo which they IhemadvH ohginalLy bcLDDg. aad 10 which
alone they have ail their lives addreueU thejDKlvei. Why, iheq, do they peipetually chalfer
about ihemKJvctT Why i» it that they seem lo think the world haa no right lo hear ooeuDale
and Haydoo the Cockoty Raphael f ThcM aie all »ny fmineni mm in theirown eyes.aaJ
Haiiltt cannot look lound him at tbeSuncy without imiog hii imart eye on the idioe nd^
be Miivmt al Hainpuead withool haTiDf hu Jobnny Keatiei ud hU Corny Webbe to cimn
Tbe wreath that Dkhtb wore 1 1 !
Mr. Hnydon enjoya every day the lativTacUon of litling before one of the EBROOU cf
Raphael, with hii own greaiy hair combed loosely over hu collar, after the iiuniMr of
Raphael.— halted among hi> hatle» ditcii^,— a very god amonc the Landaeen. What
would (hcH meu hatef Are they alilt tmaaiislied with flattery, uill like the three daugtiten
irf the hone-leech, "crying, Givt, gnt, fivt f" TTwre is abaolutely no pleaaing of aome
:oiiiinan pleasantry in the last century,
when Ihe drum announced the advent of a company of strDtiing players inio
the rural districts of Yorkshire, for the farmers' dunes lo say, " Get the thlrt
off Ihe hedge, wench, for there comes Ihe lakers."
LamoaiAtta'B Ujsa, a sudden but short-lived reconciliation : a term
derisively given (o the reconciliation brought about by the Abb^ Laihourette
(whose name, by the Tray, signifies iwitthtart], on the 71h of July, 1791, be-
tween (he factions of the Legislative Assembly. It is thus described by Sir
Waller Scott :
The deptitiei oT every facliofk, Royallat, Conaiitutlonaliv. Glroodiai, Jacobin, and Orlean-
III. nuhed Into each other's armi, and miaed tears with the solemn oaths by which they
mputed to IheDtr The king wai tent for to enjoy
Duiy uvccpowciioA for the moment, was but like oiTipilt oa
lAe mging sea, or rattier lute a shot fired acn»i the wave? of a tDTTenl, itliicb, though it coan-
taracil then by lu momentary impulae, canuot for a second alter their course. The laclioes,
Uk( Le Saga's demons, deieiied each otlicr the ntae for having been compelled to enbrac*.
The term is now generally used for a recondlialion of policy without abate-
ment of rancor,
Ziand of Cakes,— fl^,, Scotland. This phrase was first made notable by
Burns in 1789;
Hear, Land o' Cakas and lirither Scots.
Frae Maldenkirk to Jobouy Croat's.
Oh Caflain Crexit PitigriHalhm Ikrnfk Sctllmnd.
MaiilenkiTk is an inversion of Ihe name Kirkmaiden, in Wigtownshire, the
moat southerly parish In Scotland.
IiUid of Inverted order, a popular toMquel applied to Australia.
Sydney Smith gives this humorous explanation in his " Essays i"
have ■ Ul d( play, and to amuse herself as she plea
_k)o^Ic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
- ' .-.-_.. -L -'*^^ -'---no. mill,
ii i>u><n(.
OB tbe ootiide '. uut m moiuuviu uniiiul, u uU u ■ nu^er. wUh Ihi
■ rul » bisBi A bedwHi, hopping tiaoB At ibe nu of nve bopt to. miLc.
or yoUDg kangaroo* iookiog out of iu {site uierui id ice what \% pauirkg
TbVD COm«a a quadnipcd M bje u ■ liinn use, (rnu mc cyn, luiui, iinu aikiEL LH *■ luuu., »uu
iheUllindmb-feciDTaduck— puuUng Dr. Shao and rcDdcrlng the lauir half of hk life
miteiable, Irhb hii Uler inability id diieminc whether ii n-u a bird or a hcaii. Add to Ihb
a parrot with the legl of a lotoill ; a ikaie wLlh ibe bead of a shark ; and a bild of sucb
niHiBtAiu dioeoakifw that a ndc bope of it wUI dine three nal camivoroiu EnEliahaen ;
together with many other produclioiu thai agitaie Sir Jnepti and fill bin *iih mingled
It wokild appear, however, that other lands might well be entitled to the
same deacription. Thus, Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, in a little volume en-
titled "Things Japanese: being Notes on Various Subjects connected with
Japan," says that Ihc Japanese do many things in a way that runs directly
counter to European ideas of what is natural and proper ; to the Japanese
our ways ate equally unaccountable. Here are a few instances of this con-
trariety. Japanese books begin at the end, and the tiatA finii comes where
we put the title-page. The ftfot-notes are printed at the top of the page, and
the reader puts in tiis marker at the bottom. Men make themselves merry
with wine not after, but before, dinner, and sweets come before the pritidpal
dishes. A Japanese mounts his horse on the right side ; all parts of the har-
ness are fastened on the same side, the mane hangs that way, and when the
animal is brought home his head is put where his tail ought to be, and he is
fed from a tub at the stable door. Boats are hauled up on the beach stern
firsL Japanese do not say northeast or southwest, but easlnorth ot weal-
south. They carry babies, not in their arms, but on their backs. They ad-
dress a letter the reverse way to us, putting the name last, the country and
dtv firstr going from the general to the particular, and in place of writing Mr.
John Smith, they put Smith, John, Mr. Japanese keys turn in instead of
out ; Japanese carpenters saw and plane towards, not away from themselves.
In keeping accounts they write the figures first, the item corresponding to
them nexL Politeness prompts them to remove, not their head-covering, but
that of their feet. The impulse of Japanese girls is to sew on cu8s, frills, and
the like topsy-turvy and wrong side out.
Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge tells us, —
All tbingi are reroied in Holland. The main entrance lo Ibe Gaeit public building in the
coonlry, the Palace, or laie io>n.ball. nf Amsierdam, ii iti back doot. Baihful maiden hin
beau to eicDii Ibem to the Kennit, or lair, on fe»lTal dayi. Timid cltiieu are scared in
the dead of the night by ibelroi ■- -'-- ' - -' ■■-- ' "- "-
^•".SX"
uappert one wou
ai nicely ai Bros
ly of maikhig the time. You wilT lee lookiai-gluii
Dcuablom displayed on the street doon. The first
Itiide of the windowa that penonl liuinjf Icuide can, vit
/ou«ilfaee)ookia..g1..«.hanrin- -'^ -'--- ■
1. The first art call
inj [n>ide can.
The pincurtiioii
" Ifred, iiisa
Land of •tead; habits. Connecticut is thus sometimes humorously
designated, in altusion to the settled usages of its people. The old Puritanical
code, the "Blue-Laws," remained longer in operation here than anywhere else.
Ztfngaagfl i>f Bden. There is considerable disagreement among scholiasts
and wiseacres on the question which was the primeval language. Celtic
authorities declare it was Old Irish. The Persians say that Arabic, Persian,
and Tutktsb are the three primitive languages. Tbe serpent that seduced
612 HANDY-BOOK OF
Eve spoke Arabic, the moit suuive tongue in the world, Adam and Etc
conversed in Persian, the most poetic, anatbe angel Gabriel in driving them
out or Paradise spoke Turkish, the roost menacing of all languages. (Char-
DIN.) Herodotus tells us that Psaromelichus, King of Egypt, was the lirst tt
Irv the experiment of shutting off two children from all verbal communication
with their fellow- mortals. When brought before him, the first word uttered
by them was bekoi {which is Phrygian Tat " bread"), proving the Phrygian to
have been the oldest or primitive tongue. Less decisive, but more amusing, ii
the result of a similar experiment made by an English king. According lo a
tradition current near Manchester, King John resolved to ascertain the tongue
natural to man, or, in other words, the languue of Paradise. Fur this pur-
pose he caused sundry infants to be immured in a lonely stronghold, and
attended by a solitary keeper, who, under pain of death, was forbidden to
speak or make the slightest attempt at articulation in their presence. After a
lapse of some years, the king went lo test the value of the experiment Judge
of his majesty s surprise when, on approaching the tower unobserved, he
beard the juveniles busy chanting, —
iMIigtMgea. Charles V. used to say (hat he would talk Spanish to the
gods. Italian to ladies, French to men, German to soldiers, English to
geese, Hungarian to horses, and Bohemian to the devil. James Huwel, in his
" Instructions for Foreign Travel" (1641), quotes from a Spanish doctor "who
had a fancy that Spanisli, Italian, and French were spoken in Paradise, that
God Almighty commanded in Spanish, the Tempter persuaded in Italian, and
Adam begged pardon in French." An eminent philologist of more modern
times, whose name is not given, is reported to have said that if he wished to
court his mistress he would address her in French, if he had au audience
with his king he would apeak 10 him in English, but in approaching his
God his language would be Gaelic Evidently the gentleman was a High-
LareoveiB for m«ddlen. When children are ovcr-inouisitive as to the
tmaning or use of any article, they are rebuked by being told it is " a lareover
for young meddlers, from " layer-over," explained as a gentle term f<
instrument of chastisement in Forty's " Vocabulary oi East Angli
In
nfors.
ng'i"-"
Derbyshire the expression in use is "layhouds for meddlers," which simply
means a laV'hold, something that will lay hold of those who meddle with it,
used as a tieterrent to frighten the child from touching the interdicted article.
The phrase varies in different parts of the kingdom : thus, in Kent it is " rare-
overs for meddlers,"
Lost Man. This was a nickname given by the Parliamentarian party to
Charles I., signifying that he was the last who should ever rule on the throne
of England. His son, who afterwards became Charles II., was illogically —
indeed, H i be tnically— alluded to as the .Son of the Last Man.
In literature the " Last Man" has occupied a position of some prominence
through the poem of that tide by Thomas Campbell and the long and bitter
controversy lo which it gave rise. The poem — a lyric in which the last of
human mould is pictured as gazing on the Rnal destruction of the world — was
published in the Nan Menihly Magaviu towards the close of 1813. Shortly
after its appearance the poet wrote lo his friend Gray, —
DidvonaM'-Thr lur Man" Id ny laie numbett Did itreiniad you of Lord Byroi'i
..oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
jlHinclly Rmtmber tpcikiii(of ih< lubficl u Lord Byron.
■ulcdoB lAy roliinB at
llicy ftept on the abyu withc
rhc VIVO WCR dad:
k, ind <»c
MDiory may uan up, appcaiiilg
(kv c»tfa bring bluik, and «ie or two otber drcumMBtJCa. On Kberly
muter, 1 am entinLy dispoted lo AC<)uU Lord ByTor ~" — ' — "' — '' — li-..-
o make any public
jiarism, as he did
not wish to appear lo be picking a quarrel with Lord Byroii.
Tlie charge or plagiarism came in due course. Bui meanwhile Byron had
died (April, 1824). The pusllion became doubly difficult for Campbell. A
Juarrcl with the living would have been let>s unseemly thati an attack on the
cad. NcveithelesB, in an open letter to Jefftey, editor of the Edinburgh
RivietB, Campbell reiterated the statements he had privately made to Gray.
He further explained that on the appearance uf Byron's stanzas in i3l6 he
had determined to waive his prior claim and leave his own poem unwritten ;
but one day Barry Cornwall informed him that some one purposed writing a
long poem entitled" The Lj3t Man." This was indeed hard 1 " The conception
of the 'Last Man' had been mine fifteen years ago; even Lord Byron had
■pared the title to me ; I therefore wrote, my poem so called, and sent it to
the press ; for not one idea in which was I indebted to Lord Byron or lo any
alher ftrsQit. Had I foreseen events, I should have communicated with Lord
Byron during his lifetime."
There is something amusing in Campbell's painful earnestness, especially
in view of the fact thai his statement is very doubtful. Cyrus Kedding, one
of his biographers, is inclined to make light of the subject. " I happened to
know," he says, " from a friend whom I met in Paris in 1817, and who had
teen Byron and Shelley in the South the year before, thai with Bvron the
poem of ' Darkness' originated in a conversation with Shelley as they were
standing toaelher in a day of brilliant sunshine looking over the Lake of
Geneva. Snelley said, * What a change it would be if the sun were to be ex-
tinguished at Ibis moment t how the race of man would perish, until perhaps
only one remained, — suppose one of us I How terrible would be his Ctte I' "
Redding mentioned the circumstance to Campbell. But Campbell would
not admit iL " He tenaciously clung to the belief that Byton had committed
the larceny." Redding then observed that the idea of a sole survivor at the
last day, and the image of a sun quenched suddenly in eternal night, were not
absolutely original with either poet, as he remembered seeing something of
the kind written long before. Campbell began to wax very warm at the
mere supposition, and reiterated his claim that the idea of a last laan was
wholly his own, although he did give Byron credit for the concomitant dark-
Redding afterwards discovered the passage to which he had allud'^d, and
confronted Campbell with it.
They were these few lines in "an obscure poem printed in 181 1 i"
Uoinand dndl bnv<
Coogk'
614 HANDY-aoOK OP
Campbell cnuld not gainsay a work wiih (h« date affixed. "Vou are
right," he said : " the idea is nol original wiih me. I ihoughi It had been, for
I never met with it before. Original ideas arc few : only tlie modes of putting
them aie couiillesB."
After Campbell's death, Redding received a nolo from Dt. Dicltson, accusing
Campbell of borrowing ihe idea from Bishop Home, who died in 1791. This
is improbable, from the circumstance that Campbell was no sermon-reader
and did not own Horne's works. Nevertheless, a passage from the latter's
sermon on "The Death of the Old Year" is particularly striking in the present
connection, as it contains a reference to a still older use of the idea, found in
Burnet's " Sacred Theory of the Earth" (Book iii., ch. lii.f, published about
168;.
I'his celebrated writer, Home says, having followed the earth through all
its changes of creation, describes the final and utter devastation of it, when all
sublunarjr nature shall be overwhelmed by a molten deluge. In this situation
of things, " he stands over Ihe world as if he had been the eniy survivor, and
pronounces its funeral oration in a strain of sublimity scarcely ever equalled
Furthermore, it appears that in reality even the name of Campbell's poem
was not his own. In the British Museum there is a work entitled "The Last
Man, or Omegarus and Syderia, a Romance in Futurity," It was published
in two volumes, by K. Dutton, 45 Grace Church Street, 1S06, and is entered
in the im« catalogue under the sub-title " Omegarus," which in itself implies
But the history of the " Last Man" does not end with Campbell. A lew
months after the apjKarance of his poem, another " Last Man" — a novel — was
Subltshed by Mrs. Shelley. She describes herself in hei journal as returning
am Italy I0 England, after an absence of six years, still mourning for her
husband, to find that her " genius had been quenched by the same waters that
swept him away." "Now my mind is a blank, a gulf, filled with formless
misL 'The L^t Man.' Ves, I may well describe tnal solitary being's feel-
ings. I feci mvself as the last relic of a beloved race, — my companions ex-
tinct before me.''
And then, to show that her genius mi/ quenched, she wrote this story. It
is a sad descent from " Frankenstein." The scene opens in the year 209a.
England is a republic, under a Protector. The tale describes Ihe depopula-
tion of the earth by a plague ; fifteen thousand survivors in England, joined
by a Protector, repair to Italy, and the hardships of Iheir voyage are vividly
depicted by Ihe " Last Man,"^ whose wife and child have also died. When
Milan is reached, only three people remain alive on Ihe whole earth, two of
whom, a pair of brothers, peiish tn the storm.
I'he sole survivor resolves to write the fate of the human race, and he does
so on the leaves of the trees, depositing the record in a tree in Naples just
before his own death, trusting that possibly one man and woman still remain
to repeople the earth and read the history of its awful annihilation.
In 1827 appeared Hood's poem "The Last Man," the title being in quota-
tions. He does not describe Ihe destruction of nature, but the dreariness of
the absolute solitude which reigns after the world has been swept by " the
pesL" The last survivor in this case is a hangman, who, sitting upon his
galtc-ws-tree and congratulating himself on his supremacy throughout the
entire universe, is accosted by a beggar who claims him as a brother. They
travel through the great cities, helping themselves to the choicest treasures
of the dead ; but the companionship is uncongenial, and they soon separate,
one turning to the right, and the other to the left. After some lime the beg-
gar reappears, arrayed as a king, with a scarlet cloak about his rags and a
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 615
crown upon his head. This pre9um|}tion is loo much for the hangman, and
he immediately despatches the beggar in (he mode most familiar lo him. No
sooner it the deed accomplished than he realizes all that it signifies, and he
sighs that even
lluiginjE loclu twcd,— but, aUu 1 in vkio
For ^cn^isDI ui«^ mu lilx
IiBSt ■timtr braaka th« oamol'm back. The proverb is said to be
of Eastern origin. Whether its intiuduclion into our language antedates this
quotation is conjectural. In his " Vindication of True LilKrt} against Mr.
Hobbes," Archbishop Bra m hall says, —
The lul dlcKK of the judgmiul canccrniuE the good or bad ihal nuy Ibllav on uy
mcilun i> not praperiy the whule csuK, but the 1a» pin of It ; and yci may be uid to produca
wbtn there were id many laid on btfot* u there mmed but that 10 do 11— (WrilKn In 1645I
€nipubliihedini65s)-'t^vi-*j, vol. It. p. » (Oxford, 1S44),
Laiigtiltig-inatter, Ho, a etiphemlsm for something very serious, or even
tragic
u ucellenl, on the latter Hyinv h* would repeat
' Piny don't, my dov LaudardaJe; a joke In your
Z>aiigbt«r. Somebody observed to Lord Chesterfield that mankind was
the only cieature possessed of the power of laughter. " Yes, and perhaps
the only one that deserves to be laughed at," said ihe earl. " I desire to die,"
said Horace Walpole, "when I have nobody left to laugh with me. I have
never yet seen or heard anything serious that was not ridiculous. . . . Oh,
«« are ridiculous animals; and if angels have any fun in ihem, how we must
divert them I" Byron, with a deeper insight, recognizes that the fount of
tears is that of laughter also, and that to open one sluice is to shut off the
And If I laugh at any mortal thing,
'Til that I may nca weep.
Richardson, however, had said long before, —
Indeei], fl b 10 thll deep concern thai my l«»ity » owing ; for I straggle and uiugKle. and
try ID buffet dotill my cruel reflcctknis aa they rue ; and wben 1 cannot, / am XcTCtd to try
to mtUu mfui/ tastik that t map not cry : lot one or other I mint do ; and ia il not philoa-
opby cajried to the hlgheal (rilcb for a man 10 conquer lucb tumults of ivul as I ana aomc
tunei aglui«d by, and in ih* very height of the atorm 10 quaver out a borte-laught — Ciariua
/AanViDif, Leuerg4.
Nevertheless, with the average man Itindiy and genial laughter expresses
joy and not represses sorrow. Wit devoid of malice has been compared lo
■ le of paradise, which, as Moslem doctors aver, exhilarates without the
swer to Lord I^uderdale i
I had uenlioned to him :
ingcr of reac
"We may w
y well be refreshed," says good Jeremy Taylor, " by a clean and
brisk discourse, as by Ihe air of Campanian wines, and our laces and our
heads may well be anointed and look pleasant with wit, as with the fat of
the balsam -tiee." " L'alkgreaa natrisce la vita," says ihe Italian proverb.
jGsculapiuB is reputed to have written comic songs to promote digestion in
his patients. Dr. Sydenham, the English physician, declared that the arrival
of a merry-atkdrew m a village was worth more than that of twenly asses
loaded with medicines. It is said that another London physician used to
write under his prescriptions, " Item, read three or four pages of ' Peregrine
Kckle.'"
Professor Hufeland, of Berlin, used to declare that laughter was one of Ihe
greatest helps to digestion with which he was acquainted, and that the custom
6l6 HANDY-BOOK OF
prevalent in the Middle Ages of exciting it at table by the jokei and pnns
of jesters and butTuons was rounded on true medical principles. The same
truth is recognized in popular saws, as in the English " Laugh and grow fat"
IL y ■ tndi D^ileciiu qui ne k (rompcnl pu. —
La gtiet^j le do&K vstswt, el Lc inod«te rcpu,
says the French proverb^ which is echoed in the English, —
Um Ibrttf pby^duu
StUl: 6nt, Dr. Qui«;
Next, Dr. Mirryauil,
And Dr. Dyci,—
a sentiment (bund as (ar back as the " R»imen SaniCatis Salemitanum"
!ed. 1607}, but more familiar, perhaps, in Swilt'a version, — " The best doctors
n the world are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman" {Feiiit Com/er-
taHmt, Dialogue iL), which gives the climacteric place of honor to Dr. Mer-
Another famous phrase is that of Peter Pindar (John Wolcot) :
Cue to CUT coffin Kddi ■ niJ], do doubi,
EiptttutatitTj Oilll, IT.
3 Mirth at the commencement of his "L'Allegro" i* '
tijute tliee, Nymph, jmd br^og with thee
QulH uScnnks uid nnlon Wila,
t)o^ Ud Becki md wreuhM Smlla,
^>on tbM wrinkled Cue deridei.
CoilKulSlli
On Ihe light botuiic toe,
LavMider, Ll« In. A person who is in hiding is said to be laid up in
lavender, so also a thing pairned. By a method of folk-etymologv by no
means of rare occurrence, this phrase is derived from Ihe lavender m which
pawned articles arc packed, to keep out moths, thus :
But tbt pfTore gcDtleDun paies » deerc for the Lavender Ll 11 laid up in, tb« if it \\a loDf
«t n bnker 1 bviue, be teemet lo buy bi« feppan] twice .^Grbihh ; HarUioM MitetlUmy.
And ■ bUck ulttn of hii own logo before bet in : which nik, for the moR iweeiening, now
llnintiiTender.— BiH JomaH: Evtrji Mmnl ^kii Humsr.
But lavender may be a corruption of Levant (0. v.). The Levant is, in
humorous figure of speech, that place where they betake themselves to who
would be benefited by a temporary absence from solicitous inquiries after
them; just as Jericho is a place where one is sent by his friends when he
becomes preposterous or obstreperous. The conclusion is possible, there-
fore, that "to lie in the Levant" was the original and more correct wording
of Ihe phrase.
L«ir — Lawyen. Law has come in for a great deal of enthusiastic
praise from Ihe lawyers, but both law and lawyers have fared badly at the
bands of the literary man and the jester. And first for lawyers on the law.
We have Sir Edward Coke, in the first book of his " Institutes," speaking of
" the gladsome light of jurisprudence," and declaring in a slill more famous
ReuoD It ihelifeoT the law; my. tbecomniDn law iuclf ii Dothiug iIh but reuoD. . . .
The Uw. wUch ii perfection of reiuon.
We have Sir John Powell echoing Coke :
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 617
Bernard, t Lord R»ym»md,^\\.
And we have Sir Matthew Hale placing law almost on a level with the
Scri|]tutes, as an infallible lest ai right. This was in 1664, when two women
were hung in Suffolk, under a sentence of Sir Matthew, who touk the oppor-
tunity of declaiing that the reality of witchcraft was unquestionable ; " for,
first, the Sciiptures had affirmed so much ; and, secondly, the wisdom of all
nations had provided laws against such persons, which is an argument of their
confidence of such a crime."
Nay, we even have non-legal lights like Dr. John!<on declaring to Mis.
Pioui that "the law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human
. Ciperience for the benefit of the public" And in conversation with Boswell
he defended the lawyers from a charge of habitual insincerity. " Does not a
barrister's affected warmth and habitual dissimulation impair his honesty t"
asked Boswell. " Is there not some danger that he may put on the same mask
in common life, in the intercourse with his friends ?" " Why, no, sir," replied
the doctor : "a man will no more carry the artifice of the bar into the common
intercourse of society than a man whii is paid for luniblii^j|Bpn his hands will
continue to do BO when be should walk on his feet." lOrf the other hand,
Horace Smith, himself a member of the legal profess io^mHis characterizes
the lawyer in " The Tin Trumpet ;"
Righi and wrong, milb or fklschood, moialil^ or Fiofllsacy. an all equally iadiScKnt to
him. Dealing in law, n« juilicc, hifl brief ia his Bible, (he ten guiOfiu of bu maiDtng J«
■re hii DecKlogue : htt glwy, like thai of a cook-maid, coDButi u weuine h ulk gown, and
his heaven lain ajudge't wig. Head, bean, conKieocc, body, and loui.aTl aiefor ule : the
Jiut ddeoded, or deteiMl Iboac whom he !»> jii« attacked, according id the orden he may
Macaulay, by implication, makes much the same accusation :
think that Btalcnent ialo— Ijj^ «■ Bacoti.
No one has been more savage in his criticisms on the "perfection of
reason" than Jeremy Bentham. In answer to the question, what is this boasted
English law which, as Englishmen have been told for ages, renders them the
envy and admiration of surrounding nations, he replies, —
^em of enquLilciy contrived chicanery ; a lyit
vtTtt of aelf-authoTiMd w
lyatem whicti encouiaga mendacity^ both by rewanl and puniihnKnt : a lyKem which pitti ' |
I( was a legal gentleman who gave the famous toast, "The glorious uncer-
y of the law." This was in 1756, soon after Lord Mansfield had over-
uled several ancient legal decisions and introduced n ...
practice. At a dinner oF judges and counsel in Serjeants^ Hall, Mr. Wilbra-
ham gave as a toast, " The glorious uncertainly of law." Charles Macklin,
ID his play of "Love i la Mode" (1739), borrowed the phrai
5a"
6i8 HANDY-BOOK OF
The Uiw b ■ un oT hocDi-pocm ■dtoce, that ivilc* in yer ^ice whSLe
ud the gloriolu uncenainly of ii ■> of milr uk ta ibc proleiKUi thm tfac
Fuller had already said, with line sarcasm, —
Siranfe, Itaat najon coalinuLiig atwayt tbe ume, law, grounded then
bte of to grar allcralioD,
Tennjrson has » iling at the lawless science of law :
" KiniMofoi
C-
Tliu vlldenwu of ilngk In
Aflmn't Fiild.
I was no less a person than Lord Broughan
lied geyleman who rescues your estate frc _...,_..
limaelf.'TThis embodies a tavorite charge against the profestion, u may
ieen in^m following proverbs :
Awiuits mmke (he pHiiEca bw, tbe tawycA CAI^-'(7m<tdiv.
The mil 1> coded.'' uid Ihe lnwyer : ''Deither puly bu uiylhlng ItA."
L leui urvemciK it bciler than 9, fKi Utwtuil. — lUttimn.
Here are some more gems of proverbial wisdom which deal with other
aspects of law and lawyers ;
No good lawyer ever gou to l*w. — Italian,
.Fiir mod •oftfy, u l*-yen go u hOYea.— fwlfrt.
PWWe» hell a full, never will « Uwyer be iMYtl.—Frtvk. '^"l
I The greater lawyer, the wone CbnMti^.—DulrJt. \
I ■■Virtue Id the middle," uM Ihe Detll, when teated between two lawyen.—ZJsKulJ
le Miller, too, in all countries and under various aliases, has his litt*
BoileatL Pope transfa
Before .
Explaini ihe
sabject. A very famous chestnut has been versified by
ansrales it thus :
n tujnd, Uauie Justice powd along.
Ch with clamor pleadi die lawa.
Dime Juitict, wtiEliing long ihe doubtful ngh'l.
The Clint of nrile lemoved to rarely well,
" There, uke," aay. Ju.t.ee. " <ike ye each a theM ;
We thrive u Weuminiler 00 fooli like you.
'Twu ■ to oyoer I live in peaa,— adieu."
Here are a few anecdotes from the repertoire of Mt. Miller ;
M. de la B . a French gentleman, seems to have formed a very correct
notion of the independence of the bat. Having invited several friends to
dine on a maigre day, his servant brought him word that there was only a
single salmon left in the market, which he had not dared to bring away, be-
cause it had been bespoken by a barrister. " Here," said his master, putting
two or three pieces of gold into his hand, "go back directly, and bny me the
trarrister and the salmon too."
A lady inquired of an attorney what were the requisites for going to law^
to which he replied, " Why, it depends U]>on a number of circumstances. In
the first place, you must have a good cause; secondly, a good attorney;
thirdly, a good counsel ; fourthly, good evidence ; fifthly, a good jury ; sixthly,
a good judge ; and, lastly, good luck." There is 1 faint reminiscence here ol
the German proverb, "Who will prosecute a lawsuit must have much gok^
good lawyers, tnncb patience, and much luck."
. Google
LITERARY CURlOSttlkS. 619
y The renowned Peter the Great, being at Westminster Hall in term time,
and seeing multitudes of people swarming about the courts of law, is said to
have inquired what all those busy people were, and what tliey were about,
and, being told that they were lawyers, replied, " Lawyers! why, I have but
four in my whole kingdom, and 1 design to hang two of them as soon as I
gel homSj^J
Samuefroote being once summoned into the country by the celalives of a
respectable piaclitioner, to whom he had been appointed eieculor, was asked
what directions should be given respecting the funeral. " What may be your
practice in the countiv," said the wag. " Ido not exactly know ; but in Lon-
don, when a lawyer dies, his body is disposed 'of in a very cheap and simple
manner. We lock il up in a room over-night, and by the next morning it has
always totally disappeared. Whither il has been conveyed we cannot tell to
a certainty ; but there is invariably such a strong smell of brimstone in the
chamber that we can form a shrewd guess at the character of the convey-
law. One law foi rich and one for poor. It has been suggested that
the original meaning of this phrase was just the opposite from that generally
read into it, — I'.r., that there are two laws, one for the wealthy, and another
and diffeienl and, of course, harsher law for the poor. Thus its primitive
import would have been, " Une law for rich and poor," as, ff., in Exodus xii.
49, "One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger thai
SDJourneth among you," Whether this be so or not, the idea that
"^ Goldsmith : 7Sr Trmltrr,
is one thai has preTailed and found expression in proverb, maxim, and epi-
gram in all ages and in all climes, and not always without cause. The Scotch
adage, which, circa 1707, was "as prevalent as il was scandalous" (Walter
Scott ! Bride 0/ Lammirmoir, ch. i.), and which ran, "Show me the man,
and I will show you the law," was justified by the gross partiality with which
justice was administered there about the lime of the union of the two crowns.
Other forms which the thought has assinned are :
Lan do v« ihe Dinner kind of men, bui tlie mighly arc (blc to wiilulaiHi Ihtm.— Witi
{16SS), p. 9«.
Sd tkctani legs u1^ nlapecunu ngnai,
uTh paupanu vincere nulla potest t
Ihen. only cdkuieIc and hold the weak, while ihe rich and powerful eaiLy broke Ihroug
ihem, {LmfAtrMi-j Tranil.)
Valerius Maximus (lib. vii., c ii., extern. 11) also refers this saying l<
Anacharsis, but Diogenes Laertius (i. 5S) ascribes it to Solon, and elolwu
(Serm. xliii.) to Zaieucus. Bacon, quolnig it in his " Apothegms." refers it ti
" one of Ihe Seven" Wise Men of Greece.
IV. in "A Treasuiy or S
o Cobwebs," thus :
6a6 hAl^DY-BOOlC OF
It ma; b« worth while to add the Tullowing :
Lan ouch flis.but Ici hoiwii go fne.— Bokh: Haui-Btck iff Primrit: HAiuTTt
Rn^itk Prmtrlit.
(A similar saying is attributed to Swift in Timbs's " Laconics," i.. No. 169.)
U vnA Itli unde quenim cniiadai (" Law go« where dotlui pleaK").— Bohn : Ptlxttt
^Fertigit yrvMrht: ftrtugugst l^ravtrb.
Ud uua di diKKtJ, imo di cans c uno di pailinia pei aver bDDa loiKn a.— ^accs/rs «'
Prevttki VtmlidiC. Pasquaugo (iBreLp, 159. luf'GiuMiiia,"
La petJu HHIE HijcLB Biu Lois el Ea grajidi en Tdiii d leilr nuK^ — QvDled by Eiauaua
■a a Fnncb current tayinf, in hit Ada£ui (cdr 167a], p. t3 ('* Abaurda," etc-, bud " Camda
When Lord Ellenboiough was trying one of the goveinmcnt cases against
Home Tooke, he found occasion to praise the imparlial manner in which
justice is administered. "In England, Mr. Tooke, the law is open to aJi men,
rich or poor," " Ves, my lord," answered the prisoner, "and so is the
London Tavern." Which reminds one of the English proverb, " Hell and
Chancery are always open," But a far more terrible indictment was that of
Justice Maule. A man being convicted of bigamy before him, the following
dialogue took place :
Cleri ef Aisitt. What have you to say why judgment should not be passed
upon you according to law?
Prisma-. Well, my lord, my wife took up with a hawker ami ran away
five years ago, and I have never seen her since, and 1 married this womait
Mr. yustUi Mmde. I will tell you what you ought to have done ; and if
you say you did not know. I must tell you that llie law conclusively presumes
that you did. Vou ought to have instructed your attorney to bring an action
against the hawker for criminal conversation with your wiie. That would have
cost you aboat a hundred pounds. When you had recovered substantial
damages against the hawker, you would have instructed your proctor to sue
in the Ecclesiastical Courts for a divorce a maud et ihero. That would have
cost you two or three hundred pounds more. When you had obtained a
divorce a mituA il Ihoro, you would have had to appear by counsel before the
House of Lords for a divorce a vinado matrimami. The bill might have
been opposed in all its stages in both Houses of Parliament ; and. altogether,
you would have had to spend about a thousand or twelve hundred pounds.
Von will probably tell me that you never had a thousand farthings of your
n in the world ; but, prisoner, that makes no difference. Sitting here as a
itish judge, it is my duty to tell you that lAis t. •• • .•
it OHi laoi fir thi rich and atietkir far Ike poor.
Leadai, or Leading artlclD. in English newspaper parlance, is better
known in America as an editorial. Andrew Lang published a lK)ok under
the excellent punning title " Lost Leaders," being made up uf his editorial
contributions to the London Daily Neuis. The pioneer journals gave news
only, without comment. The first leader in newspa|>et histoiy, so we are tuld
by jVbCff and Queries, seyenth series, vii. 476. was contained in the (London)
Moderattof Tuesday, December 11, 164S (No. it), where, after references to
David succeeding Saul to the exclusion of Ishbosheth, and to various other
instances in sacred and profane history of persons ascending the throne
without regard 10 hereditary claims, the writer comes to the conclu>>ion that
the reign of monarchs depends upon the authority of the commonwealth
The article is temperate in lone, and is entirely free from the personalities
and abuse characteristic of later journalism. But this is only a sporadic
instance. The first paper which made it a practice to enter upon the contro-
L.ooyk
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 621
versiesof (he time with dignity and deliberation was Tki Cimiplealt Inlelligmcef
and Reselver, " In two parts. The first giving intelligence of the stale uf the
thteC^Kingdomes. The other. Resolving doubia in the Present Differences."
In the third issue (November 14, 1643) we have such questions resolved as the
following : " Whether may it nut be one cause of Ihe trouble of this Kingdome,
that the Archbishop of Canterbury [Laud) hath not been Iryed yet ? Whether
bath he not deserved to suffer T' Both questions are argued and answered
in the affirmative. "The spar ir^ of him hath been a great provocation to
I wrile, myicir, wkh uinful tlowneia, vkd [ cannot get ttuough mon than five himdnd
Kordt an hour. 'Jtiui, ir tak« me three houn id write a leading anicte of filtten hundred
wordt; but, dkctaltog it to an amanueiuU^ the tatk can be got ihrough with, lorar aa the
calligiaph]' i> conreined, in jiut ihh hour and a half. To thit mu>t be added two houn in the
moming palkntly ploddiog through the newapapen m aearch of an attractive lubject. and at
teait aDDthtr hour spent in *' thinEing out" the »uhjccl when iijied upon, and reading up tlie
JDunuiitm aa " duhing off" ateader.— Waltr BntAifT: inltrvim/ 1» Jirto y^rk Krcoriirr.
Leap In t&a dark. Hobl>es, on his death-bed (1679), is reported to have
said, " I am going to take a friehtfu) leap into the dark." This phrase ha^
sometimes been attributed to Rabelais, but it seems lo be a misapprehension or
mistranslation of the last words attributed to him, — "Je rn'en vais chercher un
grand Peul-estte" (" I am going in search of a great Perhaps"). Dryden
may have had Rabelais's phrase in his mind when fie wrote, —
To be n'kDD»'not°w£l,'we knc^ ^t when.
Or perhapt he remembered Shakespeare :
And blown with rolleu violence nnind ahtHit
The pendent wortd.
Voltaire, when seized with a hemorrhage which, though not Immediately
fatal, proved in fact the beginning of the end, said, " Like my Henry IV., to-
day I take the perilous leap." This is an allusion to the words which the
king addressed to Gabiielle d'Estr^es on the eve of his reception into the
Catholic Church, — " C'eai demain, ma belle amie, que je fais le saut periDeux."
The Earl of DeiW said in the House of Lords, August 6. 1867, on the third
reading of Disraeli's Reform Bill, " No doubt we are making a great experi-
ment and taking a leap in the dark."
In "The Merry Musician," an anonymous and undated collection of songs
(firra 1716), and in the supplementarysiith volume of Tom D'Urfey's " PillB
to Pui^e Melancholy" (\^^, there is a song entitled "A Hymn upon the
Execution of Two Criminals," which was afterwards sung in Gay's " Beggar's
Opera." Here are the opening stanzas :
All you that luui take a leap in the Dark,
Pil/lhe Fate of UwKn U.S Uark ;
Oeated by Hope, by Mercy amiued,
Betray'd by the linful way* we ii»ed :
Cmpp'd in our Prime of Slnngth and Youth,
Who can but weep at » ud a Tiutb T
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
HoATtnlr mercy tfaine on our Souli,
Death dnm BUT, luili, Sepulchre'* iE
NuuR ii nreager in VKUIh dtu In A|
~' a.ui^, deceRfiil'SliB, "■
a of Wine and Women im.
ilDftd Pleu
IiOkp-ysar and manla^ It is a cummon idea, h«ld more in jest, how-
eve, than in earnest, that m leap-year it is woman's privilege to "pop the
question" to man, in lieu of wailing lo be asked. An extension of this notion
U found in the leap-year pailtes not uncommon among the fun-loving young
people of America, in which all the usual conditions are reversed, the ladies
calling for the gentlemen, choosing their own partners for the dance, and
wailing on the moustachioed belies of the occasion. Ait early reference to the
custom occurs in a work entitled " Courtship, Love, and Matrimony," printed
in the year 1606 : " Albeit it is now become a part of the common lawe in
regarde to social relations of life that as often as every bissextile year doth
return the ladyes have the sole privilege during the time it contlnueth of
making love unto the men, which they doe either by wordea or by lookes. as
lo them it seemeth proper 1 and, moreover, no man will be-entilled to the
benefit of the clergy who dothc in any wise Ireate her proposal with slight or
contumely." Cuthbeit Bedc, however, says that if a man chose to refuse, the
lady had the right 10 demand a silk dress, but at the lime of her proposal
she had to be the wearer of a scarlet petticoat, which, or the lower portion of
which, she must exhibit to the man.
An effort has been made lo dale the custom back to an old act of the Scot-
tish Parliament "passed about Ihe year 123S," in which it was "otdainl thai
during ye reign of her maist blessit maiestie, Margaret, tike maiden ladie, of
baith high and Iqwe eslail, shall hae libertie lo speak ye man she likes. Gif
he refuses to lak her to bee his wyf, he shall be mulct in Ihe Bum of ane
hundredil^ pundis, or less, as his estait may bee, except and aiwais gif be
can make it appeare that he is betrolhit lu another woman, then he shall be«
free." Bui the only authority for Ihis statement is Ihe " Illustrated Almanac"
for 1865. which probably manufactured the statute as a jest At all events,
Ihe imitation of old Engliwh is too modern for the year 1238.
Of evidently modern manufacture, also, is the Irish legend which strives lo
ll.row the authority of long tradition over the custom. SL Patrick, so the
story runs, was once walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, — after having
"driven the frogs out of Ihe b<^ and ■■ the snakes out of the grass," — when
he was accosted by Sl BridgeL With many tears and lamenutions she in-
formed him Ihat dissension liad arisen In Ihe nunnery over which she pre-
sided, because the ladies were denied the right of "popping the question."
St Patrick, although a single man himself, was somewhat moved by Ihis piti-
ful tale, and said he would concede women the right of making Iheir selec-
tion every seventh year. Sl. Bridget demurred. Throwine her arms about
his neck, she exclaimed, " Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, i daurn I go back to the
gurls wid sich a proposal. Make it one year in four." To which 5t Patrick
replied, "Biddy, acushia, squeeze me Ihat way again, an' I'll give you leap-
year, the longest of Ihe lot 1" Si. Bridget, thus encouraged, helhoughl her-
self of her own husbandless condilion, and accordingly popped the question
to St. Patrick himself; bul of course he could hoi marry : so he patched up
the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown.
IieamlDK " A little learning is a dangerous thing," says Pope in his
"Euay on Criiicism," Part ii., line 15, And he advises in the nest line, —
Drink deep, or laste doc ibe PterUa IpftDf^
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 623
a line, by the way, borrowed from Drayton :
Who had drank deep of itie Pleriin (priiii.
Probably Pope had in mind Bacon'a apothegm in his essay "Of Atheism:"
" A little philosophy inclinelh man's mind to atheism, but depth in philoso-
phy brtngeth men's minds about to religion." Fuller also borrowed from
■he same souice : " A little skill in antiquity inclines a man to Popery ; but
depth ill thai study brings him about again to our religion." \Tlu Holy State:
Tke True Antiquary.) Donne, in his " Triple Fool," put Ihe same idea in an-
other form i
Wko u. ■ little wiK tke beM fwU be.
Elsewhere in the " Essay on Criticism" Pope his a fling at mere booL-
learning :
The boolifiil blockbead, ignoranlly md,
With iDjidi Df learned lumbet id hit bud,
in whom, as Tennyson puts it, *
Kiwvkdge coiaes, bat wodom liogoi.
An Oriental saying runs, —
LeiTninc to ban and wudom id lack,
li a load ai booka on an ui'a back.
Chancer stales the proposition in another form 1
Nevertheless there is Eood sense in Maxim 571 of Publius Syrus: "It is
only the ignorant who despise education." (Sec, also, Ignokanck.)
Leather, Tbere'i nothine like, a proverbial expression in EJiglisb and
other languages lo rrdicule an exaggerated opinion of the value of one's own
mltier. The allusion is to the old fable accredited to .£sop^ of Ihe town in
danger of a siege, wherein, al a hasty consultation of the citizens as to Ihe
best method of fortification, the mason recommends stone, Ihe carpenter good
stoul oak, and the currier, last of all, gets up and says thai he has found there
is nothing like leather.
The popularity of the fable, and so of the phrase, has been largely influenced
by Ihe following anonymous rhymed version, which was found in most of the
school-books in the earlier ^lortion of the century :
A town reared a tlvee, and held cDotululion
WbiiJi wai tbe belt nuHbod of rortificadon:
It waj betwr by Lr lo defind it wilh oak,"
Said, " TryvV^l you pltaK,°iheRi'na'(iing like laiher."
LMk npon Balut Tavy'a &a.y. Wearing th«. The Welsh ecclesiastical
tradition is thai St. David caused the Brilons under King Cadwalader to dis-
tinguish themselves by wearing a leek in their bonnets. They won a great
victory over the Saxons, which has ever since been commemorated by iheir
wearing ihe leek on Ihe anniversary of Ihe day (March 1). (Brady : Ciaoii
CalmJaria.)
According to Shakespeare, the event recalled by the usage was an incident
..oogic
HAlfDY-BOOK OF
indbihcr. ofbrnoui
rcjd ia thr chroniciFi, fougl
Kiif Henrj. They did, Fludl™.
FliH. Your mijaly iMjn Tirjr mil ; if your majejly ii remtmbtred of it, Iht Wtlihmtn did
gool iirvice in » gud™ where f«kll did (row, imiiiur leelu in ibcit Monmouth ciipt, which,
youi mijcity )ioa«, >o ihii hour ii u hononblc padge of Ihe Krvice - and 1 do b<r<ve your
mijejiy laku no Kam u> wur Ihe iHk upon S-Sii Tivy'i AM.y—King Hnrj v., Acl
The cuslom was observed np to recent limes by Ihe royal families of Eng-
land. The grandson of King James L, Ihe Elector, at Heidelberg, observed
the usage, as is noted in the " Memoirs" of Sophia. Eleclress of Hanover, in
a passage which confirms the tradition as related by Shakespeare :
On March i (tA6i), which the EnElith in ceneral, and ihe royak family In partieulaT, ob-
terve hyeaiingin l)ie evening an onion which ihe* have worn in their hau ihroushout (he
day, in nKmory of ■ halile won hy a Prince of wilei wearing thii device, the EUctor ir-
In Hogaiih's "The Rake's Prioress," Na 4, is represented a Welshman
with an enormous leek in his bonnet, showing that it is St. David's day, and
the rake, togged in all his finery, is proceeding to attend a levy at court
Iieft. Over the, a colloquialism in common use both in England and in
America, implying doubt, derision, or denial of some prior slatement It ia
an abbreviation of " over Ihe left shoulder." The left is unlucky, as the right
is lucky, but, as two negatives make an affirmative, so [wo unlucky omens
counteract each other and result in a negation. Thus, to throw salt over
Ihe left shoulder neutralizes the ill luck that would otherwise follow from
spilling it. To pray th^it God should bless a iwrson over the left shoulder was
a euphemistic fonn of cursing. In the Records of the Hartford County Courts,
in the (then) Colony of Connecticut, is found the following curious entry :
Ala County Court held alHanfotd, I
Seiiltinber ^, ijoj, (
(ai in jiiilice Ihey think they Ol^blj, upon the declaring the aaid judgment, the said Wtten
he departed from Ihe uhk, heiaJd," 'CaA ilia yai mtrlhr Ufl ikoidirr."
I'he Court order ■ rcconl to be made tbeiHjf iDTthwith,
A trve copic : Tcet.
Calm Stimuv, Oeit
At the next court. Waters was tried for contempt, for saying the words re-
cited, "so cursing the Court," and on verdict fined five pounds. He asked a
review of the court following, which was granted ; and pending trial the court
asked counsel of the Rev. Messrs. Wooribridge and Buckingham, the ministers
of Ihe Hartford churches, as to the "common acceptation" of the offensive
phrase. Their reply constitutes a part of the record, and is as follows :
We are of opinion Ihu thoH wordi, uid on the other ilde 10 be ipolien hy Bevell Waiera,
Include (i)prDphaneneH,by uilng the Dime of God. thaiii holy, with >ueh III words wbereio
it waijoyned; {3) ihat they carry great ctmiempt in them, arising 10 ihe degree of an impre.
cation or cune, the wordi of a cime being itie moel contemptible that can oMinarily be uaed,
March 7th, 170S..6.
The former judgment was affirmed on review.
At thia Inauiry Mr. Mania looked wiih a counieiunce of exceteive eurpriie at hif two
acIioB 'it imperlectly deicribed in wordi hy Ihe very leeble term of Qoei the left, . . . IB
eipmuon la OBI ofll^ and playfiil ttnaam.— DicK» ; Pitkvick Paft".
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 6»S
Leg, To nuke a, or To make tega. This phnue means what, in modern
parlance, we should call "to bow the head." Fashions change nowadays.
The " bow" is ihe principal mark of courlesy, Ihe scrape of the foot mereir
an accessory. In Ihe olden time the scrape, or rather genuflexion, was the
marked and principal sign, the bow of the head either accessory to it or want-
ing. Smyth, in Ihe manuscript "Lives uf Ihe Berkeleys," vol. iii. p. 855,
mentions an experience in Ihe twenly-sixth year of ihe reign of Qaeen Eliza-
beth, when he, then a page, was taught by his lady to make a leg :
hut«ning. and Ifaenby pmcnled hu wuh ■ lUunLnA legge or cunny, u loLh 100 long 10 UMy
upon ih^t duty. 5h« coIJed me back to her, lo make tre I dcpvled one hundred leggi {tat
of noe dwit, Utdy come (roma counlry tcho^ undbul newly enieted inlo her tervic*), Ihu.
b«uer abierve Che ffrace of drawLog back the foot and bowing of the kne«.
The same use of the term is the following :
jod wiUi a^low 1^ ID Him al the altar.— ^4 rtiiUi ofoliul }tkn Ctiiit and alitt^,
e read of " beggars making
legs" after being entertained. Behind the scenes Ihe phrase was so bmll-
iar that in Chetlle's " Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon," 1601, the stage
direclion [o the actor in Ihe margin is " Make legs." " He made a '
off his hat n
defect"
The fotlowii
last century.
Cris, " Miu, u
'V-S^ee.--
Leg-Of-Ullttoa Bohool, a generic name for poetasters, paraBiCei of the
rich, who give servile Aallery and |>rafuse laudation la theit patrons as a
fuid pro qua for sumptuous entertainment, the " leg of multon" being sup-
posetl 10 typi^ their source of inspiration. The title was invented by J. G.
Lockhart in a review of a ridiculous poem called " Fleurs : a Poem in Four
Books," by a nameless sycophant of the Duke of Koibutghe, whose seat was
Fleurs Castle, and whose beefeteak and onions seem to have inflated the gus-
tatory muse of Ihe anonymous rhymester.
The chief coulellaliou in thll poetical Grmam
bangen.on, whote pleaiure and vhoK builnen i( ii
d( tome anflcUc patron wbo keepi a gDod table and
Hniae. Verily, ihey have Iheir reward. The ant— , „ ...
five limea a week on hock aod vaaEtor
wbol* &mlly, from my lord id the but
to the DOBKifcal deficiency, of Ihn cb
cific ^tinction among the auihon ~.
Roedy ihii dcfcct ; and in the baplisr
rbol* &mlly, from my lord id the buUer inclusive, II ii owing to the modetty, c
1 the DOBeVfcal deficiency, of thu claiK at imten that ihey have hiiberlo obtainen no ipe-
ific ^tinction among the auihon of the pinent day. We think il incumbeDI on u> to
' ' ' oor magailne we declare that, in the
by Ihe ilyie and title of " Ttie Leg-
[ilM BaidDr Ftenr above mintfonedj <i marked by a man than inoal portion of the
qualitka charwrleriaiic of Ihe Leg-orMniiDO School; by all iheir vulgar ignor
Ihanatl ibeb' dumiy lerviliiy, their fawning adulation of wealth anif iltlei, il
aAer (he lleah.paii. and by all the lymptonu of an utter incapacity to twnd 1
Jf S3
626 HANDY-BOOK OF
e hoc eat regnare. Lord Coleridge, at the anniverwj
dinner of the Roval Literary Fund in 1874, said this was an old and pious
J o? the Collect in the Salist>urv L
Peace in the Morning Service is translated : "Dei auclor pads el amator.
saying which had come down to us from the Middle Ages. He may have
been thinking of the Collect in the Salisbury Use, from which Ihc Collect '"
IiOOIllnA ▼erses, stiiclly speaking, Latin hexameters and penCamelers in
which rhymes occur. There are many such iinea in the classic poets, partic-
ularly in Ovid, notwithstanding oui tradition that the Latins avoided rhymes
as systematically as we seek ihem. But the device became habitual in (he
Middle Ages, when the instinct towards rhyme asserted itself even in the
ecclesiastical Latin, and LeoninUB, canon of the church of SL Victor in
Paris in the twelfth century, is said to have given an impulse to it. Number-
less specimens remain, sui:h as
Ed ru EdrardDi, debacchHDi ul L«opardut.
A famous Leonine verse is thai which recounts the adventure of the Jew
who fell into a pit on a Saturday :
Sibbau DOKn cola, it ilcrcort lurgcrt nolo.
Subbats poitn quidcm, S^tDmoD, celebnbi* ibidcin.
Which may be rendered thus:
" Yout hud," cried John Bull, " ud I'll glie you ■ poll."
" 'Til our Sibbalb. dcu Julin, when no voit mnit be done."
" And oun i> OD Sunday ; you muiI luy ihere till Mtoiday."
Less properly Leonine veises, but still included under that name, are those
Latin rhymed verses, not in the classic hexameter or pentameter at all, of
which ihe " Slabal Mater" and other mediaeval hymns are splendid specimens.
One of the most plaintive examples of Leonine verse in this lazer sense is
a scrap of not very classical, but very intelligible, Latin attributed to Maiy
Queen of Scots in prison :
O Domini Dcui, tpenvi Id tc :
Some authorities recogniie as Leonine those English verses in which one of
the beats within the line proper is also a rhyme, as in Campbell's well-known
line, the first of these two ;
To the rime of your ume
When ih> •lonn hu <xami to blow.
Let alone, We deeire only to be. In his first message to the Conled-
erate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama, President Davis undertook the
defence of the tight of secession, and crowned an elaborate argument with
the above declaration. It was an unfortunate and weak expression, very vul-
nerable, and easily twisted to the purposes of caricature. It came, indeed, to
be extensively caricatured, and thus obtained currency as a popular tjuotation,
much against the dignity of the Southern cause. Every rogue "desired only
to be let alone ;" it was Ihe ludicrous excuse for all Sorts of crime, when the
newspapers wanted to make a laughing-stock of any scapegrace in situations
of embarrassment, all the way from Ihe police-court to Ihe historical drama.
A popular print in the shop-windows of Northern cities illuslratcd the argu-
ment, and lampooned its author as a burglar making off with his plunder, an
armful of miniature fortresses and ships of war and bags of money, "Unclv
;i:,vG00gif
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 637
Sam" clinging to his coat-tails, and the detained victim, with an air of iniared
Innocence, exclaiming, as he attempts to escape out of a window, " I desire
only to be let alone 1"
It'titat^c'eatmoiMFr., "The Slate, lam the Sutc I") This famous say-
ing is attributed to Louis XIV. An accretion of myths and misunderstand-
ings, supplied by successive historians, has finally crystallized into the pictu-
resque story that Louis determined at seventeen years of age to assert his
authority, appeared in Parliament boated and spurred and with a whip in his
hand, prohibited it from assembling, and to the remonstrance of the president,
who spoke of the interests of ihe Slaie, haughtily responded, " L'Etat, c'eal
moi !" The &cts at the bottom of this fabrication appear to be that Cardinal
Maiarin, fearing for his own authority when Parliament assembled on Decem-
ber 22, 1665, hastily summoned the young king from Ihe hunllng-lields of
Vincennes, that Louis, dressed in his toslumt dt chant, appeared in Ihe legis-
lative chamlxr, prohiljilcd Parliament from assembling, and, after having !>aid
a few words, departed without listening lo any address. The words have not
been recorded, but there is no doubt that the king was simply reciting a
lesson learned from Mazarin. Into that lesson no such phrase as " I am the
State" could have slipped. The State was not yet Louis XIV : it was Car-
dinal Mazarin. On the death of Mazarin, however, Louis at once began 10
assume that haughty and despotic attitude which makes the MDf sound typical
and characteristic " Your majesty," said the Archbishop of Kouen, " ordered
me lo address myseir to the cardinal in all matters. As he is dead, to whom
shall I refer ?" " To me," said the king. Summoning his cabinet, he gave
them to understand that henceliirlh he would be his own prime minister.
Long afterwards Louis employed M. de Torcey lo draw up a course of public
law tor his grandson, Ihe Duke of Burgundy. On the first page is this
sentence : " The nation is not corporate in France : it lives entirely in the
Cerson of the king." Courtiers all found it 10 their interest 10 flatter Ihe
ing's evident identilicalion of himself with the Slate, In fact, Bossuet
actually said of him, "All Ihe Slate is in him" ("Tout I'Ctat ent en lui"). It
was but a step from the tacit acceptance of this sentiment to its open avowal,
and that step the veracious historian has taken for the king. Napoleon para-
phrased Ihe famous met when he said, " I am Ihe French Revolution."
Afterwards, at Grenoble, on his return from Elba in 1815, he said, " I am the
Revolution crowned."
I>e7(Ult, To, colloquial English for to abscond, e:
itors. This is one of a curious group uf words in n _ „ „
the result of bad puna. In English Iroant approximates in sound to Uaae,
hence to levant is lo leave. In French "(aire voile en Levant" and in
Italian "andare in Levanle" are similar puns, — the first on lever, the second
on irmrv. — both meaning lo raise, lo lift, hence the punning ex|>ression means
to carry away, to steal. Belonging to the same group are the English "off
lor Bedfordshire" or " the land of Nod" as a synonynie for to sleep, " Hun-
garian" for hungry, " all holiday at Peckham" for starving, " in Easy Street"
lor comfortable, prosperous, and "in Queer Street" for the opposite. In
French equally bad puns are "aller i Niort (ntrr)," to deny, "atler \ Ver-
sailles (vtntrsr to be upset, "allei i Cachan (cachtr)," 10 conceal one's self,
"aller & Rouen {mint\" to become bankrupt, to be ruined, etc In Italian
"andare in Picardia," "andare a Ij^ngoue," "andare a Fuligiio," all mean
lo suffer the penalty of the law, from the phonetic affiliation of those words
with spikes and ropes.
Bauiaii : ln£otdtbf Lggtndt, i. a^
Coogk"
628 HANDYBOOK OF
Uar. Fm Bomethiiig of a liu mrseU; a bit or American colloquial
humur applied lo any one suspected of playing Munchausen. The storj runs
that a certain travelled Yankee who had told a marvellous tale of adventure
turned round to a Scotchman in the company and asked if he were not aston-
ished. " Na, na," was the answer, " I'm na that I'm something of a leear
Uars ahoold bave good memail«a, a proverbial saying of obvious
wil and wisdom, which is found in most languages, and is quoted by !jt
Jerome, in the fourth century, as being even then an old saw; "Oblltus
veteris proverbii, meiidices memoies esse oporleie" (" Unmindful of (he
old proverb, Liars should have good memories"). In fact, the idea is found
in Quintilian {liuHtutes, iv. i) ; " Mendacem memorem esse oporiere" (" To
be a liar memory is necessary"). Montaigne, in his essay " Of Liars,"
quotes the saw approvingly :
tl l> not oilhoul good nuon wid that he who hu not ■ good memory ihoald nerer uIk
Fuller has an admirable gloss of the proverb :
tighl or B moMWr longer than ill* tighi of a \
Iherei
Llbwal RBpublloana, the name given by themselves to c
of the Republican party during the first term of Grant's
Opposition to the alleged official corruption within their own ranks ana lo
the more radical political measures of Ihat party, and hatred of Grant, were
some of the chief characteristics of a movement somewhat spasmodic and
desultory. Charles Sumner and Cail Schurz in the United Slates Senate, in
and about 1870, were prominent representatives of one of its aspects. The
lidal wave of (874, and the pandering to the senlimenl by the Democrats in
1872 by endorsing (heir nomination of Horace Greeley for the Presidency, are
the moat important political events associated with it.
LiberalB, a name given in England to (he party of more advanced Whig;s
and Reformers since iSaS. The parly held office under Earl Grey. Viscount
Melbourne, Earl Russell, Viscount Palmeiston, and Gladstone. The rem-
nant of the Whigs coalesced with the Toiies into the Conservative par(y,
(See Radicals.)
Zdberator, Tlie (Sp. " EI Libertador"), a title conferred by the Peruvians,
in 1833, on Simon Bolivar, the geneial of (he Soulh American colonies in
their revolt from Spain. He is also known as the Washington of South
America. The slate of Bolivia is named after him.
gin from (he ancient Phrygian cap, which
ns of the Trojans in Plaxman's illustra-
- e and Rome slaves were not allowed to
have the head covered, :
placing a cap on his head, ....
so regarded during the Roman lepublic. When Saturninus possessed him
self of the capilol (B.C. 263I he used a cap on a pole as a token of liberty to
all slaves who might join him. Marius raised the same symbol (o induce the
slaves to take aims with him against Sylla. After the death of Cxsar the
cunHpira(ors matched out in a body with a cap borne before them on a spear.
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 639
A medal with thi» device was gtruck on the occuion, and is still in existence.
In France the "liberty cap," ot "bonnet toagc," was iniroduced by the
Girondists during the Revolution, and it owed lis favorable reception princi-
pally to an article by Brissot in the PatrieU Framaiis lot February 6, 179Z, in
which he declared that the "inoumful nniforni of hals" had been introduced
"by priests and despots," and proved from history that all great nations — the
Greeks, the Romans, the Gaul*~had held the cap in peculiar honor, and that
in modern times Voltaire and Rousseau had worn it as a symbol of free-
dom. The red color was expressly recommended "as the most cheerful."
It is also said that the "bonnet rouge" was habitually worn by the galley-
slaves, and was adopted as the symbol of freedom after the release from the
galleys of the Swiss regiments of Chftteau.Vieut Before the Revolution red
had been regarded in France as the color of despotism and oppression, and
had acquired a bad reputation among patriots through "the red book" and
the red flag as the instrunient of martial law, Bui alter Brissot's letter the
red cap became the symbol of the Girondists, On March 14 it appeared for
the first lime in the Jacobin Club. Five days later il was expelled therefrom
through the influence of Potion and Robespierre. Nevertheless, the Giron-
dists continued to uphold it, till the insurrection of June 20 made il the
emblem of the victory of republicanism over mtmarchy.
Liberty, BquHlity, Frfttamlty, the three watchwords of the French
Revolution of [7S9. The original cry was for liberty, and the other two
words were gradually and separately added. In its entirety the phrase has
ever been the motto oF the Republican parly in France, as it is aliu) of the
extreme Socialists and Radicals everywhere. The French Revolution was
an expression in action of the thoughts of many preceding prolelaiian thinkers.
It was in some sort a plagiarism from the American Revolution of 1776, re-
affirming and extending the prineii>les enunciated in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence that " all men are created equal," and are endowed with the inalien-
able rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But that, in its
turn, owed much to the French phMosophes and their predecessors. Even
in the early part of the eighteenth century the doctrines of cqualitv were in
the air. In Germany no less a man than Frederick the Great said, " Kings
are but men, and all men are equal." In England, Pope, voicing the philos.
ophjrof Bolingbroke, wrote, —
HoTcn ID nuDkind impuiiil « cenfeu.
When all are equal— in ih«ir hippintn.
£i(«'<ni AfM. GplMklv..!. S3.
That arch-Tory and ex Jupiter Tonans, Dr. Samuel Johnson, it is true, in
the same year that Jefierson's words were born, gave utterance to (he senti-
ment that, BO far from its being true that all men are naturally equal. " no
two people can be halt an hour together but one shall acquire an evident
tiuperiorily over the other" (Boswell : Lift, 1776) ; but Charles James Fox
said, " I am for equality. I think that men are entitled to equal rights, but
to equal rights to unequal things." Turgol, the philosopher of the French
Revolution, declared, "The republic is founded upon the equality of all the
ciliaens ;" and "Ihe fiery Isnard" is quoted by Carlyle, in his "French
Revolution," thus : " We will have equality, should we descend for it to the
tomb," an adumbration of the cry, " Fraternity or death," which the Jacobins
ordered to be put upon all the public buildings. This last was wittily para-
phrased by Sebastian Chamfort, " Be my tnother, or I will kill thee" (" Sois
mon frire, ou je te tue"). To Madame Roland he said, "The fraternity of
these fellows is the fraternity of Cain and Abel." Chamfort was one of the
bravest as well a« one of the moat brilliant of the wits who, after contributing
53*
630 HANDY-BOOK OF
to bring on Ihe Revolution by Iheir attacks upon the follies and InJDStiM of
the old r^ime, were run over and trampled to death by the mob of lanatica
whom it IKxraled in an hour from all the restraints of aulhorily and custom.
It was he who, just before the Revolution, when somt aristocrat was insisting
that the nobility must be considered as the mediator between king and peo-
ple, quietly said, " Exactly, as the bound is mediator between hare and hunts-
mani" a phrase which was imitated by Sheridan, "Such protection as
vultures give to lambs" {.Pitarro, Act ii., be 3). It was he also who gave the
Abb^ Sieyis the famous title of the treatise on the strength of which Mirabeau
wrote to him, " So, then, there is at least a man in France )" " I'he Third
Estate. What is it? Nothing! What ought it to be ? Everything!"
Chamfott warned Roland and Madame Roland in Tain that the Gironde
would find itself unable to hold its own against the Mountain ; but as the
triumph of the Jacobins became more certain Chamfort's contempt and
horror of them were more firmly and more freely expressed. Finally he was
arrested and thrown into prison, but waa soon released. In 1795 he committed
suicide to avoid a second arrest.
Yet though the words equality and fiateinily weie temporarily abused by
lanalics. the piinciple.H they represented have gained wider and wider accept-
ance. Napoleon, the great leveller, used almost Ihe identical words of Jeffer-
son, "Nature made all men equal," and Burns sang, —
llM man'* Ihe gowdi for a' lb*l.
Proudhoii closes his first mfmoirr on property with an appeal to the Deity
to hasten the coming emancipation and In witness his unselfish devotion :
O God of liberty I God of equalily 1 ihou God who hut placed in my faeul the tend-
meni cf jiuiice berore my nuon cumprcheoded il. hear my ardent prayer. ... I have
apokto u Ihou hail given me power and latent ; ii nmalu for ihea to com[JeK Ihy work.
Thou linoweit whether t have ux^hl my interen or ihy glory. May my memory penih, ic
humuiijr may b(ube&«, . . . Sh«ten, if il may he. our time oT trial; unother Inequallly,
OIK tBeffaUernHmily/ud all togelEe^ chaining a new hymn, will re^reci thy altar. O God
oTIilKnyaBdof equalily.— CE'n'rw r«>i^rr>, tomei. p. n4.
" It is through fraternity that liberty is saved." These were the closing
words in the short speech of Victor Hugo on his return to Paris after Ihe
fall of Ihe Empire in 1870, which he made to the people assembled at the
Northern railway-station.
Liberty or death. In the Virginia Convention of March. 1775, Patrick
Henry, in support of a resolution that the colony be immediately put in a
state of defence, closed his speech with the brilliant peroration, " Is life so
dear, or peace so sweet, as In be purchased at the price of chains and slavery f
Forbid il, Almighty God I I know not what course others may take ; but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death I" The sentiment is not unlike
Addison's .-
My voice it Hill for war.
i,»liveryorde«th?
Thomas Jefferson, in his "Sun
pithy phrase, "The God who gave u
Mr. Henry was the man who wanted libeny or death. He pnferred libeity. though. IT
Im louldn'l have libetiy. he wanted in die. bill he wat in no sreal n»h about 11. He would
like libeny, if there was plinly of II ; but if ihe Britlih had nolibeny lo spare, he yeaned for
death, mien Ihe lynnt »ked him what uyl£ of death he wanted, he aald Ihu he would
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
«d, ud )h ihouchi li Hould i
. . , , . li-Slavery Sociely.
It numbered among its adherenis such men as William Llojd Ganison,
Wendell Phillips, and Salmon P. Chase, and was lesB remarkable for numbers
than Tor pcrsiaient agiiaiion. In 1840 its candidate for Ihe Presidency, James
G. Birney, received a loul of only seven thousand and fifty-nine votes in the
entire country, and in 1848, when again its nominee, he had siity-two thou-
sand three hundred. It was merged into the Free-Soil Party in 1848,
Ucked into slwpe. This expression arises out of the popular supersti-
tion that a beat's cub is born an amorphous mass and is licked into shape by
its dam. The idea is a very old one, and is repotted seriously by Aristotle
(History af Attimali, vi. 27) and other ancient and mediaeval writers. Here
is Pliny's circumslanlial account of the phenomenon '.
cluwi ilcmc bting naisincnl. The naiher then licVa them gndiully uao proper ihapc
Nalnral Huterj,9oo>t viii., Sect. 136.
The myth has furnished numerous illustrations to the poets ;
Uke \T^c.t».«!^<!< >n' unUcK<ri«i-*help,
Shakispurii : Hinry VI., Pmrt III., Ao iii., Sc. I.
Not unlike ibc bear which briogeth forth
In Uh end of iMny diyei a ihspcleu blnh :
But after lickiAg, it in ihape ihe drawen,
And by degrm she faihioiu due ihr p*we«.
The held, end netdi, end finaUy doth bnng
To ■ pertect beail ibM fim dtformid thing.
DuBaktas: Druimt Witkti and Warka !
Firtt Wak, Pint Day.
So wuclilnl Bniio fomu. with plutic can.
Each growing lump, and bnngi it to a bw.
In French "ours mal l^h^" is commonly used figuratively of an ill-l>red
man, just as we say an unticked cub or whelp. Sir Thomas Browne mentions
Ihe belief onl^ to ridicule it in his " Vul^r Errors." It is therefore all the
more surprising to find Burlie accepting it as a fact. Pouring out his indig-
nation against Rousseau for deserting his children, Burke says, "The bear
loves, licks, and forms her young ; but bears are not philosophers" (Letter taa
Member ej Ike Nalitmal Asitmhly, 1791). In the course of a rather lively contro-
versy on this subject in Natei and Queries (siith series, iv. 395, etc), Y. Chance
seeks to show that the error is one of interpretaliim rather than of aiservatioH ;
" I never was, and never am likely to be, present at the birth of a bear's cub,
but I have often witnessed the birth of puppies, and I can af&rm that a pup
atbirik does appear to be a shapeless mass, and that after the mother has
licked away at it, its shape comes very clearly into view." Bui to this J.
Dixon very properly replies, "From the eailiest times men must have been
6S3 HANDY-BOOK OF
itMU birthl among their flocks amd herds, to est nothing of
puppies ; and yet it verji earlj became a belief lha( the cub of a bear dificred
ID a remarkable way from olher new-born animals. Few persons could have
been present at Ihe tutouchtmttii of a bear, and so (he story of the cub being
born shapeless, having been once told, was not likely to be contradicted."
least of out classical auihors, as per the following extracts :
iiLLn : TiuulultA oC ihe iUgi" PrtdirvH, S
N« iDbdLvc my v«e ud tbclr own cy
And cry Lhal tbcy tbc moml unnoc 6nd,
Bnon : Dtn Jaan, Culo 1.
Ym we inspltd, ifnr nlkiDi ronnd > Un« [of MUlonj ibieocon timca. to «cUIm si
IsK. Wvll. [f ibc Fiend himKlT ■hoold liH up before me mt (hii voj DiDiDent. in tUi ven
Many of pUim, snd uy thai do Knw wu loot* in ibsi \mt, then would 1 tcply, " Sir, wiib
" Whsi sm IT "Horribly wrong," you wish exceedingly td Hy ; but, ncoJlecting (hat looie
people MTfi choleric in u^mtnl, you confine youndfiolht poliH imiwer. " Thsr, wiih defer.
ence lo bil belter cducsiiim. you conceive fafm to lie" — (tiet's ■ bed word ID drop your voice
Upon in ulkiag wilb a Iriend, end you hsilen lo aJdd^" under s iligb1,s ttfr^tilgbloiliuke,"
—Us guiHCEV: Milltn vrtrui Sotillitf and Lander.
The phrase was a popular one so far back as the time of Swift, for he puts
it in (lie mouth of one of his characters in " Polite Conversation." Bui
Swift's ireckurt was a satire on the inanity of fashionable society.
Uw, Half-. Lord Bacon, in his essay " Of Truth," has the fullowing praise
of half.lies :
A mlaiorc of ■ lie doth ever uld pituue. Dodi uy nun doubt ihw If ibeie wete taka
ODt of mtn'e mindi vain opinion*, fUttedna bopee, AiIk vaiuaiiont, imuinftioDe ae one
would, and the lilce, bul it would leave the mioda of a number of men poor ■brunlten tfaini^
full of melanch<^y and indle[>oeltlon, and unpleaainc to ihemtdvcaj— dacon : Ettoft ; Of
Ptr antra, Tennyson says, —
Tliu a lie wlikb it half a truth b ever the blu^ken of liet :
Thai a lie which li all a lie nay be mei and fought with outright,
But ■ lie which ie pan a miih b a harder mailer lo fighi.
Tilt GrawdmalktT, Staua 1.
Llfs. Of all Mrs. Baibanld's voluminous poetry one stania alone survives.
If the praise of the best minds is a guarantee of immortality, these lines are
immortal :
Life I we've been Idoe Logelher
TbrouEh i^euanlaiid inmgh cloudy wealber,
'Tilliard to pan when frieada aie dear,—
Perhapi 'twill con a tlgh, ■ lear ;
Then Meal away. give litlle waninB,
Say not " Good4iahl." bui in eoaie briahlcr ell
Bid ma '■ GDad-mamin|."
Wordsworth used to repeat them, and even wish they we
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 633
priiM that Wordswotlh knew how to give. Madame d'Atblay in her old age
told Crabh Robinson that every night ahe said the versea over to herself as
she went to her rest. Tennyson has called them sweet verses, according to
MisB Thackeray, who adds that to her "they are almost sacred." They wete
written about 1813, but published posthumously.
Had Mrs, Barbauld, one cannot help wondering, ever read the story of one
Lamb and his wife, Scotch martyrs of the sixteenth century ? Both were
condemned by the authorities, — he to be hanged, she to be tied in a sack and
drowned in a pool. The woman on parting said to her husband. " Husband,
be glad ; we have lived together many joyful days, and this day, on which we
must die, we ought to esteem the most joyful of all, because now we shall have
joy forever. Therefore I will not bid you good-night, for we shall meet in
Uie kingdom of heaven." {Nela and Qutria, fifth series, iv. 64.)
It is an interesting task to compare what the poets and philosophers have
■aid about life. On the one hand is the magnificent optimism of Browning, —
SiaU,\x.:
unfult
Mint I uved ud'hold compleK.
Do your joyi with ige dhnlnlih T
Wmd mine fail mc, I'll CDinjiiaiD.
Mutt in death your dayliEtu AniahT
At llu 'lUtrmuid, Saau lo,—
and on the other a long line of waitings over the shortness of life, its transt-
lorinesB, its incompleteness, its vanity, its sorrows. Job's cry, " Man that is
born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble" (liv. 1), is echoed by the
Preacher in Ecclcsiaales, " For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief
(ii. 13), and finds its analogue everywhere in literature, ancient and ramiern,
pagan and Christian :
For &le hu woe Ihe ibread of lUe widi pain.
(^iH7, Book.ii.
,1. a63(P
itile ud ■ lajiiurDlng in a ilnnge
landi but
The wotld'i e bubble, ud the life
'^ ''" "'"io-n Bacon ;
Tl^Wi.
Wboee life-i e bubble, and in lengtb e ipu.
William BaowKEiif/r..
iHu'i Pa.
Our ^e^^t*'>)WD, '
And cniel deuh li ilwayi i
So frail a thing ii man.
.Evl'"
BenerbewiUilhe
daid.
Whom we, to gain out place, hav
Than on tte l^utt of the iniad i
ohT "'
iiftS^i^bl'Ler b^^ m
Trea»n ha* done hie wont ; nor
Malice dameidc, roteisn levy, noi
.Unj",
the fame thai co
M-aii, Book L, Song ■
Shahbsfbari: Uaebrik, *
CreepH in thii petty pace from day (o day
To iBe lait lyllable of iccocded lime.
;i:,vG00gk"
634 HANDY-BOOK OF
Aad iD our rourdiyi bmve lighfd fof
1. Oui.-
life'i bu ft walking •hftdow -, ft poor playa
isa„"Si-^^
«tt,Actv.,Sc. J.
Ki-iJcltH, Ao iU., Sc. 4.
Ureliftjt«.u><l
oiif.1 ihou«t
Along inMgh.
To WRIcba 1
, bli'ao. I't^w ii.
Cf.1;MfnmEfilmtK
.gJltaglW,
1« ther«, then, anything to live for?
i>f that little. Dumvivimutvwamut:
Veiy liule ; but l«t m
JOMHioii: Wiulir ! An OJi.
LUc l«l iH chtriih while yel iIk upa gloin.
And the Irnh Bow'ni pluck en ii cIok;
Why an we fond of loU and an t
'^ * ' ™M!'i5s™ii : Lift lit m chtri
Or, with Jamea Mon^omery, let us realiu that
'Tb am the whole of life to U*e,
Nor all of death to die,
T*t lituit ^Liftamd Dimih,
and BO lake heart of grace from Longfellow's admonition :
For the eoul ia dud iniil tjumbfrir
And thlogl an not what they leeOL
Life i> ml t life il eaneu 1
And the grant ii not iu goal ;
Dun ihou an, to dual Riuniex,
fti HOI ipo en ^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^
Doddri<^ seebt to show how ihe Epicurean and (he ascelk
be reconciled :
live whUc you live, ihe (picun would uy.
Epigrmm m Ait Famify A
e truth is taught by Ellen Slurgis Hooper ;
A tniih ftnd noonday light to thee.
IfffDmt,.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 635
But, whatever life may be, few care to leave it ;
Fcr who, 10 dumb fbrgfldulnen « prey.
Thit ptcBSiag, uuioiB bcihg e'er nwgb'd,
LtA ihe nrm pi«iocu of Ihe cheerful day.
Nor cut one longing, lingering look behindl
OBjkv : Eltfy, Stun «.
Nay, it is the oldf^l that are least resigned " Nobody loves life like an old
man," says Sophocles [Acrisim, Frag. 63), and Eufipicies tells us, —
sayings which are thus summed up by Mrs. Thrale in her poem of "The
Three Warnings;"
So much, dial in our Uiier flu<*.
When pun growi >hup nnd llcknia n|«.
Thegreaieu love of lire appean.
UfUnB, or RftaviUB, an old custom formeily prevalent in many parts of
England, mostly performed in the open siiecL People formed into parties
of twelve or more, and from every one "lifted" they extorted a contribution.
There is said to be a record in the Tower of London of Certain payments
made to ladies and maids of honor for taking King Edward I. in his bed M
Easter, whence ii has been presumed thai he was lifted according to the cnstom
which then prevailed among all ranks throughout the kingdom. The custom
survives locally in England as part of the Easier privileges of the fair set
Light and leadliig, Men ol In " Sibyl" (Book v. ch. i.) Disraeli had the
phrase, "Not a publi'; man 0/ light and leading in the country withheld the
expression of his opinion." Again, February itS, 1859, moving for leave to
bring in the Representation of the People Bill in the House of Commons,
Disraeli said, " I believe there is a general wish among all men of light and
leading in this country that the solution of this long-controverted question
should be arrived at" A third repetition of this alliterative phrase occurred
March 10, 18S0, in an electioneering address to the Duke of Marlborough,
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. But long before Disraeli, Burke had said, in
his "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (vol. iii. p. 331), "The men of
England, — the men, 1 mean, of light and leading in England." Cowper has
a lainlly analogous line ;
LIghu of th> world, and sun of human nee,
Tlu PrOfTtn tf Error, 1. 97 :
and a curious verbal likeness Is found in an old ballad which describes the
vengeance exacted by Crichton, the Lord of Sanquhar, on a noted free-
booter, Johnstone of Annandale;
And when ther ennie 10 the Well path head
Tbs Crichiou bade Ihem " Light and lead."
But this only means that the followers of the chief were to " dismount and
give battle."
Ught, B1aat«d with utoeu o£ In the " Progress of Poetry," Part tIL,
Sec. 2, Gray has this tine allusion to Milton's blindness :
The living throne, the Bpphire bl«K,
Hetrw';"^!' bltwcd witb'eicsi^l^l.
;i:,vG00gk"
636 HANDY-BOOK OF
Even Dr. Johnson, no admirer ai Gray's, condescends (o acknowledge
that ir we suppoTC Ihe blindness caused by study in the formation of his
|}oeiii, this account is poetically true and happily imagined. It is no detrac-
tion from Gray that he was remotely indebted for his daring and successful
figure to Milton himself, who, speaking of the Deily, says, —
Dark with evcvuivf briobt thy fkint ■ppear.
This line is lrc(|uenlly misquoted with " light" for "bright," — a substitution,
however, which is an improvement. Milton, in his turn, may have remembeied
thai passage in Longinus where, after quoting from Demui^thenes, he asks,
" In what has the orator here concealed the figure 1 Plainly, in its own lustre."
If we read a metaphorical meaning in the following eilract from Hermias,
aGalalian wri lei of the second century, it closely appro limales to Gray's figure :
WhcB Homer rw^viil 10 wriic of Achilla, he hsd ui CMtwdinE deilre to fill hit mind with
■ just idea cpf 10 glorious 4 h«o : wherefore^ haviog paid all i^ue hooon at his tomb, he en-
tRaU thai he may obtain a tight of him. The hero eraata hia poet'a pctjtioa, and rilca in a
glorioui lull of armor, which caH v> iniuflenible a i[?eiulor ihii Homer loH hti ey« while he
gaied Fn (he cniarEemaat of hia ootioDt-
Popc says if this be anything more than mere bble, one would be apt to
imagine it insinuated his contracting a blindness by too intense application
while he wrote the Iliad, — which is exactly analogous to Dr. Johnson's gtost
on Gray.
Shelley has imitated Gray in these lines from "Julian and Maddalo :"
Th« aeue Ibil 1h waa cratir Ihiin hia liind
Had atruck, methinka, hia ca^le^plrit blind,
By gating on it* own exceeding Ijghf .
Ught-fingMMl, ■ euphemism for " thievish," applied particularly to pick-
Our men coniented themaelve* with looking after their goods (the Tonquinese being very
lighi-hnEered), ud let) the manigemeiil of tha bmus eniireTy to the boai'mcm.— DAiinaa:
Vnyattt, II . 1. 14.
Llght-ftngcred Caleb, to keep his liandt in urc,
SiSe aDJ^ing, — of tJiLS you may be aure,
That be Ihhika all hit own ihai once be handle*,—
To (leal tucb Ibinga u neilds muat come 10 h;^ I
A Gilltclicit sfEf'^ami (iT>;).
T.tgh»nlng, Qtilok as, an obvious metaphor found in all literatures. A
few examples must suffice :
a (he place where honor's lodged,
se philosophers have judged ;
Like a hH-fli(lhiK meKoi, ■ fast -flying cloud.
He pastes l^mTife to hit Rt( in (he grave,
WiLLtAM Khox: MtrUHIy.
Such aoub.
Wbotc niddeD visifaliont date (he world^
Vanish like lightning, but they leave behiad
A voice Uu( in (be dUtance tar away
Wakens (he ahimbciing agca-
Sii HanKV Tavuir : Fkilif Van ArtmliU, ka \.
Coogk"
UTERARY CURIOSITIES.
Swift » . .h«l.™, .hon « "y ^i^-P,
:mplo)r«d
in the drai
comparison of the briefness of love to a lightning- flash was
^ . ; centuries before Shakespeare by the Indian poet Bhavabhuti,
drama of " Milata and Midhava :"
That kindred, friends,
t happineu
LUU-BnrUio and Bnllen-a-U, said to have been the shibboleth of the
Irish Catholics in the bloody events of 1641. A song with the lefrain of
■' Lilli-burlero, butlen-a-la !" was written by Lord Wharton, which may be
called the "Marseillaise" of the English Revolution of 16SS. Burnet says,
" It made an impression on the [king's] army that cannot be imagined. . . .
The whole army, and al last the people, both in city and country, were sing-
ing it perpetually ; . . . never had so slight a thing so great an effect" It
was the favorite tune af " Uncle Toby " in " Tristram Shandy." The words
of the song are printed in Percy's " Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,"
Series ii., Book iii.
Lllr, Conaidsr the. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ enpins his
disciples to take no thought of the morrow ;
Behold ihr rowliof the nir: for theyiav nai, iMilherdo Ibty r»p. nor gather into barns :
y« your beavenly FaihcrfRdtlb ihem. An ye n« mach better tbui Ihey T— iMiuArm vi, 16.
And why Hlie ye thouEhi for nimenlt Consida- ih« lilla d the Mi, bow iheygnw:
tbey ttAi not, neither do iTaey spin : and ye< I hv to you, llui even Solomon in all hia Elory
was not turayed as on* of IhoCr Whereiorc. if God to cloih« the grau of the Reld, which 10-
linTtfRilhl— /ilT.'^j^ "" ' ° ' '""°' ' e n moc more c o c yoo, yen
The above passages bear a notable similarily to one of the apothegms of
the Indian poet Bhartrihati ;
He by wboec hands the iwans are painted white, and parrou grtVD, and pcacockl nuny-
hued, will make provision for ihy maincefUDCc.
Bhartrihari is held to have been a brother of King Vikiamftditya, who
flourished half a century before Christ.
Burns paraphrases the Scripture texts :
And decks the \i\y fair in Qowery pride.
Would, in the way his wisdom sees the best,
For (hern and for their little ones provide.
Umtt-Joloora, an epithet of contempt for the English commercial marine,
current among Yankee skippers ; derived from the regulation requiring Eng-
lish merchant -vessels to carry among their stores a supply of lime-juice as a
preventive against scurvy.
638 HANDY-BOOK OF
buying, ii
Unea ai« fallen unto n ,
from Psalm i»i. 6, " LincB"' was formerly synonyi
plBBBEUit plaoM, The. The qua
of the word in ihia sense is found in Ihe »lang phrase "hard lines.'' The
passage from Ihe Psalm above given in the Frayer-Book version (where it \%
verse) is rendered thus : " The lot has fallen unto me in a (air ground."
Uou-Himtar, Tb«. Among Ihe penalties of bme there are none more
terrible than the persecutions of Ihe lion-hunter. He is indefaligable and
ubiquiloui ; his nets and snares are spread in the most unsus|>ecled places ;
he dogs Ihe footsteps of the lion, pursues him into Ihe sacred recesses of his
home, and drags him out into the glare of publicity. Or he assails him
through the mails, seeking advice, encouragement, assistance, an autograph.
He caimot and will not be put off.
Nor is he a recent development. As far back as the eighteenth century
Schiller complained that it was quite a peculiar case to have a literary name.
"The few men of north and consideration who offer you their intimacy on
thai score and whose regard is really worth coveting are loo disagreeably
counter-weighted by the baleful swarm of creatures who keep humming around
you like so rnany swarms of flesh-flies, gape at you as if you were a monster,
and condescend, moreover, on the strength of one or two blotted sheets, to
present themselves as colleagues."
The great Goethe had a serene and splendid way of dealing with these
bores. An admirer once broke into his bedroom at an inn. Goethe was un-
dressing. But the worshipper, nothing daunted, fell at Ihe feet of his idol,
and poured out his ecstatic admiraljoiu Goeihe calmly put out Ihe light
and jumped into bed.
Sir Walter Scott had an equally hearty hatred of lionizing, but his courtesy
K;vented his showing it. He extended a kindly welcome to Ihe intrusive
res who overran AMtotafotd, giesteied him with inquiries as to why he did
not call his place Tollyvcolan or Tillytudlen, questioned him about his own
age and that of bis wile, jotted down memoranda of other domestic details in
their note-books, and shouted out " t^odietous," in facetious imitation of
Dominic Sampson, at whatever was shown theiiL He was scrupulously care-
ful, also, to answer all letters addressed 10 him. In those days of high post-
age this was a tax not only on his time and his temper, but on his purse as
well. He spent as much as one hundred and tifty pounds a year in postage.
Once a mighty package came from the United Slates. Five pounds wetediie
on it When opened it »as found to contain a manuscript called "The Cher-
okee Lovers," a drama written by a New York lady, who begged Scott to
read and correct it, write a prologue and an epilogue, and secure a manager
and a publisher. A fortnight later another package of similar siie, charged
with a similar postage, was placed in Scott's hands. When opened, out
popped another copy of "The Cherokee Lovers." with a nole from the au-
thoress explaining ihai, as Ihe mails were uncertain, she had deemed it pru-
dent to forwaid a duplicate.
;i:,vG00gk'
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 639
In our own days Dr. Holmes is one of the greai«st suflerers. Here \% a
really pathetic passage from his volume " Over the TeS'Cups :"
"For the last thirty years I have been in the habit of receiving a volume
of poems, or a poem, printed or manuscript, — I will not say daily, though I
sometimes receive more th:iii one in a day, — but at very short intervals. I have
been consulted by hundreds of writers uf verse as to the merit of their per-
formances, and have often advised the writers to ihe best of tny ability. Of
late, 1 have found it impossible to attempt to read critically all the literary
productions, in verse and in prose, which have heaped themselves on every
exposed surface of my library like snow-drifts along the railroad.tiaclu, —
blocking my literary pathway, so that I can hardly tind my daily papers."
You see he does not complain, he only laughs good-naturedly. But it is
hard for an outsider to consider calmly such a sellish and impudent tax upon
the lime and strength of a gentleman ■aa busy, so weary, so old, and, above
all, so kindly. Lawyers, doctors, and men of business are not eipectcd to
give professional advice vjithoul a full ei|uivalenl for the service ; why should
a literary man have to give lime, counsel, and crilicisro, gratis, to every
stranger who may apply for it p
There is no prominent man of letters in this country or in England who has
not had a simitar experience. No circumstance of age, illness, poverty, or
exhausting labor serves to protect him from these unconscionable demands.
Walt Whitman himself, in his feeble old age, was a conspicuous victim.
There is something pathetic, and humorous as well, in his answer to a poet
who called and offered to read a manuscript tragedy. " No, Ihank you," said
Whitman : " I have been paralyzed twict
Carlyle was almost driven Irantic by Ihe callers who came to grai ,
curiosity at his expense ; and it is to be feared that too many of them w
Americans. No wonder that he characterized the entire nation as "forty
millions of bores."
In one of her letters, Mrs. Carlyle gives an interesting account of an Ameri-
"Oh, such a precious specimen of Ihe regular Yankee I have never seen
since 1 Coming in from a drive one afternoon, I was informed by Helen, with
a certain asitalion, thai there was a strange gentleman in the litwary.
" ' He said he had come a long way, and would wait for the master coming
home to dinner ; and I have been,' said she. ' in a perfect fidget all this while,
for I remembered after he was in that you had left your watch on the table.'
" I proceeded to Ihe llbraiy to inspect this unauthorized settler with my
own eyes. A tall, laan, red -herring -looking man rose from Cartyte's writing-
table, at which he was sitting writing, with Catlyle's manuscripts and private
letters lying all about, and, running his eyes over me from head to foot, said, —
"'Ohl yoa are Mrs. Carlyle. are you f'
" An inclination of the head, intended to be hauteur itself was all the
"'Do you keep your health pretty well, Mrs. Carlyle?' said the wretch,
nothing daunted, that being always your tegular Yankee's second word.
" Another inclination of the head even slighter than the first.
" ' I have come a great way out of my road,' said he, ' tn congratulate Mr.
Carlyle on his increasing reputation ; and, as I did not wish to have my walk
for nothing, I am writing till he comes in. But in case he should not come
in time for me, I am just writing him a letter here, at his own table, as you
see, Mrs. Carlyle.'
" Having reseated himself without invitation of mine, I turned on tny heel
and Quitted the room, determined not to sit down in it while the Yankee
Stayed. But about half an hour after came Darwin and Mr. Wedgwood; an4
640 HANDY-BOOK OF
as (here was no lire in (he toom below, Ihey had (o be shown up to the
libiary, where, on my return, I found the Yankee slill sealed in Carlyle's
chair, very aclively doing, as it were, the honors or the house to them ; and
(here he sat upwards of an hour, not one of us addressing a word to him, but
he not the less thrusting his word into all that we said. Finding that 1 would
maktf absolutely no answer tu his remarks, he poured in upon me a broadside
of positive queations.
" > Does Mr. Carlyle enjoy good health, Mrs. Cartyle T
"'Oh'l he doesn't! What does he complain of, Mrs. Carlyle f'
"'Of everything.'
" ' Perhaps he studies too hard. Does he study too hard, Mrs. Carlyle V
•"Whoknoi "
" And s
"At last the gen iTeman, having informed himself as to all possible and
probable omnibuses, reluctantly took liis leave, without an opportunity of
baiting the bear, who would certainly have left the marks of the teeth on him,"
Not all Carlyle's visitors, however, were Americans. George Gilfillan, the
once famous preacher, lecturer, and critic of the iipasmodic School, once
called upon the sage at Chelsea. Carlyle himself opened the door. He was
in even grimmer humor than usual. " who are you ?" he asked.
"I am George Gilfillan," was the reply, "and I have been giving lectures
oil your l>ooks throughout the country."
"You have, have youf Damn your impudence! Good-morning." And
the door was shut in his face.
Emerson loo, in his quiet home at Concord, was besieged by visitors of all
sorts. " His mind," says Hawthorne, " acted upon other minds of a certain
constitution with wonderful magnetism, and drew many men u|ion long pil-
grimages to speak with him face to &ce." Sonic were visionaries and theo-
rists, others were mere curiosity-seekers, The^ pestered him even in hii
declining years, when mind and memory had failed him. One morning hb
daughter found him entertaining a strange Boston woman in his library,
"Ellen," said the sage, looking up with an eipression of hopeless bewilder-
ment, " I wish you would attend lo this lady r she wants some of my clothes."
And then the visitor volubly explained she was making a " poets' rug" on
the principle of a craiy-quilt Mr. Longfellow had already given her an old
shirt. She wanted a pair of Emerson's cast-off pantaloons. She called them
pants, by the way.
Tennyson, who has always an acute horror of being lioniied, for many years
has intrenched himself in his house as his castle, denying himself to strange
visitors. He has been obliged to build a high wall around his grounds, with
locked gates. But these very methods have whetted public curiosity to in-
tensity. Not unfrequently when he walks out he finds a row of heads all
around the wall. They stare, Ihey make audible comments about him. The
land around is trampled, the grass is killed by the waiting crowd. They
bring their lunches with them, and leave relics behind in the shape of dinner-
papers, crusts, and empty bottles.
Professor Jowett has sought equal seclusion, with even less success. He
is one of the lions of Oxford. That town is subjected to constant inroads of
tourists, all of whom crave a sight of the famous professor. It so happened,
while he was engaged on his translation of Plato, that a guide discovered the
professor's study-window looked into the broad street Coming with his
menagerie under this window, the guide would begin : " This, ladies and
Google
LITERAllY CURIOSITIES. 641
>e of the veiy holdest in the huniversity, and
:holars. The 'ead of Balliol College is called
the Master. The presenl Master of Balliol is the celebrated Piolessor Benjamin
JoweiC, Regius Professor of Greek. Those are Professor Jowett's stucK-
windonrSi and there" {here the ruKan would sloop down, take up a handlul
of gravel and throw it against the panes, bringing poor Jowett, livid with fury,
to the window), " ladies and gentlemen, is Professor Benjamin Jowett himsell;"
In one of his " Roundabout Papers" Thackeray makes a humorous protest
against the social miseriea thai are entailed upon famous men. He complains
that he does his comic business with the greatest pains, seriousness, and
trouble. I( is bis profession. Why cannot he leave that profession behind
him when he goes out into sodciv ? "If you ask Mr, Blondin to tea," he
says, " you don^l have a rope stretched from your garret-window to (he oppo-
site side of the square and request Monsieur to take his tea out on the centre
of the rope."
Perhaps lions should take Some concerted action to do no roaring in private
life. Indeed, by 3. wise provision of nature, many of them are unable lo roar
except in print. Lilce his African brethren, your literary lion is a Tcry tame
animal outside of his native jungle-
There is a bmtliar story of Francis Jellrey'e first meeting with TalleyraniL
By his own request he bad been seated neil lo Ihe famous statesman at
dmner. It was a proud moment, and one from which he had hoped lo carry
away imperishable memories. The only remark that Tallevrand made was,
"A prefos of your t^ock-a-leekie soup, H. Jeffrey, do you take it with prunes
or without V
Recently a London lady was taken down to dinner by a famous actor. She
was in ecstasies. " I have met him at last," she thought ; " he is the funniest
actoT in London, and he is going to talk to mc for at least an hour and a halt
Mow lucky I am I" But the soup was disposed of, and then the fish and the
iHlritt, and still the funniest man In London had not uttered a word. Sud-
denly his eyes fell on his wife, who sat opposite. Then lie turned to his com-
panion. "It has been a long lime coming," she thought, " but it has come,"
and she prepared 10 receive the joke.
*> Do you see that dress on my wife ?" asked the comedian.
"Yes."
" Well, it cost nine pounds." And not another syllable did he utter.
Another lady who was taken down by Tennyson suffered an equal disap-
polnlmeni, alter equal preliminary expectation. The only utterance which
the Lanreate let fall was the unpoetical remark, " I like my multon cut in
Dr. Buckley tells a slory of how years ago he followed Tennyson, who was
with his wife and family, through the South Kensington Museum for two hours
and a half, hoping to bear him speak. Al last he made signs as if he were
about lo do so. Hoping to hear some notable criiicism, the doctor listened
intently, and this is what he heard:
" You talte care of the children, while I go and get some beer."
A young woman in Cambridge one day saw Longfellow and Lowell strolling
a little ahead of her. She had oflen wished to know what poels talked about
when they were together, so she quickened her pace. Just before she over-
took tbem a little child came along. That seemed to give Lowell an idea.
The young woman pricked up her ears.
"What are little girls made of^" said Lowell to Longfellow.
The reply wa* equally brilliant :
"Saprucl •pkaudill thal'i nice;
TImi ii whju Utila girb in ludo gf,"
« S4*
;i:,vG00gk"
64a HANDY-BOOK OF
It is a curioiu, and froni the point of view of the Hon a really distressing,
feature of the lion-hunter's character that he cares very little for the work of
his professed idol. The author of a eushing series of letters (o the Duke ol
Wellington which have recently made their appearance had never heard ol
the battle of Waterloo. The actor finds that hia admirers have never seen
him on the stage, the author thai they have never read his works. A rich
German recently gave a dinner in honor of a famous poet. After dinner the
guests begged the poet to read some of his verses. Me agreed, after mach
apologetic modesty. But the host was now observed to show great uneasi-
ness. When a copv of Herr M 'b poems were called for he was obliged
to confess that he had not one in his house. There was great consternation
and much suppressed laughter. But the host was equal to the occasion. He
sent out and got a copy, not at the bookseller's, however, but at a circulating
Iiion •eimon, a sermon preached annually on October t6, at St. Cathe-
rine Cree Church in London, commemorative of the escape of Sir John
Caver, Lord Mayor of London, 1646-47, from a lion in the deserts of Arabia.
This is in accordance with the terms of his will, dated December 19, 1648,
leaving a bequest of two hundred pounds to the church.
In peipclualjcni oT in jinciEDl cUHOn annually celetnaied 31 Si Catherine Cnc Churcb,
in Leadcnhall Sum, Ihe Rev. W. M. WhilKnwR, D.D..rcclor,cin Smuiday pnactacd wfau
fl lermed ibe " Uon terniDn. The preacher, in ihe CDurae (»l hii remariii, alluded to the
bet ihat Aboui iwo hundred ud fifty rears a£o upon that vtrv day Sir John Gayer, a chizoi
of London^ who AttrrwardH hecanit Lord Mayor, vai in the acKiie of Arabia upon btuintu
caravan, and while quite alone and uriarnied he was much alarmed ai serine a lion approach-
ln( bim. Scvccly knawini what 10 do, he fell upon fail k&eei and asked ibe Lord to deliver
him fran hb periliius poiiUsa. The iioD looked at him savBiely, bul upon seeing him Is
this poailioD. after a few moments, walked away in anopposile direction. Themcichani on
rising from his kneea made a solemn vtiw Utal upon hia sale return home he would commemo.
rate ihb providential deliverance by lome bcntvoleni act. Upon reachlnE Eagl^Dd he ac.
John Gayer, in consequence oT kis loyal attachment to King Charlei [ , was ordered by
CromwcU's Parliuncni 10 pay a fine of ^5«i, > considerable >um ai that time, and that in
default of paymenl he wai comiuilied to Itie Tower, [n Ibe Brilith Museum might be seen
service, and it was u'ndemlood that Kme desceadanti of Sir John Cayer were among the
congngatlon.—^BX./u'r Ciuan, October tS, iS8«
Iiioa'B prOTid«r. a humble friend who plays into ihe hands of an im-
portant personage to show him to best advantage, a foil or butt for another's
wii, and who feeds on the leavings. The simile is drawn from (he jackal,
who is suppCHed 10 serve the lion much the same as the dog serves the
■portman, and who yells to advertise his lord that prey is close at hand.
Llona, SevlDB tbe. Formerly there was a menagerie in ihe Tower of
Ixtndon in which lions were kept ; it was discontinued about 1815. During
these earlier times of comparative simplicity, when a stranger visited the city
for the firsi time he wotild of course he laken to see the liun», and on his re-
turn to the country il was usual 10 ask him whether he had seen the lions.
This is the origin of the phrase. The iransition from real lions to (iguraii
r., all remarkable sights or personages — was easy, and the term is still
mote frequently '
alhering,
.IS,
from their position or accompli ah me tils.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CUR f OS/TIES. 643
Uon'a Bbare, — i.e., all or nearly all ; derived ijom .Ssop's fable of Ibe
lion, who, when the spoil of a joinL hunt of a number of beaaU was being
divided, claimed one quarter in right a( his prerogative, one (or his superior
courage, one for his dam and com, "and as (or the Ibnrth, let who will dare
dispute it with me."
IiipOgranW (Gr. Xdmi, " I leave"), a fonn of literaiy triflinf in which
the author carefully excluded (ram his composition some letter or letters of
ibe alphabet A good story is told of Jami, the Persian critic, which seems
applicable lu all these useless tmri dt forii. A certain poet had read him a
copy uf verses, but Jami seemed unmoved. " Vou will at least allow it to be
curious," said the author, slightly nettled, " (or you will observe thai the letter
A does nut occur in it (iom beginning to end." To which Jami replied, " It
would have been a great improvement had you left out also all the other
The most gigantic lipograms on record are two Greek poems produced by
a certain Tryphiodorus in those early centuries of our era during which the
world, or the greater part of it, seems to have been in a state of blue mould
for want of work. — the one a kind of Iliad in twenly-four books, each ex-
cluding absolutely the letter of the alphabet marking its own number ; the
other an Odyssey composed on the same principles.
" It must have been very pleasant," says Addison, in his " Spectator," No.
59, " to have seen this poet avoiding the reprobate letter as much as another
would a false quantity, and making his escape from it, through the different
Greek dialects, when he was presented with it in any particular sy)lable ; for
the most apt and elegant woid in the whole language was rejected, like a
diamond with a flaw in it, if il appeared blemished with the wrong letter."
Nevertheless, Tryphiodoiua might have claimed that he was kept in coun-
tenance by no meaner precedent than that of Pindar, who. according to Alhe-
nseus, wrote an ode from which the letter Sigma was carefully excluded And
in the Middle Ages he found numerous imiutors. There was Gordianus Ful-
genlius, who congratulated himself on the fact that he had produced a
wonderfiil work, — " De Atate Mundi et Hominis." — and so it was, for in the
chapter on Adam he excluded the letter A \ from that on Abel, the letter B ;
from that on Cain, the letter C, and so on through twenty-three chapters.
There was Gregorio Leti, who presented <o the Academy of Humorists at
Rome a discourse entitled "The Exiled R," because the letter R was omitted
throughout. There was Lope de Vega, among whose voluminous works are
five novels each of which avoids some particular vowel. And to come down
to more recent times, there is the famous ■' Piice sans A." written in 1816 by
one Ronden, which was acted at the Thi^Stre des Variet^s, Paris. The public
thronged to see this tour dt forct. The curtain rose. Duval entered from one
wing, Mengoizi from the opposite side of the stage. The first words the latter
The whole audience roared with Uoghler at this curious beginning of a
K'ece withotit A. The laugh gave the prompter time to set the actor right,
e corrected himself with, —
So goes the story. To which there is only one objection, — namely, that
nothing like the sentence quoted is to be found in the published piece. To
be sure, it contains others very tike it. The author may have made an altera-
tion in proof. He confesses, by the way, in his preface, that the performance
was not sufiered to ^oceed to the end.
From all and various theK portetit^us literary trifles we only pray to be
644 HANDY-BOOK OF
delivered. Oar citationB shall be taken from the fogitlve pieces, which, though
easier to make, are easier to read. To appreciate them at their lull value it is
well to keep in mind the following table of the relative proportions in which
the various letters of the alphabet are used :
ASs Ei» ISO M30 Qs U34 Yw)
Bib Fz5 I4 N80 K62 Via Zi
C30 G17 KS O80 SSo W30
D44 H64'L4o P17 T90 X4
It follows, therefore, that the letter £ must be the must neatly indispensable
letter in the alphabet That it is not absolutely indispensable is shown by the
fbllowir^ written, as the author says, with ease without e's :
Thb Fate av Nassan.
Here is another.
has a ftirther and singul;
alphabet except E
Si3.^Jrsr
ughl, bu.
■cs
Nc»ir«kcf 1
U-gro^
jojnu, ii
Po« Wight 1
why did.
Vunlyforw.
xorNau
xnall
Kao., Zill^
, Ihu Iby
NuH
voir <u.'
Toq^<^
,w"
Bui this eii
jular merit.
'"£h"
loi m<
Afu.y
Who moclu fail p«in ud Ihinh* it giuD
To qiiii bii iwliwud BIT.
QnilDtk boym who look Tor joyB
Quixotic UEudi lun ;
A llB umoyi wilb llivial toyi,
Oppocing mui for fnn.
A ioTial twalD may r*ck hit bnln.
And (u kli rancy'i mighi :
Toquli b vrniD, Tor 'tii omit plain
Tfiu wbw 1 lay If rigtai.
rses contain every letter eitcept S :
Come, Love, Come.
0'« Sswer «nd li.ll w'quiytring tw!
TlH! h»llier.b«lL huh mildly flung
Fmm OIT her fllry leaf ibe brii^l
And dlamcnd dew-drop thai baa hung
Upon thai leaf— aRoi of light,
To-Digfat Ihe liquid wan huh pol-
lUumined hy the mcxnLit beam
Playing upon ibe lakebencaih,
LAt froiic in an auiumn dream-
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
To-ni^il (D-Dightt my gentle on*,
Thi flawn-barins Aon tice
Bi» no. iV ifn.™ ™ ™l^g ■
With Gifiht*dMp,'™d™vf if oni
To mxl my Nama hen lo-o>cfal.
1
Curiosities" :
o-vowc] novels. It is a slill more difficult teat than any yet recorded, ai'all
the vowels uve E are excluded.
Eve's Legend.
Men were ncnr perf«l ; y« .he ihree bmhren Vem wen erer (MeenKd. rapecKd,
Rvend, even wlieB Ibe ral, whnliet tiK sdeci few, wheiher the mere lienL, wen left
Ihe eldeu'I TeHell leek ihe deep. Hem the elemenl,E« pence ; the keen Peler, when free,
wedded Hexec Gteen,— Ibe (lender. Hem. Mvere, eieci Hnier Gieen. The Beit, rievet Med,
iete dependeni, wedded iweei Ellen Heber. Stephen, en he met <he aenlle Eve, sever Ml ten-
demen; he kepi lieDoels, l>fed iued», mied where the deer fed, went where ereen trcee,
where &e«h hfeeiee greeted sleep. There he me( Ihe meek, Uic eentle Eve ; ihe tended tier
Nevenlwleu, tier chink reddened when the mei Stephen ; yet decern rcterve, meek reiped,
tempered her Ipeech, even when ihe ihowed Eenderaeu. Stephen Tell ttie tweet eAect : he
leftecU. never deserved neglect ; ihe never vented ipleen - he eeleenu tier genllenqa, her
" Tell DM wlience these nicek, these gentle sheep, — whence the yet oieekcr, ihe gentler
theplierdessT'*
•'Well bied, we were eke belter fed, en we wenl where ncklesi men leek fleeces. There
we were 6eeced. Nc*d then rendered me thepherdesa, need re
be ibeep ; Eve'* needle I
' '■ '^° ' 1^ i^?hed> Ihe '
her feel preeeed Ihe sreen ; he blessed, he hegred, he pr
weel, sweet Ere, let me wed thee ; be led where He«
Hester's decent reserve checks heedless jests. Be led Ihen. (weel
lembet the Seer, We went where he dwell*— we enlRcd Ihe cell-
Where, whenever, ■
£rl bt rrint lilt nd clUlk,
Nntr n/d litf, Evt mtik.
"J^.." -m.? ™' _*!_.. fA '---■i. ,S|id,''J^. Eve ^^SsiMhetTk™!
<. Her dreM redeems her Thes
le relcntiH yet freu when she lememben the Seer's ■:
Ihen bedewed the green reed, ihe green reed Ihen speckled 1
■eems green, Ihe green reed seems red- These were e'en il
646 HANDy-BOOK OF
The Russo-Tukkish War.
Wu ham all raoVi, ill ■»>, ill cnfti ipp^n ;
At Hun' huih Umh, irch, rnnptul, alur bll I
Ah I hird ai adimant « brtcgvi Czar
Amu vlMll iwvni*, uid fuu ■ faul mr !
^ Rjunpuit >i Ehai bad call, a Vandal h*pd
Haiui. and batm, and raiuack WalUch-laad.
A Tarui pbatui Batkao'i icaip halh paM,
And AUah'i alaiidard lalli, alaa! M laK.
Thk Fau. of Evt
Etc, Edcn'i cnpieu. uedi dtfeodtd Ik :
The Soperi giecu bcr when ihc tccki the Inc.
StfWH ilw Kca the ipccklcd IcmpiEr creep :
Gdkllc fae aecma^ — perverted fchcmcT deep, —
Yel endJan pRUxii. ever &eih, pnfen.
PcTTcitm ba- aemea, revela wbea ibe «rn,
Sneen wban ib« weepa. rweUk repoUa abe Ml,
Then, detp^vTcnied, reaeelu Ibe DeihR- Hell I
T«H Approach of Evbning.
Idling I >it In ihii mild cwlllght dim,
WhUu blrda. Id wild >»ifl vi^lt. circling ■kirn.
Lioht wi< In iLg hlnjf aink, till, riling briffat,
Ni^t-a Viisin Pngrlm iwinla in n>id llllu.
iNCONTftOVBRTIBLK YKCK.
No Qionk lOD good 10 rob, or cog. or plot.
No Cool » gma id bolt Scotch coUapa hoi.
From donjoQ inpi do Oronooko rolli.
Box inpi oDr tchool-boyi. 100. do fln for ipon.
Orthodoi, JDg-ln>l, book-worffl Soloraona I '
On vAl clolh foalilDoli no old foa dolh btood.
Ro^i A^'x\a>M^^<^. n^'woodcKki loort.
Not dog on inowdrop or on coltifoot rolli,
Tht lamt titijeet coitlintied.
Lucullua aouffi up miuk, mundungui ihuDa.
Puaapnrrf.budt bum, buckabua, luck luTDaDp trupkpi:
ZJtara Boripta muia^ verbam ImbeUe p«rtt (L., "The written letter
remains, llie iveak [spoken] word perishes"), a medizval Latin plirase, which
Foumier explains as a mnemonic versification of the earlier "Verba volant,
■cripta maiient" {" Words fly, written thing* remain"). It was with a pre-
historic consciousness of the truth thus emphasized that Joh exclaimed, " Oh
that mj words were now written I uh that thejr were prinCetl in a book I"
(xix. 23.)
Aad what <• writ It nil,—
Oiadt HoTidd, Canto it,, Sianta iS;.
Iilteral saiua, In b. Taking things too literally is a Terlile source of
Uunders that are sometimes amusing, sometimes provoking, and sometimes
de|>lotable. We all remember Colman'i ^n. about Dr. Bolus and the
patient to whom he had prescribed a medione with the injunction, "Wben
/.oogic
LITERARY CVRiOStTIES. 647
taken to be well shaken." The solicitoas family shook the sick man insiead
of the nwdicine, and when the doctor called around again his patient was
dead. A similar story in actual life ii related of a member of the County
Board at Crookston, Mississippi, a hale and hearty farmer, who, for the
first time in his life, feeling unaccountably under the weather, visited the local
doctor and obtained a prescription. Arriving home, he found his wife had
gone out, BO he concluded to take the first dose during her absence. When
the good old lady returned she was surprised to find her husband stark naked
and standing up to his chin in a lain-batrel filled urith water, a bottle of med-
icine in one hand and a teaspoon in the other. " For goodness' sake, father,"
she cried, " what an you about ?" " Why, I'm Ibllowing the doctor's orders,"
«aid Tim. And he pointed to the directions : " A teaspoonful in water, every
Another medical story is more tragic. A doctor, called in for the second
time just Boon enough to Save the life of a man who during his fits of in-
toiicatiun was given to dosing himself with laudanum, felt called upon to
administer a round lebuke, and wound up by saying, " If you really intend
to kill Tourself, cut your throat and have done with it." One night the
-HSor'sl ■■ ■■ . ~
"John has taken your advice. He has cut h
further trouble 1"
Two English costermongers claiming proprietorship in one donkey ap-
peared be In
rt during the adjournment for luncheon. When the court reopened
the defendant told his Honor it was all right ; the donkey was his. The
judge noticed that the plaintiff's personal appearance was considerably dam-
aged, but before he could put a question the defendant continued : " We
found a quiet place to settle it in, your Honor. I 'ad to be rather rough on
the plainlifi; but couldn't 'cip it; we 'ad h only an arf- hour to pull it off in, and
he were a much tougher customer than I expected." The eiplanation was
conclusive, if not entirely what the court had bargained for, and the donkey
became the prize of the victor in the fight.
That was a very literal Scotch subaltern whom Colonel Stuart tells of in
his " Reminiscences of a Soldier." The Scotchman was one day on guard at
Gibraltar with another officer, who, falling down a precipice, was killed. He
made no mention of the accident in his guard-report, leaving the addendum,
"Nothing extraordinary since guard-mounting, standing without qualifica-
tion. Some hours after, the brigade -general came to demand explanation :
" Vou say, sir, in your report, > Nothing extraordinary since guard-mountjnt;,'
when your brother-officer fell down a precijiice four hundred feet and was
killed. " Well, sir," replied Sandy, " I dinna think there's anything extraor-
dinary in that. If he had faun doon a precipice four hundred feet high and tu
ben killed, I should ha thocht it extraordinary, and put it doon in my repoort."
These blunders should be genuine in order to reach the higher levels of
humor ! yet a pretence at a literal understanding — or misunderstanding — is a
favorite form of jesting. Charles Lamb's serious reply to a gushing mother
who asked him, "And now. Mr. Lamb, how do you like children Y" "B — b—
boiled, madam," is a classic instance. Jokes repeat themselves, like history,
and it was only the other day, according to one of our comic papers, that Mr.
Stingers, learning from his loving spouse that " we are to have dear mother
for dmner," quickly replied, " All right. See that she ia thoroughly cooked,"
Sheridan, reproving his promising son Tom on the irregular life he was
leading, ended by saying, " My dear Tom, really it is time (or you to take a
648 HANDY-BOOK OF
wife." " With all m^ heart," replied the dutiful son ; " whose wife shall I
take?" Sfdney Smith's jest when advised by his doctor lo take a walk
upon an empty stomach belongs 10 the same class: "Upon whose?" he
asked. And very similar, loo, ia Leigh Hunt's. A lady at dessert asked if
he woald not venture on an orange. " Madam," he replied, " I should be
happy to do BO, but I am afraid I should tumble offi"
" How does your horse answer V inquired the Duke of Cumberland of
George Selwyn. " I really don'i know," George replied : " I have never
asked him 3 question."
A council of ministers having met on gome important questions, a noble-
man inqniied of Talleyrand, " What has passed at the coundtr "Three
hours," was the answer.
" I heard an anecdote at Oxford," says W. H. Harrison in his " Reminis-
cences." "of a proctor encountering on his rounds (wo undergraduates who
were without their gowns, or out of bounds, or out of hours. He challenged
one : ' Yonr name and college T They were given. Turning to the other,
' And pray, sir 1 what might your name be f 'Julius Czsar, was the reply.
' What, sir, do you mean to say your name is Julius Csesar T - Sir, you did
not ask me what it is, but what it might be.' "
A young barrister, intending to be very eloquenl, observed, "Such prin-
ciples as these, my lord, are written in (he book of Nature." " What page,
sir?" said Lord Chief Justice Ellenborougb ; and (he orator was silenced Ibr
tha( occasion at leasL
A well-known chestnut is that of (he judge who threatened lo fine a lawyer
for contempt of court " I have expressed no con(empt for (he court," said
the lawyer ; " on (he contrary, I have carefully concealed iL"
One of a party of friends, referring to an exquisite musical composition,
laid, "That sons; alwavs carries me away when I hear iL" "Can anybody
here whistle it? asked Jerrold appeatingly.
' ralice-officer met an organ-giinder on the street and said, —
"cense (o play? If not, you must accompany me."
;," answered the street- musician. " What will you sing ?"
Gronow, in his " Recollections," tells a good slory. The Bishop of Eieter,
in the course of conversation at a dinner-party, mentioned (hat many years
since, while (rout -fishing, he tos( his na(ch and chain, which he supposed had
been pulled from his pocket by (he bough of a (ree. Some (ime afterwards,
when staying in the same neighborhood, he took a stroll by the side of the
river, and came to the secluded spot where he supposed he had lost his valu-
ables, and there, to his surprise and delight, he found them under a bush.
The anecdote, vouched for by the word of a bishop, astonished the company ;
but this was changed to amusement by his son's inquiring whether the watch,
when found, was going. " No," replied (he bishop .- " the wonder was (hst it
was not gone."
Gatxam (looking up from the newspaper). That's the longest sentence t
ever heard of.
Mrt. Gaatam. What P
G<mam. Fifty years.
Mrt. Gaaam (who was once a school-teacher). It isn't a sentence at alL
It has no verb.
Taking things literally is a frequent method among the unregenerate of
sliding out of a difficulty.
"Don't you see that sign ?" cries an irate property-owner to an amateur
angler, pointing to the legend, " No fishing on the grounds."
" I'm not fishing on the grounds," is the quiet reply ; " I'm fishing in the
■' I^ve
;i:v..G00^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 649
A minister, meeting a bo; wiih a long pole one Sui.day morninB, slopped
bira and inquiied, "I hope you are not going fishing in the creek on this
beautiful Sabbath morning r To which the boy answered emphatically, " No,
I'm not." So the minister gave him a nickel, patted him on the head, and
passed on. "Well," said the boy, ihoughlfully, "if he'd asked
onln' t;>hm> \r. Ihp m 1 1 1 . nniiil hi-'il '>' hall mr slli.- " \Vhirh Ifl ni^
;oin' Sshin' in the milt'poiid, he'd 'a' had me sure." Which is only another
"^ thrown intc
No, sah ! I's
ar, however, of the perennial chestnut, which may be thrown into this
■- • r "N ■ ■ -
. _ ._. "Any turkeysf" "Golly, i ^
.converted?" "Any geese P' "Lawd, nol I'a all done regenerate, I i:
And then, when his questioner had departed, the converted darky scratches
his head and remarks. "Gollv I ef he'd said ducks he'd 'a' had me.*'
What a time there would be if the compliments and invllationa of polite
society were taken literallv ! Vet Vivier, the artist, once undertook to do
this, in a spirit of reproof, however, and not of ingenuous fuih. He used to
spend his winters in Paris. Otie day lie was invited to dine with M. X ,
the capitalist and mn»cal amateur. As he was taking his leave, the master
and mistress of the house said to their »reeable guest, —
"We hope that we shall have you otien to dine with us: yoar plate will
always be ready."
" Always f" queried Vivier. "In the ^bionable sense of the word, of
" Not at all. We are not p
v^ryiay."
e so cordial I promise you I will do my best t
Next day at six o'clock Vivier presented himsclC "Von see," said h<
have taken your invitation literally, t have ci
" Ah, it is very kind of you. It is very charming," i
The dinner was very gay ; and the artist, on taking leave, received many
compl
The next day, as they were about to sit down to the table, Vivier again
appeared.
" Here I am, exact, punctual, and faithful to my promise. Bui it is sineu-
lar," he continued, fixing a penetrating and quizzical look upon the faces of his
hosts, — " it is singular,— you appear surprised. Did you not expect me ?"
" Oh, certainly ; jrou give us much pleasure," said the Amphitryon.
Vivier sat down in his happiest vein, and seemed quite unconscious that he
bad all the burden of the entertaining, and that practically the conversation
On the fourth day, at six o'clock precisely, the obstinate guest once more
presented himself This time coldness ana constraint were very perceptible,
and Vivier spoke of iu
The mistress of the house replied, —
" It is only because we feared you would not fate well. We have so poor a
dinner to-day."
" I thought you expected me ; but it is of no consequence. I am not daiity.
I wish only the pleasure of your society."
He seated himself with perfect composure, and ate heartily, then, turning to
" What could you mean i This dinner is splendid. I could desire nothing
better."
ac 55
L':,L,zi;i:v,.G00glc
650 HANDY-BOOK OF
The next day — it was the fifth — Vivier anived as usual. The porter met
him at the dooc.
" Mr. X is not at home. He dines out to-day."
" Ah, very well ; but I forgol my great. coat yesterday. I must ask the
servant for iL" And, darling up the staircase, he linocked.
The door was opened. Unexpected appar---~
had gone out. I knew that he was
a sombre and melancholy air ! H;
may offer my sympathies.
All dinner. time Ihe witty artist continued and redoubled his entreaties that
the supposed misfortune might be confided to him. He complained of their
reserve and indulged himself in all sorts of conjectures and questions.
"Have you lost money in speculalionsf Missed an inheritance? Have you
been wounded in your fortune — in your ambition?"
Then, at Ihe dessert, bursting into a fit of laughter, —
" I know what is Ihe matter, and what troubles you. It is your invilalioii,
so cordially made and so literally accepted. I thought that I would make the
trial, suspecting thai you would not endure me long. To-day you shut tlie
door against me, and lo.morrow, if I should return, you would throw me out
of the window I 1 wish you good-evening."
And, no doubt, M. Vivier flung himself out of the house with the idea that
he had done something very fine. But, on the whole, we far prefer the thought-
lul courtesy of Ihe American beggar whose tale of woe so touched a fashion-
able lady thai she gave him her card with her address and bade him call for
some clothes. The beggar did not appear, and some days after she met him
again. " Why haven't you come for t^ose clothes?" she asked. Taking the
card out with a depiecaic ~ " '" "" "" "" " — --■— '
have on your card 'Thur
Literary Leatber-DreftBer, Thomas Dowse, a famous book-hunter of
Cambridgeporl, Massachusetts (1772-1856). He was a currier by trade, and
when he received from Harvard the degree of LL.U. the title was facetiously
translated by Edward Everett Kale into " Literary Leal her- Dresser."
UtaratL This word offers a curious instance of change of meaniDg. The
original liierati were very different characters from Ihe men of letters of to-
day, and the word, which now confers honor, was once a stigma of disgrace.
Among the Romans it was usual to affix some branding or ignominious letter
on the criminal when the crime was more than ordinarily infamous. The
culprits so branded were called iHurifili or itiemaHH, or by Ihe niore equiv-
ocal term littraH. The same expression is likewise adopled in one of Ihe
statutes of Henry VHL, which recites "that diverse persons, IcUered, had
been more bold to commit mischievous deeds," etc
IiittlB ohuToh around the oorner, the Church of Ihe Transfiguration
(Prolesunl Episcopal), in Twenty. Ninth Sirecl. New York. The occurrence
which gave rise lo Ihe nickname is related by Dr. Houghton, the rector, thus.
George Holland, a popular comedian, died DeccmMr ao, 1870, and the
clergyman to whom Holland's family first applied declined to bury him be-
cause the deceased wis an actor. He directed the applicant to " Ihe lillle
church around the corner," Dr, Houghton readily consented, and the fune-
ral services were conducted in his church on December 12. Touching the
incident Dr. Houghton continued :
*' It drew towards the church, lo which my life had lieen given, a world of
kindly tender feelings, and it opened wide for personal minisiration and oM'
. Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 651
fiilnesB such ■ door as few of you can imagine. . . . From the prison and Ihe
mbling-house and ihe house of ill repute the message or the messeng
s hither come that might not have elsewhere gone. God's blessing h
nibling-house and the house of ill repute the message or the messenger
nas hither come that might not have elsewhere gone. God's blessing has
rested u|>on this our parish and church by reason of the effurt made to make
St of Ihe greater opportunity thus offered for ministering to those who
had neetL"
Littl« Coiporal, a lille familiarly given to Napoleon by the soldiers under
his command, after Ihe battle of Lodi (1796), in admiration of the personal
bravery displayed by him, and because of hia small size and youlhful appear-
ance. In the army il clung 10 him ever after, and even when he had become
Emperor he was known by [his affeclionale labriqutt. Las Cases, the biogra-
pher of Napoleon Bonaparte, thus describes the origin of Ihe lille ;
iD the camp wu ncJ»d'^iht"«(«oi°an^ uluWi^whh i^i'ucwild^ T^y^d^h^
a corporvl H Lodi and a urgeani at Caitjgllope; and hcocc ihe luiname of "le iviEt
Cipml," whicti wu lot ■ loni time applied to Nipolion by Ihe >
chalD whidi luiiiei (he miMi uivial cinumiiiucei 10 ihe diou ini
Little OUnt, a tatriqMl ol
associated with great inlellecli
i860, when he was one of the two candidates of the disrupted Democratic
parly, campaign clubs were organized, calling themselves " Little Giants."
uniformed after Ihe manner of the Republican " Wide -Awakes."
Uttl«-go, in Cambridge University slang, a public examination held early
in the course, so called. because il is less strict or less important in its con-
sequences than the final one. Al Oiford similar examinations are called
Uttle Hko, an army nickname given affeclionalely by his men to General
George B. McClellan. It was taken up and became a popular political loM'
qutt when he was the Democratic candidate for the Presidency m 1S64.
Uttle lUlodjr, a political nickname for Rhode Island, the smallest State
in Ihe American Union.
Iiived and loved, I ba^a {Ger. "Ich habe gelebt und geliebet"), a
famous sentiment of Schiller's, contaiived in the song which Thekia sings in
"The Piccolomini," Act ii., Sc, 6. The context is as follows :
Du Heri 111 (eilnben, die Welt ix leer.
Eh! H*m^.^e Xajx Kind luiUck,
Ich habe Ecnouen djti irdUche GlOck.
("The heart is dead, Ihe world is empty, there is nothing further to wish. O
Holy One. call back thy child : 1 have enjoyed Ihe full bliss of this world, I
have lived and loveiL")
A somewhat similar sentiment is Byron's :
I die. — bui fint I have po»«H'd,
, cone w nuy. inw ^ Qi„„;.^ , ,„^
UveiT. As this word is of French origin, being derived from Ihe verb
/nwr,to"deliver," the custom of clothing servants in livery probably originated
in France. At ihe plenary courts, under the first two races of monatcha, Ihe
king made a custom of delivering 10 hia servants particular clothes, which
653 HANDV-BOOH Ofi
were called "livr^es," because ^ven at Ihe king's expense. In like manner
the nobility and gentry gave their dependants liveries, and various colors were
adapted by diflerenl masters to distinguish one another's servants. Some-
times the livery consisted only of a particular mark or badge. The term
formerly had a wider significance, and denoted both the food and clothes
of the servants and the meat and drink that were served to guests. Spen-
ser gives the meaning of the word in his time thus : " What Itvery is, we, by
common use in En gland, .know well enough, — namely, that is, allowance of
horse-meat, as to keep horses at livery, the which word, 1 guess, is derived
from liviring or delivering both their nightly food. So in great houses the
livery is said to be served up for all night, that is, their evening allowance
of drink. And the livery is also the upper weed which a servant-man wear-
eth, so called, as I suppose, for that it was dtlivertd and taken from him at
pleasure."
The use of liveries is very ancient in England, being noticed in some of the
statutes of the reign of Richard II. ; but the applit:ation of the term has not
always been confined to menials. Chaucer, in the prologue to the "Canter-
bury Tales," says. —
An haberdutier und ■ cvpci>Kr'
In the time of Edward IV. the terms livery and badp seem to have become
synonymoiu. The badge consisted of the ma»>ier's device, crest, or arms, on
a separate piece of cloth, or sometimes it was made of silver in the form of a
shield, and worn upon the left sleeve. These badRes seem at first to have
distinguished the servants in England, for Fynes Moryson (reign of James l.|.
speaking of Ihe English apparel, says, "The servants of gentlemen were
wont to wear blew coates with their master's badges of silver on (he left
sleeve, but now they most commonly wear coates guarded with lace, all the
servants of one family wearing the same livery fur colour and ornament."
The badges may be seen in all old representations of posts or messengers,
affixed sometimes to tlie girdle or to the shoulder, sometimes to the hat or
cap. These figures extend as far back as the thirteenth century. The re-
mains of the ancient badge are preserved in England still in the dresses of
porters, firemen, and watermen, and perhaps in the shoulder- knots of fool-
men ; and in this country, no doubt, the badges of porters and messenger-boys
arc survivals.
1A-9tm. To bit a man wli8r« h* Uvm, an American slang phrase,
meaning to touch him on the quick, to reach his truest and deepest self. In
Howells's "The Minister's Charge," Mr. Sewcll savs of his frotigi, Lemuel
Barker,—
If I couJd only luve reached faim wbov he lives. ■> our duig uyi I Bui. do wluU I woujd.
1 ccpuldn't find jtny commoa ^rotuid where we could sI4nd together. We ere u dohke u if
we wen of iwo diATemii ftpecia. I uw ttui evcryihing I uid Ixvildered htm Bore (md
iDOTF; he couldo'i imdemud me I OureducaiUjn it unchrisiimo.ourcirilixHtion u ugan.
They baih ought (o bring lu in cloKt rebliani with our felluw-crotiirs. and ll>ey botli ooly
pul lu more widely apart 1 Every one of usdwelU in an impenetrable solitude T We undn*-
eiand each other a LiiiJe if our circumMAnca are vmilar. Ixit tX Ihvy ore diflerenl all our wm-da
lea>e u> dumb and uuintelligible.
The main idea of this paragraph has analogues in the citations collected
under IsoLATtoN \q.v.).
Uvjng dog bettor ttum a dead lion. A curious reference to this
proverb is preserved in a manuscript in the archives of the see of Ossory,
at fill. 66, where there is entered, in a band of (he tatter part of the fourteenth
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. f>
Bntury, a list of ancient proverbs ander the following heading, in a que
onglomerale language :
Bux souitt la prmxrbts tn frauntcys confrrmt par aiulariU dtt DibiL
Anwog them is the folloi
Meui valt I
The reference to the Son of Sirach is etroneooa, — the proverb being found
in Ecclouasles ix. 4. It would be interesting lo know who mas ihis DJbil by
whose authority this list of proverbs is confirmed.
F. Domin. Eiannez, in his defence of Cardinal Cajelan against the attacks
ofCaidinal Calharinus and Melchicir Canns (CimiRfn/. in /n'm./ar/'. ^, Thorn.,
p. 450, ed. Duaci, 1614), quotes a proverbial ism — " Cerle potest dici de islis.
quod de Grsecis insullanlibus Heclori jam mortuo dixit Homeius, quod leont
-—which is very like ,^
lion insulted by all the beasts whu erstwhile stood in moital dread of fiim,
and at last suflering even the indignity of kicks from the ass's heels. Tlie
reference 10 Homet, however, is a mistake. No such line occurs in the Iliad.
The cardinal probably had in mind the following verse from the Greek An-
thology (Uipsic. 1794), torn. iv. p. ii::
'Of dirt> 'Elxnipoc Tiroutmayimn' 'ElU^vuf
Bailee vt>i> /itTi) iroTfun' ^ptv Hiiai 9m mi oimil
Nupoi iiU|ua iiavTmi i^jipi^miat Xa-yuai.
LOBfar, — originally an Americanism, but now reci^nlzed also in England,
— an idler, ^fiSnatr, a Iramp. Its etymology is uncertain. But, inasmuch as
the word was (irst used in the sense of a thieving bummer, there is little
reason for doubt that il is a survival of the old Engtisli slang loaver, to " steal,"
influenced by or combined with the Dutch slang loevtr, or lot/tr, " an idle
stroller." This would give loafer a New York ongin ; and all the ascertained
facts bear out the ascription.
Loan oft losM botb iU^ and ftiwid. This familiar Shakespearian
maxim (Hamltt, Act i., Sa 3) wa$ anticipated by a number of popular proverbs
which come down \o us from an unknown antiquity.
Lsdd to your tHend ud uk paymvnt of yourmemy. — ^anitk.
Lnul to «M who will not repay, and you will provoke hia dilUke.— C(i»f '.
See, also, Borrowinc.
Lobbj, Tha, a collective name for the individuals who freque
lobby or approach to (he halls of legislation for the purpose of InHu
legisutiotL Their activity is called "lobbying," which may mean cill
fluencing by mere argument or also by bribery. There are " lobhvists" who
practise "lobln^>g" as a profession, like any other v"''"" =">' •"■" "" "*'
DothscKS. "The Lobby" is sometimes —''--■ -■■^■-
55*
Coo^If
654 HANDY-BOOK OF
Lobster bollad. In his "Lectures on Ihc English Comic Writers" Hai-
lilt calls special attention to the following lines as a felicitous example of
Butler's burlesque style :
Tbe HID had loDE liiKc ia tbr lip
0( ThetU Ulicii DUI hii nap,
And, like a lob>ter binled, the mum
Fcom black to icd bcpin to lum.
llwiariu. Pan 11., CuUO ii., I. ti.
He is doubtless unaware that the metaphor of the lobster is taken from
Rabelais (book v., ch. vii.),—
Day, ixtpine in Ihe oul, rnaka Iht lun turn froin black to red, like ■ bailed lobuer,—
and the first two lines from a couplet of Sir Arthur Gorges :
A* far u Phobui lint doth riae,
IJnlil in Tbetii' tap be Ua.
Local OpUoa, a plan of temperance legislation, whereby the right of
iKxihibitii^ the sale of intoxicants wilhiti their bounds is relegated to the in-
habitants of each individual town or other local division of a Stale.
_ n tbe
in that party upon the question of bank charters, one wing, which
dubbed themselves the " Anti.Monopolists" or " Equal Rights'' men, claiming
that these charters were virtually grants of monopolies and therefore hostile
to equal rights. A majority of the Tammany nominating committee bad
selected Gideon Lee, a " Monopolist," as a candidate for Congress. The
nomination, as was customary, had to be ratified at a general meeting of
Democrats of all shades of opinion at Tammany Hall. Tbe Anti-Monopolists
determined, if possible, to obtain control of this meeting. There was a great
crowd in the hall, the Monopolists entering by the back stairs and the Anti-
Monopolists coming up the front stairs. A tumult followed, each side ciaim-
ing the organization of the meeting, and while the uproar was at its height
the gas-lighit were suddenly turned off. But the Equal Rights men were
prepared, having suspected some such trick, and, pulling out candles and
loco-foco matches, instantly relighted the hall. They succeeded in securing
their own chairman, but Mr. Lee was elected as the regular candidate. The
Ceurier and Enparer, the Whig paper, immediately nicknamed the Anti-
Monopolists the l.oco-foco party. The faction thus nicknamed ultimately
became dominant in the Democratic party in the State of New York. One
of their creeds was that of quick rotation in office ; they believed in getting
Ihe best possible services oul uf public officials, by making the tenures short
and all offices elective, thus insuring to the people the possibility of judging
and quickly ridding themselves of public servants who should be found want-
ing. One result of their activity was the making of the judiciary in the Stale
elective, a practice followed in manv other Slates, although the terms of office
have been considerably lengthened, and in later years it has become cus-
tomary for political parties to permit an eflicient judge to be re-elected with-
out opposition. Another of Ihe reforms traceable to the " Eqoal-Righters"
was the law removing Ihe disabilities uf married women from holding separate
?roperly, in which also the other States rapidly followed Ihe lead of New
ork. From having been an epithet of contempt for a Action, the name
Loco-foco began to be proudly oorne as a distinction. Finally it became
a designation synonymous with Democrat, being generally applied to the
whole parly throughout the country, and it was in vogue up to the otitbreak
of Ihe civil war.
.d by Google
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. 655
As to the name Loco-loco, it was originally given to a self-lighting cigar
invented by John Marck in 1834, and was subsequently extended to ludfer
matches.
Iiooiu Panltontin (L., "place foe repentance"), colloquially, the license
of diawing back Iroin a bargain, which can be done berotc any act has been
committed to confirm iL In the interview belween Esau and his father
Isaaci St Paul says, the former "found no place for repentance, though he
souehl it carefully with tears" [HAraei xii. 17), — i.e., no means whereby Isaac
couid break his trargain with Jacob.
Log Cabin and Hard Cider, a party-ccy in the Harrison campaign of
1840. The candidate was supposed to be a true representative of Ihe " plain
people" as against the more " educated" and better circumstanced, an opposi'
Hon which was one of the features of the campaign. Harrison was a plain
farmer, content to live in a log cabin and drink hard cider. Log cabins were
erected in many large towns, and carried in miniature through the streets in
processions, with barrels of cider as Siting emblems of the candidate's sop-
poBed antecedents.
IiOg-rolliilg, an American slang expres^on for mutual assistance rendered
by persona in power to the detriment of the general public. The English
"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," and the Scotch "Caw me,
caw thee," are approximate equivalents. In ils original sense log-roiling
is a sort of mutual-help festival akin to the quilting-hees and husking-bees.
When a backwoodsman cuts down trees his neighbors help him to roll them
away, and in return he helps them with their trees. The phrase was first
applied as a slang metaphor to politics. A and B, for example. Congressmen
or Assemblymen, each has a bill to pass. Each agrees to support and vote
for (he other's bill. They are log-rolling for each other. Furthermore, neither,
we will suppose, has any interest or belief in either bill, but wishes to gain the
help of the promoters for some scheme of his own. He and the promoters
are log-rolling for each other. From politics the phrase has passed over to
literature, and has almost superseded Ihe older term Mutual Admiration
Society {y. 1;.), as applied lo a clique of authors who abuse the confidence of
the public by mutual puffery for individual interest In 1887 a fierce con-
troversy raged in the press on this very question, to which Mr. Andrew Lang
made this sensible contribution ;
Laidy wc have heard cDough from people oT "a deiica
myiiery arLiw-RDllliu. Tliii meuiiDglcH lenn lecini mi
A nuD poITi hi> rriendi' or accomfriica' books on the undc
nff bis. Tbe people vha do Ibis belong to Mulu-' ■ '-'
ing, I may humbly temnrk thai IJon't believe in it
tbenueJvei, (^ the DIbcr Hmbd. il u perfectly
Though the word "log-rolling" is new to literature, the accusation which
HANDY-BOOK OF
it implies was met
(ban Drydcn, in a
Rival Queens :"
play my ztxrat should ddi
'twdlbe ihoueht.uidii'kh ume o
Look tMfor« 70a leftp, Ihe modern Torm aX the old proverb, which, as
"Loolc ere thou leap," is found in Tottel's " Miscellany" (1557) and in Tus-
set's " Five HundrMi Points of Good Husbandry" (1573). John Trapp, in
his quaint "Commentary" (1647), traces this saying to St Bernard. In his
comment on I. Petet iii. 17 he says, —
T17 ihCRfon bcfon ye inut; look before ye lup. "Alio qui ulltm ■nieqtuiin videai,
cuunu tt uileqiwni debeu,"— i.r., " IT yc look nol before y« lop. ye will tail bdore ye
Tfaoo ihoutdx bivc looked before (hou hadu leapt.— JoNSOM, OrAniAH, MahsTo:) :
£ajtmn//fs,Act T., Sc.1.
Look before y«i ere you leap.
BirTLU : Hmliirat, Put II., ch, IL, I. ys.
IiOOklng-glaa*. A number of common superstitions have entwined them-
selves around Ibis article of furniture. Many of them are dim survivals of
the idea found among most savage tribes at a certain stage of development
reflection. Universal still is the superstition that to break a looking-glas
to tempt misfortune, — in some places death, in others ill luck for seven yeat>.
It adds to (he ill luck to keep the broken pieces, yet that ill Inck may in
various parts of England be averted by breaking two more. Hence the com-
mon saw, " When I have broken three I have nnished." In America and in
England there are local survivals. of the old folk-belief that it is fatal to let a
ba% gaze at its reflection in the mirror before it is one year old. The Swedes
have brought with them to many Swedish settlements, especially in Minne-
sota and Wisconsin, the native fancy that a girl must not look in the glass
after dark by the aid of any artilicial light, under pain of forfeiting all power
over the other sex. In rural England it is common to remove the looking-
glass from the chamber of death, or to cover it over, — obviously a recrudes-
cence of the ghost-theory of reflections.
. n American national politics, those who favor
a liberal interpretation of (he Constitution with regard to the powers delegated
by that instrument to Ihe federal government, and who are for Ihe reading
into it of lai^e implied sovereign powers; opposed to the "sttlct construc-
tionists," rigid maintainers of airihe reserved powers of the individual Slates.
Neither deiignatioD wa* ever a par(y name ; bu( the " right of sectssion" ma^
LITERARY CVRIOSITIBS.
product of the earlier history of the East India - \ t- ? '
treasuries was practised as a line art and in a magnitude unheard of before.
In the PalUkal Magaaiu for 1781 will be found five panes of Indian terms,
^ven, as there staled, in order that its readers may understand the debates
in which Burke made an early attack on the Company.
tr of slate, " with
the whole affairs of the nation on bis head," he has no time for such trivial-
ities. He is permitted to come on Ihe stage, however, slowly shaking his
head, and as Mr. PuS, the author of the tragedy, who is present at tM re-
hearsal, explains, " By that shake of the head he gave you to understand
that, even Ihoueh they had more justice in their cause and wisdom in their
measures, yet, if there was not a greater spirit shown on the part of the whole
people, the country would at last fall a sacrifice Co the hostile ambition of the
Spanish monarchy." It is this scene, and not any incident in his life or
peculiar personal characteristics, which is referred to by English writers, — t^-t
"The Provost answered with another sagacious shake of the head, that would
have done honor to Lord Burleigh." {Sitt Waltbk Scott.)
iMrd Lonsdale's Ntna Fins. The Earl of Lonsdale w
firoprietor and patron of boroughs that he relumed nine meml
lament, who were facetiously called " Lord Lonsdale's Nine Pins." One of
firoprietor and palron of boroughs ihal he relumed nine members to every Par-
iament, who were facetiously called " Lord Lonsdale's Nine Pirn." One of
the members thus designated, having made a very extravagant speech in ihe
House of Commons, was answered by Mr. Burlte in a veLn of the happiest
sarcasm, which elicited from the House loud and repeated cheers. Mr. Fox,
entering the Hftuse just as Mr, Burke was sitting down, inquired of Sheridan
what the House was cheering. " Oh, nothing of consequence," replied Sheri-
dan, " only Burke has knocked down one of Lord Lonsdale's Nine Piits."
Iiordly antbon. In his " Essay on Criticism" Pope happily says, —
WbM W0A1I mifT ibis nudrigal would be.
Ce KTnitnt pAtoto cjtquisa,
Johnson, speaking of a titled gentleman who had turned author, said, " My
fiiend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character
he deserved to have bis merits handsomely allowed." (Usually quoted as
"When a nobleman writes a book he ought to be encouraged.")
Etnerson says, —
It Hddsagnal deal (o ihv force of ui opinion to know tlut tkere iim nun of [brce And like-
lihood tiehiad ii.
But Emerson is not falling into the vice which the others have condemned.
He is only uttering the obvious truth that an opinion carries additional weight
from the character, not the rank, of him who utters it.
;i:,vG00gk"
65S HANDY-BOOK OF
Losing * ship for a h^t'orth of tar. Tbe phrase is slrictlf a refer-
ence lu Ihe loss, nol of a ship, but of a sheep (pronounced by rustics "ship"),
arising out of the custom of marking sheep with Ihe owner's initials in hot
tar. To lose a sheep through its not being marked, is to lose it for want of
a ha'pcnnyworth of tar.
Loat Gatue, in American political history, the cause of Ihe Confederarj
in thcdvil war.
Th» tUuUf dacriptitm of our Lue war, which has b«oine k poputu on th« Southon side,
— ^— -imied wilb ihe pretCDI writer. Sliortly after the war he prepared 10 write a hittoiy of it.
iffered Ihe work he deiigned 10 a New York nubluhcr, who ihoughl well of il, hul
°^'
Afplrlm^ Jaurnal.
iropcr dignity in Ihe word Gmtt; ibea
lU/. 'Cbe wordi " The L«t Cuie"
IiOat treaatttaa of Utaratura. Nature ii a spendthrift, undoubtedly, l)at
has she ever wasted her energies in creating a mute inglorious Milton } Gray
affirms that she has ; Carlyle denies it A man who eatt speak masl speak,
says Ihe latter. Between two such authorities, who shall decide? At all
events, it is idle to waste tears on what might have been. It may be eaually
idle, but nevertheless it is only human, to deplore the loss of what has beeiL
The lost treasures of literature have caused a heart-ache to many a scholar
and bibliomaniac A large portion of classic literature has vanished from the
sight of men. The dramatic literature of Greece was one of its grealest
glories. At the time of Aristophanes it is estimated that fully two thousand
dramas had been produced : only forty-two have come down to us. From
j^schylus we have only seven, out of a total of seventy ; seven also of Sopho-
cles, out of a hundred or more ; and nineteen of Euripides, out of a ])ossible
ninety-two. The comic writers have suffered the most, and of the greatest
of themk, Menander, hardly a vestige remains. Goethe said that he would
{ladly have given one-half of Roman poetry for a single play of that master.
n Ihe few lines that have come down to us he recogniied Ihe touch of a
supreme genius.
But this is not the worst. The greatest lyric poetess of all times was Sappho.
Only two odes and a few fragmentary lines are left to tantalize us with a sense
of our loss. From Pindar we have some odes, indeed, but not the hymns
and dirges and dithyrambs which the ancient critics considered his real mas-
terpieces. And where are Ihe songs of Alc<eus and Ibycus, — not to mention
any lesser names, — songs which once thrilled the most cultured nation of
antiquity } Perished all, perished utterly from the face of the earth, with Ihe
exception of a few mulilaled stanzas. In Roman literature we have fared
somewhat better, but even here there ate sad gaps. Ennins, the lather of
Roman poetry, Ennius, of whom a complete copy ii said to have existed as
late as the thirteenth century, survives only in a few fragments. Perished
Utterly, also, is that splendid ballad literature which preceded the hiatork
age, the literature whose loss Macaulay sought to supply in his " Lays of
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 655
Ancienl Rome." The poets Lucilina, Bassus, Ponticus, Valgius, Accius, and
PicuviuB, the historians Ccelius Antipater and Cotnelius Sisenna, the orators
Calvus and Hortensius and Cassius Seveius, names to conjure with in ancient
days, are nanies and nothing more to our modern ears.
A doien words are al! trial remain of the "Thyesies" of Vatius, which,
according 10 Quinlilian, rivalled all the tragedies of the Greeks ; and two
lines represent all the vestige of Ovid's tragedy of " Medea." Livy, himself,
has come down to us in a mutilated state.
Many of these treasures perished in the invasions of the Goths and Vandals,
many were dcBtroyed by the ignorant or the superstitious in the Dark Ages,
The library of four hundred thousand manuscripts collected by the Plolemys
was burned during the siege of Alexandria by Julius Cxsar. The famous
library in the Same city, known as the Serapeum, which had been enriched
by PergaiDon and given to Cleopatra by Marie Antony, was partly burned,
partly dispersed, at the storming of the temple of Jupiter by the Christians
during the reign of Theodosius the Great. A new library sprang up in Alex-
andria, and in A.D. 640 was said 10 have contained seven hundred thousand
volumes. That was the year in which the city was captured by the Saracens
under Caliph Omar. The Caliph decreed thai "if these writings of tb«
Greeks agree with the Book of God. they are useless and need not be pre-
served ; if they disagree, they ought to be destroyed." So the building was
burned to the ground, and the manuscripis were sent to heat the four thou-
sand public baths. Six months were barely sufEcieut, it is said, for the con-
sumption of the precious fuel. It is only right to add thai, though Gibbon
accepts this story in its entirety, other authorities reject many of the details
either as fabrications or as gross exaggerations.
In Acts xiz. 19, St. Luke narrates that, after the preaching of Paul, many
of the Ephesians " which used curious arts brought their books together, and
burned them belbre all men : and they counted the price of them, and found
it fifty thousand pieces of silver." This would be over ninety thousand
dollars in our money. The books destroyed were probably little parchment
scrolls, containing illustrations of early heathenism, of devil-worship, serpent-
worship, and sun-worship, early astrological and chemical lore, and symbols
of the archaic forms of religion, derived from the Egyptians, the Persians,
and the Greeks. These scrolls were used as charms gainst all evils, and
protection especially against the "evil eye." Their manufacture, as late as
the fourth century, formed an extensive trade, and it has nut wholly died out
yet, although now it has assumed another form. The Ephesians carried the
scrolls about their persons, and when Paul's eloquence convinced them of
their superstition they doubtless drew them forth from beneath their garments
and cast them into the flames.
With Heathens burning Christian writings and Christians retaliating upon
pagan literature, books disappeared rapidly in the twilight of civilization.
Twelve thousand books printed in Hebrew were burned at Cremona in 1569,
and at the capture of Granada Cardinal Ximenes made a bonfire of five
thousand copies of the Koran. Frightful losses were also sustained when
the great monastic libraries were plundered in the time of the Keformalion.
The books and manuscripts were scattered to stuff broken windows, clean
boots, and light fires, or were sold to grocers and soap-sellers as wrapping-
paper. One merchant, lot forty shillings, lioughi two noble libraries, which
supplied him with paper stock enough to last lor ten years. No doubt many
of ihc most precious ancient manuscripts perished in this way. as well as
the works, mure or less valuable, of mediseval writers. The great fire of
London destroyed many treasures of Elizabethan literature. More of this
66o HANDY-BOOK OF
literature perished through the selfishness of managers who would not allow
(heir manuscripts lo lie printed, and through the carelessness of subsequent
collectors.
At the beginning of this century, the manuscripts of a number of famous
plays which had survived all these casualties were destroyed by a servant of
Warburton, who used some to light the fite and others tu make into pie-crust
frills. No fewer than fifteen of Massinger's plays perished in this wholesale
massacre, with some fifty other plays of various authors, including Ford,
Dekker, Robert Greene, George Chapman, Cyril Tournure, and Thomas
Middleton. Nay, among the number were three plays attributed lo Shake-
speare,— " Duke Humphrey," " Henry I.," and " Henry II."
But one of the most lamentable of all losses is that of Heywood's " Uves
of (he Poets," which has unaccountably disappeared. Heywood was the
familiar friend of Shakespeare and his grea( contemporaries, and the book
would now be looked upon as a priceless slorehouse of literary ana.
or all Elizabethan poets the greatest sufferer was Spenser. The last six
books of his " Faerie Queene" were said to have been lost by a servant while
crossins ftom Ireland to England, and, although this statement has been
doubted, it is quite certain (hat no fewer than seventeen of his compositions
have entirely disappeared. The poetry of Abraham Cowley has come down
to us intact But his poetry, (hough it has an historical interest, is far in-
ferior to his prose, and of his prose only his essays remain. His letters were
suffered to perish by Bishop Sprat.
Of that queen of epistolary writers, Lady Mary Worlley Montagu, only a
comparatively few letters have come down to us. These few were preserved
by accident, the jealous pride or (he carelessness of her family preventing the
rest from seeing the light of print Pope was responsible for the destrucdon
of Lord Peterborough 3 Memoirs, as was Tom Moore for the destruction o(
Byron's. In the first case we probably lost more than in the latter. Lord
Peterborough was one of the roost brilliant and versatile men in English
history. His career was a rich and strange one. Possibly, however, the
noble lord was prouder of his conqueslg over the Riir sex than of his victories
over the Spaniards, and so Pope may have been afraid of the scandals that
might ensue. Still, it is hard to forgive him, and still harder to palliate the
share he took in (he destruction of (he Memoirs of another distinguished
public man. Sir George Savile, who had taken notes of the conversations of
Charles II. and reported much entertaining information about his great con-
temporaries. Nor is i( any plea in mitigation that Pope, at the advice of Lord
Bolingbrokr, put one of his own books into (he fire, his "Treatise on the
Immort^ity of the Soul," which must certainly have had a personal, and
possibly had a literary, value.
Where are Mrs. Inchbatd's Memoirs, which are said to have extended
to several volumes, and for which (he publishers offered her one thousand
Kunds f And where Is John Wilkes's autobiography "i We know only that
lent the manuscript to Charles Butler, and that after Wilkes's death the
cover of (he book was found without any leaves. Another manuscript which
has unaccountably disappeared is a prose work by Matthew Prior, called
" Dialogues of the Dead, in the Manner of Luclan." It has been lost sight
of since 17S1, when it was in the possession ol the dowager Duchess of Port-
land. Joseph Warton and D'lsraeli speak highly of (he work.
Pope is no( tiie only author who has destroyed his own works. Samuel
Rogers is known lo have written and made away with a drama, called " The
Vintage of llurgundy," bul the loss is scarcely to be deplored. Nor need
any tears be shed over the |>rose works of George Crabbe, among them
Mveral novels and a botanical treatise, in spite of (he fact that his son ad-
Googk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 66i
mired the Ibrmer and thai he himseir admired the laiter. He had spent veara
of labor upon it, but destroyed the manuscript became a pedantical triend
assured him (hat a scienliGc (realise of (his naiuie should be written in Laiin
and not in English. Na(haiiiel Hawthorne made a holocaugt.of a number of
his early tales which we can ill afford to lose, for even the despised " Faii-
shawe," (he earliest of his prin(ed books, which he did his bes( to suppress,
has a personal interes( that makes as rejoice over its rescue from oblivion.
Motiire, it may not be ffeneralty known, had almost completed a translation
of Lucretius, but one of his servants whom he had ordered lo dress his wig
look some pages of his manuscript lo make curl-papers, and Moti^re in a
rage threw the remainder into the lire. An accident destroyed the result of
(he labors of Newlon's ilecliring years. He had lef( his manuscripts upon
(he table beside a lighted candle. His dog Diamond, playing around the
(able, over(htew the candle and se( fire to the papers. Newton was more
patient than Moliire ; lie merely shook his head a( (he di^ "Ah, Diamond,
Diamond," he cried, "ihou little knowest what damage thou hast done !"
A curious heap of scorched leaves, looking like a monster was|is'-nes(, may
be seen in a glass case in (he Drilish Museum. It is a relic of a (ire that
occurred in 1731 at Ashburnham House, Westminster, and partly destroyed
the Cotton manuscripts. By (he exercise of much skill a portion was restored,
(hough apparently chaired pas( recognidon. The remnants were carefully
separated, leaf by leaf, soaked in a chemical solution, and (hen pressed
be(ween leaves of transparent paper. The library of Dr. Priestley was
burned by (he mob in the Birmingham rio(s, aTxAhe celebra(ed collection of
Lord Mansfield, which can(ained im(old manuscript (reasurcs, was destroyed
in (he same way in (he Gordon rii>(s. The conflagration of Moscow consumed
many Hteraiv relics, and the shells of the German army in 1870 fired the great
Strasburg library, when many manuscripts and printed books of great value
were destroyed, among others the earliest-printed Bible, and (he records of
(lie famous lawsuits between Gu(eiiberg, the firs( prin(cr, and his partners,
upon which depended (he claim of Gutenberg to the invention of (he art of
priii(ing.
Even in (he quiet of a library, undisturbed by cslami(y, books of great
value have been quietly and surely destroyei) by natural causes. A broken
pane of glass in ■ cathedral library in England admitted (he tendril of an ivy
branch, which grew and grew until i( at(ached i(self (o a row of books worth
hundreds of pounds. Then in rainy weather i( conducted water as though it
were a pipe along to the tops of the books, and soaked (hem through and
through. The ram coming in over a skylight in one library of rare books
rottedsome Cantons and other early English books, one of which, in spite of
its rotten condition, was sold fui one thousand dollars. Paper rots under the
influence of mois(ute undl it is reduced lo a while decay, which crumbles into
powder when handled. Damp a((acks bo(h the inside and ou(side of books.
The monld.spo(s which are so ofien seen upon the edges of leaves and upon
the sides of the binding are seen under a microscope to be miniature forests
of lovely trees covered with a beaudful white foMage. "They are upas-
trees," says a bibliophile, "whose roots are embedded in the leather and
destroy Its texture."
Disasters by sea have been as iatal as disasters by land. In the early part
of (he fif(eenth century, Guarino Veronese lost a ship-load of classical manu-
scripts while crossing from Cons(antinuple to Italy- The unhappy owner
survived the wreck, bill his grief was so grea( lha( his hair (urr.ed white in a
few hours.
When Vincentio Finelli died, in 1600, a London bookseller purchased his
library, — at that (inte the mo8( celebrated in the world. It hod been collected
s«
- Coogic
662 HANDY-BOOfC 01^
through many generations, and comprised numerous manuscripts, datine from
' the eleventh to the siilecnth cenluiy, and an extraordinary number of Greek,
Latin, and Italian works, many of Ihcm lirst editions. The bookseller put
them in three vessels for transportation. One of these $lii|>s was Captured by
pirates, who flung the books overboard. The freight of the two vessels which
escaped their hands was sold for about forty thousand dollars.
The sea has also swallowed up all the books and manuscripts which were
contained in the churches and libraries of Conslaiiliiiople when Mohammed
II. captured that ciiy in the fifteenth century.
In ihe year 169S a Dutch burgomaster named Hudde started on a voyage
of discovery through China, disguised as a mandarin. He travelled ior
thirty years through the length and breadth of the Celestial Empire, and
collected great literary treasures ; but the ship which contained them foun-
dered, and they were 1 rrecoverabl); lost.
Ignorance has cost Ihe world priceless treasures in books and manuscripts.
Just before the French Revolution a line copy of Ihe first edition of Ihe
" Golden Legend" was used leaf by leaf lo light the librarian's lires. A copy
of Caxton's " Canterbury Tales," with wood-cuts, worth at least two thousand
dollars, was used to light the vestry fire of the French Proleslani Church in
Si. Martin's le Grand in London some thirty years ago.
The memory of John Bagford, an antiquarian shoemaker, is held in deserved
execration by bibliophiles. When the name of John Bagford is mentioned,
book-lovers hiss through their teeth, " Biblioclast I" and in thai lies the secret
of his misdoing. He spenP his life in collecting materials for a history of
printing which he never wrote. His materials were lille-pages which he lore
out and mounted with others in a book. Ii is said he collected about twenly-
Gve thousand title-pages in all. His collection, in sixty fdin volumes, 11
deposited in the British Museum, a melancholy yel, professionally, an inter-
esting collection, II is said that the cli«ina hours of this arcn-mulilalor
were embittered because he had been unable lo discover and destroy a
Caxton ; but this was only because lille-pages were unknown in Englancl in
Caxton's day.
Was Lady Burton's also, though in another way, a case of mistaken zeal ?
She is the widow of Sir Richara Burton. Ihe translator of ihe unexpurgated
"Arabian Nights" which raised a howl of indignation among strait-laced
moralists. On ihe completion of that work he gave himself up entirely lo
translating " The Scented Garden." It treated of a certain jiassion. The
day before his sudden and unexpected death he called Lady Burton into his
room, and told her that ihe work was now all but completed, and that he
purposed lo set apart ihe proceeds aa an annuity for her. Next day he was
no more. When she came lo look over his manuscripts she for Ihe first lime
fully understood Ihe nature of "The Scented Garden." A publisher had
c^red her six thousand pounds lor it For three days she was in a stale of
torture. Finally she decided to destroy il. She has told the story herself
in pure and womanly wise. Two motives actuated her, — a reluctance to give
anything 10 Ihe world whose effect should be for evil rather than for good,
and the belief of a devout Christian that Ihe welfare of her husband's soul
would be imperilled thereby :
Hot wiiilEdT broth™ MyheaiTuM ni<ih*t >ln™"bc only ro^ng itoiic ihii»thcr>
^ndU'r b^^h^
..oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 663
h"w "re you goin"i^o'^wr^^l''ThaVyaur mulched b^'^may be fed, and cloilied, and
bttn cainmilird op aicouni or Tcsdini (hose mitinn Iute been expialed, or pawd awsT,
pcrhapi forever) Why, it would be JutI panllel wilh ihc original Ihiny ptecei ot tfWer."
Ihem to i)m Lord Ihai he would hsve mercy on ihem. Am< Ihen I uid, " Noi only not for
aix Ihousand EUineu but pot foriix million guineaq, will I risk it/' SorroTfUUy, revcrtptly,
and In fear and iKmbling, I burnt shm allot sheet until the whole of the volume wus con-
Then came a storm or in-tticisro. Robert Buchanan gave expression to the
feeling of scholars when he wrote, —
Lady Burton feaied that the worli, If puUiabed, would came Incalculable mlKhierand cor-
niplion; her nature revolted affainst it, and In acting at she did she fete hetaeLf a savior of
aoclety. The deiirucilon of the mannacrlpt wm vandalkin pnre and timpte, and vandalum
gentle enthuslaat, by a pure, high-iouled wDnan or the public hangman, Excen ^ love in
such a mailer is as perilous as cxccia of hate.
s occurrence took place in the year 1840,
: fTum one Jay, a fishmonger in Old Hun_
mouth. The soles were wrapped in a large stifT sheet of paper torn from a
folio volume which stood at the fishmonger's elbow. When the purchaser
nnwrappeit his purchase, his eye caught the signatutea of Lauderdale, Godol-
phin, Ashley, and Sunderland on the large slifl Kheet of paper. The wrapper
was a sheet of the victual ling-chai|;es for prisoners in the Tower in the ri ~
of James II. The signatures were those of his ministers. The antiqiiarv
went back at once to Jay's shop. "That is good paper of yours," he said,
assuming an air of indifference. " Yes, but too stiff, I've got a lot of it, too.
I got it from Somerset House. They had ten tons uf waste paper, and I
offered seven pounds a ton, which they took, and I have eol three ions of tl
in the stables. The other seven they keep till I want it.'*^ " All like this ?"
asked the antiquary, his heart in his mouth. " Pretty much," replied Jay ;
"all odds and ends." Jay obligingly allowed the antiquary to carry home an
armful of rubbishy papers. His head swam as he looked on accounts of the
Exchequer Office signed by Henry VII. and Henry VIII.. wardrobe accounW
of Queen Anne, dividend receipts signed by Pope and Newton, a treatise on
the [Eucharist in the boyish hand of Edward VI., and another on the Order
of the Garter in the scholarly haiidwritins of Elizabeth. The government in
selling the papers to Jay had disposed of public documents which conlained
much of the historv of the country from Henry VII. to George IV. The
antiquary went back to Jay. Lillle by little he was aci]uiting the whole pile,
but he injudiciously whispered his secret about, and il liecame no longer a
secret The government were aroused 10 a sense of their loss, and the public
clamored for a committee of inquiry. It was then found that the blame lay
with Lord Monteagle, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and that the papers
which had been sold for seventy pounds were, at the least, worth some three
thousand pouiida ; but most of them had by this lime been lost ot mutilated,
or scatlered beyond redemption.
Iiove. If o love lomt batwet
;i:,vG00gk"
664 HANDY-BOOK OF
No lom belwmi thii two wu lo«,
EKfawuUMlicrUiid;
Id Ion llxy lind, in love they died,
And left <wo tutiet bchmd.
It would appear that Richardson lived in the
phrase was altering its meaning, for he uses it in
Harlowe ;"
lin, tllU vol
IKd lO be_
lK>7a, All for, a phrase which seems (a iiave been first used as the title
of a play br Uryden, its meaning being emphasized by the subtitle, " or the
World Well Lost." Here is a spedmen verse :
^ire lo vour boy, *our CscHir,
The mile of • (lobe lo pUy irithal,
Thit gewgmw world, and put bim chopLy off;
I'll not be pleued with leu Ibu Cleopun.
Southey, in his ballad "All for Love, or i Sinner Well Saved" (1829), baa
these lines ;
And irben my own Mirii Anuny
AninH young Ceut Hrove,
Tbe cuue wu all for lore.
Captain Wattle and Miss Roe," has the same phrase in a leu
I>ld you ever heu lell of Capulo WuUet
He wu lU foe love uid a liltk for ihe bonle.
IiOTS at first aig^t Marlowe, in ■■ Hero and Leander," and Shakespeare,
in " As You LJke It," ask in preciseljf Ihe same language Ihe question, —
Who ever loved ItuI loved no! ai fint iighL?
n form, and carries with it the answer
at fim liEbl they loved.
TJu BlatJ BiggaT if AltJiatidria.
In the fifth act of ■' As You like It," Sc 1, Rosalind describes to Ortaftdo
bow Oliver and Celia had fallen in love at first sight ;
loved: no ■oonir loved bvl they lighcd: no looner ligbed but'tliey atkcd one unolhcr (he
ut ihey uughl (he reBKdy ; and in (brae deercea h^
Jng aDd lulling— piha I what folly ■■ iha'l It it aoad for nnaniei, und for Mlun loaiih
that ia the tupmne lol.— but (hat ia the lot which ibe gfldt onlv grant to Baucla and Phii«-
men, ud a very, very Stw be>lde>.— THACKsaav : yaml. Fair.
The love-in-a-cottage fallacy is thus laughed at by N. P. Willis ;
And liDplldiy talkt of piea I
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
bdwdUKi
> jWMT ahHdy ihjDber,
ll llut wbUo id the OKin
Lova fra* ■■ air. Pope, in his " Eloisa to Abelard," I. 75, ujv^
Len, (iK u ilr, at ilshl oT hunu tin,
SpRuti hli Ught winp. End in ■ moment Rtei.
Butler hu the same idea ;
Bui ■unjulc* out ud flia imr ;
uid Spenser :
Nt IWT Ion ben compcl'd by nsHtcrr ;
TBk«h hk nimble omp, >d^ brcwcll, xway ii Eone.
A^ru Qiuinr. Book iil.,T^BIO 1., St
But Spenser has boldly plagiarised from Chaucer :
7%r FrtnUMt TaU.
IiOT« !■ bllncl, a proverb dating back to the blindfolded Amor of Rotne,
and Bignifying nol only Ihal love sees no defects in the beloved abject, bat is
oblinous to surroundings and careless of consequences. A Spanish saw
rans, "People in lofc think that other people's eyes are out"
HI vilh the mlad :
nmtr iJifUM Drimm, Act I., Sc i.
Some cyuia] Fmchman hu uld ihat tbcie ue <wo puiJei to a lon-tniDHCtion,— tba
Per centra, " Faults are thick where love is thin," say the Welsh, a proverb
echoed in the English " Where love fails we espy all butts."
Love is not only blind, it is insane.
Tix luutic, (he lover, and ihe poet
Are of ImaglDation all oompacl.
"Aimer el eavoir n'ont mfme tnanoir," says an old French proverb,
" To love and to be wise is impossible," says the Spanish, " No folly to being
in love," echoes Ihe Welsh. But Calderon explains that lovers only seem mad
to those who have never loved :
He wbo br off beholdi another dindn;,
Hean not Ibt miuic ibal he daucex to.
The lnw vhlcb moie* til lUe eccentric utlaB;
Coogk"
666 HANDY-BOOK OF
So b« lliu'i is himKlf (ucntlble
Of love'* «wect iafluencc, miiludga blm
Who mova uconllng lo kiK*! lu lady 1
EjiculBdoiu aiid iBpaticnca,
Which the divtae mutician playi, may ciJL
The lovet cniy^ which be vould not (to
Played by ihe grraL mufidan of Ihc vroHd.
IiOV0 me, love my dog. a.n old saw found in exaciljf this form in Hey-
wood's " Proverbs," IjuI long belbre Ileywood's lime quoted by &\. Bernard
(logi-1153) as a proverb common among the vulgai ; "DJcilur certo vulgarl
quodam proveibio : Qui me amat, amat et canem nicum." (In Ftito S. Mi-
chaelii, &rme Primia, seel, iii., p. 1036, vol. i., Parisils, 1719, fbl.)
Lots sought Mid aiuoa|^t In "Twelfth Night," Act iii., Sc I,
Olivia sajps to the disguised Viola, —
Lo« aought Is good, but given sniougbl 1> beuer.
Am iBm DOW : but Iboae •ha leel ll moK
Act happier >iiU.— SxaLLrv : Prtmtlktui UniaunJ.
Hill when we uD love bee for henelf alone, w>lhaul (be aid 'of any >uch kIIMi [eftKUan.
Thii ii the TCligian of lave.-Hjizun : Ciarae/tri.liei.
Iiora to batred ttimad. William Congreve, in " The Mourning Bride,"
Act iii., 5c S, has the familiar lines, —
Heaven hai no rage hke love la balired lumed.
The last tine is taken from Colley Cibbei
Wt ahnll find no fiend in
■ligbted, diamisaed without a p
ich Ihe fury of a diuppointed w
And lUe u Ihony. and )
Bui never either fuui
Ta fne Ihe hollow h.
They flood aloof, (hi
CkrIiUil/, Pan II.
Now .here Ihe iwift Rhone cleavei hii way between
Which hlighled their life'fl bluom. anXlhen departed :
llaeU eip^, but leavuig ihem an agt
Of yean all wimen,— war wilhiD themaelvei la wage.
mur HarcU, Canta iii.. Sunn 94.
Vet lovers' quarrels have from a very early period been looked upon a
. Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
AmudDDi [n imorU InugnilUMI (" The qiuirel* sf loTcn ue the r
TusHCi : Aitdria, Acl iiJ , 5^. s.
Let tbe (oJliDi out d( biendi be a RDCinDE of iStctlon.
The fiJIini oat ct Isren ii iht renewiag of lore.— B
Put III., >«:. >.
IiOT«, To moke. This phrase seems to have come into foshion in (he
early Elizabethan period, as indicated by the eitiacl, —
If you BHane dlher to nuilie jm Arte or ma Occupaiiua of l.oue, I doubt not but you ihal
finde vorke in the Couit Hifficieot : but you thai not know ihc lengUbc of my footCT vntill by
vDtir Gtuinhif you g« commendKiion. A Ptmseaow there ii which belongeth to your thop
boonh, ibu It, M antr /#w, uid aheD 1 iball ham of what fuhion il » made, if 1 like the
LvLv: 'iiifltmti Had ku Entl^ttd^t^ii).
IiOTfid and loat. No stania of Tennyson's " In Metnoriaro" is better
known than stanza xxvti. :
I hold ii true, wbale-er befall :
I fed il, when 1 tatroir huhI :
"Hi better ID hMTC laved and loel
Than never ID have loved a) all.
The thought is one thai finds many parallels in literature, ancient and
modern. A few examples ate subjoined :
Hagk gaudem quod habueiaa [amk:uni1, quam DKeraes quod amticraa (" Rejoice Dore
nntlyvnr the Tact that you tiaveaftiend iniintomv became he dica"). — Sihbca: E*itlU
Cumg: T»UXI^.: Tkt Slrmaltt h/ Ctnicitnci.
Mubioki it il belter ihu 1 1
was ihnll to (he (air haii an
veniDn •faould be hnl.— Lahb : Eiia)i rf £lia
pw
tcTl^^
"hao^lfal to
/Elm.
Love hal
AuBdeiBOne
■lEvt.
Ifold than OD
a.d1.
"t<.lo>
refooUahlyftbetta-lhan
>ve ud
win lathe b
« .bine, to 1
lettledai
a the thought a step farther when he says, in "E
A Ihenuelirea id much to purify and eiall, that even aiv i
I cold deaign, — and (when iti nature ii fully undentood) w
, leaves the heart ddoic toletuil and tender, and the mind
Lnoo ex luoellom, the muito adopted by Mr. Lowe, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, in April. iS?:, for his proposed match-box stamp. The stamp
bad been designed and the whole necessary apparatus for carrying the law
into effect prepared, when the measure imposing the tax was abandoned, to
the universal merriment of the press. The motto especially was riddled by
the shafts of ridicule. It was suggested, by way of solace to the Chancellor
of the Excheqtier's wounded feelmgs, that he should levy a lax upon jiliolo-
Rraphs, and adopt the motto. " Ex sole solatium." The Chancellor's motto,
however, is at most a re-invented one, and made its first appearance in con-
nection with a saiice on the long-discarded window tax.
laootu * non Inoando, a Latin locution which might be roughly Eng-
lished " It is, because il isn't." Literally, it would mean " A giove because
il does not shine," — which calta for an explanation. The grammarian Servius,
668 HANDY-BOOK OF
in a III nf fine pbiloli^ical frenty, derived luna, a "grove," from luetrt, lo
"shine," because a grove is dark and gloomy and docs not shine. The ety>
niolugy became famous. It was received rapturously by some, derisively by
mosL Many parallel etymologies were suggested. Thus, ludus, " a school,
was imagined lo come from ludert, to " play," — « nm ludtre. because no play
was allowed in it; i/llum, "war," a nulla re Mia, because it has nothinir
pleasing in il. Varro seems seriously inclined lo derive caliim, "heaven,
from alare, to " conceal," because it is open. The phrase is uow applied lo
Vet, though Servius was doubtless wrong in this special instance, he wu
not wrong m principle. All grammarians recogniie the rhetorical fiBure
aniiphrasis, by which words are used in a sense directly opposite to flieir
ori^nal meaning. Thus, the Greeks called the furies the Eumenides, the
benign ones, instead of 1^ their real name, Erinnyes. And in etymology Ibe
same piinci^ile turns Mlt dame, a beautiful woman, into beldame, a hag. Nay,
some authorities even insist thai in this special instance ServJus was right.
The luctti, Ihsy explain, was a dark gloomy grove, sacred to some deity in
whose honor mysterious and often obscene rites were performed. Hence it
was called by a name euphemistic but wholly inappropriate, — a dark place
being designated by a term signifying light.
Thi. artii:t<! ['• Ruike'j Hi«ory of ihc Pop«,'' by Macuilyl ii died > review.— pcMlibly
Imagine Linduyal ibebUT,
Wdl uufht by fnaiix lo imbibe
The ruDdamenuli of bit trib* ;
Td «t the Dame of cdudmI learned
lAilucui coma fram non iucenda).
And wisely do u «ber men do :
Swift : Aumtr lo m Efigram iy Mr. Lndniji.
Luxuries and neoaaaarlea. Holmes, in his "Autocrat of the Breakfiat-
Table," refers enthusiastically lo " that glorious Epicurean paradox uttered by
my friend the historian in one of his flashing moments: 'Give us the luxu-
ries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries.'" The historian was
John Lothrop Motley. But, after all, the phrase was a reminiscence, and not
an inspiration. It is the old saying of Scopas of Thessaly, quoted by Flu-
larch in his " Love of Wealth :" " We rich men count our felicity and happi-
ness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things." And
Voltaire, in " Le Mondain," has substantially the same thought : " Le superflu,
chose Ires njcessaire" (" The superfluous, a very necessary thing").
Loxiuy of vroa. Thomas Moore in one of his anacreontics has the
Weep on, ud u tby tamwi Bow,
He cannot be aaid to have been the originator of the phrase. William
Mason uses a very similar expression, —
There ia ■ loleniD luxury in grief,
and J. H. Scott, in "The Perils of Poetry, an Epistle lo a rr
the very words : he is speaking of Otway (p. 15), and says,—
;i:,..G00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES
m] fved my aouL (■« tcj
On ail the pDigiuDi lujiury or woe.
What maf have been the prototype of all is to be Tuund probably in Ovid's
Lying by tlta vrall, a phrase which seems to be local to East Anglia,
with the import that one is dead but not yet buried. The exact phrase in the
moutli of a SuSbilt peasant would be, " He lay by the walls," and it has been
suggested that the expression is a corrupted form of one in which occurred
the Anglo-Saxon word vxul, "death" (genitive toof/fi), so meaning, " He is
laid low by death." The earliest instance known of the occurrence of the
phrase is, —
Thar wu torn, wo u k uwe.
n de laager wal zyn" ("to be brought to a low ebb")
n, and is possibly the original o' " ' "" '' " ""
unless the latter is a derivation from the Suffolk phrase.
akin, and is possibly the original of "going to the wall,"
■■- ' '- *■"-■' ^raj-
Lying for tile irbetatone, a phrase used against one who is grossly
exaggerating. A fevortie Whitsuntide amusement in ancient days was the
" lie- wage" or " iie-malch ;" the victor carried off a whetstone as his priie. The
nature of these contests may be illustrated by this well-known extravaganza.
One of the conlcstanls would declare he could see a fly on the top of a church
spire. The other would reply, "Oh, yes, I saw him wmk his eye." To which
the first would answer, "And I saw him shed one of his eyelashes as he
winked," etc, etc
Ziynch Lair, an American colloquialism for summary justice at the hands
of a mob, the taking of life by an improvised tribunal without due process of
law. The term is said to hark back to Revolutionary times, when Charles
Lynch (1716-96), a Virginia planter, in conjunction with Robert Adams and
Thomas Calloway, undertook to protect society and support the American
cause by punishing outlaws and traitors. Desperadoes were arrested, and
when this informal court was satisfied of their guilt were punished with stripes
or banishmenL Tories were hang up by their thumbs until they cried
" UbertT forever !" But the death-penalty was never inflicted. Lynch,
during the latter part of the Revolution, became a colonel in General Greene's
army. His brother John was the founder of Lynchburg, Viijjinia. There is
nothing in the familiar story which refers the expression to a much earlier
origin, — i.e., to one James Fiti-Stephen Lynch, Mayor of Galway, who, in
1493, sentenced his own son to death for murder, and. fearing a rescue, had
the culprit brought home and banged before his own door. The thing may
have occurred, it certainly exists as a tradition (Thackeray mentions it in his
" Irish Sketch -Book"), but the phrase lynch law is of purely American or^in
and must seek an American original.
;i:v..G00^IC
670 HANDY-BOOK OF
tijoa Tusea (so called, it is said, as liaving first been practised by Apol-
linaris .Sidonius. a Gallic bishop ' - ' ■■ "■• ....
are verses the words of which a
ward. Here is a memorable English specinie
from a church in Cornwall :
Shall w< (11 diet
We ih^l dli all
AU die iboll ve :
M.
M, the thirteenth letter and tenth consonant in the English alphabet, a«
in the Latin, and the twelfth letter in the Greek and In the Phcenician. This
letter used to be branded on a criminal convicted of manslaaghler and ad-
mitted to the benelil of the clergy. "To have an M imder [or by] the
girdle," a now obsolescent phrase, means to address one by the courtesy-
titles Mr., Mrs., or Miss.
Mia The de<il uke you. Niveroui I beude* all huU nina.
LAdy A, Mury cddm upT Wh«, plain NcvcmitT niettiinka you oiifht baira an H uider
youj gUl^, min.— SwiPT : Polite Cenvtriati^myX.
Maoaranl. a wheaicn paste, prepared In the form of hollow tubes of
different diameters, is said to have originated in Sicily. And this is the
legend. A wealthy nobleman of Palermo owned a cook of marvellous in-
ventive genius. One day, in a rapture of culinary composition, this great
artist devised the farinaceous lubes and served them up, with a)l the succulent
accessaries of rich sauce and grated Parmesan, in a inighly china bowl. The
first mouthful elicited from the illustrious epicure the ejaculation, "Catl !" or,
in idiomatic English, " The darlings !" With the second mouthful he empha-
sized the statement as " Ma cari I" or, in a very free translation, " Ah, but
what darlings !" Presently, as the flavor of the toothsome mess grew upon
him, hit enthusiasm rose to even higher flights, and he cried out, in a voice
tremulous with joyful emotion. " Ma carom I" — " Ah, but dearest datlings I"
In paying this verbal tribute to the merits of his cook's discovery he un-
wittmgly Destowed a name upon thai admirable preparation whieh has stuck
to it ever since. This derivation is probably the work of some amateur ety-
molt^ist (though it may be a mere jest), but, if so, is worth quoting aa an
excellent specimen uf his art of plausible narration.
Haoaronio Utaratora (an allusion to the miscellaneous nature of a dish
of macaroni), in its larger sense, a name given to any jumble of two or more
languages, though experts and purists would diCTerenliale the tiae from (he
false macaronic oy insisting that the former should be a mixture of Latin (or
Greek) with the vernacular, in which the words of the living language are
^ven the inflections of the dead. Thus, " lassas kissarc boneas" seems to the
mitiated an exquisite macaronic metamorphosis of the plain English " to kiss
the bonny lasses," and they can hardly contain their joy when they find lendibui
rhyming with circumbendibus. But these refinements arc of later growth.
In its origin macaronic tilerature was meant as a burlesque on the corrupt
Latinity of the monks of the Middle Ages, whose sermons were a strange hodge-
podge of L.alin and of the vulgar language. The originator of this form of
humor, or at least its earliest known professor, was one Odaiius, or Odassi,
of Padua, born about 1450. His efforts were bad enough, and on his death-
bed he is said to have had the grace to ask that these earty effuaions should
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 671
be deitroyed. His most eminenl disciple among his countiymen was Teofilo
Folengo, an Italian Benedictine, who died in 1544. He wrote under the
name of Merlinus Cocaius, and he gave to this species of drotler; a degree
of poetic excellence wiiich has seemed (or him a respectable place in unread
and unreadable literature. Numerous macaronic writers carried on the same
work in Italy, and were highly appreciated. Cardinal Maiarin used to amase
himself by reciting three or four hundred of these verses, one after another.
