Jan. 31. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



101 



" It frequently happens that where the second line is 

 sublime, tlie third, in which he meant to rise still 

 higher, is perfectly bombast." 



Lastly, tliis sayinj; was borrowed by Blair from 

 his brother rhetorician, Longinus, who, in liis 

 Treatise on the Sublime, has tlie following sentence 

 at the beginning of section iii. : — 



" Te96\ci)T!x.i yap rrj (ppdaei, koI reOopvfirjrai rais (pav- 

 TaiTiois fxuWov, -7) SfSeiuMTai, K^f eKaaroy aurwv irphs 

 avya^ auacTKoiriis, eK tov (pofispov kut oKiyov vnovotxra 

 irpbs rh eiiKarappovriTov." 



This is referred to by Warton in his comments 

 on Pope's translation of the Thehais of Statins; 

 and Dr. Croly, apparently unacquainted with the 

 passages in Paine and Blair, describes it, in his 

 edition of Pope, as the anticipation of Napoleon's 

 celebrated remark. It will be seen that the ori- 

 ginal saying, in its various peregrinations, has un- 

 dergone a slight modification, Longinus making the 

 transition a gradual one, '■^Kar o\iyov" while Blair, 

 Paine, and Napoleon make it but "a step." Yet, 

 notwithstanding this disguise, the marks of its 

 paternity are sufficiently traceable. 



So much for this celebrated " mot." And, after 

 all, there is very little wit or wisdom in it, that is 

 not expressed or suggested by La Rochefoucauld's 

 Maxims : — 



" La plus subtile folie se fait de la plus subtile 

 sagesse." 



" Plus on aime une maitresse, plus on est pres de la 

 hair ; " 



or by Rousseau's remark — 



" Tout etat qui brille est sur son declia ; " 



or by Beauraarchais' exclamation — 



" Que les gens d'esprit sont betes !" 



or by the old French proverb — 



" Les extremes se touchent ; " 



or by the English adage — 



" The darkest hour is nearest the dawn ; " 



or, lastly, by any of the following passages in our 

 own poets : — 



" Evils that take leave. 



On their departure most of all show evil." 



Shakspeare. 



" Wit, like tierce claret, when't begins to pall, 

 Neglected lies, and 's of no use at all ; 

 But in its full perfection of decay 

 Turns vinegar, and comes again in play." 



Rochester. 

 " Great wits arc sure to madness near allied, 

 And thin partitions do their bounds divide." 



Dryden. 



" There's but the twinkling of a star 

 Between a man of peace and war." — Butler. 



" For men as resolute appear 

 With too much as too little fear." — Butler. 



" Th' extremes of glory and of shame. 

 Like east and west become the same: 

 No Indian prince has to his palace 

 More followers, than a thief to the gallows." 



Butler. 



" For as extremes are short of ill or good. 

 And tides at highest mark regorge the flood ; 

 So fate, that could no more improve their joy. 

 Took a malicious pleasure to destroy." — Dryden. 



" Extremes in nature equal ends produce. 

 And oft so mix, the ditference is too nice 

 Where ends the virtue or begins the vice." — Pope. 



I might adduce other instances, but these are 

 sufficient to show that the sentiment owes nothing 

 to Napoleon but the sanction of his great name, 

 and the pithy sentence in which he has embodied 

 it. Heney H. Bbeen. 



St. Lucia, Nov. 1851. 



DR. JOHXSON S CONTRIBUTIONS TO BARETTI S IN- 

 TRODUCTION. 



Boswell notices Dr. Johnson having in 1775 

 written the preftxce to Baretti's Easy Lessons 

 in Italian and English ; but neither he nor his 

 editors appear to have been aware of the preface 

 which Dr. Johnson contributed to an earlier work 

 by Baretti, his Introduction to the Italian Language, 

 London, 177o, 8vo. It is accompanied by an 

 Italian translation, and is written with all his 

 usual vigour, and commences : 



" Unjust objections commonly proceed from unrea- 

 sonable expectation ; writers are often censured for 

 omitting what they never intended to perform." 



The note, p. 48. : 



" Though the design of these notes is rather to teach 

 grammar than morality, yet, as I think nothing a 

 deviation that can serve the cause of virtue," &c., 

 and the excellent remarks, p. 198., on Machiavel's 

 Life of Castruccio Castracaui, have every internal 

 evidence of Johnson's style, and were no doubt 

 dictated by him to Baretti, for whom Johnson in 

 the same year, 1755, endeavours to obtain the loan 

 of Crescimheni from Thomas Warton (Croker's 

 Boswell, edit. 1848, p. 91.). 



Nothing is more wanted than a good and com- 

 plete edition of Johnson's Works, in which omis- 

 sions similar to the above, of which I have a long 

 list when required, may be supplied. His prefaces 

 and dedications to the works of other writers are 

 all models in their way, and not one of them ought 

 to be lost. Jas. Crosslet. 



Bishop Bedell. — This divine, to remind him of 

 the need he had of being cleansed and purified in 

 heart by the Spirit, chose an ingenious device, 



