Part 17
Cy gist—ouy gist par la mort bleu Le Cardinal de Richelieu, Et ce qui cause mon ennuy Ma pension avec lui.
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The Jesuits called Crebillon ‘Puer ingeniosus, sed insignis nebulo.’
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Dr. E. Young published “A true Estimate of Human Life, Part I,” dedicated to Queen Anne, and describing the _shades_ of existence. The second part, however, which should have contained the lights never appeared.
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The “Batrachomyomachia,” is nothing more than a burlesque poem, much in the manner of Aristophanes, and doubtfully attributed to Homer. Philip Melancthon however, wrote a commentary to prove the poet's object was to excite a hatred for tumults and sedition. Pierre La Seine going a step farther, thinks the intention was to recommend to young men temperance in eating and drinking.
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“Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur,” is not Seneca's as generally supposed.
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The heathen poets are mentioned three times in the New Testament. Aratus in the seventeenth chapter of Acts—Menander in the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians—also Epimenides.
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“Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit,”
was a line written during the pontificate of Alexander VI. Sextus Tarquinius provoked by his tyranny the expulsion of the kings of Rome. Urban VI began the great schism of the West. Alexander VI astonished the world by the enormity of his crimes, and Pius VI did not falsify the saying.
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A letter was once addressed from Rome “Alla sua Excellenza Seromfidevi,” in London. It caused much perplexity at the Post-office and British Museum, and after foiling the acumen of a minister of state, was found to be intended for Sir Humphrey Davy.
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The vulgar Christian era is the invention of Dionysius Exiguus.
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The book of Judith was originally written in Chaldee, and thence translated into Latin by St. Jerom. There are several particulars in our English version which are not to be found in St. Jerom's, and which seem to be those readings which he professes to omit as vicious corruptions.
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The proverb, “Evil communications corrupt good manners,” which is found in Corinthians, is a quotation, intended as such, from Euripides.
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Varro reckons three epochs: the first from the beginning of the world to the first flood, which he calls _uncertain_; the second from the flood to the first Olympiad, _fabulous_; the third from the first Olympiad to his own time, _historical_.
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Politian, the poet and scholar, was an admirer of Alessandra Scala, and addressed to her this extempore:
To teach me that in hapless suit I do but waste my hours, Cold maid, whene'er I ask for fruit, Thou givest me naught but flowers.
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In the Latin version of Herodotus, the lowest of the towers forming the temple of Belus, is said to be a furlong thick and a furlong high; and some writers concluding each of the eight to be as high, make the whole one mile in height. In the Greek text, however, the lowest tower is merely said to be a furlong _through_—nothing is said of its height. Strabo makes the temple a furlong altogether in altitude.
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Jacobus Hugo was of opinion that by the Harpies Homer intended the Dutch; by Euenis, John Calvin; by Antinous, Martin Luther; and by the Lotophagi, Protestants in general.
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{581} “Impune quæ libet facere id est esse regem,” is a definition of a king to be found in Sallust.
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The first collection of the Iliad was by Pisistratus, or some of the Pisistratidæ. There were, after this, innumerable editions—but Aristarchus in the reign of Ptolemy Philometer, B.C. 150, published from a collection of all the copies then existing, a new edition, the text of which has finally prevailed.
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Some one after the manner of Santeuil, composed the following quatrain for the gates of the market to be erected on the site of the famous Jacobin Club at Paris,
Impia tortorum longas hic turba furores Sanguinis innocui, non satiata, aluit. Sospite nunc patriâ, fracto nunc funeris antro, Mors ubi dira fuit, vita salusque patent.
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A version of the Psalms was published in 1642 by William Slatyer, of which this is a specimen:
The righteous shall his sorrow scan And laugh at him, and say ‘Behold! What hath become of this here man That on his riches was so bold.’
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At the bottom of an obelisk which Pius VI was erecting at great expense near the entrance of the Quirinal Palace in 1783, while the people were suffering for bread, were found written these words,
Signore, di a questa pietra che divenga pane. Lord, command that these stones be made bread.
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Constantine Koliades wrote a book to prove that Homer and Ulysses were one and the same—but Joshua Barnes attributes the authorship of the Iliad to Solomon.
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In Σ. xviii. 192, of the Iliad, Achilles says none of the armor of the chieftains will fit him except the shield of Ajax: how then did his own armor fit Patroclus?
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In the reign of Edward VI, Dr. Christopher Tye turned the Acts of the Apostles into rhyme. They begin thus,
In the former epistle to thee Dear friend Theophilus I have written the veritie Of the Lord Christ Jesus.
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Empedocles professed the system of four elements, and added thereto two principles which he called ‘principium amicitiæ and principium contentionis.’ What are these but attraction and repulsion?
