Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/172

 164

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. FEB. 26, '<

pp. 178, 185, 194, 260-1, 264, 289; Leibnitz, ' Theodice'e,' 1760, i. 206; Ray, 'Creation,' 1717, pp. 208, 307 : Garth attributes " impu- dence to Sloane, 'Poetical Works,' 1775, p. 21.

P. 381. Bp. Smalbroke. See 'A Defence

of Scripture History in answer to Mr.

Woolston. ., with a preface containing

some remarks on his Answer to the Lord Bishop of St. Davids,' 1730.

Pp. 383-4. Bp. Smalridge. One of his printed single sermons was preached at S. Paul's, before the Lord Mayor and judges, 29 January, 1709/10, on 1 Thess. ii. 4, 8vo., Lond., 1710. See Nelson's ' Bull,' p. 406. Ed- ward Ivie, his chaplain, dedicated to him ' Epictetus,' 1715.

1. 392 a, lines 22, 23. The bracket after " 1609 " should be placed after " Durham."

Pp. 401-2. Leonard Smelt. His speech at York, 1779, printed 1780, and the controversy thereon, Davies, ' York Press,' pp. 285-7 ; 'Correspondence of Gray and Mason,' 1853, pp. 449, 486 ; 'Correspondence of Walpole and Mason,' 1852, ii. 60-1, 129; Roberts, 'H. More,' 1835, i. 274 ; ii. 194-5 ; iii. 17 ; ' N. & Q.,' 6 th S. vi. 332.

P. 403 a. For " Horsham " read ffowsham. W. C. B.

"QuoD EXPENDI HABEO." The familiar epitaph beginning with this line received notice in the Standard from 12 to 20 December. It may be a suitable occasion to trace the history of the sentiment in connexion with the Latin form of it. Seneca, in the treatise
 * De Beneficiis ' (1. vi. c. iii.), has :

" Quse ad nos pervenerunt, ne sint, effici potest : ne fuerint non potest : pars autem beneficii, et

quidem certissima est, quae fuit Potest eripi

domus et pecunia et mancipium, et quidquid est in quo haesit beneficii nomen : ipsum vero stabili et immotum est."

He then illustrates the subject by reference to a saying of Mark Antony :

" Egregie mihi videtur M. Antonius apud Rabirium ppetam, quum fortunam suam transeuntem alio videat, et sibi nihil relictum, prseter jus mortis, id quoque si cito occupaverit, exclamare : ' Hoc habeo quod cunque dedi.

Commentators on the passage refer to Mar- tial's epigram (v. xliii. 8, 9) :

Extra fortunam est quidquid donatur amicis : Quas dederis solas semper habebis opes.

Upon this the Delphin editor has the note " Memores amici accepta beneficia reponunt." In the 'Gesta Romanorum' there is the story :

"Legitur de quodam imperatore Romano con- struente sibi basilicam optimam, et fodiens in funda- mento palacii iiivenit sarcophagum aureum tribus

circulis circumdatam et super sarcophagum talis erat superscripcio : ' Expendi, donavi, servavi, habui, habeo, perdidi, punior : primo quod expendi habui, quod donavi habeo.' "

An explanation follows. The attribution ('Gesta Komanorum,' cap. xvi., "De Vita Exemplari," Berl., 1872, p. 300) to a Roman emperor is for the purpose of the form of the collection of stories, without implying a fact capable of proof. The collection, which once bore the name of Helinandus, was probably by Berchorius, circ. A.D. 1350. See Quarterly fieview. No. 277, p. 100.

Muretus, in his note on the passage in Seneca (p. 114, 'Senec. Opp ' Par., 1619), shows the prevalence of the idea. He refers to the history of Croesus (as in Xenoph., ' Cyrop.'), to the history of Alexander, with- out reference, and to a modern instance":

"Alphonsus Siciliaa rex interrogatus quid serva- retur sibi, qui tarn multis tarn multa donaret, ' Ea,' inquit, 'ipsa quse dono, caetera enim in meorum numero non habeo.'"

It gave form to the familiar Latin epitaph, the earliest example of which, so far as I can make out, is that which was " formerly under the effigy of a priest, at St. Peter's, St. Albans " (T. F. Ravenshaw, in his ' Antiente Epitaphes, 5 Lond., 1878, p. 5 ; Weever, in his ' Funeral Monuments,' 1631, p. 581).

This has long been thought to be the earliest occurrence of the epitaph. John Hackett, in his ' Select and Remarkable Epitaphs,' 1757, vol. i. p. 38, observes :

" But the oldest, and from which the others may have been taken, is in the choir of St. Peter's Church at St. Albans."

It became a very common epitaph of which there are various instances, but all, so far as I have seen, later than that of St. Albans. The epitaph can be seen in ' N. & Q.,' 1 st S. v. 179, 452 ; viii. 30 ; xi. 47, 112 ; 7 th S. xii. 506. ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.

THE FRENCH EMBASSY AT ALBERT GATE. The announcement recently made that the Government of the French Republic has purchased the large mansion on the east side of Albert Gate for the sum of 25,000/., the British Crown retaining the ground rent, recalls some interesting reminiscences con- cerning the house and its vicinity. Like most London suburban districts, Knights- bridge in earlier times was in bad repute so far as the safety of travellers was concerned. Norden, writing in 1593, describing the bridges of most use in Middlesex,

"enumerates ' Kingsbridge, commonly called Stone- bridge, nere Hyde Park Corner, wher I wish noe true man to walke too late without good garde, unless he can make his partie good, as did Sir H.