TRIVIA.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20180, 7 March 1931, Page 13

TRIVIA.

Mary, Mary, Quite , contrary. ' —Nursery Rhyme. (i,) Space is not infinite; but limited, it is expanding at the rate of one per cent, in 20 million years. u—Dr. S. A. Eddington. (ii.) The Universe is melting away. ■ - ■ James Jeans. (iii;) Nothing is faster than Ugh* waves. '■ . . —Albert Einstein. (iv.) The waves that accompany an electron do not travel with the speed of light, but much faster. —Professor 6. P. Thomson. * (i.) TK6 fire began "to hiss and Mr Jorrocks'felt confident his prophecy was , about to "be fulfilled;: -"Look out of the winder, James, and see wot-un a night it is," said he to Pigg, giving the log a etir, to ascertain that the hips didn't proceed from any. dampness iu the wood, James up, and after a momentary grope about the .room—for they, were sitting without candles exclaimed: "Hellish dark, and. smells of, chC6o6l'' ■ "Smells o' cheese! Mr Oofrocka, looking round in astonishment; "smells o' cheesel—-vy, man, you've got your nob i' the cupboard—this' be the viMerl" \ ■ .. . - —B. S. Surtoes: "Handley Cross." ..(ii.) "Kate, my dear,"- said t Mrs Nickleby, "I don't know how it 1?, but a fine warm summer day like this, with the birds singing in every direction, always puts me in mind of roast pig, with sage-and onion sauce, and made gravy." •; ■ ,'.'4 ■ * —Charles Dickens: <j< Lifo and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby." # (i.) 1 do not see why. I should break my neck because a dog chooses to run after a nasty-smell. —Arthur James Balfour. (ii.) Referring to fox-hunting, he observed that it was a priceless heritage of English life, and one felt always that if, in tlio course of economic chance them was any threat of the 'extinction of that life and service, it would be a bad thihg for England and' the Empire/, It waß no more pastime, but something that went much , deeper into English life,* and brought out and 'expressed that which was best in the life, heart, and soul of English people—something that was clean, straight, energetic, and unselfish. —Dr. Norman Lang, Archdeacon of Northampton: . Quoted by Sir Charles Frederick, Sometime Master of the Pytchley, in "Foxhunting." , ] i .* - I (i.) In. poets like Heine orVerlaine the- structure of the thought <is as plain to follow as.the fronas of a fern: the language is seetaingly a transparent medium, yet has -all of its -own beauty. Who ever gave to words more 1 magic than Heine f Yet who was' ever more translateablef . . ' * —Stephen Gwynn. - ,(ii.)„One.>may' say--.of' verse daansla- - tions of Heine what Dr. Johnson; of second marriages, that they are the triumph of hope over expedience. 1 . The poet's track ie marked' by .the, dry bopfes -< of translators.'.. But*the temptation is irresistible. Hate is one "of his simplest " and" tendefeat "poenis: ' "Da Fist wte einft )S j. ■ | * Du "b!Bt 'wia, «tn« Blame • j<v > So hojd wd<Hkfe find retn; , . » ' leh «ch»a' dJeh »n,' ,t»n4 -VTehnut * r '• - V: ' , Behmd, dsi& (Jotfc tljsV aritilU «, So rein und schfa una hctM., * . •' / . ' t t' * T&ietk u a pwfaet, fcwjfr 1 > Pure, fair nd dear thoa'art. 1 -1 look* on <he» -and soiroir , , t 1 ! .. f - Stealg o er ray Inmost heart. - ■' 'V. * i My 'hsndji X lay detoutly • \ ,' i - Upon thy hMidsJui, jm/v, 1 Ki i Th»t God m»y' erer S<} pure, '«nd sad fair.' - ['i iii^ ! t t \2* f "4' ' , |Ehe * simplest, ,poej£» of Heine axe ! hardest to,render in English, and J ,tMa %ay serve as an Example." There i^! no,;equj.vaient in Eitglisj). fori'"Pu bist, M "Thou art I 'is. either Archaic, or , affected, and "du bist" is neither. It } u tut un&ffeeted if tha poet had r* 'said, 1 "Ms<S t dear,'- yQU?ro; ,'jijist: Hk« s a ! (flower , In the C «am?i ( waj?, I, .the 1 , orcler,, , the words in jtho I > iji perfectly natural, 1 whereas wi > the. translation. natural; order IS departed from.