5. Plato.-Observe the grammatical peculiarity here. The noun Plato stands absolutely. It must be regarded as an objective case governed by the prepositional phrase with regard to (quod attinet ad). 6. Gyges's ring.-Gyges was a Lydian, who, according to Plato, found in a cave the body of a man of gigantic size, on whose finger was a ring. This ring he took, and as it had the property of making its wearer invisible, Gyges was enabled to kill the king his master, marry his queen, and usurp his kingdom. See Cicero, De Officiis, lii. 9. Herodotus (i. 8-12) tells the story of Gyges, but says nothing about the ring. 7. Passport.-Note the use of passport in its primary sense, viz., that which admits through the gate. 8. Lau-giving divines,-called Ulemas, a name etymologically akin to Elymas, "which is, by interpretation, sorcerer."-Acts xiii. 8. 9. But even so far,-only just so far. But is here an adverb, and is a different word from the conjunction but. In early English, the difference between the two words was indicated by a difference of spelling. 10. Skill.-In the sense of art: "Learned in one skill; in another kind of learning, unskil ful."-Hooker. "Poor queen, so that thy state might be no worse, I would my skill were subject to thy curse." Richard II., ill. 4. "Those skills that most serve to bring forth that, have a most just title to be princes over all the rest.”—Sidney (infra). 11. "I madly seize my arms, nor have I any very definite aim or purpose in doing so."— Virg., Aen. ii. 314. A remarkable story is told of Charles I. in connection with the "Sortes Virgilianae." When at Oxford he is said to have tried his fortune in this way, and the following passage turned up: "Jacet ingens littore truncus, Avulsumque humeris caput, et sine nomine corpus." 12. Merely,-absolutely or entirely: "We are merely cheated out of our lives by drunkards." -Tempest, i. 1. "Our God is one, or rather, very oneness and mere unity."-Hooker, Eccl. Pol. i. 2. 13. Have met with,-agreed or coincided with. 14. His.-See Trench's observations on the comparatively recent introduction of the neuter possessive its.-English Past and Present, pp. 89-91. 15. The metaphysic, &c.-The metaphysician, though dealing with questions that are not connected with natural phenomena, but seem to rise above nature, and are not obvious to the senses, nevertheless makes natural phenomena the foundation on which he builds his speculations. The science of metaphysics has to do with such absolute and abstract notions as God, the soul, morality, &c., things rising above natural phenomena. Hence the old use of metaphysical in the sense of supernatural: "All that impedes thee from the golden round, To have thee crowned withal." Macbeth. 18. In making things either better than nature bringeth forth, or quite anew : Dr. Johnson on Shakspere. "The poet's eye, in a fine phrensy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Midsum. Night's Dream, v. 1. 17. Cunning,-skill, experience: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."-Psalm cxxxvii. 5. The Saxon verb cunnan (to know), is the root of it. But already, in the sixteenth century, the word had come to be used in a bad sense; for Bacon has an Essay on Cunning, in which he defines it as "a sinister or crooked wisdom." 18. Essential,-real. It must not be thought that because the works of nature are real, and the creations of the poet imaginary, that therefore the above comparison between them is made in jest. 19. By them.-Note this use of by. It is equivalent to about, or with regard to: "I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified."—1 Cor. iv. 4. 20. Saucy,-bold or presumptuous. The word saucy is apparently derived (through the French) from the Latin salsus, which, in a figurative sense, means acute, witty, piquant: "If this be known to you, and your allowance, We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs." Othello, i. 1. "Not 21. Mislike,-dislike: "Mislike me not for my complexion."-Merch. of Venice, ii. 1. that I altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked in regard of certain suspicions."-Bacon, Essays, Of Usury. 22. Right poets.-Right is used in the sense of true or genuine. So above. "So right a prince as Xenophon's Cyrus." "It is a poor centre of a man's actions, himself. It is right earth."-Bacon, Essays, Of Wisdom for a Man's Self. This is in accordThus Cicero has numer 23. That numerous kind of writing.-Numerous here means melodious. 24. It is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet.-In older English two abstract nouns, especially if they are closely connected in meaning, are often followed by a singular verb: "Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways."