NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. m JULY is. im.
AUTHOR OF QUOTATION (7 th S. viii. 329 ; 8 th
S. vi. 26). In the question referred to only
two verses are given, whereas in the Daily
Express of 3 July, 1902, a third verse is added
as follows :
La vie eat telle Que him la tit,
Et, telle quclle
Elle suffit !
All three verses are accompanied by an Eng- lish translation, said to be by the author, M. Leon Montenaeken, himself, and stated to be "incomparably the best." Should there be three verses, and is the correct title * Feu de Chose et Presque Trop,' and not simply 'Feu de Chose'? I have not been able to refer to any book of M. Montenaeken's to verify these points for myself, but find that in the article mentioned, entitled ' La Jeune Belgique,' by William Sharp (Nineteenth Cen- tury, September, 1893, p. 429), only two verses are given ; nor does Literature (11 August, 1900) nor the Daily Telegraph (3 June, 1898) give more. The lines (two verses only) were used for a translation competition in the Journal of Education (February, 1894, p. 114). EDWARD LATHAM.
DUELS OF CLERGYMEN (9 th S. xi. 28, 92, 353). From a long article on 'Duels' the follow- ing is an extract :
"At that period duels were frequent among clergymen. In 1704 the Rti\ Mr. Hill was killed in a duel by Cornet Gardener, of the Carabineers. The Rtcertiul Mr. Bate fought two duels, and was subsequently created a baronet, and preferred to a deanery after he had fought another duel. The Reverend Mr. Allen killed a Mr. Delany in a duel in Hyde Park without incurring any ecclesiastical censure, though Judge Buller, on account of his extremely bad conduct, strongly charged his guilt upon the jury." Hone's ' Table Book,' i. 7*22.
ADRIAN WHEELER.
"TYRE" (9 th S. v. 516; vi. 76, 194). The replies to my query as to the meaning of this word were not very convincing, and I now think that it must have some connexion with weaving. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1759, p. 517, there is a description of a "machine for drawing the tire in a ribbon loom." The following phrases occur in the course of the article: " A ribbon that requires tire may be worked as a plain course," and ** If two tire are only wanted, a double or looped string from the cords to the first and third tumbler, and from the second and fourth, will answer." R. B. P.
BACOX ON HERCULES (9 th S. xi. 65, 154, 199, 352). MR. YARDLEY, following Ben Jonson, maintains that " Shakspeare had little know- ledge of Greek and Latin " because he puts
into the mouths of his characters ccelo for
coelum and "canus" for cams. It will take
something more than this to prove that the
author of the dramas had not an excellent
knowledge of Latin at least In the fort-
nightly Review Mr. Churton Collins has proved
pretty conclusively that Shakspeare was
familiar with the Latin language and with
many of the Latin classics. At any rate, it
appears that Shakspeare had as much know-
ledge of Latin as enabled him to take the
plot of his 'Comedy of Errors' from the
untranslated ' Mensechmi ' of Plautus, and
MR. YARDLEY allows him a possible acquaint-
ance with Ovid in the original.
Shakspeareans are at loggerheads, however, with regard to the dramatist's knowledge of Greek. Years ago J. Russell Lowell suggested that Shakspeare had used a "Grsece et Latine" version of the classics. This idea has been revived by Mr. Churton Collins, who main- tains in the Fortnightly that he obtained his knowledge of Greek through Latin transla- tions, and that " when we compare many of the soliloquies and monologues in the Shak- spearean dramas with those characteristics of the Greek tragedies, we cannot fail to be struck with their close resemblance in phrase and diction, in colour, tone, and ring." The instances cited by Mr. Collins are certainly remarkable, and I commend them to the notice of MR. YARDLEY and other Shak- speareans who pooh-pooh the idea of any classical learning in the plays.
Mr. Sidney Lee has refused to see any such resemblances, holding that "the coincidences were due to accident, and not to any study, either at school or elsewhere, of the Athenian dramas," that "the parallelisms are no more than curious accidents proofs of consan- guinity of spirit" and "close community of tragic genius." It is to be hoped that Mr. Churton Collins's able articles will also instruct Mr. Lee as to the extraordinary knowledge of the Greek drama displayed by the author of the Shakspearean dramas.
With regard to Hercules, and Bacon's mis- take as to his means of locomotion, I endea- voured to prove that Bacon, in his 'Apoph- thegms ' and elsewhere, was, like Shakspeare passim, often inaccurate in his references. For instance, Bacon says that there was a king of Hungary who took a bishop in battle, and sent a certain message to the Pope. The message was sent not by a king of Hungary, but by Richard Cceur de Lion. Then Bacon credits Chilon with an apophthegm which belongs to Orontes, the son of Artaxerxes ; he confuses the battle of Granicus with the battle of Issus ; he mistakes Antigonus for