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The Count Bielfeld's definition of poetry is ‘L'art d'exprimer les pensées par la fiction.’ The German terms Dichtkunst, _the art of fiction_, and Dichten to _feign_, which are used for _Poetry_, and _to make verses_, are in full accordance with his definition.
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The Germans have epic poems composed in metre of sixteen and seventeen syllables.
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The following Vaudeville is one of the drollest of its kind:
Quand un bon vin meuble mon estomac Je suis plus savant que Balzac— Plus sage que Pibrac. Mon bras seul faisant l'attaque De la nation Cossaque La mettroit au sac. De Charon Je passerois le lac En dormant dans son bac. J'irois au fier Eac Sans que mon cœur fit tic ni tac Présenter du tabac.
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On ancient monuments are often found the letters A. E. R. A. meaning Annus erat Regni Augusti. The ignorance of copyists may probably have formed of these letters the single word ÆRA. Would it not be a better derivation than the Latin ÆS?
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The work of John Albert Fabricius, the Hamburg professor, entitled Bibliotheca Græca, in which his sole object is to render an account of the _Greek_ authors _extant_, occupies fourteen thick volumes in quarto.
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The usual derivation of the word Metaphysics is not to be sustained. _Meta physicam_ is tortured into meaning _super physicam_, and the science is supposed to take its name from its superiority to physics. The truth is, that Aristotle's treatise on Morals is next in succession to his Book of Physics, and this order he considers the rational order of study. His Ethics consequently commence with the words Μετα τα φυσικα, &c. from which the word Metaphysics.
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The commentators upon Mr. Beckford's Vathek say that the _locusts_ derive their name from having been so called by the first English settlers in America. The word comes evidently from _loco usto_, the havoc they made wherever they passed leaving the appearance of a place desolated by fire.
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M. Patru was convinced that in all his prose writings no sentence or part of a sentence could be found so _cadenced_ as to form a verse. A friend, however immediately pointed out to him the words in his ‘Plaidoyers’
Septième plaidoyer pour un jeune Allemand.
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Despreaux speaking of the cæsura in French versification, asserts,
Que toujours dans nos vers—le sens coupant les mots, Suspende l'hemistiche—en marquant le repos.
M. Despreaux seems to have forgotten that hemistich is a composite Greek word signifying a demi-line, and that consequently his own admired verses have no meaning at all.
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Every one is acquainted with the excellent _commencement_ of the Annals of Tacitus. From this, principally he has acquired his reputation for concision. It is singular that no notice has ever been taken of the extreme prolixity of their _conclusion_.
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There is a dissertation upon Hebrew, or Samaritan medals by Père Soucier, in which he proves the existence of Hebrew money struck by the Jews upon the model of the coins current before the captivity. All the Hebrew medals, however, bearing a head of Moses or of Christ, are manifestly forgeries.
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{582} There is a book by a Jesuit, Père Labbe, entitled La Bibliothèque des Bibliothèques. It is a catalogue of all authors in all nations who have written catalogues of books.
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Lucretius, lib. v. 93, 96, has the words,
——terras— Una dies dabit exitio.
Ovid the lines,
Carmine sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti Exitio terras cum dabit una dies.
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Albert in his Hebrew Dictionary, pretends to discover in each word, in its root, in its letters, and in the manner of pronouncing them, the reason of its signification. Loescher in his treatise De causis Linguæ Hebreæ, carries the matter even farther.
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In Judges is this expression, ‘And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter.’ The phrase ‘to smite hip and thigh’ arises from these words. No meaning, however, can be attached to them as they stand—but the original will admit of a different signification, viz: ‘He smote them with his leg on the thigh,’ and alludes to the wrestling matches which were common in the east. In this sense the phrase exactly answers to the ‘crus femori impingere’ and the σκελιξειν or αποσκελιξειν of the ancients.
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It is a remarkable fact, that during the whole period of the middle ages, the Germans lived in utter ignorance of the art of writing.
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The silver shekel of the Hebrews has on its face the rod of Aaron with the inscription, Jeruschalaim Hakkedoucha, Jerusalem the Holy, and on the reverse a cup with the words Chekel Ischrael, money of Israel.
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The Masoretical punctuation is a kind of critique upon the Hebrew text invented by the Jewish teachers to prevent its alteration. The first original being lost, recourse was had to the Masore as an infallible method of fixing the text. The verses, words, and even letters are there counted, and all their variations recorded.
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Among the Hebrew text of the Old Testament are mingled a few passages of Chaldaic. _All the characters_ as we have them now, are properly speaking Chaldaic.
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A version of the Psalms in 1564, by Archbishop Parker, has the following—
Who sticketh to God in stable trust As Sion's mount he stands full just Which moveth no whit, nor yet can reel, But standeth for ever as stiff as steel.
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A part of the 137th Psalm runs thus: ‘If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,’ which has been thus paraphrased in a version of the Psalms,
If I forget thee ever Then let me prosper never, But let it cause My tongue and jaws To cling and cleave together.
