62 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 116. 



clares, in a note that he has placed at the com- 

 mencement, dated October 1, 1810, that he " found 

 many valuable books missing, and a still larger 

 number irretrievably damaged by the incursions 

 of worms and damp." 



The number of volumes missing and decayed 

 amounted to about 100, whilst the number re- 

 maining in the library appears to have been 710, 

 and their gross value about 165^. 



Since 1810 far greater care seems to have been 

 bestowed on them, for but few, very few, volumes 

 mentioned in the catalogue then made are missing, 

 and a daily fire during the winter months tends 

 greatly to prevent their further injury by damp. 



I will not, however, trouble you with any 

 further remarks about the library itself, but pro- 

 ceed at once to the subject of my note, which is 

 to offer for your acceptance three proverbs (which 

 I have met with in reading one of the books) as an 

 addition to the valuable collection lately sent by 

 your correspondent Cowgill. 



The book from which I have derived them is a 

 small quarto, containing the following tracts or 

 treatises ; but whether any or all of them are now 

 but rarely to be met with, I know not. 



1st. " The Heresiography, or a description of the 

 Hereticks and Sectaries of these latter times, by E. 

 Pagitt. 5th edit. London, 1654." 



2nd. " An apologie for our publick ministerie and 

 infant baptism, by William Lyford, B. D. and Minister 

 of the Gospel at Sherborn in Dorcetshire. London, 

 1653." 



3rd. " The Font guarded with XX arguments, con- 

 taining a compendium of that great controversie of 

 Infant Baptism, proving the lawfulness thereof; as 

 being grounded on the word of God, agreeable to the 

 Practice of all Reformed churches : together with the 

 concurrent consent of a whole jury of judicious and 

 pious divines. With a word to one Collier and an- 

 other to Mr. Tombs, in the end of the Book. Bir- 

 mingham, 1651." 



4th. " Vindiciae Paedo-Baptismi, or A Vindication 

 of Infant Baptism in a Full Answer to Mr. Tombs 

 his twelve arguments alleaged against it in his exer- 

 cltation, and whatsoever is rational or material in 

 his answer to Mr. Marshall's sermon. By John Geree, 

 M.A. and Preacher of the Word sometime at Tewks- 

 bury, but now at St. Albanes. London, 1646." 



5th. [Title-page wanting, but it appears to have been 

 this:] " The Gangrene of Heresie, or A catalogue of 

 many of the Errours, Blasphemies, and Practices of 

 the Sectaries of the time, with some observations upon 

 them. By Thomas Edwards, 1650." 



6th. " The Patrimony of Christian Children, or A 

 defence of Infants Baptisme prooved to be consonant 

 to the Scriptures and will of God against the erroneous 

 positions of the Anabaptists. By Robert Cleaver, with 

 the joynt consent of Mr. John Dad. London, 1624." 



These six treatises contain from 80 to 220 pages 

 each, and in reading them I have noted the three 



following " sententious truths," which I hope may 

 be thought worthy to be added to the much larger 

 number contributed by Cowgill. The first is 

 from the lines of Beriah Philophylax to his friend 

 Mr. Thomas Hall, which is prefixed to his " Font 

 Guarded ; " and the other two from Edwards' 

 " Grangrene of Heresie," — 



1st. " Answers are Honours to a Scold, 



And make her spirit much more bold." 



2nd. " A spark not quenched may burn down a 

 whole house." 



3rd. " Little sins make way for great, and one 

 brings in all." 



John Beanfill Habrison. 

 Maidstone. 



" A BREATH CAX MAKE THEM AS A BREATH HAS 

 MADE." 



(Vol. iv., p. 482.) 



With reference to the observations of Henry 

 H. Breen upon a well-known passage in Gold- 

 smith's Deserted Village, a little consideration will 

 convince him that the view taken by D'Israeli and 

 himself is not only extremely superficial, but that 

 the proposed emendation would entirely destroy 

 the poet's meaning. 



The antithesis is not between flourishing and 

 fading, but between the difiicult restoration of a 

 bold peasantry and the easy reproduction of 

 princes and lords. 



The first branch of the antithesis is between 

 wealth and men : 



" Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 

 It then proceeds to set forth that it matters little 

 whether nobles flourish or fade, because a breath 

 can make them as easily as it has originally made 

 them : but not so with a bold peasantry. When 

 once they are destroyed, they can never be replaced. 



In fact, so far from the sense requiring the alte- 

 ration of "makes" into "wnmakes," the substitu- 

 tion, if we would preserve the author's meaniug, 

 should be " remakes : " 



«' Princes and lords may flourish or may fade, 

 A breath remakes them, as a breath has made." 



I only put this in illustration : Heaven forbid 

 I should recommend it as an improvement ! 



As for the cited " parallel passages," the best 

 answer that can be given to them is, that they cease 

 to be parallel passages ! 



I shall therefore take the liberty to repeat a 

 sentence from Mr. Breen, with a slight alteration: 



*' That Goldsmith wrote the line in question with the 

 word ' unmakes,' there seems {every) reason to doubt." 



A. E. B. 



Leeds. 



P. S. — As a mere matter of fact, apart from other 

 considerations, although a breath from the fountain 



