Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/381

 9*8. XI. MAY 9, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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vinces" (see letter from Col. Greenwell), the headquarters of which would be at Kandy. I think this is the Lieut. Watson MR LEIGH- TON is inquiring about. I have examined all the tombstones in the old military cemetery, Kandy. There is none to Lieut. Watson at least none with any inscription, though it is possible that one of the older tombstones without any inscription, or with none now legible, may be his. The oldest date I could find (with the exception of one of 1817 on a tombstone which was discovered some years ago in some jungle half a mile from the cemetery and removed here) is 1821. There is one to another staff officer of Kandy, Capt. John Manwaring, also of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, who died five years later than this Lieut. Watson (1829). It is, however, curious that, though a Lieut. Watson died in Kandy in 1824 and must have been buried there, there is no entry in the burial register of this cemetery, which is in the hands of the eccle- siastical authorities, of the burial of a Lieut. Watson. The register goes back to 1823. In 1824 the 16th and 45th Regiments, or detach- ments of them, were stationed in Kandy, and there was the large number of 168 burials, but Lieut. Watson's name does not occur in the register.

From a note at the end of the year 1824 it appears that some Europeans " were buried in the Roman Catholic chapel." Was Lieut. C. M. Watson a Roman Catholic 1 This would account for his burial not being entered in the Church of England register. But there is no tomb in the Roman Catholic church bearing his name.

There is another apparent difficulty as to the identification of the Lieut. Watson whose death is mentioned in the 'Ceylon Almanac ' with the Lieut. Charles Mitford Watson who is the subject of this query. The latter belonged to the 83rd Regiment, whereas the former is described as of the "Ceylon Regi- ment." But it is quite possible that the officer of the 83rd got transferred to the Ceylon Regiment, and that this led to his becoming staff officer of Kandy.

With regard to the REV. DR. PENNY'S refer- ence to the tomb of the Hon. George Tumour at Jaffna, it should be noted that the date of Mr. Tumour's death was 19 April, 1813, and not 1819 as incorrectly given in Ludovici's 4 Lapidarium Zeylanicum.' I have verified this myself ; but apart from this I had pre- viously ascertained that he ceased to be " Collector of the Wanny " in January, 1813, and died shortly afterwards at Jaffna. He was the father of a more distinguished George Tumour, also of the Ceylon Civil Service,

translator of the 'Mahawansa,' who died in L843. There is a tablet to the memory of the vicar of which church, the Rev. E. A. opleston, I am indebted for reference to the burial register. J. P. L.
 * his George Tumour in St. Paul's, Kandy, to

DEFINITION OF GENIUS (6 th S. xi. 89, 190). A correspondent at the former of these references asked for the passage on this subject generally credited to Buffon. In L'Intermediaire des Chercheurs et Curieux of 25 March, 1882 (vol. xv. col. 162), appeared the similar question :

" Definition du gnie, par Buffon. ' Le g^nie, 'est la patience, ou V aptitude cl la patience.' Ce mot. attribue a Buffon, a-t-il et6 conserve par tradition, ou bien le trouve-t-on dans les Merits du grand naturaliste ? Littr renvoie a son Disoours de reception a PAcademie Frangaise. (Test une erreur. Un Provincial."

But it was not until years afterwards that my attention was, quite by accident, drawn to it. However, as far as I am aware, no answer has ever appeared to the inquiry in that journal. Here is the answer ; but instead of confining myself to giving the exact quotation, with chapter and verse, I purpose indulging in a little, I hope, interest- ing gossip concerning my own search for the source of the quotation and its result. The phrase is often quoted, and I have met with the following variants : " Le ge"nie, c'est la patience." " Le genie n'est qu'une longue patience." " Le ge"nie n'est qu'une plus grande aptitude a la patience."

" Le ge'nie n'est autre chose qu'une grande aptitude a la patience."

Every one seems to attribute the phrase to Buffon, but I have only once found a refer- ence given, namely, to his ' Discours sur le Style,' in Littre's dictionary. But Littre is wrong : he quotes the sentence incorrectly also. We are here concerned only with the original French, but as it is often quoted or referred to in English, I venture to give one example for the sake of comparison.

In ' Madame de Stae'l,'* a study of her life and times, by A. Stevens, LL.D., ch. iii. (1881, p. 61), speaking of a visit paid by her to Buffon, occurs the following :

"In an elegant studio, a pavilion, so constructed as to exclude all surrounding sights and distractions, he meditated his picturesque descriptions and polished his periods, following his well-known maxim that ' Genius is only patience.' "

ch. iii.) writes: "The good plan itself, this comes not of its own accord ; it is the fruit of ' genius ' (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all)."
 * Carlyle (' Hist, of Frederick the Great,' bk. iv.