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NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 21. 
tained their character for gallantry, they were 
defeated with great slaughter. 
“1653. — The third of March, Mr. John Case, of 
Chart next Sutton Clarke, being chosen by the pa~ 
rishioners of the said Chart, to be the Register of the 
said parish according to the Act touching marriages, 
births, and buryalls, was this day sworne before me, 
and I do allow and approve of him to be Register ac- 
cordingly. As witness my hand. 
Ricua. Beate.” 
«1660. — Marye, the daughter of John Smith, Esq., 
was baptized on the thirteenth daye of Januarie, 1660, 
by John Case, Vicar. The first that hath been bap- 
tized at the font since it was re-erected by the ap- 
poynmt of the said Mr. Smith, being full sixteene yeers 
paste. One Thomas Scoone, an elder, having, out of 
his blinde zeale, defaced and pulled it downe, wt other 
ornaments belonging to the churche.” 
E.R. J. H. 
Chancery Lane, 7th March. 
BIS DAT QUI CITO DAT. 
Inquiry has been often made as to the origin of 
this proverb. Alciatus is referred to generally as 
the authority whence it was derived. I think, 
however, it may be traced to Publius Syrus, who 
lived about forty-four years before Christ. It is 
equally probable, from the peculiar species of com- 
position in which the thought, if not the exact 
words are found, that the proverb was derived 
from another and an earlier source. The object 
of mimic exhibitions is to impress the mind by 
imitation. Human life is burlesqued, personal 
defect heightened and ridiculed; character is 
never represented in degree, but in extremes. The 
dialogue of satirical comedy assumes naturally the 
form of the apophthegm—it is epigrammatic and 
compressed that it may be pungent and striking. 
Hence, no species of writing is more allied to or more 
likely to pass into household words, and to become 
proverbs among a people of quick retentive powers, 
such as the Greeks were, to whom we are perhaps 
indebted for this. I send you the extract from 
Alciatus: Emblemata, No. 162. Antverpiz, 18mo. 
1584. Apud Christophorum Plantinum. 
« Tres Charites Veneri assistunt, dominamque se- 
quuntur ; 
Hineque voluptates, atque alimenta parant ; 
Lextitiam Euphrosyne, speciosum Aglaia nitorem ; 
Suadela est Pithus, blandus et ore lepos. 
Cur nude ? mentis quoniam candore venustas 
Constat, et eximia simplicitate placet. 
An quia nil referunt ingrati, atque arcula inanis 
Est Charitum? qui dat munera, nudus eget. 
Addita cur nuper pedibus talaria? Bis dat 
Qui citd dat — Minimi gratia tarda preti est. 
Implicitis ulnis cur vertitur altera? gratus 
Fenerat: huic remanent una abeunte due. 
Jupiter iis genitor, cceli de semine divas 
Omnibus acceptas edidit Eurynome.” 
Now here we have the proverb clearly enough. 
I subjoin the note upon the lines in which it 
appears. 
“ Bis dat qui cito dat,” in Mimis Publii. “ Bene- 
ficium inopi bis dat, qui dat celeriter.” Proverb, Bis 
dat, &e. 
Referring to the Sentences of Publius Syrus, 
published, with the additional Fables of Phzdrus, 
from the Vatican MSS., by Angelo Mai, I found 
the line thus given: — 
“Tnopi beneficium bis dat, qui dat celeriter.” 
The same idea, I believe, occurs in Ovid. Query 
whether it is not a thought naturally presenting 
itself to the mind, reflected by memory, confirmed 
by experience, and which some Mimic author has 
made proverbial by his terse, gnomic form of ex- 
pression. 8. H. 
PARALLEL PASSAGES. 
I take the liberty of sending you several parallel 
passages, which may probably appear to you wor- 
thy of insertion in your valuable paper. 
ue 
«“ There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. ’” 
Shakspeare: Julius Cesar. 
« There is an hour in each man’s life appointed 
To make his happiness, if then he seize it.” 
Beaumont and Fletcher: The Custom of the Country. 
« There is a nick in Fortune’s restless wheel 
For each man’s good —” 
Chapman: Bussy d'Ambois. 
2. 
«“ The fann’d snow, 
That’s bolted by the northern blast thrice o’er.” 
Shakspeare: A Winter’s Tale, 
«¢ Snow in the fall, 
Purely refined by the bleak northern blast.” 
Davenport: The City Nightcap, 
3. 
« Like pearl 
Dropt from the opening eyelids of the morn 
Upon the bashful rose.” 
Middleton: The Game at Chess. 
« Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 
Under the opening eyelids of the morn, 
We drive afield.” 
Milton: Lysidas. 
4 
« Brief as the lightning in the collied night, 
That in a spleen enfolds both heaven and earth, 
And ere a man hath power to say— Behold! 
The jaws of darkness do devour it up.” 
Shakspeare: Midsummer Night's Dream. 
“ Nicht Blitzen gleich, die schnell voriiber schiessen, 
Und plotzlich von der Nacht verschlungen sind, 
Mein Glick wird seyn.” 
Schiller: Die Braut von Messina. 
Greenock. 
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