Various

“ The art of adjusting the passions requires an apprenticeship to virtue. The end to be attained is the establishment of good habits. These good habits, like any other skill, can only be attained by practice. Therefore the practice of virtue is the education of the passions.
Ethics is the doctrine of habits; but habits may be good or bad. When good, they constitute virtue; when bad, licentiousness.
The doctrine of checks is that branch of ethics which teaches moral adjustment and restraint. ”

“ If photography has an advantage over canvas, it does indeed immortalise (the painting may imitate, and the portrait may be good; but there is something more profoundly affecting in having the actual, the real shade of a friend perhaps long {507} since in his grave) ; and we ought not only to be grateful to the illustrious inventors of the art, but prevent these base uses being made of it. ”

“ They are his philosophical steering-marks, his moral guiding-lines, whereby the passions are to be kept in the via media; as much removed from total abnegation on the one hand, as from immoderate indulgence on the other.
Virtue, according to Aristotle, consists in checked or adjusted propensities. Our passions are not in themselves evil, except when unchecked by reason. ”

“ Ethics was the patent title by which Aristotle's moral philosophy was universally known; therefore any ignoramus, who never dipped beyond the title, might, and would, have used it. But no person, except one well read in the philosophy itself, would think of giving it such a designation as checks ”

“ Photographic Portraits of Criminals, &c.—Such experience as I have had both in drawing portraits and taking photographs, impels me to hint to the authorities of Scotland Yard that they will by no means find taking the portraits of gentlemen that are "wanted" infallible, and I anticipate some unpleasant mistakes will ere long arise. I have observed that inability to recognize a portrait is as frequent in the case of photographs as on canvass, or in any other way. I defy the whole world of artists to reduce the why and wherefore into a reasonable shape ”

“ To return to this present substitution of ethics for checks, a very singular circumstance connected with it is the ignoring, by both Mr. Collier and by the critic in the Gentleman's Magazine, of Sir William Blackstone's original claim to the suggestion, by prior publication of upwards of half a century. At that time, notwithstanding the great learning and acuteness of the proposer, the alteration was rejected! And shall we now be less wise than our fathers? ”

“ In the passage I have quoted from Philemon Holland, there may be observed two peculiarities which are generally supposed to be exclusively Shakspearian: one is the beautiful application of the word "touch"—the other the phrase "discourse of reason." Where this last expression occurs in Hamlet, it narrowly escaped emendation at the hands of Gifford! (See Mr. Knight's note, in his illustrated edition of Shakspeare.) It is the true Aristotelian διάνοια. ”

“ If the French like to carry their portraits about with them on their passports to show to policemen, let them submit to the humiliation. I doubt very much whether the Chamber of Deputies would have made a law of it: it appears a new idea in jurisprudence that a man must sit for his picture. ”

“ Now, I find by calculation that the measurements and the angle here mentioned by no means {506} agree. For instance, an angle of 15° is spoken of as being equivalent to the measurement 1 in 5. An angle of 10° is said, or implied, to be the same as 1 in 10. This is far from being the fact. According to my calculations, the following are the real equivalents:—
Will any of your readers oblige me by solving the above anomalies, and by giving the proper angles or measurement under which objects should be taken when near, moderately distant, or far removed from the camera ”

“ The success which has attended The Chronological New Testament has encouraged the publisher of that most useful work to undertake an edition of the entire Scriptures on a similar plan; and we have now before us the First Part of The English Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments according to the authorised Version: newly divided into Paragraphs, with concise Introductions to the several Books; and with Maps and Notes illustrative of the Chronology, History, and Geography of the Holy Scriptures ”

“ Wherever there is any interest in the things themselves, it is preserved in the book, whether it relates to the appearance of the gold-diggings and the diggers or their mode of life—to the places frequently depopulated of men by the gold fever pervading the colonies, to the night bivouac of quiet people to avoid the close atmosphere and riotous companions at the roadside inns from the crowds rushing to or returning from the diggings, or to many other more permanent scenes of still or animated life. ”

“ Moreover, the only work I have been able to obtain on the mode of taking stereoscopic pictures, lays it down that all portraits, or near objects, should be taken under an angle of 15°, or, as it says, 1 in 5; that is, if the camera is 20 feet from the sitter, the distance between its first and second position (supposing only one to be used) should not exceed 4 feet: otherwise, adds the author, "the stereosity will appear unnaturally great." ”

