I'Sll.] Prmimciation of Latin and Greek, 119 
dear. AncTtkls^command was so ope- 
lative on tfie early Chris';ians, that the 
word polt7'Oon derives (pollice trimcato) 
from a practice of cutting off the thumb 
to avoid military service, of which St. 
Mark, according to Jeroin, set the ex- 
alnule. Pagan historians abound with 
the observation, that the new cares about 
a future state diminished the courage of 
the legions; and Macchiavelli still thought 
this remark so well founded, that he an. 
ticipated for the first nation which sliould 
throw off Christianity, the conquest of 
Europe; a prophecy which the French 
revolution realized. Montesquieu agrees 
with Macchiavelli herein, and in his De¬ 
cadence (c. xxii.) says, zine,, higotterie 
univeraelle ahattit les couras:es. He in- 
stances the Christian general Philippicus, 
who, on the point of giving battle, burst 
jnio tears, because of the number of in- 
iwcent persons then about to be mur¬ 
dered. 
(To he continued.) 
To the Editor of the ^lonihly ^Magazine, 
SIR, 
SHORT time since the followino- 
Greek proverb struck my attention: 
O’u TTa^ 0 >ia\da/V pvKXa.q 
Not every ass has black streaks on his shoul¬ 
ders. 
The^Greeks (as well as the Englisli) are 
notable for the quaintness of their saws; 
but in the present instance they seem to 
have taken for an example, to shew that 
no general rule is without an exception, 
one to which there is absolutely no excep¬ 
tion. Did any of your readers ever see 
an ass that had not the black streaks on 
his shoulders? C.T. 
jTo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
LTHOUGH it is not in my power to 
assign your correspondent S. T. the 
real cause of the peculiar pronunciation 
of Latin at Winchester school; yet I can¬ 
not help observing, that with much greater 
reason he might have asked why the Latin 
language is anglicised (if I may so express 
myself) in every other seminary and uni¬ 
versity throughout the United Kingdom, 
nay, even in Our senate, at the bar, and 
on the stage? To the Italians, (it is my 
Ojiinion, and with hutriility I advance it,) 
if to any nation, we ought to look for the 
proper orthoepy of a language w hich was 
that of their forefathers; and among them 
it will be found, that not only the broad 
a is used in the pronunciation of Latin, 
but'that they sound ihe i in the same Ian- 
Mouthlv bUa, No, 217, 
guage like our c, and the e itself like to 
our a : moreover in no other country than 
our’s are those letters sounded as in En.. 
gland, and surely we have not the bold¬ 
ness to assert that in this particular we 
alone are right and the rest of the world 
wrong. For my own part, J think, that 
with as much justice we might anglicise 
French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and 
other living languages, were it not that we 
should render ourselves unintelligible to 
the people whose languages those aie. 
Requesting that you will give this letter 
*■* place in your valuable miscellany, I 
shall conclude, first iiureating however, 
that idr. S. T. or any of your correspond 
dents will favor us with some probable 
reas!)n for the adoption and continuance 
of a mode of pronouncing the Latin and 
Greek languages, winch m every part of 
Europe, except Great Britain, is consi¬ 
dered as both barbarous and ridiculous, 
IdNATIUSo 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine^ 
SIR, 
QME of the correspondents of your 
valuable Magazine, may possibly in¬ 
form me of the shade of difference be- 
tvyeen ctoitcxnd fut, from the French aux¬ 
iliary verb etre; also between the tenses 
donnoit and donnaAvom the verb donner ; 
and faisoit and ft, from the verh/ah-e, 
&c.; and upon what occasion they ara 
ordered to be used. 
Feb. 16 , 1811 . An Enquirer, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SI R, 
T has been frequently and well ob¬ 
served that, every gentleman should 
possess a general knowledge of the laws 
of his country. Blackstone has dwelt 
with much force and elegance upon the 
necessity of it, and his Commentaries 
are a standard book in every library,, 
professional or miscellaneous. Having 
some landed, or, as it is called real, pro¬ 
perty of my own, T have bestowed parti¬ 
cular attention upon his secoiid volumCj, 
wdiicb treats upon the subject, and thence 
the difficulty on my mind which i arm 
now to state. Cestui cue Trust, he says, 
is one who holds an estate for she use of 
another; and Cestui que Use, is he for 
whose use the estate is huiden. With 
these definitions fixed in my memory, I 
have lately had occasion to attend ti ions- 
discussion in the Court of Chaneei}? 
which so confounded me, that I felt my¬ 
self deeper and deeper in confusion, as the 
arguments proceeded; for all the learned 
Q getuiemsn 