In France and in Germany also the fashion spread apace. Indeed, the
tamous "Episloljc Obscurorum Virorum" is a soil of macaronic prose, bur-
lesquing the logic and the pedantic Latin of the schoolmen. It is said that
Erasmus, when he read this work, was so overcome with laughter that he
burst an abscess in his face, and so saved the doctors an operation and him-
~~" ~ '" Rabelais and Molitre occasionally indulge in the same form of
Dunbar, a man of great but uncouth genius, is held to have introduced
macaronic poelrv into the literature of Great Britain in his "Testament of
Andrew Kennedy," first printed in 1508. This is not the true macaronic,
however, but consists of allernate lines of old Scotch and dog-I.atin, mixed
up with shreds from the Breviary. A sufficient idea of Dunbar's manner and
itwthod may be gained fi'om these the concluding Terses:
Z wiU u niindi for me liiu.
Dies iUa, Diet ine.
To a«« Uie fiends, ibcD bardilv uw
De lem plumiti me.
Scattered abont tb« " Colin Clout" and the " Philip Sparrow" of John Skel-
ton (first published in K12), a younger contemporary of Dunbar, and poet-
laureate ol England al the close of the fifteenth century, may be found the
first examples of true macaronics in the English language. Like Dunbar,
Skelton is expressly ridiculing the monkish Latinity of his time. A short
specimen from "Colin Clout" must suffice :
I JUB KPTTy tf<»' your nke.
I Ipeake BDI 01 llle god wife,
Bnl tt their apoHla' 1t<«,
Cud tnis vel iiUi
QuimueuiBvilUi
Em uor vel ucllli,
Wdcome Uck ind Gllk
H; pcetv Petroailla
All (be worM ipekcL
The fashion, once started, spread apace. That period of intellectual de-
velopment had just begun when our British Ibrelathers delighted in all sorts
of verbal quips and cranks, in distorliont of language, in conceits and
67a HANDY-BOOK OF
eupbuigms. Macaronic poetry offered just the pedantic kind of ingenuity in
which they revelled. In any account of this grnrt the rollowing soecimen
cannot be overloolied. It bas been preserved in the commonplace book of
one Richard Hilles, who died in 1535. Whether he was the author is uncer-
tain. While not perfect as a macaronic, it is better poetry than the average
composition of this class.
A Treatisk on Wine.
The bol Utt, if ye ulce iDleul.
Ddciii fercDi pondcn.
Saint Lake wllh Id hn Goipel,
pncpoDinir.
TIk 5nl Ihu pluled tbe vlaEyud,
■"■""-ia.-
He chuged "mutr IniD wIdc,
AquB nibcKunt hydnscr
And bade give it to XicheidlBe,
Like u the rue ejiceedelh all Bom
[dkt cuncia florinra,
S« doth 'ise all oiBer liquon.
Dam multa iaiutiferm.
Dairid, ibe praphH, ulth that wise
LlBu'fical cor IiomlDli
ll makcth meD merry If It be fine.
Eat ergo dignum Doiniaia,
1( Donjufaelh age if 1. be good,
By all these cauKi y« thoold thlok
That good vine ihould te bet) of all dr
iDter pDIui potable
Wine-dtiakcn all, vith gnat honor,
Semper laudaie Dopiinuni,
The vhich Kodeth the good liquor
Propter ftalutefla bomiauin.
Plenty to all that love good wine
Donel I>ciu largiui.
And bring them aome when they go ben
A ver* fanow carol "on bringing in the Boar's Head," still sung occuion-
ally in England at the Chiisimas festivities, is certainly as old as 1511, for it
taay be fboixl in a volume printed by Wynkyn de Worde in that year. TTw
Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 673
version subjoined is from a collecljon of carols imprinted al London "in the
PoultiT, bjr Richard Kele, dwelling al the long shop under Saynl Myldrede's
Chjtrcne," about 1546;
A Carol bbihoing in the Bore's Head.
Cipu kpri detcro,
Reddou Uuda Dovlno.
OniHmnl bub jnirldad Ihl*
Whkh oa ihii djiy id Ik Kried ii
Cpui .pri'drfno.
Rtddeiu Luidet Domiiui.
But it was in the year 1616 that a sustained macaronic composition fulfilling
all the rules of the game and satisfying [he most pedantic requirements ap-
peared in the poetical portions of the comedy entitled " Ignoramus." This
was t^ a clergyman named Ruggle. In its entirety it is a burlesque on the
Norman Law- Latin of llie period, — a sort of Latin which burlesqued itself in
such phrases as " a writ dcpipA vini carriandi," — i.e., " for [negligently) carry-
ing a pipe of wine." — but which the ridicule of cenlutjes only slowly eliminated
from the pleadings of the British bar. It was three times performed before
tamesl., to the great delight of that erudite and pedantic monarch, who wilhil
ad wil enough to relish hugely the wit of ihe piece, the more so as he was
attached to the simpler forms and tertns of Scotch law. The dialogue, prose
and poetry alike, is all carried on in legal hog-Latin. Here Is one of the
speeches of the titular hero, Ignoramus, a lawyer, in which he celebrates his
'n for the lovely Rosabella and shows how richly he purposes lo endow
passion Ic
Quicqufd
I, Jce timple, v mobBtna Lovc'i pretty din
I, Spvuca Fufl'ct,
A SkEtlonlcxl uluudoB,
Or coudlgn gtatuLsdoD,
;i:,vG00gk"
(»74 HANDY-BOOK OF
la ketflng forth ad Annado
Eoilud to iUTldo.
P» ciyiu mcmcrio
FuU ■au]l o»v te yaw eIoh,
Wbu ye ihiirhor ibii Horii,
We ihftLI tee ber no moru.
Shortly afterwards appeared Drummond of Hiwthomden's " Folemo Mid-
dinia," which contains macaronic verses Ihal were highly esteemed iii theiT
lime, but are at once loo coarse and too obscare foi reproduclion to-day.
A modern specimen of a macaronic which is perfect in structure and ex-
emplifies Ihe son of humor which may be expected in this kind of verse ia
the following from ihe " Comic Latin (Grammar :"
4aDk * bDiiI *Dd went id Phillppi.
Eicipe John Periwii iJed up id the uil oTi dead pig,
Bui, on Ihe whole, nothing belter has ever been produced than Ihe following,
which appeared in Punch :
The Dbath of tub Sba-Sbrfent.
TuhaUv squanipiuhed Ifae urpent, mitleiu horrenlia lela.
Mdu, look ihurp wiih your buyo ! I gueu lo relalc IhB eve
MigbLy tlick wer« the veuelt progretHiifc, JACuu per squot«
Bui the brow of (be ikipper wa« »ad, eum ■DUcitudine mendi
«l ID a cnuic lo a1^(
a the ikipper at lenpl ,
While ipuklag iuu iwo or ihio
I them as laH u uiough to ■ comb
On Ihe taflhiiL up jumM in a hurry di
Blows ■ bJul that would wAcn the d^uj, muc luiuu n Men niniujE,
" Tumble up all you lubben." be ctia, " nimble up, for cwwini befcre ui
Hl''Lr^Sutalych^''™hos'mo™!«'lDDgi'^pltilEi''LUM,'" ' ""
Loud Laugba (be bold ikJppcr, and qujck premki alto eorde doloren ;
Down to Ihe lieiheu and licki of our own free enllghleaed MlHourer,
You who could whip your owp weight catulii bevu afne telo,
Get your ey« ■klDiied b a Iwinkhng, et ponjte tela phajdlo I"
Tali* voce refen, curifque ingeolibiu i^er,
ManhaU hii cute Utde baud, now pantiDg their foet to beleaguer ;
Swiftly they lower (be boau, and iwifUy each man at Ihe oar ia,
(BlaaokiD, yov know, never feel* how 4wee( 'lia pro palria mori ;
Ovid had him in view when he laid, " Ximiuin ne cfcdc colori-"}
Now iwiftly they pull towards the monxer, who, te^nf the cutler and gig nigh.
And, never coDccivfug their uief will to t]uickly deal liima floorer,
Opcne wide to receive them at once hi» linguit vibrantibua ora ;
Bm jual aa bc'a licking hia tipi, and gladly preparing to taste 'em,
Soaigbt intobiaeyeMil tbe akipper nridentem conjicil haetam.
Sizalghl aa lie feels in his eyeball the lance, growiiw mightily sulky,
At 'cm be comes in a nue, ore mlnax, bngua trisuLca.
" Stam all I" cry the sailors at once, for they think he has cotainJy caitght 'am.
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
tiaw with ■ will Sic vum, wten I nni ymi, be DDly pand ;
This hoH fecli like raitipg his bail, ud, in ipiie o[ hit scmly iJd cartel,
H'oc;^]^d''chooi^ H Lice' "^hThisone'l think TaM hi"l,"
He crin, and straight bio his motilh ad intimi viKcra mlttii.
Screeches the creatine In pain, sad writhes till the ua is commoluia,
As if all its waves had heen Lashed hi a tempest per Eurum et NoLUDL
ProsiHcku sadly annind, wiped his eye with the cuff of his pal
And, toad u his favorite's fate, of oaths uiteted one nr two Ihoi
So much for the genuine macaionics. But there are a large number of
jatx-d'ttprit, more or less closely analogous to this genuine sort, which the
unscieiuiGc mini] of (he public persists in grouping in the same class. Many
of thcBe pseado-macaionics are more amusing than (he Simon Pures. And
first we shall begin with three polyglo( specimens to which purists would deny
the name, either because they could not accord with the structure of l^lin
verse, ot bei:au»c it is some living language that is entwined with the English
in lieu of a dead one.
The following advertisement in five languages is said to be inscribed on
the window of a pubiiC'bouse in Germany ;
Touies les chosei que vdus toubaiMi;
Vinuai honum, costas, camei.
Neai posl-chalie, aod hoise and harness,
And this appears in a Cape Town, Africa, hotel :
E.
Iker host as ma-
:cellenl heda wit]
mu"i
irjsr^
N.
11 patriam fugiin
Vi
vaSTtia, lei ns li..
E hy .elUng beer.
Go<^ save Ihe Queen I '
The following is a relic of the Henry Ctay campaign of 1844, when "Tha'
tame old coon" was a piipuUr party-cry :
Ce MftuE ViKitx Coon.
Ce m6nle vieni cooD n'est paa quite mart,
[I d'<^ pu seutement napping ;
Je poue. myfeU-, uolesi j'ai tort,
Ceue choae est yet to happen.
En dix-hull rony.r(iur. je sail.
He'll whel ses dents anlnst tome Clay,
Et Kan del Loco-^BoJs-es I
Vdu know que quand il est awake.
;i:,vG00gk"
676 HANDY.BOOK OF
CC mdse T>nu coob, Jc ne ub pu why,
L( BiKhKr* »■» uroH bin,
II bit believe he'i |oiB( to die,
Quuid Kulcmenl playing poMin.
Unit nit till noui k wut aeon,
Ntnu'll itir him with ime pale:
He'll bite u luuoii u befoR
Nom pulled hi tn d« ton hole!
A bvorite kind of school-boy humor is that which Uket ihe ronn of
evolving sentences like (he following : Forle dux fel flai in gutiure, which
is eooa Latin for "By chance the leader inhales poison in his throat," but
which read off rapidly sounds like the English "Forty duclis fell flat in ihe
gutter." A French example is Pas de lieu Rh&ne que nous, which it is hardly
necessary to explain makes no sense in French at all, though every word be
true Gallic, but by a similar process of reading reveals the proverbial advice,
"Paddle your own canoe."
Dean Swift was a master of this form of trifling. He and his friend Dr.
Sheridan, who was almust his match, used to correspond together in this
fiuhion. The following inquiry from Dean Swift needs no gloss ;
Sheridan mponded,—
And the Dean settled the whole a^ir thus :
Alg- TV 1 Godlt a goU*.
Hl> Diiieri ne vo U nMll.
The fbllawing sustained effort in the same style can hardly be appreciated
without a key :
Ml MOLLB Annl
" Mi Molle uni ano u tic zgn T"
Ur Molle UHI ano te ver Bsrc.
Vm muo alo pa(11l> lenlo me :
Thruonll pluw "cum Hymen" Omiedll),
" Dlutloa ma ihyno" Hymen tdldit;—
Stcnlkw mail kgel O mm luuiii alter (d ■!« I
Allodo lita t9tte un dariB dauu kml
"O puv hk, h(u y\x to," m> Molle, u tIT
H« licra nn gniei tiocb* In hoi
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Ah Hobei* uli fan pnxadKr intnidi I
VoB DK 1 <br de ptitc d* v«j ur ubateii-
Thiu thiucmli planu vel humi M,
VI UK Mdk inu nno (e vir Kgre.
B(Ue Mollc iDdulgEni >□ incui urilc,-^
Piii« pKior Ki, DUO viinn ui Ule :
"Qnleui un tcrvis lun." iiiu) bciu hcu piu
"Audio do Buiiu Molli, u vidi dHHi In I
>R, veluno
Hy Molly and L
O Pucy O'Tulc b ■ tuullr fellov.
He bul hto wile'i head, and wd, " I hope yov «rc
WOh bk knock.. .Ir (hi hu io hci body D« ■ vhol
*' PrfLV. laT. ^, do tell iu, how ii ii," hti be,
" My MolTv uh) I cuiwt ertr uree t"
Y<nr Molly ud you cannot ever agiee :
VcTT true, to I bopc you will luten to me ;
The run li pbin, ''O come Hymeo" (yon ujd k),
■* Do ye lie m together." So Hymen be did It.
K\ you do ii to trvtt* your deu* ipouse u un us.
"O Patrick I yon vixen." Hvi Molly, mud why T
You hit bet 1 veiy gnti iiroke in bet eyt.
Ah Molly I bor be»rt I lai prskt u 'twere a (wo h
Why your Molly and you unnoi ever Iglee,
Be to UoUy indulgent and iRO/e >1 B jelly.—
Pey rapect to htf »ei, vou know women are rilly ;
" Hn'd'ye do, l^nu Molly, *nd whnVb ibemUMrT
O Uuy, my dary. come tfttlu to me ;
A-^olni (wny k'l yon ue. well you no men I'll Ikih,
OUnry, Of) Aarf, cone *BcA lo your Paiiick."
BduTt, I ndvlH you, and lo ihalt yon aee
Your hloUy and you may forever agiee.
A &dl« appearance of Greek is gained b; the simple trick of setting up
EngliEh wordi in Greek type, as in this poem from PutKh:
TO «B AKAAiNr n
Pnt it in Roman, ami the myatery is dear at once :
To THE Leading Periodicai.
«t Id the Uia or bme.
Tom Smith, Gnib Sucel.
I, the dudes or dandies of Queen Anne't tine. Addison has
tUs eipluiatioD of the origin of the name i "There is a set of merry dolls
678 BANDY-BOOK OF
whom the common people of all countries idmire, and seem to love so irell
that (hey could eat them, according (o ihe old proverb ; I mean those circum-
fbraneous wita whom everv nation calls by the name of that dish of meat
which it loves best. In Holland they are teimed 'Pickled Herrings;' in
France, • Jean Potages ;' in Italy, ' Macaronies 1' and in Great Britain, ' Jack
Puddings.' " But Addison is wrong in assuming thai the lebriqvtt, as such,
was of Italian origin. It was self-applied to the members of Ihe Macaroni
Club, founded in 176a, which consisted of travelled young men, — Ilalianated
Englishmen, Roger Ascham would have called them, — who with many Ibreien
aflectationB brought back from their wanderings one grateful novelty in the
hape of Italian macaroni, which ihey introduced at Almack's and from
which they took their name. The name soon passed into gene
•Synonyme for fop or exquisite, almost superseding the anaTogo
Buck and Blood. True Macaronies were distinguished by their
d for gambling. At Almack's and Brooks's the^ squandered than-
sands at hazard. When they sat down lo this serious business they laid off
the velvet suits of which they were especially fond, putting on frieic great-
coats, often turned inside out fur luck, while high-crowned hats with broad
brims betlowered and bcribboncd protected their carefully- arranged hair and
gtiarded Iheir eyes from Ihe light In the streets they carried long walking-
sticks ornamented with tassels. An eye-glass and a toothpick were their
inseparable companions. Burgoyne, in his play "The Maid of the Oaks"
<1774), alludes 10 the Macaronies "whistling a song through Iheir looth-
Elcks." Another feature of the true Macaroni was his supercnious rudeness.
[ackeniie's " Mirror" (17S0) gives a very unflattering description of a Macaroni
Member of Parliament, ^ir Bobby Button, who, visiting a quiel country gen-
tleman, asserts his claims 10 taste and fashion by attacking everything he sees
in the house and gardens. When the daughter of the house appears he talks
"as if London were one grand seraglio and he himself the mighty master of
it," The Macaronics were in constant attendance at Vauxhall and Ranelagh.
A pamphlet published in 1773, entitled "The Vauxhall Affray; or, Macaro-
nies Defeated," chronicles a disturbance provoked by the tipsy insolence of
the exquisites. They did not retain their appellation very long. Fashions
changed, and new nicknames came in with the new fashions. The species
Wds pretty well extinct by the end of the century. In 1805. George Barring-
ton writes in the New London Spy of " the present degenerate race of Maca-
ronies, who appear to be of a spurious, puny breed ;' and about 1815 there
was published at Bath a poetical pamphlet, ascribed to Thomas Haynes
Bayly, on " Bath naiidtes of the Present and the Macaronies of the PasL"
But they were in their full glory when Yankee Doodle, in a sudden burst of
dandyism, stuck a feather in his hat and called it tnacaroni.
Mcoanlay'a UStnr Zvalandcr. In his review of Ranke's *> History of
the Popes" Macaulay winds up a splendid rhetorical passage on the Catholic
Church with the following peroration :
She wu mat and rapeded bcfoR iblSijiDD hsd Kt fool on Brilain. Iiefm the Frank had
iDDU ui^elln from N^w Zotia^'ihalt, in Ihs midtt al ("ul »litude, lake hia huui'mi a
The last sentence became at once a classic. Macaulay's New Zealander
passed into popular phraseology. Writers of leading articles made a useful
man of him ; reviewers, philosophers, historians, put him to all kinds of sen-
timental work. But it was soon found that he was no child of Macaulay's.
He had been making his procpective vchK<dogicat journeys long belor«
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 679
Horaulay vas born. He was to come rrom Um>, from Alaska, from the
Antipodes, from nowhere in particular ; and he was to sigh over the ruins of
New York and Philadelphia as well as of Luiidoii, or, indeed, over aoy ruins ;
the main point was Ihe moral, Ezekiet knew him, — indeed, several of him, —
and Ezekiel wrote about six hundred years before Christ :
Tyrr ihall be a plice for Ihe spreading of □«> in the mldK of ibe Ma. . . Then all the
•ball IRiDbk U every mamenl, and be utoaimhed ai ihee. And (hey ihall lake up ■ limeD-
utioD Tor Ibcc, mud Hy to (bee, How bn ihou darroytd, Ibal wati inhabired 01 KahjiaE
men, tbt reoDwaed Cliy« which waat urong intbesea, BheandherinhatjIUDUlmivi. 5, ^^>^h
Aiid 11 «hall come id pau, ihai ibe l^hers shall Hand upon it fiom tn-gedi even la Eu'
c^aim ; they shall be a place 10 tpread torth acta (alvU. 10}.
And is not the Agricola of the ** Georgics" who rests contemplative upon
Ms plough to moralise over what he has turned up in the furrow, —
another early avatar of this venerable personage f In English and other
modern literatures he turns up with the unassuming persistence of the
Wandering Jew or the Little Joker. Shelley caught a glimpse of him i
Paol'a and WemnlDtler AbWy shall atand shapelesi and nameleu ruini In ibe inidsi or an
unpeopled marah ; when the piera of WanniDater Bridge shall become the nuclei of islets of
reediand osier*, and cast the jagged shadows of their brokeo ajcbeson tbest^llary stream;
koine tranaatlantlc commentator will be weighing in the scales of some new and now up-
Imagined system t^ critidim the reapeciive Dieriti of the Bells, and the Fudgea, and (hdr
hlBoriaas.— /-.i^rra^f///** TAiril .• biduaiini {xoTiiOmatAoon).
Volney, in his " Ruins of Empires," comes lace to face with him :
Reflecting thai if the places before me kadotmeibibiied ibis animated plctutv, who, said
1 10 myself, can assure me thai their present desolation will not one day be the kit of our own
m solitary amid silent ruins, and weep a people in
aptynameT
lole was equall
;r24. 1774, he says,—
changed in'
Horace Walpole was equally favored. Writing to Sir Horace Mann, No-
For my paR. 1 take Europe to be worn out. When Vallairr dies we may say " Cood-
nlghl." The DEil Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will
pethaps be a Tbucydidei at Bosion, a Xenophon at New Vort, and. In time, a Virgil at
Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last some cunous inyeiler from Lima will visitllng-
land, and give a descciption id Ihe luiss of St. Paul's, like the edillons of Baalbei: and Pal-
There can be no doubt that this is the Identical individual, — Macaulay's
own man. Mrs. Barbauld, like Ezekiel, saw a number of him. In her pi>em
of " Eighteen Hundred and Eleven," published ihe year after the titular dale,
>and of entht
Lsiastic tr
avellers
who
With duteous:
leallheitp
ilgrimage
shall tak.
From the blue
Each splendid
Or of some en
.mblinEiu.
tin with pc
Tet, minei
1 by time
; he broken su
I their view
X"iS'
hSn^n t
: y scattered hamlets tcae
e il> ande
nt bound
nd. choked n
.0 more with lleeu. fi
lirTham
JWEt:
andaedge
n their eager lea.
Tberieliremal
Sl»r°idl
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
The plcnind wiiU< with critic ev> nplon.
And RnDokdi be whal Raphael waA b^ore
A fallED LontioD Ihcy fur
lAlsiuder'iubaUT,
Sneriai bii bark thniugb uackloa MUtwka,
nn.— .. f "--'-(UiiniBhu.ii- '--'
bTiudiiDka
Where, lo hb wanderine thoughu, &
Hath evei plowhed befan, ea^ei ih
Of GiUed jUUdd. Te Uk lud UDku
m be wuh vaiD conjecl
or the unheanl-c^ lac^, whidi b]^ ar
At actaoce io that ioJitajy nook
Fur boat the dvil world \ aad nBcly ^hi,
From watem iborei with biUliant dlici iraced—
to Stray, " ccmteinplative,"
Where Fhlladelpbla caughl the idmlrini gau.
Mid unl^eTit wava vhere Yorli'i emn^um ibove.
Or ^T Boatoiila graced ho- Eaalem thnnae
H« hears no buman voice,— only
the moan of windi Ibat ladlT lieh
O'er many a ihaiieied pile and bnken •lone.
In 1759, more than thirty years earlier, Goldsmith dncribes the roan and
bis feelings in Ihe "Cili«n of the World." London itself, he says, will fade
away some day, and leave a desert in its room. "The sorrowful traveller
wandetv over the awful ruins," and as he beholds he learns wisdom and feels
the transiency of every sublunary possession. " Here, he cries, stood (heir
citadel, now grown over wilb weeds ; there their Senate House, now the
baant of every noxious reptile ; temples and theatres stood here," etc
AIsop's man also notices the noxious reptile, and defines it ;
Slow im ^Trali'lain^e'hii tl^nliig crolf
Goldsmith, it is not unlikely, had in mind an essay entitled " Humorous
Thoughts on Ihe Removal of the Scat of Empire and Commerce," which
appeared in the LtmdoH Magatine for July 6, 1745- At least there is a re-
markable parallelism between his description and that contained in the fol-
lowing passage ;
When I bare btcn indulging is lhl> iboughi, I ban in imaginaiian leen the BHloni of
tome riiEure century walking by the banki of the Tbamet, then overgrown with weedi and
Coogle
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. <S8l
But whf continue our extracts 1 The traveller ai Ihe future who is to visit
ibe ruins of some now flourishinE city or empire and indulge in tlie melan-
choly and moral reflections which such a spectacle should awaken in the
properly-regulated man is a commonplace m literature. Nay, he was a
familiar Geure in Macaulay even before his avatar as a New Zealandcr. He
had already been utilized in no less than three places. Under the name of
Richard Quogti he is the author of a Grand National Epic Poem to be en-
titled The Wellingloniad and to be published a.d. 2824. which is analyzed at
length in an early contribution to JCtti^l's Qaartirly Magatitw, November,
1824. The same magazine in the same issue contained a review of Mitford's
Greece in which be reappears anonymously :
When the «MpUI ih»ll have puMd iw«y from Eniriaiic
■' ' u>E.U ■
Rgiou ibbU In vain labor to decipha' on «oina mouMcrlng pedetol iH name of our
-. -..ij. -v... L V ■■— -d u. lome miubapcD idol, over Uh rained
ingle naked fitbcrpian wain \A% neia In the
proiuWt chief; thai] benr lavage hymiB rhinlrd ID lome miuhapcD idoj. over Ihe
. . J._. 1_ __J ..._1. -■ 1 l.^J C,L__.,,,j „^ liJ, „^,|
louund muu ; her [Atheni'i] in
1 the ■' Review of Mill's Essay on Govemraent" (i8«9) is very
Maoanlay'B aotlool-boj, an eidolon almost as famous as his New
Zealander, a purely imaginary being who in the course of Macaulay's writings
is continually brought in to shame the opponent he is belaborina. The latter
is scornfully told that every school-boy knows the matter in whica he is caught
delinquent
The school-boy is usually spoken of as an original creation of Macaulay's.
It may, therefore, be of some interest to note that the following sentence
occurs on p. 114 of the Chtiitian Obitrver for iSoS, in an editorial review of
a " Vindication of the Hindoos" by " A Bengal Officer ;" " It is beneath the
dignity of criticism to stoop to the refutation of positions which every school-
b«^ could shake to pieces." The Chriitian Oiiervtr, it should be remem-
bered, was edited by Zachary Macaulay. father of the historian.
And, after all. Burton was before either of the Macanlays : "But every
school-boy hath that famous testament of Grunnius Corocotta Forcellus at his
fingers' ends." (Anatomy of Mdatukoly.)
MaoedonlR's MadniaiL Bv this title Alexander the Great ii sometimes
referred to, on account of his alleged furious lust of conquest and unparal-
leled succession of victories. He left his kingdom, accompanied by a
of Ihe North."
Pnm MacEdDiia'i madman
"A natkifl which can fight." think ihe Gaieiteeri, ". . . and it led on by lu king. too.
who may prove. In hll way. a verr Chartef XII., sr iniall Macedonia'! Madman, fm- aughl
■SweST^'
in Ihe organization of political parties in the United States. The machine
consists of those persons affiliated with a political patty (as distinguished
from the mtus of voters) who, from ambition or for profit, follow politics as a
profenion, arrange the nominating conventions, and assume control of elec-
682 handy.book of
tions. Tbe political machine is a highly- peifccl«d organism, extending Trom
the chairman of the State commitl«c down lo the "ca^uin" of a voting dis-
trict At limes its decisions in political matters are m direct apposition to
Ihe wishes of large portions or even the bulk uf the voters affiliated with
the party of whicTi it is Ihe engine. These latter then have four courses
open to them. They may " scratch" objectionable candidales, organiie a bolt,
fritter away their strength by unorganized independent voting, or perforce
accept the dictates of the oiachine for the parly's sake. The name ts some>
times derived from the times of the old volunteer fire-companies when these
organisations were an influential factor in politics in most American cities;
"to run wid de machine" meant to be associated with one of the volunteer
fire-companies, and, ipse facta, to belong li
1 been used in the general sense of political organii
arly in Ihe present century. It was used in this very sense by the Duke of
Wellington m a letter to Thomas Raikes, September iz, i345, ^h'" speaking
of the change effected by the growth of democralic sentiment on the deliber-
ations of the Mouse of Commons : " Such is the operation of the machine,
as now established, that no individual, be his character, conduct in antecedent
circumstances, and his abilities, what they may, can have any personal influ-
ence in general. . . . Scarcely an individual is certain of his political
Had -world, my nuwtani. This nroverbial eiptession, frequently bul
wrongly atlrihuled to Shakespeare, has been taken by Middlelon as the title
of a play, " A Mad World, my Masters" (1608), Taylor, the Water Poel,
probably had Middleton in mind when he wrolc, —
The imputation, of course, is a very old one. Thus, Plautus, " Hei mihi,
insanire me ajunt, ultro cum ipsi insaniuni" (Metiack., v. 3). But the par-
ticular phrase is not, apparently, found in any author before Middlelon.
Uadatonea, or 8na]teBtone«. stones which are vulgarly believed lo have
the power of absorbing Ihe virus from wountis caused by serpents, mad dogs,
poisoned arrows, etc The belief is not a modern one ; it has exisled among
the Orientals for centuries, aitd is frequently mentioned by early travellers in
the East. Jean Baptiste Tavernier, in his "Travels in India" (1677), says,—
1 will finally fnakc Qicntitm cd (be fliukeHoike. which Es i>«aity of iheuH of a double doub-
loon [a Spaolih fold coin], uinc at Ihrm tcndinc 10 an oval ihapc. beinf Ibick in ih« middle
■nd becoming thin townrdi Iht tign. The Indum lay ihii it growi 00 the hndi at ccnain
■lukn, bul Iihould nihei believe Ibalil li Itatprisu of Ihe idolaien oho nuke ihcin think
to, and Ihaltbii iione 1> a campaiitioii which ia nude of cenais dtugi. WKatevu it maybe,
k ku ID excelletil virtue ID eitractinf all the poluii when one hu been bitien by a KKKm-
OIB anlma]. If ib« pan Uiua U Dot punctured it ia neceuary to uiake an Incttlon to thai the
cjilniciod all tlu venom, which i» drawn to it- in order 10 clean it it 'a steeped la woman'i
milk, or. In deikull of it, in that of a cow : and after having been Heeped lor ten or twelve
boun. the milk^ which taaa nbiorted all Ihe venom. a»tumei tbe color of matter. One day
when 1 dined wnb Iba ArchbithDp of Goa he took me into hii muKiun, whera be bad many
pmpertiei anured me that ii wai but three dAva since he had made a trial of it. after which
Be preienled it to me- At be IraveraeJ a marsh on the laland of Salielte. upon which Goa ii
dtiialed. OD hia vrav 10 a houK in the couniiy, one of hi^ palanquin -bcaren, who was almcal
naked, wai billen oy a BrrpenE.and w»bi once cured by ibiailone I have txiuEht many
of them, and El ia ibat which makea me think that they make them. You employ two
melhodi 10 aacenain If Ihe inaiicitoDe it good and that there is no fraud. Thefiniiabv
pladBg the atone in the mouth, Tor then, if ii good, it
■e Ibe palaw. The olber la lo place it in a glaiaful of
Coogk"
LITERARY CVRlOStTlES.
I of blotling- paper to the wound when il is open enough, t
would hardly be recommended by physicians as an anlidole. The inadstone
of America are also some atuminoua shale or other absorptive substance.
Maggot bit«a, Wlleli 'the,— >'.r, when one is seized with a whim. Paral-
lel figures of speech are the Scotch saying " He has his head full of bees"
(see Bees in his Bonnet), the French " 11 a des rats dans la ifte," and the
Dutch " He has a mouse's nesl in his head." But the " biting maggot" is all
Swift's own. He tells of the discovery of certain virtuosi that the brain is
filled with little worms or maggots, and that thought is produced by lhes«
worms biting the nerves. " If the bite is hexagonal, it prodaces poetry ; if
circular, eloquence; if conical, politics," etc. (Tke Mechanical Oftratum ef
lMeSfirii.\
To dcUa Ibe magEM bom id cmpiy hod.
Tbknvsoii: «l...rf.
MagUB Charta. Is such a felloir that he vrill have no aoTsraign.
This famous phrase was used by Sir Edward Coke, May 17. (618, during the
debate in the House of Lords on the Petition of Right. Here is the context :
" Sovereign Power is no parliamentary word. In my opinion it weakens
Magna Charta and all our Statutes ; for Ihey are absolute, without any saving
of sovereian power ; and shall we now add it, we shall weaken the foundation
of law, and then the building must needs fall. Take we heed what we yield unto.
Magna Charta is such a fellow that he will have no sovereign. If we grant
this, by implication we give a sovereign power above all these laws. We
must not admit of it ; and to quality it is impossible. Let US hold Our privi-
leges according to the law." — I Rushmorth, 568.
Uagna eat veiltaa et praevaleblt (L,, " Truth is mighty and will pre-
vail"), a raediaval proverb, probably a reminiscence of "Great is truth, and
mighty above all things" (L Esdrai iv. 41), which in the Greek runs /itfuXii ^
a^ia (ol imrpiaxvci, and in the Vulgate is translated " Magna est Veritas et
prxvaleL" (I. Esdras of the English Apocrypha is numbered III. Esdras in
the Vulgate.) The substitution of the more sonorous future tense for the
present is undoubtedly due to the popular instinct for euphony.
ad%E«iuI them,— when the
V 1j wonltd ID l4 the fiOnuiiE
v no* ga^tf iDgtiher] And a lie L>nce Ki efliDg. having ibt tirvath of life
ll by Ibe lather aflyinK. uid arder«l la run iu diaboliciil lildecoune. Iiveiwlth
■■" ""1 My, " MaEna cat •eritaa « pnevaltbii." Piha I grtai liei an at
yoDug aBdmr ai ihe time perhapi proud of my baniling. " I beg your pardop " I lay. " ii
■hrtieged hia «houlderfl, Lumrd hia lack, and lalked id hu other neJEhbor. I never heird
gendaiiun'i lace wdr-Tdor as"rcVcould apeS^. Whel^t^iMagna'^'f^iu and ho4
Tnith Hike ihe aii
iDlae1f,e.
pecially i» Engla
allied to wppon
Whto .he >pp
■ioritlei areola..
.mcly Ihey must
alwav
h[]i.tii»for«i«ipniRofv
'■clory,~iI ii iben that 1
M> thai the battle
<g, but
«■■ Magna ea.
velila., e.
pravalebii." Hi
ttAffDY-BOOiC OP'
_ Ifloatit, but not WW. General Pierre Bosquet, when he saw ibe
ji hundred dash to their dealh at Balaklava (October 28, i8<l4), uttered the
Eamous phrase. " C'est tnagniSque, maia ce n'est pas la guerre. As a criticUm
on that blundering bit of heroism, the phrase in its straightforward sense is
excellent, but it is now sometimes twisted out o( its original meaning and
quoted ironical))' as a condemnation of the mariinet mind which places the
letter altovc the spirit, the mind which Macaulay admirably ridicules in his
essay on Byron : " We have heard of an old German officer who was a great
admirer of correctness in military o]>eratioii3. He used lo revile Bonaparte
for spoiling the science of war, which had been carried lo such an exquisite
perfection by Marshal Daun. In my youth we used to march and counter-
march all the summer without gaining or losing a square league, and then we
went into winter quarters. And now Comes an ignorant, hot-headed young
man who flies from Boulogne to Ulm, and from Ulm to the middle of Mora-
via, and fighls battles in December. The whole system of his tactics is mon-
Tbere ■» soma ddou* which ve nior« ElDrlooi IhsD Ticlorict ; tome failunt which mn
gtKhdcr thui ihc in«t hrilluat Hicceu. The chu^ of Iht Light Brigxde at EtalakUvB wju k
ukIoi WSK« of 1U«; v« w« doubt if any feat of umi in moderD (im»eva had h> Ane a
■Don] effect u that piet:« of heroic afupidily. In lilte manner Iheae nllanl Kimeo Knvo
fkUed to reach the pole ; but thvy have won a pmud place in ibet countiv'a annaia.
They have done EngrivhEnen good. Pily it ii thai w« thoiJd have to aa^, at lfi« military
Itum.—Quarltrlj Rtvim.
Hahomst and tha UonntBln. Bacon, in his essay on " Boldness," lelU
the following story as an instance of successful audacity : " Mahomet made
the people believe he would call a hill to him and from the top of it offer up
his prayers for ihe observers of his law. The people assembled : Mahomet
called the hill to come to him again and again, and when the hill stood still he
was never a whit abashed, but said, ' If the hill will not come to Mahomet. Ma-
homet will come lo Ihe hill.' " Obviously, this story is the original of the
^miliar proverb, " If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, let Mahomet go
to the mountain," which is found in other languages than the English, and
meana, " If we cannot do what we will, let us do what we can."
It would be interesting to know where Bacon got this sloiy. It is not in
any of Ihe early biographies, naturally enough. They do record that a tree
&om a distance moved towarils (he Prophet, ploughing up the earth as it ad-
vanced, and then similarly retired. But in the Koran Ihe Prophet expressly
" ' ' d the power of working miracles.
ilaa, in former limes, an assize at which no criminal waa
left for execution, the word "maiden" being here used figuratively, as it is in
such expressions as " maiden fortress," a fortress which has never yielded to or
been forced by an enemy. Similarly we have expressions like " virgin snow,"
the snow on mountain -lops, which has never been defiled or trod upon. The
Jungfrau (liL, Ihe ** maiden" or " virgin") was so called because no one had
ever made the ascent, though latterly the feat has been accomplished.
At maiden assizes it was customary for the sheriff of the county to present
Ihe judge making the itinerary of the circuit with a pair of white gloves,
emblematic of purity.
Maln-braoe, To splioa tb«. The main-brace is the rope by which ihe
main-sail of a ship is placed in position. To splice it is to join it when broken
or to repair it when injured. Hence the expression "lo spiice the main-brace"
is proverbial among seamen for taking a drink of strong liquor lo strengthen
or fit ihem for extra exertion, or to enable them to bear up against expatiir«
to cold or wet weather.
Coogk'
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 685
Hoine Law. Maine «u the first State which bjr an act a\ its Legislature
(1851} placed a stringent prohibition on the sale of intoxicating drinks.
Hence the term is often used colloquially as a designation of prohibitory
laws in general, as one irould say, " Kansas, or Iowa, has adapted a ' Maine'
law."
Haltre Gonlll, a name which in France survives as the synonyme for a
cunning rogue, especially in the proverbial phrase " Un tour dc Malire Go-
nin" ("A trick of Master Gouin's"). meaning a very sl^ and artful trick.
M^nue mentions only to reject the etymology which derives the word from
the Hebrew ^minM, a diviner, an enchanter. But Court de Gobelin thinks
that Gonin is derived imntedialely from the English tunning, while that word
' in its turn, with all its Teutonic and Grecian analogues, comes from the same
root-form as the Hebrew guiunen. "The English," he says, "associating
Cwwu'fi^ with Stan, make the compound word Cunning-Man, which signifies
diviner, enchanter, a man who does great things, who is very skilful ; it corre-
sponds, therefore, to the Hebrew wurd^wun^n. . . . Let us not be astonished
to recognize this word, so common to all peoples, and so ancient: it comes
with the rest from a common souice, from higher Asia, the cradle of all these
peoples and of their languages." Menage and Gebelin ought to have known
that Maltre Gonin was a French conjurer who llourished in the days of
Francis L, before whom he is said to have made an exhibition of his art per-
fectly in keeping with the proflieale manners of the time and of that especial
courL " He was a man very subtle and expert in his art," says Brantdme,
"and his grandson, whom we have seen, was fully his equal." Grandfather
and grantuon having been at the head of their profession, the name passed
into a proverbial expression, and survived all memory of the men.
majority" — (>., He is dea
n peratravit ad f lures. In the "Trinum-
mus" of Flautus (ii. 1, 14), Phiito, an old man, winds up a jeremiad gainst the
cormptness of society by asking. —
Quinpriiu
Adpluni>pc£«»>it
(" Why didi Doi die bcfon r ')
The phrase was borrowed by the Latins from the Greeks. That it was an
everr-day expression at Athens may be inferred from its use by Aristophanes
in " Ecclesiazosae :" "ij >poCc laamiaxa iropd ruv vKaifav" ("1 he old woman
having gone over to the majority"). An earlier use of the phrase, probably
the earliesl known to history, occurs in the oracle's reply to <£symnus of
Hegara (Pausanias, L 43) :
% iT/itri Tuii ti^amjv ^aiiamurai.
It is to be regretted that in English the vile pleonasm " the great majority"
is oeeping into common use as a euphuism for the dead.
The cup goet mund -.
And who » artful u to put U by !
'Ti> Lobe liim Ueaih had the mslorilT.
Blaik : Tkt Gravt. «... I. ««.
Mammon *A nnrlghtaouBneBB, — i^., worldly wealth, earthly riches.
The expression occurs in the parable of the unjust steward (Luke xvL
9) : "I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends 1^ means of the mammon
of unrighteousness ; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the
eternal tabernacles" (Revised Version). Again, "If therefore ye have not
been Euthful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the
true riches?" (Ibid., verse 11.) Mammon is also used as a designation of the
god of the worldly as contrasted with the God of light : " Ve cannot letve
58
686 HANDY-BOOK OF
God and mimmon" (Ibid., verse 13I, which
Sermon on the Mount, as repoiled in Matlhew vi. 24. In the Chaldee
Targunis and Onkelos, and later wrilers, and in the Syriai
mammon is used with the signification of riches. Niedi;
Mammon the chief of one 01 the nine orders of devils, and Wiei
account of the court of Beeliebub makes him its ambassador to England.
Spenser makes of him a ion of Piutus, and has a wonderful description of
the cave of Mammon and Ihe adventures there of Sir Guyon {Faetit Qutme,
Book ii., onto 7), and Milton includes Mammon as one of the chief of the
fallen angels :
From hemvcD ; for even in heavcD hb loolcs and ihoiq^u
Wen alwHyi downvmrd bokl, ftdmirins more
Tbe richa of bcuven'a nvemeDi, irod^kn ffoUJ,
I'hui ui|[)h divine ftod holy elte eQ>oy«d.
faradiii L*tl, Book i.
Man. There is no liner bit of prose in all literature than Hamlet's de-
Sir Thomas Browne, with a (ouch of his quaint humor, says, in "Urn-
Burial," ch. v., " Man is a noble animal, splent^d in ashes and pompous in
the grave." Christian dogma recogniies a dual nature in man : "The first
man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven. . . .
And as we have borne the image of Ihe earthy, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly." (/. Ctrrintkiatu xv. 47, 49.) Pope amplifies the thought ;
SliU by himKi? il^e/^X^UiK^'^
Euaftn Una, Ep. li., 1. 1).
nes are hardly more than a metrical translation of a pusage
idictioD, vhu ■ prodigy I A jvdfte of all ifaiogi, l«b)e mrra of tteeuth,
a Duth, cLonca of UDcaulniy ud ertr>r, the glory and the ihuH of ifcfl
Byion, in ** Don Juan," has the exclamation, —
What a >mnge thing b hud I ikod what 11 ttranger
liwofnuil Culob., Sunn 64.
And In " Manfred," Act i., Sc a, he describes man as
Half duK, lialf deity, alika unGi
Compare this with Churchill's
and you will pardon Ihe plagiarism in recognition of the sapetiority of
"Ton's direct and simple recast of the turgid original. Another fine phrase
BfTon's appears to be his own :
Thou paodulum bMwi
oT
CkilJt HmtM, CutD Iv., St
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 687
Iba. Tha proper stady of mmnklnd la man. No lines in Pope are
belter known than these :
KKiwih(nihyicU;pre(iiiiicDci(CDdis>as;
The DTDper ILudy of DHnkiiid ll Dun.
At the very opening of the E«My, Episile i., 1, i, he liad Mid, —
Awikc, my St. John I leave all mciner tUnci
To low anbiikm aikd the pride of kingi.
Let u (linte life can Mute man aupplr
Than jual 10 look about us, and 10 die)
A mighty maze 1 but not without a plan.
It epigram maticism of tlie state-
n the first quotation, maices it cling
forever in the mind. Here are a very few of its ancestors :
La iiay icienca et 1e vray ^UHle de I'hoiniiie c'cu rhooiin* (" TtwDne icieDce and tbediK
mdy o( nun i> man").— Cuamoh : Dt I* Safrar, Jib. ■.. ch. i.
TfaeitE li no Ibeme more plentiftil to Kan
Than ii lb* iloHoiu goodly frame of man.
DoBAgTts: Dajii amlWftlu : Tlurd Daf.
Goethe, in conversation Willi Eckermann, paraphrased Pope's line : "Han
alone is interesting to man."
Man (A) 1« a> old aa ha feela, a womaa «■ old as bIm looka. In a
breach of promise case in Liverpool the piesidins judge delivered himself
uf two aphorisms worthy of preservation. The delendant's counsel having
argued that the lady had a lucky escape from one who had proved so incon-
stant, the judge remarked that " what the woman loses is the man as he ought
to be." Afterwards, when there was a debate as to the advisability of a mar-
riage between a man of forty-nine and a girl of twenty, his loidship remarked
that " a man is as old as he feels, a woman as old as she looks." — AppUtoni
JeumaJ, July a, 187a
Mul may do 'what man has dona, a common English proverb, found
also In other languages :
""' ""youhg: A"*** 7J««fi/»,'vi.,1.6o«.
Approach thou LUie the rugged Ruiuan bear.
The atm'd tbinoceroa, or ihe Hyrcan Il|er,—
BCau of Deittn;, a totriqtui of Napoleon I., who assumed that all Us
actions were guided by fate, and thai he was Ihe chosen instrument of destiny.
Goethe said 10 Eckermann in 1S28, " Napoleon was the man. His life was
the stride of a demi-god. He was a fellow [JCcrl] whom we cannot imitate."
The ju^^/ Is often used colloquially. Al a public banquet given in Buf-
falo, New York, in the spring of 1883, al which Grover Cleveland, then Gov-
ernor of New York, and his staff were present. Congressman Fatquhar, who
was loasl-masler, introduced him to make the leaponsc to the toast to Ihe
State of New York, and, referring 10 him as the " nan of destiny," noting th*
688 HANDY-BOOK OF
quick and succcBsive rise of Governor Cleveland to the position he then held,
prophesied still greater things in store for him.
ManofHou, the name by which John Kyrle (1664-1754), a citizen of the
town of Ross, in Herefordshire, has been celebrated by Pope and Coleridge.
It was otiginally given him during his lifetime, by a country (riend, and ftie
titie is saiJtQ have greatly pleased him. Kyrle was a gentleman of remark-
able benevolence and public spirit, who with an income of only five hundred
pounds a year actually performed all the worthy deeds chronicled in the«e
3 from Pope's tribute ;
pnlHi -hy
ibe Man of Rdb
d VflEU cchoa Ihrough her windipeboi]
-— --jpld Severn hoAjte kppLauK rftouDdB.
Wlw hmiE with woodi you moimliuii'i lultry bt
FromilKdiv ' - ■ ■ -' - ■
ydri nfck who bade lb« water
tbeikio In ukIcu coluniH t«l.
Or in proud lalll nugDUiceBlly hnl.
But ctau and aniea*, pouring through the plala
Health to the tick and aolac* 10 ibe iwiio.
Wboae eauicway pana the vmle wlih ihady roira T
Who« leati the weary Iravella repoH t
Who tavcfat that hcaveo-diiectcd apiie id liieT
■' The Man oT Row." each lliping l»bc rpUb.
Mtral Etfft, Ep. iii.. On Um Uu ^ Rickn.
Mam propoaM, but Ood dlaposea, a proverb common to all languages.
It is frequently attributed to Thomas k Kempis, and it does in fact appear
in Ibe " Imitation of Christ," book i., ch. lix. But it far antedates him. Even
an aphorism of immemorial antiquity. Analogues may also be fountl In the
Bible and in classical antiquity 1
A maa'i bean deviaetfa hia way, but the Lord direCtelh fait tlepB.— ^nvpjf kvi. g.
The lot is catt into the lap, but ibe whole dbpo^lnf thereof is ot the Ljird. — Idid-,n.
For thai ye oBght to lay, If (fae Lord will, we thairiiH.and da (hiaor thai.— 7>aHi i«. 15.
1 shall throw the javelin, but ill desilDaiion ii in the handi of the Almighly.— Hohu :
Oljmpta, »
.dyl
•rs
i™,',^.^™™*"
ig, ii
1 his ■'
Night Thoughts,"
Goldsmith, two generations later, in a ballad called indiSerently "The Her-
mit" and "Edwin and Angelina," has, —
Man wants but tilde here below,
Nor wanti ibai little loag.
It is said, however, that Goldsmith's couplet was first printed in Inverted
commas, to mark the obligation. The apparently trifling change in the phrase
f' ist gives it the neatness which is required for insuritig proverbial currency.
ew Tines in English verse have been more quoted, parodied, burlesqued. It
would be impossible to chronicle the changes that have been rung on the very
obvious perversion of which this Is but a single form :
Han warns but little here below,
Bdi wanu Ihal liiile itrong.
A nuch higher form of humor it illnslrated in Dr. Holmes's poem " Con-
Coo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
tentment," which originallir appeared ii
Table." It quotes Goldsmith's fiisl Ii
opening stanzas :
ir N»UR »n •num on turn,
I mlnyi tbouEhl cold lictiul nice :
Mr rlwi vould be vjuiiLU ice.
DoDglas Jerrold has a prose passage which is identical in ipiril and
humor :
You will htu > godl. lowly crcauirt liag ihi pnlm of purt wiier— call h di< wist of
AdUL when he wsilicd In Pumdiae — wheB, ■omchaw, Fale hu beacoved on [be eaJo^t (be
Gkh Bmsiindy. He declana blmaeir coBWnled with • cnul, althoiigb a bcneliceiil birv
baa bong a bl hanncb or iwo in hii larder. And Ibcn, ibr woman, be atlu, wbai ia oU
beulf bulikln-deepr Behold the lawbl bedfellow oT the qucriu. Wby, Deadny hu lied
him fo u aDE?l — a iwTlecl idecI, aave that Ibr a limt she baa laid atidt her wfnea I Now,
la it not deliilitlii] (o aee iheae humble folk, wbo luoe ibeir loiiEUei to the bonciF of dry
bread and water, compdled by the gentle force ol fbrtutic to chew veolson aDd iwallow dutt T
The singer of the following lines ia more boldly frank :
Norwintathatliuleiotig."
'Til not with mi exactly lo,
Mf wana ■nmany, and If told
Would muater many ■ KBtt ;
And were each wish a mint i>r gold,
I glill ihould long Ibr moie.
JOHH QuiMCV Ai«iu : TTu ITtmli f/ Man.
Lon^ before Young or Goldstnith, however, and as frequently since, poets
and philosophers have taughi the value of contentment, (he worlhlessness of
riches. Pope's " Ode on Solitutie,'' written, so he tells us, in his twelfth year,
emphasizes this moral :
Happy the tnao whoac wiab and caro
A kn> paternal aaea boimd.
Cowper, in his "Table-Talk," asserts that
Happlstaa (tependa, aa Nuure ihowi.
What happiness does depend on is thus staled by varioos writers :
An elegant lufficitncy, content,
Redrement. runl quiet, IHendahip. bw^,
EaK apd alternate labor, uieliil life
. "" "''Thohsom: TiiSnumu; SM^.t-"it
Mine ba the breeiy hill that ikitu the down,
Where a green Etaaay turf ia all 1 crave,
With hm and tbere a violet beiltewD,
. Coogk"
690 HANDY.BOOK OF
SOBK hnYE I<» much, ytt (till do nan ;
I Lluk h>vc, tnd icek do men :
Thf V Are bul poor. ihaujEh much tbey haT«,
AndlimiichwIihliulciIaR:
They poor, I rich ; ihey beg, 1 aire ;
Ther lack, I ha« ; Ihey pine, [live.
Edwabd Dv» : My Mi*d t*m*m tOntOam ti.
Poor Ntd content Is rich, and lich cawah.
Shakbpikbi: (7(A>//d. Act ill., Sc. i.
Lord of ihy prcaenu, and no Und beiide.
SHAKisFaAaa : KiKcJukm, Ka 1„ Sc i.
The loH oT wealth ll loll of din,
The happy man'i wiihoui a thht.
llnmooD: Bt Mtrry, Frindi.
HcTWOod possibly alludes to the Oriental slory of the monarch who u \
cure for melancholy was advised |o wear the shirt of a perfectly happy man.
His couriers scoured far and wide, but found discontent and unhappincM
everywhere. At last they ran across a beggar cheerily singing as he lay by
the roadside ; and when he replied to their questioning that he was as happy
as the day was long, they offered lo purchase his shirt. " I have no shirt," wa*
the answer.
Goldsmith, himself has put his own moral into another form :
Hlibtst compinlom. Innocence and health;
And his beat ricbet, igiioraiK« of wealth.
TIU Dturtti l^llsf, 1. «i.
Gay, in his lable of "The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds," breathea
this wish ;
Give BH, lund MeaTcn, a private itation,
A mind terene hf conlenipUtion I
Thk and pniflt I rttian;
The poit of honor ihall b* mine :
which he imitated from Addison :
The^it oT^honot <■ a private itatlon,
Ca/>.Aciiv.. Sc. 4.
Prorerbial philosophy, loo, teaches the same lesson. " Enough is as good
u a feast," say the English, though the French think that "There is not
enough if there is not too much," a proverb which Beaumarchais appiiei to
love, making Pigaro say of that divine passion, "Too much is not enough."
But the French are nothing if not inconsistent In common with the Italians,
they say, *' He that embraces too much holds nothing fast" A statue was
erected to Buffon in his lifetime bearing the Latin inscription "Naturam
amplectitur omnem" (" He embraces all nature"). A wag thereupon quoted
the Franco- Italian proverb. Buffon promptly had the inscription obliterated.
Maioh of lutelloot, a phrase of uncertain origin which was very popular
in the beginning of the second quarter of this century. Possibly it was a
recrudescence of Burke's phrase, "The march of the human mind is slow,"
used in his speech on the Conciliation of America. Nevertheless, the more
modern phrase implied that the march is as expeditious as is consistent with
an orderly advance. This is the sense in which Carlyle ridicules it in his
review of^Goelhe's '- Helena" (182S) and in his " Characteristics" (1831). In
the latter he says, " What is all this that we hear Tor the last generation or
two about the Improvement of the Age, the Spirit of the Age, Destruction of
Prejudice, Progress of the Species, and the March of Intellect, but an un-
healthy state of self- sentience, self*survey ; the precursor and progntwtic of
..oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 691
still worse health ? That Intellect do march, if possible at double-quick lime,
is very desirable ; nevertheless, why should she turn round at every stride
and cry, See what a stride 1 have taken ! Such a marching of Inlellect is
distinclly of the spavined kind 1 what the Jockeys call ' all action and no ga'
Or, at best, if we exantine well, it is the marching of that gouty Patient whom
his Doctors had clapt on a metal floor artificially heated to the searing-point,
so (hat he was obliged (o much, and did march with a vengeance — nQwhither.
Intellect did not awaken for the first time yesterday ; but has been under way
from Noah's flood downwards ; greatly her best prioress, moreover, was in
the old limes, when she said nothing about iL" Bartlett refers Ihe phra:
until 1819, it is obvious that Soulhey was merely echoing a popular catch-
Uaila, or, more commonly, Blaok Maria, in English and American
slang, the prison-van in which criminals ate carried to and from the court-
house where ihey are tried. The term is said 10 have originated in Philadel-
phia in 1838.
No OH fm, no one grsiis,
Suxli Anne'i JnunliuIataT
Should be hol^Kt of dijguu T
Wlwt'i the reiuon, tdl m why, ab I
Wliy thai gjg vith chtLdren nice
Should be Konied lilie Black Maria,
Full of vUlauy and vice f
Alfy Sloftr't H^-Hi>lUaf.
Although I had no oiotive Tot evading ber,
■Tm hiH lalely ifaat I came acrou her Dack,
And two tum-faced men were forcibly poiuadaig her
Affhut ai codducl teemingly m cruel, base,
'Sf>,Hi.t Ttmn.
MarinM, Tell that to the. The marines are among the "jolly" jack-
tars a proverbially gullible lot, capable of swallowing any yarn, in size varying
from a yawl-boat lo a full-rigged frigate. Hence Ihe phrase, uttered with a
sceptical inflection, on anv particularly incredible whopper being told, " Tell
that to the marines : the blue-jackeis won't believe it"
Bui, whatiDe'eT betide, ab, Neuha [ now
Uddud Die not ; ihe hour will uoi allow
MaiTlagaa «ia niKda In heaven, a common proverb in England and
elsewhere. In Lyiy's "Mother Bombie" (1594), Prisius says, "You see
marriage is deslinie made in heaven, though consummated on eanh." ].
Wilson,in"TheCheats"(l662), has the exact modern expression: "Good sir,
marriages are made in heaven" {p. 106, ed. 1S74). Shakespeare makes
Nerissa say, —
MlTihant 1/ Vnici. Act u., Sc. 9;
and this is probably the original form. Heywood, for example, has, —
Weddiug U deiiiny,
And banging liltewkc,
PrrttrtM, Pan I., dk iiL:
;i:v..G00gk"
692 ■ NANDY-BOOK OF
uid the Italians say, " None e nugistrato dal cieto k deslinato" (" Marriage
and the magistrate are foreordained oy heaven"). In modern limes the phrase
is sometimes changed lo "Matches ace made in heaven," and has so proved
an inestimable boon to the punster ;
Th««hn
~d*»ir.riih"i!ie'fc
Aod iktrt they make Luciftt malchti.
Sakuii. Lov»,
» ud u> iblob thu, *riih iicw Excepilimi, muchs are aU of thEm cUppn] w<ih brinUDH.—
DohaldG. MtTCKiu.; Rmritti^»BtluUr,&.
Married by Uie Hangnuui, in the English cant langu^e, persons
chained or handcuSed together in order to be conveyed to jail or on board
the lighters for transporution. Thus, in the articles of war of the Scottiib
eipedillonary army of 1644 occurs the following paragraph : " If any common
harlots shall be found following the army, if they be married women, and run
away from their husbands, they shall be put to death without mercy, and it they
be unmarried, they shall first be married by the hangman, and thereafter by
him scourged out of the army." (Quoted in Notts and Qucritt, second seriet,
ix. 487)
Many in baate and rep«nt at lalanr*. a lamiliar proverb iif all lan-
guages. Sage, poet, humorist, and proverb-monger all have bad their fling
at matrimony :
le Germans lay,—
Der Ehsund In tin HahDer-Hiitii,
DsEiiiewlU hlnrln, der indn wOIIktidi;
which might be tendered, —
The nutringe tatg ii like * coop baUl itmt,—
The euu w«ild Ub be in, the in* be OOI.
" There is an English parallel to this rather curious illustration," says Lloyd
P. Smith in Uppintotti Magaant, vol. i., " which I have never seen in print,
but 1 heard it once from a fair lady's lips, in my hot youth, when William IV.
Marriaze >i IRw s flimlai ca»Ue-1iiht
Plued in Ihe window, on iiunimer'tsiEhl,
To come end lingc ihelr preiiy wingleu than :
" Marriage is a desperate thing," sa^ old Selden : " the frogs in Maoo were
extremely wise ; they had a great mmd 10 some water, but they would not
leap into the well, because they could not gel oui again." The French say,
"Wedlock rides in the saddle, and repentance on the croup," which recalla
the joke in "Menagiana" of the man who, meeting a friend riding with hit
wife behind him, applied to him the words of Horace, " Post equitem sedet
atra cura" (" Black care sils behind the horseman"). Nay, the French go
even further. " No one marries but repents," they cry.
Marivaux, the French dramatist, wrote an epigram on marriage, wbtcfa
nay be thus translated :
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Ht liioui
nnbly »
which recalls Punch's famous advice to those about to marry : " Don'L"
Manh, The (Ft. " Le Mirais"), a coniempiuoua epithet bestowed by the
Girondists, after tbcir overthrow by the Jacobins, upon those members who
occupied the lowMl benches in the French National Convention, on account
of Iheir alleged cowardly sobsetvience 10 the parly of "the Mounlain" iq.v.).
MaiBhal Forwards (Ger. "Marschall Vorwiirts), a familiar lairigutl by
which his soldiers and the Prussian people in general called General Field-
Marshal von Biiicher ()742-i8l9)> on account of his rapid movements and
impetuous manner of attack. He led the Prussians in the campaign of 1813
against Napoleon and his retreating army, after (he expulsion from Russia
by the burning of Moscow, and at the battle of Waterloo his arrival with hia
army made the defeat of the French decisive.
Martyrs. Th* blood of martfrB la the aaed of the ohurota. Thia
well-known proverb appears to ht the linal result ot a series of misquotations.
The phrase is usually referred to Tcrlullian. What he really said was, " Semen
est sanguis Christianorum" {Afialogrl., ch. 1.), which may be translated "The
blood of Christians is the seed." At an early dale the word martynim was
inserted, and the sentence reorganised thus; "Sanguis marlyrum semen
Christianorum." Beyerlinck. in his "Magnum Thealrum \\\k Humane"
(1665), quotes this as from TertuUian, in illustration of the growth of the
Church from the constancy of martyrs. The further substitution of icclaia,
"church," for ChristiaitBTuirt is ti "
(t69S), p. 4s;. But it probaW occurred earlier, for the proverb in Its modern
form Is clearly alluded to bv Fuller ("Church History of Br'-'- " -"- =- ---
dedication of cent, iv., book i. :
form Is clearly alluded to bv Fuller ("Church History
■■-"—'-- if cent iv., book i. :
9 Id Engluul SuffatdihirE wu (if dih the xxmen) ihe Uijul uwn
Kcd of the Church, I nun, the bloud of primitive Mutyn, u by ihii cmtiiry dolh uppar.
Mascot. Mascot is a word that was introduced into literature by Audran
JD his comic opera of " La Mascotte," but it seems to have been pteviousty in
common use among gamblers and others to indicate some object, animate or
inanimate, which, like the luck-pennv, brought good fortune to its possessor.
The word had travelled up to Pans from Provence and Gascony, where a
mascot is a thing that brings luck to a household. The most plausible ety-
mology derives the word from kku^u/ (masked, covered, or concealed), which
in provincial French is synonymous with lU anffi, " bom with a caul." Now,
in many parts of Europe, notably in Scotland and in France, good fortune is
attributed to the caul, and high prices are known to have been paid for one.
The child born with this appendage is not only lucky in himself but also the
source of luck in others.
The legend of the Mascot, as told in Audran's opera (and probably largely
colored by the librettist's imagination), is as follows. The arch-fiend, Agesago,
in a more than usually malicious mood, sent a number of his most evil imps
into the upper world to distress mankind. But the Powers of Light, in their
Itirn, sent a number of messengers to counteract the evil influences al Satan's
emissaries. These messengeis were known as mascots, and happy was the
man who received one into his home. A mascot must marry only another
mascot, for marriage with a mortal destroyed its magic qualities, which re-
appeared, however, in (he oflspring. Mascots were hereditary in families.
The evolution of a child born wuuqui into a being of a supernatural order
694 HANDY-BOOK OF
was facilitated by the (act that ihe wurd is analogous to the Low-Latin maim),
a "surcctcr." which ia the root-fiirtn of many French provincial words indi-
cating a wiich or m^iciaii. The niaM;ij( has finally taken its place in popular
mylhology wilh all that class of hiiuse-spirils who are allied lo the indent
Penates, the ScuIl-Ii Brownie, the English Lob-lie-by-the-fire, etc The Dal-
matian Vila inuat be a veiy cloiie lelalion, for she is described as a bandsonie
maiden who accompanies her (avoiite wherever he goes, and causes all his
undertakings to prosper.
Victor Hugo gives some account of a being called a Marcou, a figure in
French fulk-lore who belongs to (he same family, (hough his name has a
different etymology, being probably derived from the famous St. Marculphus
(in French, Marcou, or Marculphr). The Marcou is the seventh son of a
seventh son, and he has a natural ^Snr-i/f-Ar on some part of his body, the
touch of which is sure (o heal the sick. Marcous are found in all parts of
France, but especially in the southern provinces. " Ten years ago there lived
at Ormes, in Galiiiais, one of these creatures, nicknamed the Handsome Mar-
cou. He was a cooper, Foulon by name, and his miracles became so numer-
ous that it became necessary to call in the police to put a stop to them. His
/bur-dt-lii was on his left breast."
There is also a being called a maahecrimlt (which seems to mean " gnaw-
crust," the name having only an accidental resemblance lo Mascot), whose
image (a hideous wooden affair), like that of the Italian Befana, is carried in
procession through the streets of Lyons, and whose name is used by nurses
to frighten children with.
n American slang, a person who spends his or her time in making
conquests, real or imaginary, of the other sex; a lady.killer ; a siren, [t is
sometimes said to be a corruption of the French ma ckirit. But this is one
of the many instances of an ingenious etymology whose surface plausibilitjr
imposes on the unscholatly. Far more likely is the derivation from the gypsy
vrord maiktr-iaia, to fascinate by the eye, — a derivation thus advocated by
Barr^re and Leiand ; " About the year lS6o mash was a word found only in
theatrical parlance in the United Stales. When an actress or any girl on the
stage smiled at or ogled any friend in the audience, she was said to tnask him,
and mashing was always punishable by a fine deducted from the wagrs of
Ihe offender. It occurred to the writer that it mu)!t have been derived from
the gypsy miuA ^masher-mia'), to allure, to entice. This was suggested to Mr.
Palmer, a well-known impresario, who said that Ihe conjecture was not only
correct, but that he could confirm it, for the term had originated with the
— family, who were all comic actors and actresses of Romany slock, who
Carnival ball at the Grand Opera. Young American lookmg on, his long
moustaches stiffened with pomtmide hongroist and carefully curled in two
dashing spirals. Out steps a nymph from the dance, takes him gently by
both the waxed ends, and says, laughingly, ' You have no right to mash us
\neus iiniser\ just because you have corkscrew moustaches.' "
BCaaon and Dixon'* Line, a boundary-line surveyed between Novem-
txr IS, 1763, and December z6, 1767, by two English mathematicians and
surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Diion, to settle the constant dissen-
sions between the Lords Baltimore and the Penn family, the lords proprietors
-kio^Ic
tlTERARY CURIOSITIES. 695
of Maryland and Pennsylvania respeclively. It runs along the parallel in
latitude 39° 43' 26.3". and was originatly marked by mile-siones bearing on
one side the cual of arms of Penn and On Ihc other those of XsnA Baltimore.
The name was afterwards currenliy applied lo designate an imagiiiarv bound-
ary-line between the free and the slave Stales, a praciice which took its rise
in 1830, when in the excited debates upon the Missouri CotnpTomise Bill the
eccentric John Randolph of Roanoke made use of the phrase. It was caught
up by (he newspapers, and soon gained a popular significance which it re-
tained Ihroughoul the slavery conflict. In those early days of the anli-slavery
agitation, "Hang your clothes to dry on Mason and Dlion's Line" was a
^miliar saying.
Maveiiok, a word originaline on the cattle-ranges of the Far West, and
first used as a name for unbratided, and therefore ownerless, cattle. A few
years since, one Sam Maverick went from Massachusetts to Texas, where he
entered into the business of stock-raising. After buying several herds, he
neglected his range and left his stock to shift for themselves. Mr. Maverick,
on humanitarian grounds, and believing impllcilly in the honesty of his neigh-
bors, refrained from branding his young stock. The unregenerate stock-men,
however, when they ran across an untvanded animal on the round-up, would
cry, " There's one of Maverick's : let's brand il." The word became popular,
and its originally limited meaning was broadened and enlarged by constant
use throughout the cattle-ranges and mining-camps of the frontier. If a man
was unpronounced in his opinion on any subject, it was said, " He holds
Maverick views."
Bitty and Deoember is frequently used to characterise the courting of a
young girl by an old man. Chaucer has a poem called "January and May"
Merchant's - ' * . . - -
(" The Merchant's Tale"), but January is so connected In the publi
with ■ ' - ■ . ■
lerchant's Tale"), but January is so connected 1
new year that il symbolizes lusty youth rather I
his dotage. December has therefore become the popular symbol for the
mating of youth and age. There is an ancient ballad recountmg the ill suc-
cess of an old man's wooing, in which each verse ends with the refrain, —
For Miy uid Decemtxr can aCTci agm.
Hood has a poem entitled "December and May," and as a motto to the
verses he quotes from the " Passionate Pilgrim," —
Osbbcd ife uul jroaih
Shakespeare, in " Much Ado about Nothing," in expressing the comparative
beauty of Hero and Beatrice, says one exceeds the other m beauty "as the
first of May doth the last of December." And in "As You Uke It," Act iv.,
Sc I, he s^, "Men are April when they woo, December when they wed :
maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are
He Too, a derisive nickname given to Thomas C. Piatt when he and
Koscoe Conkling were both Senators from New York, — implying that he was
a mere echo and puppet of the greater nian. There may have been some
reminiscence here of the famous advertisement which about the middle of
this century appeared In a paper published at Sag Harbor, New York, by
Colonel Alden Spooncr. A merchant advertised his wares very liberally and
attracted great custom thereby. One day a rival had the following laconic
and economic advertisement placed directly under the long one :
I TOO.
John TboDpua,
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
696 HANDY-BOOK OF
But Thompson hjnuelf was not original. H« had borrowed his idea Iron) a
little squaw who used to sell her baskets at the Harbor, Ibllowing close at the
beets of a rival — a Urjjer squaw with a sonorous voice and a fund of descriptive
eloquence — and echoing every one of that rival's glowing eulogieB with a shrill
"I loo." Even this, however, is an unconscious plagiarism of the *-— —
..-- tor in giving
Is was content to say, " Gentlemen, I say dillo to Jfr. Burke.
Mmb onlpo, maa onlpa, maa mariina onlpa (L., "Through my £iult,
through my fault, through my most grievous fault"), the closing tenience of
the RoDian Catholic Confiteor, or Confession.
__ of Mr. Cruger, elected with Edmund Burke to represent Bristol in
1774, who when he lollowed Ihat illustrious orator in giving thanks to his
ile.orl
,ovel. or io-
B.S.K.. b'ul bccuK, wLlhl.
11 ibm dsyj.
.i.« they h.d
ll, the monlln who
t£V^
•migbmiy'btUtved, «iid »
0 ™rcily °c^
?is:,
(> here KI down. Omtac<
■'fcrs;;
Mim.x «//a /
But .hough .h« 1
r iript, >b*ll
Dot (he dacDiBe be (oodT
^\ Here be
the rod.. Look
e loDE, iwldullE, buddy one.
light gnd well poiied \r~
SiJk^dbS^?^IE!iS"'
udnoir-HiJldeKrvcit-
PicCmtoui
. »hip™d ll
taintyk
-whirii, wfaisi
..whWit Lei
ui cm itiio tub
, olher
■11 round!—
i-«/^;.
stone's government of "blundering and plundering," which may have been a
reminiscence of Lord Derby's phrase, though it is not impossible that Disraeli
found it ready made, Coleridge, in his " Essays on bis Own Times," talks
of an old naval captain who said, in reference 10 some unmenlioned govcrn-
menl, "Call it blundcrmenl, or plundermenl, or what you will, only nol a
governmenL" Disraeli was skilful enough in his appropriations, and brilliant
enough in his original capacity, to be capable either of inventing or of adopt-
ing such a formula. In 1S74, Gladstone parodied Disraeli's phrase, when he
repelled the ex-Premier's charge that the Liberal government was neglecting
Biitish interests in the Straits of Malacca, by saying that the neglect was
duu^able to the outgoing administration, ending thus ; " I will leave the
leader uf the opposition, for the present, floundenng and foundering in the
Straits of Malacca."
Meloala (Gr. fiffuav, from ^loou, to " lessen"), a figure of speech whose use
it widely extended among all classes, even among those who would be startled
at finding what it was they had been up tOL Some grammarians have con-
fused it with lilatei, another rather formidable name, which comes from the
Greek and means simplicity. But this shonrs an ear unapt for nice distinc-
tions. Simplicity in language is not always meiosis. For instance, nothing
could be simpler than the common form of litotes which occurs in ordinary
pro&ne exclamations ; but, all the same, this is nol meiosis. Rather would
the indignant " Bless you 1" uttered by the old gentleman upon whose corns
you have unwittingly trodden come under this heading. For meiosis is the
exact opposite of nypeibote : thai exaggerates, thu represents a thing as less
than it IS.
It is a lavorile trick in American humor. The English jesler emphasiies,
italicizes, and underscores his jokes 1 he distrusts his audience ; the American
drops his good things carelessly — under his breath, as it were — and hurries
on almost before his hearera are "on to him." An excellent and widelj-
Goo^Ic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 697
known example oT Ihia rhetorical figure occurs in Bret Harte's description
of the •dcniific gentleman who, being hit in the abdomen by a chunk of old
red •andatone, —
Curled up DD Ifae Boor.
And the •ubtcquent pmccedhigi iD»tt>ted him do mare.
Charlei Dudley Warner offers an equally eicellem prose example in his
" Back-Log Studies :"
uuned by Dalure» Hod fed ou ibc EjmdiLlDtu of ibc old v^t^Ld Dal upin to. "John," 9*y%
the moThtr, "you'll bum your h»d toacriBpin that heat," But John don not hear; heu
HDnDing the Pluus of Abnhuu jusl now, " JotuiDy, deaj, briog id h stick of wood." How
am Jofamy bring in wood wbtu he it in lii»t it&t with »—■-■—'- —■< ■>■- '-J'
im Jouiny bring k
Another good American example lies in the familiar chestnut, the story of
the travelling Yankee's reply to a European who wished to know if he had
just crossed the Alps :
" Wal, now you call my attention to the (act. I guess I did pass risin'
ground."
Hark Twain affords some admirable examples, as in the following " answer
to an inquiry.'' published in the Galaxy:
" Young Ai^rnoB." — Ye*, AgsHji datt Tecommend audion to eu fith, bccauH the pbo*-
phimB In it makei braku. So far you are correct, Bui 1 cvmot help yoo to ■ deciaion HbDut
•end ft aboul your Ikbr UHiJil avenge, I should judge thai perluip* tt coupte of wlui« would
be all jron wouM wimi fix the pnteni. Not the Ui^eii kind, bui (imply gDod, middUng-ilied
So does Bill Nye :
the lig^of™ mH^ I uied to itdniTT could milk inybody'i°cow 'but lTD°no( ihluk » now.
I do not milk a cow now unleH tbe lign ii right, and h hasn't been right for a good many
nimde cow. I rEmcmbcr her brow was low, but tbv *or« her tail high, and the wai haughty,
1 made a commonplace remaik to her, one that it ukvd In the very beet of society, one that
need not have given oflence any where, I said "So," and she "socd." Then 1 told her to
" hill," and the hilled. But I thoughi she avenlid II. She put loo much eapreaslon In it.
llckening Ihud on the outside. I'he neighbors came la see what ll was that caused tbe noise!
I a^ied the neighbors if tbe bam was Hill standing. They lald it waa. Then 1 aslied if
the cow wni liuured moch. They said she teemed to b« quite mbuiL Then 1 reqnened
Ibcm to go in and calm the cow a liLile, and see if ibey could get my plug hat off her horns.
I am Euying all my milk now of a milkmao. I lelecl a gentle milkman who will not kick
ami leel as though I could trust him. Then, if he feels as though he could Inist rne, it it all
Though this noble figure is fai leas regarded in English than in American
literature, it cannot be said to be entirely unknown there. W. S. Gilbert is
»ery fond of it, as in his " Bab Ballads :"
I've studied human nature, and I know a thing or two;
Hioiwh a girl may fondly love a Living gent, as many do,
Wh«n she looks upon his body chopped particularly imall.
In this ny trifling with a gruesome subject Gilbert may have taken the cue
from De Quincey's famous essay on "Mur<'"~ "" " """" ' -- " »'--- =- -
sample paragraph :
from De Quincey's famous essay on "Hurder as a Fine Art." Here ii
.. a man indulges hiouelf In murder, very toon he coma tolhlnk little of n
id from r^bine becomes tteat to drinking and Sabbalh-breaking, arul From Uiat cob
id pmcraslbkatTan, Once begin upon this downward path, you never know where )
< stop. Manv a man bai dated his ruin from some murder or orher (hat perhaps he L
lie ol at Uie time.
2B 59
Shi
698 MANDY.BOOK Of
Meiosis, divested of ils humorous possibilities, is a favorite figure with the
terious Englishman, whose oiie great aim as he goes through tile is to mask
his coiotionB, to avoid gush and mete conventional enthusiasm. " Not bid,"
"Not hair bad," " Not a bad sort," — these are all Anglican comi)liinents of
the nieiosistic order. " [ don't mind if 1 do," says the thirsty cabby whotn
you diaritably ask to take a drink, and you know he is delighted. Praise a
C' el's cattle, and he assents, saying, "They are a niceish lot." IT a British
kmaker has had a " pretty tidy day," you may be sure that all the favorites
have been beaten.
What is called "breaking the news" frequently takes the form of meiosis.
Sheridan, the sorely dunned, tells the story of how his failhrul old servant
-ave him information of the visit a bailiff had paid him in his absence.
Iheriffii' officers were known far and wide in I^ondon in those days by their
scarlet waistcoats, the color being a sort oF signal of distress, as in an auction-
eer's flag. When the graceless but gifted Sheridan got home the old woman
broke it gently to him in this fashion : " Please, sir, there was a gentleman
calledwhileyouwereaway,aswasiathet in a red waistcoat thanotherwise,sir."
The thrifty Scot, who deals economically with words and emotions, as with
more material things, is fond of meiosis of a ponderous sort. ,
Mrs. Siddons once described to Campbell the scene of her probation on
the Edinburgh boards. The grave attention of the Scotchmen and their
canny reservation of praise till they were sure it was deserved, she said, had
welt-nigh worn out her jKitience. She had been used to speak to animated
clay, but she now felt as if she had been speaking to stone. Successive
flashes of her eloquence, that had always been sure to electrify the South,
tell in vain on those Northern flints. At last, she said, she had worked up
her powers to the utmost emphatic possible utterance of one passage, having
previously vowed in her heart that if this did not touch the f>cotch she
would never again cross the Tweed. When it was finished she paused, and
looked at the audience. The deep silence was broken only by a single voice
eiclaiming, "That's no bad."
MalTOSS. A famous couplet opens the second canto of Scott's " Lay of
the Last Minstrel :"
If ihou wobldtl view fair Melrose uight.
This seems to be a reminiscence of a proverbial phrase which Hazlitt
records in his ■' English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," p. 196 :
He who would i« old HoghiDB HeIii
Mum view ii by the pale moonlight.
Hieioifi MS. Ctll.. No. xa.
Hoghton Tower is not far from Blackburn. It is worth noting that Scott
told Moore he had never seen Melrose by moonlight
Uamorla Teotuiloa. That the artiticial adjuncts of rhyme and rhythm
aid the memory is a long established fact. Many a proverb has drifted about
in verbal uncertainty until it crystallised itself in some rude metrical form,
to remain fast in the memory forever. Few people to-day could recall the
number of days in any month by a direct effort of memory ; they have to call
in the help of those ancient mnemonic verses which have oouw down to ut
from the uncertain past:
TlUny d»yi halh Sepiembef ,
Apiil, June, uid Novtnber,
February bu twent^-c^Eht hIddc,
E:<c<pLinfl Itap-yeu.
Wbu FebriiMty > diye an Iwsuy-niM.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 699
This is the form in which they appear in the " Return from Painaasiis"
(London, t6o6). This is the form in which they are stilt repealed in most
English and American households. How old are they 1 We cannot tell for
certain. This is their Rrst appearance in (heir integrity. With the lack of
the closing couplet, (hey may be found in an earlier publication, Richard Graf-
ton's "Chronicles of England" (1590) :
Here oar researches stop. Grafton, like his successor, is quoting. Who
the author of the rhvme may be wc shall never know. Nor shall we know
whether he was indebted for his idea to the Latin verses on the same sub-
ject that ap|)ear in the " Description of Britain" prefixed to Holinshed's
"Chronicle" {1577) :
JuDiui, Aprilii, ScHemq ; Nouemq: mc«no«.
The nice New England ear seen
and "nine," rhymes which satisfied our rude Old English fj
Eastern States the verses usually tun as follows;
Tkiriy <Uyt huh September,
eoty-eight, in fine.
This emendation loses in reason what it gains in rhvme.
Quakers, too, have their variant, accommodated to the nun
ture which they apply to the ntonihs :
April, June, Md No.
Xn ihc Tcu liave thin.
ExrepIinE Febniary aj
whicShi ' ■- -■
Thiny dttyi i;
Adim said lo God. " My m
God uid ra Adam, " BaiLh o' yt %\a
The i^l'i'Jd ^ D^ 10 puMili Ai
The DeU nude HeiL >nd put Admm i
God bccu Chriu, ChHil went la He
He beuW Adwn out, md >' wu w
Several attempts have been made to put (he Decalogue in rhyme. A few
■re subjoined :
The Dec
Have Ihou no Godi but n
be pure ihy hand : nu witnew false, thy word:
oc hie boUK wife, maid, or Iwrd.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
HAI<rDY-BOOK OF
Wonfaip u> God— but not God gnven— p«x j
filmphtiiie nol : uncliTy (he Ssbbilh day ;
And unpolluErd huLd ihc iriAniAgc bf& ;
From Ihcfl Ihy hind— Ihy tongue from lying— k
Nor covet neighbor'! hamc» ftpouM, kti, on, ih
it stands. In our English transUiion it has a itiagnificcnl natural rhythm.
niiw utterly the poetry can be mined by attempting lt> give it the poetical
accidentii may be seen in the Ibllawing instances ;
ur daLly bnad ihb day ;
Betb Boir ud rvtr
Into tempti
Forever uulfon
'e legitimate are (he efforts made to embed in the meniDry by ani-
ls the successive books of the Bible, as. Tor example, —
THE BOOKS OP THE OLD TESTAMENT.
llie grot MovBh ipulil to lU
Lcvlticut jtnd Number* kb
FoUovoI by DeuieronoDiy.
Jcnbuii jtnd Judgei iwny the land,
Ruih gleiDi ■ thuT with trcmbliDg bukd :
SamuAandnumerout Klan.ppeu-
WhoK Chronkln we wondtting heu.
Ezra and Nehemiah, itow,
Euber the beauteoin mourner ihow.
Job ip«alu lit lidhi, David in Paalma.
The Proverb. i«ch to toiltcr alDu:
Ecclnlada then comei on,
And the Bweel Song of Solomon.
iHiib. Jeremiah then
Eidilel. D™iel'°Ho^'( l)l^f™'
Swell Joel, Anoe, Obadlah'i.
Neil lonib. MIcah. Nahum coma,
And hifty Habalikuk lindi room,—
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00yIC
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
5J:i^.^SrS'bSlgt!.^u..
And MalBchl,
L'onduda ihc
THE BOOKS 0
F THE HBW TES:
(F.NT.
no, MuV, Lul»,
■nd John wiulc Ihe
of their Lord:
■n«.
Acit, wh«l ApoKli
:.nj
.^. Corinth, G>l><n
I. Ephesus, hw
iSifea
Tinu
cmnn. pittcde
Tb.
EnUll. which H<:b
"
i:
te^uniT^^t/n.'''
1, with the rtort lelK
R.»<U>l>nn conclude.
At Oxford >nd at Cambridge many of these aids to memory have been
handed down (raditionally. A correspondent of Nattt and Querits tells us
thai the Rev. Charles Simeon, cutale of Trinity Coilese, Cambridge, for fifty-
three years, used to remember the books of the New Testament by retaining
in mind abbreviated words indicating the order of the books, and forcing
them into a rade son of rhythm while repeating ihem to himself, as thus :
•■ Rom., Cor. l and 2, Gal., Eph., Phil., Col., Thess. 1 and I, Tim. i and i,
TIL, Phil., Heb., Jas.. Pet, i aiHl i, John 1, a. and 3. Jud., Rev."
Whereupon another correspondent {April 30, 1881) wrote to say that
"mor« than fifty years ago" the following n "
Eicter College, Oxford :
Still another corrtspondent notes that " there were many aids to memory in
vogue al the same period, many of Ihem belter forgotten." Among the least
harmful he gives an amuung one on the genealogy of Abraham, " which it
was supposed to be very necessary to have at one's lingers' ends ;"
* Sbtm, ArphBud. SnUh,
Ebcr. Pekg, Rea.
Stnif, Nahor, Tuab,
ToomJ looral loo (— Abmhnm).
The following absurdly-sounding line is a rapid mnemonic Bumnary of the
Ecumenical Councils in (heir chronological order :
Nl-Co-E I Oua-Co-Co I Ni^Co-L. | L.-Ln-L. | Ly-Ly-Vi | Flo-Tri.
Of course the same number of Ecumenical Councils is not accepted by all.
But the reader may easily decipher the above line if he will bear in mind thai
Ihe following were Ihe names of the places where the Councils were held :
Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, the Laleran, Lyons, Vienna, Florence, Trent
A very curious bit of legal lore is a volume of Sir Edward Coke's Re.
ports in rhyme, which was published by J. Worrall "at Ihe Dave in Bell-
yard, near Lincoln's Inn, London," in ihe year 1743.
The bookseller's preface is as follows :
An uicient mnntucripl cJ Ihc Tollowlng vents falling accidentally Into my hindi, In which
no imall puna muH have been taken : (he puhlicalion thereof needs little apology^ when h ii
Cijtuidered iheae lines UMy al the lame lime not only rtfibh the memory, and instruct, but alu
afford a pleaaing rccrealion to nnlkmen of Ihe law, and othen, by shewing ih4m in A narrow
■real Sir Edward Colw, whoK name so long at 'laws endure will pcatiably be etieemed and
"nvalTe ilM^work n^ useru^rba've'dHt^i^BU^bed'eVeiy ^ib^°i^ iriih'^erence* 10
^JlS,'i4lhtjj'u'M, 174"' ^'*°"''
•JC-: HANDY-BOOK OF
Ihousand verses are given, and neaily all express law that is as good to-daj u
It was one hundred and filty years ago. Here are some or the verses from the
volume :
KoDe coDvLd Dpob kppcal lluji Ix
Indicud ror tht Kirune fctonr.
Il ia PC policy^ if ycu indict,
On the subject of contempt of court the report says, —
For coDIERipt of coun onty thoH
Who'rt 3udge« of record can fine impoK.
This is one principle of law that does not hold good in America. If it did,
justices of the peace would be debarred from assessing fines for contempt
Here is a verse giving a decision credited to CromwcU :
The low wbkh doih « p>in enact
For iluider of ■ peer i* ■ genenJ act.
Several verses are devoted to defining what will justify an action for slander.
Cutler's opinion is summed up thus j
For ■cind'loiu aniclei lo lie.
Bert says,—
A> tbey hi> life on whoni they're ipoke nuf tow^
Barham, one of the noted jurists of the time, said, —
An Innueiida tbiu not Duke iIk oITciic*.
If a ceruin peruu ii not UJd
And nutter umuBido will not aid.
Davis probably made the rule more clear than any of them when he said^—
some law Ibr London ;
Sue not IB ihe Coun of Aldeimeo ;
•ays one, and another holds thai
AdmiolHntDti debti mmt pay
The bmoua rule in Shelley's case is thus given :
Where uceMon ■ rrechold uke.
Tbe word! ()ll> hein) ■ limiucion nuke.
Among the deci»ons relating to ordinances and by-laws is one that speaks
some sound sense. It is, —
ByJiwi nude by InhibiuDU oT ville,
For puhLick, good: forprivHe, ill.
Grammar, anatomy, literature, and history are illustrated In these con-
cluding examples :
Grammar in Rhyme.
ThRC llule ward* you often He
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
AdjactiTO (dl the Und of noun :
At, gnalp SDiitIt, pretty, white, orbrDwii.
Verbi [cll of Bomclbing bdof done :
Torendi count, ling, iMugh^juap, orruD.
How Ihinsm An done the ■dvotn tdl ;
Ai, ilowly, quickly, iU ot wtll.
Coniunctioiu jom the wordi logeifacr ;
Aft. men uid wonteti, wltid or weather.
The prepoijdon tiaudi before
A DOUP : Ji», in or (hnni^h m door.
Ai'iSr^ow'fmltyTBhl^owirbel
Which mding, wriiiAi, ipeaklng, I«cb.
The Bones op the Body.
Founeen, when they're ill In plmce.
How micyboDeiiii the human hendr
El(ht, my chJld, u I've often uid.
Tbm in each, and they help lo hnr.
How Buy booei in ihe human ipilKt
Twenty-ail, like a climbuis vine.
How many bonei in the humu cheitt
Twenty-four rjtx, and two of the rex.
n« i™c^, ■.
in the palm of the baDd f
' many bonea in the fingen ten T
n.y-e«h., and by joinla they hend.
Twe
Hn.
' many bonea in the human hip?
in each, like a dish they dip.
One
How
' Qiany bono in the buman tbi(h r
One
in each, and deep ihey lie.
Ho-
Oneineadb,thekne.pan.pla...
How
Two
ine.ch,we™[JainlyMe-
How
' many honea in die ankle ilroDET
Sere
n in each, bm none are lorn.
How
' many bonea in the ball of the loot T
Five
la each, aa ihe palnu were pol.
How
And
now allocether theie many boDta fin,
they count in the body two hundred and ib
And then we have the human nuwih.
Ofu
now and <h«> have a bone. I ahould Ibink.
That fomil on a joint or lo fill up a chink,—
. Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Nauks of Shakespeare's Plays,
{,OmiUiMfilu HiiUrkal Ei^iak Drtmat.
CvrntKline. Tempat, Much Ado, Vetchii.
Hmy Wiva, Twclfih Ni, ■-- ■'■-■■•-
Like II, Ermn,
Wbiur'* TmJe, Hcrthut, Tcnaoi, Lor, Huntn,
LoTt't Luboc. Ali't Well. Perklct, Olbello,
RoniHi, Mubelh, Gcopun, dual,
CcrloUnus.
First Twkhtv-One Presidsnts.
Tt>*eld°r Ar^* Dcxt"we Li""*'
And lelTn»n coma Dumber ihree.
The fcunh U Madiion, you Iiiidw,
The Kfih one an Ihc liil, MuDroe.
The tixlh bd Aduni comet acun.
KbA HJurboD count* number nUM.
ra d^Eh upon the Ln
lb U Tyler, 1
Tbea Plena cs
Apd Polk tbc ekvcBth, u k ieun.
non Glb^m.
jftmnecath InUTlcw;
in b ibg firieeoih due.
HOW uacolB cemtt twa lemu to fill.
Bat God o'tnulH Ihe people'i will.
And iDhDioD fills the mppointcd lioe
NeitG^lun^tbel'n^^,
Two ictmi lo bim ; then Hayca lucceeds
Garfield conn nut, ihc people'i choice;
Fiom every hiunki in the Isnd.
A brutal wretch whh niirderoDi band
Striket low the cooDtiy'i choaea chief.
And ujiioui niUiou, plunced In giieT,
Implore in vain Almlchty aul
Thai Deith'i item hand misht lUU be iti
Anhur*! term wu then bcKun,
Which made Ihe number tweaiy^ne.
Early Roman Kings.
Romului [blinded the city;
NumaPompillualhea
Founded the Koman rell^oB,
Tullu Hc»tiliu>. warrior.
Had a belliiteteiil relrn ;
The Laliu coDuaied in vahi.
Tatquin the Elder, tucceedlni,
Scrviua Tulliua, oeediu
A cennu, Ihe lame did procura.
Bat a prince aoon alW coainiltled
A crime that could no) be allowed;
And the Roman monarchy ended
By txpelUng Tarquia the Pmud.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Hcmy, SuphcD, and Heiuy»
Then Ridurd and lohs :
Nui Hcnrr ibe thlrif,
Edwirdi Dse, Iwo, and thnc.
And acmin ■Act Rkhurd
Tbne Hcnryi « net.
^ TO Edwinh, ifaiid Ridurd,
Jf rifhdy I gui
Two H«
wo ncnrn, wxtb £dvard,
Qdhii Muy, QiKcn Bos.
hen Juniic lh« Scotchmu,
Tben Chutca shoD llHir •l*ir,
V*l R«lttd Bfter CiMBnll
AnMber Uiulet too.
AKcndcd lh> IbroM ;
Tbn (ood Willlnm nod M1117
Till, Anne, Geores (bar.
And Iburth WiUlun ml] put,
God KOI Qocea VIcuda ;
UkT Ihc hwc be Ibe lut I
Hamoiy. nion^ lo*t to sight, to mamoiy da*r. No queition ji
more frequently asked — and answered — than the origin of this quotation.
But although the answers are frequent enough, they are always wrong when-
ever they attempt to clear up the mystery. Probably every one who Keeps a
iciap-book has treasured away the information, whicn went the round 01 th«
newspapers in iStc^ and slili goes marching on, that this was the refrain of a
poem by Ruthven Jenkins, which appeared in the GreemBuA Reviev for
Marints in 1701 or 1701. No such monthly was ever published, in Green-
wich or elsewhere ; and, indeed, the word " Marines" should have warned the
most unwary of a possible hoax. The truth is, the very weak song was de-
liberately composed (it is said, in Cleveland, Ohio) to lead up to the famooi
line. It consists of Iwo stanzas, of which the following is the first :
Swcdhean. good-by I tlul Ouuerinf uil
li ipread n> waft m* br from tlicc.
And lOOD bdon the raTorlDg nie
My iblp iball bound upon tEe kb.
Podiua, (B dooUM ud tirioni,
TbOBslTloii to liiBi. 10 nHBoiy diu.
As tate as iSSo this song was republished, in good fiuth, in London, but the
hoax had been eiposed seven years before m Nota and Queries. Barllelt'a
"Familiar Quotations" ascribes the line to George Linley (179S-1S65), tbe
author of a song beginning, —
TbouEb toit Id iltbl, to nMiDory dear
The song was composed for and sung by Augustus Braham, probably about
1840. It was set to music and published in London in 1S4S, But the quota-
tion was a proverb in common use at least as early as 1826, for in (he Monthly
Magatiae for January, 1827 ('' Leltei on Affairs in General from a Gentleman
in Town to a Gentleman in the Country"), it is given as a familiar axiom, and
F. C. H.. writing lol^otei and Qutriei in 1871, says, " I can safely aver thai it
b tnoch older than 1S18, as I knew it many years before that date."
Coogk"
?35 HANDY-BOOK OF
Metcalfe, in hU tranalation of Vilmar's "German Uteralure," inddentilly
memions "Though losi to sight, to memory dcai," u the title of a German
volkslied of the fourteenth or fifteenth century.
Hemoiy and inuiginatlon. Sometimes, but not often, we have given
us the 0|ipoilunity of seeing how a famous phrase has grown and blosBomed
in (he writer's own mind. Sheridan, whose impromptus all smelt of the lamp,
bad set down in a note-book for future use the words, " He employs his &ncy
in his narrative and keeps his recollections for his wit," which is clever, but
has not that final and clinching wit that catches hold of the popular mind.
Not was it much belter in the second form : " When he makes his jokes you
applaud the accuracy of his memory, and it is only when he slates his (acts
that you admire the flights of his imagination." When finally the opporluni^
•ccurred, in speaking of Mr. Dundas in the House of Commons, he gave it
this brilliant turn : " He generally resorts to his memory for his jokes and to
his imagination for his facts."
But Mr. Dundas might easily have retorted upon Sheridan half at least of
the description. II Sheridan was not indeiiled for his facts to his imagination,
at least Dundas might have accused him of Iwing indebted to his memory for
his jcsls. Nay, this very ieEt had been anticipaied. Who can foteet Laura's
description to Gil Bias of that ori^ual with the knot in his dyed dark hair
and the ftuill/morlt feathers in his hat, the famous Seigneur Carlos Alonzo
de la Ventoleria, under which title Le Sa^, satirizing the famous actor Baron,
says of him, "On peut dire que son esprit brille aux depens de sa m^moire"t
{'' It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory."} ((7if
Bleu, Bookiii., ch. xi.)
Uan. All man are bom free and «qiuL This phrase, which iscon-
linuall^ quoted as from (he Declaration of Independence, really occurs in the
Constitution oF Massachusetts, The Declaration merely says, " All men are
created equal." John Lowell, the grandfather of the poet, was a member of
the convention which framed the Constitution of Massachusetts in r7Bo, and
one of the committee appointed to draught that instrument. A bitter oppo-
nent of slavery, he inserted in the Bit! of Rights the clause declaring that "all
men are born free and equal," for the purpose of abolishing slavery in Massa-
chusetts, and, after the adoption of the (jonstilution, he offered through the
newspapers (o prosecute the case of any negro who wiiihed to establish his
Tight 10 freedom under the clause.
U it not pl«auni to rebuke ta MlfH^omiilKCeDt s phitoHpher
Man,*^publ^?d In
Th. Utit of Prof. .
lion of olui he <:^1> RouiKnuiiin, ProfeHor Kuilcv pmoidi id ,
Declaration of ln<]ependei>« :
-' What ii the muDing [he uhi) of the ramoui pbnK ihii ' all ineii<
Independciice t"
The pouBH in the Declan ' -..->'
ud ■ n^mtim thing. . .
" When, ID ihe covne of hi
poliiLca] Iniidv which have coi
of Ihe eanh ihe >epanle and .
(iOD tniillt Hum, a decent re .
impel lh<
llal m/l mm an criattd nual :
able Righisi lb ^
be hiuwh^%
ible Rights '. Ibat amonB iheie are Life, LibeRy.
;,oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
ii«on>*tion biwflht ucunit the Kiug of Gnu BnutiQ by the uithori uid ugDen of (be
DicCualwii.— jWiv YtrkSui,.
Mending fai> feno«s, in American political slang, a euphemism (or secret
wire-pulling. The origin of the phrase is said to be as follows. Immediately
prior to the meeting of the Republican National Convention in 1880, John
Sherman, known to tie an aspirant for Presidential honors, withdrew from the
Senate-house to the seclusion of his (arm at Manslield, Ohio. It was gen-
erally believed that in this retirement he was maturing plans and secretly
oreaniling iDOvemenIs to bring about his nomination. One day, while in a
field with his In-other-in-law, Colonel Moullon, engaged in replacing some
rails in a fence, a reporter found him, and sought some political news by in-
quiring what Sherman was doing. Colonel Moutton avoided the necessity
of a direct answer to so pointed a question by exclaiming, " Why, you can
see for yourself; he's mending his fences."
Alai for Pope, if the mcrcv he showed to
mercy he received !" Yet the sentiment is a favorite 0
D others was the n
She received !" Yet the sentiment is a favori
in at least three other places in his works, ii
in his translations from Homer, who may have suggested the idea in the first
Acnpt IbcH cnucTui lan I for ihec Ibcy flaw,—
For ihcc, tbu aver felt ■notlicr'i woe 1
Hind, Book >[i.,, I. Jig.
Y«, tufhi by time, ny bun hu lara'd 10 glow
For odm' iDod, ud mdl M allien' woe.
Oifyiitf, Book xvlil., I. tb^.
So pefUb Bil wbo«e brtAJt n
For odken' food, or mdt at
re Hum
of the lines he may have been slightly indebted td
Who will n« mercy UDlo othcn ihow,
Vnd is not this a transposition of the Bibli
rdful, for they shall obtam mercy"? (Malthrm
taled by Goldsmith :
tT,
ufhl by Ihu Power
-mil,
pitiame
,Slui»i
An
To
dlOTdieriUdeih..
every rilling but lh(
;?r^*^'
ll droppelh. HI the Dentle ndn from heaven
Upon <te place benmh. It J> Iwice Men:
ItUeueth him that givei ■odlilni thai lake
Coogk"
HANDY.BOOK OF
Hli »ccp(TV ihowt the force of tcmpor^ power,
Tbr iiiributc to am ud nuiitHy,
Wherein dub >ll ibe dread and har oT king! ;
Though juiii« b« thy pU
TtatTnAecouneorj™.
ShsuJd MC ulvailoD : «e
No ceRmoDV that lo gtval one* *loagij
Not the luD^H crown, nor »hc depul«d iword,
Become Ibem with one-half to good a gnca
^ Mtatun/sr Mtaturt. Act ii.. Sc. 3.
Mstaphon, Mixed. There was a time when men nalurally and familtarlv
talked in mclaphois. Indeed, all language is built tipon metaphor, though
each particular woid, to use Or. Holmes's term, may have been depolafized
and no longer calls Up the old associations. Primeval man expresses his
meaning in some figure oT speech ; by and by a new set of meanings crystal-
lize around the figure, and the locution at last hardens into a more specific,
a difTerent or even an antagonistic meaning. Many of the cummonpUces uf
daily life would sound like the most side-splitting bulls if the words were
considered etymological ly and resolved back to their pristine meaning.
In the earlier days, when language was in its infancy and when men still
Ved ftice to (ace with Nature, the metaphorical meanings of words held sway
over the imagination and involuntarily summoned up a mental picture of the
phenomena upon which they were baaed. Hence primeval man rarely erred
in his use of metaphors. The Bible, the old Sagas, Homer, the Vedas. all
afford excellent examples of sustained and consistent metaphors. Nay, even
the modern savage rarely errs when he is speaking in his own language or in
his own manner. It is only when the savage or the ignorant or the imper-
fectly-educated man is brought in contact with a higher civilization, whose
metaphorical phrases have never had for him the metaphorical meaning
which is obsolescent though not yet obsolete in the minds of the dominant
race or of the learned, — it is only then that he entirely loses his bearings and
drifts hopelessly upon a sea of verbal troubles. The negro affords an excel-
lent instance. African preachers are credited with such phrases as " Brethren,
the muddy pool of politics was the lock on which I split," or, " We thank
Thee for this spark of grace ; water it, good Lord," or, "Give us grace
that we may gird up the loins of our mind so that we shall receive the latter
Perhaps it is because English is a language forced by circumstances upon
.1. T_-_i. .!._. .L /'_.:. ._j — laphor called a bull il Bo prevalent on
queen's English by way of revenge
s been treated at some length under
tKe head of'bulls.' But not all mixed melaphoig, noi even the majority of
them, can be grouped under that class. The following peroration, atttibuted
to an Irish barrister, is not one of the distinctly bovine type r " Gentlemen of the
inry," he is reported to have said, "it will be for you lo say whether this de-
fendant shall be allowed to come into court with unblushing footstepa, with
the cloak of hypocrisy in his mouth, and draw three bullocks out of my
client's pocket with impunity." Mr. Henij W. Lucy, from whose paper on
LITER AR y CVRtOSlTIES. 709
" Hisfbrlunes in Metaphor" [Belgrairia, April, i8Sl)i ve shall draw other
illustrative instances, tells some good stones from his own parliamentary
experience. One concerns Mr. O'Conor Power. He had cauehl Sir Staf-
ford Northcole, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, tripping in the 1
his resolutions in respect to the business of the house. In his ingenuous
manner Che right honorable baronel had loo plainly disclosed the notorious
fact that the resolutions, whilst professing to deal with (he general conduct
of business, were aimed directly at obstruction. Whereupon up jumped Mr.
O'Conor Power, and wilh triumphant manner exclaimed, " Mr. Speaker, sir,
since Ihe government has let the cat out of the bag, there is nothing to be
done bul to take the bull by the horns ;" which he forthwith did, debating
the matter as especially dealing with obstructionists.
Another of his stories runs as follows. Mr. Shaw, member for the County
Cork, and at that lime leader of the Home Rule party, was addressing a
meeting held one Sunday at Cork, with the object of disaissing the land
Juestion. Mr. Shaw is a sober-minded man, who, on ordinary occasions,
nds plain speech serve hia purpose- At this lime, however, the spirit of
metaphor came upon him, and this is what it made him say 1 " They tell us
that we violate the Sabbath by being here to-day. Vet, if the ass or Ihe ox
fall into the pit, we can Uke him out on the Sabbath. Our brother is in Ihe
Eit lo-day, — (he farmer and the landlord arc both In it, — and we are come
ere to try if we can lift them ou[." This similitude of Ihe Irish landlord to
an animal predestined (o slaughter was biild. but timely. The other half of
Ihe anal<^y seemed calculated 10 get Mr. Shaw into trouble wilh his con-
stituency.
Mr. Lucy, to do him justice, does not confine himself ID Irish instances.
He shows that the less educated Englishman, or even the educated English-
man in his hasty and unguarded momentif, may be tripped up when he is
essaying to lake a metaphorical flight. He tells of an honorable gentleman
who opposed a certain measure on the ground " that it was opening the door
for the msertion of the thin edge of Ihe wedge," a preliminary process which
should at least tend to make the work of the wedge easy, and who paid a
compliment to the Chambers of Commerce as "Ihe intelligent pioneers who
feel the pulse of the commercial community ;" whereas pioneers are usually
Ht away from Ihe commercial centres. Another advised his constituents.
" When you have laid an egg put it by for a rainy day," on which Mr; Lucy
rightly commenls, ■' Why electors of Blackburn should be expected to lay eggs
is a tjueslion thai disappears before the greater importance of the query why
(hey should save ihero lor a rainy day."
During a debate on (he foreign policy of Lord Beaconslield's government
Mr. Alderman Cotton solemnly declared that " at one sUge of the negotia-
tions a ^reat European struggle was so imminent (hat it only required a spark
to lei slip the d<^E of war.' It was on the same night, and during the same
debate, that Mt. Forsler observed, " I will, Mr. Speaker, sil down by saying,"
etc. Mr, Forsler has always been an adroit politician, but what new sort of
manceuvre this is (hat enables a man to "sit down by saying" remains unex-
plained.
The English bar as well as the English legislative halls aflbrds instances of
this delightful sort of blundering. Not the least amusing is contained in Ihe
peroration (o the following speech, addressed by Lord Kenyon to a dishonest
butler who had been convicted of stealing large quantities of wine from his
master's cellar : " Prisoner at Ihe bar, you stand convicted on the most con-
clusive evidence of a crime of inexpressible atrocity, a crime that defiles the
sacred sprinn of domestic confidence, and is calculated lo strike alarm into
the breait of every Englishman who invests largely in Ihe choicer vintages
60
7IO HANDY-BOOK OF
of Southern Europe. Like the serpent of old, you hsve stung the hand of
your protector. Fortunate in having a generous employer, you might vrithout
dishonesty have continued to supply your wretched wife and children with
the comforls of sufficient prosperity, and even with some of the luxuries of
affluence ; but, dead to every claim of natural affection and blind to your own
real intere.tt, you burst through all the restraints of religion and morality, and
have for many yeais been feathering your nest with your master's bottles."
Let us go abroad for a moment. When the delegates of Paris workmen
returned from the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876, they sent Victor Hugo an
invitation, which he refused, being busy with his " Appeal on behalf of Servia."
Nevertheless, in his enthusiasm fur liberty and the cause of insubordination
everywhere, he telegraphed his sympathy 10 them in an epigrammatic con-
fusion of epithets, — saying he sent them "a grasp of the hand irom the bottom
of his heart"
The Irishman who said, "We will burn all our ships, and, with every sail
unfurled, steer boldly out into the ocean of Ireedom," was more than matched
by Justice Minister Hye, who, addressing the Vienna students in the troublous
times of 1848. declared that "the chariot of the revolution is rolling along,
and gnashing its tcelh as it rolls." In Germany there still exists a vivid and
grateful recollection of the address made by the mayor of a Rhineland cor-
poration to the Emperor William L shortly after his coronation in Versailles,
which contains the following among other gems of thought : " No Austria)
no Prussia 1 one only Germany ! Such were the words the mouth of your
imperial majesty has always had in its eve,"
But why should we expect laymen to be alway:
The •ilngi and u
lions. The following pusage occats In
Paradise Lost :"
Drj-ryrd behold I
This curious bit of blundering has not even the merit of originality. It is
Molen direct from Hbullus :
FiMi : noo tui «ml dura pnscoidla ran
Vhictn, KC in lenm lUi u^ cndt tihx.
Sift; '■ 63-
is yet very effective tehion, has made much
never hindered by a hridle ; ana wnitner will sne launcn r into a nooier strain.
She is. in the first line, a horse ; in the second, a )>oal ; and the care of the
poet is to keep his hc)rse or his Ixial from singing."
Johnson also points out that Pn|>e, in borrowing a passage from Addison"*
"Campaign," has ruined it by confusing the metaphor. Addison said, —
borough', ciplcuu mpptmr divinely bri|[hl,—
td vt iheiuielTet, iheir genuine cbainu they bo
. Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Thb Pope had in hia thoughts, but, not knowing hoiv to use what w
own, be.spoiled it, Ihna :
He b«t aui paini ihem who can fctl lh«n tnnM.
"Martial exploits may be painted ; perh
are Burely not painted by being well sung :
to sing in colors."
Johnson's method in these excerpts was anticipated by Dryden, who thus
loolt to [ueces two lines in Elkanah Settle's tragedy " The Empress of
Morocco :"
To 6»lU!riiig liEhuiini our felcacd >id]1» confbnB
Which, backed wilhOiundcr, do but gild a nonn.
"Conform a smiJe to lightning," says Glorious John, "make a smile imitate
lightning, and flattering lightning; lightning, sure, is a threatening thing.
And this lightning must gild a slorm. Now if I must conform my smiles to
lightning, then my smiles must gild a stoim too: to gild with smiles is a
new invention of gilding. And gild a storm by being backed with Ihander.
Thunder is part of the storm ; so one part of the storm must help to gild
another part, and help by backing ; as if a man would gild a thing the better
(or being backed, or havmg a load upon his back. So that here is gilding by
conforming, smiling, lightning, backing, and thundering. The whole is as if
I should say thus: I will make my counterfeit smiles look like a flattering
horse, which, being backed with a trooper, does but gild the battle." And
Dryden concludes, " I am mistaken if nonsense is not here pretty thick'SOWn."
But Dryden, loo, has laid himself open to the same kind of criticism, as in
the lines where he speaks of seraphs that
a verse opon which a critic says, " I have heard of anchovies dissolved in
sauce, but never before of fl« angtl dhsolv/d in hallelujahs^
Perhaps nowhere in all poetic literature, in the same limited space at least,
can there be found such an extraordinary confusion of metaphors as in Long-
fellow's '• Psalm of Life." Here is how a critic in the Saturday Rfvino once
exposed this confusion. " The ' Psalm of Life,' if there be any meaning in
the English language, is gibberish. I.ct us analyze two of the verses :
And, depanins, leave behind lu
Footprint! on ibe mdi of time ;
" Poolptjna thai petbipi anoiher,
Saliing o'er lile'i tolenin male.
A fDrloni and fthipwrecked brother.
Seeing, fhall lahe hean again.
"Even if one can conceive of lite aa a 'solemn main' bordered by the
'sands of time,' how can the mariners on the main leave their footprints on
the sands f And what possible comfort can footprints on the sands be to a
^ipwrecked brother who, despite his shipwreck, still keeps peisislently sail-
ing o'er life's solemn main? The brother must have very sharp eyes if he
could see footprints on the sand from his raft, for his ship is supposed to have
been wrecked long ago. Perhaps Mr. Longfellow was thinking of the foot-
step which Robinson Crusoe found on the sand of his desert island. But
Robinson was not sailing when he detected that isolated phenomenon ; nor,
when he saw it, did he 'lake heart again.'"
But Macaulay deemed that he had found the worst of all possible simil-
itudes. In his review of Robert Montgomery's " Poems" he cites these linesi
112 HANDY-BOOK OF
And he goes on tu say, " We take this to be, uii the whole, the worst limil-
itade in Uie world. In the first p1ac«, no stream meanders, or can poasibly
meander, leTCl with its fount. In the next place, if streams did meander
level with their founts, no two motions can be less like eacl) other than that
of meandering level and that of mounting upward."
ha troubled air. Gray, describing his Baid, has the lines,—
Pmnuiiit Ltil, BmIl i., I. 537;
and Milton's contemporary. CoAley, in his " Davideis," Book ii., L 95, says, —
Ad harmleu Rimlni mcKor shone for hair.
And r>U mlawii bli fhouMin with Look oh.
These various coincidences have been more frequently noted than the
resemblance of all three passages to a line in Hey wood's " Four Prentices of
London," written certainly not later than 1599. Turnus, the envoy of the
Persian Sophi, speaking 01 his master's victorious flif, that hangs blowing
defiance on Sion towers, tells us that it shows
Lik* A r<d meteor \u ibc UOMbled air.
That Milton unconsciously copied Heywood is quite possible; but it is
evident that Gray had both Mrllon and Heywood in mind, for his linet are
produced by a neat eclecticism from both.
BUchael Augelo'u Tlaitliif-Caid, the name popularly given to a large
charcoal head drawn by Michael Angelo on a wall in the Borghese palace.
The story, as told by Vasari, tuns that the artist called on Raphael while he
was engaged in painting the fresco of La Galatea. Raphael, as it happened,
had just stepped out. Thereupon the visitor mounted the ladder, and with
a fragment of charcoal drew a colossal head on the wal) beneath the cornice.
Then he departed, refusing 10 give his name to the servant, but saying, " Show
your master that, and he willltnow who I am." On Raphael's return his
servant told him a small black-bearded man had been there and drawn a bead
on the wall by which he said he would rccc^niie him. Raphael looked up,
saw the head, and exclaimed, " Michael Angelo I" A similar story is told
by Pliny of Apelles and Protogenes. The point of it is that Ai>elles, on
arriving at Rhodes, immediately went to call upon Protogenes, but found him
absent. The studio was in charge of an old woman, who, after Apelles had
looked at the pictures, asked the name of the visitor to give to her master on
his return. Apelles did not answer at (trst, but, observing a targe black
panel prepared for painting on an easel, he took up a pencil and drew an ex-
tremely delicate outline on it, saying, " He will recognize me by this," and
departed. On the return of Protoeeiies, being informed of what had happened,
he looked at the outline, and, struck by its extreme delicacy, exclaimed, " That
is Apelles ; no one else could have executed so perfect a work."
Bllckle — Mnckle. "Many a mickle makes a muckle," a thtiliy Scotch
proverb, mainly used to express the same meaning as the English " Take
care of the pence, and the pounds will take careof themselves." NeverthelcH
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 7>3
it his a larger application, like the English proverb which it has almost super-
■eded, but which was popular in Chaucer's time :
This wider meaning is emphasii«d by Young in his " Love of Fame," vl.,
Think naughi a iiiflc. ih
Small »iid> the mounui
il imall appei
Frances S, Osgood's poem on " IJtlle Things" has acquired a popularity
which is out of all proportion to its literary merit. These lines, especially,
have become household words ;
Hake the mifbly oceaa and the pl«as:uit land.
Thm the little minutei, humhJc ttioueli they be.
Make the mi(bi> a(e> ef eUniity.
Utile ilccdi of kjndnna, tittle vgrdi of love,
Make our ouih >ti Edea Ukc Ihe heaveti abux.
Middle Kingdom. China is so called someiimes with the sense of the
Land of the Happy Mean, from the habits of mediocrity its inhabitants are
supposed to have imbibed from the Confucian philosophy teaching the
choice of the middle course in all things. The name is, however, a transla-
tion of Tchang-Kooe, as the land is sometimes called by Ihe Chinese, from
the notion that they are the true hub of Ihe universe, or that their kingdom
is the centre of the world.
Midnight JndgML After their defeat in the Presidential election of iSoo,
the Federalists in Congress, as one of their last acts, passed a measure cre-
ating twenty.three new federal judgeships. The public interests did not de-
mand any increase in the numbers of the judiciary, and the sole purpose of
the act was to provide places for Federalist partisans. The retiring Presi-
dent, John Adams, was occupied until after midnight on the last day of his
term signing commissions for these newly-created Daniels, who consequently
were contemptuously called "Midnight Judges."
Mileage Bxpoa^. An allowance of a certain percentage per mile is pro-
vided by law !□ public functionaries, witnesses subpcenaed from a distance, and
the like, as an indemnity for travelling expenses from their homes to the place
where their services are required and home again, A similar provision is
made to pay travelling eipenses to members of Congress to attend the ses-
sions at the national capital. It had been a practice among members, con-
demned by some of the more conscientious, but adhered to by the large
majority, as the unwritten taw regulating their perquisites, to exact payment
of "constructive" mileage, whether the journey hail in fact been undertaken
or not, as when an extra session of Congress was called, the memtwrs stilt
being present at the capital. In computing their mileage fees, furthermore,
menibers had not been very careful to base their pay on Ihe shortest existing
mail-route : so that in his cxposrf of December 33, 1848, Horace Greeley was
able to show that the total excess, frimi this reason, paid to Ihe members of
the Thirtieth Congress was sevenly-lhree thousand four hundred and ninety,
two dollars and sixty cents, and the excess in mites was one hundred and
eighty-three ihousand and thirty-one. Almost every Cnngressman had failed
to make his journey as short as possible. The revelations of Greeley caused
considerable ill feeling against him, but resulted in an appreciable reduction
of mileage charges, and a few years later the rate of allowance was reduced
oM-half, and the charge for " constructive" mileage prohibited by law.
60"
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714 HANDY-BOOK OF
Mill will DeT«r gilnd again with the wat>
proverb which has been borrowed from the East.
under the head of " Proverbs, Turitish and Persian," it is given as (
Oh , Hize thv iDSLuit UiDC ; you Devcr will
Wjih WAUn once paucd by impel ihe nill.
Compare the Spanish proverb "Agua pasada no muele molino."
e proverb
g&oel:"
Sakah Douonst : Tlu tVatir-MOl.
The proverb is also used by Jean Ingelow, in " A Parson's Letter t
Wtlh water ihil halh piuect.
Mm-Bo7 of the Slaehea, a political nickname of Meniy Cla;. who was
born in the neighborhood of a region in Hanover County, Viiginia, known
as " the Slashes" (a local term for low, swampy country), where there was
a mill, to which he was often sent on errands, and where lie was presumed to
have been employed, when a boy.
MUler, Joe, the feigned author of a famons book of jests. Hence a Joe
Miller, in vernacular English, is a chestnut, a twice-told talc-
Joe Miller bimself was a cotnedian who flourished in the reign of George
the First, and who, off the boards, was so exceptionally grave and taciturn that
when any joke was related his friends would father it on him. They even
kept up the practice after his death, which occurred in 1738. It appeals that
he left his family totally unprovided for, and John Mottley was employed to
collect all the stray jests current about town and publish them for the betKfit
of the widow and children, under this title %
s jBf rs : OR, The WiTS Vadb-Mbcuu. Being a <
._... . ... .1. n. ,...._. n . the most Elei
h Language, f
n the Company, and many of them transcribed from the Mouth
.1 Jests ; the Politest Repartees ; the most Eleoanl
It pleasant short Stories in the English Language. FirsI
a Gentleman, whose Name they bear ; and now set forth and
published by his lamentable Friend and former Companion, Elijah Jenkins,
Esq. ; most Humbly Inscribed to those Choice-Spirits of the An, Captain
Bodens, Mr. Alexander Pope, Mr. Professor Lacy, Mr. Orator Henley, and
lob Baker, the Ketlle-Drummer. London : Printed and Sold by T. Read,
in Dogwell-Courl, White-Fryars, Fleet-Street. MDCCXXXIX. (Price One
Shilling.)
Mottley doubtless had a (ellow.feeling for the destitute family, for he was
himself "a man that hath had tosses, go to!" He was the son of CoIuikI
Mottley, who was a favorite with James II. and who followed the fortunes
of that prince to France. By the influence of his relative. Lord Howe, the
son got a place in the Excise Office at sixteen years of age, but, being obligeil
to resign on account of unfortunate speculations, he apphed to his pen, which
bad hitherto been only his amusement, for the means of immediate support.
In that day plays occupied the place now held by novel*, and Moitloy luUn-
Google
Jenki
Mr. I
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 715
rally turned hia attention to the druna. He wu lolerabW auccessful u a
wiiier, though his "Imperial Captive," " AntiochuB," "Penelope," "The
Ciaftsman," and "The Widow Bewitched" arc no longer acted. After the
Quealion of authorship is settled, the inquiry naturallv arises, Who was Elijah
:nklns, Esq., and who were those Choice- Spirits of the Age, Captain Bodena,
Ir. Professor Lacy P and above all, who was Job Baker, the Keltle-D rummer ?
Job stands patiently on the title-page without even a " Mr." before his name.
Ab to Mr, Alexander Pope, he is too weil known to be misuken, and Mr. Orator
Henley was immortalized in the " Dunciad" as " the Zany of the age." He
Agnrcs also in one of Hogarth's prints, gesticulating onaplatfotm, a monkey by
his side, with the motto " Amen." Disappointed of preferment in the Church,
Henley formed the plan of giving lectures or otationa, to which the admission
was one shilling. On Sundays he took theological subjects, and on Wednes-
days he pouretfout his gall in political harangues. On one occasion he filled
his Oratory, as he called it, with shoemakers, by announcing to them that he
would teach a new and short way of making shoes, which was to cut off the
tops of ready-made boots. With regard to the contents, the plain-spoken
words used make it impossible to quote many of the anecdotes. To give the
reader some idea, however, of the character of the genuine Joe Miller, take
the following :
ifrmve-i, bduc in Compuiy wiih tome Ladia.wuhieUvcomipaidiiiruic Epitaph jiul tbeo
Kl up In ihcAbbty on Mr. /^<m/-i MonDment,
Hi u pm It that Plaa tuktrr anfy Ail mm Hamciiiy can bt txcrtdtd.
Lord, Cdonel, Htid one of Ihe Lodlct, (h« lanur Epitaph miebl Krv« Tor you, by ■Iteriog one
Word only:
Hi iittni In Ikal Plact lokiri tnljt kit twit rin-W™ki cat ti ixcitdid.
Again:
Two BnUhcn uming to be execuKd onct for »iBe cnormooi Crime : the Elde« wu fim
tunked oa, wiihout uyuig one word : 1 he other mounling the ladder, began Id hamqpie (he
Crowd, whiae Em were Mi™ii»rly open lo h<*j him, «p«iing »nie Cunfewon from him.
CoikI Praflt, l»y»he, m/ BrtlAr hanf^ Si/srt m) Fact, and Jtn in nkal a lamnttailf
Specucle At tKaklt: in a fro, MamtiUi I ikall it tKTTud sff lat.aiid llun nm'U in a
Pair tf SpeclMilei.
But here we have a regular " old Joe ;"
There are few good jokes among the whole one hundred and ninety-eight
that make up the volume. The majority turn chiefly on the mistakes of
Irishmen, the thrift! ess ness of sailors, the simple resource of calling one's
opponent an ass, the evils of matrimony, and the failings of parsons. From
the earliest to the latest jokers the two latter themes have proved inex-
haustibly fruitful. They all assume as an incontestable basis of wit that hus-
bands are heartily tired of their wives, and as women either do not make such
broad jokes, or do not succeed in getting them recorded, the point is always
against the wives and for the husbands. It is always taken for granted that
the husband is the loser in the matrimonial bargain, and that he feels an un-
aflected and unconcealed delight when the death of his incumbrance sets him
free. There are many stories like that of the wild young gentleman who,
"having married a very discreet, virtuous young lady, the better lo reclaim
him, she caused it to be given out at his return that she was dead and had
been buried. In the mean time she had so placed herself in disguise as to be
able to obaerre how he look the news i and finding him still the gay, incon-
7l6 HANDY-BOOK OF
slant man he always had been, she appeared lo him u the ghost of herself, at
which he seemed not at all dismayed. At leiiglh disclosine herself to him,
he then appeared ptelly much surprised. A person by said, ' Why, sir, you
seem more afraid now than before !' ' Ay,' replied he, ' most men ate more
afraid of a living wife than of a dead one.' "
So, too, with parsons. However firmly they may be attached lo their Church
and to their minister, most men like to meet on the pleasant neutral ground
of laughing at a parson. And not only they, but clergymen also, often even the
preachers themselves, agree in thinking sermons a fair target for all the shafts
of ridicule. There is some drollery about the following : " A vicar and curate
of a village, where there was to be a burial, were at variance. The vicar not
coming in lime, the curale began the service, and was reading the words 'I
am Ihe resurrection,' when the vicar arrived almost out of breath, and, snatch-
ing the book oul of the curate's hands, with great scorn cried, ^Yeu the
resurrection I 1 am the resurrection,' and then w
The feeling against parsons cannot, however, be so strong as that asainst
wives, for occasionally the parson Is allowed lo come off triumphant and have
the best of the storv. As thus : " The witty and licentious karl of Roches-
ter, meeting with the great Isaac Bartow in the Park, told his companions
that he would have some fun with the rusty old put. Accordingly he went
off with great gravity, and. taking off his hat, made the doctor a profound
bow, saying, ' Doctor, t am yours to my shoe-tie.' The doctor, seeing his
drift, immediately pulled off his beaver and returned the bow with. ' My lord,
I am yours to the ground.' Rochester followed up his salutation by a dee|)eT
bow, saying, 'Doctor, I am yours to the centre,' Barrow, with a very lowly
obeisance, replied, 'My lord, I am yours to the antipodes.' His lordship,
nearly gravelled, exclaimed, ' Doctor, I am yours to the loweM pit of hell.'
' Theie, my lord,' said Harrow, sarcastically, ' I leave you,' and walked off."
This story has some kinship to a kind of juke which lia.s now passed away,
and Ihe wonder is how it ever can have existed, so elaborate is it and re-
quiring to be supported by such complicated machinery. For example, in
Joe Miller we read that " a gentleman being at dinner at a friend's house, the
tirsl thing that came upon the table was a dish of whitings, and, on lieing put
npon his plate, he found it smell so strong that he could not eat a bit of it ;
but he laid his mouth down to the fish as if he was whispering with it, and
then took up the plate and put it to his own ear. The gentleman at whose
table he was inquiring into' the meaning, he told him that he had a brother
lost at sea about a lonnighl ago, and he was asking that lish if he knew any-
thing al him. ' And what answer made he V said the gentleman. ' He told
me,' said he, ' that he could give me no account of him. for he had not been
at sea for three weeks.'"
Now let us fancy this in real life. You see a man whispering over his
plate, and if we suppose that in politeness you pass over the action as simply
idiotic, the whole joke is irretrievably lost. But you are kind enough lo in-
quire what he means. His answer is wholly enigmatic. The natural re-
joinder would be lo ask what on earth he was driving at ; but the convenient
gentleman of the story inquires what the fish has been saying, and this
affords the jester an opening to tome to his point. ■
So, loo, we are told that "an Englishman going into one of Ihe French
ordinaries in -Solio. and finding a large dish of soup with almul half a pound
of mutton in the middle of it, began to pull off his wig. stock, and coat ;
at which one of the monsieurs, being much surprised, asked him what he
was going to do. ' Why, nionsieur,' said he, ' I mean lo strip, that I may
swim through this ocean of porridge to yon litlle island of mutton,' " Let
us suppose that nobody had noticed the man after he had got off his wi^
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 717
Slock, and coat, and that the "iDonsieurs"hid quietly consumed Ihe island of
muKon, the misetable jester, instead of discomfiiing ihe Frenchman with a
joke, would simply have had to re-dress and lose his dinner.
Whether such jokes were ever ventured oil in real life It is hard to say.
The extreme absurdity of the joker's position if his joke hung lite, and Ihe
probability that in Ihe niajorily of casea it would hang fire, seem such obvious
considerations ihal we can hardly undersland any one overlooking ihem.
It is, however, possible lliat the public may have been trained lo appreciate
and assist such jokers, for these jests are said lo have been bvored by persons
whose countenance was sure to command respect and provoke imitation. It
is related of James I. that on one of his progresses he asked, " How far il
was to such a town. They told him, six miles and a half, lie alighted from
his coach, and went under the shoulder of one of the led horses. When
some one asked his majesty what he meant, ' I must slalk, lor jionder town
gel at the I
BSiller, To drown the, an Americanism, meaning lo put loo much water
in Ihe Sour in makine bread. Barrire and Leland scout Bartlett's attribution
of this saying 10 an English source and attempted affiliation with such Eng-
lish phrases as " putting the miller's eye out," used when too much liquid is
put to a dry or powdery substance. " As water-mills are far more common
in the United Stales than windmills, Mr. Barllell might easily have found
an aptcr illuslralion for the saying than that which be has adopted, and left
both England and the baker out of the question. The water is said to
'drown the millet' when the mill-wheels are rendered useless for work in
flood-lime by superabundance of Ihe fluid. The saying was exemplified by
the American miller, whose wife, in his opinion, was a great |)oeless, who,
seeing that ibe useful mill-stream had become a ruing, useless torrent,
looked up to it, her eye in a fine frenzy rolling, and exclaimed, —
'TbiihenvaKr
CofHi doim mitch EulR than it ought lei I' "
UUllon* for dafsnoa, bnt not one cent for tribute. When John Jay,
in 1796, made his bmous treaty with England which threatened to involve the
United Slates in a war with France, the Directory would not receive the
American ambassador, Charles Cotesworlh Pinckney, but intimated that Ihe
payment of a certain sum might sellle the dispute. Pinckney indignantly
answered with the rkow historic phrase. Il is said, however, that, long after-
wards, when Pinckney was asked in his club whether he had ever uttered it, he
replied, "No; my answer was nut a flourish like that, but simply, ' Not a
penny, not a penny.'"
Mind. Uy mind to me a tdnBdom la. the first line of a poem by
Edward Dyer (1540-1607), which has been much imitated :
'l >niilT.E^^bniai
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HANDY-BOOK OF
"Psalmes, Sonnets, etc" (1588), this, first, stanza appein a*
SuTrperfm'joY lliKein'i'find,
As Tar FXCHdM ■]! earthiy bliu
That Cod uil Natun hath auigDcd.
is the best known :
--ice aflbrtlvth heallh.
RoBiwT 5ouikwell(tj6o-ij9s): LatHtmt.
Milton's lines are only remotely analogous :
The mind ii in own plan, aad In lUdf
Can iuIk a heaven oT beU, a hell of heaven.
Paradia La,l. Boek i., !. 153.
All these cxpressionB, however, may be reterred back to Seneca's
Mens ngDiiin bona potaidet (" A good Enind poaaessei a kUiEdoa").'— 7\yt'Ut, li 381k
Publius Syms also has a glimpse of the same truth when he says, —
No man ii hippy who doe* nol think hiniHlL so.— dfunw jS*.
Therelbre Spenser rightly says, —
The nohleat mind the best coutenunent hu.
FairUQMttiu.
But it finds it within itself, and there alone :
Vain, very vain, tny weary Hatch EO find
Thai bliu which only crnireainiht mind,
GoLiKUIIH^ Till Tmvllltr,\, ^y.
Mind and matter. When Bishop Berkeley, in his "Theory of Vision"
(>709)i ft'^ acquainted the English public with the metaphysical theory that
the world of matter has no existence save in the minds of thinking men (in
metaphysical language, that matter is phenomenon, not noumenon), there was
an outburst of derision among the wits and "the men of sense." Even the
great Dr. Johnson thought he had scored a point when, in answer to Boswell's
claim that those who were convinced the tlieory was untrue could not refiite
it, he struck his foot against a stone and cried, " Sir, I refute it thus." Again,
when a Berkeleyite, alter a long argument, was leaving the company, Johnson
exclaimed, " Pray, sir, don't leave us 1 for we may perhaps forget to think of
you, and then you will cease to exist." Humor of this sort might have been
more properly left to the gentlemen described by John Brown in his "Essay
on Satire, occasioned by the Death of Mr. Pope :'
And cojtcomln vanquiih Berkeley with a giln.
Ycl Byron, who was nu mere coxcomb, has echoed it :
And yet who can believe it F I would Bhatier
Gladly all nuiten down to none or lead.
Oi adamwl, to Rod the world a tpiril,
wear niy ea , enyii^ ""aiyBM.
An anonymous hand has produced the following ;
Whallailimd? Nomatlerl
Whatiimuitr! NcvcrmhidT
but this is rather ijcu-d'tsprii than a burlesque oif any parlicnlar ibeotj;
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 719
If Berkeley has been traduced, so have all who held views that assimilated
to Berkeley's. The folloiring ia an imaginary epitaph on Hume :
BaKath ihii GiTi;ulu- hlcH, vulsaHy Ckllvd tamh.
ImprtiiiHU uu9 itUiu n«, »hicb cooHiluKd Hume.
Sluul MUl on Mind and Malta
SmuiMIUeHruhiiiklll
Bm had I •kill Like Stuart Mill,
Hi> DwD poduon 1 axdd ihaner ;
The wdchi of MUl 1 csuDt at NU—
If MUlhas neillier Mind nor Matter.
LordNuvb; Sntgt and Vtrit,.
tt dvclam, a first or final cauK, air ;
Phenomeaaareail weknov.iL „ ,._,
While Heyel'i DodeH fonmila, a ilngle Hue la un In,
]» " NothuiE El, and Dothing'a not, but c¥eTvthlnE'i beconia'."
F. D., in e^l nun GiattU.
In " Macbeth," Act v., Sc 3, Macbeth asks the doctor,—
Ran out llie uhltrD trouble! of the brain,
Cleante the tluffed bo^om of that peribu uuff
Which weEghi upon the hearlf
inswers that in such case the patient " must minister
s impatiently, —
Throw phyaic to the dogi I I'll none of it.
The impotence of medicine in the presence of moral and mental distress
had become a commonplace with (he poets even before Shakespeare's lime.
In "I-ancelot of the Laik," I. 3075, are the lines,—
So can he heill loKrinytee of thoght,
Wich that one erdfy mednyne can nc«ht :
Here are
a few
parallels
from Shakespeare's contemporaries or imm
Nature, too unkind.
Thai mad
Ahlbuli
•one of them wUl purge the heart 1
Mo, ttaeie
'* ne mBUdne left for my diaeue.
Kopbyic
: itnwc w COR a lortured mind.
FoBD : LoBi'i Saeri/Sti, ii. j.
But •hen
That hart
1 the rlnue (0 reatore tha mind f
WlBCTIUI ; Tkratian if«uUr, iv. I.
0 ye God., ha«
ye aidevned for euery miladr a medlciiK, for euery loie a u
play...
Mlad'a Bya. "In my mind's eye, Horatio," says Hamlet (Act 1. Sc a)
And elsewhere Shakespeare says, —
For much imaelBBry work araa there ;
That for Aehillei' iina(e iioo^ hli spear,
Giriped En an armed band : himtelf behind
A hand, a foot, a face, a lef , a head.
;i:,vG00git:
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The phrase, however, was a common one long before Shakespeare, It may
be round in the dassjcs. Thus, Ovid, —
Cuncuqu. ■»<» oenli. V'^^*^^^^-^ ^^ ^ .
and Cicero, "Oculis mentis videie aliqujd" (Oral. lOl). A parallel phrase in
Aristotle runs, uf ydp aiifioTi iipic, iv ipvx^ vof; {Eti. Nk., I., vi, 13). In the
New Testament {Ephtiiaiu i. i8) there occurs the expression ire^urio^tivoiif njif
6^9aifimif T^ lut^at ; where the reading of some cursives and of the textus
teceptus, has Aavaiaf. So Estiua in his Commentary gives eades nunlis as
Genevan versions the ti
Version, it may be added, has "the eyes of the iirderstanding." Hut indeed,
as J. Carrick Moore points out, the earliest example of the use of this meta-
phor goes back to the very origin of language. They who invented the word
idea from a verb which meant to " see," and who used the same word Aula to
express " I have seen" and " I know," were using this metaphorical ezpres-
Mliwrvapreaa, the name of a printing-establishment in Leadenhall Street,
London, which has become almost a synonyme for literary inanity, from the
flood of trashy, ultra-sentimental, but very popular " novels of real life" which
isstied from it in the early part of the present and the end of the last cenlurv.
They were remarkable for their complicated plots and the labyrinths of dira-
cultjes into which the hero and heroine got involved before the final consum-
mation. It is often referred to by English writers :
Scftmlv "^ ^B Minerrm Preu it ihcn record of luch turpauing, infinUe, and LDemriatbl*
Dbwniciion 10 m wtddiBg 01 1 douUt wedding.— Cailtlb.
The heroes of its issue are described by Lamb as "persons neither uf this
world nor of any conceivable one ; an endless string of activities without pur-
pose, of purposes without a motive."
This is exactly the " humorous sadness" which Jaques discovers in him-
selfi "It is a titelancholy uf mine own, compounded of many simples, ex-
tracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation of my
travels, in which my ollen rumination wraps nie in a most humorous sad-
ness."—-*/ Vm Uki It, Act iv., Sc. I.
The great humorists, indeed, have always been melancholy. Young, the
author uf the sombre " Night Thoughts," might Ik gay and flippant in his
every-day mood, but Moli^re, Rabelais, Swift, and Heine carried a great gloom
in Ihcir hearts, and. in Byron's phrase, laughed that they might not cry. (See
Laughter.) There is a famous story told usually of Grimaldi, but soirte-
times of other famous clowns or comedians. A patient applies to a doctor,
praying for some cure for acute melancholia. "Go and see Grimaldi,"
su^ests the medical man. " Alas I I am Grimaldi." Anecdotes run in
cycles. This story is authentically related of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, grand-
father of the more fatuous Charles. He went down to London lo contulta
. Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 731
who can treat you properly,"
eiaminilion, "and that is Dr.
Darwin of Derby." " Bui I am Dr. Darwin of Derby," replied the patient
We kx>li before ud^r,
Our iineuTfl binghler
%»*txn\hu Skylark.
Misery loves oompuiy, a common proverb, which seems to have found
its GrsI literary expression in Maxim 995 of Publius Syrus (B.C. 43} ; " It is a
consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery." Syrus himself
puts the same thought in another way in Maxim 144 : " Society m shipwreck
IS a comfort to alt." The phrase is also sometimes ased to express the idea
that " misfortunes never come singly."
Misfortunes never come singly, a popular proverb in all languages.
"It never rains but it pours" is another proverb of the same sort, though of
a wider application, as it may allude to joys as well as sorrows, to gooa luck
as well as bad. Young has put the thought into verse, as fallows :
Woei duiur, ruv ut kUuiv woei ;
They love > tnun, (liey trewl each sihs'i hacL
Ni^l TkBHikit, UL, L «}.
Young's lines ate an evident reminiscence of Shakespeare :
One woe dotb (xtad upon uiulier'l bed,
So lut Ihtv folkiw.
BamUt, Act It,, Se. 7-
Pope in his "Iliad" has said, "And woe succeeds to woe" (Book ztL,
I. 130), and Herrick in his "Sorrows Succeed," —
a general application, the others refer
Ifislbrtnnes of others. La Rochefoucauld, one of the kbdesi and most
unselfish of men, was the author of the saying, " In the adversity of- our beat
friends we always find something that does not displease us" (" Dans I'adver-
lit^ de nos meilleurs amis nous trouvons toujours quelque chose qui ne
Dons d^i^alt pas"). Swift quotes this maxim at the head of his "Verses on
hit Own Death," and thus comments upon it t
Thii Diulm m
bibougbi u>
And he goes on to defend the truth of the maxim by pointing out that as
the value we set on our powers, gilts, good luck of all kinds, is a rela-
tive value, dependent in a great measure upon comparison with the blessings
wliich are possessed by others, it follows that the value of out own powers
and gifts is enhanced in our own estimation by every misfortune that happens
to another. Chesterfield, in his one hundred and twenly-ninlh letter, goes
further : " They who know the deception and wickedness a( the human heart
will not be either romantic or blind enough to deny what Rochefoucauld and
Swift have affirmed as a general truth. Burke borrowed the idea in this
Ibnn : " 1 am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that do susll
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7»» HANDY-BOOK OF
one, in (he real misfortunes and puina of others." La Rochefoucauld hiroself
gave the same idea le&s brutally in another maiim ; " We have all strength
enuugh to beat (he misfortunes of others." bwifl has appropriated this with-
out acknowledgment : " 1 never knew a man who could not bear the misfor'
tunes of another like a Christian" (7'ifi>»/Af> on Varioi^ SubjtcU\. Years
afterwards, Benjamin Kranklin, in a letter to Alexander Sniilli, November,
1789, repealed the same idea ; " Every man has patience enough to bear calmly
and coolly the injuries done to other people." But long behne any oF these
Shakespeare had said, —
Ooe fin buRii out anolher's burning.
Cue pjua i( leucDcd by uiotbn'a uiguiih,
R^mts aHjJtUiH, Act L, Sc * 1
and in " Much Ado About Nothing" he makes Leonato say,—
d Agony with worda-
Tbe like binucir,
Aci v., Sc. 1 :
and Montaigne, " In the midst of compassion we feel within us t know not
what bitter-sweet point of pleasure in seeing others Suffer ; children feel it.
agn I '^ Euaji: 0/ PnfifnJ Htmnly.
The lio«s quoted by Montaigne will be recr^ized as the famous "Suave
nari ntagno" of Lucretius [Dt Rtrum Naiura, ii. i) :
How IwcM ID uuid, when umpao lar tlic suiD,
On Ibe firoi diff uid muk Ibe Kimu'i loU I
No) thu uuntwr'i duger (oothei thr (oul.
n old song quoted by Ben /onson in " Every Man Out of his Hui
In grulHI tlorm 1 lii on •hart.
And iHugh mt ihoK lIu( (oil in vftin
To g« whu mini b« loM k{ilD.
Lucretius himself is indebted for the idea to Isidorus, who says, "Nothing
ts more pleasant than to sit at ease in the harbor and behold the shipwreck
of others."
Mis*. A ihIbb ia as good «a a mila, a proverb which in its present
form is nonsense, and is therefore conjectured to have been originally " An inch
of a miss is as good as a mile," corresponding to the German " Almost never
killed a fly" {" Beinahe bringt keinc Miicke um"), the Danish " Ail-but saved
many a man" (" NtEr hielper mangen Mand") and "Almost kills no man"
(" Noerved slaaer ingen Mand ihiel"), and, indeed, to the old English " Almas'
was never banged." Hut it is not impossible that the proverb originally
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 7*3
stood " Amis is is good u Amile," Ihese being (he names of two legendary
soldiers or Cbarleroagne, tiiuUr heroes of a famous f AoBJon degatt,viYio were
as like each other as Ihc two Dtomios of Shakespeare, who tooii up each
other's quarrels, and who after being adopted into the traditions of the
Church as martyrs might be invoked indiHerently.
Mlaaouii Compromise. At the linie when Missouri was seeking admis-
sion into the Union (l8l8-2l} the country was in the first throes of the ami-
slavery agitation, when aboliiion was not yet looked forward to as a possibility
by any save a few so-called fanatics. All the energy of the Northern or Free
States was directed merely to hindering the further extension of the slave
territory, as that of the Southern to promoting it. In Missouri the pro-slavery
party was the stronger, and, after a long and liilter struggle, the conflicting
partKS effected » compromise. An act of Congress was passed February i8,
iSai, admitting Missouri as a slave-holding State, but laying down the prin-
ciple in prospective that slavery should thenceforth be prohibited in any
State lying north erf 36'' 30', the norihern boundary of Missouri. This
parallel, as the boundary-line between the Free and the Slave Stales, in the
ensuing conflict over slavery came to be popularly called Mason and Dixon's
line [q. v.), — a name which really belongs to another line of division.
BlUtake. And no mlatakel a common colloquialism to express cer-
tainty, lugged in at the end of any statement or asdertioii. It is usually
classed as an Americanism, but there is reason to believe that it originated in
England from the Duke of Wellington's phrase in a letter to Mr. Huskisson,
"There is no misUke, there has Iwen no mistake, and there shall be no mis-
lake." — FraSER: Wordi 9H WtllingUm, p. 111.
An undoubted American equivalent is "And don't you forget it I" a mean-
ingless vulgarism that is luckily dying out, as well as its congeners " Sure I"
and " Why, certainly !"
MiatakM of Antliorl. Dear young-lady reader, have you ever wept
over the end of "The Mill on the Floss," over the sad fate of Magsie Tulliver,
drowned with her brother in the angry waters of the Floss J If you have
you may dry your eyes. Ma^e Tulliver is probably not dead. Certainly
she did not die in the manner recorded by her historian. Vou will remember
that her frail boat is said to have been overwhelmed by a huge floating mass
of debris which is supposed to be drifting at a quicker rate than the Tighter
craft Now, tbis is a scientific impossibility. You have made yourself mis-
erable for nothing. The debris never caught up with the boat. Maggie and
her brother reached shore unharmed, and may have lived happily ever after.
Doubtless you have shuddered over the death of that loathsome wretch in
" Bleak House" who suddenly turned into an animated bonfire and expired
in the agonies of spontaneous combustion. Your shudders were uncalled
for. Dickens made a hard fight to prove a precedent in real life for his hor-
rible conception. But the doctors and the scientists were all against him.
The same authorities also are pretty well agreed that that favorite complaint
of the anxmic heroine, known 10 novelists and novel-readers as a broken
hea^^ is never the direct occasion of death. Grief weakens the system and
leaves It open to attack from disease-germs ; or it hastens the development
of some latent bodily affection. Your broken-hearted heroine niay have died
of dysentery.
Wilkie CollinB employed a consulting physician whenever his characters
fell sicli. The doctor felt the patient's pulse and examined his tongue, meta-
Ehorically speaking, in the proof-sheets, and decided not only what medicines
t should take, l>iit what symptoms he should be allowed to exhibit. If a
7»4 HANDY-BOOK OF
case of typhoid feTCt pioved refrictorj and behaved as thoaah il we»e small-
pm, the pioof-sheets were altered, the patient was admonished of his error,
and he was made to understand that he must not run counter to nature and
to medical experience. Yet even Wilkie Collins was not always correct in
diagnosing his patient's case.
But of all things novelists and dramatists, like other uninstructcd people,
should beware of handling poisons without proper medical advice. The way
thai poisons act on the stage and in romance would bewilder the trained loxi-
cologisi. A few examples roust suffice. Nat Lee, in the tragedy of "Alex-
ander," makes one of his characters administer a poison to the conqueror, of
which it is said thai
So far, so good. There is no exception to he taken to this statement
But when the poison is actually administered, then the trouble begins. After
swallowing the awful mixture, Alexander goes through the latter part of the
fourth and most of the fifth act, kills a man, makes a windy speech, raves and
blusters, recovers his senses, and, after a fine dying address, at last yields up
the ghost. There is not a poison in the world which could produce such an
effect. Philip Massinger, too, in " The Duke of Milan," betrays his ignorance.
One of the characters scatters a poisonous powder over a Sower. This is
given to a lady, some of the powder &Ils on her hand, her lover salutes the
lip of her fingers, and straightway dies. No poison known to science, not
even pure aconitine itself, could produce this resulL
In novels a handkerchief steeped in an anzsthetic and thrown over the head
of the interesting hero or the virtuous heroine immediately sends him or her
into a trance. But in real life chemists assert that the thine is an impossibility,
and that no such compound has ever been discovered. Chloroform and the
other recognized anesthetics require at least three distinct inhalations to
produce the loss of sensation. Perhaps some camorra among the criminal
classes of fiction Is in possession of a trade secret as vet unknown to science,
or shall we rather incline to the supposition that th
sciousness is due to something comparable to mesn
of fiction is always an extraordinary hypnolisL
If medicine be a stumbling-block in the way of the careless novelist, how
much more so the law I Law, too, has such manifold attractions for the un-
wary, it is entwined with so much of the mystery, crime, romance, and
tragedy of the world I That women novelists should err when they step on
this dangerous ground is only inevitable. Mrs. E. D. E. N. Soulhworlh
furnishes a delightful instance In "The Missing Bride." There is a trial
scene in that masterly work, where the jury are drawn by "idle curiosity,"
and not by the sheriff but " arrive uiiprejudiced." while the judge reveals a
shameful partiality from the bench. But women are not the only offenders.
In the famous court-scenes in "Griffith Gaunt," in "Very Hard Cash." and
in "Orlev Farm," Charles Reade and Anthony Trollope have shown all
a layman s unfamiliarity with the laws of evidence. And both Reade and
Trollope had the less excuse for their lapses in the fact that both tiad studied
law, ai)d both had been called to the bar. To be sure, they had allowed their
legal knowledge to rust by disuse. No such excuse can be urged for Samuel
Warren. He was one of the most distinguished barristers of his time, a
?.C., a man eminent for his legal attainments. Vet in "Ten Thousand a
ear" he makes a remarkable slip. At the very crisis of the plot, at the
trial-scene which decides the fate of Tittlebat Titmouse and all the leading
characters, a deed which would forever have disposed of Titmouse is set
aside by the judge. And whyf Merely because it was discovered that an
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 725
erasare had been made by the clerk at the lime when the deed wai en^roEsed.
It is true that Blackstone lays it down as a rule that an erasure vitiates a
deed unless duly acknowledged at the time of signing. But Coke, before
Blackstone, and an innumerable array of authorities since, have decided Ihal
evidence should be taken as to whether the erasure had been made before or
after signing, and that if it was proved to be after, the deed would stand.
We nave heard a great deal about the science of George Eliot j praises
loud and long have been chanted over the extraordinary menial ^rasp which
realized the bi>asl of Bacon and "took all knowledge fur its province." Rut
in truth George Eliot's learning was ralher wide than deep. We have already
pointed out a notable error in "The Mill on the Floss." Lut outside of actual
error her use of scienlitic lerminolo^ is pedantic and affected, and in a less
gifted author would be severely crilidsed. When she refers to "cervical
vertebrx" instead of heads, to the "systole and diastole in all human in-
quiry," and again to " the systole and diastole of blissful companionship,"
sne Decomes ridiculous ; and when she talks of a rent-col lector who was
"differentiated by the force of circumstances into an organist," she comes
"Sr?'^
*' science" which Charles Keade introduced, for the greater glorificatioi
hero, in " Foul Play." After poinlinK out the error of his method of com-
puting longitude, and remarking that i( would have been equally 10 the pur-
pose to have calculated how many cows' tails would reach (o the monn. he
twwails the teivdency of novelists to attempt to sketch scientilic methods with
which they are not familiar. No discredit, he thinks, can attach to any person,
not an astronomer, who does not understand the astrnnumical processes for
determining latitude and longitude, any more than to one who, nol being a
lawyer, is unfamiliar with the rules uf conveyancing. Bui when an attempt
is made bjr a writer of fiction to give an exact description of any lechnical
matter, it is as wrell to secure cotiectness by submttling the description to
some friend acquainted with the pttiiciples of Ihe subject. For, singularly
enough, people pay much more attention to these descriptions when met with
in novels than when given in text-books of science. They thus come to re-
member thoroughly well precisely what they ought to forget
Among (he characteristics of the moon should be noted its tendency to
lead authors astray. Rider Haggard, in "King Solomon's Mines," makes an
eclipse of (he moon take place at (he new moon instead of the full, — an
astronomic impossilnlity. Even the familiar vetsea in (he "Burial of Sir
John Moore" are all at tiult :
We buried bim dukly mt devi of nigbl,
Tbe tod wtib our tayoueu lumiu^.
By tbe itruegiing moanbeHms' nJMy Ijffbt,
And ou[ tunecn) diiaiy bucuing.
The Irish Astronomer Royal, Sir Robert Ball, is responsible for destroying
our faith in Wolfe's vivid pic(nre. Having nothing belter to do, apparently,
he made a calculation which n ' ' * " ' " '
horiion. But i( takes n<
notice (he extraordinary
moment of tbe terrific apparition of the phar
The day waa well-nigh done :
Airuoat upoD the weHen WKve
ReMcd (be btind biicbl ho.
;i:,vG00gk"
Jz6 tIANDY-BOOK OF
Tbc hornM noori. vith ona bright Hu
Now, if ihe moon rose in tiie east and gradually clomb the sky, she roust
have been at or near her full, — opposile the sun. She cotild noi be a horned
moon, nor could she have a star within either lip. The crescent moon, with
her horns, appears in the western sky, not in the eastern, and is steadily set-
ting and geitiiie lower in the sky from the instant of its appearance. Such,
al least, is the fact with nature's tnoon. But the moon of poetry and romance
has no end of eccentricities in the pages of fanciful writers, who shift it around
like a bit of stage scenery.
Dickens tells of ttie new moon ippearinE in the east in the early evening,
and more recently Walter Besant, in his " Children of Gibeon," causes a net*
moon to rise in the east at two o'clock in the morning.
Oliver Wendell Holmes laid us all under obligation when he devised his
theory of the idiotic area. Every man, says the Autocrat, has a spot in the
brain on which an idea alighting makes no impression. He uses the theory
to explain the otherwise inexplicable mistakes which people make. Aoihots
find this idiotic area comes frequently into use. Trollope might have iileaded
this eicuHe when he made Andy Scott "come whistling up the street with
a cigar in his mouth." iio might Jules Verne when at the close of his
" Round the World in Eighty Days" he describes his circumnavigating hero
as reaching his club, triumphant at the winning of his bet, just as all the
clocks in London, "from every steeple, pealed forth ten minutes to ten."
Surely Verne knew that the London clocks had no such curious idiosyncrasy.
It has been said that everything in •' Robinson Crusoe" might be demon-
strated mathematically, — that the writer, as with the instincts of a Scott or
a Shakespeare, had got inside the shipwrecked mariner's mind. Yet even
Defoe had his idiotic area. How. for example, did Crusoe manage to stuff
his pockets with biscuits, when he had taken off all his clothes before swim-
ming to the wreck ? And when the clothes he had taken ofF were washed
away by the tide, why did he not remember that he had all the ship's stores
to choose from ? Ho* could he have seen the goal's eyes in the cave, when
it was pilch dark ? How could the Spaniards have given Friday's father an
agreement in writing, when they had neither paper nor ink i And, finally,
how could Friday at so intimately acquainted with the habits of the bear,
when that animal is not a denizen of the West Indian islands ?
The imitators of "Robinson Crusoe" were even worse. Those readers
who can cast back their minds to the days when they read "The Swiss
Family Robinson" will recollect the extraordinary fecundity and native wealth
of the island in which those lucky waife resided. Not a fruit but flourished,
not an edible bird or beast but inhabited that astounding latitude, and what
ble forms of natural wealth was the success of every enterprise which any
member of the family undertook.
Even the marvellous memory of Macaulay had its idiotic area. In his
essay on Warren Hastings, after taking Mr. Gleig to task for the slovenly
nature uf his biography, he acknowledged that " more eminent men than Mr
Gleig have written nearly as ill as he when they have stooped to similar
drudgery. It would be unjust to estimate Goldsmith hy • The Vicar of
Wakefield.' or Scott by the ' Life of Napoleon.' "
When the Revieto came out and Macaulay saw what he had done, he was
horror-struck. He had written "The Vicar of Wakefield" instead of "the
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 7 = 7
History of Greece." There was no help Tor it. Immediale correction was
imposalble. For three months he had to pose before the world as a critic
who thought " The Vicat of Wakefield" a bad book, — a hasty bit of dnidgeiy.
But once at least when in the full possession of his faculties the "cock-
sure Macaulay" stumbled into an unfortunate pitfall. Not would he ever
acknowledge that he wa* in error, though the ertur was pointed out at once.
This was in his essay on Croker's edition of Boswell. Ctokei had made
himself obnoxious to Macaulay in the House of Commons. "See whether I
do not dust that vailet's jacket fur him in the next number ut the Blue and
Yellow," wrote Macaulay to his sister Hannah. He kept his word. The
next EdinburgA Rtvitvi contained the now famous onslaught. It showed an
unpleasant animus, tt was bitter and envenomed, but it exposed Croker's
inaccuracies with ruthless skill, it dusted his jacket so that the skin beneath
must have been excoriated. Only once did Jupiter nod. Croker had con-
fessed himself puzzled by the following couplet attributed to Sir William
Six bourt ID Iftw, to fDothbig ilmnb«r leveo.
Tea ID tlw world lUlol, and all In hoKii.
"Sir William," he said, "has shortened his day to twenty-three hours, and
the general advice of 'all to heaven' destroys the peculiar appropiiation of a
certain period to religious exercise." Macaulay thereupon declared that he
did not think it was in human dulness to miss the meaning of these lines.
Sir William distributes twenly-three hours among various employments.
One hour is thus left for devotion. The whole point of the couplet consists
in the unexpected substitution of " all" for " one." " The Conceit is wretched
enough," concludes Macaulay, with a parting whack, "but it is perfectly in-
telligible, and never, we will venture to say, perplexed man, woman, or child
But it turned out that .Sir William Jones wrote " Seven" instead of " Six."
So all this good invective came to naught. Macaulay was undoubtedly made
aware of his blunder. It was exposed and commented on by Julius Hare in
Tht PhilolKgical jfimmal. But when he came to republish his essays in book
form Macaulay never took any notice of the correction. The passage was
neither cancelled nor altered. There it stands to-dajp, a monument to the
nonsense which resentment will lead an able man to write.
Was not Howells's idiotic area in the ascendant when he wrote in "Silas
Lapham" of " rank and file" as though rank and file were synonymous with
officers and men instead of being a military term for men alone, and when he
spoke of a gentleman whose "linen was purple and fine," whereas the Bibli-
cal phrase " purple and fine linen" means purple robes and fine linen } And
surely Rider Haggard had nu other excuse when in "Mr. Meeson's Will"
he made the statement that publishers were subject, like other men, to all
the provisions and conditions of the seventh commandment To be sure,
if Haggard were a Catholic he might plead further that according to the
arrangement of Latin iheolugv the commandment " Thou shalt not steal" u
the seventh commandment But even then this should have been explained
to Anglo-Saxon readers in a foot-note.
■■ - - nevitable that Walter Scott should sometimes err. When a
author is throwing off brilliant romances at fever -heat, in electric sympathy
with a teeming braui and a tingling pulse, he cannot be expected to be over-
careful. No one knew better than he — a famous horseman himself — the
limits of endurance in a horse. He makes Wilfred of Ivanhoe advise his
enemy the Templar to take a fresh steed for the fierce till he was to run with
him. Wilfred himself had no chargers of remount ; he had but one steed,
the gift of Isaac of York, and was compelled to run five courses in rapid
eight
othen
■J28 HAND Y-BOOK OF
euccMsion on Ihe unfoitunate animal. Horae and man were both sheathed
in Brroor. The day was hot and sultry. No steed that ever was foaled
could have stood the ordeal. But this may be hypercritjcism. Is it hy)>er-
criticism, also, to point out that in the same novel a full ceiiluiy is dropped
in such sort thai one o( Richard l.'s kiiighis holds converse with a con-
temporary of the Conqueror, who was Richard's greal-greal-grand father f or
that the Fair Maid of Perth goes lo mass in the afternoon, whereas mass
cannot be celebrated save in Ihe earlier part of Ihe day ?
And Scott's brilliant itiiilalor, the French improvisator, who was so much
more headlong and slapdash in his methods, — Alexander the Great, in short,
— can we wonder (hat he too was not infallible P that he fell into tirange
errors, blunders, and inconsistencies?
In the o]»ning of his novel of " Monte -Crislo," when the good ship
Pharaon arrives at the port of Marseilles, Dantes cries out, " All ready to
drop anchor!" Straightway "all hands obeyed. At ikt lanu ntamenl the
.:_i. __ ,g^ ^^^ ^■^^^ composed the crew sprang some 10 the main.sheels,
> the braces, others to the halliards, others to the jib-ropes, and
others to Ihe topsail. brails." The eight or ten men would have found il im-
)>ossible to distribute themselves in this fashion, even if they had not been
simultaneously engaged in weighing anchor.
But " Monte.Cnsto" is a tissue of inconsistencies. The fortune which lalls
in the way of Ihe hero has all the astounding qualities of Fortunatus's cap.
It is big enough, lo be sure, in the first place. Four million dollars was an
impossiSle fortune for a cardinal of the sixteenth century to have accumulated.
But to Monte-Cristo four million dollars is a mere bagatelle. He scatters ii
wilh both hands. He hollows emeralds of priceless value to use them as
pill-boxes. He gives away horses wilh rosettes of magnificent diamonds
pinned to their heads. His steward has carU blancht in regard lo eipeiidi-
lures ; he must be ready al a moment's nolice to supply the cosily caprices of
his patron, and he plunders that patron wilh equal tang-froid. Monte-Cristo
further allows himself to be preyed upon by brigands and smugglers, and in-
solvents of all classes. Yet when he talks of settling up his affairs prior lo
being shot by Morcerf, he finds ihal after all these inroads his original fortune
of four millions is — what does the reader suppose f A millionT a half mil-
lion ? Nay, by some extraordinary process it has not diminished a sou : it
has even increased ; it has more than duplicated itself: it is now a cool ten
million I In the paradoxical lexicon of Monte-Cristo, prodigality is another
name (or thrift.
Charles Lever's geography is sadly at fault In "Charles O'Malley" he
makes Andalusia a provmce of Portugal, and speaks of Don Emanuel's
heims as possessing an estate in Valencia, foreetting that Valencia lies
on the opposite shore of Spain. But this is nothing to Victor Hugo, who
airs his topographical knowledge by translating " Ihe Fitlh of Forth" as " Le
Premier des Quatres," — "Ihe Fiisl of Ihe Four." And il is nothing to Ihe
various English authors who have dealt with American subjects. In the
latter regard the Britisher beean early lo claim the human priv:lege of erring.
As far back as 1719 Dean Swift talks of Pennsylvania, on nn less an authority
than William Penn, as a spot that "wanted the shelter of mountains, which
left it open lo the northern winds from Hudson Bay and Ihe frozen sea, which
destroyed all plantations of trees, and were even pernicious In all common
vegetables." In " Hand and Glove" Amelia B. Edwards compares her hero
lo "an overseer on a Massachusells cot ton -plantation." Even Thackeray,
who knew America and loved ii, and who loved Virginia above all, shows m
his "Virginians" Ihat he is but superficially acquainted with the geography
and conditions of his favorite Slate. Though it is just barely possible that a
_k>o^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 729
grant might have been made (o the Esmonds of a tract extending from ths
Potomac to the James River, it is quite absurd to imagine thai any one estate
approaching this in lize was ever cultivated from one centre. Vet Madame
Warringtun is described as shipping totacco from both rivers. There are
other inconsistencies, — notably the contiguity of Caatlewood 10 Mount Vernon
and Williamsburo, which are at least one hundred miles apart
Miss Helen Mathers is fond of lu^ng into her novels the ill-directcd
results of her reading, and in the ctTurt lo appear learned she is continually
making Ihe saddest mistakes. Two eiamples from " Cherry Ripe" must Suf-
fice. She refers 10 Henry VHI. and his sin wives "all waiting to have their
heads cut off;" and to show that she really believes Ihey all lost their heads,
she asks, " Did these murdered wives come stepping softly lo his side when
be lay a-dying ?" She makes her hero speak of Miss Porter, and when this
recondite allusion puutes Ihe heroine, the hero puules Ibe reader stit! more
completely by declaring that Dr. JohnEOn, " apropos of his marriage with that
lady," is recorded lo have said, "Sir, it was a love-match on bolh sides." A
far worse offender is Ouida, who can never restrain the exuberant expression
of her learning. She is Ihe Malaprop of the classics, the Partington of
belles-le tires, history, and statistics. She plays sad havoc with the n-""-*
and doll ' ' '-■ ■ " ' -■ -
Athens',
her heroines with impossible perfections, and places them in impossible sur-
roundings. Wanda lives in a castle in an almost inaccessible Alpine height,
where foliage would well-nigh perish, yet the magic of Ouida makes the desert
to blossom as the rose, whiFe the steinbok, an animal now extinct in the Tyrol,
gambols around it. And is it nol Wanda's lover who lives in an equally
exlraoidinary chileau whose library contains a million volumes f An un-
imagJTialive statistician once took the pains lo show that a million volumes
could nol be shelved in any less space than a Colosseum.
Jn one of bis " Roundabout Papers" Thackeray acknowledges his manifold
shortcomings, blunders, and slips of memory : " As sure as I read a page of
my own composition, I find a fault or two, half a dozen. Jones is called
Brown, Brown who is dead is brought lo life. Aghasl, and months after
the number was primed, I saw Ibat 1 had called Philip Firmin, dive New-
come, Now, Clive Newcome is Ihe hero of another slory by the reader's most
obedient servant. The two men are as different in my mind's eye — as Lord
Palmerslon and Mr, Disraeli, let us say." Elsewhere he had to confess that
he had resusciUled Lady Kcw after having laid Ihe unquiet old dowager in
her Collin. Newcome, senior, is colonel and major at one and Ihe same time ;
Jack Bclsize becomes Charles on another page ; and Mrs. Raymond Gray, in-
troduced as Emily, is suddenly rechrislened Fanny. A good deal of confu-
sion is introduced into "The Newcomes" by a want of agreement lielween
author and arlist. While Thackeray jests about Clive's beautiful moustache
and whiskers, Richard Doyle persists to the end in representing thai young
man as entirely deslitule of capillary attractions.
Bui, having owned his shortcomings, Mr. Roundabout makes a touching
[dea for metcy. As he looks on the pages written last month or ten years
ago he tells us that he remembers the day and its events ; " the child ill,
mayhap, in the adjoining room, and the doubts and (ears which racked the
brain as it still pursued its work. It is not the words f see, but that past
day ; thai bygone page of life's history ; thai tragedy, comedy, it may be,
which our little home company was enacting; that merrymaking which we
shared 1 that funeral which we followed ; thai hitler, bilier grief which we
buried," And, such being the state of his mind, he pray* the gentle reader to
deal kindly with bim.
;i:,vG00git:
730 HANDY-BOOK OF
After inch a plea it Mcms almost brutal to call attenrion to a nice little
anachronism in "The Newcones." Clive, in a letter dated 1S3-, asks,
"Why have we no picture of the sovereign and her august consort from
Smee s brush ?" The answer is easy enough : because there was no Prince
Consort until 1S40.
But if we are lo chronicle all the anachronisms in imaginative literature we
■hall TiCTer get through. The very head and front of all offenders was Shake-
speare himselt He speaks of cannon in the reign of John, whereas cannon
were unknown until a century and a half later ; of priming in the time of
Henry II. ; of clocks — and striking clocks at that— in the lime of Julius
Cteaar; he makes Hector quote Aristotle, and Coriolanus refer to Cato and
Alexander ; he introduces^ billiard-lable into Cleopatra's palace ; he dowers
Boheinia with a sca-cuast, makes Delphos an island, ana holds Tunis and
Naples to be at an immeasurable distance from each other. Nor were his
brother dramatists — his contemporaries and his followers — a whit more care-
ful, Nat Lee talks about cards in his tragedy of " Hannibal ;" Otway makes
Spartan notables carouse and drink deep 1 D'Urfey's ancient Britons are
familiar with Puritans and packet-boala \ Rymer makes his Saxon heroine
rull off her patches when her lover desires her to lay aside her ornaments;
chiller, in his " Piccolomini," speaks of lightning-conductors.
When Colman the younger read his drama of " lokie and Yarico" to Dr.
Hoseley, the latter exclaimed. —
" Stuff and nonsense 1 It won't do."
" Why ?" cried the alarmed dramatist.
" Why, you say in the finale, —
' Coin«. t«t ui dvice and tine,
WtaJlr ill Bubidaes' l>ell> ihall rioc 1'
It won't do, sir ; there's but one Iwll in the island."
Nevertheless the play did do: and even if this terrible mistake had not
been pointed out. it would have dene all the same. Let us not be Dr. Mose-
leys. We may amuse an idle hour by pointing out the discrepandes in this or
that great author, but we need not imagine that his greatness suffers by any
such minute specks and flaws.
Mlatletoa. That little parasite with the curious white berry, the mistletoe,
has long l*een a puzzle and a mystery to botanists, natar^ists, and anti-
quaries. But we will leave the botanists and naturalists to light out their
battles among themselves, and merely glance at what the antiquaries have to
say coiicernins the oiisin of the pleasant and of course popular custom of
kissing a maid under the mistletoe.
It will surprise no one to be told that of old the mistletoe was sacred to
love. The Scandinavians dedicated it to Freya, their goddess of beauty and
love. Freya united in herself the attributes of Venus and of Proserpine,
who was the queen of ihe dead, and it is inirious bow the mistletoe hat been
inextricably niiaed up with both love and death, the story of Freya and
Balder, her son, furnishing a striking illustration. Balder, so the legend
goes, dreameil a dream presaging danger to his life, and this dream was a
cause of much anxiety to his mother, who, to make sure of fate, exacted a
promise from Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and all things springina from
them, that they would do no harm lo her son. This done, the Scandinavian
gods met in their halt, and. placing Balder in their midst, amused themselves
by casting stones, darts. lance.\ and swords at him as he stood. True to their
oaths, Ihey felt from him, leaving him unscathed. Loki, the spirit of evil,
filled with wonder and envy at the sight, resolved to learn tbe secret of
Balder's invulnerability. Transforming himself Into an old womaat, he wcit
Coogk"
LITEKARY CURIOSITIES. 73I
to Pre; I, toW her how her son boie unhuit the assaults of all the deities, and
soon wormed himself into her confidence and won the seciet of Balder's in-
vulnerability. For to Loki's inquiry if all things had made the promise not
to mjure Balder the goddess [epiied that all things had taken the oath save
the mistletoe, which was too feeble to hurt, if it would, I^ki then left Fieya,
resumed his own shape, and, plucking up the mistletoe by its roots, fashioned
it into an arrow as he went. On rejoining the assembly he found the gods
still at their sports, but, looking around, spied blind Hbder (the god of fate)
standing silently apart from an imusemenl he could not share. Loki en-
treated him to do honor to Frcya's offspring, placed ihe arrow in his hand,
and guided his arm. It flew with fatal accuracy, and stretched the unhappy
Balder dead before the startled gods. All nature mourned so billerly the
death of the sun-god that Hela agreed to restore him if it could lie shown
that everything lamented. Then every creature wept, and the trees even
dropped their branches in token of their grief. Loki alone stood tearless.
In holy rage the assembled gods rushed on the cause of the world's sorrow,
bore him to (he bottomless pit, and chained him fast At this unexpected
result of his evil work, Lokt shed tears copiously, and, Hela's condition being
thus fulfilled, Balder returned to life.
Professor Skeat e'xplains why the mistletoe should be of all created things
the slayer of the sun-god (Balder) by saying that the myth represents the
tragedy of the solar year, the sun overwhelmed by the gloom of mid-winter.
In Anglo-Saxon mitt means "gloom," and mitUl is used for the plant " mis-
tletoe."
In later stories the mistletoe still continues to be associated with love and
death. Take, for instance, the famous ballad of "The Mistletoe Bough," by
Thomas Haynes Bayly, which has long enjoyed a wide popularity. Here it
sufficient of it to give the story :
Tticni
Tbchi
Andih
Tbc tuioDbihcId wlih a faihe
Hit iKsutiful child, young Lo%
While ihe wiih ber hrighi cya
Id hec^friiD^s'b
And ■ ikeleUB t
Id ihc liridii wrath of Ihe bdy fair I
Oh, ud wu hn die t in iponlve JMI
Site hid from h<- '--''- "'- -'■--■--
73" HANDY-BOOK OP
an old casUllo (here is shown the identical chest in which ihe unhappy ladj
is supposed to have secreted heiself. In England many old houses have
similar traditions connected with them ; and, as the old oak chest or coffer
was ill former times an article of furniture in every mansion, and as from its
size it was an inviting hiding-place, it may have been the cause of more than
one tragedy. Collet in his " Relics of Literature" gives the story, and it la
also 10 be found in Ihe "Causes Celibres."
imporlanl ceremony among Ihe ancient Druids. Five days after the new
moon they went in stalely procession to the forest and raised an altar of grass
beneath the finest mistletoe -bearing oak they could find r the arch-Druid then
ascended the oak and with a golden knife removed the sacred parasite, the
inferior priests stood beneath and caught the plant upon a while cloth, for if
a portion of it but touched Ihe ground (Loki's empire) it was an omen of
misfortune lo the land. The mistletoe was distiibuled among Ihe people on
the first day of the new year. As il was supposed to possess the mystic
virtue of giving fertility and a power to preserve from poison, the cerenionjr
of kissing under tlie mistletoe may have some reference lo this original
belief.
Grant Allen in (he CartUiillMaxaaitu has another theory. " In many prim-
itive tribes." he says, " when Ihe chief or Icing dies, (here ensues a wild period
of general license, an orgy of anarchy, till a new king is chosen and conse-
crated in his slead (o replace him. During Ihia terrible interregnum or lord-
whip of misrule, when every man does that which is righ( (or otherwise) in
his own eyes, all things are lawful ; or rather there are no laws, no lawgiver,
no executive, fiul as soon as the nevr chief comes to his own again, every-
thing is changed : the community resumes at once its wonted respectability.
Now, is i( no( probable that Ihe mid-win(er oi^y is similarly due to ihe cut-
ting of (he mistletoe ? perhaps even lo the killing of Ihe King of the Wood
along with i( } Till the new mistletoe grows, are not all things allowable i
At any rate, I cast out this hint as a possible explaii"'" ' '""" '""
tiom in general, and kia' ~ -■-- -■-- — '--' '-
ceivably survive as the
accompanied the rites of so many slain god;
Attis. Much mitigated and mollined by '— ■'■
still see in it, |)erhaps, some dim lineami
otus describes for us over (he dead gods of Egypt. So far back into (he
realms of savage though( does thai seemingly picturesque and harmless mis.
tleloe hurry us."
But, setting aside Druidical and pagan practices, let us see what part Ihe
mistletoe played in medieval times, ft seems pretty well established (hat it
once had a place among the evei^reens employed m the Christmas decora-
tion of churches. bu( (hat it was subsequently excluded. Hone states that it
was banished (ogether with kissing in the church, which practice had estab-
lished itself at a certain time of the service. litand. however, asserts (hat the
mistletoe never entered into sacred edifices except by mistake, and assigns it
a place in Ihe kitchen, where "it was hung up in great slate, with its while
berries ; and whatever female chanced (o stand untler il, the young man
present either had a right, or claimed one, of saluting her, and of plucking
nff :, K.!-,,, »i .!..-l> Lijs." Nares makes it ominous for the maid not so »a-
custom longest preserved was the hanging up of a bush
Itchen, or servants' hall, with the charm attached to it
I not kissed under it at Christmas would not be married
Wbaiever the origin of kissing under Ihe mislleloe, the c
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 733
:s hold. An enlhntiMtic English
But there may be too much of a good thing, and then, too, there is a time lor
all things. Let us keep up the good old custom, however, at the Christmas
[>n, and certainly its antiquity should be a guaranlei
on, for it is eminently worth preserving, especially when a pretty girl is
111 [he Question, and certainly its antiquity should be a '" '—
lespectability.
Miatrems of ths Adilatio. By (his figure Venice, from her situation at
the head of the sea or that name, and her commercial importance in the later
Middle Ages as the mtrtpSI and chief factor in the trade between Europe and
(he Orient, is alluded to. The following ettract is a reference to the fact that
this commercial pre-eminence afterwards passed to the Dutch ;
The -utioDi of the Bftliic uid the futhest lad now exchanged their ^^ucti on a more
CAlenuve acalc KUd wilh a wider Iweep acrou the eanh Itun when (he Uutreu of Uie Adri-
atic held the keyi of Atiaiic <M>nimer<:e,~MoTuiv : Riit c/lki Dutch Kr/uiik.
Ulttan, To glv* tha. ot ttaa Baok, in American slang, to refuse a pro-
posal of marriage, to dismiss a lover. The phrase is probably derived from
the French custom of presenting milaitta to an unsuccessful wooer, — a sup-
Eosilion strengthened by the fact (hat it comes to us from French Canada ;
ut it was doubtless influenced by some reminiscence of the old custom of
throwing (he glove down as a sign of defiance. The suggestion that there is
some allusion nere to the Latin mitttre, to " send" about one's business, seems
bardljr tenable.
" May I aee you ufe faoueT" he aiked.ai he had
ih IiepidalioD. " No," (aid Rachel, wiih an evidi
:e. Such an auwer i> technically known u the u
«d "he'c^^vetil^ ao'd'alTm-hilaitd ihc^b^ •
Moclc-Tnrtla. According to Dr. Kilchiner'g "The Cook's Oracle,"
dbvE
Bread and Biscuit Baker. No. 6 Salcombe-place, York Terrace, Regent's
■ding li
famous book of recipes published in London in 1S17, this savory fraud was
invented bv Elizabeth Lister, who is described as ■' late Cook to Dr. Kitchiner,
Park," — with the further information (hat she "goes out
reasonable terms." Of mock-turtle itself this authority stales that it "is the
Bonne Boueht which the 'ofllicers of the Mouth' of Old England prepare
when Ihey choose to rival li$ Grands Cuisitiieri de (,nc\ France in a Ragout
lant ParA." The directions fur making this soup fill altogether about four
pages, and emliedded among them comes the following outburst in praise iif
the dish (the italics and the capitals are the Doctor's) ; " Without its para-
phernalia of subtle double Relishes a STARVED TURTLE has net mori
intrinwc sapidity than a PATTED CALF. Friendly Reader, it is really
neither half so wholesome nor half so toothsome." Later on he says, " This
i> a delicious Soup within the range of those ' who eat to live,' but if it had
been composed expressly for those who only ' live lo eat,' I do not know how
HANDY-BOOK OF
Molly MacnlreB, a secret aocieiy among the coal'ininen of Pcnnsjrlvuiia,
which for many years prior lo 1877 Icrroritcd Ihe enlirc Coal- producing region,
and even rose lo be an iniporUnt polilical factor in the State, through the
numerous votes which it controlled. The name was originally that of a secret
society organized in Ireland in 1S43 for the purpose of terroruing the officials
employed by the landlords to distrain for rent. Stout, active young men,
dressed in women's clothes, with faces blackened, or otherwise disguised,
would pounce upon the grippers, bumliaili&, process-servers, and driven
(persons who impounded cattle till the rent was paid), releasing the distress
and roughly handling Ihe distrainers, from the cRects of which tney not infre-
quently died.
The Molly Maguires of the coal-regions were composed almost entirely (rf'
Irishmen, and Ihey kept the forms and practices of the sef" — '""' ■""
E was less, and Iheir cruelty was as ferocious 3S the
offence which caused it was petty. In committing Iheir murders, the society
took a course not unknown in the history of the brotherhoods of aftaassins,
and bad the deeds done by persons who were strangers in the sections where
the victims lived. Returns of courtesies were arranged by which murders
were exchanged. They pursued the same course in regard to terrorism of
witnesses ana to subornation of perjury, and consequently Ibr a long time
made trials a farce. With murder and incendiarism, matters came to such a
pass that in 1875 the entire region was in a tremble of fear. After the total
^lure of the local constabulary, after even the militia had failed to establish
more than temporary quiet, the Pinkerton Agency of Chicago was ultimately
set upon their track, and largely through the personal efforts and influence of
Franklin B. Gowcn, President of the Reading Railroad, the ringleaders were
detected, arrested, convicted, and, in June, 1S77, hanged, after which order was
restored and Ihe association broken up.
Uolooh. Figuratively, a ruling passion or consuming vice, to which man
sacrifices things most dear and sacred ; it may be the Moloch of gambling,
the Moloch of ambition, the Moloch of war, etc The derivation is froro
Moloch, a god of the Ammonites, into whose bowels, being a furnace with a
raging fire, the worshippers cast as sacrifices Jewels, treasures, often even
their own favorite children : this practice is alluded to in the Biblical reference
to the god, to whom children were " made to pass through the fire" in sacrifice.
■lon^ mak«a tha dim's go, an old English proverb of uncertain
origin. It may be a far-off variant of the ancient phrase found in this form iit
Publius iiyruB ; " Money alone sets all the world in motion." {Maxim 656.)
There is an old glee that contains Ihe following lines :
■' WU1 you lend mi tout man 10 Re ■ nUt t"
" No ; she ii iHine. leaping over k iiile."
" Bill if you will her 10 me ipAn
"*'■ Oh, hoYiay you m ?°" °^'
There is no evidence, however, to show that the glee was not taken from the
saw. In Caleb Bingham's " American Preceptor," published in 1794, is a
diali^ue called "Self-Interest," in which an English rustic, named Scrape-
well, makes all sorts of false excuses lo avoid lending his mare lo a neighbor,
but afterwards, finding that Ihe loan is to be profitable to himself, he UkM
_,ooglc
LrXERARY cuKiosrrrES. 735
tack a]1 the excuses and leli the mare go. The author's name is given as
Berquin. Probably it is a paraphrase from the French writer for children
Amauld Berquin (1749-91). The glee may have been founded on this
dialogue, as it follows it in all essentials. And, as the proverb is not men-
tioned in the diali^ue, the saw as well as the glee may have arisen th«refrorn.
■loDlEsy'amoneT, To make payment In, — i.t.,\n something of no value.
The origin of the phrase is nought in an ordinance said to have existed in
Paris, imposing a toll of four deniers upon any aninal crossing the Petit Puni
and brought into the city for sale ; if it was a showinan's monkey, not intended
for sale, an exception was made, and in such a case it would suffice if the
monkey went through his antics and grimaces.
. . . Friar Jahn bought liiiii Iwo rue picuiiei, . . . u oriiinal, by nuuEr Ourlo Chu-
mov, principd painter lo KIhe MegUiui : and be [wid for them in court lubion, with
DonkEy'i monty (with congi and grlnuce),— Rauuis, Book iv., ch. U.