CRITICAL NOTICES.
THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW.
_The Old World and the New; or, a Journal of Reflections and Observations made on a Tour in Europe. By the Reverend Orville Dewey. New York: Harper & Brothers._
Mr. Dewey assures us, in the beginning of his _Preface_, that his volumes are not offered to the public as an itinerary—but it is difficult to say in what other light they should be regarded. To us they appear as strictly entitled to the appellation as any book of travels we have perused. They are indeed an itinerary of the most inartificial character—a journal in which unconnected remarks follow one upon another—object upon object—day upon day—and all with a scrupulous accuracy in regard to dates. Not that we have much objection to this methodical procedure, but that we cannot understand Mr. Dewey in declaring his book not to be what it most certainly is, if it is any thing at all. His subsequent remark, that every American traveller to the old world enjoys a vantage ground for surveying the institutions, customs, and character of his own country is what we can readily appreciate. We think, also, that in many respects our author has made excellent use of this advantage. But we would be doing our conscience a great wrong in recommending the work before us _as a whole_. Here is some amusement—great liberality—much excellent sense—a high spirit of sound morality and genuine philanthropy; but indeed very little, so we think, of either novelty or profundity. These two latter qualities are, however, of a nature so strictly relative, and liable to so many modifications from the acquirements or character of the reader, that we feel some hesitation in what we say—and would prefer leaving a decision where it _must_ finally be left—to the voice of the public opinion.
One remarkable feature in the _Old World and the New_, is its amusing _naiveté_ of manner—a feature which will immediately arrest the attention of every reader. We cannot do better than give a few specimens.
What a pity it is [says Mr. D., and so it is undoubtedly] that cities, or at least streets in cities, could not, like single edifices, be built upon some regular and well considered plan! Not that the result should be such regularity as is seen in Philadelphia or Dublin; the plan indeed would embrace irregularity. But there might be an arrangement, by which a block of buildings, a street, or indeed a whole city, might stand before us as one grand piece of architecture. If single specimens of architecture have the effect to improve, humanize, and elevate the ideas of a people; if they are a language, and answer a purpose kindred to that of literature, poetry and painting, why may not a whole city have this effect? To secure this result, there must, I am afraid, be a power like that of the autocrat of Russia, who, I am told, when a house is built in his royal city of St. Petersburg which does not conform to his general plan, sends word to the owner that he must remove that building and put up another of a certain description.
And again, speaking of the Menai bridge—
A celebrated lady (since dead) in speaking of this stupendous work, said that she first saw it from the Isle of Anglesea, so that it was relieved against the lofty mountains of North Wales; and she added in a strain {583} of eloquent and poetical comparison familiar to her, that Snowdon seemed to her a fit back ground for the Menai Bridge.
All this may be very true, but then only think of the _eloquent and poetical comparison_ of Snowdon being a back ground for the Menai Bridge!
Mrs. Hemans and our author go to church together.
She spoke (says he) of the various accompaniments of the service, and when she came to the banners she said ‘they seemed to wave as the music of the anthem rose to the lofty arches!’ I ventured here to throw in a little dash of prose—saying that _I was afraid that they did not wave, that I wished they might, and looked up to see if they did, but could not see it._
Mr. Dewey does not like oatmeal cake.
In good truth I should never desire to have any thing to do with it save as a specimen; for of all the stuff that ever I tasted, it was the most inedible, impracticable, insufferable, dry, hard, coarse, rasping, gritty, chaffy: I _could_ not eat it, and it seemed to me that if I could, it would be no more nourishing than gravel kneaded into mud, and baked in a lime-kiln. As to drink—whiskey! whiskey! the boatman said was the only thing, and the thing indispensable. I tasted of it—_and truly it had not the usual odious taste of our American whiskey!_
We quote these passages merely as specimens of the singular simplicity—more properly _naiveté_—which is the prevailing feature of the book.
Mr. Dewey left New York for England on the 8th June 1833, and arrived in St. George's channel _on the 24th of the same month_, having a fair wind and smooth sea during the entire passage. Leaving England, he visited Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Prussia, Switzerland, and Italy. Returning by way of Liverpool, he reached home on the 22d of May, 1834.
RICHARDSON'S DICTIONARY.
_A New Dictionary of the English Language: By Charles Richardson. London: William Pickering—New York: William Jackson._
The _periodical_ nature of this publication absolves us from what would otherwise be a just charge of neglect in not speaking of it sooner. Five numbers have been issued, and twenty-five more are to be added, at intervals of a fortnight. These numbers are of quarto form, and contain eighty pages in triple columns. The paper is excellent, and the matter beautifully stereotyped. The whole will form, when the publication is completed, two very large quarto volumes, of which the entire cost will have been fifteen dollars. We say when the publication is completed—the work itself is already so—a consideration of great importance, and sure to be appreciated by the thousands of subscribers to the many costly periodicals which have failed in completing their issue, and thus thrown a number of odd volumes upon the hands of the public. In what farther we have to say of this Dictionary, we shall do little more than paraphrase the very satisfactory prospectus of Mr. Richardson himself.
