"Enough, if not too much, hath beene said of this translation. If the faults found even by myselfe in the first impression, be now by the printer corrected, as he was directed, the work is much amended: if not, know that through mine attendance on her Majesty, I could not intend it; and blame not Neptune for my second shipwracke. Let me conclude with this worthy man's daughter of alliance: 'Que t'ensemble donc lecteur?'
Mickleham.
Shakspeare (Vol. vii., p. 521.).—May I ask whether there is any precedent (I think there can be no excuse) for calling Shakspeare's plays "our national Bible"?
Minor Notes
The Formation of the Woman, Gen. ii. 21, 22.—The terms of Matthew Henry on this subject, in his learned Commentary, have become quite commonplace with divines, when speaking of the ordinance of marriage:
"The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam: not made out of his head, to top him; nor out of his feet, to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side, to be equal with him; under his arm, to be protected; and near his heart, to be beloved."
Like many other things in his Exposition, this is not original with Henry. It is here traced to the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis of the earliest and rarest printed works. Some of your readers can probably trace it to the Fathers. The verses which follow are engraven in block characters in the first edition of the work named, and are copied from the fifth plate of specimens of early typography in Meerman's Origines Typographicæ: Hague, mdcclxv.:
"Mulier autem in paradiso est formata
De costis viri dormientis est parata
Deus autem ipsam super virum honestavit
Quoniam Evam in loco voluptatis plasmavit,
Non facit eam sicut virum de limo terræ
Sed de osse nobilis viri Adæ et de ejus carne.
Non est facta de pede, ne a viro despiceretur
Non de capite ne supra virum dominaretur.
Sed est facta de latere maritali
Et data est viro pro gloria et socia collaterali.
Quæ si sibi in honorem collata humiliter præstitisset
Nunquam molestiam a viro unquam sustinuisset."
Singular Way of showing Displeasure.—
"The earl's regiment not long after, according to order, marched to take possession of the town (Londondery); but at their appearance before it the citizens clapt up the gates, and denyed them entrance, declaring their resolution for the king (William III.) and their own preservation. Tyrconnel at the news of this was said to have burnt his wig, as an indication of his displeasure with the townsmen's proceedings."—Life of James II., p. 290.
The Maids and the Widows.—The following petition, signed by sixteen maids of Charleston, South Carolina, was presented to the governor of that province on March 1, 1733-4, "the day of the feast:"
"Whereas we the humble petitioners are at present in a very melancholy disposition of mind, considering how all the bachelors are blindly captivated by widows, and our more youthful charms thereby neglected: the consequence of this our request is, that your Excellency will for the future order that no widow shall presume to marry any young man till the maids are provided for; or else to pay each of them a fine for satisfaction, for invading our liberties; and likewise a fine to be laid on all such bachelors as shall be married to widows. The great disadvantage it is to us maids, is, that the widows, by their forward carriages, do snap up the young men; and have the vanity to think their merits beyond ours, which is a great imposition upon us who ought to have the preference.
"This is humbly recommended to your Excellency's consideration, and hope you will prevent any farther insults.
"And we poor Maids as in duty bound will ever pray.
"P.S.—I, being the oldest Maid, and therefore most concerned, do think it proper to be the messenger to your Excellency in behalf of my fellow subscribers."
Alison's "Europe."—In a note to Sir A. Alison's Europe, vol. ix. p. 397., 12mo., enforcing the opinion that the prime movers in all revolutions are not men of high moral or intellectual qualities, he quotes, as from "Sallust de Bello Cat.,"
"In turbis atque seditionibus pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus aluntur."
No such words, however, are to be found in Sallust: but the correct expression is in Tacitus (Hist., iv. 1.):
"Quippe in turbas et discordias pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus indigent."
Sir A. Alison quotes, in the same note, as from Thucydides (l. iii. c. 39.), the following:
"In the contests of the Greek commonwealth, those who were esteemed the most depraved, and had the least foresight, invariably prevailed; for being conscious of this weakness, and dreading to be overreached by those of greater penetration, they went to work hastily with the sword and poniard, and thereby got the better of their antagonists, who where occupied with more refined schemes."
This paragraph is certainly not in the place mentioned; nor can I find it after a diligent search through Thucydides. Will Sir A. Alison, or any of his Oxford friends, be good enough to point out the author, and indicate where such a passage is really to be found?
Birmingham.
"Bis dat, qui cito dat" (Vol. vi., p. 376.).—"Sat cito, si sat bene."—The first of these proverbs reminded me of the second, which was a favourite maxim of Lord Chancellor Eldon. (See The Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, vol. i. p. 48.) I notice it for the purpose of showing that Lord Eldon followed (perhaps unconsciously) the example of Augustus, and that the motto is as old as the time of the first Roman emperor, if it is not of more remote origin. The following is an extract from the Life of Augustus, Sueton., chap. xxv.:
"Nil autem minus in imperfecto duce, quam festinationem temeritatemque, convenire arbitrabatur. Crebrò itaque illa jactabat, Σπεῦδε βραδεως. Et:
'ἀσφαλὴς γὰρ ἐστ' αμείνων ἤ θρασὺς στρατηλάτης.'
Et, 'Sat celeriter fieri, quicquid fiat satis bene.'"
Perhaps T. H. can give us the origin of these Greek and Latin maxims, as he has of "Bis dat, qui cito dat" (Vol. i., p. 330).
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