KdcI youneiri and mDDkEy'iallDwuce imoretlcki than Wfpencel.—C. KlHCSLSV:
May, i8s6.
cabalistic-looking ciphers or figures, often utterly mean-
ingless at first sight, which on closet inspection resolve themselves into let-
ters fantastically intertwined the one with the other. These devices can
be traced back 10 early ages, possibly 10 the Egyptians, and Certainly to the
Greeks, who used them on early coins, medals, and seals. They are found
also on the family coins of Rome, but not on the coins of the Roman em-
petors until the lime of Constamine, who used, there and elsewhere, the
famous monogram of Christ, formed from the first two letters of the Greek
XPI2TO£, which was the most striking pari of the labarum. (See In Hoc
SiGHO ViNCES.) Another famous Christian monogram is considered mi voct
I. H. S. Charlemagne is thought lo have revived in France the practice of
placing monograms on coins, which was copied by most of the Catlovingiat)
kings. And in order to hide his ignorance of the art of writing, Charlemagne
was wont to use a monogram stamped on a seal as his signature. The "mer-
chants' marks" of the Middle Ages were often monograms, as were the
devices on tradesmen's tokens, and the signatures of old painters, engravers,
and printers. The latter form the especial study of the bibliographer, who is
thus enabled to fix the identity of the ancient editions, German, Italian, and
English, from the invention uf printing down to the middle or end of (he six-
teenth century. But as a means of handing down one's name to posterity
monograms can hardly be considered a success. Not many years ago a long
controversy broke out in the pages of TfoUi and Qveriti concerning a nioi^o-
im which different correspondents variously attributed lo Peter Quasi,
iwis Crosse, Sir Peter Lely, and others, and which to the uninslrucled mind
seemed to contain a P, a C, an L, and a D. Unfortunately, there are no rules
for deciphering a monogram. All attempted rules, such as that which declares
that in these combinations the initial of the surname should be the most
trominent character, have been sacrificed to the exigencies of the occasion in
and. It is now generally held that the diphthong M, for example, is a true
monogram in itself, embracing the initials A, E, F, L in any desired order,
and standing cither for Ebenezer Fitz-Adam Ijings hanks or Alexandria I .elitia
Frances Escobar. Shakespeare asks. What's in a name? With a deal more
reason he might ask, " What's in a monogram ?"
Monoayllable. The literary value of simplicity, of Saxon as against
K
736 HANDY-BOOK OF
Latin terminology, of the short word as against the long, of monosyllables,
in fact, as againal polysyllables, is a modern discovery, or not so much a diS'
covery as a recrudescence. It was known to the Elizabethans, it was forgot-
ten by their successors, it was rediscovered in more modem times. Shake-
speare and the English Bible have established and retained their hold on the
popular heart by their knowledge of this great rhetorical fact. But Shakespeare
and the Bible (as a literary force) had become discredited in Queen Anne's
age. For that age was big with the coming portent of Johnsonese and Gib-
bonese, it was the legitimate precursor of the " Rambler" and the " Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire," it was subconsciously awaie of the revo-
lution which i< bore within its womb. It is not astonishmg, therefore, to find
in the work of a great Queen Anne poet the well-known gibe against mono-
syllabic verse. —
This, of course, is Pope, in the " Dunciad." A successor of Pope, a satirist
DDdihe hic^ey'd ciitic'i
nphUic UMIE,
ABracvd, like .
n By himvcIT *
tn<Ucliiubla
icipali, UBgracvd, like Iftduyi w
-■^H.Tiyhin--" — •-
,.dn!rb,j'
: liable* hi* thuikd«n roll.
, Kod we, ye, they, Hflriilhc tbfl •Dal.
But in spite of Pope, in erring Churchill's spite, ten words can fly as well
as creep, and thunders may roll in monosyllables as readily as in stsqidptdaHa
vtria. The linest passages in Shakespeare, the "To be or not to be," for
example, the most impressive portions of the Bible, as in the books of Job
and Revelation, or the denunciations of Jeremiah against Jehoiakiin, King
of Judah, " O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord," etc, the
Burial Service, Tennyscm's " Tears, Idle Tears," Pope's " Universal Prayer,"
Gray's "Elegy," Scott's description of the battle of Flodden Field,— all these
and many more of the best- remembered passages in English literature might
be searched in vain For words hard enough to set at a spelling-bee. They
represent all moods of the mind, all the possibilities of human expression.
They show that directness and simplicity may consort with majesty, with
dignity, with passion, with eloquence. This truth is excellently put in the
following two sonnets by Dr. J. Addison Alexander, written throughout in
monosyllables, which originally appeared in the FrincetoH Xtviao:
The Powek of Short Wokds.
Which bat mortbtighi ihan biudih. irnm deplb Ibtu lenEth.
1*1 hat ihil fone of ihoualil and ipeech be mine.
And be thai will may lakF ihe sl«li fai phrate
Wbkh glow! and bunu not. though il gleam and abioCj—
Ugbl, but no bal,— • Oaab, but not a blait I
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 737
Nor it it DKR Hrai(ih t]»t ihc ihoR word bout* :
II lenrc* ti nun tlun (lAi or Worm ID tdl,
The mar of wivo thai dub on ndi-biniDd couti,
11k cnih at ull irw w<>«> ihc wild vindt ■wdl,
On MwdiuiDcd l^^\°\,a™i<^>^^ u well
For ihem thai laugh and daacc and clap Ibv hand :
The vwed, pUio vui-di wc Iwdl at lint knp (Ime.
And (bough the iheme be ud. Of gay, or Erand,
With each, with all, thvM may be blade to chime,
Let us call n-om lileraturc a few of the mote notable examples of verse and
proM wherein monosyllables play the chief and sometimes the onljr part.
Shakespcate atid the Bible, as we have already noted, yield a rich harvest.
Where is the laneuage of passionate grief made more expresuve than in the
speech of the widowed Constance in " King John" ? —
Tbou niay'it, thou (halt: I wdl not go oiib Ihea:
I will iulnicl my sottdws to be proud ;
For grieT u proud, and makes hu owner itout.
Let kilkgt auemble : Tor my grief '■ so great.
That DD lupponer but the huge firm emh
Hue la my throne, bid kingt coma bow to it.
Act lU., Sc. I.
Here ue seventy-three words, of which only six are polysyllables. In the
tame play, in the ihrilling scene where King John is inciting Hubert lo mur-
der Arthur, his speech consists largely of monosyllables. Here are four lines
without a single word of more than one syllable ;
In one tA the most fbrcefbl of all the Shakespearian plays, " King Lear,"
the most forceful passages are made up of words of one syllable. Here
again are four lines without a single polysyllable i
Tbon Vddw'm tba bat time that we iidell the air,
We wavl and cry : I will preach to the*, mark me-
Ta thli'ntUHage of ro^.—l^i^wd block!
An i»., St. 6.
Coleiidge considered that the most beautiful verse, and also the most sub-
lime, in the Bible was that in the book of Ezekiel which runs, " And he said
unto me, Son of man, can these bones live ? And I answered, O Lord God,
thou knowest" Here are seventeen monosyllables, and only three words of
two syllables.
Here are a few more examples, selected almost at random ;
And God lald. Lit iheta be light : ud (hen wu light. Aod God uw the light, that it
wai good.— Cnt"" Ij, 4.
tb«e he lell down dead.— /»i^J v. a;.
O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hati haakd me. O Lord, ihov hut brought
up my aoul from the grave : thou haat kept me alive, that i (houid not go down to the plL
SbiguntolheLord, Oyeiabstiof hit, and give Ih>nki.—/>M/n III. 3-1.
Piflve all Ihlugi : hold bit that which Is good.— i TluitaJtKiaHi v. ii.
re be dead with hbn, we ihall alas live with him.— a Timelky ii.
I him.— a 7
itdayofbiawratblacome; and who ahallbe aUe loai
c* of^ii ahali BM be ahnt ai all by day ; fin then •!
..Google
738 HANDY-BOOK OF
tr ihe bUnd lad ihc Mind, bolb >h>11 bU into tkc ditcfa.— Ml
T^. no Ihoughl fcr y«ir Life, wh-1 yz "
H^iiliiow
by hit Ihili.— Mi<<4rd xi
If they doihoc ilJiwm in m gnen me» vhaL ihaU be doiK D lludryT — £k^ niiiL »'
We >alk by &ilb, d« by tighl.— i Corittlkinni i. 7.
Lord Russell, in hii Ufe of Moore, records a conversation between that
poet, Rogers, and the once popular critic Crowe on the use of short woidt.
Phrases like " He jests at scars who never fell a wound," " Give all thou
canst," and "Sigh on my lip" were quoted with approval as most musical and
vigorous. Rogers cited two lines from Pope, declaring that they could not be
improved j
Pint on thy lip, and to thy heutbe picu'd;
Elaiia la AitUr'j, 1. nj.
Hook himself offers some excellent examples;
Rich ud nn were the gemi ihe ooie,
And m btighl eotd ring on her waad the bore.
I kODW BDt, 1 ajk Dot, U* guilt'a In ihat heart,
I bul Iciww Ihit I love Ibee nhittver Ihou tn.
Cemi nil in tkii Bvtm.
I Bjlye thee ir.— I cu do nuin,
Thouffh poor iht oOering be ;
Uy heut ud lute en lll^e une
Tbu I cu bring 10 Ihee.
My Hmrl mml LmH.
Who bu >»[ Ml how udly iweet
The drekni of hone, the dreiini oT hcma,
Steali o'er the beirt. loo loon la fleet.
When fu o'er Ki or lud « roun t
Tin DrimiK ^ Hamt.
Lore OB Ihmwh *]l ilb. ud lore Dn lill Iher die.
T>u Ufht ^tlu H»rtm.
1 tnev, I Imev It could not lut t
Tn* brighi, -tm havealy, bul 'tb put.
Oh.everihui. from childhood'! hour,
I've HCD my fondeat bopca decay ;
Yet go I On peril'! brink »e meet:
I'bough huv' ^t' may be death to'ihee 1"
Th. Fir,-W,r,kipf4r,.
Phineu Fletcher in "The Purple Island" has a remarkable passage 1
He* llghi new tove. ne* love new life hath bred ;
A love to Him (0 whom lOI lovei arc wed :
A Hghl lo whan the nm i* darken nighl :
Eje'ellihl, hean'i love, khiI'i only life H* b :
Life, KKil. love, heul, light, eye, and all are Hie ;
Haeye, lii^l, beut.love.Holi He aU ny joy and bite.
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 739
Here are tevent; worda, and only one word or more than one srllable, and
that merely the superUlive form of a monosyllable. Giles Fletcher, the
brother of PbJneai, was oRen quite as happy in his simp1icil]i of phrase, — as,
for csanple :
Love li dw l>loiuiB when ibcn tilan
Evory tluiu tlwt livva or crow* ;
Love dotb B^t tlK Heiv'iu u> nove,
■ ■ ■ ~ ■ ■ burninlc
. dwakd
e jvy climb th
■hadon licni
He buRU the
Kolilllbolr
Nol ill Ibe M
It (amooa of George Herbert's poems. The second
■ ining but a f' ' *'" " ■"' " "' '^" '
VlRTUB,
Ik brlJiil of Ibe eulh
""Will.
In, K bright.
Asl^^' niuH die.
Ontr • (WHt ud Tlnuoiu
Like teuon'd timber, d<
B« Iboilgb ihe whole woi
™*. "y '**y. my Tniili, mr UTe :
Sucb ■'Wiy, u Kl«e> uil«ath;
ouch a Tnilh, u endi ill tItUt ;
Ssch ■ Ure, u kUleih dakb.
Com*, my Ughi. mv Feu[, my Slrenslb:
Such > Lighl, u ihowi a feui ;
SikIi t Feui. u mendi in Unglta ;
Such ■ SlRDgib, ei mika hid gueu.
Cone, my Joy, my Love, my HedJl :
Such ■ Lon, u Dooe cut put :
Soch ■ Heut, « joyi Id love.
I> b* pUyi with m.
;i:,vG00gk"
740 HANDY-BOOK OF
within mlae erei he mika U> MM,
Hi> bed amid inj leodcr breul ;
My kllM* UT hs daily Feamt,
He miulc plaTt» IT I do vu :
Hfi Icada mc cvmr livina ulnc,
Y« imel he my bean dolh tSa^.
Whu IT I beii ihe nnlon boy
Whh DUy ■ TOd,
He will Rpay me wilfa uuoy,
BvauHigod.
TImd ill Ihou uTely oo my Iedh,
0 Cupid I u Ihou plly me,
1 will DQI wiih lo |wt innt Uwc
In this stanza by Ben Jonscn — the most famous passage in all hisvoluminont
verK — there is but one word of more than one sjrllable :
Drinli lo DM only irhh thloe eyea.
And I will pMgi wiib mhw ;
Or leave ■ klu bui in the cup,
TU Farttt: Tt Ctiia.
Bailey's " Fcsliu" once threw all England into ecsta«iei of admiratjon.
To-day only a few passages here and there live in the popular memory. It is
worthy of note that they consist almost entirely of monosyllables ;
mght bnnf^ lAl umn u httow ihoin u Irulh :
Thmiifa muiy, yfi they help not ; biighi, Ihcy liglil not
LUghl but them. So *iih 1
And yet if '
LUe'l more than brath,
And earth bcap uhv on her hwl ; bui who
Shall knep the nn back whtn he Ihinki to [ImT
WhenliihediunihallUndhlml Where ihi all
Shall bold him t Hell he would ban down <o emben.
And woold lift up the world with a lever oT UeIiI
Ogl of hit wBV : yel, know ye, 'twere thrice Ich
It ii well worth noting, also, that the arch'offender against the simplicity
of the English language. Dr. |ohnson himMlf, is remembered best 67 the
things he did when not in the Johnsonese mood. His plain, direct talk, as
emulmed in Boswell, is a delight forever ; his essays, even his " Rasselas,"
are unread. Of his poems only a few nervous Saxon lines survive;
He left the Dame at which [he world frew pal*.
To point a moral or adotn a tale,
ymmily ^/ Human WitlU,;
Ttr w> that lira to pleuc m
and the couplet which he added to Goldsmith's " Traveller t"
Coogk"
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES,
How uBill at in ihu husun tatuu andur*
Tba put wblch lam or king! cui make or cm t
^roa ofiers manj examples, none better than ihe following i
I bad a dream which wai not all a <tr<iun,
Dvlnuti.
AndmybukJaonUicKa;
Bu bdbn I lo, Tom MoDTc,
Htn'i a double haallb to thee [
Here's a aigh u> thoac who love Bk^
■be laH drop hi (be well,
.J ■--■-mih,
I
Id drink.
Aa I (aw'd upon ibe brink,
re my lahilbu apbU fell
~n> to the* ibM I would drink.
Compare this with Charcliill's couplet, frotn which Byron stole his ihoughl,-
ih and bolf Rhereal Gi
•wly earth and bolf Rhei
Dud to (ink, ton IdwIt (o
subalitui
■od noK what energy is gained by the subalitution of short words for long.
Here »■ a few miMellaneous examples :
K pearia of bDmlng a dew
lye tbii ^ht » f^.
a b«an to find out ibe*
Ilka bell MrikeaoH. We lake
SaTc by Ita Iw ; ID (Ivi It then
Ab.yeil the boor i> come
When Ibon mist hule ifaee hon
Pun Kul, to Him who calla.
The God who gavs thee broub
Walkabylbeddeof death,
Ajkd nau^I thai atep appalla.
[f I am ri^i, thy grace Impan
Stn] in ibe rigbl to auy ;
If I ain wrong, oh, teach my bt
To fiDd that better way 1
«Bj or whore, or from what catua,
to apeak 1 tikd. and lonhwith isakc
^Thou aun, aald 1, fair light.
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Ml diljehioicd cBjth. ko freflb BDd tvft
ud dala, yi rixn, woodi, ud pUlu,
thit live Jiad moTe, fair cmnim, Ull.
rcHw, bow CUM I Ihiu.liow hen I
TeJl UK, bow Buy I know Hin, how idon.
From wbom t hare Ibu Ihu I movt and live t
MiLTOH ; Purmdia LtU. Booli yUI.
Fond fool, tkx fea ibill tort for ill Iby hor.
And be Uwt cua for moM iball Gad no mn.
Hau.
The iMt'quoied verse extorted from the polysyllabic Gibbon Ihe excluna-
Montoe, Infill Presidenl of the United Suiea, in his mesuxe of December 2,
1823, and ever since the declared policy or the American Union, — i.e., to con-
sider as dangerous lo its peace and sarely, and to discountenance, any attempt
of European powers to extend further their jurisdiction on the WcMern
Hemisphere. A flagrant violation of Ihe doctrine was the intervention of
Napoleon III. and Ihe establishmenl of the empire of Maiimilian in Menco,
Others are the seizure of the Falkland Islands oif the coast of South America,
and of the Mosquilo Coast in Central America, by Great Briuin. both of which
she still holds. The doctrine was also relaxed in favor of the latter power with
reference to Ihe right to the control of anv canal to be constructed through the
Isthmus of Panama, by the terms of Ihe Clayton- Bui wer treaty, admitting
Great Britain into the joint supervision of Ihe proposed water-way.
Monsters of tbe daap. Byron, in his address to the Ocean, says, —
Ertn (rain out Iby liine
The moutai of the deep ue made.
A similar phrase may be met with in Dryden's " Medal," — a poem written
on Ihe striking; of the medal to commemorate the ^rand juir's return of an
" Ignoramus" in the case of Ihe Earl of Shaftesbury, indicted for high treason.
The indignant poet compares London lo the Nile, which, though the cause
of fertiltly and wealth, —
Vet moDttvn from Iby Urn increate we 6nd,
Eagcridend oa the stime ttaou luvcH behlad.
\Ti he makes Julia say,—
I aee you bave a mofktb'i mind 10 ibem,
■Ihv Gtnlltmtu ef VtrtKa, Act 1., Sc. t :
but it is a sense very different from thai which it bore originally. The
name came from an ancient solemn commemorative service in the Catholic
Church held one month after the death of the person for Ihe benefit of whose
soul it was celebrated. His (or her) name was wont 10 be written on a tablet and
kept on the altar, and was read out at ihe proper point in the mass. This was
called "mynding" Ihe dead. The ceremony might be repeated each month
for a year, in which case it was called " a year's mind." The phrase is still
retained in Lancashire, England, an exceptionally Catholic county, but else-
where the " Mind Days" are called " Anniversary Days." The following
extract from Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa" ofTers an eiplanalion of how the
phrase came to acouire its modern meaning ; " By saying that they have a
monih's mind to a thing, thev undoubtedly mean thai, if Ihey had what they
so much longed fur, it would do them as much good as Ihey believe 'a month's
mind,' or service in the church said once a monih, would benefit their souls
after their decease." In what esteem this "month's mind" wu formerly beld
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 743
ii shown by the elaborate directions Tor the conduct of it Tound in the wills of
sundry persoos of consequence. Thus, Thomas Windsor, Esq. (1479), wills
that at his "Month's Mind" "there be a hundred children within the age of
sixteen yeais to 8ay for my soul." Also, "that against my month's mind
candles be burned before the rood in the parish church ; also, that my execu-
tors provide twenty priests to sing ' Placebo, Dirige,' etc." Fabyan (born
1450], one of the historians of early Britain, also gives instructions in his will
for his " Month's Mind ;" " I will that myne executrice doo cause to be carried
ftotn Xdndon xii newe torches to burne in the tymes of the said burying and
montha mimit. Also, I will that breads, ale, and chese for all comers lo the
parish church be ordered as shall be thought needful against a mtmthei mind."
"In Ireland," we are told by an authoritj, "after the death of a great person-
age, ihey count four weeks ; and four weeks from that da; all priests and friars,
and all (he gentir far and near, are invited to a great feast, usually termed the
metM'i mind. The preparations for this feast are masses said in all parts of
the house ai once for the soul of the departed. If the room be large there
arc three or four priests celebrating together in the several comers of the
room. The masses done, ihey proceed to their feasting, but, after all the
others, each priest and friar is discharged with his largess."
On maDy brook
Tlic brook rui •« no m.
Moore expressly acknowledges, "Thisiin
thought, which occurs somewhere in Sir W
looks upon many night-flowers, the nighl-fl
BulweT-Lylton had a similar idea in the blind girl Nydia's song, where
Th* Wind and ilw Benni land (ac Rdk,
Biuihe RoK loved one.
Moon, To ery for the,— 1«., to desir*
In th< ivening walked down done id the lake
hid inbl^rKMui bJeriuiJi''««.-THOKM GH*r. '""' "' *" '" ""* " ™''
Cognate phrases are " lo cast beyond the moon," — i.e., to make extravagant
conjectures, "to level at the moon," to have highly ambitious aims. "You
have (bund an elephant in the moon," is to have discovered a mare's nesL
Sir Paul Neal, a shallow but extremely vain dilettante living in the seven-
teenth century, announced the incredible fact, which he stoutly maintained,
that he had discovered "an elephant in the moon." As it turned out, his
elephant wasa mouse which had somehow got into his telescope. There is
a satirical poem on (he subject by Samuel Buller called " The Elephant in
the Moon."
Moonllghtera, in Ireland, men who carry out sentences of Secret societies
against individuals and perform their work of violence by night. The ci^nale
American term " moonshiners" means illicit distillers, from the fact thai ihey
have to carry on their business, either actually or metaphorically, in (he dark.
MooiuIiliM, All, a colloquial phrase for nonsense, Ulusion. Thus,
HANDV-BOOK OF
Moray Letter, a tctier purporting to have been oriiWn by lames A.
GarBeld to " H. L. Morey. Employers' Union, Lynn, Mass.," and published
in fac-simile in an interior New York morning newspaper on ihe eve of Ihe
Presidential election in iSSa ll cipressed svmpathy with the capitalist em-
ployers of labor, whose interests, it said, would be " best conserved" by freely
admitting Ihe immigration of Chinese laborers. It was copied and widely
published in Ihe newspapers, including those of the Pacific coast, and, not-
withstanding the prompt action of the Republican managers in New York
against the publishers of the newspaper in question and in denouncing it
at the forgery which it was finally proved lo be, it probably was the cause of
the Republican loss of the State of California, which was apparently its niain
object The Morey name and address was a myth.
Morgan- A good enongli Morgan until after election, an effective
phrase in the ami-Masonic party campaign in New York in the year iSay.
* ' 1 Morgan had disappeared, and, it was alleged, had been kidnapped
and murdered by the Masons. A body was indeed found, which was as-
serted by the anti-Masons to be that of the vanished Morgan. As related
byThutiow Weed in his Autobiography (vol. i. p. 319). the following in-
cident is that which gave rise to the cry: "The election of 1S17 elidtni an
accusation against me which assumed proportions not dreamed of by those
with whom it originated. Ebeneier Griffin, Esq., one of the courisel of (he
'kidnappers,' who was going to Balavia to conduct the examination, ob-
served laughingly 10 me, ' After we have proven that the body found at Oak
Orchard is that of Timothy Monroe, what will you do for a Morgan T I
replied in the same spirit, 'That is a good enough Morgan for us until you
bring back the one you carried off' On the following day (he Rochester
Daily Advertiser gave what became the popular version of the story, — namely,
that Mr. Weed had declared that, wbalever might be proven, the body ' was
a good enough Morgan until after (he election.'" The phrase thus misquoted
became an anti -Masonic watchword.
Moeaioa, or Centos. A mosaicmeansan arrangement of small vari-colored
glass,Btones,marbleg,etc,in pattemsandfigures. Sye>
applied to a sor[ of literary patchwork consisting of lines selected at random
from various works or authors and rearranged into a new logical order. The
result is also known as a cenlo, from Ihe Greek word tivrpus, " patchwork,"
, ... _ J - d (he Romans during
the decay of (he true poetic spiriL From the former we have inherited Ihe
" Homero-cen(ones,'' a patchwork of lines taken Irom Homer (edited by
Teucher at Leipsic, 1793), from the latter the " Cento Nuptialls" of Auaonius
(who gives rules for (he composition of the cento) and the " Cento Virgilianus"
of Proba Falconia. The lader lady was the wife of the proconsul Adeltius,
Both she and her husband were converts (o Christianity in the lime of Con-
stanline, and she celebrated the new laith by giving in misplaced lines from
Virgil an epitome of Biblical history from Adam to Christ. To accomplish
her objecl she did not change a single line, but arranged Ihe whole u— '—
merous sub-heads (as in modem newspapers), which ijave the needed in-
prelation of the text below. Something of her method may be under-
stood from the following, which is made to descritw Christ's ascension
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 745
Chkistus ASCEMDrr ad C(zi.os.
Morttua vitiu medio in Krmope ivllqitit,
Infcn » Hpn. Mhull [miimhU. dic.u)
aS.V, «™«q« ™« "?"«^. Bon.™
Her example was followed by numerous monkish imitators in the Middle
Ages, who made the heathens beat copious testimony of this sort to Christian
etnica and dogma. For example, Metullu9, a monkish author of the twelfth
century, constructed a number of devotional hymns from such unpromising
material as Horace, with occasional assistance iiom VIrgit. A Scotchman
named Alexander Ross {1590-1654) produced a number of great works in
this line, among them a " Vitgilius Evangelizans," being a lite of Christ made
op entiicly from Virgil. These great works are now forgotten, and the
author is only remembered to-day by a chance allusion in ButlePs " Hudibras 1"
Tkcr« vai bd iDdent •■gc pfaDnoplicr,
And h> bud read Alciu^ Rob over.
The cento did not take Tery vigorous root in British soil. Ross was the only
enthusiul who devoted a lifetime to the work. Nevertheless a few stray
trifles of this sort have occasionally been composed. The best of these rnay
be cited as illustrative examples. An early — perhaps the earliest — English
specimen waa composed by a member of a certain Shakespeare Society which
met annually to celebrate the death of their eponymic hero. It has survived
throngh the fact that it was communicated to Dotisley, who included it in his
"Collection of Poems by Several Hands" (174S). Here it ii:
On thi Birthdav of Shakespeare.
A Cnta tmlm/ram hti WtrJa.
M drift At
«t rrplciiiih«d i«
la Ttry form and prcuure 1 When 1h ipvaki.
Each aged ai playi uusdi at hb tain,
Aod tooBR heannei an qulw nvlibcd,
So nhiMaii Ui dacoune. Gnlle
Ai Bpkjr bhurini gndenKMh Uh vkiiet,
Not wuelBg \a iwtel bead— rci ■« TDugD
Hb nobte Wood tnclwlcd, a> the nide wTnd.
Tbu by the lop doth ulie ibc maunala pine
And ualiE biin Hoop lo the vale, 'TU woodeifiil
Thai ID hivWble iutinci ifaoulil bsme him
To Loyalty, uakamed ; honor. umaoahE ;
-~'-"'-7,notieeiili>otben; kiu>*)ed(e,
ssKT.;::-'''' —
Dobleln&ciiliyl i
TTu.; wildly grow. i»bln>.b.
Where every a«l did «
Heaven hH him now I
SlUI •anclilv hb nlio. i
Stand aye dbiinniiebed
To the laat lylliEle of r
For kf we take him but :
Vet let oar Idi^atroa Aucr
;i:,vG00gk"
74'> HAND Y-BOOK OF
It will be se«n thU Ihis cento does not pUy fair. It alters, adcU, and sub-
tracts according to the exigendes of the moment. Even greater liberties are
taken in the following, which was recently contributed to the A/amketter
Prat, England, by one E. A. Marsh:
Mv Faith.
Tmim.—" FrtiK GrtnUaH^i ley MBuntmnt."
I *xa ft pUcxliB uianMT firh. z^. ij.
And olt» br ttomnome, Htb. hi, ^
1 Ok/a ihiOtlsb loU Bad dannr I. PtI. I. it.
Vhcnvnl may romn. /. Fil li. ii.
1 meet wilh oppoHliea //. Ctv. ii. S, 9.
Atui iTiala An *«ch hand, /. /Vf. I. 7.
jw-.ji.'4i:
// TJto. ,». 4,
.^. V). .,.
M i». .7.
^a Ul. n.
Zji4ra. ^
/. 7-**«. 1. ai,
f. r/w. Ui. 16, 17.
Allh«i(h God't Holy S]
AlUwuih God uid 10 Adam
That " Tbou ihili lUrelT <il«,"
Vet fiw dart to Mlcvt Mlm
Or OB Hii Wonl rIt.
/. Ttm. W. I.
John tUI. 44.
Gm. Ii. i&
G«. ii. 17.
jW-v.+o.
^i-« Til. tj.
ButpatlcnUir miui iiritE ^m. ti. 7.
Tojab a lil* cnnial .^m vi. 53.
Ifconch ChriH who make* all«. Jalat ii). ji.
la Him «■ han redemplion I. PtI. 1. 18.
And may ba Hnd to-day, Mark ivi. ij.
BrHeklai (or lalvation Jtkm t. ».
Thmuch Chriit Ilic livin( way. ymlii ilr. t.
Ho a»™ imo'lIU*«r" "
BcTond Itw itan and iU« :
III lliut rtniva Xoxlr.
Though many Ihui belicn.
TliB Savioiir ooca •tended
To darcl] ai God'i right hand,
Whan Gantik dma han ended
Deuendi to take camnand :
He now b interceding
For Yaln and aiafjirman.
/. ?MltT.
Coogk"
LITBRARY CVRIOSITIBS.
Th*y ihen will HJ imm«H3"'
Shall than in tndlnt oiiht.
Tht tliiKi or nHilulioD
HclhcDwilliulieTin.
Amid treat JancnBti™
Hii riehtvouK rcisn
He coDici u lake dU
To ndt on DaTid'i
The Kingdom aod do
beeii.
Though Iirael hai b«Q tea
Yei from the Word we le
They luifly ■ill be gallieti
or Ivwd will lake plaa.
They an a choKn nation
But the two following ate not ope
Whai
What tmoge inratuatioo nil» nu
Whai different apfaeiei lo humao
To lonicr ihingf your finer pulsei
ir man would^l hia finer natun
Whai Mvital n.y< men to ihcit (
•:fi.
At
CkalUrlim.
Oar. Sf^''
R.H.Dtti
From labor health, in
hangt a cloud oT fear.
ChooK out the man to vinue moil Inf lini
DeTeTn" dll K-momwto be wi^, '
Wealth heaped on wenllh. nor Inilh nor !
Remembrance oorkelh with her hujy tra
On high eaiaia huge heap! of care aiieni
No joy (0 great bur ninnelh to an end ,
Who cuu off (hame should likewiae call
Vlnue alone no dlBoluIion fe^ : °
Wh«^ HoIlD b^fm-^aa^"
Bat no* the wane of life comet daikly oi
Alker a thousand inaui ovef^one ;
In thia brief Hate of Double and imreM,
Ifan una la, but alwayi to be blot :
Dunbar.
Gtff. Whitnlf.
Ctldtmitk.
Snlhm ■■'
. Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
ThiDC i> tlic prewt haul
O Ibou Futunty, our hop
How fkdiDE an; the jay>
Lo I white 1 ip«k iD« pi
O ihou Elcnul Arbilcr a
Thil above «ll— To thme own leLf he Irue. Sa
Leun ID livt well, that Ihou may'ii die lo loo. J.
To ihoie thai 1b( tht mirld'i gay Kom I leavt ;
Nsliiand Qturut.
Thb Fate of the Glorious Devil.
Ttaa woHd fc
erm lo walk the nighl, SltaktipiaT:
Miyalic liia on'the awonlihed light. ' Taili.
__. ." .<"" "™°,*|,^bkithi>hoini.
le deep abyb of Ipace.
High u hit pefcb, but hi
When Punch and Scai
Where Scif nee mount, in
And. home aloJl by the i
To Ykw the tmUt of tvening nn the hi ; Hn-um.
He tried to aulile, and. half ■ueceeding. laid, Ct^*4.
" 1 imtll a lollcr In the wind," uid bt. Ciuuw.
" What if Ibtlion In hii iigc I meeiT" CtUiiu.
(The Muie interpret* thus hia tender rhtnighl.) BtattU.
Hie Kouise of Heaven I ahiil tenon roundliini wait I Cr«.
From plaBet whirled to planet more remote. CoirtpMt.
Thence higher [till, by couuilmncn i»nveyed. Blosmfitld.
Remote from town! he mn hii godly nee ; GsUimiUt.
He lectured every youth Ihat round Um played— JCatrrt.
The joiiling lean ran down hii honeil face. Burnt.
" Another tpring I" his heart exulting cxiea. Btt^mfitU.
>nu Baiait.
ByrtH.
emrifU,,.
To bid the genial tear of pfly Row! Himani.
By Heaven 1 I would rather coin my heart. Skakltpart.
OrMr.MUlerVcoinniODly called Joe! H.Smilk.
Prspit'i Friind. May. 1871.
These are about the best ot their sort. It will be seen, however, that even
the beat are poor enough. If you want 10 make sense out of them you have
lo make-believe a good deal. Wherefore l^mati Klanchard did a eood work
in burlesquiDg the art in a series of mosaic pieces published in George
_^ooglc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 749
Cruiluhank's " Omnibus," which made no pretence lo be be anything tave
nonsense. Mr. Blancbard' feigned that he found these poems among the
manuscripts of one of Sir Fretful Plagiary's numerous descendants. He
thinks that if any reader should be reminded of poets past and present it
can onljr be because the profuse ly-g I fled bard has clustered logethei more
remarkable and memorable lines than any gf his predeceMots. "That
poem," Mr. Blanchard goes on to say, " can be of no inferior order of merit,
in which Milton would have been pioud to have written one line. Pope would
have been equally vain of the authorship of a second. Byron have rejoiced in
a third, Campbell gloried in a fourth. Gray in a fifth, Cowper in a sixth, and
so on to the end of the Ode ; which thus realizes the poetical wealth of that
well-known line of Sir Fretful's,—
ar
"Shoot folly ■> It nil
n than lean of blood
hUword.furewell.fai
'Hi follr to be wiae.
Sweet li lb* ihip thal'j undtr
Towhi
Drink to me only with thin* e
Through cioudlcH climo (ni
Th(
niirSMC^Q'tiWDB O're^'no more—
Whatext i>, .1 tight !
Uoaaboolu, a sobriqutt for the old-liners and Tossils in the Democratic
trty, most common in Ohio, but also used in other parts of the country,
'hey are supposed to be the remnants of the ante-bellum Democracy. The
derivation is from an old sua ppiiig-lu rile, in the popular vernacular Called
a " mossback," because of the covering of its shell by a growth of moss-like
aquatic vegetation, induced by its sluggish habits and long living in stagnant
D,q,i,.cd by Google
7SO HANDY-BOOK OF
Uot« and the beam. One of the most impressiTe lessoni of charity and
forbearance is contained in the Sermon on (he Mount : " Why beholdest ihou
the mole that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest nol the beam that is in
thine own eye ?"
This ancient laying finds its analogues in the proverbs of all nations. We
wy in English, " The pot calls the kettle black," or " The kiln calls the oven
'burnt house;'" the Italians say, "The pan says to the pot, 'Keep off, or
you'll smutch me ;' " the French, " The shovel makes game of the poker,"
or " Dirty-nosed folk alurays want to wipe other folks' noses ;" Ihe German,
" One ass nicknames another Long-ears ;" Ihe Spanish, " The raven said to
the crow, 'Avaunt, blackamoor!'" the Scotch, "'God help (he fooll' said
the idiot," uT "'Crooked carlin 1' quoth the cripple (o his wife." In America,
as indeed elsewhere, negroes have no worse reproach for each other than
"damn niggers." The Arabs have an apologue, "A harlot repented for one
night, 'Is there no police-officer,' she said, ' to take tip harlots V" " If thou
canst nol make thyself such an one as thou wouldsl," says Ihe " Imitation of
Christ," "how canst thou eipect lo have another in all things to thy likingF
We would willingly have others perfect, and yet we amend not our own fault*.
We would have others severely corrected, and will not be corrected ourselve*.
The large liberty of others displeaseth us, and yet we will not have our own
tksiies denied us. We will have others kept under by strict taws, but in no
sort will ourselves be restrained. And thus it appeareth how seldom we
weigh our neighbor in Ihe same balance with ourselves." An apologue from
Phiedrus is thus paraphrased by Bulwer ;
Out sf ligfal, DW of mim]. M hit tack;
The Iau ii » under bu no*a,
H< ■<» cnry gnin iulbeHck.
The same metaphor, though nol with the same application, is used, i:
It least, by Shakespeare :
TinH hufa, my Irnii, 1 nllcl u hit buck,
A greA1-ii»d moEUlcr of IDgralitudaj
Ti^K tCTKH Me good deciU pul : whic:h are dcTourvd
A* fait BB ihey are made, forgol u loon
llotlim' of Freaidentm, a popular
number among the earlier Presidenls who were natives of that Slate.
Ihe civil war Ihe term has lost much of ils currency. The following Presidents
were natives uf Virginia : Washington, born in Westmoreland County, 1731;
{eflerson, Albemarle County, 1 743; Madison, King George County, 1751;
Inn roe, Westmoreland Coutity, 1758; Harrison, Charles City County, 1773;
Tyler, Charles Cily County. 1790; Taylor. Orange County, 17*4.
IfotlMr of StatM. Virgin!
States which were carved out of , ^ ,
name Virginia, and also as being the first settled and oldest of Ihe original
thirteen Stales of the Union. The States created out of what was once
Virginian territory are Kentucky. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. During the
dvil war Ihe norlhwesletn portion of the seceded Stale, which pmtitwi
Google
UTBRARY CURIOSITIES. 75<
levaained loyal to the Union, wu Beparated from Virginia, and admitted into
the Union as a separate State, under the name of West Virginia.
Monld, BrokaiL The idea that Nature broke the perfect mould after
turnine out a single splendid example is a favorite one in literature. In
English Ke are most familiar with Byron's version i
Sighinc that Nuun IbniKd bol one lucb mu,
And broke ihe die in nouldiDK Shcndui.
MttudT PH llu Dialk qfSXtrid-in. I. ».
Ariosto, in " Orlando Furioso," Canto x., Stanza S4, say», " Nature made him,
and then broke the mould" (" Nalura il fece, e poi luppe la sUmpa"). But
the earliest instance yet found o ' !-..-•- j .. > 1 -•
Kajapootana," the lines lacing tf
Queries, fifth series, L lo; :
Ehher Ibe DlDuld ou btokeD, or Ute workmui hu b«D umble to Puke anolherr
Moimtalll, Tbe, an epithet first derisively bestowed by the Girondists
upon the Jacobins or extreme republicans in the French National Convention,
from the fact that they occupied the rearmost and highest benches in Ihe
Assembly Chamber. The Mountain retorted by calling their opponents the
Plain : a translation which would convey Ihe meaning more accurately would
be " the Flau."
MotmtBln in labOiliiiiisliigfOTthamotiBe, a phrase often used simply
In the form of " a mountain in labor," the rest being understood, to represent
a tiemendous effort made with absurdly small result. Its immediate Origin
is the line of Horace, "Paituiiunt monies, nascetur tidiculus mus" ("The
mountains are in labor : a ridiculous mouse will be born"), but that in its turn
is a reference to £sDp'g fable of the mountain which emitted subterranean
sounds that led to the belief that it was in labor. An immense crowd collected,
but nothing emerged save a mouse.
Uonntaln Meadow Humootb. a butchery of a party of immigrants,
known as the " Arkansas Company," in September. iSS7. by Indians under
the leadership of certain Mormon "bishops" and leading "saints," and, as
suspected, under the inspiration and with the connivance of Brigham Young,
the head of the church himself, if not Indeed by hrs direct orders. The
ostensible motive for the crime was retaliation fur acta of violence alleged to
have been cominilled by other immigrant parties upon Mormon settlers. A
Mormon named Laney, who had befriended the "Arkansas Company," to
the extent of giving food lo two of them, was murdered by a Mormon "angel
of death." The immigrant party, finding themselves surrounded and attacked
by the Indians and their Mormon instigators, haslily made a barricade of
their wagons and threw up breastworks, from behind which they defended
themselves. After several of their number had been killed and many
wounded, and after a parley with the Mormons in the attacking party. Ihe
tmmigranls, under promise of cessation of further molestation, were induced
to break up their camp and move lo another point by a road which was
indicated to them. On this road Mormon treachery had planned and pre-
pared an ambuscade, and, the open and defenceless column being taken by
surprise, Ihe whole parly was massacred, men. women, and children. The
parly of Federal soldiery who found the bones decently buried them, one of
their number rudely carving upon one of ihe slones heaped over the spot an
inscription in the words, " Vengeance is mine ! I will repay, saith Ihe Lord."
Monmlng Colon. Besides black, the following are used m » Mgn tA
Google
75* HANDY-BOOK OF
grief for the dexL Black and vhite striped, lo express aorrow and hope,
among the South Sea Islanders. Grayish brown, the color of the eaith to
which the dead return, in Ethiopia Pale brown, the color of withered leaves,
is the mourning of Persia Sky-blue, to express the assured hope that the
deceased has gone to heaven, is the mourning of Syria, Cappadocia, and
Armenia. Deep blue in Bokhara Purple and violet, lo express "Kings
aiid Queens to God," is the color of mourning for cardinals and kings of
France. The color of mourning in Turkey is violeL White (emblem of
hope], the color of mourning in China. Henry VIII. wore while for Anne
Bolejn. The ladies of ancient Rome and Sparta wore white. It was the
color of mourning in Spain till 149S. Yellow {the sere, the yellow leaf), the
color of mourning in Egypt and in Burmah. Anne Boleyn wore yellow
mourning for Catherine of Aragon.
Moutardiw du Papa, A Frenchman frequently says of a conceited
person, " II se cioit Ic moutardier du pape" (" He thinks himself the pope's
mustard-maker"). The phrase is said to have arisen in the fourteenth cen-
, I the court of Pope John XXII. at Avignon. A sybarite both ii
his tastes and his appetites, he made the famous Palais des Papes in the
Comtat Venaissin the seat of unparalleled splendor, invoking the aid of ex-
perts of al] sorts, among others the most renowned cooks. Their use of
mustard was especially grateful to his Holiness. l~his consisted in sprink-
ling dishes of meat with powdered mustard, and mixing mustard with the
sauces. To insure perfection the pope created a special office, that of iiuih-
larditr, at his court, conferring it on a favorite nephew. The latter's vanity
was so absurdly tickled by his not over-dignilied litle and position that he be-
tame the object of constant pleasantries. The ^^ysse AftyulardUr Ju Pape
was handed down to poBterity, and, oddly enough, it is recorded that Clement
XIV. applied it lo himself wlien Cardinal dc Berenice called to congratulate
him on bis elevation. Clement had been a simple monk. " I am sighing for
my cloister, cell, and books," he said lo the cardinal : "^ou must not run
away with the impression that I think myself the Moutardier du Pape."
Mnd, To throw, or tUllK in American political slang, is lo bespatter an
adversary with abuse or calumny. A mud-alingei is one who deals in this
sort of warfare. Archbishop Whalely's saying, " If you only throw dirt
enough, some of it is sure to slick," is frcijuenlly quoted in America with
"mud" substituted for "din." Beaomarchais, in "The Barber of Seville,"
says, " Calomniez, calomntez. il en leste loujours quelque chose" (" Calumni-
ate, calumniate, something will always remain behind"). Both expressions
are avatars of the phrase used by Bacon in " De AuemenL Sclent," section
Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid hxret' {"Calumniate boldly,
' '" ■ *" -' ■ ■" " - " in may only have been quoting a
found in Manlius's "Collectanea"
arcerum" (1605), both quotations
well-known calumniator, who was fond of
;;g)i
But Bacon may only have been quoting a
saying, for the identical words are found in Manlius's "Collectanea"
ind Kaspar Peucer's " Historia Carcerum" (1605), both quotations
Mugwump, a corruption of the Algonquin Mugquemp, meaning "great
man," "leader," "chief," an American nickname applied 10 the inde|>endent
voters and thinkers who hold themselves superior to party trammels. An alter-
native lobriqtul is furnished by the compound dudt-and-pharitet. The word
Mugwump made its tir.>>t lileraiy appeaiaiice in John Eliot's translation of the
Bible into Indian (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1661). It may be found there
several times in Genesis xxxvi,, where the English word, a very silly one, 'Mdukt,
and the Hebrew lUh^h, a "leader." There is an apocryphal story, invented
probablji
promplly ri
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 753
Mugwump, that a Jesuit rainisler, translating the New
' " ' " ' """ ' '..----- (hin|( mote highly
y returned the Indian, " that's Mugquomp." The letm iingeied in
N England and |>uriion8 of the West after the Indians had melted away,
and became colioijuial for a jnan of consequence, or, rather, one who deemed
himself SO. Ill this aciise il occasionally crept into print. Thus, in 1840, during
the Tippecanoe campaign, the Great Wesltm, of Lake County, Indiana, edited
by Solon Pjb/Mja, said, "Then the great Mugwump was delivered of a
speech, which the faithful loudly applauded." In 1865. Hiram Atkins, of the
Ar/pa and Patriol, Montpelier, Vermont, spoke of " Uncle Nit Eaton, for-
merly of Calais, but now Mugwump No. 2, of Middlesei." In 1873, Henry
F. Keenan, of the Indianapolis Sentinfl, used the word in a head-line, and in
i3S4 the New York Sun did the same, applying it to one D. O. Bradley, of
Tarrylown. Hut it was not till the Blaine-Cleveland campaign that Mugwump
in its present acceplaliuii passed into current speech. James G. Blaine was
nominated for the Presidency by the Republican convention on June 6, 1884.
A strong opposition at once developed itself in the party, and the very next
day an *' Independent Republican" movement originated at a meeting in Bos-
ton, which was promptly taken up in New York and elsewhere. The sup-
porters of the regular nomination complained that these Independents set
themselves up as the superiors of their former associates, and when, on June
15, the New York .Sun characterized them as Mugwumps, the term was glee-
liilly caught up and adopted, and has ever since characterized the men and
the methods of the Independent movement. General Horace Porter's defini-
tion. " A Mugwump is a person educated above his intellect," is in great vogue
among anti- Mugwumps.
Hols, Hera's jroiu, a cant phrase popular among the Confederated during
the civil war. There are several stories as to its origin. The best authenti-
cated is that in the fall of 1861, just after the battle of Bull Run, a countryman
came one day into Beauregard's camp at Centreville in search uf a stray mule,
iiome of the boys swore they had seen the mule in the camp of another divis-
ion, a half-mile distant, but hardly had the old man started when they shouted,
"Come back, mister; here's your mule I" He turned to retrace his steps.
Immediately the other camp, knowing only that some fun was in the air, t<K>k
up the cry, " Mister, they 'uns lying to you 'uns ; we 'una hev got you 'uns
mule," — a travesty on the dialect of the troops from the mountainous regions
of North Carolina. As he turned in the direction of this last call, he was
hailed from still another command, " No, they haven't Here's your mule !"
And so the whole army joined in, and had Ine poor bewildered countryman
changing his course, as the cry came from quarter to quarter, " Here's your
mule." The phrase caught on after the story itself was forgotten. Soldiers are
always ready for a joke, and none more so than those who dubbed themselves
" Lee's Miserables." During their long, weary marches, if they chanced to
encounter part of a wagon-Irain, the front ranks, glad of anything to relieve
the monotony, wouldoften break into the sh out of " Here's your mule !" which
would be taken up by the whole column. At the battle of^Mis-sionary Ridge,
when the Confederates broke, and Hood, rushing among them, Cried, " Here's
your commander I" he was answered with the derisive shout, " Here's your
mule !" One circumstance that helped to increase the popularity of the
phrase was that it formed the refrain of a parody on Randall's song, " My
Maryland," satirizing the supposed disposition oi the Maryland refugees to
seek "shade" offices rather than field'duty.
HnlUgan I>ett«n, certain letters written by Mr. James G. Blaine to Mr.
Coogk"
7S4 HANDY-BOOK OF
Wirren Fisher, of Boston, which w
nenu in tlie Fresidendal cam|iaigii
o( Mr. Fisher, had been summuned during the session of 1S76 before the
Congressional investiealion committee charged with the inquiry into alleged
corrupt practices of Mr, Blaine in procuring legiaiaiion favorable to the Little
Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. The letters then in evidence Mr. Blaine
had got possession of, and read in the House, with an explanatory statement
Owing to his prostration by a sunstroke, the investigation was dropped.
When Mr. Blaine, in 18S4. became a candidate for the Presidency, another
scries of letters was produced by Mr. Mulligan, and it was these latter princi-
pally which figured largely in the campaign. The friends of the statesman
stoutly maintained that there was nothing in them which implicated iheir
candidate, but his enemies as vociferously died them as incontrovertible
evidence of guilL The contention of the former may have been correct.
Many, however, of the sentences, read a|iart from their context, with the
frequent injunctions to " Burn this letter," have a doubtful sound, and these,
in that hot and well 'Contested struggle, were taken up as effective party-cries
by Democrats and Mugwumps.
Mnmmjr, Beaten to a, — i.e., to a jelly. A conespondent of Notes and
Queriet makes a plausible suggestion as to the origin of the phrase ;
Da« It nol refer to (he medicinal lubitaoce farmerly known u mummy, which kept iU
pla« in our dispensatories unlit pretty laic in the l»i century? It was variouily composed,
and not Always of the same condilencc, but Lt> genent appejrance would probably Rteoble
thai of soft pitch. I speak now of the ipurioiuktnds, which were doutitleu most comn»Q.
It. It i> clear, from the rtfer-
MuTder, Killing no. " He who kilts one man is accounted a murderer ;
he who kills a thousand, a hero," is a common saying, evidently a reminiscence
of St. Cyprian. — " Homicidium cum admittunt singuU crimen est, virtus
vocatur cum publicegetitur" {.Epitt. Denote, lib. ii. ep. ii.). The same thought
recurs in Bishop Porleus's " Poem on Death 1"
Million, a t^. P^inceiVU imTUeged
To kill, and numben lanctilied the crime :
and Young's lines perhaps deserve a place under this heading:
One to destroy is nnrder by the law.
And gibbets keep the lined hand innwe:
War's glorious u1, and giva <mm«ul fame!
£«v 1/ /■ami. Suii* vii.
Every American school-boy is familiar with the collocation on this to|uc
between a father and son in "The Volunteers."
" Killing No Murder" is the title of a famous tract recommending the
assassination of Cromwell. It is in the " llarleian Miscellany," and i«
ascribed to Colonel Silas Titus, to one Sexby, and others.
M nrder ivlll out. This phrase is used by Cervantes in " Don Quixote,"
Part L. Book iii., ch. viii., and also by Chaucer :
Moedre wot out, that see we day by day.
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
//■w/rt.AclH, Sc.a
Bui the idea is almost as ancient as the race. The Greeks had a proverbial
expression, " The cranes o( llwcus," which was used in much (he same sense.
Ibycus, a famous lyrical poet of Greece, journeying to Coiinth, was assailed by
robbers. As he fell beneath their murderous sttokes he looked round to see
if any witnesses or avengers were nigh. No living thing was in sight but a
flight of cranes soaring high overhead. He called on ihem, and to them
committed the avenging of his blood. A vain commission, as it might have
appeared, and as no doubt it did to the murderers appear. Yet il was not
so; for these, sitting a little time after in the open theatre at Curinlh, beheld
this flight of cranes nove ring above them, and one said scotiingly to another,
" Lo, there, the avengers of Ibycus !" The words were caught up by some
near them ; for already the (loet's disappearance had awakened anxiety and
alarm, dicing questioned, they betrayed themselves, and were led lo their
doom ; and TAt crarut of Ibycus passed into a proverb.
The notion was once serioi -
a murdered man would blee
his " Demonologle" expressly affirms this : " In
carkasse bee at any time thereafter handled by the mutlherei it will gush out
blood ; as if the blood were crying to heaven for revenge of the murlherer,
God having appointed that secret supernatural trial of the secret unnatural
An instance tending to confirm this opinion is said to have occurred in the
reign of Charles I., when the minister of a parish testified that the body of a
woman suspected to have been murdered was taken out of the grave thirty
days after her death and laid on the grass. I'he prosecution m this case
was at the instance of a son of the deceased iRainsl his own father, grand-
father, uncle, and aunt ; and these four defendants, being required, touched
each of them the dead body, whereupon, says the narrative, liie brow of the
defunct, which was before of a livid and carrion color, liegan to have a dew
or sweat arise on it, which increased by degrees till the sweat ran down in
drops on the face ; the brow turned lo a lively and fresh color, and the de-
ceased opened one of her eyes and shul it again Lhree several times; she
likewise thrust out the ring- or marriage -linger three several limes, and pulled
it in aeain, and the finger dropped blood on the grass. Three of the four
accused were convicted of the murder.
On some occasions the mere presence of the guilty person, even without
his coming In contact with the deceased, was thought sufficient as a test ; nor
was it necessary that life should have been taken away by actual violence lo
constitute the crime, Janet Randall, it is related, was sent for by a man who
imagined she had bewitched him, but he expired before her arrival. He had,
however, " laid his death on her ;" and " how soon as she came in, the corpse
having lain a good space, and nut having bled any, immediately bled much
blood, as a sure token that she was the author of his death."
It is not improbable thai the origin of this superstition may be sought in
the misapplication of a passage of Scripture, — "The voice of thy brother's
blood caileth unto me from the ground." So vehement were the prejudices
of our progenitors, that little further evidence of guilt was demanded. What,
indeed, could equal the interposition of the divine decree in poiixting out the
otTender? Yet the truth of this test was disputed among the Continental
lawyers, who recommended that the body of the deceased should lie presented
. before the suspected murderer in chains, to discover whclher he should maiti-
756 HANDY-BOOK OF
fesi any agitation, or whether the blood flowed from it berore him. Scribonios
advances his own leKlimony in corroboration of the success of this test. A
nobieman of Aries, whom he names, had been mottalty wounded. Blood
burst fioR) the wound and from the nostrils after decease, immediatelr on
approach of the offender. Hippolyius of Marseilles declared his incredulity
unlil a murder was committed by a person unknown during his magistracy of
a town in Italy. He directed the body to be brought lo bim, and summoned
the attendance of all suspected persons. The wounds began to bleed on the
approach of the real murderer, who soon after confessed the &ct. Matthaeus,
however, considers the test so fallacious as lo be an insuflicicnt reason for
pultiug one suspected lo torture for eliciting the truth, Carpzovius, also,
another lawyer of repute, relates that it was eslablished, from proof trans-
mitted to his court, that a corpse had bled before an innocent person, though
not a drop of blood escaped before the guilty. Nevertheless be had not con-
sidered the bleeding of a wound or of the nostrils enough to warrant the
application of torture.
Murdarvd man. Keats, in his " Isabella, or the Pot of Ba»l," has a
daring phrase :
Then lh( iwa bmhen and their murdeRd mui
The man had not yet been murdered, but this anticipatory glance at his fate
snatches a grace beyond the reach of mere logic The same cannot be said
of a mistake by Lord Macaulay, — a mistake all the more remarkable because
it echoes one made by Robert Montgomery in a passage which has other
points of similarity. Montgomery is to-day rememberetr only as the victim
of one of Macaulay's slashing criticisms. The reviewer has this in his
"Battle of Lake Regillus:"
Tbc nub oTiqmuiroiu *wtcptiw
Like whiriiriiid. o'er the pW,
The reviewed bad already written thus :
SntiiarLifhtudLlIel WHenBuden
H of angulih and d«
It is poeuUe that the subject of battle may by its intensity en
of description, but the double likeness in these quotations give*
ini<:rence of conscious or unconscious imitation. As to the b
vehement in Macaulay than in Montgomery. It reminds oi
— though he meant a deliberate conceit, —
Nor yel ptrceiYed the »it»l ipirii He
But BiilL foujihi oo, Dor Inew tlui h<
and of Dryden
Moslo of b«r bos. In "The Bride of Abydoa" Bjron thus describe* ,
UTBRARY CURIOSITIES. 757
Znlcika the bride, who n not a bride, after all, save in the paulo-post-futiire
he punry of a™«,
In the third line there seems to he a reminigceiice of Gtay's "ihe purple
light of love" {Frogrtss b/ Pet^). The figure in the second has many |)rede-
cessurs. Lucasta, whom Lovelace celebrates as his Eurydice in his song
of " Orpheus to Beasts," was a maiden whose charms were singularly like
Sir Thomas Browne tells us, in his " Religio Medici," (hat he was himself
never yet once married, and commends their resolution who never marry
twice. Yet he is naturally amorous, as he afterwards confesses, of all that is
There it miutc in the buuly, ud the lilwl noK wliich Cupid uriko, far iweetn ihsn the
■nd thui fur we nuy DulDUin the muiic of the tfbaa.—Krl^tt MidM, Pan II., Sec, 9.
Dfnalo of tbe Sptaerea. The notion of the starry hosts emitting har-
monies as (hey swing through space is as old almost as the Patriarchs, and
its origin is undoubtedly Oriental, probably Sabxan, "The morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God snouted for joy," we read m Job
xxxviii. 7. The Pythagoreans imported the idea into the Hellenic world,
and according to their philosophy the seven " wandering stars" — i^^., the live
primary planets known to the ancients, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn, and the Sun and Moon — were each attuned to a note in the harmonic
scale and sounded in accord as they moved through space. Manimus Tyrius,
a Helleniied Syrian, says that "the mere proper motion of the planets must
create sounds, and as they move in space at regular intervals the sounds
must harmonize." Shakespeare gives the thought exquisite expression :
StitL quirinjE ID the youDg-eyed cherubimB.
Mirckamt^ytniet, Act v., Sc. i.
Goethe's archangels, chanting anthem-wise about The Throne of the glorj
of God's works, open his great drama of the universe, Gabriel beginning, —
The following is Milton's embodiment of the н
Rliu out, ye crytoU spheres.
Once l>1e« «ii buDiu eui,
And la your dlnr cMoc
HonlnmalodhHUIi&ie,
And let the lnus of beavcD'a deep oigu btoi
And with your olnefDld humony
Hike up fall conceit 10 Ibe ugeli
a:r7^
Coogk"
758 HANDYBOOH . OF
Plato's notion is that a siren sits on each planet, who carols a tweet song.
freeing to the motiun of her own particular star, but harmonUing ■itb tbe
others. These singing sirens reappear in Milton :
la drtp of night, whea drowtlneH
Tbu til upon Ihc pint eDTDldtd iphera.
Anmlti.
It would be impossible within reasonable limits to quote the numerous
references to the supposed celestial music The following from Words-
worth embodies the original simile i
Of ^iir^ible^o'h'i'^idone.
Tkt Triad.
In Collins the siren of Plato has descended to earth, and he aposlrophiiea
her thus :
O Hmk I sphen-4)aceDdvd maid \
■JktFasiiem.l.K-
Mnte ingloTlOiia MUton. The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth
stanzas of Graf's " Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard" run as follows :
Some viliasc Hinpikn, ihit wiih (Uunilna bnut
Somt ClOBiwell guililcH of hi> countiy'i ^ood.
TIk applKiue of Uiieni
The thmu of pain a
To.a.ll=rpi™.yV...
ADd read ihcir hhior
The thought in these lines is obvious enough. Indeed, it is but a mora
literal statement of the metaphorical figure in the two preceding stanias,
which we have already shown (see Gem — Flower) to have been Trequentlv
anticipated. But tbe very form of the expression may be traced through
curious ramificaliona back to a very Dnlikcly source in Cowley's " Darideis."
The poet is laboring to impress upon us the bottom lessness of the bottom-
o ridicule in his " Mac-
Shenstone saw in this parody the germ of a serious idea, which tie thus
D his " School-Mistress ;"
Niin«d with >kUI, *hat datillac &u[u appear I
E'm now nagjcioin fciMighl poinu is ihow
Coogk"
LITERAKY CVRWSJTmS, 7S9
Whereupon Gray turned it to immortal use in the above slanzas. Another
cinncidence has been pointed out between the third line of the firteenlh stanza
and a passage in the "Mystery of the Good Old Cause" (1660). p. It, re-
printed by the Aun({ervyle Society, May, 1883, where Oliver Cromwell is
referred tu as one who "having projected ercatness and sovereignty to him-
self from the beginning, he waded to it tnruugh the blood of his natural
prince and great numbers of his fellow-subjects."
But we ha>e not yet done with Cowley's couplet. Voung takes hold of it
in h:s " Night Thuughti" and bids us " elancc our thought"
above Ihe cava
When infoni tempeiu wait their growliiE winfi.
And surely it was from the same font of inspiration that Byron drew his
line in " Childe Harold" where he describes the glee of the mountains during
a storm on Lake Lenian ;
Ai if thcf did rejoice at a younft eanhquakc'i birth.
As to Dryden's parody. Mrs. Barbautd, as well as Shenstone, look it seri-
ously and transferred it to her rhymes addressed to some gramma r'SChool :
lu niod«it froikl it rean.
HattooB, Lot lu rstnrn to om, in other words, let u
subject-matter from which we have wandered. The senten
the old French play "L'Avocat Patelin," by Blanchet.
X sheep. Guillaumc intends
10 maKB u a nanging-maiier lor ine shepherd, but when he comes into court
to accnse him he ftiids that PalheUii, who stole the clolh, is the lawyer em-
ployed to defend Agnelet With his head running upon both his sheep and
his cloth, he makes a delightful confusion of the two losses. The judge says, —
■nd the draper replies, —
s Guillaumc, " Let us
Hntoal Admltation Boolety, a satirical term popularly applied to
any circle of private or public individuals who express what seems to be
undue appreciation of each other, or especially who practise what is now
known as log-rolling. There is much truth, however, in Dr. Holmes's protest.
He makes his Autocrat of the Breakfast -Table give this reply to a question as
to whether he belongs to a Mutual Admiration Society : "I blush to say that I
do not at this present moment. I once did. however. It was the first associa-
tion to which I ever heard the term applied 1 a body of scientific young men in
a great foreign cily who admired (heir teacher, and to some extent each other.
Many of them deserved it ; they have liecome famous since." In a note to
the last edition of the "Autocrat" Dr, Holmes enplains that this body " was
the SociW d'Observation Medicale of Paris, o( which M. Louis was p)resi-
dent, and MM. Barlh, Grtsotle. and our own Dr. Bowditch were members.
About the time when these papers were published," he continues, " the
Saturday Club was founded, or, rather, found itself in existence without any
organization, almost without parentage. It was natural enough that such
j6o HANDY-BOOK OF
men as Emerson, Longfellow. Agasaiz, Peiice, with Hawthorne, Mottey,
Sumner, when within reach, and others who would be good company for
them, should meet and dine togeiher once in a while, as ihey did, in point of
fact, every month, and as some who are still living, with other and newer
members, still meet and dine. If some ai tbcm had not admired each other
they would have been exceptions in the world of letters and science." But
the term was known in America before the establish me lit of the Saturday
Club. It was applied by newspaper humorists to a friendly circle self-styled
the " Five of Clubs" which George S. Hillaid, Henry R. Cleveland, Professor
C. C. Fellon, Charles Sumner, and H. W. Longfellow established at Cam-
bridge in 1836. The point of the jest lay in the fact that as literary men they
all had good chances, of which they liberally and righteously availed them-
selves, to speak well of each other's books in the Reviews. After Cleveland's
early death Dr. S. G. Howe, the philanthropist, became one of the club.
Untaol frieodi a modern substitute for common friend, which has estab-
lished itself despite the protests of purist and pedagogue. Thus, Harrison, in
his " Choice of Books," says, " In D'Israeli's ' Lothair' a youne lady tallts to
the hero about their mutual ancestors. . . . One used to think that mutual
friend for common friend was rather a cockneyism. . . . Mutual, as Johnson
will tell us. means something reciprocal, a giving and taking. Kow could
people have mutual ancestors, unless, indeed, their great -grandparents had
exchanged husbands or wives?" The same fault was one o7 the many which
Macaulay denounced in his review of Croker's " Buswell's Johnson" in iSji :
" We find in every page words used in wrong senses, and constructions which
violate the plainest rales of grammar. We have the vulgarism of mutual
friend for common friend." I^verlheless, from the beginning of the seven-
enth century this " vulgarism" has been forcing itself in
reported appearance is in Ned Ward's " Wandering Spy," Par) 11., p. %t,
edition of 173Z (but that, of course, is a work of no linguistic authority) ;
(o mike Ihc HouK snieiHfi.
Sir Walter Scott is much better authority. Writing to Messrs. Hurst,
Robinson & Co., February 15, 1822, he refers to "our mutual friend Mr.
James Ballantyne" (Coksi'ABLS ; Mfmmri). And at last came Dickens
1 1864 and boldly took the tabooed phrase as the very title of a novel, so
that now it is stamped so Indelibly upon the English language that all the
brooms of all the Partingtonian critics will never suffice to wash out the hall-
Mjsell. That exoellent man U. Charles Mathews, the comedian, was
once placed in the awkward position of proposing his own health at a banquet
where he doubled the parts of host and guest upon taking leave of his friends
before starting for the antipodes. But his ready wit always extricated him
from the most awkward positions, and with excellent humor he justified his
novel position on the ground that he was naturally the fittest man to propose
the toast of the evening ; " I venture emphatically to affirm there is no man
so well acquainted with the merits and demerits of thai gifted individual as I
am. I have been on the most inlimate terms with him from his earliest
youth. I have watched over and assisted his progress from childhood up-
wards, have shared in all his joys and griefs ; and I am proud to have this
opportunity of publicly declaring that there is not a man on earth for whom I
'-■?rlain so sincere a regard and affeclion. Indeed, I don't think I go too
in Staling that he has an equal aSectiou for me. He has couie 10 me for
. Coo^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 761
adtice over and o*er again, under th« most embarrassing circumstances ;
and he has always taken m; advice in preference to (hat o( any one else."
Was il mere coincidence, or was the author acquainted with this poem of
Heine's?—
Offend ihcir pAuonagc, too, with a imik.
Bui» wEib >]L didr hoDor utd approbuiQU,
1 tbculd, long ago, have died of MuvMion,
Who bmvciv 10 help me kIoiie beivi.
Good MIdw I he col me the food t Ue,
Hii kindneu aodcare 1 thall never fbiwl -,
\ cuuiol embnce him, — thoueh otktr (oiks cui, —
For I nyielf im this Hcelleol oum I
IfjrstlfioatioD Mnd Impoatnttt. The mystifier and the impostor have the
same end in view, — the deluding of the public But the former does it in a
harmless, hoaxing spirit, the latter as a deliberate fraud tor purposes of gain
or glory. The mystilier only amuses, he piques curiosity, when he does what
is disgraceful in the impostor. Let us take the Bacon -Shakespeare theory as
proved. Bacon, in that light, is the greatest and most successful mystifier in
literary history, Shakespeare the most contemptible impostor. — an impostor
all the more degraded because the consent of the true author robbed his act
of any redeeming boldness or audacity. The Shakespeare of the North, — or
will the time come when we shall call him the Bacon of the North ? — the good
Sir Waller, in short, found a great and altogether justifiable delight in pro-
voking the public curiosity anent the Waverley Novels in seeking all means
of throwing that curiosity off the right scent, even writing a critical review of
one of the novels which distributed blame as well as praise, even denying
point-blank a point-blank and impertinent interrogatory. There Here wheels
within wheels in the great Waverley mystilicaiion. Not only were the public
fur a period deceives as to the authorship of the books, but it was nut till
after his death that they discovered thai a large number of the most striking
mottoes to the chapter -heads, variously purporting (o be extracts from old
plays, the composition of anonymous writers, etc, were composed by Sir
Walter Scott himselt Lockhart, in the " Life," vo). v. p. 145, thus explains
the beginning of this practice :
It VKi in cDrreciiDg the proof^hceu of tbe " Antiquvy" Uut Scott fir3t took to equipping
bii chapten with moiiDca of ha own fabrication. On one occasion he happened to aik joha
Ballanlyne, who wu uiiing by him, Ed hunt for a particular pasaaffe m Beauvoni and
Fletcher. Ji>hndida(be»a>bid,bulbedidllDl<ucceedui diacDvering thelinei. "Hang
il.^ohnny!" cried Scott, "1 believe I can make a motto aoonerlhan you ■" ■ " " '■
epigraph, he had reconrae to the ineihaualible rainea of '* old play"
wbicb vc owe some of the mojl eiquiaite venea ihal ever flowed from hi
These were gathered as " Miscellaneous and Lyrical Pieces" in the popular
edition of the poems, 10 which Lockhart in 1S41 prefixed a short notice giving
the collection his imprimatur. Among them all there are none more famous
than this quatrain, —
which forms the motto to the concluding chapter of "Old Mortality," and is
credited to Anon. The verses have the true Scott ring in them, yet even
64*
0,™D
j62 HANDY-BOOK OF
to ihis da; inquireis of the ffolti and Queria order aie continually requealing
inforination as to whether the anonymity hai ever been solved.
One cannot be so certain of the morality of that Getman would-be imitator
of Scott, G. W. Harliig, who, making a wager that he could produce a novel
which would be accepted as a genuine Waverley, published at Leipsic in 18x4
the romance of " WaDadmot" as an actual translation from Sir Walter Scott,
and deceived many Continental readers into the belief of its genuineness.
The scene is laid in Wales { the tale itself is crude and ill compacted, — not,
indeed, without some weird attractions in parts, but mostly a clumsy imitation
of incidents and characters such as the Enchanter had in his time conjured
with. By a curious coincidence, Scott was then engaged on " The Betrothed."
the scene of which is laid in the same part of Britain, and it was naturally
«u|iposed by him and his piibltshera that the unknown pretender to his name
had in some way gained an inkling of this fact and used it to give the fabrica-
tion a greater air of probability. In the mock introduction to "The Be-
trothed" (lSz5) a good-humured conjecture is made that " Wall ad m or" was
"the work of Doustetswivel, by the help of the steam-engine," though it is
allowed that "there are good things in it, had the writer known anything
about the country in which he laid the scene." I)e Quincey, however, found
almost no good in the work. He had undertaken its translation for a London
publisher, and realiied when too late the hopelessness of the task. " Such
rubbish — such 'almighty' nonsense (lo speak IranialloHlic/^no eye has ever
beheld as nine hundred and fifty, lo say the very least, of these thousand
pages. To translate them Was perfectly out of the question ; the very devils
and runners of the press would have mutinied against being parties to
such atrocious absurdities." He saw nothing for it. therefore, but to rewrite
the whole in his own way, " and hence arose this singular result : that, with-
out any original intention to do so, 1 had been gradually led by circum-
stances to build upon this German hoax a second and equally complete
English hoax. The German ' Walladmor' professed to be a translation from
the English of Sir Walter Scott ; my ' Walladmor" professed to be a trans-
lation from the German ; but, for the reason 1 have given, it was nu more ■
translation from the German than the German from the English."
A successful form of mystification was invented by Father Front, the other
name of the witty Irish unfrocked priest Father Francis Mahony, and success-
fully practised by many of his co-con tribulors to the early Fraatr. This was
lo translate a well-known poem into some foreien language, and then to pais
off the translation as a much earlier work and the undoubted original. In
his " Rogueries of Tom Moore" Prout gravely charges that Moore's song
"Go where Glory waits thee" is but "a literal and servile translation of an
old French ditty which is amon^ my papers, and which I believe to have been
composed bv that beautiful and interesting ladye, Francoise de Foi;(, Comlesse
de Chateaubriand, born in 1491, and the favorite of Francis I., who soon
abandoned her ;" that " Lesbia hath a Beaming Eye" was stolen from " an old
Latin song of my own, which I made when a boy, smitten with the charms of
'n Irish milkmaid ■" and so on through half a doien of Moore's best-known
' is of the pretended "originals" side by
Cv cceur, quil HUM fl moi 1 6b, f till rcfn«mbcr bkI
TouK I'ardeur de Ion tmt. To thin* car it iswicu.
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
ill (he iovl thi( bli
Oculonimlcla'oiDtiif Bu iV on* kncwt rat'wh'om it bamMh ;
Non> Cniu ut M^ta.
Vuliu, eTBHn um mod
Hxc, puelluinicrbcllai
'mv Norah ^ Kl' iIuikMo m
Pew her koolu. but every one
Like unejipecied light aurpri:
OmyNgnCninadar,
In expUiialion of the manner in which Tom Moore got hold of Ihese origi-
nals, Father Prout circumstantial ly seta torth that the Blarney stone in his
neighbotbood has attracted many visitors, among whom none had been so
assiduous a iiilgrim as Tom Moote. " While he was engaged in his best and
most unexceptionable work on the melodious ballads of bis country he came
regularly every summer, and did me the honor to share my humble roof re-
peatedly. He knows well how often he plagued me to supply htm with t}rigt-
nal songs which I had picked up in France among the merry troubadours and
carul-loving inhabitants of that once-happy land, and to what extent he has
iraiisferred these Toreign inventions into the ' [lish Melodies.' Like the
rubber Cacus, he generally dragged the plundered cattle by the tail, so as that,
moving backward into his cavern or stolen goods, the Torit'tracks might not
lead to detection. Some songs he would turn upside down by a figure in
jhetoric called iorepov wporcpm ; others he would disguise in various shapes ;
but he wouM still worry me to supply him with the productions of the Gallic
muse 1 ' Fur, d'ye see, old Prout,' the rogue would say,
To Icngihcn our layi
Ii lo Heal ■ few (hcHigha from the Ftencli, my dear.' "
Not content with these exploits. Father Prout accomplished the truly ex-
. j: ,-.. _r ,_.^ u. ,.^ , >.,|„„e„.. by Milliken, into
)ns, claiming that the lirst
[, probably by Tyrt«i
. >r Pilgrimages," was of course an obvious jest.
j.ut his similar attempt to prove that Wolfe's " Burial of Sir John Moore"
was almost a literal translation of some French stanzas written in commemo-
ration of a Colonel de Beaumanair who was killed at Pondicherry in 1749,
while the French stanzas in their turn were almost literally translated from a
German poem of the seventeenth century in honor of the Swedish general
'i'orstenson, who fell at the siege of Dantzic, — this attempt, made in two
papers contributed to volumes i. and ii. of Btnlle^i Miscillany, but not
included in his " Reliques," has given some little trouble to scholars. In
Putnam's Magaaitu for 1S69 the two poems were republished in alt apparent
MriouaneM by Theodore Johnson, who claimed to have found them in foreign
Google
k;
764 HANDY-BOOK OF
peiiodicals. and who made no mention of theii Proulian oiigin. Johnson
may have been % plagiarislic fakir, but his aiticle imposed upon many con-
temporaneous critics, and the tew who, like the Natiim. scented a hoax ^ve
Johnson Che credit of being the hoaxer.
Mirza Schaffy is a name well knoirn in literature as (hat of the putative origi-
nalor of the " Sonsa of Mirza Schaffy," a collection of Otiental poems pub-
lished in 1850 and feiencd to be a German translation from the Persian. They
obtained an eitraordinaiy popularity in Germany, and were rendered into
nearly all the principal modern languages, and even into Servian and Hebrew.
Then inquiries began to be made about the author. It was discovered that
one Mirza SchaOy had lived not lun^ before at Tiflis. Curious investigators
eveti found his grave. But nobody in the East had ever heard of his poems.
The little mystery, however, waa soon dis|>elted. Friedrich Bodenstcdt, who
- - lied himself as the translator, was really the author of the songs. Vet
SchafFy was no myth. " He was for a long time," says Bodensledt, "my
teacher in Tartaric and Persian, and in that capacity was not without influence
on the production of these songs, of which a great part would not have been
In iSoo a Spaniard named Marchena. attached to the army of the RhinCi
amused himself during the winter which he passed at Basle by composing
some fragments of Petronius. These were published soon after, and, in spile
of the air of pleasantry which ran through [he preface and notes, the author
' ' " ' '' Lied the style of his model thai many very accomplished
" ' ' ....... ! hi by a declarr' ' ■■■
of this
recently unrolled at Herculaneum. But this time he was beaten
own weapon. A professor at Jena, Eichstadl, announced in the followi
year that the library of that cily possessed a very ancient manuscript
which were the same verses of Catullus
The German, under pretence of 1
oat several laulis in prosody c
improvements upon the political allusions of Ihe Spaniard.
In 1803 a Frenchman named Vanderbourg published some charming poetry
under the name of Clolilde de Surville, a female writer said to have been
conlemporarv with Charles the Seventh of France. The editor pretended 10
have found the manuscript among the papers of one of her descendants, the
Marquis de Surville, who was executed under the Directory. The public
was at litst Ihe dupe of (his deception, but the critics were not long in dis-
covering the truth. " Independently." says Charles Nodier, "of Ihe purity
of (he language, of the choice variation of the metres, of the scmpulousnesa
of the elisions, of the alternation of the genders in Ihe rhymes, — a sacred rule
in the present day, but unknown in the time of Clotilde,— of the perfeclion,
in short, of every verse, (he true author has suffered to escape some indica-
tions of deception which it is impossible (o mistake." Among these was her
quotation from Lucretius, whose works had no( been (hen discovered, and
which, perhaps, did not penetrate into France until towards 1475 ; her mention
of (he seven satellites of Saturn, the lirst of which was observed for Ihe 6rit
time by Huyghens in 1635, and Ihe last by Herscbel in 17S9: and her ((an*-
lation of an ode of Sappho, the fragments uf whose works were nol (hen
Published. However, Ihe poems altributed (o CItitilde are full of grace and
rauly.
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LTTERARY CURIOSITIES. ^6$
fODth, he played a praclical joke on Cuvier by manufacturing for him an
original letter of Robespierre, which deliehted that hunter of autographs as
weU as ai truth. The deception was not tound out until a rival collector held
the autograph to the light and saw that the water-mark on the paper bore a
date later than that of Robespierre's death. M^rim^e's first published book
was a collection of short dramas, pretended translations from a gifted Spanish
lady, Clara Guzia, for whom he invented a biography. "Clara Uuzia" was
taken for a reality ; her genius was gravely discussed by critics, and a Span-
iard, ashamed to confeiis ignorance of so gifted a countrywoman, declared
tha^ although the French translation was good, it was inferior to the original.
Mirim^ aftervrards manufactuted an Hungarian bard, songs and all. The
deception made dupes of the German as well as the French critics, and set
them wondering why so brilliant a writer had never been heard of beyond
Whitcomb Riley, when comparatively unknown to fame, set afloat the
Hungary.
J. Whitci „ ,
following item in the Kokomo (Indiana) Disfalch :
book. Notiting Iht inilUli " E. A. P." u Ihe Imiioib, ii iiruck lu
in inn Id Chouriielii, «u Ridimoml. V>r(iiiii.
linly ItM nuHii of diuipuiDi] npped il the door,
ten ihey wtnl ntxE nionuii£ to call him lo break-
Of the iad^hin^ son. and framK
And ihcy niMdc ha bidr of el
Midnighl, ud her ey« oT g1<
Moonifalne, and ihiy btouglii
BloBomcd up to gml Ihe coiner
Like a rue in bbom :
All rorcbodingB that diitnued i
I forgot u Joy CRTCUed me, —
Lviog jny thit caughl lod prei
Only Ipake the lillle llsper
Then God smiled, ind
h1 adomjnf
With the voice of prayer.
Where my Leonuile drifl
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766 HANDY-BOOK OF
was discovered. When one seei how easily the most judicious may be
deceived, one wonders which one of our great literary masterpieces may be
merely an accepted fraud.
We know that Robert Stephen Hawker deceived even Macaulay (an excel-
lent judge of 1»llad poetry) by his "Song of the Western Men," with its
relrain of
And muu Trellwny di<. ud idiiu TnU-ny die?
We know that Surtees deceived even Sir Walter Scott (a stilt better judge)
with his ballads of "The Slaying of Antony Featherslonhaugh" artd "Bar-
tram's Dirge," which purported to be collected from oral tradition and were
fiiniislied with learned notes. Nay, Andrew I^ng hints an uncomfortable
suspicion that Sir Walter Scott was himself the author of the ballad of
" Kinmont Willie," which to this day is acceiJted as one of the finest of the
old English ballads. Supposing this be true, how many other Kinmont Wil-
In the London Ti'm^j of June t6and2S, iSS6, Sir Geo^e Grove for the first
time told how musical literature was "enriched" by an apocryphal work of
Beethoven, " The Dream of St. Jerome." [n the course of " Philip" Thack-
eray makes his Miss Charlotte play Beethoven's " Dream of SL Jerome," which
he likens to " a poem of Tennyson's in music" A reader of the novel as it
ran through Comhill very naturally wished to possess this work, which was
unknown to him, and, applying to a great musical shop, he was told by the
proprietor that it was out of print, but would soon be ready. Now, the pro-
prietor himself had never heard of the piece. But, being a gentleman of
inlinite resources and an iron will, he ordamed that if it did not exist it should
exIsL He commanded one of his " myrmidons," as Sir George puts it, " to
look sharp and cook up something ; you know your Beethoven." The myr-
midon, not loath to show agility in cause lo fair, dived among the lesser known
works of the Beethoven whom he knew, and came up with the third of that
master's sacred songs. Then, like a subtle archimage or an adept in the
modern arts of cookery and fakery, he toiled with his material, adding an
alltgrtOe in six-eight, two themes of trivial import whipped extremely thin
into an airy froth, — "some real vulgar melody, says Sir George, — and thus
was woven "The Dream of St. Jerome."
But was Thackeray, loo, a deceiver i If not, what was that music which
had 90 charmed and soothed him } What was the true, the antenatal " Dream
of Si, Jerome" ? Curiously enough, it is to be found in another set of " Sacred
Songs," the work of Thomas Mooie, among which is one entitled "Who
is the Maid ? St. Jerome's I^ve. Ait— Beethoven." " Ay, St. Jerome's
Love 1 but what of his Dream ?" is the obvious question of the inijuirer ; fiw,
though love is a dream, a dream is not necessarily of love. Of this difficulty
there is no better solution than that of Sir George Grove, who very plausibly
conceives that Thackeray's recollection failed bim, and thus for "love" he
wrote " dream." Moore's song is a version of the opening theme of Beetho-
ven's Sonata in A flat (Up. 26), set to some inspired verses of his own,
and there can be nodoubi that Thackeray must have frequently heard it sung,
probably by Moore himself. It is somewhat singular that the "myrmidoiv'
who manufactured the " Dream" did not know oflhe existence of the song.
His presumed ignorance of this illustrious example only increases the cour-
age of his action, and renders more remarkable his long immunity from de-
tection. The deception, ii must be owned, was aided by the most adroit
appeal to the sympathetic public. The title itself is a lure of appalling in-
^nuily. Nothing could be more circumstantial than the superficial evidence.
The large inventiveness of the legend ''fo( (he Piano-tocte, by L. v. Beethoven,"
Google
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. ^6^
" Philip" and by another quoiation that
^ y of "SI. Jerome's Dteam."
One of the most amazing impuslors who ever lived was George Psalmana-
zar. He made hia lirst appearance in London iit 1703. His antecedents
were then entirely tinknown : even to this day we only know what he chose
la reveal. His real name is still a mystery. A youth of nineteen, he had
come to England at the invitation of the Bishop of London, to whom he had
been recommended by a clergyman named Innes, chaplain of a Scotch regi-
ment then in garrison at Sluys, Holland.
These were his preliminary recommendations. And this was the account
he gave of himself:
His name was Georee Psalmanazar. He was born of a noble family in the
island of Formosa, off the coast of China. He had been educated by a
private tutor who passed for a Japanese, and gained from him all the accom-
plishments usual to the Pormosan youtli, as well as a thorough knowledge of
Latin. When the tutor suddenly announced his determination of takmg a,
journey to the Western world, whose glories he had frequently unfolded to
the eager mind of the young pupil, Psalmanazar determined to accompany
him. The tutor agreed, after some apparent hesitation, on condition that the
matter should be kept a secret from the youth's father, some of whose money
would have to be borrowed for the occasion.
The fugitives gained the coast in safety, and after many adventures reached
Avignon, in France. Here the pretended Japanese tutor threw off all dis-
guise and appeared in his true colors. He was in truth Father de Rode, a
missionary member of the Jesuit College at Avignon, who had encountered
numerous dangers in order to save this single human soul.
But the soul would not be saved, because it was conjoined with a mind that
delected the sophistry of Jesuitical Christianity, and when the baffled doctor*
threatened him with the Inquisition. Psalmanazar managed to escape from
Avignon. After leading a vagrant life, he joined the service of the Elector of
Cologne, and in this capacity was encountered at Sluys by the aforesaid Chap-
lain Innes. Lutheran and Catholic had sought in vain to convert his heathen
incredulity, but what consubstantiation and t ran substantiation had failed to do
was effected by the sweet reasonableness of Mr. Innes's Anglican arguments.
Psalmanazar was baptized bv the chaplain, who straightway communicated the
remarkable story to the Bishop of London.
The bishop invited the chaplain and his interesting convert over to England.
In London he itteets a royal welcome. The Tories, headed by the clergy, are
delighted to greet a proselyte from paganism who rect^nized in Anglicanism
"a religion that was not embarrassed by any of those absurdities which are
maintamed by the various sects in Christendom." The Whigs are pleased to
find their worst suspicions of Jesuitry so strongly confirmed. The fashion-
able world is interested in this good-looking and accomplished young man,
who, according to his own account, had once been a cannibal. Philosophers
and wits are anxious to obtain inFormalion concerning the far-off island of
Formosa. He is petted and fEted in the highest circles. He has a few
detractors, but their voices arc drowned in the general hurrah. The book
upon which he is engaged will establish his claims beyond possible cavil.
In a few months the book appears It bears the following title : " An His-
torical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an island subject to the
Emperor of Japan, giving an account of the religion, customs, manners, etc,
of the inhabitants ; together with a relation of what happened to the anthol
in his travels, particularly his conferences with the Jesuits and others in
several parts of Europe. Also the history and reasons of his conversion to
ChtiatiMiity, with his objeclloiu against it in defence of Pt^aivsm, and tbeir
Goo^If
768 HANDY-BOOK OF
answers, etc To which is prefixed a preface in vindication of himself Troni
the reflections of a Jesuit lately come fiom China, with an account of what
passed between them. By George Psalmanazar, a native of the said island,
now in London. Illustraled with several cuts."
It was adorned by an alphabet, a map of the island, plates representing the
divinities of the country, costumes, religious ceremonies, edifices, and vessels.
It was speedily translated into French and German.
After some prefatory remarks upon the utter unreliability of all previous
writers on Formosa, the author devotes a hundred and fifty pages to an account
of his own adventures, which we have already suTnmariied, and then gives his
famous history and description of Formosa.
And first, as to the history. That, it seems, had been misunderstood by
every previous writer. A capital error made the island a dependency of
China, whereas in fact it had been governed for nearly two hundred years
by native dynasties before a usurper, named Merryaandanoo, a Chinese fugi-
tive, got possession of the Japanese throne and subsequently of thai of For-
mosa. Formosa, therefore, was a portion of Japan, and not of China. To
establish the thing beyond cavil. Psal m an azar quotes the very words of a letter
which Merryaandanoo addressed to Ibe native monarch whom he afterwards
deposed.
The story of how Merryaandanoo (the name has comic-opera su^estions
which are much assisted by its apparent relationship to Merry-Andrew) — the
story of how this bold, enterprising, and unscrupulous monarch succeeded in
capturing the island of Formosa, needs a new Homer to sing iL Indeed, it
is obviously borrowed from the story of the capture of Troy.
He had usurped the throne of Japan, it appears, by the blackest of perfi*
dies, and soon cast a longing eye upon Formosa.
So he feigned sickness. All the native gods of Japan were appealed to,
but in vain. Sacrifices were offered ; the divinities seemed to turn their
nostrils away from the ascending smoke. Then Merryaandanoo declared
that he would appeal from the home gods to foreign gods. He would im-
plore his royal cousin of Formtna tn grant permission that victims should be
immolated m all the principal temples of his kingdom.
A letter was accordingly framed and despatched. His Highness of For-
mosa received it with tears of joy. The priests were all in a high state of
exhilaration. Here was a chance to test (he true god against foreign im-
postors. An answer was in due course returned, granting to Merryaandanoo
the permisaion he craved, on condition, however, that if the Formosan deity
wrought a cure the worship of that god should be established throughout
the Japanese kingdom. The condition was at once accepted.
Then Merryaandanoo caused to be constructed a number of norimmonno*
of the largest size. And what is a norimmonnos ? It is a huge sort of titter
capable of containing from thirty to forty people. It is usually divided off
into compartments, with window-like openings to admit fresh air. The litter
is carried by two elephants.
Now, in each of the norimmonnos the wily Merryaandanoo caused thirty
soldiers to be hidden awav. To belter deceive the Formosans, oaen, calves,
or sheep were also placed in the norimmonnos, which could readily be seen
through the windows left open for the purpose. To the ordinary eye it would
appear thai the litters vrere filled only with the victims for sacrifice.
Then the norimmonnos, three hundred in all, with their attendant ele-
phants, were embarked on board of large flat-boats known as arkha-kasseos.
These are huge craft, propelled by as many as two hundred oars on each
When the Fonoosans saw this mighty fleet approaching their shoTM thejp
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LITERARY CURI0SI7TES. 769
were mnch tidcled The great Emperor of Japan had done (hem proud, ihey
thought, in sending over so many victims to be tacrificed to the native god.
Owing to the veneration which sacrificial animala inspired in their bosoms,
they did not dare to inspect the norimmonnos too closely, but stood by in
rapt admiration while the backs of Ibe elephants were laden with their sacred
burdens. A magniScent retinue of Japanese officers accompanied them to
the capital city of Xlernetsa.
Just as the ceremonies were about to begin, and the King of Formosa, his
courtiers and his citizens, were looking on in open-mouthed admiration, the
i^nal agreed upon was given. Out poured ten thousand Japanese soldiers.
The Formosans were taken by surprise, the king surrendered on the spot,
and Merryaandanoo neatly and expeditiously possessed himself of the capital,
and later of the entire island, without shedding a drop of blood !
Since that time the King of Japan has always held a strong garrison in the
island, and sends over a king to govern it This king is known as Che Tano
Agon, or Superintendent ; the real heirs to the throne bear the title of Baga-
landro, or Viceroy, and have little more than the empty title, a yearly
Impend, and the right to wear robes of a very magnificent description.
Tlie religion of the country is polytheism. One of its chief riles is the
yearly sacrifice of eighteen thousand boys' hearts. Note the ligures. We
shall have to recur to them again. Every month they sacrifice one thousand
beasts, and every week as many fowls as they are able.
The religious ceremonies of the Formosans are curious.
" I. The Formosans, in adoring God, use various postures of body, accord-
ing to the several parts of religious worship they are i>erforiiiing ; for, first,
when the yarhabadiimd is publicly read in their temples, every one of them, at
least if he be capable of doing it, bends a little the right knee, and lifts up
the right hand towards heaven.
■'2. When thanks are given to God, then all of them &11 prostrate on th«
ground.
"3. After the thanksgiving, when they sing songs or hymns, they are to
stand up with their haniu joined together.
"4. When prayers are made (or the sanctifiotion of the sacrifices, then
every one bends the left knee and stretches out his arms wide open. But
when the victims are a-slaying, every one may sit upon the ground (for they
have no seats or pews such as you use here in England), only the richer sort
have a cushion to sit on ; while the Seah is a-boiling every one stands with
1.;. 1 — j_ :_:__j .< — ,..».. ^- the upper part of the tabernacle.
people takes a piece of the flesh
IS the priests keep for themselves."
Religious freedom, however, is assured to all save Christians; "No king
can prohibit or enjoin any religion in his country ; but every subject shall
enjoy the liberty of his conscience to worship Gotl after his own way, except
there shall be any found that are Christians."
Transmigration is one of the doctrines taught by the clergy. The soul of >
woman, it appears, cannot obtain eternal rest until it has informed the body
of a man; though "some, indeed, think that if it animate the body of a
male beast, it is sufficient to attain as great happiness as it is capable ol"
Another article of the Fotmosan &ith seems to the excellent Mr. Psal'
manazar the converted Formosan a deplorable one. And this is the vrorsbip
which even the sanest and most pious citizens give to the demon.
They hold, indeed, that there are no devils save aerial spirits who people
the atmosphere around us. These they imagine to be the souls of the wicked,
and they ofler sacrifices to them, thinking thus to propitiate them. They ac-
luiowledge that these spirits are the enemies of God and man, but the; on
aH J7 65
Coogk"
idbeal
770 HANDY-BOOK OF
firml; persuaded that all public and private calamities, as storma, earthquakes,
&niiiie8, pestilences, sicknesses, and so on, are caused by these spirit*.
Wherefore whenever any affliciion seiies them Ihey rush to certain moun-
' IS where there are altars raised to the demon or chief of the evil spirits,
prostrate Ihemsclvcs before the hideous statues that surmount the altars,
beat their breasts, and pray, and sacrifice animals or all kinds, and even
children, believing that the blood of these innocents irill appease the anger
of the demon.
The hinerals of people of wealth and disti
ip. The body 0/ the deceased is rubb
a table for thirty-two hours. Parents and friends assemble around il
Food and drink are served to them, of which they partake in silence.
The funeral csrlfgi is marshalled in this order. First of all wallts a city
maenate bearing the arms of the deceased ; then a lot of musicians singing
ancT playing slow and subdued airs 1 then the military, armed with lances,
bows. cioss-bowB, and Bwords ; then the monks, preceded by an officer of the
convent bearing the emblem of the older and followed by their SauUeb, ot
superior. The secular priests follow, and in their wake comes the wagon
carrying the animals which are to be sacrificed. This wagon is drawn by an
elephant The weepers are nexL They march immediately before the bodjf,
which is carried in a sort of litter covered with black and surmounted in the
middle bv a small lower. This litter (which is called nerimmimtua ack
Am/oj) is Dorne on the backs of two elephants covered with black cloth in
such a way thai nothing can be seen save the bead of the first one. On this
cloth are worked the armorial devices of the deceased and of his ancestor*.
Last of all come the relatives and friends of the dead.
When the procession has arrived at the sacrificial altar, priests and monks
pray tor the sanctification of the animals, they are duly slaughtered and burnt,
and then the body itself is cremated with appropriate ceremonies.
Those who hold that the Formosans are olive-skinned are greatly in error.
The upper classes, especially, are as fair as Europeans, owing to their habit
of living during the hot season in caves or in tents kept cool by the continual
sprinkling of water. Nor are the Formosans gigantic in size, as some authors
assert They are rather below than above the middle size, and the ladies
especially are very beautiful, so much so that some hold the Formoian and
the Turkish women to be the birest in the world. In a foot-note the author
adds with becoming gallantry that even were the Georgians willing to cede them
the palm in this respect, il might well^ contested by the ladies of England.
Their dress, from the descriptions, does not differ very materially from the
European in fashion, though its materials are sometimes leopard-, tiger-, and
bear-skins, which would seem strangely unsuited to a tropical country.
The national architecture, too, appears to be more European in character
than one would have expected, and might be described as a judicious ad>
mixture of the Chinese and the classical.
The Formosans have no carriages 1 their principal vehicles are the notim-
mnnnos. which we have already described. These vary in size and in mag-
nificence.
The norimmonnos of the viceroy is from eight to nine feet in height In
twelve in breadth. It is upholstered inside with silk and cinth-of-gold, and
is covered on the outside with pure gold. Two elephants, richly caparisoned,
are the bearers. The viceroy lakes his seat within, accompanied by his
CarilkaH, or general, together wilh some len or twelve of their wives, when-
ever he goes to Japan to pay formal homage to the emperor.
The norimmonnos of the nobility and gentry are not more than seven leei
high and ten wide. They are of wood, painted and gilded.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 771
The Icing doei not posscu a norimmonnos. i» he U not required to travel
to Japan for the purpose of homage. He rides hU horse on land, and varies
this out-door existence by going down to the tea in a baUan or talBn, a sort
of barge or galley, with a tower in the middle. Other digniiariea also have
their iaicims, bnt these are smaller and less gorgeous.
Some of the more outlandish habits and customs of Ihe Foimosans must
be mentioned here.
Polygamy is practised t^ those who can afford it. But if the first wife, or
an only wife, bears her husband no children, he may kill her and install an-
other in her place. The oldest son of the Arsl wife is the heir to one-half
the husband's fortune, and in case the first wife has no child, that portion of
the estate is forfeited to the crown. Hence the king keeps a watchful and a
thrifty eye over all marriages.
Terrible penalties prevent the practice of polygamy by those who cannot
afford iL " If any one takes more wives than his means will maintain, he is
to be beheaded." Each wife lives in a separate chamber, but all of them lake
their meals together. "No converwlion is allowed between anyjnan and
anotbet man's wife, nor between a bachelor and a maid, but in the eteaiest
feasts and diversions every one keeps among those of his own family,''
Cannibalism is not habitual, but the inhabitants eat the bodies of prisoners
of war and of malefactors legally executed. " The flesh of the latter is our
Sealesl dainty, and ifi four limes dearer than other rare and delicious food."
usbands, also, who have reason to be offended with their wives condemn
them to the family larder. In aggravated cases the husband may send for
the lady's relatives, and " sometimes with fiery indignation he strikes her in
the breast with a dagger, and eomeiim
lake her heart out hastily and eat it befo
The Formosans aie also accustomed 1 , . . . . _
they be very angry, and when they are in this liirious passion all Ihe ven
that was in the iHMly ascends to the head, which being then cut off, there re-
mains no more poison in the body, which may therefore be safely eaten."
Elsewhere the author commends this, taken in the early morning with a pipe
of tobacco and a cup of tea, as, "in my humble opinion, the most wholesome
break^t a man can make."
The laws, as a rule, seem to be much like those which prevail in European
countries, save tliat the punishments are more vindictive and sanguinary. A
murderer is to be "hanged up by the feet with his head downward lor a
longer or shorter time, and is then "shot to death with arrows." "If he be
both a robber and a murdeter, he shall be crucified." A thief is punished
fine. An adulterer is fined or whipped for the first offence, and beheaded for
the second. A blasphemer is burnt alive. A slanderer has his tongue bored
through with a hot iron, and one who bears false witness loses that member
altogether. A traitor is "tortured with all imaginable torments."
A son or daughter who strikes his or her parents, relations, or superiors,
shall have his or her legs and arms cut oB^ and. a stone being faslened lo the
maimed and helpless trunk, it is cast into the sea 01 river.
Evidenll|r any child who wishes its days to lie long and pleasant in that laud
must honor father and mother and uncle and auiiL
In his chapter on the Formosan language the author dwells at much length
upon its alphabet and grammatical structure, and adds specimens of the
written character, which are to be read from right to left, — plausible enough to
mystify even men of culture, actiuainted only with the classical h
The book w
773 HANDY-BOOK OF
was called for. But Ihough the learned world was staggered, and a large pro-
poriion convinced, ihe book was loo full of absurdities, the author too yoang
and ignorant, to gain universal credence.
Evidence is eiven in Ihe second edition (hat there had grown up a formi-
dable crop of objections against the narrative. He treatnl them, however,
with a debonair air that shows him to have been an agile master of logical
fence. For example, when it was urged that Ihe annual sacrifice of eighteen
thoiuand male infants would soon depopulate the island, he explained ihat
he referred to the number legally demanded by the priesthood. Bribery,
prompted by parental affection, undoubtedly diminished that number very
greatly. Again, when asked how he could remember Ihe very wordx of Mer-
ryaandanoo's letter, he replied, " My falhcr has a copy of the letter by him."
But his cavillers were not to be silenced. To use a current but excellent
phrase, he was continually "giving hiroself away" by contradictions and mis-
statements made in Ihe heat of personal altercation with his dispulanls.
Slowly and reluctantly Ihe public mind was brought to acquiesce In the view
that he was an impostor. He felt from favor, and almost disappeared from
In 1716, at the age of thirty-11
:hange of heart The squalid advi
the audacious forger the pattern of conscientious scholar
No penitent could have done more honor lo religion. He disavowed his
early impostures. Cook occasion lo introduce into a treatise upon geography a
rectification on the subject of big former description of Formosa, and finally
wroM I detailed confession designed for publication alter his death.
He lived to be seventy-nine years old, busying himself for half a. century
upon a "Universal History" and other meritorious but now forgotten works.
Dr. Johnson knew him in rhose days, and more than once bore testimony lo
Ihe uprightness and sincerity of the former adventurer. " He was," Johnson
told Boswell, " one of the men for whom he entertained the greatest respect."
In 1764, a year after his death, his memoirs were publisned, containing ■
fiit] confession of what the writer calls " the base and shameful imposture of
rt to ChrUtianity,
and backing it with a fictitious account of that island, and of my own travels.
passing upon the world for a native of Formosa ai
lion, etc, all or moat of it hatched in my own brain without regard ti
truth or honesty."
Still he does not reveal his real name. He begs lo be excused from naming
his country or familv, "or anylhing that might cast a refteclion upon either,
bat assures the reader " that out of Europe I was not born, nor educated, nor
ever travelled." It has been plausibly conjectured, however, from varions
admissions made here and there in the memoirs, that he was a native of the
southern part of France.
His parents, he tells us, were extremely poor. His father came of an
ancient but decayed family, but through stress of circumstances had been
obliged to leave his mother when the boy was only five years old and live a
long distance away, So his care and education were left enlirelv lo the
mother. She was a zealous Catholic, cherishing a natural hatred for Prot-
estants and Pro lest ant ism. but withal an excellent and well-meaning woman.
, she stinted herself of everything but the necessaries of life
Google
UTERARY CURtOSlTlES. 773
was transferred to the Latin form, where, although his classmates were twice
his years, he outstripped them all in a camparativetji brief space of lime,
carrying off the highest prizes, and being " singled out as the flower of the
tlocic" whenever priests, monks, gentlemen, or other persons passed through
the city. All this made him assuming and arti^ant. Nevertheless, he was
never guilty of a fault at school : " so, let me do what I would out of it, I was
punished for it as the other boys were, but had, peihaps, a soft repri-
mand or some easy task assigned me by way of penance."
The good boy of the school, who won all the prises ana cscipea an me
reprimands, was naturally no bvorite with his school -teHows. But he held
his bead high, and they dared not vent theii displeasure in any other way than
At nine years of age he was removed to a Jesuit college. Here at first he
found it bard work to keep up with his class, and he who nad been used to be
foremost found it a shame now to be middlemost. So he worked hard, and
acquitted himself with much credit. Subsequently he studied theology. Then
he left school and tried teaching. But in this he was not a success. He was
naturally indolent When he found that his pupil was not only indolent, but
stupid, he gave up trying to teach him, and master and pupil "spent more of
our time in playing on the violin and flute than at our books."
His next situation was with two small boys, whose mother proved some-
what too demonstrative to him. But he remained cold to all her advances,
owing not so much to virtue, he acknowledges, as to " my natural sheepish
bashmlness aiul inexperienced youth." So she procured his dismissal.
He was now in sore sttaits. He look the road to Avignon, and made his
first essay as an impostor. He claimed to be a sufferer for religion, — his love
(or the Church had esiraneed his father and cut off hie financial supplies. He
was praised and pitied, but he wanted hard cash, and that was not forth-
coming. So he tried another plan. He procured a cirtilicate to the effect
that "he was a young student of theology of Irish extract," then going on a
pilgrimage to Rome.
But bow to obtain a pilgrim's garb?
He remembered that a returned ]iilgrim had left his cloak and staff in a
rwighboring church as a token of gratitude lor his happy return. The church
was never empty. But fearless audacity is always successful. Psalmanaaar
simply walked holdly in at noon-lime and carried off both cloak and staC
He had an answer ready prepared in case he was stopped and questioned.
He would have said that he imagined the things were placed there for the
accommodation of penniless pilgrims.
" How Ear such a poor excuse would have gone I knew not, neither did I
trouble my head about it ; however, I escaped without such an inquiry, and
carried it off unmolested, and made what haste I could to some private
corner, where I threw my cloak over my shoulders, and walked with a sancti-
fied grace with the staff m my hand, till I was out of the city."
So accoutred, and with the proper certificale in his hand, he begged his
way in fluent Latin, " accosting only clergymen or persons of flgute, by whom
1 could be understood and was most likely to be relieved."
He was very successful, — so successful, indeed, that but for bis vanity and
his extravagance he might easily have saved a good deal of money. But as
soon as he had sufficient for the day he would quit begging and retire to some
inn, where he spent money as freely as he got it, " not wiihoui some such
awkward tokens of generosity as better suiletTwith my vanity than my present
drcointtances."
Should he go home, or pursue his journey to the Eternal Citv? He delib-
erated the question for a while. Filial piety 6nally carried the day. Hii
6s-
ylc
774 HANDV-BOOK Ofi
mother was overjoyed to sec him, ihough pained ai his poverty-struck appear-
ance. A few days after his return she proposed that he should proceed, still in
pilgrim guise, to visit his father. He accepted the suggestion and started on
his travels. Though his pilgrim garb should have protected him from rubbers,
he did not feel entirely safe. And no wonder.
" I met frequently with some objects that made me iihrink, ihough it was a
considerable nigh-road. Now ana then at some lonely place lay the carcass
of a man rotting and stinking on the ground by the way-side, with a rOM
about his neck, which was fastened to a post about two ot three yards' dis-
tance, and these were the bodies of highwaymen, or rather of soldiers, sailors,
mariners, or even galley-slaves, disbanded after the peace of Ryswick, who,
having neither home nor occupation, used to infest the roads in troops, plunder
towns and villages, and when taken were hanged at the country towns by
dozens, or even scares sometimes, after which their bodies were then exposed
along the highway in Urrortm. At other places one met with crosses, either
of wood or stone, the highest not above two or three feet, with inscriptions to
this purport : ' Pray for the soul of A. B., or of a stranger, who was found
murdered in this spot I' "
Sights enough to discourage even a brave and resolute youth ]
Nevertheless he pressed ahead, and finally reached the village where his
father dwelt. That gentleman professed joy at seeing him, but was unable to
offer any assistance. Indeed, the son was surprised to find that his bther
dwelt even more meanly than he had been led to anticipate. But though he
had no money, the old gentleman had lots of advice to give. He suggested
that the young man should inntinue visiting the various parts a! Europe at
free cost. The advice was accepted.
Psalmanasar was now sixteen years of age. His wits had been sharpened
by necessity. He determined to find some more "cunning, safe, and effectual
way of travelling" than he had hitherto pursued. To pass as an Irishman
and a sufferer for religion not only exposed him to the constant risk of detec-
tion, bul "iiame short of the merit and admiration I had expected from it"
He would leave off the Irish and become a Japanese. His notions of the
East were vague, but they were not much vaguer than those of even the
learned and the travelled. The average European knew less than he did. " t
was rash enough to think that what I wanted of a right knowledge of them t
might make up by the strength of a pregnant invention." So he proceeded
to excogitate both an alphabet and names of letters, together with many other
particulars equally difficult, such as a considerable piece of a new language
and grammar, a new division of the year into twenty months, a new religion,
etc Then he forged a certificate to bear out his assumed character, and ap-
pended to it the seal belonging to his Avignon certificate.
On the whole, he found that he was generally credited not only in Germany,
but in Brabant and in Flanders. His wonderful story, his fluency in Latin,
his smattering of various sciences, procured htm more monejr and attention
than an ordinary pilgrim might have expected. After many adventures, he
finally joined a Dutch regiment as a recruiL He still prelei\ded to be a Jap-
anese, but no longer a convert to Christianity. He found himself an object
of greater interest than ever. Catholic priests and Protestant clergymen
sought to convert him. But when Papists and Protestants are so intermingled,
he explains, their guides are better stored with arguments against each other
than against the common enemies of the Christian faith. Hence in hi*
assumed character as a heathen he won an easy controversial victory over
his opponents.
In due time the regiment in which Psalmanazar had enrolled himself was
ordered to Sluys. A Scotch regiment in the Dutch pay wu quMteted bwe.
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 77S
Brigadier Lander was the colonel of the regiment, as well as governor or the
flace, A good, honest Scotchman, he was anxious to convert the inleresting
apaneae recruit to ChTistianity.
For this purpose he introduced him to Chaplain Innes. At first Innes,
loo, was duped. But he speedily discovered the fraud. Did lie denounce it?
Not at all. He was too canny lot that. He broadly hinted that it would be
well for both of them if Psalmanaiar would consent to be baptized, and then
accompany him to London.
Psalmanaiar profited by the hint Brigadier Lander stood sponsor, Chap-
lain Innes performed the ceremony. Then the latter wrote a letter to the
Bishop of London about his interesting convert
What followed we have already detailed.
N.
K, the fourteenth letter and eleventh consonant of the English alphabet,
derived through the Latin and Greek from the Phtznician. In the English
prayer-book N is used in the same way as the algebraic x in mathematics, to
indicate the unknown name of some person in question. For example, in
the baptismal service the priesl is directed to say, " N., I baptize thee," etc
In the catechism the "Question. What Is your name^' is followed by the
"Answer. N. or M." Again, in the marriage service and in the formula for
publishing the banns ihe initials used are " M. and N." Much ingenious
conjecture has been spent on the question as to the ulterior meaning of these
initials. It has been suggested that M. stands for Mary and N. for Nicholas.
But the people who make this suggestion forget that from the position of Ihe
initials M. is the man and N. the woman. Therefore theie is more plausi-
bility in the guess that M. stands for maritus (" liusband") and N. for nupla
{" bride"). But even this theory is disposed of by the fact that in the more an-
cient prayer-books the letter M makes no appearance, the form in all cases
where there is more than one party being " N. and N." It is therefore more
than probable that N was originally adopted as a convenient letter, and the
initial of nenien, or name, and that in due course M was added, not only from
Its cognate quality, but as the next preceding letter, — the next succeeding one,
O, bemg, for obvious reasons, objectionable. Or M may stand for double
Can
Naoh Cauoa*a gehen wli nlobt (Get,
the answer made by Bismarck to the cletic— , ., ... ._,_ ,
be remembered, wa.1 the place whither Emperor Henry IV. of Germany was
summoned by Pope Gregory VIL after a long and bitter slru^le for su-
premacy, in which Henry was obliged to confess himself vani]uished. It was
at the dead of winter when the humbled monarch reached the castle of
Canossa, among the mountains of Modena in Italy, but he was only ad-
mitted to the space between the first and second walls, standing there bare-
footed and fasting until sunset. Not till the morning of the fourth day,
January 35, 1077, was he ushered into the Pope's presence. Here he swore
to be bithful in future to the command of Ihe Church. The struggle in iSti
between Pope and Kaiser terminated for the moment in the passage of the
Falk laws, which disqualified the Pope's appointees from performnig their
clerical functions if they were disapproved by the state or refused to take
the required oaths before the civil authority. Bismarck's phrase was used in
the German Reichstag, May 14, 1871.
;i:v,.G00gIi:
77* HANDY-BOOK OF
NalL To bit IJi« nail on tha haad, a popular phrase common to many
Unguagei, meaning (o furnish a clinching; argument, (o strike home, the
metaphor being obviously botrowed from the fact that to drive a nail home it
mut be hit full and square on the head.
Thil blcteth tke mile on the bed.
HarwooD : Prnnrii, di. li.
You luvt tbm hit the uU od the hud.
Raulais, Booh ill., dh. ml.
Nail, Domi on the, a slang phrase for a cash paymenL The nail Is
sometimes supposed to be a figure of speech for the nail-studded counter
whereon the money might be paid. But it is more likely a reminiscence of
the classical phrase " in unguem" or " ad angucm," signifying " to a nicety,"
'to the finger-tips." In a parliamentary deed of King Robert the Bruce
dated Jul^ ij, 1336 (Scots Acts, i. 476), occurs the phrase," Pro quibus prisia
et cariagiis plena tiat solulio super unguem" (" For which prises and carnages
full payment shall be made on the nail ). An early use of the English phrase
is quoted in Nares's Glossary :
When thcf wen sunled, her dad did b« ^il
For 10 pay down four hundred pounds oa Uh nail.
THr Riadinf G*rimm4 (H dale).
The French have a corresponding phrase, " payer rubis sur I'ongle." This
grew out of the custom called " &ure rubis eur I'onglc" — it., to drain a
tumbler so completely that there remains in it only one drop of wine, which,
being put on the nail, looks like a ruby.
Rbhaid: A/uj^MMrnufi, lii. 4.
Hence the phrase came to mean to pay punanally :
LaioniHeBeHblte;
nftnlbboln; now bbaTOn-Booi
RuUi mt I'oaale.
O'Keefe, in his "Recollections," tells ofa pillar in ihe centre of (he Limerick
Exchange with a circular disk or plate of copper, about three feel in diameter,
laid across the lop, and called " the Nail." On this mela] disk the earnest
of all stock-exchange bargains had to be paid. A similar custom prevailed at
Bristol, where before Ihe Exchange were placed four pillars, called "nails,"
intended for the like purpose. O'Keefe believes that here is the origin of
the phrase ; but in fact the phrase gave the name to the pillars.
ITall-money. This was the six crowns given in the days of chivalry, by
each knight who came to lake part in a tournament, 10 ihe "roy des harnoys"
(herald) for affixing his arms to ihe pavilion.
Halla, Twopenny, etc The origin of the expression twopenny, six-
penny, Icnpenny, etc, as applied to nails lies in an English corruption of the
word pounds. Anciently nails were made a specified number of pounds lo
the thousand, and this standard is still recognized in England and other
countries. For instance, in England a tenpcnny nail is understood to be one
of a kind of which it would require one thousand to make ten pounds, and a
sixpenny nail one of a kind of which an ei]ual nuinbcr would make six pounds.
" Penny" is really a survival of Ihe English " pun," a corruption of " pound."
" ' "' ' '•<-■' ' ■ -pig ,|jj jjjj (,f
ne way to the
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. Til
NambT-pambj, affected, artificial, childish. Pope applied the word to
the verses addressed to Lord Carteret's children by Ambrose Philips. The
first word is a baby w» of pronouncing Amby. or Ambrose ; tbe second is a
jinglinf! corruption of the surname. Macaulay accordingly ta^ correctly
that this sort of verse " has been so called after the name of its author."
Noma, w Hat's In a? This bmous inquiry is put into Juliet's mouth in
" Romeo and Juliet," Act iL, Sc 2 ;
Wbu'iinaunwt Thu which »e ciU ■ ran
Reuip Ibu dcAf pufccticm whicb he mm
Wiihoui ibai liile.
In " Love's Labor's Lost," Act i., Sc 1, Shakespeare had already made use
Sb>]I hiK conliQuI plodden ever won,
Tbnc eanhly godbAen of haven't lighu,
Thit give a name 10 everv fiied uir,
Hmve DD more ptdIH of (bev ehininf DighiB
Than Ihcxe ihu nlk ud odi not whai they an.
Too much 10 know b to know Dui^hl bu Dune ;
Aod ewry godfather cuL (ive ji name.
TeonysoD, in " Maud," Part IL, 2, has a parallel thonght :
See what a lovely abell.
WballitlT AleunedBUD
The beauty would be the ume.
Emerson in his poem of " Blight" has an equally scornful reference to
those Bciolista who
Love not the Bower (hey plock and know ll not,
Asd aJi their botany ii l^tin namea.
it Rome, which was said to ha*e had
eath to pronounce. This mysteriou:
, of which the Greek word 'rii^ is i
. Of 'PuOT, the Greek tbrm of Rome, the earliest recorded use is
made by Aristotle, although this does not exclude the possibility, on the con-
trary would seem to point to the probability, of its earlier use, and that it was
the common and current name of the city at the time. The cily was known
by other local names, but "all are inferior, I think, to the one sacred and
proverbial name which belonged to Rome. They take many words to convey
one idea. In one word, the secret qualifying name of the ancient city, many
ideas found expression, — VaUtttiaP' (DlL ttoRAH.)
Namea aaaniiMd in leligton. It is well known that Popes change their
name on assuming tbe tiara, as do the members of various religious orders
when they take the vows. An ancient tradition, mentioned as an en-dit by
Platina and accepted as a fact by Machiavelli [Hislffiytf Flirretut,}ioaV\.,c\\.
\.), asserts that Setgius IL. who became Pope in A.D. 844, set the fashion
which has been fi^lowed by nearly all his successors. " It has been said that
Sergius's name was originally Osporci [pig-face], and that on his election he
charaed this to Sergius because of the disagreeable nature of his original
appellation. The custom has come down to our days, and the Popes almost
all have, in their creation, altered their family name for some name of their own
selection," (Platina : In Vila Sergii.) But this story has been fully refuted
Indeed, it carries its refutation on its lace, for the Popes had been always called
778 HANDY.BOOK OF
by their first names, so that the assuni|)lion of Serj;ius u a ponliiical name
did not aflect the other name al all. In any event, it was not Sergius II. who
was called Boccadiporco (which Platina Latinizes as Osporci). but Seigius IV.
The latter was elected Pope in lOII, II is quite clear, moreover, that the
custom originated before this date. In 999, for example, Gerberl, or Ger-
bertus, took the name of Sylvester II. A very plausible suggestion has been
made that the leader in the innovation was the first Pope whose name
happened to be Peter. Nalurallv he would firid himsel! in an embarrassing
position. To have called himself Peter II. might seem wanting in humility,
while Peter I. would have been a practical denial of the raitBti d'ltri of his
own position. The first-known Peter was Pietro di Canevanno, who became
John XIV. in 984. But there must have been other Peters before him in that
long stretch of nine centuries, and it is safe to assume that the custom set by
some eponymous predecessor had come into tacit use, being greatly assisted
by the medieval love of symbolism and the possible suggestion that Christ
had instituted it in giving a new name to Sl Peter, and that hence it ought to
be adopted and perpetuated. In later limes, the only Pope who broke through
the tradition was Adrian IV. (1511), who retained his own name exacl^.
Eius II. took one thai very closely resembled his own name of Giuliano (m
tin, Julian us).
Namas, CotloaitleB o£ There is a great deal in a name, in spite of
Shakespeare's query. And, in fact, Shakespeare probably knew what he was
about when he put the query in the mouth of a girl of fourteen, ignorant
and inexperienced. For surely fu was aware of the value of names. In the
very title " Romeo and Juliet" is there not reflected all the deliciousness of
the soft Italian skies? Call it "John and Tabiiha," for instance, and the
illusion vanishes. Or take Goethe s play oF " Fau.<tl :" was not the name of
Grelchen a happy choice for the hetoine ? Does not that caressing diminu-
*' — — !g<st simplicity and purity and innocence? Grelchen is simply the
Magg^- -' -..-.- ^ -.- -.
hand, the Marguerite of the French is too stately and loo haughty. Perhaps
that is one of the reasons why Gounod's opera seems tawdry and meretricious
beside Goethe's tragedy. Why should Petrarch be praised for loving Laura 1
Anybody might love so mellifluous a union of vowels and consonants, but we
cannot understand how the Lord of Burleigh felt in love with Sarah Hoggins.
By whom is the butterfly best loved. — by the Greek who calls it Psyche, the
Spaniard who calls it Mariposa, (he Italian who calls it Fatfalla, or the Dutch
who damns it with the hideous name of Wilze and the German who makes it
ridiculous as Schmetlerling ?
Unconsciously to ourselves we form a menial picture of people that arc un-
known to us from their names. We expect more from Gwendolen than from
Hephzibah, from Hector than from John. The names that have become
famous are those which have a sonorous and stately ring, George Wash-
ington, Alexander Hamilton, Lafayette, Shakespeare, Wolfgang von Goethe,
Guslavus Adolphus, Alfred Tennyson, Ludovico da Vinci, Michael Angelo
Buonarrotli, Raffaelle Saniio. One can understand how an obscure Corsican
born with such a name as Napoleon Bonaparte might have conquered the
world. Authors and actors know the value of a mouth-filling name. Her-
bert Lythe becomes famous as Maurice Barrymore, Bridget O'Toole chamu
an audience as Rosa d'Erina, John H. Brodribb becomes Henry Irving,
Samuel C. Clemens and Charles F. Browne attract attention undet the ec-
centric masks of Mark Twain and Atlemus Ward. John Rowlands would
never have become a great explorer unless he had first changed his name to
Henry M, Stanley. James B. Matthews and James B. Taylor might have
Kmained lost among the mass of magazine contributors but (or their cunning
IC
tlTBRARy CURIOSITIES. 779
in dropping Ihe James and standing forth aa Blander Matthews and Bayard
Taylor. Would Jacob W. Reid have succeeded as well as Whitelaw Keid ?
The Italians are adepts in this sort or thing. U a man's name be not up
to the dignity of his personality they find some lopniHomt — some nickname
or nam de guerre — which shall more accurately laliel and define him. PJetro
Vanucci sounds harsh and common, Antonio Allegri laclts dititinction, so
they are known as Perugino and Correggio, horn their birthplaces. Dome-
nico Cortadi is an ugly clash of consonants, but how mellifluous and how
characteristic is GhirTandaio, a nickname taken from his father's trade as a
gat land-maker. Giorgione suggests color and harmony, and admiiably befits
the gorgeous Venetian painter whose baptismal name was the more plebeian
Giorgio Barbarelli.
An ingenious writer in the Alhtruatni has even suggested that between the
character of a great man and the mere names of the places associated with
him there is often a harmony as happy as it is inscrutable. Every one feels,
(or instance, that there would be something lacking to Drummond if he had
not lived at a place called Hawthorndcn. Shakespeare could not fail to be
born at a town so beauliFully and appropriately named as Sir at ford-On -A von.
As Scott was not born at a place called by the appropriate name of Abbots-
ford, the fates very properly decreed that he should make money expressly
to purchase Cartley Hole and techristen it aright. And there was no rea.ion
in the world, save that love of harmony in black or white which characteriMs
fate, whv Scott should be buried in a place called Dryburgh Abbey, tt is
impossible to conceive any collocation of letters so expressive of that peculiar
kind of sweetness and light which Carlyle was born to shed as Ecclefechan
and Craigen put lock. The list might be almost indefinitely extended. Rydal
Mount has about it some of Ihe serene austerity which befits a habilalion for
Wordsworth. Gad's Hill (probably through its FalsIalEan associations) sug-
- riotous humor which made it the appropriate residence of Dickens.
Vernon has all Ihe calmness and dignily thai we are accustomed to
aiEiiuuie to Washington. Trollope has a rough and ready suggestion about
it which ill beRts the character of the novelist (though it beilcr suits the
asperities of his mother). But when Ihe novelist purchased a villa near Flor-
ence the Italians seem to have been conscious of this deficiency and called
his residence the Villino Tr51-lo-pif, which admiiably suits Ihe suave and
harmless character of Ihe man.
Unlike the Italian, the Anglo-Saxon spoils the names thai he touches. An
amusing article might be written to show, by the degeneration of their names,
that the English and the Americans are themselves aegeneraling. Sevenoaks,
for example, bodies forth to Ihe ntenlal eye a splendid doughty figure, but his
descendant Snooks cannot help being something of a snob and a good deal
s;
a sneak. Cholmondeley must have been a good and great r
modern Chumley is > sad disgrace to the family. How ignoble
banks sound beside the imposing Marjoribanks from which it descends I
o noble a name as En roughly, we had
to perform a tremendous feat of cacophonic acrobalism by converting it into
Darby. On the other hand, a man might almost as well not have been iKirn as to
be saddled with a ridiculous or an unmeaning name. One can sympathize with
Mr. Ludocovischi Kalz von Kottek, who petitioned a San Francisco court to
change his name to L. Kats, because "the meaning of the words Katz von
Kottek is *cat of cats,' and the name of L, Katz von Kottek is the occasion
of ^reat annoyance to Petitioner." We ate glad that the Hartford (Con-
itei^icut) County Superior Court granted the petition of Heniy Rata of
Thomasville, praying that his name be changed to Henry Raites. The
petitioner showed that his name was the cause of a great deal of annoyance
780 HANDY-BOOk OP
to himseir and members of his lamil);. Faceijoiu neighbors spoke of him
and his wife as the old rats, and the children as liltle rals, and some of them
even CDmniitlcd the enormity of calling the latter mice. And it is a matter
of real rejoicing (hat Herr Julius Jackass had his name changed in New
York to Julius Courage.
The French law recognizes no name nnt borne by a saint or an historical
personage. This may seem aibilrary, and would prevent Ihe sensible prai
that is now growing up in America of giving family names in lieu ot Chrisiian
names. Thus, Cadwalader Biddle has a more distinctive individuality than
John or James Biddle, and individuality in names is lo be encouraged, nut only
for Dlililarian but for aesthetic reasons. Nevertheless, the French law is a
great boon if it saves a child from being handicapped by Ihe absurd name*
that are rife in England and America. It would prevent such poor jests a*
that of a Mr. DeaUi, who named one of his sons Jolly and the other Sudden,
or that of Victoria Woodhull's father, who named one of her sisters Tennie C
and the other Uti K. And it would prevent the unpleasant results of the
sentimentalities of ladies like Mrs. Rose, who named her eldest daughter
Wild, and was astonished at the change produced by Wild's marriage with
Mr. Bull.
The curiosities indeed of English and American baptismal names might
easily fill a volume. In the United .Stales census of 1870 a record was ob-
tained of the lather of a family who had named his live children Imprimis,
Finis, Appendix, Addendum, and Erratum, the latter being the unkindcst cut
of all. Three sisters still live who were born during political excitement and
baptized by the names of A nti- Nebraska, Free Kantias, and Texana. Pre-
served Bullock was the name of a lady buried at Salem, Massachusetts, and
Preserved Pish was once a well-to-do New Jersey merchant A farmer living
M Huntingdon in the time of Charles the First was named January May.
His surname was May, and in all probability he was bom in the month of Jan-
uary. Sou'-Wester was conferred on a boy in memory of an uncle so baptized
because of his birth during a southwesterly »le. But a still greater mete-
orological curiosity in the way of names is Easterly Rains, A boy called
Washington was christened General George ; a boy called Newton, Sir Isaac.
Marquis, Duke, Earl, Lord, and Squire are common names in the West Riding
of Yorkshire. In the North of England the Bible has decided the nomen-
clature of most of the childreti, "A clerical friend of mine," says a writer
in ^or^'j^i^noiw, "christened twins Cain and Abel only the other day,
much against his own wishes. Another parson on the Derbyshire border was
gavely informed at the proper moment that the name of baptism was Ramoth-
ileaiL 'Boy or girl, eh?' he asked, in a somewhat agitated voic«. The
parents had opened the Bible hap-hazard according to the village tradition,
and selected the first name the eye fell on." " Sirs was the answer riven to
a bewildered curate after the usual demand lo name Ihe child. He objected,
but was informed it was a scriptural name, and the verse " Sirs, what must I
do lo be saved V was triumphantly appealed to. This reminds one of the
Puritan who styled his dog Moreover, after the dog in the Gospel, "More-
over, Ihe dog came and licked his sores."
Bui above all other men the Puritans distinguished themselves by their
fantastic choice of names. They resolved lo throw olT all semblance of (he
world or acquaintance with worldly things. Wilh Ihe usual result of fanati-
cism, they made themselves ridiculous. Such names as Swear- not -a I -all Irelon,
Glory-be-to-G(xJ Pennyman, Hew-Agag-in-pieces- before -I he- Lord Robinson,
and Obadi ah-bind-their -kings-i n-chains-and-lheir-nobles-in- irons Needham,
were calculated to excite Ihe deHsion of the Cavaliers. The man whose name
It often assodaled with the Rump Parliament had three brothers, of whom
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 781
one bore the mild desifpiation of Fear-God Barebone, while the others bad
such fotmidlble Christian names as lesus-Christ-came-inlo-lhe-world-lD-save
Barebone, and If-Chiist-had-nol-died-for-lhee-lhou-hadsl-been-damned Bare-
bone. For the needs of daily life such names usually had to be reduced
10 the first or the last syllable, the brother of Piaise-God being thus, for in-
stance, familiarly known as " Doctor Damned Barebone." Whether these
words vcre given at their baptism is not certain, but if parochial registers
may be taken as evidence, the length of the child's name was by no means
ar> insuperable hinderance to the bestowal of it at the fonL The register of
St. Helen's, Bishopsgale, for the year 161 1 lells the short tale of " Job-raked-
oot-of-the-ashes," a child born on the laxt day of August, "in the lane going
lo Sir John Spencer's back gate," "and there laiii on a heap of aea-coal
ashes. Baptiicd the neil day and buried on the day following." A longer life
may have been granted to "Dancell Dallphebo Marc Antony Dallery Gallery
Cesar, sonn of Dancell Dallphebo Marc Antonv Dallery Gallery Caesar
Williams," whose name appears in the registry of the parish church of Old
Swineford.
"Grace names" were of course very common among the Puritans, — Faith,
Hope, and Charity, Prudence, Mercy, Truth, Constancy, Temperance, Honor,
Obedience, Rejoice, Endure, Repentance, Humiliation, Pride, and Humility.
A man named Sykes had four sons, whom he named Lovewell, Dowell,
Diewell, and Farewell.
The grotesque Puritan nomenclature has died out in England and only
survives in grace names in some poiliotis of New England, but (here are
still common instances of people whose names are ridiculous from their
length. Thus, an old iady in Lansinghuig, New York, was called Frances
Caroline Constantia Maria Van Radei Van Rase Out Zoron Van Bian Van
Helsdinger. This was even more sonorous thaii ihe name of a colored nurse-
maid in Brooklyn, who informed her employer that she was called " Miss
Minnie Loretla Progret Under-the-Snow Sypher." But after all, when one
wants names, he must have recourse to Ihe Almanach de Gotha, and espe-
cially to the chapters devoted to Ihe Hapsburgs of Tuscany, ihe Bourbons of
Parma, and the royal family of Portugal. For a good mouth-filler there is
nothing so complete as the name of the Portuguese Prince Alphonso Henry
Napoleon Maria Louis Peler of Alc&ntaia Charles Humbert Amadeus Ferdi-
nand Anthony Michael Raphael Gabriel Goniaga Xavier Francis of Assisi
John Augustus Julius Volfandu Ignatius of Braganza, Savoy, Bourbon, Saie-
Coburg, and Gotha.
In some noble European families it is not uncommon lo christen several
sons by Ihe same name, where il is desired to perpeiuaic it. The German
family of Reuss carries this practice lo an absurd extent, all the males being
named Henry, the distinguishing numbers attached lo their lilies bevinning
with each century. Another curious name is Ihat of a prominent Belgian
house, the Viscounts Vilain XUH. (jif), one of whom neatly answered Ihe
banler of the Austrian emperor, " Ah, viscount, all your family are num-
bered like cabs," with Ihe retort, " Yes, sire, like cabs and kings." All Ihe
oldest sons of the Rochefoucauld family have borne the name of Franfois
since ojie of their ancestors held Francis Ihe First at the baptismal font.
A crusade has recently been waged against ihe diminutives, and especially
those ending in it, which at one time threatened almost 10 supersede the
good old names which they spoil. If iriHes are any indication of character,
Mrs. Harrison musl yield in dignity lo Mrs. Cleveland, The latter promptly
rebuked all efforts to call her " Franlue," and will go down to history as
Frances Folsom Cleveland. Mrs. Harrison is not Caroline ; she signs herself
Carrie S. Harrison, both in business and in friendly letters. To be sure, one
782 HANjyy-BOOK OF
of the most popular mUitesses of the White House was known as "Dollj
Madison." but her real wll and grace carried off her want of dignity. Robert
and William who allow themselves to be styled Bobby and Billy must be either
wanting in self-respect or be afflicted with a weak amiability that falls below
the level of a vice. The public men who are familiarly known as Tom this
or Steve that may be "good fellows" and friends of the boys, but they are
politicians and not statesmen.
In spite of Hayward's declaration, " I hold he loves me best that calls me
Tom." it has been legally ruled that it is disrespectful and insulting to call a
man by his Christian name unless the parties have been intimately connected.
A Massachusetts hotel-keeper discharged his clerk because that magnificent
o fond of such familiarity. The clerk sued for his salary fo
year and damages, but was non-suited, the Supreme Court delivering the fol-
lowing judgment: "To address a person by his Christian name, unless the
'e been intimately connected, socially and otherwise, is uncalled-for
lamiiianiy, and, therefore, insulting to the person so addressed. To address
a party by his surname only shows a want of res|)ect, and would imply thai
the parly eo addressed was beneath the parly addressing ; therefore it is dis-
courteous, and would be considered insulting. To speak of employers by
their surnames only shows a great want of respect on the part of the employee
towards the employer. While it may be customary fur a person to address his
junior clerks or under -servants by their Christian or surnames, to address
others so shows a want of respect, and the party so addressed would naturally
evade contact in the future with any one who had previously so addressed
It has sometimes been Toolisbly held that only snobs and dudes would part
their names in the middle, but in fact anything that increases the individuality
of names is to be welcomed, especially in the case of the unfortunates who
are burdened with such undistinctive names as Smith, Brown, Jones, or
Robinson. There are thousands of John H. Smiths or John M. Smiths,
there may be only a few I. Hayward Smiths or J. MacNamara Smiths. Nor
is there any reason why Mr. Smith should not alter the spelline of his name
to Mr. Smyth or Smyihe, or Mr. Brown should not likewise add a final "e."
A fine example of how a commonplace patronymic may ^ain a lordly and
aristocratic sound is the name of the popular maguinist Junius Henri
Browne. The middle name, " Henri," whether given in baptism or changed
subsequently to please the nice ear of its possessor, is a stroke of genius.
During the progress of the famous Codman Will case, the name of J. Amory
Codman gave rise to an amusing error of a type-writer. A Copy of the
telegram lound among the papers bore the address "J. A. Mory, cabman,
Parker House." A long ana puziling search followed. Not a trai """
could be found, no such cabman was known to be in employ ther
mtil after two weeks' hunt did the solution dawn upon the counsel.
According to Mr. H, A. Hamilton, in his "Quarter Sessions from Queen
Elizabeth," the practice of giving children two Christian names was unknown
in England before the period of the Stuarts, was rarely adopted down to the
time of the Revolution, and never became common until after the Hanoverian
family was sealed on the throne. "In looking through so many volumes of
county records," he says, " I have, of course, seen many thousands and tens
of thousands of proper names, belonging to men of all ranks and degrees, — to
noblemen, justices, jurymen, witnesses, sureties, innkeepers, hawkers, paupers,
vagrants, criminals, and others, — and in no single instance, down to the end
of the reign of Anne, have I noticed any person bearing more than one
ChHslian name. The first instance occurs m 1717, when Sir Coplestone War-
wick Bampfield appears among the justices who attended the n "
Googk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 783
sessionc >l Exeier. The first inMances which I have met with In anj other
Bace ar« those of Henry Frederick, Eart of Arundel, born in 160S, and Sic
enry Frederick Thynne, who was created a baronet in 1641. Both these
must have been named after the eldest son of James I., who was, of course,
born ill Scotland. No other child of James bore two Christian names, nor
did any child of Charles I., except Henrietta Maria, named after her mother,
who was a Frenchwoman. No king of England bore two Christian names
before William III., who was » Dutchman."
Surnames, in modern times as dislineuished from classical, cannot be traced
futher tack than the tenth century. Their origin is simple enough. So long
as persons bore oniy single names, and these derived from a limited number
of sources, as profane or sacred history, there might be 6fly persons of the
same name in every little communiiy. Hence there gradually grew up Ihe
habit of adding a distinguishing epithet, commonly noting some personal
peculiarity or attribute, place of birth or residence, trade, occupation, office,
or relationship. Thus, such names as Brown, Black, Gray, etc, are derived
from the color of (he hair or complexion of the eponymic ancestor ; Long,
Short, Little, Cruikshank, and so on, from his bodily conformation ; Smart,
Swift, Hardy, from his disposition ; Noble, Rich, King, Earl, Knight, etc,
from his station ; Archer, Fletcher, and especially the familiar Smith, from
his trade or occupation ; and English, Scott, Holland, and Ireland, from his
country. A great fund from which the necessities of family nomenclature
have been supplied is the baptismal or personal names of the founders.
These have become surnames, not only in their original Torm, but also in the
many familiar shapes which usage may have assigned to them, as Ihe affec-
tionate diminutives in the domestic circle or Ihe monosyllabic appellatives
once current In the workshop or on Ihe farm. Thus, from Richard we get
Richards and Richardson, Ricks and Rix, Kickson, Kixon, or Rilson, Ricards
and Rickelts. From the curler Dick or Diccon we derive Dicks, Dix, Dick-
son or Dixon, Dickens or Diccons, and Dickenson or Dicconson ; from
Hitchin (once neatly as familiar as Dick) we get Hilchins, Hilchinson, Hlckok,
and Hickox. Surnames in this class add to the personal names on which
they are based eilhet the possessive "s" or Ihe more explicit "son," these
being the Saxon patronymic forms, as the prefixes " Fill," " Ap," "Mac," and
"O" are respectively the Norman, Welsh, Scotch, and Irish forms. People
bearing these patronymic names may be assumed 10 be descended from the
stay-at-homes of (he family, the domestic and unambitious ones, who were
content to tread quietly in their father's footsteps. While the enterprising
brother travelled to a distance and acquired a surname from the town or shire
or country of his birth, with which new associates identified him, while the
brother of strong predilections seized his favorite occupation and extracted
from it his distinguishing appellation, the less sanguine, less original of Ihe
three, who calmly took up his Father's business, was called merely the son of
his father, and handed down to his posterity a surname based upon that father's
baptismal name. Does this explain why in a country where probably one-third
of the names end in "son" there are comparatively so small a number of
eminent names with that termination? The greatest of all, probably, is Dr.
Johnson, and he can only be ranked in the second class.
A number of things conspire to increase the difficulty of tracing surnames
lo their origin. Many were given on account of circumstances long ago for-
gotten, many were mere accidental nicknames. Many of Ihe words on which
surnames were based have become more or less obsolete. Fletcher and
Lorimer, for example, would be inexplicable did they not appear in early
Norman literature as Che words for archer and manufacturer nf horse-bits.
Todd ("fbi") and Beck ("brook") are intelligible only through dialects. Bui
784 HANDY-BOOK OF
above alt, many nimCB have become so transm«rified IhtoQgh abbreviation,
phonelic decay, and corruptions of all sorts that 111 many cases it is not poui-
Die to recognize the original form. In old times every one spell phonetically,
and especially insisted on the right to spell his own name as he chose. Shake-
speare spelt his forty-three different ways. His friends lent additional variety
by civing it two hundred and seventeen forms. Some idea of the confusion
which among the unlettered classes might arise from this phonelic spelling
may be gained from the story cold by a recent traveller in Cornwall, thai a
pit-girl on her marriage confounded both parson and clerk by giving her name
as " Loice Showd." It was only by diligent inquiries among her triends that
the name was found 10 be " Alice Karwood." Nay, even among the higher
classes phonetic spelling would alter the appearance of many noble names.
Wemyfs would become Weems; Eyre, Air; Geoffrey, Jeffrey; Colquhoun,
Cohoon ; Urquharl, Urkurt ; Dyllwyn, Dillun ; Waldegrave, Walgrave ; Cnck-
barn, Coburn 1 Mainwaring, Manneriiig ; Kntdlys, Rnowles ; Gower, Gor ;
Meuji, Mews ; Kerr, Carr \ McLeod, McCloud ; SL John, .Sin Jin ; 5l. Clair,
Sinkler \ Beauchamp, Beecham. The strange metamorphosis which a name
may assume in passing liom one language to another may be illustraled
by Taliaferro, which drops into "Tolliver" in Virginia (wheire Carruthcrs
must fail to recognize itself as "Cruder"), Tollemache, which Iwcontes "Tal-
mage"in New York, Janvier, which has been anglicized as "January." Somer-
set becomes "Sainte Mouselle" in Canada, Filzpatrick "Felix Patty," and
Stanford " Sainte Folle." For the astonishing mispronunciation of Enroughty
to which we have already alluded, many explanations have been offered. It
has been suggested that when the original Enroughlys reached Virginia ihey
found it a perfectly hopeless job to gel their name properly spelt or properly
pronounced by their new countrymen. So in despair they consented to be
called Darbys by mankind in general, though they steadfastly clung to their
true patronymic in all papers and documents. Bui a Kicfamond paper oflered
a more plausible solution, obtained from a member of the timily, according to
which the Rrst Enroughty who emigrated to this country was named Darby
Enroughty. He settled at or near what is now known as Uarbytown, and
bis neighbors called him Darby for short This finally became so universal
that it attached to him as his patronymic, and ii.any supposed he had no other.
None of ihe family, however, ever used it in writing, but always answered it
when spoken to.
It is cutious to trace the real meaning of some famous names, and to see
how whimsically inappropriate some of them were lo the men who bore them.
The greater part of Europe suffered from the misdeeds of Bonaparte, whose
name really means good part, or good side. The Prince of B^
must ^reall^ have belied his name to the Hollanders w
mpellcd to receive him. The Christian world would hardly consider Renan
' ' ' ' ie of Ihe etymological meaning of his name ; and it 1
that Sardou, the playwright, ' ** ■
Blron, the original fonn of 1
n princely name of Borghcse is Ihe s:
or citizen. Daudel is a form of the Hebrew David. There is no significance
in Ihe bet that Gambetta signifies a litlle leg. Goupil a tbx, Abelard a
beeherd, or Boucicault a hx man. MacMahon scarcely seems to be the
same as the Italian Orsini or the French Ursins, yet all mean son of Ihe
bear.
On the other hand, Arago, the name of a philosopher who looked so
steadily at scientific truth, means good eagle. Erckmann, the novelist,
the first half of Ihe literary partnership which always suuesis Ihe Siamese
twins, is both l^ name and by nature « sincere man. Garibaldi mean* bravo
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 785
spear. Gounod deiivei his name appropriately from garlan, to sing. Hugo
means intellisence. The name of Victor Hugo would therefore signify vic-
torious intelligence. Sarcy means switch, a fit name toT a critic Sfbour,
the Archbishop of Paris who was killed at the Barricades, bore an old
German name which signifies victorious protector. Bennett is a form of
Benedict, but the bachelor proprietor erf the Herald does not seem bent on
justifying its sign iticat ion.
Coincidence has even determined that the name of a person should be
linked with his profession. Thus, Dr
IS of Philadelphia doctors, and that city
named Law, one named Lex, and another named Judge. In thi
Mr. Loud and Mr. Thunder were both organists at one time. Among other
instances authenticated by trades directories and parish registers are Mr. Toe
and Mr. Heel, one a shoemaker, the other a clog-maker, al York. Fool and
Stocking were the names of two hosiers, and Treadaway and Last were shoe-
makers. Trulock was a gunsmith. Pie was a pastry-cook. Pickles sold pickles
in a provincial town, Rideout did business as a livetv-stabie -keeper. Pickup
was an omnibus -owner, LJghtfoot a dancing-iaasier. Rod (an ominous name)
a school -mister, Henry Afoist a waterman, Dabb a painter, and Copper a
copper-plate engraver. No better name could have been suggested for the
editor of /^Hf^ than Mark Lemon. The church militant during our civil
war was significantly tvpified in the names of two chaplains of Ihe Federal
army, Mr. Camp and Mr. Drum. The Prohibitionists would probably think
thai Bones and Death were admirable names for two tavern-keepers.
Odd juataposi lions of names without reference to the trades Carried on are
very frequent. Violet, Primrose, and Wallflower was a former London firm ;
Blood and Hoof had a sign in Liverpool ; Heath and Waterfall were uart-
ners ; Jones and Huggs seems a harmless enough name for school-teachers,
but a parent might w^be alarmed at learning from Iheir circular that "Jones
teaches Ihe boys, and Huggs Ihe girls." The proprietor of an Illinois news-
paper fell obliged to decline an otherwise desirable partnership proposal from
Ihe impossibility of arranging the name satisfactorily, since the title of Ihe
firm must read either " Steel and Doolitile" or " Dooliiile and Steel," so ho
wrote, " We cannot join : one partner would soon be in the workhouse and
(he other in the penitentiary."
Home* In Flotlon. If the influence of a right name is felt in real life,
how much more so in fiction 1 In real life it is a matter of chance or of lucky
accident if the baptismal name prove a just and congruous one, suited lo Ihe
character and the circumslances of the Owner. The natural parent may claim
forgiveness for error on the score that he could not foresee the possible career
nf Ihe child whom he may have handicapped at Ihe altar. The author of a
work of fiction can make no such plea. His characters should take form in
his brain, like Minerva in the skull of Jupiter ; they should be armed at all
points, and the most vulnerable point of their equipment is an unworthy name.
Vet knowledge of the thing desired does not necessarily lead lo its easy dis-
covery. It is a matter for though^ for research, for studious inqoiry. Great
skill and nicety of perception must be called into play. The eflect must not
be too CTudetv palpable. Suggestion, not insistence, is needed. The good
old trick which pleased our simpler forefathers, that which consists in merely
labelling a character, — an ingenuous, but not ingenious, stratagem, — has had
its day. It was carried to an extreme in the early English drama, where even
Shakespeare gives us such names among. his minor characters as Mouldy,
Feeble, Shallow, Shadow, etc, and it retained its hold on the comic stage
tlown to the time of Ihe Lydia Languishes, the Sneerwells, the Mrs. Mal-
aprops of Sheridan, the Sir Fopling Gutter* of Vanbrugh.
i, Google
786 HANDY-BOOK OF
At first sight no man would appear to ofTend more than Bunyan, Yet
Bunyan never becomes oRensive ; indeed, he is a master of nomenclature. In
an avowed allegory an author may (to what he never could do in a novel. We
should not care to meet with Mr. Lechery or Mrs. Filth in contemporary
fiction : in Bunyan they are meet and proper. We Teel that his names came
to him with a flash. None is an after-thouehL The quality, the Christian
grace, the virtue or the vice, which he would impersonate, takes form and
name with him at the same instant of time. We recognize the inspiration,
we welcome the inevitable.
The change from the bluntness of early labelling to the more modem re-
finement of names that in themselves are possible and may even be current, yet
suggest a double meaning of peculiar appropriateness to the chaiacler, — this
change Was a gradual one. The Commodore Trunnions, Lieutenant Hatch-
ways, and Tom Pipes of Smoilclt are bad, but ihey are betlei than the Love-
wits and Abel Druggers of Ben Jonson, or the Sir Pertiiiax MacSycophants,
Sir Brilliant Fashions, and Sir Politick Wouldbes of the eighlecnih -century
drama. The nomenclature of Fielding is better than that of Smollett. To
be sure, his Allworthys, Courtlys, and Slipslops all belong lo the label order ;
but Tom Whipwell, which at least sounds like reality, is not a had name (or
a coachman, while Blifil and Trulliber are good examples of that grolesquerie
lit up by some undelinable nuantt of undermeaning which was later to be car-
ried to an extreme length by Dickens. Richardson was slill belter. Lovelace
is very good. So is Sir Charles Grandison. Swift's Lemuel Gulliver is a
masterpiece, and shows what he might have done if he had directed his atten-
tion in this line. But Swift was only a pioneer. It was Scott who, in George
Saintsbury's words, made " the first attempt lo unite the advantage of the play
upon words with the advantage of not taxing the reader's cieduHty and good
nature too greatly." He has the art to give an air of probability to a name
full of meaning. Richie Moniplies, Dr. Heavysteme, Andrew Fairservice,
especially when veiled in Scottish, tickle the car with a lasting relish. Di.
Dryasdust is a classic So is Kennaquhair. Killancurcil is less happy, yet
to those who arc acquainted with the oddities of Scotch nomenclature it his
a certain false plausibility. It is better, fur example, than Dotheboys Hall,
which is evidently modelled upon it. Waverley itself, the very beginning of
his work, could hardly be im|>roved upon. It is a real and not a manufactured
name. It is sonorous as a title and aa a name. As applied to a hero " who
was not exactly famous for knowing his own mind," it is pleasantly yet not too
obtrusively descriptive. And Scott's other names. Captain Coflinkcy, Roger
Wildrake of Squatllesea Mere, Rev. Simon Chatterly, Dr. Quenlin Quack-
leben, each is a more or less felicitous example of the novelist's methoil, — to
make a little gentle appeal to the intelligent and risible faculties, without quite
such a demand on general credulity as may be tolerated in an allegory or on
the stage. Few or none of Scott's contemporaries caught the knadi From
him. Marryat goes back to the old straightforward style in his Faithfuls,
Easys, and Muddles. Miss Austen never even attempts iL Miss Edgewnrlh
occasionally tries and fails. Peacock once in a while strikes off an excellent
name, like Glowry, hut usually produces an unpleasant impossibility, like Hr.
Feathernest Derrydown, or elaborately dull polyglot puns, like Scylhrcips and
EscoL Dickens struck out a new line fur himself, which was to take note of
all the oddest and most eccentric names he could find in teal life and appor-
tion them among his characters with a nice sense of their onomatopoetic
qualities.
"During my boyish days," says a writer in NeUs and Querut, "when
Dickens always stayed al Broadslairs, near Ramsgate, it was generally re-
marked among his friends and acquaintances that he had taken all the names of
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
High Stmt, r
jhcr up ; Mrs.
lived near ; and more names than I can now remember were inhabitants of
eilher Ramsgale or Broadstairs."
With Baliac, he held that names which were invented save no life to
imaginary creations. It has been asserted that none even of the most lan-
tastic of Dickens's names was an actual coinage. Vet some of his names, the
moment they are detached from real life, read like mere labels. I.ord Veri-
■opht, Alderman Cult, Gradgrind, Slyme, Scrooge, Veneering, Mould, arc all
of this order. They grate upon our modern ear. It is no excuse to say that
theyoccnr in real life, often with startling appropriateness. Truth is stranger
than fiction, — that is only another way of saying that fiction may not dare to
be so strange as truth. Cheerybie. on the other hand, is excellent, and lo, in
their way, are Quilp, Nickleby, Oliver Tvrisi, Micawber, Pecksniff, Sairey
Gamp. One can hardly believe that these names were once n on -significant,
that they were borne by persons who ■■■- -" ■" 1— -e-j
by them. Enthusiasts have gone so
bare name they divined the whole n. , „ , -
enthusiasts could not allow the possibility of a matter-of-fact, every-day. able-
bodied Simon Wegg?
But the greatest master of allusive nomenclature was Thackeray. He de-
veloped it early and it flourished apace. Those two capital flunkies, Charles
Vellowplush and Jeames de la Pluche, are nicely differentiated by their names,
Deuceace, though obvious, is a striking name for a gambler. Bareacres is an
admirably su^estive title for a fallen family of haughtv bearing, especially
when Thtstlewood is made (heir family name. Beatrix Esmond is as line in
its way as Di Vernon. Newcome, with its subtle suggestion of the milUaire
on one hand and the pamenu on the other, is admirably diHcrentiatcd by
the help of the first names. Hobson Newcome is evidently a snob, Barnes
Newcome is a cad, Colonel Newcome is a simple-hearted old warrior. Clive
Newcome is pleasant but unimpressive, Ethel Newcome has a melody of its
own. Perhaps Becky Sharp is a trifle too insistent in its suggestiveness,
and Dobbin leaves out all the native poetry In the honest Major's composition,
and illustrates only his thick-hided patience. Vet we could spare neither of
these names. And what a wealth of humor and satire is contained in the
names of the minor characters, — characters that often appear only for a
montent and then disappear, but leave their memory in the ear forever, trans-
fixed there by the magic of a name ! " Tiler and Feltham, Haiteis and Ac-
coutrement-Makers" is full of fun, and of plausibility as well. The Count
von Springbock-Hohenlaufen, Madame de la Cruchecassrfe. MM. de Truf-
figny (of the Perigord &mily). Baron Pitchley and Grillsby, Mr. Zeno Poker,
the American ambassador, these are almost as good in their way as the
names of more important characters, as Arthur Pendennis, or Captain Costi-
gan, or Harry Fnker, or Blanche Amory.
Thackeray suggests the great Frenchman to whom he has often been
likened. One at least of Balzac's similarities to the English author was the
felicity of his nomenclature. Yet his method was that of Dickens rather
than of Thackerav. He never invented names ; he found Iheni in real life.
Uon Gozlan dwells with much humor upon the almost superstitious rever-
ence which Balzac paid to names. He believed in a mvsterlous affinity and
reciprocal influence between names and people in actual life. Philosophers
and the mob, he claimed, were at one in holding this view ; there was no room
left for a single heretic outside of the pale.
" Except for ok," interjected Gozlan.
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788 HAl^DY-BOOK OF
What I didn't Gozlan believe that there were nunU which recalled special
objects, — a sword, a flower? that there were names which at once veiled and
revealed the poet, the philosopher, the painter? Racine, lor example, — the
very name depicted a tender jlassionate poet.
On the contrary, to Gozlan it gave only the idea of a botanist or an apolbe-
■'Well. Corneille? Corneille r
Still the stubborn heretic was recalcitrant. From Corneille he got only
the idea of some insignificant bird, fie accounted fof the meaning which
both names bore to Balzac by the fact that the characteristics of the poets
had become associated in his mind with the sounds of the names. Therefore
it was only through sheer good humor and good fellowship that he joined
Balzac one morning on a certain exploring trip.
Balzac had written a story which he could not let go to the printer's be-
cause the name of the hero had not yet been discovere<L He held that (here
was but one name which could lit all the qualities of the imaginary person,
that that name was already in actual existence, and that it might be found bjr
a careful consideration of the signs in the Paris streets. He had thought of
many names ; none filled the character ; none expressed it ; none wotitd do.
So he drags L<!on Gozlan for hours through the streets. Gozlan reails the
signs on one side, Balzac on the other. In vain Gozlan proposes name after
name. Balzac is pitiless. Suddenly Gozlan feels Balzac's arm on his. It
trembles with excitement In a broken voice he whispers, "There, there ;
read I" Gozlan looks found and reads Ihe name of Marcas. " In this name,"
Bays Balzac, "there is the philosopher, Ihe great mathematician, the unrecog-
nized poet." The name is choecn. Balzac decides to add the initial Z, which
would give it " unc fiamme, une aigrette, une tftoile." He discourses volubly
on the subject " Marcas must be a great artist, perhaps a Benvenuto Cel-
lini." (lozlan, less confident of the physiognomy of names, makes inquiries
at the house. " Marcas is a tailor .'" he cries, exullingly. " A tailor 1" repeats
the novelist, with an air of discouragement : " he deserved a better fate. Never
mind, I will immortalize him." In spite of this liviiig refutation, Balzac clung
to his theory, and in the preface to his story of "Z. Marcas" he insists that
no man so cognomened could be other than a great artist, and launches
out into a disquisition on the influence exercised by names over the destiny
It is not often that we have the history of a name so accurately set forth.
The nearest approach to it is in Daudet's own story of the name of LatKlonzie.
Landouzie, like Sir Fretful Plagiary or Fadladeen in England, has recently
become in France a synonytne for a jealous and backbiting critic The name
and the character first appeared In Daudet's "Tack." but acquired greater
prominence in the dramatixalion of that novel by Daudel and the actoc
Lafontaine.
Daudet was supposed [a have invented the name, but in one of his recent
prefaces he explains that it was found by him under such unusual circum-
stances that he made an oath to employ it some day in a story. During the
siege of Paris he was invited by the commandant of a company o( fraiici-
tirruTt to accompany him to their head-quarters at Nanierre. While the two
friends were conversing there, a messenger hastened up with the news that
the Prussians were attacking Rueil. ^"erv man, save the novelist, seized
hia gun. Daudet asked for a weapon. "There is only one available," said
the commandant, "poor Lardouzie's." " Landouzie ! what an odd name 1"
said Daudet " Who is he ?" " Our sergeant-major. He will never use a
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 789
BtiHon of Rueil, and round themselves in the midst of a company of gardti
mebiUi. "Who is that manf" asked the corporal, eying Daudet suS'
piciously. In vain explanations were offered. The corporal felt convinced
(he civilian was a German spy, and led him before the major. *' I went trem-
bling," says Daudet, " with l^ndouzie's gan in my hand. Happily Cot me,
(he major had read my ' Letlres de mon Moulin.' Had he not, 1 should cer-
(ainly have been shoL Hence the name of Landoiizie became impressed on
his mind-
Nancy, Hisa, an opprobrious epithet for an exceedingly effeminate, over-
nice young man. The original Miss Nancy, however, was a Mrs. Anna Uld-
lield, a ceTebraled actress, ri^ho died in 1730 and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. She was extremely vain and nice about her dress, and as she lay
in stale, attended by two noblemen, she was attired, as she had directed
shortly before her death, in " a very line Brussels lace head^lress, a [f olland
shift with a tucker and double ruffles of the same lace, a pair of new kid
gloves," etc, a circums(ance alluded (o by Pope in the lines, —
"Odwiv! En wnolleqt 'IWDutd ■ lAhil pTOYoke I"
The horror expressed against woolletis is a reference to (he ancient custom,
originally introduced by act of Parliament as a compulsory regulation, in-
tended to encourage the manufacture of woollen cloth withm the kingdom,
of burying (he dead in woollen shrouds.
Natlck Cobbler, Tha, Henr^ Wilson, Vice-President of the United
Stales, elected with Geiteral Grant in 1872. He was born in Natick, Massa-
chusetts, where he in his boyhood learned the trade of shoemaker,
National oharaCteTlatdcS- Carlyle, writing in 1S27, records the lact (hat,
except by name, Jean Paul Friedrich Richtei was at that time little known
out of Germany. "The only thing connected with him, we think, that has
reached this country is his saying, — imported by Madame de Stael and thank-
fully pocketed by most newspaper critics, — Providence has given to the
French the empire of the land ; to the English, that of the sea ; to the Ger-
mans, that of the air." Probably this still remains hts most-quoted saying,
as the best-known of Heine's witticisms is his comparison of the Englishman
and the Frenchman : " I veiily believe that God loves a blaspheming French-
man better than a praying Englishman." On (he other hand. Dr. Johnson
very naturally thinks thai even British taciturnity is better than French vola-
tility : "A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything
of the matter or not ; an Englishman is content to say nothing when he has
nothing to say." (Boswbll : Life, ch. x.) Emerson, in his " Enalish Traits,"
under (he head of "Manners," says, "I find the Englishman lobe him of all
men who staitds firmest in his shoes."
There is an old say!ng of uncertain parentage which afSrms that an Eng-
lishman is never happy save when he is miserable, a Scotchman is never at
home save when he is abroad, an Irishman is never at peace save when he is
fighling, a Welshman never keeps anything till be has lost it- This para-
doxically but effectively touches off the chief characteristics of the inhabi-
tanls of Great Britain. Separate proverbs affirm the same truths in detail.
"The Englishmen take their pleasures sadly," is a well-known French
saying.
Had Cain been Scot, God miuld han changed hli doom.
Not lorccd hliD winder, bui eanfined him hone,
is a couplet which reaffirms the judgment of many proverbial sayings, ai, e.g.
790 ' HANDY-BOOK OF
" A Scottish man and a Newcastle grlndslone travel all the world over."
And the popular idea of the Itiahman reptesenls him as suavely asking,
" Will any giiitlemaii tread on the tail o' me coat ^' as a preliminary lo fuilher
A Scotch saying, speaking of food, says ihat " the Englishman weeps, the
Irishman sleeps, but (he iicotchman gaea till he gels it." As to the Welsh-
man, a Welsh ptoveib ilseir acknowledges thai " the oldei the Welshman
the mote madman."
With the exception, perhaps, of the Irish, the natives of Greal Britain
are nil lavoriles in Continental Europe : proverbial sayings usually bear
hard upon Ihem. Under Albion, Perpide, we have already given a Kw ex-
amples. "The Emperor of Germany, " so runs an old French saw, "is the
king of kings, the King of Spain king or men, the King of France king of
asses, Ihe King ot England king of devils." And as popular estimates of
other nations, take the following from various quarters :
Tlw Inliani an wiic bclbn Ihc deed, llie Gemuai in Ihc deed, Ihe Fiench nfict Ae deed.
—Italian.
A Poliih brldae, a Bohemian iBMik, a Snbiaa mm, lialian devoU.,!), ud Geman biting
aie not wcmh a E^ii.— Cfrnao.
The lialiaiu aie known by ibeir ilnging, ihe French by iheir dancing, ihe Spanlardi by
iheir brando. Ihc Getmant by Iheir drinking, (Bui ihia uanilatiim ipoilt Ihc Ull and ihymc
of Ihc original: "L'lialiini al canlare, 1 Tnnccfi il baUare. 1 Spagnooli al braiaie, i
TedeKbi dlo ibnacchiart, •! coi>oicoBa.")-A</te..
The Iiallani cry. the Gccmani bawt, ihe French ting— ^nujl and ILiliaH.
Ilie Frenchman linia well when hli ihtoai is molilened.— /■orfuwii.
If Ibe dCTll came out of hetl to fight, ihcn would fenbwiih be a Ftcnchaus tn accept the
When ihe Frenchman aleepi, the devil rocki him.— Frtiirh.
No German remaini where he ii well ott.—Crrmtm. (Thii agnei wiih iht dncription oT
Tadiui, " The German mind cannot btook rcpoie.")
The (jennant carry iheir wit in ihcir fingen.— ^r^irA,
ItalT- beadt, bolidayi. and lenpeiu (" Italia, leiie, leiie e lemptue").— Aia/^ii.
It it better to be in ihe Ebreit and eal pine-con«* than n live in a caiile wiih Spaniardi.—
Abiiract rram a Spaniard ail his good qaalitici, and there remains a Pomguete.— ^aii/iA.
When the Spaniard lingt, either he ii mad or he hai not a doit.— ^nAf.
Succors o( Spain, either lata or atttr.—Sfimiik.
Thitus of hpain ("cous de Espalia"), a proverbial term in Spain for abiucs, anomalies.
Poind if Ihe hell of peatants, ihe paradise of Jews, thepurgalory of burghers, the heaven
of nobles, and the gold-mine of foreignen.— ^frHfdJi.
Nattre, an English name for oysters raised in a bed other than Ihe natural
one. These are considered very superior.
An epicure, while ealing oysiers, swallowed one that was not frtsh- "Zounds, waiter t"
he ejaculated, matting a wry face, "what ton of an ovster da you call this?" '*A native,
sir."^ replied Ihe wieldei of the Irnife. " A native 1—1 call it ■ ira/f : to you nwd nol open
any more."- Holuca Smith : Du Tim Tmrn/tt.
Native AmeriCBiiB, one of ihe many names by which the American, or
Know-Nothing, party {f. v.), whose real name was secret, was popularly called.
JTatural child. Al present this term means an illegitimate chilil, a bas-
tard Anciently il meant the exact contrary ;
Then Eclor efltnonea entiid uayne.
t eno men... an ^^^'^^^ ^ 3,.^ , ,Sg„
The modem use of the term dates from the beginning of the seventeenth
century. Vet so late as 1641, in a grant of tuition, etc.. Anne Lawrence is
described as "natural and legilimate daughter of I.awrencc Edmundson, lale
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. , 791
A rHend, who wjii About id many lh« narurnl daughler of th« Ihjc d« . wat ev-
pBliAling at greil knelh on the vinun, edcmI qiulilin, and lalcDU of hii filluFF wife, but
til ipouict une fitle Mirnalurctle" {"To hear you, one would imagine you wervgokng to many
a supemaiui^l daugtiier"). — Gudndw : Retottettions.
Nature. On« touch of nature make* the irhole irorld kin. This
famuua line from "Troiius and Crcssida," Acl iii., Sc 3, is popularly misappre-
hended to mean, Once touch Ihe feelings and the whole world 19 with you.
ll is really a cynical cipression. meaning that the love of novelly. whelhec
worthy of love or not, is common to all mankind. Ulysses is railing at Ihe
Greeks for that they have well-nigh forgotten their former idol Achilles and
are now worshipping Ajax. Virtue, he says, need not seek
Rcmufwntioii for Ihe Ihinj il wxi.
Oike touch of nature nukei the whole worid kin, —
That all, with one conaent, prmiae new-twni gaadi,
Thouch they arc made and moulded of ihtnn nut.
And five to dull, ihii i> a Ihile (ill,
Kfttnre the art of dod. " In brief," says Sir Thomas Browne, in his
" Religio Medici," " all things are artiRcial. for Nature is the Art of God," —
words which Hobbes has adopted unaltered in the first line of his introdtiction
to " leviathan." But, indeed, the definition is as old as Plato, who says,
"Those things which are said to be done by Nattire aie indeed done by
Divine Art."
Voting borrowed the phrase, and spoiled it :
Tbe COUTH of Nature li the an of God.
Nigkl rJuMrUt, li., I. i>67.
It is curious lo compare these aphorisms with the converse statement of
Burke, " Art is man's nature." The two views which make nature the divine
art, or art human nature, are philosophically combined in the well-known pas-
sage in the " Winter's Tale," where Shakespeare substantially explains that
the dlFfeience between them is ultimately arbitrary. Perdita has bestowed on
the disguised visitors Polixenes and Camillo rosemary and rue, for that they
"keep seeming and savor all the winter long." Whereupon Polixenes play-
fully remonstrates :
Sbeptterdeu,—
A fair o« are yon.-well you fit our agea
Wiib flowtn of wtotei.
Pm£ta. Sir. ttia year nowiiig viciaiM —
Not yet oc ummer'ft death, nor on tthTinnh
Of trembling •rimer— ibe falteit Aowen o' the kuob
Arc our canulioni and Btreaked EiUyvon,
Which •omecaUNaiure'abuiudi. Of thu kiitd
Our Tuitk gardvn'a barren ; and 1 care not
Ftiinmi. Wbctcfon, (onle inaidgB,
FiriUa. ° Fat I have heard It Hid,
With great cieaiiDiNaluic. '"^ "™*
PtIixHus. Say then b*:
Vel Mature It lude better by no mean.
But Nature makea thai mean ; ao o'er that an,
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
And do n« all lh«n buurdi.
Aci IT., Sc. 4-
n« plna ultra (also written "non plus ultra" and "nee plus ultra"), a
Latin phrase used to mdicate the highest excellence, the remotest limit or
boundary. Probably it comes from Job xxjtviii. If: "Hitherto shalt thon
come, but no farthCT ; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed."
H« quid nlmls, the Latin and more familiar ronn of the famous maxim
upKrrav fieTpov ("Nothing to excess," or, leu literally, "Moderation in all
liungs"), which is attributed toCleobnlus, to Chilo, or to Solon, and with the
equally famous "Know Thyself" {a. v.) was inscribed over the temple of
Apollo at Delphi, Many classical and modern poets and thinkers haire
repeated the idea, if not the phrase. In " Medea" we have Euripides calling
moderation " the noblest gift of heaven," — not half as fine a phrase as the
Oriental " Moderation is the silken thread running through all the viriues."
In Roman literature we have the " Medio tutissimus il»s" (" You will travel
safest in the middle") of Ovid {Afeiamarfiitut, ii. 137), and the ■■ aurea medio-
critas," or "golden mean," of Horace, —
He Jul Iwldi bit itae tMa nun.
The linlc ud iIk gnu.
Foil not tlH wiuiu ihw ptoch Ihe poor.
Nor plague* ihai tiuiu tbe rich aun'i door,
Odtt.l\.,*.t:
M well as his
Quoa uln cinque'nequil coDibtete rectum
Satini, I., 1. 106,—
paraphrased thus by Conington :
Ve«, there'i ■ nem in onrali. Lde bat lina
In French we have la Fontaine translating the maxim almost literally in the
well-kttown line,—
tUen de nop c« uo point.
tutd Molitre in "The Misanlbrope," —
La pubhe nuoD full loute eiu^mM
El vein que Ton mil uge avec (obriM,
C Perfecl ceuofl aroiili ill awma^
and Qoinaolt in " Armiile," —
Ce D'eit pu to* ngi
D'tor phn mgt qu'il oe le laui.
(" It b D<H wiie to b* wiw ihiB b ueceuuy :")—
and the comic dramatist Monvel, in a refrain which Desaugiera was fond of
quoting, —
L'ucti *n lout' eu nn <Ur>Di,
which reads as if it might be a reminiscence of the Vulgate's translation of
Paul's advice in the twelfth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans ; " Non pins
sapete quam oportet sapere, sed sapere >a sobrietaiem." Again, we have
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 793
TallcTrand. in i similar vein, advising (he beginner in diplomacy, " Pai trop
de E^lc" ("Not too much leal"), while Louis Philippe hiu upon the beat
laconic equivalent in his "juste milieu."
The Biihop of Amitnt wu u fcd«pl in convvyina % monl Icuoa mdcr the guiK of a Jc«
orm willy mnarii. Ta ■ lady who conmU«d bim abotu ih« me of palDI. wbkh tom« aUowed
cacdium \jutlt miUtn\ id ovtrylhine ; ihertfore I will allow you id ue il on one ilfle of your
hct.'-— il Fmmill; Pun,
In English the same lesson is taught in many ways :
' VLV : Eu/Muti, i5J9'(Ari>e^" rapiun). P- X-
CoHly thy bibit u tW pni
MumUt. Ka i., 5c. 3.
[ Ii4v4 often adviiod you 10 flrike the tauxt of everybody, thai u, ibeLr eye* uid thdr
Bin, feod Iheir heuti wlLl follow, for who il guided by mere reaaotiT Leun to diitLnpiilfa
between Uifle> wd iriAe*; »ineaie necnury, loine agreeable. *nd fome utterly demplcabl*
Id the conifnori JDlcrcoune of lUe, For iDiluice. dreu ia tmdouhcedly m trifle JD LtKlf. too
ETTAt accurtcy in thai irifle roruii a fop. too miich tieKli£ence a tloven : bad emrema both.
Btu there \% medur ije rthut; ihert are certain line* which miut h« drawn; and I am
poUnnen X antf v[u^^^ cJuie, who is an 'w«m^°contrihuiar' Is IhclceiuienSiL
cellaay, propoee la join fellowthip as brother literary men. almp me on the tiac:lt, and call me
old bojr or by my Chriitiin name.— Tkaukrkav : "Tlu Virginiani, vol. I. ch. jtUii.
See also quolalions grouped under Man Wants but Little Hehk Below.
ITa sotOT nltra otepldam (L., " Let not the cobbler go beyond his last"),
a proverbial expression applied to one who exceeds the proper functions of
criticism or meddles in matters with wtiioh he is not acquainted. Pliny the
Elder, in his "Natural History," Book ixxv.. Sec. S4, tells (he story of its
origin. "It was a practice," he says, "of Apelles, when he had completed
a work, lo exhibit it to the view of the passers-by in some exposed place, while
he himself, concealed behind the picture, would listen (o the criticisms. . . .
Il was under these circumstances, they say, that he was censured by a shoe-
maker for having represented the shoes with one latchei loo few. The ne«
day, the shoemaker, proud ai seeing the former error corrected, thanks to his
advice, began to criticise the leg ; whereupon Apelles, full of indigna(ion,
popped his head ou( and reminded him tha( a shoemaker should give no
opinion above (he shoes ("ne supra crepidam su(or judicaret"], — a piece of
advice which has passed into a proverbial saying."
Irving, in his " Knickerbocker's New York," thus refers to the habi( of
criticising and Complaining in the time of William the Testy: "Cobblers
abandoned (heir stalls to give lessons on political economy; blacksmiths
suffered their fires to go out while they stirred up the lires of faction ; and
even tailors, though said to be the ninth parts ol humanity, neglected their
own measures lo criticise the measures of government btrange I that the
science of government, which seems to be so generally undcrstimd, should
invariably be denied to the only ones called upon to exercise it. Not one of
the politicians in question but. take his word for it, could have administered
af^rs ten times better than William the Testy."
Socrates used to say that although no man undertakes a trade he has not
learned, even the meanest, yet every one thinks himself sufficiently qualified
for the hardest of all trades, — that of government-
A ■bocDiakcr wai nrreKed for b^fatay vid brou^ before ttie magbirmte. " WUcb wife,"
ukcd a by-ituder, "will he be obliged to talie T Smith, always iwdy nt a jokt, replied.
794 HANDY-BOOK OF
NsoMal^ is the mother of invantioii, a proverb common to mott
modern natiuns, and based on Ibe Latin " Mater artium necesailas." In St.
Gregory Nazianzen i( appears in the foim, " For there is nothing more in-
ventive than suffering." A ornate phrase is, "Needs must when the devil
drives" \q. ».).
Sheit had leaml vid forgotten Iho 4xordioni oT jt «p«flcb which begun »i(h the vrDrd
"Necesslljr knovn no law." ia a irell-known axiom. Among the ancients
Publius Sjrus said, " A wise man nevec tefuses anvlhing lo necessity" {Maxim
540), explaining his meaning muie fully in Maxiin 553; "Necessity knows
no law except lo conquer." In the translation of " Uon Quixote" it appeals,
"Necessitybasnolaw." Shakespeare says, in "JuliusCfesar," Acliv.,Sc.3,—
The deep of night b crept upon our uJk,
An anonymous couplet finds a facile jest in Ihe phrase;
Why Ii Necenlly like Lord Animiher'i bnMher T
Neccdiiy knowt no Law. no more doei Anunithcr.
But necessity is often the plea of the tyrant, as well as of the distieMcd :
The lynukt'i plea, exciucd hit deviliu deedt.
MrtTDH: PanuliH Lml, Book Iv,, I. 393.
Necewly b ibe argumenl of lyiuu ; h ii ihe creed of lUvet,— Willuh Pitt: Stttck
« llu India am, Novcmbv, i;S].
Neok-veiwe, a verse from Ihe Psalter, which a prisoner who claimed
benefit of clergy (y. v.) was obliged to read, and by his ibiltty 10 do so he
literally "saved his neck." The magistrate might o]>en the book at random
and test him. But ii was more common for the bishop's ortJinary. ap-
pointed for the purpose al each prison, (o give some particular verse, which
M Newgale was usually Psalm 11. t, known as David's prayer for remission
of sin : " Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam miscricordiam (uam ; et
secundum mulliludinem mtseralionum luarum, dele iniquilatem meam" (" Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness : according lo Ihe
multitude of thy tender mercies Iilul out my transgressions"). If the ordi-
nary said, " Legit ul clericus" (" He reads like a clerk"), Ihe offender was only
burned in Ihe hand 1 otherwise he suffered death (3 Eiiw. I., 1274).
There are many allusions in the old dramatists to this custom, as,
Widlin fony feet of the g^lon. conning his neck-rene.
DoDSLaif : Tktjimcf M^Im, viU. j6S.
Twwig i. perfectly,
™ I^ASincn" Tlu GuarJiaw, iv. i.
An old »ang bM the following ;
If > monk bid bca taken
For Healing of bwrcA,
Pot burglary, murder, or rape,
(Well prempl) hit neck-voH,
He never could ful to escape.
Tlu BHIhk Aftllr{ii«,),
ira«ds moat when the devU drive*, an old English prnvert^ tiijoled
both by Shakespeare {Airs IVrll tiat Ends WtU, Act i., Sc. 3) and Mar-
lowe [Docior Fatiitus, Act iv., Sc, 3), in the less elliptic form, " He roust
needs go that the devil drives." But half a century before Hulowe's great
play John Heywood had »aid, —
;i:v,.G00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 795
rim \t A proverb w'
?dII< ^3un lii ffmimitdii;
Other English variants of the proverb are. "They tun fast whom Ihe devil
drives," and " He that Ihe devil drivei feels no lead at his heels." Analogous
expressions abound in the proverbial litetaiure of olher countries.
Net mezso dal cammln di nostra vlbi (It., " Midway in the journey
of our life"), a famous line in Dante's " Inferno," Canto i. Cary thus trans-
lates the passage :
In Ihe midway of lhi> our moml life,
I foujid me Id a gloomy vood, anny,
Goae from Ihe paih drecl.
N<l mtiEa dil cammm di Httlravila. This line, with which Dante begins Ihe ArH cuio
is the fini time thai it louchei me. Wiih wh«t inlerest do 1 reflect upon il, and how lerioiu
and aignificani do 1 hnd ll 1 It is Ikcbuk hi ihia mooKni 1 can apply it ta myneit. t am m
my turn at the point where Daale waa when the old sua marltea the linL year of the (bur-
leeDih ceDturv- 1 am midway in iIk path of life, if we tuppose that path equal Tor all and
leadini ID old age,— Anatoie Fkancb.
Nam. con., a contraction for ntmine cotttradictnti, which in its (urn is bad
Latin for imllo iontradktntc, — i.i., no one contradicting. It would be iiiler-
csting to know how the generally tabooed ablative of nemo has worked itself
into popular lavor. Even so correct a writer as Schopenhauer uses the kin-
dred barbarism lumiiu ditietitiente.
N«ino Tepeut« fnlt tuiplBBimoa (L, " No one ever became very wicked
all al nnce"). a passage in Juvenal's Satires. II., 66, which may be taken as
an oBset to Virgil's phiaae in the "^neid" (Buok vi., 1. 126), " Facilis de-
scensus Avcrni" (or, as some texts read, " Averno"), " The descent to Avemiia
(hell] is easy." Easy it may be, but the journey is accomplished by gradual
approaches.
NeaauB, Shirt of^ a figure used oftener by Conlinental writers and speakers
than by English : thus, Rcnan alludes to (he " Nessus shirt of ridicule." It is
used ill speech generally as a simile for a source of misfortune, > fatal gift, or,
less often, anything that indelibly wounds the susceptibilities, and it is bor-
rowed from (he fable of Hercules and (he centaur Nessus. who was ordered
b^ (he former (o carry his wife Dejanira across a river. Arrived on the olher
Bide, the monster offered (o do violence (o (he woman, which seeing, Hercules
shot and killed him with a poisoned arrow. In revenge, the dying centaur
gave to Dejanira his tunic, saying (hat he to whom she should give it would
love her ciclusively. Dejanira gave it to her husband, who as soon as he put
it on was devoured by the poison with which it was steeped. I( clung fast
and could not be taken oft, and after unutterable agonies Hercules jum[>ed
into a blazing funeral pyre which he caused to be prepared, and was con-
N«1P and Tpa^ A correspondent of A'nM and Quiriet (seventh series,
i*. 477) says that Lessing wrote of VoKaire, " Voltaire writes much thai is
good, much that is new, bul what is good is not new, and what is new is not
good." Unfortunately, he gives this on (he authority of a third parly, and is
unable to supply chapter and verse. The phrase, nowever originaled, has
now become a favorite form of condemnatory criticism, — the adjective trut
being usually substituted for gocd. Daniel Webster, in his attack on Ihe
plal^rm of the American Free-Soil party (September 1, 184S), said, " I see
nothing in it both new and valuable. ' Whal is valuable is nut new, and whal
is new is not valuable' " Bul even in this fotm he puis the saying in ({uota-
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79fl HANDY-BOOK OF
tion-marks. A somewhat similar antithesis maybe found hi Macaulay:"'niere
were gentlemen and there were seamen in Ihe navy of Charles II. But the
seamen were not genllemen, and Ihe gentlemen were not seamen." Dr.
Johnson quotes fram Goldsmith a " fine passage" from the "Vicar of Wake-
field," which " he was afterwards fool enough to expunge :" " When I was a
yonng man, being anxious to dislinauisb myself. I was perpetually starting new
ptopoailions. But 1 soon gave this over, for I found that generally what was
new was false." (Boswell's Lift. vol. vii. ch. viii,] After all, this is a bald
commonplace, which Goldsmith did well to cancel.
New departnra. a phrase made popular by CIcmeni C. Valtandigham,
one of Ihe leaders of the Democrats, lo express the policy which he first
urged upon the party at a convention in Montgomery County, Ohio, May, 1871.
:ured the adoption of his principles in the plalforn
islory as the Dayton platform. Val land ig ham's new A
brief, an abandonment of the old policy of obstruction and oppositioi
in political history
the acceptance of the results of the war as final, including the Thirteenth,
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, which the Democracy had hitherto
opposed as revolutionary, and Ihe commencement of a new policy of living
and vital issues. The phrase "a new departure" is now in general use, and
is applied to any radical reform or change of base, personal or political.
._ ™p public uUtraacQ oT ibt puly Aal the wmx uid ihe ■in«ndm«Dti to t
tdapled aiDce the wu- had Killed culold qucuiODB beyond further diipuu
public I
'^^^.
ihi Southcm Stun gnu fooling of equalii, ... . _ ,
fenDct with Iheir ■flWini on eucily i^c Hme Wei with Iniirfsncc in tl>e ■flain of No
YiHi uid MuHChuMiu.— A'rts Ytrli Nali. ' ' '
New Tlmon QoairaL A curious chapter in any new volume on tb*
"Quarrels of Authors" would be furnished by the passage at arms betweeit
Tennyson and Bulwer. The latter, in his eaily days, had an unfortunate
faculty for exciting the antagonism of his fellow-authors. It was unfortunate,
because he was extremely sensitive lo attack, and his sensitiveness was in-
creased by the B)Ct that he was anxious to slanid well with his brethren of the
pen, and never said an unkind or discourteous word about Ihem, save in the
way of retort.
No doubt he fell like a good fellow wronged, — a feeling thai is gall and
wormwood to a sensitive spirit.
In his Autobiography he complains of Ihe "ribald attacks" which Thack-
eray made upon him in the pages of Fraser's, and doubtless those attacks cut
deep into his soul. Vet he wound up by making friends with Thackeray, who
in one of his prefaces makes public profession of the regret with which he
li>oked back upon his " Bulwig caricatures, altribuling them to an ebullition
of animal spiriti in a young and thoughtless writer, unconscious of Ihe p4in
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 797
he was inflicting. Maginn, Lockhart, Jeffrey, all (he wags and ctilics of the
period, had (heir fling at Bulwer. Carlyle expressed a loalhine (or him. Even
m America, Hawlharne, in one of his " Mosses From an Old Manse," says,
" Bulwer I detest. He is Ihe very pimple of Ihe age's humbug." Disraeli
and Dicliens are almost the only men of any literary standing who always
looked kindly upon Ihe author of " Pelham."
As to Tennyson, he showed his dislike as far back as 1S30. His volume,
" Poems, Chiefly Lyrical," published in thai year, contained a short poem
called "A Character," which was recognized by every one as a satire on
A Charact'br.
Willi ■ Wf.«luicc upon the sky
Alntghtbeui<]."TlH wudcnnn
Of Ibb m«i iniriau Uai«nc
T«Ach in« (he DoUirngiieH of IhingL'*
V*l could Bol >11 mlioD pkrcc
Beyond the Ihhlodi of hii ey«.