When Dr. Johnson, in 1747, announced his intention of writing a Dictionary of the English language, he communicated the _plan_ of his undertaking in a letter to Lord Chesterfield. The plan was as follows. He would give, first—the natural and primitive meaning of words; secondly, the consequential—and thirdly the metaphorical, arranging the quotations chronologically. The book, however, was published in 1755, _without the plan_, and strange to say, in utter disregard of the principles avowed in the letter to the Earl of Chesterfield. That these principles were well-conceived, and that if followed out, they would have rendered important service to English lexicography, was not doubted at the time, and cannot be doubted now. Moreover, the necessity for something of the kind which was felt _then_, is more strongly felt now, for no person has as yet attempted to construct a work upon the plan proposed, and the difficulties which were to have been remedied, are greatly aggravated by time. Eighty years have passed, and not only has no new work been written upon the plan of Dr. Johnson—but no systematic work of reform upon the old basis.
The present Dictionary of Mr. Richardson is, distinctly, a _new work_, upon a system never attempted before—upon the principles of Horne Tooke, the greatest of philosophical grammarians, and whose developments of an entirely novel theory of language have excited the most profound interest and respect in the minds of all who think.
In the _Diversions of Purley_, it is positively demonstrated that a word has one meaning and one only, and that from this one meaning all the _usages_ of the word must spring. “To discover this meaning,” says Mr. Richardson, “etymological research was indispensable, and I have stated the results of such research with conciseness, it is true, yet with a fullness that will enable the more learned reader to form a judgment for himself, and the path of deeper investigation is disclosed to the pursuit of the curious inquirer.” In tracing the _usages_ of words, Mr. R. has availed himself of the materials collected by Johnson and his editors, “the various supplements and provincial vocabularies, the notes of editors and commentators upon our older poets, and of abundant treasures amassed for his own peculiar use.” The quotations are arranged chronologically, and embrace extracts from the earliest to the latest writers of English. The etymology is placed distinctly by itself for the convenience of hasty reference. As an example of the arrangement of the work, we will give the word _Calefy_.
CA´LEFY | Lat. _Calefieri_, to be or become hot. CALEFA´CTION | Calere, Vossius deduces from the Doric CALI´DITY | Καλεος for Κηλεος, burning. CA´LIDUCT |
To heat, to be, become, or cause to be hot.
But crystal will _calefie_ into electricity; that is, a power to attract straws or light bodies and convert the needle freely placed.—_Brown. Vulgar Errours_, b. ii. c. 1.
As [if] the remembrance of _calefaction_ can warm a man in a cold frosty night.—_More. Philos. Poems_, c. 2, _Pref._
But ice will dissolve in any way of heat; for it will dissolve with fire; it will colliquate in water, or warm oyl; nor doth it onely submit unto an actual heat, but not endure the potential _calidity_ of many waters.—_Brown. Vulgar Errours_. b. ii. c. 1.
Since the subterranean _caliducts_ have been introduced. _Evelyn_.
In his prospectus, Mr. Richardson has had occasion to speak in no measured terms of the Dictionary of Dr. Webster. We here repeat his observations because we think them entirely just.
{584} The author is conscious that he should be chargeable with great want of courtesy if he passed unnoticed the American Dictionary of Dr. Webster. His _censure_ however must be short. Dr. Webster disarmed and stripped himself for the field, and advanced unaided and unshielded to the combat. He abjured the assistance of Skinner and Vossius, and the learned elders of lexicography; and of Tooke he quaintly says, ‘I have made no use of his writings.’ There is a display of oriental reading in his Preliminary Essays, which as introductory to a Dictionary of the English Language, seems as appropriate and useful as a reference to the code of Gentoo laws to decide a question of English inheritance. Dr. Webster was entirely unacquainted with our old authors.
We believe the North American Review has remarked of the work before us, that its definitions are in some measure too scanty, and not sufficiently compact. This defect, which cannot altogether be denied, and which is, to say the truth, of more importance to the mass of readers than to the philologist, will be found, upon examination, a defect inseparable from the plan originally proposed, and which insists upon an arrangement of derivatives under primitives. We are not tempted, however, to wish any modification of the principal design, for the sake of a partial, and not very important amendment.
We conclude in heartily recommending the work of Mr. Richardson to the attention of our readers. It embraces we think, every desideratum in an English Dictionary, and has moreover a thousand negative virtues. Messrs. Mayo and Davis are the agents in Richmond.
BOOK OF GEMS.