James Mew

“ CHINESE POETRY.
The origin of Chinese poetry is shown by the component parts of the character which they use to express it. They signify “words of the temple,” and point out the primarily religious nature of Chinese verse. The people have a great respect for this species of art, and most of them are themselves poets. The moral maxims of their philosopher Confucius are written in the terse epigrammatical style which seems to be synonymous with poetry among them. The accuracy and conciseness of their poetical ideas cannot fail to remind us of the ancient poetry of the Hebrews. ”

“ Blount's grandson says: “I dare say my grandfather, Counsellor Blount, was not the author of ‘Boscobel,’ for in a letter to my father I have seen the following sense expressed: ‘The other day, being on a visit to Lord Oxford, I met with a tract called “Boscobel.” My lord expressed great surprise on seeing me eager to peruse it, saying I was deemed the author. How the world comes to be so kind to give it me I know not; but whatever merit it may have, for I had not time to examine it, I do not choose to usurp it. I scorn to take the fame of another's productions. ”

“ The bright sky glistened through the frosted panes,
And all the sleeping streets awoke, and all
The busy hum of men arose to form
The orison she might not join again,—
She, whose nude shoulders, and long golden hair
Slow cradled by the undulating tide,
Shone in the early sunlight of the dawn. ”

“ Which everywhere is present unto me,
⁠In the warm sunshine and the pelting storm,—
Which calls me and surrounds me everywhere,
⁠Whose voice is murmuring in the western wind.
I know all nature is indeed most fair,
⁠But in all nature her alone I find. ”

“ His manner was always to carry about a Greek testament, which he read over every fortnight, reading the Gospels and the Acts the first, the Epistles and the Apocalypse the second week. He was little of stature, and (though such are commonly choleric) yet never known to be moved with anger. His desire was to die a sudden death. Riding on a coach with Sir John Osborne, and reading a book (for he would lose no time) , he fainted, and, though instantly taken out, died on the place on 24 Aug, 1607. ”

“ Terrors more pleasing, ne’er heard sweeter swell
Of music than from out your rocky cell.
Though the wind urge the doomèd ship away,
Though favouring breezes fill her bellying sails,
Still can one sweet low voice the vessel stay,
One loving whisper calm the boisterous gales. ”

“ Weep thou no more; a common lot is thine!
Fold thy meek hands upon thy heaving breast:
In alien sympathy can be no rest;
There is no lasting joy but trust divine.
O, heart that long'st for death, but may'st not die! ”

“ The head-master was, in Bibby's time, the Rev. Andrew O'Callaghan, of whom the young poet in after years always spoke with affectionate respect. At a very early age displaying a taste for classical literature, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, and obtained a scholarship; hence the sobriquet of 'scholar Bibby,' which stuck to him through life. At the age of thirteen he obtained the gold medal for science from among a host of competitors—two hundred, it is said. He soon became one of the best Greek students of his day. ”

“ BOND, JOHN (1550–1612) , physician and classical scholar, was born at Trull, a village two miles from Taunton, in Somersetshire, and was educated in ‘grammatical of as Wood says, at Winchester; became a student at Oxford in 1569, and took a degree in arts four years after, being then either one of the clerks or chaplains of New College, and much noted for his proficiency in academical learning. In 1679 he proceeded in arts, and had soon after the mastership of the free school of Taunton in his own county conferred on him by the warden and society of New College. ”

“ Strange must be the taste, observes Addison, after commenting with no little fervour on flying pigs and hogs in armour, of that man who, having all the beasts and birds in nature to choose out of, should yet prefer to call his house by the name of an ens rationis, of some creature more horrible and extraordinary than any in the deserts of Africa. ”

“ He is far better known as a classical scholar than as a physician. He helped to develope the taste for curious manuscripts, scarce editions, and fine copies. Of the classical attainments of Askew Dr. Parr, his friend, speaks in high praise.
Askew appears to have contemplated a new edition of Æschylus, for a complete collection of the various published editions of this author was found in his library, some copies of which were enriched with manuscript notes by himself. ”

