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PROVERBIAL SAYINGS AND THEIR ORIGINS—PLAGIARISMS AND PARALLEL PASSAGES

 
"Ον οι Θεοι φιλουσιν αποθνησκει νεοσ."
 

Brunck, Poëtæ Gnomici, p. 231., quoted by Gibbon, Decl. and Fall (Milman. Lond. 1838. 8vo.), xii. 355. (note 65.)

 
"Quem Jupiter vult perdere, priùs dementat."
 

These words are Barnes's translation of the following fragment of Euripides, which is the 25th in Barnes' ed. (see Gent.'s Mag., July, 1847, p. 19, note):—

 
"Οταν δε Δαιμων ανδρι πορσυνη κακα,
Τον νουν εξλαψε προτον."
 

This, or a similar passage, may have been employed proverbially in the time of Sophocles. See l. 632. et seq. of the Antigone (ed. Johnson. Londini. 1758. 8vo.); on which passage there is the following scholium:—

 
"Μετα σοφιασ γαρ υπο τινοσ αοιδιμου κλεινον εποσ πεφανται,
Οταν δ' ο δαιμων ανδρι πορσυνη κακα,
Τον νουν εξλαψε προτον ω βουλευεtai.
 

Respecting the lines referred to in the Chorus, Dr. Donaldson makes the following remarks, in his critical edition of the Antigone, published in 1848:—

"The parallel passages for this adage are fully given by Ruhnken on Velleius Paterculus, ii. 57. (265, 256.), and by Wyttenbach on Plutarch, De Audiendis Poetis, p. 17. B. (pp. 190, 191.)"

 
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
 

Congreve's Mourning Bride, act i. sc. i. l. 1.

 
"L'appetit vient en mangeant."
 

Rabelais, Gargantua, Liv. i. chap. 5. (vol. i. p. 136, ed. Variorum. Paris, 1823. 8vo.)

This proverb had been previously used by Amyot, and probably also by Jerome le (or de) Hangest, who was a Doctor of the Sorbonne, and adversary of Luther, and who died in 1538.—Ibid. p. 136 (note 49.).

I know not how old may be "to put the cart before the horse." Rabelais (i. 227.) has—

 
"Il mettoyt la charrette devant les beufz."
"If the sky falls, we shall catch larks."
 

Rabelais (i. 229, 230.):—

 
"Si les nues tomboyent, esperoyt prendre alouettes."
"Good nature and good sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive divine."
 

Pope's Essay on Criticism, pp. 524, 525.

 
"Nay, fly to altars, there they'll talk you dead;
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
 

Ib. pp. 624, 625.

The Emperor Alexander of Russia is said to have declared himself "un accident heureux." The expression occurs in Mad. de Staël's Allemagne, § xvi.:—

"Mais quand dans un état social le bonbeur lui-même n'est, pour ainsi dire, qu'un accident heureux … le patriotisme a peu de persévérance."

Gibbon, Decl. and Fall (Lond. 1838. 8vo.), i. 134.:—

"His (T. Antoninus Pius') reign is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materíals for history; which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."

Gibbon's first volume was published in 1776, and Voltaire's Ingenii in 1767. In the latter we find—

"En effet, l'historie n'est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs."—Oeuvres de Voltaire (ed. Beuchot. Paris, 1884. 8vo.), tom. xxxiii. p. 427.

Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 94.:—

"In every deed of mischief, he (Andronicus Comnenus) had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute."

Cf. Voltaire, "Siècle de Louis XV." (Oeuvres, xxi. p. 67.):—

"Il (le Chevalier de Belle-Isle) était capable de tout imaginer, de tout arranger, et de tout faire."

 
"Guerre aux chateaux, paix à la chaumière,"
 

ascribed to Condorcet, in Edin. Rev. April, 1800. p. 240. (note*)

By Thiers (Hist. de la Rév. Franç. Par. 1846. 8vo. ii. 283.), these words are attributed to Cambon; while, in Lamartine's Hist. des Girondins (Par. 1847. 8vo.), Merlin is represented to have exclaimed in the Assembly, "Déclarez la guerre aux rois et la paix aux nations."

Macaulay's Hist. of England (1st ed.), ii. 476:—

"But the iron stoicism of William never gave way: and he stood among his weeping friends calm and austere, as if he had been about to leave them only for a short visit to his hunting-grounds at Loo."

 
"… non alitèr tamen
Dimovit obstantes propinquos,
Et populum reditus morantem,
Quàm si clientum longa negotia
Dijudicatâ lite relinqueret,
Tendens Venafranos in agros,
Aut Lacedæmonium Tarentum."
 

Hor. Od. iii. v. 50-56.

 
"De meretrice puta quòd sit sua filia puta,
Nam sequitur levitèr filia matris iter."
 

These lines are said by Ménage (Menagiana, Amstm. 1713. 18mo., iii. 12mo.) to exist in a Commentary "In composita verborum Joannis de Galandiâ."

F.C.B.

WILLIAM BASSE AND HIS POEMS

Your correspondent, the Rev. T. Corser, in his note on William Basse, says, that he has been informed that there are, in Winchester College Library, in a 4to. volume, some poems of that writer. I have the pleasure of assuring him that his information is correct, and that they are the "Three Pastoral Elegies" mentioned by Ritson. The title-page runs thus:—

"Three Pastoral Elegies of Anander, Anetor, and Muridella, by William Bas. Printed by V.S. for J.B., and are to be sold at his shop in Fleet Street, at the sign of the Great Turk's Head, 1602."