He ipake of besuty : ibu Ihe dull
He ipalit or WrtM : nol the Eodi
More purely when ihey wisli lo clu
Pdlu and )unD tilting by ;
r by hour
Wiih Uh depRHcd u ho wvrc meek,
Hiuueirunlo him»ir he loid '.
Upon hlniKir hinnelT did feed :
And other iban bb (orm oT creed.
There is a cruel truth in this dissection of the vain, self-consciont, and self-
worshipping Bulwer, his failure to accommodate his profession to his prac-
tices, his affectation of Byronic gloom, his utter want of literary sincerity.
The victim writhed under the lash. But it was many years before he re-
taliated. In his " New Timon," a very dull and insipidf romance in verse
which he published anonymously in 1S46, he made a savage onslaught on the
young poet who had now taken a recognized place among the immortals.
No doubt the fact of his foeman's success in the line of literature wherein he
himself had failed, though wishing most ardently to succeed, added venom to
the onslaught But, though the shaft was lipped with poison, it was shot by
an incompetent hand, and recoiled on Ihe archer. Indeed, it is difficult tii
conceive of anything more puerile, more unfair, more manifestly dictated by
personal spite, than the following lines :
I »e*k no purfled preuincu cF pbrvje :
A Boul IB eunen Komi the Irkki lor pnlt*.
ir to my vm* dooM Iha Pou'i bm*,
TbI) BKrii, nte to teiM thM wiiB, I daiBj
Blew U< own prmii
;i:,vG00gk"
79* HANDY-BOOK OF
Ho tawdry fn« ihall ■romanlic mjr pen 1
Nol mine, n« minc'lO MutT'lbtb^d [' Ihc two
Of bornwed doio, lti< mockbinl'i KiDdilh (uIK,
The jingling nwdley of purloioFd coDceits,
Outbibyinc Wordiwonli and suiglitietiiw Kcuo [>ic1.
WhER ill ibc iln of pudnrork-pMlotnl chime
Am I cH^i^^ bal b^iheiierik nile*
The foTval jnf^J of ■ frigid vchool,
[f lo old Uwa nj Spuian caim Hdb«n»
If ih* old Tlfomu miuic rbumii my ear,
WbcR Bcue iriih lound and cue inita xighi cenbliia
In tbt puR allva of Fopa't hnging lint :
Or vhert ihe pulae of nun beau loud and flnoc
In (he Irank How of Diyden'i Inily aongt
Lei Sctaool-miia Alfred »« her chine delighl
On '* darling liule room ao uram and brlghl/*
Chaunl " I'm a-weary" in iofectioua alnun,
And calch her " blue fly ^i^ing i' the pane."
Though nilaed by Ciiiits, though adored by Bluei,
IllDUgh Peel with pudding plump ihe puling Mult,
Though Theban uale IbeSaxon^ punt cootnli.
And ptntioni Tennyann while itarvei a Knawlei,
Rather be ihou, mv poor Pit nan Maid,
Decenl al leaai is Hayley'i weed! acnvod,
Than palch with frippery eveiy linael line.
And flaunt, admiied. the Rag I'air of Iht Nine I
In > tiote to this precious rubbish the author says, " I have no blind en-
thusiasm for Mr. Knowles, and 1 allow both the grave faults of his diction
and the somewhat narrow limits within which is contracted his knowledge of
character and life, but no one can deny that he has nobly supported the
British Drama ; that he has moved Ihe laughter and tears of thousands ; that
he forms an acltial, living, and imperishable feature in Ihe loftiei literature of
his lime ; that Ihe hiatuiy of the English stage can never be rewritlen here-
after withoDt long and honorable mention of the author of 'Virginius' and
'The Hunchback.' The most that can be said of Mr. Tennyson is that he is
the favorite of a small circle ; to the mass of the public little more than his
name is known ; he has movsd no thousands, he has created no world of
characters, he has labored out no deathless truths, nor enlarged our knowl-
edge of the human hearl bv the delineation of various and deathless passions ;
he has lent a stout shoulder to no sinking bul manly cause, dear lo the
Nation and to Art ; yet if the uncontradicted statements in the journals be
true, this gentleman has been quartered on the public purse ; he is in the
Srime of life, belonging to a wealthy family, without, I believe, wife or cliil-
ren ; it the very time that Mr. Knowles was lecturing for bread in foreign
lands, verging towards old age, unfriended even by Ihe public he has charmed I
Such is Ihe justice of our Ministers, such Ihe national gratitude lo tha«e
whom we Ihank — and starve I"
The most noticeable thing about both the lines and the note to them is
their arrt^ant and uneasy egotism. In the verse the poet expressly claims,
" 1 am virile, strong, origiiuT; this Tennyson whom you critics put above me
is effeminate, tawdry, and a plagiarist." In his note you might read between
the lines some such affirmation as this : "Mr. Knowles is nol niy equal, lu be
sure; he has not certain virtues which I possess; nevertheless he is far
superior to Tennyson, who has moved no thousands, etc., etc.. — all of which I
have done."
Both in his praise and in his btamc you feel instinctively thai Bulwer ia
measuring everybody by his own standard, and awkwardly striving to conceal
his anger that the critics do not see how'far the others fall below it
Pumk, which had always befriended Tennyson, came lo the resctie kA it*
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Jer for February
rather lame, indeed, but well intentte
Thk "New Timon" and Alfred Tennyson's Pension.
Ywi'n Kcna burly mulllT'ipon.
The inuli of mine u'erpctted pup
Whogiiidtalilinhl>"Mlin<Inip:"
So lUndi iht baid of LacUcy Hall,
Whil* puny d»ni »round him fcll.
He u IhT mulKT, Timlhs Btentasini.
" School-miss Alfred" then took up Ihe cudgels for himself in very mascu-
line fashion. The number of Punch for February 2S, 1S46, came out with
some lines entitled "The New Timon and the Poets." They were signed
" Alcibiades," but were universally recognized as Tennyson's. They are well
known, but we wilt quote them in full :
The " New Timon" and the Poets,
The old Timon wUbhft"noble tiean.
Thai, ilningly loathing, gieuly bloke.
So died Ihe Old : htn oomn the Nmr.
Regud bin; ■ Eunilkirdce:
I tlK>i«ht in liiKV him. Whal, it'i 70a,
The pidded nun,— (hat wean Ihe Miyi,—
Who killed th* giili mnd thrilled the boyi
Wlih dudy pithoi when you «r«e1
A LioD, you, that made a noiae.
And ihoDk a mane n pafilMii.
And once yoa tHed ib* Muael 100 :
But men of long.enduriDE hopet,
And uTcleia what thiahouT may briog,
Cu pardoD liitie would-be Popea
And Brummela, when ihey try 10 aIiD(.
What pnfita now ta UDdciataod
The merit! of ■ ipotleu ibin,
A dapper boot, a Utile hand,
If lialf the lilUe aoul It din t
rsK talk of Uuel 1 why,!
Thai apill bii life aboul iba diqaiL
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
ft is evident that " Alcibiades" had penetrated Ihe anonymoaa authonhip
of the "New Tinion." Indeed, the secret was an open one from Ihe firsL
Though the poem has few of Ihe virtues of Bulwers prose, it has all its
vices, and the critics vt ontx laid Ihe foundling at his door.
A week later (March 7) "Aicitnades" followed his first return shot with
another, which only indirectly alludes to the " New Timon" conlroveisy.
Literary Squabbles.
Ab, God \ ibf pvttT foob of rhymB
Bdbn Dm u<wy f>» of Time,
And looked ■! by the incni nui ;—
TluD if IfaE crowded Orb ibould CT
Like IboM Ibu cried Diaoa gnu
1 ulk of. Suidy, iAet
:i,
li kindly lUoicc whcD tbfly bAwL,
Tennyson has never publicly acknowledged these " Aicibiades" poems.
He included them in no edition of his works. Nevertheless, their authorship
is undeniable and undcnicd. They served their purpose. The victim was
demolished. The public was wilh Tennyson. In the third edition of the
" New Timon" Ihe obnoxious tines and the note were withdrawn. Bulwer
made no answer to "Aicibiades." But to Tennyson he seems to have written a
private letter, whose contents we can only gaess al from the following poem
by Tennyson, writlen apparently in December, 1S46:
Ok a Spiteful LErreit.
H«n, ii la ban, — tbe ck»« cf rb« ycu-.
And wilb it ■ ipjicTui kitn.
My CftDK in long tua doac him much wTaag,
For liiiBHif hu done much beuer.
O ftuliih bud I l> your !di » bard
If ma Mglsci your pugeiT
I bar the roU oT l£c aga.
Tbi> Ultn leaf, bn't Amc ai brteT!
My rbymaa may haw tx«n the «nn«r.
Yet haic me not, but abide your Id :
I lul but ■ moment lander.
O faded leaf, Ho'l Ckme al brief!
Whil nom la hett for ■ batat
Y« the yellow leaf balei ibe pHWr Im(,
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
GrcAUr tSku I,— iu'l that your crjf—
WtU, If il be u, u il b, yw know ;
1 bus Ibe ipitei MDd follia.
It ia pleoaant to note in conclusion that Ihe feud, 50 bilter iind rancoroua
Trhile il lasted, was healed long before Ihe death of Bulwer.
Indeed, the poet-romancer mi^hl have parapbraMd an old saying attribuled
to many {a.tnoa& men, by asserting that Lord Lytlon did not remember the
enmiliee of Bulwer.
By the time he had become Lord Lytton he was a weallhv man, a man of
bshion, of polilical and lilular eminence, — a sotI of golden link between
literature and Ihe aristocracy.
He honestly strove to gain the good will of his literary fellow-laborers, even
those who had fotmeriy abused him. With such adjuncts, it was not difficult
to succeed. Thackeray apologized fut Vellowplush and Bulwig. The critics
were gained over. A mutual admiration sprang up between (he Laureate and
the Lord, and in a speech made at Hertford, October g, iMa, Lord Lytton
made an aliunde keneratit for his ill-considered verses when he said publicly,
" We must comfort ourselves with Ihe thought so exquisitely expressed by
our Poet -Laureate, that ihe Prince we lament is still
Tha illnt father of our kingi Is be."
Heir World, America, the Wesiein Hemisphere. There is a tradition
that Ferdinand and Isabella, at some date unspecified, granted (o Columbus
u a legend for his coat of arms the motio
X CiuUli y i Leon
Nuevo mundc did Colon.
(■' To CMlJIe Mid Uon
It is added that when the discoverer's bones were removed to Seville, the
motto, by Ferdinand's orders, was placed on his tomb. There is no historical
foundation for this story. It ia first mentioned by Oviedo in 1535, who gives
the motto a somewhat difierent turn :
For Cudlli y por L«on
But the other form was preferred by Ferdinand Columbus, who about 1535.
or earlier, had adopted it on his arms, and on whose tomb in the cathedral
at Seville It may still be read. Evidently legend transferred to the father the
motto adopted, if not invented, by the son. The phrase " New World" as
applied Id the recent discoveries was unknown to Columbus and his conlem-
poralics. The true significance of these discoveries had not yet dawned upon
voyager or writer. Columbus died in Ihe belief that he had found a new
route to the I',dieB by sailing west. Nobody was looking for a new world,
and when it at last came to be realized that America was not Asia it was
looked upon merely as a barrier in the way to Asia. The main object of the
explorers whc entered its navig^le streanu was to ascertain if these might
not prove to be arms of the sea separating the mass of land in two, and so
leading to the longed-for haven. The phrase New World was first used by
Amerigo Vespucci in a letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, written from Lisbon in
Marchor April, 1503. "It is proper to call them a new world," he say*,
tefetritig to the tract of Brazilian sea-coast, south of the equator, which he
8o2 HANDY-BOOK OF
had discovered on his third voyage. In 1504 a Latin version of the letter
was published under the title "Mundus Novus." t(a daring assertion of the
existence of a populous land bejrond the equator and unknown to the
ancients (whose omniscience had not yet been questioned) ciciled great
curiosity. The i>am|)hlet was a EreaC success. It (amiliarized Europe with
the title New World as applietf to a great continent detached from AMa.
Not yet, however, was any connection fancied between the discoveries of
Columbus and those of Vespucci. In 1507, Martin Waldsccmiiller pub-
lished a little treatise in which the suggestion was made that ihc Quarta
Pars, or New and Fourth Part of the earth's surface, discovered by Ameri-
cus Vespucius, should be called America. The suggestion was accepted
without a word of protest, even from Ferdinand Columbus, the devoted
son of the great navigator, himself an accomplished geographer. That
he owned a copy of the book of Waldseemullet's, that he had it for
eighteen years in his possession, and that he aiiiiotaled it with fulness and
care, these are known tacts. Nevertheless, Ferdinand Columbus made no
comment upon the passage in which the discovery of a new world is attrib^
uted to Vespudus. This silence is absolutely decisive. It proves that
Ferdinand Columbus shared Waldseemiiller's opinion that the Fourth Parr
meant something very different from what we mean when we speak of Amer-
ica, and that whereas Christopher Columbus had discovered the eastern coast
of Asia, or, in other words, a section of the Old World, il was to Vespucius
thai the discovery of a New World south of the equator belonged. By the
time geographers had comprehended thai Brazil pertained to the same con-
tinent revealed by Columbus and Cabot, the terms Quarta Pars, New World,
and America had become interchangeable and synonymous ; and thus, not
for the first time in history, — the extension uf the term Africa is another
eaample, — the part gave a name to the whole. See FIske's "Discovery of
America," chap, vii., " Mundus Novus."
Newooatlv, To 00x17 coala to, a proverbial expression for unnecessary
gifts or supereri^atory favors, Newcastle being the greatest coal-mart in the
world. The trade in coal seems to have been important from the beginning of
the town. In 1239 the burgesses received from Henry III. a license 10 dig coals
within the borough, and by the reign of Edward I. the business had increased
so rapidly that Newcastle paid an annual revenue of two hundred pounds. Iti
1615 the trade employed four hundred ships, and cxleiided to France and
the Netherlands. Analogous expressions abound in every language, — viz. :
ToKndovb 10 AiIicdi. boa 10 Cjipnu. a clod to the plovghed Aeld^ 10 add m futhiog 10
Td itlvc fruii to Alciboiu {whovc orcluirdi were luuoui for besriog fruii all ihe year ro
ube wood ID (he UtttK^—Lalin^
To cirry oil 10 ihe Ciiy of OUve..— fl^*,-™.
ie StinM.—Laii-.
....-iheCii
Tocairypcppc. ioHj
A familiar proverb in the Middle Ages was. To send indulgences to Rome.
Johannes Garlandius, a poet of Ihe eleventh century, begins his '*Opu*
lynonymorum" with a list of similar proverbial sayings :
tsDicoJum. deuim el Trondea addcK vfWa,
Hospilibuiquc pjn Calabrik. due niok Loco,
Aut Cereriirugea, Bpihui mtl, vcl Iliynia pnitia.
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LITER AS Y CURIOSITIES. 803
But the most noteworthy example in poetry oC similar metaphors occurs in
Shakespeare, in the familiar lines,—
To jrild rcRaeil gold, lo plUll i1m lily.
To Ihniv a perfume OD Ihevlatu.
Ubio the raiDbow.'oi with uper Mghl
To (cck the bcauicoui eye of benten to EnnUsh,
1> nueful ud ridiculoui enceu.
King 7«*a, Atl iv., Sc. 9.
Hfliroonie, Johnny, a nickname particularly applied to a young, un-
practised officer in the British army, and more generally to any raw, in-
experienced youth.
"A' coine«&' uikiiig folk ua the rigbl tide. 1 tro»," quolh Caleb lohtnueLf, "and t had
Smily u Ul w.Tl e° "Hnce.^^iii ValtUb'scott!""' '" "™' = ""
Newload, Abraham. A Bank -of- England note used to be called an
" Abraham Newland," from the name of the cashier, Arty or sixty years ago,
to whose order the notes of the bank were made payable. Tb< notes are
celebrated thus in the words of a song of the period :
For fuhioD and am, ihould yau Keh Tareigq parti,
Hebrew, Latio. or Grcelt, the ume longuasa Ibay ipaak.
The langDige tt Alnbam Newland.
CHoaus.
Oh, Abnhapi Newland I Dotilied Abraham Newland I
If Vouba«en"™n A^ibaai ^e™l»Z "
N«vra. It is popular to say that this word is derived from the initial let-
ters of the four points of the compass arranged in a device in the form of a
cross and placed at the lop of some of the earlier news-sheets to indicate
that their contents were derived from all quarters. But it is easy to show
that this is purely fanciful. First, the earliest English newspaper dates from
1662, and we find the word news, exactly in its modern sense, in Shakespeare,
who died nearly fifty years earlier, — namely, in 1616. Thus, we have "How
now i What news ?'^ {Macbeth, Act i., Sc 7 ;) " But let time's news be known !"
iH'inter'i Tult, Act iv., Sc I ;) "Even at that news he dies" {ATittg jMk).
This list, which might be extended indefinitely from Shakespeare and other
old writers, would alone be sufficient tu dispose of the north -east -west- south
theory ; but a reference to the equivalent words in the tongues lo which
English is most nearly allied will further show its fallacy. In German the
initials of the points of the compass read in this order, N. O. W. S., while
the word fur news is ntvigiaien, obviously impossible of derivation from
these four Utters, while it is derived from the word for ntvi. Again, in French
the initiaU ire N. £. O. S., while the word for wtoi is tumvetUs, which is simply
tbeplural Torm of the word for new.
lae tme derivation does not seem difficult to trace. Some take it directly
from the German das Neue, which is an abstract noun signifying "the new,
and equivalent to out news. The genitive is nruei. and the phrase " Was
giebt's neues V renders ttie exact sense of our " What's the news ?" More-
over, the old German spelling is ntw, genitive newts. Yet this, plausible as
it looks, is not the origin of the word. When we find in Anglo-Saxon such
a phrase liAwalmvret? ('*what news i") we can be at no loss to determine that
the word is of pure Low German or native English origin, although the
French newetUs may have influent^ its use. The fact that the word is
Often used in the singular confirms this. Thus, we have in John Flotiv't
8o4 HANDY-BOOK OF
" Wortd of Words" (iS97) " Novella, i Ule, a newes." In "The Wils' Recre»
tion," published in i6^, we have Ihe following e[»gram :
Wbui ntn dolh comt, if uy would di>cu«
Ncwi Li conveyed by ititer, arord, or mautb.
The little corps of the newspaper fraternity wen
England, and, being tickled by Ihe above epigram,
their papers, as already stated.
Skeatsays that newes is nol older than 1500, and cites Berners's tratislation
of Froissart, " Uesyrous to here newes," and Surrey's translation of Virgil,
" What news he brought." But at least one earlier instance is to be found in
"The Siege of Rhodes," translated by John Kay, and printed by Caxtun
about 1490.
N«WB, m. All nations agree that "111 news travels fast," which is the
English ibrm of the proverb. Its corollary, "No news is good news," is
round also in French and Italian. Here are some foreign proverbs of the
samt kind :
Good newi b luniored. bid Dem ^•a.—Spunitli ud Ptrtt^tim.
And here is how Ihe sentiment appears in various forms in English litera-
For evit Dcwi rida poM, wbUr good newt bails.
Milton ; Samiim Apmitlri, I. ijjg,
III DCWI 1* winged irilb Uu, lud flia apHz,
DnvDin: ThrmiKiu Aniiulala.
Ill Den flia wttb a^a' wingi, bul leaden weighu ire wont id clog the beel> of glad»iiia
ttdiogl.— ROHKT CHAHURI.AIH : NMlumal LiKuiraliant (i^jS).
Ill newi, madun, are twallow-winffed, but wliu*i good wallet on crulchei.— If ASSLNGut :
Th. pumr.. Act ii., Sc. I.
Thouch it bt liancu, it i> never good
To bnng bad newt. Ill lidiD(t tell (hen>t*l*ei.
SHAKSSrUKI.
Hlghtmara is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words nekl, "night," and
Mara, a "spectre," which, in Runic mythology, placed itself on the breast of
the sleeping and deprived them of the powers of motion and utterance. (Low
German, nagl-meer : German, natht-makr; Dutch, tuukt-nurrii.)
The mora was also believed to be the guardian of hidden treasures, over
which it brooded as a hen over eggs, and the place where it sat was called its
nidus, or nesL Hence the term mare's-nest.
In North German and Norwegian traditions the mora generally aaturoet
the form of a beautiful womati. Like other supernatural beings, she can enter
through Ihe smallest hole, and sets herself across her victims to torment them.
Many curious methods are given to get rid of her. One is to wrap a knife in
a cloth, and let it turn three times round the body while repeating certain
rhymes. Another is to turn one's shoes with the toes outward from the bed.
The mistletoe is also recommended as a remedy.
NigbtmM'e of Bnrope, one of the many appellatives of Naiwleon Bona-
parte, given him by awed and appalled contemporaries in Europe when, after
his stupendous military successes, he seemed to sit heavily on the helpless
continent, as ft nightmare on the breast of a troubled sleeper, helpleM under
it* weight
;i:,..C00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 805
NU Admlrwi (L., " to admire" or " wonder M nothins"), a phrase from
Horace {Efiiitia, I., vi. i). Dr. Arnold, in a letter to an ofd pupil, quoted in
" Arnold's Lift and Correspondence," calls it " the devil's favorite text," and
the best he could choose " to introduce his papils into the more esoteric part
of his doctrine. ... I have always looked upon a man infected with the
disorder of anti-romance as on one who has lost the lineat pait of his nature,
and his best protection against everything low and foolish." He adds that
such men may well call him mad, but he thinks their partvare not yet strong
enough to get him fairly shut up, and until they ate " I shall take (he liberty
of insisting that their tue is the longest-"
nimilii plmlul, affected simplicity in youns ladies. In Burgoyne's comedy
of "The Heiress" (Act iii., Sc. 2). Lady Emily tells Miss Alscrip, "The way
to acquire the correct Paphian mimp is to stand before the glass and pro-
nounce repeatedly 'nimini pimini.' The lips cannot fail to lake the right
ply." Dickens baa borrowed the conceit, where in " Little Dotrit" Mrs. Gen-
eral lella Amy Dorrit, "Papa, tataioes, peu!try, prunes, and prism ate all very
good words for the lips : especially/runw and prism. Vou will find it service-
able, in the formation of a demeanor, if you sometimes say to yourself in com-
pany,—on entering a room, for instance, — Papa, pelatoei, pnullry, prunes and
prism, firtiitei and /mm."
inu« d^T^ iponder, an old phrase for a short-lived sensation. It may
be found in Chaucer :
Eke vondCT la« but niiu dda ae*e in loun.
Troiltu aiui Crntiilt, Book iv„ Suna So
Alternate readings give nygkles for diiis, and never for newe. The expres-
sion undoubtedly dates back to (be Novendiale Sactum of the Romans, which,
according to Livy, Book i. chap. 310, look its rise from (he fact thai just after
the defeat of the Sabines a thick shower of stones fell from heaven on the
Atban Mount, and a voice was heard recalling the Albans to the observance
of the ancient religious rites, which they had discontinued. "A festival of nine
days was instituted publicly by the Romans also on account of the same
fnodigy, either in obedience to the heavenly voice sent from the Alban Mount
For that, too, is staled) or by the advice of the aruspices ; certain it is that it
continued a solemn observance that whenever the same prodigy was announced
• festival foi nine days was observed."
Nine of Diamonda is called the curse of Scotland. The eipreasion goes
back at least as ^ as 1745, for a caricature dated October 21 of that year
represents the Young Chevalier attempting 10 lead a herd of bulls, laden with
papal curses, etc, across the Tweed with the nine of diamonds lying before
them. Perhaps the most satisfactory explanation is that which refers it to
the massacre of Glencoe. The order for this cruel deed was ^gned by the
Earl of Stair, John Dalrymple, Secretary of Slate to Scotland, who was Insiru-
mental in bringing about the union of England with Scotland. The coat of
arms of the Dalrymple family bears nine lozenges, resembling diamonds, in
its shield, and it appears to have been with reference to them that (he nine of
diamonds was called the curse of Scotland. The other reasons that have been
suggested for this expression are :
That during the reign of Mary a Ihief attempted (0 steal the crown from
Elicabeth Castle, and succeeded m abstracling nine valuable diamonds there-
Irom. To replace these a heavy tax was laid upon the people, which was
termed the curse of Scotland.
That when the game of comile was introduced into the court at Holytood,
the nine of diamonds, being the winning card, got this name beouise of th*
number of courtiers ruined by the game.
;i:v..G00^IC
8o6 HANDY-BOOK OF
That in the game of Pope Joan the nine of diamonds is the Pope, whoDi
the Scotch Presbyterians considered a curse-
That it is > corruption of the phrase "Cross of Scotland." The nine
" pips" on the card were formerly printed in the shape of a St. Andrew's
That the Duke of Cumberland wrote his inhuman oidera at Culloden on the
back of a nine oF diamonds. (But the battle of Culloden was fought April 8,
t746, nearly six months after the dale of the caricature before mentioned.)
That a Scotch member of Parliament, part of whose family arms were nine
lozenges, voted for the introduction of the malt tai into Scotland.
Ninth Beatltad*. Writing to Gay on October 6, 1737, Pope say*, " I
have many years ago magnilicd in my own mind and repeated to you a ninth
beatitude, added to the eight in the Scripture ; ' Blessed is be who expects
nothing ; for he shall never be disappointed.' " (Roscoe's ed of Pope, vol. x.
p. 184.)
No Man's Land, a long narrow strip of territory lying west of the Indian
Territory, north of Texas, east of New Mexico, and south of Kansas, over
which, it would seem, the jurisdiction of neither of these extends, nor has the
same been organized as a territorial government by the United States, al-
though petitioned by its inhabitants to do so. It is also known as Cimuron.
Locally, Ibe name is also given to a strip of territory on the boundary between
Pennsylvania and Delaware. According to the official surveys, it seems to
belong to Pennsylvania, but by habit and custom of the people to Delaware,
in which latter State its inhabitants vote, and where the title-deeds to its real
estate *re recorded.
There is a little uninhabited island called No Man's Land near Martha's
Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. Another region sometimes called
by this name lies in British South Africa. Being dispeopled, it was in 1S53
in part occufned by Adam Kok's band of the Gnquas, and hence it is often
called Griqualand East, which is at a long distance from Giiqualand West,
the original home of the tribe. These Griquas (in their own speech this name
is the plural form of Grip) are of mixed Dutch and Hottentot slock, and speak
a dialect compounded of very mixed elements. The Basutos (of Bccbuana-
Kaffir stock) and the Ama-Baca (Kaffirs) also dwell in what was once called
No Man's Land ; but the country now contains many settlers of European race.
Nobility, Om old. This once famous phrase occurred in the following
pasiuge from "England's Trust, and other Poems" (1841), by Lord John
Manners, afterwards Duke of Rutland :
Na, by the namei liiacrib«d to Hlitory'i page,
Nainta (hjit sm EnilMMl'a nobletl twntagt,
Nimei ihai Khali lire for *« uiiaairbcn3 y»n
Shrin«] Id our InrD with Crwr (nd Polcii«,
BulkavtiHiiilUi^'oliliwUlil'v'" '^ "'
These lines, which voiced pretty fairly the ideals of the " Voung Eng-
land" enthusiasts, and hence earned for the noble lord the title of Youif
England's Poet, raised a great storm. Some of the friends of I/>rd John
strove to explain that nobHity of character and not of caste was meant ; but
the context hardly liore out this explanation. In course of time the author
grew properly ashamed of his production, and characterized it as the foolish
work of his youth. He was, in fact, only twenty-two when the book was
issued. It is curious to note that the obnoxious lines, written In all serious-
iKH,had been ferjclotely anticipated byasatiiical wriiet jnat half ■ centurf
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
B> ■ritiocncy ilw only Joy ;
L« cammcia periih, kl Uh wAA cipiic.
Mtdtrti Gmtlmr-, TravtU
1 aJlegcd ihii lh<
r ID tLe injury tA
htard of hill fei^Ded an Dppo
s up hit gnuDd in the coDttovmy which he h9A rt
cc/' Hyi hv, " to the wiiuU I Penfth l»wi and teaiDLDiE I
cut ■oiet it be In - Younc EngUlid.- "—NorDl BrUhh Rnx
a oblige, > French phrase, used only in (he oiiginal, meaning, in
Little's definilion, that " whoever calls himself noble should conduct himself
nobly." According lo Comte de Laboide in a notice of the meeting of lh«
French Hislorical Society in 1S65, the mi?/ was su^ested by the Due de
L>vis in iSoS, ipcopos of the estabUshment of the nobility of the Empire, as
the best maiim for both the oid rigime and the new. But in substance the
thought had been uttered by so ancient an author as Euripides :
'"" ' '°""°° * "^™.'fW. too.
To fed iwlTralKd on high, veiKnted, foltowed, no doubl jlinubla a. fine uiion to lc«p
itvlf worthy Id be Iblbwed, vcDcrated, ruKd on high : hen« ihu lofty muim NutUut
«MwT,-M<TTHn> Amdld.
Nam da giuerre, a French term, meaninE, literally, a war-name, is used as
identical with pseudonyme, or peti-name, both in English and in French. The
"Rike" term nam de plumi is English, but not French. A long battle over
the phrase in the English jVu&i and Queria was finally referred to the French
L! InlermldiaiTt, a periodical of a eimtlar sort, which answered, " We do not
know in our language the expression ntm de flume, and there is no need of
borrowing it from the English. We have the phrase nom de guerre, which is
thoroughly French, and which clearly enough indicates literary pseudonymity.
The very origin of this phrase is thoroughly French. Formerly a soldier
in enlisting took a surname, which he retained so long as he served under
the flag. It was a true nam de guerrt. The extension is natural. Under
certain rigimes of self-will {ben flaittr) or terror, is not the literary arena a
field of battle where one fights for his liberty or his life V
Noo-InteTfereaos. Dootriu* oC The doctrine enunciated by Calhoun,
that Congress had no right to interfere with the introduction of slavery in the
States or Territories, or, as it was expressed in a resolution proposed to the
I>emocratic National Convention in 1848, "That the doctrine of non-inter-
Terence with the rights of property of any portion of the people of this confed-
eracy, be it in the Stales or Territories thereof, by any other than the parties
interested by them, is the true republican doctrine recognized by this body."
The doctrine was levelled against the principle of the Mis.souri Compromise
(ff. v.), and, although defeated in the convention of 1S48, it was embodied later
in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill
Nonml rioordo (It., "I do not remember"). In the trial of Queen Caro-
line, one of the witnesses was an Italian who had been in her service on the
Continent. When pressed by awkward questions, his answer was, "N<Hi
mi ricordo." The phrase has come to designate a conveniently forget^l
memory. Under similar drcumstances the answer of the Know-Nolhings
(f . V.) was always " I don't know."
HANDY-BOOK OF
Oh of the Tocken, or pwibly ok c« lb« WiBoni, lud No<u to cbuxe at the eod of Ihe
fauhieldi,— iiho *u in tbe Navy Depuimenl wbeo ht came bonie,— be fnind ibu the De-
al a piece of policy, 1 do Dt
Il«>aibnMiru:<rab, deieroiLDedoDuipiece of policy, I do D0( blow.— e! E. Hau:
NooBttllML A well-known couplet of uncertain dite and paternity assert!
that
I> nliihed by the wiut men.
It teems to have be«ii known to Horace Walpole, who, in a letter to Horace
Hann {1774), gives ■ side glance at it : "A careless song, with a little non-
sense in it now anil then, does not misbecome a monarch. " "Don't tell
me," William Pitt said, " of a man's beine able to talk tense ; every one can
talk sense. Can he talk nonsense V William Wirt tells a friend in a let-
ter, " I have always found a little nonsense a capital preparation for a diy
and close areumenL" And it has been said of Charles James Napier, the
hero of Scinde, that he found in humor a constant antidote to all the ills and
vexations of life. If he was wounded, his spleen discharged itself in a jest;
if he was hurt or annoyed, the spirit of mockery burst into an uproar of mer-
riment "Nonsense will come," he once wrote to his mother, "and devil
take me if I can stop for the life of me. . . . What a grtai rdUf U maoenst to
a mart who hai ban weriing hard! I have a otiarUum in me beyond the ordi-
nary run of men ; and if it had no vent, my death would ensue from undeliv-
ered jokes. 1 am delighted to hear that you are so well, dearest mother, and
u bore the comet like an angel By the way, no doUbt eiists in my
nat comets are the souls of good post-horses, who still ply their trade,
carrying angels charged with despatches.^'
NoHBenae vente aod ptose. Aa a literary form, manufactured or in-
tentional nonsense is acomparatively recent art in English. The French in tbie
teventeenlh century began the cultivation of a form of verse which they called
amphigouri, and which in the eighteenth grew into extraordinary popularity.
An amphigouri (a factitious word, probably made up from the Greek aiifi, "on
both sides"), was a bit of rhyme without reason, — a meaningless rigmarole in
verse. An effort has even been made to trace the origin of the amphigouri to
classic times, to the "Alexandra" of the Greek Lycophron. But, though thai
poem is undoubtedly obscure and enigmatic, there is no evidence to show
that it is purposely meaningless.
Here is a good specimen of this form of verse which D'Israeli has copied
from Colly's " Th^itre de Sociele." In the presence of the famous Pontenelle
it was recited at the salon of Madame de Tencin. So iKarly does its non-
sense resemble sense that Fontenelle was bafHcd. " Let us hear that over
again," he said ; " 1 don't think I quite caught the meaning," " Why, you
stupid," said Madame, "don't you see it is mere nonsense^' "Ah, was
Fontenelle's sarcastic answer, " they are so much like the fine verses I have
beard bete that it's no wonder I was mistaken."
that you
Msit qu'il Ml Qcheui deKn
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 809
1 wHd diurdend It
iNO, BY A Person of Quauty.
FluncHnE ipread thy purple pmiDm,
GentleCupUl, o'er my Geul,
I ■ lUre ID Aiy doQiinlou,
Miid Arcadiuii, ever hhwmbig,
Nighlly Doddinj o'er yout flocki.
Sec my veu; diyi conmnibiE,
AD boiulh yoD Saimy rocki.
Thus the Cyptiui goddeu weeping
Mourned Adonia, durliiig youth :
Him ihe boar, in lileuce creeping,
Gored with unrelcnliug loolh,
C^lhU. (line harmonious numben;
F«ir Diecretion, ilring the iyr«;
Brighi Apollo, lend Ihy choir. '
Swiftly purling In 1 round,
Ob ihv mireiD (oven wander,
WiUk thy Bowery chapletB crawoed-
Softly Ktlu her «lenl Dale,
So the bird oT Juno Hooping,
Melody reaignt to fate.
(Albert Wakefield, one of Pope's commentators, actually misapprehended
the nature of the above composition, and complained at sotne length that
the poem was disjointed and otecure.
It was not until our own age, however, that nonsense literature was brought
to its perliection by Lewis Carroll and Edmund l^ear, who still hold their
ground against all imitators. It is true that the modern nonsense verses
have some relationship to antecedent extiavaeanzas and burlesques ; it would
not indeed be impossible to prove a col lateral descent for the "Book ofNon-
senge" and "The Hunting of Ihe Snark" through the absurdities of the
" Anti -Jacobin," through Henry Gary's " Chrononhotonthologos" all Ihe way
bach to the nonsense drama in " A Midsummer Night's Dream." But this
were considering more curiously than befits a book of the present character.
Taking; them at their apparent value, the verses of the two whom we have
nameo form a unique school in English literature, as delightful as it is unique.
Is there in the whole world a better bit of pure nonsense than this bom
" Through the Looking -Glass" f —
;i:,vG00gk"
Handy-book of
Jabbbrwockv.
Illig, iiDd lb* :
[Hd Eyre uid nmbli
mlmiy writ uie bo
Tm brillig, ud lb< ulith* ui*<
Did ET" "^ gimblE in iut m
anthcjubjubbfrd,*
He took his vorpol
SoRUtd be by
ThTjabberwDck, wiiti E%> of ilini<,
Ciunc whifllme through the lutgey wood,
Odb, lwd I One, two 1 And tbniugh mnd thttiufh
Tb* toiuiJ bUde weni tnlckcr-iuck I
He wvDt c?iuinphiikg back.
"And buttbou itals Ibe Jibberwockt
Concio myitnn*, my beiunvb boyl
OfnbJMudiyl Callooh! Cillarl
O frmbjoui day
Hcchonlcdi
aa brilUg.
ad Oia alilhv ioyci
Igimblcinlhiwabf;
It was in 1846 that Edmund Lear commenced the publicaHon >)f (hoM
bmoas little (our-line nonacnse veiHes which made his first Tame. The Ibrm
was not oiiginal wilh him. Mr. Lear himself in the preface to his third book,
where he laughs al " the petsialenlly absurd report" that the Earl of Detby
was Ihe author of the first "Boole of Nonsense," is careful to acknowledge
his indebtedness to certain nursery rhymes beginning " There was an old
man of Tobago," which were suggested to him by a valued friend as a
form of verse lending itself to limitless variety for rhymes and pictures.
Though these " Books of Nonsense" were first made for children, grown
men and women, if (hey have not quite lost in worldliness the bearls of
children, delight in them no less than these, and return to Ihem again and
again with ever-fresh pleasure. In New Mexico not long ago the English
owners of a cattle-ranch had for their trade-mark the picture accompaniM by
this famous posy :
[ exhibited in the variations on this simple rhytb-
I wnai numorous irrelevance, what admirable fooling 1
Then was an Old Man in a pew,
Whofe matcoat wai spoiled with blue :
Thai cheerful Old Ivlan in a pew.
Tbcn wu a VDune Ijidy of Swcdeu,
Wbo weu by (he iTaw iiain id Weedoo :
When they died •■ Weedon Suifoo \- the mule no oUoratlaB,
61U tboughf ahe would go back to Sweden,
Google
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES.
So Ihe nuhed up i Iree. mad Hid " Flddle-dc-d« I"
Which cmbvTjtucd ihv people of Lflcca-
ind perhaps the best
ly one more, because
1 historic interest as having inspired Mr. Gilbert with his famous
e Rhyme in Blank Verse." Here is Mr. Lear :
Then wu ui Old Mui in > inx.
Whowuurr
WIhh Ukv w>
li-i
And here is Mr. Gilbert :
Then wu an OM Mun of Si. Bee*.
Wbo VAiMuas iniheuvt by ft mtp;
WbeD Ibey ftftked, " Doe* it hurt ?" rw replied. "No.it dosn't :
Bui I ibouglH oil the while 'iwai a Hanm."
Mr. Lear's longer nonsense poems, — '■ The Owl and the Pussy-Cal," " The
Quanele Wangle Gee," " The Jumbiies," " The Vonghy Bon^hy Bo,"— ihete
are all eicellenL What can be funnier than the courtship m the "elegant
pea-green boat," when
The Owl loakttl up lo the uui above,
" O lov^y ruftty. O Pu»iv my lowt,
What a beamfful I>uuy you an,
Vouarei
Whu a beauiiful Piuay you an 1"
And then the wedding, after they had wandered for a year and a day in leardl
of a ring, and the wedding feast, when
They dined an mince, with lUcea of quince.
Which ihey ate with a luncible ipoon.
And hand in baud, on the edae of the sand.
They duKed by the light of the moon.
The moon I
ThemooDl
Tb*y danced by the light of (he moon '.
Mr. Lear was delighted when a friend observed to bim that this couple
were reviving the old law of Solon that the Athenian bride and bridegroom
should eat a quince together at their wedding. But, as Hudibras says, —
With whlcb, like ibipt, they aieer ibeir eounei.
and it was possibly Ihe rudder, of rhyme which steered the pea-green boat into
that classical harbor-
Admirable, too, is the humor of the "Nonsense Botanies." The botanical
names are all epigrammatic, the i11unlralii»is vividly realize Ihe humor of Ihe
teiL The Barkia Nowlaleudia, like a snap-dragon of dogs' heads, ArlA-
treemia Ripda, a sort of thistle, Nasticreetkia KrorlHpPia, like a stem of cal-
kins, Ihe Bassia PaUatiiint, the Skotioofia Utilii, and all the rest, are not
mere grotesque distorlions, but natural represenlalions of dogs and cater-
pillars, hearth -brooms, bottles, and boots, severally combined into such life-like
imitations of actual flowers that Che botanist who would not wish lo be able
to add them to his herbarium must be as dry as his own karlui tiiciu.
In every creation of Lear's, whether of pen or pencil, some touch of art
which escapes analysis makes the grotesquely impossible a living flesh-and-
Uood reality. Like Sir Thomas Browne, we quole the Latin father and say,
** Credo quia impotsibile c«t." Tables and chairs and fire-irons, ducks and kan-
;,oogic
ill ttANby-BOOK OF
nioos, and a boat of nondescript creatures, such as the Quangle Wangle, tbe
Done, and the Yonehy Bunghy Bo, are endowed with human sentiment and
moral life ; and all their little hopes and fears and frailties are so natural in
their absurdity thai the incongruity of thoughts and images is carried to the
utmost height of humor. Such, for instance, are those little touches where
the friends of the Jumhiies receive them back at the end of twenty years,
' ' If we«l{yliv<.
Ta (he h'iltm i/lbe Ctunkty Bore';
or where the four little children who had gone out to see the world are wel-
comed back " by their admiring relatives with joy tempered with contempt ;"
or where the coachman, evidently an old family servant, "perceives with
pain" that the young people, the poker and tongs, the shovel and broom, in
tbe carriage are quarrelling while he drives them ouL
Mr. W. S. Gilbert is a greater humorist, perhaps, than either of the two we
have mentioned, and his numor, even in his elaborate comic operas, is often
of a very simitar topsy-turvy order. But his avowed nonsense verses are
only a small portion of his entire work. Here is a good example :
SkDfc for the Eviih eye,
Lei itw frtxlderina ceodiict cry.
And Ihe bnuldTed uwer •inc.
For Deva ud nevrr ■gun
Will the micering b»«:hiing< play.
Here, also, are IhTce sianias from C. S. Calverley's " Ballad of the Period."
an excellent parody on some modern versifiers, in which the reductie ad
aiiHrdum is accomplished by turning their method into nonsense :
T ivied door
The plpo- lie piped on the liiJI.tap hifb
tSultrr and Ign -"td It pinaii ff clutll').
Till the cow laidT" 1 dle,"^uid the sixae uld " Why r'
Siir/rr and tgp and a ftnitd t/ ck
UnA the had Irequeatly done befon
Whi<;h mainly cotul
Occasionally a good bit of nonsense veise may be found elsewhere than in
thepages of I'he masters.
The following "Ballad of Bedlam." which appeared in PuncA. is not with-
onl merit :
It n[wllns hi the verdvit ittiei.
A wailing but Ihy inawy eyn.
We thall be happy yeverday.
The eariy beatn of toey nlctH
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
ill the cnalion 1 1
The Cindnnali Comtnereiat GatttU is rcsp<>nsible for the tbllowing, which
it gives as an effort of ihc intelligent compositor to grapple with the illegible
handwriting of an amateur poet :
To Marie.
When the bn«ie from the bluelKritle'* bluieridg bLim
I'wirla Ibe toadi in i nwraonulofl.
And ihe whiik«y irtlne ol tht whwdltMiint whim
Drowni ibe ra4l of the rattetmtioo,
IImd I drenin in the ihade of Ihe ihally-ga^Liee.
And the voice of the ballyniDtiiy
nrinn the imeii of the Hale poppy^odt blitmincred blee
From the willy—d o,« tfie *Vy
When the punilung falli frani Ihe bough
In Ihe Mast of Aui^une'm hiclcetiy-hinlu
O'er the hiUi of Ibe hocketly^hsw !
' if they cue for luch fid'dki^S^;""*'
Hut Ibe ihiiwumbob hiu of the wbugery-buig
Keepe the higgledy-piggle fur me.
tl la pUly-po-doddlc and aliEabuDu
"'hen ihe ioll^pup covert Ibe graund.
Yel the poldldd^'^periiiM'^uni
.- — >„e heut jimmy^cbflglee
If the aonl cmnnoi mnoop at the ^
Seelting Burceew in gluggeiy-glug,
" Yankee^oo^e ker-chuggely-chug 1
One or Theodore Hook's witty associates, the Rev. Edward Cannon, i
the author of the following bit of^ fooling ;
iMPROMPrU,
If down his throat a man ihould cbooie,
He°d H^^'fliirfh^'agjiiim bi> teeth,
Nor dirt hja own Inatde.
Or If hia teeth were loat and gone,
Hb tongue lay there, by way of mat.
And he would wipe hia feel on that I
Mr. Cbarlei G. Leland thinks the following tines "the finest and dainti
nonsense" he ever read :
Thy bean ia like tome ley lake.
On whote cold brink I aland :
Oh, bnckle on niy ipiril'i ikale.
And lead, thou IfvlnjE Hint, the way
That it may bieak beneatfi my fbM
Aih9 lei ■ tover in !
Tfait, froni Rat, !• not bad ;
A Chronicle.
;i:,vG00gk"
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Or wbiLt he utcd to do ;
But dten—weJl, luch \% liun
'Twill K KTvc me ud r
UORAI.
Id thli bticT pedlcne
A moTjd wc ihnild fin
The fotlowing curious verse is said to have been on a gravestone at one
time in the churchyard of Homerslield, Suffolk, over the body of Robert
CrytoA, who died November 17, iSlO. and it is very like iionsenae :
HVSELP.
A( 1 walked by mvsdr I talked 10 n
Aod ihu mTUlr taid to OH,
Look ID IbyKlf and take cara rt tbyi
The leir-uiiie Ihlni «
In ihe way of prose n<
which Samuel Foole wrote to test the memory of one who boasted that
Icarn anything by heart on hearing it once : " So she went into the garden to
cut a cabbage-lear 10 make an apple-pie \ and at the same time a great she-
bear coming up the street pops lis head into the shop. What I no soap } So
he died, and she verv imprudently married the balber ; and there were present
the Picninnies and (he Jobllties and the Gaiulilies and the Great Panjandiara
hioueK with the little round butlon al top. And tbey all (ell to placing the
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. S15
game of ' catch as catch can* dll the gunpowder ran out at Ibe beela of tbeir
boots."
rrequenlly re
>l Carroll's and Lear's .
For example, Hood inserts in one of his "Comic Annuals" a letter on
autographs, in which he dassl&cs Ihem as follows :
Then hiivc been iiuiosntpbi wriiicD by proxy ; for cvunptc. Doctor Dodd pflnncd one for
Lord Chatcrficld. Bui id obiiBC a urulgeT {d ihli way u ivry duigcrolB, CDMideriDf bo*
culLy * few linei mity be IwUlcd inlo a rope.
Wiib rtfni to iry own nniculu- pnctlce. I have sAoi <nc«d u motnipli with By
duly ubie udam pmiv ture I cVTd do « with ifac imoke'of /cudiroD ibirc^g. I have
II ilice of tnel dampUDg. Then ll may be done wiih legeublei. My liuie girl giew her aulo-
gnph Ibe other day in inuuai-d and crcH.
DoDleslic kervuils. I luve obieTvcd, ue fond of toawliag ButoEnphA on A te«-iray with
the flopped milk ; abo of Ktalehing them on a kA dea] drafter, the Icitd of the tink, mid,
above aH, ihe quicksilver ilde of a iDoking-ftlaafl,— a surface, by the by, quite imalatible to any
A fHend of mioe poumca an autoaraph^RaiiliAail Jli4 Ho^Kirfa — done wElh a nd-htf
poker on the back-kilcheo door. Tbu. however, it awkwud lo Mnd up.
Gentlcfnen in love delight in carving their auIogTaphi on ibe bark of treet, ai olber idk.
feLlowa are apt to back and hew ihem on tavern boadiei asd malic aeais. Among varioitf
modea. I have teen a Bhop-tioy drihble hii autograph from a tin of water on a dry pavemenL
TIk celebrated Mill BilGn UKd lo diuiibule auliwraphi among her viaitora which the wrote
wkb a pen graaped Iwlwacn hs teecb. AnDiher, a Geiinafl pbeoomenoD, held the implcmeDI
When the nnetbeait el Mr. Jshn Junk lequeittd bi> autograph and eiplajned what it
waa,— namely, " a couple of Uneaoreo wiih hii name to it,"~hc replied Ihu he would lea>
il 10 her in hh will, aecmg aa bow it waa dotkc with gunpowder on bla left arm.
Doppeldlckiui, the leamed t>ulcbmaii, wrote an autograph for a Mend, which the lam
publiahed in a qwto volutmc.
Charles Lamb writis as follows to his friend Manning, who contemplatea
becoming a missionary and converting savages :
r afforded nt
me particular pointa raiaed a ictuple.
</of PnHer JohoT la thechaiz empty f irtbeiword unswayed! Depend upon It, they'll
i your Ch™jan™ :'"ifi^ w^fiTemfnly cmmciae you" Read^S^^hn^andevnie'i
o England. There - ■ - ■ -
FoiCod'iuke, don't think any more of lude-
d Sir John
Bieler 'Change.
(.<rr
Lveaaid your prayers, ihe words " Independent Tartary, Independent Tartary, two or threi
D«, andaaaociate with Ibem the idia ^ eilkritm ('tis Hartley's method with obWinat'
emotiea), or say, " Indepemknl, litdcpendent, have I not already got an iodependaKe T'
k„, T „r .L- „ij Puiitana pun-divinity^ ' My dear Irir-'' »»■=-*- — >— »
J in heaiben cotuklriea, amoitg naaty.
whu a aad
Ibe ck/ jwd/ui
pity ii would be to buty such parts in heaiben cotukDiea, among
'm^irmltyatm
there were auch darling tbinga aa old Chaucer al^a, I would up behind you on the bone of
Rew,'andaUn|°sda'ughlero»ciu]k^'^ll^birdat ^eTartan ^lly ■^"cold^irip^"
smouchy set. You'll he sadly moped (if you are nol eaten i among them. Pray /n and cure
younelj^ Take bellebme (the counsel is Horace's, 'iwaa none of my ibougbt originally).
Shave youraeif oAener. Eal no aaffion, Ifpr taffnin-eaten contract a lernbl* Tanar-like
lif. Go about like a European. ' Read no books of voyages (Ihey are nothing but lies), only
now aikd Iheb a romance, to keep the fancy undtr, Alwve all, dcm't go to any sights ofsDlirf
iiaili. TlutI htu im^aar min. Acciutom yourself lo write famlAar letlars on common
Cooglf
HANDY-BOOK OF
_r i c- ' -AMly with bAvinf once nade a ana u Oubeiu, in the O Iaa-
(lugt. 'TbilUHnciauvhoMlil, "S)ukeuean>Kinii4,b»>iHil(fMt ii-Mw4o/'(ii<
riUUman." Rickmu it * mui ibKlutt in nil Dumbcn. r ikiuk I but «u diy bciBE vou
, , .. T ._.. ,_ -"rnvncoimbMli. H.vt.cut.my
wdghed mil u fivcpcscx a pound ; id >ii it ubie (ih< ktok of Giha in Hollud), niH u a
Gwl bku yen -. do uBe u EiBUnd. Ab ud <aardK lu* do gmt tUngi. Talk wlih
loinc mtaiius. Why iwl your bibrt
God dbposc jUI Tot tbe StM, 1 hav« diiclurgcd my diiiy.
d. Lahi.
On another occasion Lunb confided a pet dog to the care of Mr. Patmore,
and shortly afletwards wrote the following letter of inquiry ;
Dui Pathoki.-Eicuk my uiicty, but how i> Daihr (I ihould have axkid M Mn.
inicl&cu •ound, Dt d«> be waodtr a liiilc ui' bi> a<w,imSS.t Vou cannol'be loo wcfa'
la walcb thf fini tymptomt of incoherence. The lint iIlo(ical anail ht makei, to Si. Lulte'i
Kcm lo me very raiioniJ and coliecied. Bui nothing ii lo deceiiful a> nUd people lo Ihoie
who an Dol iiaed to them. Tiy him with hot water. If he won't lick it Dp. it [l a ligu he
toet DOI like it. Doa he wtg hi> tail honiontally, or perpendicularly t That hat decided
Jbe tfiltCDf many doei in Enfield, [a bi« general deponmeDl cbeerfiil T I mean, when be ii
pleued: forolherwue there i> no judging. You can't be loacarefiil. Hai he bit any of the
favdtuphobja. Tbey aay all our army in India
pull oot hia Itilh (if he wouldki you) and tbei. .
Bedlunile. [t wnnld be ratber Fun to Ke hb odd wa^. It might amuu Mm. Patmorc
ihichili«i."fb«'d have mote t™^ Ann i77 lli'd be'llittVFool kipt'in'lhe family, to
kien the houKfaold in good humor with thdr own uoderalanding^ Vou might leach him the
mad-dance aei to Ibe nud-howl. Madgi Otvl-ti would be DotEing lo him. " Hy, tiow ha-
capcnl" (One of thecbildrcn tpeaki tbit.) . . -
[ffere Ikra lintt art traud\
Wbal 1 tcntch out b a GemuD quotalion from Leoing on Ihe hiie o( tatdd anlmali ; bal,
I lemember, you don't read German, But Mn. Falmon may, ao I wiab I bad lei it aland.
The meaning in Engliib ia, " Avoid to Approub an animal luipecled of madneu, m you
would avoi<ra far. or a precipice ^" which t think il a aemible obaervation. llie Germana
""irifaelUghialTuapidoa atlKi In your bifcaat that all ii not right with him (_Daah) muiile
him and lead him in a itriog (common packthread will do ; he don't cut foi IwntJ id Hood'l,
hk quondam maKer, and he U take him in at any time. Vou may mention your aqtpicion
or nol,a>youlike, or aiyouibinklimaywoundof not Ml. H.'tiKltnp. Hood, I know,
will wink 11 ■ few folliei m Daah, In con^deraHon of hia farmer aenae. Be^dea, Mood it
bare dtichargEd your cooadence, asd laid the child at the right door, a* they tay.
The foilowing note by Thackeray has lately been published for Ihe first
time by the Pait Mall CauOt:
Kuis>i<CTOH,W..Wedne(day.
DaAR Nis,— Vou aak me for a rcdpe lot nitoring youi eyei lo their wonted luiire and
brilliancy. Very good. Hen you an. Take ifaem out and waih well, fiiH with Kwp and
waier, and aftetvardi with aaolntlon of nitric acid, while und, and blacking. Let them dry
well, and ttien nplace ibem, fattening them in tbeir placea w=th gum-water. One gieal
advantage of the diacovery b that by turning the pupila inrntrj, on reetorlng the «yca to
cepi of the old pbiltMopbcr, to " know tfayaelf," be leadUy compiled with. Then I will
ma/auiiyoal EkI
Generoualy voun.
w: M. THACKnaT.
Nen MqaltW, a Lalin phrase meaning "1l does not follow," is uteda*
an Engtiah noun to indicate a wrong process of thought by means of which
an impossible cauae and effecl are grotesquely linked ti^ether. The familiar
sophism known as the fMl k«c f rafter Im bllacy (" sRer this, therefore on
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 817
account of this") ts x bmiliar instance. Thus, the FreC'Iraders ridicule the
Protectionist claim that American manufactures have increaaed under high
Uriff legislation, and Ikrrefori that such legislation favors ma nu fact ares, hf
the proposition that divurces have increased under high tariff legislation, and
Iktrtfort that such legislation is responsible for divorces. Another illustration
of a HOH stguituT is that known proverbially as putting the cart before the
horse, or laCing the effect foi the cause. An eiceilent illuBlration is afforded
by the Carmelite friar who praised the divine goodness and wisdom which
cause navigable rivers to flow by tai^ towns, and by Voltaire's dictum (abso-
lutely Voltaire's) in *> L'Histoire de Jenni," ch. ix., where, writing of Mount
Hecia, he rambles on, "Car tous les grands volcans sont places sur ces
monlagncB hide uses."
If we inquired too curiously, however, many of our finest metaphors would
resolve themselves into precisely this sort of blunder. Thus, Sterne's exqui-
site phrase, " God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," leaches a great truth,
but loses sight of the fact thai the wind is not tempered because Ihe lamb is
■horn, but that the lamb (or, more accurately, the sheep) is shorn at a period
chosen because then the wind is tempered.
The tnirrenl jest-books are full of stories wherein the point Ilea in Ibis con-
liision of logical sequences. Horace Smith, in his "Tin Trumpet," has two
familiar yet excellent examples, that of the Birmingham boy who, being asked
whether some shillings which he tendered at a shop were good, answered
with great simplicity, "Ay, that they be, for I seed bther make 'em all (his
rnmg," and of the witness who was about to be sworn : " Young
■aid the magistrate, *> why do you bold the book upside downr'
obliged, sir, because 1 am lefl-handed.'
"equivocal answer" in the following story had a startling lack of con-
nection with the question firopounded :
A literary gentleman, wishmg to be undisturbed one day, instructed his
Irish servant lo admit no one, and if any one should inquire for him, to give
him an equiTOcal answer. Night came, and the gentleman proceeded to in-
terrogate Pat as to his visitors 1
"Did any one call ?"
" Yes, sir ; wan gintleman."
"What did he say?"
"He axed was yer honor in."
" Wdl, what did you tell him ?"
"Sure, I gave him a quivikle answer, jisL"
"How was that?"
" I axed him was his grandmother a monkey."
It is ■ common trick also of the most famous humorists. Dickens em-
ploys it with excellent effect. In " Nicholas Nickleby" the letter written by
Fanny Squeers lo Ralph Nickteby is admirable: "My pa requests me lo
write to you. the doctors conutlering it doubtful whether he will ever recover
the use of his legs, which prevents his holding a pen," etc But (bis is no
better than the dream he relaies in one of his letters to James T. Fields ;
1 drained Ihm •onebody Budnd. li was a pHvaic (enileiun. ud a pvtkidar fritod :
and I ni Breiilv ovciconK when Ihr ncw< wu broken id me (very dclicaidy) by ■ jtenil*.
man in a cocked Kai, lop-booit. and a sheet. Nothing else. "Gond GodT" I laid, "Uhe
die, Mr. Dickeiu, •ooner 'or lilet, my dear lir." " jUi'l" I laid: "yei.'iD be tun. Very
tine. Bui what did he die of!" The gentleman bunt into a Hood of Kan, and laid, in a
voice broken by emotion, ■■ He chrittvned hii youngeu child, lir, with a toaxing-fork I"
Lewis Carroll's books are perhaps the best example! in the language of this
topsy-turvy sort of fun. In the books which relate Alice's adventures all the
m - 69
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luy loughl It mlb (htmblei, lliev uughl il Willi ore;
Tbey punued U bflb fork* vid nope :
Thcr dLumcd it with toilet uid >oap.
was tbe occan'Chm which Ihe Betlman brought whh hin to
He had botighi ■
Wilboui iRe lei
So the Belloiai] would cry ; ud the crew would Rply,
" Other mapB are tuch ibapct, with ihetr isUnda vid ctpci,
(So the cnw would pTDiai) " ibM be'j bo^ht ui lb* bm,—
llul the captiio 'they initled lo well
>id°ih*'«™w1°u^fireWrbdf '"*"•
He wki ihoughiful ukd graye. bul the orden he gave
When he cried, " Steer loKurboud, bat keep her head hittaaid I"
Then the bowtprii got mixed with the rudder lameiiua,—
A thing, u tbe Bellmtui nmarked,
That frequently happent in irupical clinia.
When a veaiel it, k tc ipeaL, -' sDaAed.'*
Bui the pilnciQal FaOing occurred in the (aitiiig,
And the Betlmab, perplexed and dittreaaed.
Said he ka^ hoped, al least, when the wind blew due Ewi,
That ihe ihip would lul travel due Weu 1
Admirable, loo, \% the bulchet's inaihemaiical ilemonstration oT tbe prob-
lem whether two and one make three :
Takist Three a* the subject (o reaioB about,—
We add Seven asd Ten, and then inn11ipl)t om
By One Thouund dimiouhed br Eight.
The taull we proceed lo divide, ai you ace.
By Nine Hundred and Ninety and Two -,
Then lublncl SeveniKD, and the answer muu be
Eiactly and perfectly true.
Here are two good examples from Ariemus Ward's " Lecture :"
1 net a man in Oregon who hadn't auy teeth, — not a tooth in his head,— yet that man COOld
play on the bau drum better tfaaa any naa 1 ever met.
1 never on any account allow my hutinna to jnierfer* with my dritilcing.
The wit of the two Tollowing stories lies in Ihe incongruity of Ihe explana-
tions saggested, — Ihe utter failure of sequence between question aiid answer :
Some one aaytne to Sit F. Gould, " I am told you eat ihm eggi rrtndmy al iruV-i,"
"No."anBHeredGauld,"DniheCDnIiary." Some of those ptcHnl ultcd. " What waiiha
contrary of eating three cggsT" " Laying three e^ga, I suppoae." mid Laiirell.— Thohas
MtwRe; Diary.
HIctti and Thackeray, walking together, •lopped oppoaite a door-way, over which w*n
AiKilbed In gold letten these wordi ; " Mutual Loan OEci." They both mmad aqnily
Goo^If
LITERAR V CURIOSITIES. 819
puiiail. "Wbit on culb cut Ihii nKin!" ukcd Hicki. "I don'i knaw." anivend
«ho/^J;t:.'Y'™»G": O™.*" "" "" "*"" ■"" °'**"''' "^ " '"■' " " "' "'
TYit same efiecl is often gained by wilfully ignoring ihe sense of a propo-
silion and attributing an atnurd logical confusion la the pio|]ounder of iL
Thus, Mark Twain tells us "that Benjamin Franklin was always proud of
telling how he entered Philadelphia, for the first time, with nothing in the
worhFbut two shillings in his pocket and four rolls of bread under his arnt.
But really, when you come to examine it critically, it was nuthiiie. Anybody
could have done iL" And again, he calls onr attention to the fact that he is
a greater and better man than Washington, for while the latter could not leli
a lie, " I can, but 1 won't"
Was it humor or mere simplicity of mind that distinguished the heroine of
a little anecdote recorded in Frederick Locker's " Patchwork" ? " A frient)
tells me a funny little story of Mrs. (the grandmother of Colonel M ),
who was shown a picture of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, in which, of course,
(he patriarch showed his usual desire to withdraw himself (rum her society.
Mrs. looked at it for a little while, and then said, 'Eh, now, and what
ails him at the lassie V "
Nonnmqua pramatui In annnm, the famous advice given by Horace in
his " Ars Poettca," — Put away your compositions for nine years at least before
^u give them to the public This was substantially the counsel of Quin-
tilian also : " Let our liieraiy compositions be laid aside for some time, that
we may after a reasonable period return to their perusal, and find them, as it
were, altogether new to us."
It ii ail Ttn fiBX, madimc. id remind mc of the Ilanulan tunHm frcmatur in nniiai.
Tbiimle, like nuiay olben.oiay bcveiypcHiyin ihcDry.but ii worth little inpncticc. Whes
he (bould >1hi have given wllh it > receipt for living nine yean wiihout (bod. White Hnisce
BijM, peacDciu' tonguM, Indian binli'-neMt, and the Lord knowi whu nil. and evciylhiDg
/ralii u thai. Hut we, the unlucky onn, bom too Ule live in anolha Kin oT Ilna. Ow
■nedlm. KTc bat after thcf have Uin ume time on straw, ih(y believe Ihal V/umy hoimdl
■re tpolled fnt hunting rimilo and thought! If they are fed too high, and when ihey do uke
pi«et— »me rawning''>^nieTwko''liol^ the tlnd,^« diminuiitr^ln^Chirlei" who llnon
how to cuddie up into ■ lady's perftimed lap. or lome piilknl puppy oi a poodle who has
learDed tome bread-earning icience. and whocmn fetch and carry, dance and dnim, Ma/oi,
nadajne, I conid never oinerve thai nilt for fbur-a
bdlybaa no appreciation of the beauties of immorti
aamuch for (he dinner itself, And. ob.what lovely beaulifuj eating there is in this wccidl
llie philoaopbcT PangLoas I9 right.it as the best world I But one must have money in thia
best oC worlds. Money in the pocket, not maoutciipts in the desk. Mr. Marr. 'nine taoM of
" the King of EogUind," is himself an author and also knows the Horalian rule, but I do not
Jli^iiiUtr. *' '" ""' " "'"' '"'°"" ""^ "" "'■""" 1'™*- ""■■
HoTtbem Bear, Vortbeiti Giant, popular current designations for the
Russian Empire ;
We believe that in anaogini the terms of peace be (Napoleon! was as little inclined to
clip the claws of the Notlhem Bear as his ally— Cini«u« BxBmimrr.
It it no small deluhl to the lovert of truth, freedom, and England 10 tee (hat the Northern
Giant hai, by dint ofuia nnich finesae, suffered his once- willing prey to slip throuih hithaodt.
-EdiniHrt* Rniiw.
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Hortbern Hailot, In&unoas (Fr. ■■ InSme Catin du Nord"), m appella-
tive given to Ihe licenlious, sensual, and cruel Empress Elizabeth Pitrowna
of Russia ([709-1761). She caused her husband Paul lobe murdered, listen-
ing ill the next room, where she heard the dugs lapping up the blood of the
assassinated emperor. Her shameless harlotry is noloiious. She is the
empress at whose court Byron's " Don Juan" becomes a great favorite, atid bif
whom he is sent to England as ambassador. The murder of Paul is the sub-
ject of one of Lander's most dramatic "Imaginary Conversations."
Northwreat Territory, the territory north of the Ohio River, east of the
Mississippi, south of the great lakes, and vest of the States of New York,
Pennsylvania, and Virgima. The charters and patents to these colonics, as
also to Massachusetts and Connecticut, liied no western boundary to the
grants of territory made to them respectively, which accordingly extended
without limit. When the tract was surrendered by Great Britain to the United
Stales under the treaty of 17S3, there was great dispute among these States
as to their right in the same, so much so that at length it was determined by
all to cede ibeir rights to the Federal government, which was done by all
unconditionally except Connecticut, whicn, while ceding its sovereign rights,
reserved proprietary rights in a substantial strip of land. (See Western
Reserve.) A bill for its organization was passed by Congress in 1787, but
it was not until 1799 that it was fully organized as the Northwest Territory.
It was the beginning of the "Great West," completed afterwards by the
Louisiana Purchase and the conquests from Mexico. The Northwest Terri-
tory comprised the whole area ot what are now the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Wisc6nsin, and Michigan.
Hoae. To oat off oae'a noaa to spite one's boe is a proverbial ex-
pression common to most modern nations, and meaning, roughly, to sacrifice
one's own interest for the Sake of revenge, or, more subtly, to do irreparable
injury to one's self in order to affect a mutual interest of one's self and one's
enemy. The earliest reported appearance of the saw in literature is in Talle-
mant des R^aux's " Historieltes" (16(7-59), where it lakes the literal French
form, "Se couper le nez pour (aire d^pit 1 son visage."
" To keep one's nose to the grindstone" is another proverb of similar un-
certain origm, meaning to be farced into uncongenial, unpleasant, or menial
work. " A man," says Franklin, in bis " Poor Richard's Maxims," "may, if he
knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose lo the grindstone.' The
phrase is found as far back as Hey wood s " Proverbs," Pan L, ch. iii.
Hot for Joe,or Not for Joaeph, in American and English slang, is used
to intimate that one does not Intend or care toda,or have, anything requested
It probably originated in the refrain of a song popular in the sixties :
Nol for loHBb,
If hskiianil;
Oh, no, DO I
Not tor Jm;
but this in turn seems to have been a special application of the popular locu-
tion " Not if I know myself," sometimes used with the addition "and I rather
think I do." This phrase is at lea.st as old as Charles Lamb: "Not if I know
myself at all" ( Thi Old and New School-Mastrr).
Not man, bnt mesanrea, a familiar phrase in the mouths of "straight-
out" politicians, meaning that the success of the parly policy is paramount
over the question of the personal fitness of the candidate. Burke, in his
"Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents," vol. i. p. ^31 (1770),
alludes scornfully to " the cant of ' nol men, but measures.' " Canning echoed
;,oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. Sal
niin In a speech against ih« Addineion ininistr<r in 1801 : "Awajr witti tbe
cant at ' roeasuces, not men' I — the idle supposition thai it is the buness and
not the horses that draw the chariot along. No, sir, \( the comparison must
be made, if the disiinaion mual be taken, men aie everything, measures are
comparative); nolliing." But this, too, is mere cant, mere electioneering talk.
There ate unduubledly limes when measures are more important than men.
Rrougham came closer to the truth when he said in the House of Commons,
November, 1830, " It is necessary that [ should quality the doctrine of its
being not men, bul measures, thai I am determined to support In a mon-
archy it is the duty of Parliament to look at the men as well as the measures,"
The phrase is found for the first time in literature in Goldsmith's "Good-
Natuted Man," Act ii. (1768), bul it is evident that he is only repealing a
current shil>bolelh.
Hot mncli of aslioirer, an American political phrase quoted derisively
to an opponent who attempts to make liglit of a great defeat. The story in
eaplanalion of the saying is that while Noah waa building his arlt one of Ihe
neighbors used to come daily and jeer at him. But when the rain began, and
llie scoffer, with his chin just above water-level, saw ihe ark riding safely on
the waves, he changed his tone and liegged 10 be taken on board. Noah
refused, and the man thereupon waded oS^ indignantly exclaiming, "Go to
thunder with your old ark 1 I don't believe there's going to he much of a
shower anyway ["
KotUng !■ oluuis«d; tboreis only ooe IVenclinum mote (Fr. "II
n'y a rien de cbang^ ; ii n'y a qu'un Franfais de plus"), an historical phrase
prmled as forming part of the speech of the Comte d'Artois (afterwards Charles
X.) upon the restoration of Louis XVHI., April 12, 1814. But he never
really uttered it. He had only murmured some nearly unintelligible and
quite iniigm'Gcanl words. That evening Talleyrand assembled a brilliant
company at his h6le1. " What did the prince say?" was bis natural inquiry-
The general answer was, "Nothing at all." "Oh, but he mutt have said
something I" cried the wily diplomat. And turning to M. Beugnot, Minister
of the Interior, be continued. "Beugnot, you are a htl-april: go into my
closet and make a mtt." Beugnot obeyed, and came back three times. But
his wit was at fault ; the product did not please the company. On his fourth
return he triumphantly produced the now famous saying. There was a hearty
round of applause. "That wilt do," cried Talleyrand; and on the morrow
it appeared m the Menilmr as a part of the cnmil's speech. The count him-
self, more candid than Talleyrand would have been under similar circum-
stances, declared that he did not remember having said anything of Ihe kind.
But he was reminded that the words were in print, that the newspaper could
not very well have made a mistake, and was ultimately reduced lo silence by
the congratulations of his friends. The mol won instant popularity. It Was
bandied about, admired, sneered at, parodied. When the first giralfe arrived
in Paris a medal was struck bearing the words " II n'y a qu'un Mte de plus"
(" There is only one animal more ;" but the word bttt means (ool as well as
animal, and so had a sarcastic flinE at Ihe Bourbons). When Francis I. of
Austria died in 183S the current phrase was, "Nothing is changed ; there is
only one Austrian less-" And when Talleyrand was appointed vice-grand-
elector of the Empire, Fouch* said, "Among so many officers it will not
Nothing uwr and nothing tme. In his " Representative Men," essay
on Montaigne, Emerson, considering the materialist view of life, complains
that " the inconvenience of this way of thinking is that it ruiu into indiBer-
ihat V01I placed Ihcm differently friim where
they are ; thai the heart is on the left side and the liver on t? * ' ■ "
-yes," replies Sganarelle, loftily, " it used to be that way. but K
S33 HAtftiY-BOOK OF
entism and then into disgust. . . . > Ah,' said my languid gentleman at Oxford,
' there's nothing new or true — and no matter.' " But in truth the utterance
does not seem to be original at Oxford. It is a common proverb, of unknown
dale, found in Cornwall and other portions of southwesterly England in the
form, "There's nothing new, and there's nothing true, and it don t signi^."
Mons avona chuigA tout cala (Fr., " We have changed all that"), the
famnas phrase of Sganarelle, in Moliire's " Le M^decin malgrri Lui," Act ii.,
Sc. 7. Sganarelle, forced to play the doctor against his will, at last enters
into the spirit of the thing, gives an absurd diagnosis uf the patient's disease,
and speaks learnedly of vapors passing from the liver on the left side to the
heart on the right. " It could not, doubileas, be better reasoned," says
"' ' ■""' ' .e thing *hi. ■■
-' ■ Lio)acedll ....J _
! the liver on the right."
„ . ,. : that way, but nimt anoiu
cAaiig^ Uu/ ceia, ind we practise medicine now in quite a different manner."
The phrase has become proverbial to ridicule any absurd and pretentious
claim put forward by ignorance.
" Southey asks, " One of our poets
„ im>. If such a condition of exist-
:e were offered to us in this world, and it were put to the vole whelher we
should accept the offer and fix all things immutabty as Ihey are, who are they
whose voices would be given in the affirmative 1 The poet in question it
Cowley ;
Nothbg k ihcre Id come, aad noihlog p«Jt,
Biu ui cunul DOW doa nlwiiyi lul.
DavidtU, BddIi i.
Moir I lay mft down to alMp, the first line of a familiar childish prajer,
whose succeeding lines run as follows :
I prmv ihe Lord my hhiI 10 keep ;
If I ihould die belore I wake,
Bartlett ascribes the quatrain to the " New England Primer." It may be
found there, indeed, cretlited to one "Mr. Rogers, the mailyr, whose wife and
ten small children are so well knowti," but it is far older than the " Primer"
or even than Mr. Rogers. Rev. Thomas Hastings, in the "Mothers' Nur-
sery Songs" (1848), ascribes it to Watts ; but, a/oriiori, ii is older than Watts,
ana, furlbennore, the nearest (hat Walts came to ii is in the fallowing lines:
I lay my body down 10 ■Im>,
And Ihrougb die houiv oT diLibncia keep
RejoiciDg in ibTlovg.
In medieval times the prayer appeani to have been known as the White
Paternoster, being so styled in the " Enchiridion Panae Leonis, MCLX."
Ady's "Candle in the Dark" (1655) quotes it in the following fbrni :
Muihew. Muk. Luke, ud John,
Bleulfaebedthullyeoii,
And blessed Guardian AnEel, keep
He Hifo frw dfinger while I sleep.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
I liv me d
ilie Laid u blw
Lm3'my°i
er, in hU " Night Spell," alludes to ii :
Lord thou Criil and Scenic Bcnedyht
BleuE lbi> h«ii from e«e<y willkcd wt^l.
Fro nyghlo vemy, Ihe wtile P»lre ncnlre
When WDDnlDW now, S«rD» Pcue'l VHUa
e modern variant runs as follows :
Miuliew, Mark, Luke, BDd lohD I
God bleu the bed ihm 1 lie on T
Four ccmen to my bed,
Four uisels touud me Bpread I
OneU lae fooI Hudona at the hcb].
And iwo lo keep
My»iiluleepl
And iliould 1 die befoK 1 nke.
1 pray Ihee, Lord, my louL id take
It is evident that
the invocation, and
us. In the original form, ot something lilce it, the White Paternoster occurs
in Ihe popular hymnology of every country. Thus, Quenot, " Slalislique de
la Chaiente," gives it as follows ;
Dieul'ufiiil.jeladil.
J'u (rouvt qunue uge. ccmchji i mim 111,
El te boD Dku mi niiTitu.
L« b«i Dieu en non pin.
Ne enins lien ; le leu, I'onge ei U tempfte
Sukt-Jcu.Snini-Mare, >iiut-Liic ei Siint-MutUfU,
' — 1-1 1* inieBne si D
Uius:
Meno-y 1* mieniK si Dieu
In Ihe Loire it runs Ihus :
Adgbelu de Deu,
Culodla meu t
Cuiu SDii' illumiDsmc,
GuanU e defenda me
n other parts of France and Italy, in Germany,
Nulla diea b1ii« Uaea (L., " No day without a line"). Pliny, in hia " Natu-
ral History," Book xxxv., Sec. 84, reters this proverb to Apelles : " It was
a custom with Apelles. to whicli he most tenaciously adhered, never to let
any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising liimself by
tracing some outline or other, — a practice which has now passed into a
proverb." Erasmus, in his " Adagia, gives the proverb as " Nulla dies abeat,
qnin linea ducta supersiL" The far superior modern version seems to liave
been a gradual evolution. See, also, Day, I havk lost a.
Cookie
HANDY-BOOK OF
<Uli^E|U
Nullification. Doctiliie oL In the constitutional history of the
United States this doctrine was that held by the ultra strict-coiistructionisls
(see l.oose-CoNSTRUcrioNiST). According to them, the Federal Union was a
mere league of States, to which certain limited governmental powers had been
delegated, ultimate sovereignty and all )>owers not expressly delegated re-
maining with the separate States ; so that these latter might repudiate, each
for itself, any general act of Congress which in its judgment exceeded the
limits of the delegated powers strictly construed in favor of the States. An
attempt was made in 1S32 by the Legislature of South Carolina to "nulli^"
the United States tariff, held to be oppressive to the State and unconstitu-
tional in that it went beyond the powers given to Congress to raise revenue
l^ a tariff on imports, and embodied protective features in the interests of
the manufacturing States and against those of the purely agricultural com-
munities. Andrew Jackson's energetic measures, however, soon caused the
repeal of the act of^ the South Carolina Legislature. He pronounced the
act treasonable, and sent General Scott to Charleston to maintain the au-
thority of the Federal government and aid the officials in enforcing the
provisions of the act of Congress.
Nnmben, CniloaitlM ol If it be true that figures won't lie, that they
won't even equivocate, that two and two exhibit an unbending determination
to make foui and nothing but four, at least ligures do often play strange
pranks. They abound in paradoM^, and though a paradox is rightly defined
as a truth that only appears to be a lie, yet the stern moralist, who hates even
the appearance of evil, looks with scant favor upon a paradox. Luckily, we
are not all so stern in our morality. Must of us welcome a little ingenious
trifling, an amiable coquetting with the truth ; we are willing that Mr. Grad-
grind shall have the monopoly of hard facts ; we like to tiiid romance even
In our arithmetic And we don't have far to look.
There is the number nine. It is a most romantic number, and a most per-
^tent, self-willed, and obstinate one. You cannot multiply it away or get
rid of il anyhow. Whatever you do, it is sure to turn up again, as did the
body of Eugene Aram's victim.
Mr. W. Green, who died in 1794, is said to have Erst called attention to
the fact that all through the multiplication table the product of nine comes to
nine. Multiply by any figure you like, and the sum of the resultant digits
will invariably add up as nine. Thus, twice 9 is iS ; add the digits together,
and I and 8 make a. Three times 9 is 17 ; and 3 and 7 is 9. So it goes on
up lo 1 1 times 9, which gives 99. Very good. Add the digits together, 9 and
9 is 18, and S and l is 9. Go on to any extent, and you will find it impossible
to get away from the figure 9. Take an example at random. Nine times
339 <s 3051 ; add the digits together, and they make 9. Or again, 9 times
3137 is 19,134 ; add the digits together, they make 18, and E and 1 is 9. Or
still again, 9 times 5071 is 45,639 ; the sum of these digits is 37 ; and 3 and
7 is 9.
This seems startling enough. Vet there are other queer examples of the
same form of persistence, ft was M. de Maivan who discovered that if you
take any row of figures, and, reversing their order, make a subtraction sum
of obverse and reverse, the final result of adding up the digits of the answer
mil always be 9. As, for example :
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 825
3941
Reverse, J49£
1449
Now, i-r4 + 4 + 9'- lE; and 1-1-8 — 9.
The same result is obtained if you raise the numbers 10 changed to (heir
squares or cubes. Start anew, for example, with 6s ; reversing it, you get
2b. Now, 61 — 26 =• 36, and 3 -f 6 — 9. The squares of 36 and 62 are, re-
spectively, 676 and 3S44. Sublracl one from the other, and you get 3168
= 18, and I -I- 8 — 9. So with the cubes of 26 and 61, which are i7,;76and
138,328. Subtracting, the result is 320,751 = 18, and 1 -r g ^ 9,
Again, you are confronted with the same puzzling peculiarity in another
form. Write down any number, as, for example, 7,549,132, subtract there-
from the sum of its dibits, and, no matter what figures you start with, the
digits of the products will always come to 9.
7S49'3». sum of digits - 31.
.3J.
7549101, sum of digits -• 37, and 3 -i- 7 « 9.
Again, set the figure 9 down in multi plication, Ihut :
5 X 9 - 45
6X9 = 54
7 X 9 = 63
8 X 9 = «
9 X 9 = St
10 X 9 = 90
Now, you will see that the tens column reads down 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 9,
and ibe units column up i, 3, 3, 4, S> ^- 7> 8, 9-
Here is a different property of the same number. If you arrange in a row
the cardinal numbers from 1 to 9, with the single omission of 8, and multiply
the sum so represented by any one of the figures multiplied by 9, the result
will present a succession of figures identical with that which was multiplied
by a Thus, if you wish a series of Gvee, you take 5 X 9 '^ 45 for a multiplier,
with this result :
"345*79
45
61738395
493ft'7'6
5S5SSSSSS
A very curious number is 141,857, which, multiplied by 1, 3, 3, 4, ■;, or 6,
eive* the same Itgures in the same order, beginning at a different point, but
if multiplied by 7 gives all nines. Multiplied by I it equals 143^57 i multi-
plied by 2, equals 285,714 ; multiplied by 3, equals 438,571 ; multiplied by 4,
equals 571,438 ; multiplied by 5, equals 714,385 ; multiplied by 6, equals
857,142 ; multiplied by 7, equals 999,999- Multiply 143,857 by 8, and you
have 1,143,856. Then add the first figure to the fast, and you have 142,857,
the original number, (he figures exactly the same as at the start
The number 37 has (his strange peculiarity : multiplied by 3, or by any mul-
tiple of 3 up to 37, it gives three figures all alike. Thus, three times 37 will
8>6 HANDY-BOOK OF
be 1 1 1. Twice three times (6 tiroes) 37 will be 2iz ; three time* three timcB
(9 liiDes) 37 gives three threes ; Tour tiroes three limes (12 limes) 37, three
The wtmderfulijf procrealive power of figures, or, rallier, their accumulative
growth, has been exemplified in that familiar slory of the farmer who, onder-
taliirg to pay his farrier one grain of wheal (or the first nail, two for the
second, and so on, found thai he had bargained 10 give the farrier more wheat
than was grown in all England.
My beloved young friend who love 10 frequent the rouletle-table, do you
know that if you began with a dime, and were allowed to leave all your win-
nings on the table, five consecutive lucky guesses would give you a million
antfa half of dollars, or, to be exact, 91450,62^.52 ?
Yet that would be the result of winning ihiily five for one five times hand-
running.
Here is another example. Take the number 15, let us say. Multiply that
by itself^ and you get 135. Now multiply 225 by itself, and so on until Afleen
products have been muUiplied by themselves in turn.
You don't think that is a difficult problem ^ Welt, you may be a clever
mathematician, but it would take you about a quarter of a century to work
oai this simple little sum.
The final product called for contains 38,589 figures, the first of which are
1441. Allowing three figures to an inch, the answer would be over 1070 feet
long. To perforin the operation would lequire about ;oo.0O0,0OI> figures. If
they can be made at the rale of one a tninule, a person working ten hours a
day for Ihiee hundred days in each year would be twenty-eight years about iL
If, in multiplying, he should make a row of ciphers, as he does in other figures,
ihe number of figures would be mote than 523,939,223. This would be th^
precise number of figures used if the product of Ihe left-hand figure in each
multiplicand by each figure of the multiplier was always a single f^ure, but, as
it is most frequently, though nol always, two figures, the method employed to
obtain (he foregoing result cannot be accurately applied. Assuming that the
cipher is used on an average once in ten times, 475,000,000,000 approximates
the actual number.
There ii
seventeen
second son a third, and his youngest a ninth. But how divide camels ii
fractions? The three sons, m despair, consulted Mohammed All.
"Nothing easier," said the wise man. "I'll lend you another camel 10
make eighteen, and now divide them yourselves."
The consequence was, each brother got from one-eighth of a camel to one-
half more than he was entitled to, and Ali received his caroel back again, —
the eldest brother getting nine camels, Ihe second six, and the third twa
There are many mathematical queries afloat whose object is to puzile the
wits of the unwary liiitener or to beguile him into giving an absurd reply.
Some of these are very ancient, many are excellent Who, for example, has
nol at some period of his existence been asked, "If a goose weighs ten
Cntis and half its own weight, what is the weight of the goose f" And who
nol been tempted to reply on Ihe insunt, fifteen pounds? The cottecl
answer is, of course, twenty pounds. Indeed, il is astonishing what a very
simple query will sometimes catch a wise man napping. Even the following
has been known to succeed :
" How many days would it take to cut up a piece of cloth fifty yards long,
one yard being cut off every day ?"
Or again :
" A aitail climbing op a pott twenty feet high ascends five feet every d^.
UTBRARY CURIOSITIES. 837
and alipa down four feet eveiy night : how long will the snail take to reach
the top of Ibe post ?"
Or again :
"A wise man having a window one yard high and one yard wide, and
re()oiring more light, enlarged his window to twice its former size ; yel the
window was still only one yard high and one yard wide. How was this dune T'
This is a catch question in geomclry, as Ihe preceding were catch, question a
in arithmetic, — (he window being dianiond-shaped at first, and alleiwards
made square. As to the two former, perhaps it is scarcely necessary Mfioualy
(o point oat that (he answer to the first is not fifty days, but forty-nine ; and
to the second, not twenty days, but sixteen, — since Ine snail, who gains one
fool each day for fifteen days, climbs on the sixteenth day to Ihe lop of the
pole, and there remains.
Numbers have a legendary and mystic signification. It is not only the
mathematician that has been fascinated by Ihcm. The poet- the philosopher,
the priest, have pondered over their changeless relations to each other, have
seen in mathematical truth the one thing absolutely fixed and sure, and have
come to look upon numbers and their symbols as in some sort a revela-
tion from on high, things to be dealt with reverently and awesomely. And
so almost every number has been given an esoteric meaning.
The number one, as being indivisible, and as entering into all other numbers,
was always a sacred number. The Egyptians made it the symbol of life, of
mind, of the creative spirit.
Three, in the Pythagorean s^tem, was Ihe perfect number, expressive of
beginning, middle, and end. From time immemorial greater prominence has
been given to it than to any other number, save perhaps seven. And as the
symbol of the Trinity its influence has waxed more potent in more recent
times. It appears over and over again in the Old Tesiament and the New.
When the world was created we (ind land, water, and sky, sun, moon,
and Blars. Noah had three sons ; Jonah was three days in the whale's belly ;
Christ three days in the tomb^ There were three patriarchs, — Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham entertained three angels. Job had three friends.
Samuel was called three times. Samson deceived Delilah three limes. Three
limes Saut essayed to kill David with a javelin. Jonathan shot three arrows
on David's behalC Daniel was thrown into a den with three lions for pray-
ing three limes a day. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were rescued
from the fiery furnace. The Commandments were delivered on the third
day. St. Paul speaks of Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three. Three wise
men came to worship Christ with presents three. Christ spoke three times
to Satan when tempted. He prayed three times before his betrayal. Peter
denied him three times. Christ suffered three hours' agony on ihe cross.
The superscription was in three languages, and three men were crucified.
The third day Christ arose again, and appeared three limes to his disciples.
And so on, and so on. It were tedious lo continue the enumeration.
In classic mythology Ihe Graces and the Furies were three, the Muses
were originally three, and Cerberus's three heads, Neptune's trident, the
tripod of Delphi, are a few more instances of the sacred character of the
Who does not remember the three bears of nursery lore, the Ihree feline
infants who lost iheir mitten^ the Ihree wise men of Gotham who went to sea
in a bowl, or the three finiking Frenchmen frying frogs, and recall the de-
light he felt in the story of the brmer's wife who vowed vengeance on the
three hapless mice, or of Old King Cole wilh bis "fiddlers three"? Then,
when fairy-tales be^an lo charm, who does not recollect learning that the
elfish creatures earned bow* made of the ribs of a man buried where three
838 HANDY-BOOK OF
lairds' lands meet ? Those who Tollowed Gulliver in his travels will call to
mind that in the kingdom of Lilipul the three great prizes of honor were
fine silk threads, sli inches long, in colors blue, red, and green ; but perhaps
every reader had not the opportunity of being fascinated by the tierman
Story which relates how a miller's dauohler, wedded to a kins, was ordered
by him to spin Blraw into gold, and haJ it done for her by the dwarf Rumpel-
stilzchen, on condition that she gave him her first-born. She cried ho bitterly
thai he promised to relent if she guesKcd his name in three days. I'wo days
were spent in vain guesses, but the third the queen's servants heard a strange
voice, singing "Little dreams my dainty dame Rumpelstilichen is my name."
The queen saved her child, and the dwarf killed himself with rage.
France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy all fly three national colotv. The
Turkish viiier has his standard ornamented with three horae-Uils. The
Prince of Wales's crest consists of three feathers. Indeed, the annals of
heraldry revel in designs of a triplicate character, the three British lions
being conspicuous. The original armorial ensign of the Isle of Man was a
ship in full sail ; but after the battle of Ronaldsway Alexander III. substi-
tuted the present curious device, having probably taken it from the emblem of
Sicily,— the ancient Ttinacria found upon Greek vases. In 1363, Charles VI.,
it appears, reduced the Fleuts-de-Lis to three in number, from the mystic
superstition of the Church. Every one ^miliar with University life knows
what it is to drink copus, bishop, and cardinal. Ecclesiastical DtsiorTtB re-
plete with such triads, aa, for example, the Bel), Book, and Candle ; the
Triduum, or three days' prayer ; (he Pope's three crowns ) and " The Mystery
of the Three Dons," a religious play which lasted three days.
Nay, do not life itself and nature proclaim the same truth } Have we
not morning, noon, and night ; fish, flesh, and fowl ; water, ice. and snow ;
hell, earth, and heaven ? The very lightning from heaven is ihrce-forked.
Life is divided into youth. Dianhood, and old age. The os sacrum, supposed
to resist the action of water, fire, mill, or anvil, is triangular in shape. Man
himself is said to be threefold, — body, soul, and spirit, or, aa Laertes has it, a
mortal part, a divine and ethereal part, and an aerial and vaporous part.
According lo the Romans, man has a threefold soul, — the anima, or spirit,
the umbra, and the manes ; and, as was also the Opinion of the Greelcs, three
ParcK, or Fates, arbitrarily controlled his birth, life, and death. Oculists
affirm that our early progenitors were giants possessed of three eyes, the
third eye being in the back of the head.
No wonder the witches in "Macbeth" ask, " When shall we three meet
•gain r
Four, as the first square, was highly revered by the Pythagoreans. They
swore by it, but (en was (he more holy as the symbol of the absolute. One
plus two plus three plus four make ten, and four contains the smaller nnin-
berB. Therefore, since its contents made ten, it was sacred. Besides, four
represented the four elements, the four cardinal points ; it Stood for equi-
librium and for the earth.
Five was considered the number of dominion by knowledge. The penta-
gram, or Solomon's seal, was its symbol, and the Gnostic schools adopted ft
as their crest. It was much employed in incanlatio^^ and often was Dsed aa
the symbol of man, who has five senses, five members, — head and four limbs,
— five lingers, etc
Six is a |>erfect number ; its symbol is two triangles base to base ; it rep-
resents equilibrium and peace.
Seven, which is comptned uf four, a good number, and three, a good nani-
ber, has always been regarded a« sacted and mystic ; indeed, it rivals m
popularity the number three.
;i:v,.G00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 829
Take the Bible, for eiiample ; there ate sever dajra of creation ; after
seven days' lespite the flood came ; the years of famine and of plenty were in
cycles orseven ; every seventh day was a Sabbath, every seventh yeai the
Sabbath of rest ; after every seven times seven years came the jubilee ; the
feast of unleavened bread and the feast of tabernacles were obaerired seven
days ; the golden candlestick had seven branches ; seven priests with seven
trumpets encompassed Jericho once a day, and seven times on the seventh
day ; Jacob obtained his wives by servitudes of seven years ; Samson kept
hia nuptials seven days, and on uie seventh day he put a riddle to his wile,
and he was bound with seven green withes, and seven locks of his hair were
shaved off; Nebuchadnezzar was seven years a beast : Shadrach and his two
companions in misfortune were cast into a furnace heated seven times more
than it was wont. In the New Testament nearly everything occurs by sevens,
and at the end of the sacred volume we read of seven churches, seven candle-
sticks, seven spirits, seven trumpets, seven seals, seven stars, seven thunders,
seven vials, seven plagues, seven angels, and a seven-headed monster.
The lews considered this number the embo<Iiment of perfectinn and unity.
Thus, iney asserted that the Hebrew letters composing the name of Samuel
have the value of seven, — a recognition of the greatness and perfection of his
Tnm now to other nations than the Jews and to other religions than the
Christian, The number seven still retains its mystic character.
Pythagoras pronounced the number to belong especially to sacred things.
Hippocrates divided the ages of man into seven, an arrangement afterwards
adopted by Shakespeare. Long before them, however, the Egyptian priests
r back in the mists of antiquity we lind the institution of a Sabbath,
or day of rest every seven days, existing in a rudimentary form among the
Chaldeans. The Egyptians knew of seven planets, hence the seven days of
the week, each ruleaand named after its proper constellation. It is singular
that the ancient Peruvians likewise had a seven-day week, though without
planetary patronage or planetary names. They also had a tradition of a great
iletuge, wherefrom seven people saved themselves in a cave and repeopled
the earth. A similar tradition existed in Mexico, but there the seven
survivors were each hidden in a separate cave until the subsidence of the
sleepers of Ephesus, are seven in number. Barbarossa, ir
the Kyffhiiuserberg, shifts his position every seven years ; Olger Danske
stamps his iron mace on the floor once during the same period ; Olger
Redbeard, in Sweden, lifts his eyelids only once m seven years. Tanhauser
and Thomai of Ercildoune each spend seven years of magic enthralment
under the earth.
The Pythagorean philosophers called eight the number of justice, because
it divided evenly, they said, into four and four, and four divides evenly into
two and two, which again divides into one and one. Also, as the Hrsi cube,
it represented the corner-stone and capacity, hence plenty,
Nme, representing three triangles, means the equilibrium of the three
worlds, and is therefore of good omen ; besides, as three is a good number,
three mulliptled by three is also favorable. The Chinese have a great rev-
erence for this number. They prostrate themselves nine times before their
emperor. Some African tribes have the same formof salutation for their
Ten was considered a perfect number even before the invention of the deci-
70
830 HANDY-BOOK OF
mal system. Th« fact thai we have ten fingers and (en toes gave it its mathe*
niatica] important^, inasmuch as it was by means of fingeis and toes that our
rude forefathers first learned to reckon.
St. Augustine held the number eleven to be an evil numlier, a (ransgres-
won of ten, which is the numlxr of the law. That thirteen is unlucky is no
modern superstition.
Sixteen, the square of the just square, is lucky ; eishleen is unlucky, but
is used in incanlalions over drugs ; nineteen is considered — why is hard to
guess — the number of the sun, hence of gold ; twenty-eight implies the lavor
of Ihe moon, which is an uncertain favor ; fifty is a lucky number lo the Kab-
balisis, so is sixty.
It will be seen that the most sacred and beneficent numbers are (he odd
ones. Hence may arise Ihe modern superstition among gamblers that there
is luck in odd numbers. Bu( among the ancient heathens also even numbers
were shunned, because each can be divided in(o two, a number thai Pythagoras
and others denounced as (he symbol of death and dissolution and evil augury
generally.
The antique worship of mystic numbers slill shows ils after-effect in various
popular supeistilions. For instance, Ihe seventh son of a seventh son (called
in France a vtarieu) is reputed to possess singular powers of healing, and
even intelligent people slill hold to the fallacy thai young animals born blind
will open iheii eyes on the ninth day. The Irulh is that Ihe blindness- period
of puppies varies from len lo siileen days, and Ihat of kittens from six to
twelve. The freguenl asaerlion that "colds" will run their natural course in
nine days is equally erroneouE. A slight catarrh, characleriied by all its un-
mistakable symploms, may come and depart in three times twenty-four hours,
while chronic " colds" are often as persistent as their cause, and may worry a
whole family from Chtisimas to [he season of open windows. Country expert*
in Ihe phenomena of rabies are apt to assure the victim of a snapping cur that
the bile of a mad dog will show its effect on Ihe scvcnlh day, after which time
(sometimes extended to Ihe ninth day) the dread of evil consequences may be
dismissed ; but Ihe trulh is that the virus of hydrophobia may remain latent
for more than five years.
The old idea Ihat man chanEes his body entirely every seven years is part
of Ihe same general fallacy. Mediaeval physiologisls were fond of noting Ihat
(even months is (he least time in which a child may be born and live, that the
teeth spring oul in the seventh month and are renewed in the seventh year,
tha( he becomes a youth a( twice seven, at four times seven is in full posses,
•ion of his strength, at five times seven is fitted for the business of the world,
at six times seven becomes grave and wise, or never, at seven times seven ia
al his apuee, al eight limes seven in his lirsl climacteric, and al nine limes
■even in his grand climacteric
nutmeg State, a sobriquet for Connecticut. The Connecticut variety
of Yankee has always enjoyed a singular reputation for what is known as
" smartness" in business, exiending even to such sharpers' tricks as substi.
luting wooden hams (ihis, of course, jocosely only), and, more seriously, ""
(he alleged manufaclur ' ^ . , i- . • ■ ^ _/.
real article.
TheEmi:
.d by Google
LITER ARY CURIOSITIES.
O, the fifteenth letter and fourth vowel of the Engliah, as of the Latin,
alphabet In Greek, however, and in the parent Phoenician it was Beparaled
from N by a character which in the forniei had the value of ks (f) and in
the latter was a sibilant It has no traceable Egyptian prolotype. While in
form it is identical with the ofW of the Phceiiicians and Hebrews, that peculiar
guttural sound, to us well-nigh unpronounceable, was arbitrarily changed
by the Greeks to the present vowel sound. Hence the otherwise plausible
theory that O represents and is imitated fium the rounded position uf the
lips in its utterance is untenable. It is more likely it represents an eyeball,
the word am meaning " eye." The ancient Greeks doubled the O when they
wished to give it the long sound, but eventually ihis double O developed into
a new character, u, omega, or big O, and the single O became known as omicran,
or little O.
In \qAc the sign O is used as the symbol of the particular negative propo-
sition. (See A.)
Anciently the letter was used as a synonyme for anything circular or ap-
prozimalely so, as representing the shape of the letter.
Fair Melow, who more cngildi the olfht
Than all you liery Da Uld eyo at light.
Shakesfeaki : Miditmimtr Nigkl't Dthhk, Act ill., 5c. *.
Within ihU wooden O [the thentre] the very CAiqoc*
Tbu ltd aOnEhl the us at Agincoun T
Htnry V., Pralspit,
O. K., a popular American abbreviation, meaning "all right," used not
only in current talk but in serious business, as in the marking of documents,
etc Quite a cycle of legendary explanations have gathered around the
term. It is plausibly held that in ea.i\j colonial days the best rum and
tobacco were imported from Aui Caves, in San Domingo. Hence the best
of anything came to be known locally as Aua Caves, or O. K. The term
did not, however, pass into ^nerat use until the Presidential campaign uf
iSzS, when the supposed illiteranr of Andrew Jackson, the Democratic can-
didate, was the slock in trade of his Whig opponenig. Seba Smith, the
humorist, writing under the name of " Major Jack Downing," started the story
that Jackson endorsed his papers O. K., under the impression that they
farmed the initials of " Oil tCorrect" Ii is not at all impossible that the
general did use this endorsement, and that it was used by other people also.
But Mr. Parton has discovered in the records of the Nashville court of which
Jackson was a judge before he became President, numerous documents en-
dorsed O. R., meaning Order Recorded. He urges, therefore, that it was a
record of that court with some belated business which Major Downing saw
on the desk of the Presidential candidate. However this may be, the Demo-
crate, in lieu of denying the charge, adopted the letters O. K. as a sort of
party cry, and fastened them on their banners.
'ritiik Critic somewhere about
the forties, after cfaaracteriiing swearing as a hateful custom, nevertheless
admits that it clearly indicates "a mind overcome with some violent but re-
strained feeling, and seeking a vent for it anyhow, and so far the very con-
dition of poetical composition." Another poet and moralist goes Flill further.
Ccjeridge, in his ■' Apologetic Preface" to a certain poem against Piit, con-
Ul/f
832 HAl^DY-BOOK OF
aiders "a rapid flow of eafri and wildly combined eiecrations" as "escape-
valves to cany oS' the excess of the passions as so much superfluous Sleam,"
and goes on to speak of such violent words as ■' mere bubbles, flashes, and
electrical apparitions from the magic caldron of a fervid and ebullient fancy,
consllnlly fuelled by an unexampled opulence of language." The inference
is plain. Poets must be expected to swear. The greit poetic heart must
&nd occasional relief in blasphemy. It is one of the privileges of the fewh/
irrilahili. Possibly the same rule will hold good with all highly-organized and
sensitive natures. Shakespeare, at least, seems to have thought so. He puts
into the mouth of the flery and poetical Hotspur the counsel to his wife not
' ' to swear, but to swear boldly, with a high-born and feminine toDtidnesa
fulness of volume ;
Sureiir mc. Kau, like a ladf u thoii in,
A good mouth-filltiic oath.
Clolen, in "Cymbeline," lays down an even broader proposition : " When
a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any standers-by to curtail bis
oaths, ha?" And Cloten was a queen's ion. Nevertheless he was not quite
agenlleman. In the romantic and picturesque past, kings, nobles, and men
01 parts ransacked the language for strange oaths. To swear by some por-
tion of the Deity or of a samt was especially fashionable and a*slhelic Our
English ancestors blasphemed indifferently in French and in English : Ihey
S)\Amot^m{v\i\<Jn\imorledeDin),tudieu\lfledeDim\,cerbUu{,ceTfaiUDieu),
veatrf-bUu (veairt di Di!u\s(an-bleu \saag de Diru\,ai else "Zounds," '"Slid,"
"■Sblood," and "'Sdeath" ("God's wounds," "God's lid." "God's blood,"
and " God's death"). The Planiagenet kings were known 1^ Iheit refined and
characteristic oaths. The favorite blasphemies of royally are on record, the
Red King being, as his temperament and complexion would have led us to
expect, vcrjr full and ingenious and arieinal in the mailer of cursing. One of
big least objectionable oaths was by "SL Luke's face." His royal father, the
Conqueror, usually swore by "the splendor of God." John's oath was by
"God's loolh," Henry II. 's by "God's eyes." Elizabeth swore with a vigor
and masculinity that make her favorite expletives unquotable^ Shakespeare
is usually careful to follow history in this regard. He makes Richard III.
swear by St Paul, which was his favorite oath according to (radilion. though
once the dramatist trips up in substituting "by my George," — i.i., the figure
of St. George on (he badge of Knights of the Garter, which was not used
until the reign of Henry VII. Lord Herbert of Cherbury in his own quaint
manner tells us that his defence of James I.'s habit of cursing " was much
celebrated in the French court." "The Prince de Condrf complaining on a
visit to Lord Herbert that the king was much given to cursing. " I answered
that it was out of his gentleness ; but the Prince demanding how cursing could
be gentleness, I replied ves ; for tho' he could punish men himself yet he
left them to God to punish."
But indeed the French kings were not far behind the English. Like the
English, too, they were choice in their oalhs ; each had his own. We all
remember how in "Quentin Durward" Louis XL iterates "Pasques Dieuf
even to weariness. The feats of that monarch and his successors are thus
recorded in a popular poem called the " Epitheton des quaire Rois," proba-
bly written in the time of Francis I. :
Cc Bon Jour bieii lui luccMi. jCluulei VIII.)
Au Bon Jduc DlEa dcmiDci el Don
Suct^ile Dyjible m-cmpone. (Loui> Xll.)
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 833
Henr]' IV. Introduced ibe curious oalh "Jirnicolon" into polite conversation.
He had been in ihe habit of saying " Je renie Dieu" (" I deny God"), but his
confessor, Father Colon, a Jesuit, expostulated with the royal penitent, and
begged him rather to use Ilie words " Je rente Coton :" hence arose (he new
expression. Il may have been on some such principle that he manufactured
his slill more 6mous oath Venire St.-Gris. Certainly St.-Gris is mentioned
in no Church calendar. He may have t)een an imaginary saint, invented as
Ihe patron of drunkards, as SL-Uche was invented for the lazy, and SCe.-
Nitoache for hypocrites.
Shakespeare has recorded a large number of curiou* oaths which were
doubtless common among all orders of society in his lime. Hamlel swears by
" Sl Patrick," by " Our Lady," and by " the rood ;" Polonius and many others,
by "Ihe mass;'* Mrs. Page, by " the dickens" (devilkins, or little devii) ; Par-
son Evans, by *' God's lords and his ladies," " 'od's [God's] plessed will," and
"the levii and his tarn ;" Corporal Nym, by "welkin and his star •" Shallow
and Page, by "cock and pie," — possibly a reference to the cock and magpie,
a common ale-house sign, but more probably God and Pye, — (>., a prayer-
book. Scattered among the plays continually reappear such cipresBiona as
" 'od's lifelings" (God's dear life), " by my halidom" (" holy dame," or possibly
" holy dom" = salvation, or slate of being holy), " bodikins" (" little body"),
"Marry" (a supposed corruption of Mary), "by ray fay" (faith), '"Slid"
("God's lid"), "'odsme" ("God smile me''), not lo roeniion "'Fore God,"
" God a mercy," " Mercy on me," " Failh," " Upon my soul," " by Gys," and
a host of simiW interjections. No wonder Ihat James Howel in one of his
"Epblolz IIu-Elianz." dated August I, 162S, writes, "This infandous cus-
tom oF swearing, I olMcrve, reigns in England lately more than anywhere
else ; though a German, in highest puff of passion, swears by a hundred thou-
sand sacraments, the Frenchman by the Death of God, ihe Spaniard by His
Flesh, the Irishman bv His Five Wounds, though the Scot commonly bids
Ihe Devil hale his Soul, yel for variety of oaths the English roarers put down
all. Consider well what a dangerous thine it is lo tear in pieces Ihal Dread-
ful Name, which makes the vast fabric of Ine world to Ircrable."
But on the authority of Sit John Harrington, half a cenlury previous, we
learn that the great national oath which has overshadowed all others was
already beginning to assert its away :
Te iwcar In mlghiy mauen hj ibc mait:
They (wore ibcn by Ibe crojf of ihli nme (nKI ;
And whcD llie cron ms LikewiK held Id Kom,
La41, hMvina nvoni away aJJ failh and Imlh,
Only GodJamn ltitm\t Ihe common oilh:
Thai, l«iiig mini, crtu./ailk, Ihey GnJ dammalimt.
The last-named oath has been looked upon as the shibboleth of the English
for nearly five centuries. At Ihe trial of loan of Arc (anno 1429) one ot the
witnesses, Colette, being asked who "Godnn" was, replied Ihat it was a nick-
name given to the English from their favorite exclamation (Sharon Turner :
Hittoryof llu Middle Aps, Svo ed., vol. ii. p. 555). And Ihe maid herself,
while chained in her prison-cell, proudly said lo the Earls of Warwick and
Stafford, " Vou think when you have slain me you will conquer France,
bul thai you will never do. Though Ihere were a hundred thousand God-
dammeuTROTKm France than there are, they will never conquer that kingdom."
The name by which Ihe English were known lo Joan of Arc has followed
■heir morning drum-beat around the world, so Ihat in ever; savage and
834 HANDY-BOOK OF
civiliwd clime iheir favorite imprecation has become the national seirifutt.
In 1770 Lord Hales lells us ihal in Holland litlle children saluted the English
with the words "There come the Goddams." Captain Hall more recently
informed us that when a Sandwich-Ialandet wished to propitiate a British
crew he wooed them with congralulatuty phrases from their own tongue :
" Very glad see you ! IJash your eyes ! Me like English very much. E^vil-
ish hot, sir ! Goddam," Nor must we forget the disasttous attempt of the
British to colonize the Isthmus of Darien. The expedition carried a goodly
company of clergymen to convert the heathen natives, for it was intended
that Christianity should consecrate commerce. But the colony proved a
commercial and theological failure, and the colonists left behind them no
mark that baptized and godly men had set fool on Darien save the great
national oath, which from its frequent reiteration had caught the ear and been
retained in the memory of the native population.
Beaumarchais, in the " Mariage de Figaro," laughingly extols the beauty
and compactness of the English language .- " You only need one expression.
Goddam ; that will carry you through." He acknowtedees that there are other
words used occasionally by the English in conversation, but the substance
and depth of the language are in that magical oath. Lord Byron coriobo*
rales Beaumarchais :
Or'Eiiglbh, uveTheirihlbbalMh " God duBn t"
And even Ihal he had 10 ranlv bcurd,
H« »n«imca ihoughi -|wh only tkck" ulin,"
Or " God be with you I" and 'la ml abnud
To think sa, Ibr. b^t Engiiih u I om
(To my miiforrunc), Be«r on I uy
1 heard ifaein wiib God with you tan that way.
On/iiajii.CaBIDii., Sunuii.
Yet, in spite of this world testimony to the peculiarly national character of
this oath, Mr. Julian Sharman would rob the British of the glory of origi-
nality. He would have us believe that the expression is corrupted from the
dam'-Ditu \dami di Dieu, " lady" or " Mother of God") which the soldiers
of Henry V. heard continually on the lips of the French soldiery, but that, as
the word Dieu was a phonetic poser, they were " forced to Anglicize it to fit it
tn the remainder of the oath," This is a good specimen of perverse ingenuity.
It ia absurdly unlikely that English soldiers carefully put the carl before the
horse and exchanged their native tongue for a foreign one in those very mo-
ments of anger or excitement when language is apt 10 be most racy and
natural. Besides, they already had the oath " Mother of God ;" why ex-
change it for the feebler God-dame or God-mother ?
A more odious formula of strong language, the adjective "bloody," is
also traced by Mr. Sharman to a foreign source, to the Holland blivdig (Ger-
man blHlig), which Ben Jonson and his fellows brought back with them from
their " Low-Country soldiering" in Holland. Unfortunately for this theory,
neither Ben Jonson not any of his contemporaries uses the word as an exple-
tive. It was not till the days of Dryden and Swift that it appeared in literature
or on the stage. Swift uses it with a beautiful impartiality : in one place,
" It grows bloody cold, and I have no waistcoat," and in another, having
walked from London to Chelsea in his gown, " It was bloody hot." The
word, in fact, was a "swagger" one in those days before it penetrated to the
lowest strata of society and ousted from the streets almost every other
adjective. A well-known story tells of a bargee running with the boats at
Oxford and shouting, " Hooray I hooray I hoo-bloody-ray !" Max O'Rell, in
"John Bull and his Island," auoies an English workman as saying, " I told
my bloody master thai he only gave me a bloody sovereign every bloody
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. H%
week, and that I wanted five bloody shillings more. He said he had not the
bloody lime to listen to my bluod]^ comgilainls." He is rather inclined to
favor the etymologv which makes il a corruption of the bfr lady of Shake-
speare's day. But Murray sees in it a reference to ihe habila of the " bloods"
or swells of the eighteenth century. Bloody drunk — as drunk as a blood —
was probably its first appearance. Gradually Its apparent association with
bloodshed and murder recommended its use to the rougher class as an ad-
jective that appealed to their imagination.
During the time of the Commonwealth some effort was made to suppress
profane swearing. But Ihe Restoration brought back an unbridled license
of tongue. Macanlay tells us that, in order to spite the Puritans. " the new
breed of wits and fine gentlemen never opened their mouths without uttering
ribaldry of which a porter would now be ashamed, and without calling on
their Maker to curse them, sink them, confound them, blast them, and damn
them." Nor was the habit checked or impeded by the " glorious Revolution
of i688." The plays and novels and the gossip of the period prove that pro-
fanity was quite an ordinary exercise of the English lungs. It did not much
matter whether those lungs were placed in a male or a female breasL Sarah,
Duchess of Marlborough, calling on an eminent judge and finding him ab.
sent, departed in a flurry of vituperative indignation without leaving ner name.
The servant could only report to the judge on his return that the visitor had
not mentioned her name, but that "she swore like a lady of quality." The
armies which swore so " terribly in Flanders," according to Uncle Toby's re-
port, were English troops engaged in the siege of Namur in 1693. Con-
S eve's " Old Bachelor," produced in that very year, fairly bristles with oaths,
ot only has it all the common blasphemies, but a number of new refine-
ments. Thus, "lounds" becomes "oona," "God's blood" becomes "ads-
blud," and the Shakespearian "'Slid," " adslidihins." Then we have "O
Lord," "By the Lord Harry," "Gad," "Egad," " Gadsobs," " Gadsiooks"
or "Odszooks" ("God's looks"), and the puerMe " Gad's daggers, beets, blades,
and scaUiards." " By the Mass" becomes " By the Mess,'^r simply " Mess."
In this, as in the various substitutions of Gad for God, we see the mincing
pronunciation afiected by the dandies and loungers of the period, who turned
In Sheridan's "Trip to Scarborough" (first acted in 1777) we have Lord
Fopplngton rapping out a number of new oaths. " Death and eternal tor-
tures, sir,'' he cnes to his tailor, " I say the coat is too wide here by a foot t
... As Gad shall jedge me, it hangs on my shoulders like a chairman's sur-
tout I" *'Stap my vitius," however, is his favorite adjuration. Bob Acres'
"genteel style" of^oaths is, of course, a mere burlesque. Its specialty is that
it adapts itself to the subject in hand : " Ods whips and wheels, I've travelled
like a comet I" " Odds blushes and blooms, she has been as healthy as the
German Spa!" "Odds minims and crotchets, how she did chirrup at Mrs-
But we do not need the evidence of fiction and the drama to prove that
until quite recent times hard swearing was a sign of good breeding. Lord
Chancellor Thurtow swore from the wool-sack. When a certain bishop.
ning the right of presentation to an ancient benefice, sent his secretary K
argue the point, Thurlow cut the latter short. "Give my compliir
lordship," he said, "and tell him I will see him damned before he presents."
"That,** remonstrated the secretary, "is a very unpleasant message to de-
liver to a bishop." " Vou are right,^' said Thurlow ; " it is. Tell him I'll see
myself damned before he presents." Almost as pointed was the rejoinder of
Kmg William's attorney-general to the American ctereyman who had crossed
the Atlantic to solicit alms for a pious foundation in Virginia. " Sir," urged
HANDY-BOOK OF
Bouls 1 Make tobacco !"
A[ preseni Ewearing as a fine art has gone out of bshion in Anglo-Saxon
countries. Men ptaclise profanity among themselves, but not in general
society. And even in exclusively male society it is tabooed by the better
classes. To be suie, many of our common adjurations which are not usually
classed as profanity are corruptions of the moulh-filling oaths of the pasL
"Egad" and "lounds" arc Still heard among English gentlemen, who prob-
ably have no thought of theii elymoli^cal meaning. The mother who, when
scolding her child, says " plague you" or " drat you" does not know or care to
know that those expressions are elliptical for " God plague you" and " God
rol you." " Lord," "O Lordy," and " Good Loid"are undoubted adjurations
of ine Almighty. "Darn" is a mere vulgarization of "damn," as "Gosh"
and "Golly are of "God." "Confound you" is but a truncated form <rf
"May God confound you," as the servanlgalism "Mjr!"or "Oh, my!" is a
truncated form of invocation of the Deity. "Jingo" is the Basque name for
the Deity. " Dickens" is a contraction tor " devilkins." " Deuce" is a cor-
ruption of the Latin "Deus" (God). The Irish "be jabers" is a mere soAen-
ing of "be Jasus" or "Jesus," and the harmless words "Jove" and "Gemini"
(at " Jimminy") have onlv grown into favor through their faint yet sufficient
resemblance in sound to the same sacred name. Nav, the commonest of all ex-
pressions, the familiar household phrase " Dear me 1 is in all probability a cor-
ruption of the Italian " Dio mio I" (" My God 1") an exclamation which is still
used by Italian men, wotnen, and children of all ranks in society with quite as
little intention of profanity as English and Americans put into their " Dear roe I"
To an Anglo-Saxon, indeed, the frequent appeal to God's name in the
countries of Continental Europe is astonishing at least, if not shocking. The
young American girl who, shortly after her arrival in Germany, went down
into the kitchen and asked the cook if she had put on the potatoes, retreated
with horror when the cook laughingly replied, "O thou great God, of course
I have, miss." In Germany they probably ring more changes upon the name
of the Divinity than in any other country. It is either "O Gott I" ("O
God !") " Mein Gott 1" (" My God 1") " Her r Gott 1" (•■ Lord God !") " Grosser
Gott I" ("Great God I") " Du lieber Gott 1" ("Thou dear God I") " Allmitchl'ger
Gott I" (" AlmightT God !"), or "Gott" without any qualifving adjective. In
France " Dieu," " Mon Dieu," " Bon Dieu," " Grand Dieu,'' are used with the
same frequency as, and have about the force of, our "goodness gracious." A
trifle more intensity is thrown into the French phrase "Sacr^ nom de Dieu"
("Sacred name of^God"), especially when the stress of the voice is placed
upon the syllable crl with a gradual dtcrtsienda to the end.
An ingenious and kindly French curate, deploring the excessive use of
theoloeical terminology in social life, yet recognizing the needs of suffering
or excited humanity, recently proposed a scheme of reformation. It is not
original, but is evidently based upon the illustrious precedent set by Colon in
his "jatnicoton." Why not choose a number of sonorous and mouth-filling
words from general literature or history ? As the Latin races want a good
deal of rolling r's in their sonority, he suggests Sardanapalus, Caractacus, or
Cr^puscule. " Repeat these or other words till they come to you naturally,"
says the good AbM lean, "and you will never think of reverting to old-
fashioned blasphemies." The new method needs a good deal of practice.
Like Demosthenes, Its votaries should first seek some secluded shore of
the sea, and hurl the words "Crrrjpusculc I" " Sarrrdanapale I" or "Mille
noms d'un trrat I" al the incoming waves. When they deem themselves
perfect, they may venture back into general society.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 837
Unhappily, many people feel that an oath quite devoid of supernatural
■ancii(H> IS like a temperance subsiiiuie (or alcoholic drinks. Total abstinence
seems \q be the only true alternative, and really it is not a bit more difficult
than the good abba's scheme.
Oata, To (oel one'a, in American slang, to be lively, Trisky, bumptious, or
quanelsome ; i metaphoi evidently derived from the stable. When a horse
is well Ted and in good condition he feels his oats.
ObsarTBUon with axtanaive vteiv. Johnson's "Vanily or Human
Wishes" opens with the well-known lines, —
De Quincejr, in his essay on " Rhetoric," recalls " a little biographic sketch
of Dr. Johnson, published immediately after his death," wherein the author
quotes these lines as an instance of desperate tautology, "and contends with
some reason that this is saying in effect, * Let observation with extensive ob-
servation observe mankind extensively.' " Nor have the lines even the saving
grace of originality. The phrase "from China to Peru" appears to be a sug-
gestion from a contemporary :
The woBden oT each region view,
Frnip froieD L*p1uid 10 Peru.
SoAHS JviyHs; Efiilli tf LerJ Lmilact (itu).
Steele, in his prologue to Ambrose Philips's " Distressed Mother," has,—
Tto oothinc, n
To (Up him C
M)d Thomas Warton, in his " Universal Love of Pleasure," —
Oooam'B ruor, the maxim of William of Occam, who was noted for
the hair-S|ilitling l<^ic with which he dissected every question. In the con-
troversy between Nominalism and Realism, which, loosely speaking, was a
dispute whether the names of things were merely symbols or whether they
implied a separate existence in themselves, (he rule was laid down by the
Nominalists that " Entia non sunt mullipticanda praeter necessitatem," — i.t..
Entities are not lo be multiplied beyond what is necessary. The axiom be-
came known as Occam's raior ; but it is slated that Occam never made use
of the formula which thus bears his name.
Oo«aiL Roll on, thou dMp and dark-bine ooean, roll! Perhaps
the most popular and best-remembered passage in all Byron is that invoca-
tion to the ocean with which he concludes the fouith and last canto of " Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage." Christopher North, in a lone and labored critique,
sought vainly to turn it into ridicule. Matthew Arnold and other later critics
have vainly expressed a mild and gentlemanly contempt for it. The public
still retains it in its heart. The opening stanza (clxxix.) runs as follows :
Roll on, ihoo deep md d«ili-bliii oeem.'roll I
Man nwV* the earth wttb ruin, — hit CDDU^
Stops Willi the ihore : Dpon Iht watcrv plain
The general tboogbl of the stanza has some affiliation with George Chap-
_k)OgIc
838 HANDY-BOOK Of
Hi* deed! Inipiluble, like Ifat ki
Nor prinLa of prcGedent lor poor qhd'i I
The last line may be a reminiscence of Scott,—
To lh> vil( dun from whence he ipnuif ,
Unwept, DDhoiuiiediUid imning,
L^^ ^llu Imil Uimilrtt;
wl)ich in its mm is borrowed from the line in Pope's " Iliad :"
owep , UB on , """^^ nil. .T^B^
Stanza clxuL concludes with an ugly lapse in giammar :
It has been conjectured that Byron wrote ttay in lieu of lay, which would be
a gain in correctness at the expense of force.
In stanza clixxii. there is a famous disputed passage :
Thy ihoTM ire empiro, changed in ell hk ihee :
AisyrlE, Greece, Rome, Catlhige, what in Ibcjrt
Tht Ii™ngB,^ve,'"o°'»nige ; ihei. deoiy
Hu dried up rejilnu 10 deKTll :-iidi k thixi,
Uncbin^ble uve 10 ihy wild wmrei' play-
Such u cieaikin'i dawn beheld, thou mUeil now.
The eipresaion about the waters and the lyrants wasting the shores is awlc-
ward, at least, if not absurd. Byron, who had not read the proofs, confessed
in the presence of print that he hardly knew what it meant. A change of
punctuation has been suggested, —
And nuny ■ lyrjuit lince their •borel obey—
But a
while they w ,
was read "wasted," for the sake both of the sense and of the lii
t impossible thai the stanza may be a reminiscence of Johnson's
observation to General Paoli, as chronicled by Boswell : "The grand object
of all travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean. On these shores
were the four great empires of the world, — (he Assyrian, the Persian, the
Grecian, and (he Roman. All our religion, almos[ all our law, almost all our
arts, almost all (hat sets us above savages, has come to us from the shores of
(he Mediterranean." The general (hereupon remarked lha( "The Mediter-
ranean would be a noble subject for a poem."
Bu( if Byron iinilaled, he has in (urn been imi(ated. Ij)rd Macaulay was
(he first (o point out a very stupid bit of plagiarism by Robert Montgomery,
" We never fell in," says Macaulay, " with any blunderer who so li(tle under-
stood how to turn his booty (o euod account as Mr. Montgomery. Lord
Byron, in a passage which everybody knows by heart, has said, addressing
Mr. Robert Montgomery very coolly appropriales the image and reproduces
the stolen goods in (he following form :
And thou, tut Oceabj on whD4e awful bc«
9o may such ill-got goods ever prosper I"
D,q,i,.cd by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
:be last stanza of the invocation, runs u follows ;
or TOuihM iponi »u on 'by imBtl^
fionie, Uke thy bubblat, onward ; trtaa a boy
1 WAnioD'd wiih thy breaker^-ihey lo me
Wen ■ d<li|fat : and^if chc tnhcniDg k>
And played fiuniliar with bii hoary lockt.
Odds and Bndo, small miscellaneous aiticles, scraps, leavings. An effoti
has been made to prove (hat oddi is a corruption of erti,—iJ., fragments, — a
word freqtient in Eliiabelhan literature,
Shakbpmri: Z,iK»M.1.98s;
Hin( thee, Ih«i paruhe, Ibou vm ofcnunbi
Bbh JomoH: /fm 7ar>, Act v.,Sc. i,
and Still locally surviving both in England and in America. W. W. Skeat,
in his "Chaucer," p. 185, thinks the pnrase was otipinally "ord and ende," —
i.e., beginning and end. Either suggestion is plausible. Yel there seems no
reason to be dissaiiaiied with the lace value of the words, whose meaning is
sufficiently intelligible.
Ohio Idea. During the Greei^baclt agilation for an unredeemable paper
currency, public opinion in the Slate of Ohio was permeated by the heresy.
Many of ber statesmen held what were believed lo be unsound views on the
money question, wherefore the fiscal policy advocated by them was some-
times called the Ohio Idea, although it should not be understood that its
spread was confined 10 this State. Long before, in the transatlantic mind,
>l least, Ohio had been associated with financial irresponsibility, as in th*
once-^ous stanza, —
or all the Stale* 'tie hard to say
Whtcli maVH the ptoudoi ihow, lin ;
But Yankee Doodle Iike> the bex
Tbe State of '■ Ob I I owe," tin r
The squib of which this is a portion was inspired by Sydney Smith's im-
passioned denunciations of Pennsylvania repudiation and entitled " A New
Song to an Old Tune." It lirsl appeared in the Litiraty Gazette in England.
January 18. 1845, over the signature of " Cecil Harbottle." The lines begin,—
Yankee Doodle horrom caih,
Yankee Doodle ipendl it.
The jolly''fl™t'hlil'leiidf?i" "
Oil npon the troubled vratera, a common metaphor used of alt efforts
to allay commotion of any kind by smooth words of peace. Its origin is lost
in ot»curity. But the physical phenomenon on which it is based was known
lo the ancients, and is mentioned in Pliny's " Natural History," i. 2, c 103, The
Venerable Bede, in his " Ecclesiastical History" (711 a.d,). tells of a priest
called Vita who was sent into Kent to fetch Eanflede, King Edwine's
daughter, who was to be married lo King Oswirra. He was to go by land,
but to return by water. Belbre his departure Vita visited Bishop Aidan, who
840 HANDY-BOOK OF
had tbe repuudon of perrorining miridCB, and besoogbl bis pravera for >
prosperous joumey. The bishop blessed him, and, predicting for his return
> great tempest and a contrary wind that should rise suddenly, gave him a
pot or oil, saying, " Remember that you cast into the sea ibis oyle that I give
you, and anon, the winds being laied, comfortable Tayer weather shall ensue
on the sea, which sliall send you againe with as pleasaunt a passage as you
have wished."
The tempest came as predicted. The sailors essaved to cast anchor, but
in vain ; the water began to (ill the ship, and "nothing but present death
was looked for." At the near approach of death came the thought of the
bishop and the pot of oil. Taking it in his hand, the priest cast of the oil
into the sea, when, as if by magic, it became quiet and calm, and the ship
was delivered.
Bede declares that he had it from " a very creditable man, a priest of our
church, Cjmmund by name, who saied that he bad heaid it of Vtta, the priest
In whom the miracle was wrought."
Modern experiments have demonstrated that this was no miracle, and the
scene no doubt occurred.
dinin„
SO it was decided that il
dressed half with butter and half with oTi. A short time ^fore'dinner w
ready the abbj was attached by an apoplectic (it, on which Fonlenelle roshed
to the cook, and Cried Out, " Ail with oil I all with oil t" The phrase has
passed into a popular saying. But the story has no historical basis.
Old, Praise of the. Lord Bacon reminds us that " Alonso of Aragon was
wont to sav in commendation of axe, that age appears to be best in (our
things,— old wood best to bum, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and
old authors to read." (Apeliugms, No. 97,) The sentiment is thus reported
by another authority : " Old wood to burn I Old wine to drink I Old friends
lo trust I Old authors to read 1 — Alonso of Aragon was wont to say in com-
mendation of age, that age appeared to be best in these four things,"
(Mklchior: Ftorisia EspaHela de AMhigmiu i Smteneiiu, eU., W. 1, 10.)
The phrase has often been imitated. Here are a few instances :
I1 not old wipe whoicionial, old pippini toothsomeal, old wood boma brlghiemt. old linen
wub whilsi T Old •oldieti, iwRlliean, act lurcK, aDd old lorcn an HHudctl.— Wusrot :
^••Imird m. Ad II., 5c. a.
Old Mcndi tm bat. King lima uxd 10 call (or Vn old ihoa : (hey were emieii br hi*
leel.—SaLDiK ; Tttli-TiUk: FtinuU.
\ Tike the pRbeml
•biB|,-i>. .o'old
i6»): TluAnlif
1 love evaythi,
Goldsmith : SAt
Chaucer ha*
nt Ihmi'. old,— old (rteodl, old lima, old mnnen, old boolu, old win.
Sitaft U Cinfutr, Am 1.
For «.l of Ibe old fieldei. » nen ui.fae,
Cometh d tbii new come fro yen 10 yere ;
And Diit of Did books, in lood Ulhe,
Conelh at Ibb oew eJeBce ihM men lete.
■uperiority of afe over youth is rather neatly put by Chap-
YooDcmai'ihiiikoldiuDuelHilii bni old Ba kDow yoans acs an (hI*.— ^/< A«b,
Act 1., Sc. I.
L.:,L,zi;i:v,.G00gIf
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
likely to pass into a proverb." On the other hand, poets at least are agreed
that the gray hairs of wisdom ar« a poor exchange (or the foolish halo of
When the gtow of uiriy Ihougbt decUncB io leeliDg'i dull decay ;
"Tu noi OB youth's •OHHiIh check the blufa ■looe which bda » hit,
Bui the lender tiloom oT heut li eodc, en yonih itKlf be puL
Btboh: Stantai/tr Miuic.
Or again, from the same po«t :
Yeuineal
Fiie mm the niad u rlfar from Ihe limb,
And Ufc'i tDchaated cup but apariclee near ihc brim.
Oiildt IfarM. Canto iii., SUOD %.
Old Abe, a popular labriqutt of President Abraham Dncoln; sometimM
■Uo " Honest Old Abe" and " Father Abraham." The refiain to a popular
song has reference Io the President's call for five.hundied thoasand volanieers
for the civil war :
Old BnllioD, a iobriqutl of Colonel Thomas Hart Benton (1783-1858), a
distinguished American statesman, given Co him for his persistent advocacy ofa
gold and silver currency as the only true remedy for the financial embarrass-
ment prevailing after Ihe expiration of the charter and closing of the United
Slates Bank in 1S33.
Old C0I0D7, a popular appellation for that part of Massachusetts included
in the original limits of the Plymouth Colony, which was older than the colony
of Massachtisetts Bay. The two colonies were united into one province, bear-
ii^ the name of the latter, in 1691. But the term is now a lairiquit for the
entire State.
* Old Dominion, a popular seiriquet for the Stale of Virginia. In the
early days of English colonizing, Virginia, as the first, Was a generic term for
all their New World settlements. Thus, in CapUin John Smith's " Histoid of
Virginia" (edition of 1619) a map of the settlements of Virginia includes New
England and olher British colonies. The present Stale of Virginia is there
called Ould Virginia, while Ihe New England Colony is called New Virginia.
Thus the epithet old is accounted for. From Ihe settlement of the colony to
Ihe outbreak of the Revolution every official document designates Virginia as
"the Colony and Dominion of Virginia." Spenser dedicates his "Faerie
(Jueene" to Eliiabeth, " Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and Sover-
Xof the Dominion of Virginia." Here we have the olher word of the
qua. Another explanation asserts that the precise title Old Dominion
was bestowed on Ihe Stale by Charles II. Virginia had refused to recognize
Cromwell and the protectorate, and after the execution of Charles I. trans-
ferred its allegiance Io Charles II., then in exile on the Continent The gov-
ernor, Sir William Berkelcjr, even wrote to the royal refugee, inviting him to
come over to his loyal subjects as their king. Cromwell sent a fleet against
the recalcitrant province, which yielded under protest to superior force. But
as soon as the news of Cromwell's death arrived Charles II. was solemnly
proclaimed King of Great Britain, Ireland, and Virginia. All writs and pro,
cesses were issued in his name. He was therefore di facta King of Virginia
before he had begun Io reign at home dt jure. So far the facts are historic
and cannot be gainsaiiL In gratitude for this loyalty, il is further said, Charles
caused the aims of Virginia to be quartered with those of England, Ireland,
3L 71
841 HANDY-BOOK OF
ani] Scolland, as a dUtincI portion of the Old Dominion. They certainly thus
appeal on English coins struck as late as 1773. by ordec of George III.
Old rrit» (Get. "Det Alte Friti"), » popular toMfnel o( Frederick the
Great, King of Prussia (1711-1786). In Germany he is hardly ever referred
10 by any other name id this day.
Old Uue State, a tebriguel for Maryland, because of the boundary-line,
known as Mason and Dixon's line ij-V.), between it and Pennsylvania. Its
eople are often named Crawthumpcts, which is also a generic nickname for
iman Catholics, from the beating of theit breaiits at certain religious devo-
tions, as when they recite the " Uomine, non sum dignus," or the " Mca culpa.
mea culpa, ntea maxima culpa."
t for the un-
Old maldm' ohUdren are, proverbially, the best instructed and best
brought up, just as, according to the same authority, bachelors' wives are th«
most docile and obedienL " He that has no wile chastises her well ; he that
has no children rears Ibem well," say the Italians. "Every man can tame a
shrew but he that hath her," is an English saw. Trench records a proverb
*n Munsler : " The man on the dike always hurls well," — the looker-
e of hurling, seated indolently on the wall, always imagines that
n the strokes of the actual players, and, if you will lititen tc
..... . , ayed the game much better than they. In the same sens*
the Connaught men say, "The best horseman is always on hia feel." So the
he could in
him, would have played the game much better than they. In the same sense
the Connaught men say, "The best horseman is always on hia feel." So the
Dutch say, " The best pilots aland on shore," and the English, " In a calm
sea every man is a piloL"
Old Man Hlo<liieiit, a popular sa^riguit of John Quincy Adams, sixth
President of the United States. In English literary history the term had
already been applied to Coleridge. But Milton, the originator of the phrase,
applied it to Isocrates, who died of grief after the battle of Chxronea, where
Philip of Macedon defeated the combined armies of Thebes and Athens :
Wh« tbal diihancu vidofy
At ChHODa. fiiuJ to libttty.
Killed wllb repoR that old mu eloqoau.
Old Pnbllo FunotioiMr;. In his message to the last Congress (1859)
in session before the rebellion, President Buchanan importuned it with many
admonitory words, which he feebly imagined could allay the storm about to
break loose, to hearken to "an old public functionary," as he impersonally
described himsell. During the remaining months of his term his words were
turned upon him by his opponents, and he was freely referred to, in derision,
as the "Old Public Functionary."
OTtttary'B Covr, Mia, the famous animal which is believed to have
started the great fire in Chicago (1871). According to the report of the com-
mission appointed to investigate the facts, Mrs. O'Leary went to bed at
half-pait eight o'clock, on account of her ■■ sore hit." Now, a certain Pal
McLaughlin, a fiddler, had a party next door, and, as Mrs. O'Leary subse-
(]uently learned, the party wanted oysters, the oysters wanted milk to be
"ithewed in," and Mr. McLaughlin's parly went out to milk Mrs. O'Lemfy^
. Cooglf
Literary curios/ties. S43
eo<r. The McLaughlins admitied that they were having a iullificalion o
greenhocn from tteland, but denied the oyster sthews, and denied also hi
milked Mrs. O'Leaiy's cow after the old lady had gone to bed. All the
:a seemed to agree that there was a pile of shavings in the barn, and
that the fire was first observed in the side of the barn where the shavings
were stored, but none of them had any idea bow it came or how long it
burned before the engines arrived. The theoiy is that the cow, probably
resenting a stranger's attempt to milk her, kicked a candle out of his or her
hand into the shavings, [t may be added that just after the tire the bell worn
by Mrs. O'Leary's cow was exhibited simultaneously in eighty-one places in
Om Hani Padme Hfim, a mystic formula which plays a conspicuous
part in Buddhism, and particularly in the corrupl form of it known as Lama-
ism. It is the first subject taught by the Thibetans and Mongols to Iheir
children, and the last prayer mulleied bj" the dying. All classes repeat it j
for with all Buddhists and Lamaists it is particularly sacred. It is met
wherever those creeds prevail ; il is carved on columns, walls, Itees, rocks,
monuments, implements ; il is regarded as the essence of all religion and
wisdom, and the means of securing eternal rest. The six syllables are said
to comUne the favor of all the Buddhas, and to be the root of the whole doc-
trine. They symbolize the transmigration of souls, each syllable correspond-
ing to and liberating from one of the six worlds in which mankind is reborn.
They are also the mystic meaning of the six supreme virtues, the successive
syllables denoting self-sacrifice, endurance, chastity, contemplation, mental
nerey, ai
:)hylnt-B
It- Bod hi sat Iwa, or deified saint, Avalokileswara, whom the Thilwtans
calf Padmapani, or the lotos-handed. Il is not discoverable in the oldest
Buddhist works of Northern Hindustan or of Ceylon, and does not, there-
fore, belong to the earliest stage of that religion. Its signification is rather
opaque. Some interpret it O (on) the jewel {maid) in the lotos Ipadtni),
amen (liilim) ; the jewel being an allusion to the saint himself, and the word
padmf to the belief that he was bom from a lotos. The more probable
meaning is, however, " Salvation is in the jewel-lotos, amen i" the compound
word leferring to the saint and the flower which produced him. If this be
t, the phrase would be simply a salutation to Avalokitf- " '
, li, and the mystic interpretation of each s " *"'" " '
■ transcendental interpretation of each letter o
Omnia meonm porto m«a {L., " I carry all my efiects with me"), the
reply of Bias, one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, during the siege of
Priene, when his lei low-citizens were surprised to see him make no prepara-
tions for flighL The reference, of course, was to his wisdom, bis sole pos-
session. The Latin form is that sanctioned by Cicero in his " Paradoxa," i. I.
The remark is variously attributed to other philosophers. Larousse, in his
" Fleurs Historiques," tells how Mile, Fanny Bias, the opera-singer, leaving
for Paris with but small baggage, replied to a friend's remonstrances, " Do
you not see that, like my illustrious ancestor, omnia mta tntetim porto f"
Omnia TiDdt amor, et noa oedamiu amorl (L., "Love wins all Ihinjgs,
and we yield to love"), the sixty-ninth line of Virgil's Tenth Eclogue. Dryden
has lianslaled the sentiment, —
.d by Google
UANDY-BOOK OF
t, as in Scott's l[nea,—
which seems to be more or less indebted tu Butler, —
Sure, lore dAkA tmnia : <s immeajurabiy above ill ainbitioii, more nreciom ihiui wealth,
more noble ihui name. He knowi not \\h who knowi nol Ihet : be hilh not fell the ht^teH
When the Marquis de Biivre, the Tainous French wit, was told that the
Abbe Maury had distanced him in a contest for a seat in the French Academy,
he replied. " Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedanius amori {i Maury)."
Omnibtu Bill, in American politics, any legislative measuie which con-
tains many and heterogeneous provisions. Spcciticatly, the term is given to
a bill, sometimes known also as the Compromise Bill of 1850, which Henry
Clay, CHI January 19 oi that year, introduced in the United States Senate.
Cahfornia, having adopted a constitution prohibiting slavery, had applied (at
admission into the Union as a Tree State. The Representatives of the slave
Stales in Congress had refused to vote for her. Clav thereupon put together
his bill. It provided for — :, the postponement of the admission of any new
Stales formed out of Texan territory until 1'exxs herself should demand the
same ; 2, the admission of California as a free State ; 1, the organization ol
all territory acquired from Mexico (California excepted) without the Wilmot
proviso ; 4, the combination of this measure with a bill providing for the ad-
mission of Utah and New Mexico ; 5, the pavment to Texas of ten million
dollars out of the Mexican war indemnity for the abandonment of her claims
upon the territory of New Mexico ; 6, a more -jreclive law for the return of
fugitive slaves ; 7, the abolition of the slave-trade iii the District of Columbia.
This was the second great compromise measure on the slavery question. pro-
posed by Henry Clay. (See Missouki Compromise.) It failed to pass, but
moat of its provisions ultimately became law by separate enacliitenL
is used in America in many ways which wouiti be con-
:t in England. " On the street," " on the cars," " on a shtam-
\ all these cases the English would substitute in. The ecceniWc
slang "on it" is distinctively American. To say that a man is "on it" implies-.
Ihallte is quick-witted, alert, ready for anything, or that he is decidedly en- \
K^ed in whatever may be the matter in hand. Americanisms still say "on V
«ie win," " on the borrow," " on the Steal," " on the make," " on the preach," \
etc., and the phrase "on it" is a concise notificalion of the fact that the ^
individual in question is " on" anything you may name that is audacious or
disreputable.
" Pant, be wuonh. Hewuon It trigger Ihan in Injun!"
" On (I too what r
"Onibeshool. Od the riiouMer. Un ibe lighl. you undenund. /A didn't ilt-B ■ con- '
dnenul for ovbody."— Mark Twain : Rti^>"'t ", V- 334.
Again, to say of a man that he is on to any one 1
has " tumbled to the racket," that he is too old a bird' t<
has found out the truth.
Where ■ man i> a wile-poiuner il li not righi to hare him oiairie.
[
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 845
BDd who ciD meet hli pelioa advum with a keroHiH balta. It would be InKRiIliig 10
i!h^wo^ k'n^''ui> DilDuuS^'jM'loadnl, and the woul?"uy ■'^a.daiMng, 1 douot
can for candy. Eal Iheai yoDiKlf."— A'rv Kdr^ Mircwrj, July 91, i«a8.
On the dead, on the dead quiet, on the itricl Q. T., aie Eiigliih as well
as American slang for secret. confidentiaL
OnCtt and airay, an old English phrase, used in distinctian from its
opposite, □[ equal pedigree, "once and again." The phrase is found in chil-
dren's games, " Once and away. Twice and away, Thrice and away." Nu
doubt It was adopted hence into common parlance. The corresponding
French is "une fois pour toutes." A foolish emendation has been suggested,
Ono man poiTar, a term by which Americans petsoni^ a subject of their
rooted jealousy, the government by, or great power lodged in, any single
individual. It probably arose outof haired of the great and arbitrary authority
of the Kovernois sent over from England in the colonial times. In the early
■ s of the republic the power of the ' " '" " --' -'
days of the republic the power of the executive in Slates and cities
Opsn seaame has become naturalized as a colloquialism Indicating any
charms of person or speech which procure for their possessor an entry into
■elect or exclusive circles, or open lo him the hearts and minds of men. The
ori^n of the phrase, from the Arabian tale of " All Baba, or the Forty
Thieves," where Cassim discovers them lo be the magic words at whose
utterance the door of the robbers' cave flies open, is well known.
Opinion. Butler, in " Hudibras," Book liL, Canto iii., I. 547, has the
couplet, —
He ibat complia agaiiui bia will
li of hli DWD opiniai MiU.
These line* are almost always misquoted
Something of the same sort was expressed in a diSerent way by Favorinus,
the Sophist philosopher, who, yielding to Hadrian in a rhetorical argument,
■aid, "It is ill arguing with the master of thirty legions." As Selden ex-
Eresses it in his " Table-Talk," " Tis not seasonable to call a man traitor that
as an army at his heels."
Oiangfl-blOMOnw aa bridal omameDta. Various theories have been
suggested in explanation of the selection of the orange-blossom for bridal
ornaments. First, the custom is by some supposed lo have been brought to
Europe by the Crusaders from the East, the Saracen brides being wont to
wear orange wreaths at their marriage as an emblem of fecundity, tneir sym-
bolical import being due to the fact that the orange-tree bears blossoms and
fruit at the same time. To this it has been objected that, although the orange-
tree was brought lo England as early as IZ90. it was long beiore there was
any real cultivation of it there, even in green-houses. Many, indeed, hold
that Ihe tree was first introduced by Sir Waller Raleigh, and then not from
any Saracenic land, but from India or the East.
A second theory is that orange-blossoms came to be worn by brides on
their marriage because they were not only scented, but also were rare and
71*
S46 HANDY-BOOK OF
cosily, and so within the reach of only the noble and rich, thus indicating the
bcide to be of high rank. A third ia that the orange bridal wreath had its
origin in Spain, where oranges are indigenous or have been cultivated for
centuries. Thence the fashion passed into France, whence, through French
milliners, it became spread over Europe.
It is possible, even on the supposition that one or the other of the last two
theories {or a theory based on both) is correct, that the Eastern tradition
regarding fruitfulness may have had an influence in prompting the selection
of the orange-blossom for a bridal wreath and in continuing its use. When
Mrs. Ma)aprop,in "The Rivals" (Act iii., Sc. 3), complains that " Nowadays
few think how a little knowledge becomes a gentleman ; men have no sense
but for the worthless flowers of beauty," the gallant Captain Absolute makes
reply, "Too true; but our ladies seldom show fruit until lime has robbed
them of more specious blossom ; few, like Mrs. Malaprop and ike orange-trtt.,
Order reigna at 'Warsaw. The Polish rebellion of 1810 broke out
almost simultaneously with the revolution in Paris which banished the
Bourbons and placed Louis Philippe on the throne. As the representative
of liberal ideas, it was expected that his governmenl would give some aid to
Poland. Bui a deaf ear was studiously turned (o the demands of the press,
the people, and the National Guard. Poland fell, and on September 16, iSlt,
Marsha) Sehastlani, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced tne
lermlnalion of the struggle to the Chamber of Deputies in these words :
"My letters from Poland announce that order reigns In Warsaw" ("E>es
leltres que je refois de Pologne m'annoncent que la tranquillity rigne i
Varsovie"). The cold-blooded phrase recalls Byron's sarcasm, —
He miku a ulliuck and calli ii-pcaci,
TIa Bridtof AbfJm, li. »,—
which Byron, however, borrowed from Tacitus : " Solitudinem faciunt, pacem
appellant." {Agric^a, ch. xxx.) Sebastianl ai^d the government greatly in-
creased their unpopularity by this unfortunate mol. Of recent years the Words
are usually, though erroneously, attributed to the Em)«Toi Nicholas, who is
supposed lo have addressed them to one of the foreign ainhassadors al St.
Petersburg. As exacily the sort of thing he might have said, the credit will
probably remain with him.
Orders, To make; a grim mediseval jesL A clerk in holy orders was
known by his tonsure, or shaven crown. Hence the summary process of
shaving off a large portion of a foeman's scalp by a dexieroua swing of Ihe
sword was called as above. Thus, in the old epic "The Sowdane [Sultan] of
Babylone" (ed. Hausknecht, 1. 2036), when the Twelve Peers atlacked the
Sultan and his men we are told that they
inad«i orden wondir btl ;
And made hern wondlHy vitt ^Hit.
In other words, they sliced pieces off their adversaries' heads at an amazing
rale. To do this was a favorite amusement with the renowned Twelve
Peers.
Orleanlsto, the parly of French monarchists which favored the claims of
the descendants of Ihe Orleans branch of the royal bouse of France, to whkh
belonged the Louis Philippe who was King of the French from 1S30 till 1848.
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 847
Louis Philippe (born 1838), better known as lh« Comle de Paris, is the present
representative of the line, and since the death of the Due d'Aumale, who,
according to the " Leeili mists," was the rightful king a{ France, and the ex-
tinction with him of the direct line, the rormer represents in bis person all
the loyal pretensions to the French throne. At present the royalists of all
shades in Francs are in a condition of innocuous desuetude.
Out of Bight, out of mind, the modern form of a well-known saw which
was an ''owlde proverbe" in the time of Nathaniel Bacon, and is so quoted
by him on page 19 of the " Private Correspondence of Lady Cornwallis." Its
earliest appearance in English is in Hendyng's " Proverbs," a manuscript
collection \firca I3«>) :
Fit baa, er, ta &em hmc,
Quoth HeDdyng.
Out of lyghl, out of mynd.
GooM:.^<r'l'S«3).
And oot of miml ab »on %% out of BuhL
LohuBhooiii: SmmlLVI.
I do pernive tbM the old provable be doi alwa^n ircw, (br I do finds th^t the nbaence of
rnvNaih. doth breede In m* the more coDlinuaJl lemembmiceorbiin.— ,<■«, iLoi^faCH,
lojatu, Ijufy Ctinvallii (i6tj).
And when h< i> oat of ■lEhi, qutckly *]» b be oni of mind.— Thohas 1 Kshfis:
ImilaliBM ^ CkrUt, ch. ixUi.
Ontsider. Until the nomination of Franklin Pierce for the Presidency,
the word " outsider" was unknown in political parlance. The committee on
credentials came in to make its report, and could not get into the hall because
of the crowd of people who were not members of the convention. The chair-
man of the convention asked if the committee was ready In report, and the
chairman of the committee answered, " Yes, Mr. Chairman, but the commit-
tee is unable to get inside, on account of the crowd and pressure of the out-
siders," The nevrspaper reporters took up the word atid used it.
Ox. Thoa Bhalt not nraaile the ox irhmi ha trsBd«th ottt the
00m, an injunction (bund in Deuteronomy xxv. 4. has come to be used figu-
ratively to signiiy thai valuable services, patiently rendered, are not to be
rewarded with ingratitude. Accoiding to Opie P. Read, in "A Kentucky
Colonel," it was a much-quoted text by Southern preachers, by which the
brethren were reminded that their ministration merited substantial and earthly
Ox on tha toncus, To bsva an (L. "Bovem in lingua habere"), — Lt.,
to be bribed to silence. The Latin is probably derived from the Greek phrase
of the same import, and its origin and meaning are explained by the earliest
coins being stamped with the figure of an 01. Before metallic money, cattle
(L. ptcm, whence pecuttia, " money") were the standard of value and medium
of exchange aiHong both Hellenes and Latins, and the stamping of the ox on
the earlier coins represents a surviving memory of this stale of things. To
■ay that one had an ox on the tongue was therefore equivalent to saying that
he was tongue-tied by money.
Ox, To be trodden on the foot by the black, to suffer ills, especially
domestic, and at the hands of near relatives. Hesiod speaks of himself as
having been trodden on by the black ox, having sufiered outrageous wrong
from a brother, who defiauded him of his inheritance. Sir Walter Scott uses
the saying in " The Antiquary," with the significance that misforttine has coinc
pver one'^ hPUse. It has become a common proverbt
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
P, the lixteenlh letter, >nd iwetfih consonant, of the English alphabet
This letter is one of admirable consigtenc);. It has no varieties or irreeulari-
ties of pronunciation save only as the initial in a few words bnrrowed from
the Greek, when it is entirely silent, — psalm, pneumatic, etc As an abbre-
viation it enters into such symbols as P.M., =' post meridiem (afternoon), and
P.S., = postscript. Standing alone, usually in lower-case, it may mean page,
or the musical direction piane, (" softly"), according to circumstances ; pp. in
the former case meaning p^es, and in the \ViWi piataisimo ("very softly").
The expression " Mind your P's and Q's" is generally believed to have
arisen from the former bar-room usage of scoring up against customers the
amount of beer for which they had been trusted,— P standing for pint and Q
for quart Scores of this sort were settled weeldy, and the application of the
saying is self-evident. But Charles Knight suggests the more plausible ei-
planation that the expression arose in the printing-office, where many other
terse and quaint phrases have had their origin. The forms of the small p
and q in Roman type have always proved puuling to the printer's appren-
tice. In the one the downward stroke is on the left of the loop or oval, and
in the other on the right Now, when types ate reversed, as they are in pro-
cess of distribution, the young printer is often puzzled to distinguish the p
from the q. Especially in assorting pi, — a mixed heap of types, — where the
p and the q have not the form of any word for a guide, it is wcllnigh impos-
sible for an inexperienced person to distinguish one from the other at first
eight If this be true, the letters should be written in lower-case, and not in
capitals, thus : " Mind your p's and q's."
Paddla yotiT om oaiio«. This expressive phrase seems to have first
appeared in a poem published in Harprt's Magatiiie (New york. May, 1854).
The following stanzas give a fair example of the whole :
V<»vagn upon life'» ma.
And, whMi'o- ymir L« nuv b«,
PuMUfnr tmn «»m.
L«avB to heava, In humble tmn.
But li na would uiccccd. ysn mux
Pain, CapMity for. Mrs. Browning has a very striking atanx* t
Thai di« mark of rank in nalure
I1 capacity tor pkLd,
And ihv anguith of the ildnr
This may be a reminiscence of Dante :
Quudo U com c pib pefcn*,
Pju KDia 'L bcDe, e coti la dosluDn.
/V"-"*, Caalovi.
(" The own pcrlKl Ihc Ihhig,
Tha mon 11 f«J> pkanm, and alK pain.")
But in truth the thought Is an obvious one, and it is now an axiom with
evolutionists that the higher the organism the greater its capacity for both
pleasure and pain. The heights to which we can rise constitute the measure
of the depths to which we can fall. See atK> Mirth and Mblancholv,
FOICTS AND EVDETKV.
..Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 849
Fainter, I too am R (It. " Anch' io son pitlore"), an expression tradition-
'■-■'■'-'■ " hael's St Cecilia. 0«hlen-
a of " Coireggio," and the
rh I bad prepared my
r m ■ui.ihj •uu>« vf (he pendL ; wheo 1
ruddy complnion of hulih. ihe blood
a ibai 1 might one day be able id >ay,
ile ihtnicht.abay'icoDceLt; but il did
\kt PltaiUTt Iff Aiinliiig,
•e aayi," 1 iJmild^™"
municalion b«»«n in, and Handa for wbai ii ii' wotih and no more.— Thack day : *«W^
FainUag it red, in American slang, to ^o on a reckless debauch, to be
wildly extravagant An outgrowing jphrase ts "to paint the town red," or,
more simply, " to paint Ihe town." Originally the metaphor was applied to
bonfires, etc, painting the sk]r or the scenery red. Thus, in an old Irish
T1i« beacon billi wtn painted nd
But the immediate source of the phrase may be traced to the times when a
Mississippi steamboat captain would strain every nerve to make hjs boat defeat
a rival. " Painl her red, boys 1" would be his command to his men as they
heaped fuel upon the roaring fires at night, casting a red ^lare upon the sur-
rounding scenery. Undoubtedly the phrase was helped into popularity by
Ihe fact that to paint — 1>., to paint the nose red — was an old slang term for
drinking i
And PegBiui do«a thini ibr Hlppocrenv,
And fain would paint,— iaiblbe the vulgar call,—
Or hot. or cold, or lonj, or ibon.
CHAaLnKiwMLn: 7W yiari Afi.
Fair oB, To, in American politics, to agree with a member of a rival
parlr Ihal neither shall vote, so that both shall be spared trouble, yet the
result be in no way aSected. Pairing-off was first practised in the United
Slates in 1839, and, though at first looked upon with disfavor, has now
thoroughly established itself as a legitimate arrangement, especially in the
legislative halls. It is said that in a Weslem town the practice was once
carried to such an extent that not a vole was polled.
And keeps Ihe palace of the aovl.
same figure in his musings over a skull in the Acropolis:
Ita chambera desolate, and portals foul :
;i:,vG00gIi:
8$° HANDY-BOOK OF
The ny new dF Wwlom ud oF WU,
And Puiian'i hoii, ih*( DcvQ brook'd conlnl :
C»B >1) mini, Mge, or >o|Ai« f ver writ
Pemle thv ioncly toinr, thil IcDemcDI rtfil !
ChUd4 Hursld. C«niD LL., Sumn «.
This stanza has some affiliation with Hanilel's musings in the graveyard ol
Elsinore, first over an unknown skull, —
feUov of infisiw jol.of most cialloit rancy.
'lipi ih*""' hr«\i«t?l knourio>h™ofl.
oi ipirit run.
»ll wu Lire'i I
u Thoughl's m
o Waller for Ihe fir»t idea of
{RadUnl pallet) reared lu head.
Id the monarch Thought's domlolon
Ncv« tcnph ipnad a pinioD
O'er Fibric bilf » lair.
Aad alt with pearl aitd ruby slowiiu
Wat tbe Fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, Aowtng,
Pale, Within the. The origin of this expression must be sought in
history. The Pale, or English Pale, was that part of the kinedom of Ireland
in which English rule and law were acknowledged after the conijUMt oftl?!.
Its limits varied at different limes, cenlring always in the environs of Dublin,
and including generally the counties of Mcalh, Loath. Carlow, and Kilkenny.
Knight says it included the whole eastern coast of Ireland, from Dundalk
Bay to Waterford harbor, and extended some forty or lifty miles inland. It
received the name Pale because it was said the conauerora, in fear of the
"rough, rug-headed kerns," "enclosed and impaled themselves, as it were,
Paley'a Watch, the familiar name for a once famous illustration employed
by Rev. William Paley in his "Natural Theolosy" in support of what is
known in theology as the "aigumcnl of design. The illuslTalion, brieHy
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 85 1
■tated, it, tbil tf a savage found a watch on a de»erted road he would rightly
argue, Ironi the evidences of careful design, that it had been put to-
gether bjf some thinking mind. It has been found, however, that most of
Paley's book, including this illustration, was boldly conveyed fioin Nieuwen-
tyl's "Religious Philosopher," But even Nieuwenlyt was fat from being
original. We find it, for example, in Tucker, in Clarke, in Bolingbroke, and
done into queer verse by that dullest and most respectable of poets. Sir Rich-
ard Blackmore :
Of an ten Ihouund miiacla appears
And will you not ihe Author' iiL II I Bdorc
Vou^*«™«I:h.hein*nli<^i3-'lhe'^i^d,
Thouflh Tor a ■iiiBle motion 'tis dslgned,
Wi "varToiii ifi^ivi, 'i^'i»^^at»:vaa. wr^hi.
The (tame illustration is 10 be found before this in the earliest English
deist. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and in Hale's " Primitive Origination of
Mankind." It is more curious, however, to find that it even preceded the
Invention of watches. Cicero, in " De NaiurS Deorum." says. " Quod si in
Scyihiam aut in Britanniam sphacram aliquis tulerit banc, quam nuper nos-
ier efficit Posldonius, cujus singula; conversiones idem efliciuiit in sole et in
lunS et in quin(]ue stelHs errantibus, quod efficitur in csclo siiieulis diebus el
noctibus, ijuii in illi barbaric dubiiet quin ea sphxra sit perfecta ratiane V
('■ Suppose some one were to take 10 Scythia or to Britaui this globe lately
constructed by our friend Posidonius, whose every revolution shows us the
same phenomena in the sun, the moon, and the five wandering stars thai
take place in the heavens daily and nightly, who in those liarbarous regions
would doubt that this globe was the product of a rational mind ?")
PallndTome (from the Greek mihv. "back," and ipo^, a "course" or
"race"), a word or sentence which may be read backward a^ well as forward,
letter by letter or word by wtiriL Palindromes may be roughly divided into
two classes, the reeiprotal, which yield identical results however read, and the
miertiUe or rtntrrtnt, in which the meaning is different or even absolutely
antagonistic The English words madam, noon, civic, tenet, are examples
of the first, and revel, dog, emit, etc, of the second. But the feat is to*
aj-range a number of words in a sentence so that the whole shall be a palin-
drome. Thus, it seems that the very first words spoken by man in this world
were a reciprocal palindrome. What did Adam do when he first saw Evef
He bowed, and said, " Madam, I'm Adam." A belter example— indeed, the
best that the English language affords — is put into Ihe mouth of Napoleon ;
•• Able was I ere I saw Elba.'*^ The special excellence of this consists in the
fact that ever_y word remains intact,— there is no running of the component
letters into difierent words in the reverse reading. " Live was I ere I saw
evil" is also good, but is too palpable a plagiarism from the other.
Taylor the Water Poet, who was fond of this sort of trifling, came very
near producing a masterpiece in " Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel," but the
>ise of the ampersand craves an apology, while the dropping of the final I n
an otTence which apolr^y would convert into insult.
Here are some palindromes uf inferior merit :
Red root pvl up 10 ordcr-
Dhw pupll'i lip upwinl.
TraihT wen InrerprtI Nineveh't an.
Rea niin did emii rcvd en Lcvet umc djd murdei;
;i:,vG00gk"
852 HANDY-BOOK OF
Among Ihe most excellent palindromes in Ihe I^n language, and conse-
quenlly m the world, are the two following, which Camden assures us cott
their anonymous author an infinitude of trouble :
Qda tcDct muluai, mvlldain muluiii wati Ode.
Adda wnn nuppvp, iiudid»ni in«pp«ni (end Amu.
The following, also, is a remarkable Untr dtfirrce:
Not only is Ihe above perfect as a palindrome, but it contains the Airthet
peculiarity that the initial letters of the successive words unite to form the
lirst word, the second letters to form the second word, and so on. The same
is, of course, true on reversal.
Another well-known palindrome occurs in a medizval legend. St. Martin,
Bishop of Tours, at a period when prelates kept neither carriages nor ser-
vants, having occasion to consult the Pope, was fain to walk to Rome. On
■he highway he was met by Satan, who courteously represented how inde-
corous it was that so mighty an ecclesiastic should journey on foot like a
common pilgrim. SL Martin straightway tians formed the devil into a mule,
and jumped upon his back. But, having neither whip nor spur, he found a
more efficient goad in the sign of Ihe cross, which he made and remade upon
the mule's back whenever he slackened his pace. At last the beast lifted up
his voice in remonstrance with these words :
Signs K, ligiu : ttmcrt me uugii tl angit ;
Ranu (Ibi sublu motibui iblt ■mar.
The classic languages, and especially Ihe Latin, are better fitted than any
other to (his kind of verbal conjuring. All the Greek examples are modern,
the art having been unknown to Grecian antiquity. Its invention is credited to
a lascivious Roman poet named Sotades, who flourished about 250 B.C. Few
of the latter*s verses are extant, and none of those extant are in palindromic
form. But the following verses, of somewhat later date, refer to one of
Sotades's heroes :
Romi cui Ic tcmt ct iiu ■moij. .
RoDU H RDCI « tmat.
Allboiuh you woald hin not be ifaere, itaere *<Ht Rmaln :
For b«l. Son,, .nd love hold you.-)
A Roman lawyer is said to have chosen this palindrome for his motto : " Si
nummi immunis" (" If you pay you will go free").
A Latin elegiac verse of uncertain date gives in every line ■ complete
palindrome :
Mils HiU ririi, ummiu >l vMbui ollm,
O III cuiirui, Rin ooD mmunii uuio
Telo, tv.ne, inett Hon tenel en^, (4et.
A pretty palindromic conceit wu that of the lady of Queen Ellnbeth's
UTERARY CURIOSITIES.
time, who, being banished from coi
device the moon, partly obscured, w
sight, yet still whiK""
A marvellous m<
ill i3o2, ill the sh; , . . ,
each line being a palindrome. It was entitled Iloii;^ xofnavami. The pub-
lisher was George Bendoles, the author signed himself " Ambrose Hiero-
nionachus Pamperes," and author or publisher assured the reader on the
title-page that the book would be found " of great use to those who study it
deeply.^
Hiihertowe have confined our examples to reciprocal palindromes. Merely
recurrent or reversible palindromes are far less amusing and ingenious, exce))t
in the cases where the reverse reading carries its dissimilarity lo some humor-
ous point of negation. Addison, for example, mentions an epigram called
" The Witches' Prayer," " which fell into verse when ii was read either back-
ward or forward, excepting only thai it carsed one way and blessed the
other."
The following expresses the sentiments of a Roman Catholic i
Pamiin dicu pralio, n« Hcril bdllgcnbo.
Read backward, the words resolve themselves into a Huguenot sentiment :
BdLigeiat» Hcrii, ncc probe (UctH parniin.
An hexameter line from the church of Santa Maria Novella thus refers to
the sacrifice of Abel :
Sftcrurn plague daba, Don macnjnJ laciificalM).
When reversed it becomes a pentameter, and refcis to the sacrifice of Cain :
Another illustration of a change of meaning wrought by a change of form
is furnished by the following :
FoEdeni, nee puris pax die diffugiA.
Diffugiei cito pax pauia, ncc fadcra longo
Tcmpon duntbunl, quod nodo protplciniui-
A different form of palindromic dexterity is exhibited in Dean Swift's letter
to Sheridan. The Latin in no case makes sense, but reading each word back-
ward as English we get, by making due allowances, from
MiHU. OdioH ni mm ram. Moio ina oi iltud dama D>n T
l'Dana>(i). O •□ I do in nmner. OTcnn.am I u dull, I a mad Daat
Palm. Like some tall palm tha mystlo fitbrlc aprang. This line is
from " Palestine," by Reginald Heber, afterwards Apostolic Bishop of Calcutta.
a poem which took the prize at Oxford in iSoj. It describes the erection
of the Tem]ile, which "was built of stone made ready before it was brought
thither : so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron
heard in the hotise while it was in building." The idea was suggested to
Heber by Sir Waller Scott, as we learn from this extract from Lockharl's
Life of Scott :
"From thence (London] they proceeded to Oxford, accompanied by
Heber ; and it was on this occasion, as 1 believe, that Scott first saw his
friend's brother Reginald, in after-days the Apostolic Bishop of Calcutta.
He had just been declared the successful competitor for that year's poetical
priie, and read to Scott at breakfast, in Brasenose College, the manuscript
of his ' Palestine.' Scolt observed that in the verses on Solomon's Temple
one striking circumstance had escaped him, — namely, that no tools were used
8S4 HANDY-BOOK OF
in iti erection. Reginald retired for a few minutes to the corner of the rooiBi
and returned with the beautiful lines, —
Likt ami talt'palm Iki mfslic /airic ^rKI^.
In later editions the lines were changed thus:
Like »mc tall piLni'lhe noiuLw bbric >pniiic.
There seems to be a Taint reminiscence here of Cowper's description of the
ice palace reared by the Empress Catherine of Russia :
Silently u a dnum the fabric rote ;
No sound of himoier or of uw wu lh<rt.
Tk, Talk. Book v.. I. 144
Panel-game, an American thieves' trick. A place is specially filled up
with sliding doors or movable panels. Hither a woman entices a victiiD.
Her accomolice obtains admission to the room through the secret entrance,
's pocket-buok, and then silently retires to bang loudly on
the genuine door uf the apartment, clamoring fur admi
hushind. The victim, rudely awakened, gladly makes his escape bv another
door which the woman points out to him. Naturally, even after he iias found
the trick plaved upon him, he is not often inclined to prosecute. The
lair of a panel-thief is called indiscriminately a panel-house, panel-crib, or
panel -den.
Panem et droeiUM (L., "Bread and the circus games"), a passage from
Juvenal (Satires, x. 81). " That people," he says, '' which formerly gave awajr
military command, consulships, teginns, and everything, now contains itself,
and anxiously desires only two things,— bread and the games of the circus."
The phrase is often used as a synonyme for moderate yet diversified desires.
EnitKia an evil that ihould by no mrani Ik undcr.mlnialcd : iiendi by impiiiiting real
(fctpair upon ihc face. Il cuno creaiurei wbo liave mo litilr Uiva ror una annhn' aa mra
liom an talien sgaiiiBl it as agaiiw other seiMrai calamiliei
ftoliilct, becaUK the evil la Dn« which may drive met to <ha
The people need fi^tnei
graaMtt eiceaica, like iti oppo-
-n pniienllary lytlcin of Fhlla-
aaliy il the [uh thai ralh upon
In niiddle'claai life it La r«pf«-
HOIWIHAUU: 7*,Warliai
Fautiaooraojr, the name given by Coleridge to a Utopian societv which
i . !.i L._ (. f... j_ t-. ... . . r. .... . . — .. ._ J ^__. .^ Burnet, had, in his
s imagined that they
_ in t<wether and leave
the Old World fur the woods and wilds of the young republic of the West.
Possessions were to be held in common : each would worii for all. The daily
toil was to be lightened by the companionship of the best books and the dis-
cussion of the highest Ihin^ Each young man would take to himself a
lilting helpmeet, whose part it should be to prepare their food and rear a new
■ '■ c hardihood and innocence. "This Pantisocratic scheme,"
writes Southey in 1794, " has given me new life, new hope, new energy ; all
the faculties of my mind are dilated." Bui the monifv requisite for putline
it into practice was not 10 be had, and ere long he and Coleridge married
and settled themselves dow]i to the conflict with i>ie actual life around them.
Pot, Above and beloir. Pfur
or face value of a share or security, with
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 855
ma; then be consiilered 10 signify the normal average or level. In slang or
^miliar speech, one is at<n>e tar when in health or spirits he is above his
own average condition ; one is Mimi par in inlelligence or enterprise when
he is inferior in these respects to the average of people about him.
Paradoxes and Punles. We have Milton's word for it that philosophy
is not "haiah and crabbed, as dull fools suppose." Certainly it was not
always so. Like every other institution, human or divine, it went through its
period of juvenility, when, at rare intervals, it would forget its usual occupa'
tion of rearranging the universe — a Feat for which the omniscience of youth
is so pariiculaiTy well titled— and indulge in some of those playful (ricks that
are a still more engaging feature of the adolescent mind.
In the days of old, which are called so because they were really the dap
of youth, the greatest philosophers were fond of disporting themselves in all
sorts of ingenious fallacies.
There was Diodorus Chronos, a most acute and subtle rcasoner. He
proved that there was no such thing as motion. A body must move either in
the place where it is or in the place where it not Now, a body Cannot be in
inoiion in the place where it is stationary, and cannot be in motion in the
place where it la not Therefore it cannot move at all.
It was in answer to this paradox that the famous phrase " Sotvitur am-
balandn" ("It is solved by walking") was first formulated. — a solution as prac-
tical as Dr. Johnson's famous refutation of the Berkeleyan theory of the
non-existence of matter. " I refute it lAut!" cried Ursa Major, striking his
foot with great force upon the ground.
Diodorus was brought up roundly by another densely practical intelligence.
Having dislocated his shoulder, he sent for a surgeon to set it. " Nay, said
the practitioner, doubtful, perhaps, whether so subtle an intelligence might
not euchre him out of his tec by some logical ingenuity, "your shoulder can.
not possibly be put out at all. smce it cannot be put out in the place in which
it is. nor yet in the ]ilacc in which it is not."
Then there was Zeno of Elea, who proved many things ; for example, that
there is no such thing as space. If alt thai exists must lie in space, he argued,
then must that space itself be in some other space, and so un ad injinilum :
but this is absurd ; therefore space itself cannot exist, as it cannot be in some
other space.
In a dispute with Protagoras, Zeno inquired whether a grain of com or
the ten-thousandth part of a grain of corn would make any sound in falling
to the ground.
" No," said Protagoras.
" Will a measure of corn make any noise in falling to the ground ?"
"Certainly." was the answer of the other sage, strcdcing his beard, probably,
and trying 10 look wise.
" But," said Zeno. and we can imagine the triumphant self-satisfaction
with which he enunciated this bit of imT>ecility. "since a measure of ccirn is
composed of a certain number of grains, it follows that either a grain produces
This recalls to mind a more modern paradox, which is based on the law of
acoustics. A sound is produced by the setting in motion of certain waves,
which, striking the ear, give us the impression of sound. Now. suppose
there be no ear present to listen, is there any sound ?
The most famous of Zeno's paradoxes is that known as Achilles and the
Achilles, who can run ten times as fast as the tortoise, gives the tatter a
hundred yards' starL While Achilles is running the first hundred yards, the
tortoise runs ten ; while Achilles runs that ten, the tortoise is running otte ;
8s6 HANDY-BOOK OF
while Achilles it running one, the tortoise is running one-tenth of » yard \
and so on (brever. This sophism has been considered insoluble even by Dr.
Thomas Brown, since it actually leads to an absurd conclusion by a sound
argament. The Tallan lies in the coiACealed assumption that what is in6-
nicely divisible is also infinite.
But a patadoi which lookg like it at first sight is absolutely irrefragable.
A man who owes a dollar starts by paying half a dollar, and every day there-
after pavs one-hair of the balance due, — twenly-hve cents the third day. twelve
and a half (he fourth day, and so on. Suppose hrm to be furnished with
counters of infinitesimal value, so as to be able to pay fractions of a cent
when the balance left Is less than a cent, he would never pay the full amount
of his debt, even though, Tithonuii-llke, he were endued with immortality j
there would always be some outstanding fraction of a cent to his debt
The famous " Syllogismus Crocodilus" is not Zeno's, but dales from an un-
known antiquity. A crocodile seizes an infant playing on the banks of a
river. The mother rushes to its assistance. The crocodile, an inlelllKent
animal, promises lo restore the child if she will lell him truly what will hap-
pen to iL " Vou will never restore it," cries the mother, somewhat rashly.
The crocodile astutely rises to the occasion. " If you have spoken truly,"
be says, "I cannot restore the child without destroying (he truth of your
assertion. If you have spoken wisely, I cannot restore the child, because you
have not fulfilled the agreement ; therefore I cannot restore it whether you
have spoken truly or falsely."
But the mother, too, exhibits logical powers that are rare indeed in her
"If I have spoken truly," she says, "you must restore the child by virtue
of your agreement. If I have spoken falsely, that can only be when you have
restored the child. Thetefore, whether I nave spoken truly or falsely, the
child must be restored."
Mother and crocodile may still be arguing out that question. History at
least is silent as to the issue. It is one of the unsolved problems, like that
of " The Lady or the Tiger ?"
Another paradox equally astute is closely parallel. Young Euathlus re-
ceived lessons in rhetoric from Protaeoras, who was to receive a certain fee
if his client won his fiist cause. Euathlus, however, being lazy, neglected to
kccepl any cause. Then Protagoras brought suit Euathlus defended him-
•d( and It was consequently his first cause. The master argues thus : " If I
be successful in this cause. O Euathlus, you will be compelled lo pay by vir-
tue of the sentence of the court ; but should I be unsuccessful, you will then
have lo pay me in fulfilment of your contract." " Nay," replies the apt pupil,
" if 1 be successful, O master, I shall be free by ihe sentence of the court ;
and if I be unsuccessful, I shall be free by virtue of the contract."
The judges were completely staggered by the convincing logic on each side,
and postponed Ihe judgment antdU.
A similar dilemma puuled Aristotle half out of his wits, and drove Philetas,
the celebrated grammarian and poet of Cos, into an untimely grave. It is
known as " The Liar," and is stated as fallows : " If you say, ' I lie,' and in SO
saying tell the (ruth, you lie ; bul if you say, ' I lie,' and in so saying tell a lie,
you tell the ttuth."
The sophism of The Liar reappears in anoiher form in Ihe argument of the
lying Cretians. Sl Paul says (Titus i. la, 13), "One of themselves, even
a prophet of their own, saitl. The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow
bellies. This witness is true." Now, this witness cannot be truei the Cre-
lians being always liars, the prophet, as a Ctetian, must be a liar, and lied
when he said they were always liars. Consequently, Ihe Cretians are not
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 85?
always liars. And jrel, again, (he wilneai may be true. For if the Crelians
are not always liars, then the Cretian prophet was not aiways a liar, and told
the truth when he said that they «rere always liars.
And are not these sophisms identical in essence with the famous legal case
of the Bridge, which was decided by His Excellency Sancho Panza, when
governor of the island of Baralaria ?
Here are some more paradoxes of Attic origin :
" The Veiled Man." — There is a man standing before you with his face and
form entirely hidden by a veil. Do you know who this man is? No. Do
you know who your father is? You say you do. But this cannot be so, for
the veiled man happens to be your father, and you just said you did not know
"The Horns." — What you have not got rid of you still have. Vou agree
to that. But you have not got rid of hotiis : therefore you have horns.
"The Bald Man." — You say (hat you call a man bald when he has only a
few hairs. What is the diflerence between few and many ? Would ten be a
few and eleven not ? Where shall the line be drawn ? Yon say that there
are such things as few and many, and that there is a diflerence betiveen them.
Define (he difference, then. Such an examination makes it plain that the
difference between few and many is not anything in particular, which is as
much as to say that it has no particular existence.
In one of Plato's dialogues, Euthydemus, a skilful hand at this sort of
work, tangles up a young man named Kteslppus in this bshion :
" Have you a dog f "
" Ye«."
"Is he yours?"
"Yes."
■' Has he anv puppies ?"
"Yes, and they ate the plague of my life."
" Is the dog their father, then ?"
"To my certain knowledge."
"Then the dog is a father and is yours, therefore he is vonr father."
This unexpected revelation fairly takes away Ktesippns s breath, and before
he can recover Euthydemus goes un :
'* Do you ever thrash thai dog ?"
"Then you are in the habit of thrashing your own father I"
But aa the talk goes on, Ktesippus gets even with Euthydemus. Foi the
purpose of his argument he wants to make Euthydemus confess that men like
to have gold.
"No, says Euthydemus, "you can't lay that down as a eeneral principle.
Men don't always like to have gold ; they only want it under certain special
conditions. No one would want to have gold in his skull, for instance-
" Oh, yes," answers Ktesippus. " You know that the Scythians use skulls
for drinking'Cups, and inlay them with gold. Now, these are their skulls in
just the same way (hat you said the dog was ny (xher. So the Scy(hian8
wan( to have gold in their skulls."
Eu(hydemus has no answer ready for this, and Ktesippus carries off Ibe
A modern dilemma of a somewhat similar sort proves that the much-used
maxim, " All rules have their eiceplion," is setf'COnlradiclory, for if all rules
have exceptions, this rule must have its exceptions. Therefore the proverb
asserts in one and the same breath that all rules have exceptions and that
•ome rules do not, — a clear case of proverbial suicide. •
Every school-boy, to use Macautayeae, is bmiliar with tbe good old paradox
1"
858 HANDY-BOOK OF
which proves Ibal one cat has ihree tails : No cat has two lailt ; one cat has
one tail more than no cat ; consequently one cat has three tails.
A famous old problem opens oul a fertile but somewhat hopeless subject
of inquiry : " If an irresistible force strikes an immovable body, what will be
the result ?"
There are a number of more or less familiar problems which are not catch-
questions, and which at lirst sight seem extremely simple, yet require con-
siderable ingenuity to arrive at a correct resulL And the correct result, when
arrived at, proves to be the exact opposite of the simple frima foot answer
that had sprung immediately to mind.
Can a ship sail faster than the wind ? Undoubtedly. Ic«-boats, especially,
which meet with little or no frictional resistance, can, with a very light wind,
be sent ahead of a fast ex press- train, — an experiment frequently seen in action
on the Hudson River. Bui even an ordinary yacht can be propelled twelve
or fiOeen knots an hour by a breeze blowing only ten knots an hour.
Of course this cannot hap]>en when the ship sails straight before the wind.
In that case it must travel more slowly than the wind, on account of the re-
sistance made by the water. " But," you may say, "that is the only way 10
get the full effect of the wind. If the ship sails at an angle with Ibe wind, the
wind must act with less effect, and the ship will sail more slowly."
Plausible. Vet every yachtsman and every mathematician knows it is not
Suppose we illustrate. You put a ball on a billiard -table, and, holding the
cue lengthwise from side to side of the table, push the ball across the cfoth.
Here, in a rough way, the ball represents the ship, the cue the wind, only, as
there is no waste of energy, the ball travels at the same rate as the cue ; evi-
dently it cannot go any faster. Now, let us suppose Ihat a groove is cut diag-
onally across the table, from one corner-pockei to the other, and that the ball
rolls in the groove. Propelled in the same way as before, the ball will now
travel along the groove (and along the cue) in the same time as the cue lakes
to move across the table. The groove is much longer than the width of the
tabic, — double as long, in'fact. The ball, therefore, travels much faster than
the cue which impels it, since it covers double the distance in the same lime.
Just 30 does the tacking ship sail faster than the wind.
When a wheel is in motion, does the top move faslei than the bottom?
Nine people out of ten would cry " Nonsense t" at the mere question. Both
the top and bottom of the wheel must of necessity, it would seem, be moving
forward at one and the same rale, — i.t., the speed at which the carriage is
travelling. Not so, however, as a little reflection would convince you. The
top is moving in the direction of the wheel's motion of translation, while the
bottom is moving in opposition 10 this motion. In other words, the top is
moving forward in the direction in which the carriage is progressing, while
the bottom is moving backward, or in an opposite direction.
That is why an instantaneous photc^raph of a carriage in motion shovrs
the upper pan of the wheel a confused blur, while the spokes in the lower
part are distinctly visible.
which brings A and B upon the dividing line between the upper and lower
halves of the wheel. It will be seen thai A moves upon a radius equal (o the
diameter of the circle, and, by actual measurement, thai A hai moved a much
gi^alet distance and described a greater curve than B.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Consequently it rr
To clinch ilie m>i
a half revolution e
top of the wheel, ^
revolution B has travelled the greater distance and described the greater
The Ibllowing propoatlion is lelt tor the reader to think about i
If there are more people in the world than any one person has hair* upon
his head, then there must exist at least two persons who possess identically
the same tiumber of hairs, to a hair.
This same proposition may be applied to the faces of human beings in the
world. If the number of perceptible ilifTerences between two (aces be not
greater than the total numlier of the human race, then there must ensi at
least two persons who are to all appearances exactly alike. When it is con-
sidCTcd that there aie about one billion live hundred millio-i persons in the
world and that the human countenance does not vary, except within COttipara-
tively narrow limits, the truth of the pro|>osilion becomes obvious, without
applying the logical reasoning of it.