“ For our Red Lions, Blue Boars, and Black Swans, and other natural anomalies, which the student of high art has in some instances desired unhappily to perpetuate, we are indebted to the heraldic distinctions of noblemen, on whose property perhaps the hostelry was built, or by whose munificence it was chiefly supported, bearing on their coat armour a swan sable, a boar azure, or a lion gules. ”

“ Wood says he became a fellow commoner of Hart Hall in 1580, and does not speak of his being a member of any other college in Oxford; but from his autobiography it appears that he was of Alban Hall and also of Magdalen College. He left the university without a degree, and was called to the bar by the Middle Temple. His mind was too mercurial for law, and he gave himself to the study of Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian. ”

“ BLOUNT, THOMAS (1618–1679) , author of ‘Ancient Tenures,’ son of Myles Blount, of Orleton in Herefordshire, the fifth son of Roger Blount of Monkland, in the same county, was born at Bordesley, Worcestershire, being of a younger house of the ancient family of his name. He entered himself of the Inner Temple, and was in due time called to the bar. He was never advantaged, says Anthony à Wood, who knew him and received from him copies of some of his works, by the help of a university in learning. ”

“ To this the Green Man is an exception, who may be confidently pronounced to be the bold Robin Hood; especially as, if the size of the picture admits it, and the artist places sufficient belief in his ability to represent him, Little John is commonly visible walking away in the far distance. ”

“ BANCROFT, GEORGE (fl. 1548) , translator, was a divine of the church of England, who, for the edifying of his dear brethren in Christ and for the prevention of their deception by crafty connivance, translated into the English tongue the 'Responsio Prædicatorum Basileensium in defensionem rectæ Administrationis Cœnee Dominicæ.' The preface is dedicated to the right worshipful and his 'singuler good Master Silvester Butler,' and wishes him 'prosperitye and healthe boeth of bodye and soule.' The book is written in the common heated fashion of his time. ”

“ When a vacancy occurred in the professorship of Hebrew in 1704, which it was thought desirable to confer on Sike, Bouquett was temporarily appointed to it in the absence of Sike, the famous oriental scholar, for whom the post was reserved. Sike was definitely elected in August 1705, but on the professorship falling vacant again seven years later, Bouquett was elected to fill it permanently. He died senior fellow of Trinity on 12 Feb. 1747-8, aged 79. Cole describes him as 'born in France, an old miserly refugee, who died rich in college, and left his money among the French refugees. ”

“ The full title of his translation is as follows: 'Two Books of Saint Ambrose, Bysshoppe of Mytleyne, entituled Of the Vocation and Calling of all Nations: newly translated out of Latin into Englyshe, for the edifying and comfort of the single-mynded and godly, unlearned in Christes Church, agaynst the late stronge secte of the Pelagians, the maynteyners of the free wyll of men, and denyers of the grace of God,' London, 1561, 8vo. ”

“ One of the many ingenious observations made by Baldwin is that, amongst upwards of a million of inhabitants carried off by the plague in Upper and Lower Egypt during the space of forty years, he could not discover a single oilman or dealer in oil. ”

“ We find him making continual efforts to control the natural man. His temper, he tells us in one of his letters, may be described in one little word 'hot,' His business, it has been seen, brought him loss instead of profit; but out of his small supply he was always liberal and ready to listen to the cry of distress. Whilst on a visit to friends in Scotland, by appointment of the yearly meeting in 1808, Bevan began to suffer from cataract in his left eye, and two years later he was attacked by paralysis in his left side. ”

“ Baldwin's Italian work, 'La Prima Musa,' is written in poor and ungrammatical Italian. It reads more like the raving of a maniac than a wholesome speculation on a subject of science. He presented a copy of it to the British Museum in 1802. Baldwin probably died poor. He speaks of his 'Legacy to his Daughter' as the only property he had to leave her.
Baldwin, during his long residence at Alexandria, after much observation of cases of the plague, proposed as beneficial for this hitherto incurable malady the rubbing of sweet olive oil into the skin. ”

“ In the blank verse there are some passages not without spirit and beauty, and an address to his son, which prefaces the work last named, exhibits a degree of pathos and delicate feeling not often discovered. ”