* Lastly, "perfect" in : line loric of -the, English version -is mete \ Mere padding in ' 'Hftj&e; Such «re the traps into which ' s bhd lines of a poem meaning is per- , fectly ciear, and if, the English- versi° n . 'entirely valueless, it 4s because S( i(s T.ery . ( defecte" attention to> tJK s origuiiL '< , —Norman, Macl«tod: ' 'Lyr^<; 1 V / Trinity fohurch Wats locked i [at"<flye-thirty on 'Sfinday beeabse the , ' bell-tinkers yanking itaside h yfiten it opened .reluctantly, a .ptpul 3 ' |fontleman J "ehecfeedl'suit gefaerouslj P. endowed ;Avjlth" colour the guardiax * 'of Burtoii-op-Trent dragged hi; 0 docile^' i wife .tp v Bard's toml: ' .and huskily annoulicedShykespeaije'a 1 ■ ,buried' '/ere, ?■?- 1 His \ wife ..fftid :• •* Wsfeh I f Itsqht tschl'.* and wagged head 1 dolefully.- , ' , t , ' ' —I.MJ*. ? ~ ' all the Work- of 1 Shakespeart jth'tire i]s nothing more llike himself -thai ' those quiet'words of parting^-''Be, cheer r ful, Birj onr reyels now qre ended." Ye ' they are not ended; and the generationi 7 who have jeoine after hitn, an 4 have reac [ hid' book/ and have f loved him with ai ihblterable personaraftectioii, must, each . , as they paßs the way that he went, pa; , hiin their tribute of, psiise. HiS-livinj brpod-have survived him, to be the com ; panions and friends men and womei 'as yet:-unborn. Baa mpnumept is Btil ' a, feastingrpresence, ,-full of- light. < ' , he was alive,he may,sometime * have fijniled to think that'the phantomi , a .as the sights a6d sounds r o£ the oute world,: The population of that delicati shadowland seemed to have but A fyai , hold on,existence. The one w;as taken '" and the'other left; this-character serve< W( for a play, that phrase ,dr sentence fitte) a,, speech; i the, others, ,die'd in' thei *■ cradles, or lived upon ths ail j I and t Were dissolved,' Those that fount [• Acceptance, were made -over' to-the tepde 1 mercies of the players, 'for a s week' i.-, 'entertainment - of- the-"pcfpulacq, - i. J' v But now three centuries have Tpassty a £ since 'Leajr?? -^as 5 vyritten; hnd .w i.begin\to rub* our eyes,. -and , wondei L . j places,., _ I which is the ghost, which man! ,i\ Is the'real man, to be' foughtf in'.'tha -' fragmentary story',off StyatiEord and Lou J don, which, <l6 what we will to jeviv it, ihas lorig agO faint as the men oryof a last year's Carousel That slu>r ' an.d -irquble"d of his duflinj evtp-increasing price,-> upoii /b; - ,' hopes /cist, J lifted, has 'gone like a dream, ant) ha J ' taken ■ him

■ /, i»oi. roaring loom of * Time the garment that we see him by; and, the .earth at Btratford closed over the broken shuttle. —Walter Raleigh: "Shakespeare.'' (iii.) Shakespeare's grave was du« seventeen feet deep: but the commentators have buriea nim deeper still. —Christopher Morley. * t (i.) A solicitor's ofßoe-boy was ordered by his employer, as he was leaving in a hurry one Friday nigh*, to "write a stiff letter to Mr Robinson asking him to pay that £4O for costs." On Monday morning he . was surprised by the receipt of four ten-pound notes from Mr Robinson. Ho turned up the carbon copy of the office-'boy's letter and found this: — . Pear Sir, You have been owing this firm-the r sum of £4O for costs for the last nine months. Unless we receive notes for that amount by the first post on Monday morning, next we ' shall take such proceedings as will astonish you. Yours faithfully, . . . • —Sir Harold Morris: "The Barrister." (ii.) A. B —, Ltd., would like to think that your unresponse in the face of . repeated requests for the settlement: of your overdue account is unintentional, and draw your attention once again to this matter. The sum is £ ... . Mr C wishes to assure Messrs. A. B that his unresponse, so tar from being intentional, is a source of continued worry to Mr C himself, and is due solely to' lock of tho necessary