NOTES ON BACON AND JEREMY TAYLOR
In his essay "On Delays," Bacon quotes a "common verse" to this effect:—"Occasion turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken." As no reference is given, some readers may be glad to see the original, which occurs in an epigram on [Greek: Kairos] (Brunck's Analecta, ii. 49.; Posidippi Epigr. 13. in Jacob's Anthol. ii. 49.).
[Greek:
Hae de komae, ti kat' opsin; hupantiasanti labesthai,
nae Dia. Taxopithen d' eis ti phalakra pelei;
Ton gar apax ptaenoisi parathrexanta me possin
outis eth' himeiron draxetai exopithen.]
In Jermey Taylor's Life of Christ (Pref. § 29. p. 23. Eden's edition), it is said that Mela and Solinus report of the Thracians that they believed in the resurrection of the dead. That passage of Mela referred to is, l. ii. c. ii. § 3., where see Tzschucke.
In the same work (Pref. § 20. p. 17.), "Ælian tells us of a nation who had a law binding them to beat their parents to death with clubs when they lived to a decrepit age." See Ælian, Var. Hist. iv. 1. p. 330. Gronov., who, however, says nothing of clubs.
In the next sentence, the statement, "the Persian magi mingled with their mothers and all their nearest relatives," is from Xanthus (Fragm. 28., Didot), apud Clem. Alexandr. (Strom. iii. p. 431 A.). See Jacob's Lect. Stob. p. 144.; Bahr, On Herodotus, iii. 31.
In the same work (Part I. sect. viii. § 5. note n, p. 174.) is a quotation from Seneca, "O quam contempta res est homo, nisi super humana se erexerit!" which is plainly the original of the lines of Daniel, so often quoted by Coleridge ("Epistle to the Countess of Cumberland"):—
"Unless above himself he can
Erect himself, now mean a thing is man!"
Perhaps some of your readers can supply the reference to the passage in Seneca; which is wanting in Mr. Eden's edition.
In Part III. sect. xv. § 19. p. 694. note a, of the Life of Christ, is a quotation from Strabo, lib. xv. Add. p. 713., Casaub.
As the two great writers on whom I have made these notes are now in course of publication, any notes which your correspondents can furnish upon them cannot fail to be welcome. Milton also, and Pope, are in the hands of competent editors, who, doubtless, would be glad to have their work rendered more complete through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES."
Marlborough Coll., April 8.
DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S CORRESPONDENCE
Thomas Vernon, author of Vernon's Reports, was in early life private secretary to the Duke of Monouth, and is supposed to have had a pretty large collection of Monmouth's correspondence. Vernon settled himself at Hanbury Hall, in Worcestershire, where he built a fine house, and left a large estate. In course of time this passed to an heiress, who married Mr. Cecil (the Earl of Exeter of Alfred Tennyson), and was divorced from him. Lord Exeter sold or carried away the fine library, family plate, and nearly everything curious or valuable that was not an heirloom in the Vernon family. He laid waste the extensive gardens, and sold the elaborate iron gates, which now adorn the avenue to Mere Hall in the immediate neighbourhood. The divorcée married a Mr. Phillips, and dying without surviving issue, the estates passed to a distant branch of her family. About ten years ago I made a careful search (by permission) at Hanbury Hall for the supposed Monmouth MSS., but found none; and I ascertained by inquiry that there were none at Enstone Hall, the seat of Mr. Phillips's second wife and widow. The MSS. might have been carried to Burleigh, and a friend obtained for me a promise from the Marquis of Exeter that search should be made for them there, but I have reason to believe that the matter was forgotten. Perhaps some of your correspondents may have the means of ascertaining whether there are such MSS. in Lord Exeter's library. I confess my doubt whether so cautious a man as Thomas Vernon would have retained in his possession a mass of correspondence that might have been fraught with danger to himself personally; and, had it been in the Burleigh library, whether it could have escaped notice. This, however, is to be noted. After Vernon's death there was a dispute whether his MSS. were to pass to his heir-at-law or to his personal representatives, and the court ordered the MSS. (Reports) to be printed. This was done very incorrectly, and Lord Kenyon seems to have hinted that private reasons have been assigned for that, but these could hardly have related to the Monmouth MSS.
PARNELL
The following verses by Parnell are not included in any edition of his poems that I have seen. They are printed in Steele's Miscellany (12mo. 1714), p. 63., and in the second edition of the same Miscellany (12mo. 1727), p. 51., with Parnell's name, and, what is more, on both occasions among other poems by the same author.
TO A YOUNG LADY
On her Translation of the Story of Phoebus and Daphne, from Ovid.
In Phoebus, Wit (as Ovid said)
Enchanting Beauty woo'd;
In Daphne beauty coily fled,
While vainly Wit pursu'd.
But when you trace what Ovid writ,
A diff'rent turn we view;
Beauty no longer flies from Wit,
Since both are join'd in you.
Your lines the wond'rous change impart,
From whence our laurels spring;
In numbers fram'd to please the heart,
And merit what they sing.
Methinks thy poet's gentle shade
Its wreath presents to thee;
What Daphne owes you as a Maid,
She pays you as a Tree.
The charming poem by the same author, beginning—
"My days have been so wond'rous free,"
has the additional fourth stanza,—
"An eager hope within my breast,
Does ev'ry doubt controul,
And charming Nancy stands confest
The fav'rite of my soul."
Can any of your readers supply the name of the "young lady" who translated the story of Phoebus and Daphne?
EARLY ENGLISH AND EARLY GERMAN LITERATURE.—"NEWS" AND "NOISE."
I am anxious to put a question as to the communication that may have taken place between the English and German tongues previous to the sixteenth century. Possibly the materials for answering it may not exist; but it appears to me that it is of great importance, in an etymological point of view, that the extent of such communication, and the influence it has had upon our language, should be ascertained. In turning over the leaves of the Shakspeare Society's Papers, vol. i., some time ago, my attention was attracted by a "Song in praise of his Mistress," by John Heywood, the dramatist. I was immediately struck by the great resemblance it presented to another poem on the same subject by a German writer, whose real or assumed name, I do not know which, was "Muscanblüt," and which poem is to be found in Der Clara Hätzlerin Liederbuch, a collection made by a nun of Augsburg in 1471. The following are passages for comparison:—
"Fyrst was her skyn,
Whith, smoth, and thyn,
And every vayne
So blewe sene playne;
Her golden heare
To see her weare,
Her werying gere,
Alas! I fere
To