“ In 1853, after the celebrated Roscoe centenary at Liverpool, he published 'Roscoe's Library, or Old Books and Old Times,' dedicated to the Earl of Carlisle, 'the representative of the intelligence of the aristocracy and of the aristocracy of intelligence.' In this little work he holds up Roscoe as an example to the youth of the Mechanics' and Literary Institutes throughout the country, in whom he felt a profound interest. ”

“ The world is a well-furnished table, Where guests are promiscuously set. The essays are fifteen in number, and are on the various parts of the body–the head, eye, nose, ear, tongue, and so forth. They are full of trope and figure, frequently with much force of application, quaint and sententious. ”

“ On his father's death he carried on the school, which was called the Madras House Grammar School, at Hackney. He obtained, in 1840, the degree of doctor of philosophy from the university of Leipzig. His kind disposition and natural sagacity made him an excellent instructor. In the dedication of his ‘Analysis of Latin Verbs’ to Thomas Hewitt Key, he confesses that many of his philological principles were derived from that gentleman. He also acknowledges, in his ‘Essay on Teaching Greek,’ his obligations to his friend Mr. ”

“ In the intervals of legal employment he busied himself, in his capacity of secretary to the Society for the Suppression of Mendacity, with the poor laws. He wished to encourage the systenatic giving of relief, but at the same time to extirpate the gross abuses to which the poor laws had been liable in his time. ”

“ Horne says that those which are geographical are most conspicuous, and stamp a real value on the work, which, though designed for youthful quakers, may be studied by all christians 'without danger of finding anything introduced which can give the smallest bias towards any principle not really and truly christian' (Brit Crit. O. S. 33, 477) . ”

“ Bigsby distinguished himself as a virtuoso or collector of curiosities, 'relics and memorials,' as he calls them, of 'illustrious characters.' Amongst his most cherished possessions was Drake's astrolabe. ”

“ In 1774 he returned to Egypt and went to Suez, whence he accompanied the holy caravan on a dromedary to Cairo. His services there were accepted by the East India Company. He arrived in Alexandria in 1775, and succeeded in establishing a direct commerce from England to Egypt. Baldwin returned to England in 1781 — having been plundered on the plains of Antioch by thieves and shot through the right arm — in a destitute condition, and petitioning for justice. ”

“ His long scholastic life has given to the majority of his books a distinctly practical turn.
He was the author of sundry articles in the magazines; of a continuation to April 1808 of Lord Lyttleton s 'History of England in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son ; 'and of an addition of the whole period of the third George to Dr. Goldsmith's 'History of England.' His other works are 1. 'Reflections on the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ,' 1803. 2. 'Letters on the Study and Use of Ancient and Modern History,' 1804. 3. ”

“ Lowndes says that Bevan is the ablest of the quaker apologists. Certainly he writes with good sense, good temper, and good feeling. Orme speaks of his 'Life of Paul' as doing credit to the talents and piety of the writer, besides being interesting as affording some explanation of the theological sentiments of the Quakers. The work is written in the very words of Scripture, with care to establish a connected historical chain ”

“ Being intended for the medical profession, Askew studied for one year at Leyden. Alexander Carlyle, who met him there, says that he had come to collate manuscripts of Æschylus, and describes him as having some drollery, but little sense (Autobiography, p. 174) . He then visited Hungary, Athens, Constantinople, Italy, and other countries. By the purchase at home and abroad of a great number of valuable books and manuscripts he laid the foundation of the extensive library, the Bibliotheca Askeviana. ”

“ He further tells us that when a boy he delighted in reading 'Bevis of Hampton,' 'Guy of Warwick,' 'Valentine and Orson,' 'Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,' and aftenvards the 'Decameron of Boccace' and the 'Heptameron of the Queen of Navarre.' He was at school under Hadrian Saravia, at Southampton. ”

“ He also complains very seriously that foolish mothers made ‘Roman monsters’ of their children. Perhaps, it has been said, he was an unworthy and therefore justly rejected suitor, and revenged himself by this wholesale attack on the sex. But the attack is not wholesale, as he expressly excepts right worthy, sad, and plain women who walk in godly wise. Indeed the whole satire is mainly directed against extravagant attire. ”