1809.] 
[ \s07 ] 
Extracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
Ea 
FROWZY. 
A CORRESPONDENT enquires, 
(vol xxv. p. 532) for the meaning 
of the word frowzy: it occurs in John- 
son’s dictionary, and is there defined by 
the synonyms, fetid, musty. But in the 
eastern counties, it is used for hairy; and 
seems to be derived from the French 
Jrisé, crisped, curled. 
PLAGIARISM. 
The ode ascribed in your twenty- 
sixth volume, to the Rev. John Proctor, 
{p. 456,) is slightly varied from an ode of 
Mr. Robert Southey: it is a beautiful 
poem; was probably on that account 
transcribed by Mr. Proctor, and has 
been found among his papers by.a friend, 
who mistook it for an original effusion, 
BENALF, 
Dr. Johnson derives this word from 
Jehoof ; and Skinner from half. Surely 
tlie real etymon must be help ; the Ger- 
mans have behw/fich, in behalf of, of 
~ which the root is obviously Aid/fe help. 
EDITION AND TRANSLATION OF HORACE. 
A French poet, named Pellegrin, hav- 
ing translated Horace, published together 
the original and the version: which gave 
"ise to the following epigram:— 
On devrait, soit dit entre nous, 
"A deux Divinités offrir tes deux Horaces; 
_ Le Latin 4 Venus, la Déesse des Graces, 
Et le Francais a son epoux. 
SCONCE. 
Sconce is defined by Dr. Johnson, a 
pensile candlestick. Does it not derive 
yrom the French console, and mean a 
bracket, on which a bust, or candlestick, 
may stand ? 
ODD RECIPE FOR AN EPOPQITA. 
“<The inferior animals,” says a Critical 
Reviewer, (1804, vol. ii. p. 110,) “no 
doubt ascribe to magic and miraculous 
intervention, those results of human con- 
duct, which succeed to causes in their 
judgment inadequate: and it is from 
such a point of view, that the epic poet 
should. exactly contemplate all human 
action. It is no business of the poet to 
prove but to provide that what he tells 
might have been true: he should imagine 
himself an ox, or an ass, and describe the 
most natural and trivial events, with the 
wonder of ignorance, with the astonish- 
ment and admiration of stimulated stu- 
_pidity. Write about your hero as bis 
dog would do, and you will make a good 
epopeeia ; what you describe as marvel- 
lous, will thus be-probable.” 
Monru.ty Mag. No. 191, 
THE FIRST RHYMES. 
The earliest rhymes are commonly ag- 
cribed to Saint Augustin; but a prior ine 
stance occurs, which is put into the 
mouth of children, sitting in the market- 
place, and which well imitates that i- 
fantine love of like endings, on which is 
founded the whole system of grammatical 
analogy in language. The instance’ in 
question occurs in Matthew (c. x1. v. 17,) 
anderuns thus ; 
"HuAnoaprey “vecty eat ove “weyeracde 
"ESenvncapecd “ugar wes “ove exaparre. 
ON A CORONER’S VOLUNTARY DEATH. 
He liv’d, and died, 
By suicide. 
SAINT VERONICA. 
Middleton, in his letter from Rome, 
says, that the name of Saint Veronica 
is corrupted from the words Vera Icon, 
which were employed to designate a ker- 
chief, on which an- outline of Christ’s 
face was impressed. This may be 
doubted. 
In the gospel of Mark (v. 22-35) is 
related the case of an hemorrhoidal wo- 
man, who was cured by the attention of 
Christ. Eusebius also gives an account 
of the incident, (Eccles. Hist. vii. 18,) 
on the authority of a tradition, which 
was preserved through a public monu- 
ment, erected at Caesarea Philippi, by 
the gratitude of this lady, who was a 
heathen of that city. 
Now John of Malala, in his Chrono- 
graphy, says (p. $05,) that this woman 
was called Bepoviay. We have therefore 
here a saint Veronica, who did apply to 
Christ for his likeness; since she caused. 
apiece of sculpture to be put up in his 
honor, which represented a woman pul- 
ling the cloak of a Jew rabbi, in an atti- 
tude of asking relief. She is also called 
Veronica in the Gospel of Nicodemus. 
Our sculptors ‘mould the faces they 
have to pourtray, by pouring plaster on 
the bare skin, where it coagulates, and 
is taken off in the form of a mask. But 
the ancients spread a fine oiled cloth on 
the face, and moulded the features in 
wax. The holy kerchief, sudariwm, or 
saint suaire, seems to have been the li- 
ning of the waxen mask. Seneca calls 
such modellings cereas apellincas. 
WRITINGS OF BRETT. | 
A writer named Brett, who assisted in 
the Universal History, is supposed to. 
have forged the description of Formosa, 
ascribed to Psalmanazar, Did he not 
| 3E | alse 
