CORPORATION ELOQUENCE. THAT eminent antiquary, Elias Ashmole, in his Diary, has this memorandum : "Jan. 17th, 1666-I bestowed on the bailiffs of Litchfield a large chased silver bowl and cover, which cost me £23. 8s. 6d." The gift was no doubt a munificent one at the time, yet one would scarcely have expected it to have called forth such an effusion of corporation gratitude and flattery, as the following letter, of thanks "For the truly honoured Elias Ashmole, Esq. at his chamber in the Middle Temple, over Serjeant Maynard's chamber. In his absence, to be left with the butler or porter of the Middle Temple, London. "Honoured Sir, Upon Thursday, being the 17th day of this inst. January, (a day ever to be rubrical among our city remembrances) we received your tina argentea, your munificent silver bowl, cloathed in its delivery with all those rich circumstances of advantage, that could possibly either enable the gift to be speak the goodness and prudence of the giver, or invite the fairest acceptation in the receiver. For we consider the person from whom it is the gift of an Elias, a herald not only proclaiming, but actually contributing good things to our city; and that by the hands of a Zacharias,* a faithful messenger, who, with the gift, did emphatically communicate the sense and good affections of the giver. And, if we consider the time it was presented, it was the day of our Epiphany sessions of the peace for this city, where our bailiff, high-steward, sheriff, grand jury, and the rest of the body politic of this ancient and loyal corporation, together with other persons of quality, both of the clergy and laity, were convened together, and so became present at this great offering; as if some propitious stars, arising in the east, had (at this time) gone before our Magus, steering its course to this our city of Litchfield (the Sarepta of our Elias), and stood over the new-erected pyramids of our cathedral (where, as yet, a star appears), darting its benign influence upon this poor and loyal city, inviting the magi from afar to offer some tribute to it; a city * Zacharias Turnpenny, sacrist of the cathedral. that hath nothing to glory in, but its ancient and modern loyalty to God and Cæsar, evidenced by her ancient bearing in the city escotcheon (three knights martyred), as ancient as the days of Diocletian, and her name signifying a field of blood then spilt, to which may be well added her modern and unparalleled loyalty to that blessed saint (now in heaven), king Charles the Martyr; universally witnessed by those honourable marks, traces, and wounds of loyalty, she yet bears upon her persons, temples, streets, and walls (trophies of honour), sufficiently blazing to the world the true heraldry of her ancient arms. Nor have you only given us this great cratera (upon which you have wisely imprest our city arms) to solace the best of the city, after their time of suffering, but like one of those true magi, that offered to Christ in his poorest condition, you have largely offered to the repair of his church, our ruined cathedral, which, by the unwearied labour, prudence, piety, and charity of our good bishop, a second Ĉedda, and the charity of yourself, and others, happily deposited in his hands, is (almost to a miracle) so well and so soon resorted to again; but you have likewise annually and liberally offered, relieved, and refreshed Christ in his members, the poor of our city. And, as if you intended piously to engross and cover all our necessities under that warm and nourishing mantle of Elias, we have received intimation of your promises of greater good intended this city. Now, sir, give us leave to conclude (having been already too tedious), by informing you that, according to your desire (upon the first receipt of your poculum charitatis, at the sign of the George, for England), we filled it with Catholic wine, and devoted it a sober health to our most gracious king, which (being of so large a continent) past the hands of thirty to pledge; nor did we forget yourself, in the next place, being our great Mæcenas, assuring you, that (God willing) we shall take course that this great tina argentea shall, with our city mace, and other publick ensigns of dignity and authority, be carefully transmitted, by indenture, from bailiffs to bailiffs, in a continual succession, so long as this ancient and loyal corporation, through the favour of princes (which, we hope, we shall never forfeit), shall have a charter to give it life and being. For which end, your many other multiplied favours to this poor city, we, the present bailiffs of this city, do, in the name, and, by the desire, of our whole company, return you most hearty thanks, subscribing ourselves, what we are, Sir, your obliged and faithful friends, to serve you, Litchfield; 26th Jan. 1666. JOHN BURNES, HEN. BAKER." COINCIDENCES AND QUOTATIONS. AMONG the literary peculiarities of the present age, there is nothing more contemptible than the zeal which some persons discover in detecting a similarity of sentiment between two authors, and charging the latest with direct and wilful plagiarism. The