—Psalm xiv. 7 (Prayer Book version). 25. Anatomies.-In the sense of dissections, critical investigations. 26. Next, nearest. Next end, first or immediate aim. 27. Ending end,-final aim. 28. For to witness.-This use of the preposition for with the infinitive is frequent in our older writers: "This is that Elias which was for to come." "These things may serve for to represent how just a cause of fear this kingdom may have towards Spain."-Bacon. It must be remembered that the infinitive mood in this construction is really a gerund: to must be regarded rather as a gerundial prefix than as a preposition indicating its relation; hence its government by for. 29. Casting largesses as they go, &c.-Largesse, bounty. On festive occasions knights and other great personages used to scatter among the crowd handfuls of money, which was acknowledged by cries of Largesse! from the heralds and poursuivants. Sidney means here that the class of persons he refers to deal very liberally in definitions, distinctions, &c., in the course of their arguments. "A largesse universal, like the sun, His liberal eye doth give to every one." 30. The historian.... authorizing himself .... upon other histories.... having much ado to accord differing writers;—authenticating his statements by reference to historians who have gone before, and finding it hard to harmonize the different accounts which writers give of the same event. 66 These flaws and starts, A woman's story at a winter's fire, Macbeth, iii. 4. 31. "Witness of times, light of truth, life of memory, mistress of life, messenger of antiquity." 32. Makes a point in this,-comes to this conclusion. 33. Me seemeth.-Me is here a genuine dative case; seemeth is impersonal, the neuter pronoun it being understood. 34. Wade in him till he be old.-Compare an expression in the Extract from Hooker: "The travail of wading herein is given of God to the sons of men." 35. Judicial comprehending,—a comprehending by the judgment. A similar use of the word is found in the phrase Judicial astrology, astrology that helps to form a judgment. 36. Most absolute,-most perfect. 37. "Neither gods, men, nor columns, can tolerate mediocrity in poets."-The word columns refers to the porticoes under which poets used to recite at Rome, or perhaps to the arcades under which the booksellers had their stalls. 38. Inhabit,-keep their hold of. "If trembling I inhabit, then Call me the baby of a girl." LORD BACON. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION. 1 Politics.-Used by Bacon in the sense of our modern word politicians. It comes directly from the Greek adjective mоλITIKOS, and is really the more accurate form, as the affix ian gives a hybrid character to the word. Similarly, metaphysic and mathematic are used for metaphysician and mathematician by Bacon, Sidney, and other old writers. 2. Livia sorted well, &c.-Sorted, agreed: "A desire he had to be free to those exercises which most sorted with his youth and disposition."- Lord Herbert's Henry VIII. "Well I am glad that all things sort so well." "P. My name is Pistol called. Shakspere, Much Ado, v. 4. K. H. It sorts well with your fierceness." Shakspere, Henry V., iv. 1. The quotations are from Tacitus, Annals, v. 1., History, ii. 76. Compare also Advancement of Learning, Book II. chap. xxiii. § 81. 3. Several, separate: "Good morrow, masters; each his several way." Shakspere, Much Ado, v. 3. "Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover Shakspere, Merchant of Venice, li. 7. In law language, the opposition between joint and several illustrates the original senso of the word. 4. As.-The use of this word in our older writers should be noted. Its place is now more commonly filled by that in some of the relations in which it formerly stood: "All the army was of his opinion, and that so earnestly, as he was preferred by the judgment of the soldiers before the cold and wary Fabius."-Ralegh, Hist. of World. 5. Secreted,-kept secret. 6. Obtain to,-attain to. In some of our older writers the use of the preposition to is common after verbs with which we do not now connect it: "Yet to their leader's voice they soon obeyed."-Milton. "All which he had for many years, upon any vacancy, bestowed to such persons as he thought fit."-Clarendon, book i. "He indulged to himself the pleasures of all kinds, almost in all excesses."-Ibid. 7. Name of,-reputation for: "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”—Rev. iii. 1. 8. Managed,-broken in. The term manage, sometimes written manege, (Fr. menage,) is used of the training of a horse: "Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed."— 1 Henry IV., ii. 3. 9. Passing well.--The use of passing is here adverbial in a superlative sense, equivalent to exceedingly. This use is very common in Shakspere: In a similar sense we have passing as an adjective, and the verb to pass: "V. What should I see then? S. Your own present folly and her passing deformity." Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 1. "But I have that within which passeth show." Hamlet, i. 2. 10. That he is,-what he is. A very common use of that. See Extract from Hooker, Note 3 11. Rather discharge their minds than impart their minds;-i.e., speak rather for the sake of relieving their feelings than communicating their opinions. Discharge is here exactly equivalent to unburden: 12. Mysteries are due to secrecy.-He means that persons who can keep secrets are the proper persons to have secrets confided to them. There is, perhaps, an indirect allusion to the ancient Greek Mysteries; with respect to which those initiated were bound to keep the strictest silence: "Graecos mysteria taciturnitate parietibusque clausisse" (St. Augustine, Civ. Dei, iv. 31);—"The Greeks shut up their mysteries in silence and within walls." 13. Tracts,-traits; what we should now call the expression of the face. Tract is direct from the Latin tractus; which in French was softened into trait, just as factum became fait, lac (lactis) lait, &c. It may be observed, that we have in many instances two forms of the same word, used in different senses, one derived from the Latin direct, the other from the Latin through the French;-e.g., tract and trait, fact and feat, ration and reason, regal and royal. 14. Indifferent carriage,—an unbiassed manner or an impartial deportment: "And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace, Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye." See Trench's Select Glossary. Richard II., ii. 3. 15. Ure, use or practice. Ure is probably formed from the Latin usura. It is obsolete, but we still have the verb to inure. 16. Engage himself,-commit himself. 17. Fair.-An adverb meaning politely, in a slightly ironical sense. 18. Compare the apothegm of the sage Polonius, whose directions to his servant are a good example of simulation: "Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth."Hamlet, ii. 1. 19. Spoil the feathers, &c.;-i.e., prevents the feathered arrow from going straight to the mark. He means that the apparent timidity implied in an act of dissimulation hinders the execution of a business in the most direct and effective way. The preposition of seems to be used in the sense of for, as we now speak of spoiling a thing for a particular purpose. Round is an adverb modifying the gerund flying. It here means briskly or directly. ".... I went round to work, And my young mistress thus I did bespeak." 20. Temperature,-temperament; (lit.) the mixture of elements in the constitution. OF ATHEISM. 1. The Legend, &c.-The Legend was a book used in the Church of Rome containing the lessons to be read (legenda) in divine service. Hence the lives of the saints and martyrs came to be called legends, because chapters were read out of them at matins. The Golden Legend, a collection of lives of saints, was especially famous. The Talmud is a collection of Hebrew laws, explanations, and traditions. It is divided into two parts; the Mishna, which is the written law; and the Gemara, which is made up of the glosses and expositions of the scribes and doctors. The Koran (Al-Koran) is, as every reader knows, the sacred book of the Mahometans. 2. Convince, to convict or refute. 3. A little philosophy inclineth, &c.-The same thought is to be found expressed in very similar words in the Advancement of Learning, Book I. chap. i. § 3. 4. It is a thousand times more credible, &c.-The philosophy of Aristotle recognised four elements, fire, air, earth, and water, and, besides these, a fifth, called the quintessence, which constituted the nature of the heavenly bodies. It is far easier to believe that these may have existed from eternity in the same state as now, than to give credence to the absurd theory of the Epicureans that the world was formed by the fortuitous concurrence of a vast number of wandering atoms. Leucippus was the original propounder of the atomic theory; it was adopted by Democritus of Abdera (B.C. 430); and finally systematized by Epicurus (B.c. 310). 5. Those for whom it maketh, &c.;-those whose interest it is that there should be no God. persons whose conduct and character are such that God can only be to them an object of dread. 6. Consent, agreement (Lat. consensus): "All with one consent began to make excuse."— Luke xiv. 18. |