funds. This state of affairs he hopes very sinoerely—and not , entirely without reason —will be remedied in a month's time, when he will again communicate with Messrs A. Messrs A. B—- —, Ltd., thank, Mr G—— for the very candid response to their request for the payment of his overdue account, and in appreciation of his difficulties are quite agreeable to leave the matter over f6r another month, when they trust • that ■ his "sanguine" hopes regarding the necessary funds will be realised and mutual satisfaction ensue. —Quoted ig the "Observer." ■* * / * (i.) Mr John St. Loe Strachey, who has resigned from the Labour Party, was born at Sutton Court, Somerset,' in February, 1860. His father was Sir E. . Straohey and his mother a daughter of J. Addington Symonds-Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a ; first in modern history, he was called to tho Bar, but went in for journalism. In 1886 he became assistant 'editor of the "Spectator" . . . —"Chnstchxrch Txmxs," February 28th, 1931. (ii.) Strachey, Evelyn John Sf;. Loe; 3i.P.> (Lab.) Astori 'Division of Birmingham since 1?29; jounialist, b. Oct. 21st, 1901; o. eurv.ja. of .the Into John St.' Loe Stracbey . . . —Who's "Who, 1931. ■ (iii.) Strachey, John St, Loe; journalist; editor and proprietor of the'V»Pf °* tatot";, b. February SKb; 18fi0, d. August .26th, 1927. . . ; —Who's Who, 1928. , (iv.) There have been many books on Thomas Carlyle Reminiscences, Biographies, Lires, Sketches .and what tfie one most quoted from perhaps being Froude's Kography, a . very readable book, as might be «xp©c* i tj»d from the pen (>f tbe popular noveV,!—MOh'rxstchxrch Txmxs," same - date L . fUi (x.>, eame . >'*'[■ r ' ' -^-Artfple. in Chambers's EncycloKc ■ ■' .-*■ *t f j j, > , > ■ •'• . ■ (i.> The shrewder intelligences must ■' "ini time-hare come to peroeiTe that magical oeremomes end tncantptwia dy not realty .effect,' tho results; wjiich - produce,; and r which, majority i-of; their ■ «ump»r i fellows, /still believed did!. " actually great discovery , of the wrouSitr .ttMnA ; jn. tbe .njiiids erf, rftow i who to make it. The j discovery, amjwntod thafe>?»en j for" the thoir rii- ; h 9 d; believed to, bo completely withih t their control. It wa& ft of Si humau ignorance and Man ■* saw-that he hnd taken for caweß *wV 9 > werej no causes, and that all tus i v n : in of | i find bfon squandered to no purpose. »t?a h only been treading >m a nnWow*oircl«». 0 - thatf ;tlje ■- striven sft hard to produw dld n JJ®* n continoe to manifest themselves. They e' were still - produced, but not. by hum, e* The rain still "fell on the thimty groundthe sun still „ and .the moon her- njghtf? ® oerexfe the' \ sky;' the. silent" prices® o " of tho seasons still moved. in.Hght «pd , shadow, in cloud artd snnshine across the, earth';.'.men , labour nnd-'rSonow, and still, atw ij d brief sojourn here. wol» gathered to f their fathers. in the Jong home fares. atter. AH things, Indeed, went on as its hpfore all seemed different to hiin y from whose eyes the 013 scales had n .fallen; no longer ehertat ip the, ijlusipn ,that „,it wn&i:N b whb giiided the; eattii 1 and the heayen s ■ in. their ebarses; nnd 'that they^wOuW 1 jeease'to;^rf6m"tlhete;grt^,«^ a d Vere he to take his from a the wheel. In the death .of hj« enemies his iiienda he.no IpngeJ saw a proof of the resistless potency •e ofLhis ow. or of htstile n' he now knew "that friends,- and t .' nlike ~had ' feucoambed 'to ,a fpre« ,4. stronger than f»nv that he wdld wiwo, 1B and m,,obedience* to a destiny,- whidi he was 'powerless to control. ; tt : . ©. Fi'aser:' "The ' ■y' : (ii.) If man thfe reins hi( g hands, and with the Jielpj of' a- Powers airjas at concentrating -- up«i 'n things ,of real"value, no one cat U imagine what he niav become. " r , >, g -iSir OJiver liodge: VPhantrfm. W'alls.' '■'. J." —j.H.E.S.; ,T . V'^®? ess sW !a r !S T, , ,;