Jan. 27. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



should attend, the first is that of observing secrecy" — 



POLYKIUS. 



"The commander of the Forces — has frequently la- 

 mented the ignorance which has appeared in the opinions 

 communicated in letters written from the army, and the 

 indiscretion with which those letters are published." — Sir 

 Arthur Wellesley, K.B. Celorico, 1810. 



Bolton Cornet. 



DR. ROUTH, PRESIDENT OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 



In tbe very interesting and ably drawn up 

 account of Dr. Routb, said to bave been written 

 by a Fellow of Magdalen, and wbicb appeared in 

 The Times, no mention was made of tbe Presi- 

 dent's first publication, tbe Euthydemus and Gor- 

 gias of Plato; and tbe omission was soon after 

 noticed by a correspondent of llie Times, wbo 

 wrote from Cambridge ; but wbo was in error in 

 placing tbe date of tbe Dialogues in 1774, instead 

 of 1784, wbicb is tbe true date. In connexion 

 witb Dr. Routb, and as a sligbt contribution both 

 to biograpby and bibliography, I send you the 

 following quotations ; the first from Moss's Manual 

 of Classical Bibliography (London, 1825) : 



" After reading through the heavy and barren list of 

 editions of the Dialogues, published separately, I am at 

 last arrived at the first specimen of classical editorship, 

 which my venerable, pious, and highly esteemed friend, 

 the learned President of Magdalen College, Oxford, pre- 

 sented to the world. (Oxon, 8vo., 1784.) That such and 

 so highly appreciated presents are so seldom to be met 

 with, is to every scholar a subject of regret. The Latin 

 version is by the editor, in which he appears rather to 

 have aimed at perspicuity and brevity, united with a 

 correct interpretation of his author ; yet, nevertheless, we 

 often meet with elegancies. Of the materials em- 

 ployed by Dr. Routh, in the compilation of this edi- 

 tion, I shall present my reader -with the detail given 

 by Findeisen in his edition of the Georgias : — ' Routhii 

 viri doctiss. egregium opus,' &c For far- 

 ther information, I refer my readers to the brief but 

 eloquent character of Dr. Routh, drawn up by my late 

 lamented friend Dr. Parr, in his Characters of C. J. Fox, 

 vol. ii. ; who, by the long and intimate acquaintance 

 which subsisted between Iiim and the President, Avas 

 duly able to discern and estimate that character, the 

 virtues and accomplishments of Avhich he has so pleas- 

 ingly pourtrayed; to the Preface of Findeisen; to the 

 Critical Review for July, 1785, pp. 45 — 51. ; Fabricii Bibl. 

 Graca., torn. iii. p. 135., edit. Harless ; Dibdin's hitrod., 

 vol. ii. p. 137.; Brunet, Manuel de Libraire." — Moss, 

 vol. ii. p. 434. 



The next extract is from Dr. Parr, in reply to 

 the accusations of Gibbon against Oxford in 

 general, and Magdalen College in particular : 



" Dr. Home was a monk of Magdalen [a contemptuous 

 expression made use of by Gibbon], but he composed 

 several volumes of sermons, to which Mr. Gibbon will not 

 refuse the praise of ingenuity ; and he also drew up a 

 Commentary on the Psalms, for nobler purposes than the 

 amusement of scholars or the confutation of critics. Dr. 

 Chandler is a monk of Magdalen. 13ut he has published 

 Travels into Greece and Asia Minor, which have been 

 well received in the learned world ; and, with great credit 

 to himself, he has republished the Marmora Oxoniensia. 



Dr. Routh is a monk of Magdalen. But he is now en- 

 gaged in a work of great difficulty, and of great use, for 

 which he is peculiarly qualified by his profound know- 

 ledge of the tenets and the language of the earlier fathers 

 in the Christian Church; and long before the death of 

 Mr. Gibbon, this very monk had sent forth an edition of 

 Two Dialogues in Plato : an edition which, in common 

 with many of my countrymen, I have myself read with 

 instruction and with delight ; an edition which the first 

 scholars on the Continent have praised ; which Charles 

 Burney 'loves,' and which even Richard Porson 'en- 

 dures.'" — Spital Sermon, notes, p. 128., London, 1801. 



I am informed, by a late Fellow of Magdalen, 

 that the first scholars of Germany still continue to 

 speak in terms of high praise of Dr. Routh's Two 

 Dialogues of Plato. It is with deep feelings of 

 gratitude for great kindness experienced from 

 Dr. Routh, and of veneration for tbe character of 

 one, wbo, even at a comparatively early period of 

 life, seems to have inspired all wbo approached 

 him with feelings of veneration, that I send these 

 few hasty memoranda to the Editor of " N. & Q." 



John Macray. 



Oxford. 



" Seventy-seven." — I lately asked an " old in- 

 habitant " his age ; and he answered, with a smile 

 at his own bit of humour : " Why, Sir, I belong 

 to the sevens ; born in the three sevens (1777), 

 I must this year (1854) of course confess to the 

 two sevens (77)." Another century must elapse 

 before this reply can be given, after the year 

 which has just expired. N. L. T. 



Clock Inscription. — Under tbe clock in front 

 of the Town Hall in the town of Bala, Merioneth- 

 shire, North Wales, is tbe following inscription : 



" Here 1 stand both day and night. 

 To tell the hours with all rax might ; 

 Do you example take by me, 

 And serve thy God as I serve thee." 



H.J. 

 Handsworth. 



Sun-dial Motto. — One at Hebden Bridge, 

 Yorkshire : 



" Quod petis, umbra est." 



John Scribe. 



Ancient Usages of the Church (Vol. ix. passim). 

 — There was, a few years ago, and probably still 

 exists, in the parish church of Yeovil, a practice of 

 singing, or rather saying, after the Gospel, words 

 which incidentally themselves perhaps refer to an- 

 other more ancient custom. The words, thus said 

 or sung by the parish clerk, were these : " Thanks 

 be to God for the Light of His Holy Gospel." 



J.J. 



Johnson and Swift. — Johnson's prejudice against 

 Swift is visible in many passages in Boswell. That 

 in which he declared " Swift is clear, but he is 