Vou remem^r the egg-problem : " If a hen and a half lay an egg and a
half in a day and a half, how many eggs will six bens lay in seven days V
The propiHillon is really as easy as the familiar one which every school-boy
has puuied over the first lime he heard it, and wondered at himself ever after
that it was not absolutely self-evident : " If a iierring and a half Cost a cent
and a half, how much will six heriiiigs cost?" — the answer lo which is six
cents, of course, for if a herring and a half cost a cent and a half, one herring
will cost one cent
Now, if the cgg.problem were stated in this way, " If a hen and a half lay
H how many eggs
;ven days V probably every one would see that the proposition can be
mplified by saying that one hen lays one egg In thirty-six hours, and then it
becomes a mere question of rudimentary mathematics ti
bens will lay twenty-eight eggs in seven days.
But many people are bewildered by the third fraction, and insist that, if it
requites a day and a half for a hen and a half to lay an egg and a half, one
ben will lay one egg in ant day, and six hens will lay six eggs in one day ;
hence in seven days six hens will lay forty-two eggs. They do not see that
although the first two fractions balance each other, and may be both cancelled,
the last must remain as the measurement of time in which it lakes either one
hen or one hen and a half to perform a given feat.
Many ingenious casuists insist on twenty-four as the right answer, arguing
that, as hens are never known to lay two-thirds of an egg, the six hens, having
laid twenty-four eggs at the end of the six days, must patiently wait thirty-six
hours before laying again. This is mere quibbling. The object of the prob-
lem is to find out how many eggs may be expected, week by week, from six
hens under given conditions. To the mathematical mind there is no absurdity
in saying that each lien lays two-thirds of an egg per day, and therefore six
hens lay four eggs per day.
Of courEW, a mere humorist, who has no mathematical instincts, might
assert that the entire proposition, as originally stated, is an absurdity, since
half a hen cannot lay an egg, or any fractional part thereof^ unassisted i)y the
other half. The egg end of a hen only, he might assert, is constructed for
that purpose. The other end merely announces the result of the hen's
cBorts and takes in the materials from which the egg is formed. A hen doing
business with one-half of itself and trying to run a branch establishment with
the other half would be a dismal hiluie.
86o HANDY-BOOK OF
But malheroaCics was not made for humorist*.
The above are illustrations of paradoxes in which it requires a certain in-
j;enuil^ lo arrive at the correct answer. Here is a paradoi of another sort,
in which the answer ^iven is an olivious and barefaced fallacy, and pet in
which it requires considerable ingenuity to expose the falsehood :
A Dublin chamtjerinaid is said to have put a round dozen of travellers into
eleven bedrooms, and yel to have given each a sepanile bedroom. Here is a
diagram of the eleven bedrooms!
"Now," said the quick-witted Irish girl, "if (woof you gentlemen will go
into No. I bedroom, I'll find a spare room for one of you as soon as I've
shown the others to their rt "
So, having put two genitemen into No. i, she put the (bird in No. 2, the
fourth in No. x, the Gtth in No. 4, the sixth in No, 5, the seventh in No. 6.
the eighth in No. 7, the ninth in No. S, the tenth in No. 9, (he elev
Then, going bade to No. i, where you will remember that she left
the twelfth gentleman along with the first, she said, —
" I have now accommodated all the rest, and have still a room lo spare ; so^
if one of you will step into Room 1 1 you will find it empty."
Thus the twelfth man got his bedroom.
Now, every one sees at a glance that there is a flaw somewhere ; but not
every one rectwniies immediately that the flaw lies in rolling two single gentle-
men (No. 2 and No. 12) into one, like the hero of Peter Pindar's poem.
Here is another semi- mathematical puzzle :
" A train starts daily from San Francisco to New York, and one daily fr
overlook the bet that every day during the journey a (rcsh train is starling
from the other end, while there are seven on the way to begin with. The
traveller will therefore meet, not seven trains, but fourteen.
Here is a question which was seriouslv and gravely considered in ihe late
R. A. Proctor's ponderous paper, KnimiUdgt:
" A man walks round a pole on the tup of which is a monkey. As the man
moves, (he monkey turns round on Ihe top of the ])ale so as Mill to keep face
to face with the man. Query: When the man has gone round (he pole, has
he or has he not gone round the monkey?"
Some correspondents held (hat the man had net gone round the monkey,
since he had never been behind iL But Knamlcdgt decided that the man had
gone round the monkey In going round Ihe pole.
ParftUeL Noim but hlmaelf oas be his parallel, a persistent mis-
Jno(a(ion of a famous line in " The Double Falsehood, or Dis(rest Lovertk"
.c( iii., Sc; I. The line and its context run as follows :
Rtcorda] uywhint Itiithi
NoiiE bin luclf cu be la pu>l
And ftom ■ friend pn^cucd 1
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 86l
daughtets. Lewis Theobald revised and published it in 1728. At the origi-
nal nianuscnpt has never seen the light, il is impossible to say how much of
the play as we have it is Theobald's composition. Pope evidently assumed
it to be mainly his. At all events, in his Treatise on Bathos he holds hliD
lesponsible for the line
NoM bul iueir can be iu puilkl,
denouncing.it as a masterpiece of absurdity, and supposing it copied Trom n
Sroithfield showman who wrote in laige letters over the picture of an elephant
which adorned his booth, —
TtE greiteiE elephant in the world eicept bimMlT.
Now, If any part of this drama be old, it is probable that this pass;^ belonss
to the original portion. At all events, the idea was not Theobald's. It is
classic 1 il goes as far back as Seneca's " Hercules Furiens," i. 84;
Qaerit Aldds parcD T
(" I>D you need ■ puollel la AlcMetT h qui be oabodr but blnuelf.")
The peculiar audacity of the conceit commended it to the seventeenth .cen-
tury intellect, which conlinuilly reproduced it. Thus, Massinger, in "The
DuKe of Milan" (1623), makes Sforu say of his wife that she has no equal,
her goodness disdains comparison, —
And but bcnelf admlu no panJId.
An ii., St. J.
Again, as a correspondent of Notts and Querits points out (fifth series, i. 4S9),
there is in the British Museum a broadside, undated, but marked by the
collector "July, 165S," which in the form of an anagram makes a tetter attack
on the notorious John Lilburne. The tenth and eleventh lines run as follows :
Rognn moa complcit. but punyei luiia him,
NoH bul htmKlf Umielf can paiallel.
The eleventh line, word for word, is quoted by Dodd in his "Epigramma-
tists," p. 533, as an inscription placed under the portrait of Colonel Slratige-
ways. a member of Charles IT. '3 privy council. Here it was used in a com-
plimentary sense. A similar compliment is paid in prose by the anonymous
author of " VotivK Anglii" (Utrecht, 1614) : " I cannot speak of her without
prayse, nor prayse her without admiration ; sith shee can be immytaled by
none, nor parraleld by anie but herselfe." Analogues more or less remote
may be found elsewhere. Under a portr--" "' '"-—>■
forming the frontispiece to "Susnrtium c
Thia PicluK repraeBU the Formt where dwelli
A Mind which D«hlng but thai Mind eiceli.
Indeed, are not the hmous lines of Milton identical in spirit, even to the
bull, if bull you choose to call il f —
Adam ibe eDDdlieal man of mm liuce bora
Hii sou ; (he rabot oT her daughten Etc.
John Andrews, the learned Bishop of Aleria, who did so much for the early
prmters and their art, used to affix elaborate epistles to the works brought out
by his preti^li. That on Livy is particularly elaborate (Bdoe's Anecdotes,
iii. 283). Livy he thinks to be Htrculem mirilo historiarum. Livy, says he,
growing enthusiastic, not only excelled other writers, but also even hx sur-
passed himself; ud seipsum quomu longe anttcillil. He is not only his own
parallel, but his alacrity is such thai he leaves himself behind in the race, and
runs away from his own shadow, or his own spirit from his own bod;.
Coogk"
862 HANDY-BOOK OF
Puia Taut bl«n una msMe {Fr., " Paris is well worth a mass"). Thi*
phrase is attributed to Henry IV. as his reason for becoming a Catholic But
asked him, " Why do you not go to mass like myself ? "Sire," answered
the Protestant courtier, "the crown is well wurlb a mass," implying that
apostasy was too great a price to be paid for anything short of the crown.
Fournier, in his " Esprit en I'Histuire," subscribes to the latter story, holding
that the expression in the mouth of Henry would have been highly impru-
dent. " If it had occurred to him when he resolved to abjure his religion in
order to make his entrance to Paris and to the throne smoother, he was loo
shrewd to gi'
Parody (from the Greek irap^idta, literally, a song sung besides, a burlesque
imitation), a very coitimon (arm of literary droDing, consisting of an imitation
of the serious manner of another applied to a low, ludicrous, or tritling theme.
M. Deipierre, who has published a copious work on ancient and modern
parody (Paris, 1S70), casts about him for a satisfactory delinition, and finally
■alls back upon that of Ptre Monlcspan, a writer of the seventeenth century,
who held that the essence of parody was the substitution of a new and light
for an old and serious subject, and the free use (or misuse) of the expressions
of the author parodied. Unlike burlesque, — where the subjects remain and
the characters reappear the same, though trivialized and degraded, — in paro-
dies new characters apply old and high-flown expressions and language to a
new subject and an altered case. Francis Jeffrey, again, in his review of the
" Rejected Addresses," makes a snbile and acute differentiation of the various
forms of parody, distinguishing lietwren the mere imitation of externals — ■
mere personal imitation, so to speak — and that higher and rarer art which
brings before us the intellectual characteristics of the original. " A vulgar
mimic," he says, "repeats a man's cant phrases and known stories with an
exact imitation of his voice, look, and gestures ; but he is an artist of a (ar
higher description who can make stories or reasonings in his manner, and
represent the features and movements of his niind as well as the accidents of
his body. It is a rare feat to be able to liorrow the diction and manner of a
celebrated writer to express sentiments like his own, — to write as he would have
written on the subject proposed to his imitator, — to think his thoughts, in
short, as well as to use his words, — and to make the revival of his style ap-
pear a natural consequence of the strong conception of his peculiar ideaa."
This is all very well. But the result would not be strictly a parody, any
more iban the irony of Defoe, which every one took literally, was true irony.
Parody, like irony, must give a humorous twist to the sentiments imitated;
the imitation must be consciously exaggerated ; the fun must be apparent on
the surface. However great may be the real reverence of the parodist for hi*
author, be cannot free himself from the irreverence of levitv. Therefore,
though in some sense a parody is a compliment to the author oecause it is a
tribute to the popularity of his work, no author ever really liked to be paro>
died ; and that author's admirers, no maitet how acutely they may enjoy the
fun, cannot but feel a twinge of conscience as of an unwilling witness to a
sacrilege or a desecration.
It is true that no one was more quick to recogniie the cleverness and laugh
at the fun of " A Tale of Drury Lane" in the " Rejected Addresses" than
Sir Walter Scott himself, yet he humorously complained that he did not know
he had ever written so badly. It is true also that Crabbe acknowletbed
that in the versification of "The Theatre" he had been "done admirab^."
Yet Crabbe complained that there was a "little undeserved ill-nature" in the
prefatory address, — which reminds one of the debauchee who, rising with a
matutinal headache, laid the blame upon thai last oyster.
;i:,vG00gk'
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 863
Robert Browning openly and avowedljr detested parodies. To one who
had asked his consent to quote a few lines from l*a of his popular poems lo
illustrate some imitations, be wrote, —
Sm^InRplyiaraiir nqneulbrleavc topubliititwoof my pDcmsmlongwiih" Pimdio"
I tniBi big 10 be eiciued (ram jnvli^ any tuch permjuion. My publiihir will bi deund xa
Dr. Arnold of Kugby told his boys to follow his example and never read
parodies, "as they Buggested themselves to the mind for ever after in con-
nection with the beautiful pieces which they parodied" {XMt and QuirUt,
seventh series, x. 144).
Parodies and burlesques were both favorite forms of humor with the
ancient Greeks. In the public streets, and later in the theatres, the paro.
dist frequently followed the rhapsodist who recited from the Iliad or the
Odyssey, or appeared as the farce after the tragedy, to give a comic version
of the previous performance. It is not impossible that the " Battle of the
Fri^s and Mice," which is a mock imitation of the Homeric style, and which
at one time passed for a genuine Homeric poem, may have been recited by
some ancient parodist ; perhaps following, as an after-piece, the " Battle of the
ShipSb" If so, it is the only one of these earlier parodies that has come down
to us. We can but guess at the nature of the others, for little remains of
the nameroua authors who are known to have composed them, and it 19
probable that the performers trusted a good deal to the extempore sugges-
tions of their own Attic wit to give them effect. Of the famous Hipponax,
for example, who is sometimes held to be the inventor of epic parody, only a
few fragments are extant, and these reveal none of that terrible sarcasm with
which he is credited, — the sarcasm which overwhelmed the bruther-scnlpturs
of Chios, who had made a too faithful likeness of the ugly and venomous little
man, and finally drove them to suicide. Of Hegemon of Thasos, nicknamed
"Lentil," who was the reputed father of dramatic as Hipponax was of epic
parody, little more than his name survives. Yet he, too, was a power in his
day, and it is related that the Athenians in the theatre sat out the recital of
bis " Battle of the Giants" in spite of the ill news of a disaster to their arms
in Sicily received after its commencement Just so in the French Revolution
the people ran out of the theatres between the acts to see the miserable
victims pass on their way to the guillotine, and then quietly resumed their
teats and forgot that dark tragedy in the last new vaudeville.
That these early parodies were all mercilessly personal, and spared neither
gods nor men, we may Judge from what Aristophanes has taught us of the
unbounded license of Greek satire. The prince of humorists was also the
prince of Greek parodists. His ever- recurrent burlesques of Euripides, his
travesties of the Socratic philosophies, are still redolent of fun after the lapse
of a score of centuries. To read Aristophanes — " The Frogs," for example —
is to take one's till of parodies, the only drawback being a suspicion that the
poet had his favorites as well as his butts.
With the Romans parody was a favorite amusement. Catullus and Virgil
seem to have suffered the most, and Joseph Scaliger, in his "Catalecta," has
even preserved a parody on Catullus which is attributed to Virgil. But the
latter was paid off in his own coin by the anonymous writer of the " Anti-
Bacolica," mentioned by Donatus, the first of which commenced as follows :
Tityrc, il logaulda dbl nl. quod Itfmlnc bgi'
The remains of Romaa a* of Greek parody are scanty. Perhaps the world
864 HAl^DY-BOOK OF
his losl very little. Certainly it has no reason to rejoice in the maai of
rubbiKb which the priests and pedants of the Middle Ages leO behind them
ill ihc shape of parodies on Horace, Juvenal, and Catullus. Nor can it ex-
perience any cnioliun save disgust for the fools who rushed in even on holy
ground and jiamdied the prayers, litanies, and offices of the Church, as well
as llie fiiiesl jiaasagrs in the Old Testamenl artd the New. These were common
in Europe from ihc twelTih century lu the Seventeenth, while over in England
Hleiii Puritans and luyal Cavaliers availed Ihemselvcs largely of Scripture
phraseology lo give zest to their caustic witticisms, and reviled one another
m mock Litanies and Visitations of Sick Parliaments. One of the talesi and
most offensive instances is found in the "Old England's Te Deum" of Sir
Charles Hanbury Williams.
But enough of this. One would gladly exchange the whole lot for a few
■Dote such lively skits as the parodies of M<!nage, or those which [n Joseph
Scaligei's day were composed by various iearned personages upon a flea that
had made its appearance on the fair bosom of Madame Catherine Desrochei.
The intruder was discovered by Etienne Pasquier, who forthwith delivered
himself of an impromptu. Then followed a host of parodies, in many ronns
and many languages, and in imitation of many masters, until Madame E>es-
roches's nca became as famous as Lesbia's sparrow.
About the middle of the seventeenth century (to be exact, in 1 6 J2) appeared
the famous— or infamous — "Virgile Travesli" of the French ScarroiL It
seeiDs to OUT modern taste rather a vulgar bit of ribaldry, but it was extrava-
gantly admired, and, in spite of Boileau, it created a host of imitators. Over
in England, Charles Cotton, the translator of Montaigne, produced a work of
the same order, entitled " Scartonides, or Virgil Travestied," which is now,
fortunately, forgotten. Of a far higher order was "The Splendid Shilling" of
John Philips, pronounced by Steele to be the finest burlesque poetn in the
English language. It is not so much a parody of Milton, for it suggests no
— "' - - -'*-■■ of the Miltonic style to trivialthin —
jmor Is of a sort that soon fades. 1
laugh. Here is the &mou
Thna, whDc ny joylcH ni
WAhidMiuu
Widi vocal 1i«l thrlR thundrrinc at my nic,
■ ■ ■ all.: I know
frown, ind conic burd,
Imired by modvm uinli,
I^DS iCToLla of piper ftolemnlT he «ai
Wil?ch*r.c>cr,>^ fi(ur« dire inKii
Grievou. lo Dion>l cyn (ye goda.
SoUeD of aapecl, by ttic vuivv ca
A ciichpoll, whoK poUaled hand
With Ibm iKTRtiblt ihI aicic cbunu.
Fint have endued ; if he llil ainple pklm
ShoBld haply oa lUbud itKHilda laf
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITI£S. 865
Of ihbiDi, iirugbi hi> body, le Ike tench
Obicquiou ift vhilom knl^u wen woal).
or moiHy. Pallu icii him (th.
This may be Tunny, but, as children siy, " Jl's not so awful funny." Never-
theless the great Dr. Johnson enjoyed it
The great period o( parody in England undoubtedly began with the " Rolliad'
and the " An ti -Jacobin," and has been continued in such nusierpieces of lun as
the " Rejected Addresses" of the brothers Smith, the " Bon GauUier Ballads"
of Aytoun and Martin, the piosc travesties by Thackeray and Bret Haite,
the " Echo Club" of Bayard Taylor, the " Heptalogia" of Swinburne, and
various bits of veise by Lewis Carroll, C. 5. Calverley, and other humorists.
The story of the " Rejected Addresses" has been often lold. The direc-
tors of Drury Lane Theatre had offered a prize for the best poetical ad-
diess 10 be read at the opening of their new building in iSia. A casual
remark dropped bv one Mr. Ward, the secretary to (he thealre, that none of
the pieces ofiisred hadproved acceptable, was the hint on which the brotheis
Smith set to work. They composed a series of addresses professedly written
by the principal authors of the day and rejected by the Drury Lane commit-
tee. The book appeared simultaneously with the opening of the theatre, and
was an overwhelming success. The parodies on Scott, Crabbe, and Words-
worth were voted especially fine. These are all loo long 10 quote entire.
Let ua extract the story proper in the Crabbe parody from the long introduc-
tion. Here it is entire :
JahD Ridurd William Aleunder D>yer
Wu Sonrnvt 10 JusUntjui 5tiibl», Euuire :
But when John Cwyer 'tilled in ifae Kiuet,
Emuuel Jenningi poliihcd Slubbi't ihoeL
Emuiuel Jenningi broiigbt hii yomlgeit boy
Up u a coin-cutter, — t, >afe employ ;
ould have U
le Gmnby'i I
PiLt WU the mthin'i umc,— « red-bmind yfmth.
Fonder of ptiri and ikillle^Toiuidt Ihui trath.
SUciKCt ye sodi I to keep your lOAEOes in mw«.
The Vkatt shall tdt an accideol ihe saw.
Pat Jsminn in tht upper [ullery ut,
BlU, leudDg lorward, Jenniogi lent his lut ;
DowD from the Ealtery ttie beaver flew,
Aikd ipurted the one to settle Id Ihe two.
How shall he Id T Pay at th* gallery-door
Two iliilllnBsrDrwIiuCDU, when new, bulfourt
Or till half-price, to save luaihlUiDE, wait,
i^d nin hu list aEiin at hnl(-put eiriit ?
Now, whDe Ui lean unklpatt a thld,
Joha Mulkni whiipered. '^Tuke my bandkerchleT."
'Thmnkvoul- criaiPnt: ■
Now, WhDe Ui lean anikipatt a thld
loha MuIkni whiipered. '^Tuke my I
''Thnnli yowl" cries Pat; "but oae won i mue ■ ime.
A motley cable soon Pat Jenuuin ties.
Where Spitalfieldi with nti Indu Tin.
like Itis bow down darts the painted clue,
Starred^ striped, and spotted, yellow, red. and blue,
Ccorie (^wi below, with palpitating hand,
prise ! The ytnilh, with joy iinTeigMd,
sppIsndiDg galleries grateful Pat
73
L.;,::;i:v..G00gk"
aS6 HANDY-BOOK OF
Prom Ihe same work is taken this parody on a welMcnovn pasuge ii
Southey's " Kehama :"
Fram Tower Hill to Pictidilly inored:
Midnight^ yd oot a dok
By iDdnt Taoned, the god of fire aKrndsihe walla di Dninrl
TIk lopa of houioa, blue wlih laid.
Bead beoeaib the landlord'i Iread;
Thick isir, (U re«, and aliui kKc
Mounted on [oc« aod chimney.
The miEhiy roaii. the mighty aiew
Toiee,
Wen bill to ihem a mighty jubilee.
This stanza from the parody of Byron is cspeciatlf famon* i
i> Hamlet bui a hue in
And whM u Bnitio but a crc
And what iiRoIlat Cupid
si;?.:?,';i-Ji-,e
To him *ho« loul ii with fn
f«'?d'iIiMrcb,
i^'agT^'falriarodl"
lifhol""^'
of thought .
evuyihing it dou^
n of Moure,
oo, is good :
The applH ih
To lempl ui i
rere plucked, and I'he uill wean the priie,
:'r:s,r=c2'aT.,..
There, loo, ii
Still goyenu
Jie bah which, all
the ilaTo that an
"S^dTbThTf^
s the best travesty of Macaulay e
" He'a dead, be'i dead, the Laureaie'a dead 1" 'iwaa lhu» the cry begun,
Aod itraigblwiy every ganrel roof gave up Ita minurel man ;
From Grab Sum, and frc>in HouncTiditch, and from Faningdon Within,
Loud yelled <h«y
all IDwan
] they for
if Netherby. my patron taint, I iwea
■and crowni \jsiA Palmenton were h
Whu ii'l ye aeek. ye rebel knaveil what make yon there beneath T"
" Tlie bayi, Ihe bayi 1 we want the baya I we leek the laureate wreath I
aod BO on. Are there not here the veir lilt and spirit of the " Battle of Ivry"
and other noble ballads f Hut even better is the " Lay of the Lovelorn,' a
barlesque of " Loclcaley HalL" It is loo long to quote entire, but here i* the
/.oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 867
tr»est]p of that famous passage where the hero threatens to go off and mairjr
TbcTE the putkHu. cninped no lander, ibill biTE ipacc 10 breuhc, my coosla I
t will takfi KiH uva^ wonun^^—iuy, I'll ulw ai Leui a douD.
Then I'll RAT my youDg mulattoci at do Bond Stna bmli are rortd :
TlKy ibd] dive fta ■lliguon. catcfa the wild gaau by tlic beard,
Wblnle lo Ibe corkaiocit, and nrnclc the baiiy-laced Imboon,
Wonhip migbly Humbo Jumbo In (be MnmniDi of Ibe Moon.
t mvseir. in far Tlmboooo, kopardi' blood viU dally (maff,
Ride a tigcr-huDIing, Dwunud on a Iboroughbred guaffe.
Flenxly (hall I ibogt (he war-whoop, a> tome lullen Hnam bt iroim,
Stanltng rcoai Ibrir noonday alnmben inm-bound rhinocerDMs,
Fooir again the'dream, ibe fancy 1 But I know my wordiare mad.
Par t hold Ibe gray baitiatiaD lower Iban Ihe Chriiilan cad.
I, the >wdl,-^e city daiHly <— 1 to aeck luch horrid p1aca,~
To (cmn'lbe heaRaiid (onune^'itKwlXv Shu!?b«^
Sniff aod oodkok 1 lei me nerer fling a liagle chance awav :
Maida ere now, 1 know, have loved me, amTancther maiden may.
Barham's ''Ingoldsby Lcgends"has this admirable imitation of "The Burial
of Sir John Hoore ;"
Not a son bad he got. — not a guinea or nota, —
A» he bolted away withool payiog bit ibot.
And Ihe landUiiy alter bim hunied.
We iwigged the Doctor beneaih the Ugbt
Of Ibc gaa-lamp brlltianily buinlog.
AH bare, and eipoted to the miduEhl dewi.
UDTioga with loda-waMr.
Loudly they lalked of hit money ihai'i gone.
But llllle he' tcckcS? » tbe^ let' bim iDore on
When beneath tl« window callfng ''
HANDY-BOOK OF
Only Seven.
'o^ if you don't trftmi," uU I,
jgui ill In iai™™li°Unic7B7,
Tlie Uitle Idiot maka rfply.
Tobomnr Wordiwonh'i name wu wn^i.
(> .li.h,lv n,i«.ppli«| ; ""^ "* '™«'V
Aniltt.I'db«««rc»llioy WW , ^
Una ftoin Ache-inilde."^ ' %.
Bur, l«d .1 known .nd loitd mc «ll, \
BaiiLillpcnl.uVlm
Fnmi chUdhood lifl [he [
.dbvGooylc
\
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
He*iiinbedLe,but llDnnTBt-
ID the boucrcd iido.
Perhaps the be*t of all English parodists was C. S. Calverlejr. His " Story
or a Cock and Bull" is an admirable rifaciminta al Bruwning ; but it is too
long to qaole here entire. Let us take this travesty of Tennyson's " Brook :"
Thb Tinker.
I toiler dowD by ihoni and town ;
Far uy job I'm wflJinf ;
TalH h<n mnd then ■ <■»>[)' brown.
re riDii Tor buddln' Silly,
t iparkic lilie ihoK cya of '
R Uquor &r the viLet,
and this evident skit at Jean Ingeloi
la ino«.|innkl delli
(And Rnven « kr
When soodi >R ■-tremble, vltb ri:
Thmuah God'i own hscher we woniK.-
■ lie (O love, my love 1):
'maitk it wat ^anom *e
I seed baiiily r«niLtk it
Andflitu-'^
Boaa wci« cumylDg, rluDg;. bowln;
id biihTr*
> ribbon of _
i-dude DD urk vid bishrf
e red heftlber we danced lOEelber
'AS ^rioiu weather.
Rbymei an k kucc In Ih'i worid
The " Heptalogia, or the Seven against Sense," has already been mentioned.
It is attributed to Swinburne, and the evidence is sufficient to convict him.
But be has nerer acknowledged iL Indeed, he attempted to throw the detec-
tive off the track by a parody of his own manner and style, which we have
quoted nnder Allitb ration. A portion of his parody on Owen Mciedilb
appears in our article on Plagiarism. Here is i clever take-off on " Tb«
New Pantheism" of Tennyson ;
73"
;i:v,.G00gIf
870 HANDY-BOQIC OF
The Hichbr Pantheism
On*, vfao b mt, wc kce ; 1
Doubl ii Ulh in ihe nuln ; but bilb. on tbe wholi
iwT Iccbuleyai
■ man whu h( Ibinki, ud g(
Tbe »ul ■quu down bk
Spring* rbe cock (rom Ibe pbUir ibooti tbe •tnun from tbc
Coclct ejdH for ibe hcD, bat bent exiil E« tbe cock.
CodjwtaoiBiRieeDDi, i>; ud God, wba b nai, we lea :
FlddU we know ii didillt ; and diddle, we lake it, it dee.
And Jove were alwayi iweet,
ThcD who would care 10 borrow
If Ttumei would ilwayi ilitut.
Btbindarellow-ichaii.
Wtaea eaiy-gplnE >uliwn
Sit down to KicEmond dinncn.
And lile'i iwill ■tmm loa BIralghtK,—
By love, it would be nn,
Ifuriwennotlkew^ier
BcblDdaltUow'icbalt.
ir wil were alw>y> cadlul.
And wine wen alwavi iced,
And borea weit kicked out uralghnraj
Throucb a convenient ntewiT,
Then dowa ibe year'i Ion* gndicBI
'Twere ud la be endced.
If wii wen alwiyi ndiant.
And wine were alwayi iced.
•hould be explained, ai
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Whv wilfully wage you (h
AU phy plumed out v\ y
Ob, punc-prjuin^ pi
And wc all seIqit ii
H«jd you noi in
And ye cunt, O ye
Another ump?e Trom the " Shotover Papers" barletqnes the Laorettte i
Break, bn«k, break I
My cup* and uu«n. O >«>ut ;
Aod I'm |Ud that my tongue can't uttv
The oaUu thai my kuI potou out.
Il 1* well (« Ibe chiur-iliop num,
Wbo get! a fmh order each day ;
And il'i deucedly well for yaDTKlT,
Who are in the nid cbina-nun'a pay.
To'your tii^J^<^, ID be caahed ;
And it'i oh for the light of my bn^cn lamp.
And (be tick of my clock that it unaitaed.
Break , break, break 1
Bat the coin I have apent in eIub thai a oacked
Will never come back to me.
William Sawyer ia responsible for this onttage upon another song in "The
The Recognition.
Home tbey brought her laikit aon,
GrowD a man acToaa the tea.
Tall and broad and black ol beard,
And hoarve of voice ai man may bo.
Both he offered ere he epoke ;
And ihe Hid, " What mu 1> thla
5el a pioeon-pie in tiEDl ;
Slie>awh]meat>--"Ti>hel 'ibhel"
She knew him— by hli appetite I
Here it a fragment Troni Shirley Brooks's " Wit aiid Hnnior," which glances
humorously at the " Idylls of ihe King :"
The blameleu king
Who h^ ill ipeecheia tremeDdoul ban),
Said, " If one duty lo be done renudni,
And 'tia DeeEected. all Ihe reK la nought
But Dead Sra applea and ihe acta of Apea,"
Smiled Guinevere, and begged hun not lo preach ;
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
__. ._. ._Bt dulir, ud ll itaoaldlM doo
Sq whai or puddine on dut Icaul nietal
uuin«d\T Anfaiir aDdhir gui
coDniin«] bv Anfaiir aod I
If, ai ve have said, Calverley is by common consent the greatest of English
parodists, jet surely Lewis Carroll, in the Tew examples scattered about his
*' Alice" books, presses him hard for the place. It is only because they
are so few that they are not Uken into more serious account What can be
better than the parody on Southey's " Father William"?—
" Vou ore old. Father WUUam/' 1I14 young hud wd,
"And yourhur hni become very white;
And y«i you JDnuuitLy uuid on your hud.
Do you Uiink, at yoor «ge, il li lighlt"
" In my youlb," Father WHIiam irplied u hii ud.
But now 1 ua perfFcIly lun I have dodc,
Wliy, 1 do it ■gain and again I"
For auylbbia tougher lun uet :
Vel ycHi Rnkahed the gooK. with the bonei and the beak :
" In my yaulh," uid hia falher, " I look 10 the law.
And Ibe miucnlar luenglh wbTch It gav« u> my jaw
Hu iaued the reit of my life."
And whU Rdmirable foaling in these lines I —
How d«b the little crocodile
Improve his abbiiiig tail,
Asd poor the walen oT the Nila
"OlftIume"In"Tbe Wa-
Pajaaol till it Iniled in the dliflt, —
In agony »bbed. Letting tlnk \va
Paraaoi lili it [railed in the dmi,—
TIU It Ktnwliilly tt^led In the due
Then t purified Mary and kiued her.
And templed her Into the room.
And conquered her scraplea and g]c»ra ;
And we paued id the end of the vlaia^
But were etoppcd hy the warning of doom, —
And 1 aaid, *' What Is wriittn, iwe«t uster.
She tobtKliTihe uiwered' '^I 'Uquoti_
Bay«rd Taylor'* " Diversions of the Echo Club" contains some very Kood
work In this Hne. In our article on "Autographs" we quoted a stanza from
bis parody on Poe. TbM on Joaquin Miller is quite a* good. Tbe Sttale b
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Aod I'm jiui u iDniLy u I cm be :
So. pu iIk whWHT,— well have ■ ipne t
Longfellow's " Hiawatha" was once a bvorite subject for parody. Here it
a bit from an anonymous effort ;
Uade (hen witli Ihe >kiii i
He, (D lei Dk nnn aide I
Pol the ipiide ikin tide ou
He, ID gel ihe colli ilde ou
Why ho turned them iwide onuide.
When the nomination of General Bullet for Knvemor of MaMachuMlts was
first proposed, the Boston Pott came out as follows :
Of All tad trordi of loogue or pea.
The iiddeii ere Umk, wt my biva Bu I
But when it was definitely settled that the general would not be the candidate
of his party lor that campaign at least, the /Vu/ gleefully exclaimed —
Of ell glad word* of langue or pen.
The gleddell are theK. we ihan'I have Bes I
In one of the earlier Orpheus C. Kerr papers was a series of " Rejected
National Hymns ;" in the poem attributed to Mr. Bryant, from the first
Tlie lUB ilnki iloKly lo hi* evening pou —
it was evident that the poet had endeavored to sneak in an adveitisement of
the newspaper which he edited.
This anonymous skit has some merit i
The ineluicbi% dayi have come.
The taddex of the yrsr,
"* n, alaj I for whlikey punch.
and so has this ;
cold for lager bw ;
which recalls a parody on " Beautiful Snow" that once went the round of the
papers. It was said to have been copied from the placard of a Milwaukee
sausage-maker :
Ob, the pup, the tieuiliAil pup I
IhrbiliinE hk isUk from a china cup ;
GanbouW round lo friiky and frtt,
PIrH (nawlDg a bone, then tiling a flea ;
Jumping,
AtlCT ihe pony.
Seaulffiil pup, you will aoou be boloayl
And here from the Lowell Sunday Arena is a good " take-off" on one of Iha
best of Kipling's ballads :
Danny Dolan.
"Wbal b that chap B.growlin' fort" aaid Cop-on-beal.
"They'ntlinwnhincul, they've ihiDm him QUI," ihclDater uld, dtaowt.
" What makei him cuh and iwear » t" aaid Cop-an-beat.
" Tlwy'n kicked Itiin oul," the loalei aaid ; " lie dldn'l pay bb utM."
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
For hE hung ua Duray Dolu Id a |iIi]f<uI Und of war.
And hv twlpod a doien achooiKii with " I'll pay »aiiw other day
He'h laken ihincLci uff ihc hoosc, an' wDtked ihe tiatc, they uy
" What maka hEm Hwnr and breathe to 'ard I" laid Cop-on-bca
"What makei him siaggH' an' fall dawn t" taid Cop-on-beal. _
Yea, he'i huDg up Danny l>Dia<i, lakin' profit &otn the plue,
Ao' ] know where he'll be aleepin' when 1 look him m the (ace.
I'll Aa^ in ibe patrol-wagoD 1 I miut wipe Dul Ibis disgrace,
" Wbat'i that id black againK bia name V' aaid Cop^m-beat.
" Dkorderly an' drnak, I think," iht loafer uid, ducrm.
What'i that that whimpera undetneaib t" laid Cop-en-b«at,__
" They're lockin' ap," the loafer aaid, " an
For bc^i done up Danny Dolin in a pfayful
.TD-morrow he'innok tolemn when a '— '^'
ParW la tlie madneaa of many for the gain of tha fair, an admira-
ble definition by Pope in "Thoughts on Various Subjects." It was Pope
also who, in his 1ut letter lo the Bishop of Rochester {Aiterbury), said, —
At this time, when you are cut off from a little aociety and made ■ dticea of the world ai
It is not impossible that Goldsmith had this sentiment floating in his mind
when he wrote his Tamous description al Butke :
Who, bom for the uniitrK, nanowed hi> mind.
Though fiauglii with all leaminc, yet itnining hii throat
To pertuade Tommy Townahend 10 lend him ■ vote.
As a curious double coincidence, President Rutherford B. Haves's fiunous
maxim in his Inaugural Address, March 5, 1S77, " He serves his party best
who serves the countiy best," is an obvious imitation of another line of
Pope's :
• Btma DW mou w """ /^J^^/t^^ Book ,.^ ,. „
Paaqnlnades, a general name for a lampoon or a satire, but more spe-
cifically and originally the name given by modern Romans to the anonymous
lampoons surreptitiously hung upon the statue of Pasquino. This statue needs
a word by itself. It stands at an angle of the Palazzo Orsini in Rome, in the
square to which it has given its name. It is a mere torso, — armless, with
amputated legs. Vet, though thus maimed and mutilated, it is full of beauty.
Indeed, when Bernini, himself a sculptor, was asked which was the finest
statue in Rome, he answered, without hesitation, " Pasquino." As to what
It represents, no one knows. Antiquaries, however, have embittered their
ignorance by issueless discussions as to whether it was a Fighting Gladiator,
a Hercules, an Ajax, or a Patroclus bearing up a Menelaus. Authentic his-
toty tells us that it was discovered about the year 1503 near one of the
... ,^^ ^1,^ ancient amphitheatre of Alexander Severus. Aixl whence
Google
UTERARV CURIOSITIES. 875
its name? Authentic hisloiy b silent. Yet tradition, vhich has received
the conditional sanction of history, — a tradition that crept into quasi-authentic
print so Car back as 1560, when it is mentioned by Antonio Barotti, — lia-
diliun affirms that the statue takes its name from one Maestro Fasquino, a
young tailor of great cleverness who flourished at the end o( the nfteenth
centutf. He was careless and bold of speech, freely satirizing Popes, cardi'
nals, and noblemen, and his jests were taken up and repeated by the men in
his employ. When, therefore, any person of rank and authority wished to
relate an anecdote against some one in power, he fathered it upon Fasquino,
whose insignificance protected him from vengeance. Gradually all lampoons
and aatites upon the pontifical court were attributed to the same person.
But in time Fasquino died, and left no successor. It was at this verv juncture
that the statue was opportunely discovered. The people immediately labelled
it Fasquino, and endowed ii with the characteristics of its eponyme. But, as
the dumb statue could not speak, it was feigned that he wrote all his biting
satires, and these would be found on placards hung about his person.
Fasquino was not the only figure in Rome who gave eipression to the
thoughts and feeling which could not have been proclaimed openly and
aafciy by human bem^s. His mi>sl distinguished companion was (and is)
Marforio, another mutilated lorso, of gigantic stature, evidently representing
an ocean- or river-god, which was found in the sixteenth Century near the
Forum of Mats, — whence its name. Marforio was rarely or never the original
spokesman, but he often carried On dialogues with Fasquino. A third parti^,
a so-called Facchino, or Porter, in the Piazia Piombino, occasionally joined m
the conversation. Sprenger, in his " Roma Nova," :66o, tells us that in his
day Fasquino was the spokesman of the nobles, Marforio of the citizens,
and Facchino of the commonalty. But the distinction was not very nicely
observed ; indeed, as a rule, Fasquino had a large and humanitarian interest
in all ranks and classes of his fellow-citizens.
The first true pasquinades — that is, the first of the epigrams which were
affixed to Pasquin and hence derived their name — belonged to the reign of
Leo X., though satires on previous Popes have been retrospectively grouped
under the same general head. The character of these Leonine pasquinades
is generally so coarse as to render Iheoi unfit for publication. One only, and
a very cruel one. may be singled out When Leo died it was currently re-
ported that he had not received the last sacraments of the Church. Pasquin,
whose two favorite topics had been the immorality and venality of the papal
court, came out with this epigram : " Do you ask why at the last hour
Leo could not take the sacrament ? He had sold it." On the death of
Clement VII., popularly attributed to malpractice at the hands of his physi-
cian, Matteo Curiio or Curtius, Pasquin gleefully said, "Curtius has killed
Clement. Curtius, who has secured the public health, should be rewarded."
In a longer epigram he detailed a bitter struggle that had arisen betireen
Plato and St. Feter as to which should not possess the pontifical soul.
Each sought to force the unwilling gift upon the other. Peter had no use
for Clement in heaven, Pluto feared the disturbance he would make in hell.
The quarrel was cut short by the Pope himself, who declared that he would
force nia way into hell :
Tutan lenlenn. ladlB docennu Aveml.
With (he advent of (he Reformation a much wider career was opened to
Pasquin. In 1^44 a stout little volume appeared, bearing the title " Pas-
quilforum, Tomi duo." It consisted of satires, epigrams, and lampoons,
many being actual pasquinades, many more being fugitive pieces of the
Mine anti-papal character. Fasquin'a renown was now heralded all over
876 HANDY-BOOK OF
Europe, and the name pasquil or pasquinade passed into the general vocab-
ulary of modem languages as the synonyme for any species of epigram uutic
lampoon.
A( Rome, however, Pasquin canlinued to be the spokesman of the opposi-
tion, and, indeed, he has not altogeihcr lost his old habits even in the preseiil
day of Italian unity. Siitua V. was Ihc most frequently and most tartly pas-
quinaded. Thai ponliff, a i>uit of Bacon Haussmann in his way, bad a great
mania for building, — especially fountains. It was he who erected the fountain
of Monte Cavalloand the Fonlana Felice. Paaquin parodied the inscription
PoiUiJex maxinua placed upon all these constructions, and made of it Fatitifix
maximal ("great builder of fountains").
A soldier of the Swiss papal guard having once, in the cathedral of St.
Peter, struck a Spanish nobleman with his halberd, the latter in indignation
returned the blow with his slick, but so roughly that the Swiss died of the
orning. The Pope at once sent to the governor of Rome,
and told him that he expected to see justice done that very afternoon, " before
I sit down to dinner," he added, "and I intend dining caily." "" "
ambassador and four cardinals ahorlly after attired at the Vati
the pardon of the calpril on the ground of the ptot
but Sixlus was inflexible. "Grant at least, Holy Father." then asked (he
ambassador, " that the unhappy man be beheaded and not hanged, for he is
of gentle blood." " He shall be hatiged. he shall be hanged," cried the Pope ;
"Iral if the shame of (his mode uf death can in any way be alleviated by my
attendance at the execution, the man shall die in my presence." The gibbet
was accordingly erected in front of (he pontifical windows. Sixlus V. came
out upon the balcony, witnessed without wincing the whole of the revolting
scene, and when it was over said grimly (o bis attendants, "And now bring
me to eat ; this act of justice has given me an appetite."
The next day, Marforio asked of Pasquin whither he was hurrying, thus
loaded with gibbets, wheels, whips, and axes. " Oh, it's nothing," answered
Pasquin 1 " 1 am only carrying a stew (o stimulate the Holy Father's appe-
Sixtus, brutal as he usually was, yet put up, as a rule, with the jokes and
criticisms of Pasquin. On one occasion only did he seek revenge. He had
a sister, whom he dearly loved, named Camilla Peretti ; but among other
loose things that were said of her, it was reported that at the (imc when her
brother had been a poor monk she had washed linen to earn her living.
One morning, Pasquin appeared with a very dirty shirt on. " Halloo r'
exclaimed Marfftrio; "why such unclean linen, Pasquino?" "1 have no
laundress," was the piteous answer, " ever since the Pope has made a princess
of mine." After useless endeavors lo discover the author of this pitiless joke,
Siitus offered a thousand crowns and a promise that the culprit s life would
be spared, if he would give himsclFup at once. Tempted out of prudence t^
Ihc magnitude of the reward, the author revealed himselC " Vou shall not
be hanged," said the Pope to him in fury, "and you shall have your reward
(00 ; but we are going to pluck out your tongue, and (o cu( olf vour hands, to
teach you how to moderate yourself for the Miture." And this inhuman order
was executed. It is as well to note, however, (hat the story is not generally
accepted by historians.
It would be impossible lo relate the whole or even the principal of Pas-
quin's innumerable coiKttli : for every day and every hour something new
was wcitlen, carved, or chalked upon iiis pedestal. If political topics failed,
there were always social scandals and eossipings in plenty ; and it was not
only the rich and powetlul who dreaded his siin^. He was absolutely incur-
luptiblc. He could not be bribed or threatened into silence. "Great sums,"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 877
lie pioudly said, addressing himselfto Paul III.,— -"great sums were formccly
given to poets for singing ; how much will you give me, O Paul, 10 be silent i"
On the authority of Paulus Jovius, Adrian VI., successor to Leo X, had
atmosl made up his mind 10 silence Pasquiii forever. Indeed, he actually
Eroposed to throw him into the Tiber. But the Spanish legate dissuaded
im. " If ;?ou do this," said he, ■' all the frogs in the river, becoming infected
with the spirit of Pasquin, will adopt his style of speech, and cniak only pas-
3uinadea. The very coiitempiihleness of the fellow makes him the more 10 be
readed. Did not the very leeds reveal the secret of Midas?" Whether
this reasoning convinced the poiiliif, or whether wiser reflection showed
him that all the public monuments of Rome would one by one have to follow
Pasijuin into the river in order to deprive him of a successor, certain it is that
Adrian desisted from his project.
A pasquinade which has been highly commended for its imaginative wit is
that whicn greeted the papal excommunication of all who look snuff in the
churches ofSeville. This was in the pontificate of Urban VIII. (1623-1644).
Straightway Pasquin came out with the following verse from Job (xiiL 15} :
"Contra folium <}uod vento rapilur, oslendis potcntiam tuani ? et slipulam
siccam persequeris f" which the Authorized Version translates, " Wilt thou
break a leaf driven to and fro > and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble ?"
Coleridge also quotes as aline example of wit the pasquinade upon the
Pope who had employed a committee to rip up the errors of his predecessors :
"Some one placed a pair of spurs upon the statue of St. Peter, and a label
upon the oppodte statue of Si. Paul.
"St. Paul. Whither, then, are you bound f
" St. Peter. I apprehend danger here ; they'll soun call me in question for
denying my Master.
"St. Paul. Nay, then. 1 had better be o
having persecuted the Christians before my
sptare anJ ether Dramatists.)
This shows, what was in tact the truth, that other statues, besides the ones
we have mentioned were at rare intervals used for the purposes of pas-
quinade.
In iSoS, when the French troops entered Rome to garrison it, after Napo-
leon's imprisonment of Pius VII., Pasquin asked Matforio whether the French
were not a herd of brigands. Next morning Maiforio answered, "Non tutii,
ma buona parte" (" Not all, but a good part ofihem"). This pun on Bonaparte's
name has been attributed to many other humorists-
Pasteboard, in English and American society slang, a visiting-card. "To
pasteboard" or " to shoot a p. b." means to leave a card.
" L^y ClavertDH u going out for bet drlv
luve our p«tebo«r3i, Arthur." HcuKdIhci
of the IngeniDUi yoath of the nobJIiiy about n
Knder yean.— THACuaBAV : PftidtHnii. ch. iixvi.
FaateTB, a contrivance used by the candidates for popular suffrage to
facilitate individual voting or "scratching" {q. v.) in their favor. They are
sheets of gum-backed paper, divided into very narrow strips by perforated
lines to enable them to be readily torn off (or use ; each of the narrow strips
into which it is subdivided bears the name of the candidate providing it and
distributing it at the polls, and its object is to invite and enable voters to sub-
stitute, bv pasting over, his name fur some other of the several names on the
same ballot.
a patch upon the other.
878 HANDY-BOOK OF
—obviously roeabing ihat it ii so fat inferior as not even to be worthj of
being used as a paich. A phrase that sounds similar, yel is in fact different
ill meaning, is much used in western England ; " Don'l put a patch upon it,"
— I.e. " Don't make an excuse for it," or " Don't make the matter worse" by
adding Booiething to make the fault look less of a faulL Thus, Shakespeare :
Thu did Uia fiuli bcfi
A-iVJ**". Aoi'-.Sc. a.
Patohod Br««ohw, a nickname given to Governor William L. Marcy, of
New York, in an unfriendly spiriL It was alleged aaajnst him that he had
permitted (he amount of a personal tailor's bill to be mcluded in an appropri-
ation and to be paid out of Stale funds.
Patcbad-np Feao«, also called " Ill-grounded Peace" and " Lame and Un-
stable Peace," is the name by which the Ireaiy is known, concluded in i;68,
iKtwecn Charles IX. uf France and (he Huguenots at Longjumeau. It was
so called from (he precipitancy with which it was concluded and the want of
confidence felt on trath sides of its stability.
Patronage. In the language of politics, patronage is ordinarily understood
to be the benefits in the Way of appointments into the civil service which
any public office enables its occupant to bestow. Ordinarily, loo, the power
of appointment is with the eiiecutive department and its adroinislralive sub-
divisions, and in America the term has sometimes, in popular use, among the
lower order of politicians, obtained a most ludicrous extension, by which it
signifies the power of appointment of anybody to do any service, so it be
paid for out of public moneys, from the appointment of a Cabinet officer by
the President down to that of a scrub-woman hy the janitor of the county
couit-house. Although, with the exception of the officers and servants of
their own houses and the advice and consent of the Senate of the United
States or of the States required in appointments to the more important
offices, strictly speaking and in law, legislative bodies have no patronage,
in practice the case is very different Members of Congress and Senators
affiliated with the party controlling the executive not only exercise influence
{a. V.) over appointments to all federal offices within their districts or the
i)la(e whose representatives they arc, but regard the right of nominating the
appointee as an appanage of their office, in other words, as their "patron-
" The civil service laws, which in the eyes of some have remedied this
altogether, have in the eyes of others only veiled it. At any rate, in
iiii; ciirlier half of the decade I070-80 the practice was openly reduced to a
system, and the executive was fast becoming, in matters of appointment at
least, no more than the recorder and executor of the mandates of the Con-
gressmen and Senators 1 the distribution of the offices was looked upon by
most Congressmen as their iDiHt important public duty and the most important
privilege attached to their position.
Pattetaon, Who strnck BUIt Pattanon? a familiar American
locution. Not only is the name of Dilly Patterson's assailant veiled in nigbl,
but Bitly Patterson himself is one of the great myths of American history.
The question " Who struck Billy Patterson t" should be supplemented by
the further question, " Who was Billy Patterson?" Ele has been variously
described as a Baltimore merchant, a Georgia professor, a Philadelphia fire-
man, a New Jersey senator, a Boston bank president, a New York Bowery
buy. But in most of the variants of the myth the point and the motal are
s;
T^e cha
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. 879
the same. In a street-iiot or election-row Patterson U represented as hiving
been struck. An indignant friend thereupon advances into the crowd, shout-
' Si " Who struck Billy Patterson ?" " I did I" cries a big, sturdy rioter.
le champion's altitude suddenly changes from angry defiancslo disinterested
critical approval. " And a d good blow it was, too !" he s^>. This, w«
repeat, is the usual version, however the personality of Hr. Patterson xaxj
be varied in different localities. The incident must have occurred early in
the cenluiy, for he was made the hero of a song popular in London in the
reign of George IV. But, in spite of these well-a>ithenticaled facls, other
legends of later date have clustered around the famous Billy. Two of these
have acquired special prominence. They are apocryphal, of course, yet,
because they have misled the unwary, they are worth chronicling. One story
which made the rounds of the newspapers quite recently is that Professor
Alban Smith Payne, M.D., at present living in Warrenton, Virginia, struck
William Patteriion in May, 1852, in Richmond.
"I struck him," said [he doctor to a reporter of the OeHoh Fre^ Freii,
"because I saw old Usher Parsons, the surgeon to Commodore Perry in
Lake Erie, lying on his back in the road, unable to rise, his white hair stream-
ing in the air, ruthlessly knocked there by a brutal bully ; and I Said, ' By
the Eternal 1 I will hit you, my man, and I will hit you hard !' And I did."
You see, all the point of the slory disappears in this version. Why should
a large part of the civiliied world slill be interested in asking, " Who struck
Billy Palteraon P" if it were simply the case of a bully knocked down by a
medical gentleman P Moreover, the dales settle the mailer. I'he question
was asked long, long before lS<j2.
And in the other story, too, the dates are decisive. William Patterson, a
Baltimore merchant, so this story goes, was struck by an unknown man in a
Georgia street-riot. He at once jumped up and ran through the streets, cry-
ing, "Who struck Billy Patterson?" Nobody could or would tell him,— natu-
rally enough, for he was a stranger, and a brawny stranger, tie afterwards
ofiered a public reward through the newspapers to any one who should name
the man. Again no one responded. He died, and left one thousand dollars
in his will to any one who should furnish the information. (A copy of this
will, by the way, is said to be filed away in the ordinary's office, Carnesville,
Franklin County, Georgia.) Naturally, the affair grew to be talked about.
" Who struck Billy Patterson f" became a proverbial sa;
of the reward reached the ears of Mrs. Jenny G.Conelj, .. _ .. ,
She came forward and asserted that her lather, George W. Tillcrton, struck
the blow, but was so terrified by the results that he fled the towti. Whether
Mis. Conel]r ever got the reward is not stated. Now, this story has a certain
air of plausibility. It seems to give a reason for the constant repelition of
the query. But it, too, lacks the all 'Satisfying moral of the more usual
version. So we are glad to find it lacks as well historical confirmation.
This event was loo recent. The query is known to have been asked for
almost a century.
Pauper labor, a term used in American stump-oratory and political
editorial writing. The expression was first extensively used in 1S41, and has
been reiterated ever since. It is particularly often used in discussions upon
the tariff, and oftenest by the proIectii>nists, who argue that their fiscal policy
protects the contented, well-fed, and well-paid American workingman against
competition with the pauper labor of Europe.
PeaO« with honor, one of Beaconsfield's most famous rockets of speech,
was sent up immediately after his return to London (in 1S76) from the Con
gresi of Vienna. But it was a rank plagiarism. The very words appeared
Google
88o HANDY-BOOK OF.
on ihe flags of welcome which greeled him at Diiver, and in hia turn the man
who placed Ihe device (here was a plagiarisl. The phrase is a familiar one in
English lileralurc. Pcpys, under date ai May 25, 1663, says, referring to his
wile, " With peace and honor I am willing to spare her anything, so as to IK
able to keep all ends together and my power over her undisturbed." De-
foe has the eiacl phrase; "He [James I.] had rather spend a hundred
thousand pounds in embassies to procure peace with dishonor than ten thou-
sand pounds lo send a force to procure peace with honor." {Memoiri ef a
Cavalier.) Again, Shakespeare puts the words into the mouth of Volumnia
when she urges her son Coriolanus to let policy
n the words, but also in the situation in
1( ' ■ ' . - . . -
Eral<m. Thc^EnEtal ii RIDTDed, IheoT
Sork/ri. And wHce conciuded with 1h« place of ArgoaT
B in England and locally in America are looked
e possession is reputed to be a harbinger of
lisfortune to tlie owner. Every kind of loss will have to be sustained by
ine occupiers of the house they adorn, including Illness and death, and many
country-people, even now, would be horrified If any one were unwittingly lo
bring under a roof one or more of these feathers. It is further said that
children will never be healthy in rooms adorned with these iridescent plumes,
and that it is the unluckiest thing in the world 10 give them as playthings lo
ihe youngslers.
The bird firsl received a bad name in the land of its birth. According lo
Mohammedan tradition, the peacock opened the wickel of Paradise 10 admit
the devil, and evenlualty received a very ample share of the devil's own pun-
ishment, though what losses this winged accessory before the fact sufiered
are not stated ; perhaps ihey were a melodious voice and presentable feet.
To PaladiK, the Anbl uy,
Siun could never find (be wajr
In the likeness of a serpent Salan tempted Eve, and the punishment meted
out to the associate in crime may have been that the peacock shouid ihere-
afler consider his former friend his greatest enemy. It is the one useful trait
in the vain character of the bird, and deserves placing on record, that he is
the deadly foe of all snakes, harmless and venomous.
The Yezidees, a remnant of Ihe Parseea, who acknowledged the Iwo princi-
ples of good and evil as antagonistic powers, chose the peacock as Ihe repre-
seutalive of the evil principle, Ahriman, Pride. Believing that the evil prin-
ciple is the strongest in this world, they considered that it was prudent to
propitiate it by sacrifice before its emblem, the peacock, though they also
believed in the linal triumph of the good principle. The Egyptians had, of
;, long before this arranged a lillle narrative about the peacock's tail.
,.!j ..g feather was an emblem of an evil eye or an ever. watchful traitor
le. Argus was Ihe vigilant minister of Osiris, King of Egypt
When Usiris started on his Indian cipedilion he lefl his queen Isia regent,
and Argus her chief adviser. The latter with his hundred eyes — secret spies
— soon made himself so formidable that he seized the queen regent, shut
her up in a castle, and proclaimed himself king. Mercury wm sent againit
They s:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
In the Middle Ages it was customary lo serve the peacock at great ban-
quets with much pomp and ceremony. Over his carcass niediseval knights
swore one of their most solemn vows, the ladies being witnesses thereto.
The principals do not appear to have known anything at the origin or mean-
ing of the oath by the peacock, and there is reason, therefore, fur believing it
to have been traditional and imported. Its incongruous combination with
vows to God and the Virgin seems to show that it was a pagan oath Chris-
tianized in outward form by the aspersion of holy words. In 1453, Philip the
Good, Duke of Burgundy, vowed "by the peacock" to go to the deliverance
of Constantinople, which had recently fallen into the hands of the Turks. At
the conclusion of the tournament and banquet held by the duke at Lille,
Holy Mother Church, under the disguise of a lady in mourning seated on
an elephant and escorted by a giant, approached the duke and delivered a
long versified complaint, claiming the aid and succor of the Knights of the
Golden Fleece. The herald advanced, bearing on his fist a live peacock or
pheasant, which, according to the riles of chivalry, he presented to the duke.
At this extraordinary summons, Philip, a wise and aged prince, engaged his
person and powers in the holy war against the Turks. His example was
imitated by the barons and knights of the assembly; they swore to God, the
Virgin, the ladies, and the peacock. In this connection will be recalled Praed's
brilliant charade " The Peacock and the Ladies."
re presentation of the bird, with train displayed, is supposed to have been
Employed by the early Christians to symboliie the resurrection of the body
ind the immortality of the soul. It is of frc n- —
in the catacombs of Rome. The fact appear:
emblem of the resurrection, supplanted the phccnii, which, used by the
immortality of the soul. It is of Irequent occurrence as an emblem
'^lof B- - ---'-- - - ^ -^ ■
in the catacombs of Rome. The fact appears to be that the peacock,
emblem of the resurrection, supplanted the phccnii, which, used h,
Egyptians, seated on its claws, and with two human arms protruding from
breast in an attitude of prayer, as a type of their great astronomical ycoi,
came, with (he latter fable of its rising from its ashes, to symbolize the im-
mortality of the soul and an after-life.
Not only does it thus appear on monuments and in windows, but the varie-
gated feathei^ of the bird, or imitations of them in embroidery, were often
used in early limes as church decorations. The wings of angels, moreover,
were often represented as formed of the plumes.
There was an old idea as to the incorruptibility of the flesh of the peacock,
which may have suggested the adoption of this bird as a symbol of triumph
over death and the grave. In a rare book, published in 16S5, appears the
following : " When a peacock is dead his flesh does not dec», nor yield any
stinking smell, but continues, as it were, embalmed in spices.
PttCtrls befor« sirliie, a familiar expression, meaning something fine or
costly wasted on those who cannot appreciate it, or, as Hamlet says, " caviare
to the general," The original is in the Sermon on the Mount : "Give not
that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their (cet, and turn again and rend you."
[MaiiJiew viL 6.)
The eveniDg vb« advanced whcp ■ venetabJe tquirt or uicieni niipie »nd lin«£c aroK 10
prcipDlc a IDOtl. Svldoni bavc I heard one more lUccenful. He begma modotly. [t El
in iu numbKrtriouj'la.md'f.n.'Sion. a. indt4, to' ouTpoi^i'lKforf't^ie. "''lli'ild 15
pilnc lone m h* EM funher. Thunderom appliuH ' — ■■- ' — ■- "^ ■ ' -* ~ ■■■
Ibey would ncYcr rave off. We dl knew pofccily ~1
to him u he ipoke (be woidi. I hevd uiem wUh t
;i:,vG00gif
882 HANDY-BOOK OP
Peek of dirt. A ramiliar English phrase of no known paienUige uaerts
that " Every one must ea( a peck of dirl before he dies." Lord Chesterfield
one day, at an inn where he dined, complained very much that the plates and
dishes were very diily. The waiter, with a degree of perlncss, observed,
" II is said thai every one must eat a peck of dirt before he dies." " That
maybe true," said Chesterfield, " but no one is obliged loeat it all at one meal."
Peculiar Inatltutioii, in American political slang, slavery as it existed in
the Soulhern Slates before the war. It is said lo have been the condensation
of a phrase first used by the South Carolina Gaulle, which in (he heal of the
anti-slavery conflict {area 1852) advised Ihat all strangers from the North
should be kepi under surveillance, because of " the dangers which a( present
threaten the peculiar domestic institution of the South."
Faeler, in English cani, a policeman. The word, which dates originally
from the organization of that Splendid force, the Irish Constabulary, under
Sir Robert Peel, crept over into England, and is used lo this day in Londo[>
indifierenlly with the word " cop" as a slang designation for a policeman. The
laller is the older word, and is no doubt derived from the slang verb to
"cop," or seize. As peeler is an adapUtion of Sir Robert's last name, so the
less frequent " Bobby" is a reminiscence of his Christian name.
Peg too \WT, colloquial English for low-spiriled, moody. The expres-
sion orifiinaled in a custom of our Saxon ancestors, a method of drinking
designed by thai wonderful reformer of the lenth century. Si. Uunstan, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, with Ihe object of preventing brawls. The cup or
bowl used was called a " peg-tankard ;" in this pewter cup places were left,
at regular intervals, in which a peg could be inserted ; as Ihe bowl passed from
hand lo hand the peg was moved, so that no one might exceed his due share
of the draught Longfellow introduces Ihe custom in " The Golden Legend,"
where, in the scene in the refectory. Friar John is made lo say, —
Come, old fcUow, drink I
Pen and Sword. These striking lim
Lytlon, are from " Richelieu ;"
Ben«aih ibc ruk of men
nav be a remmisc
nckoljr. Part I,, Sec 3, Mem. 4, Subs. 4), '
:o Bulwer's thought
e, patel" (" From this it appears how much more cruel Ihe pen
may be than the sword"). But Saint- Simon comes cl ■- " ' '- -■■ — "-■
in his "Memoirs," iii, 517 (1703), ed. 1856; "Tant 1;
e king, the advantage
e been classed by Bulwer
among men entirely great. Far at the end of the Directory, when he fett
how powerless was the mere man of lellers, Siey^s exclaimed, " What I want
is a sword" {" 11 me faut une ^p*e").
The Portuguese Antonio da Fonseca, a celebrated although at limes erotic
poet of the early seventeenth century, in one of his most spirited elegies
thus jocosely compares the prowess of the pen and sword, as applied to the
" Academy of War :"
Di Ai:j>deiiiia de Mane, em cujo oludo
E papel a campanhn, o sangue tinia,
("Of war's academy, in whoaeitadT
PaiKT H the field, ink iht blood,
VwB the iword, and iolL-pcK iIh lUdd.")
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 883
In the. year ijzo. Claus Petri, both historian and chancellor of the Upsala
University, chcunicled the amaiing results that flowed from (he numerous
letters of Chtistiaii It., King of Denmark, containing assurances (o the Swedes
of the most grandiloquent character, and replete with promises if the public
i>f Sweden would accept him for its ruler. He says, " Scarcely ever in fonner
times was so great a number of letters issued by any king." but be lenninates
the sentence by observing, " Letters did more than the sword" ("Och raera
gjorde bref an svard").
But the original thought i* in Sophocles:
Though)* m mightict ihui lutncUi oC hud.
Fng. 834-
Mr. Edward Bok, in an article on " How I made my Autograph Album,"
in LippincoO'i Magaane, gives the following interesting letter :
raI *Dd conn«cIrd in Turm, u, for insuuice, in your quDIUioD from Lfo^ Lytloa'a pUy cf
" Rkhdieu," " The pen ii migliiLcr Lhwi the sword/' Lord Lytton would Qtvcr hdvt pui hU
•igutturv tosoukcda ieplinieni. Surely 1 will ooi. In ibc lejtl iherc whi ■ prelix or qualj.
BeiKaLli the rule of mea eaijrely grrai.
The pen it miehiier ihui the tword.
Now, tbit world does nof often preKnt the coodition ot bet* het«lq devcribcd. Men entirely
great uT very rare indeed, and even WuhingloD. who np^iroached grentneA u new A* Any
mortal, found good UK for the gword aod the pen, each in iu ^oper sphere. We liave seen
Rather, in the providence or God, there is a time for nil tbli)]^ \ 4 time when the Bwid^ may
of haved, tfvepge, and lyianny. Ihii the petucf m^hly men like Clay, Wtlmtr, Criltenden,
and IjocdId wan tintbit to dBenutngla.
Vourlriend.
W. T. Shukah.
root in Penn-
gB, burgeoned
especially in a great number of old and curious " ...
speech such as are now to be heard only in the remotest places oi.ine ratner-
land. The dialect is still spoken by a population of some two millions, cen-
tred round Philadelphia anil in the Fennsytvanian neighborhood of New York
City, becoming less and less adulteraica wiih English the farther the settle-
ment is removed from urban influences. It was originally brought over by
the Germans who joined the expedition of William Penn in i6gz. They re-
ceived lar^e reinforcements when the Moravian Count ZInzendorf and his
co-religionists settled in the I^hich Valley. Ijler on. in 170S, the Dunkers,
or German Baptists, swelled the German element in Pennsylvania. The set-
tlements of the tatter were miinly called tiy Biblical names, — Lebanon, Jordan,
Bethlehem, Nazareth, Emmaus.
Penny. Ho Panny, no Patemoater, meaning, of course, " Pay your
money, or you will get no prayers," is an old English proverb, which may be
found duly recorded by Heywood (1546) :
H» Diay be in my PalemtiBer in deede,
Bol Kme men lay No Peny, no PatemoHer.
Fenny Dreadful*, a name colloquially given in England lo what in
America are called blood-and-ih under stories, — i.e., the volcanic serials con-
884 HANDY-BOOK OF
Iributed to penny papers. When iiublished in book-fonn they ore known as
"shilling shockers." The Quarterly Ra/iew answers its own query, "Who
write ihe Penny Dreadfuls Tas follows :
irrite ihe Penny Dreadfuls
it» to Kyle Hb " litcnry CBreer"
nuiufHcturlDg lowD of ih« Mid-
I mome un of dlsHnIii>( chaptl.
Koilud. while oTi
■ lewytani^o in ■ moniBiy magume. "A (rimdofib- ,
in his naiHX ■ baiuemud vhoM falher wriiu novcli (or ■ Fl«« Slmi puhliil
four dailyr" A tiill more amiuing ittiuiraiioD oT Itw focUL »utu» tA taine of our popular In-
aLnictoFB was lai«ly rclucd by a lady, ihc wHc of a well-koDvn phyalcian. Her cook haviiw
rtpcaiediy ncslecied to Knd up 1h« dinner wilh tbt punciualiiy Which i> deairable in a wdT
ordered hoiuchoM, ahe reniDDatTated with aome iharpfieu, aad» lo her Baioniahincot^ na
inlbnned cbaf the youag pervoo in queslioD wa* vt much occupied with the novel aba ma
vriUng ihal ahe had been unable to pay due uiendon to hs duuaa io dke kluhca.— 7%r
Qmm.l.Tl, Rn,irm.
P«»aiit qui onta no« nostra dlxemnt (L., " Perish thoae who have said
our good things before us"). St Jcrume tells us thai his teacher Dotiatus
frequently used these words as ■ comment on Ihe lines in Terence, " Nullum
est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius" (" Nothing is now said which has
not already been said"). This very saTing seems to justi^ its own truth
when one reHects that it is but a paraphrase of Ecclesiastea I 9, "There is
no new thing under (he sun." La Bruyire tiegins his "Caractires" with the
famous phrase, " All has been said, and one comes ten lale after Ihe seven
thousand years in which men have lived and thought" Boileau thought thai
nothing was left for us save imitation. " Him who does not imitate the
ancients," he says, " none will imitate." Alfred de Mussel, when accused of
imiiaiing the author of " Childe Harold," showed how that author had him-
lelf imitated Fulci and many more of the old Italians. Alfred's conclusion,
Rlen n'apparticnt i rloi, 1041I appaltiesi a IDIU,
expresses with the rounded completeness of aphorismatic truth what Voltaire
had already represented, with his nsual finesse, in Ihe light of a similitude :
** II en est des livies comme du feu dans nos foyers. On va prendre ce teu
chez son voisin, on I'allume chei soi. on le communique i d'autres, el il ap-
By"
ferets," for " you may laugh at il as a paradox," said h
the most origmal writers are Ihe greatest thieves."
La Fontaine, avowing that he was no slavish Imitator of Virgil, proposed
to find a rule for practice. It is in essential harmony with that of Voltaire 1
Que Doa nalua xiivnicni eoa-mtmei auirtfoia.
SI d'ailleuia quelque endroil plein cbci eui d'oaceUeoca
P«il «tnr dan* ma van uu nnllt violence,
When Alexander Smith was roundly accused of plagiarism by the police-
men of Ihe press. Sir Arthur Helps, in a cordial consolatory letter, said, very
happily, " Really, if people were at all critics, they should be able to dis-
tinguish between Ihe man who congnert and Ihe man who sItaL." A happy
phrase, indeed, yet Mr, Helps had himself conquered il from Moliire, or
from a ])hrase misquoted from Motiiic : " I take my own wherever I lind it"
(*' Je prends mon bien oli je le trouve"). This is the famous reply said to
have been made by him when accused of borrowing incidents and character*.
It is further explained by the definition which one of hii avowed admiicra bai
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 88$
bued upon it ; "An auihoc ii a perBon who lakes in books what is pMsing
tbTou^h his head," Moliire had no such epigrammatic meaning. He said
retake or recover [rifmtJt) in lieu of take {prmdi), and his meaning was that
when any one stole from him he always recaptured his own property. The
phrase was not used to defend his many plagiarisms, but to condemn the
plagiarism of a friend. To Cyrano de Bergerac he had confidentially com-
municated the famous scene In " Les Fourberies de Scapin" where Cicronte
inquiies, "Que diable atlait-il (aire dans cette galore?" Cyrano appropri-
ated the idea in his " Pedant Jou^," Act ii., Sc 4. When Moliirc produced
his own play he was accused of plagiarism from Cyrano, and then made the
famous answer we have alteatW quoted. Emerson increases the confusion
by atliibuting the phrase 10 Marmonlel. The whole passage is just pat to
the mailer in hand, and we will quote it entire ; " Wordsworth, as soon as he
heard a good thing, caught it up, meditated upon il, and vei^ soon reproduced
it in his conversation and writings. If De Quincey said, ' That is what I told
you,' he replied, ' No ; that is mine. — mine, and ncit ycurs.' On the whole,
we like the valor of it. 'Tis on Marmuntel's principle, ' I pounce on what ii
mine wherever I find It,' and on Bacon's broader rule, '1 lake all knowledge
to be my province.' Il betrays the consciousness that truth is the property
of no individual, but is the treasure of all men. And inasmuch as any writer
' ' ' 's condition, he has adopted this tone."
-y.)
FATtya Salnta, a name Familiarly given to the Forty-Eighth New York
Volunteers, also known as the Fighting Parson's Regiment.
The Rglnicni wu itEtioned along the Cirollaa cout for iht lirK Ihrce yean of the mr.
Id lime to uLc pan in the bitlle of Cold Hsrbor ind ibc engagcmenia utiimd Ptiertburg.
Il -u luUei^enlly moved bick 10 Nonli CBniinK, nod piniclpalrd in the uuult and up-
buile'of Sin Jacinto he uiceeeded in killing ■ Mexii:ui office whom he Ihoughl to be Sanu
Anna. On finding out hU mliuke he wu oveiwbeimed with remone left the 'l'e»n tel<.i«
immediately, and entered the miniiEry. The newi of the iMinbardmcnt of Fort Sumter
cauied bin 10 tILkv up hil iword again, and lo itcnain in the service until he died of fever,
contracted in the Soulhem (wunpt. HU waa not the only CMeof ihit kind, but il labcdinn-
olher illmauion of the muni foccia which lay behind the gnat upriting of the North in iMi,
-AW ytrM Nalitn.
Parsnaalon. There is no word that is so badly abused by the ordinary
run of writers as this. In the first place, its meaning is always misappre-
hended,— not the ordinary and familiar meaning as a noun formed from the
verb to persuade, but the secondary meaning it has acquired as the creed or
belief of any sect or branch of some greater faith. Il Is right, for example, to
speak of the Presbyterian or even of the Protestant persuasion. It is not
right to speak of the Christian or the Buddhist persuasion. But, not content
with misapplying it in matters religious, the illiterate vulcar, or their far mbre
dangerous and unpleasant neighbors the semi-cducaled vulgar, make your
teein stand on edge by speaking of the Spiritualist persuasion, the clerical
persuasion, etc The other dav a journalist characterized himself as bein^ of
the tepotlorial persuasion. Great heavens I If an asa could speak, would
he say that he was of the asinine persuasion f Lei us trust that he would
show a nicer sense of the functions of words. We pass from bad to worse
when ne get amon^ the funny men. To say that a woman is of (he female
persuasion was origmatly meant for a juke. As such il miehl pass — once.
You might, indeed, refuse to smile ; still you wouldn't feel like invoking the
law. But the constant and persistent use of this unfunny bit of fun has grown
10 be something of a public calamity. Il is mailer lor congratulation, how-
886 HANDY-BOOK OF
ever, Ihat such lingaislic IcK-majesty is far more common in Gnglwu) than in
America. " One of the female persuasion, if she be a cook in a good bmiiy,
IE ail awfully good friend of the unmarried policeman." " Every householder
should discharge his revolver whenever he shall find any unaulhorized ]>erEon
of the male persuasion on his premises during the hours of darkness." These
are quotations from leading English journals. Their free circulation should
arouse infinitely more feeling against the British Lion than' all the garbled or
falsified extracts which the politicians ate so fond of exploiting.
ni, " Borrowing
It is currenllv
gain ifHnei ^ ...
aled to defrav the expenses of repairs to Ihe cathedral of SL Paul's." The
following, printed in 1569, may be a reference to the incident: "It is not
desirable to rob SL Peter's altar in order to build one to SL Paul." (ViuLius :
Catn, Da. Denarii, L 9.) Much earlier than these events, however, in a manu-
script of the twelfth century we read, " Tanquam siquis cmcifigerel Paulum
nl redimeret Petrnm."
Ohoat-trordA, a felicitous term invented by W. W. Skeat
lose words which have no real existence in language or lit-
but have been admitted into dictionaries through some blunder sla-
vishly adhered to by successive lexicographers. A good example is afforded
by the word Abacot (see ihis headine). and a still better by the word phaii-
tomnation. The latter appears in Webaler's Unabridged, in Worcester, the
Imperial, and other authorities. Webster defined il thus : " Phanlomnation,
«., appearance as of a phantom ; illusion (0*1. ami r.irt). Pept." Worcester
and the Imperial say simply, "Illusion. Pope." Now, the soarce of Ihis
word is a book entitled " Philology on the English Language," published in
iSxo, by Richard Paul Jodrcll, as a sort of supplement to Johnson's Dic-
tionary,
lodrell
a hyphen lu iiiuii;^lc men LUjiipusiLC i:ii4r4t[cr, I nua, uiiucJ ni9 vronuer
working pen, citjr solicitor became citysolicitor, and so on. He remarks ii
his preface that 11 "was necessary lo enact laws for myself," and he ippean
to have done it with great vigor. He followed his own law even in tran-
Thoe kIcidd towi ud holy oflcrlnp pud
To ill the phaniommuioDS of Ihe demd.
Pope, of course, had written phantom nations. But some early lexicogra-
pher (probably Noah Webster himself) in foraging aiound for new words
struck this odd combination of Jodretl's, and, overlooking the laiter's ei]>la-
nalion, assumed ii lo be Pope's. Printers do not follow copy, sheep do not
follow their leader, more closely than one lexicographer used lo follow an-
other, and thus it came about that our great lexicons were all enriched with
a new term. The mistake was, however, discovered by the editors of Ihe
"Century Dictionary," and all phlloliwers are now aware of iL
Another example is the word "alug.hoin," which has found its way into ibe
dictionaries through a mistake of Chatierion and its endorsement t^ Brown-
ing. The laiier says in "Childe Roland,"—
1 put (he itttg-htiTH ID niy Up* uid blnr.
ChattertoD had misapprehended the meaning of the Celtic sloggortM^ Of
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 887
and the new-coined word bjr Browning's aid has now passed into literature.
Plly it has no authentic parentage I "Slug-hotn" has so fine a flavor of the
Dark Ages, it suegesls a connection with slug and slaughter, it au^t to mean
a baltte-horn. But out modern lexicographers are more wide-awake and
alert than their predecessors : thejr will suffer no more make-believe.
I, specifically, is a term borrowed from Greek philoaophf,
ings as they are, in opposition to Heumimm, = things as they
appear to the material senses. The term is now used as a general designa-
tion for anything wonderful or extraordinary. Grant Allen, in an article on
"Superfine English" [ComAUl Mai^tint. vol. Ivii.). defends this use of the
word against the purist and the pedagogue. He acknowledges that in it*
restricted and technical sense a iihenomenon is an appearance, an object pre-
sented to the senses, a thing visible, the opposite of a noumenon, and so forth
and so forth. " And when we are writing about Greek philosophy, or about
th« theory of perception, we ought, of course, 50 to employ it. Bui even this
is a slight deviation from the original meaning of the word phenomenon.
The word from which it is derived applies, strictly speaking, to the sense of
tight only, whereas the philosophic phenomenon is the object, as such, by
whatever sense cogniied, even in the crucial instance of a blind matL In
modern colloquial English, however, the word phenomenon has had its mean-
ing further altered to imply a sltange, remarkable, or unusual phenomenon ;
of course, because at first those adjectives were habitually prefixed to it in
newspaper paraaraphe about the big gooseberry, the meteoric stone, the great
sea-serpent, or the calf with five legs, until at last to the popular intelligence
the strangeness and the phenomenon became indissolubly linked ti^elher by
association in a single idea. Very well, then, nowadays, vhelhcr we ap-
tirove of it or whether we don't, the word phenomenon means in plain Eng-
ish a remarkable event or appearance, — in short, a regular phenomenon, —
and the adjective phenomenal, derived from it in this sense, means passing
strange or otil of the ordinary course of nature. The Infant Phenomenon
has made its mark on the literature of the country. If ^ou don't like the
word you have always the usual alternative of lumping it ; but (hat, as a
matter of fact, is the sense that phenomenon actually bears in. our modem
language."
PUlippilM, or PhUopeoo, a game of forteils, which originated in rural
Germany. Two people share a nut containing two kernels : at their next
meeting whichever says first " Good-morning, Philippine," is entitled to a for-
feit from the other. It is sometimes said that the salutation was originally
"Guten Morgen, Vielliebchen" {sweetheart, darling), and that this gradually
drifted into " Guten Moreen, Philippchen," when the French look it over and
made it " fton.jour. Philippine." A support for this theory is found in the
fact that tri French ears " Vielliebchen" and " Philippine" are almost identical.
At least M. Rozari, in his " Pelites Ignorances de la Conversation," asserts
that "Philippine" "rhymes exactly with the German word." Nevertheless,
the etymology is not generally accepted, and it is asserted that, even in Ger-
many. " Philip" and " Philippine" are the names assumed fur the nonce by
the male and female partners in the game, having arisen from the fact that SL
Philip's two daughters were traditionally said to have been buried at Hierapo-
Ua in one sepulchre.
PI, or Pie^ a printers' term used to designate a mass of confused or over-
888 HANDY-BOOK OF
thrown types, u pliuMbly derived (rom the Pica, or Pie, the Romith Ordiotl,
or Service-Book, which gave ils name to the type known as Pic», »nd of which
the preface to the English Book of Common Player complains that "the
number and hardness of the rules called Ihe/ii; was the cause that to turn the
book only was so hard and intricate a matter that many times there was more
business to find out what should be read than to read it when it was found
out." French printers have the Same eipression./rftf, pie, "Fairc du pit*"
means to distribute such miicd-up type, Germans say Zviiebt'.fiichf, — litcr»lly,
" fish with onions."
Plonio. The word picnic is said lo date from about the year ]3o2. Then,
ai now, when such an entertainment was being arranged for, it was customary
that those who intended to be present should supply the eatables and drink-
ables. A list of what was considered necessary would be drawn up and
passed around, each person picking out such article of food or drink as he or
she was willing to furnish. The name of the article was then nicked off the
lisL Hence this form ai fttt ckamptire became known as a " pick-and-nick,"
which, by a natural traiksition, degenerated into picnic But though the
word is comparatively recent, the thing that it designates is ai least two cen-
turies older. There is extant an account of a celebiation of this sort which
took place in the early pan of the seventeenth century, upon the birthday of
Charles, Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I. of England. Main waring, in
a letter to the Earl of Arundel, bearing date November aa, 1618, says. "The
prince his birthday has been solemnized here by the few marquises and lords
which found themselves here ; and (to supply the want of lords) knights and
squires were admitted to a consultation, wherein it was resolved that such a
number should meet at Gamiges, and bring rvrry man Ait dish ef meat. It
was left to their own choice what to bring ; some chose to be substantial,
some curious, some extravagant. Sir George Young's invention bore away
the bell ; and that was four huge, brawny pigs, piping hot, bitted and har-
nessed with ropes of sarsiges, all tied to a monstrous bag-pudding."
Pldgiii, or PigBOU, BngUali, — i.€., business English, — a curious macaronic
corruption of English and Portuguese tortured into Chinese idioms suited
to the exigencies of the average Oiinese, to wbotn good grammatical English
is a phonetic and linguistic impossibility. A vast number of English words
are unpronounceable by the Celestial, for he has no parallel sounds in his own
language. Neither has he conjugations, declensions, tenses, or other acd-
denls of grammar. To denote even the plural some words of plurality must
be subjoined. And only from the context can it be decided whether a word
is to be understood as a noun-substantive or noun -adjective, a verb, adverb,
preposition, or conjunction. Some idea of the jargon which results from the
Celestial attempt to grapple with the lingo of the Western barbarians may be
B lined from a little volume entitled " A Vocabulary of Words in Common
se among the Red-haired People," one of many similar manuals emanating
from the native genius. Its outer cover is ornamenled with a full-length por-
trait of one of the red-haired race, appropriately dressed in the costume of
the early Georgian period, — in breeches and stockings, and armed with sword
The author begins with the English numerals, and gets over "one" and
"two" very creditably, but "te-le" is his nearest approach to "three," — the
letter T is an insuperable ditBculty lo a Chinaman.— "sik-sie" lo "six." and
"sam" to "seven." "Ten" he pronounces, as though he he had been tuloted
in the Emerald Isle, " tin ;" " lim" stands for " eleven," " tui-lip" for " Iwelve,"
"toon-tee" for "twenty," "om huntoon" for "a hundred," "one taou-shan"
tor " a thousand." . In Chinese there is always inserted between tlw nameTal
/.oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 880
and (he mbstantive lo which il applies a word which it is cuatomarji to call
' a classifier, since it points to the kind of object tepresented by the substan-
o- be- held -in -the -hand knives j or, instead of "a table," he would sa*
"one length table." These various classifiers the authors of pidgin English
.in|>le, instead of saying " two knives," a Chinaman would say
I J .. .!._ L... J itnives j'" or, instead of "a t ..■---
i of pidgin
have melted down into one word, " piece." The writer, therefore, ti
the Chinese equivalent of our indefinite article as "one pC'Sie," and a knife
he would render by "one pe-sze nai-fo." The use In Chinese of the verb
"to have," which is to be pronounced "hap," has given rise to strange con-
fusions. " No hap" is the orthodox expression for "not at home," and a death
is announced by "bap tai" (has died). In the saoie wajr " fashionable" he-
comes "hap fa-sze" (fashion) ; "to be busy," "hap pidgin ;" and "to be ai
leisure," " hap tim."
Here are a few more words, selected almost at random: aulo, "old;"
au-sai, "ouiaide;" che-sze, "chest;" fi-sze, "fish;" foo-iin, "friend" (flin) ;
E-lan<ti, "^rand," "great ;" hing-ki-chi, " handkerchief;" ha-sie-man, " hus-
nd;" ka-lm, "tocafi;" kam-pai-lo, "comprador" or "steward ;" lln, "rain"
(lain); lilt, "red" (ledl; nip-te, "liberty;" shi-lip, "sleep;" SM-pik-kl,
"speak;" ting-ki, "thank you ;" yeung-ki, "uncle ;" yang-shi-lutta, "youngest
brother ," Vinj-land, " England.
The word pidgin, or business, is used with such a large and even-handed
liberality — expressing, indeed, almost every conceivable act and emotion of
humanity — that it has come to be the generic Tiamc for the dialect Usually
a prefix is added to limit or qualify the particular meaning. Thus, the passion
of love is called "love-pidgin," a phrase intensified inio " love-tove-pidgin"
when it is of a very passionate and earthly stamp. Perhaps no better exem.
plification of the absurdities of this dialect can be given than the following
translation of Longfellow's " Excelsior :"
Thu nightee tim besiD chop-chop,
H« oUy <h.i a>g wid <:hop » Dlc«.
-ToptideGilihl'
He loo muchee «lly, ou piece eyt
He ulkee lirgee. ulkee HlaBg, ^'
'"'•"'""■"'■"TSJi'Sii,-
nSfe
Uuk«
ulktt. Nocuwalkeel
Bui alia
■D," one girlee ulkee he,
oryo«go.op.ld.l«k«,f
(llBIIIonheplelltvdy,
imwelketpleDlyhi^,
Take ore >h.i iceT be eo oUn-mui 1"
Tha.«olie_chi,.^hi«h.gp^n(,h..
;i:,vG00gk"
890 HANDY-BOOK OF
Jw PldfiD mu ht Kon b^D
" Topside Gilkhl"
That young nun dle~aDC \»r$/x dog ttn,
-kinf cojo alio une' Ictc,
king colo alio
Hive goi Ihii flie vid cbt
Ydu too muchct laugho ] what for ^ng t
S' pOM^ou'no'b'lwK'c'ebB-'imlde,
More btoer jniu go waJkee loptide.
"Top^dEGilih!"
Pigs, An't please the, a curreni English vulgarism. It is usually ex-
plained as a corruption uf "aii'l please the pyx," understanding thereby the
consecrated wafer deposited in the pyx, and so malting it equivstleni to " Deo
volente" in the minds of traiisubstantiationalists. Others, however, see in pyx
not the box in which the host was kept, but (he box used in English coinage
for certain coins kept as a lesi of the weight and fineness of the melal before
it is Knt from the mint. Either cxplanalion is plausible, neither is con-
vincing. The deijvation which looks upon pigs as being a corruption of ^wtm
— i.t., fairies — has about etjual, though no greater, claims 10 serious etymo-
logical consideration. It is said that in Devonshire to this day " an't please
the pixies" is a common phrase.
Pillar to post This familiar English expression is said to be derived
from a custom practised in llie matiigt, or riding- school. The pillar was
placed in the centre of the riding- ground, and the columns or posts were
arranged two and two round the circumference of the ring, at equal distances.
Hence " from pillar to post" signified going from one thing to another with-
out any definite purpose. This, on the whole, seems mote likely than the
alternative derivation from the German " Von I^latus lu Pontius or " Von
Pontius Eu Pilalus" (in itself a corruption of "Von Pontius Pilalus zu
Herodes"), which means to send a man who is in want of advice from one
quarter to another, without enabling him to attain the desired information or
Pink, the conventional sporting name for scarlet, (be color of the hunting-coal
nsed especially in fox-hunting. Exactly when this coat came into fashion, and
why, are still moot questions. There is a story that it originated in the mishap
of a military officer who, once upon a time, having lost his ba^age, was com-
pelled to hunt in his regimentals. His host began by excusing the breach of
etiquette, and ended by perceiving the beauty and fitness of the change- But
this story wears a decidedly mythical air. The old hunting-son^ records the
fact that John Peel, of Cumberland renown, wore grav, and m times long
gone by the thirty hunlsmen of the l>irds Berkeley, whose kennels were at
the village of Charing (now Charing Cross), arrayed themselves in tawny
coats. But this may have been merely the result of a temporary Jacobite
prejudice asainst scarlet, because the "illuslrious House of Hanover" was
credited with introducing it as the color of the royal livery. The tradition of
"Oliver's red-coals," who constrained the king's guards for a while to clothe
themselves in "Oxford blue," may also have had something to do with it.
The "pink" coats of the hunting-field are at least old enough to have gone
(hrough a considerable variety of fashions. The earliest have been likened
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 891
for length and fiilneas to scarlet dressing-gowns. Fashion then went to the
opposite extreme of tight swallow-tails ; the latter were succeeded by the
mumlng-coat pattern, now generally giving way 10 the single -breasted frock.
The " Pink Vn" is a tobri^ for the English Snarling Timri, which, like its
AQ:erican namesake and imitator, is printed on pink paper.
Plp« — Ejra. During the celebrated Westminster election of 1784 the
beautiful Duchess of Devonshire enthusiastically espoused the cause of Charles
James Fox, going so far as to purchase the vote of a butcher with a kiss. It
was on another of these canvassing visits that an Irish dustman paid her the
famous compliment, " Let me light my pipe at your ladyship's eyes." The
duchess was delighted, and often said, "On, after the dustman's compliment,
all others are insipid." It is not at all liliely that the Irishman was familiar
with Ben Jonson, yet the same daring ligure maybe found in "Cynthia's
Revels," Act »., Sc x :
Mir. Your chccki an Cupid'i bathi, whereJn heu«> >o >t«T> himieir [n milk and nectar:
Still less likely is it that he had ever run across the following lines in Tibullus,
Plpo af paftce, Smoking the, — i.e., to sit in friendly council. A phrase
derived from the custom of American Indians, who in making treaties or
other friendly negotiations would pass a lighted pipe (called a catumet) from
mouth to mouth, to signify the peaceful nature of the meeting. The familiar
locution " Put that in your pipe and smoke it" may have some reference to the
phrase.
FipA-laying, in American slang, procuring fraudulent votes. It is said
to have arisen in 1S3;, when the leaders of the Whig partv in New York
were accused of a gigantic scheme to bril^g on voters from Philadelphia, The
work of laying down pipes for the Crolon water was then in active operation,
A certain agent of the Whigs turned traitor and placed in the hands of the
Democrats a mass of correspondence, mainly letters written by himself to
various parties iii New York, apparently describing the prepress and success
of his operations. In these letters the form of a mere business correspond-
ence was adopted, — the number of men hired to visit New York and vole
being spoken of as so many yards of pipe. The Whi^ leaders were actually
indicted and the letters read in court, but the jury believed neither in them
nor in the writer of them, and the accused were acquitted.
PloglailBm and Plaglarista. Is plagiarism a crime ? For ourselves
we confess that we hold it only a venial ofience — unless, of course, it is found
out. If a man thrills us with the joy and gladness of a great thought, what
e he got it ? We might have passed our lives in ignorance there-
be Irish, the originator may not have originated it. We have often wondered
why it was that the stupid ogres and other monsters of the fairy-tales, who
wished to give an impossible task to the prince they had got into their
clutches, never set him to tracing an idea to its source. Not all the inge-
nuity of Prince Charming, aided by all the magic arts of all the Grateful
89* HANDY-BOOK OF
Beasis mil Enchanted Princesses and other adventitious allies, could have
saved that tender young prince from gracing the ogre's larder.
" or all focms uf theft," says Voltaire, " plagiarism is the least dangerous
til society." Nut only that, it is often beneficial. In mechanics all inventions
.lie plagiarisms. K inventors had not Ijorrowed ideas from (heir prede-
cessors, progress would come to a stand-slill. Shall I refuse lo own a lime-
piece because my tralch maker is not original .' Shall I eschew the benefils
of the modern railroad because I find the germ of the idea in the steam-
engine of the pre-Christian Hero ? " A ship,'' says Emerson, " is a quotation
fnim a forest." Bat inasmuch as it is not enclosed in quotation-marks a ship
is rank plagiarism. Shakespeare stole plots, incidenls, and ideas from his
forerunners. Moliire derived not only his plots, but the dialogues of whole
scenes, from Italian comedies. Thank God that these great men had no
literary conscience! Moliire openly acknowledged he had none. "I con-
quer my own wherever I find it," he says, with magnificent candor. And we
get a i»ew regard for Pope when we find him openly acknowledging, '■ I
freely confess that I have served myself all I could by reading."
Mr. Coidy Jeaffreson has laid down the maxim that originality can be ex-
pected from nobodv save a lunatic, a hermit, or a sensational novelist. But
Andrew Lang calls this a hasty generaliiation. "People," he says, "will
inevitably turn to these members of society (if we can speak thus of hermits
and lunatics), and ask them for originality, and fail to get it, and eipress dis-
appointment For all lunatics are like other lunatics, and no more than
sane men can they do anything orieinal. As for hermits, one hermit is the
very image of his brother solitary. There remain sensational novelists to bear
the brunt of the world's demand for the absolutely unheard-of, and, naturally,
they cannot supply the article. So mankind falls on them, and calls them
plagiarists. It is enough to make some novelists turn lunatics and others
Let us take the case of Disraeli's famous funeral oration over Wellington.
It proved lo have been stolen bodily from a review article by Thiers on
Marshal Saint-Cyr. A rather neat epigram on the affair appeared in the
Examifur:
[n HninfUng ^nat Wellington'* pfmise,
Diiiy'» Ericf and hi> Iruifa bicrih appetr ;
For > flood or gnu Thien be leu (jlf,
WUch -Km certainly nKani Icir SiiDi-Cyr.
In (he first place, he gave ^
could not have given otherwise. The review article was better than anything
he could have offered himself^ otherwise he would not have filched IL Now,
the pleasure was an actual pleasure ; when (he moment had fled, it could not
be rc(racted or emlnltered by any subsequent developmenL Then be gave
his critics (he pleasure of detecting him, — a great delight accorded to a worthy
and deserving and very hard-worked class. The whole of England was
aroused, amused, and interested. In fact, Disraeli proved himself an all-
round benefactor. Nobody was injured, not even Thiers. For although we
are pleased to say, in our metaphorical laneuage, that a plagiarist shines in
stolen plumes, not a plume is really lost by (he fowl who originally grew
Uisraeti, indeed, was a perpetual plagiarist There is hardly a clever met,
a quotable saying, in all his books, which can be called original. Who bears
him any grudge for that i He may not have mined (he gold, bni he purified
LITERARY CURIOSITFES. 893
extinct volcanoes was inspired by a passage in Hope's " Anastasiua," a book
which also suggested some of the liest ponions of " Tancred." The perora-
tion of his speech an the Corn Law Bill (May 15, [S46) was taken from
Urquhait's " Diplomatic Tranaaclions in Central Abia." In the first edition
of ''Venetia," a passage was "conveyed" from Macaulay's essay on Byron.
The famous phrase in " Lothair," " You know who the critics are, the men
who have (ailed in literature and art," is the expression, almost in the same
words, ol a thought that bad already occurred to Landor, to Balzac, to
Dumas, to Pope, to Shenslone, to Uryden. (See Critics.)
A correspondent of the Alhcnaum in 1873 produced some very curious
evidence that Mr. Disraeli, when in his novel " Venetia" he sketched Lord
Caducis, — who is, of course, intended for Lord Byron, — had before him at
least one unpublished letter purporting to have been written by Byron. The
letter in question was in the writer's possession, and is dated Pisa, April 12,
1821 {about three months before Shelley's death, when Byron was certainly
in Pi^a). It contains some sentences which are repealed word for word by
Lord Caducis in the fourth chapter of the sixth book of " Venetia :" " When
I once take you in hand, it will be difficult for me not 'to make sport of the
Fhilistines.' Now we look upon ourselves as something, O fellows with
some pith \ how we could lay it on I I think I see them wincing under the
thong, the pompous poltroons." And again : " I made out a list, the other
day, of all the things and persons I have been compared to. It begins well
with Aldbiades, but ends with the Swiss giantess, or the Polish dwarf, I
forget which."
The Hon. Mr. John J. Ingalls once performed a fcat very like Disraeli's
Wellington oration. In May, 1890, he delivered an eloquent eulogy on a
recently -deceased gentleman named J. N. Barnes. It was highly praised as a
splendid bit of rhetoric For a few days Mr. Ingalls was the hero of the
hour. Then some newspaper fiend discovered that the eulogy had been
calmly appropriated from a sermon by Masaillon. He published his discovery
in those fatal parallel columns which often have proved so deadly a weapon
of offence in the hands of the malicious. We will take the concluding para-
graph to show the method of the great orator :
To nim Dp all : If we muH whollv peri^, Thii ■> the CDncluirm which the phi-
Ihea ii aMiiKci it laws iMl an itirniatr louphy of Degalion imi« «c«pl u lul, }f
Iht fkuHiimi wkkh tefiar intkrcilily has laiB ii an inJ^tmirSr 'unrtladr : mlrr,
/ritifmni U^H Iht libtrit if mm.— a* if Mniar Imittilily; fmllct it a dtniitl
imfailiBn.a uiurfallan: Iht laa tf Kter- ^ llhtrlfi hutor hkJ truth art triniat
TtafiavaiH icrufli: mtdrilfa trtjadict: rkatttdm; mxrdtr anJ Hrjurf art dt-
ktHtranJprotitj, imri itiiff'ai driamt art riimt jtili. aaJ Ihiir karih dtfitiUiani art
madtaf: antlinittU.mvrJtrt.farricidll, /rivaltui fhntttt hiwitid if Iframtt tt
Uu mutt klartltii erntlliti anJ tit ilalktlt imftlt ufsn ikr timidilf !•/ toaardi and
Crima, art but Iht Ittilimall ItKrtI .ff man's tht ertdulilf iif llatiti.
irrrfrtniilt natnrt ; vkitt tht kartk tfl- Tka it Iht mw/uin whicll the ihiltt^h,
Ihtti atlathtd It lAtm art mtrtly inch as of neeBiUni muH iccipl il Um . Such i> tlic
/** pality tf ttzitlalari hat imvtultd and ftlkily a( ihoK dcg rnding pr«fpn which
imfattdaalktcrtdnlllft/lhtfttflt. Htrt nuke Ihecpiuphlhi End. 1/ Ikiit ttatktn
it Iht itim M whicll the vDuntcd tkiltaiitky art rirht, IbtB w< ut Monu in a monl
of UDbdleven nuH Innilablr lad. Htn » ehatt.
enundpiuktii from etmr. of which they eter-
ilecrfl Iktir maiimt.tai the wholi world
lalh Wck into a rtightTuI than.
Charles Reade was quite as skilful an adapter as Disraeli or Ingalls. How
many of his best things came out of his scrap-books we shall never know.
But we do know thai in " The Wandering Heir" he appropriated Iwdily a not
894 HANDY-BOOK OF
inconsiderable fraction of Sirift'* " Polite Conversation." He «u denounced
by two anonymoiis writers, who afterwards proved to be an unsuccessful
novelist and nis wife. Whereupon he came out in a vigorous defence, and,
having called his critics " anonymuncuia, pseudonymuncula, and skunkala"
ambushed behind maslied balteties. he proceeded tu show that the transplant-
ing of a few lines out of Swift, and the welding them with other topics in a
homogeneous work, was not plagiarism, but one of every true inventor's pro-
cesses, and that only an inventor could do it well, — an advanced theory, of
course, but we pardon it fot the delightful insouciance of its conceit, Reade
was always full of charming excuses. When he was altaclied for taking a
French play b^ Alphonse Maquel and turning it, without acknowledsment,
into the English " White Lies," he simply claimed that he had bou^t the
idea from the original author, and was entitled to use it as he chose. Thougl)
this reply did not padfy his critics, we are not sure that it was not excellent
good sense. If plagiarism is stealing, surely the thing alters its character
when you puichase the property from the original owner.
The compiler of an adequate "Curiosities of Plagiarism" would have to
devote a special chapter to the Protean adventures of a novelette by Mme.
Charles Reybaud. Let us relate them as curtly as possible. In 1SS3, Charles
Reade published a story called "The Picture in my Uncle's Dining-Room."
Then the fun began. One lynx-eyed detective found in a forgotten magazine
a story called " The Old M'sieu's Secret," which was almost identical in plot
and characters with Keade's story. Then another critic found another alory
in another forgotten magazine, entitled ■' Where Shall he Find Her i" (the title
is curiously apt), which was also identical in essentials with Reade's story.
Things became mixed. Both the forgoUen stories were anonymous. Both
were so like each other, and so like Reade's, that it was impossible they should
have been written independently. At last the mystery was explained. All
three, it was found, were adaptations or paraphrases from Mme. Reybaud's
"Mile, de Malepierre." Reade, indeed, had remodelled the story and
deepened the dramatic interest, but the paternity was indisputable. Hardly
had the smoke of the controversy died away in England when the war was
carried into Germany, where one A. von Bosse published in Uebtr Land mid
Mter a story entitled " Das Lebende Bild," which proved to be " Mile, de
Malepietre"'uain, in Teutonic dress.
It was De Quincey who titsi pointed out that Coleridge's Hymn is a glo-
rious paraphrase of a little-known poem by the German authoress Frederici
Brunn, entitled "Chamouni at Sunrise." Here is the poem as translated bv
Charles T. Brooks in his " Songs and Ballads from the German Lyric Poets,''
Boston, 1S42 ;
From Iht (l«pih«iiow of ihe iflcnl fii-grove
Btoo of clcm'iiy, ilioii diiiiinE peak.
From whou calm tidoht my dreainiDg «ptrit tnounta
And Hun Hwky into la« inDnilc [
AjidwhoH itliniehiy voice comnuDdaf Loud,
" Here (lull the uiffming liiUawt rcM niriUle I"
;i:v,.GoOgk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
o friagid wiih bloHani-wralbi the cwmal froMt
sSs
ihe same, he has the good sense to own Ihal b^
■ been created by Coleridge into the fulne
ion enough. If the people who are inclin
;s at Coleridge for this and similar appropriations would onlyti
life." Excuse and justification enough. If the people who are inclined ti
their gigantic menial strength to plagiarisms of this sort, Ihey would be a
blessing lo the coTninumty in lieu of a curse.
Gray's " Elegy" has been called a cento by ovet-nice critics, whose con-
science is alaimed by Ihe wicked unscrupulousness of their betters. The
very first line Ihey Irace back to Danle :
The curfew toUl Che knell of puling day.
And pilariin» newly on hia road, vilh lovv
T1iriir>,lf be btu ihe vesper bell frain fu.
Thai Kenv To moum for (be ejipuinff day.
PMTgttUr,, CuilD 1&.. I. }, Caxy'i trua.
The gem of purest rare serene, ibe Dower born to blush unseen, the mate
inglorious Milton, have been traced back (o heaven knows how many paral-
leisin Greek, Latin, Italian, and English poeiry. {See Gem — FLOWER, Mutb
Inglorious Milton.) Bui beyond these obvious imitations, does il not owe
many of its most felicitous eipressions and touches lo a trick of inlaying which
familiarily with elder poels assisted f To such disparaging queries il might
suffice to retort Waller Savage Landoi's language applied lo critics : " Fleas
knotr not whether ibey are upon the body of a giani or upon one of an ordi-
nary siie, and bile both indiscriminately.
"Owen Meredith" (Lord Lyiton) was one of the most consistent, indelali-
gable, and audacious plagiarists that ever lived. It is quite possible he never
wrote an original line in his life. At all events, every apt or striking line,
every pretty sentiment, and every unusual incident in every one of his Dooks
has been traced lo some original either in English or foreign literature. It
was the latter to which he was chiefly indebted. Doubtless he held himself
safer there, for when he first came upon the scene Englishmen had small ac-
quainlancc with the lilerature of other countries.
Yet English authors were not quite safe at his hands.
In the JVitrtA BrUisk Rtvievi called -------- -- "-- -•--
ain passages in his " Gyges and C
ICeats's "St. Agnes." Verses from „ . , _....,
had been adapted to his own use with very little change. The author of the
article, wilh an urbanity rare in Scotch reviewers of British bards, alluded to
this tendency as " the unconscious sympathy of the mocking-bird." Indeed,
the entire British public has treated the noble pilferer with a leniency that is
extraordinary when contrasted with its severity to other offenders. When
'* — a first made known, for example, that "Lucile" was a barefaced bit of
. „ irism, the English press, for some reason or other, was inclined lo hush
896 HANDY-BOOK OF
who have nevct had their faith diatuibed, never known that " Lucite" wa*
George Sand's and not Lord Lyttoit's. Vet so it is. The first part of that
novel in verse is merely the prose stoiy of " Lavinia" faithfully done into
galloping English anapesls.
But George Sand ia not the only foreign author whom milord laid under
contribution. Here and there jewels were filched from Musset, Irom Heine,
from some other of the great masters of lyric verse, and embedded in this lit-
erary crazy-quill. Who, on first reading " Lucile," has not h«ld his breath
when he came to these splendid lines ? —
Though diviHE Aphrsdlie ihould open btr umi
Though Hois« Lumilm^™d o Id'^picu™'""" "'
A vaH hope hu imvvrKd Ihp cam. apd our tyei
Id despite of ourseLvee we niu« lilt Eo ihe Bkiea I"
The lines are merely a free translation of Mussel, in bis " Esptnr en Dieo :"
Que la blonde Auut«, qii'idaUtnit ta Grtce,
D« Ki llei d'anir *m en m'ouvrul ta bnu :
2S1I ' I ' ' '
Je leur dirali 1 loui, " Quo) que nont puiBioni faire,
M^E^^^ven le cmSum lever*^^."
Here plagiarism, however, is not the only literary offence of which Owen
Meredith has been guilty. A very complicated bit of imposition has been
brought home to him. He once held a diplomatic position in one of the
Danubian principalities. On his return to England he published a volume
entitled "Seibski Pesme." It consisted of a series of poems, ostensibly
paraphrases from ancient Servian originals. Here it was not his onjjinalitjf
which Mr. Lytton called on the world to admire, but his learning, his inde-
fatigable research, his Sympathy with the unrecognized masterpieces of the
world's literature. He was an explorer in a new field who had made valuable
discoveries. At first the English public took him at his word. Bui it was
soon whispered thai the very title of his book betrayed an extraordinary ig-
norance of the Servian language, — that it had been constructed on the princi-
ple that the philosopher in Pickwick found so useful when he conceived his
essay on Chinese metaphysics : Ihe poet had evidently hunted up in a dic-
tionary the word for Servian and ihe word for poems, and joined them to-
gether without any regard for the ^ammalical laws of number and case. If
the very title betrayed BO much ignorance, what trust could be put in Ihe
body uf^ Ihe work? And, indeed, it was evenlually proved that the poems
were nol Servian at all, nor Iranslalions from Ihe Servian, nor even original.
They had been boldly taken without acknowledgment from an impudent lit-
erary mystification which a Gallic author had foisted on the French public
There is a little poem of Heine's, enlilled " Ein Weib," which begins 11
Sie hatlcn licti Beide » herllich lieb.
Spiiibilt^D wariie.er warclDDieb.
It is well worth while to compare this with the opening lines of Meredith's
"See-Saw :"
She wat a harlot and I wai a thief;
Bbi w* loved each other beyond btOA.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 897
Hit lordship did not alwajrs go anpnnished. In a volume publislied anon;-
inonsljp a dozen years ago, entitled " The Heptalogia ; or, The Seven against
Sense," there is a parody of Owen Meredith which is also a fierce and billet
attack on his personal character as well as on his literary methods. The
authorship of (he book has never been acknowledged to this day ; yet it hu
never been doubted. Ant Svaithimt, aul diabelia, — that was the universal
verdict The poem, which is called "Last Words of a Seventh-rate Foel,"
is too long to quote entire, but a few lines will give some idea of the wit and
wickedness of the onslaught. The seventh-rate poet, stretched on his death-
bed, is speaking to a faithful attendant, whom he calls Bill :
There's m deity ■hapes us our endi, lir, roogh-hew ibem, my b>y, how we will,.—
Ai I tlMtA myieir In 1 poem 1 publiahcd lait y«ar, you know. B<ll,—
Where I mentionHi IhM Ihat wu Ihe queilion,— lo be, or, by Jove, not lo be.
Ah, U'a Hmeihjiig — you'll think ta hereHfter — to wait on a poet like IT' ~
Ye>, Minette or Muon,— and— you'll hardly belioe i
Nowldon'luylhey weren't,— but what then! and 1 don't uy they were,— I'll bet
The u^ect,— I wii'h I miy never die Laureate, if nnu of ihem weno't out of Tenn
And I Ihinli— I don'l like lo be certain, with death, » to (peak, by me frowning—
But I think there were lome — tay a donn. periian. or a icore— out of BtowsiDi.
At for poea who iia on a cottmry track to what 1 |ro and you go, —
Yoa lemember my lyrio Iraiulaled— like tweet Bully Bottom- from Hugo T
Thoagh I wit) tay il'i curlout that limply on juti (hat account there ihould be
it would ttlr the political bile or the phykcai tpleen of a drab or a Tory
To hear cTiiici ajtign lo hit hand the Confoiional. Bill, and the Laboratory ;
Ye., It'. .ingular,-nay, ! can't think of a parallel (ain't it a high laAI
A* that CouDteu would i.y],— there are Tew men believe it wail wrote the Ode lo a S
And It oAen hat (iven mytelf and Lord Albert no end of divenloti
To hear fellowa maintain lo my <ace it wai Wordiwotih who wtsle The excunioa,
Pietly compilment, paifing me off, tir, widi Keau,— ai if he could wilte Lamia 1
While I never prodtxwl a more charactalKic and eaquiiile book.
One that Esve me more real tatitfacilon than did, on (he whole, Lalla Rookh.
With'lhe'hUtl^^.'fon^tb, of the pra^ who"u>ert that Othello wai Shakeii
When he that can run, lir, may rud— if he borrowi the book or zoe. on lick—
In my pocmi the bit thai detonbei how the Hellemioiil joint the Propontic.
Ther< are men, 1 believe, who will tell yon thai Gray wrote the whole of The Baid,
O that 1 didn't write half the Elegy, Bill, in . Countty Umrch-Vard
When you know that my poem. The Poet, begini, " Knui leile tbeet ' and endl
With rtcapiiulation. of hotron the poet iovokei on hb Ctiendi.
And I'll twear. if you loiA at the dirge on my relative, under Ihe turf, you
Will petcdve It windi ap with Kime linet on mytelt-and befini with Ihe Cuiftw.
Now you'll grant ii'i more proiuble. Bill,— a. a man of the world, if you pleaae,—
That alt Ibete tbould have prigged from myself ihao that I ihould have prigged from all
A liltle brther are the following lines ;
At i('i tomeiima my whim to be vulgar, il'i lometimet my whira to be brief ;
Ai when once I obierved, afker Heine, that " She wai a haiiot and I (which li tme) wu a
thief."
On the whole, Lord Lytton went too 6ir. That would be the verdict even
of the moat lenient minds. Plagiarism is not always a virtue. For example^
one can have no words of praise for the French gentletnan who published a
898 HANDY-BOOK OF
little volume called " Le Caniche Nojr." Mr. F. Anstey hap^ned acrou il
in a Parisian book-slure, and, opening it, found it to be ilia own " Black
Poodle" waging a friendly tail. The scene was changed Trom England (o
France : the poodle's master was now an Italian, not a Frenchman. There
were other variations on the theme, but the poodle was Mr. Ansley's old
foodie i his adventure was the same, Mr. Ansley then wrote a letter in
rench to the French author, signing not with his " pen-name," but with his
patronymic He congratulated M. X. c ' - - -■ ■ -'-- --' - - - -
He asked permission to render " Le Caniche Noir" into English,
jm my 01
assuring him ttiat he Telt capable of maicing the translation in a sympatlielic
manner. The French author answered, in English, and with modesty, that
he did not think his book deserved the praises liberally heaped on it by Mr.
Ansley. " About your demand for ada|>ution, [ am sorry to tell vuu that I
my own translator, and that the 'Caniche Noir" exists in English already."
1 fact, it may be laid down as an axiom that plagiarism is always a crime
nniess the author either betters what he lakes or restores to the world a gem
that had been forgotten. He must not do as the gy|)sies are sud to do, —
DcfHcing fini, then claiming for hit own.
Chvichill^ T^ AftlaaA' 'y-
His offence can only be palliated if he does as Sheridan did with this very
couplet :
Steal ! to be sure tlicy Buy ; and, egad, BBTVe your be« thougblfl ai gypftiei do uolen chtl-
dren,— ditRgureihemlo make 'em pun for their o»Ti.— 7a< Cfidr, Act i.,Sc. i.
It becomes graver if he amplifies without improving, as Leigh Hunt did with
the same :
m bomvcd other poets' thougfatA, but he did not borro
Mit: „ . ...
of public funds. In the counte of the trial it was discovered that the defend-
" ' ' ' 'if writing poetry which did not possess the virtue of
t enraged the Emir. "The accusation of purloining
public money," declared his Majesty, in the decision, " has not been proveii
For that I cannot punish you. but I cannot excuse the theft of the ideas of
Saadi and Hafiz, the old poets. As a penalty I order your tongue pierced
by long, thick needles." The poor writer was subjectetl to the torture, and
the Emir has little fear that Mirza will again attempt to force his hexameters
upon an "indulgent" monarch.
Is this very story a plagiarism or a coincidence ? Certainly it bears
IS analogy to the anecdote of Bacon ^ ' ■■■ ' ■ ■■ . —
been imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth ^ _.
ances contained in his " Life and Keign of Henry IV." But Bacon, being
applied to for his opinion, reported that " for treason he found none, but for
felony he found many," which he explained by saying that the author had
stolen many sentences from Tacitus and translated them into English.
To give a detailed account of all the flagrant plagiarisms that have been
traced and exposed would in itself fill a volume. There is Sterne stealing
all the best passages in his "Tristram Shandy" from older authors, and then
denouncing plagiarism in words stolen from Burton ; Benjamin Franklin lay-
ing claim to the translation of " De Senectule," done by Logan, copying hU
/.ooglc
roprialingagi
iotIi on geogr.
UTERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 899
counsels agiinsl intemperance out at the works of Jeremy Taylor, and Irani-
tating at second hand his fable against persecution from the Hackacet in the
" BoslSn ;" Molitre producing hia " Pr^cieuses Ridicules'' two years after it had
been acted in substance by the Italian cumedians ; M. Langtis, the Orientalist,
stealing his " Voyage d'Abdoul Riuac" from Galland's " Arabian Nights ;" Le-
fEbre de Villebrune, in his translation of Athenxus, copying six thousand two
hundred notes from Casauboii's critical works ; De Saiut-Ange. in his transla-
tion of Ovid's " Metamorphoses," borrowing about fifteen hundred verses from
Thomas Corneille, and a still greater number fiom Maltillitre ; Jacques Delille,
in his translation of Virgil, his poem of " L'lmaginatioti," and other works, ap-
' J a great number of lines from other poets j Malte-Brun. in his Tamous
eography, literally adopting the remarks of Gosselin, Lacroix. Walc-
Kenaer, Pmkerlon. Puissant, etc ; Aignan, in his translation of (be " Iliad," bor-
rowing twelve hundred versea from a ])revious translation by Rochefort ; Caslil
Blaze transferring to his " Dictionary of Modern Muiiic" three hundred and
forty notices from Rousseau's work on the same subject, and all the while
abusing the latter for his ignorance of the principles of the art ; Henri Beyle,
under the assumed name of Bombet, publishing his well-known letters on
Haydn and Italian music, and leaving the public unacquainted with the fact
that he had merely translated them from (he Italian of Joseph Carpani ; and
the Count de Courchampa palming on the world as the " M^moires In^its de
Cagllostro" a series of tales which turned out, after all. to be but a literal tran-
script of a romance published san>e twenty years before by John Polocki, a
Polish count Pierre Breslav published in 1574 "L'Anthologie, ou Recneil tie
plusieursdiscours notables ; next year ("C'etait un peu prompt," naively adds
one of M. Qu^rard's sup pie men lets) Jean dcs Caures followed him word for
word in his "CEuvres Morales," levying like contributions on Grevin, Coras,
«nd other authors of the day. Zschokke's "Warlike Adventures of a Peaceful
Man," translated into French in three volumes in 1813, appeared without ac-
knowledgment of source in the Revut de Paris'xa 1847. ^ul Ferry had not long
printed "Isabelle" in his first poetical works before De la Croix transferred it
to his "Climine." On the misdoings of Moore, Pope, Mason, Gray, and sev-
eral others, entire books or lengthy papers have been written. Of a sometime
Lord William Pitt Lennox, Paiuh sagaciously divined that his favorite authors
were Steele and Borrow. Rogers's " Human Lite" is more than based on
Gay's " Birth of the Squire," a piece confessedly in imitation of the *> Pollio"
of Virgil. Longfellow has so accurately translated the Anglo-Saxon metrical
fragment " The Grave" that his version agrees almost verbally with the Rev,
J. J. Conybeare's. More recently Mr. Thomas Hardy appropriated an entire
chapter from "Georgia Scenes,",by an almost forgotten American humorist,
and with the few necessary verbal changes inlaid it in his " Trumpet- Major."
All these examples, a handful picked out at random, go far to justify Horace
Smith's definition of or^nalitjr as "undiscovered or unconscious imitation."
" Ah, how often," this Is how m " Fbilobiblon" the books address the clergy,
" do you pretend that we, who are old, are but just born, and attempt 10 call
us sons who are fathers, and to call that which brought you into clerical exist-
ence the fabric of your own studies? In truth, we who now pretend to be
Romans are evidently sprung from the Athenians : for Carmentis was ever a
pillager of Cadmus ; and we who are just born in England shall be horn again
to-morrow in Paris, and, being thence carried on to Bononia, shall be allotted
an Italian origin unsupported by any consanguinity."
Oil the whole, as between the plagiarist and his accuser, we prefer the
plagiarist. We have more sympathy for the man in the pillory than for the
rabble that pelt him. And especially we have naught but loathing for those
literary detectives who are continually hunting on the track of every popular
900 HANDY-BOOK OF
writer and crying "Stop thieft" at every accidental coincidence. We lejoice
in llie biller words which Tennyson used in his letter to Mr. Dawson, author
of "A Study on The Princess." "There is, I fear," said the Laureate,"a
Erosaic set growing up among ns, editors of booklets, bookworms, inilez-
unlers, or men of great memories and no imagination, who impute them-
selves to the poet, and so believe that he, too, has no imagination, but is
forever poking his nose between the pages of some old volumes in order
to see what he can appropriate." This is the class of critics who accuse
Tennyson of plagiarism because in his lyric *' Home they brought her
Warrior dead" the newly-made widow, tilting in stony and unmoved silence
before her husband's corpse, bursts at last into refreshing tears at the sight
of her child, an incident which occurs also in " Marmion." Coincidence need
not be conscious burrowing.
Vet we fear the literary detective will not die. For some inscrutable reason
he seems to be one a\ Nature's favorites. In the struggle for existence,
which we are taught is constantly eliminating thewea.kest and leaving ampler
room for the strongest and the fittest, the literary detective emerges buoyant,
smiling, setf-Batiatied, — immortal in his folly and his impudence. He may
live to be the famous L.ast Man, he may cry "Chestnuts," or its equivalent,
when the aogel Gabriel sounds the last trump, he may detect "coincidences"
in the judgment that consigns him among the accursed.
Plain Uvlng and high thiDklng are no more, s line in Sonnet XIII. of
" Poems dedicaled to National Independence and Liberty," written by Words-
worth, in September, 1802, aa a protest against the " terrible Imuiy" of the
London rich. Something similar to the ideal thus negatively presented U
found in the Greek line
which St ChrysMtom vaguely attributes to a heathen writer. Horace, in his
"Satires" (II., iu, 76), has
Vtdu ul pillului onmb
CcBU dcviTKHt dubuiT quin corpm opuMum
HcHcrais viuis uiimum quvque prxgnTmi una.
and Cicero, in his "Tusculan Disputations," v. too, "Quid, quod ne mente
quidem lecte mi possumus, multo cibo et potione completif"
Dean (afterwards Bishop) Graves, who was resident clergyman at Winder-
mere from 1835 to 1S64, and often met Wordsworth, in his " Recollections of
Wordsworth and the Lake Country" (Dublin LectHra m Literature attd Art,
1S69, p. 295), al^er describing the cottage which the poet in his early days
rented for eight pounds a year, goes on to sa.y, " In that cottage he spent what
1 think maybe called the heroic period of his life. There he realized his
noble motto of 'plain living and high thinking ;' even a guest beneath his
roof saw no beverage on his dinner-table but pure water ; and Walter Scott
confesses that when sojourning with him he made daily a surreptitious walk
to ■ the public,' a mile off, to get a draught of beer. 1 here ... he worked
on silenlly and magnanimously ; and while receiving no pecuniary reward
for his labor, he silently endured a persecution of critical obloquy equally
unrelenting and unjust.''
PUttform, in American politics, a declaration of party principles. The
phrase has been imported into England. But though it comes as an importa'
lion it is really a revival of a use of the word that was common in the six.
teenth and seventeenth centuries both as a verb and aa a noun. Thus, Milton,
in his " Reason of Church Government," says that some " do not think it for
the ease of their iticonsequent opinions to grant that church disdpline fi
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 901
platfonned in the Bible, but that it is left to the discretion of men." In Lyiy's
" Alexander and Campaape," Act v.. Sc 4, Apelles is aslced, " What piece of
work have you now in hand V to which he replies, " None in hand, if it like
yoar Majestie, but 1 am devising a platforme in irw head." And in the " Dis-
covery of the New World," quoted by Nares, "vo procure himself a pardon
went and discovered the whole platforme of the conspiracie." A very early
example occurs in the following title of a tract in the library of Queen's
College, Cambridge : " A Survey of the [iretended Holy Discipline, faithfully
gathered by way of Historical Narration out of the Works and Writings of
the principal Favourers of that Platforme, 410, London, 1593."
The subdivisions of a platform are called its planks, and the metaphor is
sometime* even run to death bi/ giving the name of splinters to the sub-
divisions of "planks."
Plato's nuuL "Plato having defined min to be 'a two-legged animal
without feathers,' Diogenes plucked a cock and brouehC it into the Academy,
and said, 'This is Plato's man.' On which account this addition was made to
the definition; 'with broad, flat nails.'" But even with the addendum the
definition cannot be considered a happy one. Franklin called man a "tool-
making animal."
To thai ukfcaibend, two-leggoit ihing, % Km.
Dbydkn: Airalim and AcMlfu/.i. 169.
PlCT. American slang has developed many new uses of this phrase, all
of which may doubtless be traced back to " Hamlel :" " Why, look you, now,
how unworthy a thing you make of me I You would play upon me 1 you
would seem to know my stops : you would pluck out the heart of my mystery.
. . . 'Sblood, do you think 1 am easier to be played on ihana pipe r' (Act ill..
He. X.) " Vou can't play that upon me," — i.e., " 1 am not to be fooled or tricked
in that way," is evidently a direct descendant of Hamlet's phrase. Then
comes the affirmative, to indicate thai a man is weak or foolish enough to be
played upon ;
ti wit April ibi fju.
And quiu Kill wM the Ma,
Wbidi 11 mishl be inrared
Tku Ah Sin wu lilwwiK,
Bdi be played il iJui djy upon WlUiain
And mc in > nv I dapiie.
Brit H*itT« : PJain Lanpu^/rim Truthful Tamil.
1 oin'i aver-puticulai, Ihii this I d!p lay, iba^intBrducia' a felLer id ya ■bter, and vviiilin'
himself of the oppartnnity while you're A-kiuin' her v> itack tiie ordf, il a-pLayin' k mighty
low down.— Tijiiu Hf/tingi.
PleaBiix«B, Ufa woold b« toleiable n'ere it not for Ita, a phrase
attributed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, and intelligible enough in a member
of that race of which Froiss art long ago remarked, "They take 1 heir pleasures
sadly, after Iheir fashion." Talleyrand said something not altogether unlike
this, but the application was to turn into ridicule the sombreness of the
Genevans. " Is not Geneva dull P" asked a friend. " Especially when they
amuse themselves," was Talleyrand's reply. George Eliot also says in " Felix
Holt," "One way of gelling an idea of Our fellow-countrymen's miseries is
to go and look at their pleasures."
n to the son of Jerome Bonaparte by his second
ca Catherine of Wiirtemberg. the Prince Napo-
leon Joseph Charles Bonaparte. It is said to be a euphonism for " Ctaint-
plomb" (" Fear-bullet"), a name which he got for hit poltroonery in the Crt-
;i:,..C00gk"
902 HANDY-BOOK OF
Plnck. Thi» word affords in instance of the way in which slang words in
the course of time become adopted into current English. We now meel with
"pluck" and "plucky" as llie recognized equivalents of "courage" and "coura-
geous," An entry in Sit Walter Scott's "Journal" shows ihat in iSay the
word had not yet lost its low character. He says (vol. ii. p. 30), "want of
Ihat article blackguardly called pluck." Its origin is obvious. From early
times the heart has been popularly regarded as the seat of courage. Now,
when a butcher lays open a carcass he divides the great vessels of the heart,
cuts through the windpipe, and then plucks out together the united heart and
lungs, — lights he calls them,— and he terms the united mass "the pluck,"
Plnok, To, ill English university slan^, to reject a candidate for gradua-
tion. The phrase arose at Oxrord. It might seem that the passive form " to
be plucked" had some reference to a bird despoiled of its feathers. This ety-
mology has, indeed, been urged. But Culhberl Bede ciplains that " when
the d^eea are conferred the name of each person is read out before he is
presented to the vice-chancellor. The proctor then walks once up and down
the room, so that any ^rson who objects to the degree being granted may
signify the same by pulling or //xcibn^ the proctor's lobes."
Plog-Uglloa, the name self-assumed by a gang of thugs or rowdies in Bal-
timore, who terrorized the streets for a penod. Its peculiar felicity caused
the name to survive when the similar associations of Ashlanders, I>ead Rab-
Iriis, Blood'Tubs, etc, vanished into obscurity, and the term is now a generic
one for a tough.
Blood-Tubi ind PIuE-tlf lis, ud olboi galore,
Are lick for a LbiaahTu id iweei BHltimorc ;
Be jjibcTT I thai Hinc I'd bt proud 10 Lnfonn
Of ibe tuiibic force of an IrUhman'i «m.
&me e/ tki Iriik ligun.
Plam, an English colloquialism for one hundred thousand pounds, or more
generally for any large sum. Is it only a curious coincidence that in Spanish
ptama and in Italian penna, both meaning properly feather, have the slang
significalion of money } The London Standard thinks not, but holds Ihat the
English eipression comes direct from the Spanish, " the idea being that a
man who had accumulated this sum had feathered his nest"
Who in ihulifemi. the . mile., and the acl> of friend«hip,«Dil the pleuin^ ItgaciaT The
lAV : A S*>Mf-Grmtrrl ^ny.
Plnmad Knight, a sobriquft of James G. Blaine, first applied to him by
Colonel Robert G. IngersoU in the speech nominating Mr. Blaine as the can-
didate for President at the Republican convention of 1876 : " Like an armed
warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of
the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the
brazen forehead of every defamer of this country and maligner of its honor."
But the phrase was not original. Nor was Ingersol! the first to apply it to a
Presidential candidate. In the Works of William H. Seward, vol iv. p.
6S3, there is a quotation from /uhn A. Andrew's speech at the Chicago con-
vention in 1S60, in nominating Lincoln, in which he said of Seward that "in
the thickest and the holiest of every battle there would be the white plume
of the gallant leader of New York."
Poeta uoaoltitr, n
as it stands cannot b<
found in Pindar, Cicero, Quinlilian, uid other classic w:
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 903
ance u a proverb is probably in Cielius Rhodiginns {a,d. I4So-'SJS). " Lee-
liones Antique," vii. The heading of chaplet iv. is, "An poela nascitur,
orator fill,'' etc., and in the course of Ihia chapter occurs, "VulgO cerle
jaciatur, nasci poeiam, oraiorem fieri." Jonaon, however, in his lines "To
the Memory of Shakcspear," says, —
phEBtumsl Ladu wiiiu, Floiui. Al nil ivtnu. Sir Philip Sidoey, in hi> ' Apologif for
Poclrie,' tuu Ihctc wordt: 'And Ihercfore i> an old provcib, OralorJSl, fmla iiaialMr.-
Grocott'i book of quoutioni, I do not know on whil aultaorily, nC-a* 10 Sidney u uvini
[b will ' uippoKd ID be from Floiut.' Thomu Pulliir, in bi>- Hiiiory of ihi
WonbicB or England.' mFnIioni Shakipeare u
/-«/«■«■ A irrf MitX-r. Alio Flora., I
o™ior«id»riKr.Julimnona, Ibt fritndof ._ ,
•teal and CMenul icbol^n, giveune Ibe following ioTonnaliDn : ' I have looked indiulriomly
1, but fail V.
lulLuciui
Od Ibe qaeulon wbether Iba
livy't Hitlory, Ibe critka are
Poetic prOBB. It is a tailing with some critics who do not clearly
understand the line of demarcation between prose and verse lo fall into un-
seemly raptures when they find that certain passages in their favorite authors
can be written and scanned as verse. Now, prose is one thing and verse is
another. There is such a thing as poetic prose, there is also such a thing as
prosaic verse. Bui ihe former should have a rhythm and muRic of its own
entirely different from Ihe rhythm and music of verse. The latter, which can
never nave any excuse (or being, may yet be found to answer to all the tech-
nical requirements of the prosodisl, may scan responsive to his rule of
thumb, yet through some poverty of word or thought may fail entirely lo
reach the level oT poetry. Our two mighliest maalers of harmony both in
prose and verse, Shakespeare and Milton, knew this secret and taught it by
example. There is no more magnificent poetry in English literature than
the prose portions of " Hamlet," or various passages in the " Arecipagilica" and
the "Tractate of Education. " Yet no artificial rearrange men t, no breaking up
into measured linM, could possibly convert this poetry into verse. Therein
lies its very perfection. On the other hand, inferior rhetoricians like Dickens,
who are never less eloquent than when they seek to be very eloquent, and
generally all that class of writers who indulge in what is known as " word-
painting," fall into a sort of sing-song that imitates Ihe metrical structure of
verse and loses the spirit of poetry. We have cited Dickens. A flagrant
example is afforded in his chapter on the death of Little Nell in "The Old
Curiosity Shop." Horne in his " New Spirit of the Age" was the first lo
point this out, and he does it in a laudatory manner.
"A curious circumstance," he says, "is observable in a great portion of
the scenes of tragic power, pathos, and tenderness containeain various parts
of Mr. Dickens's works, which it is possible may have been the result of
harmonious accident, and the author not even subsequently conscious of ic
It is that they are written in blank verse, of irregular metre and rhythms,
which Southey, and iihetley, and some other poets, have occasionally adopted."
And he thus rearranges Ihe passage in "The Old Curiosity Sbopt '
Coogk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
The rallied.
Tbclirlig dHiTlD mapy ihipci undioni
To ice (be Clcwni of thii eoHy gravi I
TliM covered ii : vhoH day sd »nh
Had bCCD » flHdllg.
Under ibu porch when ^e hid »t when Heana
la meruy brought her to thai peaceful tpol,
Sbfi pasaed aEaln, and the old church
Receiyed her hi lo quiet ihade.
"Throughout th« whole of the above," continues Mr. Home, enthasiastl-
nlly, "only two uniiDportant words have been omitted, — in and t&.- 'grand*
dames' has been substiluled for 'grandmothers,' and 'e'en' for 'almost. All
that remains is exactly as in the original, not a single word transposed, and
the punctaation the same to a comma. The brief homily that concludes the
ftinetal is profoundly beautiful :
Oh I It li haid to lake
For il la one thu all muM l«m
Aod te a mlghtv univerul Truth.
When Death atrikea down iht LDIloceDt aod yooog.
For every fi^le fotin from which he leti
The partlnc iplKt free,
A huAdred virtuei liH,
Is ahapea of mercy, charily, aod love.
To walk the world >u!l bleu it.
Of every tear
That aorrowing morula thed od iuch [reen etbtis,
Sotne good 11 boni, aome gentler nalure cornea.
"Not a word of the original is changed in the above quotation, which is
worthy of the best passages in Wordsworth, and thus, meeting on the
common ground of a deeply truihCul sentiment, Ihe two most unlike men in
the literature of Ihe country are brought into close proiimalion."
He also gives a similar passage from the concluding paragraph of " Nicholas
Nickleby :''
The grau wai green above ibe dead boy'a grave.
Trodden by feet lo amall and light.
That not a daiay drooped ita head
a far truer critic than Home. Speaking of the "Chriit
Coo^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 965
mu Carol," he aajrs, " I am not sure that the allegory is a very complete one,
and protest, with the classics, against the use of blank verse in prose ; but
here all objections stop. Who can listen to objections regarding such a book
ic BUD is on ihtin, do Ihey iblD«
lie day is gloomy do they fkll
roat of a ereal chalk cliO',
Which hu tuBBUd ihl> place
With th< Hina dmd Kleiniulv,
Siocc dariineu bnx>ded on Uk d«p
Aod Ihu Am flood btfore IhE Deluge— Ughi—
Cavv nvhinE on Creaiun at the mud of God.
"American Notes," it will be remembered, was the book which MacaulSf
refused to review because he could see no good in it " I cannot praise it,
and I will not cut it up. It is written like the worst parts of ' Humphrey's
Clock.' What is meant to be easy and sprightly is vulgar and flippant, as in
the first two pages. What is meant to be fine is a great deal too fine, as the
description of the Fall of Niagara." Bui Macaulay had not seen that descrip-
tion thrown into iambic lines.
There are worse sinners, however, than Dickens. He never did anything
so outrageous as this from Disraeli's "Wondrous Tale of Alroy :"
Why am I here! uvyou Dot heret and need I ucge a uroi^er plea T Oh, brother dear. 1
pcav you come and mingle in our futival I Our wallt are hung with flowera you love; 1
Of course, il soraelimes happens, even in the tnasler^, thai a line may here
and there be detached from the context and be made to scan. At the same
time, when read as prose, it may not ofTeiid against the rhythmic integrity of
the passage. But this is mere accident In a discussion of this very subject
Dr. Johnson pointed out that the accident might happen in ordinary con-
We nuke tuch vena Id comoioD coDvenanon.
When this accident goes unnoted, ivhen t
:he moment it is pointed out it distinctly jars on the ear.
Coleridge therefote made a mistake in dwelling on the hexametrical rhythm
of these passages in Isaiah :
Hear, O h».en>, and give ear, j O euih : for the Lord balb ipoken.
I have nouriabed and brought up children, I and (hey have rebelled ■gaioH DM
lie oi knoweih his owner j and the au hii naHet'i crtb :
And an equal evil hat been done t^ othei curio-hunters who have gone to
76«
HAHDY-BOOK OF
cad dm* I Dp with n I iheut : aur I LSrd with
ThbT U \ TiTfr (hi I flSwIiiE wUn- 1 M lUll
HiUli|ima>th«|cli#MJG«d< Ji-|h5vlhhl
An Ihtuhi I ihjb iti5uU9 cfime, fir | dS wi 1 1i
HIbbiDdl, I ISve tdOt I wlv». md I M i.fil [ b!ll«r I- I Elintl Ihlm.
Bllu'd 4re lb( I poor in | ipitll, [Br | tUin Ii ih« [ klngdBni U | hEivid.
The effect U far more discordant when the lines are made lo jingle
rhymes. Thus, most people will find that a noble passage in Lincoln's
ond inaugural has been utterly ruined for them by its reiolution into
hideous bit of doggerel :
FcrvcDily do we hope»
■entlyibweinmy.
Thai it contimK nndl —
...o the solemn sincerity of prose.
sometimes at fautl. A line like this is un-
pardonable :
Whmt I mxa p^Dg Eo mention, will perhaps deurve ynurHIlCDtioil.
In inferior writers we do not mind these lapses, and even find a curioua
Interest in noting such a quatrain as the following, which Dr. Whenell in bis
work on " Mechanics" had written as prose :
There is m> farce, however gnmt.
Into % hortlODUiym
Which b accuntely nrttighi.
The Rev. Chaancey C^les, in a lecture called "The Nature of Spirit,"
speikine of the sparroir in the egg, says, "These organs foretell another
world of ineffable perfections compared with the one in which it then dwelt,"
and then follow in prose order the lines which we thus break up into verse :
Tbey proE^kftv of air and liEhi,
Of ioyoui •«■■ ind »cul 11«hi,
Of worm vi leed for idl in H»d>
it should be *' succeeds," but the rhyme and the rhythm arc ruined by the
concluding words, " is fulfilled to the letter."
As a trick or humor, hidden verses have often been introduced into mock-
heroic or satirical piosc. In Washington Irving's " Knickerbocker" the fol-
lowing bit of blank verse appears as prose :
The g^lut varrior ituu from lofl repOK,
Where in the dulcet " piping Jinei of puce"
He foualil iireel Klue aner nil hi> toiU.
No mon in bauly-i dren lap reclined,
He welTei flir guiniHli for hi! lldy'l t«w> ;
No more (nlviiwi with flowen hli ihinins iword,
Northnnif^ the hrelong aunaier'i day cnuiti forth
Klf lovesick foul in madrlgnlm.
To manhood roDKd, he apuma (he amorout Hntc,
Dofli from hl> brawny back ihe robea of peace.
And cloihea fait pampered limb* Id panoply of >t*d.
O'er fall dark brow where lale <ht myiile waved,
He rean the beamli^ cuque and noddii^ plume,
Wlih eaier pride hli fiery need, and bumi
For devdt « glorlout chivalry.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 90 J
Som« critira have seen in the above only a apedmen of ui
A still more astonishing want of petceptiun in shown by a hunter of iitciary
bric-il'brac, who calls the Song of the Kettle in the " Cricliel on Ihe Hearth"
" an unintentional outburst on the part of the author," marvelling 10 find that
" ihe lines not only preserve their symmetry, but also rhyme with each
ll'fl aduk Djflhl, unf ihe kctil«. And ihe rotten lea* ei ue lying by the wAy;
Aad then u only DnerdieT id all ihe udutd murhy ur.
And 1 don't koow ihai U ii one. for it's nothiof but a glare
Of deep utd angry crinuon. where the aun and wind logether
Amftha wtdcH open conntry halang. duir>trnk cX black;
D» on the finEBT-poM) and thaw upon the tn
d tho wtdeH open co
couldn't say (hat anything waa what il
Luckily, no one can make (he same mistake about the hidden verses which
abound amid much other playful Cooling in Macaulay's Letters, — for Macaolay
himself has furnished the key in orK of them .'
Ht Dahlthg, — Why an t fluch a fool aa 10 write 10 a gypay al Liverpoot, who ftnciea that
none law good at ihe d ihe aendi one letter (or my three f Alaiy chit.whcne Sugera tire in
penning a page io reply to a quire I There, nu», yon read all the nrat lenience of my vpiwle,
and navar knen' that yod were reading vene.
When Mt. Coventry Palmore's "Angel in the House" was first published,
the Alhtnaum furnished the following tinique criticism :
The gentle nadei we appriK. That thii new Angel In the Houaa Contalnt a lale not lery
la fit, And baply fancla he hat wiil Another " In Memoriam." Aow his Intended gathered
the young, Bnt, reader, len you aay we tiuii The poei'irecDrdofhiaahe, Some little pinurea
yon ihalfiee. Not in our language bui in hli :
While thui 1 grieved and kisaed her glove,
My man brought in her note lo lay
Papa had bid her tend hi> love,
Tbey hadleamcd and piacdied Purcell'i glee
To ling it by to-moTTOw nigWi :
The poatKript wu — her liitern and ihe
From thoa* iweet friendi I rode to aoe
Waylayinri^'Tfun, vuiikU'to lea.
'~- ' -■■ -d thet;ou,in Fred
Honor'i favoriie.-grave,
e, bluff, but gently Bred,
air of the lalt wave.
neCoinln Fred; Hegivea no ingic nlichlef birth; There ar
yoB 10 abed, Unleu they nuiy be lean a mirrh. From baU 10 bed. ftom lield 10 ftrm. The lale
The real wllT come anaitaet day. If public aympalhy allowa' And thisiaall we have taaay
The following is even better. It appeared originally in Froier't Magaane
(il may also be found in Mai;lise and Maginn'a "Gallery of Illustrious Lit-
erary Characters") as the introductory portion of a notice of young Mr.
aoaa as high, and gleamLig tyt, of btiyamin L>ia<a4-ll, the wondcooi boy who wiola
HANDY-BOOK OF
ond'lwtid EliHi which, k ihe finl, wu never muiy ckgrHiTrom ihe worn,— namelv, Gcmum
UDt and HisK Dutch KniimcnuUty, maudlin mcULphytici and ruhbiiiUiig naJitV' Bui
Ihmc whQ would And bow Vivian wined with ihe MacchioneH of Puddiedock, ud oUiet
ET«i eraAdeet of Ihe kind, and how be ulked catbetic. and waxed eloquent and palbecic,
and biased bift Italian puppiei of Ihc f reyhound bieed, ihey have oniy tajead— if the work be
Hill alive—" VtvliD Grey.'' m volumei Ah,
mued, aaj tbe Moravian's deadly (eud; nor much of that fine book, which ii called Ihe
" YDunf Duke/' with hia illppcra of velvet blue, with daapi of inowy-whiie hue, made out
of thepcari'imatber.Drwinieequallv fine thing or other: and" Fleming" IConlarlni), which
war on (aulHtd by a whidiercd baron-hil name wai Von Ha[>u. w^^ Ger^kal \M»t.
Master Ben, with ready pen, put into English inan and jlngluhl. King Fhlliope and hia
court ; ai\d many other great warka of Ihe lame iort, — why, we leave them 10 the reader to
peruse; that il to say, if he ihcHild choDfe.
He lately uood for Wycombe, bul there Colonel Grey did lick him, he being parcel Tory
and parcel Radical,— which la what in general mad wc call; and Ibe laleK affair oTbb we
chanced id aee,is"Wluu 19 he?" a queatioo whkh,by ihb time, we have aomewhat an-
awcred in lhi> our pcdeatrian rhyme. Aa lor ihe nal, — bul writing rhyme ia, afur all, a
Poetical jusdo*. Uleiary men are in one thing superior to the gods.
Divine justice often lags ; at lis best il is somewhat lame and im|>olent. But
the justice of the dtaniatisi, tlie poel, and the novelisi is all-satishinc- In-
deeif, we have given the name poetical justice to an ideal distril)utiim of
rewards and punishmenls, based on individual deserls and representing the
concurring judgmen I of Ihe mora) law and of human sympatliy. Rare enough
with Providence, it hai been the creed or the practice of poets of all ages in
that imaginary realm which contrasts so slartlingljr with this " beat of all pos-
sible world*.
It is true that in the earlier Greek tragedy an unappeasable fate pursues
the innoceni and visits Ihe sins of an ancestor upon his race from generation
to generation. It is itue also that in some more modern masterpieces, as in
" Hamlet" and other Elizabethan dramas, the principle of relribution, which
is one uf the sternest demands of poetical justice, involves guilly and inno-
cent in one common ruin. Il is even true that here and there tn lileraiure
tbe guilty are exalted at the expense of the innocent. But these are only Ihe
proverbial exceptions which leave (he rule intact The sensitive conscience
of the reading public cannot often be trilled with. Its exactions were recog-
nized in the concluding formula of the good old lairy-slories, " ancl they were
married and lived happily ever afterwards," — or, as the Arabian Nights phrases
it with Oriental exuberance, "and so they remained feasting and enjoying
ail imaginable pleasures (ill (hey were visited by Ihe Terminator of Delights,
the Separator of Companionships." The thty in both instances refers, of
course, to the virtuous hero and heroine. Ogre and evil genius niiehl triumph
for a while, (hey gnashed (heir teeth or bit (he dusi in the end. 'The modern
novelist, no matter how he may harrow his reader's feelings in Ihe interme-
diate chapters, knows that his reader, after all, has tights, and sends hini
away in good humor at the last. Hero and heroine are married with a sulti-
cient income ; the faithful confidante carries away a lesser prize in the shape
of a curate or some worthy old bachelor friend uf the husband ; domestic bli.Hs
un the one hand, jail or death on (he other, are apportioned with the nicest sense
of individual deserts. Richardson's complacent enumeration of the petitions
he received to spare Clarissa and bring the enganng Lovelace to Chrislian
repentance, Charlotte Bronte's lively dew:tiption tn (he letters inquiring afttr
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 909
the fale of Paul Emanuel, — these are all eTtdences of the itrength of the
popular feeling.
Few writera have been as couraeeoua as Richardson and Misa Bronte, few
have dared to fly in the face of then admirers.
Scott makes humorous recognition of the remonstrances whicli forced him
to mar the last chapters of " Ivanhoe" by recalling Athelstane 10 life. Schiller
forsook history to give the Maid of Orleans a glorious death on the field of
battle, instead of the horrors of the trial and the stake at Rouen. Geoi^e
Sand, in her translation of '■ As You Like It," rectified Shakespeare's single
omission by providing a husband for Celia in the person of Jaques. Dion
Boucicault, knowing that the gods inhabited box and orchestra as well as
gallery, sacrificed to their divine instincts by rescuing the "Colleen Bawn"
irom the watery arave to which the author of "The Coliegiai
signed her. And Thackeray, though in his burlesc|uc of " Keoecca ai
Rowena" he had set himself to right the wrong which Scott, with all h
amiability, had done to Rebecca, and so married the hieh-souled Jeu
Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, — Thackeray, who had resisted the popular desiic to
see virtue crowned in the person of Colonel Newcome, was fain to add a
tentative conclusion to "The Newcomes," wherein the reader is allowed to
build up an earthly paradise of wedlock for Olive and Ethel.
Ukc Thackeray, George Eliot was usually content with the humbler level
of divine justice. She deals with her characters much as God deals with the
world. The good are never quite triumphant, the bad are never cast into the
outer darkness. Uccasionally a novelist with a love of paradoi seeks to
Startle his readers by making vice trium[ih over virtue to the very end; but
his example is only sparingly emulated.
Poets and poetiy. Coleridge's definition of poetry is well known. " I
wish," he said, "our clever young poets would remember my homely defini-
tionv of prose and poetry : that Is, prose, — words in their best order ; poelry,
— the best words in their best order." This sounds well, but in truth is mere
nonsense. Prose as well as poetry should aim to ^ve the best words in
their best order. But this is to destroy the aniithesB and 10 refute ihe at-
tempted definition. Matthew Arnold is more successful : " Poetry is a criti-
cism of life under the conditions of poetic truth and poetic beauty.''' Arnold
also quotes with approval and voluminously flosses Milton's dictum {Troiiaie
9/ Edutatiim) that poelry should be "more simple, sensuous, and passionate"
tlian "ornate rhelorick.''
Philip Jimes Bailey in " Feslus" tells us that
PoeU HR iH who lovt, who r«] gml Iruibl
And tcU (hem, and Ihe truth of tiulht it love.
" A poet with-
n if they
do not tell the g"reat truths if ' '
Their IniplmisD, and nichance the Ixit:
They fell and loued, .nc! died but vould not lend
Their ihoujfhtB In memncT bein£« ; they eompTflHcd
The ood within them, jtnd rejoiued (he itan
Holmes drop* a teu over these voiceless poets whom Byron apotbeo-
.d by Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
Alu for ihoK Hue devct iLng.
Bit dh wllh all iheir mujic In Ihcm r
Njty. grieve not for the dead alone
Toe cnH wltfaout ibe crown of G^ory T
" One meets now and then with polished men," says Emerson, " who know
everything, have tried everything, can do everything, and are quite superior
to letters and science. What could they not if only they would ?" Dr.
Johnson lamented that "those who are most capable of improving mankind
very frequently neglect to communicate their knowledge ; either because it is
more pleasing to gather ideas than to impart them, or because (o minds nat'
nrally great few things appear of so much imt>ortance as to deseTve the notice
of the public." "Great constitutions," says Sir Thomas Browne, "and such
as are constellated unto knowledge, do nothing till they outdo all ; they come
short oF themselves if they go not lieyond others, and must not sit down
under the degree of worthies. God expecls no lustre from the minor stars;
but if the sun should not illuminate all, it were a sin in nature."
If we are to believe Shelley, it is suffering Ihal drives men to poetry :
nched
They leBm in HBcring whai Ihey uach tu ua
— tbiu statinj; seriously the argument which Butler jests al
And poeu by Iheir tuRedngi graw,-.-
To nuke a po« Excelleu,
end dewoDdcncy uid m
That IT ii would tul BpimhcDd loine joy,
Or in the night, imaginiDg »ine fear.
Hdw eaiy ii a buih luppoied a bear \
Midiummtr Nigki; Dmm, Act v., Sc. 1.
Foliit, Pointer, in American slang, ihe same as its English equivalent,*
tip, a straight lip, which has now grown so common in America itself as to
oust the native slang from its pre-eminence. A pointer, the more usual form,
may be a sporting metaphor, derived from the dog that points out the where-
abouts of game. On the stock exchange it meam secret information um-
cerning some particular slock, and by eitei ' '- '
item of leliable and important information.
.d by Google
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. 91 1
Poltroon. A curious piece of history is wrapped up in the word " pol-
troon," supposing it to be indeed derived, as many excellent etymotogisti
have considered, from the LalJn fialUce Irunaii, one thai is deprived, or who
has deprived himself^ ai his ihunib. " We know that in old times a self-
mulilation of this description was iiol unfrequent on the part of some
cowardly, shirking fellow, who wished to escape his share in the defence of
his country ; he would cut off his right thumb, and at once become incapable
of drawing the t>ow, and thus useless for the wars. It was not to be wondered
at that Englishmen should have looked with eitremest disdain on one who
had BO basely exempted himself from aervii;e, nor that the fvllia Inmcitt, the
poltroon, lirsl applied to a coward of this sort, should afterwards become a
name of scorn affixed to every liase and cowardly evader of the duties and
dangers of life." {Trauk oh tVurdi.)
Fond of KioB*, a body of water in the arkcient town of Zaba, or Java, the
capital of the "mighty empire of Zabedj." This empire is said to haie ei-
tended from Cape Comorin to the southern frontier of China, Founded before
the Christian era, it flourished in ever- increasing splendor until the seventh
5 Maharajah, or Emperor
of Zabedj, every morning to go out to this pond, which lay in IronC of the
imperial palace, and cast into it an ingot of gold. On the death of each sover-
eign the ingots were fished up again and divided among Ibe household.
Poaa Aalnonun (L., Asses' Bridge] , a term humorously applied to the
Fifth Proposition, Book I., of EiKlid, — the angles at the base of an isosceles
triangle are equal to each other, — because it is the first difficulty met with in
Euclid, a hard bridge for the stupid to cross. The term is sometimes eatended
also to the 47Ih proposition of the same book,^the square of the hypoleoiue
of a right angled triangle is equal to the sum of the square of the two sides, —
but this is more often known as the Pythagorean Theorem.
Popnlna vnlt deolpl, et d«oiplatiiil (L., "The people wish to be
deceived, then let them be deceived !") a phrase attributed, on no very good
authority, to Cardinal Carlo Caraffa, legate of his uncle. Pope Paul IV. Its
German equivalent, "Die Well will belrogen sein," was a popular proverb
long before Caraffa's time, Bosauet says, "No man is more easily deceived
than he who hopes, for he aids in his own deceit," and Goethe. " Man is never
deceived, he deceives himself," Shakespeare expresses the idea moie pithily i
Thy wiib wu biher, Smttj. ta that ihooghl,
Htnrr /y.. Part II., Act iv.. So. 5-
Poroalkln. This word is derived hoin pour cml aimits, "for one hundred
years," it being formerly believed that the materials of porcelain were matured
underground one hundred years. It is not known who tirsl discovered the
art of making it, but the manufacture has been carried on in China, at King-
te-Ching, ever since the year 443. We first hear of it in Europe in ijSi,and
soon after this time it was known in England. The finest porcelain- ware,
known as Dresden china, was discovered by an apothecary's bov, named
Boeticher, in 170a Services of this ware have often cost tens of thousands
of dollars.
Poroelaln Regliiuot. A regiment in the Prussian army, from which the
present First Dragoons and the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Regiments of Cuiras-
siers claim to have sprung. King Frederick William, it appears, possessed a
number of very beautiful and precious specimens of porcelain, and an attempt
iru tnade by King August IL of Poland, who was also Elector of Sasony,
9" HAI^DY-BOOK OF
to purchase some of these through an agent in Berlin. King Frederick
William declined to sell any of his porcelain ; but King August, knowing bis
royal brother's passion for soldiers, offered him six hundred dragoons, without
horses, arms, equipment, or officers, in exchange for certain pieces. The
negotialiuus were carried on by Privy Councillor von Marschall on behair of
Prussia and lieutenant -General von Schmettau for King August, and ended
in [he transfer of the six hundred dragoons to the King uf Prussia, and nf a
number of the vases in the first place to Dresden, where some were added
lo the ruyal collection of china, and others were placed in the Johann Museum,
where they are still distinguished as the "dragoon vases." The men were
valued at twenty thalers each, and the whole regiment, consequently, at
twelve thousand thalers ; while the porcelain given in exchange for them
was considered to be worth considerably more, though it had been purchased
by the deceased king Frederick I. for a smaller sum.
Porttt-hoTiBB atftak. In New York City, fifty or more years ago, there
were established a number of so-called "porter- houses," — places where porter
and ale were sold. The tradition is that a beefeteak was called for at a
butcher's shop, and, none being on hand, a cat from a roas ting-piece, about
(o be sent to a porter-house, was given the customer. It proved so much
superior to the ordinary steak that when he called next he asked for porter-
house steak, so the cut became choice and the name popular. Nor was it
many years before the American invention had crossed the seas and become
known under the same name in England.
Portmantean words. In " Through the Looking- Glass," when Alice is
perpleicd by the poem of "The Jabbcrwocky" (sec under Nonsknsk) and
asks the meaning of "slilb]{," Humply Dumpty explains that it means "lithe"
and "slimy:" "You see, it's like a portmanteau; there are two meanings
packed up Jn one word." And in the preface lo "The Hunting of the Snark"
Mr. Carroll atUI further enlarges on the subject of portmanteau words : " For
instance, taVe the two words 'fuming' and 'furious.' Make up your mind
that you witl say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first.
Now open yooT mouth and i^ik. If your thoughts inchne ever so little
towards 'fuming,' you witl say 'fuming-furious ;' if they turn by even a hair't
breadth towards 'furious,' vou witl say ' furious-fuming ;' but if you have
that rarest of gifts, a perfectly -balanced mind, you will say ' frumious.' " And
he gives a Shakespearian illustration ; " Supposing that when Pistol uttered
the well-known words.
Under which kiof , BczodIu T Speak or die \
Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but
had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly aay either
name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, be would have
gasped 'Richiam'^" After all, Mr. Carioll has only given a name to the
method, and is entitled to all (he credit thereof. But the inventor of the
method was Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. Wishing to describe one of his
clergy (a certain Rev. W. H, Hoare, of Sussex) who combined the habits of
a country gentleman with the office of the priesthood, Wilberforce, instead
of saying that he was a squire and parson combined, joined the two words
into one and defined him as a "squarson." Later, when he had himself suc-
ceeded to a landed estate, a friend asked, "Why, Wilberforce, have you
become a squarson ?" " No." was the reply, " a tquirshop." Edmund Lear
was also an early pioneer of the practice. " Scroobius" and " borasdble" are
to be found in his first book of rhymes. In the third — but this may have been
when the influence of Lewis Carroll had begun to react upon him — we have
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 913
an allusion to the " torrible zone," which is one of the mnst beautlftil of port-
man lologisms. Of course, in real life, words of this kind are frequently
coined by nervous or absent -minded people, but they receive no place in
literature. A writer in the Sptitator tells us of a country rector in Ireland
who was liable to contort and tangle his words in strange fashion. " Thus,
we have heard him speak of the ' imperfurities' of man, when it was quite
ubviuus that he could not make up his mind between ' imperrection* and ' im-
purities,' and ended by amalgamating the two words into one."
_. is a truism that there is more joy in pursuit than in poi-
st^aaiuii. We find the scntimenl even so £ir back as in Pliny the Younger :
An Dt^ecl Id potKuion seLdoni retuni the vme chu-m (bit it bad [a ponuiE,.— Z^J^/rrf,
Shakespeare says, —
Ar witb more (pliit chuM Ihu enJoyEil.
— "" w'Lrk ^ "Am hc/nMlive bay.
With orer-wernhmd ril
VK<tr „/ WaJuJitld. cb. X.
and James Montgomery,—
Bliu Id pouodoB wni au but ;
RcDwmbered joys An Dflver paiE ;
Ibcy wen, Ib«y in' ihEy yc'i ihill be,—
TJu Uat4 Otai:
and Bums, —
Bdi pl«A>ur«« ufl like poppies ipnad.
Yon Kin the aower, iu Hoom » ibHl ;
Or like the now-bll In the riTcr,
A momeni vbilc, then mtlu ronver.
T»m *■ Shamttr.
Nor should T. B. Aldrich be forgotten :
Wben I bebold wbal pleunn i> Ponnll,
Wboi life, whu glotioiu eRgerueu ii ii,
more, ihit the hum
Th« niDEH iuecl, or the chryuiTi
Ii thnin uida with ubieIucuiii lacx.
Why".h""
Coogk"
914 HANDY-BOOK OF
PoBsnin, To play, an American colloqntalism, meaning to feign, to dis-
Bcmble, lo sham (tead, a quasi -equivalent ■" the old English slang " to sham
Abiahaui." Possum is the vernacutar abbreviation of opossum, and the
latter has a well-known irick of ihTOwing itself on its back and feigning death
on the approach of an enemy.
PcMterlt?. The appeal to posterity has been a favorite one with prophets
who imagined themselves unhonored in their own day and generaliuii. Pos-
terity will be wiser, better informed, less prejudiced, than the pieaent, therefore
they fondly imagine posterity must be on their side. Bui, as Disraeli said in
answer lo Sir Robert Peel, who had made this familiar appeal, " Very few
people reach posterity. Who among us may arrive at that destination, I
presume not to valicmate. Posterity is a most limited assembly. Those
gentlemen who reach posterity are not much more numerous than the planets."
Two line French mots have been discredited by the same sort of historians.
One is the cry of Desaix when mortally wounded at the very moment he had
turned defeat into victory at Marengo: "Tell the First Consul that I regret
dying before I have done enough to make my name known to posterity." But
the report of eye-witnesses is that he was killed instantly. The other is the
analogous speech of Andr^ Ch^nier, said to have been made in the fatal cart
that carried him lo the guillotine :. " I have done nothing for posterity ; never-
theless [striking his farehead| there was something there." The saying has
been traced to a poem by Loixerolles on the death of his father, who shared
Ch^nier's prison. It was happily said by Byron, in a letter lo Moore, that a
foreign nation is a sort of contemporaneous poslerity. The' phrase, however,
is imitated from Franklin, who, speaking of the English,said, " We are a kind
of posterity in respect lo them," (LctUr le WUliam SlTalian.\ And again,
in a letter to Washington written from Paris, March S, 1780, " Here you would
know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand
leagues have nearly the same ellecl with a thousand years." But Chatles
Lamb would away wiih all regard for posterity. " Hang posterity I" he cried.
" I will write for antiquity." In a similar spirit Sir Boyle Roche asked the
Irish Parliament, "Why should we legislate lor posterity? What has posterity
ever done for us ?" a phrase which John Trumbull echoed in his " McFingal,''
Canto ii. :
And obliaatloD id posleriiy.
We get Uiem, bear rhem, breed, and niine :
Whu hupnieriiy done for ui.
Mm) Uini'i DuiiLks'tD'^pe of uddkT'
In a speech made June 3, 1S61, Dtsraeil accused Palmerslon of "seeming
to think that poslerity is a pack-horse always loaded."
Potwallop«r. Before the Reform Act of 1831 the members of Parlia-
ment for certain boroughs in England were elected by household franchisers,
the only qualification required of the electors being the fact of their having
been settled in the parish for six months, the settlement being considered suf
ficiently proved if the claimant had boiled his own pot within its boundaries
for the required period, — mtUl meaning lo " boil :" out of these elements, ptil,
vaU, uf, or "pot boil up," was constructed the melodious name Potwaltopcr,
whereby those voters became known who appeared in the borough just before
an election, and immediately afterwards disappeared as mysteriously as they
had come.
Poor «iicai)rag«r !«■ atttrea {Fr,, "To encourage the others"), a satiri-
' )h rase, first applied by Voltaire in "Candide" to the execution by the
' >f Admiral Byng {1757) for having failed to raise the siege of Minorca.
iiglish of A
. Cookie
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 915
Candide, in chap, xxiii., accidenlallv wimesua ihe eieculion, and a»k» of the
by-8tanders who was the man thai had been killed so ceremoniously. " ' It's
an admiral,' Ihey lold him. 'And why kill ihis admiral?' 'Because,' said
ihey, 'he didn't cause enough people to be killed; he engaged in battle
witli ■ French admiral, and it was found thai he was not near enough lo
him.' ' Dul,' said Candide. 'the French admiral was as far from Ihe Eng-
lish as ihe latler was from the other.' 'That is i neon lettable,' was Ihe reply,
'bul in this country il is well to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage
the others.' " Tha phrase has passed into literature, generally as a sarcastic
commenl on any excessive punishment.
Poor le Rol de Pnuae. In the beginning of the eighteenth century the
now so powerful German Empire was nothing more than the little kingdom
of Prussia, having just dropped its title of Duchy of Braiideiibuig. The
country was very poor, ana the military discipline very hard. Frederick
William I. was very harsh, cross, and stingy, and did not even know, perhaps,
what it was to make a present And his reputation was so well grounded
and BO widely spread that it became a by-word to say that a man had worked
for the King of Prussia when he had done some unproiitabie job.
Pow«r [or Ollloa} proToa tta« man, a proverb of classic anliouity. Aris-
totle, in his "Ethics," Book v., ch. i., attributes it to Bias, Plutarch also
refers to it in his comparison of Demosthenes and Cicero, glossing it thus :
" It is an observation no less just than common, that nothing makes so thor-
ough a trial of a man's disposition as power and authority, for they awaken
every passion and discover every latent vice." In his life of Epaminondas he
also notices the converse of the proposition in the case of Epaminondas, who
accepted the office of police magistrate thai had been offered him by the The-
bans out of contumely, and dignified it through the foice of his personality.
Compare also the characlerizalion of Galba by Tacitus : " He seemed greater
than a private person while he lived in privacy, and by Ihe consent of every-
body would have been held capable of ruling had he never ruled" ("Major
privalo visus dum privatus fuil, e( omnium consensu Capax imperii nisi im-
perasset," — Lib. i,, cap. xlix,). The Germans have two opiiniistic proverbs,
" The office teaches the man," and " To whom God gives an office he gives
understanding also," which are approvingly echoed Tjy Selden, " A great
place strangely qualifies," says Ihe latler. "John Read was groom of the
chamber lo my lord of KenL Attorney-General Roy being dead, some were
saying, how would the king do for a fit man ? ' Why, any man,' says John
Read, 'may execute the place.' 'I warrant,' says my lord, 'thou thinkest
thou understandesl enough lo perform it." ' Ves,' quoth John, ■ let the king
make me attorney, and I would fain see the man thai duSt tell me there's
anything I understand not'"
Fraotloe and Freoapt That practice and precept rarely agree is a
commonplace of experience. That they ought lo agree is a commonplace of
ethics. Yet the preacher himself has often acknowledged his inability to live
up to his doctrine. " Do as I say, not as I do," was, according to Boccaccio,
Book ili.. Story vii., a common phrase among the Italian monk^ of his day, who
thought "Ihey had answered well and were absolved from all crime" when
they repeated it There may be a reference here to the words of Jesus; "The
scrMxs and Ihe Pharisees sit in Moses' seat : all therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, Ihat observe and do ; bul do nol ye after their works ; for
Ihey say, and do not" The maxim is also illuslrated in Ihe familiar story in
Ihe "Gesia Romanorum" of the priest who was twitted on his immorality.
He led his critic to the head of a stream, where it was found that the waters
gushed out of tbe skeleton mouth of a dead dog. Yet the waters were pure
9i6 HAl^DY-BOOK OF
and sweet Eren bo the gospel remained incorruptible, though it came through
~ the lips of corruption. Something of the lame doctrine is taught bj Orid :
Vid» mdioni prnboqoc,
Dvterion Kquor,
MilamarfluHi, ya. to.
(" 1 i« Uk risht, ud t upproH it too,
CondeuB the wuhib. Had ya Ibe wrou punue."
Tmlt ind SlnnlT^t IramlatiHi.)
Petrarch has much the same sentiment :
I knD* wid love ifac good, yM, ah I the vroog pamR,
&m<ul CCXXV. !
and Shakespeare ;
If lo do were jia eaay u lo know wbal were food to do, chapelt fud b«ed chun:b^^ ud
poor dkd'b CDtugc« pnoces' paUce*- — MtrckMiu j/ ynrict, Act E., Sc. 9.
Probably all of these are more or less direct dMcenduiis from the New
Testament :
For the good llul I would I do not ^ but lb* ctU which I would not, tbu I do.—JCMiulu
On the other hand, we have Goldsmith saying of Burke, —
Hb ciniduct Kill right, with hi> Migumail wnuiir.
Jltl4iSatum, I. 46.
" Who now reads Cowley i" asks Pope. Evidently Pope did. Cowley, in
his poem " On the Death of Craahaw," had said, —
H'a/aili, pcrhipt, io ume nice tcneu might
Bewroi^; hii/^i, I'm .ure.wM in the right.
Pope, in his" Essay on Man," borrows the thought without acknowledgment:
w ethics of the case :
DUldHd,
,__ (Wi, Coocotd. July 4.
Milton had already said, very 6nely, " He who would not be frustrate of hia
hope to write well hereafter in lautbble thing* ought himself to be a true
poem." — Apelenfor Snuttymmaa.
Young, Goldsmith, Shakespeare, and Chaucer enforce the satne moral,
Voung making all due allowances for human weakness :
Hiy purpoK firm li equnt 10 '
Wh'
doei
Bos well
■cu uohly ; ugelt oMild no more.
NI^TI^mtU..
M ■ tdnl each fond esdeumtol Iria
St
•s.
«h »M. reprevtd «ch dull dd.y.
Alluiedto
brighter world*, end led the wey.
7%( DturUd ViOaet, \. 167.
Do
Sho
;\ir#.r.i^^^j;dsr=
Whil
AnS"
»ck>
not hit own ndt.
Thb
noble
TW
But
Gm
lof.,udU..po.tle>twelTe,
but fint ht folwed it hlnuelve.
Heuivht
Coogk"
tITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. i) 1 7
John Armstrong (1709-1779) hu been raved rrom oblivion by the last line
Tl^
he pnctUcd wh«t he pmc)
Pralsa from Sir Hubert la pralae Indeed, >
ftom Thomas Morion's drama "A Cure for ihe Hearlacbe," Act li.. Sc I,
where it is less tersely put as " Ajjprobation from Sir Habert Stanley is praise
indeed." Morion probably had in mind the Latin phrase "Laudarl a viro
laudato" (" To be praised by a man who ia himself praised").
Frayei. In " The Passing of Arthur" Tennyson makes the departing king
say to Sir Bedivere, —
More thuip vc wTouflht by prayer
Thu ihli WDcId dnaiiu oS. Wbcntbn lii thy viricc
Rise like m fmDUun [or me night uid day.
For what arc men heller than iheep or e(h1b
TbM Bouruh a blind lif* wiibbi the tHiin,
If. kODwing God. they lift Ddi handi of prmyer
Both for Ihemidva and thoK who call ihem friendT
For to the whole ramid worid !• every woy
Bound by gold cbaini about the feet of God.
This seemi like a reminiscence of the phrase in Burton, —
And tbii [3 that Homer's golden chain which Rmchetfa down from heaven locanh. by which
Sec. i., Memb.?.'suS!.i." ™ ™ ■ "^
which was also utilized by Pope :
Vau chain of being, which fron God be
ly^Mtlanclulf,Viu\n
Nature* ethereal^ bii
<hiqg . On ujperior \
No gUlH (an leach : from InRnile la Ibee,
From thee to Nolhioi "
Or in the liiU^aiioi
Where, one uep broken, the great tcale'i denroyed :
From Nature's chain vhaievcr link you strike,
Tenth or tai-thouiandih, breaks tbc chain alike.
£iiar « Mix, Ep. i., 1. 137.
Or waa Pope borrowing from Waller ?—
The chwn that's find to the Ihcone at Jove,
On which the fabrk of our worid depends,
One link dissdved, the whole creation ends.
Of tit Daniir nil Mvatt Eitm^.
Still more interesting is an analogous passage in one of Tennyson's greatest
contemporaries :
The Maker hu linked together the whole nee of man wlih this chsjn of love. I like to
think ihai then is no nian hut has had kindly feelings for some other, and he for hii neighbor,
until we bind together the wliole fitmily of Adam. Nor does it eod here. It joins heavoi
and esnh lo^eiher. For my friend or my child of post days is Hill my friend or my child to
me hoe, or ID the home prepared for us by the Faiiier of all. If Identity survives the grave,
as our Gillh tells us, is it not a consolaclon to think that there may be one or two souls among
the purilied and just, whoK affection walcbes us Invisible, aad fallows the poor ilnner on
eatiht— THACKaKAv: Otrnhill tc Otirt.
St. John Chrysostom was learned in Greek literature, and it would be curious
if «re could trace to a classic model the exquisite prayer composed by him ;
" Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be
most expedient for them." This is not a scriptural idea, btjt there is some-
Ihitig not unlike it in a prayer by an unknown poet, which is highly commended
by Plato '. " Father Jove, grant ut good, whether we pray for it or not : and
77"
9i8 HANDY-BOOK OF
avert from ub evil, even though we pray for it" And one of the rraenienls
of Menander runs. M^ /hm ybmiS d ffoiioi^ OX i ovfi^ifia (" Let not thai happen
which I wish, but Lhai which is right"). Compare the lines
nukftd, wlui £ood tl ^ _ .
Wbai ill, tbouch uked, deny,
in Pope's " Universal Prajrer j" also (he Collect beginning " AlmiBbly God,
the founiain of all wisdom, who knowesi our necessities before we atk, and
our ignorance in asking."
James Merrick (1710-1769) says, —
N« wbu n wbh. bul what « wuil,
Oh, Id Ihy iTXce nipply \
PrAotenaM, L«a, ihe name by which the members of the Society of the
H6lel Rambouillel were called. Il was an association of pseudo-savanis of
both sexes in France in the first half ai the sevenleenlh century, who in-
dulged in a minture of ridiculous philosophy and gush.
The usages of the coteries into which they were subdivided were most
grotesque ; the women affected toward each other Ihe most exaggerated show
of romantic sentiment ; they called one another by no other names than imt
i:A>rc, Ma frAuuu, nhicti soon became the general designation of its members.
When the hour approached for her levee, the female " precious" jumped into
bed, where she laniuished as the habitues of her circle trooped in and
ranged themselves about the alcove. To obtain an etUr/e into the charmed
circle the young aspirants were obliged to prove to the satisfaction of the
"grands introducteurs de ruelles" that they had risen to a comprehension of
the "end of all things, Ihe great end or end of ends," which done, Ihey were
duljr presented. Each "pr^cieuse" had a cavalier, called Ihe "alcoviste,"
who was peculiarly devoted to her service and helped do the honors and
direct the conversation at these peculiar enterlainmcnis. The subjects were
grave dissertations upon frivolous questions, trivial researches to understand
the meaning of an enigma, speculations upon the metaphysics of love and
Ihe sublimations of sentiment, all discussed with an exaggerated delicacy of
manner and puerile refinement of expression.
They finally succumbed to the laughter of Moliire in his " Prjcieuse*
Ridicules."
Charles Edward Stuart, aa the Young Pretender. I'he Acts of Settlement
passed in the reign of William III. (1701-1708) secured the succession of the
House of Hanover, The Old Pretender made some vain attempts to recover
the kingdom, but in 1743 surrendered his claims to his son, who in the fol-
lowing year invaded Great Britain, by way of Scotland, and fought gallantly
but was signally defeated at Culloden in 1746.
The extempore addressed by John Byrom lo an officer of the army presents
a phase of the perplexities of the politics of the time :
God Mot ifae King— I oiean the Giiih'i dtrcnder :
God blvH— DQ hftrn in bkuioE — ihe Pretender:
But who Pnunder ii, or who a Klng,~
God biw iH all,— i> quite another ihing.
Pr«T«iitton U bottar than oara, or, more at length, An ounce of pre-
vention is worth a pound of cure, a common English proverb which finds
analogues more or less close in most languages. Ovid's " Prtnciplis obsla"
{f- f.) embodies a similar idea, and so does Persius's "Venienti occu ''
morbo" {Satira, iii. 64). A closer parallel is quoted in the 'Adagia'
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 9I9
Erasmus; "Satius est initiis mederi, auam fini" ("It is better to doctor at
the beginning than al the end"). The Chinese say, "To correct an evil when
already eiliiting is not so good as being aware ol it when not existing."
Pride that ap*a hnmllity. Coleridge in the u
Devil's Thoughts," which he and Soulhey were to w
the following among other verses :
A coiraae of gmlJlit j ;
Soathey rather spoiled the stanza by attempting to
He [uued a coiiae^ with a double cx>
And DC owned, with a erin.
When Diogenes Irampled apon a couch at 1
" I trample upon Plato's prfde," the latter quii
pride, Dit^enes." The Abb£ Maury ridicule
members of the noblati in the National Assem
n see thy pride through the holes in
Pride's Pnrge, the purgation of the " Long Parliament," realty an un.
precedenled and violent invasion of parliamentary privilege, in 1649. Two
regiments of soldiers entered Ihe House of Parliament, seiied in the passage
and arrested the forty-one members of the Presbyterian party, excluded one
hundred and sixty others, and would admit none but the most violent and
vociferous of the Independents. These proceedings were called "Pride's
Purge," from the fact that the soldiery were under the command of Colonel
Pride.
What was led of the purged Parliament became known as "the Rump."
The purgation was completed by Oliver Cromwell on April 20. 1653, when he
entered the chamber, and, after Some preliminary remarks, concluded, —
Parlurncnl for tisd't people I Depul, I uy. and lei ii> hsve dmiE whh you I In the nanu
of God— «oI"
•cene u waA n^ver vxa before in any House of Oooitnoni. Hiilory reporu with ■ ihiidder
thai my Lord deneraL. llfiLng the ucted maa ilMlf, Hid, " Whu ilull we da with this
uyt he lo HajTifton, Raihinc on the Speaker. Speaker LenthaLI, more an ancient KoRian
Ihan anylhine rl>e, declare! Re will not come till foreed. " Sir," uld Harriton, " I will lend
you a hand:'' on wfairh Sotaker Lrnthall came down, and gloomily vanished. They all
ipe<.itve places S abode, ^e " Lone Ptrllamem" la diuolved t . . . tbc unjpaliabie
calaslropbehu come.— and remain*.— OiaiVLB ; Cramnniri trilrrt aaJ S^tcliri.
PriuoM and lord*. A famous sentiment in Goldsmith's "Deserted
Village" runs as follows :
Rui ■ bold peaunxry their country's pride.
9"o HANDY-BOOK OP
amith hia touched it wilh the migic of his own geniui : " nihil tetigit quod
BpiitU I., Book U.
Still closer came De Caux, who, camparing the world to his looking-glass,
had said, —
C'eHiUKEinqmliiil,
Qu'nn loufflc peul (Klniirt, « qu'iui utifflt ■ produh.
C It ii ■ ihliilng gkis. vliiizh ■ broth may deuray. ud which • brealh bu produced."]
Ai Goldsmith borrowed, so he was boirowed from in return. Barns, in
the "Cotter's Saturday Night," has,—
Priocf* jtnd lords iir bat th« breuh of kbgs,
" An hoBcu oiu'b the iioWe« work of God,
the last line being, of course, a quotation (ram Pope. Burns varies the
thought in another of his poems :
A prino* CAD nuk* & belted kolfhl,
A muiquu, duke, uid a' tbv,
But ui hooeu mut ■ AboDB hii nigbt -
Guid (aitli, ha mwiiui I*' dul.
Burns's words were anticipated by Wjrcherley in his "Plain Dealer," Act
i., Sc. I : " I weigh Ihe man, not his title ; 'lis not the king's stamp can make
the meial Ixlter." From Wycherley Sleme probably stole it ; for when
stealing is in question, the presumption is always against Sterne. " Honors,
like impressions upon coin, may give an ideal and local value to a tnl of base
metal ; but gold and silver will pass all (he world over without any other
recommendation than their own weight," he says in "Tristram Shandy."
Now, all these sayings, so different in form but so alike in sulntance, are
but illustrations of the idea to which Pope has given these words :
HoDiK and Ihinie froin do condilioo riu ;
Act well your pan, there iJI the honor liea.
The Gennaus express it in the proverb. —
Edd Kvn ftt gar tiel mehr
All adlis Kyn von den EluiB ha,
C The noble in hinuell ii woRh much Dim
Tbwi the nere heir oT Hich u lived oT yore,")
a good democratic maxim, in substance embodied in the Dedaration of Inde-
pendence, and as old as human nature. We find it in one form or other in
the oldest books, — the Talmud, for instance, where il is thus expressed :
" Not the place honors the man, but the man the place."
PrinclpUs obatft (L., " Meet Ihe becinnings"), an oft-quoted phrase from
Ovid's " Kemedium Amoris," line 91. "Medicine," ibe poel adds, in explan
>o lale when the evil has gained strength by long delay," The
French have an analogous expression : " Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coflle"
(" It is only Ibe first step that costs"). Madame du Delfand. in a letter lo
Horace Walpole, June 6, 1767, relates how Cardinal Polignac, a man of vast
credulity, told her the old story of the martyrdom of Sl Denis, who, after
decapitation, walked two leagues wilh his heati in his hand to the spot where
his church was afterwards erected. The cardinal laid special stress on the
distance Iraversed. "The distance is nothing," quoth Madame ; "'its only
the Rrst step Ihat costs" (" La distance n'y fait rien ; il n'y ■ que le premier
paa qui coAte").
;i:,vG00gk'
UTERARY CURIOSITIES.
We mufi be walchFul. apedally En iIh be^nnlne of ifmputioD, bvatuvc Lhtn the eHmy a
iaimd''irhb"flni kD«;k° ^^acm^i^maklM'i"'wHlutaxdtlUkigimi^: aTiEr-
Pllaoo. When Guildenalein oWecta to Hamlet's remark ihat Denmark
is a prison, the prince explains, "There is nothing either good or bad but
ihinking makes it go; to me LI is a prison." (Act ii., Sc I.) In Howel'a
" Letters" we find him ?triting from his pri^n (o a friend in France, " There
is a wise saying in the country where you sojourn now, 'Ce n'est paa la place
roais la pens^e qui fail la prison,' " which is e^iaclly Hamlet's idea. A famous
amplification of the thought occurs in the fourlh slanza of Richard Lovelace's
poem "To Allhea from Prison ;"
ir I have insAam ia my love,
Now, there is a curious parallelism, not only in the lines, but also in the cir-
cumstances of Iheir composition, with the following by the conleropotary
French poet Pellisson :
Z^oabla grille* i gtiM doui,
xriEsSit^Ti^jjBV'in^hiiiie.
VouarepriMOKil'eDler;
Vom n-tiet que du boil, ia fer.
A comparison of dates, howerer, proves that Lovelace was first in ihe fU'4.
He was imprisoned by the Lon^ Parliament in 1648, and died in 165S. Pel<
lisEon was not sent to the Baslile until 1661. and wrote his lines on the walls
of his cell. But Lovelace may have remembered his Shakespeare, not onl*
Ihe passage quoted from " Hamlet," but (he following from Ihe Sonnets :
Cu be retenlivt of lbs KrcnEtb of ipirit.
« 393
>sfoll<
fiewmre, LarcnroT 4 flow. Hidden deHlh.
Be wiie ID-day , 'tis madneu to dcTer ;
Me« day Ihe futti pnctdent will plead ;
Thiu on, till wisdom is pushed out of lUe.
Ptocntiinatwn i> the Ibief of time;
V«r after year it Meals, till all are fled,
Tbe vast concerns of an eienal icene.
There Is ■ reminiscence here of Congreve'a tines, —
Proverbial and written literature are full of similar lessons : " Delays are
dangerous." "Strike while Ihe iron is hot," "Take lime by the forelock," — these
proverbs are cosmopotiun. " Make hay white the sun shines" is peculiarly
9Ja HANDY-BOOK OF
English, and especially appropriate to the variable climate of England. Here
are a few more proverbs of similar application :
God ktep you from ' li Ji loo 1»k.'— Yobii*.
When the foot bai mmde up hit miDd lb« nurkel hu goae by.— /^if.
Say biH a whtl*, you lo»e a mile. — DuUh,
The latter may also be found in Heywood's " Proverbs" in the following
When the iteed to itolBe, ibul iht HiMc durre.—
and is even more neatly expressed in another French proverb, ** After death
the doctor," parallel to the ancient Greek Hcril mktuav ^ miiifiaxia, ax the
Lalin " Post bellum, auxilium" (" After Ihe war come the allies"). Quintilian
quotes tlie latter, and he further asks, " Quid quod medicina morluorum sera
est? Quid quod nemo aquam infundit in cineres?" ("What medicine is
good for the dead 1 Why does no one pour water on ashes ?" — i,e., after the
Rouse has been burnt.)
