IBS. VI. APRIL 24, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
159
' De Tranquillitate Animi,' xiv. The saying
is also quoted by Plutarch, but I cannot
give an exact reference). See also a saying
of his quoted in 'Tusc. Disp.,' V. xl., and
references there given in any good edition.
H. F. B. COMPSTON.
Bredwardine Vicarage, Hereford.
[MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE also thanked for reply.]
BANK NOTE SLANG (12 S. v. 309 ; vi. 51). It may interest ST. SWITHIN to know that the song, " A guinea, it will sink, and a note, it will float," &c., is not unfamiliar in this city, and has been sung here in this century.
CHARLES E. STBATTON. Boston.
AUTHORS OP QUOTATIONS WANTED. (12 S. iv. 304 ; vi. 119.)
The information supplied by MR. WAINEWRIGHT makes it possible to trace "Quaud Italie sera sans poison," &c., some stages further back. By Leigh's ' Observations ' is meant, as was presumed, Edward Leigh's ' Analecta de xii. primis Caesari- bus : Select and Choyce Observations,' &c. To the second (1647) edition were added "Select and choyee French Proverbs, some of which were collected out of Grateras [sicl de la None, and other Authors, divers observed by my selfe when I was in France." In a later edition this is corrected
to " Gruterus, dela Noue, and other Authors "
The work of Gruter intended is no doubt his
'Florilegium Ethico - politicum accedunt
Proverbia Germanica, Belgica, Italica, Gallica, Hispanica.' In the first part of this (Frankfurt, 1610), p. 236, we find " Quand Italie sera sans
poison &c sera lors le monde sans terre." On
the last page of the preliminary matter of the book Gruter tells us that for the French proverbs he is indebted to Gabriel Meurerius and Joannes Nucerinus. At the foot of fol. 99 recto in Gabriel Meurier's ' Recveil de Sentences Notables, Diets et Dictons Commvns Adages, Prouerbes et Refrains, traduics la plus part de Latin, Italien & Espagnol,' Antwerp, 1568, we have " Quand Italie sera sans poizon, France sans trayson, Angleterre sans guerre, sera lors le monde sans terre." It might be suggested that as some of these proverbs are said to be from the Spanish, and Spain has no disparag- ing characteristic assigned her, it is there that we must look for the source of the saying. Or is it of German origin ? EDWARD BENSLY.
(12 S. vi. 112.)
2. This line, which should be :
Tu quod es, e populo quilibet esse potest, is the conclusion of an epigram of Martial, Bkj,V. xiii. EDWARD BENSLY.
3. Ou sont les gratieux gallans.
This is from Villon 'Grand Testament," XXIX., p. 30, in the Jaunet edition. It ought to be compared with the same text in the Longman edition which is infinitely better.
PIERRE TURPIN.
3 Rue des Cansuniers, Lille.
[In the query at p. 112, line 1, read "gallans" for gallons.]
on
The Oxford English Dictionary. (Vol. X. TiZ.)
Visor- Vywer. By W. A. Craigie. (Oxford .
Clarendon Press, '2s. 6d. net.)
THE number of words in this section of the Dictionary is in all 1571> nearly double that recorded in the ' Century Dictionary.' A great proportion is of nineteenth century invention formations on th& Latin for literary or scientific purposes and there- are a few, as for example " vivisection," of which it may be said that they would likewise have been nineteenth century inventions if there had not been a stray occurrence or two in an earlier century to give them the bare right to be considered older. For " vivisection " itself there appears to be a gap from 1736 to 1842, during which no example was* found. The words connected with " visual " offer several interesting paragraphs ; thus under" visual^ ray " we have early instances in which the phrase denotes a ray proceeding from the eye to the object of vision ; the compilers have found a passage (1651) in which "visuall" knowledge appears to be con- trasted with book-knowledge ; and they record Carlyle's attempt to establish " visualities " in th& sense of mental pictures or visions. Coleridge and, Tyndall seem to be jointly responsible for the intro- duction of" visualize" a word which has been. well-worked during its century of existence, and; may be reckoned among those which have most powerfully reacted back upon thought. The columns derived from vitalis abound with interest- ing quotations roughly representing current natural. philosophy from Chaucer onwards. From Chaucer, too, comes the first mention of " vitriol," to be followed by copious illustrations from works on- alchemy, medicine and chemistry, through each. following century. It is curious that " vitriolic " was apparently not used in a figurative sense till the middle of the last century. The first quotation^ about vitriol- throwing comes from Thackeray's ' Irish Sketch Book ' (1843) : may that be taken. to indicate the date and place at which this form of outrage began to be committed ? ' Vitry,' marked as obsolete (Vitry-canvas from Vitre in, Brittany), has a good range of instances from c. 1425 to 1867, when it appears in a sailor's handbook. " Vitulation " affords an amusing instance of false etymology : " Vittilation," says Cockeram (1623), "a reioicingliktacalf." There seems no occurrence of its correct use or explanation.
The only native English word of any importance is "vixen." The vixen's reputation for fierceness seems as solid as that of the fox for cunning. " Vizier " is the most notable of Eastern words. Its original meaning was porter ; whence by a touch of Oriental simplicity, it came to mean the one who bore the burden of the affairs of state. It seems not to have been known to the English before the end of the Sixteenth Century. ' Sermons in the vocative case ' as a description of didactic prayers is a rather pleasant witticism preserved under " vocative " taken from Eraser's " Autobiography." " Vogue " and " voice " especially the former furnish excellent articles. We confess ourselves surprised to find that the common use of "voice" as a verb in the sense of " to express in words " or "to pioclaim " a use which we take leave to- deprecate goes back as far as 1880.