Then follows a dedication, "To the Honourable and Virtuous Lady, the Lady Tasburgh;" from which dedication it appears that these Pastoral Elegies were among the early efforts of his Muse. The author, after making excuses for not having repaid her Ladyship's encouragement earlier, says,—

"Finding my abilitie too little to make the meanest satisfaction of so great a principall as is due to so many favourable curtesies, I am bold to tende your Ladyship this unworthy interest, wherewithal I will put in good securitie, that as soone as time shall relieve the necessitie of my young invention, I will disburse my Muse to the uttermost mite of my power, to make some more acceptable composition with your bounty. In the mean space, living without hope to be ever sufficient inough to yeeld your worthinesse the smallest halfe of your due, I doe only desire to leave your ladyship in assurance—

 
"That when increase of age and learning sets
My mind in wealthi'r state than now it is,
I'll pay a greater portion of my debts,
Or mortgage you a better Muse than this;
Till then, no kinde forbearance is amisse,
While, though I owe more than I can make good,
This is inough, to shew how faine I woo'd,
 

Your Ladyship's in all humblenes

"WILLUM BAS."

The first Pastoral consists of thirty-seven stanzas; the second of seventy-two; the third of forty-eight; each stanza of eight ten-syllable verses, of which the first six rhyme alternately; the last two are a couplet. There is a short argument, in verse, prefixed to each poem. That of the first runs thus:—

 
"Anander lets Anetor wot
His love, his lady, and his lot."
 

of the second,—

 
"Anetor seeing, seemes to tell
The beauty of faire Muridell,
And in the end, he lets hir know
Anander's plaint, his love, his woe."
 

of the third,—

 
Anander sick of love's disdaine
Doth change himself into a swaine;
While dos the youthful shepherd show him
His Muridellaes answer to him."
 

This notice of these elegies cannot fail to be highly interesting to your correspondent on Basse and his works, and others of your readers who feel an interest in recovering the lost works of our early poets.

W.H. GUNNER

Winchester, March 16. 1850.

FOLK LORE

Something else about "Salting."—On the first occasion, after birth, of any children being taken into a neighbour's house, the mistress of the house always presents the babe with an egg, a little flour, and some salt; and the nurse, to ensure good luck, gives the child a taste of the pudding, which is forthwith compounded out of these ingredients. This little "mystery" has occurred too often to be merely accidental; indeed, all my poorer neighbours are familiarly acquainted with the custom; and they tell me that money is often given in addition at the houses of the rich.

What is the derivation of cum grano salis as a hint of caution? Can it come from the M.D.'s prescription; or is it the grain of Attic salt or wit for which allowance has to be made in every well-told story?

A.G.

Ecclesfield Vicarage, March 16, 1850.

Norfolk-Weather-Rhyme

 
"First comes David, then comes Chad,
And then comes Winneral as though he was mad,
White or black,
Or old house thack."
 

The first two lines of this weather proverb may be found in Hone's Every-Day Book, and in Denham's Proverbs and Popular Sayings relating to the Seasons (edited for the Percy Society): but St. Winwaloe, whose anniversary falls on the 3rd of March, is there called "Winnold," and not, as in our bit of genuine Norfolk, Winneral. Those versions also want the explanation, that at this time there will be either snow, rain, or wind; which latter is intended by the "old house thack," or thatch.

Medical Charms used in Ireland—Charm for Toothache.—It is a singular fact, that the charm for toothache stated (No. 19. p. 293.) to be prevalent in the south-eastern counties of England, is also used by the lower orders in the county of Kilkenny, and perhaps other parts of Ireland. I have often heard the charm: it commences, "Peter sat upon a stone; Jesus said, 'What aileth thee, Peter?'" and so on, as in the English form.

To cure Warts, the following charm is used:—A wedding-ring is procured, and the wart touched or pricked with a gooseberry thorn through the ring.

To cure Epilepsy, take three drops of sow's milk.

To cure Blisters in a cow's mouth, cut the blisters; then slit the upper part of the tail, insert a clove of garlic, and tie a piece of red cloth round the wound.

To cure the Murrain in Cows.—This disease is supposed to be caused by the cow having been stung about the mouth while feeding, in consequence of contact with some of the larger larvæ of the moth (as of the Death's-head Sphynx, &c.), which have a soft fleshy horn on their tails, erroneously believed to be a sting. If a farmer is so lucky as to procure one of these rare larvæ, he is to bore a hole in an ash tree, and plug up the unlucky caterpillar alive in it. The leaves of that ash tree will, from thenceforth, be a specific against the disease.

The universal prevalence of the superstition concerning the ash is extremely curious.

J.G.

Kilkenny.

Death-bed Superstition.—See Guy Mannering, ch. xxvii. and note upon it:—

"The popular idea that the protracted struggle between life and death is painfully prolonged by keeping the door of the apartment shut, was received as certain by the superstitious eld of Scotland."

In my country (West Gloucestershire) they throw open the windows at the moment of death.

The notion of the escape of the soul through an opening is probably only in part the origin of this superstition. It will not account for opening all the locks in the house. There is, I conceive, a notion of analogy and association.

"Nexosque et solveret artus," says Virgil, at the death of Dido. They thought the soul, or the life, was tied up, and that the unloosing of any knot might help to get rid of the principle, as one may call it. For the same superstition prevailed in Scotland as to marriage (Dalyell, p. 302.). Witches cast knots on a cord; and in a parish in Perthshire both parties, just before marriage, had every knot or tie about them loosened, though they immediately proceeded, in private, severally to tie them up again. And as to the period of childbirth, see the grand and interesting ballad in Walter Scott's Border Poems, vol. ii. p. 27., "Willye's Lady."

C.B.