understand the language, and striving by signs to explain the meaning of what he has been saying. The very same gesture, had it come at the proper, that is, the natural, point of time, might, perhaps, have added greatly to the effect; viz. had it preceded somewhat the utterance of the words. That is always the natural order of action. An emotion,* struggling for utterance, produces a tendency to a bodily gesture, to express that emotion more quickly than words can be framed; the words follow, as soon as they can be spoken. And this being always the case with a real, earnest, unstudied speaker, this mode of placing the action foremost, gives (if it be otherwise appropriate) the appearance of earnest emotion actually present in the mind. And the reverse of this natural order would alone be sufficient to convert the action of Demosthenes himself into unsuccessful and ridiculous pantomime. "Format enim Natura prius nos intus ad omnem Post effert animi motus interprete lingua." HORACE, Ars Poet. APPENDIX. [A]. Pages 25, 187, 375. OMNINO hoc volumus, locos omnes, quorum frequens est usus (sive ad probationes et refutationes, sive ad suasiones et dissuasiones, sive ad laudes et vituperia spectent) meditatos jam haberi, eosque ultimis ingenii viribus, et tanquam improbe, et prorsus præter veritatem, attolli et deprimi. Modum autem hujus collectionis, tam ad usum, quam ad brevitatem, optimum fore censemus, si hujusmodi loci contrahantur in sententias quasdam acutas et concisas ; tanquam glomos quosdam, quorum fila in fusiorem discursum, cum res postulat, explicari possint. . . . Ejus generis, cum plurima parata habeamus, aliqua ad exemplum proponere visum est. Ea autem ANTITHETA rerum nominamus. [It is worth observing that several of these commonplaces of Bacon have become PROVERBS; and others of them are well calculated to become so. And most of the Proverbs that are in use in various languages are of a similar character to these. Considering that Proverbs have been current in all ages and countries, it is a curious circumstance that so much difference of opinion should exist as to the utility, and as to the design 447 of them. Some are accustomed to speak as if Proverbs contained a sort of concentrated essence of the wisdom of all Ages, which will enable any one to judge and act aright on every emergency. Others on the contrary represent them as fit only to furnish occasionally a motto for a book, a theme for a school-boy's exercise, or a copy for children learning to write. To me, both these opinions appear erroneous. That Proverbs are not generally regarded, by those who use them, as, necessarily, propositions of universal and acknowledged truth, like mathematical axioms, is plain from the circumstance that many of those most in use, are, — like these commonplaces of Bacon,-opposed to each other; as e. g. "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves;" to "Be not penny-wise and pound-foolish;" and again, "The more haste the worse speed;" or, "Wait a while, that we may make an end the sooner;" to "Take time by the forelock," or "Time and tide for no man bide," &c. It seems, I think, to be practically understood, that a Proverb is merely a compendious expression of some principle, which will usually be, in different cases, and with or without certain modifications, true or false, applicable or inapplicable. When then a Proverb is introduced, the speaker usually employs it as a Major-premise, and is understood to imply, as a Minor, that the principle thus referred to is applicable in the existing case. And what is gained by the employment of the Proverb, is, that his judgment, and his reason for it, are conveyed through the use of a well-known form of expression, clearly, and at the same time in an incomparably shorter space, than if he had had to explain his meaning in expressions framed for the occasion. And the brevity thus obtained is often still further increased by suppressing the full statement even of the very Proverb itself, if a very common one, and merely alluding to it in a word or two. Proverbs accordingly are somewhat analogous to those ...edical Formulas which, being in frequent use, are kept ready-made-up in the chemists' shops, and which often save the framing of a distinct Prescription. And the usefulness of this brevity will not be thought, by any one well conversant with Reasoning, to consist merely in the saving of breath, paper, or time. Brevity, when it does not cause obscurity, conduces much to the opposite effect, and causes the meaning to be far more clearly apprehended than it would have been in a longer expression. More than half the cases probably, in which men either misapprehend what is said, or confuse one question with another, or are misled by any fallacy, are traceable in great measure to a want of sufficient conciseness of expression.] NOBILITAS. PRO. CONTRA. Raro ex virtute nobilitas : Nobilitas laurea, qua tem- rarius ex nobilitate virtus. pus homines coronat. Antiquitatem etiam in monumentis mortuis veneramur: quanto magis in vivis ? Nobilitas virtutem invidiæ subducit, gratiæ tradit. Nobiles majorum deprecatione, ad veniam, sæpius utuntur, quam suffragatione, ad honores. Tanta solet esse industria hominum novorum, ut nobiles præ illis tanquam statuæ vide antur. Nobiles in studio respectant nimis sæpe: quod mali cursoris est, PRO. ["Nobilitatem nemo con. temnit, nisi cui abest: nemo jactitat, nisi cui nihil aliud est quo glorietur." *] JUVENTUS. Senes sibi sapiunt magis; aliis et reipublicæ minus. Si conspici daretur, magis deformat animos, quam corpora, senectus. CONTRA. Juventus pœnitentiæ cam pus. Ingenitus est juvenibus senilis auctoritatis contemptus; ut quisque suo periculo sapiat. Tempus, ad quæ consilia Senes omnia metuunt, præ- non advocatur, nec rata habet. This observation, in substance, is attributed to Bishop Warbur ton. |