Various

“ In making a division of his work, an author ought to number its parts consecutively, without reference to volumes. The novels of Walter Scott are divided into chapters, the numbering of which is dependent on the volume; so that it is impossible to quote them without referring to the edition, or to find a reference to them in any other edition than that cited. For the same reason, an author ought not to quote his own book in the text by a reference to volumes.
The division most convenient for purposes of reference is that which renders a quotation simple to note, and easy to verify. ”

“ First, there is the part, then the book, then the chapter, then the section, then the article, and then the paragraph, which is itself subdivided into paragraphs with Roman numerals and Arabic numerals; and these again are further subdivided into paragraphs with Roman letters, and Greek letters, and sometimes Hebrew letters. To refer to a work divided in this manner by any other means than the volume and page, is a labour of as hopeless intricacy as it is to follow the logical cascade down its successive platforms. ”

“ A man of this kind, with a venal and capacious intellect, and a heart utterly unconscious of the slightest moral feeling, could not with advantage be suffered to remain unemployed. There was work to be done for James II., and the hireling was worthy of his hire. It was simply to lie and libel with ability, with caution, with the appearance of loyalty, and an ardent zeal for religion. Le Noble was equal to the task. He had written histories burnt by the hangman; Bayle had praised him for his skill in judicial astrology; he had composed treatises on money, and on Catholic doctrine ”

“ If they were grooms of horses, society was in a very different state from that in which it is at the present day; if they were not such grooms, what then were they? I believe they were unmarried persons. First, there is Samuel Weeks, of South Tawton, groom; will proved in the Archdeacon of Exeter's Court, 1639. His father was Richard Weeks, styled gentleman in the parish register; and Samuel Weeks signs his name in a peculiarly fine Italian hand, that I do not remember to have seen in any instance of that time except in that of a thorough gentleman. ”

“ All persons who, whatever might be their motive, have followed any subject of literary research, must be aware of the extent to which their labours are facilitated or retarded by the mechanical arrangements of books, such as the goodness of paper, the legibility of type, the size of volumes, the presence or absence of table of contents, indexes, and other means of reference. ”

“ The hopeful mind has difficulty in settling down into a belief that men deceive.
Not a month had elapsed before I received another letter, sealed with such a signet as in size would rival the jewel sometimes seen pendent from the waistcoat pocket of a Jew broker on Saturday, and engraven with evidence of illustrious lineage, if quarterings be only half true. I did not break this magnificent seal, but I tore open the envelope, and I found that my antiquarian researches had been most flatteringly estimated by a gentleman with a double surname, which happened to be familiar to me. ”

“ Even a meagre index, however, is better than no index at all; and where the publisher's means, and the demand for the book, do not admit of the preparation of a copious index of subjects, an alphabetical list of names of persons and places would often be an acceptable present to the reader of an historical or scientific work. ”

“ There is a Caxton Society which has already issued several publications, and whose usefulness would be materially increased by such a publication as that suggested by Mr. CORNEY, if the Society to which he alludes (the Camden, I presume) should not be disposed to undertake it. The true object of these and similar societies is the production of books of interest and value, which are not sufficiently popular to justify a bookseller, or an individual, in incurring the pecuniary risk of their separate publication. ”

“ L'Angleterre sous son Roi légitime et ne lui donnant qu'avec epargne comme elle faisoit le nécessaire pour son entretien, estoit justement comme ces sages et vertueuses femmes qui, fidèles à leurs époux, gouvernen avec un prudent économie leur ménage reglé, et cette mesme Angleterre, qui s'épuise pour satisfaire à l'avidité d'un tyran, est aujourd'hui comme une de ces infames debauchées qui, emportée de fureur pour une adultère qui l'enlève à son mari, lui fait une profusion criminelle de son bien. ”

“ Epigram on Burnet.
—A friend of mine across the Atlantic wishes to ask, whether any one knows where the following epigram, which he remembers in MS. in an old folio copy of Burnet's History, comes from:—
"If Heaven is pleas'd when sinners cease to sin,
If Hell is pleas'd when sinners enter in,
If men are pleas'd at parting with a knave,
Then all are pleas'd—for Burnet's in his grave." ”

