The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-07-10
NUMBER a.

Of Plautus: and l am sure that il her Ma
lesty would warrant his bearing the name
OF PlaHt in all times coming, il would
crafty many Of Us. As 10 the rest, or those
that any body cares about. Horace, Virgil,
Ovid, Lucan, Martial, Claudian, all have
been raised to the Peerage. Ovid was the
great poeic favoriie Of Milton; and no,
without a PhiloaoPhic ground: his i.sal
gaiety, and brilliant velocity Of his aurora
borealis intellect. forming a deep natural
equiPoise to the mighty gloom and solemn
planetary movement in the mind Of tie
other; like the wedding Of male and female
comterParts- Ovid was, therefore, rightly
Millions favorite. But the favorite OF all
The world is Horace. Were there ten peer
ages, were three blue ribbons vacani. he
ought to have them all
Besides, if Mr.. Lander could issue de-
crees, and even harmonic his DEGREES for
reforming our Anglo Grecian spelling-de-
crees which no Council Of Trent could e.
eeute, without frs, building the Holy
Office Of the lnquisiion-still there would
be little accomplished. The names Of all
continental Europe are often in confusion,
from different causes, when Anslicised.
German names are rarely spelled rightly by
the laity Of our isle: Polish and Hungarian
never. Many foreign towns have in Eng
land what botanists call iririal names. Leg
horn for instance, Florence, Madrid. Lisbon,
Vienna, Munich, Antwerp, Brussels, the
Hague-all unintelligible names to the saw
age Continental native. Then, if Mr.. Ian
dor reads as much Of Anglo-Indian books
as do, he must be aware that. for many
years back, they have all been at SKIES and
sevens; so that now most Hindoo words are
in masquerade, and We shall soon require
English pundi,s ia Leadenhall Street. How
does he like, for instance, Sipahee, the
modern form for .Sepoy1 OF Tapisen for
Ii6fn! Al this rate OF netamorphosis a5-
sorbing even the consecrated names Of SO.
cial meals, We shall soon cease TO under
stand what that disjuns was which his ga
cred Majesty graciously accepted al Title
tudlem. But even elder forms Of oriental
speech are as little harmOnized in Christen-
dom. A few leagues of travelling make
the Hebrew unintellgble to us; and The
Bible becomes Delphic mystery TO Eng.
lishmen among the countrymen Of Luther
Solomon is there called Salamo: Sampson
is called Simson, though probably he never
published an edition Of Euclid. Nav, even
in this native isle Of oHs. you NAV be 81
cross purposes on the Bible with your own
brother. am. myself, next door neighbor
TO Westmoreland, being a Lancashire man:
and, one fine day, | was talking with
Wes,moreland farmer. whom, Of course
ought to have understood very well: but
had no chance with HIM for | could nct
make out who that No was concerning lrhon
or concerning rh;eh, he persisted in talk.
ing. Ii seemed to rne, from the context,
thar No must be man. and by no means
chair; but 50 very negative name YOU
perceive, furnished no positive hints for solv-
ing the problem. | SAID as much 10 the
farmer, who stared in siuPefaction. What"
cried he, did a iar-laInd man like you.
fresh from Oxford, never hear Of No, al old
gentleman that should have been drowned.
but was not, when all his folks were drown.
ed Never, 50 help ME Jupiter was
INV reply, 'never heard of him to this hour.
any more than Of Yes an old sentleraan
that should have been hanged, but was not,
when all his folks were hanged Popalous
No had read Of in the Prophets; bu, that
was not an old gentleman. II turned OUT
that the farmer and all his companies in
bonny Martindale had been taught al the
parish school 10 rob the Painarch Noah Of
one clear moiety aPPer,aining in fee simple
to that ancient name. But afterwards |
found that the tanner was not 81 entirely
absurd. as he seemed. The Septuagint. in
deed. is clearly against him: tor there. as
plain as pikestaff, the farmer might have
read Noe. But, on the other hand. Pope.
no, quite 50 great scholar as he was poet.
vet slill fair one. Arrays made Moan into
a monosyllable; and that seems to argue sn
old English usage; though | really believe
Pope's reason ior adhering to such en- s5-
surdity was with q prospective view % the
rhymes blO,r, or Tog, or stoac, tan impo.-
tant idea to the Ark which struck him as
likely words, IN case oil any call for writing
about Noah.
The long and short OF ii is-,hat the
whole world lies in hefesy OF schism on the
subject Of photography. 1t is absolutely Of
no use TO begin with ones own Grandmother
IN such labOrs OF reformation. Ii is toll
thrown away; and as nearly hopeless a task
as the proverb insnuaies thai il is to a,telnp,
a reformation in tina, old lady mode Of eat
ing eggs. She laughs at one. She has a
vain conceit that she is able Out Of her own
proper resources, TO do both, viz the spell
ing and the eating of the eggs. And all
that remains for philosophers. like Mr- Lam
dor and myself, is-to Turn away in sonow
rather than in anger, dropping a silent tear
Tor the poor old lady s iniatuation.