The last lines credited to Swifl, written in a lucid moment just l>efore his
death, were su^ested by a magazine for arms and powder erected in Phcenix
Park, Dublin :
Behold B proor o\ IHih MDH I
Here Iriih wit i> leeu :
When oolhiDg'l left for our detcDce,
Wc buUd > iDac*>iDe.
Dryden says, —
^ Typ-aaitTu^, An i., St i :
and Shakespeare, —
DetfLVS bav« dangawn enda,
Htnry Vl., Pari I., Act iii., St. ■;
— a maiim which he further enforces in " Macbeth ;"
This maxim is also enforced in the bmous Italian proverb, " Cosa btta
capo ha," explained by Torriano in the seventeenth century as meaning " A
deed done has an end," by Giusli in the nineteenth as "A deed done has a
beginning ;" i.t., if you would accomplish anything don't stop to think over
il, but begin at once. It will be remembered that this proverb is the "bad
word" to which Dante attributes the origin of the Guetf and Ghibelline feuds.
When Biiondetmonte broke his plighted troth to a maiden of the Amadei
family, her kinsmen assembled lo discuss revenge. Plan after plan was sug-
geated. At last Mosca Lamberti cried out, " Those who talk much do nothing.
Cesa fyita tafo ka !" The hint was enough. Buondelmonie was murdered,
and Tuscany was plunged into a civil war.
Prohlbitloillat. A political parly of one idea, — the prohibition Inr law of
the sale and manufactute of intoxicating drinks. Neal Dow, of Maine, is
prominent as the organizer of ils earliest campaigns. Its first important sue-
" '■" -nlof the Maine Law (y. II.). Since 1871 the Prohibition*
Goo^If
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 983
in t84a St. Ambroae had taught a not dissimilar doctrine : "Superttuum
quud tenes tu furaris" ("The supe^fluoa^l properly whicti you hold you have
stolen"}. And only half a century before Proudhon, Brissol, in his " Pliilo-
sophical Reseaiclies on the Right of Properly," had writien, " Exclusive prop-
erty is a robbery in nature." The phrase ilself died wiih him, when Proud-
hon resuscitated il by endowing it with the soul of wit in ihe caiching
phrase, " La propriiii, c'esi le vol." Emerson agrees with Proudhon :
" In the last analysis all properly is Iheft."
Pobllo ba dBmued, a famous phrase attributed to William K. Vander-
bill in a newspaper interview when the question of the rights of the public
who palTonixed the New Vork Central Kailruad came up loT discussion. It
went the lenglh and breadth of the land, and sreally increased his unpopu-
larity wilh the masses. A very similar expression became equally notorious
a cenlurr and a half earlier. In 173a an ostensibly charitable organization
WAS eslablished in London to lend money to the poor un pledges. The
managers were mainly members of the House of Commons. The scheme
E roved lo be so ruinous to its palroiis that an inquiry was institiiled by Par-
amenl which led to its suppression. Three of the managers, Bond, Suiion,
and Grant, were expelled from the House of Commons. By a report of ihe
commission appointed to examine into the matter, it appeared thai when
objeclion had once been made to an intended removal of the office, on the
■core that the poor, for whose use it had been erected, would be hurt. Bond
had replied, " Damn the poor." Pope makes a reference tu this phrase in
his " Moral Essays," Epistle iii., L 100 :
Pcrlup« you Ibink Iht poor miglii h^ve (heir pan T
Publlo offioe Ifl a pnbUo tmat,
rallying-cry of the civil service reformer , . _, ^ .
Grover Cleveland in the Presidential campaign of 1884, has frequently tK . ..
attributed to Cleveland himself Bui though the sentiment is his, the words
are pot. Indeed, so far back as May 31, 1872. Charles Sumner said, "The
fhrase ' public office is a public trust' has of late became common properly."
ossibly the real origin may be traced tu John C. Calhoun, in a speech made
July n, 183s ; " The very essence of a free government consists in consider-
ing omces as public trusts, bestowed for Ihe good of the country, and not for
the benefit of an individual or a party."
Poll down your vest, an American colloquialism, meaning, originally,
" Attend lo your own business," but now used as a mere senseless exclama-
tion of witlings. Il comes to us from the time when trousers and waistcoats
were alike shorter than they are at present, and when a wide gap of linen
shirt induced Careful molhers or wives, or discriminating friends, to use ihe
adjuration lo the negligent The phrase soon became general, and for 4. time
was used aJiaiiiiam.
PniL He -who will make a pun will pick a pocket. This is usually
quoted as ■ saying of Dr. Johnson's, but there is no evidence that the latter
even adopted it John Dennis. Ihe critic, seems to have been the real author,
according to a story totd by Benjamin Victor, treasurer of Drury Lane
Theatre, in an epistle to Sir Richard Steele, London, 1722, when Johnson
$34 HANDY-BOOK OF
t/aa a boy of thirteen. Dennis mel Congreve and Daniel Purcell, faiaous is
a punster, in a tavern. Purcell wished to lid himtelf of Dennis's company,
and knew nothing would be more effective than a bad pun. He pulled the
bell and called without an answer. Then, putting his hand under the table, be
said to Dennis, "This table is like the Uvern." " How so?" asked the critic
*' Why, because there's ne'er a drawer in il" "Sir," cried Dennis, starling
up, "the man that will make such an execrable pun in my company will pick
my pocket I" and so left the room. A correspondent of MiUt atu/ Qucriti
gives the Dt. Johnson story with much particularin of detail : " I rememhcr,
many years ago, reading an anecdote of Johnson^ dislike to punning, and
his witty rejcundet to an observation of Boswell's thereupon ; out as Nolti
and Qiitria had then no existence, 1 did not 'make a note on't,' and the
source at the anecdote has passed away from my memory. The story was
told in the following way : ' Sir,' said Johnson, ' I hate a pun. A man who
wonld perpetrate a pun would have little hesitation in picking a pocket.'
Upon this, Boswell hinted that his illustrious friend's dislike to this species
of small wit might arise from his inability to play upon words. 'Sir,' roared
Johnson, 'if 1 were punish-ed for every pun 1 shed, there would not be left a
puny shed of my punnish head' "
Every lady in tlii> In
from Mother Goose
If a semicolon be placed af^er the noun in each line eicept the lut, Ibese
absurd jingles will be resolved into sobriety.
There is an old French proverb which runs, " Faute d'un point Martin
perdil son Ine" (" Through want of a stop Martin lost his ass"). This saying
has a story behind it, which was probably invented in the Middle Ages by
some whimsical scribe who desired to impress upon his pupils the importance
of punctuation. A priest named Martin having been appointed abbot of *
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 925
retigioui house called Asello ("the Ass") caused this inicriptkm to be placed
over the gates :
NuUrcfTudTiur huiulo.
('* L«l Ehe £ai« Hind open, ID DO hoDeu mu b« that-")
The ignoiant brother whii put up the inscription placed the comma after
mm///, and so completely altered the sense, making the verse read, " Gale be
thou open to none, be shut against every honest man." The pope, learning
of this uncharitable inscription, took u]i the matter seriously and deposed the
unlucky abboL His successor was careful to correct the punctuation of the
verse, to which the following line was added ; " Pro solo puiicto caruit Martinus
Asello" (" For a single stop Martin lost Asello"). The abbey disappeared,
the proverb remains, and, the word Aidle being misunderstood, we have the
French saving referred to.
Again, ttiere is the more or less apocryphal story of the man who, wishing
to learn if it would be safe for hiiD to go to battle, received this answer from
the i>racle : " Ibis redibis non morieris in bello." If you put a comma after
rtdibis the Iranslalion is, " You will go, you will return, you will not die in
battle 1" but if you put the comma after non, you get, "You will go, you will
return not, you will die in battle." But, as the ancients had only a veVy rudi-
mentary system of punctuation, the decision depended rather upon vocal stress
than upon written symbols. Shakespeare knew the value of correct punctu-
ation, and in bis "Midsummer Night's Dream," Act v., Sc I, be causes the
actor to make sad "pi" of the prologue which he had been appointed to de-
liver, by persistent misplacing of stops. Even yet the commentators have not
decided upon the punctuation, and therefore upon the meaning, of the famous
phrase "the beginning of the end" (see under End, The Beginning optiik),
which occurs in this very prologue. Other famous disputed paaaagea depend
for their interpretation upon the correct placing of a comma or 3 period.
Take the two lines addressed by Cleopatra to the messenger whu had brought
her news of Antony's marriage to Ociavia. The folio gives them thug :
O that hit butt thould make « knave of tb««,
Tbai an iwi whai ibnu-R iiirE oTI Get ih« hence.
Anlny and Cltopalra. Act U., Sc. j.
Suome commentators profess to see no ditHculty here. " Nothing," says one,
"can be clearer than (hat she is separating the man from the ofRce. The
sense is obtained by these two simple equations, ' thee, that art not' = the
innocent messenger, ' what Ihou'rt sure of = the offending message. The
sense is, ' thou that art not to be confounded with thy foul message, yet see mest
to be tarred with the same brush.' " But Steevens, Keigbtley, and others
would change the punctuation of the second line thus :
ThuutuHl WhalT ihDu'nureof 'II Get thee bence.
Undoubtedly the sense is much simplified by this alternate reading.
Another instance is afforded in the passage in "Macbeth," Act v., Sc. ;,
which Forrest, contrary to all precedent, used to read thus :
HugMlourtHnneni. Ob the ouler Willi
The cry u Mill, They come.
Perhaps the most astonishing bit of emended punctuation that ever was
su^ested is by Fredericks Beardsley Gilchrist in her " True Story of Hamlet
and Ophelia." She truly says,_
„ .. .1 . .. .^^ J gjyjji^j destroys all other theories. "
ibie lo misunderstand, not specii ,
of the play ; during that time no satis&u
HANDY-BOOK OF
And Jiall I couple beu" Ofiel ' * * "''
It seems (hat the punctuation is wrong. The last line should read, —
And ihilt I couple! Hell! OKe!
" Wc know," says the author, " that no fault was more common than the in-
terchange or omission of ? and I ; and this I believe is what Shakespeaie wrote."
' ' '' ■■'■■■ The bearing of this remarkable emendation
mother's frailty. " Heavens and earth !" cries Hamlet, q
of the modern tough, "And after this shall I also marry r neii i nor
He at once gives up his love for Ophelia, and thus, hia young life being
devasuted, the rest of his history is as clear as moonshine. The entire text is
gone over, scene by scene, and it is clear to the author that there are no diffi-
culties which do not disappear before the formula of "shall I couple," etc
The importance of a comma has often been tested in law.
One of the most expensive blunders ever made in the legislation of the
United Slates was also one of the most apparently insignificaiiL
The misplacement of a comma cost the government just about two millions
of dollars.
The blunder occurred in a tariff bill more than twenty years ago. There
was a section enumerating what articles should be admitted free of duty.
Among the many articles specified were "all foreign fruit-plants," etc, mean-
ing plants for transplanting, propagation, or experiment. The enrolling clerk,
in copying the bill, accidentally changed the hyphen in the compound word
" fruit-plants" to a comma, making it readi " All foreign fruit, plants," eta
The consequence was that for a year, until Congress coula remedy the blunder,
-" — nges, lemons, bananas, grapes, and other foreign fruits were admitted
alt oranges,
free of dut]
Another instructive case occurred in France. This turned on the question
whether a small spot of ink was or was not a comma, or, rather, an apostro-
phe. On the solution of this apparently trivial question depended the disposal
of some forty thousand dollars. And here are the particulars. But first we
must ask the reader to rub up his French a little, and to recall to his memory
the meaning of certain short words in that language,
A French gentleman made a will in which, among other bequests, he left
handsome sums of money to his two nephews, Charles and Henri. The sums
were equal in amount, When the testator died and the will came to be
proved, the nephews expected to receive two hundred thousand francs each
as their specific bequests. Bat the execniors disputed this, and said that latk
legacy was for om hundred thousand francs.
The legatees pointed to the word dtux.
" No," said the executors, " there is a comma or apostrophe between the
d and the e, making it tfeux."
" Not so." rejoined Charles and Henri ; "that Is only » little blot of ink,
having nothing to do with the actual writing."
Let us put the two interpretations in juxtaposition :
J chaain drux ctnl milles franet.
A ckaruH iTiui ceitl milUsJranct.
The first form means, "To each two hundred thousand francs,'' whereas
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
been transposed from one side of the fold tn the other, and the queslioi
whether the apparent oi Kupposed apostrophe was one such spot
The legatees had very strong reasons — two hundred thousand strong — for
wishing that the little spot of ink should be proved merely a blot ; but their
opponents had equally strong reasons for wishing thai the bint should be ac-
cepted as an apostrophe, an mlended and component element in the writing.
The decision was in favor of the legatees, but was oniy reached after long
and expensive litigation.
There is a legend of a Dublin criminal trial wherein the prisoner's (ale
hung upon a question of punctuation. He was accused of robbery. The
principal evidence against him was a confession alleged to have been made by
him and taken down in writing by a police-officer. And this was the incrim-
inating passage :
HaagHB uid be oner robbed but twiu lAld It ni Cnvlord-
The officer explained that the meaning he attached to it was, " Mangan said
he never robbed but twice. Said it was Crawford," "Nay," cried Mr.
O'Gorman, (he prisoner's counsel, after a careful examination of the docu-
meni, "(his is (he bir and obvious reading : *Mangan said he never robbed ;
but (wice said it was Crawford.' " This explanation had its effect on (he jury,
and the man was acquitted.
Recently the London youmal ef Educatiim (old an amusing story in point.
A Prussian school inspector appeared at the office of the biirgomasler of a
little town, asking him lo join in a tout of inspection through the schools.
The burgomaster, rather out of sorts, was heard to mutter lo himself, " What
is this donkey here again for ?"
The inspector said nothing, but bided his lime, and with the unwilling burgo-
master set out on his lour. At (he first school he announced his wish i
5ht.
(he burgomaster. " We care naught for corn-
how well punctuation was taught.
aid (he
mas and such trifles,"
But the inspector sent a boy (o the blackboard, and ordered him to write,
" The burgomaster of R says, the inspector is a donkey,"
Then he ordered him to transpose the comma, placing it after R , and
to insert another one after inspector, and the boy wrote, " The burgomaster
of R , says the inspector, is a donkey."
Il was a cruel lesson, but it is reasnnacile to suppose that commas and such
trifles rose in the estimation of the refractory official,
A curious and rather painful blunder occurred in 1S91. The Bishop of
Adelaide, South Australia, found what he thought was the carcass of a sea-
serpent a( Avoid Poin(, near Coffin Bay. Straightway the story was flashed
over (o England as part of a general news cablegram. And this is how it
read : " Influenca extensively prevalent Wales Victoria numerous deaths
Bishop Adelaide found dead Sea-serpent sixtv feet Coffin Bay," Il will be
admitted that the Angel of Death seems lo hover about this sentence from
otit end to the other. Yet (hat hardly excuses the error of the news agents,
who, as they afterwards confessed, "read (he last six words as a separate
sentence, and. judging (hat it was not suitable to (he Timci, omiiied it."
Consequently, the religious world was pained to heat of the death of an ex-
cellent ecclesiastic Not for some days was the truth discovered. The
Saturday Rrvirw, commenting in its usual caustic vein on (he mistake, said
very pertinently that, even taking the news agents' own account of the mailer,
one would have expected them to be ralher surprised by the words "found
dead."
;i:,vG00gk"
9*8 HANDY-BOOK OF
"Bishops are not generally 'found dead,' but die — when they cannot
kelp it — in a decorous manner, and in the presence of witnesses. And what
on earlh did Ihey understand by the ' last six words' taken separately ? Did
they suppose that a sea-serpent had come within sixty feet of Coffin Bay. or
had devastated sixty feet of the shore, or that a sea-serpent with sixty feet
had invaded that cheerfully-named locality f 'Sea-serpent sixty feet Coffin
Bay' seems, on the face of it, about as unintelligible a ' separate sentence' as
oiie could well imagine. And yet one cannot help admiring the discretion
of those who 'judged' that any mention of a sixty-footed sea-serpent, or a
sea-serpent indefinilelY connected with twenty yards and with Coffin Bay,
was ' not suitable for' the austere dignity of the Times" And then the Satm'-
day%'Otx on to imagine cases in which this method of reading telegrams, if
generally ado|iled, might be productive of interesting results. "Suppose,
for instance, that a South African correspondent telegraphed, ' Weather sul-
try Rhodes gone hunting Randolph Churchill hung hat on nose of living
lion.' Read the last six words as a separate sentence, and you have matter
for a hundred special editions. Or, if you received from Chester, 'Serious
carriage accident Osborne Morgan kicked Gladstone received deputation
local branch Liberation Societv, what would your feelings be when you had
omitted the last six words? While a telegram from the southern part of the
principality might be conceived in this wise : ' County meeting Select Candi-
date Carmarthen twenty thousand electors unanimously voted Lewis Morris
no poet yet appointed compose congratulatory ode Eisleddfodd.' "
That punctuation is a perilous matter to iriSe with is further instanced by
Dean Alford. In his " Queen's English" he indulges in a strain of self-gratu-
lation. " I have some satisfaction, '"he says, " in lefleciing, that in the course
of editing the Greek text, I believe I have destroyed more than a thousand
comjnas, which prevented the text from being properly understood." It is
amusing enough to notice that in a passage where the writer was denouncing
the redundant use of commas, at the very word commas he inserted a re-
dundant comma, "which," to quote the phrase immediately following it,
" prevented the text from being properly understood." Of course, the dean's
meaning is clear enough. In the Greek text there were more than a thou-
sand commas which prevented the text from being property understood, and
he had destroyed them. But his own redundant pomt after the word commas
plainly makes him say that he prevented the text from being understood by
destroying more than one thousand commas. There is another redundant
comma in the passage, after the word reflecting, which is only worthy of note,
however, as occurring in a lecture addressed to careless people against the
too free use of commas.
Punlo Faith, treachery, a term of reproach by which the Romans char-
acterized the alleged breaking of treaties by their Punic or Carthaginian
adversaries. In truth, however, it would be difficult to find in all history ■
more crying instance of the pot calling the kettle black.
Pttiu and Pnmiliic. Is a pun admirable, is it justifiable only in extreme
cases, or is it always, and under all circumstances, execrable and unfit for
decent society? 'Twere a brave man or a foolish who would undertake to
decide. Great authorities have ranged themselves on all sides of this dis-
puted question. Yet if the weight of authority is to decide, then, indeed, the
pun is invulnerable. It was old and respected in the time of the Pythoness.
Shakespeare never loses ■ chance at a
n the Bible, the Old Testament as well i
under the more dignilie
I Eliiabeth resounded with it
New. It was known to Pericles and to Cicero under the more dignified title
_k)o^k"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 929
Lost" makes Lucifer and Belial discharge a volley of bad puns — truly in-
fernal engines — against ihe angeis of tbe Lord. Petrarch iiunned incessantly
on the name of Laura, Aristoiihanes, Rabelais, Erasnms, Swift, Lamb, Hood,
Moore, all punned away pyrotechniiklly. Nor is this all. The gravest of
moralists, the most solemn of divines, Ihe austerest of philosophers, loved a
pun,— Plato and Aristotle, Sophocles and Euripides, Julian the AposUte,
St Gregory, Sir Thomas More, Cotton Mather, Jeremy Benthara : the list
could be extended almost indefinitely. These names, however, will suffice to
show that the pun has an august genealogy; that it has kept good company j
that it should be treated with consideration.
And who are the rash ones that have raised their voices against the pun?
Few of them, to say truth, can be numbered among the great ones of Ihe
earth. Yet many are eminent enough. They are not opponents to be de-
spised. They number such names as Dryden, Addison, Dr. Johnson, Sydney
Smith, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Let us see what they have to say for
themselves.
Diyden merely indulges in a sneer, without attempting argument :
The bod (ltd bun wen never Umi of tliiHe
Who dekli in doggerel or wbo pDiuked In pioee.
" Who can refute a sneer }" We pass by Glorious John and go on to
Addison. He lays down the rule that nothing is true wit which cannot be
translated into another language. Puns cannot be translated, therefore they
are not true wit The syll(«ism is not a happy one, and the premises might
readily be denied. But for the sake of aigumeni let us accept Addison's rule-
There is Killigrew's jest, for example. He proposes to make a pun on any
HubjecL " Make one nn me," quoth King Charles. " Ah, the king is no
subject" Try that in French, "Le roi n'est pas un sujet," (ry it, in lact, in
most modern languages, and, like a bishop, it loses nothing by translation.
Sydney Smith, himself an enemy of the pun, approvingly reproduces from
Voltaire a remark that " the adjective is the greaiesi enemy of the substantive,
though it agrees with it in gender, number, and case." The point of the
antithesis is as plain a pun as ever skipped on two legs. A gentleman who
squinted asked Talleyrand at a certain critical juncture how tilings were
going : " Maia, comme voua voyei, monsieur" (■' Why, as you see, sir"). Good
English again. And not only that, but precisely the same joke is wriiten in
excellent Greek by Hierocles. A one-eyed doctor greeted a patient with
" How are you f" " As you see," replied the tatler. " Then," said the phy-
"if you are as I see, you are half dead."
Another pun attributed to Talleyrand is not only translatable, but ii
belter in English than in Frencfi. During the days when the an „
soldiery aficctcd to despise all civilians, he asked of Marshal Augereau the
ling oip/qida, a newly-coined slang word for scoundrel. " Nous appelons
piqtan!' was the answer, "tout ce qui n'est pas inilitaire" ("We call every
one who is not a soldier a ^/^n"). "Exactly, was Talleyrand's retort "as we
call every one a soldier who is not civil" (" Eh oui I comme nous autres nous
appelons militaire tout ce qui n'est pas civil").
A beautiful girl was attending (he lectures of a Greek philosoplier. A
grain of dust new into her eye. She begged the professor i aid for its re-
moval, and as he stooped to the gallant task some one cried, " Do not spoil
the pupil" (Mi^ Tiiv noptpi dm^dtifHK^'). A man ploughed up the field where his
father was buried. "This is truly," said Cicero, "to cultivate a father's
memory" (" Hoc est vere colere munumentum patris"). In each of these
cases the pun is as good in one language as in another.
Dr. Johnson was not indeed guilty of the alliterative antiiheai^ between
tbe ptmster and the pickpocket that has *o frequently been charged against
». 78-
93© HANDY-BOOK OF
him (see page 933). Nevertheless, he did nol like > pun. He looked griml*
askance on it, as an elephant mav be supposed to look on the grimaces and
vivacity of a monkey. He would not even lake any pains to hunt up the
etymology of that little word ; he recklessly imagined that it meant to pound
or to pummel, having in mind, very probably, the energetic practice of Punch
with respect to his consorL A little knowledge of Fiench would have served
the doctor, and taught him that/wn is only the English mode of transferring
the Gallic point into the vernacular. Our words point and pun are, in fact,
the same, only the latter received its present shape hy rf -' '-- ■-
through the nose at a later period. Still, the doctor did
;ry good one is credited>to him. At the library of St. Andrews he in-
...,...i.__ .1 jessed a certain book. "No, sir," was the reply;
work, and beyond the means at our command."
quired whether they possessed a certain book.
--. _ _,,g work, and beyond th
, "you'll get it by degrees;" alluding to the
nony against
Autocrat of
the Breakiasl- Table" the latter lays down the peremptory law that " Homicide
the pun by producing excellent specimens themselves. In the " Autocrat of
"'" " "reak fast- Table" the latter lays down the peremptory law that " Horn"'"'"
erbicide — that is, violent treatment of a word with fatal results li
legitimate meaning, which is its life — are alike forbidden ;" and then he goes
on 10 make three pages of clever puns just to show what an extremely lepie-
hensible practice it is.
When Hcnr;^ Erskiiie was told that punning is the lowest form of wit, he
made the admirable retort, " It is, and therefore the foundation of all wit"
Elia. whose favorite diversion was " Lamb- punning," to repeat his own }est,
defends the practice on higher grounds; " A pun is a noble thing per u ; it
is entire, and fills the mind ; it is as perfect as a sonneL"
If ever a pun is indefensible it is when made upon a patronymic The poor
man born with a punnable name suffers untold agony against which he is ab-
solutely defenceless. When Mr. Garrison has been told for the hundredth
time to hold the fort, when Mr. Vounghuiband for the thousandth time has
been twitted on the fact that he is an old bachelor, when Mr. Archer hat been
repeatedly warned not to draw the long bow. when Mr. Mingle has had quoted
to him with wearisome iteration the lines of Shakespeare, —
Minf (, miDgli, miiigli,
it would be justifiable homicide in any of these gentlemen to slay their op-
"When the Rev. Mr. Ingersol, a Unitarian minister of Burlington, Ver-
mont," so says the poet Saxe in Harpir't Magatim, " remarked to Mr. Has-
well, one of his parishioners, that his name would he as well without the H,
the latter was delighted with the pun ; but imagine the gentleman's weatineu
and disgust when (the joke having got abroad) everybody in town repeated
the pun in his ear, either as original or borrowed, until the unlucky victim
wished the whole tribe of punsters in perdition."
Nevertheless, the oldest extant pun is probably the execrable one in Ho-
mer's " CMyssey," where Ulysses, being questioneil hy his Cyclopean captoT
as to his name, answers, "Cutis" (" No One"). When Ulysses, during the
_:..i. J ,[|^ jyg ^f j[j^ Cyclops, he succeeds in making good his escape
-'"--'-----' — IB his brethren, w'^ ' ' - i-.--.--
K!!
lUmoiist also, has spoiled the excellent scene where FalstafT examines his
pressed men, by the paltry trick of giving them names which the fat knight
could twist into puns. Thus, Mouldy is told that it is time he was used ;
Shadow, that he would make ■ cold soldier, but would serve for summer ;
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 931
Warl, that he is a ragged warl ; and Bullcalf exlorts the exclamation, " Prick
me Bullcalf till he loar again." Nor is there any considerable humor in the
way in which Falstaff plays upon the name of his swaggering agent : " No
more. Pistol ; I would not have you go off here. Discharge yourself of our
company, Pistol."
Even some of the great dramatist's serious scenes are spoiled by the intru-
sion of unworthy quibbling on names. Thus, Noithnmberland receives the
news of his son's death at Shrewsbury in this wise :
Of Houpur.C
The dying old soldier John o' Gaunt might well excite the wondeiment of
hia nephew when he gasped, —
Old Guinl, indenl : and CauDt in being old :
btgS''^.-.
een Elii
the throne i — when Queen Elizabeth, who was a woman of brains, thouglit it
witty to make such a [ilay upon words as " Ye be burly, my Lord of Buighley,
but ye shall make less stir in my realm than my Lord of Leicester," and when
lames I. disgraced his title of the British Solomon by saying to Sir Waltet
Raleigh, " By my saul, maun, I have heard but rawly of thee ? Good King
Robert L of Fiance, who married the irritable and jealous Constantia aftet
his divorce from Bertha, may indeed be excused for a harmless jest upon
Constantia's name. He loved to sing hymns tu his lyre, and his wife fre-
quently importuned him to write a jiymn in her honor. At last, in mild ex-
asperation, he wrote hia hymn "O Constantia Martyrum" ("O Constancy of
Martyrs"), which she mistook for an ode in her honor because the name
Constantia was repeated at the commencement of each strophe.
Let us be just, however. Some of the very best puna in the language are
upon names. Their goodness must be their excuse lor their discourtesy.
Foote made rather a neat hit at the Boniface who had uvercharged him.
" What is your name f" asked the comedian. " Partridge, sir," said the host.
"Partridge 1 it should have been Woodcock, by the length of your bill."
There was something melancholy about the jest of poor Dr. Thomas Browne,
who. having unsuccessfully courted a lady, and being challenged to drink her
health as had been liis wont, replied, "I have toasted her many years, but I
cannot make her Browne, so I'll toast her no longer." When Dr. Barton
Warren was informed that Dr. Vowel was dead, he exclaimed, " What t
Vowel dead t Well, thank heaven it was neither you nor L" Moore was
not above punning upon his own name. Thus, he would deduce his geneal-
ogy from Noah in the following manner : " Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham.
and one more." Which reminds us that when Manners, Earl of Rutland,
said to Sir Thomas More, " Honures mutant mores," the Chancellor retorted,
" It stands better in English: Honors change manners." The same names
•rere cleverly played upon in the following lines, which commemorate the fact
that Dr. Manners Sutton had succeeded Archbishop More 1
WhiiwyyouT The uchblthop'i dudt
A loH Indeed. (%. on l>li lieu]
;i:,vG00gk"
93» HANDY-BOOK OF
Id Mbudct* we bit wuil fiad,
Wh^ tbould v< outa for Morct
Sydn«; Smith paid ■ double compliment to Mrs. Tighe and Mrs. CuBe
when he exclaimed, "Ah, there you are, the Cuffe that every one would wear,
the Ti^he that no one would loose." When Luurell, in talking of the
Eumelian Club of which Ashe was the founder, waa told that a son of that
Ashe was at present chairman, he quoted, " Still in itu ashes live their wonted
fires,"— which was not a very merry jest, yet quite as good as one that Dr.
Swift declared he would have given fifty pounds to have made liimseIC
Swift's friend Dr. Ash, soon after Ihe passing of an act for the protection uf
¥ owing timber, had asked a waiter at an inn to help him off with his coat,
he man refused, saying thai it was felony to strip an ash. Rather better
was Sydney Smith's suggestion to the lady who asked him for a motto for her
dog Spot. He immedialety proposed, " Out, damned bpot T' And his jest
at the expense of Mrs. Groie had at least the salt uf malice in it. She was
famed for the ill taste of her costumes, and as one day she swept by in an
extraordinary head-dtess, Smith pointed her out to a friend, with the words,
"That is the origin of the word grotesque." Mis. Gtote had her revenge,
however. Smith's daughter married a Di. Holland. When the latter was
knighted, somebody mentioned his wife as Lady Holland. " Do you mean
Lord Holland's wife Tasked a listener. "No," put in Mrs. Grote ; " this is
New Holland, whose capital is Sydney."
Walter Savage Landor, of whom it was said that his name ought lo have
been "Savage Walter Landor," was proud of a joke he once made lo Kenyon.
"I understand," he said, "that a Mr. Quillinan has been allacking me. His
writings are, I hear, quill-inanities." At least as good was Jerrold's remark
when Albert Smith wrote an article in Blachoeod (o which he appended only
his initials. " What a pity," said Jerruld, " tlial Smith cannot be brought to
tell more than two-thirds of the truth t" The same humorist one day met a
Scotch gentleman whose name was Leitch, and who deemed it necessary lo
explain that he was not Ihe caricatuiist Juhn Leech. " I know," said Jerrold :
" you are Ihe Scotchman with the itch in your name."
Charles Lamb Kcnney, the popular journalist, dining at the house of a
friend, chanced to swallow a small piece of cork with his wine, the result
being a severe fit of coughing, "Take care, my friend," said his next neigh-
bor, with a rather feeble attempt at humor, " that's not the way Tor Cork T
" No," gasped the sufferer, " it's the way to kill Kenney 1"
The poet Campbell, in his student days in Glasgow, observed that Dram, a
liquor-dealer, and Fife, an apothecary, were next-door neighbors, the latter
announcing also on a sign displayed over his window, " Ears pierced by A.
With the assistance of a couple of school -fellows the poet one night
E laced a long fir board from Ihe wmdow of one shop to that of Ihe tither,
earing in flaming capitals the Shakespearian line, —
Tbt ipiriMIiiring Drum, Ihe ar-picrdDg FlfE.
When Ihe barrister Campbell married Miss Scarlett, Brougham explained his
absence from court by Idling Judge Abbott that the missing barrister was
suffering from an attack of Scarlett fever. When Mrs. Little brought forth
triplets, and was rewarded by the queen's guineas, a friend remarket!, " Every
lillle helps."
Puns have more Ihan once played an important part in history.
The Roman bishop's famous comptimeul lo the handsome Aiiglo-Saxon
captives, " Not Angles, but angels," had greater results Ihan its actual bril-
liancy might seem to merit j and SL Leo doubtless had no idea when he prayed
to heaven lo aid Rome against Ihe invading Hun*, "and hurl ba<:k these Tar-
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 933
tan into the fire* of TarUrus," thit this punning prayer was to fix upon the
nnlncl^ "Tartars" (as thev were then called) a nickname that would never
die- France expialed by the devastation of an entire province a coarse and
clumsy plajr upon "corjHe" and "corpulence" made by the French king in
derision of his terrible neighbor, Wiliiam the Conqueror. Charles the Fifth's
jesting assertion that he could put Paris in his glove {gant), though meant
only to indicate (he superior size of Ghent to the Faiis of that day, stung
Francis the First into the renewal of a languishing war. One of Louis the
Fifteenth's upstart favorites was driven from the court by the biting pun that
turned his new title of Marquis de Vandiiie into "Marquis d'Avant-hier"
(the day before yesterday). Equally historical was the bitter pun that changed
the name of the sluggish Admiral Torringlon to " Admiral Tariy-in-town.
Napoleon (who was no man for light jesting) is credited with only a single
pun, and that a rather poor one. During his great Itahau campaign of 1796-
97, he replied to a lady who wondered to find such a tamotia man so young.
" 1 am young to-day, but to-morrow I shall have Milan" {ie., " mille ans," a
thousand years).
A better joke was that made on the great conqueror himself by Talleyrand.
Fontaine, the architect, had placed upon the triumphal arch in the Carrousel
an empty car drawn by the Eainous bronze Venetian horses. Talleyrand asked
him, " Qui avez-vous I'inlenlion de mettre dans le char?" The answer was,
"L'Empereur Napoleon, comnie de raiaon." Upon which Talleyrand said,
" Le chat I'atteiid'' (It ciar/atan).
The golden era of English punning dates undoubtedly from the beginning
10 (he Diddle of the present century, the era of those ptolagoiiisis in the art.
Canning, Whately, Lamb, Jerrold, Hook, and Hood. Lamb's efforts are
almost (00 familiar to quote. Everybody has read how he accounted for the
coolness of the Duke of Cu- cumber land, his reflection that the party who
dined on the top of Salisbury steeple must have been very sharp set, and his
reply to the query of the omnibus cad, " All full inside ?" that he didn't know
how it stood with the rest of the company, but " that last bit of oyster-pie did
the business for me." Less known, but as admirable as any, was tne pun
made when comfortably housed with a few friends on a stormy evening. Dis-
turbed by a dog howling without, some one benevolently proposed to let him
in. " Why," stuttered Lamb, "grudge him iii wHiu aiiJ ruater /" A most
palpable pun ; but is the wit wholly in words? Does the whole force of the
jest lie in the double meaning between two words or two phrases ? Is It not
rather a complete web of humor, strand crossing strand, thread twisted with
thread ? The provoking seriousness of rebuke ; the queer reconciling of
opposiles ; the sudden surprise ; the jingling together o( extreme ideas ; the
tran seen dent ly hospitable mhospilality, — these and more go to make it irre-
sistible. The dog were no gentleman, if he was not, after that, quite content
with bis position.
Hood was an absolute punning-machine. He ground out puns, good, bad,
and indiSetcnt, with alarming facility. Among the former was his description
of the meeting of the man and the lion, " when the man ran off with all his
might and the lion with all his mane," and the ghastly joke on the solicitous
undertaker who was seeking "to urn a lively Hood." Some of his poems —
as "Faithless Sally Brown" — are unequalled iaun de fara in the way of
punning literature.
The memory of Theodore Hook is very appropriately associated with (he
most audacious jest on record, — vix., his announcement, when recalled from
his post as Governor of Mauritius on a charge of embezzling twelve thousand
pounds of the public tnoney, that he had come home "on account of a dis-
order in his cheat" But (he most brilliant of his comic feats wa* achieved in
934 HANDV-BOOIC OF
concert with his rival Hood. The two were sirolling one aummer evening on
the outikirls of London with their friend Charles Mathews, the actor, when
Hood said to Hook, " They call us ' the inseparables ;' but, after all, it's onlj
natural that Hook-and-eye should always be loeelher — eh, Theo ?" " Biavo,
Tom 1" cried Hook ; " that's the best I've heard for a long time I 1 say, sup-
pose we have a match which of us two can make the best joke on the spur
ol the moment ^ Charlie Mathews here shall be umpire, and the loser shall
stand treat for a supper for three." " Done (" said Hood. Scarcely was the
word uttered when they espied a sign-board, the owner of which, wishing to
advertise that he sold beer, had unluckily warded the announcement, "Bear
sold here," " Oho," said Hook, " I suppose that bear is his own Bruin I"
" Well done I" cried Charles Mathews. " You'll have hard work to beat that,
friend Thomas." "I dare say he'll do it, though," said Theodore; "he
carries more than two' faces under one Hood : don't vou, Tom ?" At that
moment they turned a sharp comer, and came in sight of a small tumble-
down house standing in the midst of a wretched little plot of worn and
tramjiled grass, just w\ front of which was displayed a huge board with the
inscription, " Beware the dog.'' Hood looked warily round him in all direc-
tions, anti, finding no dog anywhere viaible, picked up a broken piece of brick
and scribbled underneath the warning, " Ware be the dog V " Well, 111 tell
you what it is, my boys," said Charles Mathews, " I can't decide between two
such jokes as those, and, what's more, I'm not going to try : so we had belter
all go and sup together, and each pay his own snare."
Hook, however, always held that his best pun was made on seeing a de-
faced wall-placard bearing the inscription " Warren's B ." " What ought
to follow," said Hook, "is lacking,"— certainly an admirable pun of its kind,
though no better than that of the Philadelphian who read " Brown St." as
"Brown Stout," and when remonstrated with replied, "I thought the rest
Poole, the author of " Paul Pry," was, according to Hayward, one of the
best punsters of his day. An actor named Priest was playing at a London
theatre. Some one at the Garrick Club remarked that there were a oreat
many men in the pit. " Probably clerks who have taken Priest's
(aid Poole. JekyM's reputation has passed into history. Once when Gar-
row, the famous lawyer, w --!-^-- ......_ U .. >
be sought to prove that a
r, the famous lawyer, was examining a ptevailcating old woman by whom
a sctap of paper on which he had w
Garrow, forbear : iliat lousb old Jade
WUI nevu prove a icntkr mwle.
When Lord I^ndonderry told Canning of a Dutch picture wherein all the
animals were issuing out of the atk. the elephant last — "Of course," in-
terrupted the wit ; " he had stopped to pack his trunk." A bit of nonsense
quite as grotesque was Wlialely's explanation that if the devil were to lose
his tail he could get another where bad spirits are retailed. Jerrold's defini-
tion of dogmatism as puppyism come to maturity is a classic t so also is his
phrase of " unremitting kindness" applied to an actor who had left his family
to starve. Jetrold declared he could make a pun on any subject. "Can yon
pun on the signs of the zodiac ?" " By Gemini, I can, sir J"
But these are the masterpieces of punsters by profession. Excellent jest*
of the same sort have sometimes been struck out in the heal of inspiration bjr
men who were not known as mere wags. Burke, when pressed b^ a trades-
man for payment of a bill, or for the interest at least, if not for the principal,
produced a masterpiece. ".Sir," he said, "it is not my principle to pay the
interest, nor m^ interest to pay the principal." Bjron has some biting ex-
amples, a* in his epitaph on Pitt, —
;i:v,.G00gIf
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 935
With datb doomed to Eiapple.
BoKEih thii cold ilab, he
Wholiedinthet;ii«|Kl
Now lis in ibc Abbey :
or in the concluding couplet of his epitaph on ihe diunken carrier, John
The liquet h» drank, being loo much for one.
Fox, when asked ihe meaning of the Fsalmisi's phrase. " He clothed him-
BClf wilh cursing like as with his garment," replied, " I think it is clear enough :
the roan had atiabit of swearing." Home Tooke's answer to George III.
was full of caustic satire. The monarch asked hiro whether he playedcards.
" No, your majesty ; I cannot tell a king from a knave."
Nay, there are puns extant by unknown authors which any one roight have
felt a pride in iathering. A Cambridge fellow, walking with a visitor, met by
chance the Master of St, John's on horseback. " Who is that?" inquired the
visitor. "That is St. John's head on a charger." A would-be masher of
middle age, who was looking at a house, asked the pretty servant -girl whether
she was to let with the establishment. " No, sir," was the answer ; " please,
sir, I am to be let alone." Here is a pun which hits with both its barrels ;
each of its two meanings speaks a volume. The one informs the querist that
his admiration must nut be expressed too warmly 1 the other, that an eligible
offer is not likely to be ill received- Was ever greater weight of meaning
compressed into two words? If so, it is only in Punch's answer to Matlock's
query, " Is life worth living f" — "That depends upon the liver," — which has
been cited as an instance showing " how much wit, science, and moral may be
crowded into a pun."
Sydney Smith quotes with approval the story of the anonymous wag who
rebuked a careless student for reading the wutd patriarchs as partridges :
"You are making game of the patriarchs," An excellent motto for a tea-
caddv, " Tu doce^' (" Thou leachesi"), is mentioned in the Gmilcman's Ma^a-
tint lor 1791, and is there somewhat duluously attributed to one J. Coulson,
F.R.S.. who flourished half a century before.
It has been held that the <rorse a pun the belter it is. Charles Larob
rather agrees with Ihe dictum: "This species of wit is the better for not
being perfect in all its parts. What it gains in completeness it loses in
naiutalneM. The more exactly it satisfies the critical, the less hold it haa
upon some other faculties. The puns which arc most entertaining are those
which will least bear an analysis." And as an example he gives the follow-
ig,"reco[ded wilh a sort of^stigma in Swift's ' Miscellanies :' " An Oxford
' r, meeting a porter wh " — "" ~ " ' ''" "" '""" "" — "~ "~
lim with this extraordii
hair or a wig }" Lamb goes in
this, and no resisting it. A man might blur ten
a defence of it against a critic who should be laugh ter.proot." II is only on
this principle that a ghastly pun of Lamb himself can be excused. Writing
to Hood lo condole with hini on the loss of one of his children, he goes on,
" I have won sexpence of Moxon by the aei of the dear gone one." In such
a riddle as the following, " If a Frenchman fell into a tub of grease, what
English word might he utter?" the answer being " In-de-fat-I gabble," it Is
not so much the pun which lilillates the fancy as an involumary image of the
luckless victim, and the absurd inappropriateness of his remark. We might
put into the same category Burnand's reported explanation of a poet. friend's
choice of mince pie to lunch ofi^ "he evidently was getting him Inspiration," but
when we find the Sfectaior pronoundng this to be "excruciatingly good" we
93*5 HANDY-BOOK OF
withdraw our admintLon for its excradatiDg ludnesi, and realize sadly that
Americans and English can never be friends if inability to laugh at the same
jokes be indeed ihe severest lest of friendship. But then there is Lewis
CaiToll, and on that common ground both nations can meet What can be
better (or worse) than sume of the puns scattered through Alice's various
adventures ? There is a naivete and a pathtlic simplicity about them which
seem somehow to reach the common fount of laughter and of tears.
Pat me In my little bed, a once common American colloquialism, mean-
ing that tiie one addressed is beaten or distanced, or has no more to say. It
is derived Irom the refrain of a popular song ;
For I my eveaitjg IRHyen tUTCIaid:
Pntrefkotlon Bhlnea In the dark. Lord Chesterfield, in his " Letters
to his Son," has this image : " These poor, mistaken people think they shine ;
and BO they do, indeed ; but il is as putrefaction shmes, — in the dark."
Chesterfield's Letters were published at his death in 1773. In Cowper's
"Conversation" (1781) the same image reappears :
'Til wch B llsbi >i pulRficiloB bnciii
In fly-Uawn i!nh, vbcrton the lugpK feed*,—
SbtDU ID ihc dark, bui, tuhered Ldid day»
The tiencb nmiiiiu, Ibe luHn did away.
PyT«n«a«, Ther« are no mors. According to Voltaire, in his " Age
of Louis XIV.," when the grandson of that monarch, the Duke of Anjou,
was departing for Spain to tue, under Ihe name of Philip V., the throne lef^
vacant by the death of Charles IL, Louis, in his farewell insirucllons. said,
" Be a good Spaniard ; it is your duly ; but remember that you are French,
and that you maintain the union of the two countries." Then, embracing the
youth, he added, " II n'y a plus de Pyr^n^s." " Why." asks Fournier, per-
tinently, "should Voltaire have written thus, when he might have found that
the king never said it? Il is a .Spanish rather than a French mot, related bv
Dangcau, a courtier who followed Philip to his new kingdom, as Ihe remark
of the ambassador of Spain, who said that the journey between Ihe two
countries would be easy, as the Pyrenees were now melted" ("les Pyr^n^
dtaient fondues"). Bui according 10 the Aftrcurt fa/autt November, 1700, p.
337. the Spanish ambassador used the exact words which Voltaire puis in the
mouth of Louis XIV. 10 that monarch himself ; " What joy I There are no
more Pyrenees; they are uprooied, and henceforth we are but one." An
earlier origin for the sentiment has been found in a poem by Malhetbe, cele-
brating the marriage of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria:
Donl Ic bial embruwuiFiit
Itoit apluiiT Id Pykntct, . . .
Cowper exprcMes a similar thought in another way ;
MDuniiini lutErpDKd
Uka Undnd drOM, buD melted Inio cse.
71* Tati, Book U., i.
.dbv Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Q, (he sevenlMnth Icttci and Ihirteenlh consonant in the English, ai in the
Latin, atphabel. In the Fhixnician it was the nineteenth character, and had
the value of a deeper and more gulturat i. The original Greek alphabet had
the letter, but abandoned it as useless, because there was no such distinction
between the i sounds. The Latins un philosophically retained it, but only
in the form qu, which is identical with hi, and through the Latin want m
phonetic subtlety this entirely superfluous letter has been admitted into all
Qoakw City. Philadelphia is popularly so called, having been founded
by William Penn and settled and colonized by members of the Society of
Friends, who still form an important element in its population.
Qtieen City, sometimes also Queen of the West, a name given to Cincin-
nati at a lime when she was by far the most important commercial centre
of that part of the United Stales. The city has retained the name, and is
very often called by the lebriqvtt at this day.
And tbii (ong oT ihc Viae,
Thii gTMilDi of oiuie.
The wind! ud ibc birdi ihill dcliva
To the Qu«D of the Weu, ,
In her carliindv drwcd,
, On ihe buiEi or the twaaiiful river.
LoHoriLLOW.
Qnoea's Bw, an alternative name among English thieves for the Black
Maria, or prison-van. The story runs that a craiy inmate of Clerkenwell was
about to be sent away. He was told that the queen had despatched one of her
own carriages for him. "One of them with We R on the side?" "Yes."
"Wol's We R stand for?" "Victoria Regina. of course." ■' No, it don't:
it stands for Wagabones Removed," said the prisoner. The same letters are
fiuretiously interpreted to mean Virtue Rewarded.
Qnwa'B Pip*, the name popularly given to a huge oven at the Victoria
Dock in London — where from ninety-live to ninely-eighl per cent, of the entire
imports of tobacco are received — which forms the crematory of the worthless
portions of cargoes and the refuse and sweepings of the bonding houses. A
great deal of misunderstanding exists about the office of this pipe, and it is
sometimes held to be a ravenous maw that is eternally smoking the primest
of smuggled cigars, cigarelles. and tobacco. Bui, in bxX, contraband tobacco
is overhauled after seizure, and the good portions separated from the worth-
less and supplied lo convict prisons, for the consolation of criminal lunatics.
Only refuse tobacco finds its way into the Queen's Pipe. When reduced to
ashes, the proportion of lime contained in the dust renders it useful for
manure. It is disposed of to agriculturists Tor mixture with other materials
in tilling the land.
Qti«m Deaa vult perdero priiu dsmentat (L., "Whom God would
destroy he lirst makes mad"), an anonymous translation of a fragmentary line
of Greek attributed to Euripides :
938 HANDY-BOOK OF
"Whom Ai>rA(nr wiahes to destroy she first makes mad." Butler pate the id
into English Tcrse thus :
LJkc DKD condeniiKd lo Ihunds-bnlu,
Who, ere Ibe blow, become mere dolu ;
and Drjden, in "The Hind and (he Panther,"—
m God to Tuin hu deaipied
e uid fint Atnu
Penlli:,!. .387.
Qtdok
aa
tbcmght, a ramiiiar
locution
common to n
lost
modem Ian-
guages.
^em°«t'",opp3'^
M\-,
.f the (.proikon
■■odickulhmfl..,"
bn> have «
\
writer h« tn.dt
3^e™'Z'
't^z»"'\l^^^l^
^\^
o^fiC^';
?l^»th''Mllme''i?
hoV''™e""Ve
l-kDD
: laPElUfie
iKt
ume of neil month
H Koaon beloD([i. The time taVcn up in chooiine a motion, the " will dmc," cmn be cneAmred
MA well u the lime taken up In perceiving' ^^ \ Att not know which of two colored lishU u
toufid'waves made LD the hIt by ipeaking, and Ihin have determined that In order to call up
word, hut we are to used 10 reading aloud that the procen hu become quil« automatic,
tame eipfiimeDU made od other penoni give llmei dJITerine but little from my own. Mental
proceaaei, however, take place more ilowFy in children, in the aged, and In the uneducaied.
—Niiuliinlk Cnlnry.
How fleet la a glance of the mind t
Compared with the speed of tu fllgfat.
The tempeal itxlf laga behind.
And the awift-wingid urowi of light.
tyAhxtt^tr'st/kirt.""" "
Qaodllbe^ a compound Latin word, meaning "as jinu please," was Ihe
term used by the schoolmen of the Middle Ages to designate the subtle
questions in casuistry on which they delighted to exercise their ilialectiail
skill. To us they often seem extravagantly absurd, yet they were greeted
with the highest respect and admiration, and won for their propounders Ihe
guerdon of such fantastic titles as the Seraphic, Illuminated, Subtle, or Invin-
cible Doctor. And indeed the extraordinary subtlety of intelligence which they
indicate is not to be set aside with a sneer. It was a phase of evolution
through which the human mind had lo pass in order to realize its own limita-
tions and fall back upon the every-day light of common sense as a safer
illuminator than mystic moonshine.
But, while we withhold the sneer, the grotesque naivety of these hair-splitting
controversies cannot fail to awaken a responsive thrill in the most rudimentary
sense of humor. Burlesque has done its best, but has produced nothing more
delightful. There is the famous question of the pretended Shakespearian So-
ciety, " Whether the deceased husband of Juliet's nurse was really a merry
man, or whether he only appeared so in (he deceptive haze ihrown posthu-
mously around his character by the affectionate partialilv of his widow?" There
is that no less celebrated problem derisively propounded by Giordano Bruno,
himself a schoolman i " Num chimKra bomliinans in vacuo possit comedere
wcnndas intentiones" (" Whether a chimera ruminating in a vacuum devoureth
UTEkAkV CURIOSITIES. $3^
tecond intentions"). These ace funny enough. Reid, the Scotch mel^hysi-
ciaii, even questioned whether the wit of man could produce a more rtdiculotu
pru|Ki9iiioii than the second. Perhaps not more ridiculous. But either his
memory r>r his sense of humur was at lault if he failed to recognize that many
of the irue quodlibcts weie quite as facetious.
Here is an authentic questirm which was a favorite topic of discussion, and
thousands uf the aculest logicians ttirough more than one century never
tesolved it : " When a hoe ia carried to market with a rope lied about its
T)eck, which is held at the other end by a man, whether is the hog carried to
market by the ropi or by the man T'
Among these learned leviathans probably none is more widely remembered
than Thomas Aquinas, — St. Thomas in his present stale oi perfect beatitude,
"The Angelic Doctor," as he was called on earth. His works, in seventeen
folio volumes, testify not only to bis industry but also to his genius. His
grealesl work, the " Summa tolius I'heologix," a summary of " theology," —
o say, of all knowledge as it was then conceived, — (ills a volume ii
■ ■ ; „e«Ty fif ' ' ' ' ....
nineteen folio pages, In double column, oi errata, and about two Hundred
elephant folio containing nearly fifteen hundred pages of very small print ii
double columns. It may be worth noticing that lo this work are appended
o hundred
:s of index.
The whole is thrown into Aristotelian form ; the difficulties or questions
arc proposed first, and the answers are then appended. There are one hun-
dred and sixlyeight articles on Love, three hundred and fifty-eight on Angels,
two hundred on the Soul, eighty-five on E>emons, one hundred and tifly-one on
■he Intellect, one hundred and thirty-four on Law, two hundred and thirty-
seven on Sins, seventeen on Virginity, and others on various topics.
One is inclined to suspect that the title of Angelic Doctor was earned not so
much by any seraphic temper with which the good Thomas was blessed, for
he was a most vehement and uncompromising polemic, as by his very minute
examination into the nature of the angels. In his three hundred and fifty-
eight articles on the topic, he treats of angels, their substance, orders, officM.
habits, etc., as if he himself had been an angel of experience. Here are a
fiiw brads culled from his treatise :
Angelt were MH befate ihe oodd.
Alkgeil might have Twen bdbrv ihe world.
Angelt Kn iiKorportAl compared to u. but
Cli hav* nol Danrally a body unllcd lo iheiu. They m.
Angeli hav* nol xatarally a '
-ne bodio Ibr tl
The bndiei KuDDHd by sngeli uc of thick air.
Th* bodici ihey anunie hare not the natara] victuH which Ihey ibo*, s
nay be the ■
■e Wr thci
dI hjrmatlv EivEog b«ln( and o|
iH*. airi] th« angd operating lupernatural Dpcrationi.
Aneela adniniiler and gDvera every corpORal Cf
C«,a,anang'' - ■----■ '---"-
ry through every medlaoi, but may be dli-
, angel It not accordlnsio thequiHlty ofbiiiirnigth.but
according lo hia will
TSe DiDiioD of the llluntlnaiion of an angd li thRtfold, or dimlar. ilraighl, and oMique,
AH the questions are answered with > subtlety and nicely of distiikctkRt
HANDV-SOOk OP
and |>erhaps a few of the best n
exercises of the understanding. UtTiers, however, would seem to the modern
mind trifling, grotesque, and even irreverent. Aquinas gravely asks, Whether
Christ was not an hermaphrodite? Whether there are excrements in Para-
dise? Whether the pious at the resurrection will rise with their bowels?
His contemporaries kept up the pace. They debated. Whether the angel
Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary in the shape of a serjient, of a dove,
of a man, or of a woman ? Did he seem to be young, or old ? In wliat dress
was he ? Was his garment white, or of two coh>rs ? Was his linen clean, or
foul? Did he appear in the morning, noon, or evening? What was the
color of the Virgin Mary's hair ? Was she acquainted with the mechanic and
liberal arts? Had she a thorough knowledge of the Book of Sentences and
all it contains ? — ihal is. Peter Lombard's conipilation from the works of the
Fathers, written twelve hundred years after her dealh. But these are only
trifling matters ; they also agitated, Whether when during her gestation the
Virgin was seated Christ too was sealed, and whether when she lay down
Chnst also lay down ?
While all this profound subtlety nowadays induces a smile, we should not
deceive ourselves as to the quality of the minds that produced it. They were
the keenest wits and the brightest intellects of their time, and fully equal in
capacity to the best of any age. These monstrous products of their labors
are but the expression of a peculiarly intimate and persistent occu[>atiun with
the eupernatoral, in their attempts to ralionaliie upon the supposititious phe-
nomena of which men in all times and of all races have floundered into gro-
tesqueneis. Does not the more modern Milton stumble when he describes
angels and spirits ? It reminds one almost of the Angelic Doctor himself tr>
hear him describe the vulgar multitude of the inhabitants of Pandemonium,
who, being " incorporeal spirits," ate " at large, though without number," in
a limited space. In the battle, when they are overwhelmed by mountains
being hurled upon them by the good angels, their armor hurts them, as il is
"crushed in upon their substance." If it be objected that this is explained
by their having "grown gross by sinning," how, then, could they continue tn
be " incorporeal spirits,' "and, being incorporeal, how could they be bounded
by space ? To be at large, implies that [he subject of which it is predicated
might be confined; andliow are we to rise lo the conception of conflning
things without substance? But the uncorrupted angels are no less paradoxi-
cally described. In the course of the battle they loo are sometimes crushed
and overthrown, " the sooner for their aims, (or, unarmed, they might easily,
as spirits, have evaded by contraction and remove." Considered as spirits
they are hardly lo be regarded as spiritual, for " contraction" and *' remove"
ate images of matter; but if Ihcy could have escaped without their armor,
why they should not have "contracted and removed" and escaped from it.
and left only the empty shell to be battered, is incomprehensible.
The reader desirous of being merry with Aquinas's angels may find them in
Martinus Scriblerus, whose imaginary history is related in the satirical "Me-
moirs of his Extraordinaiv Life, ■■''-'"■ ■ •■
in Pope's works, but chiefly, ifn
vii. he inquires if angets gass fioi
through the middUf And if angels know things ir
And how many angels can dance on the point of a very fine' needle withi^t
jostling one another ?
Amusing travesties of quodlibetic questions, lemindine one of those pro-
pounded in Martinus Scriblerus, are those with which Charles Lamb, after
bis rupture with Coleridge tin 1798> on the departure of the latter for Cer<
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 941
many), spiced his biting farewell letter, of masked good will bat full of subtle
and penetrating irony. Il has bearing clearly on the part which Coleridge
was thought to have played in casting ridicule on the "ewe tambs" of his
friend (in the "burlesque sonnets" printed in t797). Among Lamb's mock-
theses are these; "Whether pure intelligence can love?" "Whether the
higher order of Seraphim illuminati ever sneer?" The sonnets had been
signed " Nehemiah Higginbolham." Is it possible that Coleridge, when
charged with their authorship, seemed to equivocate? Here are two other
theses x " Whether God loves a lying angel better than a true man ?"
" Whether the archangel Uriel could affirm an untruth, and if he could,
whether he would ?"
In puerile amplifications and quibbling interpretations of Holy Writ Ihe
Talmudic doctors are nut far behind their Christian brethren. Here is one
example which for absurdity is a match for any of those of the schoolmen.
The subject under discussion is Ihe verse, "The Lord said, Because the cry
of Sodom and Gomorrah is great." It is explained that Ihe Hebrew word
(or "great" means "girl," and the girl was one who hid a slice of bread in
her pitcher to give it to a poor man, which being discovered, iier biHly was
smeared with honey, and she was exposed on a wall to be slung to death by
the bees. This incident, it is evident, must be subjected to the 't'almudic secret
interpretation, and the bread spoken of may tie the "bread of life." — the
doctrine not to be dispensed to the uninitiated. The secret sense, however,
■na^ hardly be applied to the case of Eleazar, the servant of Sarah. Intet-
fermg when a stranger had been defrauded, one of Ihe people struck Eleazar
on the forehead with a stone. He brought blood, whereon the man seized
Eleazar and demanded his fee as a leech. " 1 have freed thee of this impure
blood : pay me quickly ; such is our law." Eleazar refused to pay for his
wound and the blood he had lost, and was brought into court The judge
decreed that Eleazar must pay ihe fee. "The man has let thy blood : pay
him ( such is our law." Eleazar must have brought the blood-stained stone
as evidence of the assault, inasmuch as on hearing Ihe decision he hurled
the stone at the judge, and it again brought forth blood. " There," cried
Eleasar, "follow thy law, and pay my fee to this man," and he left the court-
From among the neat number of ridiculous legends of the Talmudists
concerning Adam and Eve one only is selected here, on account of ils similar-
ity to the intentionally absurd idea of Aristophanes in Plato's " Symposium."
According to a large number of rabbis, Adam was created possessing both
seies. They say thai the body of Adam was created double, male on the one
side and female on the other, the two bodies lieing joined at Ihe shoulders,
and that God, in order to create Eve, had no more 10 do than to separate Ihe
two bodies. This is proved by much ingenious quotation of texts,
In the "Symposium" or " Banquet" of Plato, that most dramatic of his
dialogues, a patty of Athenians are assembled at supper in the house of
Againon, the young tragic poet. The subject under discussion is love. Each
of those present, amon){ whom are orafors, physicians, and poets, and, of
course, Socrates, gives his idea of the nature and origin of love from his own
peculiar stand-poinl. As mighl have been expected of that master of comedy,
Ihe discourse of Aristophanes is full of grotesque elements. After a poetic
prelude he Ci "'
SSi"
iDcientiy fu- diffenni lK>m I'tut which il ii ai prcMnl. Flnl, ihen/huotu
wly ■>« divided iota Iwo uio. n»k sod fenule. ... At ihe pcriori to
e form of ev«ry hunun b<in£ wu Tuund, The back and tide) beiite circuteriy
I had foor arms, and at miny legi, two facn, fiHed upon a round neck, ea.
bs, oibe head between the Iwo facea, four ean, and everything ebc aa from
HANDY-BOOK OF
in wmlked upHgbt at now, [n whuew dirvcUoD ha
nadt use rA a]L hit eight limbt, and DTTKecded in ■
e idmbl«n, who, wiih iheLr legs ip inc air, tumble
Ihii emergency. , , , JupEler, with tome d
LcnElh Ipokv, " 1 think, "said he. "1 hmve..u,i.ii>cu > ■^■i.^nkj*^ uj wiiii.i, ^c lu^j.^y nuuc-
tion, I will cut tttch of Ihcm in half, anil so the/ will at once be weaker and rnotf uiaful on
accounl of their mimbera, lliey ihall walk upright on iho legl. If ihey allow any more
pickle them, oriij?>ia« »een egga'cui with haiis,
FiDin ihii peiiod mutual love lia> nalunlly eallied between human beinp,— that reconcilar
Such fancies, however, as remarked above, are not contlned to any lime or
race or conditions of men. While il is (rue (hat the sacred books have been
peculiarly subiected to this sort of interprelation, good old Homer has not
escaped. Aulus Gellius, in " Noctes At(icx," tells how he was presenteil
with a hook of coninien(aries on (he Iliad which, for puerility, would com-
pare with anything ever alteinp(ed either by scholastic or by rabbi ; indeed,
the commentator and glassa(or of alt limes, and particularly of our own age
of annotations, is a (rue quodlibetarian. But in the direct line (he scholastics
have left worthy descendants in our own time.
The following bit of logic would do credit to the fourteenth century, yel it
is from a modern treatise :
Croc coniiiti of a cniilureof waierind wfallkev. 1 eipect. iherefDre.la find three KB of
and ihe flavor itronger than water : owing to the water. I ihouTd expect lo find the cok*
lighter and the ftavor weaker- than whiskey ; and owing lo the whiskey and water being mlaed,
I ahould expect to be able lo drink a certain quanlily of it.— more llian 1 could otpuje whiakev.
but les than I could of pure water.— Dr. VE^N; Emfirhal Ijfk.
And for oddity some rococo notions of our own day hold their own against
the scholasticism at which we now smile. It was gravely proposed a (ew years
ago to submit to a pair of scales the question whether or not man has a soul.
The idea was lo place in a delicate balance a man about to expire, and watch
for any possible change in his weight at the moment of death. It was urged
that if there be such % thin^ as a human soul, capable of existing; apart from
the body, that soul must weigh something, however little, and that if no change
in weight were perceptible ine fact would furnish a strong argument in favor
of some theory which need not be discussed here. Tiie suggestion did not
lead up to any practical result, still less to a solution of the riddle as slatci
A gentleman connected with the South Boston Institution for the Blind is
reported to have had another idea. He took it for gtanted that the human
body is animated by a soul, and proposed to test it lor innate reliaious senti-
ment. He wished to discover whelher, unaided by any
tion, a child that is blind, deaf, and dumb wiil manifest an instinctive inipuii
towards religion or develop an innate idea of a Supreme Being. He aimc
......... ... ■ _.u.._.L -■IS of the child, s
0 avoid anything that should in any way bias the ci
that she might l>e allowed to reach gradually the beliefs tl
science and growing knowledge would naturally attain. He had no wish to
suppress knowledge that led to religious ideas, nor to prevent the child's
inquiries from going in that direction. But she must not be indoctrinated.
She was to be left free to develop in her own way.
Many of us, too, will remember the proposition made riot to long ago bf
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 943
Prot Huxley, — sirdonicaJlv, is we imagine, — to lest the efficacy of prayer by
seiting a time fur universal and simultaneous praying. Another modern in-
stance is the calculation sometimes ascnbed to one Captain J. B, Shaikley,
of Boston, somelimes to other claimants, which went the rounds of the daily
press several years ago. It has reference to the teil " In my Father's house
are many mansions," and is based upon the description of the New Jerusalem
in Revclalioii xii. 16 : " And he measured the cily [the New Jerusalem] with
the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height
The result is thus figured out : Twelve thousand furlongs = J,iiXi,0OO feet,
which, being cubed, is 943,oSS,ooo,aoo.ooo,aoo,ooo,ooo,ooo cubic feel, and
half of which we will reserve for the throne of God and the court of heaven,
half of the balance streets, and the remainder divided by 4096. the number of
cubical feet in a room sixteen feel square and sixteen feet high, will give
30.843.750,000.000 rooms.
We vill now suppose that the world always did and always will contain
900,000,000 of inhabitants, and that a generation will last thirty-three and one-
third years — 2,700,000,000,000 persons.
Then suppose there were one hundred worlds, equal lo this in number of
inhabitants and duration of years according to the received chronolt^y : there
would be one hundred and twelve rooms sixteen feet long, sixteen leet wide,
and sixteen feel high for each person, and rooms lo spare.
These deductions are of course majestic in their volume, but are liable to
create a lidiculously wrong impression as to the comparative magnitude of
the space described, in proportion to spaces within common knowledge.
To begin with, the diameter of the suggested heaven Is but fifteen hundred
miles, which, cubed, is three thousand three hundred and seventy-five millions
of miles. Now, our little, insignificant, paltry earth has a diameter of, roundly.
eight thousand miles, or sixty-four thousand furlongs j but, being a globe, its
capacity is, of course, less than thai of a cube of the like diameter, and allowing,
"-'y, one-third as the difference between the globe and the cube form,
e the earth's dimensions as considerably over three hundred and forty
thousand millions of cubic miles, or one hundred limes the dimensions of the
■uggesled heaven.
If we carry the calculation a little farther, we find that Jupiter, wilh his
ninety thousand miles of diameter, is more than stiteen thousand times larger
than the supposed heaven 1 whilst the sun, though one of the least in site of
the great stars, seeing that his bulk is about a million limes that of the earth,
would have space within bis borders for more than one hundred millions of
the heavens here described.
Such is the calculation. It has many discrepancies, mathemallcal and
logical. Such as it is, we give it in all Its simple and beautiful integrity.
The Inures arc Captain Sharkley's, not ours.
Qnot liDguw tot homlnM (L., "So many languages so many times a
man"). The idea that a man multiplies himselt whenever he acquires a new
language is a very ancient one. Ennius, in the third century h.c, was wont
to claim that he had three souls, because he was skilled in ihree languages :
"Tria corda habere sese quod loqul GrKce et Osce et Latine sciret" (AuLi;5
Gellius, xvii. [7). Vamtwry in his "Travels in Central Asia," p. 259, after
recording the princely treatment he received from the Emir of Bokhara,
owing to his command of the German tongue, continues, "I had every reason
to appreciate the truth of the Latin proverb, ' Quot linguaa calles, tot homines
vales.' " The phrase is obviously formed on the basis of ihe line in Terence,
" Quot homines lot senlentiae" (" As many men, so many opinirjns") {Piormiv,
II., iv. 14).
^es
. Coo^k"
944
HAffDY-BOOK OF
Qnotatioii and BUsqnotatlon. Byron hat > Bing it die e;iit1einen " iviih
just enough of leaminz to mEsquote." These gentlemen are, unfortunately,
very common. It would indeed be advisable, il it were possible, to prevent
■lie corruption of our popular quotations. Shakespeare is well enough as he
stands ; don't let us go on talking of " the sere and yellow leaf," or of " the
biiurne (rum which nu traveller returns," but remember that what Macbeth
really said was,
My Mny oT lU* ia bU'n Into the leir. the ydlov leaf,
and that Hamlet speaks of
The luidiKDTBcd awDiry ^m whose ttoomc
No uanlkt RUinu.
The Declaration of independence does not hold il to be Mlf-evident that all
men are born free and equal, but that all men arc created equal. Berkeley
does not speak of the sur of empire, but of the course of empire, taking its
westward way :
Wettmrd the coune of empfn laka lu way.
" When Greeks joined Greeks," says Nat Lee, " then was the tug of war,"
which means the exact opposite of our cuircnt corruption, " When Greek
meets Greek, then comes the tug of war." It was only Nat Lee's early-
English way of saying that united they stood, divided they fell. PriorS
fimt by degrtei and hciuiUuUy leu
is never quoted right. If yon are a belting man it is not at all unlikely that
you may win money by laying odds that
Vou might even make money by giving your friend the following passage
tci read ; " And Samson said. With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps,
with the jaw of an ass have [ slain a thousand men" (Judges xv. i6|. Nine
men out of ten inadvertently repeal the word jawbone in the second clause of
the sentence, not noticing that jaw simply has been substituted.
The Bible, indeed, is a fertile field for mistjuotalion. Peoiile, and among
these people even clergymen themselves, persist in alluding to the time when
the lion shall lie down with the lamb, despite the fact that the prophet's
words arc, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb," etc. Perha|is the apt
alliteration of lion and lamb has something lo do with this common etior.
Another favorite misquotation is the following : " Eye hath not seen, nor
car heard, neither bath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him." This maybe an improve-
ment on Paul's words, but as a matter of fact there is no such verse in the
Bible. The Authorized Version says, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man," etc. Vet the verse, though
introduced into half the sermons that are preached, is rarely by any chance
tendered by the preacher as it actually stands.
Congreve wrote, —
Miufc hath chvnu id to«hF s eavmn hreut.
Ta Hflen tocki, or bend i knalied oik.
Ihi MimrmHt Bridt, Act I . Sc. i.
This is often misquoted with "the savage beast" substituted for "a savage
breast," and some refer it to Act v., S<l i, of the " Merchant of Venice."
For the change there is no textual authority. Savage breast is an intJusivo
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 945
phrase, and man as well as beaat comes righlly within its scope. In (he very
speech of Loienzu reterred lo there are several lines which just as puintedlr
provr (hat the bieast is the sphere of music's channs. " Ii is curious, how-
ever," says a ccirrespondent of NoUs and Qutiies (seventh series, iv. t75),
" haw niiie-spread the belie/ in the unottbodox reading seems to be. I re-
niemtier hearing how, when once upon a lime the line was misquoted at a
civic banquet, a well-known poet and critic who was present was heard to
interpolate, —
'Til ihcrdon welcooic u ■ Lord Mayor*! tfM.
But whether this was in tesenimeni at the misquotation, or for other reasons,
Gray's line in the bmous Elegy,
They kept ihe Dabeloi KDor of Ifadi ny,
is constantly misquoted
They kepi (he tven icDor of ihrir my.
Pope said, —
Vice [> ■ moniUr of to frightfal mien
He is usually made (a say, —
Vice i) 1 moniler of luch liideoui mieo, etc
Scott's lines.
When fim we practiie 10 deceive,
MariKi**, CiatO vl., SnniB 4,
ilure" for "practise." Shalce-
■ "v^V/bS,' Aci 1., Sc. 1,
Pope again said, —
Wilier wu •mooth, bul Dryden uutht to Jala
The varying verae. ihe liili reBouodii^ line.
The lonn murilic murch, and enerey divine.
Imilaliont of Harm,, Bk. II., Ep. i., 1. 167.
Gray evidently had Pope in mind when, after euloginng Milton, he went
Wide o'er the fiddi of glory beu
Two connen of elhereal race,
With Declu ia Ihuader dolbed and loikg rttoundiug pace.
Prignit ifPcttry.
It is very common to confound these two passages and to give a combined
reading as a quotation from Pope, — aa in Stopford Brooke's "Primer of
English Literature," p. w], —
Another common error is Ihe miscrediiinE of quotations. The champion
instance is "God tempers the wind to the sTiom lamb." Out of a hundred
people ninety will say that this line is from the Book of Proverbs, nine will
credit it to some portion of the New Testament, only one, perhaps, will
know that it is not in Ihe Bible at all, but in Sterne's " Sentimental Journey."
On the other hand, how many people know that such colloquialisms as
"escaped with the skin of my teeth, "al their wits' end," "fat aa grease,"
are from the Bible (Job xix. 30 ; Ps. cvii. 37 ; Ps. cxix. 70), and that " picking
and stealing" is in the catechism of the Book of Common Prayer }
To take the other side of the case, the phrase " he who runs may read"
is usually referred to Habakkuk ii. 3; "And the Lord answered me, and
Goo^k"
946 HANDY-BOOK OF
Slid, Write the Ttiion, and mike it plain upon tables, that he majr run that
readelh it."
It is rarely used in any other sense than this, — that (he writing is so legible
that a man can read il as he runs. But it has been objected that the Hebrew
prophet from whom Ihe quotation is taken neither said nor thought of saying
anything of the kind. Habakkuk is foieielling the devastation which the
Lord would permit the Chaldeans to inflict upon the land because of the un-
godliness of the Jewish people, and he is directed to explain the vision so
clearly that any one who reads what is written upon the tables may under-
stand it, and run away, and escape from the coming vengeance. It is not
that he may run and read, but that he may read and run. This is well and
good ; but, after ail, there is no reason to look upon the usual reading as
a misquotation from Habakkuk. The very words occur in Cowper's "Tiro-
cinium ;"
Shine by the fllde dT eveiy palll we tnad
It is possible, of course, that Cowper may have misquoted Habakkuk. But
the phrase he uses is an excellent one, and one that often comes in very handy.
Habakkuk was a worthy gentleman, no doubt, as well as a minor propheL But
becau.ie he (<ir his lianslalors) once spoke of a man running because he read,
— a phra!>e which might conceivably come in on a " Trespassers- will-be-
proseculed" notice, but otherwise not of general application, — are we and the
rest of the non-prophetic world to be debarred from mentioning things writ
su targe that he who runs may read?
A very popular jest tells how two august members of Congress laid a wager
on an abstruse point One bet the other that he could not repeat the Lord's
Prayer. The challenged party straightway commenced, —
■' Now I lay nie down lo >l«p,
"The money's yours," interrupted the challerger ; "but I really didn't
think you knew it." An equally good story is told of an English M.P., a
gentleman of sporting proclivities, who knew more about race-horses than
about the Bible. Out of pure mischief he was asked by one of his constitu-
ents if he would vote for the abolition of the Decalogue. Not knowing what
that was, but anxious to preserve his own consistency, he replied, "I won't
pledge myself, but I'll give it my consideration."
An especially cruel form of misquotation is that which credits (or discredita)
''■" ■ ' -•....■ '' n odious or ridicu-
lous to his fellow-men. Sir Kobert Walpole. for example, is persistently said
to have expressed the cynical opinion that " All men have their price." What
he really said is thus explained by Cnxe in the " Memoirs of Walpole :"
" Flowery oratory he despised. He ascribed to the interested views of them-
selves or their relatives Ihe declarations of pretended patriots, of whom he
said. ' All those men have their price.' "
It was Byron who borrowed the phrase and made it universal in its appli-
cation. But Byron thought he was copying from Walpole :
Bui III have pricn,
romcrowni n k '■ "^_'^° (^J'^^^-g^^^j
Chief.Juslice Taney did not say, "The negro has no rights which a white
man is bound to respect," but that people formerly thought so ; he expressed
horror of the sentiment, instead of endorsing it The error is so wide-spread
and has heaped so much unwarranted odium on the memory of a good man
that it is worth while to quote entire Ihe paragraph in which the words occur.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 94)
Here it is; "It is difficult al this day to lealize ilie state of public opinion in
regard to (hat unrortunale lice which prevailed in the civ 11 iied and enlightened
portions of the world at the lime of the Declaraliim of Independence, and
when the Conslilulion of the United Stales was framed and adopted : but
the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner loo plain
lo be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as
beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit lo associate with the while
race, either in social or political relations, and so far unfit Ihat they had no
rights which the while man was bound to respect."
" Racine passers comme le cafe" (" Racine will pass away like coffee") is
an absurdity laid to the doot of Madame de Sivigni, by the process of dove-
tailing parts of iwo letters. Yei Voltaire seriously repeals ihe phrase in his
preface to "Irene."
R.
R, the eighteenth letter and fourteenth consonant in the English alphabet,
representing a character having a like position and value in the l.atin, Greek,
and Phmnician alphabets. The Greeks wrote Che letter P. The lag below
the curve, by which Ihe latins and their successors differentiate Ihe R from
the P sign, was originally made by the Greeks, but abandoned when they had
invenleda new sign, n, for iheir A Owing to what is known as the "rolling
of Ihe r's," — i.e., a trilling and vibration of the tip of the longue in the pro-
nunciation of the letter, more common among the Keltic and Latin than
among the distinctly Teutonic races, — the letter is sometimes known as the
" litera canioa," " dog's letter."
The famous toast to " the ihrce R's — reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic" — is
usually accredited lo Sir William Curtis, Bart., Lord Mayor of London in
1795, and for many years one of the wardens of the Tower. He proposed it
at a dinner given by Ihe Board of Education in llie days when Dr. Bell and
the Quaker Lancaster were pleading for increased educational advantages for
the poor. It was received with great applause and drunk amid much mcrri-
menl. But, though recoeniied as a jest at the time, it was afterwards taken
up in earnest by Sir William's detractors, who have handed his name down
to posterity as a blundering ignorarans. A writer in Notes and Queries says
Ihat an aged member of Ihe corporation, now deceased, assured him that
Sir William Curtis, although a man of limited education, was very shrewd,
and not BO ignorant as to suppose his presumed orthography was correct
He chose the phrase simply as a joke.
RadloalB. the sairiquei of the members of the extreme democratic wing
_f -I . , ., . .. ■ ^... ...... 1^ (jj^j applied as a parly name in 1818 to
others forming a coterte whose platform
was a radical reform of the system of parliamenlary representation and of
the electoral franchise. Also a Southern sobriquet for Republicans much used
during the carpet-bag r/gimf, and still in vogue, though possibly with less
Rag-Baby, in American ]>olitical slang, a humorous personification of
the greenback currency. It was used with great effect by speakers and cari-
caturists in the Presidential campaign of 1S76. The use of Ihe word rags in
the Mnse of paper money dates back lo Ihe second quarter of the century ;
Oh, dmq an ftxj hard, Tolki uy,
Aad tbtrefor* ihc bctt way
;i:,vG00git:
948 HANDY-BOOK OF
The bankl an all ctcu broke,
Theii rap art good (or niugbt,
SuKtcf itip.
Rasman RolL When Edward I. of England overran Scotland in 1196,
he endeavored to carry oft or destroy all records, monuments, etc., Ihat
referred lo the separate eaislence of Ihe nation. On his southward prepress
he summoned all the nobility and leading men, lay and clerical, lo meel him
at Berwick. He held a court there, August zS, 1296, and caused the Scots 10
subscribe oaths of homage and allegiance lo him. The list (here made up
consists of Ihlity-five skins of parchment, and is known as the "Ragman
Roll." It is kept in the British archives, and was printed in extiHsa by the
Bannatyne Club in 1S34. After the overthrow uf the English rule in Scot-
land, a treaty was entered into at Northampton, May 4. 1328, between Robert
Bruce and Edward III. A marriage was arranged between Edward's sister
Joanna and young David Bruce. ■ The independence of Scotland was guar-
anteed, and much of the first Edward's plunder was to be leslored, — among
Other Ihings, Ihe famous Stone of Scone and the Ragman Roll. The chiltT
marriage was celebrated at Berwick, and the Roll was returned, though the
Stone of Destiny was retained. The Ragman Roll is still valuable, as con-
taining the earliest statistical facts concerning Scotland. The etymology of
the word "Rahman" seems to be very obscure, Jamieson gives several
possible derivations, but does not seem sure of any of them. In " Piers Plow-
man's Vision" {area 1390) the word " Ragemati" is applied lo the devil. Ai
Edward's Roll was, in Ihe eyes of Ihe Scots, a veiy work of the devil, several
writers accept this as Ihe true origin of the term prefixed to Ihe Roll. The
word " Ragman" is found in many of Ihe old authors, and with varied spell-
ing. It seems to be an ancient legal designation for a deed or agreement,
and so was applied to the indenture which bound Ihc Scottish nobles, bnr-
gesaes, etc., to the service of Edward I. In Ihc novel of "The Anliquarr,"
Scott makes Sir Arthur Wardour assert Ihe educational standing of bis
family by stating thai the name of his ancestor Sir Gamelyn "is written
fairly witli his own hand in Ihe earliest copy of the Ragman Roll," to which
Mr. Oldbuck retorted that il onlv served to show "he was one of (he earliest
who sel Ihe mean example of submitting lo Edward t."
Rafl-BpUtter. Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of Ihe United Slates,
was frequently referred to by this name. The allusion is to an experience
in his younger days, when he is said lo have supported himself over one winter
by splilting rails for a fanner.
Raise, To, or Hake a raise, — probably an abbreviation of the older collo-
quialism "to raise Ihe wind," — an Americanism, meaning lo procure money
by pawning, borrowing, or otherwiac.
The verb to raise is also used as an American equivalent for the English
rear. But it is not a pure Americanism, it is rather a survival, and the word may
be found in the American sense in the memoirs of Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
Monsignor Capel was Ihc subject of a talk the otberevcninK, thcapoketwomanof iHepatly
being the dau^hier of our ex-minisier to a fonlEB court, and 9 Catholir. " 1 don't lilte (he
man," ihe said; "he b ill-mannered. It waa thia way. 1 waa talking to him, and income
way xderted tomyrouth.aDdaaid J had been rnifcd m KeDiuckf. '^ul, madam/ hckaid,
with provokEiv IrrelcvaDC/, and m a lone of Hi|*eTd1ioi» criiiciam, ' vou ahouid not aav
raura. Brtdit better : we aav lo in Gngland.' ' Do you I' I ■nurered, iriih conalderablt
wirniih; ' well, I don'i. In RenluckTwe breed callle and honea and mulei. and raiie
children.* Then I luned ny back on falm quite ai poUuly u be bad b«nn Iba (Uapmt-Aad
1 Mt baaxr-lfaihitittM Poll.
;i:,.. Cookie
LITSRARV CURIOS/TIES. 949
g^ijtti a word derived from the Spanish ranihe, a mess, a set of persons
who eat atid drink together, or a mesa-room. The Spanish term also meant
a cattle-station or a hunting-lodg;e far away from the haunts of men. Among
the Mexicans the word raueh? came to signify the rude hut of posts, covered
with branches or thatch, in which the ranchmen ur larm-Uborers lived or only
lodged at nights, and later embraced the small farm or peasant vtllaBC.
teim Aacitadii is used fot the large and extensive plantations. In gur Tangua
the word lanch is used to signify both large and small plantations, and al
the buildings upon them. The proper name for buildings upon a raneho is
ranthtria, but the latter word has not been adopted, and so the shorter is used
for both building and plantation.
R«p, Not irorth a, a term derived probably from the letters forming the
heading of Indian money columns in account -books, R. A. P., meaning rupees,
annas, and pice. In Indian accounts these letters are used in precisely the
sainie manner as the English £ i. d.
Rat— Rata. The first appearance of this word in in opprobrious sense
was in the early part of the eighteenth century, when it was political siang
for a turncoat, a traitor, a renegade. Evidently the term is borrowed from
the proverb "Rats leave a sinking ship."
It is in view of this sense of a traitor, of one who goes over to the enemy's
camp, that printers apply the term rat to i compositor or pressman who does
not belong to the Typographical Union, and who plays into the hands of
capital by'conscnting to work at a rate lower than that fixed by the Union.
From the Fretich proverb " Avoir des rats dans la l£le" (see Bbi in the
Bonnet) we probably get our American slang "he has rats," or "lie has
rats in his garret," sometimes Inlensilied " and he has got them bad." mean'
ing that he is craiy, demented, or has delirium tremens. In the latter case
the phrase is cognate with " he has the rams," or " he sees snake*," and may
have grown up Independently from the imaginary animals seen by men in that
state. " Rats !" is in America an expression of contemptuous sarcasm or
indifference.
R*irhcad-and-bloody-bon«s, a former spectre of the nursery, inspiring
as much awe among the nurses as among their charges.
ScrviBii Mwc cbildrtp, uid keep Ukid in »uhj«niDo, by tdllng them of Rawboid-UM]-
bloody-bona.-'-LociEV-
tn fhcn, li« l>ecAine tlw bugbear of every houac, uid n« M cfTective ia friEhteninE liiUfl
chllibeii into obedience ud hyiieric* u Ihe redoububle Rawbead-ud-bloody-Eciiiei bioueLr.
-W. li.viHC : Sttcirt Brid.[r^m.
B«al people in floUoa. When the Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
was ashed whv he did not write a novel, he answered that, in the first place,
he should tell all his secrets (and he maintained that verse is the proper
medium for such revelations), and, in the second place, he was terribly afraid
he should show up all his friends. "I should like to know if all story-tellers
do not do this. Now, I am afraid all my friends would not bear showing up
well, if they have an average share of the common weaknesses of humanity,
which I am pretty certain would come otit. Of all that have told stories
among us, there is hardlv one I can recall who has not drawn too faithfully
some living portrait, whith might better have been spared."
One of the torments of authorship Is that so many people are possessed
with the idea that the hero or heroine of a story or poem is the author's own
self, ot that such and such an unpleasant character is copied from his neigh-
bor. In Ur. Holland's "Bitter-Sweet" one of the characters is a man of
good birth and education who fell so lar from grace that his wife one day
Aha
950 HANDY-BOOK OF
beheld him about (o make a balloon-ascension with a woman a great deal
worse than she should have been. He was subsequently leclaimed, but the
author ortcn wished he had allowed him In die, for some readers, who did not
know I)r, Hiilland, imagined the author was the original of this sorry char-
acter. Thackeiay was continually identilied with Pendennii, who. if he re-
sembles him at all, resenibtcs him in his less pleasant traits. Other authors
have been identiRed by turns with their own romantic heroes and their
desperate villains. Am«lie Rives, it has been pecsisleiilly asserted, drew her
own immait in the morbid, hysterical heroine of "The Quick or the Dead?"
In the preface 10 that novel she insisted that the critics had done her a great
though unconscious honor in assuming that she intended Barbara for herself,
as in doing so they had attributed ID her an absolute honesty and an absence
uf vanity such as few mortals have been credited with. Barbaia is beautiful
in face and form, but all her idiosyncrasies are such as no woman would care
to accuse herself of.
Such experiences arc unpleasant enough, but they are no more unpleasant
than to be accused of havine unconsciously caricatured your friends and rela-
tives. In his article on " The Critic on the Hearth," James Payn probably
draws upon his own experience when he makes a country cousin write as
follows ; " Helen, who has just been here, is immensely delighted with yout
Batirical sketch of her husband ; he, however, as you may imagine, is wild,
' s you had belter withdraw your name from the candidates' book at'
L I do not know how many black balls exclude, but he has a good
y friends here."
jublication of "The Houv of the Seveit Cables." Hawthorne
was worried by peo|>le who insisted that they, or their families in the present
or past fenerations, had been deeply wronged by his book. One man wrote
complaining that his grandfather had been made infamous in the character of
Judge Pyncheon. Now, his grandfather, Judge Pyncheon by name, was ■
Tory and refugee resident in Salem at the period of the Revolution, whom
the correspondent described as the most exemplary old gentleman in the
world. He therefore considered himself infinitely wronged and aggrieved,
and thought it monstrous that the virtuous dead could not be suffered to rest
quietly in their graves. "The joke of the matter is," says Hawthorne, in a
letter to Fields, "that I never heard of his grandfather, nor knew that any
Pyncheons had ever lived in Satem, but took the name because it suited the
tone of niy Ixiok and was as much my properly for fictitious purposes as that
of Smith, I have pacified him liy a very polite and gentlemanly letter ; and
if ever you publish any more of • The Seven Gables' I should like to write a
brief preface eipreasive of my anguish for this unintentional wrong, and
making the best reparation pcosible, else these wretched old Pyncheons will
have no peace in the other world nor in this." A few weeks later he wrote
again, " 1 have just received a letter from still another claimant of the Pyn-
ciieon estate. I wonder if ever, and how soon, I shall get a just estimate of
how many jackasses there are in this ridiculous world. My correspondent,
by the way, estimates the number of these Pyncheon jackasses at about
twenty. I am douiiile.is to be remonstrated with by each individual. After
exchanging shots with each one of them, I shall get you to publish the whole
correspondence in a style to match that of my other works, and I anticipate
a great run for the volume."
Thackeray drew down upon himself the indignation of the whole Irish pub-
lic by taking as the heroine of his story of "Catherine" a famous murderess
named Catherine Hayes, which happened to lie exactly the same name as
that of a famou.s Irish songstress. Professor Maurice was in early Hie the
Mithor of a novel called " Eustace Conway, or the Brother and Sister," H«
. Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 95 1
>, but, the t
caused by ihe !■ ^ _
issued until 1S34. The villain uf the novel was called Captain Marryat, and
Pri>fessur Maurice had soon the pleasure of receiving a challenge from Ihe
celebrated Captain Marryat. Great was the lattet's astaiitshment on learn-
ing that the anonymous author of " Eustace Conway" had never heard of the
biogra])her of " Peter Simple," and, being in holy orders, was obliged to de-
cline lu indulge in a duel.
Mr. F. W. H. M^ers tells the story cf how one day George Eliot and hel
husband were niaknig good-humored lun over the mistaken efFusiveness of a
too sympathizing friehd who insisted on assuming that Mr. Casaubon was
1 portrait of Mr. Lewes, and on condoling with the sad experiences which had
taught the gifted authoress of " Middlemarch" to depict that gloomy man.
" And there was indeed something ludicrous," says Mr. Myers, "in the con-
trast between the dreary pedant ollhe novel and the good-natured self-content
of Ihe living savant who stood acting his vivid anecdotes before our eyes."
" But from whom, then," said a friend, turning to Mrs. Lewes, " did you draw
Casaubon ?" With a humorous solemnity, which waa quite in earnest, how-
ever, she pointed 10 her own heart "
Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre," it will be remembered, was dedicated to
William M. Thackeray, who had only recently published his "Vanity Fair."
A' critic surmised with intiiiile ingenuity thai Cutter Bell, whom he assumed
to be a woman, might be Ihe original of Thackeray's Becky Sharp, who
in revenge had turned around and portrayed her tsiricaturisl as Rochester.
(See Reviews, Curiosities of.) This, of course, was simply laughable.
But Charlotte Bronte got into more serious difHcutKes with regard to her loo
life-tike local portraits in "Shirley." Mrs. Gashell says of her Yorkshire
sketches in this book, " People recognized ihemselves or were recognized by
others in her graphic descriptions of tiieir personal appearance and modes of
action and turns of thought, though Ihey were placed in new positions and
figured away in scenes far different to those in which their actual life had been
passed." The Ihree curates were real living men haunting llawurth and the
neighboring districts, so obtuse in perception " thai, after the first burst of
anger at having Iheir ways and habits cnionicled was over, thej^ rather en-
joyed the joke of calling one another by the names she had given Ihem."
Vet Charlotte Bronte had never supposed Ihey would be recogniied. In a
letter to a friend she expressly says, "You are not to suppose any of the
characters in ■ Shirley' are intended as literal portraits. Il would not suil the
rules of art, nor of my own feelings, to wrile in that style. We only sulTer
reality to tugjal, never lo dietaU."
Dickens's " Bleak House" almost lost him the friendshi(> of Walter Savage
Landor, who recognized himself as Boythorn, and of l.eigh (funt, who was
deeply wounded by the only too evident portraiture of himself as Harold
Skimtiole. [Jickens, indeed, printed a very lame apology for the caricature,
in which he disclaimed any intention of pillorying his friend. As a rule, he
was successful in avoiding too marked a resemblance to the lay figure which
had unconsciously posed to him. His method was to lake some strikingly
singular trail of characler, some phenomenon in human nature, and surround
il with qualities totally diflerenl from those found in the original. Thus he
preserved the reality without exposing his model.
We are mil told whether the elder Dickens descried himself in Micawber,
but it is certain that vjry few people did until after the publication of Fors-
ler's biography. And was il of his own mother that l)ickens says, in the
preface to " Nicholas Nickleby," " Mrs. Nickleby, sitting bodily l>ef»re me,
once aaked whether 1 really believed there ever was such a woman" } Furs-
95" HANDY-BOOK OF
ter, who ia grave oret the complications which grew out of Harold Shimpdhi,
was unconsciously the model of Kenny Meadows's ]>artraLt of Master Froth.
All writers have not been so anxious to spare the feelings of their victims ;
indeed, many of them have purposely used the novel or the drama as a me-
dium for satirizing their enemies. Perhaps the earliest instance in the history
of literature is that of Aristophanes, whu brought Alcibiades, Socrates, and
Euripides upon the stage in their own proper persons in order to heap sar-
casm and ridicule upon them. Dante, it is well known, put his enemies into
hell. He waa imitated by Michael Angelo in his fresco of " The Last Judg-
ment" It is said that a cardinal, who had found hit portrait among Michael
Angelu's damned, hastened to complain to the Pope; " Are you sure that he
has put you in hell^" said the latter. "Ves," cried the cardinal. "Then
there is no hope for you. If he bad put you in purgatory t wight have ob-
tained your release; but out of hell there is no redemption."
The Elizabethan dranatists, as a rule, adopted the transparent veil of a
fictitious name when thev brought an adversary upon the stage ; and this
custom has been generally followed up to the present lime, the only recent
--a being that of "Cape Cod Folks," a ■ ->-^-u i_j ._._._
"~" "' living people under tl
ovcl brought or - '- -
lich was evcnli
which were avowedly directed agaii
literary men of whom he disapproved, always veiled their names under some
transparent disguise ; but this was done to add piquancy to his wit and verisi-
militude to the allegorical form which he adopted, rather than from any desire
to spare the feelings of his victims. Pope occasionally, but not always, fol-
lowed Dryden's example. "The Rape of the Lock" and the " Imitations of
Horace" need a key ; but not so " The Dunciad," which brings all the Grub
Street authors upon the stage under their own names. In the original poem
the criticaster Theobald had been pilloried as the monarch of the dunces, but
in the mean while Pope had fallen out with Colley Gibber, and the vengeful
little poet gratified his spite at the expense of justice by substituting the name
of that very clever man for Theobald's in his second edition.
Byron, who was always an admirer of Pope, and began his poetical life as
an imitator of him, was equally free with the names of the supposed critical
foes whom he attacked in his " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." It is
interesting to note that most of them (even Jeffrey, with whom he fought a
duel) became subsequently his warm personal fiien<^.
Bulwer's passage at arms wiih Tennyson is one of the curiosities of liter-
ature, and as such has been chronicled under the head of New Timon.
Bulwer had always shown a predilection for hitting back. When the
i^Mirnmnn attacked his "Devereux" he retorted in bis next novel, "Paul
Clifford," by satiiizing it under the name of the Asinaum and its editor under
the name of Peter McGrawler. In a rather good-natured review of " E*au1
Clifford" the Alhtnaum said, "The character of the editor, McGrawler, is
skilfully and delicately drawn. This luckless gentleman, failing to live by
the Aiiibium, turns pickpocket, then highwayman, then king's evidence
against his kindest friend, then hangman, and lastly a writer in Blaekneod's
Magaxine. Uur limits do not allow us to dwell longer on this painful subject,
so we must leave the public to applaud the refinement and judiciousness of
this attack, and take leave of our assailant with a confession of tbe over,
whelming confusion we feel."
This novel of " Paul Clifford" is Bulwer's moat se
of exciting vulgar curiosity by burlesques of living n
man George, the keeper of a low booiing-den, is intended for the reigning
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 953
monarch, GeorRe IV., Bachelor Bill for ihe Duke of Devoiuhiie, etc. Thb
Eoit of personalities had been borrowed li-om the French, and oas cultivated
aocccssAilly by Mrs. Gore, Lady Morgan, Mr& Tiollope, and other lady
novelists, and more especially by Disraeli, all of whose novels required a
"key" to unlock their mysteries and depended lately on Ihis fact fur their
Very different was the practice of a true artist like Walter Scott. In his
Erefaces he has given us full information as to the sources from which he drew
is materials, and describes the original of almost every prominent character
in his works. But if we turn from Helen Walker to Jeanie Dearvs, from
Andrew GemiiKlls to Edie Ochiltree, we find that we have really learned
nothing of the process by which these originals were transformed into char-
acters mote vivid, more real to us, than one-half of the flesh-and-blood people
whom we know. Helen Walker is the original of Jeanie Deans in the same
way that a block of marble is the original of the Venus de' Medici.
Thackeray, in his younger days, made savage fun of Buhver, nnder the
name of Bulwig, in a full-tength portrait in " The Vellowplush Papers."
And in his later days he was not averse to this method of punishing an
enemy. " It was a pleasant peculiarity of Mr. Thackeray's," says Edmund
Vates, " to make some veiled but unmistakable allusion in fats books to
persons at the lime obnoxious 10 him." Duiing the awkward episode at the
Garrick which lost to Vates the friendship of l^ackeray, the seventh number
of "The Virginians" came out with what Mr. Vales calls "a wholly irrelevant
and ridiculously I w;ged-in-by'the -shoulders allusion to me as Young Grub
Street in its pages.'' Bui Thackeray's portraits were not always meant to be
ill-nalured. Poker, for example, was drawn from Andrew Arcedeckne, who
was reproduced, says Vates, "in the most ludicrously life-like manner, and,
to Arccdeckne's intense annoyance, an exact wood-cut portrait of himself
accompanied the text"
Though Thackeray meant no ill nature here, Arcedeckne never quite forgave
him. On the night just after Thackeray had delivered his first lecture on
"The English Humorists," Arcedeckne met him at Ihe Cider-Cellar's Club,
surrounded by a coterie who were offering their congratulations.
" How are you, Thack ?" cried Arcedeckne. " I was at your show to-day at
Willis's. What a lot of swells you had there,— yes I but I thought it was
dull, — devilish dull I I'll tell you what it is, Thack, you want a piano."
That Thackeray meant no unkindness was evidenced by the facts that in
Ihe same book some of the sketches of Arthur Pendennis drawn by the author
artist are recognizable portraits of Thackeray, and that Ihe side-hce of Dt.
Portman in the wood-cut which represents the meeting of the doctor and his
curate, Smirke, was said to resemble strongly that of Dr. Cornish, who was
evidently the original from whom the goi5 Portman was drawn. In the
main, there is no doubt that what Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie says is true :
" My father scarcely ever put real people into his books, though he of course
found suggestions among the people with whom he was thrown." Perhaps a
good idea of his method may be gained from his own letter to Mrs. Brook-
field, in which he tella her, " You lino* you are only a piece of Amelia, my
mother is another half, my poor little wife y rat ptur biautotp" or from the
" Roundabout Papers," in which he said that he had invented Cosligan, " as
I suppose authors invent their personages, out of scraps, heel-taps, cKlds and
ends of characters."
Robert Browning attached Wordsworth for what he considered his de-
leclion from the party of progress in "The Lost Leader," just
954 HANDY-ROOK OF
.. _. . _ ^ .. laiie a moTe direct adack upon the spiritaalill
John Home in "Sludge the Mediam." Home recognized the portrait, and
in revenge used to lell the (ollowing story. Some months before the poem
was written. Home met Mr. and Mrs. Browning at Ealing, where a spiritualist
stance relieved the ledium of a morning parly. Among other manifestations,
a wreath of clematis was lifted firom the (able by an invisible power and Con-
veyed through the air in the direction of Mrs, Browning. Mr. Brawning
hastily left his seal on the opposite side of the table and moved to a spot be-
hind his wife's chair, in the hope thai even at the last moment ihe spirit*
might place on his brow the coronal, which he held to be his due ; but the
spirits knew what Ihey were about, declined to grali^ his vanity, and settled
Ihe crown on Mrs, Browning's head. Hinc ilia larkryiHa: hence "Sludge
the Medium."
Goethe says (hat all his writings are a confession. And this is probably
true of all great authors. Thev have dipped into their own hearts to write.
Consciously or unconsciously, they have unclothed their own minds. It is
comparatively easy to trace their likeness in their works. They all have
some character which obviously represents themselves or some part of them-
selves. Thus. Shakespeare is Hamlet, and he had strong mental aflilialions
with the melancholy Jaques, Milton is his own Satan, or at least in Satan he
has drawn the proud, arrogant, self-assertive side of his own nature. Moliire
has sketched himself in Alceste, the hero of his " Misanthrope," a man whose
originally generous, impulsive, and sensitive nature had been soured by con-
tact with the coldness and insincerity of conventional society and incruated
itself behind an external appearance of cynicism. Alceste is the Hamlet of
the artificial eighteenth century, — Hamlet drawn by an observer who keeps a
keen eye upon the humorous possibilities of the character. As the character
represents a type, it is not extraordinary that other originals were suggested,
especially the Due de Monlausicr, who in his native kindliness and acquired
muroseness resembled both Moliire and bis hero. It is said thai the duke,
being informed that his portrait had been taken in the " Misanthrope," went
to see the play, and only said, " I have no ill will against Moliire for the
original of Alceste, who, whoever he may be, must be a fine character, since-
the copy is so."
Goldsmith has shown an equally keen insight into his own foibles in the
character of Honey wood, the hero of "The Good-Natured Han." whose aim
in lite it is to be generally beloved, who can neither refuse nor contradict,
who gives away with lavish liberality to worthy and unworthy alike, who
allows his servants tu plunder him, who tries to fall in with the humor of
every one and to agree with every one. How admirably suited to his own
creator is Hoiieywood's confession when he determines on the reformation
which Goldsmith, alas, could never make 1 " Though inclined to the rieht,
I had not courage to condemn the wrong. My charity was but ininslice,
my benevolence but weakness, and my friendship but credulity." Fielding-
has undoubtedly painted himself In Tom Jones, with all his (bibles and his
weaknesses, and also with a fine manly want of bashfulness in the display of
his own perfections. Farquhar in Sir Harry Wildair originated the char-
acter which Richardson afterwards perfected and made immortal in Love-
lace,— Ihe gay, splendid, generous, easy, tine young gentleman, who throws
the witchery of high birth and courteous manners and reckless dash over the
Dualities of Ihe fop, the libertine, and the spendthrift In Sir Harry Wildair
aptain Farquhar drew his own portrait.
What is known as the Byronlc hero, the Grind, GI'KHny, and Peculiar soul,
who shrouds himself in his own singnlarity, was first brought into litentNm
uterary curiosities. 9SS
by Je»n Jacques RouMcau, who in hi* " Nouvelle Hiloise" obviously paintei!
himself m the dieary sentimenuligt who poses as hero. But Childe HaroTil
and Lara are great-grandchildren of Sainl-Preux. They trace their lineage
directly through Weriher and Reiii. Wertlier, although the incidents closely
reseinble the sorrovrut life and story of a young man named Jerusalem,
really represented Ihc "Sturm und Drang" period of Goethe's own
"Weriher," says Carlyle, "is but the cry of that deep-rooled pain
which all thoughtful men of a certain age were languishing. It paints the
misery, it passionately utters the complaint, and heart and voice aJt over
Europe loudly and at once responded to it." Among those who responded
and who echoed the cry in a succeeding generation and in another country
was Chateaubriand. Ren^ is as grand, as gloomy, and as peculiar as any
of Byron's characters, and it is not at all surprising that Chateaubriand, for-
getting liis own indebtedness to Goethe, should have accused Byron of pla-
giarizing from himself 1 but as truly as Ren^ is the ideal which Francois
Rent de Chateaubriand bad formed of himself, Childe Harold is the ideal
which Byroii had formed of himself. And this ideal Byron is continually
repealing in his succeeding i>oem8, fur his was essentially the lyrit^l and not
the dramatic mind. As Macaula^ aavs, Byron could exhil»t only one man,
" a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow and misery in his
heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and
strong aflection. Harold, Lara, Manfred, and a crowd of other characters
were universally considered merely as loose copies of Byron, and there is
every reason to believe that he meant them to be so considered. . . . Whether
there ever existed or can ever exist a person answering to the description
which he gave of himself may be doubted, but that he was not such a person-
is beyond all doubL" Nevertheless, most of the young men of the period
(trove to imitate him, and sought to describe themselves m prose or in poetry
as beings of dark imaginings, whose souls had been seared, and the freshness
of whose hearts had been dried at its source. For years the Minerva Prea*
sent forth no novel without a mysterious, unhappy, Lara. like peer.
Something of this affectation survived in Disraeli, and in Bulwer (known
■cmietimes as Byron with a small b), who in one of his last works, written
long after the Byronic fever had spent itself,— in ■' Kenelm Chillingly," in
short, — seeks tu draw his own portrait as a great and mysterious soul in un-
comfortable and uncongenial surroundings. But Byron s eioom is far more
^ncere than that of the young Disraeli or the superannuated Bulwer. Senan-
cour is, however, the sincerest of all the contributors to the Literature of
Despair, and in " Obcrmann" he has done what Byron and others have
failed in, — he has presented a true nineteen ih-centunr Hamlet, he has given
vmce to the mai du tiiele. Musnet came very near tloing the same thing in
his " Confisssions of a Child of the Age," but he is a little too lachrymose.
He lacks the masculinity of Senancour.
Juliana von Kriidener has sometimes been called the female Werther. be-
cause in her novel " Valerie" she veiled in the garb of fiction an episode in
her own life, — the slory of the love which her husband's secretary conceived
for her, and which he was loo noble to confess until he had resigned his posi-
tion and fled from her side. But in truth she had been preceded by another
bmous lady novelist, who preceded not only her but Werther himself. This
was the Countess de la Fayette, whose " Princess of Cleves" was published
in 1677. It relates the story of the love of a married lady (the princess) for
the Due de Nemours, a gentleman of the court of Henry the Second of
France. She acknowledges her love only to her husband, and flies from
temjiiation into the country. When, as the result of a series of misappre-
hensions, her husband dies of a broken heart, she refuses to marry the dalce^
95^ HANDV-BOOK OF
The principal personagM here ate all drawn from th« aulhoTCu's own ez<
K^rience, heraelf being the heioine, hei husband the Prince of Cleves, uid
ochefuucaald the Due de Nemours.
Madame de Stael followed in the wake of these ladies. Both in " Delpblne"
and in " Corinne" she painted herself as she desired to apjiear, — the passion-
ate, eenetous, seif-sacnficing, and somewhat hysterical personage whose love
was tier life. In "Delphine," by the way, she ridiculed the Machiavelian
subtlety of Talleyrand in her sketch of Madame de Vernon ; and Talleyrand's
mot has often been recorded. " I understand," he said to the authoress,
"that we both appear in your nen book disguised as women."
Oiie of the most extraordinary episodes in literary history is the love-affair
between Alfred de Mussel and George Sand, and the three novels which re-
sulted from iL The bare facts seem to be as follows. In 1831 Muaset met
George Sand and fell desperately in love with her. Neit year the pair vrent
to Italy together. Musset returned alone, broken in health and spirits. Rumor
was of course busy with inventing reasons why they quarrelled, but for a lime
neither spoke. " The Confeagions of a Child of the Age" came out in 1836,
and In Ihem Musset painted George Sand in glowing colors under the name
of Brigitte Pierson, attributing to the hero, obviously drawn from himself,
all theljlame for the rupture in their relalious. Thirteen years later, when
he was dead, George Sand published her celebrated romance of " Elle el
Lui," and this was lollowed almost immediately by Paul de Mussel's " Lui et
Elle." "She and He" was meant by George Sand as her vindication. It
tells how two artists are thrown for ■ brief period into ill-assorted union. Thr
roan is all sellishnesa, the woman all self-sacrifice. At last his egotism, capri-
dousness, and brutality revolt even her tender love and patience, and she finds
comfort elsewhere. Substantially the same outline of story is told by Paul At
Musset, only the man is all that is amiable, devoted, and self'Sacrifictng, while
the woman acts throughout as a heartless and abandoned, though diabolically
(ascinaling, creature. In conclusion the author states that the victim of this
woman's wiles in his dying hour called his brother to his bedside and enjoined
him, if ever she should calumniate bim in his grave, to vindicate his memory
against her slanders. "The brother made the promise," says the narrator,
coolly, " and I have since heard Chat he has kept his word."
The overstrained senlimenlalism which the nrst portion of this century in-
herited from the eighteenth naturally brought about its own reaction. Tbr
sense of humor reasserted itself; the ridiculous side of the grand, the gloomy,
and the peculiar became painfully conspicuous. The persiflage of Heme, ihr
satire of Thackeray, were the natural results. In his deejiest anguish Heinr
never forgets to ward off the ridicule of the uninterested on-looker. Thack'
eray denies his highest self and paints his lower quahties in Pendennis. In
his hatred of posing he will not draw himself up to his full heighL Haw-
thorne, who also hated cant, has depicted himself in Miles Coverdale, a &int,
colorless reflection of one of the strongest and manliest figures in our romantir
literature. Such tmanas, however, were unknown to the robust self-com-
placence of Charles Reade, who in his " Terrible Temptation" has painted
himself as the author Rolfe, with bis very best foot foremost. The portrait.
it will be remembered, called forth a storm of ridicule, but Reade boldly ac-
knowledged that he was the original of the sketch, and insisted that he had
a perfect right to describe his own virtues. Chariotle Bronte, it is very
evident, was her own Jane Eyre, and to a certain extent her own Lucy Snow.
And George Eliot has drawn largely from herself in Maggie Tulliver, Romola,
Dorothea, and all that group of characters whom Leslie Stephen ctasser
together as women in need of a confessor.
Rwwon. Not agKinat but Above rowon, a fa*oiite phrase of ibe
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
old schoolmen ii
Hon in his " Essajr oi
in substance, that propositions are either above, according to, or contrary to
reason. Thus, the resurrection of the dead is above reason, the existence of
one God according to leason, and the existence of several gods coiilcary to
reason. Victor Cousin considers this distinction "more specious than pro-
ReoordlnB AngeL A bmous passage in Sterne's "Tristram Shandy"
■oul will dit." *■'//" iL/C M 'dtr, ^—'r cri.d my Unci? Toby' ^r'iic'uHng'ii^
which flew up to hcBven'i chuiccry wiih The <dih bluahed aa he rave ii in, HDd :ht recarding
■nge], u he wrote il down, diopped a tear upon the word, and blotEed it out Torever.
s been a familiar figure in papular quolalion ever
■'----ized. Thus, Campl>ell :
eep to reco , an ^^^^ J°J'^^ J^j^^ p^^ „ _ , ^^^
Thackeray, in " Pendemiis," has a passage less obviously patterned after
Sterne. Old Major Fcndeniiis has just heard ihai his nephew is dangerously
»ck, and Lord Sieyne hustles him into a carriage ;
The carriaEe drove ofl^ Awifily v
the Dalh will be pardoned to the Hi
Heoorex. The position of the "
in his " Manual of Sword Exercise'
it comes a little belon and about six inches in front of the chin, edge of the
sword to the left, point inclining to the front, thumb extended along the back
of the erif), and the nails towards the face." This, it will be seen, is a position
in which it would be both easy and natural to raise the sword-hilt to the lips ;
and the term " recover" is traced back by military archxoloeists to the days
of the Crusades. It has nothing whatever to do with the French verb re-
teirvrir, or with that form of saluting, therefore, which consists in the tender
ofhom^e by baring the heaiL It is derived from the French verb reeonvrer,
and embalms the memory of the ages of faith in which the sword-hilt, made
in the form of a cross, was raised to the lips of the knights who swore upon
it to " recover" from the Faynim the "sainte lerte d'Oulitemer," as old Ville-
hardouin calls iL
Red-hnlxed girls and irhlts hoiBea. The popular jest about the
necessary contiguity of red-haired girls and white horses is by no means
modern, though in its recent revival il has swept over the country as a nov-
elty. Some of us remember that our grandfathers used Jocularly to assert it
to the wondering ears of youth as a well-attested fact. In all likelihood, the
saying took its origin in the old English game called sometimes the "game
of the road," but more often " ups and downs," which is still a favorite among
children and travelling salesmen in Great Britain. One party lakes the "up
side of the street or road, the other the " down," counting one lor every ordinary
object and live for a while horse {a piebald counting as white), until a certain
number agreed upon carties oft the victory ; but a red-headed woman or a
donkey wins the game at once.
Another eiptan
that the sight of
retrace hia steps to the starting-point; but if he meet a while horse at aitj
. Goo^k"
95* HANDY'BOOK OF
stage of bis backwaid progress the spell is iptefade aretted. In the nidluid
couniies of England, on the other hand, it is ill tuck to meet a white botse
wilhoul spitting at it. In Wexford an odd cure for the whooping-cough is
suggested by current superslition. The patient trudges along the road until
he meets a piebald horae, and shouts out to the rider, " Halloo, man on the
piebald horse ! what is good for the whooping-cough ?" and no matter how
absurd the remedy suggested, he will certainly be cured, tn Scotland, to
dceam of a white horse loretells (he coming of a letter.
The prejudice against red hair is as wide-spread and deep-rooted as it is
unaccounlablc. Tradition assigns reddish hair to both Absalom and Judas.
Thus, Rosalind, complainiDE of her lover's tardiness, pettishly eaclaims,
" His own hair is of the dissemUing color t" and is answered by Celia,
" Somewhat browner than Judas's." Marston, also, in his " Insatiate Count-
ess," says, " I ever thought by his red beard he would prove a Judas : here
am 1 bought and sold."
But Leonardo da Vinci, it may be noted in passing, paints Judas with black
hair in hie fresco " The Last JudgmenL"
All over Europe red hair is associated with treachery and deceit fulness.
In a collection of German proverbs made by Henry Beliel as early as I5i>,
the following occurs ; " The short in stature ace naturally proud, and the red-
haired untrustworthy." In England, Thomas Hughes says, " I myself know
persons who on that account alone never admit into their service any whose
hair is thus objectionable." An old French proverb warns you. " Salute no red-
haired man nor bearded woman nearer than thirty feet off, with three stones
in the hsl to defend thee in Ihy need." In Sweden the prejudice against red
hair is explained on the ground that the traitor jarl Asbjorn, who betrayed
King Canute to his death, was red-headed. But even the ancient Egyptians
had the same prejudice. For one thing, of course, a red-haired man was likely
to be a foreigner. But, in addition, red was symbolical of Typho, a spirit of
evil. Any one with ruddy complexion or red hair was suspected of being
connected with the evil one. Red donkeys, especially, were looked upon as
naturally evil beasts, and red oxen were offered in the sacrifices.
Though red hair is almost universally held in light esteem, the prejudice
il
isidered obnoxious to evil
c folk-lore it was held to be symbolic of victory, pos-
sibly in reminiscence of Thor's red beard. And as il was regarded, also, as
representing heat, it was therefore, in a manner, heat, just as while, repre-
senting cold, was cold itselfl Sick people were wrapped in red blankets, a
superstition only recently revived in the-red flannel underwear snppowd to
be useful in cases of rheumatism. Red flowers were used for disorders of
the btood, as yellow for those of the liver.
Another example of the close connection between red and while is the
corpse-candle, which if it burned red signifled that a man was the doomed
person ; if white, a woman.
Red-Letter Day. This expression, meaning a fortunate or auspicious
day, arises from the ancient custom of marking holidays on calendars in ted
■ ■ In the Church calendars the saints' days slill continue red-leller days,
' ■ ' ■-.-■, f ., . ... "rayet-Book of
rubric, which is so called from the color.
Rod Tapa, in colloquial English, official formality or obstruction, a phrase
which owes its origin lo the red t'^w which at least for two centitriet ha*
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 95 9
been us«d by lawyers and public officials for tying up documents, etc As hr
back as December 6, i6jS, an advertise men I in the PMu Inttllimtetr offers
a reward for Ihe restoration of "a lilile bundle of papers tied with a red tape
which were lost on Friday last was a sevennighl between Worcester House
and Lincoln's Inn." The earliest known use of the lerm in its figurative
sense is more than a century later, in a letter written by Sir Gilbert Elliot,
afterwards Lord Minto, dated August 31, 1775 ; " Howe gels the command.
The ships are in great forwardness. I can't say so much for the army. Your
old friend (Lord Bariington) sticks lo rules, tape, and packthread."
of Cdridiom lomr yean ago in th« CnmmiilH on Ktmt hiimaics. The initial fact wai the
need of a pair or bcjlowa in (he Cumgh camp. After a preliminary whelliDB of the appetite
of Ihe led-tupe dnigoa by a lengthy CDrteipoodcnce, llie opciadoa of Keiiiog ihi> pair of
hellowi proceeded a> followi : Febiuaiv »,— War Department givo authority lo the local
comnisuriai officer id ladenl [that l>. give an order] on the Royal Ennneer Depanmeni for
a pair of bellowa. Same date.^Local coniiniBar4ai oKcer appiln to Jutrici engineer officer
for a pair of bellowa. February i6.— DItDicI encineer allicer appDea to millury iiofe officer
at Dublin. February 19.— Military ttme officer mrornK royal eneinHr officer ai Dublin i*-—
-RoyafenginMroffiiirat bubilt
forwards thit Informalioa lo local f-no\ftt*' nfiirff ^t iV '
engineer officer ai the Curragh mfbr
raeh." February «.-Loqal
February ai.— Local engineer often
replies " Yet." February 14.— Local engineer officer lofotint local caniniiisariat officer that
he mult apcriy to the royal engfneer officer, Dublin ; and application ii made accordingly,
February i6.~MiIltaiy tlora officer at Dublin anivert thai )ie •rill tupply the bellom on an
order &om Ih* War Office. Feheuary a§. — Local commiMarial officer produces authority
fron ibe War Office and reads ii id local eisgioeer officer. March i.— Diairict engineer
officer decliikci to have anything to do wiih a service not brought to his notice through the
coroner aatharity; and local conmiatarlal officer refers mailer to commiiaariat officer In
Quartennamter-General, Dublia. March 3.^Deputy Quanennaster'tjeneral pauei on tbe
requisillan lo QnanermaBer-Genetal, Hone Guards. Match 5.—Hone Guardi refer ta War
Office, and War Office refen to Commiitariat-General-in-Chief, London. Maith la.— Com-
miliaiiat.General-in.Oief asks Director of Stores to give authority. Director of Slorci
Commi««ry.Cenera]- in-Chief unites to the HorK Guard» and 10 the commisuriit officer,
Dublhi. March ao.-CominluarUt officer at Ihe Curtagh wrilcs 10 know why he doei not
get hit bellows. Whether he ever didgetlhem we do not know.— t*a>ir**fr'j y™n(a/.
RednoUo ad abanrdnm (L., " Reduction lo an absurdity"), a faniiliar bit
of logical fence by which Ihe argument or proposition of another is carried
out lo an absurd conclusion. A good tliuslralion of the method is afforded
Iqr Buckingham's jest at the expense of Diyden. During [he first perform-
ance of one of the tatter's tragedies, the leading lady slowly and impressively
With a terrible look of distress, she paused. Buckingham, rising imme-
diately from his seat, added, in a load, mimicking voice, —
Then 'twould be greater were It none at all.
The effect, we are lold, was electrical. The actress was hissed off the stase,
and the play was never performed again. Drvden had hla revenge. He
pilloried Buckingham for all lime in his "Absalom and Achitophel," under
the name of Kmri.
Very neat, too, was Johnson's answer to one who quoted from Brooke's
"Gnstavus Vasa" the sentiment, —
Who rules o'er ftecmeo ahould hinuelf be free.
Johnson replied, —
Who diivcs lit oaen •hould hlmielf be fat.
Ennlns, the Roman poet, showed eacelleni common sense, aa well as fine
logical power, tn his sarcasm on the pretentions of fortune-tellers :
Coogif
HANDY-BOOK OF
C Tbcy vho know no* Ihe way for ihvmvelvci, pwat il cui id tHfacn- Of the penau t*
nrhDn they piomiK ncbn^ Ihey >e«k iot a dmchmft. L«l ihem deduct (he dndnnm from
thoK riches^ «Dd band over the baUuicc.")
A recent example is afforded bjr Mr. Spurgeon's rebuke to certain of his
followers who refuBed to interfere in politics on the ground that they were
" not of this world." This, he argued, was mere metaphor. " Vou might as
well," said he. "being sheep of the Lord, decline to eat mutton-chop on the
plea that it would be cannibalism."
John Wilkes was once asked bj a Catholic priest, " Where waa the Prot-
estant Church bebre Luther?" "Did you wash your bee this morning?"
asked Wilkes. "I did, sir." "Then where was your face before it was
washed Y' retorted Wilkes. A story has been invented about Cuvier lo show
that he could reduce even the enemy of mankind to an absurdity by zoologi-
cal rule. As he was walking one day near Avernaa, the devil mcl him and
demanded his worship. "No, I will not worship you," said the natuialisL
"Then I will eat you," rejoined the demon. Cuviec eyed him deliberately,
and exclaimed, in a tone of mingled contempt and triumph, " Horns and
cloven feet,— j^aniiBrwir-^u. Yau tat nuJ Nonsmicr " Is it not right,"
said a conservative, advocating the justice and propriety of an hereditary no-
bility, " that, in order to hand down lo posterity the virtues of those who
have been eminent for their services lo their country, iheir posterity should
enjoy the honors conferred on them as a reward for such wrvicesr" "By
the same rule," replied a lady, " if a man is hanged for his misdeeds, all his
posterity should be banged loa"
RepnbUo of Iiettan, a cant literary phrase indicating that there is ■
democracy of the pen. In literatnie it seems to have been first used by
Fielding in "Tom Jones," Book xiv. ch. i. But it is probably a reminiscence
of Goldsmith's objection when Boswell talked of Johnsons unquestioned
Buperiority : " You are for making a monarchy of what should be a republic"
Hood suggests that the phrase is used to insinuate that, taking the whole
tribe of authors together, they have not a sovereign among them.
R«patation. Cassio, when dismissed from his rank for drunkenness,
cries out, " Reputation, reputation, reputation ! Oh, I have lost my reputa-
tion t I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial."
(0/ii^/ii, Actii., Scj.) A litllelater, in the same play, Iag> amplifies the idea:
Good Dune in DUD Uld vomWi, dear my lord.
It ihe immediale jewel of their ■oull :
Wbo ilcali m^ piine Heuli mih ; 'lii taoiethliig.nalbiBgi
Bui he Ihut Rkhu ftoiD me my good unc
Rob* me at ihEt whkh not ennchei hln
Aiid nuket me poor indeed.
Aelili.,Sc.3.
The sentiment finds a very striking parallel in one of the prefatory stanias
to the fifty-first canto of Berni's "Orlando Innamorato," — the more curiona
1 Berni, it is believed,,was not turned into English before Rose's partial
lic'hl'it de
;i:,vG00gk"
LFTERAR Y CURIOSITIES. 961
Who » mnch man our hate wbA K<mi|e deurm,
OfcooTse ttieEermof theideamaybefbuiidin (healmml universal proverb,
"A good name is belter than riches" (PuHLlUS Syrus: Maxim loS), eaniv-
al«Kt to Solomon's " A good name is rather to be chosen itian great riches"
{Prpv. «ii. I).
RttBolntlon and thought, lu his famous soliloquy (Act iii., Sc 1)
Hamlet complains,—
And Ihm the n.iivr buc of nululion
]■ licklied o'er wlih ibc pale ca41 of thooght.
;t i., Sc 4, Shakespeare had already put the
Our doubts arc irulon,
And nuke ui lac the good we ofi migbl win
By fearing to uiempt.
Hotspur, in the "F1[st Part of King Henry IV." (Act ii.. Sc 3), has the
Tight answer to all such balanced doubts and cowardly conscientiousness when
he says, commenting on a letter he holds in his hand, " ' The purpose you
undertake is dangerous :' — why, that's certain : 'tis dangerous tu take a coid,
to sleep, to drink ; but 1 tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we
pluck this flower, safety," Or, as the Marquis of Montrose says, —
He either Tean hh tile t« much.
Or hit dcKiu arc icoall.
Thai durei not put h 10 the touch
To B^n or loie !( all.
Afy Diar and Onlji LatH.
The last two lines are probably belter known iti Lord Napier's misqaoCation :
That puu It not unio ihc (ouch
TowlDorloiellBll.
MHlreii anJ llu CrMitanUri, U. sK-
Schiller's phrase is not dissimilar :
Wer EV ru vid bedtnkt wird mnlg letuen.
{" He who coDiMcn too much will accompllah Utile,"}
Ifillia^ Till, Aci iU., Sc. i.,
which is the basis of much of Carlyle's philosophy, especially in his essays
on " Characlerislics" and "Signs of the Times."
.__.!_ ,-__j!.. .1 ». inie fine lines which may appropriately be
■hrank fton what wax right
RMurgun (I., "I shall rise again"). This inscription is placed over the
south door of St. Paul's Cathedral. According to tradition, when Christopher
Wren had marked out the dimensions of the dome and fixed upon the centre,
a laborer was ordered to bring a flat slone from the heaps of rubbish, to be
laid for a direction for the workmen. Il happened to be a piece of a grave-
■>ATu witk n^ihinn .^^^.^E .. i,. a ..f »!.. j ,«a ».:..* .,>^ ^jyl tiic sroglc woTd Rcsurgam.
f the inddenU We
g6l HANDY-BOOK OF
also know from Fuller (Ckurck Hiilory, Book x.) that Bishop John King, who
died in t6ll, desired in his *il) that " nothing should be written on his plain
Eraveslonc save only Resurgam." From Dugdale's " History of Sl Paul's
Cathedral" it appears that this was done, but that in addition a long moral
inscription contained the words " M armor loquai spiral ReBurgam.'' Now,
it is quite possible thai (he stone found bj Wren's workman was one of the
two inscribed to Biahnp King, and this conjecture is made more probable as
this word occurs in no other epitaph in Dugdalc.
Resuireotlon Bona, The. Throughout the Middle Ages it was believed
that thete exists in man a bone imponderable, incorrupt ible, incombustible,
the necessary nucleus of the resurrection Body- Belief in a resurrection of
the physical body, despite St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, had been
incorporated into the formula made many centuries after his time and called
the Apostles' Creed, and was held throughout Chrislendum, " always, every-
where, and by all." This hypothetical bone was therefore held in great vener-
ation, and many anatomists sought to discover il \ but Vesalius, revealing so
much else, did not find it, and was therefore suspected uf a want of proper
faith. He contented himself with saying that he left the question regarding
the existence of such a bone (o the Iheolc^ians. Ije could not lie, be did
not wish to fight the Inquisition, and thus he fell under suspicion. The
strength of this theological point may be judged from the fact that no less
eminent a surgeon than Kiolan consulted tlie executioner to (ind out whether,
when he bunted ■ criioinal, all the parts were consumed : and only then wa«
the answer received which fatally undermined this superstition. In 1689
wc find it still lingering in France, creating an energetic opposition in the
Church to dissection. Even as late as the eighteenth century, Bernoulli
having shown that the living human body constantly undergoes a series of
changes, so that all its panicles are renewed in a given number of years, so
much ni feeling wu drawn upon him, especially from the theol<wians, who
saw in this statement danger to the doctrine of the resurrection of the body,
that for the sake of peace he struck out his argument on this subject from
his works.
Revlnva, Cnrtoaltlea ot The mistakes of the organs of the professed
critics, the monthly and quarterly reviews, have lung been favorite subjects
for the scorned author to point the finger of scorn at.
" Who are the critics ?" asks Lord Aldegoitde in Disraeli's novel, and he is
answered, "Those who have tailed In literature and art."
Their failure, however, in those branches does not always guarantee them
success in criticism. Indeed, no more soothing reading could be recom-
mended 10 the author smarting from unmerited castigation, or. what is just as
provoking, castigation which he deems unmerited, than the back numbers of
the Edinimrgk aiid Quarierly Reviews, especially [he latter.
There he will learn what other authors have Suffered, as he has, and will
be proud to find into how glorious a brotherhood he has been enrolled. In
the Ediaiurgh will be Coleridge, Wordt .--..• - •
Ruskin; in the Quarierly, Shelley, Kea
Disraeli. Tennyson, Macaulay, Hallam, and Charlotte Bronii
the noble list of damned authors. Of these two periodicals the Quarterly is
undoubtedly the worst, both in wilful blindness to merit and in fbut-moulWi
abuse. Il would be impossible to point to any review, published in any coun-
try, more persistent and malignant in its attacks upon men who are now
recognized to have been the intellectual princes of their lime. This is almost
wholly due to the influence of its founiler and first editor, William Giflbrd,
tnd bu worthy successor, John Wilson Ctoker.
LITEHAHY CURIOSITIES. 963
. u Hazlitt tells ua, was orisinally bred lo some handicraft ; he
s contrived to learn Lalin, andwaa for some lime an usher in a
school till he became a tutor in a nobleman's family. " The low-bred, self.
taught man, the pedant and the dependant on the great, contribute to form
the editor of the ^Har<^/>' Review. He is admirably qualified for his position
a a happj combination of defects, natural and acquired." Uf Croker,
acau)a]r has given us the fotlowing character, which Miss Martineau says he
had earned (or himself, — purchased by hard facts : " Mr. Croker is a man who
would eo a hundred miles through sleet and snow, 011 the top of a coach, in a
December night, lo search a parish register for the sake of showing that a
man is illegitimate, or a woman older than she says she is."
These were the nwn who thought Hazlitt a dull blockhead and Leigh Hunt
an imbecile ; whose acme of cleverness was reached when they dubbed the
gentle Elia the King of the Cockneys ; who characterized the " Prometheus
Unbound" as "drivelling prose run mad," the " Revolt of Islam" as " insup-
portably dull," and the " Endymion" as "gratuitous nonsense ;" who brutally
advised John Keats, the author of the latter, to go back to his gallipots ; who
could not find room in seventy closely -printed pages for "any but the more
prominent defects and errors" of Lord Macaulay as developed in the first two
volumes of his " History of England ;" and who sneered with clumsy irony
at the "peculiar brilliancy" of "the gems that irradiate the poetical crown''
of that "singular genius," Mr. Alfred Tennyson.
But the charge of defective taste is not the only one that can be brought
against them. A far more serious count in the indictment is the cowardly
blackguardism with which they pursued the objects of their dislike. They
knew nothing of chivalry, generosity, forbearance, kindliness, courtesy. The
qualities of heart and of imagination which noble natures carry into literary
and political strife were wantmg in these men. Their contests were the con-
tests of the streets. Not that English literary controversies have ever been
wanting in a certain coarse vitality and vigor. Prelatist and Puritan, Jacobite
and Hanoverian, had each known how to call names, Milton had not always
been golden-mouthed, and Butler had called a spade a spade. Swift was not
nice \ Churchill was sometimes vulgar. But in the worst days of controversy,
party rancor had generally spared the weak, left modest merit in the shade,
respected household sanctities, and turned its shafts aside from unoffending
women. In the palmy days of the Quarterly Review no man's honor, no
woman's good name, was safe. Neither rank nor obscurity sheltered the
victim from their malice. No lite was too blameless For reproach ; no
career was too noble for scandal. The men of this school invented foul anec-
dotes, and their delight was to blight generous characters. Poetic justice
TKver contented their revenge, and an enemy seldom escaped from under
their hands until he had been made to violate every precept in the Deca-
It is In be regretted that among the members of this bad school must be
reckoned John Wilson, the jovial professor of moral philosojihy and cock-
fighting, who has elsewhere shown himself to be possessed of such lender
sensibility and such kindly, large-hearted geniality.
Still, we may find some excuse for him.
It is true that he did at times indulge In abusive personalities with a reck-
less disregard as 10 their applicability. But, liefore judging him harshly, the
impulsive, erratic temperament of the man should lie taken into consider-
ation, and it should be remembered that he was one la whom moderation
in anything was absolutely unknown. — whose praise and wliose blame partook
alike of the wildest extravagance, and the horse-play of whose raillery was
doe mainly to an unrettrairKd exuberance of animal spirits joined to an jit-
964 HANDY-BOOK OF
ability to ettimate properly the strength of the blows he wa» dealing or the
amount of pain he was inflicting.
It was a difierent thing Crom the venomous malignity which was the actu-
ating motive in the case uf Croker, of Gifford, of Locknart, and of Theodore
Ho^ Still, after all allowances are made, it is impossible at this day to read
some of the abusive passages in the " Noctes" without a flush of indignation.
It is not pleasant, for instance, to find Haztitt characterized as a " loathsome
dunce," or Leigh Hunt described as " holding his stinking breath ;" to sec
the Rev. C. C. Colton, author of ■■ Lacon," portrayed as " a clergyman and
bankrupt wine-merchant, an E. O. player, dicer, etc;" Ixird Brougham com-
paied with a Billingsgate fish-wife ; the philanthropist Marliii referred lo as
"that Irish jackass;" the then venerable Jeremy Bentham talked of as
"Covey Sherry the old shrew;" Norlhcole, the painter, described as "a
wasp," William Cobbett as "the old ruffian," Henry Coleridge as " a con-
ceiled manikin," and the political economist McCiillocfi as "an obscure and
insolent lout" and "an infuriated blackguard." Neither is it agreeable to
learn of a certain writer in the Times that he was not only "a liar," but also
*'a mean eunuch."
It was overstepping the amenities of criticism to call Mr. T. B. Macaulay
" an insolent puppy," and it was ludicrously inappropriate to add that he was
"one of the most obscure men of the a|je," at a time when his brilliant con-
tributions to the Edinburgh Rrviaa were attracting such attention as had
:r before been accorded to periodical literature. The bets that Macaulay
was a Whig and Southev a Tory were not sufficient reason for callini
view of the latler's "Colloquies on Society" "a contemptible ctitiqu ,
n insolent spirit." Nor is the following a fair criticism of the By'o
article ; " It reads very like a paper in one of the early numbers of the E^h-
^rgk Ritiiew, — much the same sort of excellencies, — the smart, rapid, pop-gun
impertinence, the brisk, airy, new-set truisms, mingled with cold, shallow,
heartless sophistries, the conceited phlegm, the affected abruptness, the un-
conscious audacity of impudence ; the whole lively and amusing, and much
commended among the dowagers, especially the smuL" A writer's |>ersonal
appearance is hardly Fair game for animadversion, especially when the ani-
madversion takes the form of describing him as "an ugly, cross-made, splay-
footed, shapeless Utile dumpling of a fellow, with a mouth from ear to ear."
All this IS bad enough, but it is mildness itself when compared to the torrent
of filthy Billingsgate which disgraced the earlier numbers of " Haga," before
fuhn Wilson had assumed full control of the editorial reins, and when Lock-
art was in reality the presiding genius, though Blackwood himself was the
nominal editor. Indeeo, it should be remembered to Wilson's credit that the
withdrawal of Lockhart to the congenial field afforded by the Lenibn Qmar-
terly, with the consequent increase of the Wilson influence, was the signal (or
an almost immediate alteration in the tone of the magazine, which, however
far from perfection, was a distinct and marked improvement. During the
Lockharl period, Blackwood was the vehicle for such revollingly coarse per-
sonalities as never before and never since Found a place in a magaiine of
any authoiitj- or standing. The writers of " The Cockney School," Tjy which
facetious epithet these critics designated Such men as Lamb, Keats, Hazlitt,
and Leigh Hunt, were the objects of their special fury, and against them they
directed all the resources of their foul vocabulary.
"Our hatred and contempt of Mr. Leigh Hunt," they explained in one
place, "is not so much owing to his shameless irreverence to bis aged and
afflicted king ; to his profligate attacks on the character of the king's sons ;
to his low-born insolence to that aristocracy with whom he would in vain claim
the alliance of one illustrious friendship ; to his paid panderism to the vilest
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 965
passions of ihat mob of which he b himself s firebrand ; la the leprous crust
of self-conceit with which his whole moral bein^ is indurated ; to that loath-
some vulearily which constantly clings round him like a vermiiied garment
from St Giles's ; to that irritable temper which keeps the unhappy man, in
spile even of his vanity, in a perpetual fret with himself and all the world
besides, and that shows itself equally in his deadly enmities and capricious
friendships ; — our hatred and contempt of Leigh Hunt, we say, Is not so much
owing to these and other causes as to the odious and unnatural harlotry of his
p<^luted muse. We were the first tu brand with a burning iron the false face
of this kept-mislress of a demoralizing incendiary. We tore off her gaudy
veil and transparent drapery, and exhibited the painted cheeks and writhing
limbs of the prostitute,"
Im^ne the AOantii Monthly talking of Mr. Stedman in this strain, or Mr.
Gilder using the pages of the CentHry to pour out scurrility of this sort upon
some rival author who differed with him in politics 1
Elsewhere we are told that Mr. Hunt " is the meanest, the filthiest, and the
most vulgar of Cockney poetasters." He is apostrophized as " Vou exquisite
idiot I" "Sensualist thai you are!" He is informed that "Even in those
scenes of wickedness where alone, unhappy man, your verses find willing
readers, there occur many moments of languor and remorse wherein the
daughters of degradatit ' " ' ' '
ing, the obscene and ti
It levitv. ihe soark ol orisin.. ._ ,-
o those of others like you,
. , , . d sentimental apostles of profligacy, there comes no
visiting of purity, no drop of repentance."
Mr. Hazlill, on the same authority, is " a mere ulcer ; a sore from head 10
foot ; a poor devil so completely flayed that there is not a square half inch of
heallhv flesh on his carcass ; an overgrown pimple, sore to the touch." " He
feels that he is exiled from decent soctely," and " has never risen higher than
the lowest circle of Ihe press-gang; reporters fight shy, and the editors of
Sunday newspapers turn up their noses at the smell of his approach," His
works arc "a vocabulary of vapid pollution," and his "dirty imagination is
riways plunging into some ditty scrape."
Now let us turn to the Quarltrly RtvUa, and we Shalt find that, although
its blackguardism is not perhaps quite up to the early ai»e*i(Worf standard, it
has nevertheless managed to reach a goodly elevation of its own, and that,
on the other hand, the number of great name* which the QuarUrly has
attempted to damn into oblivion is larger than can be found on the records
of any other periodical of similar standing.
All of Haziilt's critical works were attacked with the utmost virulence as
bst as they came out. Because the author differed in politics from the re-
viewers, they strove, and not unsuccessfully, to obscure his literary reputa-
tion in the eyes of his readers. Hazlitt himself tells us that the sale of his
"Characters of Shakespeare's Plays," which had reached nearly a thousand
copies in a few weeks, was instantly stopped by Ihe appearance of a "slash-
ing" critique in the Quatierly. " Not even the Whigs," he complains, "could
stomach it." And yet one would have thought that the dullest public might
have discerned the rancorous spite which had alone dictated the article. Here
is the concluding sentence ; " We should not have condescended to notice lh«
senseless and wicked sophistry of this writer, or to point it out to the co»<
tempt of the reader, had we not considered him as one of Ihe representatives
of a class of men by whom literature is more than at any former period dis-
graced, and therefore convinced that it might not be unprofitable to show how
veiy small a portion of talent and literature were necessary for carrying on
8l»
9^6 MANDY-BOOIC OF
the trade of sedition. The few specimens which we have selected of his
ethics and his ciiiicisms are more than sufficient lo prove that Mr. Hazlitt's
knowledge of Shakespeare and the English language is exacily on a par with
the purily of his morals and the depth of his understanding."
The collection of essays entitled "The Round Table" is, according to the
same authority, " loathsome trash," " full of vulgar descriptions, silly para-
duxes, flat truisms, musty sophistry, broken English, ill humor, and ran-
corous abuse," the author being a sour Jacobin, who was personally beneath
notice ; " but if the creature in his endeavor lo crawl into the light must take
his way over the tombs of iilusttious men, disfiguring the records of their
Brcalncss with the slime and filth which mark his track, it is right lo point
him out, that he may be fiung back to the situation on which Nature designed
that he should grow."
Leigh Hunt is dealt with jn a very similar manner.
" lj>rd Byron and some of his Conlemporaries" the ^larlerfy considered
" the miserable book of a miaerable man ; the little aiiy fopperies of its
manner are like the fantastic trip and convulsive simpers of some poor worn-
out wanton, struggling bel' ^ ■ •
tears. . . . The most ludicr
pacity, has filled the paltry mind of the gentleman-of- the- press now before
us with a chaos of crude, pert dogmas, which defy all analysis, and which it
is just possible to jiily more than despise." The reviewer thinks it much too
bad that "the glorious though melancholy memoiy" of Byron
" Mu« ■]» bsu IhE vUc aiucki
whom he fed ; (hat his bones must be scraped up from their bed of rcpoae
"to be at once grinned and howled over by creatures who. even in the least
hyena-like of their moods, can touch nothing that mankind could wish to
respect, without polluting i(."
Reviewing Shelley's " Revolt of Islam," (he Quarterly critic remarks that,
with minds of a certain class, notoriety, infamy, anything, is better than ob-
scurity ; baffled in a thousand attempts after fame, (hey will still make one
more, at whatever risk, and they end commonly like an awkward chemist who
perseveres in tampering with his ingredients till, in an unlucky moment, (hey
take fire and he is blown up by the explosion. " The poem has some beautiful
stanzas, but they are of rare occurrence ; as a whole, it is insupportably dull
and laboriously obscure ; (he story is almost wholly devoid of interest and
very meagre ; nor can we admire Mr. Shelley's mode of making up for (hit
delect : as he has but one incident where he should have ten, he tells that one
so inlricalely that it takes (he time of ten to comprehend it."
A little farther on in the same article (he reviewer goes somewhat out of
his way (o bes(ow a passing slap upon his favori(e game, Leigh llun(. Of
Shelley he remarks, " Much may be sakl with truth which we not long since
said of his friend and leader, Mr. Hunt ; he has not, indeed, all that is odious
and contemptible in the character of that person ; so far as we liave seen, he
has never exhibited the bustling vulgarity, the ludicrous affectation, the factious
flippancy, or the selfish heartlesaness, which it is hard for oui feelings to treat
with the mere contempt they merit. Like him, however, Mr. Shelley is a
very vain man ; and. like most very vain men, he is but half instructed in
knowledge and less than half disciplined in reasoning powers; bis vanity,
wanting the control of (he faith that he derides, has been his ruin t it has
made him too impatient of applause and distinction (o earn them in (he fair
course of labor; like a speculator in (rade, he would be rich without capital
and without delay ; and, as migh( have been anticipated, his speculations nan
ended only in disappoiDtmeoti,"
;i:,vG00git:
LITERAR Y CURIOSITIES. <jf>^
In Mrs, Gaskell's " Life of Charlotte Btonie" we leam how terribly that
proud, sensitive spirit was wounded by the coarse innuendoes indulged in by
one of the QuarUriy critics in noticing " Jane Kyre" on its first appearance.
— of course before the secret of its authorship was divulged. We quote what
happens to be about Ibc mosl offensive paragraph, nol merely because it
illustrates the liberties which only a generation ago were considered as within
the limitE of ^enllemanly criticism in the inlellectnal capital of Europe, but
also because it embodies some curious bits of the current gossip of the town,
when speculation was rife as to the identity of this mysterious Currer Bell who
had burst with such sudden brilliance into the literary world ;
"There seem to have arisen in the novel-reading world some doubts as to
who really wrote this book, and various rumors, more or less romantic, have
been current in May Fair, the metropolis of Gossip, as to the authorship.
For instance, 'Jane Eyre' is sentimentally assumed to have proceeded from
(he pen of Mr. Thackeray's governess, whom he had himself chosen as his
model foi Becky, and who, in mingled love and revenge, personified him in
return as Mr. Rochester. In this case it is evident thai the author of 'Vanity
Fair,' whose own penciE makes him gray-haired, has had the best of it, though
his children may have had the worst, having at all events succeeded in hilling
that vulnerable point in the Becky bosom which it is our firm belief no man born
of woman, from her Soho to her Ostend days, had so much as grazed. To
this ingenious rumor the coincidence of the second edition of 'Jane Eyre'
being dedicated to Mr. Thackeray has probably given rise. For our part, we
see no great jnteresl in the question at all. The first edition of 'Jane Eyre'
purports lo be edited by Cutrer Bell, one of a trio of brothers, or sisters, or
cousins, by name Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell, already known as the joint
authors of a volume of poems; the second edition, the same, — dedicated,
however, by the author, to Mr. Thackeray, — and the dedication (itself a
indubitable chip of 'Jane Eyre') signed Currer Bell. Author and editor,
therefore, are one, and we are as much satisfied to accept this double individual
under the name of Currer Bell as under any other more or less euphon
Whoever it be, it is a person who with great mental powers combines a total
ignorance of the habits of societ]', a great coarseness of taste, and a heathen-
ish doctrine of religion. . . . Without entering into the question whether the
Kwer of the writing be above her or the vulgarity below her, there are, we
lieve, minutiz of circumstantial evidence which at once acquit the feminine
hand. No woman — a lady friend, whom we are always happy to consult,
assures us — makes mistakes in her own mitier : no woman fruiiet gaKU and
famishes dessert -dishes with the same hands, or talks of so doing in the same
lealh. Above all, no woman attires another in such fancy dresses as Jane's
ladies assume, — Miss Ingram coming down, irresistible, 'in a morning-robe
of sky-blue crape, a eauEe azure scarf twisted in her hair.' No lady, we
understand, when suddenly roused in the night, would think of hurrying on a
becoming, too. This evidence seems incontrovertible. Even granting that
these incongruities Were purposely assumed (or the purpose of disguising the
female pen, there is little gained ; for if we ascribe it to a woman at alt, there
is no alternative but to ascribe it to one who, for some sufficient reason, has
forfeited the Society of her sex."
For gratuitous wickedness, the insult conveyed in the last sentence of the
above quotation cannot be excelled, even in the pages of the Quarterly itselt
In 1833 the Quarterly Reoieio again distinguished itself in its first mention
of Tennyson.
The reviewer in an ironic strain talks about introducing "lo the admira-
tion of our more sequestered readers a new prodigy of genius, — anoibet and
968 HANDY-BOOK OF
a brighter star of that galax; or miliy may at poetry of which the lamented
Keals was the harbinger." Then he proceeds through fifteen pages to ridi-
cule every idea and every expression which byingetiuiiy and malice prepense
can be toituied into material for his banter. Thus, quaiing this verse, —
Sweet lu tbc noUc, in parched pUiiu.
Thy word! vill be, thy diHrfiil'uHKi
he sees a very obvious possibility for ^st in the words " If any sense in me
TCmains." " This doubt," he says, " is inconsistent wilh the opening stanza
of the piece, and, in fact, too modest : we take upon ourselves to reassure
Mr. Tennyson that, even after he shall be dead and buried, as much teitte
will eiili remain as he has now the good fortune to possess." " The accumu-
lation of tender images in the following lines apiiears not less wonderful :
<'Twu Xpril Ihcn^^Vanu and liv
BcDcatb lho*e gammy cheHuul-budl T
A nta-nl ftnm off the baDk
PIuucEd in ihe uiewn. Wilh idle ore,
Down-Iookini; through lb« icdflei rank,
A loDa green box of mignonette.
And you were leaning nd (he ledge.
The poet's tralh to nature in his gummy chestnut-buds, and to art in the
'long green box' of mignonette, and that masterly touch of likening the
first inlnision of love into the virgin bosom of the miller's daughter to the
■B of the water-rat into the mill-dam, — these are beauties which, we
fear to say, equal anything even in Keati." The strain of mockery
is kept up throughout the remarks on " The Hesperides," " The Palace of
Art," and " A Dream of Fair Women,"
Nor did the reviewer do any better with Dickens.
In a notice of Ihe "Pickwick Papers" on their first appearance, in which
blame and praise are pretty equally mixed, he assumed a prophetic strain.
"We are inclined to predict," he says, "of works of this style, both in
England and France (where the manufacture is llourishing on a very exten-
sive and somewhat profligate scale), that an ephemeral pogiularity will be
followed by early oblivion." And again : " Indications are not wanting that
Ihe particular vein of humor which has hitheilo yielded so much attractive
metal is worked out. . . . The fact is, Mr. Dickens writes too often and too
bsL ... If he persists much longer in this course, it requires no gift of
prophecy to foretell hb fate ; he has risen tike a rocket, and he will come
down like Ihe stick."
The critic in this case was Lockhart, and Dickens is said to have met him
at a dinner-patty not long after the appearance of the article, when the person
who introduced the pair had the bad taste to make an allusion to the prophecv.
The author cordially grasped the critic by the hand, and exclaimed, with a sly
IwinkEe in his eye, " I will watch for thai slick, Mr. Lockhart, and when it
does come down I will break it across your back,"
We have left ourselves small room to speak of the Ediniur^ Rtviem.
Bui there is really hr less that is aulri in the career of that periodical. It
was often narrow-minded and unjust It thought Wordsworth's "Excursion"
would never do. It called the Mine poet's " While Doc of Rjlitone" the
plunging ol
..oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 969
fiiovoked the famous rejoindet '
ailed to see any merit in Goelhc. Sut al all events Jeffrey, who conducled
il. was a gentleman, — a lillle narrow, a little conservative, someljmes even a
'->ted, as gentlemen are not unapt to be, but always courteous and
Now, the gentleman is never so picturesque an object as the
savage. And it is the picturesque savagery of the Quarterly wliicb led us
beyond our limits.
Rtaopallo verse, or V7eclge verse, a line in which each siicceeding word
has more syllables than the preceding, — t.g. ;
Mope ever ulacn misenible indivldidlt.
The term is derived from the Greek ^nroAov, "a dub," which gels larger from
handle to tip.
Rbymes, BooentrlottleB o£ From time to time it has been boldlv
asserted by the unwary that there is no rhyme for some particular English
word. In 1865-66 the whole subject was resolved into a sort of Gymposinm
in the AtAtttaum and afterwards in the Noiei and Qaeriti. Word after word
was suggested as a strictly baccalaureate one, obsliiialcly refusing to be led to
the altar, but the symposiacs eventually succeeded in hiiine all with a mate,
though frequently a halt and ungainly one. In the words of Mr, W. W.
Skeat, who proved himself the greatest of these verbal match -makers, " It
is easy for any one to assert that there exists no rhyme to such and such a
word. Whoever makes such an assertion should remember that he only
means that he docs not know of one himid/: but it is unfair to assume that
thtrcfon one cannot be (band."
Some of the hardest nuts to crack were the following : perrtngtr, polka,
orange, sitver, chimney, lekiskey, Lisbon, windma, vtiJavi.
An anonymous poet, it was found, had already produced the following
beautifal verses which wrestle with the difficulties of the first word :
Tkc atcatiA Jmjdo ■ dii^hlEr had,
Too fine 10 lick > porringer ;
He wuclil her gui a uohlelad,
Aad gftTe the Prince of Orang^e her.
Hr. Skeat suggested another, though he acknowledged that it did not reach
the masterly perfection of the ^tsti
When nMtlDni doubt Dur power la Gghl,
Am) with nntr^*^ n^&^'
Slill empty plale and poirlnger.
Mr. Skeat also proposed two rhymes for polka, — doll-car, which he, bow-
ever, dismisses as cockney and unmusical, and the following, which he deems
entirely permissible !
Our Chriiimu-lRe produced a doti, ca-
The Bame authority perpetrated this harmonious quintet ;
1 Eave my dHfliiig child a lemon,
TGat lately gRW Tu franaDt item oo ;
And next, to give her pleuurc mtrt ranse,
1 offered net a juicy orange.
And nuts, five cracked (hem in the door-hinge.
If bU tbe day tii* Gninlil.
L.:,l,zi;i:,vG00gk"
9 Jo HANDY-BOOIC OF
The Blorenge, it appears, is a hill near Abergavenny. Tlie Granth is tlM
Bacred book of ihe Sikhs. Un fortunately, the lalter, correctly pronounced,
does not quite rhyme with month. But Mr. Skeat cnraes again to the rescue,
and suggests, —
SuKh thmuth the woiki of Thlckenj, you'll find a rtiyme for monlb :
He ulli D> oT Fhll Foganr of ihe ligbtlnj Uneiyoneih.
And then it was found that Dr. Whewell, or, as others asserted, one Dr.
Donaldson, of, Cambridge, had already responded to a similar challenge with
an anticipatory variation of the idea :
Voulhi who would KKior wniwkii be
Miut drink ihe juice diuUled faim lea
MuAl bum the midiii&bl oil fram month to monlh.
Kaising binaEuiill to (he a -«- lib (■ pliu onelh).
Another gentleman, signitig himsell' " Lemuel Lithjxr," sent Ihe folloiring
solution and explanatory notes through ati amanuensis ;
To A WlTWALLITKT.
When I »>ih u. chunb lilht montb,
I thaw thiktblr-thevei nunth,
Aud ibey entered all by obeth,
Blelhing all Ihe lillle Ihonth :
Wonhe Ihu Vindalib, Goihih, nnd HuDtb
Would be he wlio'd huDI ihe Nunlh.
Noras,— A B<iYiM//t«A/, a rltnaliit ^ HHvrA, Quni ; a// ^ swM, all by ones ; M»(l, MM ;
CtlUk, Gothi.
Here are two other efforts which only vary the theme. In one of tbem a
liaping little girl is made to say, —
t on gel > rhyme for ■ noalh ;
The second explains itself:
" A gm« mlihtiLe," wu Blli'i reply :
"fll find, thyme Mwumh." '
Christina Rossetti has done better in the admirable book of nursery rhymes
which she has published under the title of " Sing-Song :"
Four, u the iwift moan runn'th.
lished in the Wikimtt GtusI (November 9, 1S61) :
Though you lay there la none, for chimney :
Know IhU.'ilr, I /oi^'lt Id Rhymney.
This refers to some mines beating Ihe name. Uiim was disposed of by
qnoling an imprompta by the Earl of Rochester when Charles IL challenged
him to this very feat of rhyming :
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Whiskiy simply required a knowledge of Bums ;
Bui bJiihe Bnd fHiky,
Sbe cyo ber fncboni, nun
Tak- aff tbeir wfaiikcy ;
Abaul ■ rhymt for whkkey :
Do, pray, accept of thbkey.
The following rhyme to vmidma, from (he old Kmckerbatker Magaane,
ADdHii »u1 mat oul oT lhe°»uidow',
wu supplemented by Mr. Skeat's suggestions of such compound words as
smHtii O! ikinntd O! ScimU O! eic, and by this quatrain from the sam«
facile pen :
Bold Robin Hood, llul uchcr good.
N<'« ■gain I'll Iodic wilh a widow.
Some years later, W. S. Gilbert, F. C. Burnand, H. }. Byron, and others,
held another symposium of a similar kind in the columns of the London
Graphic. The word that stumped everybody was stlvtr. Finally Mr. Gilbert
brought the debate to a dose. He declared that no rhyme existed save the
nursery " Little Dicky Dilver." Therefore he was now engaged upon and
had nearly perfected a machine for extracting moonshine from cucumbers,
and when patented he should call it a "chilver."
UfuiJia another dissyllabic poser. Two American poets have "rastled'
with It. C. A. Bristed atlempled to r"—' " ■" ii-u,,-. .
»nd "Mickey Rooney" contributed this
Shun QukquU l> I
A thing that aoy Hide wid
Jin taETihe bob called cblckv«d.
Wtaidi they often con <he ikk wld.
Tbal'i a dacent rtiymt for llauid,
ADd bWB a Mickey, too.
;i:,vG00gk"
97* Handy-Book of
In 1S39, Tennyson, an undergradaate at Trinity College, Cambridge, gained
[he Chancellor's medal for a prize poem on the assigned subject of "Tim-
bucloo." Cambridge tradition asserls that when the subject was given out it
was said to be impossible to find a rhyme for Timbuctoo. Several university
wits tried their hands at a sort of burlesque competition for the prize. The
best was voted to be the following:
If IwereicutoBary
On Ihe pUini of llmbucloa.
PnrcT'book, Bible, anil hymn-book loo.
This brings us to the carefully cultivated and fertile field of c<
~~d extravagant rhyming, j' -■- — - jj ■. . .
satirical it is, to quote Jan
1 btihoughi BW ai fiiii thai ihc ibyme wu unmiitiibli,
Byron thought so, and said, —
PioM piieu Ulic blink venc ; I write in rhyme :
Good workmen never quaml with their (oob.
We all remember his delicious couplet in " Don Juan," —
and the equally epigrammatic
Cbtllliini hnve bumed each olher, quite penuBded
Tlut all the apoiile* would have Jane u [bey did.
A third example is a still greater triumph over difficulties :
When Browning, among other feats of a similar kind, discovered a rhyme
to ranutuulas ("Taiiimy, make room for your uncle us"), one of his admirers
addressed him in Horner's words : " Now that he hath fashioned this, never
another may he fashion." The wit of queer rhymes, indeed, often vetoes on
the mechanical, and that is why the " Ingoldsby Legends" and Hood's quainter
poems are seldom studied by the mature.
Yet anything that appeals so vividly to youth, and especially to academic
youth, is not to be despised. Doubtless all of us can remember the delight
we felt when we first came across such lines as these from " Look at the
Clock :"
Roll! £iwn the tide wiib uncomnioii velocit]r :
or these from "The Ghost :"
Witbhiiheeltinlhea
Some of Samuel Butler's thymes have been highly admired for two centn-
ries. But the admiration Is somewhat peifiinctory in these days, when tb^
have been so utterly excelled ;
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
■■■ho hu
And pulpit drum ecc
WaiWlwithfinii
These examples, which were ihouch
woald excite no comment lo-day if >n< ^ , ,
latter, moreover, is not original, but liotrowed ftom a scarce poetn by Thomas
Stanley, "The Debauchee," which was issued in 1651, or twelve years berore
" Hudibras" appeared :
By ihV c,
Foe declared it a mistake to suppose that rhyme must be mechanically
—ged on to the ends of lines. L' -"— " '■-■'—-'- --■J--' .-.>--'
a rhyme, as in the " Raven :"
And Ihe lilkcD, ud UKertaiD ni9tlin[ 01 ucn purple cumin
ThrilUd ax^filltd m> wiih lanuillc lenon bctu ttk beGve j
and in " For Annie :"
My tHDtaliiiiw ipifit
Hcie blandry repo«a»—
Mr. Frederick Locker uses the same effect in "The Serenade:"
Acin, ihtn. and haiy
Dilltiut from Ihee Hlni
F« KiTon thai craiy
But this often degenerates into a mere trick, and C. S. Calveiley has rightly
satirized its extreme manifestations :
Id Ibe fIcuDiDC to t>e roiadnB when (he cmud wavei Hn foaming.
And the aby DsmaideDi combing tocka ibu ripple 10 liKtr feet, —
Where the gioamiDg i> I nenr made the shoat of an endeimi
To diacoKr,— bnl vhatevet wen the boar, <i would be iweel.
Tom Hood, who was nothing if not original, produced the following as a
new method a( rhyming, the rhyme-words being placed at the beginning
instead of the end of the line :
Ru tut <l want upon Hk liana chin :
"That bat I know it!" cried tbc iOTfuliicl;
" Sunmeii it li, I know him by hit kaod,
compromise between blank verM and
e following, which he called •'
t: and ^m the djrk Pack,haik.
» the DniTT-l^ne Daoe a^hi,
elio'a jealoua doul>t apout out,
raving at that atiuk-made blue.
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OF
Dcsvlng u hii ftintic clnidi much loudi ;
Oc cIm lo KC DucTDw aiih wide tiiidc ridi
\\t hit pbii.
winsi brlDgi thfaop
But. frizblcDcd bjr PDliccnun B ), An,
Ajid wbtle tfae^'it Bote|» wbuper Jow. "NaCDl"
Now puu. tthil« EdTIu ar jn Iheir bedi, tnadi leftdi»
And >lMper>. waking, gnimbk. '■ Dial Ihit c« '"
Who in Ihe guiier calcrwpuU, iqualls. mmtia
Some feline foe, »nd Bcrefm* in thrill 111 will.
Now bulb or Buhtm, orapiiieiiu, tiK
Gcortir, ot Chirla, or Billy, willy Billy ;
But nunc-mBid^ia ■ nU^htmare rest. cheit-pfCHcd»
Dreuneth of one of her old Aamei. Jamet Gunet.
And bb, fivm Re«Ri>d Mr. Rke, twice, thrice ;
While rlbbou flouriih. and a tloiu ihoul out,
Thai upward go«, >howt Ri»e knowi ihsu bow*' noei.
There U some originatil; in the following anonymoiu eSbrt :
BowLBa
Wbeo ], air. play al cricket, tick It m^Lei me feel :
For I tne wicket kick ll backward with myhnl.
And the rounder). aTDUoden. too, rise and eirike my knee
Then I in UEUiib lanEuiih. try to foi^ a imile,
WUle laughing crilkM round me lound me on my ityle.
Among other ingenious sample* of ■
PuiKh as a relief from [he monotony ^ , ^
(he final word of a couplet, the last letter or last two letters making so ir
syllables that thyme with the ending word of'the preceding line. Thus;
" Me drunk I" the cobbler cried. " the d(«il trooblt you.
I've juti rclutnod from a leetou] party,
-Twelve on ui jammed in ■ aprillgc-«-r4 ;
The man aa lectured^ now, waa drunk 1 why, bleu ye,
Ridionl* la th« teat of truth. " We have oftener than once," say*
Carlyle in his Essay on Voltaire, ''endeavored to attach some meaning to
that aphorism, vulgarly imputed to Shaftesbury, which, however, we can find
nowhere in his works, that 'ridicule is the test of truth.'" Carlyle was
singularly remiss in his examination of Shaftesbury's works, as the idea at
least and almost the very words appear there no less than three times :
IBMindlbeiett of rtdicu'le!— Cliira<-((r£(i».' A Lttltr ctncrmiaf BnlkuHaim.^tx. i.
Truth, 'til luppiiiied. may bear all lighii : and one of thoK principal liihu or natural
mediunis by whKn Ihlnf^ are (o be viewed in order lo a Ihorongh r«coKnition If ridicule
iwV.-Etiv •" M' Frifdum n/ WU *nd Humor. Sec. i.
'Twai theaayingof an aiKieni uge (Gorgiai Leonlimu, ii>iiif Ariuoile'i Rhetoric, lib.
iii. cap. ig>. thai humor wat the only lai ol (taviiy. and gravity of humor. For ■ lubiecl
which would not bejr taillecy wai Hiic^cioui : and ■ Jen whkli would not btai ■ •arfooa
■uunlnation waa certainly lalK wa..— aid.. Sec. %.
;i:v,.G00gIC
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 975
Bui of course it ontv
, >, ^«<t It
IS often helped to make the worse appear the better reason. This is sub-
stantially Cadyle's contention. Chamfort said, "There is nothing that kills
like ridicule ;'' and he was familiar with the guillotine. Like Che guillotine,
however, ridicule overwhelms bad and good alike. Madame de Stael called
ridicule " the sword of Damocles," and she explained her meaning to be thai
the fear of it tends to prune away ihe little social ^mcAerut of men, — to pre-
vent those violations of good taste which are so common among sensible but
ill-bred or Ihouehtless men, and to check Ibose insults which arise from
coarseness of mind, ignorance, and lack of tavar-fdire, rather than from
malignity of disposition.
Right. I would mther be right than be IPrMldent, a lamous
remark of Henry Clay's, made lo Mr. Preslon of Kentucky, who had warned
him that his advocacy of Ihe Compromise measures of 1850 would alienate Ihe
Northern or Anti-Slavery Whigs and so ruin his chances for Ihe Presidency.
R^t la right. That " right is right" is a cosmopolitan proverb of in-
definite age. Poets in all limes have loved to assert it :
For right it rtilit, »n« God <> God,
And right Ihedmy iaxai win;
To doubi usuld be diiloyaily,
F. W. FuBn't Tki Right mutt win.
But 'twu ji pujcim hv bad ofi«n n-ied.
Thai right was right, and then he would abide.
Crabbii: Tkt Squirt and IIu Print.
And, because right i» righi, to follow right
1 mul in NaluVt for Ihc itable lawi
or beauty and utilitr. Spring iba)l plant.
And aulumD gamer, to the tud of lime.
I inut In God,— tbe right ihali be the light
The oolward and the filward,~I>^ure't good
And God'i.
Buowiniio ; A Stnti Trt^df, Act t
There is another old phrase which has frequently been enforced even in
the actions of those who feign to abhor it,— "Might makes right" Words-
worth has poetically glossed it thus :
The good old nile
Sufficeth them,— (he tlmple plan,
That they ibould taVe who hare Ihe power.
: is unjustly a
acht gehl vor I
;rin who fastened
i declare here Ihat the principle in which the speech of the Minister -Presi.
dent culminates, 'Might Is above right,' is not one on which, in my opinion,
the Prussian dynasty can permanently rely ; it should rather be reversed,—
Right is above miahl." Bismarck denied'lhat he had ever used the expres-
sion, whereupon Von Schwerin replied that he had not charged him with
using Ihose very words, but Ihat his speech culminated in such a principle.
'- -" ' n Abraham Lincoln's words are worth quoting ;
.. Cookie
HANDYBOOK OF
It fiiih Itau tlfbl Duka nighl : ud in Ihal fallh L« lu due to do our istcj u
■d \i.—Addrtu <U Nra Vtrk City, February ii, igj*.
When all has b«n said, however, there is no doubt that Ibe right of might
is Ibe gospel of tbc evolutionisi, who believes in (he struggle jur existence
and Ibe survival oT the lillest
RlBbt mam in the rlgbt placo. McMaater's " History of the E*eople
of (he United Slates" (ii. ;36) seems to credit this aayiiig to Thomas Jeflerson :
"Jefferson's reply was a discussion of the tenure of office, and soon forgotten.
Uul one sentence will undoubtedly be remembered till our republic ceases lo
exist. No duly the Executive had 10 perform was so trying, he observed, as
to put Ihe right man in the righl place." Mr. McMaster is using a dubious
tridc he learned from Macaulay, — Ihat of substiluling a paraphrase or an
epigratntnalic risumi for a quotation. What Jefferson really said was as
fallows: "Of the various executive abililies, no one excited more anxious
concern than thai of placing the inierests of our lei low -citizens in the hands
of honest men, wilh understanding sufficient for their station." (Letter to Eliot
Shipman, July la. 1801.) Here is the idea, of course. The meet and quota-
ble wording IS ?••">"■<-'< •" T..11.
government, but the art of finding a satisfactory position for the discontented
IS the most difficulL" In English the phrase seeins to have been first used
by Sir Austen Henry Layard, m a speech in the House of Commons, January
K, 1S55 : " I have always believed that success would be Ihe inevitable result
if ihe [WO services, the army and the navy, had fair play, and if we sen! Ihe
right man to fill the right place."
Sydney Smith's famous illustration is well worlh quoting : " If you choose lo
represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table of different shapes, —
some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong, — and Ibe perrons
acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find
that Ihe Iriansular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the
triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into Ihe round hole.
The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom (it so exactly
thai we can say ihey were almost made for each other."
Cowper seems to hold that the matter is comfortably arranged by the
Almighty 1
Gcut ulcau. And God givu la every man
71/ Tvk. Book Lv.. 1. tN.
Ringtog lalaiid, an old nickname for England. Fuller in his " Worthies of
England" (1663) has the following explanation : "Thus it is commonly called
by Foreigners, as having greater, more, and more tuneable Bells Ihan any one
Country in Christendom, Italy itself not excepted, though Nula be there, and
Bells so called thence because first founded therein. Yea, il seems our Land
is much affected wilh Ihe love of them, and loth to have them carryed hence
into forreign parts, whereof take Ibis eminent instance. When Arthur
Bulkeley, the covetous Bishop of Bangor, in ibe reign of King Henry the
Eighth had sacrilegiously sold the five lair bells of his Cathedral, to be trans-
ported beyond the seas, and went down himself to see tbem ahipp'd, thejr
suddenly sunk down with the vessell in the Haven, and (he Bishop fell instantly
blind, and so continued lo the day of his death."
Rip, I>et hei. This Americanism, meaning >* All righl," or " Lei matters
take their course," now fteqoently varied by the newer mintage " Let her go^
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 977
Gallagher," is Bometimes derived from Bteamboat insurance. When an
owner said, " Lei her tip, I'm insured 1" he meant, " I don't care whether she
bursts or noL" But a more plausible elvmology assumes it to be a humorous
appropriation into common slang of the tombstone initials R. I. P. ("Re-
quieacat in pace," " May he or she rest in peace"). 1'his conjecture is
strengthened by the fact that the Dutch have a phrase " Hij is rip |" He is
rip," or "gone ), which is usually derived from the same source.
Robiiuon. Befor« yoa can Bay Jaok Robinson, a colloquial ex-
pression indicating great quickness and expedition. The Jack Rolnnson here
alluded to is said to have been Sir Thomas Robinion, otherwise known as
"Long Sir Thomas," and "Jack Robinson," secretary to George IL Pitt
and Fox gave him the last name on account of his servility towards the king.
In an anecdote left in manuscript by Lord Eldon the following o<
ing the debates on the India Bill, Sheridan, on one evening when
9x's majorities were decreasing, said, ' Mr. Speaker, this is not at all to be
Dndered at, when a member is employed to corrupt everybody in order t
votes.' Upon this there was a great outcry made by almost everybody
in the House. * Who is it? Name him I Name him 1' ' Sir,' said Sheridan
to the Speaker, ' 1 shall not name the person. It is an unpleasant and invidi-
ous Ih" ' ■ ■ ■^ • ■
that, ! .
Hut was this the origin of the proverb, or a punning allusion to it ? Grose
says the expression originated from a very volatile gentleman named Jack
Robinson, who would call on his neighbors and be gone before his name
could be announced. But he gives neither date nor authority. The following
lines "from an old play" are given by Halltwell as the original phrase :
A wuke il yi u caiEc lo be doone
Ai lyi 10 uyt, Jacke I robyi en.
But what was the old play ? After all, in the absence of any evidence to
the contrary, it may be assumed thai as jack is the most common of proper
names, and Robinson one of the famous quartette of Brown, Jones, Smith,
and Robinson, the combination is merely hit upon as an instance of some-
thing especially familiar and therefore easy.
Rodomontade, — Lt., resoundii^, boastful talk. The word is derived from
Rodomont, a hero in Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso," as well as in Boiardo'a
" Orlando Innamorato." He is represented as an untamed, tierce, and brave
wairior-king of Algiers. The name of this prodigy might be paraphrased
to mean a roller of mountains, a veritable earth-shaker. His name is used
ironically in this extract ;
He vapored: bul.beiDe pretty iharply admoiiiibfld, he quickly becwne mild ukd c«Jin,^
a poBlure ilL beconuji|[ lucli m RDUamont.— Sia T. Hskskbt,
Ro« and Doe. Richard Roe and John Doe, In the terminology of the
law, are the names of fictitious parties, used originally in actions in ejectment
in England, and then in this country. An action in ejectment is one to obtain
possession of land ; originally a plaintiff who claimed title had to proceed in
a real action, a complicated and costly proceeding, while ejectment was avail-
able only for a lessee. Chief-Justice Rolle, in tile time of Edward III,, de-
vised tM "fiction" by which a person claiming title could proceed under an
Google
HANDY-BOOK OF
in ejectment Thai eiplaing the existence, but not the names ; the]' probablji
' — * ■<> the chief juslice as handy and suitable. Sometimes John Do*
"Cnnillitlc'' anH Rlrhaiil Rnr "Trniililruiimr " Thr Rnmins hait
Rognss. Wh«ii rognss fall ont, hon«st men get theii aim. In a
case before Sir Malthew Hale, the two litigants unwiltmgly let out that at a
former period iKcy had in conjunction leased a ferry, tu the injury of the pro-
prietor, on whicli Sir Matthew made the above remark.
Roland for an Oliver. Roland and Oliver were two of the most famous
in the list of Charlemagne's l»felve peers, and their exploits are So similaj
that il is very difiicnlt lo choose belween them. What Roland did Oliver
did, and what Oliver did Roland did. At length the two met in single
combal, and fought for five consecutive days on an island in Ihe Rhine, but
neither gained the least advantage (see ni " La I^gende des Sidles," by
Victor Hugo, the poem entitled " Le Mariage de Roland"), and to cap the
climax, in (he end at the battle of Roncesvalles, that they might continue
similar even in death, Roland was accidentally but fatally wounded by his
friend Oliver, who had himself received a death-blow, and was blinded by hb
own blood. (Pui£l.) Altogether, their doings "are recorded so ridjculouslv
and extravagantly by the old romancers that from thence arose that saying
amongst our plain and sensible ancestors of giving one 'a Roland for an
Oliver.' to signify the matching of one incredible lie with another." (War-
The etymologies connecting the proverb with Charles II., General Monk,
and Oliver Cromwell are wholly unworthy of credit, for even Shakespeare
alludes to it : '■ England all Olivers and Rolands bred" (Htnry IV.. Part /.,
Act L, Sc. 2), and Edward Hall, the historian, a century before Shakespeare,
But u hare a Rotiod lo rolK %v Olircr. be leiil tolEfiipnc unbanadon lo Ibc Ic7ii( of
Engliadc [HcDry V I], otrerynt hym hyi diHi(hlcr Id maiugc.
Rolling Btone gaUisrs no moas. This proverb appears common (o so
many Aryan peoples that we are led to the supposition thai it had its origin
in remote antiquity, ere the race was split np into so many distinct natioiial-
ilies. Kelly quotes it in his " Proverbs of All Nations" as an exact rendering
of the Greek Ai9oc oihxio^voi rt #!>«¥ o* 'rt«<. In Latin it appears in two
forms. One of these, " Saxum volulum non obducilur musco,'' is included
in the " Senlenliae" of Publius Syrus (No. y*}. published by Erasmus, and
therefore is at least nineteen centuries old. The other form is rhymed,—
Kon At hinDtid kinc alque inde vohjau,—
and would indicate a later, probably a medizval, origin. Some have fand-
fully associated the stone with the slone of Sisyphus. John G. Saxe, in one
of his humorous effusions, has, —
Lili« Sinphtu, condrninnt lo ten
Ihe - RoUini Sioh' ilial giihcn
The SI
The-C
nichl moostg."
The Dutch have it, " Een rollende si
The Danes, " Den steen der ofte flyltes blivi
The French, " Pierre qui roule n'amasse poi
The Italians, " Fietra mossa non fa muscliio
;i:,vG00git:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 979
T^e Spaniards, " Picdra movediia nunca mobo la cubija."
The PortugUMC, " Pcdra movedi^a nao cria boloi."
The Arabians, "The cat ihai is always mewing calches no mice," which
is very Bitnilair to the American "The slill hog gels the swill."
In England we And record uf it Craro the first dawn of her literature. In
"Piers Plowman's Vision" (1326) it occurs under the form "Selden moseth the
marble-stone that men often Iteden." We find it zlso in Heywood's " Prov-
erbs" (1546), in an article on " Proverbs in Court and Country" (1618), in
Camden^s "Remains," in Tussei's "Five Hundred Points of Good Hus-
bandry," in GosEon's " Ephemeridcs of Phialo," in Marslon's " The Fawn,"
and 10 on down to our own day.
Quinlilian is quoted as the Father of Che kindred Latin proverb, " Planta
mix ssepius transfer tu r n on coaicscit" ("A plant often removed cannot thrive").
From this the Italians have " Albero spesso traspiantato mai di frutti i cari-
cato" (" A tree often transplanted is never loaded with fruit").
The symbolical appropriateness of the proverb, not less than its uften-
illualraled essential truth, has made it one of the dozen moat widely spread
saws in the world.
vriter's idem
ecogniie the
reference, however, was not to style, but to penmanship. Thug, in "Twelfth
Nighl." Act iii„ Sii 4, '■ I' did come lo his hands, and commands shall be e»e-
cuted. I think we do know the sweet Roman hand." In Shakespeare's time
the Roman or Italian hand was superseding the old English way of writing.
" A lady of title, who died at an advanced age nearly twenty years ago. wrote
this delicate Italian hand. Each leller was well rounded in its 'pot-hooks,'
with no atiEUlaiilies. and was sn cleailv formed that Lord Palmeislon himself
could not have found fault with it The letters were all kept to the same
height and in perfectly straight lines, and advancing years betrayed no falling
off in the copperplate beauty of the penmanship. I showed a letter of this
lady's to a friend who was skilled in calligraphy, and he said that this style
was known as 'the Italian engrossing hand.^" {Cuthbekt Bedb, in A^x
and Qatritt, fifth series, x\. 438. May 31. 1879.)
Rome. W1i«niiiRom«,do utheRomaiudo. This proverb arose in
the following manner. St. Augustine was in the habit of dining on Saturday
as on Sunday ; but, being pui^ed with the different practices then prevailing
(for they had begun to fast at Rome on Saturday), he consulted Sl Ambrose
on the subjecL Now, at Milan they did not fast on Saturday ; and the
answer of the Milan saint was, " When I am here I do not fast on Saturday ;
when at Rome I do fast on Saturday" (" Quando hie sum, non jejuno
Sabbalo ; quando Romie sum, ieiuno Sabbato"). (St, Aiigustine, Ep.
XXXVI., Tb Caiulanul.)
In Jeremy Taylor's " Ductor Dubitantium," 3d ed., p. »$. we find the
following paragraph on a case of conscience 1 " He that fasted on Saturday in
Ionia or Sfnyrna was a schismatick \ and so was he that did md fast at Mtitut
01 Remt upon the same day. both upon the same reason :
Cum loerii alibi, .'ivllo licul ibi :
because he was to conform to the custom of Smyrna as w I h f MU
in the respective dioceses."
Roma, All roada laad to, an Italian proverb m n g h h
many ways of accomplishing an end. It was, howe d ys
•o much a proverb as a literal truth. A« the city f R ro gr dually ex
980 HANDY'BOOK OF
tended her conquests over the Italian peninsula, each new cit^ added to ber
gramng empire was connected with the capital b; a magnilicent military
ruad, and Rumc ultimately became the centre of tlie finest load system the
world has ever seen. Many of these roads have endured and ate in excellent
condition to this day.
Romc^ W« ii««d no Romoloa to aooount for, — Lt,, we need no
hypothetical person to account for a plain fact. The etymologies of the word
Rome form a case in point All of them which derive it from Rhea Sylvia,
otherwise Rema, the mother of Romulus and Remus, or from Retnulus, him-
self its mythical founder, or from ruma (a "due"), in allusion to the fable of
the wolf suckling the outcast children, are wholly worthless. Niehuhr derives
it from the Greek word rk»ma ("strength"), a suggestion confirmed by its older
mysterious name Valentia, from the Latin vaittis (" strung"). (See NAUEt^BSS
Cut.)
Roorbach. In American slang, acanard, a falsehood disseminated through
the newspapers. The word originated in 1844, during the Presidential cam-
paign which resulted in Polk's election. In September of that year the
Ithaca (New York) Chmmele, a Whig newspaper, received and published
what purported to be an extract from Barun Kooibach's "Tour through th«
Western and Southern Slates in 1836," containing a description of a camp of
slave-drivers on Duck River in Tennessee, and a slalemenl that forty-three
of the unfbiiunaie slaves "had been purchased of the Hon. I. K. Polk, the
present Speaker of the House of Representatives, the mark of Che branding-
iron, with the initials of his name, on their shoulders, distinguishing them
from the rest" The pretended eitract was copied by the Whig press
throughout the country, and occasioned great excitement. Uncontradicted,
it might have defeated Polk. Within a few days, however, the Democrats
discovered that the description of the camp had been taken from G- W.
Featherstonhaugh's "Tour" (1S34), that the statement respecting Polk had
been interpolated, and that no such traveller as Baron Roorbach ever existed.
The author of the hoax is said to have been a newspaper writer named
William Linn.
Rooster, a very unwelcome American addition to the English language
as a substitute for " cock," the male of the domestic hen. It may be a remi-
niscence of the provincial English " roost-cock :"
Gallui, thai erutcH rooiKocli in lb« rout.
Tkt Mnia-Trat (i6o6).
Richard Grant White very justly objects, "A rooster is any animal that
roosts. Almost all birds are roosters, the heivs, of course, as well as the
cocks. What sense or delicacy, then, is there in calling the cock of the
domestic fowl a rooster, as many people do ? The cock is no more a rooster
than the ben ; and domestic fowls are no more roosters than canary-birds or
peacocks. Out of this nonsense, however, people must be laughed rather
than reasoned."
In American politics, the "campaign rooster" is the well-known animal
which, through wood-cut illustration in a newspaper, announces the success of
its party at the polls. It is said to have originated in the campaign of 1841.
One of the Democratic managers wrote a fetter to stir up the politicians to
renewed activity. Among iilhei things, he advised, " Tell Chapman to crow."
Chapman was an Indiana editor known to be enthusiastic in his anticipations
of viaory. The letter fell into the hands of the Whigs, who piinled it, and
derisively used the phrase "Tell Chapman to crow" daring the entire
campaign. Next year, however, the Democrats made some signal gains in
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 981
Hissachuselts, and Charles G. Greene, of the Boston /W, turned the laugK
upon (tie Whigs by gelling out a cartoon of an immense rooster crowing nilh
delight over the D«mocratic victories.
