70 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 274. 



not now at hand for its accomplishment, and that 

 Great Britain may not have her share by some 

 irretrievable reverse to her arms, perhaps her 

 first step in that " Decline and Fall " which his 

 *ory tells us is the fate of all nations. 



William Bates. 

 Birmingham, 



THE SCHOOLMEN. 



(Vol. X., p. 464. ; Vol. xi., p. 36.) 



My knowledge of the schoolmen is too slender 

 to warrant me in offering an opinion unasked ; 

 but I come within J. F.'s requisites, being " a 

 living man who has read one treatise;" and 

 having perused ten volumes and two numbers of 

 ■*' N. & Q." may claim " the advantage of some 

 modern reading." I am sorry that he finds Smi- 

 glecius "obscure and unconnected;" but hope 

 that, as his view was taken on " looking into," it 

 ■vvill be changed by reading. I know no book 

 more likely to appear "obscure and unconnected" 

 than Simpson's Euclid on a cursory perusal, or 

 less so than the logic of Smiglecius if gone through 

 with the attention usually bestowed on the other. 

 The title-page of the only edition which I know 

 (I believe it is the last), that of Oxon, 1658, 4to., 

 pp. 761., says : 



" In qua quicquid in Aristotelico Organo, vel cognitu 

 necessarium, vel obscuritate perplexum, tam clare et 

 perspicue, quam solide ac nervose pertractatur." 



This, I presume, was not a compliment paid by 

 the author to himself; but from the great assist- 

 ance I derived from his book, in reading the 

 Organon^ I think it well-deserved. 



Though J. F. objects to the judgments of "co- 

 temporaries," I wish to add, in support of my 

 opinion, that of Rapin, as quoted approvingly by 

 Bayle. (Diet., art. Smiglecius.) 



" Smiglecius, jesuite polonais, fut un des derniers dia- 

 leeticiens qui ecrivit sur la logique d'Aristotc le plus 

 subtilement et le plus solidement tout ensemble. II a 

 penetre, par la sagacite de son esprit, ce qu'il y avait h 

 approfondir en cette science, avec une clarte et une justesse 

 qii'on ne trouve presque point ailleurs." — -Rapin's li&fiexions 

 sur la Logique, p. 383. 



Bayle observes, that the English have done 

 justice to this work by reprinting it, and that 

 some were disposed to do more than justice, may 

 be inferred from a story in Terra Filius, No. 21., 

 ■of — 



■" A member of a college, where Aristotle had no reason 

 to complain of being treated with disrespect, having been 

 heard to say, ' That the best book that ever was written, 

 except the ]3ible, was Smiglecius.' " 



I know less of Zabarella, but in reading his 

 commentary on the Posterior Analytics, I did not 

 perceive " the diffuseness of style." That subject, 

 at least, is not "frivolous ;" and I do not think 



any of those enumerated in the table of contents, 

 prefixed to his logical works, are so. I refer to 

 the 17th edition, Venetiis, 1617, 4to., pp. 700. 

 Bayle calls him " un des plus grands philosophes 

 du 16*^ siecle," and says : 



" II enseigna la logique pendant quinze annees, et puis 

 la philosophic jusqu'a sa mort. II publia des commen- 

 taires sur Aristote ; qui iirent connaitre que son esprit 

 etait capable de debrouiller les grandes difficultes, et de 

 comprendre les questions les plus obscures."' 



If J. F. has time and patience to go thoroughly 

 into the object of his inquiry, I believe the best 

 book is the Disputationes MetaphysiccB of Suarez 

 (torn. ii. fol., Geneva, 1614). I say this, not on 

 my own experience, having referred to it oc- 

 casionally only, but on that of Schopenhauer 

 (1 Parerga unci Paralipomena, p. 51.), who calls it : 



" Diesem achten Kompendio der ganzen scholastischen 

 Weisheit, woselbst man ihre Bekanntschaft zu suchen 

 hat, nicht aber in dem breiten Getrasche geistloser 

 deutsclier Philosophie Professoren, dieser Quintessenz 

 aller Schaallieit und Langweiligkeit." 



Schopenhauer is perhaps the highest authority on 

 these questions ; and I am confident that he would 

 not express an opinion on a book without reading 

 it, or bestow praise where it was not fully de- 

 served. H. B. C. 

 U. U. Club. 



GEEEN EYES. 



(Vol. ix. passim.) 



The following addition to your notes on this 

 subject, I copy from the Silva I'heologicB Symbolicce 

 of Joh. Henricus Ursinus, Isrorimberga3, 1 665 : 

 " cxcxx. 

 " Smaragdini oculi. 



" ' Rex sedens in solio judicii dissipat, omne malum 

 intuitu.' — Proverb, xx. 8. 



" Apud Cj'prios juxta Cetarias marmoreo Leoni in 

 tumulo Reguli Hermiie oculi erant inditi ex Smaragdis, 

 ita radiantibus etiam in gurgitem, ut territi instrumenta 

 refugerent thynni, diu mirantibus novitatem piscatoribus, 

 donee mutavere oculis gemmas " {Plinius, lib. xxxvii. 

 cap. 17.) "Ita bonus justusque princeps fugat oculorum 

 quasi fulgore improboi'um colluviem. Odere i'li istum 

 non minus quam ulula; solem. Innocentia sola non fugit, 

 amat etiam et colit ; quid eniin oculis Smaragdinis lastius ? 

 visuve jucundius ? 



" ' 'A(^oj3ta /ieyiVrr) to <^oj36t(76at rows vd(U.ovj.' 



Synesius' Epist. ii. 

 Leges qui metuit, nil habet metuere." 



Mr. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shahspeare 

 (1807, vol. ii. p. 192.), refers to several old writers, 

 by whom the epithet " green " has been applied to 

 eyes, particularly the early French poets. Chaucer 

 has given to one of the characters in The Knightes 

 Tale, eyes of the same colour : 



" His nose was high, his eyin bright citryn." 



