132
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. m. FEB. is, m
history of his own time, which, together with
characters of prominent contemporary per-
sons, was compiled by Etough (see Nichols's
' Literary Anecdotes,' vol. ix. p. 807). Amongst
the character sketches his memoir of Lord
Bolingbroke is expressly referred to. The
Lord Orford referred to as " my brother " is,
therefore, Sir Kobert Walpole, the great
minister, and not the second Earl of Orford,
whose career would not afford very edifying
or interesting matter for the historian. This
letter is also included in the 'Private Cor-
respondence' (1820) and in the six- volume
edition of 1840, but is very properly omitted
by Cunningham.
A letter dated 30 November, 1746, and addressed to the Lord President Forbes, is attributed (in Nichols's 'Illustrations of Lite- rary History,' vol. iii. p. 545) to the Hon. Horace Walpole. This letter appears rather to be written by his uncle, afterwards Lord Walpole, as aforesaid. It runs as follows :
MY DEAR LORD, Hearing that you are to set out immediately for Scotland, I send you this, to wish you a good journey, and good success in your under- takings, although I much doubt whether you will have the luck, if you proceed upon the principles and motives you seemed to have in our last conver- sation. Your own good-nature, and a concern for that part of the country where you was bred and born, makes you inclined to think things and people to be what they are inclined to be, rather than what they are in reality, and therefore you will endeavour to reconcile what by its nature is irre- concileable. The consequence of all, I am afraid, will be, that you will, in your Bill to call it in, do nothing that will redound to the interest of the United Kingdom, or to your own honour or credit. You will pardon this freedom from a good citizen, and from your most affectionate friend,
H. WALPOLE.
The Lord President Forbes (Duncan Forbes of Culloden) was well known for his loyalty to the house of Hanover, and for his efforts for the good of his fellow-countrymen. From the contents of the above letter it may be gathered that Forbes had embodied some of his schemes in a Bill, of which, and of the Scotch nation in general, the writer of the letter speaks slightingly. Forbes was at this date a man of sixty years of age, while Horace Walpole, the nephew, was only twenty-nine. The latter was hardly likely, therefore, to adopt such a tone in addressing his senior by thirty-one years, even supposing him to have been acquainted with the Lord President, of which there is no evidence in his letters. His uncle, on the other hand, was at this time sixty-eight, and therefore the President's senior by several years. HELEN TOYNBEE.
THE REAL ^ENEAS (9 th S. ii. 444 ; iii. 74). All classical scholars must, presumably, admit
the justness of the remark of MR. ED. MAR-
SHALL, but, at the same time, the translation
of pius as "pious" (as also that of virtus as
" virtue ") is so engrained in the English mind
that the following verses, which deal so ably
with this (non-classical) rendering, are perhaps
worthy of insertion. They were written, I
believe, by James Smith (died 24 Dec., 1839,
aged sixty-four), one of the two authors of
the well-known 'Rejected Addresses':
Pius ^Eneas. Virgil, whose epic song enthrals,
And who in song is greater ? Throughout the Trojan Hero calls
Now "pius" and now " pater."
But when, intent the worst to brave, (With sentiments that pain us)
Queen Dido meets him in the cave, He dubs him " Dux Trojanus."
And well he alters there the word,
For, in that station, sure, "Pius ^Eneas" were absurd
And "Pater" premature.
G. E. C.
The Greeks in the 'Iliad' did not think that it was a crime to kill a suppliant. Besides the case of Lycaon, there is that of Adrastus in the sixth book. Menelaiis is about to spare the life of the suppliant Ad- rastus, not from the motive of mercy, but because Adrastus has promised him ransom. Then Agamemnon, shocked at the weakness of his brother, runs up, and himself kills Ad- rastus. Nestor, who is standing near, applauds the action, and exhorts the brothers to spare none of their enemies. The Trojans were as savage as the Greeks. I do not, however, remember that there is anything against Sarpedon, who is the noblest character in the ' Iliad.' Other leaders of the allies, Glaucus and Asteropseus, are very fine fellows.
E. YARDLEY.
REMEMBRANCE OF PAST JOY IN TIME OF SORROW (9 th S. i. 123, 251, 414, 493 ; ii. 252). It has not, I think, been pointed out that the thought contained in Dante's well-known lines also occurs in Matthew Paris. Poor John had just signed Magna Carta when certain " sons of Belial," as the author calls them, came to jeer at him in his misery, and said :
"Ecce rex sine regno, dominus sine dominio: ecce alh'cus nauci et angularis, rota quinta in plaustro, regum ultimus, et popuji abjectio. Heu ! miser et seryus ultimse conditionis, ad quam servi- tutis miseriam devolutus. Fuisti rex, nunc fex ; fuisti maximus, nunc minimus. Nihil infdicius quam fuisse felicem."
Apparently this reasoning had much effect upon John, for the entertaining old chronicler goes on to tell us how he rolled upon the floor
