New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-12-08
"FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS.
IMPORTANT ADDITIONS MADE TO AN IN
pISPENSABLE WORK.


Ninth Edition. PIP. XIV, l,15s Little, Brown Co.
As the collator and editor OF this useful work
has said in the preface to this edition and TO
sther editions, it is practically impossible to de-
aide for the whole reading world to what is
q familiar quotation and what is not Every man
of reading has his own private collection, either
In his head or somewhere else, and is apt 10 take
q somewhat delusive pride in keeping 1t as unique
as possible. Yet with the natural perverslty OF
human nature, he is ready TO suspect tfae .hoeo
who have forgotten or have never memorneo his
particular favorites are lacking in polite learn
ing. 1t is confessed that many things nave oeeh
intentionally omitted from this volume "hnon
had an apparent claim TO he included' puo ~ 10
implied that this claim was submitted III Vne
first place to satisfactory test, and at all events
il was thought better to err on the side oi iui-
ness Large additions have been made to the
number of fragments cited from English writers,
and the book now contains also selections from the
French and from the choice sayings OF the
ancient Greeks and Romans. For our own part
we should have been content with single al
dition TO the Latin translations-that famous HE
of Iucan. the bitterest words that ever came from
the lins of man" The Gods love the vict0rs out
Cato the conquered" What is the tippant sneer
of Napoleon about God being on the SIDE OF inc
strongest reserves in contrast to phrase wherein
n single Roman is placed in opposition to humanity
and deity together, with such malicious, sacrliegous
skill that we feel this one defiant Roman to DC
in the rightp Others doubtless Will miss the
melodramatio phrase OF the unwarike Horace
about a pleasure which he diligently ran away
from-the pleasure of dying for ones country; or
the familiar description of the composite monster
in the opening lines Of the ." Art OF Poetry" IN
the selections srom Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam
poisc
stitutes SO striking a parallel TO the remark OF
the APOSTLE Paul concerning the relation OF the
notter To his handiwork There is also an en-
tremely modern aphorism attributed to Josh
billings. the merit of which as well as its fire.
ouent use in the last few years. would warrant
It's insertion in this volume. Its better not
"a know so much than to know so
much that amt So" is homely but
pseful thought that is worth remembering whether
one reads or writes speaks-especlally IN an age
when the majority are as cocksure of everything
as the discriminating few are of the facts which
they have tested for themselves.
When one picks up " BARTLETT merely for the
purpose of identifying the scrap of verse or prose
that he is seeking, his feeling is quite different
from that with which he decides to find what
there really is in the book, anyway. In the
latter case, he soon becomes fascinated by his hap
hazard investigation. He comes to the conclusion
tnat there is far than he thought in this mis-
cellaneous anthology. This is true, all the more
because it awakens many suggestions of things
which he has read or heard and would never have
thought of again had il not been for this stimulus
For example, his eye lights upon old Heywood's
"All's fish and suddenly it occurs to him that
the Italians put the same thought forward out OF
totally different form of life They say some
times all sorts of weeds go into his faggot,' or
words to that effect The Latins. too went 10 the
woods for hint which Engshspeaking people
in modern times sought in different direction
taking faggot to the forest" they said, where
the Greeks would have talked of carrying owls to
Athens, and where we would most likely speak of
carrying Goals to Newcastle; or, if we
had been reared among pioneers-of carrying
to bear what he has plenty Of al
ready MAN proposes but God dis
poses, said Thomas "a Kempis, something that
sounds so like the words of Scripture that much
earlier writer than the devout Thomas declared
it to be from the Bible Ut scriptura," writes
the chronicler of Battle Abbey, "testatur, Homo
proponit, Deus, antem dissomt.'" Where it
really originated in this exact form, nobody seems
TO know. though Mr.. Bartlett quotes Proverbs
xvi, 8, as the nearest approach TO il. 1t is
curious, too, how things become changed in ira
dition. If it had been bear, it Would have
bit you," said Dean Swift; but many man
would never say bear in that sentence, but
snake" and this quite reasonably, too; for
sudden biting is not Characteristic Of bears There
are two lines in Shakespeare that sound like the
mere skeleton of story:
falcon towering in her pride of place
Was by a mousiDg owl hawked at and killed.
Can any one guess what he was thinking of
One might almost suspect that he had in mind
that passage in the Wales" of Archdeacon Gerald
where this stOry-loving author tells how a fine
Norway hawk let loose by Henry Ii at wild
falcon in Penbroch. finally struck dead at
the Kings feet by the unframed bird. though the
latter was slow of fight. But it is hazardous
to add anything TO that heap of learning
which has been gathered about the works of
Shakespeare. Turn TO a later and lesser
dramatist. Perhaps you remember that CONVEX
sation between Richard Brnsley Sheridan and his
son, in which the latter, virtuOusy indignant at
the venality of the House of Commons, announced
that if he were elected to Parliament he would
put on his forehead q sign, TO let" Add 'un-
furnished" said the father drily. Sheridan re-
lied on his memory for his wit in this case for il
was Butler who said
Such as take lodgings in head
That's to be let unfinished;
and before him, Bacon had said something to
the same purpose. But Butler owed his observa
ton probably to the parable in the gospels of the
devil who, after leaving man, went back with
seven Others and found the place empty, swept
and garnished while Bacon's was direct observa-
ton similar TO that which led Schopenhaner TO de-
clare that men of genius were almost always short
and stout, with thick necks There is a phrase in
Pope which lets one into a wide field of forgotten
literature. While Ralph TO Cynthia howls, be
exclaims, and the enthusiast in embems at once
recalls a whole series of pictures and notices.
The dog believes that he sees another dog in the
moon, says Alcatus. or as Whitney puts it:
Wherefore in vain aloud he barks and BAYS
And ALWAYS Thought another dog WAS there