“ Unpublished Epigram by Sir W. Scott.—
"Earth walks on Earth,
Glittering in gold:
Earth goes to Earth,
Sooner than it wold:
Earth builds on Earth,
Palaces and towers:
Earth says to Earth:
Soon, all shall be ours."
The above, by Sir W. Scott, I believe, has never appeared in print to my knowledge. It was recited to me by a friend of Sir W. Scott.
R. Vincent.
Crassus' Saying.—I find in the Diary of the poet Moore (in Lord John Russell's edition) , vol. ii. p. ”

“ The reputation you have acquired by professional merit, with the respect which is universally shown to you on account of your practical observance of moral philosophy, has induced me to select you as a protector of the following work ”

“ Are we to understand the passage to mean, that the number three has a magical influence in summoning spirits; or to teach that the power of evil is so overruled by a higher Power, that he cannot approach to begin his work of temptation and ruin unless he be, not once merely, or twice, but three times, called by the free will and act of the individual who is surrendering himself to his influence? ”

“ During slavery each colony had its Hodge, and some had more than one. The most conspicuous character of this kind in St. Lucia was Jacques O'Neill de Tyrone, a gentleman who belonged to an Irish family, originally settled in Martinique, and who boasted of his descent from one of the ancient kings of Ireland. This man had long been notorious for his cruelty to his slaves. ”

“ Every juvenile library should possess this excellent 'Grimm.'"—Examiner.
"The two volumes of 'Household Stories,' translated from the Messrs. Grimm, are the completed form of an edition which was issued in numbers, and which has from time to time been mentioned by us as in course of publication. What with Mr. Wehnert's admirable illustrations (of which the number is almost countless) and the general elegance of production, the work now presents an appearance sufficiently seductive to the juvenile class of readers, to whom it is more particularly addressed."—Athenæum. ”

“ In short, apart from the uncertainty of recognition, which I have not in the least caricatured, if Giles Scroggins, housebreaker and coiner, and all the swell mob, are to be photographed, it will bring the art into disgrace, and people's friends will inquire delicately where it was done, when they show their lively effigies. ”

“ Neither was the main object of the expedition the discovery of a passage into the Indian Sea, but the discovery of gold; and it was the disappointment of the adventurers in not finding the precious metal which is supposed to have caused them to exclaim "Aca nada!" (Nothing here) .
The author of the Conquest of Canada, in the first chapter of that valuable work, says that "an ancient Castilian tradition existed, that the Spaniards visited these coasts before the French,"—to which tradition probably this supposititious derivation owes its origin. ”

“ Furthermore, this critic thinks that "it is extremely singular that the mistake should have remained so long uncorrected;" and he intimates that they who have found any meaning in checks, have done so only because, through ignorance, they could find no meaning in ethics. ”

“ This last passage is taken, with considerable verbal variations, from Epist. 77. § 6.
"Therefore Aristotle, when he thinks to tax Democritus, doth in truth commend him, where he saith, If we shall indeed dispute, and not follow after similitudes," &c.
The passage referred to is in Eth. Nic., vi. 3.; but it contains no allusion to Democritus, who is not even named in the Ethics; and the word which Bacon renders dispute (ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι) means to speak with precision. ”

“ Farther on, we are told that "the angle should be lessened as the distance between the nearest and farthest objects increase. Example: if the farthest object be twice as far from the camera as the near object, the angle should be 5° to a central point between these two. ”

“ Judge Smith (Vol. vii., p. 463.) .—I must confess my ignorance of any Judge Smith flourishing in the reign of Elizabeth. I know of only three judges of that name.
1. John Smith, a Baron of the Exchequer during the last seven years of the reign of Henry VIII. From him descended the Lords Carrington of Wotton Waven, in Warwickshire, a title which became extinct in 1705.
2. John Smith, who was also a Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Anne. He became Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland in 1708, and died in 1726. He endowed a hospital for poor widows at Frolesworth in Leicestershire. ”

“ Painter—Derrick (Vol. vii., pp. 178. 391.) .—I cannot agree with J. S. C. that painter is a corruption of punter, from the Saxon punt, a boat. {508} According to the construction and analogy of our language, a punter or boater would be the person who worked or managed the boat. I consider that painter—like halter and tether, derived from Gothic words signifying to hold and to tie—is a corruption of bynder, from the Saxon bynd, to bind. If the Anglo-Norman word panter, a snare for catching and holding birds, be a corruption of bynder, we are brought to the word at once. ”

