Notes and Queries, Number 184, May 7, 1853. Various
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occurs for the last time in our poetry in the following lines of Pope:
"See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs."
Johnson renders the last line—
"Cinnameos cumulos, Nabathæi munera veris;"
and this is probably the sense in which the place has generally been understood. But let any one read the preceding quotations, and reflect on what a diligent student Pope was of the works of his predecessors, and perhaps he will think with me.
NOTES AND QUERIES ON BACON'S ESSAYS, NO. III
Essay IX. p. 21. (note a). "They used the word 'præfiscini.'" See e. g., Plaut. Asin., ii. 4. 84. (Weise):
"Præfiscini hoc nunc dixerim: nemo etiam me adcusavit
Merito meo."
(Leonida boasts of his integrity.)
Ditto, p. 22. (note c). "From the Stichus of Plautus," ii. 1. 54.
Ditto, p. 23. "Which has the character of Adrian the Emperor." See Hist. Aug. Script., i. 149., ut supr. (Spartian. Vit. Hadrian. cap. 15.)
Ditto p. 26. "It was well said." By whom?
Essay X. ditto. "A poor saying of Epicurus." Where recorded?
Ditto, p. 27. "It hath been well said, 'That the arch flatterer,'" &c. By whom, and where?
Ditto, ditto. "It hath been well said, 'That it is impossible,'" &c. By whom and where?
Ditto, ditto. "The poet's relation." Ovid. Heroid. xvi. 163.
Essay XI. p. 28. "Cum non sis qui fueris," &c. Whence?
Ditto, p 29. "Illi mors gravis incubat," &c. Seneca, Thyest. 401. (ed. Lemaire), Act II. extrem.
Ditto, p. 31. "That was anciently spoken." By whom?
Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus of Galba." Tac. Hist., i. 49.
Ditto, ditto. "Of Vespasian." Tac. Hist., i. 50.
Essay XII. ditto. "Question was asked of Demosthenes." See Cic. De Orat., III. 56. § 213.
Ditto, p. 32. "Mahomet's miracle." Where recorded?
Essay XIII. p. 33. "The desire of power," &c. Cf. Shaksp. Hen. VIII., III. 2. "By that sin (ambition) fell the angels," &c.
Essay XIII. p. 33. "Busbechius." In Busbequii Legationes Turciæ Epist. Quatuor (Hanoviæ, 1605), p. 133., we find this told of "Aurifex quidam Venetus."—N. B. In the Index (s. v. Canis) of an edition of the same work, printed in London for R. Daniel (1660), for 206 read 106.
Ditto, ditto (note b). Gibbon (Miscellaneous Works, iii., 544., ed. 1815) says, "B. is my old and familiar acquaintance, a frequent companion in my post-chaise. His Latinity is eloquent, his manner is lively, his remarks are judicious."
Ditto, p. 34. "Nicholas Machiavel." Where?
Ditto, p. 35. "Æsop's cock." See Phædrus, iii. 12.
Essay XV. p. 38. "Ille etiam cæcos," &c., Virg. Georg. i. 464.
Ditto, ditto. "Virgil, giving the pedigree," &c. Æn. iv. 178.
Ditto, p. 39. "That kind of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of." Bacon quotes, from memory, Tac. Hist., ii. 39., "Miles alacer, qui tamen jussa ducum interpretari, quam exsequi, mallet."
Ditto, ditto. "As Machiavel noteth well." Where?
Ditto, p. 40. "As Tacitus expresseth it well." Where?
Ditto, p. 41. "Lucan," i. 181.
Ditto, ditto. "Dolendi modus, timendi non item." Whence?
Ditto, ditto. "The Spanish proverb." What is it? Cf. "A bow long bent at last waxeth weak;" and the Italian, "L'arco si rompe se sta troppo teso." (Ray's Proverbs, p. 81., 4th edit., 1768.)
Ditto, p. 43. "The poets feign," &c. See Iliad, i. 399.
Ditto, ditto (note y). "The myth is related in the Works and Days of Hesiod," vv. 47-99., edit. Göttling.
Ditto, p. 44. "Sylla nescivit." Sueton. Vit. Cæs., 77.
Ditto, p. 45. "Galba." Tac. Hist., i. 5.
Ditto, ditto. "Probus." Bacon seems to have quoted from memory, as we find in Vopiscus (Hist. Aug. Script., ut supr., vol. ii. 679. 682.), as one of the causæ occidendi, "Dictum ejus grave, Si unquam eveniat salutare, Reip. brevi milites necessarios non futuros."
Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus saith." Hist., i. 28.
SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE
The Passage in King Henry VIII., Act III. Sc. 1. (Vol. vii., pp. 5. 111. 183. 494.).—Mr. Ingleby has done perfectly right to "call me to account" for a rash and unadvised assertion, in saying that we must interpolate been in the passage in King Henry VIII., Act III. Sc. 2., after have; for even that would not make it intelligible. So far I stand corrected. The passages, however that are cited, are not parallel cases. In the first we have the word loyalty to complete the sense:
" · · · · · My loyalty,
Which ever has [been] and ever shall be growing."
In the second, the word deserved is clearly pointed out as being understood, from the occurrence of deserve after will:
"I have spoken better of you than you have [deserved] or will deserve at my hands."
I will assist Mr. Ingleby's position with another example from Rich. II., Act V. Sc. 5.:
" · · · · · like silly beggars,
Who sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame,
That many have [sat] and others must sit there."
And even from a much later writer, Bolingbroke:
"This dedication may serve for almost any book that has, is, or shall be published."
Where we must supply been after has. But in the passage I attempted, and I think successfully, to set right, admitting that custom would allow of the ellipsis of the participle been, after the auxiliary have, to what can "am, have, and will be" possibly refer?
" · · · · · I do professe
That for your highness' good, I euer labour'd
More then mine owne, that am, haue, and will be."
What? Add true at the end of the line, and it mars the verse, but make the probable correction of true for haue, and you get excellent sense without any ellipsis. I am as averse to interpolation or alteration of the text, when sense can by any rational supposition be made of it, as my opponent, or any true lover of the poet and the integrity of his language, can possibly be; but I see nothing rational in refusing to correct an almost self-evident misprint, which would redeem a fine passage that otherwise must always remain a stumbling-block to the most intelligent reader. We have all I trust but one object, i. e. to free the text of our great poet from obvious errors occasioned by extremely incorrect printing in the folios, and at the same time to strictly watch over all attempts at its corruption by unnecessary meddling. This, and not the displaying of our own ingenuity in conjectures, ought to be our almost sacred duty; at least, I feel conscious that it is mine.
"That