Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/420

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344


NOTES AND QUERIES. cio" s. v. MAY s. im.


p. 147 Primaudaye's "That great Ilomane Captaine and Consul Titus Flarainius' 5 becomes in Greene, p. 160, "That great Ilomane Captain and Consull Titus Flavius." And one or two misprints ("disconfited " for "discomfited"; " hystoriographer " for " historiographer") appear at the same place. Primaudaye winds up with "Therefore Cicero said very well, that no Common wealth <;an either with too little, or too late recom- pence hir native countriman " (p. 148). Greene alters this to "Therefore Cicero said verie well, that friendship is so excellent a thing, that it far excelleth all other transitorie contents" (p. 160).

There is one interesting result in this process of appropriation : Greene's text and glossary become possessed of many terms to which he has no claim whatever. He thus leads to his inevitable detection by the laborious word hunter. In this block we have the

  • ' wry-necks of Alexander the Great and

Alfonsus of Arragon " ; " Parasites and scrap- gatherers [misprinted in Greene] at free cost feasts" (p. 155, Greene); and others. This is a dignified discourse, and well worthy of Greene's attention. He must be admitted to be a capital amalgamator.

Primaudaye, chap, xiv., 'Of Reprehension &nd Admonition,' p. 153: "Therefore Plato said that he corrected Speusippus by the example of his life." Greene, ' Tritarneron ' (iii. 161) : " But with Plato to correct his friend Spensippus [sic] by the example of his owne yertue." Primaudaye continues with an episode of Xenocrates and Polemon, Greene has a different remark of Zenocrates to Poleman.

Primaudaye, chap, xix., ' Of Sobrietie and Frugalitie,' p. 203 : "I suppose the Egyptians did better, who used in the middle of their bankets to bring in the Anatomie of a dead bodie dried, that the horror thereof might containe them in all modestie." Greene,

  • Farewell to Follie ^ (ix. 330): "The Egyp-

tians used in the middest of their banquets to bring in the anatomic of a dead man, that horrour of the corps might mitigate immoderate delights."

Primaudaye, chap, xix., pp. 201-2 : " To this effect Timotheus, a Grecian captaine, having supped with Plato in the Academie at a sober and simple repast (for the greatest festival dainties were olives, cheese, apples, coleworts, bread, & wine), said, that they which sup with Plato, feele the benefit thereof the next day, yea a long time after. For these wise men met together at bankets

void of excesse to prepare and dresse

their minds Such were the feasts of


Pythagoras, Socrates, Xenocrates, and of

other Sages of Grecia the pleasures of

drinking and eating they judged to passe

away as the smell of a perfume." Greene, 4 Farewell to Follie ' (ix. 229, 230) : " The old countie tooke ocasion hereof to speake of temperaunce in diet, and thus he began. I remember, Gentlemen, that Timotheus, a Grecian Captaine, having supped with Plato in his Academie, at a sober and simple re- paste, for their festivall fare was Olives, cheese, apples, colewortes, bread, and wine, tolde the next day certaine noble men his companions that they which supped with Plato digest not his viandes in a long time,

meaning that wise banket void of excesse

to decke the minde such were the feasts

of Socrates, Zenocrates, and other : the sages which compared the pleasures con- ceived indelicates, to the savour of perfumes,

which pass awaie like srnoake."

Primaudaye, chap, xix., 203-4 : " This was it that caused Alexander the Great to refuse those Cookes and Paisterers, which Ada, Queene of Caria, sent unto him, &, to send her worde backe againe, that he had better than they were : namely for his dinner, early rising, and walking a good while before day : and for his supper, a little dinner. Notwithstanding in the ende the Persian delicacies," <fec. Greene, * Farewell to Follie ' (ix. 330) : "Indeede, sir, quoth Bernardino, I remember that Alexander, before he fell into the Persian delicacy, refused those cookes and pasterers that Ada, queene of Caria, sent unto him, saying to the messenger, for my dinner I use early rising, for my supper a slender dinner, for he did use to eat but once a day." H. C. HART.

(To be continued.)

MACAULAY'S "NEW ZEALANDER." In The Academy for 18 November, 1905, there is a very interesting article, by my friend Mr. Bertram Dobell, on the sources from which Macaulay derived his reference to the New Zealander, whom he describes as surveying the ruins of London from the broken arches of Blackfriars Bridge. Mr. Dobell says that so far no one has traced this idea further back than 1774, when Horace Walpole made use of it in a letter to Mason ; and he pro- ceeds to show that it is found in a volume entitled "Poems, by a young Nobleman, of Distinguished Abilities, lately deceased." This volume was published in 1780, but the poem in which the passage that anticipated Walpole's idea occurs is dated 21 March, 1771, and is therefore three years precedent to that writer. Mr. Dobell unhesitatingly ascribes