Rote. When did the roee become the emblem of England? Probably
with the consuromalion of the Wars of the Ruses. They were fought in the
fifteenth century between the houses of York and Ijncasier. The former
house wore as its badge the white lose (rose argent), the latter the reil rose
quite certain when these badges were adopted, whether in the early days of
last ceased through the union of the two bouses by the marriage of Henry
VII. of Lancaster to Elizabeth of York, a rose-bush in a certain monastery in
Wiltshire, which during the troubles of the land had, to the amazement of
all beholders, borne at once roacs red and roses while, now bloomed forth
wilh petals of mingled red and white. People came from far and wide to see
the wonder, and heralded it as a joyful omen of peace and prosperity. To
this day the parti-colored tluwei produced by artificial Cross-breeding is called
Ihc York and Uncastet rose.
The rose came to the English freighted with a wealth of legendary glory.
It has long been looked upon as Ihe king of flowers. Il was the .Syrian
emblem of immortality, and perhaps some cognate idea makes the Chmese
plant il over graves, as the Greeks and Romans carved it on their tombs. In
ancient Egypt il was the token of silence, and it preserved this sigiiilicance in
classic mythology, where Eros was represented ofTerinB a rose to the god of
Silence. Love delights in secrecy ; stratagem, too, Toves secrecy. So we
naturally find the rose appearing on Roman shields. In connection with the
cross it was the device of Luther and the symbol of the Rosicruciane (Rosea
Crux).
The Greeks held that the rose derived its color from the blood of Venus
when she trod on a thorn of Ihe white rose while going to Ihe assistance of
the dying Adonis. The Turks say that il is colored with the blowl of
Mohammed, and they will never suffer il lu lie on the ground. Christian
legend ascribes its origin to a holy maiden of Bethlehem, who, being unjii.clly
condemned to death ty fire, prayed to our Lord, whereupon the fire was
suddenly quenched and " the buTnirg brands became red roseres. and the
brands that were not kindled became white roseres and full of roses, and
these were the first roseres and roses both while and red that ever any man
sought." Henceforth the rose became the flower of martyrs. It was a
basketful of roses that the martyr St. Dorothea sent to the nolary Theoph-
ilus from the Garden of Paradise, and roses, says the romance, sprang up
all over the field of Roncesvalles, where Roland and his peers had stained
the soil with their blood.
RtM«. I am not tb« rOB«,tint I hav« lived near her {Fr, " Je ne
suis pas la rose, mais i'ai v^cu pris d'elle"). a French proverb, itidicaling
thai the supposed speaker borrows glory or distinction from his association
with some greater person, or that such association, in the words of Steele, "is
a liberal education." The fullowiiig extract gives the origin of the phra
d indicates its use ; " Saadi, the Persian poet, shows in a charming apologue
" " ., .^ .-..,... -r .1- -,f,h. i\ ^35 taking a walk,'
exhaled a grateful (ragi
elled il delightedly. " Y
odor," said I, "are you the rose?" " No," was the reply,'
the happy influence of the society of men of worth. ' I was taking a
be says ; ' I saw at my feet a half-dead leaf which exhaled a grateful (raf
I picked it up and smelled il delightedly. " You that exhali
Goo^k"
983 HANDY-BOOK OF
Roae. Under the. An unavailing eSorl has been made to trace th« ei-
prciision "sub rosa," or "under the rose," to classical times. It is said that
Fausanias bargained to betrajr his country to Xerxes in a lemple of Minerva,
called the Brazen House, the roof of which was a garden furniing a bower of
roses. But (he story is apocryphal. There is also a legend that Cupid bribed
Harpocrates with a rose to conceal the amours of hi> mother Venus. Har-
pocrates was ihe god of Silence, represented with his linger on his lips.
Hence il was the custom (o sculpture rases on the ceiling of banquec-iooms,
in proof whereof the following lines are adduced. They are said to have
been carved on marble :
("Th«nH 11 Iba flower of Vediu. In older thai bcr Holen plesiHiro might bt coaceiled,
Cupid dedicued lo Hupocnta thi> gift of his moiher 1 hince ihe ho-i haiqfi a roH orcr Us
friendly table, tbal Ihegucilsmay kn-,v ilut what Is said under ii mu 1 be kept sileni.")
But, unfortunately, Ihe legend, ihe sculptured roses, and the verses them-
selves are all comparalively modern inventions. The real origin of the phrase
is probably Teutonic, and dales back lu an unknown antiquity. The rose
was Ihe flower of Freya, Ihe Norlbern Venus. It was sculptured on Ihe ceil-
ings. When wine had Inosed Ihe lips and light Speech followed, the symbol
would remind the revellers that their words were spoken " under the rose,"
under Freya's protection, and must be held sacred. An ancient German
proverb ran, " Was wir kosen, blelbl unter den Rosen." The expression
and the custom spread rapidly over Europe. As early as 1546, in a letter
from Dymocke to Vaughan, are these words : " And the sayde questyons
were asked with lysenoe, and that yt shoulde remayn under the rosse. that is
to say. to remain under the buurde and ne more to be tehersyd." The HtX
general use at Ihe time. In 1587. however, we find, from Newton's "Heiball
10 the Bible," that it was a common country custom to hang rosea over festive
boards as a reminder to secrecy. In the Latin countries roses were often
hung over confessionals in the early part of the sixteenth century. Ky the
seventeenth centurjf it had become a common custom in England and Hol-
land, as it had already been In Germany, to paint or sculpture roses on the
ceilings of banqueting-halls.
RoAO-buda. Oatbor ye ro«e-buda whlla ya may, a well-known line
of Hetrlck's:
Gaiher ye raK.l!iidt •thile yc may,
Old Time i> Hill a-flying,
And Ihii same Hower ihat iDila lo-day
Tc lit yirgint Is maJu mutk ^ Tlmi.
But Ihe doctrine that advi.ses man or maid to live for the present and riot
for the future, the metaphor which makes the rose Ihe emblem of the fasl-
flestiiig spring of life, as it is the sign and symbol of Ihe soon-fading youth of
the solar year, were ramiliar to remotest antiquity. The author of the " Wis-
dom of Solomon," ii. S, gives as an example of the reasoning of the ungodly,
"Come on, ... let us crown ourselves with rose-buds befnre they be
withered." Ausonius, in one of hi,i Idyls, following Mimnermus, — and who
can say how many more > — bids the virgin gather roses whilst the flower is
new and her age new also, mindful that life, like the flower, quickly passes
away. Spenser, following an Italian leader, introduces in his descriplion of
Acrasia's " Bower of Bliss" this portion of song :
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Rmurd's " Lines (o bis Misircss" embody the same thought. Her« b the
last sunza, in Thackeray's translation :
Ah I dnuy ibougbB and dmm an IboK,
Bui whmfon yield nt lo dtipair.
While vet lh« po«t'i bosom eIowi,
WhiH yet tne dwic ii p«*Tleu faJrl
R«qu1u my pauion and my Drutb,
And galbn Ld their blushing prime
ROM*. Soent of the. The following U one of Moore's best-known
couplets ;
Bol the teem of Ibe naet will hani round Jl uiJU
The idea was probaU^ taken from Horace, who appears to be speaking of
the odor of wine which is retained by an earthen vessel into which that liquid
baa been poured, when he says, —
('■ Tbe vise wUI long ihe Keu retain
h chanced, wben newly made, id gain.")
St. Jerome [Epiilola ad Latum) uses almost the same words to illustrate
the importance of the kind of instruction given to a young girl.
ROB]r-baaoin«d Bonn. This epithet was first used in English verse by
Hilton :
Alcfflg ifae cri>p^ ibadei and bovert
Reireb lb* apmce and jocund Speing;
The Cnce* and ibe roeyWonied Houim
Thilber all Iheir boimliea bring.
Ctmui, Y. 984.
Gray has borrowed the epithet :
Lo^ whett the toay-boaomed Houn,
Fair Vanua' train, appear I
And lo the above two lines he has had in mind another Miltonjc pasaager
Whiit unlvenal Pan,
« and the Hotui In dance,
faradiii Ltil, Booh Ir., 1. 367.
Tbomson, too, has copied from the same source :
Thence weary vUoo tnma. where, )eadln( toA
Row. Hard (or Iiong) row to hoa, a familiar Americanism, a metaphor
drawn from the cultivation of com and potatoes, and signi^ng anything that
is difficult of attainment or eiecuiion.
It wam'iyoux buJlyin' clack, John,
Provolun' ua to fight.
;i:,vG00gk"
984 HANDY.BOOK OF
LowBLi. : JtmtlluM UJahn.
T know thai borsllin daiin ihey uv prelly poortv paid, becaosc thcb- work leecpa them Irp
nighii to much, but neirtpaper mcD have id work ni^hiB oUo, and unLcH they can rob a
proiperniM burglar once in a while they have a haid row to hoe.— BlLI. Nta.
Royallat. " I am a royalisi by trade," a famous mot attributed to Joseph
11.. Emperor of Germany. He was visiting his brother-in-law Louis XVL
in Paris, travelling, as was his wont, under the incognito of Cotint Falketistein.
At an evening party Jeflerson, the American minister, was playing chess with
the old duchess. "How happens it, M. Ic Comte,'* asked the latter, "that
while we all feel so great an interest in the cause of the Americana, yoa gay
nothing for them ?" " C'est mon metier d'f tre royalisle," was the repl^, —
"most unexpected from a philosophe," is Carlyle's cotnmenl. Joseph, it is
well known, had advised against any French assistance to the colonies. But
a very simitar sentiment had some years previously been uttered by Fred-
erick the Great to Dr. Franklin, when the iatler sought his aid in CBtablishing
freedom in America. " Born a prince, and become a king, I shall not employ
my power to ruin my own tratie," was Frederick's reply. Did Victor Em-
manuel remember these famous sayings when, on being asked how he could
attend to affairs of stale alter the death of his mother and his brother in the
same year (iSjS), he replied," I am a kin^j that is my trade"? Heine's auda-
cious and yet strangely reverent met an his death-bed springs to mind at «nce:
" Dieu me pardonnera. C'est son metier" (" God will pardon me. It is his
trade").
Rubioon, To pass tb«, to enter upon a course from which retreat is im-
possible, synonymous with "The die is cast," and these words in fact were
used by Csesar when the tirst of his men were crossing the Rubicon, a little
stream which divided Cisalpine Gaul from Italy proper. By an old law, no
general of Rome was permitted to cross this stream with his men under amis.
Accordingly, when CKsar returned out of Gaul with his legions upon hear-
ing that the Senate had resolved to appoint another general to supersede
him in Ibe command before his term had cxpiied, he made a halt at its bank-
side. If he crossed he would be coming into Italy as an invader, a public
enemy. " If we cross that little bridge," said he, " iheie will be nothing left
for it but lo fight it out with the Senate." While he was thus hesiuting, a
Eerson remarkable for his noble mien and graceful aspect appeared close at
and, playing upon a pipe. When not only the shepherds, but a number of
soldiers also, some trumpeters among them, flocked from their posts lu listen
lo him, he suddenly seized a trumpet from one of them, ran to the river with
it, and, sounding the advance with a piercing blast, crossed to the other side.
" Let us go whither the omens of the gods and the iniijuiljr of our enemies
call us," exclaimed Canar. "Jacta alea est" ("The die is cast"). (Sub-
TOMU. :£,/,.!
Rnmp Mid dOBMl, a favorite form of wager in the early part of the nine-
teenth century. It is usually held to mean a rump of beef cooked as steaks
and a dozen bottles of wine, providing entertainment for the bettor, the beltee,
and, say, two friends. But some hold that the dozen is a dozen of oysters
in sauce, citing in corroboration from "Tom and Jerry," chapter ill., "Jerry
was weighed in order to decide a l>et between him and Ix>gic for a rump-
iteak ai^ a dozen of oysters." [n iSli the English Court of Common Plea*
llecided that an action might be maintained upon such a wager (Husiey vt.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 985
Crickelt, 3 Campbetrs Reports, p. i63) ; but Mansfield, C. J., said, " I do not
judidalt; know the meanine of a rump and dozen," and complarned of the an-
certainly un this subjecl. His associate, Heath, J., on the contrary, asserted,
" We know very well privately that a ' tump and dozen' is what the witnesaes
stated, — viz., a good dinner and wine, in which I can discover no illegality."
Riwala to a deapotlBm tempered by a—aMtnatton. an anonymoua niff
made apropos or the murder o( the Emperor Paul in 1801, evidently based
upon the epigram made during the aiaiat rigimc, " France ia an absolute
monarchy tempered by songs." In some versions "epigrams" takes the place
of "songs." (See Ballads.) Napoleon *aa the author o( two famous sayings
about Russia : " Scratch a Russian and you will dint a Tartar," and " In tfie
present stale of things all Europe must in ten years become either Cossack
or republican." The latter phrase is reported by Las Cases as occurring in a
conversalion between bim and Napoleon at St. Helena under dale of April S,
1816. It is commonly laisquoled " In fifty years."
s.
8, the nineteenth letter and (ifteenth consonant of the English alphabet,
and the iweniy-firsi letter (or last but one) of the Phmnician alphabet, from
which the English is ultimately derived. Its name in Phtenician and Hebrew
signitied " tooth," and Ibe origmal hieroglyphic symbol represented three teeth.
The Phcenician character borrowed therefrom looks much like our w. This
character was set up on end by the Greeks, and ultimately developed into the
£. There is an old saying that Xenophon needed a pot-book in the retreat
of the ten thousand, and made it from the letter sigma. This may be merely
a bit of rudimentary humor, or may be a tribute to the military and literal]'
character of the great general, fertile in eipedients, and making letters sub-
Sailor King, a popular telriqtut of William IV., King of Great Britain,
who entered the royal navy in 1779, when fourteen years of age. He rose
gradually by regular promotion from the rank of midshipman to that of
captain. In iSol he was made an admiral, and on retiring from active service
in 1817 was made lord high admiral uf England.
Salt, BpiUlug. Salt, the incorruptible and the preserrer from corruption,
(he holy substance that was used in sacrifice, was from the earliest times
sacred to the Penales, or household gods. To spill it carelessly was to invite
their indignation, and to throw it over the left shoulder — the shoulder of evil
omen, that is — of the person spilling it, was to call away from the guest
towards whom the salt was spilled and turn upon the spillei the wrath of
these deities. The spilling of the sail by Judas in Leonardo's picture of the
Last Supper has quite another significance, in all probability, and was in-
tended by that great artist simply to svmbolize the treason of^Judas, platted
and perfected under the cover of social intimacy and affection. But, indeed,
it is staled on very good authority that in the fresco itself there is no salt-
cellar overturned, nor is there any trace of its having been blurred or ob-
literated. It was Raphael Morghen who in his engraving made an un-
warranted interpolation.
" To eat a person's salt" means to partake of bis hospitality.
In 1809 he wu HM lo Mulhip, Ihu he miahl ilieie biuy hlmielf In iIk dlidplinc,
lb* iuductlois, ud M the minuu dctult of a bngult of inrtuitiy. H* ducbuind all lb*
dutia incidui 10 liu poutlon wlih the dimi ki ' . . » . t^ .. .
986 hanby-book of
tw \Xy who fud irDinv
BKU ui UK unu iwu i*r."'*^l*
ih, u KB uy Is Hie Emi.— Ihw 1 have aitnVhc Ving'i ult. 'On Ihiu v. .
king uid hi> gDVerDDuni nuy find il coDVCDieol to ea^oy me."— Gluc : AfA V WtUmtlaH,
Bait BiT«r, geographically, is a tribularj of Ihe Ohio, and iI3 courw is in
Kentucky. The slang political phtaae "lowed up Sail River," to eipreu
Ihe condition of a dciealed candidate Tor office, is thus explained by Bayard
Taylor ; " Fonnerly there were eiiensive salt-works on the river, a short dis-
tance from its rooulh. The laborers employed in them were a Set of alhletic,
belligerent fellows, who soon became noted (ar and wide for Iheir achieve-
ments in the pugilistic line. Hence it became a common thing for the boat-
men on Ihe Ohio, when one of their number became refractory, to say to him,
' We'll row you up Salt River,' when, of course, the burly saltmen would have
the handling of him. By a natural figure of speech the expression was
ii.j .„ political candidates ; first, 1 believe. In the Presidential campaign
Bui a better explanation seems to be that in the early days tbe
r, being crooked and difficult of navigation, was a favorite stronghold for
nver pirates, who preyed on Ihe commerce of the Ohio and rowed Iheir
plunder up Sail River. Hence it came to be said of anything Ihal was ir-
revocably lost, " Ii's rowed up Sail River." A third d"" --' '-- ■"--
_i ■_! :.. -jjjj^ when Heniy Clay, as candidati
o speak in Ijiuisville, Kentucky, and employed a boat-
<rf 1S40."
phrase originate in 183?, when Heniy Clay, as candidate for Ihe Presidency,
had an engagement lo speak in Louisville, Kentucky, and employed a boat-
man to row him up Ihe Ohia The boatman, who was a Jackson Democrat,
pretended to miss his wa;r, and rowed Clay up Salt River instead, 90 that he
did not reach his destination until the day after the election, just in lime 10
hear of his defeat
Balnteof one hiuidred «nd one flima. Opinions differ as tolbe origin
of firing this number of guns on great occasions. Some hold that it can De
deduced from the Gertnan custom of adding one on almost every occasion,
which has descended inio trade and Ihe ordinary affairs of life. Others hold
lo ihe fallowing historical origin. On the triumphant return of Maximilian
lo Germany after a successful campaign, a brilliant reception was offered 10
Ihe monarch by the town of Augsburg, and a hundred rounds of cannon were
ordered to be discharged on the occasion. The officer in service, fearing lest
he had neglected Ihe exact number, caused an extra round to be added. The
town of Nuremberg, which Maximilian next visited, desirous to prove itself
equally loyal, also ordered a like salute; whence, il Is held, proceeds the
custom that has descended lo our day.
Buna, Auotlier and tha. This phrase occurs originally in one of
Horace's odes :
Alme tol, curru nitido diem qui
NsKcrii. '='"■"'
Bishop Hall, probably with Horace in mind, entitled his romance "Mundus
alter et idem." Then came Darwin with Ihis passage in his " Botanic Garden ;"
rm o'er the wreck, entergiiig fniin ihe stonn,
Inniocul luiitn via ha changeful fDrm -.
Lastly, Wordsworth in "The Excursion" made the pbrasea household word:
A Iwofold Imsgc : on a EnHy bank
A How-whllF nun. udln the cttrhI Baud
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CVRIOStTTES. 987
Sauota slmplloltai |" Holy aim pi icily"), a phrase lirst applied by Rufinua
(one of the earlier Latin wrilets, who translated and continued the " Ecclesi-
astical HistQiy" of Eusebius) to the victory of a simple confessor of the faith
over the great and hitherto invincible philosopher Eusebius, who had allied
bimseir with the Allans.
The expression «M an implied contrast of the wonderful power of simple
iviclinn (o the mighty, but specious, reasoning of a
' ' besoueht EusebiuK to help adjust the difficulty thai
d his bishop, Alexander. E^sebtu^i responded Ic
taphysidan. Alius had besoueht EusebiuK to help adjust the difficulty that
the appeal by writing two letters, in which he affirmed that
misrepieacnted 1 and in this manner he became concerned in the great con-
troversy, although " be was not, doctrinall^, an Arian."
Rufinus's excTaraation, " Sancla simplicitas," was afterwards used by the
dying reformer. Huss, as he watched a little child bringing up a log of wood
in ignorant imitation of the servants of the Council, who were heapmg fagota
about the stake to which he was bound. Robertson gives a slightly different
version of the incident ; " It is said that, as he saw an old woman carry a 6gol
to the pile which was to burn him, he smiled, and said, 'Oh, holy simplicity I'
meaning that her intention was good, although the poor old creature was
ignorant and misled."
The application in this instance is not precisely that made by Rufinus, for
in his allusion both the deed and the iiitcni were commended. With Huss,'
the act was condemned, only the animating principle approved.
This is the ustiai acceptation of the meaning as used by modern writers.
Thus, Matthew Browne, speaking of Currcr Bell's notion of the Duke of
Wellington, says, "Sancla simplicitas I we cry." Mrs. Gaskell had quoted
Charlotte as having represented the ^uke in the War Office, "putting on
his hat at five minutes to four, tellinv the clerks they might go, and scat-
tering ' largess' among them with a liberal hand, as he takes his leave for
Saootity, Odor oC To die in the odor of sanctity means to die in good
repute. When the odor of sanctity is said to pervade a Ihin^ it is meant l«
smell oi—i.e.. appertain to — the Church. A sanctimonious living person of the
type of Pecksniff carries the odor of sanctity about with him. To die in the
ddor of sanctity was originally used in a literal sense. The bodies of saintly
dead were believed to be free in some manner from the corruption of sinfiil
Sesh, and to have a savory smell.
Shirley had this superstition in mind when he wrote, —
Only tbe naiou of the jnst
Smell iw«( and hlDHom Id d» duH,
Contntitn ^A/ax axJ Vljiuts:
and be also remembered Tate and Brady's metrical version of Psalm cxiii :
ShiUl flouiiih whea ht tleepi in diut.
Sand, a slang terni for courage, backbone, or audacity. It is said to have
been first used by Harvard students. Hence an origin implying some his-
torical information is by no means unlikely. There is the story of Junot at
the siege of Toulon. Napoleon, while constructing a battery, wanted some
one to write a letter for him. Young Junot stepped forward to offer his
services. Hardly had the letter been finished, when a cannon-ball, striking
near the volunteer secretary, covered him with mud and dust.
*' Good I" said Junot ; " we shall not want sand this time."
Napoleon was so much pleased with this answer that he asked Junot what
he could do for hioL
;i:v,.G00gIf
HANDY-BOOK OF
" Psalm of Ufe,"
the Minister of the Interior, in which he truals " thai we ruay leave some ir
prens of our lives on Ihe sands of time." Napuleon also said, " Belter never
to have been born than to live without glory," and " It would be better for
a taxa never to have lived than not to leave behind bin) traces of his
Band'vrioh, a slice of meal or other artide of food between two pieces of
bread. They arc said to have been invented by the fourth Earl of Sandwich
(hence Iheir name), who was so much addicted to gambling that he would
rarely quit play for dinner. It was after this nobleman that, the Sandwich
Islands were in 177S named by CapUin James Cook.
rabble.'
Sardonic Bmlle, a bitter mocking smile or laugh. The expression is as
old as Homer, by whom the epithet oopduvHiv is applied to a bitter laugh
{Odyssey, xx. 302). Its derivation is unsettled. An agreeable little story is
told that Ihe ancient Sardinians, like many other barbarous tribes, used to
gel rid of Iheir relations in extreme old age by throwing them alive into deep
pits, a delicate allentitm which the venerable ladies or gentlemen were ex-
pected to greet with expressions of delight. Hence a Sardinian laugh came
to mean lauglitng on the wrong side of one's month. It might seem that our
proverb "grin and bear it" could be referred to the same origin. But other
learned authorities hold that oopjoviov, or sardon, was a plant of Sardinia,
which being eaten by man contracted the muscles and excited laughter even
to death. Unfortunately for both these theories. Homer's word is aapiapuit',
not aapidpiov, and there is no evidence that Sardinia was known in the
Homeric ag«. We are therefore compelled to fall back upon the less thrill-
ing explanation that Ihe term is connected with the verb otufiu, to show the
te»ih, to grin like a dog.
A miUtuv Tst of I
LInUn lliiD Mtllb
SatMiio School, a
viiuperaiivi
Judgment :
Inmonl writvn, . . . men of dlieiKd hcuti aad depnved taugijialiani, who, formina a
■VfKm of opioJoni to BuLt tfacLr own nnliappy COUTH of conduci, h^ve rebelled HguDit the
holint ordJDaacei of huouD aodetv, and hating that revulecl religioD which, with all thai
effoni ud bnvadoa. they in uublo to enlitdydiibclievc, labor lo inilw nllien » mitmble
u ihtnitelvei by IntKiing Ihtm with ■ moiml vinii which cMi into tlie loui. The KhoDl
which ihey hmvc Kt up may be properly called ibe Satanic School ; for ihouc h tlieir produc-
lioBi bnaiha Ihe ipinl of Belial ia their Uscivioui pirii, and Ihe ipirii of Moloch In thdr
loiibionu lQka(e> of ujocitks and botren, whkb Ibey deligbl 10 nprcKM. Ihey an nan
..oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
putkbluly cbuACKriied by n Santnk iiurit df pride and uxdacJoDt LmpEety i
tbt wTctcbcd l«lin[B oi hopetcBiDeu whVT«w)Ib il it ilUed.
id, and (the company \%
.___.__ _._ ,.____tdinc.lcul.ble.«r«l., which
Sohool-maater la abroad, Ilxe, a phrase that oiiginaied with Lord
Brougham. He uaed il first at the initial meeting of the London Mechanics'
Institution in 1815. Di. Burbeck was in the chair, and John Reynolds, a
prosperous and highly-es teemed Hchool-maaler of Chadwell Street, Clerken-
well, acted as secretary. In the course of some compiimentary remarks, Mr.
Brougham, who was not then a lord, said, " Ixiok out, gentlemen, the school-
master is abroad.'' He rejiealed the saying a year or two later when Parlia-
ment was opened by commission on January 19, 1818. Wellington had just
succeeded Canning in the premiership. The opposition had denounced the
choice as that of a mere "military chieftain." Brougham, the leader of the
opposition, said, " Field-Marshal the Uuke of Wellington may take the army,
he may lake the navy, he may take the great seal, he may take the mitre. I
make him a present of them all. Let him come on with his whole force,
sword in hand, against the constitution, and the English people will not only
beat him back, but laugh at his assaults. In other times the country may
have heard with dismay that ' the soldier was abroad.' It is not so now. Let
the soldier be abroad if he will : he can do nothing in this age. There is an-
other personage abroad. — a personage less imposing ; in Ine eyes of some,
perhaps, insignificant. The school-master is abroad, and I trust to him, armed
with his primer, against the soldier in full military array," The phrase, which
had fallen almost unnoticed before, was now caught up and repealed all over
the land. Allusions to it will be found scattered thick through all contem-
porary literature. Hood was especially fond of turning it lo humorous ac-
count One of his best tales is entitled "The School -Mistress Abroad."
Brougham is thoroughly corroborated by an authority from the other side
of the house. " It is well said," remarked Moltke in the German Reichstag,
February 16, 1S74, " that it is the school-master that wins our battles. The
Prussian school-master won the battle of Sadowa." He referred probably
10 an article published in Amland, No. 39, July 17, 1S66, by Peschel, who
wrote, shortly after the events, on the " I.esson of the Last Campaign," seek-
ing to prove that "the victory of the Prussians over the Auslrians was a
victory of the Prussian over the Austrian school -master." A like remark
was that of Lehnerl, Under Secretary of State in the Prussian Landtag, Janu-
ary 35, 186S ; " It was admitted on all sides after Sadowa that not merely
the needle-gun but the schools had won the battle."
BohooDsr. The first vessel of this rig is said to have been built ii
Gloucester, Massachusetts, about the year 1713. When she went off the
slocks into the water a by-stander cried out, " Oh, how she scoons 1" The
builder instantly replied, " A jchooner let her be ;" and from that lime ves-
Sels thus rigged have gone by that name. The word scoon is popularly used
in some parts of New England to denote the act of making stones skip along
the surface of the water. The .Scottish scm means the same thing. The
word appears to have been originally written scooner.
Boot-free, Seel, or ih«t, oKans the reckoning or bill ; therefore acot-firae
990 HANDY-BOOK OF
means free of all charge : compare the expresiion "to pay one'a ihot." The
word comes from Anglo-Saxon sctetan, lo throw down in payment; Old
French acol, payment of one's own share of a common expense ; Italian
utUe, the reckoning at an inn ; Icelandic iktt, a contribution ; Low German
ichtUH, to cash, sckalt, contribution ; compare Gaelic sgel, part or share.
The expression " to pay scot and lot" also throws some light on the word,
meaning to pay shares in proportion.
, .a surgical operation to
a joke well into a Scotch understanding. Their only idea of wit, or rather
; interior variety of the electric talent which prevails occasionalty in the
North, and which, under the name of wMV is so infinitely distressing to
1_ _f ___j .__._ -_ 1 ■.!__ ■ -"--ately at slated inlervala. They are
ven make love metaphpically. 1
e, at a dance in Edinburgh, exclaim
•r musit:, ~ vt nai you say, my lord, is very liuc of love
in the aibstratt, but ' Here the fiddlers began fiddling furiously, and the
rest was lost."
This lamous phrase has always been a thorn in tlie Scotchman's side.
After thinking over it for a quarter of a century, some representative of the
race evolved the retort that it was an English joke which necessitated the
operation, and the northern part of the island of Great Britain has not yet
recovered from the convulsions into which it was immediately thrown. Before
Sydney Smith, however. Horace Walpole had said, referring lo the same race,
"The whole race has hilherlu been void of wit and humor, and even incapa-
ble of relishing it." \l.tlier lo Sir Horcui Mann, 177S.) Another estimate of
the Scotch which has a history of ila own is the following from Chapman,
jonaon, and Maiston's " E^tward Ho :"
Only a Inr iDdutriDiu SccHi.periiapi.wha indeed ue dltpened onr IhebnoftlH wlwlt
■in out ou'E, in the world. Ihan ihcy are. And Ibr Diy own part I woald a hundred tboatand
of iliein wra Lh«rt {Virgknial ; for we are all one countryinen Kiw, ye Icnow, and we ihould
find len dnei lam comion ^ theto ilier4 tlun we do hert.^Aci Hi,, Sc. *.
This it the passage that gave offence to James I. and caused the imprison-
ment of the authors. The leaves containing it were cancelled and reprinted,
and it occurs in only a few of the original copies.
Sorapa an aoqnBlntanoo. An anecdote is told of the Emperor Hadrian,
from which this phrase may be derived. As the emperor was entering a
bath, he saw an old soldier scraping himself with a tile. Recogni: '
St'ii
comrade, and pitjring his condition thai he had nothing better than a tile for a
flesh-brush, he sent him a sum of money and some bathing-sarmenls. Next
day, as Hadrian entered the baih, he found it crowded with old soldiers scrap-
ing themselves with tiles. He understood ihe intent, and wittily evaded it,
saying, "Scrape yourselves, gentlemen, but you will not scrape an acquaint-
Bni-p urirh m^." ^nmf^ aiirhnririp4 rrifv ir In rh^ riialnm nf arrartinff Ihe foni
Bonipe, OettJng into a. This phrase probably comes down 10 us from
the days when England was still full of forests, and the deer running wild in
the woods cut sharp gullies between the trees, called " deer -scrapes." which
it was easier to fall into than to climb out of. Another suggested derivation
takes Ihe phrase from the driving of a ball at the game of golf into a rabbit-
burrow or "scrape." The Rev. 11. T. Ellacombe.M.A,. in NiKti and Queria,
in tS03 a woman was killed by a stag in Powder-
■ said that, when walking across the park, •he
LITERARY CVRIOStTlBS. 991
Btlempled to cross the atag'i tcrape," which he says u " a ring which sligt
make in the rutting season, and woe be to any who gel within iL" He confirm)
his slory by a copy of the parish register, which records that " Frances
Tucker (killed by a stag) was buried December 14, 1803."
BoTBtctaluK Soratoher. These more vigorous than euphonious names
have been given in the American vernacular tu a political act and ile perpe-
trator, respectively. In many of the Slates alt public oSicials are voted on a
Binele ballot, in others they are grouped, judicial officers being voted on one
ballot. State officers on another, and city and county officers on still another.
If it happens, as it frequently does, that one or more of the candidates on
the lis! IS particularly distasteful to a voter individually or to large numbers
of voters, he or they scratch — i.e., erase — the obnoxious candidate's name from
their ballot before voting it, and thus become scratchers. They may even
resort to the use of the paster (see Pastkrs), thereby doubling the eHective-
ness of the act by both deducting one vote from the candidate scratched and
at the same lime adding one to his opponent Ballots which have been
amended by scratching, pasting, or otherwise are called "split tickets," in
contradistinction to the " straight" or "regular" ticket containing the names
of the candidates as nominated by the party.
BoTlla and Charybdls. The faniitiar phrase " To shun Charybdis and
strike upon Scylla" is usually referred to the ancients, if not to Homer him-
self. But, though the allusion is to the Homeric fable of eicvlla and Charybdis,
— the one a roi^ the other a whirlpool, in the Straits of Messina, Sicily, each
with an eponymous monster who sought to lure sailors to their destruction, —
the phrase itself occurs lor the first time in literature in the " Aleiandriad"
of Philip Gaultier, a mediaeval laxin poeL He is apoetrophiiing Darius
when flying before Alexander :
N««i.,h™l perdiw, nad*
Quem fuglkl ; boatn Ibcuna Aam iaga hMECm ;
Cicidli in Scylluo cupicni viian ClurytHliin.
flteing ttam mcatmy. ' Thou Mx'bi.\ upim Stzy'lli'in Keking lo'ihunCliuybdli.") ^ "
Many other proverbs embody
Into another as great or greater . - , „ ,
good eat the devil as the broth he is twiled in" (both English),
of the rain under the spout" (German), " Flying from the bull, I (ell into the
river," "To break the constable's head and take refuge with the sheriff"
(Ixich Spanish), etc In the form " Between Scylla and Charybdis" the saw
is identical in meaning with " Between the devil and the deep sea" (see Devil
AND THE DEEP SKA, BbTWEEN THE).
Thiu, wben I ihiin ScjtU, your blber, I Cull into Cbw^bdii. ycwr aod.a.—Urrelui'U ^
l'»«f,AcIlu.,Sc.i.
S« nott i Tero, h ben bovato (" If it is not true, it is a happy inven-
tion"), an Italian proverb of unknown origin, but evidently a common saying in
the sixteenth century. It occurs in the Italian translation of "Don Quixote,"
but before that it is quoted in Pasquier's " Recherches" (1600), — "Si cela
n'est vray, II est bien trouv^," — with an acknowledgment of its Italian source.
Bee and be aeen. Ovid, in his " Art of Love," i. 99, has the phrase
" Speclatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ul ipsx" ("They come t~ ~"
Id r« n iM and A* for to be Hig.
Tin W^ rf Bmth't Fnl^u:
Coogk"
99* HANDY-BOOK OF
Both Ben Jonson in hU " Epithalamion" and Goldsmith in his " Citizen of
the World" have the modern phrase "To see and to be seen," which is now
a commonplace.
Self-appreciation. " I am iiol," says Mt. Lowell, in his ejtcellenl essay
"On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners," — " I am not, 1 think, specially
thin-skinned as to other people's opinions of myseir, having, as I conceive,
later and fuller intelligence on that point than anybody else can give me.
Life is conlinnally weighing
iral weight is, lo the last grain of dust. Whoever at
fifty does not rate himself quite as low as most ofliis acquaintances would be
likely (o put him, must be either a fool or a great man ; and I humbly dis-
claim being either."
But it was long before he was fifty that Lowell wrote this skit upon hiuself
in the " Fable for Critics :"
With % whole faibSeof ism* ci^tt^elhcr with rhyme.
He mjflhl kh on aIodc, spiH of bramhlu and bouidtn.
But he cuTt with llut bimdle he hH DH hii ihDuldeni
Tlw top of the hill he will ne'er ceme nigh reaching
Till be lewnt the diatincdon 'twixi fining and preAcfaiog.
Kii lyre liu hjme cbords that would nag pmiy weU,
Biu he'd ralhcr by half Dnke a dmin of Ihc •hell.
And nttle away (ill he'a old ai Methuulem,
At tha head a\ a march to the lul New JcnjuUem.
This is as neat a bit of criticism on Lowell as could be expected in a hf»-
ekurt the aim of which was professedly humorous.
Another famous American author who has shown rare powers of self-criti-
cism is Nathaniel Hawthorne. The preface to " Twice-Told Tales" is a won-
derful production in this line, but is too well known to be quoted here. A
sort of preface affixed to " Rappaccini's Daughter" when that weird story was
originally published in the Dtmoeratie RevUn has been included in only a few
editions of Hawthorne's works, and may therefore be new to many readers.
"Rappaccini's Daughter," it was feigned, was a translation from a French
writer named Aubjpine (the French for "hawthorn"), and the pretended
translator thus introduced his author to the American public :
The Writings of AurIpinr.
ly ao Dnfortunale poiilLon becw
, . _._ ... ...jnilurt of Ihe world) and the great body of
requiaiiiong of (he romer. he muil neneiurily lind himieir wiihoui Bn audleDce. except here
bof altogelhitr dealiiute of fancy and oiieinaliiy: (hey (night have won him sreijier repuiatioD
btuforan IdTetetate love of allegory, which isapl toinvnt bit ploia and characten with (be
aipect of Kenen and people in the douda, and to ueal away (he human warmth out of hit
timet, K far u can be dbcovend, have litde or do jeiWreiice eidier to dmc or apace. In any
(Sac he gedcratly cDnten(t himteif vith a very illgbl einbroidtry of outward manuFn, — ttw
fainlett poutlfle counicrieit of nal life, — and eltdeavon to create an intenu by aome leai
obvioui peculiarity of (he wibjcct. OccaiioDally 4 breath of
andlendeciKii.oraKleaniafhuinDr.willfindiuwi *
and make ut feel ai if, aner all, we were y*t ' "
ef a brighitt (u^if ot'UrwwfA^^t^ hai^Vf^^'o l^^inta^^Ty like DuwaT
Many years afterwards, in ■ letter to Mr. Fields, dated from the Liverpool
alifanerall.we'wereyetwilhin i^Vmlis of oar naUve' eanh. Wew^l
conwilaie, April n, 1854, and concerning a
ui Old Manse," Hawthorne says, —
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 993
edition of the " Mowcb from
I The bualUng lire of fc Liverpool conaulau, Upop my honor,
Onecurioos misjudgmenl of Hawthorne's was in pladng "The House of
tbe Seven Gables" above " The Scarlet Uiier." " Being better (which 1 inaUt
it is) than ' The Scarlet loiter,' I have never expected il to be so popular."
{LOItr A> Fitlds, May 33, iSji.) "The Marble Faun" he called "an auda-
cious attempt to impose a tissue of absurdities upon the public by the mere
art of style of narrative i" and in reference to the same book he says, " It is
odd enough that my own individual taste is for quite another class of works
than those which 1 myself am able to write. If I were to meet with such
books as mine, by another writer, I don't believe I should be able to get
through them."
There is a sturdy and splendid truthfrilneas in all Goethe's self-criticisms :
the praise is as genuine and unembarrassed as if he were speaking of some-
thing entirely foreign. His "Conversations." as jotted down by Eckermann,
are full of the most interesting and instructive criticisms on his own writings.
Of "Giitz von Berlichingen" he says, " I wrote il as a young man of two-and-
twenty, and was astonished, ten years after, at the truth of my delineation.
It is obvious that I had not experienced or seen anything of the kind, and
therefore I must have acquired the knowledge of various human conditions
by way of anticipation." "Werther," he t^d Eckermann, "is a creation
which I, like the pelican, fed with the blood of my own heart ... I have
only read tbe book once since its appearance, and have taken good care not
to read it again. It isamass of Congreve rockets. I am uncomfortable when
I look at it ; and I dread lest I should once more experience the peculiar
mental state from which it was evolved." To a young Englishman who had
read with great delight both "Tasso" and " Egmont," but found "Faust"
somewhat difficult, Goethe laughingly said, " I would not have advised you
to undertake ' Faust.' It is mad stu^ and goes quite beyond all ordinary
feeling. But since you have done it of youi own accord, without asking mj
advice, you will see how you will get through. Faust is so strange an indi-
vidual that only few can sympalhite with his internal condition. Then the
character of Mephistopheles is, on account of his irony, and because he is a
living result of an extensive acquaintance with the world, also very difficult
But you will see what lights open upon you. ' Tasso,' on the other hand, ties
far nearer the common feelings of mankind, and the elaboration of its form is
favorable to an easy comprehension of it."
"Wilhelm Meisler" Goeihe thought was "one of the most uncalculable
productions. I myself can scarcely be said to have the key to it People
seek a central point, and that is hard, and not even right 1 should think a
rich, manilbld life, brought close to our eyes, would be enough in itself, with-
out any express tendency, which, after all, is only for the intellect But if
anything o<^ the son is insisted upon, it will be found perhaps in the words
which Frederic, at the end, addresses totbehero, when he says, 'Thou seemest
to me like Saul, the son of Kish, who went out to seek his father's asses, and
found a kingdom.' Keep only to this, for in fact the whole work seems to
say nothing more than that man, despite alt bis follies and errora, being led
by a higher hand, reaches some happy goal at last"
;i:,vG00gk"
994 HANDY-BOOK OF-
Manjr of the poet's contemporariei were wont to ipeak of TUck u a rival
in iiiLellect. Here is the way in which Goeihe diipofies of ihts compwison :
"Tieck '\A a talent of great importance, and no one can be more sensible
than myself of his extraordinary merits ; but when they raise him above him-
self and place him on a level wiih me they are in error. I can speak this out
plainly; it matters nothing to me, fur Idid not make n' " '
well compare myself with Shakespeare, who likewise _...,
and who is nevertheless a being of a higher order, to whom I must look up
with reverence."
Heine was another German who was gracious enough to acknowledge his
inferiority to Shakespeare. " But with Byron," he insisted, " I feel like an
equal." On the other hand, Wordsworth, il will be remembered, said that
he could write like Shakespeare if he had a mind to, — which brought out one
of Lamb's most famous retorts : " So, you see, it's the mind that's wanting."
There was a stubborn self-reliance in Wordsworth's nature which led him
to face detraction with a calm conviclion of iu injustice.
In 1S07 he wrote thus to Lady Beaumont : " Make yourself, my dear friend,
as easy-hearted as myself with respect to these poems. Trouble not yourself
with (heir present reception : of what moment is that, compared with what I
trust is their destiny ? To console the afflicted, to add sunshine to daylight
by making the happy happier, to teach the young and the gracious of every
age to see, to think, and feel, and therefore to become more actively and
seriously virtuous, — this is their office, which t trust they will faithfully per-
form long after we (that is, all that is mortal of us) are mouldered in oar
graves." Again he says, "Be assured that the decision of these persona
|f>.. " the London wits and witlings''] has nothing to do with the question -,
they are altogether incompetent judges. . . . My ears are stone-deaf to this
idle buzz, and my flesh as insensible as iron to these petty stings ; and after
what 1 have said I am sore yours will be the same. I doubt not thai yon
will share with me an invincible confidence that my writings (and among
them these little poems] will co-operate with (he benign tendencies in human
nature and society, wherever found, and that they will in their degree be
efficacious in making men wiser, better, and happier."
Southey, with far less reason than Wordsworth, had an equally exalted
opinion of his own powers, an equally confident expecution that posterity
would rank him among the great poets of the world. "I shall be read by
posterity," he asserted, "if I am not read now; read with Millon and Virgil
and Uaiiie when poets whose works are now selling by thousands are only
known through a biographical dictionary." And again, '■ Die when I may,
my monument is made. Senhora, that I shall one day have a monument m
St. Paul's is more certain than I should choose to say to every one ; but it
was a strange feeling which I had when 1 was last in St- Paul's and thought
so. How think you I shall look in marble V And still again, " One over-
whelming principle has formed my destiny and marred all prospects of rank
and wealth ; but it has made me happy, and il will make me immortal."
Poor .Suuthey ! The monument lu St. Paul's he has indeed obtained, and
be looks well in marble. But his books are fast fading out of the minds even
of reading men.
Perhaps Porson was tight. When Southey was once speaking of himself
in this same strain of self- laudation, Person said, " I will tell yon, sir, what I
think of your poetical works ; they will be read when Shakespeare's aod
Milton's arc forgotten," — adding, after a pause, "biil tiM HU thm."
Landcir was content to leave his works to the judgment of posterity, and
was sure that that judgment would be favorable. " I shall dine late," he
says " but the dining-room will be well lighted, the gaests few utd Mlect"
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 995
Milton, from early youth, was confident that he could produce something
which " the world would not williiigly.let die." In the touching aonnet od the
losB of his ejes he rejoices that he
Loll tbem ovcrplfed
■ Ubenv'i defence. My iwUe uik,
yi whkn a]] Europe ruk^i £tom >ide i
Shakespeare writes in one of bis u
Of pllDca ihBll oulSve Ihii \aSly rhyme,—
e of Horace's splendid piece of biagga-
Many of the classic authors, indeed, had an excellent opinion of IhemselTcB.
Ajid when [ un dwid uid gone,
My corpte laid imder a fione,
wn egregious vanity by saying that " there was never
r that thought any one better than himselt" There
IS iiu uiuie famous piece of egotism than bis "O forlunatam natam me
consule Romam," which expresses metrically what he constantly reilerated
in prose. Xenophon, speaking of himself in the third person in his " Ana-
basis," says that he was "as eminent among the Greeks for eloquence as
Aleiander was for arms."
Classical scholars seem to have been infected with all the vaniiy of classical
authors. Richard Bentley always wrote and acted as if he considered a great
scholar the greatest of men. In his edition of Horace he describes the ideal
critic, and evidently sits for the portrait himself. Wlien some self-sufficient
young person suggested to Richard Porson that they should write a book
together, Porson replied, with magnificent scorn, " Put in it all I know and all
you don't know, and it will be a great work." This recalls the anecdote of
an earlier scholar, Balmasius, the great opponent of Milton. Conversing one
day in the Royal Library with Maussac and Gaulmin, the latter said, "I think
we three can match our heads against all ihete is learned in Europe." Sal-
~~"~~ nickly replied, " Add to all there is learned in Europe yourself and
~ ssac, and I can match my single head against the whole of you."
rship Samuel Parr was not Ihe equal of the others, his vanity was
quite as remarkable, " Shepherd," he once said lo one of his friends, " the
^e of great scholars is past. I am the only one now remaining of that race
M. de Mau
. „. s Porson ; the third is
forbids me to mention who is the st
tuffun did not allow modesty to forbid his mentioning that " of great
geniuses of modern times there are but five, — Newton, Bacon, Leibniti
tesquieu, and Buflbn." Nor did William Cobbett let any false shame stana
in the way of his telling the Bishop of Winchester, " I am your superior. I
have ten times your talent, and a thousand times your industry and teal."
Chateaubriand adc^ted what maybe called the comparative method oftelf-
996 BANDY-BOGK OF
praise. Wilh the complaceni conceit chaiacteristic of his countryraen, he
contrived to make hiniKir out superior to both Milton and Byron. " Milton,"
wrote he, "served Cromwell, I combated Napoteon ; he attacked kings, 1
defended them ; he hoped nothing from their pardon, I have not reckoned
upon their gratitude. Now that in both our countries monarchy is declining to
its end, Milton and I have no political questions to squabble about." Then,
after pointing out certain coincidences in his career and that of Byron, he
observes that the onli/ difference in their lives was that Byron's had not been
mixed up with such important events as his own.
"' '"'--- ■' ■' -■ '" ■ Saps nev
le reply he sent to M. Calullc Mendis
tier's death. It contai
on receiving ftom him the news of Gautier's death. It contained but half a
dozen lines, yet found space to declare, "Of the men of 1S30, 1 alime am Itft.
It is now my turn." The profound egotism ai"U He reOe plus qiie mm" could
not escape being vigorously lashed by Hugo's old comrades of the quill, dating
back with him to 183a, and now so loftily ignored. " See, even in his epistles
of condolence," they cried, " the omnipresent mm of Hugo must appear, to
overshadow everything else !" One indignant writer declared the poet to be
a mere walking personal pronoun. Another hun>arously pitied those still
extant contemporaries of 1830 who, after having for fi)rty years dedicated
their songs and romances and dramas to Hugo, now learned from the self-
same maw which had greedily gulped their praises that they themselves did
not exist, never did exist One man of genius slyly wrote, " Some of us
veterans will find ourselves embarrassed, — Michelet, G. Sand, janin, Sandeau,
tt ttn pru mei. Is it possible that we died a long time ago, one after the
other, without knowing it } Was it a delusion on our part to fancy ourselves
existing, or was our existence only a bad dream P"
SeU-OOnqoeat. The thirty-second verse of Proverbs, chapter xvi., runs
as follows : " He that is slow to anger is belter than the mighty : and he that
Tuleth bis spirit than be that taketh a city." The phrase has often been imi-
tated. Thus, Howel in his " Letters :"
Akundo- Hibducd the mrid, Ckht hii cdcuiJei, Hucula iddiuUci, bul he that ow-
comti hlnuelf i> tbe mie vaUast cipuin.
Hook says, —
Thnr luldt oF hme,— be who in vinue'tarBU,
w£rreeli'ha'l»vh>i>^,'y« defiei ber J^'
Pope translates from Homer, —
And bear uDmoved the wnmgi of bue manidiid,
llie lut ud haideil conqueil of lb* mind.
This is an anticipation of the golden rule enunciated by Christ another five
centuries later in the Sermon on the Mount :
Tbcrdore all thlnn whKiBoever ye would thai mcD Bhouid do to y«ij do ye even h to
them: rorchlats ihc £w and ihc prcpheu,— jl/dffAnrr vU. ia.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 997
adventitious lid oftnrth or inherited weallb. " Eveiybodf likes and respects
self-made men," says Holmes in "The Autocrat of the Breaktist-TaHe."
"It is a great deal belter to be made in that way than not lo be made at all.
. . . Your self-made man, whittled into shape with his own jack-knife, de-
serves more credit, if that is all, than the tegular engine-turned ankle, shaped
by the most approved pattern and Frcnth- poll shed by society and itavei.
But as to saying that one is every way the equal of the other, thai is another
When John Bright was told that he ought to give Disraeli credit for being
a aelf-niade man, he replied, "And he worships his maker." The jest has
also been attributed to Horace Greeley. It bears some analogy to Pope :
To obaervatloDl which oni»dvo wc make
We grow more HflJal for th" obMrver'* Hkc.
MtrM Eii'fi, Ep, 1-, 1. H.
1 H. Travcrs, a famous
S«U for gold wtwt sold out n«vor buy. An apparent bull occurs in
Johnson's
Turn fram the ElLlterinE bribe your Kainfut eye,
Noi Kll fur goia whiil gold cu ne>er buy.
Edgeworlh quotes this with great glee in his "Essay on Irish Bulls." He
thinks, and many agree with him in thinking, that if it could not be sold it
could not be boughL But C. A. Ward, in the Btlgravia Magiaitu, comes
bravely to the poet -philosopher's rescue :
II la B quibble lo lulil Ibat wbm ygu kU mutt be buyable ifw/atlt, though Ihli ii what
tl gtnenlly meinlained. When you kII younclf, ai the expRUIOIt rum. for gold, k ii in-
tended lo reprreenl thai In doing toin«hing diflgnceful far a bribe you have parted with your
You wld youj honot phnucologically, but he did not pay you Tot it (nothing could); there-
fore he did not buyit. Gold cannot buy It. and you can never buy it bacE. Vour (oul i>
bartend to ilDUtiy Flulo, and when the Ulh iagone you are without an equivalent ; or U* you
hoard i[ you are but Midaa, whole ean grow long at his wEldoin iborteni. Edge*otlhi uya
be il afraid that Johntoo'a distich ia abiurd, though the thought ia of eatraordLnary Aneneaa.
Ibe aame liinar The aame remark baa been made by weak-kneed crittci upon that noble in-
gel tioihiog by it." Painota have before now lold their country, and. In 'ibe wurid^ phnie-
KMyooreooiilryt" waiaaid lo one of Ihwegeniry about tli™iine of ihe'ud^™" Not'"'
aald Ite ; " I only legrei I have no more countriei to irii." Palriotiiin jahnaon defiaed to
be "the iu( refuge of a acoundnl." Such patriotiam ia. But auch a man, though he can
aell hii couDttTj c«nno1 adi hit repuiation nor hit conscience. He pant with hit reputation,
but 11 ia DiK bought ; and aa he doea not poaaeia a conaciencc, he cannot haw told what h«
tUduot poatcta.
Benalble men all of the aame xeligloiL One of Disraeli's cleverest
epigrams occurs iti the following scrap of conversation in "Endymion :" "'As
for that,' said Waldershare, 'sensible men are all of the same religion.'
*And pray what is that?' inquired the prince. 'Sensible men never tell.'"
Now, this is not original. It is borrowed from the following anecdote, to be
founii in Burnet's "History of my Own Times" (vol. i. p. 175, Oxford edition
of 1833), in a note by Speaker Onslow on the character of Sir Anthony Ashley
Cooper, who afterwards became first Earl of Shaftesbury : " A person came
(o make him a visit, whilst be was silting one day with a lady of his family,
who retired upon that lo another part of the room with her work, and scemrf
tiot to altegd to the conversation between the earl and the other person, which
998 HANDY-BOOK OF
turned soon into some dUpute upon Bubjects of religion ; after a ^ood deat of
that sod of talk, the earl said, al last, ' People differ in their discontse and
fTolession about these matters, but men of sense ate really but of one re-
Igion.' Upon whicb says the lady of a sudden, ' Pray, my lord, what religion
is that which men oF sense agree in V ' Madam,' says the earl immediately.
Seven H1U«, City of tho, Rome, which according to the legend was
built upon seven knolls on and near the banks of the Tiber. Archxology
has revealed the bet, however, that the oldest community upon this site was
confined to a walled town on the Palatine Hill. Later the Capitolme was
included, and not until Servius Tullius, who built new and more extended
walls, were the five more outlying elevations included. By building and
levelling, carried on during three millenniums, moat of the original topo-
graphical features have been obtiletated.
Seven Senaea. There is a. common locution " frightened out of his seven
senses," or " he has taken leave of his seven senses." At one time seven
senses were attributed to man. instead of five. According to Kcclesiaslicua
(xvii. 5), they are seeing, hearii^, tasting, feeling, smelling, understanding,
and speeth : >* The Lord created man ; and they received the use of the five
operations of the Lord, and in the sixth place he imparled (to) them under-
standing, and in the seventh speech, an interpreter of the cogitations there-
of." The words "seven senses" also occur in the poem of Taliesin called
" Y Bid Mawr" (" The Macrocosm"), of which a translation may be found in
vol. axi. p, 30 of the British Magatiiu. The writer of the paper in which it
is t)uoied refers also to the " Mysterium Magnum" of Jacob Behmen, which
leaches " how the soul of man, or his ' inward holy body,' was compounded
of ibe sfven proptrtits under the influence of the seven planeta ;
■ .n,yF=-
ly _Supp
My God, my Suppotltr,
who placed IhrDughonl nr ba
And IbctouihcHy wind.
For my Faihci to iiuHl lu :
Wib the finl I ihall be inlBated,
With ihe KCOBd 1 ihall loach,
Wilh th« third I mhill cry ooi.
With the Ibunli I ihall taut,
Wih ih« fiftli 1 thai) kc,
Widiihciiiihlihillbeir,
Wdh Uw Kvcolh 1 ihall imrll."
Sexes. It was probably Lady Mary Wortlev Montagu who first dis-
covered the existence of a third sex. " The world, she said, " is made up of
men and women and Herveys," This was rather unkind, as the head of the
Herveys, Lord John Hervey, had incurred the hatred of Pope by es|>ousing
the cause of her ladyship, upon whom the bitter little poet had turned after
a long friendship. Lord Hervey was an invalid, who took ass's milk for his
health, rouged to hide his ghastly pallor, dressed elegantly, and wrote pam-
phlets whose style was marred bv persistent antitheses. Pope In bis " Epistle
to Dr. Arbuthnot" thus attacks him ;
Who bnak* ■ intlerfi; upon a vhedt
LITERARY CURIOSniES. 999
Pulterey in his " Proper Reply to a lale Scurrilous Libel" calls the same
gemleman "a pretty lillle inaster-intss," and "such a composition of the two
sexes that it is difficult to distinguish which is predomiiiaiit." The pamphlet
occasioned a duel between Pulleney and Lord Hervey.
In America a current saying ran, " There are three seiea, — men, women, and
Beechers," which is an obvious plagiarism. " Don'l you know," urged Sydney
Smith, "as the French say. there are three sexes, — men, women, and clergy-
men ?" — a saying which is confirmed by Talleyrand. A friend complained to
the ei-bishop of some very sharp words from Madame de Genlis. "There
are two sorts of people," returned Talleyrand, "from whom you can take an
insult without being angry, — women and bishops." [
The Saturdc^ Review enlarges on the idea :
Wc e»lhtr from ladin— wli»[ we might pcrhipt gaihcr from Bcluiil eipcrimCe— lh«l
womtn regard rXrmmm u lUnding half-way bcIw«D ihenutlvo ind mm. They art
mil? undoubtedly,^ul ihea they Icddh thillBe that no regular men know. They go tn
bJanketmeetiagft, ibey know the aamet 0/ Khool.ffirli, ihcy are acquainted with the diKaica
and t:ircuni<t....ce> of pour people. RtllBioui oEvtvancei at(o iiece»itate occiNionally a
•on of half.pubUc life. I'hert ll eldiement hi lhi>. bui ii Is a lafe and prolecied eicitement.
Queen Elizabeth, rathct than be accounted of the female gender, claimed it
as her prerogative to be of all three. A prime officer with a White Staff
coming into her presence, she willed him lo bestow a place then vacant upon
a person whom she named. " May it please your Highness, madam," said
the lord, "the disposal of that place perlaineth to me by virtue of this White
Stal" "True," replied the queen; "yet I never gave you your office so
absolutely but that I still reserved myself of the Quorum." " Of the Quarum,
madam," returned the lord, presuming somewhat too far upon her favor.
Whereat she snatched the staff in some anger out of his hand, and told him
"he should acknowledge her of the Quorum, Quarum, Quorum, before he
had it again." Jokes saliiizing manners or appearance by a pretended con-
founding of sex are very common. Thus, Sydney Smith said of Mr. and Mrs.
Grute, " I like Ihem, I like ihem : I like him, he is so ladylike ; and I like
her, she's such a perfect cenlleinan." " In this," remarks Mrs. Kemble, who
tells the story, " Sydney Smith had been forestalled by a person who certainly
n'y entcndait pas maiiee, Mrs, Chotley, ihe meekest and pntlest of human
beings, who one evening, at a parly al her son's house, said to him. pointing
out Mrs. Grote, who was dressed in white, ' Henry, my dear, who is (he
gentleman in the white muslin gown T"
Slwde, nghtmg m tho. When one of Ihe Spartan hand at Thermopylx
represented to Leonidas thai the armies of Xerxes were so numerous that the
Sight of their arrows would darken the sun, Leonidas is said lo have answered,
"Tberelbre it will be pleasant for us to fight in the shade." Quite a dificrcnt
(urn was given to the phrase by Sir W. P. Napier :
Napoleon'* uoopt fougbt In brlgbl fields, where every belmet caught some jcleaan of glory ;
bur the British soldier conquered under (be cool shade of arilioctacy. No honors awaited
bis darinE, DO despatch gave bis name 10 the applauses of his countrymen ; his life of dani^
and bardihip was uncheered by hope, his death unooticed. — Prniitiittar tVar (iSio), vol. li.,
Bookii.,oh. iii.'
Possibly Napier had in mind Ihe lines in Tale and Brady's version of the
eighty-eighth Psalm :
ForKBiof trouble me invade:
Curiously enough, this same expression, " death's cold shade," is used by the
old Friesic poet Japix, in his version of ihe " Song of Zacharias," taken from
the twenty-fourth Psalm, which is not likely ever to have met the eye of the
English verse-wrighu ;
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On lo fbriTCAfhrna m«t >lyn KhWim
Dt lim'iit diwl, ysD Byuol'n bUn',
Vs dtkll'l Uld Khud.
blii>
daili
Sbadows. Wliat Hbadinn we are, and wlutt sludowe we pnr-
•oe. Bnrke used this phrase in a speech at Bristol on declining the poll after
an unsuccessful canvass, September, 1780. Alluding to the death of one of the
candidates, Mr. Coombe, he said, "The Worthy gentleman who has been
snatched from us at the moment of the election, and in the middle of the con-
test, whilst his desires were as varm and his hopes as eager as ouri, has
feelingly told us what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue." A
century and a half before Burke, Sir Harbotlle Grimston, in " Strena Chris-
tiana," had safd, " Quid umbras, fumos. fungos, sequimur." Wordsworth
more recently declared, " We all laugh at pursuing a shadow, though the lives
of the multitude are devoted to the chase." Shakespeare has many passages
analogous to Burke's, especially the speech put into the mouth of Pro«pero:
Oar rcvdi now lue ended, Thne our ■cton,
the gDneoui palaco,
^I globe iueV.
\aa, ^ £ualr>
It rounded oilh ■ ilHp.
iiu Tfmftit, Act h
But, indeed, the thought is Ibund in all liieralute :
The glorlc* of DDT blood ud umu
Are ebadovi, not tubundsi Ihinffi ;
TIh« il no mnnor icminu &te :
Death layi hii icy hand 00 kings.
SHimav : CtnftHfim 4/' ^'ax atJ Uljinti.
Of Magic Sluulov4hapci Ihu cone and go
H> cometli fbnh like a flower, nd l> cut down ; he fleelh a]» u ■ ibadow, and continiuih
B0t.-3W ail, .,
Our dmre on the einh are u ■ ihadDW.— A dt™. iiii. 15.
Han b like 10 vaolty: hiedajn arc a* a ihadow that pauoh away,— Ad/M ciUv. 4.
Oujr llmeiia very ehadow that paatelh away, — iVudvm ^ SmiamrH,H. s-
Bhokea, ITo great, an expression of disapproval, probably originated
from the current belief that character can be estimated by the manner in which
Gople shake hands. The following verse, from Ritson's " Miscellanies," may
quoted in evidence :
For the hand of the heart ia the iodei. dtclaring
1 heed not the loogne of iu fnendihip thal'a iwearing ;
] judge of ■ friend by the mhake of bis haod.
Another explanation sees in the phrase an allusion to shaking walnut-trees
to dislodge the fruit Where there is a acanly crop of walnuts, there will be
" no great shake*."
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. looi
SbaniTOok, the national emblem of the Irish, said to have been adopted
because St. Patrick selected it in order to explain to ttie Irish the doctrine of
(he Trinity or the three in one. To be sure, this story is of modern dale, and
not to b« found in any of the lives of that saint, but no rude hand need dis-
turb II It is a curious coincidence that the trefoil in Arabic is called sham-
rack, and was held sacred in Iran as emblematic of the Persian Triads.
Pliny's " Natural History" asserts that serpents are never seen upon (he
trefoil, and that it is a specific for the slings of scorpions. Surely no more
suitable emblem could be chosen by St. Patrick, who, it is well known, drove
all these reptiles from Ihe Emerald Isle.
What is the true shamrock } The wood-sorrel (OxaJit aeeteteJia) is usually
considered so. That is an edible plant of an acid flavor, and Fynes Moryson
(1598) tells us thai "Ihe Irish willingly eal Ihe herb Sham rocke, being of a
sharp taste, which, as Ihey run and are chased to and fro, they snatcn like
beasts out of Ihe ditches." But Dr. Prior lells us that Ihe plant which for a
long time has been worn by Ihe Irish on St. Patrick's Day is Ihe black none-
such (Mcdkago). Others state that the clover was commonly supposed to be
the shamrock, and thai the Irish themselves of late years had the leaves of
oite kind \Trifi>!iKm rtfiens) as their national badge. Nay, some authorities
consider that as water-cress was termed shamrock in eaily writers, il is quite
possible that that was Ihe real plant, the trefoil having usurped its place in
order lo meet the requirements of Ihe St Patrick (tadition, "The plant which
has figured upon the coins of the realm is a conventional Irefoil, and throws
little Hght upon the subject
Btaanty, or, as pedants call it, lAattty, a song sung by sailors at their work.
The music is lo a certain extent Iradilional; Ihe words — which are commonly
unfit for ears polite — are traditional likewise. The words and music are
divided into two pans, — the " shanty" proper, which is delivered by a single
voice, with or without 1 fiddle oiblimit, and Che refrain and chorus, which are
sung wilb much straining and tugging, and with peculiar breaks and strange
and melancholy stresses, by a number of men engaged in the actual perform-
ance of some piece of bodily labor. "The manner is this," says the Saturday
Stview. " We will suppose, for instance, that what is wanted is an anchor
song. The fugleman takes his stand, fiddle in hand, and strikes up the melody
of ' Away Down Rio.' Then, everything being ready, he pipes out a single
line of Ihe song, and the working parly, with a strong pull at the capstan-
. bars, answers with a iong-Jrawn ' Away Down Rio.' He sings a second
verse, and this is followed oy ihe full strength of ihe chorus :
For we're bound td Rio Gnnde.
Aod inv dowD Rio,
Any dxwD Rio.
Siog fare you w«|], mjr pRtty yoaof sal.
nd fiir Ri
Bluya'a RetwlUon, a revolt under the leadership of Daniel Shays, which
broke out in Massachusetts in 1787, in opposilion 10 the altempled apportion-
ment among the several States of the debt incurred by the Conlinenlal Con-
Sess in carrying on the Revolutionary War. The rebellion was suppressed by
e mililia, and several of its leaders were sentenced lo death ; none of Ihe
sentences were executed, however, and eventually all the condemned were
pardoned
BlleeDj, a cant word for a Jew, used chiefiy by Gentiles, bat sometimea
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IO03 HANDY-BOOK OF
heard in jeat among Jews. Several derivations hare been luBeetted Bar-
rire holds (hat it is probably from sckana — tckatia jaudtt iiiekiol, — a stupid
fellow who does not know enough to ask or inquire. A more plausible guess
was made by a correspondent oTlhc New York Suh, to the encci that in the
Middle Ages (he Jews used to curse Iheir enemies with (he expressiun MiBtk
Mttckinal (" Mayest (hou die one of (he five judicial deaths I") This curse
became very common, and the English, catching the (enninal sound from the
people who used i(, applied it or its coiruption (A^vry to designate that people.
The Century Dictionary has the following entry :
appearec
n broke out in Hebrew quarters when this defuiidon
AmericaH Htbrna and the Jeviish Missenger, both influential denominallDnal
papers published in New York, clamored fur the suppression of (he whole
entry. But the editors of the Dictionary held thai it was impossible for them
to omit any word in good standing, even though in origin or usage it implied
a reflection on certain groups of people. No less eminent an author than
Thackeray speaks of " Sneeny and Moses."
" Bennic did uot need lo ibink for 1 DiinalE.
•• • Sl«r cleai of ihrenia,' My* h*. ".'f y™ don't ™it id get Mid."
BhlbbolBtli, a test-word, a touchstone of opinion, manners, or educaticm.
The word is properly a Hebrew one, meaning an ear of corn, or a slream.
When the men of Gilead under Jephlhah won a victory over the Ephraimiies
yjfdni xii. 6), Jephthah stationed guards along the river Jordan lo question
all who sought to cross it, and gave them " Shibiioleih" as a pass-word. The
Ephraimiles could not pronounce the sh, and by saying " sibboleth" betrayed
themselves, and were killed at the ford. Hence the modern use of the word.
In the great Danish slaughter on 5l Bryce's Day, November 13. 1001, a
similar test is traditionally held to have been made with the words "Chiches-
ter Church," which being pninounced hard or soft decided whether the
speaker were Dane or Saxun. Again, at the Sicilian Vespers (March 30,
1282), when (he Sicilians ruse against their French conquerors and over-
whelmed them, a handful of dried peas (mm) were shown to a suspect If
he pronounced the t like ch, he was a Sicilian, and escai>ed ; if like j, he was ■
Frenchman, and was cut down at once. A more modern instance occurred
in the wars between (he English and (he Flemish. The words "bread and
cheese" were frequently used as a shibboleth, and the pronunciation " bmd
und kaese" was the signal for instant death.
A curious shibboleth is reported From Philadelphia. S(ephen Girard's will
prohibited clergymEn from ever entering (he doors of Girard College. A( a
it of the Knights Templar of Boston (o (he insti(ution, one of the knights,
a well-known physician, who wore a white neck-(te, was passing in. The
janitor accosted him, saying, " You can't pass in here, sir ; (he rule fbcbidt
It." " The h — 1 I can't 1" replied the physician. " All right, sir," rejoined (he
jani(or ; "pass right in."
I( used lo be the practice of police inspec(ors in England lo requeat a roan
charged with drunkenness to sav (he words "(ruly rural." If he could pro-
nounce (hem correcdy, well and good, — he was not drunk ; but if, like (he
nofoxunate Ephraimites, he " could not frame to pr(Hioiiiice them aright," be
LtTERARY CVRlOSITtBS. I003
was immediately condemned, and no amount of expostulation prevented his
being locked up for the night and making a compulsory attendance before
(he magialiales on the following morning.
It seems, however, as if the old phrase had been superseded. Some lime
in 1S90 an inspector, in giving evidence against a man charged with drunken-
ness, said defendant had to try twice before he could say V conslilutionatly,"
while he could not say "statistically" at all. These,. then, are the English
police shibboleths of to-day, the test-words by the pronunciation of which
a suspected man's condition is judged.
In America we still cling to the "truly rural" [est, though a shibboleth
which once came near establishing itself against all riv»l^l is embodied in the
phrase popular a generation ago, " He <:anH say National Irttelligenar," = " he
IS very drunk." I'he story ran that a father in Washington had a dissipated
son, and on the lalter's return at night he always obliged him to pronounce
the name of the thoroughly respectable Washington paper. If he said NashtU
InlelUtutr be was obliged to sleep in the hay-lufl.
Most of us. like the police and the governors of dissipated sons, have a
shibboleth by which we estimate our Icllow-men. When "David Copper-
field" was first published, quite a little storm ra^ed in some of the literary
papers because of the Heapian dialect. It was said that Dickens intended to
make a shibboleth of the word " humble," or, to put it in another way, that
be wished the sounding of the k in this particular case to be a test of culture.
Those who sounded it were educated, those who left it unsounded were un-
educated. However this may be, the very fact of the assertion having been
made shows that there is a wide-spread suspicion of shibboleth ism, and cer-
lainly not without cause. Dean Alford says, in one of his works, that when-
ever he heard a man put the accent on the wrong syllable in a certain Greek
word, that man sank in his estimation. This should not be so, but it is. We
all apply such trifles as tests, and judge accordingly.
What may be called the practical shibboleths are often mote unjust stilL
We have all laughed at the seivant-girl who coirected her mistress by ex-
claiming, " Oh, lor, miss I he hain't a gentleman ; he's got a wooden leg I"
The English Earl of Dudley used 10 say that good bullei was an uneiring
test of the moral qualities of your host Another distinguished connoisseur
contended that the moral qualities of youi hostess may in a like manner be
tested by the potatoes. He assured a Quaritrly Reviewer that he was never
known to re-enter a house where a badly -dressed potato had been seen.
"The importance," continues the Reviewer, "attached by another equally
unimpeachable authority to the point is sufficiently shown by what took place
a short time since at the meeting of a club-commiLlee specially called for the
■election of a cook. The candidates were an Englishman from the Albion
Club and a Frenchman recommended by Ude : the eminent divine to whom
we allude vraa deputed to examine them, and the first question he put to each
was, ' Can you boil a potato ?' "
It has often been said that any man would rather be accused of a crime
than of lacking a sense of humoi. The accusation, therefore, if ever made
should be made advisedly. It is good to have a shibboleth by -Yhich the
matter can be tested, — a touchstone by which you may determine whether
you yourself or your neighbor have a right sense of humor. Tom Moore
obligingly suppbes one. It lies in this story. A lady having put to Canning
the silly question, "Why have they made the spaces in the iron gale at
Spring Gardens so narrow }" he replied, " Oh, madam, because such very fat
people used to go through them." Now, Tom Moore said of this reply that
"the person who does not relish it can have no perception of real wit" And
Tom Moore was no beef-fed Englishman, no impenetrable Scot ; he wa* >n
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■ nation thai is proveibialljr full of wit and humor.
Bhllllng, To ont bff with a. This is often used as a purely figurative
eipiession to indicate disinheritance. The phrase arose from the vulgar
error ^perpetuated in actual wills) that English law follawed the Koman in
assuming lorgetfulness or unsound mind where a testator made no mention
of near relations.
Tbc clrlliiiu cury the doclruK la fur u lo bold crcrr will void in which the heir wu aai
BOIlcid, w >b* pmumpiion thit bii liiher nuu hive rorioiitii hin [JusTiHiAn : Imiilnttx,
■i., ivUl il. From ihW, u B1iicIuidd> [uuxnibly conjcctura [BaalT li.. ch. vU., ud Book
ill., ch. lii.J, hu ujun lh»i groundleu, vulg»r «Tor of the nMCMily of giving Ibt hrir ■
ikilllng, or tome Olbcr nominal tun, to ahaw thai h> wu in the Isuior • remcmbcmiice.
The prmclict i< lo be depreoied, u ii wouudi unueceMirily ifae reelJDgi of ■ diiinberiltd
child, TUa. you may tay, do«a not alwaya happen. Aa aaaembied family, am tbe lesmcy lo
each wat read aloud, ubbed and wished ibat cbe father bAd lived to enjoy bia own lortuiie.
lo haul hinuelf wilh." " (kid grmat," layi Tom, lobbing Uke the icU, " that my poor lather
had lived to enjoy it hinuelr."—StIi;DUi: Handy-Baak m Praflrif Lmw.
The anecdote is quoted from Goldsmith's "Bee," No. a. A famous in-
stance of bad feeling from the father towards the son is reported in Hume's
"Decisions," p. 88i, — Ross f i, Ross, decided by the Coort of Session, March
J, 1770, — where the leslalor left his son "one shilling, to be paid him yearly
on his birthday, to remind him of bis misfortune in coming into the <roTld,"
BblnplBBtan, a name given to the notes of small denominations, ranging
from three cents to fifty cents, Issued by private individuals during the finan-
cial panic which prevailed in the United States in 1837 and tSjS. The term
was also applied to the scrip which circulated among the people shorily after
the outbreati of the civil war. All the smaller coins had disappeared from
circulation ; and resort was at first had to the use of postage-stamps, and
later to private notes, representine five, ten, twenly-five, and fifty cents, issued
by small traders and others to facilitate exchange of commodities in small
purchases. Finally the government issued small notes in amounts ranging
from five to fifty cents. These were called "postal currency." and were ex-
changeable at posl-offlces for postage -stamps ; but later a regular issue of
■o-caTled " fractional currency," redeemable in government notes at the United
for a broken shin. This, however, sounds like 1
(act The government of St. Domingo issued paper money for many years,
which had so little purchasing power that cinque piastres (five dollars) was
of a ridiculonsly small value reduced 10 a metallic standard, probably firom
ten to twenty-five cents. It is possible that shinplaster is a corruptioit of
cinque piastres.
BUp, Dont giT« np tlia. Few phrases of an eibortalive nature have
been so freely used, perhaps, as this which was adopted by Commodore Perrv
at the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. The British had gathered a
strong squadron on the lake. Perry, though with only a small fleet at his
command, determined to attack the enemy. On the evening of the 9th he
called his officers around him and announced his intention of going into battle
next morning. Then he brought out a square battle-fiag which had been
privately prepared for him at Erie. It was of blue bunting, and bore in large
letters made of white muslin the word* " Don't give up tlic afaip." " Wheo
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. 1005
thb fl^ shall be hcdMed at the miin-fard," Mid Perry, " it shall be TCnir >ig-
nal for going into action." It Boated from the main-fard of the Lawrence
until there was scarcely a whole slick or an uniiiiured man left standinc,
when the commodore hauled tt down, together with his pennant, carried boin
over to the unhurt ship, the Niagara, in a small boat in the midst of a hail
of shot, ran them up on the new ship, dashed into the British line, and won
the victory.
Perrv never claimed to have originated the order ; in fact, he always pro-
fessed his belief in the story which made ihese the last dying words of Cap-
lain Lawrence. Lawrence was in command of Ihc frigate Chesapeake when,
on June 13, 1813, she fought the British frigate Shannon. The Chesapeake
was lying in Boston harbor, when the Shannon appeared and challenged
Captain Lawrence to come out and light "ship to ship," Lawrence accepted
the gage, and sailed out to meet the enemy. In twelve minutes the Shannon
bad so injured the spars and rigj ' '■■'■■ ,.....,
unmanageable. Lawrence orderei
ball mortally wounded the young commander. As he left the deck he said,
"Tell the tnen to tire faster, and not to gi "' ' ■ ■
sinks." The words were not much thought --, -
paraphrase they became the battle-cry of the Americans, as tliey have been
an encouraging maxim in all walks of life ever since.
To Commodore Ferry also, and this time as an original utterance, jsdae
that well-known expression, " We have met the enemy, and they are ours."
This also was born at the battle of Lake Erie. As we have seen, the dash
of the Niagara through the British lines was soon followed b^ surtender,
when Perry, feeling thai victory was secure, sal down, and, resting his naval
cap on his knee, wrote with a pencil on the back of a letter the famous de-
■patch. It may be added that the Americans Inst twenty-seven killed and
bad ninety-six wounded, while the British loss was about two hundred killed
and six hundred prisoners.
Ship*, BornlnB the, a familiar locution, meaning to destroy all means of
retreat from a dangerous enterprise or position, leaving no alternative save to
force the natiei to an issue. Thus, Marat in voting for the death of Louis
XVL said, "Landed but yesterday on an unknown island, we must now
btim the ship which brought us to it." Burning the ships was a frequent
military precaution in ancient limes to impress upon an army the fact that
there was now no alternative but victory or death. Agalhocles, tyrant of
Syracuse (310-^07 B.C.), on the expedition against Carthage which followed
his famotis saying, " We must now carry the war into Africa," burned hit
ships as soon as he had landed. So did Julian the Apostate in his expedition
against King Sapor of Persia (a.i>. 363), Guiscatd in his expedition against
the Greek Emperor Alexius in 1084, and Cortez on landing on the coast of
Mexico in 1519. "To burn the bridges," literally or metaphorically, may also
mean to cut off all retreat, though it more ftequenily means to impede pursuit
when on a retreat.
Bho« plnohM, Wlleia tlw. In his life of Pautus jEniilius, Ptuutch,
speaking of his hero's divorce, and avowing ignorance of the reasons therefor,
tells the story of a certain Roman who put away his wife. When his friends
remonattated and asked him, Was she not fair } Was she not chaste ? Was
she not fruitful? he held out his shoe, and said, "Is it not handsome? Is
it not new? Vet none knows where it pinches, save he that wears it"
Some of Plutarch's commentators think it not improbable that Fauliu
iCmilius was himself the author of the saying. The expression has paucd
into the proverbial liteiatorc of all European countries.
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Chaucer uses (he phrase several times, — t^., in "The Marchandes Tale:"
But I wot bert where wryngelb me my thoe.
It has been sugeesled that in London the proverb may have been empha-
sized by the Tact that so many poor debtors were confined crowded together
and " pinched" in the "shoe, a little room of the old Southgate prison, so
called because prisoners let down a shoe from the window to receive alms of
the passeis-by. The room was veiy small, the prisoners usually numerous,
and each knew only too well where the "shoe" pinched him.
e old shoe*
..._ .. „.__ _ , p. .. . _ . . .. married or
when they start on their wedding-journey is so old (he memory of man
stretches not back (o its beginning. Some (hink it represent an assault and
is a lingering trace of (he custom among savage nations oT carrying away the
bride by viofence ; others (hink tha( it is a relic of (he ancien( law ot exchange
or putcliase, and (hat it formerly implied the suriender by the parents of all
dominion or authority over their daughter. It has a likeness to a Jewish
custom mentioned in the Bible. Thus, in Deuteronomy (xiv. 9} we read (hat
when the brother of a dead man refused to marry fais widow she ass<;rted her
independence of him by " loosing his shoe." It was also (lie custom of the
Middle Ages to place the 1- -■---'■- ■- -l-.— -.-..^ •-> .. -■-
token of his domination.
o place the husband's shoe on the head of the nuptial ci
At a Jewish ptarrjage [ was ilutdinc tMiide Ibe bddegrooD when (he bride entered, ind
M *1k crMied tbe ifanthoLd he BtDoped dawn and tlipped off bk tboe and luuck her with ibe
beel on the nape of the neck. 1 al ooce taw ihe biKrpremion of rbe paiuge in Scripiurv
Repecting (be irmmler of (he tboe (o another in cave the brorher-in.Uw did Dot exerciae fait
privilege. The ■Upper, iMinif laken off in-doora, or. If noE, left outside rbe apartnunl, la
placxd at (he edge ot the imiill cariWt on which you ait and ii at band (□ adminiwer coneo
The' Highland ciuiom it loimk* for "good luck ."at Iheyur, tite bride wLth an olditipper.
Little do ibey luipecl the ineanini implied, llie reg^^Ua of Morocco l> enriched w9lb a pair
•eeptre and awoid of iu(e.— Uhquhuit : Pillart ^ HtrtuUt.
Bboaa, 'Waiting for dead hmq'b, eto. The allusion in this saying i* to
Ihe custom among the Hebrews, on the transfer of an inheritance, (or the
successor to receive from the former possessor his shoe. "And the kinsman
said, I cannot redeem it for my.ielf, lest I mar mine own inheritance : redeem
tbou my ri^hl to thyself; for I canno( redeem iL Now this was the manner
in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for
to confirm all things ; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor ;
and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boat,
Boy It for (hee. So he drew off his shoe." {Rulh n. 6, 7, S.) The cognate
phrase, "To stand in another man's shoes," however, has an entirely dif-
Mrent allusion. According to Brayley, "Graphic Illustrator" (1S34), among
the ancient Northmen i[ was the custom when ■ man adopted a son thai
the person adopted should put on the shoes of the adopter. To carry or to
"unloose a person's shoe" was a menial office betokenitig great inferiority on
the part of Ihe person performing it (Matthew iii. 1 1 ; Mark i. 7 ) John i. 37 ;
IIt as It fllM. In the openine lines of his " Epistle on ti
eof
Uf bB who UiDdlr crs^, o<
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Bui viodlciu the wayi of Cod lo nan.
WsTton oI^cU that these metaphors, drawn from the field spoTts of setting
and shoaling, seem much below the dignity of the subject and an unnatural
mixture of the ludicrous and serious. A later commentator adds that they
are all the more objectionable for that Pope is not content with barely louch-
inE the subject in ptasant, but pursues it with such minuteness : let us beat
this ample held, try what the covert yields, eye Nature's walks, shoot fully, etc
The same metaphor, though less persistently harped upon, may be found in
OUerr.
AiuUem aiul Achile/lul, Pan ii.
VoDth ihould vatcfa joyi and ifaool 'cm u ihcy fly.
Aurrngxr^, Act iiL
As to the last line of the quotation, it is obviously taken from Miltoa :
And jiutUy ttw i»yi of God to men.
ParadUt Ltil, Book i,, 1. 16.
Milton had previously said, —
Juit IR the wiy< of God,
Unlcu ibcR be wbo tblok do! God ■! nil.
Bbopkeepen, Nation o£ This contemptuous desctipiion of the Eng.
lish is persistently attributed to Napoleon I., bui ii is doubtliil if he evei
used it; it is quite certain he did not originate it. The phrases "a shop>
keeping nation and "a nation of shoplieepers" appear, the firsi in a tract bv
Dean Tacker, of Gloucester (1766), the second in Adam Smith's "Wealth
of Nations," vol. ii., book n., ch. vii. (1775), in both cases with a general
application. The special application of the term to England seems to have
originated with Samuel Adams, in a speech purporting to have been delivered
in Philadelphia, August i, 1776. This speech appeared as a reprint in Lon-
don (1776), and was iranalated into German in 1778. Though copies of both
the German and the English edition ate still extant, no trace has been found
of an original American edition. It in even doubted whether the speech was
ever delivered. Baritc inay or tnay not have had Adams's phrase in mind
when he said, in his speech in the Convention on Tune 11, 1794, defending
the Committee of Safety. *' Let Pitt then boast of his victory to his shop-
keeping nation" (jo miiiim bouHquiirc). He certainly helped to make the
phrase stick. It had become a commonplace when the Emperor Francis IL
said to Napoleon, in 1805, "The English are a nation of merchants. To
secure for themselves the commerce of the world they are willing to set the
Continent in flames."
When England'! memuitile intcresu lufler, ihe ii men dugerom thui ever. Id nil
creation there ii no beioB w> hard-hearied u ihe thopkeeper whose nwle Ei at a itand-itillj
whose cuslomera an Ifaving him, and whooe tiock fiods no purchaKn, — Huhi.
Byron uses the phrase, but in no uncomplimentary sense ;
Tbe^liH tea'i border, end Don luiin felt—
Whu even yoaUE SEjaDiera feel a mtle ntonc
At ibe Ant sign at Albion's chalky bell—
A kind of pride ihat be ihould be anoog
f shopkeepcn, wbo sterr '
te haughty sh
joodtandedS
Asd nude the very billows pay Ibtm uAT
Dr^JuMw, Canlo i., S
Coogk"
ioo8 HANDY-BOOK OF
Shut at,—i.e. rid or, — a Tamiliar phrase in the United Slates. Like manjr
other so-called Americanisms, it is a survival of a common old English form
which was anciently in respectable literary use. Thus, Massinger, in '*The
Unnaiuril Combat" (1639), Act iii., Sc i., says,—
Wcanihulof taim;
He irin be •ecu 00 Bocc hen.
Bunyan, who was naturally fond of racy and proverbial eiq>res«ons, uses it
in the " Holy War." Many years earlier Thamas Nashe employs the phrase
in his satirical pamphlet "Have with you to Saffron Walden," where, in the
" Address to the Reader." referring to his unfortunate antagonist the pedantic
Gabriel Harvey, he writes. " 1 have him haunt me up and downe to be my
prentise to learne to endile, and doo what I can, I shall not be shut of him.
The phrase is now banished from literature, and in England lingers only
as a provincialism in the northern counties and among the low order of
Londoners.
Bb^t«r, i
word IS said to have origins ..,.._ . , . . . _
German attorney applied at the Tombs Court in 1S40 for a warrant against a
client who had tilled him bad names. One of these names — a not very
polite one — he pronounced much as "shyster" is now spelled. It soon
became i:Drrent prison slang for a disreputable practitioner. George Wilkes,
who then edited the Paliei GiaeiU, first wrote the word in its present fonn.
Justice Miller, of the United States Supreme Court, gave it a judicial adop-
tion into our language in an address before the Iowa bar about the time of
the Beecher trial.
Bi monmneiitnm qiueiJa, olroiuniQiioe (L., " If you seek his monu-
ment, look around you"), an inscription In honor of the architect. Sir Christo-
pher Wren, in St Paul's Cathedral, a building which he designed and
The St. Jame^s Gtattu recently told this story :
Ii were a pit> ihii ibe cood uylpgt ud wiiiidmu of Lowell ihould be loil. 1 tend you
mciii wai nnuired to comnicinorate the name. The doclor'i biendi, laid Mr. Lowell.
iiinfficieDC Lo Lay him Id ttie coumry church-yard wtih (he simple uid fvnout epitaph
ihoufbt II in
Very good. But, unfortunate tv, Lowell was borrowing, either consciously
or unconsciously. Horace Smith in his " Tin Trumpet" had already said,—
cumaplce" — would bceoijally appUcabte to a pbydcian barted in 11 diurch-yimj; both beijig
The motto of the Sute of Michigan is adapted from the above : " Si quKris
peninsulam amcenam, circumspice"' ("If you seek a beautiful peninsula, look
around you").
Bio Toa DOD vobia (L., literally, "so you not for yourselves"), a phrase
dating back lo Virgil, and meaning thai the speaker has written or done
something the credit of which is claimed by another. The poet had written
a distich in praise of Augustus, which was claimed bv a Tersifier named
BaUtfllua. A^^l, indignant, wrote benealh the distich these tines i
Hoi (go vtTskuIn fni, lulii alter bosoca :
.dbv Google
■ LITER ARY CURIOSITIES.
Aueuilu!
— udificalii avo.
The live lines might be Englished Ihui : "These verses I made, another
carries off Ihe honors : so you for others, oxen, bear ihe yoke ; so you for
others, bees, store up honey; so you for others, sheep, hear your fleeces;
so you for others, birds, build youi neats."
Biok Man of Europe, — i.e., Turkey. This phrase was made popular by
the Emperor Nicholas I. of Russia. Conversing in l8;3 with Sir George
Hamilton Seymour, the English ambassador at Sl Petersburg, be used words
like the following : " We have on our hands a sick man, — a very sick marL
It will be a great misfortune if, one of these days, he should slip away from
us before the necessary arrangements have been made." (Bltu Book, 1854.)
He accordingly made proposals to both England and France for a division of
the sick man's estate, but his overtures were declined. Lord John Russell
suggesting that the dissolution of the sick man might be postponed another
hundred years. Nicholas, however, was only repeating an old illustration.
Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador from England lo Constantinople in the time of
James II., had written home in despatches, "Turkey is like the body of an
old man crazed with vices, which puts on the appearance of health though
near its end." Montesquieu tn the " Lettres Petsanes," i. 19, marvels at tbe
weakness of the Ottoman power, " whose sick body is not supported by a
mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment which continuljly exhausts
it." And Voltaire, writing to Catherine II., says, " Your majesty may think
me an impatient sick man, and that the Turks ate even sicker."
SUeooe. John Morlej;, at the banning of his article on Carlyle ("Lit-
erary Miscellanies." vol. li.), which was written on the appearance of the
library edition of Carlyie's works, Says, very. neatly and epigram malically,
"The canon is definitely made up and the whole of the golden gospel of
silence effectively compressed in Ihitly-five volumes." Carlyle was, in truth,
^iven to shouting from the house-tops his approval of the old maxim. " Speech
IS silvern, Silence is golden." He quotes it in "Sartor Resarlus" (Book iii.,
chap, iii.) as a Swiss inscription (" Sprechen istsilbern, Schweigen ist golden"),
and adds, "or, as I might rather express it, Speech is of Time, Silence is of
Eternity." But in truth the proverb seems to be common to all countries,
and in this form is probably of Arabian origin. In Greece Simonidcs said,
" 1 have never felt sorry for having held my tongue," and Dionysius the
Elder, " Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent" (/w. 6), and
Menander, " Nothing is more useful than silence." Martial in his " Epigrams'*
(iv. So) has " Res est magna tacere" [" The great thin^ is to be silent"), while
Publius Syrus declares. " Rara est ejusdem homints multa et opportune
dicere" |" It is rare that the same man talks much and well"). The Talmud
says, "Much talk, much foolishness," whence Corneille derived his line,
" Hais qui parle beaucoup dit beaucoup de sottises" (Sequel to Lt Mtntatr,
iii. l). In modern literature George Herbert echoed Dionysius in the phrase
"Speak fitly, or be silent wisely." Chaucer had said, —
\tJ»^!^, 1
loio HANDY-BOOK OF
great prolagonist, was never tired of ringing the changes on the thought,
" Speech is great, but Silence is greater,' he urges in " Heroes and Hero-
Worship: The Poet as Hero;" and in his Essay on Scott, "Under all
speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is belter. Silence is
deep as Eternity ; Speech is shallow as Time," and so on. Emerson has a fine
phrase in his essay on " Fiiendiihip i" " Let tis be silent, so we may hear the
whisper ai the gods." Hawthorne ingeniously suggests in his "American
Note- Books." under date of April, 1841, "Articulate words are a harsh clamor
and dissonance. When man arrives at his highest perfection he will again be
dumb. For I suppose he was dumb at the creation, and must go around an
entire circle in order (o return to that Uessed state." Nevertlieless there Is
a madta in nbus. Garnett, in his "Idylls and Epigrams," thus versifies a
saying of Simonides :
" Siidonidei. what rnink you of niyrulef"
Shakespeare uses the same idea in the " Merchant of Venice :"
Thai ibeidoRoaly ire nputcd wiH
Aai., Sc. ..
Coleridge speaks of a dignified man he once saw at a dinner-table. " He
listened to me," says the poet, " and said nothing for a long time ; but he
nodded his head, and I thought him intelligenL At length, towards the
end of the dinner, some apple -dumplings were placed on the table, and my
man had no sooner seen them than he burst forth with. 'Them's the jockeys
for me K 1 wish Spurzheim could have examined the fellow's head." It was
a popular saying about the taciturn Molike, applied In no itncomplimentaty
spirit, that he could be "silent in seven languages." These words were first
used by Schleiermacher with reference to the very eminent and very modes!
philologist Emanuel Bekker (see letter of Zetter to Goethe, March 15, 1S30).
BUsDce that apoke. Pope has interpolated a dating and successful
image into his translation of the Iliad :
In Ibti weie every an and every cbsnp
Silence Ihu ipoke, and eloquence of eya.
The original, literally translated, runs as follows :
f loTEi*. ■llnieuent of ipcech, whkb Keali await Ihs
it will be seen, is Pope's, and Pope's alone.
1 Exodus X. 31 we are told of a " darkness which may be felt." A silence
that spoke was a familiar figure before Pope. Thus, Milton in his "Samson
Agon Isles :"
The deede Ibenuelfs. Ihougb mate, (poke loud the doer.
Voltaire, in his "CEdipus," written almost contemporaneously with Pope's
" Iliad," makes Jocasia say, —
;i:,vG00gk"
• LITERARY CURIOSrriES.
Delille. in a famoas line, speiks of a silence that might be heard ;
Shakespeare goes still Turther in his effort lo make Boltom ridicalou
The vyc of nuB hath not heard, the eu- o/ mu] hath not kcd. mu's band li no
uMC hit longiK to connive, nor hit hean lo irpon, whai my dream was, — Hfid-
Nighfi Dra-, A« iy., Sc. i.
He rather runs the joke into the ground in succeeding passages :
iKtavoka; now will I to the chink,
To spy if I un heai my Thiibe'i face.
Ul it pleaH yov to fc
a Ber^maik dance
Mr. W. J. Cluuslon finds a parallel for this sort of fiiollng in an ancient
Hindoo play called "The Toy-Cart," where Samst'hanaka, an ignorant and
frivolous coxcomb, sajrs, " I can hear with my nostrils the sL-enl of her gar-
land spreading through Ihe darkness; but 1 do not see Ihe sound of lier
8Uk-BtookliiB>, a
tical politicians lo the
any way assume tu be superior to the common run. A synimymons and more
modern terra is " Swallow-Tails," invented by John Morrissey, a retired ptiie-
fighter and piOQiinent local politician of New York In 1S76 a large number
of fashionable raen having taken an unusnal interest in politics and gained
some influence in jiarly councils, the incensed Morrissey was met one morning
parading the street in full evening dress and with a French dictionary under
his aim. He explained that since the eruption of Ihe swallow-tails that
sort of thing was necessary in order to retain one's influence. The opposite
faction, Ihe loughs, are called "Short-Hairs," probably in allusion 10 their
"fighting cuL"
BIlTcr Fwk SohooL Not a " school," but merely a collective desi^a-
tion for those novelists who lay especial stress on the etiquette of Ihe drawing-
room and the external graces of society. Among the more prominent usually
included in this class were Theodore Hook, I^dy Bleasinglon, Mrs. Trollope,
and Sir Edward Bulwer (Lord Lyiton).
Simllla AlmlUbiu onraDtnr (L., "Uke cures like"), the motto of Ihe
homoeopathic school of medicine. But it was not invented by Hahnemann.
He himself refers il to Hippocrates : ■' By similar things disease is pritduced,
and by similar things administered to the sick they are healed of their dis-
eases. Thus, the same thing which will produce a strangury when it does not
exist will remove it when il does." This is a sentence from nipi imruv rCni
lun' laitpunov, one of the writings altribuled lo Hippocrates. In the preface
to his "Samson Agonisles" Milton quotes from Aristotle a saying thai tragedy
is of power, by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge Ihe mind of those
and such like passions : " Nor is Nature wanting in her own effects to make good
his assertion ; for so in physic things of melancholic hne and quality are used
against melancholy, sour against sour, sail lo remove salt humors." Evi-
dently a soti of homteopathy was practised in Millon's time. Nay, in old
receipt-books do we not find It invariablv advised that an inebriate should
drink sparingly in the morning some of the same liquor that he had drunk
to excess overnight ? And has not this advice found a well-known proverbial
HANDY-BOOK OP
1 prmy tin* lot me iwl my fetUiw hjive
A ubt of Ihc dot '!>*' bu Di lut Djcbl,
Printtii, Pan T, ch. xL
In a song of the date 1650 the rollowing verse occurs:
If uy Ki wiM [1, thai uck be dHpuei,
He ahull droop Ulrc the irta in October.
You nuy ulic iilieiicdbilh tor ■ wuning^
Take m haii of bii talf is the matnlDg.
The ume proverb may be found before Heywood's time in continental
Europe. E>e Lincy (voL 1. p. 193) has, —
Du poll de U bene qui te raocdk,
Ou da son hdi; Ktk (uM,
which he finds in Boviilui's " Proverbs." The fear of the publication of
Boviltns'i collection is 1531. The proverb appears lo have been in comoton
use in Ihc sixteenth century. Ue Lincy has again (vol. L, pp. 171 and 167)
Poll (dil Bucboi) du meiine cUen
Ganiii Meuhiu: TV^mr' Ai &«tene», nvi* ntde.
Contie Bomm de ehien de noil
Le nuame dchI tr^lrieu v dnit.
Ihtd.
In the " Regimen Sanitatis Satetnitanum" there is the repetition to which
the proverb rrfera, in the lines, —
Il«a matudoa rebibu, et b1i medldiu.
Vt.«.*6.
In all the above instances the phrase is used metaphorically. Vet it was
also held, literally, that the hair of a dog which had bit yon was a cure for
the wound. So recently as 1670 a receipt-boolc contains the following : "Take
a hair from the dog that bit you, dry it, put it into the wound, and it will heal
it, be it never so sore."
Heywood also has the saying " Like will lo like," which is one of an
immense cycle of |>opular saws : " To the pure all things are pure," " Set a
thief lo catch a thief," "It lakes a wise man to discover a wise man" (ibe
latter quoted from Xenopbanes by Diogenes Laertius), "Look tor a tough
wedge for a tough log," which is the 733d Maxim of Publius Syrus, and
Simplex mtmdltllB, a phrase from Horace's Odes, t., v. ;, which Con-
inglon translates, " So trim, so simple," and Francis, " Plain in thy neatness."
The common English phrase "neat, not gaudv," or "elegant sim^lidly," suf-
ficiently expresses the idea. The former maybe found in a letlerftom Charles
Lamb to Wordsworth, i3o6. Was he misquoting Polonius, —
Cofily iby habit ■> Ihv pan* cao buy,
Bui Doi expreHed in Ivicy ; rich, not gaody :
For tbe appani oft procUmi Ihe man,
Mu<iM,Acti.,Sc.3,—
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Bui ii, when ui , ,
Aatnmn, 1. »!;
whkb i* not unlike Milton :
Id CAked btuity man odonied,
Hon lonly ihas Fudon.
ParadiH Lait, Book Iv., !. jij
Millon and Thomson alike, however, were anticipaled by Cicero
a dtJighi.")— (>a/i.»-
CI disorder In lb« drcu
lert^ ia iM/ Drai:
:D Jonaon said before him,-
Give m> ■ look, gl« nw ■ &ce,
Thiu nuka iliDplklty ■ ervcc ;
Koba looHly flowlfii, hui u free,—
Socb mM D«l«l nan uketh mc
Thu ill the WdulieTies ol an ;
Tbev uiika niDe eya. bul not my heut.
Efkniu: tr, ThtSiliAt »»'twi». ActL.Sc. i.
Iv., chap, xxiz., in the gar-
was dressed in "gray and
cold" of a comical cut, Ixing "nothing before, nothing behind, ana sleeves
of the same." Parisians say at nude statues that they are "draped in ceru-
lean blue."
BixltfUi of Beef is properly surloin,— rrom the French nir, " upon" or
"above," and imgi, "loin." Dr. Johnson was the first ienicographer who
spelt it with the letter i, being probably misled by the old story that it derived
its name from being knighted by James I. But in fact the story itself only
asserts that the king made a punning change from mr to lir. According to
Ruby's "Traditions of Lancashire," when that monarch was entertained Bt
Hoghton Tower, near Blackburn, "casting his eyes upon a noble sirloin at
the lower end of the table, he called out, ' Bring hither that sirloin, sirrah,
for 'tis worthy of a more honorable post, being, as I may say, not jwrloin, bul
Sir Loin, the noblest joint of all \' "
At Chingford, Essex, England, at a demi-palace called Friday House, or
Friday Hill House, there is still preserved the table said to have been used
by the monarch upon that historic occasion. Set deep in the centre of the
table, which is of oak, there is a l>raBS plate with this inscription ; "All lovers
of roast beef will like to know that on this table a loin was knighted by King
James the Find upon his return from hunting in Epping ForesL"
The story has been told of other monarchs. In his "Church History of
England," 1655, Fuller speaks of "a Sir-loyne of beef, so knighted, sailh
tradition, by this King Henry" (the Eighth). And the Athenian Mercury of
March 6, 1694. has this note : " King Henry VHI., dining with the Abbot of
Redding, and feeding heartily on a Loyn of Beef, as it was then called, the
AtdiDt told the King he would give a thousand marks for such a Stomack,
I0I4 HANDY-BOOK OF
which the King procured him by keeping htm shal in the Towet, got bb
lhou!iaiid niatks, and knighted the Beef for its good behaviour." In "Queen
Elizabeth's Progresses," under date March 31, 1573. mention is made of "a
Sorloine of Byfe."
Blx of one and half a dozen of tile other, a familiar English proverb,
identical with " much of a muchness," " iioi a pin to choose," or " never a
barrel lielier herring," the litter a very common sixteenth cent urv saying.
Thus, Kirton, in his "Anatomy," "Yon shall find them all alike; never 1
barrel better herring ;" and in the translation of the " Adagia" of Era>.mus
(1541), "Two feloes being alike flagicious, and neither barretl belter herring,
accused either other, the Kyng Philippus in his owne persone sitting in
iudgement upon iheim. The cause all heard, he gaue sentence and iudge-
meiit, that the one shoulde with all spede and celeritie auoide or Ace the
royalme or countree of Macedonia and the other shoulde pursue after him."
Skeleton In tbe oloeet, a proverbial expression meaning the secret care
that sits in every man's home, but which he strives to hide Irom the world at
large. It was a theme upoti which Thackeray was fond of harping. The
seventeenth chapter of "The Newcomes" is headed "Barnes's Skeleton
Closet." It might seem that there was a reference here to the closet in which
Bluebeard kept the skeletons of his wives. Unfortunately for this supposi-
tion, the original word does not seem to have been "skeleton." Thus, Miss
Ferrier uses the phrase "the black man in her closet."
Slate, to make np tbe. In American political slang this signifies the
secret undetstandirig by which the leaders of a political party determine
among themselves before the meeting of a nominating convention the names
uf the catididates for office which ihey desire and which they will endeavor
by all their influence, open or covert, to have put in nomination by the con-
vention. The defeat of the preconcerted plan by the independent action of
the convention is called "smashing" or "breaking the slate." A person
whose name has been thus selected for presentaiion'to a convention fur its
approval and nomination by it is said to be slated. The phrase has come
into common vogue, and is used wherever at a meeting a list of oQicers to be
elected is made. — t.g., at the meeting of directors or controlling stockholders
of private corporations prior to the annual meetings, etc The origin of the
phrase is unknown, but it is su^esled as probable that at some early stage of
the practice a slate was used as a convenient instrument upon which to make
(he list, from the ease with which names could be erased from it and added to
it, to serve exigencies as they arose in the progress of the discussion towatds
an agreement.
Slaveocracy, Bla-ve Ollgaxoliy, Slav* Poorer, etc. These were
cant phrases invented during the Abolition agitation in the North to desig-
nate the oligarchy of slaveowners whose influence prevailed in the political
councils of the Southern Stales before the war, and whose machinations pre-
cipitated the conflict. Notwithstanding the fact that when tipon what they
believed to be their rights under the Constitution the people of the Southern
States were a unit in lavor of secession from the Union, there was ■ large
id of the question hovt to dispose of the negro populati
-■"■ id better fom --'''-- ■ - -■ - -
John Adams, <>f Massactiu setts, will be
teplace it by other and better forms of labor seemed
solution a hopeless task. The radical sentiments of 1'homas Jefferson, which
11 Randolph, of Virginia, si
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. loiS
mitted a plan of abolition to Congress. H. R. Helpei's book, " The Impend-
ina Crisis of ihe South," formulaled (he sentiments of Ihe commercial and
induslrial non-slaveholding classes, showing how their interests and the ma-
terial prosperity of this portion of the Soulhern people were subverted and
disregarded by the sel&ih policy of the slavelioldmg oligarchy ; it called for
active resislance 10 them on the part of those whose demands and wishes were
by them set at naught It-was this smaller but extremely active and power-
ful oligarchy to which the terms slaveocracy, slave power, etc., were applied,
and not, as is generally supposed, the whole white population uf the former
. mal-
inadvertent mistake,
ymous bit of verse r
Would keep rram ilipi.
To whom VDU ipcak.
^ndhow.-dwkcD.uid
uns,—
Fim, W1..1 ihou A,i«X^
Secondly, why tfaoo ihoul
Thirdly, to wham thiu m
Foanhly, ■boui whom (oi
Finbly. wbat will came tr
Siilhfy. whu may be the
Senenihly, wbo may be li
Smell of tbe lamp. To. According to Plutarch in his life of Demos-
thenes, Pythias once scoffingly told the orator [hat his arguments smelt of the
lam|>. Not entirely dissimilar is Byron's phrase in Ihe last line of Canto zaxiz.
of "Beppo:"
All Giulel Uluib : 'half'penMU HndTilf ' Poul ;
And Elancing jit Mamma. l<a feir (hcR'i barn m
Wbal you, the, ii, or ihey nuy be about.
Beiidn. they alway. imell of bnadand butler.
A closer parallel, however, may be found in one of Middleton's plays, " Your
INve Gallants." Goldslone, one of the Gallants, or sharpers, referring to Fits-
grave, their gull, speaks of him as piping hot from the University, and adds,
" He smells of buttered loaves yet"
Smile, in American slang, a drink of any alcoholic liquor, because it
induces mirth and laughter :
Bui In AaKilu amiling.Kemga min.and liquoring up are all one.— Rich AID A. Piocioi'
Wfttt fiH A mtrkaHismi. id Kitff^tAgr.
A good slor;? appeared in Blaeia>i>«d some years ago, wherein it is related
thai Mrs. Christie, an American lady, had sent some fine old rye whiskey to
an English-nan, who, unconscious of'^ the pun, said to a travelling companion.
Smiles of Christ !" " Good !" said the American : ■' I see you are learning out
language."
The ■
" 1 should smile," probably a descendant of
IOl6 HANDY-BOOK OF
such phrasea is " I ikouid think I" the totnect of the thought being to
obvious as to be left to the imagination of the bearer. The American phrase
expresses wonder, sarpiise, pleasure, or diabelicr:
Wt ubed J« Capp Ihe other d>T,
And uk«l li wiEODai galle.
" if flskcd ED drink, vlul wotJd vou tM.jV'
He uuwnd, " 1 ihould ■milt?',
Bmok^ Cl^> a name given to Pittsburg, in consequence of the universal
use of bituminous coal in its numerous manufactories creating a dense black
smoke witli which the air of the city is filled. While shirt-fronts and clean
bees are impossilulities, and the buildings of the entire city have a smoky,
sooty appearance.
BnesElllK. In October, 1890, an American citizen, Mr. Joseph Jonassen
of New York, was arrested in Berlin for wickedly, leloniously, and treason-
ably avowing a willingness to sneeze at the German Emperor. " I sneez& at
your Emperor I" he cried out in a public restaurant to a native who did not
appreciate American institutions. He did not attempt to put his hideous
project into execution, so he was dismissed with a repiiinand and a warning.
And yet sneezing is an operation that has been treated with the greatest
respect and veneration from a remote antiquity, that has commanded the
ptofbundesi thought and the deepest research of the philosophers of old. and
that to-day in many countries, as formerly in all countries, is greeted with a
special salute.
Thus, the old Greeks cried, "Jove preserve thee !" and the old Romans
bad a variety of felicitations for the successful sneezer. "Sit boslum ac
felix," he might be told, or " Sit salutiferum," or *' Servet ic Deus," or " Bene
vertat Deus." In modern Italy he is greeted with " FelicilJi ;" in France, with
" Dieu vous iM^nisse," or " Bonne same ■" in Germany, with " Gesundheit ;" in
Ireland, in Scotland, and in Sweden, with " Bless you," or " God bless you."
A similar custom existed in Africa, among nations unknown to the Greeks
and Romans. A Persian precept is thus recorded in the Zend-Avesta:
" And whensoever it be that thou hearest a sneeze given by ihy neighbor,
thou shalt say unto him, * Ahunovar,' and ' Ashim Vuhu,' and so shall it be
well with thee." Even in the New World tbe practice seemed to prevail,
far when, in 1543. Hernando de Soto met the cacique Guachoya, evei]r lime
tbe latter sneezed his followers liAed their arms in the air, with cries of " May
the sun guard you I"
An ancient rabbinical tradition asserts that from the time of Adam to
Jacob sneezing was the sign of death. But Jacob got to pondering over the
subject, and finally went in prayer to the Lord for a repeal of the law, and
was so successful in his petition that the phenomenon of sneezing instantly
turned a complete summersault, went from Omega heels aver head to Alpha,
and, ceasing to be the sign of death, became the infallible sign of life.
After Jacob's day, whenever children came into the world ihey announced
their arrival by sneezing. Hence the salutation first began as a grateful
acknowl edgmen L
It will be remembered that when the son of the Shunammite was recalled
to life \ij the power of Elisha the prophet, "the child sneezed seven times,
and the child opened his eyes."
Classic tradition, too, had its eiptanalion of the custom. When Prome-
theus stole fire from heaven to animate his clay statue, the first sign of life
which the latter betrayed was to bob his head up and down and emit a for*
midable sneeze, whereupon Prometheus cried out in delight, " Hay Jove pre-
serve thee I"
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wHol<
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1017
Some Eastern iMtions have an entirely diflerent version, to the effect that
one of the judges in the ever-barning pit of fire has a register of men's lives.
Every day he turns a page, and those whose names appear are the next to
seekliis domain. As Ihe leaf is turned they all sneeze, and those hearing it
invoke a blessing on their future.
Polydore Vii^l finds still another origin loa the custom. In the time of
GregOTy the Great, he says, there prevailed in Italy an epidemic which car-
ried off'^ils victims by sneesing ; whereupon the pontiff ordered prayers to be
offered up against it, accompanied by certain signs of the cross.
But, unfortunately for this theory, the salutation antedates Pope Gregory
the Great
Among the Greeks and Ramans sneezing was usuallj looked upon as a
verv lavorable omen.
To Penelope the sneeze of her son Telemachus promised the safe return
of Ulysses. To Parihenus, who sneezed in the middle of het letter to Sar-
pcdon, it supplied the place of an answer.
Xenopbon tells of a sneeze which may be said to have decided the ble of
himself, of his army, and perhaps of Athens itsell^ While he was exhorting
his soldiers to courage and fortitude, and while their minds were still waver-
S between resistance and surrender to the enemy, a soldier snceud. The
ale army, instantly convinced that the gods had used their comrade's nose
as a trumpet to commanicate an oracle to them, were seized with a sudden
inspiration, and, burning their carriages and tents, prepared to bxx the perils
of the celebrated RelrcaL
Plutarch says that Socrates owed his proverUal wisdom to nothing in
the world but the sneezes by which his familiar genius sent him charitable
At Rome it was commonly believed that Cupid sneezed whenever a beau-
tiful girl was born (he must have a perpetual cold in Ihe head in America),
and the most acceptable compliment a fast fellow of the Tibet could lisp and
drawl to his lady-love was, "Sternuit tibi Amort" <" Love has sneezed for
Even the ferocious Tiberius lost some of his habitual ferocity when the
gods favored him with a sneeze. At such times he would drive about the
streets of Rome to receive the felicitations of his delighted subjects.
Nevertheless, the augury was not always a favorable one. Instances are
not wanting in Greece and in Rome where a sneeze created alarm instead of
rejoicing.
As Timolheus was sailing out of the Athenian port, he happened to emit a
prolonged and resounding sneeze. The whole fleet heard it The sailors
rose as one man and clamored to return. Luckily, Timotheus was a man of
great presence of mind.
" And do you marvel, O Athenians," he cried, "that among ten thousand
there is one whose head is moist? How ye would bawl were all of us so
afflicted I"
Thereupon their confidence returned, and they sailed out to victory.
The virtue of sneezing, it seems, depends much upon time and place.
Siteezing from morn till noon is of good augury, says Aristotle, but from
noon to night the reverse. And yet St Augustine tells us that if on rising in
Ihe morning any of Ihe ancients happened to snceic while putting on their
shoes, they immediately returned to bed in order that they might rise more
auspiciously. So, if the Hindoo, while performing his morning ablutions in
the Ganges, should sneeze before finishing bis prayers, he immediately begins
them over again.
There is a Scotch superstition that one sneeze is locky and two are mt-
ioi8 HANDY-^OOK OF
luckjr, and in England il is believed that if any one sneeze for three ntghU in
succession, some one will die in the house. According to Lancashire folk-
lore, jrou must be very careful upon what day of the week you allow youraelf
the luxury of sternutation ;
Sne«n on a Monday, youuHKror dapger:
Sneeu OD a Wedoaday, you neeie for a Leila ;
Soetu on a lliurxiay for >ani«hLiiE beticr ;
5n«ic on a FritUy, you'll iiKea t« torrow ;
SnceH on a Salurday, tux your iireeihean lo-morrew ;
SnHieona SuDctay. your ufciy Mck,
Itic devil will have you Ihc rat <f ihe week 1
A most remarkable custom, if we are to credit Kelvetius, was that which
Erevailed at the court of Monomotapa. Whenever Hia Most Sacred Majesty
appened lo sneeie, every person present was obliged to imitate the royal
example.
And this before the days of nostril -titillating snuff I
Nor was this all. The servants of the royal household were obliged to
take up the sneeze and pass il on to Ihe stranger without the gates, and he to
all others, until sneeze followed sneeze from the fool of the throne to the
uttermost frontiers of ihe kingdom.
Snow BUng, Gusiavus Adolphus, King of Sweden {reigned 1611-1631).
At Vienna he was called, in derision, ''The Snow King," who was kept to-
gether by the cold, but would melt and disappear as he approached a warmer
soil (CriCHTON : Srandinama, vol, ii. p. 64).
Sntlfll Up to, a phrase applied 10 a person of great acuteness and percep-
tion, probably has nothing lu do with snuff in the sense of tobacco, but harks
back to the German word Jr<in'i^/», to "smell" (Teutonic and Dutch mm^ji).
which is the etymological root of snuff (tobacco) also. It originally indicated
one quick in smelling or scenting a lliing, — figuratively, quick to discern or
scent out the true menning of a speech or |ierson. '' He smells a rat," " He
scents it out," " He is on the right scent," are analogous expressions. So
Martial, in his epigram on Csecilius (Book cxiii., line iS) !
«by
- ,- ,^ -, - _ .. - .oithy
e that M. Francisque Michel, in his " Sludes de la Philologle comparee
sur I'Argot," to which is appended a vocabulary of English slang, translates
"up 10 snuff" as "haul au labac" He defines it aright as "^veille, qui est
Soap. During Ihe Presidential cam|KUgn of 18S0 the word "»oap" was
used l^ the Republican managers in their despatches as a cipher for money.
It was employed in 1SS4 as a derisive war-ciy against them by their oppo.
ncnts. A curious fact in this connection is mentioned by Brewer. At
Querelaro and other towns near ihe city of Mexico there is a peculiar <:ur-
reiicv, consisting of small cakes of soap. Their value is about one cent and
a half. Each cake is stamped with the name of the town where it is Current,
and of the person auihoriied to manufacture and utter it. Its current^ is
Strictly local. Celaya soap will not pass in Queretaro, and met verta. Often
the cake is used for washing, but il never loses ils currency value so long aa
the stamp is preserved. One would like to know Mr. Brewer's authority.
_k)O^Ic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I019
Soap, as alang for money, came ii
30. " How ate you off for soap f " '
icalion for a pecuniary favoi.
In 1793 Ihe insutgciii washerwomen paraded about Paris, crying, " Bread
and soa|i 1" " A deputation petitioned Ihe Coiivenliou for soap, and their
plaintive cry was heard around llie Salle de Manage, ' Du pain et du savon I' "
(Carlvle: Frtnck Revolulitm, Pail Hi., Buuk iii., chap. 1.)
Soapy Bom. a nickname applied to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. Loid
Houghloii explains that the students of Cuddeailon Cullege, wishing, on some
festive occasion, to celebtaie both the bishop and their principal, Alfred Pott,
placed on one pillar the initials S. O. (Samuel, Oxturd, the name of the
bishop's see) and on another A. P.
Tiie combination was taken up in a satiric spirit, and the bishop himself
said it was owing to the unfortunate alliteration with his Christian name. It
is said that a little girl once asked tiim in the presence of company, " Why
doea every one call you Soapy Sam ?" to which he replied, after a glance
around Ihe room, " I will tell you, my darling. People call me * Soapy Sam'
because I'm always in hoi water and always come out with my hands clean."
Recently two correspondents of IVbiti and Queriii have denied Lord Hough-
ton's explanation of the lebrifiul. They say. —
The it^rifM/t at " So.py S.in." givfn <a <h> Uic filihop Wilberforce. moK cwloinL). did
IbePriDcipalaTCuddadaii. A. P. (AUred Poll, noI P«u),*bu'i ou cenainly'anleriiiria Ihc
ol mine was prcKDi on iht occasion Alluded 10, aud I have beard him lell how diiinfl^ed he
wu when, on rcachmg ihe eut end of Ihe chape], and turnins round to Aurvey ihe building.
iKdeKtiedlheilllhippvleilenS, U. A. P in flonl decDnlioinabove the >ull< of the Uahop
and of (he principal retpectively. u the well end. " An enemy," he txclaimed, " halh doite
Hddeiily struck wilh conKemaiioD (he «pe
jH his lordship was momentajily ejcpec(ec
applied, or thoe would have been no such o«dk lor uivEurunnne.— \.. n.
Solid Soatll, a phrase which had a limited vogue before Ihe war, in the
usage of Southern orators, to designate Ihe unity of inleiest and purpose of
the Southern Slates. It obtained general currency, however, only after the
period of reconstruction. On the overthrow of the carpel-bag and negro
governments in those States, the while population, having gained control,
found it to their interest to act in politics with the Democialic party against
the Republicans, who had encouraged and suslainc<l the carpel-bag rule.
The litsl occurrence of the phrase in Ihe modern setise may tie traced back
to circa 1S6S. It is believed to have been originally used in the lobbies al
Washington, whence it soon found its way into ihe newspapers. The per-
sistent solidarity of action of the Southern Slates wilh the Democratic parly,
and Ihe consequent irritation and hostility of ihe Northern and Republican
press and politicians, liiund expression in it as a term of reproach, and
the phenomenon was cited as a proof of the continuance in that section
of the old spirit of hostility to Ihe Union which resulted in secession. Its
occurrence in recent years is considerably less frequent than formerly, and
Ihe signs of disintegration of the South as a political unit, possibly in Ihe
near future, have placed its continued vituperative use among the cam phrases
of "buncombe."
..Google
I030 HANDY-BOOK OF
Tbe ulJary moiik wbo bhook tbe worid
From ugu liuinber, vhea ihe goipcl irnnp
Thundeiti] iu dullcDEt ftoin hta diuDtku lip*
In pejiU dT mitb.
The first line of the above, divorced from the context, has passed into \
popular quolalion. Montgomery is reported (o have said that be was willing
to rest his hopes of literary immortality upon that line alone. Yet it hat
been justly objected that at the only lime in Luther's life when he can be said
to have been solitaiy — at his so-called " Patmos," the Castle of Wartburg —
he had ceased to be a monk. A cognate but tar greater expression is Em«r-
And find ihc ibol heud raund Iht worid.
uu « lorrow'a cnwq of Hfmw Is naivmbcHDE tuppier Ukbigt,
o Dante's famous passage in the " Divina Commedia" {Infimc,
Ndlim
which Longfellow thus translates :
Chaoccr iIm bad Dante in
Trtilm and Cmtidt. Bc»k Ui., 1. i«ts.
The original of the sentiment is in Boethius "Ue Consolalione Philoio-
phiie," B<>ok ii. : " In omni adveisitate fortuiix infelicissimum genus infortanii
est foisse felicem et non esse" (" In every adversity of fortune Ihe most un-
happy kind of misfortune is to have been and not to be hap|)y"). Boethius
"De Conaolatione" and Cicero "I>e Amicilii" were the first two l)ooks that
engaged the attention of Dante, as he himself tells lis in the "Conviltt"
Cicero approximated very closely to the phrase when he wrote to Atticus from
his eiile in Thessalonica, in 58 B.C. " While all other sorrona are mellowed
by age, this [exile| can onlv grow keener day by day, as one thinks of the
present, and looks back on the days (hat are passed."
Robert Pollok has the converse of Ihe proposition in his well-known line, —
<n roiwn »_^ Cnuru ^ Ti*i't, Boc* 1., I. 4S4.
A diligent correspondent of the American Nolet and Querus famishes the
following additional examples :
FoTfti U» dgiid. ihc put T O yB
Tliirc >rc EhdUi (ha) nuy ulu rcveog* f« il :
Mcmorin ihal malic iIk bom 1 lomb
Begrcti which slide ihrough Iht ipirit 1 ^oon.
And vhh ihutly whiipen tdl
Tbiu joy, cAH lou. il puD.
P»cv BnsHi Shillbt : TJu PtI.
Goo^If
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
O Mdooiy. thoD loDd deodra,
AJkd tuiBLDf aJI Ibc p«M 10 imUd 1
CoLMHITH : J<
i^lt jon CDhuicc the pmcnt puD,
DUDHHOIID or MAHTTHOUnWH.
Oh, I would fiJB forget ihem nil ;
Remembered gude bui d«pci» ill,
Ai elinu oT liahl fkr leetj by nifbl
Mik- Ihe Dev mick but mirber itill.
TuoHAS Davidson: TIu A<dd Aih-Tru.
Wiiibed □□! II pui ioyl
KuTS : StamvH : In Dnmr DKimbtr.
And lunu (be pasi lo uodv-
Urs.DugaldStxwaiit: TtuTtarlSlMd.
Qmtn Margartt. HtTinjE dd more but iboughl of wh«t tbou veil,
To lonuro Ih« ihe moreTbeing *bu ihou ul.
^Un Elimiilk. O Ihou, well ikilleil in conei, lUy mwbUe,
'Mln^uid'
Sweet locifti lUyi uid plcuani ni^u.
And all IlKii muic'aed^iuid (U their' lore wu vain.
Bui ruet in donuind for her delmy'.
She fflikei 1 icDuiBe of put proipoiiy
RevohS joj^.'hte'roB "n dti'l w^™*'
Like boftom Tdendsbln ID RKTiiDieati kcour^ed,
With njR envcuained, rise uaipsi our p«»c«.
YouHC -rflifiu TkimihU, Nlgbl I.
Tbcn ii no graler misery ibui to remember Joy wboi id (rief.
Mariho: ^^sm, Cudio civ., Sunn ioo.
To nmember ■ lou joy makes Ike present suue » much the wane.
FonTioUHiiiiA : Rkciardiiio, Cuuo il., Sunn 83.
Present urrow brings back aud Increuea ihe nteDory of Ihe joy we have lost.
St. Daiiiah: Hymn, Di Cltria P-mJiii.
Soul's dark oottage. A famous figure occurs in Waller :
The soul's dark cottage, baltertd and decayed.
Lets in new lighl through chinks that Time has made.
Stronfier by weakucH, viser men become
Leaving ihe old, both worlds at once they view
That I'and upon the ihreshold of the new.
Oh tit Diviiu Pmhu.
Thia majF be numerously paralleled in contemporary and succeeding writem
HaLh wrougbl the mure Ibai should confine it in
So this that liJe LddIu through and will break oul-
Htnry IV., Pari U., Act I*., Sc. 4-
Coogk"
1022 HANDY-BOOK OF
A fio^wu], wbich, wdriung ow in way,
Fnncd ihe pygmy body lodvcay,
DivDiH : A tialsm and Acklt'oflul, Put L, 1. 1^
Drawing QC ber il«ih^itie kdi nam pioui thoiwhuu bartringen to iKavoi; ud Iht
uul taw a fUmpK of happmeu through Ihc duQlu oT her uckucB-broken body, — Fullhl :
tanbody, doJRd tofnlapaiugTibrougkil.— Fullih: Lifto/tluDtAt^Alta.
VpTien our eaithly tabcrnaclo arc diaordered and desolate, Bbakcd and oal of repair, the
apbnt dvH^u to dwell wiihin iheni ; aa houici axe Hid to be haunled when ihey ar« HbukeD
Soup, la the, a slang phra
American- English aboul iSS?.
piession " to get left."
In Germany, " in die Suppe fallen" (literally, " to fall in the soup"), and " Ei
iBtindieSuppe" (" He is in ihe soup"), are lime-honored proverbial expressions
for being in a pickle or stuck in the mud. Similar German phrases are " die
Suppe ausessen mlissen" (" to be obliged to eat the soup or broth one has pie-
piared for one's self," — Lt., " to suffer disagreeable consequences of one's unwise
action") and "die Suppe versalien" (literally, " to salt one's soup," — i.e., " Co
prepare a disappointment fur one"). So also "eine bose Suppe einbrocken"
ifittbnxkm denotes the act of breaking bread into the soup, and the whole
phrase may be translated, "to prepare a disagreeable mess ) has a meaning
c(^nale to the English proverbialism " to put a rod in pickle" foT one.
It is quite possible, therefore, that* the phrase is of German-American
origin.
The German etymon is
ingPost, December 8, i&
New Vork Harbor on a „ . „
expected to arrive from Europe. The captain of the steamer refused to
allow the undesirable boat-load to come very close to his vessel, and one
enthusiast, in his vociferous efforts to gel near the object of his admiration,
fell over the rail of the tug into the water. It was near dark, and naturaity
great excitement prevailed, which being noticed from the steamer, the boat
was hailed to find out what had happened, " Oh, nothing much." replied a
lough (who might have been a German- American), aenlentiously : "somebody's
in de soup." The phrase was caught up and immediately became popular.
Blpada. To call a spade a spade. This phrase, meaning to indulge in
plain speech, to be rudely or indelicately frank, is of very ancient date and of
Grecian bitth. Lucian in his dialogue " Quommio Hisloria sit conscribenda"
quotes from Aristophanes the saying ru ovca ovmi, T^' BKotmv ^ anaifrpi Avcyra-
("" {" F'fis they call figs, and a spade a spade''). This finds a place among
the royal apothegms collected by Plutarch as having been made use .of by
Philip of Macedon in answer to Lasthencs, the Olynthian ambassador, who
complained that the citizens, on his way to the palace, called him a traitor.
"Ay," quoth the king, "these Macedonians are a blunt people, who call
ligB figs, and a spade a spade." Philip, of course, was merely quoting the
1 drink no wIdc at alt, which »o much Improvea our modem win: a looae, plab, blunt,
tilde writer, I call it itpade a tptde-, I rcipcct uiatter, not words. — Bujtroi*: Aiul^mr iff
MiUncknlf, Preface.
Spain, a soMqutt for New Jersey which originated thus. After Ihe down-
fall of Napfileon, his brother Joseph, ex-king of Spain, fled to America. It
took some time for him to decide where he should settle : indeed. Providence
;,oogic
LITERARY CVRtOSlTIES. 1023
or the American legislatares (not then so long a remove from Providence
as ihev are to-day) so disposed it that this man's proposal was repeatedl;
baffled. The common-law rules against Ibe holding of property by an alien
were in force in alt the new States, and, aflet knocking vainly at various legis-
lative doors, Joseph was fain to turn to New Jersey, where, on January 32,
1817, a general act was passed "to authoriie aliens 10 purchase and hold lands
in this Stale." It is not true, as generally supposed, that this act was framed
with special reference to the Bonaparte case, although it did render unneces-
sary the consideration of a special act proposed for the same session of ihe
legislature by Joseph's friends, and although there is no doubl that Ihe final
vote was inmienced by the knowledge that an ex-king had already concluded
arrangements Tor the purchase of one thousand acres at Point Breeze, neat
Bordentown. Here a munificent park was laid out, enterlainmenis were
provided on a lavish scale, and something of royal state was kept up, so that
the envious neighbors began to find it droll lo talk of New Jersey as out of
the Union and a portion of Spain.
Spara tlia rod and apoll tli« ohlld, a popular misquotaiion from
Proverbs xiii. 24 : "He that spatelh his tod hatelh his son." Its firsl ap-
pearance in this form in literature seems to be in Ralph Venning's " Mysteries
and Revelations," second edition (1649, p. 5) ; "They spare the tod and spoil
the child." But John Skellon had already said,—
Thtre la nothynge Ihil more dyiplensElh God
Magn^yctnci, I. 1954.
Butler has
Thtn ipui tiie rod snd ipol] tlm diild.
Hudiirat. Put II., CiDto i.
In his later life Louis XIV., realiiing how his youth had been misspent,
pertinently asked, " Was there noi birch enough in the Forest of Fontaine-
bleau?" Di<^ne3, according to Burton, "struck the father when the son
swore." {Anatomy of MttatKkoly, Part iii.. Sect. 2, Memb. z. Subs. 4.)
was imitated by Bismarck when he said, " Better pointed bullets than pointed
speeches" (" Lieber Spitzkugeln als Spitzreden"). Bismarck made this speech
in 1S50, the occasion being an insurrenion of the people ai Hesse-CasseL
Speeoti iroa given to man to conceal hla thotighta. None of Tal-
leyrand's mots is moie famous than this. It Is true that even in lis final form
this was not Talleyrand's, for Harel, ihe famous fabricator of mod, has con-
fessed that he himself put the phrase into Talleyrand's mouth in order lo
claim it as his own after the death of Ihe diplomatist. Whether Talleyrand's
or Harel's, it is undoubtedly clever, and has become one of the stock (juota-
tions of the world But it is easy to trace the idea back to a remote antiquity.
What may be called the primordial germ may be found in several forms in
the classics. Achilles, for example, thus voices his detestation of Ihe man
whose expressed words conceal his inmost thoughts:
Who dana think one thine uid anoiher lell,
Here there is no attempt at an epigram, of course, but there is a general
recognition of the bet that the speech of some men does conceal their
thoughts. So Plutarch said of the Sophists that in their declamations and
I034 HANDY-BOOK OF
speeches they made use of words to veil and muffle their design. And
Dionjjius Cato, in his collection of moral maxims, comes a step cJoser to the
modern saying in his sententious remark, "Sermo hominun) mores celal el
indical idem" (" The same words conceal and declare (he thoughts of men").
When we come down to modern times and reach Jeremy Taylor we find he
had the sentiment clearly in view in the following sentence: "There is in
mankind an universal contract implied in all their intercourses ; and words
being instituted (o declare the mind, and for no other end, he that bears me
speaK hath a right in justice to be done him, that, as far as I can, what I
speak be true ; ^r else he, by words, does not know your mind, and then as
good and belter not speak at all." Still we have no epigram, no paradox.
David Doyd, in his " State Worthies," comes near to the modern phrase,
but misses it through his stupidly downright honesty of statement : " Speedi
was made to open man to man, and not to hide him ; to promote commerce,
and not betray it." He comes so close that we hold our breath ; just a twisE
of the hand, and the thing would be done. That twist is supplied by Lloyd's
conlempotary, the wise and willy Dr. South : " In short, this seems to be the
true inward judgment uf all our politick sages, that speech was given to the
ordinary sort of men whereby to communicate their mind, but to wise men
whereby to conceal it" Buller echoes South in his essay on "The Modem
Politician." The politician, according to Butler, thinks that "he who does
not make his words rather serve lo conceal than discover the sense of his
heart deserves to have it pulled out like a traitor's and shown publicly to
the rabble." Here we have the idea, but not the meet and Quotable wording.
Almost simultaneously three men, two in England and one in France, TUthed
to the breach. Voung said, —
And lata talk only la coDcc^ihc mind,
Ltivi ^ FaMt,Sti. il., 1. 107;
Goldsmith, " Men who know the world hold that the true use of speech is
not so much to express our wants as lo conceal them ;" and Voltaire, " Men
use thought as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to con-
ceal their thoughts." Talleyrand's saying borrows just as much from Voltaire
as is necessary to give the brevity and point that are essential to a proverb,
and hence obtained instant currency.
s who hold, or think they hold, their bearers
^ William C. Goodloe, a member of the Re-
publican National Committee, 10 the slum p. speakers employed by them, from
their invariable habit of asserting in their reports that their speaking held
the audiences in that very inle resting condition.
SpelUog, EccentrioltdM oC "To be a well-favored man," says Dog-
berry. " is the gift of fortune ; but to write and read comes by nature." And
what literary man was it who paraphrased Dogberry's words by saying that
sense and knowledge come bv experience and study, but the power lo spell
corrcctlv Js the direct gift of Godf Many other authors have openly ac-
knowledged their orthographical imperfections and depended upon the mtel-
ligent proof-reader to supply the missing vowels and consonants or to strike
out the redundant. Goethe himself, who took all knowledge for his province,
was fain to leave spelling as a terra incagnila. Shakespeare, not to speak of
what others did for hini, changed his own mind some thirty times as to the
letters and the sequence of the letters composing his patronymic So, at least,
Halliwell tells us : and il is quite certain thai the two genuine signatures that
have survived differ orthographically from each other. If literary men were
so lax, what wonder that other great people have been baiy in their notioiu
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1025
or what posterity would expect of them when the editor of the Biographical
Dictionary should be called Dpon to give ihem a place in his volume ? Lei-
ceslei spelled his own name in eight different ways. Mainwaring has pasMd
through one hundred and ihitiv-one orthographical permutations, and is even
ni)w, ir spelling have aught to do with pronunciation, spelled incorrectly at last
The Young Pretender, with no intentional irreverence, but only by dint of
allowing his pen to wander at its own sweet will, wrote of his father tndiifer-
ently as Gems or Jems. The Father of his Country spelled familiar words
in one way, while Lady Washington spelled them in another, and neither
managed to be correct. Indeed, good spelling seems formerly to have been
considered a vulgarity, mere yeoman's service. Will Honeycomb, when taken
to task for his orthographical laxity, declared that he never liked pedantry in
spelling, but spelled like a genlleman and not like a scholar. Napoleon at St
Helena said one day to Las Cases, " You do not write orthographical 1^, do
you } At least, I suppose you do nut ; for a man occupied with public or
other important business — a minister, for instance — cannot and need not
attend to orthography. His ideas must flow faster than his hand can trace
them i he has only time to place his points ; he must put words in letters,
and phrases in words, and let the scribes make it ont afterwards."
So Hamlet says, —
I wcc (Ud tiold k, u our lUliiu da.
It Is said that the French nobles of the andrn rigime when chosen members
of the French Academy took pains to misspell their signatures in a variety
of ways, in order to show ihat they were not subject to the rules of petty
scholarship.
The old Duchess of Gordon was a great lady, and she sometimes misspelled.
Vet, unlike the French nobles, she was not proud of the fact Indeed, sfie had
a little subterfuge to conceal her deliciencies. "You know, my dear," she
explained to one of her cronies, " when I don't know how to spell a word I
s draw a line under it, and if it is spelled wrung it passes for a very
gooif jok
_^ , ^ a ready and effective excuse for mis-
spelling, (frthographic "riddles are inherent in the nature of a language
which IS nothing but an irregular and fortuitous agglutination of two irregU'
laritiea, the Anelo-Sajcon and the Norman French. The number of different
combinations of letters producing one sound is only to be compared with that
of the different sounds arising from the same combination of letters. A
'gentleman by the name of Wise published a book in 1869 showing over four
thousand different ways in which the name Shakespeare could be spelled. Th«
luusand different combina-
ic other hand, the phonetic tricks plaved b^ the little syllable ongh are
le despair of every intelligent foreigner. There is the story of the Spaniard
ho received for his first lesson in English spelling and pronunciation (he
Thoneb ihc tough congb and htEcoBih plciDgb m
O'er lifc'i duk lough nv «9y I 'lUI punuc.
Feeling his native piide wounded and his natural love of cong[ruily outraged
by such an assemblage of contradictions, he quitted his master in disgtilt, and
o further into the per "- '- ' - ' "
A in acknowledging
brings upon our written speech. It was Dr. Wayland, of Philadelphia, who
pursued his way no further into the penetralia of our languue. Nor are we
' ' .■ --. - ■-->-- -t- -•! ; which this T--"--
ourselves backward in acknowledging the disgrace which this verbal tritant
' ings upon our written speech. It was Dr. Wayland, of Philadelphia, who
a fine vein of sarcasm pertinently asked, " What does this spell, — Gkeu^-
/,•/•
ioj6 handy-book of
pklktighttetauF'' Well, said the doctor in answer to higown qaeitiDn,icconling
to ihe following rule, it spells fetaia. Gh stands for p, as in tlie last letters
of hiccough 1 oueh for o, as in dough ; phth for t, as in phthisis ; eigh stands
for a, as in neighboT ; tte stands for t, as in gazette ; ana eaa stands for o, as
in beau. Thus jrou have p'O-l-a-t-o.
Another well-deserved ccbukc is conuined in the following poem, which
originally appeared in the columns of fVU ami Wiidom :
1>IK day wb«n the weaihet wu rcngb,
An old l»dy wail out for »iiit »nough,
Which >he thouihtlculy plued in hec no
And il giH luiicrcd all ova her cough.
vciihl Ml
lenhciud
A"r™'
ThcR wu a hole bi i bedgt u (« tbToufh,
liil^t •>«■» DUgfl,
Puci has the following veiled exposIuUiion against Ihe Sfstem which nukem
Sieux s[ie\l laa:
Adiuux among the Sioux.
B«IU9t Ihe whilu'lheirnghli jibioui.
Thljve finin^u?«iiK'fieo''biouir|
TlMy •wear ibeir lands ihey will SOI lioiu.
hit at in these verses :
At Uw bar in Ibt old inn al Leiceuer
Wi* a bcauiiful bar-maid named Helcot.
She ga.E ID each pial
Only what vaa the bueat,
And Ibty all, inih one accord, blciceHer.
Iti the following the rhyme is only in the spelling :
Out hired mas samed Job
Haa got a plaaaul job,
And atow il In iba mow.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Ai walk he uk» <hc lend :
In the following exercise on eui the odd lines rhyme with ihou, how, ihe
even line* wilh though, iitow. (These fuur words show Ihe power of silent
lelteis, (he addiiiuii (hereof changing words of three sounds into words of
two.)
Ow.
" Now, hoyt," (he hinia uld, " there'll be ■ row
Ydu may, if (h« the >un ig not loo'low,
Which dDH. n're off, wilh uron, rod, liid bow.
The confuaioii of English sounds and letters was well illustrated b; him who
spelled cajte wiihuut one correct leMer,— ibi»^^,— yet spelled it phonetically,
and, more Ihan that, approximated far more closely to its original form than
our present cortuplion. In 1659 a pamphlet was issued " On the nature of
the diink kauhi."
Madame, de Stael once told an ill-^vored gentleman thai he abused (he
masculine privilege uf ugliness. In the same way it is possible to abuse (he
Anglo-Saxon privileac of misspelling. General Herkimer, of Rcvolationary
fame, war. a signal instance. There is an autograph letter of his in Ihe
library <^f the Oneida Historical Society, at Utica, New York. It is a unitjue
document, and sheds so suggestive a light upon the character of Ihe education
possessed by General Herkimer, and upon the strange and mongrel Dutch-
English ianguage which was in current use in (he Mohawk Valley during Ihe
Kevolulion. that it is worth quoting :
«eT yu wjLl order your bodellgeu do iderdti InmEedeedeh do fan! eduRrd wid for doa pro.
heiEhkeln
:ely to F
e battle.
peril. From [your] friend, Nicholas
at the dais." The order is written in a bold but blind hand, wilh n
tuation-tnarks and no capital letters except where indicaled above.
The apparently studied felicity of ibe following seems (o mark them out as
labricalions ;
Sur my waif ii dad tad nou to be berried tamoiro. Ai Wuddt klok. V dom walr lo
dii Ihe Hole— hi Ihe ilde of my 100 uiber nl&— L« ii be deep.
Cer. Vol* 0bli(* me uT yole kum 110 « me I hev ■ B»] Kowd em Hill in ffly Bow UOb
■n he* lou uy Happy Tlghi.
Vel Ihey are not a bit happier than this, which the Mrdical Nnoi gives as a
genuine letter received by an urban physician from a country brother :
Deu dock 1 bar e paabuni whoe phiiicol unea iboee Ihat ibe windpipe wu ulCAUed of.
loaS HANDY-BOOK OF
lube is EoD^ I hav giT hym evry thing wiihnul effecki hie fathrr ia wdlbjr ODcnbJe uid
■"'*"*"■ Fa I be » Jin HCIivr mFmbH of the M, E. chinch uid god Doa I doDI wmal to bwH
hym. whjii ihall I due. ani. buy rciiuiH nule. youn in oeede.
, And we do not believe that any mere unaided wit could have produced lo
ttaiiling a sign as tlus in a German lager'beer saloon :
B06ID>VSM
Bplnstar. The manual occupation of spinning, no indispensable ii
times, rumtshed the juiisprudence of Germany and England with a ti
distinguish the female line.— ;/u us : and a memento of its former it
Gtill remains in the appellation of spinster. King Alfred speaks of his male
and female descendants by the terms of the spear side and the spindle side \
and German jurisprudence still divides families into male and female by the
titles of JcAaKTftuififn, "sword -members," vxA .spUlmagat or sfnndtlmagtn,
" spindle- members. The term "spinster," a single woman, in law, is now
the common title by which an unmarried woman is designated. "Generosa,"
says Lord Cole, "is a good addition for a gentlewoman; and if such be
termed sptntUr she may abate the writ." This, however, is not so now, for
the word spinster is applied in England, as well as here, to all unmarried
women, of whatever ranit or condition.
SpiiM— HeaveiL Wordsworth has the following fine line in "The
Excursion" (Boole vi.) :
Spina «4koac"^lcBi fibfapoinu laheav^/'
The quotation -marks are in acknowledgment of Coleridge's prior claim :
Ad inallnclive taue loicbee men lo build Ihcir chuiche* id fUl countriaa whh apiR ateeplea,
whidi, u they cannoi be reTnTcd to any oibcr obieci. poiat ■■ with ailent finnr to Iba ally
■Ddalara.— CoukiDGi: Tkt Frintl.Va tt.
Gautier has avowedly taken Wordsworth's line and expanded it into a
sonnet- The sensitive literary conscience which both Wordsworth and Gau-
tier have shown in this connection makes us trust that Coleridge was original.
Certainly the likeness between him and Pope is not sufficient nir a charge of
plagiarism:
Like ■ tall bul°y* Ma'ih'e'bHld, aoiTuei.
Prior, also, has the following line ;
Hicac pointed SEHiea that wound the ambianl aky.
Milton, in his Epitaph on Shakespeare, says that that poet shall not lie
Under ■ atar-ypointinc pynnid.
;i:,vG00gk"
UTBRARY CURIOSITIES.
Shakespeare hhnaelf sayi, —
Von uwen, wboK wwiton topi da buH Ibc do
And a far-off resemblance li
"caput inter nubila ci
book of the "iEneid."
Bpl«ndld« mvildBX (I,, "Splendidly mendadoiM"). The lie that is
mure or leas applauded is an old trick of literature. More or less direct
commendations of pious frauds abound in the classics. Thus, .Cschylus,
"God is not averse td deceit in a holy cause" {Frag. Inctri., ii.) j Euripides,
"Tocommilanoble deed of treachery in a just cause" (HHtna, 1633); Qcero,
" Mentiri gloriose ;" and Horace, in the still more famous phrase, —
Nobilii evum. " """ """"
Odbt, 111., al.,)s.
Horace's lines refer to Hype rm nest ra. Her father, Danaus, bearing from
an oracle that he would be slain by his son-in-law, made his fifty daughters
Koinisc that they would slay their bridegrooms, the fifty sons of £gyplus.
ypertnneslra alone broke her vow : she was imprisoned, but the people de-
dared her innocent.
Veiy simitar are Tasso's lines in "Jerusalem Delivered" {ii. aa) :
The laudatory reference is to a lie told by Sophronia. The Saracen king,
acting on a renegade Christian's advice, had Iratisferred a statue of the Virgin
Mary, which was what we should now call a mascot, from a church to the
mosque. Next day the statue disappeared, and the king threatened lo kill
all Ine Christians unless the culprit were found. Thereupon Sophronia, a
virgin, falsely declared that she was guill*, and gave herself up to execution.
In the Talmud is a curious story which has its variants in many legends
of the mediseval saints. The Roman government had forbidden the wearing
of phylacteries, on pain of death. Nevertheless, the Rabbi Elisseus continued
10 wear one. Hearing that a lictor had been sent to arrest him, he hastily
unbound it and concealed it in his hand. " Whit have you in your hand r'
asked the lictor. " I have the wings of a dove." answered Elisius ; and, lo 1
when the iictor insisted on his opening his hand, the wings uf a dove were
actually found therein. This, it will be seen, is substantially the same sloir
as that uf St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who was charitable against her husband's
wish, and who. meeting him when her apron was filled with bread for the
poor, declared, on inquiry, that it contained roses. He insisted on examining
II, and the loaves were miraculously changed to roses.
A very touching lie is that of Desdemona [OtAdIt, Act v., Sc 3), who,
when Emilia cries, —
Ob, wbo lutli done thlf dnd t—
answers from \tfx couch, —
and dies.
In modern Uteratare a &mous lie is '><«t of Sister Sulpice in Victor Hugo's
" Les Mis^ables." When Jean Valje..n is arrested, she saves him by the
one falsebood of bei life :
Goo^k"
HANDY-BOOK OF
"The Two
Orphans." In (he scene at the Salp^triire.'Sceur Genevieve biin^ down
the house by a similar subterfuge which tenders liberty lo the innocent
" II is my first lalsehood," murmurs Sceur Genevieve.
" And it will be counted to your credit there above, u a work of charity,"
Mys Kenriette, softly.
In Mrs. Gaskell's novel of " North and South," and tn Hiss Proctor's
" Milly's Expiation," the heroines, both true and noble women, telt a lie in
court to save their loveti from death. Poor Madame Delphine, in Cable's
novelette, is a quadroon ; consequently her daughter cannot legally many a
white man. But the old lady swears Olive is not her daughter, and diet
at The confessional, acknowledging her lie, on the eve of the girl's marriage.
Thackeray's Little Sister, though she knows that she was legally married to
Philip's father, denies it in order that Philip may not be deprived of his in-
On the other hand, Jeanie Deans, in '
and the agony it costs her to tell the truth.
Spoke In Us ^rheel, a phrase which seerna in danger of losing its origi-
nal signification, to " thwart." to " obstruct," and is now used in the sense of
to "assist." When solid wheels were used, the driver was orovided with a
pin or spoke, which he thrust into one of the three holes made to receive it,
to skid the cart when it went diiwn-hill. Trara-wagons used in collieries and
carts used by railway-navvies still have their wheels "spoked" in order to
skid them. In a memorial of "God's Last Twenty- Nine Years' Wonilers in
England for its Preservation and Deliverance from Popery and Slavery,"
published in 1689, the author, speaking of the zeal exerted by the Parliament
of James II. against arbitrary government, tells us that "two very good acts
had lately been procured for the benefit of the subject :" one " for disbanding
the army," the other "a bill of hal>eas corpus, whereby the government could
not any lunger detain men >n prison at their pleasure as formerly ; both which
bills were such spokes in their char lot- wheels that made them drive much
Spook, an Americanism for a ghost, a spirit
PhiiolngLcally, of coufk, Ihcrt ii no difficulty about the muter. The Greek wurd fv;it
ia fAmiUar m niAny people who do not know Greek, jtnd Iht ingenioiu theory hat b*eii pot
forwArd thai the GerEnam Ihougbl well to adopt it into their Lingueae, and^ having a well-
grounded dulike to beginniog a word wkIb/4. they almply tranapoaed the cooaonaTiia. Man-
over, they tlightjy apecialLled the meaniug. as eonatantly happen! when a word ia tKirrowed
by one tuigiiage front another. I'hua ^va^, soul, or apirit, became Sink. apJrii, appadiion.
or thoat. Tinalty, the inhabilanta oT the^eatem Stmiea or America, in oriTer to prove the
coiipopoliuui liberality which la one of their proiidevt boMata, [eami Lhe word frooi iheir
generic word for
B);)ootiy. a colloquialism for eflcminale, tilly ; also by extension applied to
a |>erson in love, probably from the custom of nicknaming the lowest junior
optime in the mathematical examination at Cambridge University the " spoon,"
and presenting him with a wooden spoon. In archery matches, in England,
the one who has the lowest score is rewarded with a spoon of horn or wood.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 103T
Spread «B^e, a «lang term of various applications. At Cambridge
Uiiiveraity, England, it mean!> a foirl opened duirn the back and grilled.
Among sailors 11 is applied 10 a passenger 01 olhet land-lubbei caught in the
rigging and made 10 pay a foifeit. Bui the meaning Chat now overshadows
alT others niakes ii an adjective to denote, gpecilically, (he brag and bluster
of a certain kind of American oratory. It originated, of course, in America,
and is an allusion lo Ihe eagle with outstretched wings which forms the
national emblem, and which used to be celebrated with special extravagance
by Fourth 'of- July speakers. The noun tpread'eagleism is formed from the
Bqnattm- Sovereigtity, the popular
in ihe doctrine, first formulated by Lewis Cass in 1847, t
be kept oat of the national legislature, and left to the people
federacy in their respective local governments." The doctrine served on the
one hand as a refuge foi the Northern Democrats against the demand of the
Southern slaveocracy that Ihe right of property in slaves should be maintained
everywhere, even in places whete slavery was tabooed and regardless of the
wishes of the Inhabitants of the localities where the slave-owner might choose
to take it, — 1 demand which received Ihe countenance of the Supreme Court
in the Dred Scott decision, — and 011 the other hand saved them from going
the length of the Wilmot Proviso, moved as an amendment to the proposed
treaty with Mexico, by David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, in 1846, and reintro-
duced in 1848, prohibiting slavery in any lenilotji which might be acquired
fiom Mexico. The nickname "Squatter Sovereignty" was first derisively
applied to ihe doctrine by Calhoun.
Btag«, All th« world's a. One of the most familiar passages In Shake-
speare is the soliloquy put into the mouth of the melancholy Jaques in " As
You Like It" {Act 11., Sc 7), which begins,—
Alt Ihe world'* a lUgfr,
This comparison of the mimic world of the stage to the greater world of lite
frequently reoirs in Shakespeare !
Oul,<»t,bricrcin<n«l
SmUnt
Told by an idiol. run of sound B»d fiiry.
M,^.lk. Ka T., Sc. s.
1 hold I>u wcrld but u <he world. Gniiano,—
Amuge vb<rc evcy liun moK play » pa".
And mine 1 md om.
Mrrchaml cf Vr.il., Ad. 1., Sc. I.
fotind also
predecessors
Th> world'i X H*(t on which all pani an playtd.
T.,St. ..
The world'l a tbciln, Ihc nrth a gtage.
Wbleb God Olid Njture do wiih aoor. fill.
Thomj,5 Hbvwqdd; AflpaMA
bkf«t=.wl.n
ga ployed Ihelr
ndiowhicbtli
■ : QftitHtll
I lake the world to be bat ai a •[>(>>
Where iKt-mukI mm do play tlKir penoBagc.
Du Babtas : DiaUfitt Jifum Htratliiia ukJ .
Google
I031 HANDY-BOOK OF
Full eleven centaries before Shakespeare, Palladas, the Greek grammaijan
and epigrammatist, had written, —
Thit lib > thuiK « well may oil,
Wbse eireiy actgr mnn piifem with HI,
Or Uagit ii (hiodfb, and BHkv ■ luce of bII,
letaphor is made by Heine in hU " ReJM-
" Du lublinicau ridicuU U ify a fu'uH fai, MaDAUKI
" But lite is in reality so lerriblv Eerioas that it would be Insuppoilable were
it not for these unions of the pathetic and the comic, as our poets well know.
Aristophanes only exhibits the most harrowing forms of human madness in
ihe laughing mirror of wit, Goethe only presumes to set forth the fearful pain
of thought comprehending its own nothingness in the doggerel of a puppet-
show, and Shakespeare puts the most agonizing lamentations on the misery
of the world in the mouth of a foot, who meanwhile rattles his cap and bells
In all the nervous luSeiing of pain.
"They have all learned from the great First Poet, who, in his World Tragedy
in thousands of acts, knows how to carry humtr to the highest point, as we
tee every day. After the departure of the heroes, the clowns and gracietoi
enter with their baubles and lashes ; and after the bloody scenes of the Revo-
lution there came waddling on the stage the fal Bourbons, with their stale
jokes and tender 'Intimate' b<m mots, and the old noblesse with their
starred laughter hopped merrily liefore ihem, while behind all swept the
pious Capuchins with candles, cross, and banners of the Church. Yes, even
in the highest pathos of Ihe World Tragedy, bits of fun slip in. It may be
that Ihe desperate republican, who, like a Brutus, plunged a knife to hu
heart, first smelt it to see whether some one had not split a herring with it —
and on this great stage of the world all passes exactly the same as on our
beggarly boards. On it, loo, there are tipsy heroes, kings who forget their
pans, scenes which obstinately stay up in the air, prompters' voices sounding
above everything, danseuses who create astonishina effects with their lejgs,
and, above all, cestumtt which are and ever will be the main thing. And high
in Heaven, in the first row of the boxes, sit the lovely angels, and keep their
lorgnrlUt on us poor sinners commedianiiing here down below, and the
blessed Lord himself sits seriously in his splendid seat, and perhaps finds it
dull, or calculates that this theatre cannot be kept up much longer, because
this one gets too high s salary, and Ihat one loo little, and thai they alto-
gether play &r too indiBerently."
' i°n°i
like the game of chess ; while the game lasts, each piece has its own particular
office, but as soon as the game is over all the pieces are mixed up together
and cast higgledy-piggledy into a *■-" ■"!':'■*■ "* '•i' '^- -i-™ Qin^.h^ «>!■
casting out dead bodies into Ihe t
, of Tennyson's hero in "Maud"? —
Thupu^hB uToff ihe'boucT, ind'^ben cUr Hcatd?
But before Tennyson, before Cervantes, the same figure had been Died by
Omar Khayyam in his Kubiiyat, LXIX. :
But belplCH Pl«n of Ihc Game Ht plan
Upon ibb CliKkirAoard of Nichn andDiyi.
HllbR and Ihrthci mDva, and chrclu, and alaya.
And ODC bv □« back hi Ihe Cl«« laya.
^Fa^iraU'i IramlatuM.)
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1033
Stain npon mud. Kivarol said of som« one Tcmarkable for the nnclean-
liness of his person, '* He would make a stain upon mud." TMs ia obviously
the original of Ihe common American description of ■ negro u to black that
coal would make awhile mark upon him. Talleyrand describe* igteat meta-
physician as a man who excelled in writing with black ink on a black ground.
Stalwarta, the name given to a taction of the Republican party. It
arose ont of the action of a portion of the delegates to the Republican National
Convention in 1880. to the number of three hundred and nine, under the
leadership of Roscoe Conkling of New York, holding persistently {stalwartly)
to the nomination of General Grant for a third term, to the end of the ballot-
ing, when James A. Garlield was finally nominated by a coalescence of all
the other factions against the Stalwarts. In order to propitiate them, Chester
A. Arthur, who was affiliated with lliem. was selected as the party's candidate
for the Vice- Presidency. Notwithstanding this fad, the contest between the
factions was extremely warm during the short incumbency by Garfield of the
Presidential chair, and the quarrel led finally to the resignation of the New
York Senators, Conkling and Piatt. The Senators were disappointed in
their expected "vindication" through a re-election by the New York Legis-
lature. The Republicans of New York who supported the administration,
and Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of Stale, who was the head of the opposition
to the resigning Senators, were, in consequence of their failure to stand by
the Senators and to re-elect them, dubbed " Half- Breeds." The assassination
of Garfield and Ihe succession of Arthur, a Stalwart, combined with the lat-
ter's discreel conduct, seemed on the sutface to heal the breach. Neverthe-
less, at Ihe ensuing election the Republican candidate for Governor was de-
feated by the enormous majoritj^ of nearly two hundred thousand voles. The
withdrawal of Senator Conkling from polilical life in 1S84 aided materially in
restoring union between the coniesiants, but the distinction of Republicans in
New York into Half-Breeds and Stalwarts continued for many years, and
ceased only with the ascendency ofex-SenatoT PlatI in Ihe government of the
parly machine of the State.
Stammerer, an epithei bestowed on two kings who were afflicted with
imperfect utterance, — Michael Ihe Stammerer, on Ihe throne of (he Eastern
Cxsars, and Louis the Stammerer, who was crowned Western Emperor by
the Pope at Troyes.
Stepping-atoDea. A passage which has aflbrded much room for inge-
nious comment is the first stanza in Tennyson's " In Heroorian :"
I held h iniili, wiifa him who tingi
or Ibeil dad Hlva !□ higher Ihuigi.
Now, in "The Ladder of St. Augus
A Uddw, If wt'wiil but ™d""
BaMih mr Ita eicta deed of ihuie.
Once the similarity between Ihese two stanzas had been pointed out, it did
not lake long for con)eclure to decide that LongfiilloiT was the poei whom
Tennyson was praising. But conjecture reasoned without dales. Longfel-
low's poem was published a short time after "In Memoriam." Was il St
Augustine, then, who sang 10 one clear harp in divers tones ? The descrip-
tion certainly did not seem very appropriate. Fmally the question was set-
tled by Tennyson himself. So we are told by Rev. Alfred C&tty, anihor of a
ax 87
Low
Coutitr
cook
9 have
OWII
jui«."
1034 HANDY-BOOK OF
commentar]' on "In Hcmoriam." who wrole u follows to Ifala and Qutritt :
"The poet alluded to is Goethe. I know this from Lord Tennyson himself,
althouEh he could not identify the passage ; and when 1 submitted to him a
email book of mine on his marvellous poem, he wrote, ' It is Goethe's creed,'
on this very passage."
St««r In their avra giBaaa, an ancient phrase, common to the early lit-
erature of most countries, which had fallen into uniegretled desuetude when
it was revived in the savage mol atliibuled to Bismarck during the si^^ of
Paris, 1870-71 ; " I am going to let Paris stew in hei own grease." So fur
back as Chaucer we tina, —
Bui ccnilnly 1 latit folli iDch chen
Tbll in hit aim gm 1 nude him he.
Tki Wifi c/ Balk-i Prtamili.
IS of Windsor" (Act ij.. St i), speaks of
se.' The Duke of Alva declared that the
:> be stewed in their own li
Still-Iiunt, a term applied in political parlance to an election conducted
without any great outward show of activity, but with much quiet, not to say
underhand, work. It is also applied to the proceedings of one desiring to
become a candidate for an t^ce, who, while openly pretending and even
declaring that he does not seek it, is furthering his plans in secret In its
earlier meaning it was first applied to the alleged methods of Samuel J. Til-
den in his Presidential candidacy in 1S76.
BtUton Hero, the nickname given to Cooper Thornhill, an innkeeper at
Stilton, in Huntingdonshire. A relative of his, Mrs. Paulet, was the first to
make the celebralnl Stilton cheese, and it was he that introduced it to the
market He was a famous rider, and it is recorded of him that three limes
he Tode to London (seventy. one miles) in eleven hours. He also gained ■
good deal of local celebrity by winning the cup at Kimbolton with a mare
which he had picked up accidentally on the road, and that, too, after having
previously ridden her twelve miles.
Stone. Leave no mtoae nntnxned, — i.e., try every expedient. The
earliest recorded form of this colloquialism is probably to be sought in the
reply of the Delphic oiacle to the question of Polycrates, how he could find
the treasure rumored to have been buried by Mardonius on the battle-field of
Plana. The answer was, "Turn every stone."
Stool of repentanoe, a stool which was placed in front of the pulpit in
Scotland, and on which persons who had incurred censure for an ecclesiastical
offence were obliged to sit during service. After the service the " penitent"
was expected to stand np on Ihe stool while the minister administered a pub-
lic rebuke. This form of censure was sometimes practised even during the
present century.
Stornello Teriea are verses in which certain words are harped upon and
turned about and about. They are common among the Toscan peaunla.
The word is from lortiart, to " return :"
nudtlHred
I'll tell bim the gnen and the red uid Ihe w
Would look weUby Ui (ide u ■ iwordJuiel
>bd^:
Coogk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. lojj
I'll Ull him thi red uid ihe whiu ud ihe enoi
li thr priie thai wt play foe, a priiE wc will wla.
Storm-uid-StresB Period, (he name given to a period of great intel-
leclual convulsion in the hisloty of Geimln Iheralure which developed in
the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It was marked by the slreuuoua
and successful efforts by which the parlicipalors broke the fetters of conven-
tionalism in all spheres of inlelleclual activity. Ii received its name from
Klinger's drama " Sturm und Drang" (" Storm and Stress"), and among its
epoch-making works are Goethe's •' Goeu von Bcrlichingen" and Schiller's
" Robbers," while the former, in his "Sorrows of Werther," represents its
sentimental and lachrymose features %
The wisdom and ejiirivagiuict of th* age unlied In one tlream. Th* maxeriy crilicism
■hology. SU redval of ballad liieraliirc and parodla of Rouneau, all woiked in one cebel-
Wiih the young mlurc »»ni»d a compound of volcanoa apd mocmlighl. To be InHugeni
and Hnilmenul, eipioiive and lachrymoM, were the Inie signs of geniiu.— G. H. Lbwbs^
Gieai, Indeed, was the woe and fury of Iheie power-men (Kraft-inlinaer). Beauty la Iboi
mind Hem«d synooyDioui for itrengih. All pauion poeiical. so il were but fiefce enough.
Their bead moral virtue wa» Pride -, iheir beBu-ideal of manhoDd was some transcript of Mll-
•^ '^' ^ - • Bolingbroke's plan, atid instead of "palroniiing Provi-
d dire€;tty the opposite, rajring
enihtnlied free virtue, and Wll^
mched hands or souDdiog shield! burling defi-
: Lt/r^ScMMir.
Stormy Petrel of FoUtloa, a loMjuet of John Scott, Eail of Eldon
(1751-1838), because he was in Ihe habit of hastening up to London when
any rumor of a dissolulion of the Cabinet reached him. He did so at the
death of Lord Liverpool, under the expectation that the king would call on
him 10 form a ministry, but the task was assigned to Canning. When
Canning died, he was in full expectation of being sent for, but the king ap-
plied to Lord Goderich. Again, when Lord Goderich resigned, Eldon felt
sure of being sent for, but the king asked Wellington to form a ministry.
Bbair, Men of. In earlier times the procuring of witnesses li
iseives by false swearing was more common than now, and men
y found to give any evidence upon oath thai might be icquired of them.
themselves by false swearing w
easily found to give any eviaen
In England it was a common thing for these mercurial wretches to walk
openly in Westminster Hall with a straw in one of Iheir shoes to signify that
they wanted employment as wiliiesses : hence originated the expression " He
is a man of straw. These false witnesses can boast of a high antiquity. A
writer in (he Quarterly Revieto, describing the ancient courts in Greece, says,
" We have all heard of a race of men who used in former days to ply about
our own courts of law, and who, from their manner of making known Iheir
occupation, were recognized by the name of stravshoes. An advocate or
lawyer who wanted a convenient witness knew by these signs where lo find
one, and Ihe colloquy between the parties was brief. ' Don't you remember V
said the advocate. The parly looked a( (he fee and gave no sign ; bul ihc
fee increased, and the powers of memory increased with it : 'To be sure I
do.' ' Then come in(o court and swear iL' And straw-shoes went into court
and swore it Athens abounded in straw-shoes." There are plenty of " straw-
shoes" still, but they do not wear their distinguishing mark. They devote
their talents now chiefly to furnishing bail wilhou( the necessary qualifica-
(ions, and "straw-bail" has become a ^miliar term in our courts.
;i:,vG00gk"
HANDY-BOOK OP
In " A« Vou Like It" occurs another rererence to a wounded deer :
A poor Kqil««f ted HRg,
Thu rron the huDlcr'i un had u'en i hurt.
Ali iL, Sc. I.
Both these passages may have been in Cowper'a mind when he deacribed
himseir thus ;
I •**% ■ itrickcn deer ihil IeA Iht htrd
Long klnce : with mimr vi mttdw d«p infixed
My punting tide w«i chirged, whtn 1 withdrew
o Kc > tmnqtu in ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^
Shelley has the same figure ;
A herd- abandoned deer uruck by the huDCer'a dart.
A further parallelism is not devoid of inleresL In " Aa Vou Like II," after
the lines already quoted, the poet, speaking through the melancholy Jaques,
goes on to describe the agony of the sequestered stag :
The wteicbed aninul hnved (bub luch gnnna.
That theii duchatge did juntcb hii leathern coat
Thomson paints a stag in the same situation :
Sick, teiv* on hit baan,— he standi ■( bay;
The 1^ round lean run down hia dappled laca J
He groana in anguith.
Dryden paints a hare caught in the toils:
So have I teen aome Tearfat hare malnlalo
A coune, till tired before the dog abe lay :
Who. Btreicbed behind her, pania upon tbc i^ain,
With hia loll'd loivuc he faintly licka hii prey.
Hit wann breath blowa her (tii up aa ihe lEa ;
And iDoka back i* him with beaeeching eyet.
A nnut MiraMtit, StauBi ijt-ja.
D'Israeli, who first pointed out these latter similarities, makes a criticism
which few, perhaps, will agree with : "Of these three pictures the besttcking
lyt! of Drvden perhaps is more pathetic than Ihc big reund ttan, certainly
borrowed by Thomson from Shakespeare, because the former expression has
more passion, and is therefore mure poetical. The sixth line tn Dryden is
perhaps exquisite for its imitative harmony, and with peculiar felicity paints
the action itself Thomson adroitly drops the ittnccttU noit, of which one
word seems to have lost its original signiticalion, and the other offends now
by its familiarity. TA^ daptUd face is a term more picturesque, more appro-
priate, and mure poetically expressed." (Curiesities of LiUrature: Peftital
Imilntiom. )
Stndlsa. Send v» « bi«bop who has finlahod his stadlM. A chest-
nut which ever; "ow and then makes the round of the English and American
papers sets forth that a farmer, finding hi* bishop always engaged in bit
Google
LITERABY CURIOSITIES. 1037
studicE when he endeavored to ue him, finally expressed an Impatient wish
that "the next bishop Ihe queen did appoint would be one whi> had finished
his studies." Now, this is only an adaptation of a famous French tale thus
narrated by Sainte-Beuve in "Canseriesdu Lund!" (1S51). vol. ii. p. ijS, of Ihe
famous Huet, Bisho]) of Avranches until 1721 ; " He used tu pass many hours
in his library, and when he was sought on business the answer always was,
'Manseigneur is at his studies.* This caused the people of Avranches to
say, though otherwise full of respect for him, ' We will pray the king lo give
us a bishop who has finished his studies.' " Hence, Sainle-Beuve continues,
there sprang up a proverbial saying, generally used in the bishop's country
of Lower Normandy. When a man is absent in mind, dreamy, — in short,
when his wits arc wool-gathering, — his neighbors rally him in these words :
" Qu"est-ce que I'as done ? T'es lout evSque d'Avranches ce matin" (" What's
the matter with you 1 You're for all the world the Bishop of Avranches this
morning").
Stoffsd Piophet, an epithet which the New York Suh sought to fasten
on Grover Cleveland just prior lo his nomination as a candidate for the
Presidency in 1S93. This phonetically recalls that other nickname, the
Stuffed Captain, which in 1872, 01 Iheieabouls, became almost an issue in
To the perplexity of the outsider, the papers, and especially the comic
papers, suddenly burst out into allusions to the Stuffed Captain, whom the
pTi^ressive press made the butt of humorous but none the less violent at-
tacks. At last it turned out that in all Prussian budgets there figured a cap.
tain ol the First Regiment of Foot-Guards, for whose pay the estimates were
charged with one thousand three hundred thalers. though the officer's name
was not to be found in the army list. The progressists scented in the item
one of the numerous false pretences by which the government was supposed
to obtain funds. Finally, the Stuffed Captain in this case proved to be no
other than King William himself, by his imperial dignity captain of his own
Ftisi Foot-Guards. He Hid not, however, packet the money fur his own Use,
but paid it regularly towaids the support of the tallest men in that company
oF giantsi for which, like Frederick the Great, he had a constitutional ten-
Bttunp, Ctaing on the, a political Americanism signifying a speech- making
tour lo influence votes pending an election. "The stump" is the Ameri-
can eq^uivalent to Ihe English " platform." In the early history of America
a political orator would address his audiences from any convenient point of
vantage ; in Ihe newly-setlled regions, just cleared of Ibresl. it might fre-
quently be a tiee-slurop. Hence the name "stump speech" was ^ven to
any political harangue. Other derivatives are " stump-speaker" and " slump-
ing the Stale," — Ihe last phrase meaning lo make the circuit of the State and
deliver political speeches, (See Speli.binder.)
Style. The Btyl« 1b the man hinuelf (Fi., "Le style, c'est I'homme
mSme"), a phrase used by Buffon in his reception address at Ihe French
Academy, 1753 ; "Only well-wiitten works will descend lo posterity. Ful-
ness of knowledge, interesting facts, even useful inventions, are no pledges
of immortal ily, for they may Tie employed by more skilful hands: they are
outside the man ; the style is the man himself." Another version makei
Button sav, "the style is of the man" ("le style csl de I'homme"), but there
seems to be no reason to reject the more common reading. Before Buffon
F<!nelon had said that "a man's style is nearly as much a part of him as his
physiognomy, his figure, the beating of his pulse, — in short, as any part of
87»
1038 HANDY-BOOK OF
hJK being which is least sabjected to the action of th« will." In hit " Atiatonf
o{ Melancholy: Democritus to the Reader," Burton bai, "It it most (me,
ilylKS vimm arguit. — our style bewrays us," — the Latin being very neirlr
Buffoii's phrase. Goethe means the same thing when be says, " A writer^
Dlyle is the counterproof of bis character."
BbIIm Hy> the itrlc to iht man hlnueir Villcmain 1> ■ llviBf rcAitukm of ihii muim:
ha alric ii Ixuiliful, robugl, uul cleiiiil]i.— Huhe ; Tktu^t and Fiukui.
SnaTiter In modo, fottltor in re [L., " Gentle in manner, vigorous in
' ' luthorsbip. In many of the writings of
assages which closely approximate this,
^ from a treatise " IndtiBtiix ad curandos
E morbos," published at Venice in 1606, by Aquaviva, the general of
the Jesuits:
Form in fine Auequcndo. et iiiavei in Tno4o asscquendi bmus (" Let us Ik vlgoTom ia
Aiuiaing our ohjcci, and mild in the meaiu ihereto").
But the source oF it is the Wisdom of Solomon, ch. viii. v. I, where it is " Sapj-
entla attingit ergo a line usque ad tinem forliter et disponit omnia auaviter"
(" Wisdom reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth she
order all things"). There is here no distinction in the application of (he
precept ; bnt'St. Bernard has " Al(]ue ita per omnia imitatur s^ientiam, dum
el vitiis resistil forliler et in consrientia requiescit suaviter." (Dt Grot, rt Lib.
Ar.\ Thesuaviler in modois recommended by many popular proverbs, — i.g.:
Parole douce, el main au boimel,
(" Cenile worda. hat In hand, curt nathinf , ud ue acceptable.")
The saying comes from Henry IV. of France, the merry Henry of Navarre.
This king was a terrible libertine, and not wise as a sovereign, yet his sub-
jects adored him. Like other libetlines, he was the pink of courtesy. This
£ilr saying of Henry of Navarre's may be matched by the Spanish proverb
" Cortesfa de boca iniicho vale y poco cuesta" (" Lip-courteay is worth much
and costs little"). No one who has not been through Iberian lands and mixed
with high and low in them can have an idea of the importance of Ibis brief
maxim. The Spaniards are a gracious people, — we Ansla-Saxons cannot
compare with ihem in the matter of civility, — but their civility must be met
with civility, or it quickly develops into hatred of the most bitter kind, which
we all know as the outcome of a mark of contempL
Sabllme. Thero la bat one step from tile aabllme to the ildlon-
loiw, su said Napoleon in tSlZ. The phrase will live as long as he will ;
yet in the form which Tom Paine gave it in his "Age of Reason" (Paiii,
1795) it would never have caught the popular fancy. "One step above the
sublime," says Paine, " makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridicu-
lous makes the sublime again," Slil) less likely to take the public ear wa*
the expression used by Deslatd, who dle<l In 1757 : " 1 distrust those senti-
ments that are too fat removed from hand, and whose sublimity is blended
with ridicule, which too are as near one another as extreme wisdom and
folly." Coleridge in his "Table-Talk" speaks of a passage being "the sub-
lime [lashed to pieces by cutting too dnse with the fiery four-in-hand around
the corner of nonsense ;" aiul Edward Lord Oxford, according to a corre-
spondent of Notts aHii Querifi, wrote in his manuscript commoitp I ace-book,
"The magnificent and the ridiculous are so near neighbors that they touch
each other." All these various authors tecogniied the hct that there was
but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but they just failed of the happj
jriirase that might have given their (hough( immortality.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1039
SabUme Forte, a name for Constantinople which comes 10 us through
the French La Porte Sublime, " the sublime door or gate." In a fit of
Oriental seir-gralulalion. Mohammed 11. (1451-1481) styled his capital "The
Lofty [or Sublime] Uate of the Koyal I'ent." This was translated into Italian
as lla Porta Sublima, and the term has since been adopted by all Western
nations. Gate is a metonyme (or court or place of justice. In the East
justice has always been administered in the gate either of the city or of the
king's palace. The Trojan councils were held in the gates of Piiam's palace,
'n Xenophon's " Cyropaedia," ch. viii., the court of the King of Persia is desig-
nated "the Gate." The Gate and Key at the Alhambra probably meant
the place where justice was unlocked. And even in London, Newgale still
testifies to the connection between gales and the justice there administered,
for the Old Bailey stands annexed. Many nations used to write their laws
upon gales. Peter is the rock, and the gales of hell shall not prevail against
Snokw State, a sobriquet for Illinois. As good an eiptanalion as any is
the following. The titsi settlements of Noilhcrn Illinois and Southern Wis-
consin were those in and around what is now Grant County, Wisconsin. The
lead-diggings were a great attraction I0 the adventurous frontiersmen, as
the galena n)und.a ready market and was paid for in hard cash. With the
approach of winter, many of the miners went south to their Illinois homes.
They returned in spring when the slieams were thawing out and the
"suckers." the first luh ai the season, were running plentifully. As years
passed on, it became a common by-word that " the Suckers had come back,"
and so the name gradually fastened on all Illinois people. On the other
hand, those who braved the Wisconsin winters, or had no family ties to take
them away, spent their lime as best they could, hunting, trapping, etc., and
roughed it In primitive quarters. They found shelter in caves and dug-outs
and miDing-drifis till spring brought them also out of their holes. Their
returning companions would Jokingly say thai " the Badgers had come out."
So it happened that, though Illinois does nut specially abound in " suckers,"
and "badgers" are rather scarce in Wisconsin, the iwo commonwealths are
still respectively known as " the Sucker Slate" and " the Badger Stale."
BniL One of the oldest and most universal metaphors in literature is thus
restated by Bacon :
Tbe lUD, wluch puHlh Ihrough poltudom and itself Knksiiu u pun u before. — AdvaiKt-
mtni lif LiarMingt Book ii.
An early a
Erasmus; " Diogenes being cl ^ .
stynke and all vnclenelynesse, he saied. ' Why, the soone also doeth creepe
vnder houses of office, and yet is not therewith defoyl'd nor embrewed. or
made durlie." {Apophthegms, translation of lUI. fol. 14a.) Erasmus probably
tanlly reappearing in literature. Here are a few random
Spiriulit cnim virtui vcrmmenti Jlm en ut hix : et^ per immuDdoe muueat, noii ioqiiinutir
("lae iiHritUK] virtue of m HCnment b like light: HLtEoiuhit pmves ■Along ihc impure, it ii
eol polluted").— Saint Augustihb: Wcrki, vol. lU., A Jrluumt Evang., cap. I. u. t.
The urn ihinelh upon the duDgliiU, uid b nol compted.— LtLt : Empiiui : Tlu Auatrmjr
^ Wit (Arber's reprint), p. 43.
MS ; Hftf living, cb. i.
I04O tfANDY-BOOK OF
Tnnb n u impoaiUe to be uOed by uiy otuward loucb Bi tbe HmbeuL^MliTOH ; 7X4
Dxirim aiti Dueiflint ^ Davtct.
Somelimes the moon is substituted Tot the sun. Thus, Coleridge said of
Charles Lamb, " Nothing ever left i slain on that gentle creature's mind,
which looked upon the degraded men and things around him like moonshine
on a dunghill, which shines and takes no pollution."
Btin. Hold a candle to the aon. Voung in his last Satire, addressed
to Walpole, foretells that some succeeding Muse shall tell, among other
matters,^
How commcnuiiin euh imA fmimv diun.
And bold tbeit bribing cudlc lo (he Kin.
In the verbal sense these lines have proved prophetic, for alater Muse, in the
person ofCrabbe, desciitMng the usual collection of cottage reading, mentions
the newly-bound Bible, containing, unfortunately, such comments as induce
the rustic to cavil and ask ■whyfa.nA Araif
Uh, rmlhcr giye izie commentuon plwn, ,
Who ftom the duk ud doubtful lov* (o niD,
And hold the sUmaieriDg tapn to ihv nuu
InlraJiulun tir llu F»rltk Rtpitir, 1. 1}.
But the idea of holding a tajxr or candle lo the sun is lo be found in English
poetry at least as early as the time of Henry VIII. Surrey, reproving all
who dare compare their loves with his Geraldine, speaks of them as " match-
ing candles wilh Ihe sun." Algernon Sidney, in his " Discourses on Govern-
ment," shows by many examples thai government to be Ihe best which best
provides for war \ " il more examples be wanted," he says, " they may easily
tie supplied, bul il is not necessary ' lo light a candle to (he sun.'
Stm never Beta In my domlnlona (Ger., " Die Sonne geht in meinein
Staat iiicht unier"), Ihe proud boast of Philip II., in Schiller's " Don Carlo*."
Act i., Sc 6. The germ of (he idea doubllesa is in Herodotus, Book *ii„ ch.
viii., where Xerxes says lo his staff that after making his anticipated conquests
the sun will look down on no country that borders on his. But the boast was
a common one with the Spaniards of Ihe siiicenth and seventeenth centuries,
and is iiequently alluded lo in the literature of other countries.
DiquelmoD;iici,acui
Nl uico quando Hinaiu, U wA ImBonu.
("The proud dauchlcror that monu^ to whom when il (nwl dail [etleiriien] the (da
■tevn Ku'').— GUAinn ; Patltr Fida (1590). (On the murligt of the Duke at Suror "'th
Calhflineor AiislHl.)
Why ihoukl the brave Spuieh Kildler bc^E <>» ■"
Smith: AdmrliarunU /tr Ikt UiuiptrHncid, tt,
vol. iil. p. «),
rr liiditi: EfUilt DtJiiMerj{\jaaaom,
TbiKiDiof Spain lea (rut polnilatc: he hu one Ion in the Eut ua the other la tb4
The modern Englishman likewise boasts that the sun never sets on the
British empire, to which his enemies have retorted that God is afraid to trust
ail Englishman in the dark. This boast, by the way, has beeff moil magnifi-
cently voiced by a Yankee, no less a man than Daniel Webster ;
On ihii question of principle, wh^te aciDil luflerioE wu yel (far off, tbc; (the ColODic*)
nbed ibelr Oai igilul t power to wbkb, for putpoKi of ftncn conquat ud wbjucuioa,
Rome in the height of her (lotr ie dm to be compuad,— ■ power wtiin ha* doUod ovar tha
_^ooglc
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
globe with bcr poHeuiou and inllitar;rpo*t>(*
id keeping company wijh thv houiv, circle* Uh •
tii ih« nanld ain of EogUod.— J^^ncA, May '
It haa been pointed aut that the boast applies as «el
States as to England. The sun never sets on American s
6 P.M. at Attoo Island, Alaska, M is 9.36 A.U. the next da'
Son, To wonhlp th« rialug, a figure of speech meaning to pay co
the powers that are gaining the ascendency, just as to turn your back c
disgrai
He [TilKrius] upbraided Macro, in no obacure and indiretl tcnni, " wilh fonaluni Ibg
Buna, Heaven oaimot aapport two, nor tbe eortii two nuuters,
the reply of Alexander tbe Great when Darius, before the battle of Arbela,
sent to offer lerma of peace and a division of his empire. (PlutahCH : IJftS
Kor can our England brook a doable reipi —
Of Ha/ry Percy and Jbe Prince of Walea.
Hinry IK, Pari I. Act Y., Sc. 4.
