NOTES

New Zealand Tablet, 9 August 1917, Page 26

NOTES

The "Sun" and the "Tablet" Recently we asserted in perfect good faith that the editor of the Sun said he had inserted an attack on the Tablet without reading it, and that when he saw it he regretted it. Our informant now assures us that this is not true, and that the version of the editor of the Sun is correct. We unhesitatingly apologise to the Sun- for the misstatement made. We express to our informant our regret for the misunderstanding that Has taken place.

Nascitur, Non Fit As an instance of the truth of the old saying "A poet is born not made," we submit the following gem: A grave bishop once came upon a group of workmen whose language was not by any means up to the standard of even Mr. Hanan's pure English undented. "My men," said he, "where.did you learn to swear like that?" "You can't learn it, guv'nor; it is a gift," was the reply. Definitions There are few things more difficult than to make a good definition. Until .you try it you cannot realise the crux it is to define a thing offhand. In Johnson's Dictionary/ the curious reader will find many entertaining examples of the great lexicographer's readiness at definitions- too, which will convince one that there, was a world of humor beneath the great Doctor's ponderous manner. But even he could hardly excel the definition given of the Positivist Church in London by an irreverent modern: "The Positivist Church is three persons and no God." Great Books Have you ever noticed how a chance quotation from one of the classics seems to shine out when you meet it in a page of ordinary writing ? The contrast is like that between a real diamond and a paste imitation. This is particularly, true of Shakespere in English and Dante in Italian. They are the Masters par excellence. A passage from their works has the elusive and indefinable beauty of a simple flower. Their words look so simple that their perfection seems quite easy and natural: to them it was; but how few have ever succeeded in imitating them! The description of Falstaff's death appears to the reader exactly what a dissipated old harridan should say, and yet who but the great poet could paint the picture so true to life in so few words. One line in Dante tells us volumes about the change perceived by the poet when he came out of the Inferno: Di lon tano Connobi it tre molar delta marina. There you have a picture of a new world, and an idea of a great peace beneath the stars that are shining down on the breathing sea. Do not let us neglect the old books. We want them all the more here because of Mr. Hanan's schools in which "pure English undefiled" often seems to mean cowardly attempts at proselytising.

Some Quotations An old lady objected to Shakespere because "his writings were full of quotations.* As a matter of fact his works are, after the Bible, the source of most of our familiar quotations, many of which have become current coin in the language now. Other prolific sources are Samuel Butler's Hvdibras; Gay's Beggars' Opera; Pope's works passim; and also Swift's. It was the latter genius who wrote the now familiar words, "Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow on a spot where only one grew before would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together." Cromwell's "Put your trust in God, but, mind, keep your powder dry," was expressed in different words by Benjamin Franklin, who said, "God helps them who help themselves." We have heard the same expression literally translated in Italian many a time; and the irreverent form, "God is on the side of the big battalions" is Voltaire's, borrowed perhaps from Tacitus: "Dens fortioribus adesse." "Hobson's choice " comes from one, Thomas Hobson, keeper of a livery stable, who professed to allow his clients to choose their horse, but always succeeded in giving them the one he wished. "Fresh fields and pastures new" is Milton's, who, however, wrote "woods," and not "fields," and would hardly consider the modern gloss an improvement On the original reading.

Phonetic Spelling * English as it is spoken is a very different language - from the written word. Italian, Spanish, German, : '. Maori, and, in less degree,- French, are written as they are pronounced, but there is some, foundation for saying that in English when one says Timbuctoo it may be written Jerusalem. Notwithstanding this, we unhesitatingly vote for the old, vexatious spelling rather than have anything to do with the Americanese of which here is an awful example: " The fact iz that moest peopl fail tu grasp the wun deeding prinsipl, viz, that it is the spoecen wurd that reali matters." Nothing New Under The Sun We have heard it urged against Tennyson's claims to greatness that he was a skilful adapter of beautiful thoughts from old writers. It is astonishing how the great thoughts of literature are repeated from age to age, taken up and carried on from generation to generation as the torch was taken from the wearied runner in the Olympic games. Here is an instance of a thought common to many ages and many climes. The text of Scripture which tells us that nothing is ,hid that shall not be revealed is like Horace's Quidquid sub terra.- est, in aprirum proferut actus, which is an echo of two lines of the. Greek poet Sophocles, repeated again by Marcus Aurclius, and again by Shakespere in the lines: "Beauty, wit. High birth, vigor of bone, desert in service. Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all To envious and calumniating time." In the same way every student cf philosophy knows how frequently old errors are revived and put forward as if they were entirely new discoveries, whereas they had been refuted and interred centuries ago. There is hardly a philosophical system of modern times which has not had almost an exact counterpart in pagan ages. Hymns of Hate A correspondent asks us if hymns of hate are all made in Germany. They are not. They are a peculiarly jingoistic product, and Jingo and Junker are brothers under the skin— to borrow the expression of Kipling the High Priest of all Jingoes and Junkers. Kipling has recently added another enormity to this abominable sort of literature. Here it is —and we suppose there are people who call it poetry :—■ "It was not part of their blood, It came to them very late. With long arrears to make good, When the English began to hate. " It was not suddenly bred, It- will not swiftly abate, Through the chill years ahead, When time shall count from the date That the English began to hate." You will get a thousand people to write such doggerel as that in Germany or England or any country in which it has been forgotten that charity is the real mark of a time follower of Christ. Indeed, it would appear that only the absence of rhyme is wanting to make some of our journals one long-drawn hymn of hate of the same exalted level as Kipling's drivel.