204 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 99. 



thougli, like the comma, it might be abused, yet 

 the abuse would rather tend to clearness. 



But, without introducing a further use of the 

 hyphen, it would be desirable to have a distinct 

 name for a combination of words ; which, without 

 being such a recognised and permanent compound 

 as apple-tree or man in the moon, is nevertiieless 

 one word in the particular sentence in hand. And 

 the name is easily ibund. The word hyphen being 

 Greek (a;^' 4V), and being made a substantive, we 

 might join Greek suffixes to it, and speak of 

 liyphenisms and hjphenic phrases. For example, 

 the following I should call a hyphenic error. 

 When the British Museum recently published A 

 Sho7-t Guide to that Portion of the Library of 

 printed Books now open to the Public, a review 

 pronounced the title a misnomer ; because the 

 books are not open to the public, but are in locked 

 glass eases. The reviewer read it "library of 

 printed-books-now-open-to-the-public, " instead 

 of " library- of- printed-books now open to the 

 public." And though in this case the reviewer 

 was very palpably wrong, yet there are many cases 

 in which a real ambiguity exists. 



A neglect of mental hyphenization often leads 

 to mistake as to an author's meaning, particularly 

 in this age of morbid implication. For instance, 

 a person writes something about " a Sunday or 

 other day-for-which-there-is-a-special-service ; " 

 and is taken as meaning " a Sunday-or-other-day 

 for whicii," &c. The odds are that some readers 

 will suppose him, by speaking of Sundays with 

 special services, to imply that some are without. 



M. 



GRAY AND COWLEY. 



Some spirited publisher would confer a serious 

 obligation on the classical world by bringing out 

 an edition of Gray's Poems, with the parallel pas- 

 sages annexed. " Taking him for all in all," he is 

 one of our most perfect poets; and though Collins 

 might have rivalled him (under circumstances 

 equally auspicious), he could have been surpassed 

 by Milton alone. In 1786, Gilbert Wakefield 

 attempted to do for Gray what Newton and Wiirton 

 had done for Milton (and, for one, I thank him for 

 it) ; but his illustrations, though almost all good 

 and to the point, are generally from books whicli 

 every ordinary reader knows off by heart. Besides, 

 Wakefield is so very egotistical, and at times so 

 very puerile, that he is too much for most people. 

 However, his volume. The Poems of Mr. Gray, 

 with Notes, by Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., late Fellow 

 of Jesus College, Cambridge: London, 1786, would 

 furnish a good substratum for the volume I am 

 now recommending. 



Not to speak of Milton's English poems and the 

 great masterpieces of ancient times, with whicli so 



learned a scholar as Gray was, of course, familiar, 

 he draws largely from the Greek anthology, from 

 Nonnus, from Milton's Latin poems, from Cowley, 

 and I had almost said from the prose works of 

 Bishop Jeremy Taylor. His admiration of the 

 great " Shakspeare of Divinity " is proved from a 

 portion of one of his letters to Mason; and some 

 other day I may furnish an illustration or two. 

 Indeed, were any publisher to undertake the gene- 

 rous office I mention, I dare say that many a secret 

 treasure would be unlocked, and many an " orient 

 pearl at random strung" be forthcoming for his 

 use. Let me first mention Gray's opinion of 

 Cowley, and then add in confirmation one or two 

 passages out of many. He says in a note to his 

 " Ode on the Progress of Poesy : " 



" We have had in our language no other odes of the 

 sublime kind than that of Dryden ' On St. Cecilia's 

 Day : ' for Cotvlet/ (who had his merit) yet wanted judg- 

 ment, style, and harmony for such a task. That of Pope 

 is not worthy of so great a man." 



We must submit to Gray's oracular sentence, 

 for he himself was pre-eminently gifted in the three 

 great qualities in which he declares the deficiency 

 of Cowley (at least if we tire to judge from his 

 English poems ; for the prosody of his Latin 

 efforts seems sadly deficient). At times Cowley's 

 "harmony" is not first-rate, and his "style" is 

 deeply impregnated with the fantastic conceits of 

 the day ; but he is still a poet, and a great one too. 

 And I think that in some of his writings Gray had 

 Cowley evidently in mind ; e. g. in the epitaph 

 to his "Elegy in a Country Churchyard :" 



" Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere. 

 Heaven did a recommence as largely send : 

 He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear; 

 Hegainedfrom Heav'n ('twas all hewish'd)a friend." 



Cowley had previously written : 



" Large was his soul ; as large a soul as e'er 

 Submitted to inform a body liere. 

 High as the place 'twas shortly in Ileav'n to have, 



But low, and humble as his grave. 

 So high that all the virtues there did come. 

 As to their chiefest seat, 

 Conspicuous, and great ; 

 So low that for me too it made a room." 



On the Death of Mr. William Hcrvey. 

 Miscellanies, page 18. London, 1669. 



Again — 



" The attick warbler pours her throat 

 Responsive to the cuckoo's note. 

 The untaught harmony of spring." 



Gray, Ode I. On the Sprint/. 



" Hadst thou all the charming notes 

 Of the wood's poetic throats." 



Cowley, Ode to the Swallow. 



" Teaching their Maker in their untaught lays." 

 Cowley, Davideis lib. i. sect. 63. p. 20. 