fact is, however, that, in many cases, the imitation is unconscious and unintentional; and that the individual, accused of appropriating to himself the labours of others, has only written "what oft was thought before, but ne'er so well expressed." In such cases, the phrase literary coincidence is more proper than the epithet plagiarism. It is remarkable, too, on the other hand, that many lines of our poets, which have become popular quotations, and familiar in our mouths as household gods, are either direct plagiarisms, or ascribed erroneously. A few instances will illustrate these remarks; and, first, of literary coincidences. Cicero, in one of his orations, has the following passage: "Quid est, quod, in hoc tam exiguo vitæ curriculo et tam brevi, tantis nos in laboribus exerceamus?" This sentiment, so beautifully amplified by Tully, we find thus more concisely expressed in one of the odes of Horace: "Quid brevi fortes jaculamur ævo Multa?" The thought in the above quotations is so perfectly natural, that it is not at all remarkable, that the orator and the poet should have expressed themselves alike on this occasion; and, besides, plagiarism was not fashionable in those days. In the tragedy of King Lear, there is a passage which bears a strong resemblance to one in Lucretius; yet no one will accuse our immortal bard of having pilfered from the Roman philosopher, except, perhaps, at second-hand. The two passages will exhibit the coincidence: Vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut æquum est, LUCRETIUS. "Thou must be patient: we came crying hither: When we are born, we cry that we are come SHAKESPEARE. While on the subject of Shakespeare, it may be mentioned, that the hacknied quotation, from our great poet,— "We ne'er shall look upon his like again," appears to be almost a literal translation of the Quando ullum invenient parem ?" of Horace, which, if Shakespeare did not understand in the original, he might have borrowed through an English version. In Fenton's tragedy of Marianne, are to be found these lines, "Awhile she stood, Transform'd from grief to marble, and appear'd which seem to have been, for the most part, literally translated from the following passage of Cyprian: "Statit ipsa sepulchrum, Ipsaque imago sibi, formam sine corpore servans.' It is, however, not improbable that Fenton never read a line of Cyprian. Admitting that the foregoing examples may be classed as mere literary coincidences, the same apology can scarcely be allowed for the following. The beautiful line with which Gray's Elegy commences, "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day," is obviously from a passage in Dante, which thus stands in Mr. Cary's translation: "And pilgrim, newly on his road, with love, That seems to mourn for the expiring day." " What renders it more probable that Gray committed a petty literary larceny on this occasion is, that the sweet expression of trembling hope," in the same delightful poem, also occurs in Dante. Before quitting Gray, it is worthy of notice that his line, "And leave the world to darkness and to me," is to be found in the Beggar's Petition, where we have, "And leaves the world to wretchedness and me," which Gray had very evidently parodied. Every reader of English poetry recollects the beautiful yet simple expression of Goldsmith, in his "Edwin and Angelina," "And tears began to flow." Goldsmith, however, was not the first to use it. It occurs in Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and in the "Essay on Criticism" of Pope; and, last of all, it is found in Chatterton's poem, entitled "The Death of Sir Charles Bawdin." This, and similar instances of plagiarism on the part of Chatterton, are among the strongest proofs of the spuriousness of "Rowley's Poems,' which must however be regarded as one of the noblest monuments of the genius of modern times. The following line in " Pope's Eloisa to Abelard,”— "I have not yet forgot myself to stone," is evidently borrowed from a similar expression of Milton,— Forget thyself to marble." 66 Milton has also, "Caverns shagg'd with horrid thorn," which Pope adopts in the same poem. Other coincidences between him and our great epic bard, are likewise to be traced, which justify the inference, that the "Twickenham Bee" had, just before the composition of " Eloisa to Abelard," been drinking deep" of the honied stores of his illustrious predecessor. Blair, in his " Grave," has favoured us with numerous instances of these "literary coincidences," if they are entitled to that indulgence, but it is to be feared that they are not merely accidental. Among the number, the following will be recognized as having its prototype in Pope's " Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady." "Sullen, like lamps in sepulchres, your shine BLAIR. "Dim lights of life, that burn a length of years, POPE. Of popular quotations, the authors of which are not generally known, or which are not correctly appropriated, there are numerous instances. The first one we shall mention, is the line,— "Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim." |