New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-20


| other learned scholars, sent him dish with TWO
fair great fishes and little The rest OF the
| story will tell In Camden's own words: Inen
| Master John who was but little man. lald the Two
great fishes upon his own renche anu SeS tb
were big men. which, whom the Emperor saw ne
smiling said: In faith Master John, ySn are no
indifferent divider.' Yes, if it like your Hghnees.
very Indifferent ,sad hei for here . 'p STsat
and so yonder Preaching his hand towards the scho
| arsl are two big ones and little one" Cama Zen
gives good many Of the right witty sayings OF Slr
When he was to mount the scaffOld be said to one
| of the sheriff. men; pray thee help me up; as
f SF S HS Soonss with Which men
of thai age approached the block 1t seems TO prove
that all their lives they were expecting ana preRar
ing for such an exit By the way, from eoi zee
! ton of jcsts made by Sir Thomas himself, We ma
out who originated one which has held ITS own ior
! several centuries You Young men do think us
| old men to be fools but we old men do know that
YOU yonng men are fOOs.D More says that this was
. wise saying Of DE-. Medcaf 1t is something TO
we usually forget, finding them ready maze 10 our
| hand that each and every one OF them must have
| had an author, and must have been salu Dy some-
| Macaulav somewhere mentions that Lord Bacon
lila Of It % Gt ScE sS OF 2pS
| pthegms New aud Old" His LOrdshiD wrote pre-
| face in which he says rather apoogetically Ju-
| us Cesar did write collection of apopthcgms, as
| appears in eplstle Of Cicero; 80 did Macrobus,
| ConsnlaF mau need say no more for the worth of
valne of what he calls pointed speeches.: "Cic-
gro pretly calls them Sdnus saltplts that you may
| extract salt out Of and sprinkle 1t where
tlnued speech. They serve to be reclted upon the
occasion of themselves. They serve, II you take out
TIE kernel Gt ad MAKE erb sS SGe IN the
| collection and DR.. Rawley In marginal note SAYS:
g This collection his LOrdship made out OF his mem
| DRY without turning any book" The lIlustrious
| compiler tells that no has not omitted any, be-
cause they Vulgar. for many vulgar ones are ex-
cellent good q" an instance Of his predomlnabnhhS
| merely means common, the word then probably not
| having the sense which we now attach to IL.
The compilation, he tells us, he made - Tor
| surprised to find good many Of the sayings OF
James /, for that, Of cGnrse, was quite in Bacons
way. But none of his Majesty's remarks are very
clever, and some of them decidedly fiat. For
instance no would say. we are told to the Lords OF
| his Council when they sat upon any great matter
| and came from Council to him: " Well you have
SET but what have you hatchtr How the courters
| gggled when the foolish King thus aired his humor
~ about tho best of the English Solonon's Jests
But here il OF Bacon's stories which book col
lectors viii appreciate: Master Mason OF trinity
borrow book Of him. who told him, am lOath to
lend my books out of my chamber, but if il please
thy Juror 10 come and read upon 1t in my chamber,
he shall as long as he VIII 1t was winter and some
days after the same Fellow sent to Mr.. Mason 10
| pupil. i am loath t. lend my bellows out of my
| chamber, but II thy tutor would como ana blow
ihe fire IN my yin, eG55amoTRr; he ft shall as
acous book of lest only seryrs TO prove that there
s flavor and fashion, about humor which b. Is fixed
LOIS Jokes there are few which would now provoke
| "A smile however faint. One Of the best however,
! is by Bishop Latimcr and waS put by HIM INTO
court III the course of which he said: That
he had heard great speech that the hlng was poor
| and many ways were prOpOunded TO make hun rich;
for his part he thongt Of ono way which was that
| ,ha bpi he tO
all his officers rich" The sarcasm seems par
| ticuIarly reasonable just at the present time,
Some w.t. like all things else, grows m0udy and
archaca through ago. But there Is a comprrss ed
and sOdled wisdom, real or apparent, like that OF
| La Rocheioucauld. which il perennial. When we |
read his closely packed maxims they are so obvious
| from a certain point OF view that we might pro- |
nouuce them commonplace, only nobody olse has had
tho fortune to mould them with such felicity In |
many of them there s n hard truth which strikes us
ike blow. The first instinct is TO deny; the next
10 refIIte the and last hopeessy To acquiescr
He pnts our moral acuteness upon the qH |
rire. He all but conynces but he just does not con-
vince; and saved by natural reserve Of self
respect There Is one OF the maXlms which is among
the Oftnnest quoted "ln the adversely Of our best
friends we always hnd sofnethlng which is not dis.
pleasing TO u.s. which when we hSt read II, we half
sheepishly consent to. asking ourselves II u be not
80. Aud 40 1t is abstractly considered We think |
that feel kind of superiority AT tue spectacle of
n fellow creature In distress. The gods, We say. |
have not thought ua worthy of snch punishments. |
When we are really put to the test; when one for
whom weentertln feeling of genuine friendship |
has fallen into troubles; when there il reasonable
and in Mediate demand upon our synpathies do we
wIihholL +Hri Is IL compatible with our moral
constitutions feel pleasure End pain 1T the same
time and for the same reasons III we enjoyed the
woes of friend we should seak to prolUng them;
and yet fhc first impulse tn relieve them speed
NV and etfectualy possible.
The French have always been famous for maxins,
which are n kind of hard and heartlesS and Inathc-
NAUTICAL analysis. To be at once bright, pointed and
startling is sometimes feat Incompatible with the
highest wisdom Life is too important to be spent
~ saving sharp things, and the gist OF much wit ~
local and temporary. The chapter OF Mons. de In
Buycre upon women, Keen as 1t Vs., Is n chapter
about French women, with here and there touch
ike this Of endless cath0lcitY: tine face Is the
finest of all sights; and the sweetest music IL the
sound of her voice whom we love" This pretty
flower seems almost of place in La Bruyctcs
kitchen garden of hard probabilities. and rough
ebes like this: There are few wives SO perfect
who do not give their husbands cause once day to
repent of their mGrriages, or at least envy mar
who ls unmarried; or this 1t Is a thing Impossi-
Bile for man 10 discover the art OF making his
wife love him. 1t would DO q waste of space and
time to undertake to rcfuto cynicsms like this.
especially as cynclsm 10 the man or the times ~
which he lives, and has no relation to any general
and absolute truth
There is something so delicate in the expression Of
French wit that English wit seems coarse and Is
repulsive beside IT, Glanced the other day to meet
witha squib, which Canning wrote for rye .ln'i.
JdcObin upon Madame de Stael, from which extract
the following gentlcmanly lines:
stac the Epiceno
Bright DER whose flaming cheek aud purple nose
The bloom OF young oesire unceGsng gloW%"
doubt il the least refined Of American news
papers would thus speak of woman and II stranger;
and there il wit so worthless that which finds
is food in peculiaritIes Of person. Half of English
satire is mere lampoOnery and abuse; and some OF
the best English comedies are SIMPLY uncleau.
Question IL any French theatre at any time would
have tolerated tho worst of Dryden's the hest of
Wycherly's plays. Swift is too often iusuiferable.
Very few deliberative bodies would have listened
with patience to tho dreadfuy coarse invectlve
winch Edmund Burke heaped upon the head OF
Warren hastings. IL was meant for wit. or some
tunes pei lnps for hnmor but there was neither in
comparing the man ut tho bar to " the keeper OF
pIg-srye wallowng IN filth and corruption NOT
was there severity in denouncing him ~ " n rogue