“ Chester.
Astronomical Query (Vol. vii., p.84.) .—Your fair correspondent Leonora makes a mistake in reference to the position, in regard to the zodiac, of the newly-discovered planets. It is indeed not at all surprising that these bodies were not discovered before, for this reason—they do not move within the circle of the zodiac: they lie far beyond it, so much so, that to include them the zodiac must be expanded to at least five times its present breadth. ”

“ It appears (see the quotations in Facciolati) that this sage and laughter-moving remark of Crassus was made on seeing an ass eating a thistle; whereon he exclaimed, "Similes habent labra lactucas."
In Bailey's edition of Facciolati it is said, "Proverbium habet locum ubi similia similibus contingunt,... quo sensu Angli dicimus, 'Like lips like lettuce: like priest like people.'"
Out of this explanation it is difficult to elicit any sense, much less any "witticism."
I suggest that Crassus' saying meant, "His (the ass's) lips hold thistles and lettuces to be both alike;" ”

“ Whereas let passions be rid cleane away (if that were possible to be done) , our reason will be found in many things more dull and idle: like as the pilot and master of a ship hath little to do if the winde be laid and no gale at all stirring ... as if to the discourse of reason the gods had adjoined passion as a pricke to incite, and a chariot to set it forward."
Again, in describing the "Meanes," he says ”

“ The irons were the slangs; and the slang-wearer's language was of course slangous, as partaking much if not wholly of the slang."—Sportsman's Slang, a New Dictionary and Varieties of Life, by John Bee: Preface, p. 5.
Zeus.
Scanderbeg's Sword (Vol. vii., pp. 35. 143.) .—The proverb, "Scanderbeg's sword must have Scanderbeg's arm," is founded on the following story:
"George Castriot, Prince of Albania, one of the strongest and valiantest men that lived these two hundred yeares, had a cimeter, which Mahomet the Turkish Emperor, his mortall enemy, desired to see. ”

“ Huber, in his Observations on the Natural History of Bees, avers that the moth called the Sphynx atropos invades and plunders with impunity a hive containing thousands of bees, notwithstanding the watchfulness, pugnacity, and formidable weapons of those insects. To account for this phenomenon, he states that the queen bee has the faculty of emitting a certain sound which instantly strikes the bees motionless ”

“ What will philologists, two or three centuries hence, make out of the word handy-paddy, which is universally used by workmen to designate the powerful winch, traversing on temporary rails, employed to raise heavy weights at large buildings. ”

“ And even so, verily, reason maketh good use of these passions, when they be well tamed, and, as it were, brought to hand: without overweakening or rooting out cleane that parte of the soule which is made for to second reason and do it good service.... ”

“ Liberalitie, betweene Nigardise and Prodigalitie: Clemencie and Mildnesse, betweene senselesse Indolence and Crueltie: Justice, the meane of giving more or lesse than due: Temperance, a mediocritie betweene the blockish stupiditie of the minde, moved with no touch of pleasure, and all unbrideled loosenes, whereby it is abandoned to all sensualitie."— The Philosophie of Plutarch, fol. ”

“ The pagination (that of Tegg's edition, 1849) will not guide those who with Elia sicken at the profanity of "unearthing the bones of that fantastic old great man," and know not a "sight more heartless" than the reprint of his Opus.
Sigma.
Sunderland.
Footnote 2: (return)
In Luc. 10. tom. ii.: "Pigmi gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident."—Preface, p. 8.
Dr. South v. Goldsmith, Talleyrand, &c. (Vol. vi., p. 575. Vol. vii., p. 311.) .—One authority has been overlooked by Mr. Breen, which seems as likely as any to have given currency to the saying, viz. Dean Swift. ”

“ Passage in "Locksley Hall" (Vol. vi., p. 272.; Vol. vii., pp. 25. 146.) .—Of these three commentators neither appears to me to have hit Tennyson's meaning, though Corylus has made the nearest shot. I ought to set out by confessing that it was not originally clear to myself, but that I could not for a monument doubt, when the following explanation was suggested to me by a friend. The "curlews" themselves are the "dreary gleams:" the words are what the Latin Grammar calls "duo substantiva ejusdem rei." ”

“ Bohn's Antiquarian Library. If, however, cheapness be accompanied by incorrectness, the promised boon I conceive to be worthless; even one or two glaring errors rendering the student distrustful of the entire series. I was led to form the first of these conclusions on receiving vol. i. of a translation of the Annals of Roger de Hoveden, by Henry T. Riley, Esq., barrister-at-law; who introduces the work by a flourish of trumpets in the Preface, on the multifarious errors of the London and Frankfort editions, and the labour taken to correct his own ”