“ Worsaae has produced a work which will, we are sure, be found to possess the double merit of not only gratifying the antiquary, but also of interesting, instructing, and amusing the general reader.
To form a complete Encyclopædia of Classical Antiquity, it was necessary that to the Dictionaries of Greek and Roman Antiquities, and of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, should be added a Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. That want is in the course of being supplied. ”

“ To those who wish to possess a critical knowledge of their own native English, some acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon is indispensable; and we have never seen an introduction better calculated than the present to supply the want of a beginner in a short space of time. The declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the Greek, Latin, French, and other languages. A philosophical spirit pervades every part. The Delectus consists of short pieces on various subjects, with extracts from Anglo-Saxon History and the Saxon Chronicle. ”

“ English lawyers, indeed, who in general have only occasion to cite the volume and page, invariably make their quotations with Arabic figures, by prefixing the number of the volume, and subjoining the number of the page. Thus, if it were wished to refer to the 100th page of the second volume of Barnewall and Alderson's Reports, they would write 2 B. & C. 100. Roman numerals [50] are still retained for the sections of the statutes.
Akin to the retention of antiquated forms of letters is the retention of antiquated orthography. ”

“ With regard to the form of printed letters, it is difficult to conceive any improvement in modern typography, as practised in Italy, France, and England. This is equally true of Roman and Greek characters. The Greek types introduced by Porson leave nothing to be desired. The Germans still to a great extent retain the old black-letter type for native works, which was universal over all the north of Europe in the early period of printing, and is not a national type, as some persons seem to imagine. ”

“ CORNEY's literary memorial of Caxton appears to me to come under this head, and as such might be properly undertaken by any of the clubs or societies formed for the cultivation of early English literature. He might [52] perhaps more easily attain the object of his wishes in this manner than by that which he has hitherto pursued. When a selection is to be made from the works of any author, much will depend upon the taste and discretion of the editor. ”

“ GUIDE TO ARCHÆOLOGY. An Archæological Index to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic, Romano-British, and Anglo-Saxon periods. By JOHN YONGE AKERMAN, fellow and secretary to the Society of Antiquaries. 1 vol. 8vo. illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upwards of 500 objects, cloth, 15s.
"One of the first wants of an incipient antiquary is the facility of comparison, and here it is furnished him at one glance. The plates, indeed, form the most valuable part of the book, both by their number and the judicious selection of types and examples which they contain. ”

“ These are books of great rarity, and may be all seen in my library by any of your readers, sanctioned by a note from you or any minister of religion. My first edition has several uncut leaves.
The introduction of the words "from the Douche (meaning Luther's German) and Latyn" has never been accounted for; they probably were inserted by the German printer to make the volume more popular, so as to interest reformers by the German of Luther, and Romanists by the Vulgate Latin. The translation is certainly from the Hebrew and Greek, compared with Luther's and the Vulgate. ”

“ The attempt to introduce the native orthography of foreign proper names naturalised in English, is likewise unsuccessful, and merely offends the eye of the reader, without giving any real information. Mr. Lane and other Orientalists will never succeed in banishing such forms as vizier, caliph, cadi, &c., nor will even Mr. Grote's authority alter the spelling of the well-known Greek names. Names of ancient persons and places which are enshrined in the verses of Milton and other great poets, cannot be altered. ”

“ The apothegm that a man's best monument consists in his own works, is capable of considerable modification from the nature of the works themselves. In the case before us, I believe the interest felt by the public in the works of Caxton to be too limited to justify the republication of his collected works. The proposal which Mr. CORNEY makes for a selection from those works, with a new life of the author, and a glossary, the latter proving how much they are out of date, is much more feasible than his original plan. ”

