Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/274

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. OCT. 4, 1902.

In his 'Apophthegms' Bacon relates th story of the feast at Athens at which Zeno made his memorable reply to the ambassador who asked him what ne should say to his master concerning him (Zeno) :

" Report to your lord, that there are of the Grecians that can hold their peace." Jonson relates the same story in the ' Dis- coveries : Homeri Ulysses'; and it is to be found in almost the same words in Johr Lyly's ' Euphues,' Arber, p. 146. I will deal more fully with Bacon's 'Apophthegms later on.

I have no space to deal with the following phrases, parallel sentences, and allusions to ' Promus ' notes which occur by the score in the 'Discoveries,' and which are repeated again and again in Jonson's dramatic and other writings ; but those who have digested their Bacon need not be told where to find parallel passages in the work of the master :

What a thin membrane of honour that is. Ease and relaxation are profitable to all studies. The mind is like a bow, the stronger by being unbent. The lopping of trees makes the boughs shoot out thicker ; and the taking away of some kind of enemies .increaseth the number. They have nothing in their breasts that they need a cipher for. But they, placed high on the top of all virtue, looked down on the stage of the world, and contemned the play of fortune. A good king is a public servant. Old age itself is a disease. They have but saluted her on the by. The first scent of a vessel lasts. But gently stir the mould about the root of the question. The parts of a comedy are the same with a tragedy. Yet we take pleasure in the lie. Like a rich man that, for want of particular note and difference, can bring you no certain ware readily out of his shop. There is a greater reverence had of things remote or strange to us than of much better, if they be nearer, and fall under our sense. They that seek immortality are not only worthy of love, but of praise. Though ambition itself be a vice, it is often the cause of great virtue. But we must not be too frequent with the mint, every day coining, nor fetch words from the extreme and utmost ages. ,,The eldest of the present, and newness of the past language, is the best. For order helps much to perspicuity. Our style should be like a skein of silk, to be carried and found by the right thread, not ravelled and perplexed. Because he understood the causes of things. Not to imitate servilely, as Horace saith. Groping in the dark. Counsels are made good, or bad, by the events. It is an art to have so much judgment as to apparel a lie well. In short as vinegar is not accounted good until the wine be corrupted, so jests that are true and natural seldom raise laughter with the beast the multitude.

C. CRAWFORD. 63, Hampden Road, Hornsey, N.

(To be continued.)

v**i. STATES - (See ,

p. 110.) At the above reference C. E. D (dating from Dublin, N.H., and therefore

presumably an American) undertakes to correct an earlier correspondent who had used the name America instead of United States to designate the United States of America.

Now for all purposes, except the most formal State papers, America is a proper title for our country, and Americans is the only possible name for its people. I say this not- withstanding the official decision of some American authorities.

The U.S. of America is not the only nation whose official title includes the words United States. These in every case describe a political characteristic of the nation, just as United Kingdom describes a political characteristic of Great Britain and Ireland.

Mexico is the universally used title of the United Mexican States ; and just as Brazil is the proper name for the United States of Brazil, and Colombia is the proper name for the United States of Colombia, so America is the proper name for the U.S. of America.

All other republics of the American con- tinents, save the short - lived Confederate States of America, have refrained from assum- ing the word America as a part of their official title, conceding the word to us, who had first assumed it.

While it would be quite proper to place upon the door-plates of our commercial repre- sentatives abroad the full designation Con- sulate of the United States of America, it would be more seemly to say American Consulate than United States Consulate.

The words United States are a part of the official titles of several realms. The word America belongs to no nation other than ours. We, alone, are Americans. F. J. P.

Boston, Mass.

PRONUNCIATION OP "NG." In the modern English pronunciation of ng we distinguish oetween the ng (ngg) in finger and the ng (ng) in tinger. How is this to be explained 1

The answer seems to be this. The Middle- English ng (like the A.-S. ng) was always and in all positions sounded in the former nanner a sound which may conveniently denoted, as above, by (ngg).

This sound, when final, was new to the Normans, who found it difficult to preserve n such a case. The result was to reduce degraded it to -in, as is still shown in the pronunciation shillin for shilling. Hence also, when the verb sing-en, later sing-e, was educed to sing, the pronunciation shifted rom (singg) to (sing). This reduction next
 * he very common suffix -ing, formerly (-ingg),
 * o the sound it now has. Some even further