144 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 198. 



person alluded to. The saying is repeated in 

 Apophthegms, No. 14. p- 414. 



" The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted 

 to be of small despatch : ' jNIi venga la muerte de 

 Spagna, — Let my death come from Spain, for 

 then it will be sure to be long in coming.' "] The 

 slow and dilatory character of the Lacedaemonians 

 is noted in Thucyd. i. 70. : " Kal /^V '<«! ^okvoi irphs 

 vfias lieXK-nrds." And again, i. 84. : " Kal rh PpaBv 

 Koi fieWoy, h fiefKpovTai ixolKkxtu tj/xccv" Livy repre- 

 sents the Rhodians making a similar remark to 

 the Roman senate in 167 b.c. : " Atheniensium 

 populum fama est celerera et supra vires audacem 

 esse ad conandum : Lacedasmonlorum cunctato- 

 rem, et vix in ea, qulbus fidit, ingredientem," 

 xlv. 23. Bayle, in his Pensees sur les Cometes, 

 § 243., has a passage which illustrates the slowness 

 of the Spaniards : — "D'un cote on prevoyoit, que 

 I'empereur et le roi d'Espagne se serviroient de 

 tres graudes forces, pour opprimer la chretlente : 

 inais on prevoyoit aussi de I'autre, qu'ils ne seroient 

 jamais en etat de I'accabler, parceque la lenteur 

 et les longues deliberations qui ont toujours fait 

 leur partage, font perdre trop de bonnes occasions. 

 Vous savez la pensee de Malherbe sur ce sujet : 

 S'il est vrai, dit-il dans quelqu'une de ses lettres, 

 que I'Espagne aspire ^ la monarchle universelle, 

 je lui conseille de doraander a Dieu une surscance 

 de la fin du monde." 



Essay XXVI. Of seeming wise. — 



" Magno conatu nugas."] From Terence, Heaut. 

 ili. 5.8.: " Ne ista, hercle, magno jam conatu mag- 

 nas nugas dixerit." 



Essay XXVIL Of Friendship.— 



"Epimenides the Candian."] Bacon calls the 

 ancient Cretan priest Epimenides a " Candian," 

 as Machiavel speaks of the capture of Rome by 

 the " Frances!" under Brennus. Mr. Pashley, in 

 his Travels in Crete., vol. i. p. 189., shows that 

 Candia is a name unknown in the island ; and 

 that among the natives its ancient denomination 

 is still in use. The name Candia has been pro- 

 pagated over Europe from the Italian usage. 



" The Latin adage meetetli with It a little : 

 ' Magna civltas, magna solitude' "] See Erasm. 

 Adag., p. 1293. It Is taken from a verse of a Greek 

 comic poet, which referred to the city of Megalo- 

 polis in Arcadia : " 'Epijjui'o i-ieydxif (TtIv ?) MeyaATj 

 TTc/Ais."— Strab. viii. 8. § 1. 



" The Roman name attalneth the true use and 

 cause thereof, naming them ' participes curarum.' "] 

 To what examples of this expression does Bacon 

 refer ? 



" The parable of Pythagoras is dark, but true : 

 •Cor ne edito.'"] Concerning this Fythagoi'ean 

 precept, see Diog., Laert. viii. 17, 18., cum not. 



The saying of Themistocles Is repeated in Apo- 

 phthegms, No. 199. p. 392. 



The saying of Heraclitus is repeated, Apo- 

 phthegms, No. 268. ; De Sap. Vet., vol. xi. p. 346. 



It is alluded to in Nov. Org., ii. 32. : " Quicquid 

 enim abducit intellectum a consuetis, a;quat et 

 complanat aream ejus, ad recipiendum lumen sic- 

 cum et purum notion um verarum." 



" It was a sparing speech of the ancients, to say 

 that a friend Is another himself."] See Aristot.^ 

 Mag. Mor. ii. 11.: "Mfa (pa^ikv ^vx^ I'l if-li '^R^ ft 

 TovTov '," and again, c. 15.: "TowCtos 6los trepos- 

 elvai iyi:, &v ye koL ffcpo^pa (piXov Troi-fiff-ps, ucrirep rh 

 Af} rf/.i€f oc ' ^AAoy ovtos 'Hpa/fA'/js,' ' &Wos <J)iAos iyw. 

 Eth. Eud. vii. 12.: "'O yhp <piAos /SouAerczt ehat, 

 wffTrep t'l irapoifiia (pr}crh', &\Aos 'HpaK\r}s, &Wos ovtos.' 



L» 

 (To be continued.') 



THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



The Interest which the execution of the railroad 

 across the Isthmus of Panama excites, induces me 

 {o transmit you the following extract from Gage' 3- 

 New Survey of the West Indies, 8vo., London, 1699. 



A few lines relative to the author, of whom but 

 little is known, may be also of use. He was the 

 son of John Gage, of Haling ; and his brother was 

 Sir Henry Gage, governor of Oxford, killed at the 

 battle at Culham Bridge, Jan. 11, 1644. Hf» 

 family were of the Roman Catholic faith; and he 

 was sent by his father in 1612 Into Spain, to study 

 under the Jesuits, In the hope lie would join that 

 society ; but his aversion to them led him to enter 

 the Dominican Order at Valladolid, in 1612. His 

 motives were suspected; his father was Irritated — 

 threatened to disinherit him and to arouse against 

 him the power of the Jesuits of England If he re- 

 turned home. He now determined to pass over to 

 the Spanisli possessions In South America; but as an 

 order had been Issued by the king, forbidding this 

 to any Englishman, It was only by inclosing hitn 

 in an empty sea-biscuit case, he was able to sail 

 from Cadiz, July 2, 1625. He arrived at Mexico 

 on October 8 ; and after residing there for some 

 time to recruit himself from the voyage, resolved 

 to abandon a missionary scheme to the Philippine 

 islands he had planned, and accordingl}', on the 

 day fixed for their departure to Acapulco, escaped 

 with three other Dominicans for Chispat. He 

 was here well received, and went subsequently to 

 the head establishment at Guatimala. He \yas 

 soon appointed curate of Amatitlan ; and during 

 his residence at this and another district contrived 

 to amass a sum of 9000 piastres, with the aid of 

 which he sought to accomplish his long-cherished 

 desire of returning to England. Many difficulties 

 were in his way ; but on the 7th January, 1637, 

 he quitted Amatitlan, traversed the province of 

 Nicaragua, and embarked from the coast of Costa 

 Rica. °The ship was soon after boarded by a 

 Dutch corsair, and Gage was robbed of 800O 

 piastres. He succeeded in reaching Panama, 

 traversed the Isthmus, and sailed from Porto Bello 