“ With reference to the observations of HENRY H. BREEN upon a well-known passage in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, a little consideration will convince him that the view taken by D'Israeli and himself is not only extremely superficial, but that the proposed emendation would entirely destroy the poet's meaning.
The antithesis is not between flourishing and fading, but between the difficult restoration of a bold peasantry and the easy reproduction of princes and lords.
The first branch of the antithesis is between wealth and men:
"Where wealth accumulates and men decay." ”

“ The result is, that every reference must specify both the volume and the part: thus, Band II. Abtheilung III. S. 108. Frequently, too, this mode of numbering misleads the bookbinder, who (unless properly cautioned) numbers the volumes in the ordinary manner.
Volumes, as I have remarked, are merely a printer's division. Every literary composition ought, however, to have an organic division of its own. The early Greeks seem indeed to have composed both their poems and prose works as one continuous discourse. ”

“ H. H. H. V.
[We have submitted H. H. H. V.'s Query to our obliging correspondent, GEORGE OFFOR, ESQ., whose library is particularly rich in early English versions of the Bible, and who has kindly favoured us with the following communication] :—
In reply to your correspondent H. H. H. V.'s very curious question to know when Myles Coverdale commenced his translation, I beg to state that he was born in 1488, and that it has not yet been discovered when his mind was first led to contemplate the translation of the Sacred Scriptures, nor whether he commenced with the New or the Old Testament. ”

“ The Golden Treasury was introduced to English readers through the late excellent John Thornton, Esq. This gentleman having met with a copy of the German work, caused it to be translated into English. Of this translation (in which many of Bogatzky's papers are exchanged for extracts from English writers) a single copy was printed, interleaved, and sent to the Rev. John Berridge, of Everton, for final revision. This copy is now before me. The title runs thus: A Golden Treasury for the Children of God, whose Treasure is in Heaven ”

“ When we consider how many indications are still discoverable, by those who know how to look for them, of the influence which the incursions of the Danes and Northmen into Britain have exercised upon our language, customs, and social and political condition ”

“ Thus they heard the Irish speak of the isles Araun, i.e. the isles of Ara, for Araun is the genitive; and hence they are now the Aran Isles. So also the ford Trim or Druim, in Irish Ath-Druim (the ford of the long low hill, vadum Dorsi) , where Druim [pron. nearly Trim] is the genitive of Drom or Drum, a long low hill, a back.
The names given to Ireland by medieval writers, after the ancient name of Scotia had been transferred to Alban (which, by the way, is itself a genitive, from Alba) , afford instances of the same thing.
One of the native names of Ireland is Eri, or Eire, genitive Erinn. ”

“ I shall never forget, when a boy, and my father was churchwarden, the tricks the young lads and boys used to play in order to palm off other birds' eggs and young birds for sparrows. One young rascal actually painted the eggs very cleverly to imitate the sparrows, till I discovered it. Young birds of all kinds were brought, and many dozens paid for that were not sparrows ”

“ He greatly improved and simplified the language, his chief aim evidently being to accommodate the book to the use of as large a number of readers as possible. The humour of the man breaks out ever and anon in cutting rebukes and sarcasms directed against unsound doctrine: neither Calvinist nor Arminian, Pharisee nor Antinomian, escape his lash. ”

“ MORAVIAN HYMNS.
(Vol. iv., p. 502.)
John Wesley was at one time of his life a pupil of the Moravians, and Southey's Life of that remarkable man, like most of his works, pregnant with interest and erudition, affords a satisfactory answer to your correspondent's Query. I quote from the 3rd edition of the Life, 2 vols., 1846. Of the Moravians he says:—
"Madness never gave birth to combinations of more monstrous and blasphemous obscenity than they did in their fantastic allegories and spiritualizations. ”

“ The Rev. John Paget doubtless belonged to an English or Scotch family, sometimes also called Pagett, or Pagetius. John Paget, who was the first minister of the English church in Amsterdam, came there in 1607, and preached his introductory sermon on the 5th of February, in the chapel prepared for that purpose: his formal induction took place in the month of April, in the same year, and here he remained twenty-nine years. Thomas Paget, invited from Blackeley in England, was inducted in November 1639, and departed the 29th of August 1646, for Shrewsbury. ”