Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/294

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

a. x. 0. n, 1902.

It seems as though Fortune, when she does give men a chance, is disgusted if they do not take it, and declines to give them another. Many poets have commented on the freaks of Fortune. In the ' Iliad ' Achilles says that Zeus in general deals out good and bad luck indiscriminately to mortals; but to some mortals he gives nothing but bad luck. Horace's ode on Fortune is supposed to be the original of Gray's ode to Adversity. But Horace does not refer to the advantages of adversity, as Gray does. If Gray had had more misfortune he might have been dis- inclined to praise it. He remembered a line of Virgil in the following : And from her own she learnt to melt at others' woe. This line, spoken by Dido, which Gray remembered, shows the good effect of adver- sity followed by prosperity in noble natures :

Non ignara mail miseris succurrere disco. King Lear in his misery was reminded of the wretchedness of others, but never had an opportunity afterwards of helping the miserable :

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these ? On ! I have taken Too little care of this.

The banished duke in ' As You Like It ' says :

Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

Those who have suffered adversity are as little likely to see the precious jewel in it as they are to see the same in the toad. Chaucer suffered adversity when he was old, and after he had enjoyed prosperity. In the beginning of ' The Man of Law's Tale ' he speaks feel- ingly. He seems to agree with him who said that it is better to die than to be poor. He says :

If thou be poure thy brother hateth thee, And all thy f rendes fleen from thee, alas !

Though poverty is often the same as adver- sity, it is not always so. The poverty of Fabricius and of Curius Dentatus had nothing to do with adversity. The opinions of poets differ concerning the value of adversity or poverty as an incentive. Virgil says :

Labor pmnia vincit Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas.

Juvenal expresses himself otherwise :

Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi.

Juvenal in another place says that poets must be in a state of ease when they are composing great works. Some great works, however, have been composed in adverse

circumstances. Milton was poor, blind, and neglected, though not absolutely comfortless ; and his blindness had the effect of concen- trating his attention on his great work. Cervantes and Bunyan wrote their best books in prison. They could hardly have been comfortable; but their confinement, like Milton's blindness, fixed their attention on their work. E. YARDLEY.

'KOBINSON CRUSOE.' An obituary notice in the Scotsman of 20 September may claim a corner in ' N. & Q.': "At Largo, Fife, on the 19th inst., James Gillies in his 88th year, the last of the Selkirk family." The Selkirk family is that from which came Alex- ander Selkirk, whose adventures in Juan Fernandez formed, it is understood, the groundwork of ' Robinson Crusoe.'

J. L. ANDERSON.

Edinburgh.

LESTER'S 'ILLUSTRATIONS OF LONDON.' I have a foolscap 8vo volume, consisting of 53 plates and 128 pages of text, dealing with London buildings, &c. Some of these illus- trations are new to me, others are reproduced from or closely resemble J. T. Smith's 'Ancient Buildings,' and the information, where not derived from "actual observation," comes from Pennant. This interesting little work was published in parts between 1816-18, and I recently noticed catalogued " 8 parts, 48 plates, complete in original covers." There should be 53 plates. My copy is bound in a stamped cloth cover of a much later date, and bears the following lettering on the back : " The Second Coming, The Judgement, and the Kingdom of Christ. London." The name of the publisher is erased from above the word "London," and the title was covered with a printed label correctly describing the contents, "Lester's Ancient Buildings, &c." I think it is safe to assume from the fact of the label having been printed that a large number of the parts were so bound in these incongruous covers, and it will be interesting to ascertain how many collectors have copies in this state. The Guildhall copy has been rebound. The British Museum is without a copy in any state. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

39, Hillmarton Road, N.

THE SEDLEY FAMILY. In his account of the parish of St. Pancras ('Environs,' second ed., 1811, p. 633), Lysons records an entry in the burial register of "Sir John Sidley, buried May 3, 1737," and adds in a note, "created a baronet in 1702." I have ascertained, through the kindness of local friends, that the entry has been correctly