Should a man thro' all worlds to far galaxies travel, He would find, tho' he ventur'd to fathom infinity, That the great work of God is-the Master of Trinity. To some one who said, "Whewell's forte is science," Sydney Smith replied, "Yes, and his foible is omni-science." The epigram, like this remark, is severe, but very witty. Dr. Whewell, however, could afford to smile at all such sarcasms, for to him the Greek epigram of Onestes might have been addressed (Jacobs III. 3, iii. Translated by Major Macgregor): Tho' hard the labour to ascend the Heliconian mount, Yet there one sips the nectar-drops from Pegasus' pure fount; It is well remarked by Lord Neaves, in reference to this epigram. that "in classical writers the Muses do not represent, as they do with us, the power of poetry or even of literature only, but embrace the whole range of the sciences, including physical science." The epigram is, therefore, singularly appropriate to the famous Master of Trinity. It is well known that Dr. Whewell and Sir David Brewster were opponents on the subject of the "Plurality of Worlds." Their rival books produced the following epigram in "Punch": Says Brewster to Whewell, "Let's fight a star duel, Is as empty as you and your volume, Sir D." In connection with epigrams on Masters of Trinity, perhaps Porson's witty epitaph on a Fellow of Trinity may be introduced : Here lies a Doctor of Divinity; The following amusing translation, by Mr. James Crossley, of some Latin lines on drinking, supposes that at any rate the Master, if not the Fellows, of Trinity are learned in Divinity (“Notes and Queries ' 4th S. V. 9): When a bottle of excellent wine I've been drinking, I am then a full match for the Master of Trinity. JAMES HANNAY. A cadet of an ancient Galloway family. He was for a few years in the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service dedicated the remainder of his life to literature. The following epigrams are taken from his "Characters and Criticisms: a Book of Miscellanies," 1865. THE JEALOUS LORD. Lord Booby hates Disraeli;-Stop a bit; His principles? What then? He hates his wit! A French epigram (translated by Bland) shows the state of an envious man, whether his envy proceed from hatred of the wit, or any other good, in another person: What makes the envious Phorbas walk Alone, and sad, in the parterre ; And raise his eyes, and inly talk, And stamp his foot, and rend his hair? Say, has he met with some distress?- Only proceeds from the success Of some acquaintance or relation. Byron, in "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," has: Take HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY. your facts from the last man ;-let no theft appal ye; Then, take thought from Carlyle, and take style from Macaulay; Throw in plenty of "sympathy,"-rubbing your eyes about Men whom, if living, you'd snub and tell lies about : It may be amusing to give a receipt for a particular biography,that of Dr. Parr. "On the Doctor's (Dr. Parr) disparaging Mason as a feeble poet and without nerve, Green (Thomas Green, born at Monmouth in 1769, who devoted himself to literature, and kept a diary with undeviating exactness, whence this anecdote is extracted), as a proof of the contrary, recited to him the following epigram. The Doctor was greatly agitated at the recital, but allowed that here was energy and power enough" ("Gentleman's Magazine," New Series III. 131): To half of Busby's skill in mood and tense, From Warburton take all the spleen you find, Squeeze Churchill's rancour from the verse it flows in, Take all the piety of loose Voltaire, Mix the gross compound-fiat Dr. Parr ! It need hardly be remarked that there is more energy than accuracy in this receipt for a biography of the celebrated scholar. Ben Jonson has an epigram on a Plagiary of other men's "facts" and "thoughts" and "style" (Ep. 81): Forbear to tempt me, Proule, I will not show A line unto thee, till the world it know; To be the wealthy witness of my pen: For all thou hear'st, thou swear'st thyself did'st do. I must a libel make, and cozen both. It was Dr. Johnson's misfortune that he trusted Mrs. Piozzi in a way Ben Jonson would not trust Proule, and thus enabled her to send a "pran-new biography out on the town," in the shape of the Doctor's private and confidential letters. In the publication of this volume, she was thought to have been actuated more by vanity and interest (Proule's wit and stomach) than a regard to the literary reputation of her friend, whose ghost, offended at the liberty she had taken, is supposed to address her in the following amusing epigrammatic lines ("Gentleman's Magazine," LXXVIII. Part I. 429): Where Streatham spread its plenteous board, Good things I said, good things I eat, If obligations still I ow'd, You sold each item to the crowd; For God's sake, Madam, let me rest, DAME IDA PFEIFFER. Through regions by wild men and cannibals haunted, She's too plain for the first, and too tough for the second. The "unprotected female" is becoming a being of the past, for ladies now profess to be able not only to protect themselves, but the men also. The "change time affords " in feminine habits is amusingly shown in an epigram, "On the Ladies of the Close of Salisbury acting Elvira," found in the "Correspondence of the first Earl of Malmesbury," 1870, I. 285: In good Queen Elizabeth's reign, That they ne'er might give modesty pain, The la lies, 'mong many strange things, The Editor of the "Correspondence" states that these lines appeared in the "Bath Journal" of November 17, 1774. Malone, in his "Historical Account of the English Stage," informs us that Desdemona was the first character ever performed by a fem le in this country, and that the occasion was probably December 8, 1660, at the theatre in Vere Street, near Clare Market. The prologue, written to introduce a female, was by Thomas Jordan, and contained the following lines (Boswell's edition of Malone's "Shakespeare," 1821, III. 128): In this reforming age We have intents to civilize the stage. Our women are defective, and so siz'd, You'd think they were some of the guard disguis'd: For, to speak truth, men uct, that are between Forty and fifty, wenches of fifteen; With bone so large, and nerve so incompliant, BLOGG ON THE CLASSICS. "I'll put down Latin," Blogg says, "for I hate it :" Blogg can't destroy, more than he can translate it. "When Latin's settled, I will put down Greek, too.' Does he know Homer?-Yes, but not to speak to. Martial has an epigram on a conceited but ignorant man (Book V. 51). The translation is anonymous: He whose left arm loaden with books you see, And, if thou doubt the truth, let's to him speak. In another epigram, entitled, "Blogg on Family," Mr. Hannay says: Llogg sneers at ancient birth ;-yes, Blogg, we see, He was, probably, therefore, not an "essenced fop," as gentlemen of that kind usually affect good birth, though they have it not. Still the following epigram applies partly, at any rate, to him, und entirely to many who know Homer, but not to speak to." It appeared in the "Morning Chronicle," at the time that Toby, the Sapient Pig, was exhibited in London (" The Book of Table Talk,” 1836, II. 88); I passed through London's gorgeous shops And London's daily fogs, And wondered at her essenced fops, And educated hogs. Methinks, if these would change, 'twere well, And might improve the nation, Did pigs aspire to savoury smell, Aud men to education. THEOLOGICUS INDOCTUS “LIBERALEM” SE JACTANS Quoth Principal Jubbles, that "Liberal" card, Butler in clearness and in force surpass'd: Maltby with sweetness spoke of ages past: Whilst Marsh himself, who scarce could farther go, As the following epigram refers to Scotland, and the statement on which it is founded may refer, perhaps, to the teaching of such men as Principal Jubbles, it may be inserted here. It was written at Cambridge, and is said to be founded on an assertion made by Mr. Froude at Edinburgh, that clerical writers are not truthful, and on another by Canon Kingsley, that no truth is to be found in historians (“Notes and Queries," 5th S. II. 100): Froude informs the Scottish youth |