22 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°* S. N« 54., Jan. 10. '57. 



She turns these wroiigheads all adrift, 



And calls for Milton, Butler, Swift. 



These make a ring round as they enter, 



And worship Homer in the centre. 



The sight renews old Homer's youth. 



He kisses Milton on the mouth ; 



To Yirgil he presents his cheek. 



Who kisses it with reverence meek ; 



To Pope and Broome he turns his , 



Vfho turn'd the Iliad to a farce, 



Of Circe made a water witch. 



Although she was a brimstone bitch. 



To Hell, he crys, ye puppy dogs. 



And 3'elp the battle of the Frogs, 



Against their enemies the Mice ; 



Hurl hence to Hell quick in a trice. 



But ere they were quite sent adrift. 



Homer was thus address'd by Swift : 



' O may it please your sovereign Majesty, 



Don't you sometimes delight in a jest? aye, 



Let them all in a cage be shut. 



And sent a voyage to Lilliput ; 



Or wou'd A'our Majesty allow't — ah ! 



Steer without compass to Laputa, 



Or Pegasus, good-natur'd Nag, 



Ma}- carry them to Brobdignag. 



Indeed it were a vile sin, heu iiimis, 



To plague with them the virtuous Houhnyhims.' 

 Muse, glad to be of trouble free'd, 

 Crys, ' there tliej' go, it is decree'd. 

 And if it chance to please Apollo, - 

 One or two more shall quickly follow.' " 



" Smile Homer, smile, behold the deed begun ; 

 Smile, Father Homer, smile upon a Son. 



The Muse propitious shall her bard behold ; 



The Muse propitious bids her bard be bold. 

 A poor translation made Pope's fortune shine. 

 Wh}' may'nt a true translation better mine? 



The Muse propitious shall her bard behold ; 



The Muse propitious bids her bard be bold. 

 Pope's genius for Heroic all unfit. 

 Pope's genius never shone except in wit: 

 In the same strain, the serious and the joke. 

 The rape of Helen and the rape of Lock, 

 Their eagle flights, how can the Bard command. 

 Who thinks that to be gay is to be grand ? 

 His conquering sword in any woman's cause 

 Is treason high against Heroic Laws. 

 A conquering sword let trifling Poet spare, 

 'Tis all too heavy for a Lock of Hair. 

 For him Belinda is an Helen fit. 

 Pope's genius never shone except in wit. 

 But fatal Helen has more dreadful charms, 

 Her rape the Nations with fierce War alarms : 

 With blood, with death, an Empire can destroy, 

 And bury in the ruins Royal Troy. 

 The backward Heroes by such Poet made 

 Are Heroes only for a Dunciad." 



It would seem from tlie foregoing that the pro- 

 fessor had meditated an English metrical " trans- 

 lation " of Homer to outrival that of Pope. The 

 probability is, that the public duties of his situa- 

 tion, his pecuniary difficulties, and more than all 

 the labour which for many years he bestowed on 

 the numerous classical works that issued from the 

 press of Robert and Andrew Foulis of Glasgow, 

 had prevented the execution. As a compensation, 

 however, to literature, and as one example of the 



great interest which the Professor felt in the cul- 

 tivation of the Greek language, there may be 

 mentioned the folio edition of Homer, hi four 

 volumes, by the above named printers. The Iliad 

 appeared in 1756, and The Odyssey, Hymns, and 

 other reliques in 1758. In the editorship of this 

 work the Professor had associated with him Mr. 

 Muirhead *, Professor of Humanity in the Univer- 

 sity, but it is understood that the critical part of 

 the task devolved on the former, who, both as a 

 scholar and a poet, was (to use a phrase of the 

 Rev. Dr. Chalmers) qualified " above and beyond" 

 his coadjutor. To ensure the utmost accuracy of 

 text, every sheet was read six times before it was 

 sent to press, twice by the ordinary corrector, 

 James Tweedie, once by Andrew Foulis, once by 

 each of the editors separately, and finally by both 

 conjunctly .f As a proof of the extreme sensitive- 

 ness of the Professor for perfection of text, there 

 is a scrap of some awkward circumstance in the 

 printing house that had excited his rather keen 

 and warm temper. 



"N.B. I do firmly that this is one of the mad 

 impudences of Ja. Tweedie, whom I have caught 

 in many pranks of this kind." Of these perhaps 

 yet unsurpassed volumes Dr. Harwood says : 

 " One of the most splendid editions of Homer ever 

 delivered to the world, and I am informed that 

 its accuracy is equal to its magnificence." Copies 

 of it are now very rare. A copy lately oflered at 

 public sale in Glasgow brought a handsome price. 



G.N. 



THE FEAST OF FOOLS. 



MSS. notes of F. Douce in his copy of Du Til- 

 Hot's Memoires pour servir a VHistoire de la Fete 

 des Foux, 8vo. Lausanne, 1751. 



" There are many curious additions to this book in the 

 4tli volume of the "Memoires (fArtigny, p. 278. and in the 

 7th volume, pp. 68. 71, 72., &c. See Meuzel, vii. 259. 



" In the 7th volume of the Memoires de VAcademie des 

 Inscriptions, Mons. Lancelot has given an extract from a 

 MS. Ritual of Viviers concerning the election of an Abbe 

 du Clerge and an Episcopus Stultus. See Sauval, Anti- 

 quites de Paris, ii. 024. 



" Dans la bibliothi^que du ci-devant chapitre de Sen?, 



* The Professor's opinion of his colleague may be 

 gathered from the MS. source referred to. 



" Genius and Parts. 

 Question at the Tripod. 

 A man of Genius and a man of Parts, 

 Where lyes the difference? both excel in Arts. 



Answer from the Tripod. 

 This way, perhaps, you may the difference feel. 

 Parts without Genius, Iron without Steel. 

 Such man I shall you name, not long since dead, 

 A man exactly such was George jNIuirhead." 

 f I think this account will be found in the Latin Pre- 

 face to the work, said to be from the pen of Professor 

 Moor, though signed by both editors. 



