?»<> S. V. 118., April 3. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



tn 



simple fact that I object to the latter in toto, and 

 should never dream of sitting down to read it, 

 much less of buying it : nor would any one else, 

 I suppose, except an ardent admirer — not of 

 Bacon, but — of the Archbishop. That so-called 

 edition of Bacon is, in my mind, a palimpsest in 

 •which the sage of Verulam is effaced and overlaid 

 by a very different and very uncongenial mind. 



With regard to the scholium on Virg. £JcL vii. 

 51., I am sorry that I have not a Heyne or a 

 Virgil of any kind within reach at present ; yet 

 even so, I shall substantiate my criticism.* Bacon's 

 words are : — 



" Number itself in Armies importeth not much, when 

 the people is of weak Courage; for (as Virgil saith) Jt 

 never troubles a Wolf how many the Sheep be." 



The meaning of this is sun- clear : A Wolf would 

 as soon attack Jive thousand sheep, as he would 

 Jive ; Numbei' is no protection when courage is 

 wanting. Now it greatly puzzles me to know 

 how any man could take this Scholium as a para- 

 phrase on the above, or anyway equivalent to it : — 



" After the Shepherd has counted the Sheep, the Wolf 

 is careless about deranging the reckoning." 



The meaning of the latter, so far as it has any, 

 seems to be this : " The Shepherd carefully orders 

 and counts his sheep ; but the Wolf makes no 

 scruple of confusing his computation, and shorten- 

 ing his reckoning, by making off with two or three 

 of the number." Now I assert that the idea 

 contained in the Scholium is Disorder versus 

 Order, and that it in no way gives the true, and 

 very different, idea of Courage v. Number. 



Mr. S. gives up Momus as the God of Mirth ; 

 but he does so very reluctantly, and, like a Par- 

 thian, casts a dart as he flies. Surely it is useless 

 to bring up an inferior authority, like Lempriere, 

 in the teeth of plain matter of fact, Mw/uoc, even 

 independently of the personification, means a spot, 

 a blemish, disgrace, blame ; and jncofieo^at means to 

 jind fault with. 



AVith regard to Sibling, Mr. S. either does not, 

 or will not, see the force of my objection : Let 

 me again ask. How can Sibling (Latin bibuld) be 

 " used in the sense of " Tottering ? " It might as 

 well be " used in the sense ol " dancing, or of 

 anything else you like. But it might be said, 

 people who drink, reel and stagger from the effects 

 of drink ; and Sibling or bibulus might have this 

 derived and secondary sense. This conjecture 

 struck me only this moment for the first time, 

 while puzzling my head as to how Dr. Shaw and 

 Mb. Singer connect bibling and tottering. Is this 

 conjecture confirmed by fact? Are bibling or 

 bibulus ever used in this sense ? 



[* The lines referred to are : — 



" Hie tantum Borete curamus frigora, quantum 

 Aut numerum lupus, aut torrentia flumina ripas."] 



Mb. Singer not only glories in perpetuating a 

 false and blundering version of one of Bacon's 

 noblest works, without comparing it with the origi- 

 nal, or making the slightest attempt to correct it; 

 but he identifies it with the original in a most 

 extraordinary way : — 



" Then comes the formidable accusation that in revising 

 the text of Sir A. Gorges' translation, I have given it as 

 I found it. That I have not altered his lively into long- 

 lived; his rope of gum into Misletoe, &c., in the mode in 

 which your correspondent desires that Bacon's Ensays 

 should be rewritten according to the approved specimen 

 by Dr. Shaw from the Essay Of Praise." 



I regret that I have mentioned Dr. Shaw's 

 name at all, except in my third paper, and only in 

 connection with the Sapientia Veterum; it has 

 put a fal^e notion into Mr. Singer's head, and 

 made him misunderstand me, and (unintentionally 

 I am sure) misrepresent me. 



Dr. Shaw's text of the Essays, I take it, is 

 made up from a collation of the early editions, 

 together with the Latin version which was made 

 under Bacon's superintendence. Now I did not 

 recommend this composite text ; I tacitly assumed 

 the true text to be that of Bacon's last corrected 

 edition ; and only suggested that useful notes 

 might be obtained from the various readings of 

 the earlier editions, and from the Latin version. 

 Moreover this suggestion I considered very se- 

 condary ; it was a mere matter of notes, and I by 

 no means intended for it the prominence which 

 Mr. S. has given it in its altered form. As for 

 the two specimens I gave, I admitted at the time 

 that they were random, and I now add that they 

 were ill-chosen. Mr. Singer's long acquaintance 

 with the press might have enabled him to guess 

 that " Head," in the first passage, is merely a 

 misprint for Herd, which latter Shaw has, and 

 which I copied correctly ; it was given among 

 the errata in the next No. of " N. & Q." — p. 227. 



With regard to the word Nice, I declared that 

 a note was superfluous ; we say at the present 

 day that such a man is nice about the food he 

 eats, or the society he mixes in ; meaning he is 

 particular, scrupulous, &c. ; and I suggested that 

 if a note were given at all, it ought to be the 

 various reading, " reserved and difficult," which 

 Shaw gives, in preference to Mr. S.'s explanation. 

 I am under the impression that Lord Bacon re- 

 peated this remark about the Spartans three or 

 four times in the course of his works, and that 

 the words which Mr. Singer stigmatises as a 

 " Shawism," are Bacon's own, used elsewhere. 



With regard to " being pseudonymous " &c., I 

 beg to disclaim all intention or desire "to wound" 

 Mb. Singer, either " in the dark " or in the 

 light. M*y Notes had nothing to do with per- 

 sonal, but merely with literary matters : never- 

 theless, when I sent them to the Editor of " N. & 

 Q.," I also sent my card, — and that for the first 

 time, — believing him to be a personal friend of 