Supra Oranunatloaiii (I., " Above Grammar"), a sobriquet of SIgismund
I,, Emperor of Germany. We ate lold by Suetonius, in his treatise on
Grammar, that Marcellus the Grammarian had the temerity to rebuke even
the mighty and malevoleiil Tiberius for a solecism in grammar, and when one
Ateius Capita suggested, in a courtier-like way, that if the word were not yet
good Lalin it would be so in future, Marcellus gave Capito the lie, and, turn-
ing 10 the empcrr.t, cried, "Tu enim, Cxsar. civilatem dare potea hominibus,
verbis non poles" ("Cxsar, you can grant citizenship to men, to words you
cannot"). Hence the saying, "Cxsar non super grammaticos" ("Cxsar ia
not above the grammarians'^, which Moliitc refers to in the line " La gram-
niaire, qui sait regenter jusqu'aux rois" ("Grammar, which lords it even over
kings") (Femma Savantis, Act ii., Sc 6). But Sigismund I. disdained any
such limitations of imperial authority. At the Council of Constance (1414)
he replied to a prelate who had ventured to criticise his grammar, " Ego sum
Rex Romanus et supra grammaticam" ("1 am King of the Romans and above
grammar"),
Btiperflne Rerlevr.'a sebriqiut applied to the Saturday Rtvua by Thack-
eray in his " Roundabout Papers." Here is one of several instances. It
occurs in his paper " De Juvenlute :"
He hat a paper on hii kniei. Read the name, ll ii the Suftrfim Rnirui, It incliiKi
10 think that Mr, Dickeni ia n« ■ (me gentleman, 1ha( Mr. Thackeray » not a true gentle-
man, and that when one n pert and ihe olher arch, we, the Aedtlemen of the Sufrrjin* Sr-
;h hig unnbtnuive Race. If wi
el bypeitDeia, Ire Inow vho n
And here is how the Saturday Review hit back at Ur. Thackeray:
???
HANDY-BOOK OF
Tfaroiighoui Ihae Rctindiiiiml /Vi/m Mr. Thulrnx)' betrays the ooM
.lwc__
tiiDH he ipemkB of ut by name, — toneiiiqea, by ■ pleasiDE uroke of hiir, be calls u the
*'5uperftne Review." He a \aa\%amXA ihal his aame should be Lntroduced, even indlnctly.
uid thiii AD AmericD pap«r which loalf upon iuelf lolell iitnHe* about him tbould be laughed
penons wbo waul lo run davn an alabluhed nonunion. . , . There ii Hineihing ralhei uo-
Uliilactory In a wriler like Mi. ThaLkeiay crying out bicauic he has remarki made about
ii pnly that which Mt. Thackeray wnuld^ »e tucpose, call " lUHrfine," llicie it so Deed ta
be lore abtml i( even if (he author ihJnWa it mistaken, provided there is nothing in the caatial
remarki of the critic inconsislent with a perinanem, but lach» recoettliion oT il>e ujlhor's red
Bwalloir. One sirallovr do«a not nuUce a aommoi, a proverb of
greal antiquity. It may be found in Arislulle in this form: "One swallow
makelh nol a spring, nor a woudcock a winter." \,Eihic. Ificam., lib, i.) In
Atlica the children were given a holiday when (he swallow first appeared.
Horace connects the lephyrs of spring with the arrival of the swallow. In
Italy and S|>ain the proverb still runs, " One swallow does not make a spring."
Bui ill more northern latitudes the swallow appears later, and their proverbial
literature denies that a single swallow makes a tummer. In Northbrooke'a
"Treatise against Dancing" (1^77) the proverb reads, "One swallow pruveth
not that summer is near." Shakespeare, in " Timon of Athens," Act iii., Sc 6.
says, "The swallow follows not the summer more willing than «re your lortlship."
Birau-song. There is an old superstition thai the swan, which is voice-
les.s through life, breaks out into song at the approach of death. Plato jn Ihe
" Phaedo" (85 B.C.) makes Soctalea say, " I think men arc all wrong when they
say that the swans l>erore death sing sadly bewailing their end. They sing
then most and most sweetly, exulting [hat they ate going to their God. . . .
It because they are inspired
od things their God hath in
hat he spoke with the divine
1 about to die. The idea was doubtless derived from the
Pythagorean notion thai the souls of poets pass after death into Ihe bodies
of twans. retaining all their powers of harmony. Virgil was called Ihe Swan
of Mantua, and Shakespeare in modern classic times Ihe Swan of Avon.
But the burden of proof lies with those who assert that swans "expire with
Ihe notes uf iheir dying hymn." Scaliger ridicules Ihe idea of the poets, and
the throat and vocal o^ans of the swan are so constructed as to resemble
the trumpet more than any other musical instrument. But the ancients were
not naturalists at all in our sense of that word. The booming of the billem
was enough to satisfy Piiny thai there was a god in the marshes of Southern
Gaul who look Ihe form of an ox. One ancient notion was that Ihe music
of the swan was produced by its wings and inspired by the lephyr : Sir
Thomas Browne alludes to this :
Not in more iwelling wbileneu uils
CayUei's swan to western galea,
Slill, there is a swan which may be said lo sing, and the ancients may hava
heard it or heard of it. Mr, Nicol in his valuable account of Iceland thus
describes the Cynui musicus which frequents the rivers and lakes of Iceland :
"The wild or whistling swan with pure white plumage, five feet long and eight
;i:v,.G00gIf
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1043
feet broad with extended wings. Some remain in Iceland all wrinler, and during
tlie lung dark nighta their wild song is often heard, resembling the tones of x
violin, (hough somewhat higher and remarkably pleasaiiL" Henderson says
of the river Nurdura in Iceland, "The bleakness of ihe surrounding rocits
was greatlj enlivened by Ihe number of swans that were swimming and
singing there most melodioualy." Erman in his "Travels in Siberia," trans-
lated by Cooley, says of the Cygnus oior, " This bird when wounded pours
(orih its last breath in notes niosi beautifully clear and loud."
Who rlLmt a ddlrful'hymn w hij'own'deMh,
Hii »ul iuid°l»^iD"i^ir luiiDg^raHf
(«*»//», An »..Se. J.
TliB*, ivan.llke. kt mc ting imd die.
BvROH : ZVji T'iuh. Cuiu iU., Runu 86.
Swant ling bcfon ihey die : 'i»ere no bad ihing
Did certHii> peraon) die before U»y Hng,
a favorite phrase of Matthew Arnold's, who bor-
n Swift, and rang the changes on it so persistently
■iidi II lias LxniE Lu IK iinined upon as the key-note of his mural and literary
creed. Here is the passage in which it nrsi occurs; "The Greek word
tufhuia, a finely- tempered nature, gives exactly the notion of perfection as
culture brings us lo conceive it ; a harmonious perfection, a perfection in
which the characters of beauty and intelligence are both present, which unites
' the two noblest of things,' — as Swift, who of one of the two. at any rate, had
himself all too little, most happily calls ihem in hts ' Battle of the Books,' —
> the two noblest of things, sweetness and light.' The eupkues, 1 say, is the
man who tends towards sweetness and light ; Ihe aphues, on the other hand,
is our Philistine." (Cullurt and Anarchy.) Swift put the words into the
miiuih of Mso^p, who. pleading the cause of ancient authors, likens them to
bees, and says that "instead of dirt and poison {such as are collected by
modern authors, or spiders) we have rather choose {sic] to (ill our hives with
honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with Ihe Iwo noblest of things, which
are sweetness and light."
TotmbEditoi orTHH 7Vi>i».— I^ouldlike.with ymir pernii»i<in. lo poini oui ■ lit-
n>ni°iiulEui'^5^e«nuwd*'Ehr^ I ha>e"enTo1d. indecV ["1 he »u 1i''o'rilie'\mW
JudiEiu. Pbito ii ipeiikiiur il (he minna iililch wu ihe food of ibe Isneliies in ihe wilder-
dom and virnw In pcnnnui] •tream. And Ihen hcaiki." What \a the bread T" lath' '
E>e the chlldcen of IuhI id eal), and ihe answer is. " li ii ih < ->-">- ->-
ined, and lbi> Divine ordinance impani both lighi and iweei
ey» 10 see." Philo'i order b more.lo^cal, lor ihe " liglit" musi preceoe the ■- swee(ne»."
Probably in Engliih Ihe ibylhrnicul balance of the wordi dedded the order " mweeinex and
it In ibe Creek alio the rtiythmlcal. Hiblsan iniianee in which even a iricL of ihe memory
i> out of the queitioa. Swill. I lake it, never read a line of Phllo. I only iceici lb«. ihough
wonld have been nwrc int««Med than be Id tucb a liierary coinciddicB.— Z^ff^rjn Timttt itBj.
h Ihe Lord o>
I044 HANDY-BOOK OF
Swim, In th«, a slang term, equivalent to the French "dans le mouve-
nienl." "dans le train," nveaning in the current movement, whether in poli-
tics, literature, or society, abreast of the times, in the inner circle, etc The
figure is undoubtedly derived from a " swim" oi school of fish.
Swinging round the circle, a phrise by which President Andrew John-
son described his Western trip in 1866 during his quarrel with Congress. The
ostensible objective point was Chicago, whither he had been invited to attend
the laying of the corner-slone of the monument to Stephen A. Douglas. He
was attended by a large parly, and made slops at all the larger cities, deliver-
ing political speeches, not always in good taste or sufficiently good temper,
according to his adversaries. The phrase was turned against him by his
opponents, who used his own words in 1 condemnatory way of describing his
Birlniali mtiltitude. In his " Reflections on the Revolution in France,"
vol. iii. p. 33S, Burke pictures a period when "learning will be cast into the
mire, and trodden down under the hoofs of a swinish multitude." His ene-
mies caught up the phrase as meaning that Huike actually looked upon the
people at large as no better than swine, and the catch-words "the swinish
multitude" were echoed from one end of the country to the other to eicile
popular indignation. But, indeed, even if he had meant to brin^ this sweep-
me charge, he would not have been more haughtily undemocratic than many
other intellectual princes. The " Odi profanum vulgus et arceo" (" I hale
the profane and vulgar herd and keep away from il") of Horace [Odis,
IIf.,i. 1) has been echoed and re-echoed The "many-headed multitude" of
Shakespeare and Sir Philip Sidney, in itself a hardly complimentary phrase,
becomes intensified into the " many-beaded monster" of Massinger and Pope :
The mj^y."nd^*>^^ Jf rhTpit,
SaHra, Ep. I., Book II., I. 304.
A far more unpleasant phrase, "the unwashed,"
Kirngjukn, Act Iv., Sc. l
This line, humorously applied to special members of the artisan clasa, led
to the designation of the entire class as unwashed, and so, by a natural ex-
tension, the phrase drew in all the masses.
T.
T, the twentieth letter, and the sixteenth consonant, of the English alphabet
In the Phtenician alphabet it was the twenty-second and last letter. The
succeeding letters in our alphabet, as in the Latin and the Greek, were gradual
T. It aoito to a T. The T, T-square or Trule, is
called from its resemblance to a capital T) used by mechanics and draughts-
men where great exactness and nicety are required, especially in making
angles true and obtaining perpendiculars on paper or wood. Hence the ex-
pression " It suits to a T" means that a certain thing is exactly right in every
way, as a piece of workmaiuhip would be when measured by tbe T-square.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1045
AnoLher explanation of the phrase is that, as ( is the final letler of the word
suit, " suits to a /" means smts completely and absolutely.
T. D. Pip*t ^ cheap clay pipe> said to take its name from Timothy Dexter,
an eccentric capitalist, who in his will left a large sum of money to be ex-
f ended in the erection of a factory where such pipes were to be maiiafactured.
[e was burn at Maiden, Massachusetts, in 1793, and at an early age appren-
ticed to a tanner. On attaining the age of twenty-one he went into business
tui himself, and amassed a fortune. He then moved tu Newburypurt and
styled himself Lord Timothy Dexter. He adorned his grounds with wooden
statues costing fifteen thousand dollars, dressed in a half-military, half-classic
style, and rode in a coach that imitated the cars of the heathen deities. He
wrote a book, " Pickle for the Knowing Ones ; or. Plain Truth in a Home-
spun Dress." It was entirely without punctuation in the first edition. On
the last page of the second edition he inserted this note :
FaurdBT Diiiur printBr tbe Noving ana compluie of my booh the fuBt cdiLion had do uop*
I put in A DuT boc And tiKy nuy pvp|>« and uk il aa Ihvy ptoc.
Here follows a quantity of all sorts of punctuation-marks. His life has been
written by Samuel L. fCnapp.
Tak« a back Beat, To, in American slang, to retire into obscurity, to with-
draw friim public notice as a confession of failure. Though the phrase was
current before Andrew Johnson's Presiilcnt^, it was he who gave it a "send-
off" in his famous saying that in the work of reconstiuction Iraitocs should
lake back seats.
dT Straifofd-Dn-Avon don't by any iDum lake a back aeai in that lineT IgDadua DoaoelLy
■cioally viihEd the liinhplact orShakapcaremd wato't lynchadl FarirciD h: htwaihoa-
IHUblv r«Fiv«d and enifrtnined.— /Miu Jfi^KfiFi. iBSa.
Taking ■ ■igllt, the common name for a gesture which is thus described
by Rabelais, Book ii., chap. xiz. : " Pannrge suddenly lifted up in the air bis
right hand, and put the thumb thereof into the nostril of the same side, hold-
ing his four fingers straight out." The gesture is a very old one. Captain
Marryat, in his "Jutland," gives it a quasi-divine origin : "Some of the old
coins found in Denmark represent the god Thor, — and what do you imagine
he is doing } Why, applying his thumb to the end of his nose, with his four
fingers extended in the air. If so, there can surely be nothing probne in
the story of the English bishop who remonstrated with a clergyman for
driving tandem. The latter admitted the offence, but refused to see any
harm in iL "I drive two horses," he said, "so does your lordship, otily
yours are abreast, while one of mine goes ahead of the other. The difference
"True," replied the bishop, "it is a matter of form, but then form is so
much, after all. For instance, in pronouncing the benediction, if you spread
the hands so" (making the usual gesture as he spoke), "you are peifectly
rizht : but if vou were to spread them m" (making another gesture with
1 hands landem-^shionj, " it would hardly be the same
The gesture was at one time known as "Queen Anne's Fan." The above
term is more recent ; for a su^ested origin see Walker. It is a matter of
dispute whether in Shakespeare's time the act was known as biting one's
thumb. If so, the following passage acquires a new meaning :
Abraham. Do you trite ymr Ihuttab at m, atrt
Smmfiim. I do Uh ny ihoDb, air.
Atraham. Oo you lulr yoai thiunb at Hi, lirt
Sampirm. No, air. 1 do nol bli* ny thumb at yon, air, but I bite my ttnuob, air.
Kfmit ami yiOat, Act L.Sc. i.
8S
Goo^If
I046 ■ HANDY-BOOte OF
Tall mon oad Bhort James I., King of England, asking the Lord-Keeper
Bacon what he thought of the Fiench ambassador, he answered that he was
a tall and proper man, " Ay," replied the king, " but what think you of his
headpiecef Is he a proper man for an ambassador?" "Sir," said Bacon,
"tail men are like high houses, wherein commonly the uppermost rooms are
worst furnished."
Fuller probably remembered this when he wrote, —
Of»n IhE cockloft ii eDipiy in ilUHe wbom Nuure lulb buill muy Horic* high.— ,/IihAv-
And su did Butler in the following :
Such u uliE lodclBgi in > had
Thu'i in be In uDfumiihU.
Huiiiiras, Put I., CuDIO I., I. l6l.
hus consoles himself for the delect :
The mbd-irihruaDd^ at the mu.
Watts : Hin-a Ljrict : Prntit GrntiuH.
He may have had in mind these passages in the classics:
t do not dudiuuiih by ihe eye. but by ihe mind, which in ihe proper judge of the oiu.—
mt'M^,!"Ji. ""•"" '°'°'" ^v^oruui OUT iDini<™i«ul,-OviD :«!*..
These lines of Jonson hardly refer to physical stature, yet they may be
quoted in Ibis ■■—
« idc may perfect be.
«/ MtiKffry of Sir Lttcfut
Gary aHd Sir Hnry Mtrvtn.
Tall; man. Tally woman, indicating a man and woman living together
without marriage, are terms used in English mining-districts. Coal-miners
use tallies in their occupation, and at many iiils it is customary to send the
tubs of coal to bank with tin tallies attached, each tally bearing Ihe number
of the bank, or benk, where the coal has iKen got in Ihe mine. In this way
the coal is credited to the proper miner. So, figuratively, a man and a woman
living together without marriage bear each other's tally as a sign of temporary
Tantamount. In dictionaries, this word, meaning "equivalent in value
or signification," is designated as of French origin. Locke seems to use it
in that sense : "If one-third of our coin were gone, and men had equally
one-third less money than they have, it must be tantamount, what I scape of
one-third less another must make up," There are other uses of the word,
deduced.
1 his letters concerning the Spanish nation,
1700-1701, 41U, p. it|^ wnne neHcribing the churches in Segovia, notice* that
of St. Dominic, a noble gothic slructure, built about 1406. having cut on Ihe
stone beneath the cornice continued under the roof outside a representation
of the words " Tanto Monta" in old characters, the meaning of which is, that
when, by Ihe marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1474, the kingdoms of
Spain and Castile were united, they made this Spanish proverb, "Tanto
monta, monta tanto Isabella como Fernando," — that is to say, Isabel is as good
as Ferdinand, and Ferdinand as Isabel. Hence comes our English word
Another similar account occurs in Udal ap Rhys's " Account of Spaitt,"
which It
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1047
1749, Svo, p. 14, when, speakii^ of the privileges formerly pertaining to the
:se, he notices one Ihal related to the terms and conditions upon
ley chone their kings. The form was as follows : " Nos. que valeiiios
laiiiu comu vos, as hazemos nuesiro Key y Seflor, con tal que guardeis nuesiro
Fuerus y l.ibertades. Si no. no." (" We, who are as good as you, make
you uur Ijicd and King, provided you maintain our Rights and Ubcrties. If
nol, nu.") This privilege ihe people of Aragon retained till about ihe end
of the eleventh oenlury, when it was abrogated by King Pedro the First.
TaniiiB and FoHthariiiB. This uncomfortable mode of imnishment dales
back to mediaeval Europe. An ancientyoMbiK tells how a certain matron, to
lid herself of Ihe dishonorable importunities of a curj, a provost, and a
forester, made appointments with all three, and then contrived that Ihey
should be stripped and thiown into a cask of leathers, whence Ihey were
hunted by her husband, with the dogs and the villagers at their heels. In
England the penally was legally introduced in 11S9, when Richard I., before
seltmg out on Ihe third Crusade, ordained, with a view to preserving the dis-
cipline of his fleet, ihat
A robber who >hill be convlcled oT IheA ihall ture hii hfad cropiKd nhf r ibc rubion oT ■
cbumpion. uvd Mling flick ikall it paurtd Ihtrran, and Ikr/ialhin y a cuiAiat lia/l tr
ikiiJitn Ml im kirn, 10 ibai he Duy be kucnni. and at Ibc fim land u whicb Ihe ihip ihall
IDUcb he iluJI be tn on ihore.— Koow di Hovsdeh : Anxalii Rm.m Aiif/icamm.
In modern times, and especially in some of the Western States of America,
the practice has found favor with the populace as a means of eieculing sum-
mary justice on an offender whom Ihe law, perhaps, shows no anxiety to
reach. Sydney Sniilh once said to Samuel Rogers, '■ My dear Rogers, if we
■ere both in America we should be tarred and feathered ; and, lovely as we
are by nature, I should be an ostrich and you an emu."
Tutar, To oatcb a, a proverbialism which has many parallels, as the
Roman proverb "lo hold a wolf by the ears," and the modern slang phrase
"to bite off more than one can chew," or Ihe common saying "lo touse a
hornets' nest," all implying the getting more than one bargained for. Grose
tells the tale of an Irish soldier in the Imperial service who shouted in battle
lo his comrade that he had caught a Tartar. " Bring him along, then," said
his niaie. " But he won't come," cried Paddv. "Then come yourself," said
his comrade. " Arrah I" cried Paddy, " I wish 1 could, but he won't let me."
A variant, in which the tables are turned, is lhat of the gentleman who one
day was surprised in his palace by Ihe apparition of a ferocious -looking bit
of humanity, unmistakably a Tartar. Silting paralyzed with fear while the
barbarian began gathering such costly objecis lying about as pleased his
fancy, the door opened, and a beautiful woman walked in. At sight of her
the robber dropped everything, and, picking her up, carried her ofll " Alas,"
cried Ihe poor gentleman, as they disappeared in Ihe distance, "I have lost
my wife. But God help the Tartar.''
A correspondent of JVaUt and Qiuria [sixth series, viii. 3s6) mentions an
anali^ous Lincolnshire saying, " I've got her yet, like Billy Joy's cow," of
which the following explanation had been given to him. " A certain small
yeumaii, Billy Joy by name, once ujion a time went lo Caialor Fair to buy a
cow. On returnnig with his purchase he led her by a rope round the horns,
the other end of which he kept in his hand, but, being naturally a lazy fellow,
at last lied it round his waist. The day was hot, and the 'tiees was fell,'
and so it came that on passing Caborne horse-dike the cow took to the water.
dragging her master with her, to the great amusement of Ihe on-lookers, to
Ihe other side. All this time Billy, wishing to make the best of his enforced
position, kept tugging at the rope, and calling out, ' I've gol her yet ! I've got
heiyetl'"
;i:,vG00gif
1048 HANDY.BOOK OF
Tairdry. Saint Etbeldteda, or Saint Audry, was the daughter or a king
or East Anglia, who died abbess of tbe convent of Ely, which she founded on
the spot where the caihedial stands. At the fair of Saint Audry at Ely in
former times toys of all soi[s were sold, also a description of cheap laces,
vhich, under the name of " tawdry laces," long enjoyed a celebrity. Various
allusioni to tawdry laces occur in Shakespeare, Spenser, and other writers of
their age.
One lime I ^v« lb« a paper of p>i»i
And k iliou will D« graDI dm lo*e.
Id tnilh I'll die bd«v thr fitcv.
OldBidUui.
It was a luppy ue when a man migbt have mwed hia *«Dch wlili ■ niir dT IcuI lealbv
|foTea, ■ ailver ihiiaUe, or with a tawdry iace ; btU DOW a valtet town, a Ukaia of pearl, or a
coach with four hum will (caiceiy Kivc Ibe turn.— RiCH : Mf L^^i Ltkinf-CUtt, 1616.
In lime the epithet tawdry came to be applied to any cheaply pretentious
Taxation 'without repreaentatioii ia tynumy, a phrase which formu-
lated the grievances of the American Colonies immediately before the Revo-
lution. When and by whom it was coined is not known, nor whether it
preceded or was a reply to the celebrated pamphlet which appeared in Eng-
land about the same time, entitled "Tanation no Tyranny,"
Lord Castlereagh inveighed agaitisl " the ignorant impatience of taxation"
when his proposed inconnc-tax was rejected by Parliament in 1816. " Nothing
is certain but death and taxes." said Franklin in 17S9, in a letter to Ml
Leroy, of the French Academy of Sciences. " Our constitution is in actual
operation, and everything appears to promise that it will last, mait dant (e
MOHtU U n'y a rim d'atairi que la mart et let imptti."
, No Btateiokan e'er will find' it worth hnpahu
To ux our labnn and excise did- brak*.
Churchill: 11itU.\.,-p.
Taylor, Oeneral Taylor never atin-sndarB, a famous phrase at-
tributed to General Zachary Taylor. The story runs that just before the
battle of Buena Vista, on the 23d of February, 1S47, General Santa Anna
sent Taylor a summons to surrender, stating that he did so from fiselings of
benevoleoL-e, in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, for his force of twenty
thousand men was certain to crush the six thousand under Taylor. So far
the facts are historical. Hut the story goes on to say that " Old Rough and
Ready" sent back the laconic message at the head of this article. The phrase
entered largely into the campaign of 184S, when Taylor ran for the Presi-
dency, and II was so effective as a rallying-cry that he did not care to dispute
its authenticity. But his real answer to Santa Anna as officially staled (p.
170, "Taylor aiid his Generals," Butler & Co., Philadelphia, 1S47) i^" »
follows :
Hup-QUAanss Ahht or OcceranoH,
Naaa BuBHA Vista. February ». i»4j.
S». — Id reply (o your nol« of thii dale,iummoQiD£iactoiuneDdeTmyfarGeaaidiaaatifrii,
J beg leave to say (hat I decline acceding to your requeal.
With high leapecl, I ani, lir.
tlajtr-Gtrntral U. S. Army Ctmmtitiii*t.
SaRm Gbh. D. Airmtiio Lom di Sjiim Anha,
Cammandrr-in-Ckir/, Lm Etuanlada.
Tears of tlu t,)tj, an obvious figure fbi dew or rain. Lord Cheuerfield
My",—
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Wordsworlh, in contrasting lmagina.liuii and Fancy, opposes to these lines,
which he Hiightiv misquotes, the beautiful thought in the ninth lx>ok of
'• faradise Lost ;
Sky ktUE«d, and, muttering tbundvr^ lovr tad djopi
Wcpi at complriioE of ihc morul iin
"Tbe associating link," he says, "is the satne in each instance. Dew and
rain, not distinguishable from the liquid substance of tears, are employed as
indications of sorrow. A flash of Surprise is the effect in the former case ;
a flash of surprise, and nothing more ; for the nature of things docs not sus-
tain the combination. In the latter, the effects from the act, of which there
is this immediate consequence and visible sign, are so momentous that the
mind acknowledges the justice and reasonableness of the sympathy in nature
so manifested, and the sky weeps drops of water as if with human eyes, as
' E^th had before trembled from her entrails, and Nature given a second
groan.'"
Chesterfield's conceit has been frequently used, both before and after his
Puifd atntty lo the rtalmi of alccp,
llu. euwAKD Uddiil : Simtt » J/i»r AV^i (lUi).
S«el day, ta cod], » calm, k lirighl,
TIk bridal of ihc euth and iky,
Ttae dtw ahall weep thy &tl lo-nigbl,
CbohgsHiuut: Virtiu.
Tmth. To pull one'*, a proverbial expression meaning to render harmless,
to disarm by some cunning or subterfuge, the reference being to iEsop's
fable of the lion in love with a maiden. She directed him to pull his teeth
and trim his claws, and when he had done this he was easily overpowered.
Soon after the celebrated coalition between Fox and Lord North, the
former was boasting at Brooks's club-house of the advantageous peace he
had ratified with France, adding that he had at length prevailed on the court
of Versailles to relinquish all pretensions to the gum-trade in favor of Great
Uritain. Sclwyn, who was present, and to all appearance asleep in bis chait,
immediately eiclaimed. "Thai, Charles, 1 am nut at all surprised at; for,
having permitted the French to draw your teeth, they would indeed be fools
to quarrel with you about youi gums."
Teetotalsr, a total abstainer, teetotal being an emphatic reduplication
of total. It is said that Richard Turner, an English temperance orator who
had an impediment in his speech, would invariably speak of t.t-total absti-
nence. In derision his supporters were nicknamed teetotalers. This was
Hrta 1330-3;. On the other hand. Turner himself asserted that he invented
the word and did not stumble into IL This is the epitaph which may be read
on his tombstone at Preston, near Manchester : " Beneath this stone are de-
posited the remains of Richard Turner, author of the word Teetotal as
applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life on
I050 HANDY-BOOK OF
January, I S37, another pledge was introduced, binding all signers to total
abstinence. The two classes were distinguished by the initials O. P. (Old
Pledge) and T. (Total) ; and the frequeiil expJanatiuns necessiuted bv these
symbuls made "T — total" a familiar allocution. It is quite possible thai
both derivations are correct, and that the word originated independently in
the two cf
Tampeat in a teapot. This phrase is nne of the modifications of an old
proverb which can be traced as far back as the lime of Cicero, who quotes It
as a common saying, — i.g., " Gralidius excilabit fluclus in simpulo, nt didtur"
(" Gratidius raised a tempest in a ladle, as the saying is"). {De Ltgiiia, lij.
l6.) Athen«us, who wrote in the third cetiluiy, makes the flute-player Dorian
ridicule Timotheus, who undertook to imitate a storm at sea on the either,
by saying, " I have heard a greater storm in a boiling pot." The French
form, "une temp§te dans une verre d'eau" (''a tempest in a glass of water"),
was first applied to the disturbances in the republic of Geneva near the end
of the seventeenth century, and is variously attributed to the Austrian Duke
Leopold, to Paul. Grand Duke of Russia, and to the French author and jurist
Linguet. Balzac, in his "Cure de Tours," assijns the authorship, without
any apparent evidence, to Montesquieu. The English phrase is an evident
reminiscence of tlie French. " teapot" being sucetiluted for the sake of
alliteration, but it is doubtful who first gave it currency. Lord North is said
to have applied the phrase to the outbreak of the American colonists against
the tax on lea ; but Lord Chatham is also said to have characterized a
London riot in the same terms.
Tampora mntantor et nos matamnr In lllls (L,, " Times change and
we change with them"), a l^tin expression of medixval origin. It seems to
be a misquotation of a line by Matthias Boibonius :
Pope amplifies the sentiment in "Moral Essays," Epistle i.,
and Herrick, —
Thui limo do ibilt.— each thing bb turn duct hold ;
Ncv ihinem niccxc J, as rormcT ihinsi grow old.
CtrtmiminM CandUmat Eve.
and namritLly if we could review Eh«in with the neutrnl ejrt of a itrangcr ii woofd be Inipo*'
pnnaken of ihc chaqgr* ; e/ nut mutamur fir i//it. And uib tad dtjiiirti* Ibc power of
Think what a voniaB ■hf}iild bo— aba waa that a ^miliar epitaphic
line, used with many variations on English and Ameriian monumenta. Thni,
in Toiringlon Church -yard, Devon :
She wu— bM wordi an wullng to uy what.
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
The following epitaph on Rev. Joseph Green, who died in 1770, is in Barn-
ilable, MusachuseKs :
Think wh» Ihe Chruiiu miniiKr ihaiild be,
Vou've then hii chancier, for xich wu he.
There is a remarkable coincidence in the Shakespearian phrase, —
Look vhai k hone ifaDuld hive, he did doi lull.
Save n proud rider on >o proud a bade.
Vtnut and AJimii.
nilrtcan, an untucky number, especially in the case of thirteen at table,
when one of the diners will surely die within the year. The superstition is
in ancient one and widely prewalenl. There are streets in Paris and other
French cities where houses are nuinbeted 12 bii, 112 bis, etc, in lieu of 13 or
113. Even in America many hotels have no room 13. The Turks have
almost expunged the number 13 from their vocabulary. The Italians never
use it in making up Ihe numbers for their lotteries, and in one of their games
the thirteenth card bears the figure of death. In almost all civilized coun-
tries may be found educated men and women who would rather die than sit
down thirteen at table. The Parisian fiquf-astirtU, who lives by dining \n
other peoi)le'a houses, is c>ften known as Ihe quatarsiime, it being the chief
tart of his business to make the fourteenth to Ihe chance unlucky number,
n New York a club called the Thirteen Club was surled in 1S84 for the
express purpose of downing this superstition. The number of members
always consists of some mufiiple of thirteen, they dine together on the thir-
teenth of every month, thirteen at a table, Iheir dues are thirteen cents a
month, and everything connected with the club is arranged as far as possible
by thirteen*. From year to year they publish reports to show that individu-
ally and collectively they are as healthy, pro
niemlwrs of any other ctub.
niemlwrs ol
The superstition probably grew out of the fact thai Christ and his apostles
made a total of thirteen at the Last Supper, and gained additional strength
and currency through the Norse story of I x)kt's banquet with the gods in
Valhalla. Ijaldur was the thirteenth at the table, and had to die.
Thirteen i> a number peculiarLy belonging 10 the icbel>. A Kirty of naval priaonerj lately
Sachem SchLyler has a topknoi of Lliineen aiiff haiia, which erect themselvca on the crown
of his head when he ETOWl mad: . . . thai il lakes thineen Congreu paper dollar} toeqiul
a> many flecondi in leaving ll; that a well4i^nized rebel household haa ililTieen children, all
of whom expect to be generalt and menben of the High and Mighty Congmf of the thirteen
United States when they attain ihineen yean; that Mn. Waihinglon has a mottled iom<aI
Hripeifor ihe rebel flag."— /,««&■ /i/nvi/attr, i;76.q
1876.
Tbia la an ox There Is a popular tradition that some painter, uncertain
of his own handiwork or of the acumen of his critics, wrote under an animal
which he had painted, "This is an 01," and so avoided all danger of misappre-
hension. The story is told in various ways, authorities differing widely not
only as to the nationality of the painter, but also as to the period at which he
flourished and the nature of the animal he portrayed. Kingsley, in "Two
Years Ago," chap, vii., writes, " Portrait -painters now depend for their
effects on the mere accidents of entourage ; on dress, on landscape, eren on
loja HANDY-BOOK OF
broad hints of a man's occupation, putting a plan on the engineer's table, and
^ _..ii !_ .!._ _._. — ...J hands, like the old Greek who wrote 'This is an
But Defoe, in speaking of the effect his famous
f with the Uissenlers" had on the Dissenters them-
:lves, and their failure to comprehend its ironical drift, says, " All the fault
I can lind in myself as to these people is that when I had drawn the jiiclure
I did not, like the Dutchman with his man and his bear, write under them,
' 1'his is the man, and this is the bear,' lest the people should mistake me."
Tblatle. As to the adoption of the thistle as an emblem of Scotland his-
tory is silent, but tradition is as noisy as ever. The favorite legend tells how
the Danes were creeping silently one night touiards the Scotch camp, — in spite
of their rule, which looked upon ■ midnight attack upon an enemy as unwar-
rioT'like. — when suddenly one of fhe soldiers set his bare foot upon a thistle.
The sharp points Enlereil his unprotected flesh and drew from him a cry of
pain. The Scotch were aroused, and, falling upon the attacking Danes,
defeated them with terrible slaughter. Ever since that time the Scotch
have taken the thistle as their em^em.
Another legend tells how the eponymic Queen Scotia, after a hard-won
victory over some nameless enemy, threw herself on the grass to rest, on the
very spot where a thistle had elected to grow. It is not mentioned whether
she fought in the naliimal costume. But at all events the prickly spines of
the offending thistle found a lodgement in her fair flesh. " He that sitteth on
a nettle," says the proverb, " nseth up quickly." The same holds good
of the thistle. Scotia jumped up in an ecstasy of wrath and woe and
Clucked the plant up by the roots. But just as she was about to cast it from
er with a trooper-like expression, it struck her that henceforth the plant
should evermore be associated m her mind with the glorious victory. She
placed it in her casque, and from that time the thislle became the national
Sir Henry Nicholas traces the badge lo James III., for in an inventory of
his jewels thistles are mentioned as among the ornaments ; but this is hardly
sufficient proof that the thistle had then been adopted as the national emblem.
The first authentic menlion of the thislle as the national flower is in Dunbar's
poem of " The Thistle and the Rose," — in which, by the way, he gives the
rose the highest honor, — which was written in 1503 on the occasion of the
marriage of James IV. to Margaret Tudor of England.
What is the true Scotch thistle even the Scotch antiquaries cannot decide,
and in this uncertainty it is safest to to say that no thistle in particular can
claim the sole honor, but that it extends to every member of the family found
in Scotland. The heraldic emblem most closely resembles the musk-thistle
i,Cardma nutani).
niimdar, Btoal my. John Dennis, critic and dramatist (1657-1734). was
the inventor of a new species of stage thunder which was used for the lirst
time in a play of his own, " Appius and Virginia." Even with this assistance
the play was coldly received and speedily withdrawn. Shortly afterwards,
being in the pit at the represenlation of " Macbeth" (so Spencc tells us), he
heard his own thunder made use of. " Damn them !" he cried, rising in a
violent passion, " they will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder !"
The phrase has passed into a proverb. Pope, in the " Dunciad," has this
Dglv hit at Dennis :
To move. 10 nise. lo nviih cviry hart
. ^ - _n to ihakc the sou]
unblipg from ibc miulard-bovT.
Book U., 1. nj.
;i:,..C00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1053
Pupe'H iiut« lu the above is aa follows : " The old way of making [hunder
and niustaid were the same ; but since, it is more advantageously pecfonned
by troughs of wood with stmts in them. Whether Mr. Dennis was the in-,
veiitor of that impruvemeiit I know not ; but it is certain that, being once at
a tragedy of a new author, he fell into ■ great passion at hearing some, and
cried, ' 'Sdeath ! that is my thunder !' "
Hot , .
no, — you may swim in twentie o^ their boa» over the' river upon ticlcet"
Sedley, in "The Mulberry Garden" (1668), uses the modern corruption : " I
confess my lick is not good." The French slang equivalent is "avoir A
Vardoat" alluding, like uur expression " put it on the slate," or "slate it," to
the slate on which accounts are recorded at wine-shops.
Fox, whoK pecuniary embarrusipVDI* were UDiver^ally recogfniied, being ■Hacked by a
■evere indiipDtilion, vhich ccnfined him to hi) apartment, Dudley frequently visiled hiui.
pelled 10 observe much regul^iy in hit dkei aikd hMirs, adding, " I live by rule, Uke clock-
work." " Ve»," replied Dudley ; " I >uppii«c vffli mean you ea by tick, tick, **c*."— Sm
NathahtblWiuxall: H^meir,.
Tidal 'Wartm, an American political ligure of speech, applied to an election
in which the winning party is returned with an overwhelming and unprece-
dented majority. The simile is obvious.
Tiger. As to the origin of this word in the phrase " Three cheers and a
tiger," the following explanation has been given. In iSsz the Boston Light
Infantry, under Captain Mackintosh and Lieutenant Robert C. Winlhrop,
visited Salem, Massachusetts, and encamped in Washington Sauare, They
loved Tough-and-tumble sports, and one day a visitor eiclaimed to one, who
was more obstreperous than usual. " Oh, you tiger t" The phrase became a
catch-word, a term of playful reproach. On the route to Boston some mu-
sical genius sang an impromptu line, "Oh, yon tigers, don't you know," to
the air of " Kob Roy McGregor, O 1" The Tigers by name soon began to
imitate the growl of their protnnymic. At the end of three cheers a " tiger"
was always called for. In 1S36 the same organization visited New York,
being the first volunteer corps from Boston to visit another Stale. At a
public festival the Tigers astonished the Gothamiles by giving the genuine
growl. It pleased the fancy of the hosts, and gradually became adopted on
all festive and joyous occasions.
Tiger, To bnok the. in American slang, to gamble, and especially in a
gambling-hell. Applttoni youriuU traced this use of the word tiger to a
Chinese divinity. A favorite figure of one of the Chinese gods of gambling
is a tiger standmg on his hind feel and grasping a large cash in his mouth or
his paws. Sometimes the image is made of wood or clay, or drawn on a
piece of paper or board. The title of the beast, His Eicellency the Grasping
Cash Tiger, is frequently written on a piece of paper and placed in the
gambling-room between two bunches of mock-money suspended under Ihe
tahle or on the wall behind it. This figure is Ihe sign for a gambling-houK '.
"The Fighting Tiger."
Time. Seize Time by tbe forelook. Saturn, or Time, is usually de-
picted as an old man, bald but for a single lock in front. Hence the proverb,
which is attribuled to Pillacus. one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He
is also credited with ils equivalent, "to know the fitting moment" Robert
Southwell says, —
.d by Google
UANDY-BOOK OF
Time msn >]] hto lulu bcfote.
Take ihou hold upon hii Fonlisd :
An analogous ex|iressiuii. " Strike when Ihe iron is hoi," is found even-
where in praverlnal literalure, and harks back to Publius Syrus (Maxim 363):
" You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hou"
The bmiiiar English proverb
finds a Latin original — "Qui nan vull cum potest, nou ulique poterit cum
volel"— iu tlie '■ Pulicralicus," Book viii., ch. xvii., of Joannes Sarisbuiicnsis
(John of Salisbury, A.D, 1 1 IO-I180), who traces the proverb back to St Basil.
A certain poor woman asked the saint to plead her cause with the governor
or a city. The latter replied that he would have helped her, but could not
because ahe was in debt to the treasury. Whereupon Basil replied, " \i you
really would and cannot, let us say nu more about it ; but if you can and will
not, you will soon lie reduced 10 such a slate that you will wish and not be
able. ' In due time the governor fell into disgrace with the Emperor, was
imprisoned, and was released only through Sl Basil's intervention, after
which he paid the woman twice as much as she originally wanted.
Time and tide wait for do man, one of a cycle of sayings, such as
" i>elays are dangerous," " Keiie 'I'ime by the forelock," " Never put off till
lo-murrow what you can do lO'day." etc. which are common to the proverbial
literature of all countries. In multitudinous forms it reappears also in liter-
ature. Shakespeare has given the most splendid literary expression to the
uoiiiea, ui UK voyage oi incir luc
1> bound In shallovi and in miKria.
Jmlita CKtnr, Aci It.. Sc. 3.
The Baconians in the Shakespeare -Bacon controversy attach much im-
portance to the number of parallelisms in the writings of Ihe dramatist and
Ihe philosopher. None of their citations is more striking than the following
put in apposition with the above : " I set down the character and reputation,
Ihe rather because they have certain tides and seasons, which if they be not
taken in due lime are difficult 10 recover, it being hard to restore the falling
reputation," [A/tvanteinitil 0/ Learning.)
The word lidi in Ihe proverb is now popularly taken as being used in the
sense in which Shakespeare uses it in (he quotation. This is not, however,
the original meaning of the Word in the saw. TiJ, in Anglo-Saxon and Old
English, as well as in nearly all Teutonic tongues, means specific time as
opiH>sed to time in the abstract, hence season, opportunity. We have thus,
still. WhitsunAW, l^mmasAuAr, etc. Spenser, in his " Faerie Queene," speaks
of his characters resting " their limbs for a lidt." Blind Harry, in his " Wal-
lace" (written about 1461), says, "l^uhat suld I spek at this lidT' {" What
should I say at this lime or on this occasion ?") In Scotland it is still
common to speak of a good tul for planting or securing the crop, of Ibe
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1055
ground being in fine hd (cundtlion) Tar sowing, and of a man being in the Hd
(humor) for doing such and such a piece of work. The saw, (hen, meant
originally, " Time and season or opporlunily wait for no man." To Hdi over
a niiaforlune or an evil day Is to get over it tor the time.
Richard Grant While suggests that in the Shakespearian line
Tine and the bouf mm UiFougii tiM rouchw dity
the words " lime and the hour" ate equivalent to " time and tide," — the lime
and tide that nail fur no man. " 1'hat is, time and opportunity, time and
tide, run through the roughest day ; the day most thickly bestead with trouble
is long enough, and has occasions enough for the service and the safety of a
ready, quick-witted man. But for the rhythm, Shakespeare would probably
have written ' Time and tide run through Ihe roughest day ;' but, as the adage
in that form was not well suited lo his verse, he used the equivalent phrase,
time and the hour {not time and an hour, or lime and the h»wrt\, and the appear-
ance of the singular verb in this line I am inclined to regard as due to Ihe poet's
own pen. nut as accidental."
One thing, however, is very evident, that at a comparatively early period
(he original meaning of tide was entirely lost sight of:
Hoiu up Mik whilE nie daih lui :
TJde aod wind my no mw'i pl'uure.
- 1 CtmpUinI (i»5).
Tinker's cUmn, Not iroitb a. A linker's dam is a wall of dough or
of soft clay raised around a spot which a plumber, in repairing, desires to
flood with solder. The material of this dam can be used only once, and is
... _!■.__ -L^ _._!_j _f -jjfuiness. Hence the
Qugh a perverse humor
3 profanity by Ihe addi-
Tlp, colloquial English for a gratuity, a small present of money. In America
the term is usually confined lo the coin given a waiter or other servanL In
England it is applied also, and most frequently, to Ihe money which a parent,
guardian, or relation adroitly slips into a school-boy's haniL
What ncincy ■> bctler bestootd thu Ibai of 1 Khool-boy't tipT How ih> kindDEH i>
your«ph°'w'
Tip. To glTA tho ■trtdgllt Up, a slang phrase of English origin, and
probably primarily a turf phrase, tip being equivalent to pomt. To "give a
straight tip" usually means to give an honest piece of advice, or a reliable bit
of |>Tivate intbrmaliorL It sometimes means to speak plainly and decisively,
ur directly to the point, to deliver an tdtimatum.
Tlppeotuioe, a political nickname of William Henry Harrison, ninth Presi-
dent of the United Stales. It was given him in allusion to the viclory won by
the American troops whom be commanded in a battle against the Shawnee
and other Indians in iSllon the banksof the Tippecanoe River, a little stream
in Northwestern Indiana. "Tippecanoe and Tyler loo" was the refrain of a
popular campaign song during the " I^og Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign"
\q. !>.). At the same election " Tom" Cotwin was Ihe Whig candidate for the
l^ce of governor of Ohio, and the alliterative slogan "Tom. Tip. and Ty"
was a popular parly-cry during that campaign, including as it did the abbrevi-
ated names of the three principal candidates, "Tom" Cotwin for the gov-
los6 HANDY-BOOK OF
ernorshlp, and Tippecanoe Hatriion and John Tyler for Ibe Presidency aod
(he Vice- Presidency respectively.
Tissue ballots, ballots printed on very thin paper, enabling a voter readily
and without detection to deposit mute than one when voting. The device is
said to have been firsi employed in South Carolina, and its use is charged
against the whites in the Southern States, where there is a large negro popu-
lation, as a means to secure to themselves a preponderance in the governments
of the Slates.
Toad-oater. This word has been a fruitful subject of conjecture among
etymologists. Bishop Copleslon suggests a derivation from the Spanish lodUe,
which he says means a factolum, a derivatioi> endorsed by Lord Lyttleton and
Cobham Brewer. But factolum is a totally different thine from toad-eater,
and there is no such word as lodilo in Spanish. Nor is il likely that the term
has been corrupted from any foreign language, as its use is loo recent to allow
of its having undergone any serious modification from its original form. In
Miss Fielding's " David Simple" {1744) the word is used by one of the char-
acters, and was then so uncommon that its meaning is aslted by another. " It
is a metaphor," says the original speaker, " taken from a mountebank's boy
eating toads in order to show his master's skill in expelling |)aison. It is
built on a supposition that people who are so unhappy as to oe in a slate of
de|>eiidence are forced to do the most nauseous things that can be thought of
to please and humor their patrons." This explanation is probably correct.
In the works of Thomas Brown, of facetious memory, among some letters
supposed to be written from the dead 10 the living is one from^^neph Haines,
a celebrated mounleUanli performer in Smithtielfl (died lyot), in the course of
which he talks of having " an understrapper to draw teeth for him and be his
toad-eater on the stage. There is a similar French phrase, " avaler les cra-
pauds," or, more frequently, "les couleuvrei" ("to swallow adders"), which
no doubt has a similar history.
It may be mentioned as a singular coincidence that the Latin for " load" is
iufi, or, in mid-Latin and modern lialian. buffo, which is the same as buffoon.
Too thin, now classed as an Americanism, in the sense of inadequate, trans-
parent, insufficient, easily seen through, is even in this sense good old English
supported by excellent authority. Thin as a metaphor seems to involve the
idea of a veil (such as the ancients called ventui UxtUis, or "woven wind")
which would serve to display as much as to conceal the person. Thus, Shake-
speare in "King Henry VIIL," Act v., Sc 3, makes the king say, —
You were ever eochI u HiddeD cDTnineiiiliiiDni,
Blihop of WinchHitr. Bui know 1 lamt not
Precisely the modern sense : " Your commendations are too thin— i'.a, too
transparent — to hide your offences." In Smollett's " Peregrine Pickle" (1751)
Ihe hero informs Emilia that he is going abroad. Tears (fosh to her eyes.
She explains that Ihe hot tea makes her eyes water. "This pretext," says
Smollett, "was loo thin to impose on her lover." The modern sense again.
Alexander H. Stephens is said to have revived the phrase and flung it into
the currency of vernacular speech. This was in 1870. In answer to a Repub-
lican .ifieech, he cried, in that shrill piping voice which always commanded
silence, "Mr, Speaker, the gentleman's arguments are gratuitous assertions
made up of whole cloth,— and cloth, sir, so gauzy and thin that it will not
hold water. It is cnlirely too thin, sir."
Toi^Onta perdrixT (Fr., "Always partridges I") a phrase expressing dia-
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1057
■atisfaclion at some wearisome repelilion. It has some analogy with the
English phrase "too much of a good thing." The traditional story runs that
Henry IV., being reproved by hu confessor for certain conjugal tn^delitiea,
turned round upon htm with the question, " Father, what dish do you Mite best
of all T' " Partridges, sire," was the response. Shoitly afterwards the holy
man was put under arrest. Day after day came partridges, and nothing but
partridges, for his meals. At last the poor ecclesiastic turned with loathing
troni his favorite dish. Then the king visited him and asked solicitously how
he fared. The confessor complained of the incessant diet of partridges.
" But," said the king, " you like partridges better than anything else." " Mais
loujoiiis perdiix !" expostulated the man of God. Whereupon Henry ei'
plained that he for his part was devoted to his queen : " mais toujoi
for the amusement of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XI., by the noblemen
and gentlemen of his court It is the tenth of the series. The principal
personage is " un grand seigneur du royaulme d'Argleterie," the dish
" pastes d'anguilles." and the person thus practically admonished to mind his
own business the noble lord's favorite page.
Juvenal has a phrase of similar import. Speaking of the wear and tear of
school -masters' lives, bound to listen to the same stale theme in the same sing-
song manner, he declares, '■ It is the reproduction of the cabbage that kills the
poor wretches" ("Occiditmiseroscrambe repetila," i;j/(V«, vii. 154). GilTord's
TOl, like huheil ubblgi lerved for euh rcput,
Th( RpelilioD killi Ihc vreich si laii.
There is a reminiscence here of the old Greek proverb Si( upa^i) Sdrarof,
which survives in England in the proverbial phrase " colewort twice sodden"
=" stale news," in Scotland in the similar " cauld kale het again," and both
in England and in America in the better known " I don't boil my cabbage
twice," which is the rural way of saying that " Shakespeare doesn't repeat.
Trading. In American vernacular, trading means simply exchanging one
thing for another ! thus, two Yankee boys would not uncommonly "trade jack-
knives." In political parlance it is the name of a peculiarly insidious form
of political treachery : i.g., a governor is to be elected in a Slate, and at the
same election, say. Presidential electors; the followers of the gubernatorial
candidate of one party agree with their political enemies that, in return for the
latter voting and procuring votes for their candidate for governor, they will
themselves vote and procure voles for the others' candidate tor President. The
practice, when a number of officers are voted for, is susceptible of numerous
combinations, and many devices are resorted to to secure the end in view.
A favorite method is the printing and distribution of mixed tickets, with the
names of the candidates of various parties conspiring to " trade." Careless
and illiterate voters thus frequently unwittingly help the "traders."
^aiulatlon, CurloaitlM o£ The " traitor translator" has been a Iruitful
source of wrath on the part of the betrayed author and of amusement on the
part of the general public. Some of his blunders are really bewildering.
One can understand how Gibber's comedy of " Love's Last Shift" lent itscFf
to travesty as " La derniire Chemise de I'Amour," t " ' "
of "The Mourning Bride" might become "L'fipou
" The Bride of Lammermoor" might be turned into " La Bride [" the bridle"]
de Lammermoor." One can even understand how the the English student
could have tendered the Greek embnmleiai (a thunderstruck, or idiotic,
2V rrr 89
ios8 HANDY-BOOK OF
person) by "a ihundecing fiicl" But Miss Cooper, the daughter of the
novelist, lells a story which is well-nigh incredible. When in Paris, she saw
a Fccnch tianslalioii of "The Spy," in which a man is represented as lying
his horse lo a locust. Nut understanding that the locust-tree wa« meant, the
intelligent Frenchman translated the word as "sauterelle," and, feeling that
some explanation was due, he gravely explained in a note that grasshoppers
grew to an enormous size in America, and that one of them, dead and stuSed,
was placed at the door of the mansion lor the convenience uf visitors on horse-
back. Another case where the translator, vaguely conscious that his version
lacks intelligibility, increases (he fun by volunteering explanations, is that of
the Frenchman who rendered a " Welsb rabbit" (in one of Scott's novels) " a
rabbit of Wales," and then inserted a foot-note explaining that the superior
flavor of the rabbits of Wales led to a great demand for them in Scotland,
where consequently they were forwarded in considerable numtiers. Far more
candid was (tie editor of an Italian paper, // Giemait dtlU dut Sieiiie, who,
ttaiiiilating from an English newspaper an account uf a husband killing his
wife with a poker, cautiously rendered the latter word aapekere, najively ad-
mitting, "we du not know with certainty whether this thing 'pokero' be a
domestic or a surgical instrument."
As a rule, the public have to bear this sort of thing as well as they can and
try lo lighten the burden by grinning. But in Paris, when L'Opinion Nalioiale
undertook to publish a translation of "Our Mutual Friend" under the title
of " L'Ami Cummun," the readers arose at maai after the first seven chap-
ters had been issued, and protested against the continuance of a tale whicK
abounded in such monstrous absurdities. And the public were right, though
they probably held the author rather than the translator responsible. A
literary gentleman who translates "a pea overcoat" as " un paletot du couleur
de purje de pois" ("a coat of (he color of pea-soup") is capable of almost
any enormity. And in fact he was guilty of the following. In introducing
Twemlow to the reader, Dickens employs this language: "There was an
innocent piece uf dinner-furniture that went on easy casters, and was kept
over a livery-stabte yard in Duke Street, St. Jamess, when not in use, lo
whom the Veneerings were a source of blind confusion. The name of this
arlicle was Twemlow." The rendering of this sentence was as follows : "II
y a dans le quartier de St. James, uji quand i1 ne sort pas il est remise au-
dcssus d'une ecurie de Duke Street, un meuble de salle<i-manger, meubic
innocent, chauss^ de latges souliers de castor, pour qui les Veneerings soni
un sujet d'inquielude petpeluelle. Ce meuble inoSensif s'appelle Twemlow."
But what can be expected of a nation where so great a man as Alexandre
Dumas undertook to introduce a translation of Goethe's " Faust" in Paris,
though he confessed (hat he only knew enough of the German language to
ask his way, to purchase his ticket on a railway, and to order his meals, when
in Germany?
German, indeed, has proved as great a stumbling-block to our Gallic neigh-
bors as English. A certain Bouchette, the biographer of Jacob Boehm, gave,
in an apiiendix, a list of his works. One of these was Boehm's " Reflectjons
on Isaiah Stiefel." Now, Stiefel was a contemporary theological writer; bat
the word sHtfil also means a " boot," and poor M. Bouchette, knowing that
the subject of the treatise was scriptural, fell into the delicious error of trans-
lating the title as ** Reflexions sur les Bottes d'lsai'e."
It IS uiell known that Voltaire, in his version of Shakespeare, perpetrated
several egregious blunders ; but even in our own time some of his country*
men have scarcely been more happy in their attempts to translate oar great
dramatist's works. Jules Janin, the eminent critic, rendered Macbeth's words
" Out, out, brief candle I" as " Sorlei, courte chandelle I" Another FtenA
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1059
writer has commilted an equally strange mistake. Northumberland, jn the
" Second Part of King Henry IV.," says, —
Ewn tucb a nan, » faint, to ApiriUett,
5q dull, 10 dead Ln Icwk, sa to#€.6fgaiu.
The translator's version of the words iulicizcd is, " Ainsi, dooleur, va-t'-en I"
("Thus, grief, go away wilb you 1")
In a recent illustrated catalogue of the Paris Salon, which gives rough
sketches of the pictures, with their titles in English and in French, there is
one sketch representing a number of nude ladies disporting themselves in
the clouds, to which the English inscription is " Milk StreeL" Vour aston-
ishment is changed to delight when you find that this is a translation of " La
Voie laclee."
An English temperance orator in Paris preached a sermon in French to a
large audience, and at the close of his animadversions recommended his aston-
ished hearers to eschew everything but teati di vU, which means " brandy,"
but by which he intended "the water of life."
The translation by amiss in her teens of "never mind" into " jamais esprit"
is matched by a version, which once amused the undergraduates of a Phila-
delphia university, uf the title of a popular song. The Latin translation is as
follows: "Qui ctudus enim l^tus, albus et spiraviL" Uur classical readers
might puzilc over the above for a long time without discovering that it means
" Hurrah for the red, while, and blue 1" But even this was eclipsed by the
Englishman who. coining to a foreign teacher to be "finished" in German,
was asked to write a sentence in colloquial English and then to translate iL
He wrote, " He has bolted and has not settled his bill," translating it by " Er
hat verriegelt und hat nithi ansiedelt setnen Schnabel." Vrrritfia meaning
" to bolt a door," aruUdeln " to settle as a colonist," and Schnabel *' the bill
of a bird," this extraordinary sentence really signified, " He has driven in a
bolt and has not colonized his beak."
But the height of pretentious absurdity was reached in a volume of trans-
lations of Spanish poems published in London several years ago, which con-
tained such gems as the following :
Me light hc'i bom to rnder.
Tbe moon i>, HI mi Kll tbey.
" TTiere may be lhciiiiand«,''-^well, tb^
TTMWpir«. This word (froni the Latin It
to be used melaphori'cally In the sense of to become known, to emerge from
secrecy into comparative or positive publicity. But a man who talks, as So
many of our newspaper men insist on talking, of events that have tecenllv
transpired, commits a brutal outrage on the language which he should cherish
as his birthright.
Tte>ole Town, a sobriqsul for Macclesfield, England. This curious name
is said to have arisen from the accidental overthrow of a cask of treacle which
waa left outside a grocer's shop. The mishap occurred one inortiing just as
Io6o HANDY-BOOK OF
the work'people were on their way to the mills, and the treacle fluwing down
[lie street was too much for them. They flocked to the spot to dip their
breakfast bread in the sttcky stream, until a( last it seemed that the whole
town was walking about eating bread and treacle. UrisCol has also been
given the same name, which in this case arises from the large quantity of
treacle supplied by the numerous sugar re&ners in and about the town.
TrOT Weight. The smallest measure
name from being originally the weight of a „ .
in England in iz66 ordained that thirty-two grains of wheat, taken from the
middle of the ear or head and well dried, should tnake a pennyweight, t
of which should make an ounce, while twelve ounces were to make a pouncL
The pound, therefore, consisted then of seveti thousand six hundred atid
eighty grains. Some centuries later the peiniyweight was divided into iwenly-
four grains, which make (he troy pound, as now used, five thousand seven
hundred and sixty grains. The pennyweight was the exact weight of the old
Tmmpet, Immpetar. The familiar phrases "blowing your own
trumpet," and "your trumpeter is dead," implying, in an easy, jocular way,
that you have to sing your own praises because nobody else will do so for
you, are, not impossibly, derived from a curious practice until recently sur-
viving in Venice. When a student had won any academic honors his proud
|)arei<tii employed a couple of men to go through the city proclaiming the
Hicl. An eye-witness, writing to the London Standard in September, 1866,
thus describes the method : " h. quiet, respect able- looking man was blowing
loudly upon a horn, while another, having the appearance of a gondolier out
of employ, stood by him. When the first man had done blowing his trumpet,
he began to read, m a very loud, sing-song tone, like that of an English bell-
man, from a printed sheet which he held m his hand. I could not catch all
that he said, but the purport was that Enrico, the excellent son of his excel-
lent parents, Giovanni and Gigia Pacotti, had gained a prize at school, and
therefore Ewiva Enrico, Ewiva Giovanni and Gigia. and Ewrva the test of
their egregious family. He then blew a loud blast upon his horn, and the
gondolier, who had been standing by perfectly impassive, and taking quantities
of snuff, probably to give him an appearance of unconcern, immediately began
to halloa in a loud but monotonous voice, and without the smallest enthusiasm,
excitement, or even interest, rnu, viva, viva t about fifty times, the man with
the horn coming in with a blast of that instrument as a (iiutle." It has also
been suggested that the phrases have reference to Matthew vi. i: "There-
fore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the
hypocrites do in the synagi^ues and in the streets, that they may have glory
of men." It ap|)ears from Harmcr's "Observations," vol. i. p. 474, that
Eastern customs tally with this. He says, "The dervishes carry Affmi with
them, which they frequently blow, when anything is given to them, in honor
of the donor. It is not impossible (hat some of the |>aor Jews who begged
alms might be furnished like the Persian dervishes (who are a sort of religiotis
b^gats). and that (hese hypocrites migh( be disposed to confine their alms-
giving to those that they knew would pay them this honor."
Trrwt la dead. The familiar sign. "Old Trust is dead. Bad pay killed
him," is a relic of antiquity. In Coryat's " Crudides hastily gobled up in five
moneths trauells in France, Savoy, Italy. Rhetia, commonly called the Orisons
country. Helvetia alias Switzerland, some parts of High Germany and the
Netherlands," a quarto printed at London in 161 1, is the following passue :
"At the south side of the higher court of mine Inne, which U hard by the lull
Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. lolSi
(for theie are two or three courts in that inne), there is written this pretl}i
French poesie : ' On ne loge c^ans i cr<!dit x tar It iridU tit morl, la mauvau
taytnrs Cent hif.' I'he English is this : ' Here is no lodging upon credits ;
for credit is dead, ill payers have killed him,'" A common inscription in
front of Neapolitan wine- and macaroni -houses is, "Domani si ia credenza,
ma oggi no" ("To-motrow we give credit, but not to-day").
Trnth. Wllat ia tnitll ? In Ihn New TeslamenI this (question asked by
Pontius Pilate of Jesus Christ remained unanswered, for Pilate immediately
left the room. But in the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, chapter iii.,
verses 10-14, the conversation between Pilale and Christ is thus given :
PilaicHid. AnihouaKin^, (hcDT Jcsiu ■Dswcrcd. Thou nyei thut [ urn a King^ 10
ibii end 1 was bom, and Tor ihi» epd cane I kiio the world : ajid lor ihb purpoK 1 caBiv, (hat
I should bear wimcM lo the Inilh ; and every one who ia of Ihe Uvlb hear«th my voice.
Pilate uith 10 him, Whailsiniih! jHuiiald. Truih i> fram heaven. Pilale uid.Then-
Tofc tnirh ii not on earth- Johuh aaiih 10 Pilale, Believe thar (rulh is on earth amoDv Ihote
who, when ihey have the power of Jud^ncDl, are governed by Irulb and form right judgmeDI.
One of the most ingenious anagratns ever made is the following trans-
position of Pilate's question into its answer ; "Quid est Veritas?" "Eat vir
qui adesl."
Aatb uid Error, No stanza in all Bryant's poems is better known than
this in "The Battle-Field :"
Truth crushed 10 eanb iball rlee again,—
A closer parallel is in Milton's " Areopagitica :"
field, we do ingloriouBly, by Ucenaing and probibiiiof, to misdoubt her tirength. Let her and
Elsewhere in the same tract Milton says, " Who knows not that Truth is
strong next (o the Almighty V
Chaucer has, —
Tnitb n the highetl thing that man may keep.
Tit FranktUinil lilt,, t. ir,^.
Among the classic authors Seneca said, "Veritas nutiquam perit" ("Truth
never perishes"), which Sophocles supplements with the corollary, "A lie
never lives to be old" {Atraiut, Frag. 59). The same Greek author says,—
19 way. e s a ph^ar^_ Frag, J37.
Knth la straager than fiotion, a i^>mmon English proverb, possibly a
There ii nothing » powerful a
Mmrdtr ^ CaflaiH wkiti.
tc.~Arpimrml m ll.
io62 HANDY-BOOK OF
been of meMl or wood, and from iheir peculiar shape served at perpetual
reminders to "pass ihe bottle." One authority says they were called "torn-
biers" because '• ihcy could not be sel down, except on the side, when empty,"
and another derives ihetr name from "their onginal shape, roonded at the
botioin, so that they tumbled over unless ihey were carefiilly set down."
Professor Mai Muller possesses a sel of silver tumblers which when emptied
and placed on the tabic mouth downward immediately revert to Iheir original
— ■■--- -a if asiiing to be refilled. They must be constructed upon the same
principle
having Ihi
: toy known as Ihe tombola, or Chinese mandarin, \
eofgr ' ■
aving Ihe centre of gravity in the base, wilt always try lo regain its original
position, however much the equilibrium is disturbed. Tumblers were prob-
ably introduced into England from Germany, for goblets of wood, rounded at
the base, so that Ihey readily tumble over, are still made in that country, and
often bear an inscription which may be translated
L*y me down when emplv,
I'll >und lEuii when fiill.
Time tbe old ooir died oC In America this phrase is used merely to
characterize a grotesque or unpleasant song or tune. Among the peasantry
of Scotland and Ihe north of Ireland It usually retains its original meaning
of a homily in lieu of alms, and is a reference to Ihe old ballad of the cow-
herd who, having no fodder for his cow, sought lo assuage hei hunger by a
comfortable and suggestive tune. This is how the ballad begins :
Jack Whaley had a. cow,
H< look hi> pi"1fad p°aved m'miie,
On her part, to do hei justice,
cow died of hunger. At a sale of the library of the Rev. Thomas Alea-
ander in 1S74 there was sold a poem in the handwriting of Thomas Carlyle
which sounds like a playful parody of the above, embodying as it does a
lavorite moral of the sage's :
ok hii pipe And placed a IprlDf ,
Tht cow conildmd >i' htnd'
Tbu miclb wad never fill her :
Tnmcoat, an apostate, a renegade. The term is said to have been first
applied to Emmanuel, one of the earliest dukes of Savoy. His territories
lay inconveniently open to attactc ftom both France and Spain, and ft was
Googif
■ LITERAR y CURIOSITIES. 1063
necessary for him to curry Favor with whichever happened to be Ihe dominant
power. But (he balance shifted so frequently (hat the duke, in humorous
desperation, had a coat made, blue on' one side and white on ihe olher, which
uiight be worn indifferently either side ouL Blue was the Spanish color,
white the French : hence by simply luniing his cual he could at a moment'ii
notice signify his adhesion tu either country. This explanation is not accepted
by serious etymologists, although they do see in ihe word a general meta-
phorical allusion to clothes as representing principles.
Tweedlednm and Tweedladee. a colloquial phrase applied to a dis-
tinction without a difference, which took its rise in the following epigram
written at a lime when Handel and Bononctni were rivals for popular favor Jn
London :
■Yka M vnlwer llandel'i but ■ ninnv ;
Olherm nvcF thu he to Huidel
ii iciircelv lii ID hold ■ cimdtt.
'Twill Tweedledum ud TweedJedee.
The last two lines have frequently been attributed to Swift, and also to Pope
(Ibey are included in Scott's edition of the former and in Dyce's edition c& (lie
latter), but there seems no reason to doubt the claim put forward by their
contemporary Dr. John Byrum : " Nourse asked me if I had seen the verses
U|ioii Handel and Bononcini, not knowing that they were mine." (Byrom'i
Rimains (Chetham Soc), vol. i. p. 173.)
Half a century later the famous quarrel between the Gluckists and Pic-
ciiiists in Paris provoked Ihe following cognate epigram from the Cbevaliei'
de Rulhiires :
E«.ce Gluck, at-« Pkdni,
Done miR Gluck « Kcdpl
TwlBting tbe Btltlflh lion's tail, a proceeding often resorted to by cer-
tain members of Congress ID curry favor with and attract to themselves or
their party the voles of American citizens of Irish birth. It consists in seiz-
ing every opportunity 10 launch abuse and vituperation against the British
like a hostile demonstration agair
sliluents. The practice was rife t
Ireland after the fall of the Gladsli „ . ._. ,...^_
thies of the Irish in America were keenly aroused and their thoughts anxiously
turned 10 their old home. It was at this time that Ihe above ludicious phrase
was invented.
Two aldaa to every qiieation. When those redoubtable disputants,
Tom Touchy and Will Wimble, appealed to Sir Roger de Coverley to settle
a controversy between them, the good knight listened with patience. " and.
having paused some time, told them, with the air of a man who would not
give his judgment rashly, that much might be said on both sides." (Addison :
1064 HANDY-BOOK OF
Sptctator, No. IZ2.) Probably Sir Roger did not know thai he was ech<Hng
ProUgotas, who, according lo Diogenea Laertius, asserted that "there were
two sides to every quesLion, exactly opposite to each other." (Prelagoriu, iii.)
But in spirit, al least, he had followed [he advice of the old Latin saw, " Audi
alteram partem" (" Listen lu the other side"). Sydney Smith was equally
careful. He was a guest one evening in a house where Blomfield, Bishop
of London, was cipecled. Before dinner a note arrived, saying that the
bishop was unable lo keep his appointment, a dog having rushed out of the
crowd and bttlen him in the leg. When the note was read aloud. Smith
observed, " I should like to hear the dog's account of the story."
The famous apologue of the two shields is directly in poinL It runs, in
substance, as follows. In the days of knight.errantry and paganism a British
■ 11 when '
. . , . „ Idess of Victory at a point w
met. The outside of her shield was of gold, Ihe inside of silver. One day
two knights arrived here simultaneously from opposite parts of ihe country.
They greeled each other in a friendly manner, till one spoke about the sold
words they came to blows. Both fe
lay in a trance by Ihe roadside. ^
them lo, explained the matter to thcni, anu cuLicaicu mciu never tu cmcc
into any dispute, for the future, till they had fairly considered both sides of the
Ijueslion." This story was fitsi published in " Beaumonl's Moralilies" (1753),
bir Harry Beaumont being the assumed name of the Rev. Joseph Spence, of
anecdote bme. Il has been translated into several languages, and is often
looked upon as a genuine bil of folk-lore.
An artful juryman, addressing Ihe clerk of the court while the Utter was
administering the oath, said, " Speak up : I cannot hear what you say."
"Slop,"said Baron Alderson from the bench; "are you deaff" "Yes, my
lord, of one ear." " Then you may leave the box. (or it is necessary thai
jurymen should hear both sides."
Tiro atTlngB to hla bo^ a popular proverb, which may be found in
Hooker's "Polity." Book v.. ch. Ijtxa., in Chapman's " Bussy D'Ambois,"
Act ii,, Sd 3, and in many other places. It applauds the IhoughtfulnCSS
hoL«only,— rr»«/*-/w, Ac°iv.!^4° " "°
— a phrase which Chaucer has imitated :
I held 1 m<HlIe> wit not WDRh a Icke.
Thut haih but on hole for 10 Kenm 10.
Canterbury TnUi! TIa W,/ ^ Balkt, PreltpH.V itM-
farafkratt cflkr PisligiH. 1. igg.
Thai "two heads are heller than one" is a saw which may be found it
Heywood's " Proverbs," but the same authority does not hold that there ii
jlways safety in duality.— ^^., in ihe following line :
Prntrbi, Pan I., ch.'iii. ;
— « proverb that appears in substantially the same form in Rabelais, Book i.,
ch. ii., and in " Les Proveibe* de Vilain," a manuscript in (he Bodleian, nrav
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1065
Twopeon; Dmiid, a favoiiie oaih wiih the Duke of Wellington, who
was accuslomeil 10 convey in ttiis (aim of speech his estimale of (he persons
and tilings b« held in conlempl. When asked bv the government of the day
what he thought of the propusal on the pact of the French government to be
allowed tu remove Napoleoii's bones ftom St. Helena, he replied, " Well, I
don't see why they should not have his bones if they want Iheni. Why should
we object i They'll say we're afraid. Bui I don't care what they say. Who
cares what they say? 1 don't care a twopenny damn nhal they say." An
effort has been made to emasculate this famous phrase by explainine thai
damn in this connection is simply a corruption of the name of a very harm-
less Indian coin, a dim, which bure different values at various dates and in
differing localities, but which was originally a sixteenlh part of a gold mohur.
But, as the duke was no scholar, he was probably not aware of this fantastic
origin ; and even if he had been, and were anxious to avoid the imputation
of swearing, he would surely have taken the precaution of writing the word
ddm. And he certainly would not have written "twopenny dim, for, what-
ever the original value of the dim, it had so far back as the time of Akbar
(1S4Z-1605) ceased to be worth more than the fortieth part of a rupee, and
consequently in the duke's lime was of far Icsi value than twopence : 80 that
"twopenny damn" would have conveyed precisely the opposite meaning to
that which he intended to convey. The St. yamrs Catitic was in recent times
dubbed " the Twopenny Damn" on account of the intensity of its language and
seniimeiiis, especially where Mr- Gladstone and what it called " the latter-day
Radicals" were concerned.
apMoal 'Exxon. Nothing can be so disheartening to a writer as
on'T^told
ance, and when the first volume of the sumptuous book was laid upon the
- break last -table he opened at once upon — a misprint. It was many weeks,
ny informant said, twfore the poet could revert with any satisfactitril to what
he then regarded aa his greatest work." Baron Grimm, in his memoirs,
relates the not improbable story of a French writer who died in a fit of anger
when he found that his favorite work, revised by himself with great care, had
been printed with more than three hundred errors, half of them made by
the corrector of the press. But it is a little more difficult to swallow the
dnaulhenticated anecdote of the Italian poet who, when 0
sympathize with the author of a religious work mentioned by
D'Israeli, which consisted of only one hundred and seventy-two pages, of
;opy of verses to the Pope, foand a mistake of a single letter, which
lis heart of chagrin, so thai he died Ihe day after.
ihize with the author of a religious work menti<
onsisted of only one hundred and seventy-two p
devoted lo errata. We can even pardon the vanity wl
led him to imagine that Satan, fearful of the influence which the book might
wield, had tam|>ered with the types, and that the very printers had worked
under the same malign influence.
Nevertheless, it is ea^ to And a less startling explanation for Ihe ordinary
lypographical errors. Blunders of this sort may be roughly grouped under
three heads : errors of the ear, errors of the eye, and errors arising from what
printers cat! "a foul case."
A compositor while at work reads over a few words of the copy and retains
ihem in his memory until his fingers have picked up the necessary types-
While Ihe memory is thus repeating a phrase, it is only natural Tor certain
words lo be supplanted by others similar In sound : thus, " mistake" might
tn type be turned into " must take," as, in fact, it was in the first folio of
'Hamlet," Act iii., Sc. I, "idle votaiist" (nmon. Act iv., Sc 3) into "idol
io66 HANDY-BOOK OF
voiacist," and " long delays, Tiius," into " long days." The eye ofien deceive!
the composilar, especially when the copy is more or less illegible. Take away
a dot, and " Ihia lime goes manly" (Maibelk, Act iv,, Sc 3) becomes " this tune
goes Tnai)ly." The third class of errors need more explanation. A compos-
iior worl(s at what is called " a case," a wooden drawer divided into numerous
recepMcles, each containing one letter only, say all n's or all i's. When from
a shake or other accident the leiiers become misplaced, the result is techni-
cally known as a "fuul case," The compositor's fingers may, under these
circumstances, readily pick out the wrong letter from the right box without
his being conscious of the fact.
These are mistakes lo which even the intelligent compositor is liable ; but
it is hardly necessary to say that all compositors are not intelligent. The
machine printer, or " blaclumilh," as he is technically called, is a familiar
figare in every prlntit^-office. It is he who makes a hurried guess at the
ci)|>y berore him, without caring whether it makes sense or not ; who substi-
tutes "comic" for "cosmic," "human" for "known," "plant" for "planet,"
" I am belter" for " Gambetta," " no cows, no cream" for " no cross, no crown,"
and " shaving the queen" for " shoving the queer." This is the sort of printer
who made a distinguished traveller die "in the richness of sin" instead of
" the interior of Asia." and who described a Chicago exquisite as one "whose
maimers would alarm a drowning man," when what the writer really said wu
that they " would adorn a drawing-room."
Richard A. Proctor records the most remarkable change the printen ever
arranged for him as having occurred in the proof of a little book on " Spec-
troscopic Analysis," which he wrote for the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. The words which in the work itself now appear, as they were
certainly written, " Lines. Bands, and Striae in the violet part of spectra,"
were printed in the proof " Links, Bonds, and Stripes for the violent kind of
The prohibitionist who wished to sav that " drunkenness is folly" mntl
have been seriously disconcerted when the printer made him announce that
"drunkenness is jolly ;" and we know that an editor who wished to compli-
ment a soldier as " a bal tie -scarred veteran" was so deeply grieved when he
found the types had made him speak of " a battle-scared veteran" that the
next day he inserted an apology, and an erratum which read, "the bottle-
" I remember," says a writer in American Notts and QurrUs, "to have writ-
ten something about a concert at which was sung Millard's ' Ave Maria,' and
it actually appeared that Miss So-and-so had sung with much feeling Mulli-
gan's ' Avenue Maria.' At a musicale in the same neighborhood a young
lady plaved upon the uianu a ballad in A flat major. The local paper had
it liial she had sung a ballad called 'A fat major.'''
Two very old stories are worth repeating for their peculiar excellence. A
Stolch newspaper, reporting the danger that an express-train had run in con-
|>ul on full steam, dashed up againsi the cow, and literally cut her into calves."
In the earlier half of this century a London paper announced that Sir Robert
Peel and a party of fiends were shooting peasants in Ireland.
Worth quoting also are the familiar lines in Moore's "The Fudge* in
England :"
fim a w«ek or two •!□«, Id ny Ode upon Sprina,
Which I mrani to liKTe nude A mcU D«uitiflil inui(,
Wbtte I lalked of the " dew-dropi from Frohly-blawn mcs,"
Th« n»»ly Ihingi niMleli" from finhly-biown dohsI"
. Coogk"
LiTERAkY ci/Riosirms. 1067
Hiving uid he " bud uk'n up in haveo bii poiillaii."
They madt li he'd " uh'D up 10 heaven hii phyiiicuii I"
Genuine typographical eirors are amusing enough, without the invention
of ■' fake" ones, but Mr. Pycroft, in his " Ways and Means of Men of Letters,"
liecnis to have been responsible, directly or indirectly, for such a fake. He
represents himself as having held a conversation with a printer, who said,
" We utterly ruined one poet through a ridiculous inisprinL The poet in-
tended to say, ■ See the pale martyr in a sheet of fire, ' instead of which the
line appeared as ' See the pale martyr in his shirt of fire.' The reviewers,
of course, made the most of so entertaining a blunder, and the poor poet was
never heard of more in the field of literature." The line alluded to probably
occurs in Alexander Smith's poeni of " A IJfe Drama," as follows :
Uke a pale Dutnjrr ip hU shin of fire.
Ling.
The simile is a very fine one, and probably was never misprinted nor ad-
versely criticised. At all events, it is quite certain that the poor poet was not
banished by the mishap from the 6eld of literature.
Sumelimes the omission or the transposition of a punctuation -mark has
made exquisite nonsense of a sentence. Thus, in the printing-office of a
religious journal, a compositor tooh it upon himself to print the familiar
passage of Sctiplute thus: "The wicked flee, when no man pursueth but the
righteous, is as bold as a lion." In a report of a Delmonico dinner this toast
was said to have been given : " Woman — without her man, is a brute." A
New York editor thus introduced some verses ; " The poem published this
week was composed by an esteemed friend who has lain in his grave for
many years for his own amusement;" but here the error is partly chargeable
upon the awkward conetructiun of the sentence. Not so in the following
instance from a modem sensational novel : " He enters on his head, hts
helmet on his feet, sandals on his brow, there was a cloud in his right hand,
his faithful sword in his eye. an angry glare he sat down." A ludicrous mis-
take of a somewhat similar order was once made by a clergyman of a parish,
to whom the wife of one about lo sail on a distant voyage sent a note intended
to express the following; "A husband going to sea, his wife desires the
prayers of this congregation ;" but the good matron was not skilled in spcll-
mg or punctuation, and the minister was short-sighted, eo he read, " A hus-
band going to see his wife, desires the prayers of the congregation."
Considering the misapprehension which may arise from false punctuation,
it is not astonishing that when Timothy Dexter (see T. D. P[PEs| wrote his
famous book, " Pickte for the Knowing Ones," he left out all marks of punc-
tuation from the body of his work, and at the end filled five pages with
commas, semicolons, periods, dashes, etc, with which he advised the reader
to pepper and salt his literary dish as he chose.
As examples of errors clearly due to bad writing, it may be mentioned how
Horace Greeley, writing something about suburban journalism advancing,
found it transposed by the type-setter into " Superb Jerusalem Artichokes."
In the London Times ^ Westminster speech was made to close with this im-
pressive peroration : " We have broken our breeches, we have burned our
boots ; honor, no less than other considerations, forbids us to retreat." When
Mr. Gladstone was represented as being described by one of his admirers as
■ he spout of the Liberal party, we should understand "spirit" to be intended.
A common error resulting from bad penmanship is the substitution of letters
for figures, or the reverse ; thus, in the report of a coal-market, where the
writer intended to say that there was an over-supply of egg slie, the types
•aid that there waa an over-supply of 299 ; similarly, where a writer descnbed
io68 HANDY-BOOK OF
a huuse wiih zigiag staitcases, he was made to give it the extraordinary
number of 219.209 staircases.
Id an obiLuary notice of Sidney Godulphin Oslwrne, Ihe London Tima
described him as the author uf ihe celebrated tract " No Go," when what the
writer meant was tlie tract No. go. Hut no similar excuse can be urged for
the primer who made Tennyson's famous lines read, —
Inlo Ihc valky of dtuta
Rode Ibg 600.
The following errors may spring from the same source. A quack doctor
advertises an "infernal remedy ;" a grocer gives notice of Ihe arrival of an
invoice of " boxes of pigs" from Smyrna ; a New York landlord announces a
" louse to let with immediate possession ;" and in the report of an inquest
held on the boily of a gluilon, the verdict, "suffocation," was printed, wiih
more truth than was intended, " stuffucation." In making up newsjiajwrs —
that is, in piecing together patagraphs into columns — two separate ilems
may sometimes be jumbled together with amaiing results. Thus, the New
Haven yournal announced in one paragraph that "The large cast-iron wheel,
revolving nine hundred times a minute, exploded in that city yesterday after
a long and painful illness. Deceased was a prominent thirty-second degree
Mason," and in another that "John Fadden, a well-known florist and real-
estate broker of Newport. Rhode Island, died in Wardner Russell's sugar-
mill at Crystal Lake, Illinois, on Saturday, doing fjooo damages to the
building and injuring several workmen severely."
An English paper, however, produced a fat mote ludicrous conglomeration.
Dr. Mudge had been presented with a gold-headed cane, and the same week
a patent pig-killing and sausage -ma king machine had been exhibited in the
village of which he was pastor. The gentleman who made up the forms
got the two locals entangled in the following appalling manner: "Several
of the Rev. Dr. Mudge's friends called ujion him vesterday, and after a con-
versation the unsuspecting pig was seized by the hind teg, and slid alon^ a
beam until he reached the hot-water tank. His friends explained the object
of their visit, and presented him with a very handsome gold-headed butcher,
who grabbed him by the tail, swung him round, cut his throat from ear to
ear, and in less than a ininule the carcass was in the water. Thereupon he
came forward, and said that there were times when Ihc feelings overpowered
one, and for that reason he would not attempt to do more than thank those
around him for the manner in which such a huge animal was cut into frag-
ments was simply astonishing. The doctor concluded his remarks, when the
machine seized hini, and in less time than it takes to write it the pig was cut
into fragments and worked up into delicious sausage. The occasion will be
long remembered by the doctor's Friends as one o{ the most delightful of their
lives. The best pieces can be procured for tenpence a pound, and we are
sure that those who have sat so long under his ministry will rejoice that he
has lieen treated so handsomely."
The mere ruiming together of two sentences into one paragraph may also
be productive of unintentional amusement. A French newspaper had a good
specimen of this kind of mixture : " Dr. X. has been appointed head ph;ysician
la the HAnital de la Chartt^ \ orders have been issued by the aulboiities (or
the immediate extension of the Cimetiire de Parnasse."
A female compatriot of the irrepressible George Francis Train addressed
this temonatrance to a Buffalo pa|>eT : " By some fantastic trick of your type-
setter my speech in SL Jamess Hall on Saturday evening is suddenly ter-
minated, and so linked to that of Mr. Train that I am made to run off into an
entirely new vein of eloquence. Among many other exploits, I am made to
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1069
boast ihat I neither smuke, nor chew, nor drink, nor lie, nor aleal, nor swear,
as if such accom|>lishments were usual among American women ; and wherever
I refer (o my honored countrymen as 'white males,' I ani rejiorled as having
addressed them as ' w1ii(e mules.' All these are very good jokes, if credited
to the printer's devil, but not 10 those who represent an unpopular idea and
carefully weigh (heit words."
Sometimes mistakes have been made by (he ofliciousness of (he printer or
proof-reader in endeavoring to correct what seemed lo him mistakes in the
co])y. In a quoladon of Gay's well-known allusion to Martha and Teresa
Blount as "the lair-haiied Martha and Teresa brown," (he printer thought
projier to supply brown with a capital B. Again, in Pope's note on " Measure
for Measure," which states (hat the story was taken from "Cinthio," Dec S,
Nov. 5 (eighth decade and lif(h novel), the wise typo filled ou( (hese abbre-
viations so that they read December 8, November 5.
A momen(ous typographical error, if we are to (ake (he word of the histo-
rian Kinglake, was thai which gave (o Napoleon III. his title. Kinglake
says that just before (he cmp d'/lal, a minister of the Home Office, in an-
nouncing (o the public, wrote, " Que le mot d'ordre soi( Vive Napolion 1 f I"
The printer took the exclamations for " III," and so (he proclamation went
out, was copied by the press, and became incotjjotated in public speech. It
was no lime for explanations, and it was in this nay that the nephew of his
uncle adopted the tide.
Recently (he readers of the New York Herald were startled to learn from
a cable des])aich (hat Cardinal Newman always regretted that he had attacked
"Charles King's legs" wiih so much acerbi(y. And, no( con(en( wi(h this,
(he same paper went on (o speak of " woman's influence" in lieu of " New-
(nan's influence."
But no more horrible specimen of this sort of blunder was ever committed
than one which is ctedi(ed to a Massachusetts paper. At ihe close of an ex-
tended and highly eulogistic obituary notice of a deceased lawyer, the reporter
desired to say that " the body was taken to Hull for interment, where repose
the remains of other memliers of Ihe family." By mi.<itake the letter e was sub-
stUuted for tlie u in Hull, changing the sense of the sentence to such a degree
that no extra copies of that issue of Ihe paper were ordered by the family of
It is l>elieved (ha( (he only books which are typographically perfect are an
OxA)rd ediiion of the Bible, a l>}ndon and Leipsic Horace, anil an American
edition of Dan(e's " Divintf Comedy." The University of Oxford had a
standing ofler of a guinea for each error that might be lound in the first of
these books. Many years elapsed and no one claimed the reward. But
recently an error was discovered by a lynx-eyed reader, the reward was paid
and Ihe error corrected, and the book is now believed to be typographically
without spot or blemish.
Ben Jonson was once requested (0 revise some proofs full of typc^aphical
and other errors, but he declined, and recommended that Ihey should be sent
to the House of Correction. No doubt many weary authors would like to
see proo^ printers, and proof-readers alt condemned to the same place.
U, (he twenty-lirst le(ter and fifth vowel in the English alphabet, originally
mvented by (he Greeks as a supplement to the alphabet they had derived
from (he Phceniclans. At first they wro(e it indifferendy V or Y, but flnallj
I070 HANDY-BOOK OF
seiiled oil the latter form, while ibc derived Italian alphabet held lo the V.
Eventually V, with an altered phonetic value, was adopted into the Latin
alphabet as a distinct chatacter, V was often written with its angle rounded,
U, and until after the invention of prinltng. even in England, U and V were
interchangeable letters. A fourth sign, W, which is in iorm a double V, and
in orthoepy as in name a double U, was still another outgrowth irom th«
■ingle letter added by the Greeks to the tail of the Phcenician alphabet.
triater, a species of heavy overcoat, so named after the province of Ulster,
in Ireland, where it originated. Ulsters were worn in Bel^t as early as
)86o. But they did not come into general use until 186S, when the Prino: of
Walea set the fashion by wearing in St. James Street a Coat belonging to one
of his friends, which had been made upon the pattern of one ordered br
George Francis Train in Dublin.
Ulater, Rad Hand of. An open red hand figures in the arms of (he
province of Ulster, also in the arms of Che family of (he O'Neills, and of a
number of less ancient Irish families. Tradition says chat (he O'Neill, a
daring adventurer, having vowed (o be first (o (ouch (he shores of IrelaiKl,
Init finding (hat his boa( was falling behind the others, cue off his hand and
flung it on che shore to fulfil his vow. The O'Neills form one of the five
ancient royal families of Ireland. In 161 1, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone,
nicknamed " Ked Hugh" and " The Ked Hand of Ulster," was charged with
conspiracy and attainted of treason. His possessions, five hundred thousand
acres in Ulster, escheated to che English crown, and on these lands was formed
the so-called "plantation" of James I., wrho created two hundred baronets,
on payment of one thousand pounds each, " fur the amelioration of Ulster."
These new baronets were allowed to place on their coal-armor (he red hand
of Ulster.
ITaole, a slang term for a pawnbroker. A well-meant attempt has been
made to derive the word from the Latin unna. "a hook," and an engaging
explanation ha-s been offered thai pawnbrokers, before spouts were atlopted,
employed a hook lo lift articles pawned. "Gone Co the uncus," therefore,
was identical with the modern phrase " Up the spouL" In truth, there is no
need of any far-fetched etymology. A rich uncle, in novels, and sometimes
in real life, has so often been the dnt' ex machina lo relieve distress and por-
erly among his {>oar relalions, and especially his spendthrift nephews, that tbe
use of the term as a bit of sarcastic humor is sufficiently obvious. The French
say of a thing IhaC is pawned, " C'est chez ma tknie (" It is at my aunl's"),
with an analogous meaning.
Unol* Sam and Brothm- Joaathan, alternative tabriqiult, or, more
accurately, humorous personifications, of Che United Stales. Brother Ttm-
athan is the older term, and dates from the Revolutionary War. when
General Washington, the newly-appointed commaniler of the army, went lo
Massachusetts lo urganiie it, he found a great want of ammunition and other
means of defence. The situation was critical. Jonathan Trumbull (he elder
was Chen governor of (he Sta(e of Connecticut ; and (he general, placing (he
arealesl reliance on his excellence's judgmenl, remarked, " We must consult
Brother Jonathan on (he subject He did so, and the governor was success-
ful in supplying many of (he wants of the army. Thenceforward, when
difficulties arose, and the army was spread over (he country, it became a by-
phrase, " We must consult Brother Jonathan." The name has now become
a designation tor the whole country, as John Ball has for England.
The cognate term " Uncle .Sam" was an outgrowth of the war of 181S.
Elbert Anderson, a New York contractor, immediately after the breaking otit
;,oogic
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1071
of hostilittcB, visited Troj on the Hudson, where he purchased » quintiljr of
provisions. The inspectors of these articles at that place were Ebenezer and
Samuel Wilson. The latter gentleman (invariably knoim as Uncle Sam)
generally superintended in person a lar^e number of workmen, who on this
occasion were employed in overhauling the provisions purchased by the con-
tractor lor the army. The casks were marked " E. A. — U. S." The work of
marking fell to the lot of a facetious fellow in the employ of the Wilsons,
who, on being asked the meaning of the mark, laid he did not know, unless
it meant Elbert Anderson and " Uncle iiam," alluding to Uncle Sam Wilson.
"The joke took among the workmen and passed currently; and Uncle Sam
himself was occaslon^ly rallied by them on the increasing extent of his
possessions. . . . Many of these workmen, being of a character denominated
'food for powder,' were found shortly after following the recruiting drum
and pushing towaids the froiitici lines for (he double purpose of meeting the
enemy and rating the provisions ihey had lately labored to put in good order.
Their old jokes accompanied them, and before the first campaign ended this
identical one appeared in prinL" It gained favoi rapidly till it penetrated into
every part of the country. Bartlett's " Dictionary of Americanisms" adds to
the above, " Mr. Wilson died in Troy, New Vork, in August, 1854, at the age
of eighty-four, and the Albany Argtu, in noticing his death, referred to the
circuni»tance above slated as the origin of the above sobri^al of ■ Uncle
My eyr>Hlb filled Ihtir tockcu.
And Undc Sim 1 nvennci,
PuIkuUrijr fall pocVcu.
1.DWKLL : Biflrm Paftrt.
ITnderBioiuid RallrOKd, sometimes humorously abbreviated U. G. R. R.,
was a term collectively given to the numerous devices and expedients by
which, during the agitation for the abolition of slavery in the United States,
fugitive negro slaves were assisted across the border and expedited to a
safe place of refuge in the Northern Slates or across the frontier into
Canada.
TTnltad we Btand, dlTlded w« EtU, the motto of the State of Ken-
tucky. Mark Twain proudly relets to this lact :
The arnioria] msi of my own Suite cohMwI of two itwiliHe licm bnldlog up lb* hsMI
of ■ dud-and-gDiir cuk between Ihtm nod niaUng ifac pHIInnil remark, " UinTU wi
ST;M<i>_hic '— uiviDiiD wi Fall." liwualwayiloo figuruJve forlfaeiutlwodhli book.
-J?.^i»f //, p. .10.
Probably the indirect originator of the motto was John Dickinson (1731-
1808), in his "Liberty Song" (1768):
Tb™
ByiH
The phrase was freely Quoted during the Revolution. Hence the allusion
in George P. Morris's "The Flag of our Union :"
A UDg for DDT burner 1 Tbe walcbirDni reull
Wh^b nve ihe Republic her loiion ;
" Uniled »e tuod. divided «e fall !"
Tbeui
:^ii->ii;^i^.
llie
UDlon of Sulei oo
..lo. of be.ru. ibe
And
■he tU« of our U>
_^ooglc
107» HANDY-BOOK OF
a Fri
iday, and the consequent fasia which in Rotnan Catholic ti
:s made or make tt a marked day in the calendar. To s
under taking or lo commence a journey on Friday is lo court failure and dis-
aster. The superstition is epecially prevalent among sailors. There is a
wide-s]>read though not very welt auinenticaled story thai a person anxious
III destroy this superstition had a ship's keel laid on a Friday, the ship
launched on Friday, her masts taken in from the shear-hulk on a Friday, the
cargo shipped on a Friday ; he found (heaven knows how, but so the story
iiii>b) a Captain Friday lo command her ; and, lastl]', she sailed on a Friday.
Kul the superstition was not destroyed, for the ship never returned lo port,
nor was the manner of her destruction ever known. Other instances of the
kind might be cited. Thus a feeling is entertained by many persons not other-
wise superstitious that bad luck will follow any wilful attempt lo run counter
fa superstition.
[ii reasoning on this subject, K, A. Proctor says, " [t is a manifest aljsurdity
III suppose thai the sailing of a ahip on a Friday is unfortunate ; and it would
l)e a piece of egregious folly lo consider such a superstition when one has
occasion lu lake a jnurney. But the case is different when any one under-
takes to*n)i« that -' - ' '"' -!---''- •-
assume, m the (itsi
certain, and such confidence, apart from alt question of superstition, is a mis-
lake. In fact, a person so acting errs in the very same way as those whom
he wishes to correct ; they refrain from a certain act because of a blind
fear of bad tuck, and ht proceeds to act with an equally blind belief in good
In further illusiraiton he cites an instance of an old woman who came lo
Flanjslecd, the first astronomer royal, to ask him the whereabouts of a cer-
tain bundle of linen which she had lost. Flamsleed determined to show the
folly of that belief in astrolt^ which had led her to Greenwich Observatory
(under some misapprehension as lo the duties of an astronomer royal). He
drew a circle, put a square into it, and gravely pointed out a ditch, near
the cottage, in which he said it would lie found. He then wailed until she
should come back disappointed and in a fit frame of mind lo reraive the
rebuke he intended for her ; but she came back in great delight, with the
bundle in her hand, found in the very place.
Besides the prominence which Friday has attained, every day of the week
has its superstitions attached and is of good or —■'
Monday'! child r< fair in the &ce ; '
Friday ■t'cilifd'ia loriogsodgiySe : '
Cui your nails Monday, you cut them for newi:
Cm them on Ti«day, ■ pair of new ihoet ;
Cut them 00 Wednnday, you cut Ihcni lor beilih :
Cui them on Thunday, 'ivlil add lo ytwr wealdi i
Cui them on Friday, you cut them for woe ;
L>t ihem on SanuJay, ■ journey j-ou-il go :
For all Ihe'wiell'lonjl J^'LI be rukd°by*ihe derU.
The latter i
it was a pena
Melchisedec J
amen regarding Sunday must have originated in the days when
1 offence for a man to kiss his wife on Sunday, and when
ones was put in the slocks for calling on hii sweetheart one
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
■■e days of the week being of gcxwJ, the last three «
Monday for wealth .
Tuudiiy forhullh.
Wcdnoday Ihc beu diy oT ill.
a list of "the evil days in each month," InnsUted from the
7.«M-7.
Kary. Tht rounh d»y bi
•iM'stti.l;'
Tht
fir« the gr«dy glmton
The
ninlurd'i dnira.
i^mh »!d*iht eltv^lh
Art
r»dv dMih'i ffll work
third lo >lsy poor min
The
Th*
.nhoili; ■
a
wSoiiJuih thrift^
ntTknow..
The
uo'lhlii'l^'^ll'^LI'n^.'' '
The
■Uv.
The
fimkUliorongwaUBtlaw;
The
Kca«dl.T>>coh«tlo
The third diy of the moDib
S^mba,
And
tenth, broig evil to «c
The
third u.dleBth.-.rLlhp
iiuuefaourQului
The'
«ofde.dlvp.i
Dtctmbir. The Kvenih't a Uh! day to humnn life ;
ITnreoogniiad inoaptaoltj, A great. This was the judgment which
BismarL-k passed upon llic Emperor Napoleon in the early days of his Im-
perial career, when his sphinii-like silence had imposed tipon the French as
diplomatic asttiteness. Even belter was the mol o( the English ambassador,
Lord Cowley, apropos of the same monarch ; " He never speaks, anil he
always lies" {"II ne park jamais et il meni toujours"). If Bismarck could
see through the shallow eravily of Napoleon, the lallet had not wit enough
to penetrate the light veil of raillery which the Prussian chose to assume.
" He is not a serious man," was Napoleon's verdict, — " of which," said
Bismaick, later, " I naturally did not remind him at the weaver's at Donchery,"
— i.t., the house in which, after the battle of ^dan, the emperor discussed
with Bismarck the terms of capitulation.
TTitMr Fil^ a popular appellation current in Germany, mote particularly
from the time of the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 and the
Franco- German War, by which the late Emperor Frederick, then Crown
Prince of Prussia, was known.
Cnapeakable Turk. This expression came into general use during the
Bulearian agitation of 1876 on its appearance in a published letter of Carlyle's
to George Howard, M.P., dated November 341 "The unspeakable Turk
should be immediately struck out of the question, and the country lefi to
honest European guidance." It was not the first lime, however, that Carlyte
bad made use of it. In 1S31, nearly fifty years before, in the fVatminjter
90«
HANDY-BOOK OF
bgl."
TTntowaid event. The baitlc of Navarino, foughi on October lo, i8»7,
resulted in a crtuhiiig tleleal or the Turkish fleet by the combined annaments
i)f England, Fiance, and Russia. In the speech of George IV. in opening
Parliament in iSzS the fallowing phrase occurred; "His Majesty deeply
regrets that this conflict should have occurred with the naval force of ati
ancient ally ; but he slill entertains a confident hope that this unl^-mard event
will not be followed by further hostilities." The phrase was received with a
burst of indignation throughout the country, and Wellington, as prime min-
ister, and consequently head of the Cabinet to which the authorship of the
speech was referred, came in for a large share of the attendant odium.
Whco ihc Duke of WeltlnrlDD ipoke of the luitle or Nnvuiiui simply u '■ an uoionid
«i™iion ^ulix iiii™i™rf ihe*iori/»le'5'^ !u IHidmy lo'UiSllt " S^ul"™ of
powir.' Th* perfect (Hence in »hich he paswd over the commoDplice view of Navarino,
and inuiied on lookiDg al it solely id the HiiLiudeoTa diplomattsl. iiH]ic*Ied in the most
eraphic Dianoer ho* coia|detely indiHereiit he Ttli lo the cLw of coiuequenceB which would
V, the twenty-second letter of the English alphabet, being the original
form of the letter U (^. f.). and having until quite recently the same phonetic
value as that letter,
Taoant mind. In " King Henry V.," Act iv., Sc i. Shakespeare has the
Who with a body tilled and vuant mbd,
Gelt Bim to rest, cnmmed with dislRuTuI t>read.
Here the meaning of vacant — (V, empty, devoid of ideas — is sufficiently
emphasized by its antithesis with filled. An appeal is made to our contempt
rather than our pity. In Cowper's lines, however, we are called upon to
commiserate the condition of mental vacuity :
There is a sort of bull here, unless, fallowing Dr. Butler's definition of a
vacuum as a place full of emptiness, you allow that a vacant mind may be
full of uneasiness. Yet the meaning is plain : a mind without aim or pur-
pose preys upon itself. Pascal has the same thought in his " Pens^" Art
XIX. : " Nothing is so insupportable for man as utter rest, without passion,
without business, without diversion, without application."
Goldsmith, however, calls upon us neither for pity nor for Uame in his still
more famous line, —
And the loud laugh thai ipoke the va
Here he means a mind at ease and free from
expression in hearty laughter.
The keenest pangl the wretched find
Are rnwuie to the dreuy void.
The leaGe» dnen of the ndnd,
Hh waste of Icelini^ UDcmployed.
Btboh : Hit Giiuut I. $j
;i:v,.G00gii:
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1075
Van Tlotla ] (I., " Woe to the vanquished I") When the Gaula under
"^ s invaded Italy and reduced the Roman citizens, who had fled ti
Cnpilol, to the direst extremitiea, the Senate agreed to buy them off with 01
llioOHand pounds' weight of gold. Brennus produced lalse weights. TI
tiibune objected. But Biennus threw his sword into the scale, exclaimir
in " a voice unbearable to Romans" (inteltranda Romanis vex\, " Vae victis
(Livv. V. t^\
Vanltaa Tanitatnm, et omiiiB Tanltaa, the Valgale rendering of i
words in Ecclesiaates i. 2 ; " Vanity o( vanities, all is vanity," Farther doi
ill the same chapter are the vcisce, —
mviilhiih GoA gircn to the tonaof nun Is Ge cnrciKd lb
:n aJI ib« work* tbu nre dona nnda- the n
A very good paraphrase was independently hit upon by two great minds. " I
was in tM habit or saying lo my friends, writes Leibnitz to Nicaise, Sep-
tember 29, 1693, "Sanilas sanilaOtm, tl omnia taaieas, without knowing that
M. Manage also used the phrase, as I learn from his 'M<!nagiana.' " The
" M^nagiana," it may be added, a collection of Menage's table-talk, was
published posthumously in 169Z.
Was it Leibniti or Manage of whom Disraeli was thinking when, in a speech
at the meeting of an agricultural society at Aylesbury in 1S64, he quoted as
the opinion of "a very great scholar" that the text "Vanity of vanities, all is
vanity," was a mistake of the copyist, who wrote *' Vanilas vanitatum. omnia
vanitas," when he should have written "Sanitas sanitatnm, omnia sanitas"?
This caused a Liberal to characterize the views of the opposition as " a policy
of sewage."
Vies. A famous couplet in Pope's "Essay on Man," Epistle ii., 1. IZ7,
tuns as follows :
Via It ■ moBMCt of » IHglilltil mloi
Pope borrowed the sltncture of these lines from Dryden :
osly [o Ix K
iiu /"—• —-• ••-
For the idea he B(
true visage of sin seen at full light, undressed and unpainted, it were impossi-
ble while it so appeared that any one soul could be in love with it, but would
rather flee from it as hideous and abominable."
Victoiy — Defoat. " I remember," says Emerson, in his essay "Quota-
tion and Originalitv," " to have heard Mr, Samuel Rogers in London relate,
among other anecdotes of the Duke of Wellington, that a lady having ex-
pressed in his presence a passionate wish to witness a great victory, he re-
plied, ' Madam, there is nothing so dreadful as a great victory — except a great
defeaL'" It is possible that Wellington used the phrase more than once ; or
was Rogers misquoting and mixcrediting the famous words in the despatch
which the duke sent in iSi;,— " Nothing except a battle lost can be half so
melancholy as a battle won t Emerson goes on to say that ■■ this speech is
D'Argenson's, and is reported by Grimm. Napoleon also said, 'The sight
of a battle-field, after the lieht, is enough lo inspire princes with a love of
peace and a honor of war.
Violet. According to the scientists, who are a dull sort of folk, however,
and who love to hide their ignorance behind long names of learned sound,
(he violet is a genus of exogenous herbs of the order Vitlactte, and is a native
107* HANDY'BOOK OF
of the noTlli temperate tone. But the poets know a great deal more than
the Bcientisis, for they were born before ihem, and will survive ihem, and Ihe
poets tell u8 all about the creation of this fragrant flower. When Jupiter was
■n love with lo and changed her into a heifer, deeming that common grass
and flowers were no fit diet for a sweetheart of the king of gods, he created
the violet that she might feed upon iu dainty petals. And, it is added, when
lo died violets sprang from her body. (See neiil entry.)
The Greek name for violet was ian, and, possibly because that suggested
Ionia, whence (he Athenians were fabled to have sprung, the flower was ■
great bvorile with the Athenians, who adopted it as iheir badge and loved to
weave it into (he chaplets which they wore at banquets, Ihinking, indeed, that
safegaard againi ' '
Alcibiades went to Agathos crowned wiih ivy and violets. The onlir lines
that have survived from Alcaeua's ode lo Sappho begin by addressing her as
"Violet-crowned, pure, sweetly -smiling Sajipho." The Athenian orators,
when striving to win Ihe favor and attention of the people, were wont li
address them as " Athenians, crowned with violets I"
Among the Romans also the violet was highly esteemed. Ovid, in speak-
ing of the ancient saCTi6ces, and contrasting their noble simplicity with the
garish display of more degeneiale times, says thai " if ihere was any one who
could add violets to the chaplets wrought from the flowers of (he meadow he
" And Virgil, to emphasize the desolation of Nalitr
from this lowly wayside preacher. It was a favorite flower with Mohan
and hence has acquired a peculiar sanctity in Moslem countries. " As my
religion is above others," quolh the Prophet, "so is the excellence of the
odor of violets above other odors. It is as warmlh in winter and coolness in
midsummer."
It is likely that it was from some long foreground of popular homage that
the violet became the badge of the medizval minstrels, as in the poetical
contests of Toulouse, where the prize was a golden violet. Cljmence Isaure
places the violet among the floweis with which victors in the/tu idetue were
crowned.
The superstition slill survives in widely -scattered countries that to dream
of the violet is good luck. In Brandenburg and Silesia it is held a specific
against (be ague. In Thuringia i( is a charm agains( the black art. In many
parts of rural Germany the custom is still observed of decking the bridal bed
and the cradles of young girls with this flower, a custom known lo have been
in use among the Kelts as well as among the Greeks.
No one, indeed, names the flower but (o praise it ; no one uses it but for
some pretty, useful, or poetical purpose. Its popularity is highly creditable lo
human nature. Except that in some regions uf the East it has been used lo
flavor sherbets, and Ihal in Scotland it has been mistakenly used as a cos-
metic, it has been universally cherished only for its modesty, its beauty, and
its delicate fragrance.
In modern France the flower has been adopted as the emblem of the Bona-
parte family. "Caporal la Violelle" or "Papa la Violcttc" was the title
bestowed 1^ liis partisans upon Ihe first Napoleon after his banishment to
Elba. — significative of their confidence that he would return again in Ihe
spring.
Early in January, 1S15, a number of colored engravings made their appear-
ance in Paris, representing a violet in full bloom, with Ihe leave* so ar-
..oogic
■^LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I077
ranged as lo form the profile of Napoleon. Underneath was this significant
motto : "// rtvitndra atiic it firintemfs." The phrase became an Imperial
toast, and the flower and color were worn as a party distinction. And, in Tact,
the sentiment waa realized. When March ao, 1815, saw Napoleon re-enter
the Tuileries after his escape from Ella, he found the grand staircase filled
with ladies, who nearly smothered him with violets.
On the death of the King of Rome veiv pretty devices in Tiolefs were
made, showing on the edge of the petals profiles of the members of the Bona-
parte family, each profile forming the outer edge of the petal loohing at the
flower and leaving the face while.
On the death of Napoleon III., also, the visitors to Chiselhurst wore or
carried thither bunches of violets.
A pretty story, but apocryphal, is told as to the adoption of the flower
by tlie Imperialist party. 'I'hree days before his departure for Elba, Na-
poleun, it is said, was walking in the gardens of Fontainebleau with the
Due de Bassano and General Beilrand. He was contemplating retirement
into exile, his courtiers were counselling resistance. They had almost won
the day, when the Emperor saw beside him the three -year -old son of his
gardener plucking a bunch of violets.
"" ' "' laid, " will you give n
anded him the flowers
"Cenilemen," said Napoleon, after a few minutes of silent thought, "I
shall take this as an omen. Henceforth the violet shall be the emblem of my
desires." And, without heeding his courtiers' remonstrances, he withdrew to
Next day he was seen in his garden picking the stray violets, which were
then very scarce. A grenadier on sentry duty approached, and said, —
"Next year. Sire, you will have less difficulty, for the violets will then be
Napoleon looked up in astonishment.
" What [" said he. " do you suppose I shall be here again in a year's time ?"
" Perhaps sooner," was the reply.
" But do you know that the day after to-morrow I leave for the island of
Elba?"
" Your majesty will suffer the storm to pass."
" Are your comrades of the same opinion t"
" Almost all."
** Let them think so, then, but not say so. When your sentry duty is over,
go and find Bertrand. He will give jrou twenty napoleons; but Iceep the
When the grenadier returned to the guard-room he remarked lo his com-
rades how for the last two or three days the Emperor had been walking about
with a bunch of violets.
" For the future," he added, " when we are talking between ourselves, let
us call him Papa la Violette."
And, in fact, from that day the troops in the barrack and at their mess
alwavs spoke of Napoleon as Papa la Violette. The secret gradually
reached the public, and the violet became recognized as the badge of the
Imperialists.
Violet of Ua native land. Tennyson, in "In Memoriam," xviiL, hu
the following stanza :
'Th wall: 'tl> lomithinE : we miy itaiid
WbCR he In EsElilli einh ii Uid,
And from hit ashes may b« nuMte
The vM<( of bis Milve lud.
;i:,vG00gk"
1078 HANDY-BOOK OF
Is there a reminiscence here of Shakespeare's lines f
And f'on her Imir and nnixilliued fl'sh
■r ™ eu • ff^^,„ ^„ ^ _ sc 1.
In Greek myihology there is a legend (hat when lo died violets sprang
froin her body. But it does not follow that Shakespeare intends any allusion
10 this legend. The fact thai flowers spring from soil fertilized by the bodie*
ol the dead is one of current oburvalion. Five centuries before Shakespeare,
Omar Khayy&m had said. —
I Kinrlinia Ihink Ibiu Hver blowt » red
The Rose u otlere •oDK buHed Ceui bled ;
Tbii every H yadnlb Ihe Girdni wcin
Drop) in her Lip bvoi tame UKe larely Head.
gHbiijtl, Slua 19.
Again, at Cagliari, in Sardinia, there is a sepulchre in honor of a wife's
devotion which was erected in pagan times. The inscriptions on the side
are in Latin and in Greek. In one of these the husband begs that her bones
may turn to flowers, and mentions quite a nosegay (hat he would hke to sec
Virtue of neoeaaity. To maJta a, an ancient proverbial expression,
meaning to lake credit upon one's self fur that which is really forced upon one
by circumstances, (o assume commendation for doing under duress that which
would be commendable only as the outcome of free will. The nicer aptness
of the phrase is blurred a( present through its constant use in the affilia(ed,
but none (he less corrupted, sense of lo make (he beat of (hinf^s, to put a
good bee on (he matter. Quintilian, in his " lns(itu(e9," I., viti., 14, says,
" Laudem virtulis necessitali damns" (" We give (o necessity the praise of
virtue"). Chaucer twice uses the words, "To maken verlu ot necessltee,"—
vii., ■■ Knightea Tale," I. 3044, and"Troi[us and Creseide," 1. 1587. Shake-
speare, in " Two Gentlemen of Verona," Act iv., Sc a, uses the exact modem
locution ; and (hat (he saying was also current in con(inental Europe in
medieval times is evidenced by the fact that Hadrianus Julius, in his ad-
■"■■ - "^- ■■ '^--^-" ' -^ - ■-- - y familiar proverb"
Necessitaiem
"The voice of the people is the v
as a proverb by Williara of Malmesbury, " Recogitans illud proverbiui
populi voiil)ci" [Dt Gtstis PoHtificam, fol. 114, ed. Savili). Still farther back,
Alcuin, in Ihe eighth cenlury, protested against i( : "We should not lis(en
to those who are wont to say Vox pof^i, vox Dei, for the noise of the mob
is verv near to madness" [Capilulare Admoniliimii ad CarolumY Sir Williara
Hamilton in his edition of Reid (races it dubiously to the " Works aod Days"
of Hesiod ! " In man speaks God."
The people'! voice li odri,
1[ la ud li ig not the voice oF God.
W. the twenty-third le((er of (he English alphabet, used both as consonant
and as vowel. I( was made some time in the elcTCnth cenliuy, by simply
doubling the U or V sign. (See U.)
.d by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
Waka, in_
111117 parish celebrated the anniversary of the church's dedicaii
The population gave themselves up to wholesale revelry, attracting a legion
of hawkers and merchants, Until the wakes degenerated into common (airs,
without any religious elements. To remedy some a( the more glaring evils,
Edward I. passed a statute forbidding them to be held in church-yards.
Further atlenipta to regulate ihetn were made by Henry VI. in 1448 and
by Henry VIII. in tSjS. Since the Restoration the custom has gradually
declined, though it still holds good in some rural parishes.
But the term is now chiefly confined to the Irish atHnan, the wake or vigil
(more literally, the "wailing") held over a dead body by the friends of the
deceased. Miss Edgeworth epigtammatically styles it "a midnight meeting,
held professedly for the indulgence of holy sorrow, but usually converted
into orgies of unholy joy," The custom was known throughout Great Britain
as well as in the north of Europe. In Anglo-Saxon it was called a lyit-vnie,
lUkt-waltt, or laie-wnitt (from lie, a " corpse," and viaeca, or vhucuih. 10 " keep
watch or vigil"), anc. the word is used in this sense by early English writers.
Thus, Chaucer, in his " Knightes Tale :"
All Ihllki nythi.
The custom itself may be traced back to a remote antiquity. Allusions to
similar funeral feasts may be found in many ancient writings, and even in the
Bible. Ill the Book of Tobit is the passage, " Pour out thy bread on the
burial of the just ;" in Ecclesiasticus, " Delicales poured upon a moulh shut
up ate as messes of meat set upon a grave ;" and a prophecy of Jeremiah,
Foretelling the calamities that shall befall the Jews, announces that "They
shall not lie buried, . . . neither shall men give them the <nip of consolation
10 drink for their father or for their mother."
The Albanians, the Arabs, and the Egyptians all practised similar funeral
ceremonies, degenerating into similar orgies, and traces of the same custom
may still be found among the Abyssinians, the Welsh, and the Swedes.
liwy had a weird ton of ■ dance ai Skm Cily «a WashlnRon'i bCnhdav, uyi a CnUToniiiL
tldunEC. PmioiB lo ifau holiday ihc rallowniE printed notkc*. bocdcred in black, wen
polled all uroutid town : ■' Funtial N«i«.~Dled, al Siern Cily, Callfornlii, Febniary »,
u Speiu:er«u'aore*t Hall. ■!« o'clock, to dinceoDhii' coffin. The funtial uerelia Kill
Ti<:ben. fr P.S.— The wake wljl \oBSBi^a4 laiti-m'u Ibe d^ of thedin«!""Th°>
evening ihe people turned ool /« mMair, sad had a rip-roaring break-down in cekbralic
their H \tK being out of quanniine. The daniei indulged in during ibe eveningwen
kipaled in Ibe Sat\-i<\a.-?hiladtlfkia Lfdt".
nall-poi pollca (be vinu jig, vat
Walhsr, or HdoIm^ ^7allier1 (the latter being Ihe earlier expression),
in English — and especially I^ndon — slang, an ironical ejaculation of surprise.
used when a person is telling an improbable slnry. Its American equivalent
is " Rats 1" The origin is uncertain. One story asserts that John Walker,
familiarly known as " Hookey Walker" from the size and shape of his nose,
was in 1830, or thereabouts, employed by the firm of Longman, Clementi &
Co., Cheapside, London, as a spy on his lellow.clerks, that his more or less
exaggerated tepnrts, met by well-feigned surprise and denial, led to his final
dismissal in disgrace, and that the phrase " That's Hookey Valkcr I" became
proverbial in the city for any dubious statement Another story, fathered by
Ihe Saturday Review and implying a less esoteric drde of originators, maket
io8o HANDY-BOOK OF
Walker an aquiline -nosed Jew who in the first quartet of the century eihibi led
an orrery in London, called by (he erudite name of Eidouranion. He was
also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and often invited his pupils, telescope
in hand, (o " take a sight" at (he moon and stars. The lecturer's phrase
struck his school-boy audience, who frequently " took a sight" with that
gesture of outstretched arms and adjustment to nose and eye which was the
nrst garnish of the papular saying. The next step was to assume phrase and
gesture as the outward and visible signs of knowingneas in general. And
then when Walker had become (he humorous personification of knowingneas,
the linal evolution of the epithet " Walker I" at " Hookey Walker I" aa a
sign of incredulity resulted as a matter of course. Here is a good etymon
01 the phrase " to take a sight" as applied to a gesture of unknown antiquity.
^FaUclnB Bt«irut. This extraordinary i^ersdn had been an employee
of the East India Company ; but, feeling a mission above the " making out of
invoices for a company of'^grocers," he threw up his employment, and com-
menced a journey on foot from CalcuKa (hrough Cen(ral Asia and Syria till
he reached Marseilles. He next traversed Spain, Germany, and the United
Sl.ites of America. It does not appear that Stewart had any special purpose
in these incessant peregrinations, further than to gratify the love of seeing in
all parts of the habitable globe. He made no notes of his tours, lelt no
reflections ; the only conclusion of a general impart which he seems to have
arrived at was that the time would come when ladies would cease to bear
children, leaving travail entirely to poor people. There was, subsequently
(o StewaT(, a Captain Cochrane, not less eminent in pedestrian feats, — never
tired, never hungry, and impregnable to all skyey influences. The captain
expired in harness, in an effort to traverse Siberia and reach Kamtichatka on
foot across the Uraliai
Walls hftv* aais, the modern form of the proverb which is found in tlut
shape in Heywood :
Flddei have e&c* ukd voodet have «ua.
Prrttrlt, Pmi II., ch. r.
TVar. To b« prapurcd for irar !■ cms of tha moat aOBOtiul
meuw of praaamug tha paaoa, a phrase which occurs in the address
delivered in person by Washington bebre Congress at the opening of its
Kcond session, January 8, 1790.
War a failure, The, a condensation of (he resolution adopted at the
Democratic National Convention, August 19. (864, towards the close of the
civil war, at a time when the rebellion seemed outwardly stronger than ever
and to have almost succeeded. General McClellan was nominated for (he
Presidency at this Convention. The phrase was turned as a stigma upon the
Northern Democrats by the Republicans, and for a long time was associated
with the popular estimate of McClellan. The tent of the resolution is in sub.
stance that it is " the sense of the American people that, after four years of
failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, . . . immediate efforts
be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view 10 an ultimate convention
of the Stales, ... to the end that . . . peace may be restored on the basis
of the Federal union of the Slates."
'War, Before the, a phrase often used in a humorous way to imply (hat
an event which is brought up as a topic of tonversation is a " chestnut" or
extremely "ancient history.' As the civil war in America marks two dis-
tinct epochs in the history of the country, reference to it is frequently made
by writers or speakers, in the phrases "before the war" and "alter the war,"
;i:v,.G00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I081
to designaie the period at which some event happened or during which some
special slale of things exiaied.
Watds of the naUon. In cunveisation with E. M. SUnton, Secretary
It! War, Presideiu Lincoln used the phrase, " The rreedmen are (he nards ol
ihc nation," " Yes," answered Stanlon, '' wards in chancery."
War-hors*, An old, a political Americanism applied as a nickname
to anjr energetic political worker of long standing in a party. It may be used
either in a commendatory way by his political friends or derisively by his
opponents.
WatotaM — Judgmaut Pope's famous lines,
Yet, in spite of the verbal agreement, the sense is diametrically opposite,
as will be apparent at a glance.
'Watar. Hara Ilea one wboae name waa writ In water. This is
the epitaph which the poel Keats, according to Lord Houehton {Life, Letters,
and Literary Remains of John Xeati, vol, ii. p. 91), insisted should be placed
upon his tumb. He <loublless had in mind the various passages in ancient
that the best a man dues is written in
■ble, (.See under Evii. that Men do.)
Water-mark. The lirst water-mark on record was (he coat of aims of a
town. The early paper-makers were not slow to adopt (his idea in impressing
upon (heir shee(s the device of the place where their mill was situated. For
instance, the coat of arms of the village of Rives, a dolphin, is a common
mark on old papers. This mark ts still in use (o-day. The first use of the
ignature or emblem to point out the plac
id the r- ■- ' ' ■-...,.,
ufacture, and to recommend the material. Fur aTl (hat, certain of these
emblems were used by different makers, and even in different countries, with
slight variations. — jruxrar, astheyare called in heraldry,— rw hi ch were evidently
not accidental, but intentional. The letter P, used by numberless makers,
is a good water-mark (o take as an eiample, since we find that not only (a
there an endless variety of forms of the letter in the product of different
mills, but that the same maker modified the briiurei a{ the letter on different
qualities of his paper. Another use of the watermark is more evident still.
The names of (he principal sizes of /n/ifr iw^ have been handed down to
us, and the whole of these have suggested water-marks. Rising from the
smallest sheet to the largest, they are as follows : bell, pot, ^cu (a three-franc
piece), crown, shell, grape, large grape, j^sus, great eagle, and great world.
The size "j^sus" was indicated by the letter "j," the rest by their embleins.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth cen(uries the members of each trade guild
were compelled to mark their merchandise with the seal of their guild. If
they did not do so they were fined.
"'Watta! Boya, give 'em.' an exclamation attributed to the minister of
the church in Ewing Township, near Trenton, New Jersey, in the Revolu-
tionary War, when he distributed the hymn-books to be used for gnn-wada.
_k)ogk"
HANDY.aoOK OF
(1633-1718) Ihat he would wear himself out by hia incesaani auplicaiion, "It
is Getter," replied the bishop, "to wear out than to rast out,'' which is the
exact opposite of the Shalicspearian phrase ;
I wen iMtur 10 be eaten 1q death with m niu Ihan la be kcocmd ta noihliiie with par'
pciual n>Mioii.-//«.rr IV., P*rt It.. Act i., Sc. 1.
Byron oSers still another form ;
Better la ilak beneatli the ahacfc
Than moulder piecemeal cm lb* rock-
Wadding AnniTenarie*. In many parts of the civilized world it is cus-
tomary to give the name of sotnc metal or fabric to certain wedding anniver-
saries. The custom seems (o have tv^un originally with the quarler-centuty
celebrations, which were styled, in their respective order, the silver, golden,
and diamond weddings. 'I'hese are must in vogue at present. But in many
localities, especially in England and in this country, others have been addea,
until in its most enlarged form the list is as follows ;
First anniversary, iron ; fifth, wooden ; tenth, tin ; fifteenth, crystal ; twen-
tieth, china ; twenty-fifth, silver ; thirtieth, cotton ; thirty-fifth, linen 1 fortieth,
wnullen ; forty-fifth, silk ; fiftieth, golden ; sixtieth, seventieth, and seventy-
fifth, diamond.
The presents given on these occasions are respectively iron, wooden, tin,
etc. As to the diamond wedding, its celebration on the sixtieth anntversaiy
is a comparatively recent innovation. But there is a dispute among uiu-
quaries as to whether the seventieth or the seventy-fifth was the original date.
Edwin De Lisle, a member of the House of Commons, supplied the following
interesting memorandum to Neles and Quiriti of May 7, 18S7 :
About two ytan ago an aged couple of the nalne of Wonley. in the vilUce of Shcepahed,
hi the Mid-Ltnighbomugh diviuon of Lekcalenhlre. which [ now Rpment. cdebnted (Iwir
ievenljcih weddhig-day. A Komaq newapaper fell into my haodi commeoiiug upon ihii
lay il bcfoi-c Her Ma|e>iy. and praying tbe Queen to tend the humble couple, who were very
a diamond weddipg-dayr The Roman newspaper avowed thai teveniy yutn conaiiiuied a
ifiamond wrdding, and that in Italy die aovereign wu worn to (eatify hii lolercat in tbe hap-
pineia of any CDiifiW «)h> had dwelt logrther for teventy yean in boiy wedlock by loue token
Mfuealy eonaidered kevenly-fiveyranihe diamond period. 1 dia not coniesl ihe point, betag
have leAnied tliat a gnancr of a century and half a century, iwo profane perioda. are generally
held to conititutc the atlver and gotden wedlock but ijut a aacred period, tbe ihreeacon
We*k. Dav of tha. The following formula shows how to find the day
of the week ui any date. Take the last two figures of Ihe year, add a quarter
of this, disregarding the fraction 1 add the dale of the month, and to this add
the figure of the following list, one figure standing for each month : 3.6-6-3-4-
0-3-5-1-3-6-1. Divide the sum by seven, and the remainder will give the
number of the day in the week, and when there is no remainder the day will
be Saturday.
\7«looma tha oomlug, gpeed the partins gneat. Here is Pope't
translation of a famous passage in Homer's " Odyssey," Book iv. :
Alike he thoani ibe bogpiiable end
Who drivei Ihe free or alaya the haaly friend;
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1083
The last line is one of Ihe stock quotations of English literature. Its trim
neatness and epigrammatic point are Pope's, of course, and not Homer's.
This is how Bryant more literally translates the same lines :
tl \a ulilie ■ wrong
To ihniM (he unwilLiDg atniiBa- out oi door.
And to deuia bim when he longt lo eo.
Aod when he withea, bclp him to dcpan.
Elsewhere Pope says, —
For I who hold ufc Homct'i nilt the beu,
^ When he gave a parly he welcomed each guest 01
arrival with a hearty '• Enlin 1" (" At last I"} and dismissed him on dcpanure
with the regretful " LWji !" (" Already !") There is humur in Shakespeare's
H'mry VL, fart J.. Aci U., Sc. t.
'WeUb Rabbit One aC the most curious and curioasty successful feats
of the amateur etymologist is that which has changed Welsh rabbit, which is
right, into Welsh rarebil, which ia wrong, and has forced the wrongful change
upon Ihe English-speaking world. It has ever been a common habit with the
A. E., when the meaning of a word does not seem obvious lo him, to remedy
the difficulty by a slight change thai makes il apparently reasonable. Coming
across the word Welsh rabbit, he gazed through solemn spectacles at this
mare's nest, and decided that a bit of toasted cheese could not by any stretch
of the imaginaiion be considered a game animal, but il might well be a rare
bit. So he jumped at the conclusion that lime, and Ihe corruptions which
lime effects, must have done their work on this word, and decided lo restore
its original beauty and significance. Hence we have Welsh rarebits on all
oar Mtniii. Even Webster and Worcester once accepted this unscholarly
s emendation. Kow, this is all wrong, Welsh rabbit
Senuine slang term, belonging lo a large class of similar terms describing in a
umoruus manner the speaal dish, product, or peculiarity of a particular
district. Thus, in England, a "German duck" or a " Fie Id- Lane duck" is
" •• Dunbar
/ names for
euphemistically called "Irish apricots" and "Mun-
," and shrimps are " Gravesend sweetmeats." In New England
codhsh are frequently known as "Cape Cod turkeys." In French slang a
herring appears as " poulet de catfme," and a crust of bread tubbed with
garlic is called a ca|>on. In Italy, so Fuller informs us. "the friars [when
disposed to eat meat on Fridays) call a capon a ' piscis S cotte,' — a fish out of
the coop." Similar examples abound in every country. Vet. in the face of all
these analogies, the amateur elymologist refuses to accept the common-sense
explanation that the name Welsh rabbit is simply a humorous tecognilioti of
Taffy's fondness for toasted cheese.
Weat Oo ^7Mt, yoiuiB man! This phrase, popularly attributed to
llmace Greeley, really belongs to John 1. B. Soul ^, editor of the Terre
Haute Exprtti. In igji he and Richard Thompson, afterwards Secretary
of the Navy, were conversing in Soulj's sanctum. Thompson had just finished
advising Soul^ to go West and grow up with the country, and was praising
his talents as a writer.
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io84 HANDY-BOOK OF
" Why, John," he said, " you could wiite »n article that would be attributed
to Horace Greeley if you tried,"
" No, I couldn't," responded Mr. Soule, modestly. " I'll bet I couldn'L"
" I'll bet a barrel of flour you can, if you'll promise to try jrour best, the
flour to so to some deserving poor person."
'■ All light : I'll try," responded Souli.
lie did try, writine a column editorial on the subject under discussion, — the
op|K)rl unities offiited to young men by the West. He slarled in by saying
that Horace Greeley could never have given a young man belter advice than
that contained in ihe words "Go West, young man.
The advice was not quoted from Greeley : it was merely compared to what
he might have said. Bui in a few weeks the ext-hanges began coming into
the Exprtis office with Ihe epigram accredited to Greeley. So wide a circu-
lation did it obtain that at last the New York Triium came out with an
editorial reprint of the Express article, and Ihe following foot-note :
" The expression of this sentiment has been attributed to the editor of the
Tribune erroneously. But so fully dues he concur in the advice il gives that
he endorses most heartily the epigrammatic advice of the Terie Haute Exprta,
and joins in saying, ' Go West, young man, go West.' "
'IVeatem Rmmtts. In the negotiations resulting in the cession of their
Srtsdiction over the Northwest Territory to the Federal government by
assachuselts, Connecticut, New Voik, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the
State of Connecticut reserved a tract of nearly four million acres on l^ke
Erie. This tract the State finally disposed of in small lots, thus creating (or
herself a magniflcent school-fund. The tract became known as the " Western
Reserve," and was largely settled by New- En glanders.
Weatward th« ootiria of empire takes its irsT, a famous line In
an ode wiitleirby Bishop George Berkeley at the time when he was enihusi-
aitically contemplating the building of a university in the American colonies
of England ;
Wsiwud Ihe counr of cmpirr ukea in way :
The Tour Am icn ■liud)' put,
A tifib ihall cIdk the dnnu wilh Ihe day :
Tlnw'a noblal aBipriiii i> iIm Iul
On Uu PrBiptcl tf PtaiUing ArU tad
learning in Am^rKlt.
Before Berkeley, Herbert had said, —
ea y opul o < "'^Ji,' ^;rA Jfi/i«iM,
Still earlier, in 1598, Samuel Danie! had wrilien,—
WhiiwofliUiBih^^unformtd'occidtni
Miy come reRncd wilh tb' ucccDU (hu are ounT
MuiafkilKt, Slum 16}.
The above stanza is the more remarkable in that il was penned when not
a single Englishman was settled in America, when no successful effort to
estabUsh an English colony had been made, and indeed after Sir Walter
Raleigh had titled out no fewer than seven expeditions, at a cost of some forty
thousand pounds, — an enormous sum in those days, — to meet only with dis.
astrous failure. England, with a sigh, had relinquished all hope of colonizing
America. The poet only did not despair. Eight years later, on December
19, 1606, he stood on Ihe quay at Blackwall to bid God-speed to ■ fleet <d
.kKlgIc
UTERARY CURIOSITIES. 10S5
three Bmall veuels, the largest less than a huiidced tons in burden, which
utied out lo America. Captain John Smith commanded one of these vessels,
and the colony which he foonded in Virginia gave England her lirsl firm foot-
hold In the New World.
Jekyll once observed that the farther he went West the more convinced he
felt that Ihe wise men did not come from the East.
wnigB — Toilea, the names (originaMy nicknames) by which the two great
political parties of Great Britain were known for nearly two hundred years.
Since 1S38. and particularly during the second half of the present century, the
designation has been generally changed to Liberals and Conservatives, although
the latter are still often designated Tories. The Conservatives include the bulk
of the members of the House of Lords, the High -Churchmen, the squirearchy,
the yeomanry, and all of that element which delights to be included under (he
general designation of "sodety." The Liberals are recruited most largely
from the Nonconformists, and out at the great manufacturing districts and (he
Welsh and Scotch cc
There is not much difference between " Whig" and " 1'ury" as regards
their derivation : the former is contracted from a corruption of Celtic words
meaning pack-saddle thieves, while the latter comes from an Irish word
meaning a band of robbers. The name Whig was first given to the followers
of the Marquis of Argyll in Scotland who were in opposition to (he govern-
ment in the reign of James I. " From Scotland," says Bishop Burnet, " the
word was brought Into England, where it is now one of our unhappy tettna
of disunion." The name ofToty was first given, according to Lord Macaulay,
to those who refused to concur in excluding James IL from the throne.
An etymon which deserves a high place among the humors of philology
runs as follows. During Ihe seventeenth century, when the Scotch were con-
tending fur liberty against the oppression oF the crown, one of the popular
clubs of the day inscribed upon its banners this appropriate and Christian
motto : " We Hope In God." Sometimes only the initial letter of each word,
W. H. I. G., was used. " In this way the word Whig was formed, which is
thus seen to be an abbreviation of this declaration of trust and hope."
Whlakey InsniTeotiQii, a rebellion which bioke out in Western Penn-
sylvania in 1794 and exlended into the border counties of Virginia, in con-
sequence of the attempts made to enforce the provisions of the law taxing
whiskey and regulating the eicise passed by Congress in 1791. Two proclama-
tions of President Washington having produced no effect. General Henry Lee,
governor of Virginia, was finally sent with an armed force and suppressed iL
Wlilat. The meaning of the word whist as applied to the game of cards
is by no means as obvious as it might appear to be at first sight, and authori-
ties are divided as to whether it means silence or whether tne notion is that
in (he game trumps saxtfi the board. Those who argue for the former deri-
vation quote the Latin ill the German it! or Aiit! and the Scotch whitkt!
but, unfortunately for this theory, the game at first was called whisk, and
later was associated with the word swabber (to sweep with a mop). In sup-
port of this idea we have the German taiscX, "a mop," Swedish aiiita, to
"wipe," Danish visi^. If therefore the name of the game was intended to
convey the notion of silence, it will be necessary to show that whisk may be
used to convey this idea, and there are no instances in which the word is
used with that meaning.
^KThlitle. The saying " to wet your whistle" is of Norman pedigree, and
at least as old as Ihe thirteenth century. Henri d'Andeli thus commences
hii poem on " The Battle of the Wines :"
»!•
L.;|i,z:;i:v..G00^IC
HANDY-SOOK OF
U
.LuboD RaiquialDoni Philippe,
Du b^ vin qiti e»oi( du muc ;
which might be turned into modern English as follows:
llul happelKd UK otb^ day mt ubic
To goodKJDE Philip, who did ioclioe
To wcl hit vGiiile wi<h good vhiu »!■».
Chaunr has the line
So vu hire joly whiwie we) ywcue.
^triUstle, Dont give too muoh for the, a favociic expression cf Benja-
min Franklin, the iirigiii or which he thus eipUins in a Idler lo Madame Brillon
(1770) : "When 1 was a child of seven years old, my friends, on ■ holidav,
tilled my pocltel with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they Bold
toys (or children ; and being charmed with the sound of a xohaUi, that I met
by Ihe way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my
money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all Over the house,
much pleased with my whislle, bnl disturbing all the familv. My brothers
and sisters and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had
given four times as much for il as it was worth, put me in mind of what good
things I might have bought with the rest of the money, and laughed at mc so
much for my folly (hat I cried with vexation ; and the reflection gave me more
chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterwards
of use to me, the imptession continuing on my mind ; so that often, when I
was templed to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, ' Don't ^vc loo
much for the whistle,' and I saved my money. As I grew up, came mto the
world, and observed the actions of men, 1 thought I met with many, very
many, who gave too much for the whistle."
'WblatUng ivomau (A) Emd a orowlng hen will alwaya oome to a
bad end, a medixval proverb whose reason is as halt as its rhjrme and its
rhythm. Bacon, in his " Promus," quotes a French variant :
Femnw qui parlc ladik,
Eofuil nounH de rin,
Ne vknl poinl A boDAE Go.
'Wbo breaks, pays. This expres^on is fotind among the popular
phrases of most European countries. The French "Qui casse lea verres lea
paie" suggests that the probable origin of Ihe expression was in laverm.
An ancient custom which still lingers in some pans decreed Ihal after Ihe
drinking oF certain toasts the glasses should be broken, 10 prevent Iheir ever
being used again. Those who broke their glasses were expected lo settle for
Ihem, In Italy, "Chi rompe. |>aga" is frequently quoted lo servants (iitdeetl,
is sometimes printed and framed in their quarters) as a warning thai any
carelessness with brittle objects will result in a deduction from their wages.
John Selden in his "Table-Talk" says, speakine ola wife, " He that will keep
a mbnkey, 'lis fit he should |>ay for Ihe glasses ne breaks."
In English, "to crush a bottle" has been corrupted into "to crack" or "to
break a bottle," although crush originated from Ihe Italian j *- -
merely to decant " Who breaks, pays" may therefore r
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1087
one or those obvious sayings that spring up spontaneouslj and independentlf
ill irideljr-solteied places.
In Flee I Street, not Tar Trom Temple Bar, and close to a ^mous resort called
"The Devil," was a small drinking-place kept by one Levi Flcischmann, and
frequented by a more boisterous crowd iban the lawyers and literary men who
went to "The Devil" for refreshment. No sign adorned the front door until
one morning (he landlord, after a melancholy survey of his broken glasses
and digmembered furniture, nailed up a device roughly imitated from his
neighbor's, — St. Dunstan seizing the devil by the nose,— only the saint's
li>ngue was elongated till it nearly resembled a spade, and on it was written,
" Who breaks, |)ay3." This sign attracted the ailention of all Fleel Street,
and the legend became a by-woid among the wits and lawyers of the day.
The other story refers (o an historical incidenl ;
In 1476, Alfonso V., King of Portugal, viailed Paris to seek the aid of Louis
XI. in lecuvering Castile, wrested from him by Prince Ferdinand of Aragon.
At that time Laurent Herbelot, a wealthy grocer, had one uf the most princely
mansions in Paris, and King Louis ditecled that here his royal visitor should
be lodged. A few repairs were needed, and a glazier white putting in a few
Eanes uf glass in the gruund-flaor had his basket knocked over by a passer-
y, who straightway took to flighL But the glazier caught up with him.
" Stop, my beauty,' he cried : " settle your bill with me r who breaks, pays."
"How much?" " Fifteen centimes a pane : you broke four." The breaker
paid sixty centimes and went on his way. The saying became popular, and
was adopted by landlords as a warning to their customers.
'Wlokad Partner, The, is a refuge provided for the " truly good" man.
Whenever an unhandsome action is traced to his door, it is not he who is
responsible, but his "wicked partner," The usage first obtained currency
through the New York Sun, about (87*, in a controversy with the Cincinnati
Cominircia! Catttli: all the misdeeds charged acainat the latter sheet were
inscribed, ironically, not against " Deacon" Richard Smith, the eminently
respectable figure-head of that newspaper, but against his wicked partner.
Mural Halstead, The phrase has taken rank among Americanisms, especially
with reference to political relations.
Wife at forty. " My notion of a wife at forty," said Jerrold, " is that a
man should be able to change her, like a bank-note, for two twenties."
This jest was anticipated oy Byron 1
Of Efty.asduichliuiWKbueinplail;;
And yet, t Ihjnk, rptivad of vidb ■ amt
•Tiitn belter 10 hive (nv of five.asd.twsilT,
Z>.«yMo«,lidi. r
and Still earlier by Gay, in " Equivocation." In the colloquy between a
bishop and an abbot, the Inshop advises, —
Thoc iDdlKniioni lend ■ hundle
L«t all your nkaida be ttirind t/^if.
Tlie prteit replied. 1 have Dol iwerved.
Thai lau full ivunly-fivt ha
told;
So hoik my auidi bav<:^^y past.
John Dryden said something not entirely diOereol in answer to his wife's
HANDY-BOOK OF
so mach time in his library she would bin be a book
WlldernesB. A well-known parage
overcomes us all at limes wlien we are
conventionality of
Uh Ibr I lodge
Some b>>uD<li*9
lodge in lainv vuL wildemeu,
DDtiguUy of Bhikdc,
■pprd^on and d«Hll,
Mlfht™"™"" "'""""
Tht Talk, Book ii. : TTh Timtfua, I. i.
Jeremiah (ii. 3) had experienced this feeling;
Oh ihat I bad In ihe wUdemcu ■ lodgiDg plan at naylifing men ; that I might leave mi
and so, of course, had Byron :
Oh ihal Ibe deKtt were my dwellLng-place,
Wiih one lair apirit for my minialer.
Thai 1 mighi all forget ibe humaa race,
And, haling no one, iovt bul only her I
CkiUi fiart/J, CaMo iv.. Slana IJ7.
Tennyson's version of Ihe same idea occurs in " Locksley Hall :"
Deep in yonder sliiDlng Orienl, where my lire began 10 beal,
Ot 10 bum an linki of haM(,-ihen to wander Ear awajr.
On from island unio iiUnd«i Ihegatcwayi of iheday^
There methinks would be enjorninit more ibad in thli Diafch oT mind.
In rhe sieamahip, In the railway, in the thoughia that ihake mankinds
There the paauans cramped no longer ahall have Kope and btealbing apace;
Iron-iolnlBd, supple-tintwed, they ahall dive, and Ihej ahall ran,
Whiiile back Ibe parroi'i call, and leap the ninbowi Of Ihe brook*,
Ti finds a curious parallel in Beaumont's "Phi>
oflSSl'aV.SS™: !""'"''""" "*'
And then had talien in tome mountain giii.
Beaten with wjnda, that might have nrewnl my bed
Whh leavei and reeda, andliave borne at her big bnoMi
My Urge coane iuoe. Thit had been a lile
'Qtrild'SOOH ohBa«, a colloquialism for any hazardous, ridiculous, or
imjiossible enterprise. The name was otlglnally given to a son of racing,
resembling the tiying of wild geese, in which after one horse had got the
lead Ihe other was obliged to follow after. As the second horse generally
exhausted himself in vain efforts to overtake the Aisl, this mode of racing,
was tinally discontinued.
Wind. It's ui lU wind tiut blows no one my EOOd, a familiar
English proverb, meaning that whal hurts one man beitefiu another, which
maKM its first literary appearance in Hejwood :
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LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1089
Pmnhs°faa I., ch. Ix.
Toiter amplifies it :
Except wind iluidi u never it Mood,
A DticTifltM iif At F^nftrliti iff Wind.
And Shakespeare plays viih the idea as follows .-
FtUtaff. WhM Kind blew vou hither. PUtolt
PiitiC^ai. Ihe ill wind which hlowi no mm to good.
Hinry IV., Pari li.. Act v.. Se. I,
wind. lbs door ^ru open, and the wind blew It in, an American
piece of colloquial jocularity, ineaniTig Ihat the persan at whom the jesl is
aimed is so " light" that he is at the mercy of a eust of wind. An equivalent
stroke of huraor asserts of the particular butt that he is so light that if he
were to cut his boot-straps he would sail up into the air. Similar jests have
even in classic times been levelled at the physical rather than the mental
deficiencies of particular persons. Thus, it was said of Philetas, the poet of
Cob, that he had to near lead in his shoes to keep him from being blown
away. Again, a( a party, a liellow-gtiest of Douglas Jerrold was remarkable
for his thinness. Sotnehody having left the door open and occasioned a
strong air, Jerrold eaclaimed, "Shut the door quickly, or the draught will
blow up the chimney."
Wind aroB* and nuhed upon the South. There is a curious simi-
larity between the following passages, the first by Tennyson, the second by
Shelley :
And Bhoijt the Kmgs, the whiipci*, And the ihrieki
Of the wild woodi tocelber i ■nd ■ Voice
Went wlib it, Follow, fallow, thm ihilt win.
Tk4 Pritfeis, L 96.
A wind aro*e amoag the pitJei: It ihook
The dingina muticuom tbeir boueht, and then
Low, •weet, lalnt loundi, like thebrewell of ghoui,
Were heard : O, follow, foUow, tallow dm,
Frvmtllinii,Jl.,\., 156.
Wind, nte big, a name given in Ireland to a terrible wind-storm that
began on the night of January 6, 1S39. In Limerick, Galway, and Athlone
hundreds of bouses were blown down, and hundreds more weie burned by the
wind spreading the tires of those blown down. Dublin suffered terribly. No
Irishman knows this storm by any other name than " the big wind." " The
night of the big wind" foims an era ; things date from it : such and such a
thing happened "before the big wind, when I was a boy ;" or it happened "a
twelvemonth after the big wind, when yout uncle Dennis was but a lad."
The use of the name seems a sort of survival of oral tradition as opposed to
Wine. Oood wine need* no biuh. Ftom ancient Roman to com-
paratively recent times a " bush" or branch (usually of ivy, because that plant
was dedicated to Bacchus) used to be hung as a sign before a wine-shop Or
tavern. The Custom even survives locally in rural England. Hence it is
usually held that the phrase means, Good wine needs no advenliliotis aid of
advertising, or, in other words, it sells itself. This interpretation is bome out
by the ancient Latin proverb of which ours is a descendant, "Vino vendibili
a hedera non opus est" |" Vendible wii>e needs no hanging bush").
The
1090 HANDY-BOOK OF
needs no crier"). A Scotch saying is, " Gude ate needi no wisp," for some-
times the "bush" was meicly a wisp of hay or straw, or a bundle of twigs.
Similar testimony is borne by numeroDs references in seventeen Ih-cenlurjp
literature. Thus, Lyly. in his " Euphues" (A, 3), has, "Things of greatest
prolii are set forth with least price. Where the wine is neat there needeth
no ivie-bush i" and Allot, in a " Sonn«l to the Reader," prefixed to bis
" England's Pamassuii," says, —
ThE Mcur of (ODd wiu *^ hIiIimUc.
Nevertheless, another interpretation recently suggested in the London Atht-
naum is both plausible and ingenious. This would make the proverb mean
that good wine needs no ivy, — ivy having been anciently considered a correc-
tive lor the evil effects of wine. Thus, the old herbalist Culpepper tells us, .
" Pliny saith the yellow berries (of ivy) are good against (he jaundice ; and
taken before one be set to drink hard, pteserveth from drunkenness." And
again, "Cato saith thai wine put into the (ivy) cup will soak through it, by
reason of the antipathy there is between them. There seems to be a very
great antipathy between wine and ivy ; for if one has got a surfeit by drinking
wine, his speediest cure is to drink a draught of the same wine wherein a
handful of leaves, being dist bruised, have been boiled." William Coles,
who does not often agree with Culpepper, does so here, and speaks explicitly
of the ivy-bush. He says (" Adam in Eden"). " Box and ivy last long green,
and therefore vintners made their garlands thereof; though perhaps ivy is the
rather used because of the antipathy between it and wine." Gerarde recom-
mends ivy for sore and inflamed eyes, which often result from hard drinking;
and De Gubernatis (quoted by Fofkard) says that ivy over the doors of Italian
wine-shops has the same signification as the oak bough, — that is, that it
makes the wine innocuous. Folkard also quotes from an " old writer" (un-
named) a receipt against drunkenness similar to the one given ftom Culpepper,
except thai it recommends the simple iltipiitgot ivy leaves in the wint It
may fairly tie argued, therefore, that the ivy-bush not only signified that wine
was to be had within, but was meant also as a hint thai "good witic hurts
nobody," and that the proverb emtndied this hint.
'I'he truth appears to be that it was read in different ways by different
people, but was usually interpreted according to the sense of the andeot
Roman formula in which it was first embodied.
^nrtDO, SerTing. The pouring of a liltle wine first into the host's glass is
continued lO'day merely as a precaution against possible dust or shreds of
cork being offered to a guest. In Italy a more obvious reason exists. Sweet
oil is there poured, before corking, into the neck of a wine-flask, where it floats
above the wine and excludes the air. The first mouthful of wine, after the
oil is removed, may therefore still have some lingering oleaginous flavor, and
consequently is taken, as a matter of courtesy, by the host. Yet there may
also lie some reminiscence here of the custom among the Greeks and Romans
for the host at enter lain men is to pour a smalt quantily of wine upon the floor
as a son of propitiation to the gods, — a practice sotnewbat equivalent 10 oar
grace before meat
Wine. Woman, and Song. Burtoti, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy^
(Part 1., Sec iL, Mem. 3, Suba. 13), speaks thus of the first two members of
our triad,—
I nuy not hoe omil IhoK two duId playna aad commoD doo^et of humankbd, wine
■nd ■romeD, which have infmtuifcd and bwtted myiiwSi of paopk : iber fo cotnmcnJy 10-
ind dtes the following from Persia*;
D,q,i,.cd by Google
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 1091
Qui irlno Indulge!, qnemqtu il^ d«coqullj llle
(" He who ii given la drink, and wbom [he dia in deipolliDg. ia the one who rati im;
in vmery.")
NeverthelcM, Ihe Germana have a famoua distich celebrating wine and
women, and adding music ai the third of a mystic triad necessary in every
right scheme of manly education :
Wer nlchl lletn Weln, Wtib und Geung,
This has often been attributed to Martin Luther, but mthout any authority.
In substance it i* credited to Soloris byChevreau : "SoloHs's philosophy did
not seem to be of a very austere cast, when he said ttiat wine, women, and
the Muses constituted the pleasures of human life."
Wink, To tip Qia, a familiar colloquialism, meaning 10 give an order
on the sly or in a mute fashion when a concerned third parly ia presenL It
occurs frequently in Swift 1 thus, in a paper contributed by him to the TatUr
(No. 20) : " As often as I called for small beer the master lipped the wink,
and the servant brought me a brimmer of October." Johnson's Dictionary
quotes the following stanza from Swift:
The stock'jobbcr thus from Cbuee Alley jioct dovn
Wladom. B«e with bow little wladom the world la Boverned.
These words are allributed la Axel, Count Oienstiern, Chancellor of Sweden
<l^S3-l654). At Ihe conclusion of the Thirty Years' War, in lA^S, Oxen-
sliern's son was appointed to represent Sweden al the Peace Congress of
Westphalia. The young man hesitated, pleading his ignorance and inexperi-
ence. But the Chancellor induced bim to accept, saying, " An nesds, mi fili,
quantilta prudentia mundns tegilur?" ("Dost thou not know, my son, with
how little wisdom the world is governed V) The hard-headed old mother of
the clever and restless Dutch politician Van Bennin^sen gave him the same
assurance when he shrank from public office, fearing il would be loo much for
him. Lord Byron, referring to the Chancellor's words, weakens them by
changing the mood. John Selden talks of " a wise Pope that, when one that
used to be merry with him before he was advanced to the popedom refrained
afleisrards tocome at him (piesuming he was busy in governing the Christian
world], sent for him, bade him come again, and (says he) we wilt be mert7 as
we were before, for thou Utile thinkest what a little foolery governs Ihe whole
wnrld." Lord Chatham, loo, wrote to Lord Shelburne, " It calls to mj
mind what some Pope, Alexander VI. or Leo, said to a son of his afraid
to undertake governing, — i.t.. confounding — the Christian world : ' Nescis,
mi fili. quam parva sapientia hie nosier mundus regitur.' " The Pope referred
0 by both Selden and Lord Chatham was probably lulius III. (1550-55),
who, when a Portuguese monk pitied him for that he had the weight of the
' ion his shoulders, replied, " You would be surprised if you knew wilh
e expense of understanding the world ia ruled." It was a maxim of
Wisdom of our anaaators. Lord Brougham says it was Bacon who
first used this well-known phrase. Bui he gives no reference to chapter and
vene. In the absence of completer evidence, the phrase must b« fatbcKd
109a HANDY-BOt)K OF
apon Burke, who in a speech on Conciliation with America, March 11, 1775,
declared thai he set out " with a perfect distrust of vtj own abilities, a total
renunciation of every speculation of my own, and with a profound reverence
far the wisdom of our ancestors." The idea is, of course, a comtnonplace.
That the eldei days were wiser than our own — that, in the misused Biblical
phrase, " there were giants in the earth in those days" (Genesis vi. 4), as com-
pared with the pygmies of the present — has ever been one of the illusions of
the conservative intelligence, and has stood in the way of every reform that
threatened the eilinclion of a hoary abuse or a time-honored tolly. Sydney
Smith, in " Plymley's Leiteis," v., has admirably ridiculed the excesses of this
popular superstition ; " All this cant about our anccstora is merely an abuse
of words, by transferring phrases true of contemporary men to succeeding
ages. Whereas of living men the oldest has, (oteru paribus, the most eiperi-
ence, of generations the oldest has. c^eris farHms, the least experience. Our
ancestors up to the Conquest were children in arms \ chubby b<^ in the time
of Edward I. ; striplings under Elisabeth ; men in the reign of Queen Anne ;
__ J .. _ .__ .i_ ]„]y while- bearded, silver-headed ancients, who have treasured
tared to profilby.ar """ " '- " '"" '"
'er the Chancellor c
oppose some plan which has the ii
his first appeal is always Ip the wisdom of our ancestors; and he himself^and
many noble lords who vole with him are, to this hour, persuaded that all
alterations and amendments on their devices are an unblushing controversy
between youthful temerity and mature experience; and so in truth they arc, —
only that much-loved magistrate mistakes the young for the old, and the old
for the young, and is guilty of that very sin against experience which he
Ittributes to the lovers oT in novations." (See Ahtiquitas Sacltli Juvintus
MlINDI.)
W1a« after the «7«nt. Chief-Justice Tervis, in an opinion quoted by
Baron Bramwell (5 Jur., N. S., 6j8|, said, ' Nothing is so easy as to be wise
after the event,'' — which is a fairly literal rendering of the French proverb
"Tout le monde est sage apr^ coup." "Their hindsight is better than their
foresight," is our Amencan equivalent In the same vein is Disraeli's " Many
a great wit has thought the wit it was too late to speak," which is Disraeli's
only in its verbal garb, the idea being a commonplace with jcslera. Rivarol,
summing up the matter, says, " One Could make a great book of what has
not been said." Concerning M. de Ti^villc, who was more fluent of speech
than himself, Rivaiol remarked, " He vanquishes me in the drawing-room,
but surrenders to me at discretion on the stairs" I" II me bat dans la chambre,
mais il n'cBt pas plus tOt au bas de I'escalier que je I'ai confondu"). Gold-
smith's epigram, " 1 always gel the better when I argue alone," is an analogous
expression.
; tii«Hii«Bt of mauldlld. So Pope characteriie*
e kind may be found in Oldham's Satin
The glory uu) the 1(30(11] ol Ibe age ;
which Pope, again, has very closely imitated :
;i:,vG00gk"
LITERARY CURIOSITIES. I093
Young remembered the antithesis wheo he said, —
Of >ame for glory luch the boundlm ngc,
Tbiki ibcy'R (at bkidiai scuubl of the ige.
Voltaire, an admirer of Pope, seems to have borrowed a part of the espres-
Scudmle de l'«gliH, a del toll Ic nodtlt.
'Wit trttb dnnces, and ■ dance with -wit*, A, a famous line in
Pope's " Dunciad," Book iv., 1. 90, embodying an antithesis which is of con-
stant recurrence in literature. Thus, since Pope's time Johnson has said of
Lord Chesterfield, •■ This man I thought had been a lotd among wits, but I
find he is only a wit among lords" (Boswell : Lift, vol. ii. ch. i.) ; Scott has
said of Napoleon, " Though loo much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one
could claim with a better right 10 be a sovereign among soldiers" [Idjt vf
Nafelam) ; while Cowper alludes sarcastically to
The HteiDD fop, ligiiil
lODg foola a jiidg4.
Fuaeli gave another turn to the phrase when Northcote asked him what
he thought of his picture " Balaam and the Ass :" " My friend, yoa are ui
angel at an ass, but an ass at an angel."
This sort of mixed character, and indeed eenerally the antitheses in which
Johnson delighted, were cleverly burlesqued by Andrew Erskine in one of his
s to Boswell, in which he tells him, " Since 1 saw you I received a letter
from Mr. D ; it is filled with encomiums upon you ; he says there is a
great deal of humility in your vanity, a great deal of lallness in jour short-
ness, and a great deal of whiteness in your black compleiion. He says there's
a great deal of poetry in vour prose, and a great deal of prose in your poetry.
He says thai as to your fate publication, there is a great deal of Ode m yonr
Dedication, and a great deal of Dedication in your Ode. He says there is a
great deal of coat in your waistcoat, and a great deal of waistcoat in your coat,
that there is a great deal of liveliness in your stupidity, and a great deal of
stupidity in your liveliness. But to write you all he says would require rather
more lite in my grate than there is at present, and my fingers would nn-
douhiedly be numbeii, for there is a great deal of snow in this frost, and a
great deal of frost in this snow."
X.
Z, the twenty-fourth letter and nineteenth consonant in the English alpha-
bcl. used with its modern value in the Latin alphabet, where it was tor a long
time the last letter, coming after U or V, which were identical. In form the
character was borrowed by the Latins from the Greek X, an addition to the
Phcenician alphabet. This had originally a double value, that of kh and that
of it. The former alone survived among the Greeks ; the latter was carried
over to the Roman alphabet when the sign was adopted. Onr letter follows
the Roman usage in pronunciation, save for some slight exceptions when it is
an initial : it then comes very close in sound to the Greek f. In all respects
the letter is, and always has been, a superfluous ooe.
3W 93
;i:,vG00gk"
I054 HANDY-BOOK OF
X. XX, and XXX are signs used bv brewers. The single X originally
represented (he ten shillings excise which beer of a cerlain quality had lo pay,
nnd so became a sign For thai quality. Hence the other signs grew up as
tcptcsenting double or triple the strength of X ale.
Among politiemen the "X" is a method of arrest used with desperadoes,
which consists in getting a firm grasp on the collar, drawing the captive's hand
over the holding arm, and pressing the fingers down in a peculiar way, so tlut
the arm can be more easily broken than liberated.
1 abbreviation for "Christmas." X is the initial letter of the
Greek name for Christ, Xpicrac, and the coincidence of its cruciform shape,
led early to ils adoption as a figure and symbol of Christ. In the Catacombs
X is frequently found lo stand (or Christ. The earliest Christian artists, when
making a represenlalion of (he Trinity, would place either a
beside the Father and the Holy Ghost But the extension of the symbol to
compound or derivative words like Xmas and Xtianity is an aSectation which,
though RMictioned by long usage, cannot be contmendedi.
Y.
T, the twenty-fifth letter in the English alphabet, with both a vowel and %
consonant value. (See U.) As a vowel it is useless, representing nothing that
could not be dcnolEd by L As a consonant it is a toully different letter of
Saion origin which has merged into the Latin »gn. And in the archaic forms
E, yat, etc, it represents a Saxon and Middle English sign for tk^ and should
pronounced like ih in Ike.
7ai)kee, a term of dubious etymolt^ and varied uses. The derivation
accepted as most plausible by leading authorities makes it a slight corruption
of the word " Yengeese," applied lo the English by the Northern Indian
tribes lo whom they first became known, — a meritorious aboriginal attempt
to pronounce " English." In Europe the word Yankee means an American
from any puitlun of the United Slates ; in the South it means an inhabitant
of the Northern States ; and in the North it retains its ori^al specific ap*
plication to the inhabitants of the New England States.
z.
Z, the twenty-sixth character in the English alphabet, and the last there, u
in the later Roman alphabet. It was the seventh sign in the Phnnician and
the sixth in the Grecian system. In America it is usually called "zee," in
England " led." An older name, " iuard," still survives locally.
It has ofien been noticed that the stage names of female acrobats and
circus-riders strangely aflecl the initial Z. C. G. Leland explains that name*
like Zazel, Zanlel, Tax, are all derived fi-om Hebrew or Yiddish wonts
meaning "devil" or "goblin."
Zero, the figure o, which stands for naught in the Arabic notation. From
its double capacity of representing nothing as an individual and a decimal
multiple when pat in the right sort of company, it has afforded lots of fun
to the humorist. The sort of fun may be gathered (rom the French ep^aa
made when La Bruyire was rejected Si'j the Academy :
;i:,vG00gk"
■LITERARY CURIOSITIES. 109
Qnuid La Bniytre h prdienlc^
Pourquai bul-U cner boraT
NcMlsit-ilpuusifrot
(" When La Bniyire ptcKnled binuelf, why object t To nuke up the niimber foily wi
c elaborate form of the same kind of drollery is presented in the
; story. There was at Amadan a cef' "" ' " "" ' '^""* " '"
led in these words: "The metnb
much, write little, and be as silent as they C!
A candidate offered himself. He was loo late : the vacancy had been filled.
His merit was recognized, and all lamented their own disappointment in
lamenting his. The president asked that the candidate should be introduced.
Hia simple and modest air was in hia favor. The president rose and pre-
sented him with a cap of ptirc water, so full that a single drop more would
have made it overflow. Not a word did he add to this Emhlemalical hint, but
his counle nance betrayed his emotion.
The candidate understood that he could not be received becanse the nnmber
was complete. But, casting about him for a method of reply, he observed at
his feet a rose. Picking it op, he detached a single petal, which he laid ao
gently on the surface of the water that not a drop escaped. The applause
was universal. Every one recogniied that he meant to imply that asupernu-
merary member would displace nothing, and would make no essential differ-
ence in the rule they had prescribed. He was at once presented with the
register whereon succe.ssful candidates wrote their names. He wrote his
name 1 then, as a delicate way of presenting thanks, he wrote on the slate the
figures 100, representing the number of his new associates ; then, pultirwi «
Cipher before the i, he wrote, "Their value will be the same,— oioa" The
courteous and ingenious president was not to be baMed. He look the slate
in his turn, substituted the figure i for the added zero, and wrote, "They
will have eleven limes the value they had, — 1100."
Zoukvea, a famous French military corps. The word is corrupted from
Ziiuaoua, a terrible welter of vowels, proudly borne as the name of a warlike
Kabyle tril>e in Africa. These had always maintained a practical indepen-
dence. They made excellent mercenaries, selling valor and fidelity to their
buyers at reasonable market rates. The first levy of Zouaouas was raised in
1S30, by General Clausel. Il consisted of two battalions, and was originally
composed of native African soldiers, with French officers and stHdiers.
Gradually roving adventurers from Paris and other large cities crowded out
the native soldiers. Finally all the European members of the corps other
than French were removed from the Zouaves and were formed into the For-
eign Legion. Later slill, at the summons of Abd-el-Kader, large numbers
of the native Zouaves deserted from the colors and joined the ranks of their
compatriots ; in consequence of which the proportion of Frenchmen in the
corps was greatly increased. In 1S41 a third battalion was raised, the corps
was entirely remodelled, and it was decreed that thereafter there should be
only one company of African natives in each battalion. From that time even
that reduced proDortion of natives steadily decreased, until In the end the
Zouaves consisted of Frenchmen only.
.d by Google
INDEX OF CROSS-REFERENCEa
Abu unl of bhiihiD( dghuen, 4}.
Abcce^riui pHlni, 11.
AbvoTurc ntooMrcby tenpcnd bj UDgi» 79.
Achillo ud the lonoiK, S51,
AcknowlHlg' the con, 193.
Acqn-touBM. icnpa m, 990.
Acdoiu ct the JDSK, 987^
Adim uiil Eh, 3>i.
Adim ud c« Etc. xn or, jt).
Adum iDoked when from Ibe KUdui, thua,
Adui ihc goodJletl DIKD, 135.
Admlisblc CHchlon. tat.
Admin ncxhin^, SoJ.
Ad*otUlDg cpiuphB, 395.
JBmop ^acin^ ud bit DiookEf playhig, 5)S.
Agns, I ioie bni Ib« ! io6.
MHna. os!
Ala. church or ho)y,.s6.
AJeXHOdriu library, £39^
AU men have dtdr price, 04G-
All my tye. jsJ.
Allured ID brighter worlds. 916.
Amber, By la, ]^.
worlds, 916.
uwilltd.wi
Ape'of Ixun^nkind.sio.
ApflUa, credal JudBU, 106.
Aprte Doiu I* Mliwe. iiB.
Arilhiretlcll curiojilei, S14.
b Ich wkr la Aritidlcn e<
Q, Lord, hliiiile, ji
Badger Sum, loji).
Balwca, ■ nir of. su.
BellaoDhoiLX,47'.
Baptiim of fire, the. 370.
Bar lialsler. J19.
BurburUn, gray^ 344.
Bmmaby. Biebop. 606.
BuelcH fabric of ihii vUoa, u
B(tliilioiii,he>vieH,4i9.
Iwh^luf
Bite, 141.
Blldi Mvie, S91.
Bluled with eicCH of light, 63^
BlutDg ubiquilie*. 416^
BIcHingi bdghteu u Ibcy lake ibcir
Blood and iroD JJ9.
BJuDdaiog and plapderiDg. 696.
Botoagoo.e,jJ4^
Boeie, HI.
BookTu] blockhrad, ignoraiitlir rnd, 6i
BddIiT whoieadaan Amettcaii, ji.
Bom, or. betng borti, lo die. H0.
. Coogk"
Bufior
Bullocki. ulk U. 4M'
Built in^piiiipbi, 397.
BulUFCr-TEnnyun guurcl, 796.
Burleigh nod, Lonf, 657.
BuriaqiHf B63,
BurnJDg bndfla ukd ihlpA, 1005.
Biuh^gDod wlDCDCcda na, J0B9.
Buy ki price h« u wOElb, 311,
INDEX.
C00IC..0
Corner
Cudic ID iat divU, i«.
CudlE to iht tun, 104a.
Cmbohi, wi »re not going lo, 7TJ.
Cut 10 Dui cofGs add! ■ lul], 1S16.
CboLlu, gDVonort of, 436.
Cvtluge, how buUl, 141.
CuIhUD, delendi at. aM.
CmhI«. nun-f hoilK <• hil. 496.
Ct -ill jump, ho-, 36,
C'*« lugDlfique, nab cc d'ch pM la (Don,
™«;^-j*4.^
Cf-gll DU fcmn
aiTcncc. Dub
Cobbler ud hi
11 nuy, I biTi bees Ueued, e
Alex
Coub
CouBf^MUtte. ifri.
Cotlon, King, 587.
CouiH chlckeiu befon diey aj
Cofll.<i«coto«^397.
Coward EDoaaeace, lU.
gjP*"^*". S70-
Creallon, hadi been pieaeBl i
Crcditc e]tp«1o, 350.
Crocodile ayLlonim, a<6.
CromwcU guiltlesa cC hii en
75»-
Croaa <A St. AndRW, 6t.
CroAtoot, iiB.
Crying al b&tb, nS, 305.
Cryptognmi. iji.
— ^--kgDodior ■, lA
Cone, II
SS*-
D. U., 31,.
Daggen, apeak, Tcaj.
Dalhoutj, tha great god of w, Sf.
Dar— ialao, tta,
Daah nbova a dot, 534.
DaTjjMke* sta.
Dawi 10 iwck at, 456.
Day In thv coma, 145.
Daya, lucky and DrnDckr, 1078.
Dc goatihua, 146.
De \sk Fmidi namea, ji8.
Dead aa Clujia, 151.
Doid, nolhing bat good of ibe, 34S.
Deaf aa anTddtr, 16.
Death bfvden upon binb, 195.
Deapodao lempcred by aaaaaalnacl
Davil bnUda ■ cbipd Owa. igfi.
Deril caiefa Ibe hindinoal, )4j.
D*tU, Death, and Sin. jgg.
Diamoikda, nme ef, Soj-
Dtamowb, valley ot', 337,
Didediuab, 09.
Coogk"
Didu'ibuiiilii, ifi.
Die, how (0, .14.
Die. and go ve Imow dm whtn, 6
Dieu me pmiiimnat. 984-
Dining 'wiih Duke riumphny, 5m
Din !>». bell, Ihe locun of ihe »al,
Dirt, 10 throw 75,.
DiKhuge Bible, 91.
Do Tiobit ihipEEk DDl dromi (bem,
Docton Quiet, Diet, and Menymi
Dodo.jjS.
Doe, John^TS.
Dog, liTioE. jud dead lion, 65T.
Dog.IryU<
DdHu. ilni
;Sl:
Ur, ■Int^ly, 40.
le, wb«t _«, we putly ouy compue, «g.
fnntnil. 4sS
Ihipce nlvoAd kli
EuMD-eu Bible. g>.
Eutbguike'a Unh. i
Easy Street. 6)7,
EM-ptoblem. 858.
EleWni >u(ficlency. 68a.
Ekyen, ibe number, 830.
Elilquenu oT eyet.'ioiA
Elievin, 96.
Emperor oC Gsnuy. jtB.
Emplur, oveal. 14;.
Encore 1 397.
Enemy, we have mel the, rt
Eogbnd vilb all Ihy Faultl,
- Engliih hifttory in rhyme, 7c
Englilh Ipokeu here. 508.
Euglimh truD, 7B9.
Enough u good a« a fcaal, (
£phr*iiui dome. 348.
Ennnut, tamt gnu l^jiired di
£t eso in Arca(L». 66.
Eternal Now. 8zi.
Eve. fiuml of ber dau^uera, its-
Evlquc, etymok^ of, loj.
Eye hatb not seen. 944-
Eiciulng of a lauli, B78.
F.
Fact ii'bli*'^ Mil^'wlJ^ir. '
Fain would I dimb, yet fair I lo Ml, jA
Fair, 61, und '"^»S;'.
Faircsl thinn foulcv b^
Faiihuidned-'- - '
Fallb, for mod'
m talcs the hinl, jjjl
Fico for the phrsK, 16a.
Fiction, name. In 7S5.
Fktioa. real people in, 949.
Figbta and tuu away, .99.
Figvntte potmi, 170.
Finger, 10 be pc^ttd oulby Ibe, tjf.
FUh* pretly kelue of, j8i.
FiTe, Uoclci of, 106.
File, lu myHic qualilia, ttt.
Flectere ai nequeo anperoa, no.
FlDuodering and foandering, 6gA,
Flowert growing Trom coipKSi to/S.
FollyaiTlfliel, 1006.
Folly ufbll length, sjo.
Fool hath laid. There i> no God, }a.
Fool with judga, re
Foot of ibe lAle. ^s
Foolptlnti 00 (he »
Fcned ndish, 505.
Fortna catuoguc,
Fortonatam bataD
FoD^
e fxnule RoBan, u
,rr-— . Ihal b* WM (UkI, TsS
Fourjlu nyatl^qulJile*, Bd.
F^'^ ili^alr, bdMld iha, ijj-
FtmtamltT, fin.
Free and eC|ul^)D6^
;i:,vG00gk"
Friend «( my b«la diyi, ^i.
Friend) 'in youth, ilul Ihcyh'adU
French ipdwn ben, sot-
I a=rsr.
Heul bill Ihee, if lb
God i> b«i pkAjedj 5:
God will pardon me, ^
God woufd desuvv. w
God-damn, Bj,.
Godlike, uniiui.ed.js
Gold, Mil for, 097.
G^den chun 6r love.
Golden niBon, na.
Golden rule, 9^
Gooin. UlllK. 685.
Gnouu
Gnpple ih
». «J-
It Toot in [he, 3^3
Grtue, itew in ihcJr own, 1034.
Creu Fini Cuue, 145,
Greatly ihouahi, be nobly dared, i
Greeks meet Gnekl, 944.
Green be ihe lurf above ihee, 591,
Grimaldi, altt I I an, 790
Guinea and the gallawi 36. '
GuDEer, according to, 169.
Gulenberg Bible, gB.
H.
Hair of Ihe dog ihu bit you. loit.
Half an eye, )S9.
Half-breeda. 103].
Hampden, aome nllago.TsB.
Hand thai rocki ibe cndle, ly
tal ibtfr
■ii^.4
Heaven'to mankijid impinial, 61^
Heavbig w Idtina, 635.
Hell, beller to reign Id, 37a.
Hell ii la in •uinglDat, 490.
Heli on oanh.ict.
Hempe la >puD, 13
Henry, Madcap 4^
Herculea, from the loot, uo.
Here I atand, je. ""
Hi I Hil IgrionDt people oijl me, on
Hilli peep o'er billa,4j.
Himaelf bU wo[« enemy, iSa.
Hoch 1 }o..
Home, lini beat ODunuy ever ii at, 11
Hookey Walker, lojD.
" - • . .ymtol of, 6..
Hope, a
■ >yml
._ while i_
poor fcetf 364,
an a royaliat by trade, 084.
beld ii truth WLtb bim who ^nga, 1033.
ail with my toea 'm a brook, 116.
take my own whereTer I End It, U^.
ch dlen, )6t.
ch habegetebi iindgeUebet,£5i.
mpouible, Hilve wtth thingi, 115.
i-bread, ji.
nfirmhy, ihu lut, 3^
nipiret] idiot. 392.
reuuid for^tiei, 387.
[ritb bulli. 19E.
bu B>
abbcrwDcky, S10.
an ICM to tba Engllah, jn.
Coogk"
ur Uinl ud Cod dn
KkkiDE, (llH iind, M.
Klnd^ort. <uc ffloreikno c
King of Fnuci doo dot iv
UnEUgaudmcd,;
LoKuie Dgni vpcnnn
L« no guilly rnnii uupc, ijB.
Lciier, no time lo wiiit ■ thon, b
L«tm, nialivc at of, 644-
Liar puaijcii. tii.
Liberal tducadon, to love her wai
LIcka the hud juti niKd to ibtc
'ife't but a walkloE BudDW, 1031.
IJght my pipe a1 your eye, 890,
Ligbmb^ from heaven, tcepue from tyraDU
LilVciiRtlike, loii.
UmbcjBo.
LJoD and the lamb, 1
U^,' If yo^ y^, ic
Lil de juHica, t6.
Li<tleluk,&9,
Li^eiVf" '"'n;™*ll temind J lo
LoBn oti loKi both litcif and fncnd, 11}
Lodge in lome VASt wildenieia, loU-
LoDidJle'i Nine Fini, t^j. '
Loose hii beard uid howy hair, 711.
Lord among wha, 1093.
Lord'i prayer in rhyme. 700.
Louae, three ikLpi of a, 931.
Love and liaic. ut.
Love conquen iS, B41.
Love rulet Ihe coun,B4j.
L¥ciie A piagiuiam, B^s-
Lullaby.'ijj'' '*' "' *"■
Lumtier, Loada of IcajiMd, 6a^
Limatic poet and lover, 41T.
Lydford law, 571.
a Iwo-I^ged animal, 901.
Man that it born of w
to Ihe iroRd, ^'
«^r^
. be u^3?'no.
tubalmua Jbiij la, jgt-
ut cfuidrea of ■ larger growth, 1;
in tie path of life, 793.
r one blr'^n nbUmei my
Modentioo in all I'hingi, 79*.'
Momenta make'l^ yew, 71*.
Man ai^ eit fail, 466.
Moiu-Cililo, 164.
UoiiMBsn*, daiei from, la.
Coogk"
MoDDintal DIOR lullog Ihwi bnUB, 99s
Mo^lidil. MdroM bv. figS^
Mt>on>i^ OD ■ duDEhui/io*!.
Moon, rociKriea of Tom, 761.
MoTTov, ukfl DO thoufht for the, 63?,
Mo«)«.«Yiue..i9r "
Motbo'i lalluaicc, ij}.
Hiuk, fiux Ihe. 351.
Muic, r»»n, 6,.
Mudc liMth chviiu, 944.
Muublliiv, OAUobl may endure boL, iBg,
Munul ■dmindiiB, iBj.
Nalureu
dch ihe world grew pale, 740,
hopkeepert, 1007^
:ti CuTthei (mm God, isd.
Neat, pol gaudy, n
NeccHhy, virtue of, loii.'
N<.,M7
NeedK,eyeofa,ij8.
Negn hai do rigbti, 946.
N^^grleTcd »vl by Il^i 116.
Novo Hid a (oolkh ihlmg. 10S.
New ud iHNhiiu tnu, nolbinE, Bii.
N« tUng under ibe ho, no. Ut-
Newrpaper ad¥cnklng, 17.
Mewapaper luerriewi, jj4
New Zealandcr, MacaoUy'i, £78,
V\gta brlsgi out nan, 740.
time yean, pm away wHtingi for, ST9.
Noiciliir a aocii*. iBd.
Ifotbing ttom ivoLbiDg. 349.
Noihloa ii aod notbiDg a do<. 719
NonScMlan a blue noae, loS.
Noveb^M™ iu, 78s.
Nudily. 1013.
NympDa pudLca Daum vidlt, TB7,
Obiinictian, ID lie In cold, 611.
OccupalioD, abaence of, 1074.
Office provei't^V'msn, 91J.
Oh,'Si»y"l^fo''Se'ehoi'rWvlaible.4S.
OlcfCorTeclor,lhe,J9i.
Ottl Guard diet, 433.
Old man of Ibe tea, 317.
Old men and death, £35.
Oliver Twitt conmvany, ify
Omne hnonia pro naEnlfico, 399.
Onaboik.maDV.iiTr "^
One, Dunber, B17.
OrtgoD, EogUib tuTRDder of, 510,
OTinnalJ<y,l84.
OuUb, jg7.
OuDce of preventSon, atB.
Out,oui,£rlercladleli03i.
Orercomn lilmKar, he thai, ggt.
Oi,'duiDb,S4S.
Paini IhcBi tiueii 1
PaiDIcr and the oi
PaAdiie, languagi
Pandiae of foola.
PecMYi (I have Scirde), S99.
Pecliham, all holiday al, £17.
People wfeh 10 be deceived, 9.1.
Feifecilon to Ibt pea, 184.
Ferfidlout Albion. 31.
Perhapl, a greal. 611.
Ptraonal advetliumenia, at.
Peter and Simon al Rone, 3U.
Pharaoh and the Red Sea, 461,
Philip 111. of Stain, hb death, 340.
Fhonldan alphabet, 41.
Phytic 10 the don. throw, 719.
Phyiician Of rooTal forty, 394.
I^uian tpring, 6n.
Pinm, d-gli, joS.
Pily gnve ere chaijly b^aii, 356.
Pleaiw are li£'
FlDDday public
popplea Bpr«ad, 913.
Phiraliifng of wonti, 515.
Plua ^ change, 69.
PobI a moral or adoin a tale, 74a.
PoiaoDi in ficlion, 714-
Poland, end of, 37°-
Polly maiete crylown, 438.
Pope'i muHard-maker, 73a.
Pork and beau, R^.
Poll equidem led^ aDa corn,' 691.
Poit hoc propter boc, tit.
Poflial-cBrd ambigultlea, 50.
crdiT. keepyoi
>, damn witli bl
j,.Coogk"
Piaestu endokT «btcntt, g,
Pretidenl, rather bi right ibin. 9JJ.
Prophet and ligl, }6S.
PlMperiiy anifadveiaily, ij.
Pulni'Dr llife aaiUyietL, 711.
Sack, to ^n the, «,
SdcIu, Jove HapeiiS
Sadder and a wlKt m
Salmon fun£ibed u a
Sana Souci, mJII at, 464.
SuL«tv and bunfer, iy
Saturday Review and Thackcny, v
Sauce for th« foote, 423.
S«»age"hreaitor"b«H"I 944.
Savage woman, I will take Kme, la
Scholanic queMioiu*9)B.
School-boy. every. 6ti.
Science la fiction, jij.
Scotch Iraio, 789.
Scotchmen, Dr. Johuon oa, 903.
Scotland. curK<;r, 80s.
Sea of irouUei, take aitu afalml a,
SS'-'s.* ,.
irtliuhbUiul,S3«.
sts:, .„!.„..
Sere and ydlow Leaf, 944.
Scvefi, iu nyitic qualliki, 8tV-
Sevenlh toa o<' Kvenih ton, 694.
Shadvwi, comini evenia can their
Shape bat that, uke any, 113.
SkeR>£?uJto(t, 45°.
Shelley forgerin, 390,
Shephenl, gcnile, 4i>.
Shield of gold and tilver 1064.
Ship aail laiter than wind, B]8.
Shot heaid unind UK wo
Shoulder, cold, 17S.
Sidney'! 1
Siteeeti!
Slihi,onI_, _„
Sight ao deform what hean of ncV, 710.
Sight, taklnv a. 104].
Sight, tbougl loat to joj
Silentlv aa a dream ihe tabiic naa, Bj4-
Silvef lining , 167,
Simonidea the forger, 183.
Sin, onler abdl «/, 3>4.
lix, the nnmbcr,' BlB.
ikln, bamu, In bindini,
Utlnofmyleelh 94S-
Ikull, Unaa to a, ijA
Italn, Bcreechlng of tbe.
Slcyw, If Ihe nd, 119.
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