446 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 84. 



And Gray, with true poetic feeling, has applied 

 this image to Milton himself in those forceful lines 

 in the Progress of Poesy, in which he alludes to 

 the poet's blindness : 



" The living throne, the sapphire blaze, 

 Wliere angels tremble while they gaze. 

 He saw ; but, blasted with excess of light, 

 Closed his eyes in endless night." 

 There is a passage in Longinus which appears to 

 me to have furnished Milton with the germ of this 

 thought. The Greek rhetorician is commenting 

 on the use of figurative language, and, after illus- 

 trating his views by a quotation from Demosthenes, 

 he adds : " In what has the orator here concealed 

 the figure ? plainly in its oivn lustre." In this 

 passage Longinus elucidates one figure by another, 

 — a not unusual practice with that elegant writer. 



Henry II. Bkeen. 

 St. Lucia, April, 1851. 



ON THE APPLICATION OF THE WORD " LITTUS IN 

 THE SENSE OF RIPA, THE BANK OF A RIVER. 



The late Marquis Wellesley, towards the close 



of his long" and glorious life, wrote the beautiful 



copy of Latin verses upon the theme " Sali.x 



Babylouica," which is printed among his lieliquicE. 



In this copy of verses is to be found the line, — 



" At tu, pulchra Sallx, Thamesini littoris hospes." 



Certain critics object to this word " littoris," 

 used here in the sense of " ripa." The question is, 

 whether such an application can be borne out by 

 ancient authorities. To be sure, the substitution 

 of "marginis" for "littoris" would obviate all cim- 

 troversy ; but as the objection has been started, 

 and urged with some pertinacity, it may be worth 

 while to consider it. The ordinary meaning of 

 littus is undoubtedly the sea-shore ; but it seems 

 quite certain that it is used occasionally in the 

 sense of "ripa." 



In the 2d Ode of Horace, book 1st, we find : 

 " Vidimus flavum Tiherim, retortis 



Littore Etrusco violenter undis, 



Ire dejectum nionumenta regis, 



Templaque Vesta; ; 



Ilia2 dum se nimium querenti 



Jactat ultorem ; vagus et sinistra 



Labitur ripa." 

 — meaning, as I conceive, that the waters of the 

 Tiber were thrown back from the Etruscan slioi-e, 

 or right hank, which was the steep side, so as to 

 flood the left bank, and do all the mischief. If 

 this interpretation be correct, which Gesner sup- 

 ports by the following note, the question is settled 

 by this single passage : 



" Quod fere malim propter ea quse sequuntur, littus 

 ipsius Tibens dcxtrum, quod spectat Etruriam : unde 

 retortis undis sinistra ripa Romam allucnte, labitur " 



Thus, at all events, I have the authority of 

 Gesner's scholarship for '■'■littus ipsius Tiberis.'" 



There are two other passages in Horace's Odes 

 where "littus" seems to bear a different sense 

 from the sea-shore. The first, book iii. ode 4. : 

 " Insanientem navita Bosporum 

 Tentabo, et arentes arenas 

 Littoris Assyrii viator.^' 

 The next, book iii. ode 17. : 



" Qui Formiarum moenia dicltur 

 Princeps, et innantem Marica; 

 Littoribus tenuisse Lirim." 

 Upon which latter Gesner says, that as Marica was 

 a nymph from whom the I'lver received its name, — 

 " Hinc patet Lirlm atque Maricam fuisse duo Jinius 

 Jluminis nomina." 



But I will not insist upon these examples even 

 with the support of Gesner, because Marica ma?/ 

 have been a district situate on the sea-shore, and 

 because, in the former passage, "littus Assyrium" 

 mat/ mean the Syrian coast, which is washed by 

 the Mediterranean. 



But to go to another author, in book x. of 

 Lucan's PJiarsuUa will be found (line 244.) : 



" Vel quod aquas toties rumpeiitis Uttora Nili 

 Assidue * feriunt, coguntque resistere flatus." 

 This seems to be a clear case of the Nile break- 

 ing its banks, and is conclusive. Again, in book 

 viii. 1.641. : 



" Et prior in Nili pervenit Uttora Ca;sar." 



And again, "littore Niliaco," book ix. 1. 135. 



Lastly, in Scheller's Dictionai-y, the same mean- 

 ing is given from the 8th book of Virgil's yEneid: 



" Viridique in littore consplcitur sus ;" 

 where, beyond a doubt, is meant " Wiiov q" Jluviali. 



It appears, then, from these examples, that Lord 

 Wellesley is justified in his application of the 

 word "littus" to the adjective " Thamesinus." 



Q. E. D. (A Borderer.) 



Epigrams hy Coulanges and Prior. — Has the 

 following coincidence been noticed between an 

 epigram of M. de Coulanges and some verses by 

 Mat. Prior ? 



" IJ Origine de la Noblesse. 

 " D'Adam nous sommes tous enfants, 

 La preuve en est coiinuc, 

 Et que tous nos premiers parents 

 Ont mene la charrue. 

 " Mais, las de cultiver enfin 

 La terre labouree, 

 L'une a detele le matin, 



L'autre I'apres-dinee." — (Published 1698.) 

 ^ The Old GeiUnj. 

 " That all from Adam first begun. 

 None but ungodly Woolston doubts. 

 And that his son, and his son's sons 

 Were all but ploughmen, clowns and louts. 



Se. Zephyri. 



