52 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 221. 



Gl. Will't hurt me if I drink too much ? 



Echo. Much. 



Gl. Thou mock'st me, Nymph ; I'll not helieve it. 



Echo. Believe't. 



Gl. Dost thou condemn then what I do ? 



Echo. I do. 



Gl. I grant it doth exhaust the purse. 



Echo. Worse. 



Gl. Is't this which dulls the sharpest wit ? 



Echo. Best wit. 



Gl. Is't this which brings infirmities ? 



Echo. It is. 



Gl. Whither will't bring my soul ? canst tell ? 



Echo. T hell. 



Gl. Dost thou no gluttons virtuous know ? 



Echo. No. 



Gl. Wouldst have me temperate till I die ? 



Echo. I. 



Gl. Shall I therein finde ease and pleasure ? 



Echo. Yea sure. 



Gl. But is 't a thing which profit brings ? 



Echo. It brings. 



Gl. To minde or bodie ? or to both? 



Echo. To both. 



G7. Will it my life on earth prolong ? 



Echo. O long ! 



Gl. Will it make me vigorous until death ? 



Echo. Till death. 



G7. Will't bring me to eternall blisse? 



Echo. Yes. 



Gl. Then, sweetest Temperance, I'll love thee. 



Echo. I love thee. 



Gl. Then, swinish Gluttonie, I'll leave tliee. 



Echo. I'll leave thee. 



Gl. I'll be a belly-god no more. 



Echo. No more. 



Gl. If all be true which thou dost tell, 

 They who fare sparingly fare well. 



Echo. Farewell. 



" S. J." 

 " Hygiasticon : or the right Course of preserving Life 

 and Health unto extream old Age : together with 

 soundnesse and integritie of the Senses, Judge- 

 ment, and Memorie. Written in Latine by 

 Leonard Lessius, and now done into English. 

 24mo. Cambridge, 1634." 



I send the above poem, and title of the work it 

 is copied from, in the hope it may interest those 

 of your correspondents who have lately been 

 turning their attention to this style of composi- 

 tion. H. B. 



Warwick. 



AMBIGUITY IN PUBLIC WRITING. 



In Brenan's Composition and Punctuation, pub- 

 lished by Wilson, Royal Exchange, he strongly 

 condemns the one and the other, as used for the 

 former and the latter, or the first and the last. 

 The understood rule is, that the one refers to the 

 nearest or latter person or thing mentioned, and 

 the other to the farthest or former ; and if that 



were strictly adhered to, no objection could be 

 raised. But I have found, from careful observation 

 for two or three years past, that some of our 

 standard writers reverse the rule, and use the one 

 for the former, and the other for the latter, by 

 which I have often been completely puzzled to 

 know what they meant in cases of importance. 

 Now, since there is not the slightest chance of 

 unanimity here, I think the author is right in con- 

 demning their referential usage altogether. A 

 French grammarian says, " Ce qui n'est pas clair 

 n'est pas Frangais;" but though French is far 

 from having no ambiguities, he showed that he 

 fully appreciated what ought to be the proudest 

 boast of any language, clearness. There is a 

 notable want of it on the marble tablet under the 

 portico of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, which says : 



" The church of this parish having been destroyed 

 by fire on the 17th day of September, a. n. 1795, was 

 rebuilt, and opened for divine service on the 1st day of 

 August, a.d. 1798." 



The writer, no doubt, congratulated himself on 

 avoiding the then common error, in similar cases, 

 of " This church having," &c. ; for that asserted, 

 that the very building we were looking at was 

 burned down ! But in eschew-ing one manifest 

 blunder, he fell into ambiguity and inconclusive- 

 ness equally reprehensible. For, as it never was 

 imperative that a parish church should be ahvays 

 confined to a particular spot, we are left in doubt 

 as to where the former one stood ; nor, indeed, 

 are we told whether the present building is the 

 parish church. Better thus : " The church of 

 this parish, ivhich stood on the present site, having," 

 &c. 



Even with this change another seems necessary, 

 for we should then be virtually informed, as we 

 are now, that the church was rebuilt, and opened 

 for divine service, in one day ! * Such is the care 

 requisite, when attempting comprehensive brevity, 

 for the simplest historical record intended to go 

 down to posterity. It is no answer to say, that 

 every one apprehends what the inscription means, 

 for that would sanction all kinds of obscurity and 

 blunders. When Paddy tells us of wooden panes 

 of glass and mile-stones ; of dividing a thing into 

 three halves ; of backing a carriage straight for- 

 wards, or of a dismal solitude where nothing 

 could be heard but silence, we all perfectly under- 

 stand what he means, while we laugh at his un- 

 conscious union of sheer impossibilities. Clarus. 



* The following arrangement, which only slightly 

 alters the text, corrects the main defects : " The church 

 of this parish, which stood on the present site, was de- 

 stroyed by fire on [date] ; and, having been rebuilt, 

 was opened for divine service on [date]." 



