Classical and Foreign Quotations: A Polyglot Manual of Historical and ...

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

rather than perplex the reader with a long succession of barren figures, which he would never have the patience to explore.*

A generation or so ago, quotation still maintained its ancient vogue in Parliament, and had even its own unwritten laws. In Lord Beaconsfield's Endymion, Sir Fraunceys Scrope tells the hero, "Charles Fox used to say as to quotation: 'No Greek; as much Latin as you like; never French, in any circumstances; and no English poet unless he had completed his century.'" Nowadays, however, the practice has fallen into desuetude: but what has been lost to the oratory of the senate, has proved the gain of literature, and no better instance of a free and felicitous employment of classic authors could be adduced than Mr Morley's recent "Life of Gladstone." It is, therefore, not so much the speaker, as the author, essayist, critic, journalist, and historian, whose needs have been studied in the compilation of this volume and its indexes; and even the high office of the vates sacer has not protected him from suggestions and hints more or less relevant to his special craft.

For the rest, it is to be hoped that the Dictionary may serve something more than the office of a reference-book of either familiar or obscure quotations, and that being taken up for the purposes of consultation, it may be retained in the hand as a piece of reading that is not at times devoid of the elements of humour and amusement. Besides the conciser and more epigrammatic loci and bon mots of universal currency, stories and historical sayings, there are included here and there a few passages of somewhat greater length, which belong rather to the "extract" order, sometimes known as "Beauties from the Poets," and which supply a slight "anthologic " element to a collection that does not pretend to the character of an Anthologia proper. Virgil's description of "Night" in the Fourth Æneid, the lines from "Piccolomini" beginning 'Die Fabel ist der Liebe Heimatwelt,' Byron's translation of Filicaja's famous sonnet on Italy, and the "La Feuille" of Arnault, may be mentioned as examples. After all, they are only too few, and too short.

Of the four Indexes-which, with the exception of the Greek Quotations, are for convenience' sake placed at the beginning instead of the end of the volume-the first gives the name, profession, and date of every author cited, with the quotations accredited to him indicated

* The other authors (and works) indicated in Index I. as Passim, are the whole of Horace, Juvenal, La Rochefoucauld, Lucan, Martial, Ovid, Publilius Syrus, and Virgil; the Fables of La Fontaine, and the Epistles of Seneca.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

by the quotation-numbers that follow. The Subject Index (No. II.) has entailed more labour of thought than all the rest put together, not the least part of it being the task of pointing out the various applications, direct and indirect, of which any particular quotation was capable. To most of us it has not fallen to our lot to originate these famous "good sayings" of the world, and any "originality" that we may claim in this connection, consists in the ingenuity that wittily applies the old dicton in some new and unexpected direction.

Index III. (Quotations Index)* gives all first lines or first words of quotations, and all parts of such quotations, that are not printed in the Dictionary's alphabetical order. It also includes all parts of quotations, the first words of which follow the alphabetical sequence of the book, and must be sought for in their proper place. Thus, to give an instance, Alfred de Musset's,

"C'est imiter quelqu'un que de planter des choux,"

occurs, not in letter C, as might have been expected, but far away (No. 1390) among the L's, and is therefore provided for by the Index. So, also, the familiar Es wär zu schön gewesen, es hat nicht sollen sein of the "Trompeter von Säkkingen," is duly indexed, as being part, though the essential part, of a distich beginning with the letter B— "Behüte dich Gott', es wär zu schön gewesen," u.s.w. On the other hand, O tempora, O mores! will be searched for in vain in the Quotation Index, since it stands, in its exact order of " "literal sequence, among the O's-between "Оτav тúx? K.T.λ., on the one side, and "O tenebris," etc., on the other. The principle of the Dictionary being the alphabetical arrangement of its entries, their repetition in the index (with the exceptions just named) would be a mere work of supererogation.

The obligations due to fellow-compilers of similar collectionsEdouard Fournier and George Büchmann in the past, and Messieurs Roger Alexandre, Giuseppe Fumagalli, and Harbottle and Dalbiac in the present, have been acknowledged in every case in which recourse has been had to their researches. In particular, I owe thanks for the endorsement of a number of passages that had been tentatively put in circulation, and that may now be presumably added to the world's common stock of quotable sayings. In one case, something more than gratitude is owing, in return for a generous and free-handed use of the "Dictionary" that was unattended by any acknowledgment of indebtedness whatsoever.

*See page lxviii (Note).

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

I can never sufficiently thank the various correspondents who have lent their valuable assistance in the compilation of the Dictionary, and in contributing to its correctness both of text and translation. The Rev. George Händler, the Rev. Edward J. Crawley, S.J., Mr P. J. Anderson, Librarian of the University of Aberdeen; Mr C. J. Purnell, Assistant Bodleian Librarian; Mr Walter King; “G. H. J.,” gentlest and most forbearing of friends and helpers; M. Georges Barrington, of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; and the officers and assistants of the British Museum, the most complete, and most generous Library in the world, are among the number of those to whom the compilation of the work is, in one way or another, variously indebted. Dr Theodor Lorenz of Erfurt, Ph.D., has also lent much kind assistance in looking over the German quotations; and to Mr Ferdinand Hoffmann, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, I owe a debt which exceeds all repayment. He it was that primarily urged a new and revised edition of the Dictionary, that pointed out defects and deficiencies, suggested additions and improvements, and, with a generosity beyond all praise, has read and corrected the proofs throughout the whole passage of the work through the press. Nor must I forget the intelligent co-operation of the printers, Messrs McFarlane & Erskine, in carrying through the book to its final conclusion. I wish also to repeat my indebtedness to the proprietors of the copyright of Conington's Eneid and Horace, for the permission granted by his literary executor, the late Mr Alfred Robinson, to make use of his admirable translations under certain fixed conditions. FRANCIS KING.

Chelsea, Whitsuntide, 1904.

CORRECTION OF INACCURACIES.

With the object of making the collection more perfect as a work of reference, I venture to appeal to all who may make use of the volume to have the kindness to point out any inaccuracies which they may detect, and particularly

1. To call attention to faulty Quotation, or Reference, or both.

2. To supply Author and Reference of the Quotations in the Appendix of ADESPOTA.

3. To point out faulty Translation, or Application and missing of the point generally.

4. To suggest any further quotations which it is desirable to include in the collection, as also the omission of such as seem unsuitable.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE,

INDEX (I.) OF AUTHORS, AUTHORITIES, AND EDITIONS,