330 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''<« S. X. Oct. 27. '60. 



third order, next to whom were placed the faithful gene- 

 rally, divided according to their sexes and rank : for the 

 men were separated from the females, and the virgins 

 from the married women." 



That the practice of separating the sexes in 

 church existed from the earliest times the learned 

 Cardinal proceeds to prove on the authority of 

 Philon, the Apostolical Constitutions, S. Augus- 

 tine, S. Cyril of Jerusalem, &c. 



Origen (Tract 26. in Matth.) shows that a sepa- 

 ration also existed among the different classes of 

 females, and that the virgins #were divided from 

 the married women : — 



" Tradition," he saj's, " teaches us, that a certain place 

 should be assigned in the church where the virgins may- 

 remain and pray, the entrance to which should be inter- 

 dicted to married women." 



S. Ambrose (ad Virg.') affirms the same thing, 

 and adds : — 



" Should you not have recalled the place separated by 

 partitions, which you occupied in the church, when noble 

 matrons were accustomed in generous rivalship to dispute 

 your kisses, looking upon you as both good and holy ? " 



Thus showing that the two classes were kept 

 distinct. 



And this last quotation leads to another point — 

 the kiss of peace — which doubtless had some 

 share in causing the separation of the sexes. The 

 practice of showing a feeling of peace and good- 

 will towards our fellow-creatures by a kiss dates 

 from the earliest periods, and is moreover recom- 

 mended to the practice of the early Christians by 

 the Apostle (Rom. xvi. 16.) : " Salutate invicem 

 in osculo sancto." 



It was practised by the members of the early 

 Church, when at certain times, and on certain 

 occasions, members of the same sex exchanged the 

 kiss of peace, which ceremony would necessarily 

 require the separation of the sexes ; and the man- 

 ner in which, and the reason why, it was per- 

 formed, is thus described by S. Augustine (Sermon 

 227. al. 83.) : — 



" Post ipsam dicitur : Pax vobiscura — et osculantur se 

 christiani. Pacis signura est — sicut ostendunt labia, 

 fiat in conscientia; id est quomodo labia tua ad labia 

 fratris tui accedunt, sic cor tuum a corde ejus non recedat." 



At times the divisions of the sexes was carried 

 still farther, — special tribunes being assigned for 

 the exclusive use of the females, before whom was 

 drawn a curtain which effectually concealed them 

 from the view of the men ; and S. Basil directed 

 that whoever should presume to pass her head 

 beyond this veil, during the celebration of Mass, 

 should be debarred from the privilege of receiving 

 Holy Communion. Nor was the separation of the 

 sexes confined only to the period they were within 

 the walls of the church. S. Augustine tells us 

 that the like practice was observed on their way 

 to the sacred building. " The faithful," he says, 

 " are accustomed to proceed to the church with 

 modest reserve, each sex separately." And although 



modern customs and innovations have caused the 

 practice to be generally abandoned in large cities, 

 it has never been altogether discontinued, and is 

 still observed in many of the smaller bourgs and 

 country villages of France. Philip Philupson. 



CHARACTER OF THE GERMANS. 

 (2"<» S. X. 224.) 



This satirical question of Bouhours, which M. 

 Noel justly calls question qui manque de sens au- 

 tant que de politesse, was, it must be remembered, 

 asked in 1671, when Germany, whatever it might I 

 be in theology and the graver literature, was not 1 

 what it has since become in belles lettres. It 

 must also be noticed that the question was not 

 whether a German could have wit: it was Un 

 Allemand peut-il avoir de V esprit? — and esprit Is as 

 hard a word to turn into English as humour to 

 turn into French. 



I once saw in the hands of the editor of no 

 matter what periodical the proof sheet of a se- 

 rious answer to Bouhours, supported by many 

 quotations from German writers. I pointed out 

 that every one of the writers quoted was of a later 

 date than the question asked by Bouhours. What 

 was done with the article I do not know : If it ap- 

 peared as written, it would look like a testimony 

 to the truth of the insinuation, as in 1671. 



If we look into the dictionary of the French 

 Academy, among the senses of the many-sided 

 word esprit, I think we find the one intended in 

 the quotation, " II a beaucoup d'esprit, mais 11 n'a 

 point de jugement," which would probably be the 

 antithesis of a German in the mind of Bouhours. 

 This quotation follows, as its sense of the word 

 esprit, " La facilite de la conception et la vivacite 

 de I'imaginatlon." But in truth the word has a 

 peculiarly French sense, intended to describe and 

 praise the peculiar points of the French talent : 

 while at the same time the translation into other 

 languages will refer to points which the talents of 

 all nations have in common. It means "a facility 

 and vivacity united, after the manner in which the 

 union Is made In France, with as much of the 

 more solid as will render them pleasant and re- 

 spectable." If then, as is often implied in France, 

 the French have more esprit than other nations, 

 there Is truth about the assertion ; that is. It can- 

 not be denied that the French have more than 

 other nations of that phase of the common talent 

 of mankind which is characteristic of themselves. 

 And when the question asked by Bouhours is re- 

 duced to Its first principle, it really means, Can 

 any German ever be mistaken for a Frenchman ? 



As another Instance of an untranslatable word, 

 take the English word learning. There is no French 

 word for It : erudition will not do ; It is only the 

 stuffing which becomes what we call learnii^g under 



