Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/158

152 Mr. Penny. These were the two houses next on the right (or east) hand of the junction of Berry Street with the Row. When Penny married he added a third house, No. 26, as his "private side." The house was still standing when the paper was written twenty-one years ago, and the writer was permitted by the occupiers to explore and sketch it. The result appears in some charming drawings, representing (1) the exterior of the house; (2) the sitting-room; and (3) the way up to bed, a staircase worn by the feet of countless schoolboys. The name of Wilderness Row no longer exists, and I am unable to say if the old house, with its immortal memories, has survived. Should this be the case, some memorial of Thackeray's residence might, I think, fitly be erected.

(11 S. viii. 89).—The reference for Bishop Fraser's quotation is Aristotle, 'Rhetoric,' II. xv. p. 1390, b. 25-28, in the Berlin edition. The passage as it stands in the original is:—

Φορὰ γὰρ τίς ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς γένεσιν ἀνδρῶν ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὰς χώρας γιγνομένοις, καὶ ἐνίοτε ἂν ᾖ ἀγαθὸν τὸ γένος, ἐγγίγνονται διά τινος χρόνου ἄνδρες περιττοί, κἄπειτα πάλιν ἀναδίδωσιν.

In Bishop Fraser's time the 'Rhetoric' was a good deal more studied at Oxford than it is at present. Different people will differently appreciate the balance of educational gain or loss that has accrued owing to the change.

The quotation referred to is from Aristotle's 'Rhetoric,' Book II. chap. xv. par. 3. [ut supra].

I quoted the sentence in a paper on the Celtic families of Tudor and Cromwell some years ago, not knowing it had been used by Bishop Fraser, and probably in a somewhat different sense. It is in the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society for 1886, New Series, vol. iii. p. 359, where it will be seen that my translation is somewhat different from that given by your correspondent.

(11 S. viii. 47). The passage in Maimonides is not an anticipation of Darwin, or anything except the vaguest expression of a notion of physical development in mammalia, such as long anteceded Darwin.

I ask the indulgence of 'N. & Q.' for the essential part of the Maimonides passage, to show that his Paleyan theology has nothing to do with specific science at all, much less Darwin:—

 (11 S. viii. 89).—Some years ago, in Paris, I witnessed a very amusing play at the Comedie entitled 'La Précaution inutile,' but cannot remember if the author's name was given on the bill of the play. If G. B. M. were to write to the director, he might get a clue.

The book which Pepys so enjoyed reading was a translation of Paul Scarron's story 'La Précaution inutile.' John Davies of Kidwelly issued English translations of three of Scarron's stories separately in 1657, and among them 'The Fruitless Precaution.' A copy does not appear to be in the British Museum. The stories in Davies's translation were afterwards issued in a collected form in 1665. For a criticism of 'The Fruitless Precaution' see 'Bibliotheque des Romans,' January, 1776.

 (11 S. viii. 70). My friend sent me a cutting with the query at the above reference. I am afraid, however, that I cannot give a precise answer. I know from the official Hungarian publications that the total length of the railways in Hungary at the end of 1858 was only a little over 800 miles, and during the year 1859 only about 80 miles were built. This will give an idea of the poor development of railways in that country by that date, if one considers that Hungary is larger than the