Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/62

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIL JAN. 19, woi.

possibly succeed in defiance of this rule, but genius itself has been defined as an infinite capacity for taking pains. U U -R.

Neglect of detail is one of the secrets of, success." This thought may have been sug-

The original words of the song may be seen gested by a maxim of Rochefoucauld : in Harper's Magazine for 1854. Each verse qui s'appliquent trop aux petites cnoses winds up with the line as above, whence it deviennerit ordmaireinent mcapabies ae. became a" popular saying :- g'andes/'Idoubt^

Discontented people say all work and little play

Will make a boy a blockhead as q, rulp ; You can answer them, and say, never work and

always play Will make him both a blockhead and a fool.

ALFRED CHAS. JONAS.

Voyager upon life's sea,

To yourself be true, And whate'er your lot may be,

Paddle your own cauoe.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

NAUNTON FAMILY (9 th S. vi. 508). For the articles respecting this family, which have appeared in ' N. & Q.' see 4 th S. iii. 456; 353 ; 8 th S. vi. 408 ; ix. 287.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

WORCESTERSHIRE FOLK-LORE (9 th S. vi. 410, 496). I can give a similar instance from India. Soon after Sir John Lawrence arrived at Cal- cutta as Viceroy, he used every now and then to receive from the chief town of the district where I was magistrate letters containing scraps of paper charred to tinder. He sent them to me to know what they meant. They were as new to me as to him, but after some confidential inquiries I discovered that such missives as might be expected implied any- thing but a benediction. A. B. C.

WILLIAM MORRIS AS A MAN OF BUSINESS (9 th S. vi. 406, 495).MR. WARDLE has not succeeded in resolving my puzzle. There are details and details, and it does not follow that neglect of detail is one of the secrets of success because some men of pre-eminent ability have succeeded in spite of their neglect of certain comparatively small matters which might have engrossed too much of the atten- tion of smaller minds than theirs. We have, however, heard of horses being lost for want of a nail, and of armies being crippled for want of boots. But Mr. Mackail was speaking of Morris purely as a man of business in fact (in MR. WARDLE'S words) as the "organizer of a great manufacturing industry." And among the details he had in mind it is clear that bookkeeping and accounts generally were included. To say that Morris succeeded in business because he neglected these is, to speak plainly, ridiculous. MR. BRESLAR'S remarks on this subject are very much to the point. BetaiLs must necessarily be left to

or its English echo, is true. Rochefoucauld, however, in using the word ordinairement, allows that there may be exceptions. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most successful and greatest of men, yet he was remarkable for his application to little things and his care ot detail. " E. YARDLEY.

The late Canon Liddon in one of his sermons said that only a small mind thought disregard of details the mark of a large one. Dean Swift asked :

Wrapt up in Majesty Divine, Does God regard on what we dine ? So the foolish man in Job (Vulgate) xxii. 14 :

Nubes latibulum Ejus, nee nostra considerat. Compare St. Matthew x. 29, 30. W. C. B.

BUTTON FAMILY (9 th S. vi. 409, 517). With regard to LORD SHERBORNE'S suggestion that the Buttons used the fret on their coat of arms prior to the battle of Poictiers (1356), I beg to quote the following f rom the ' Complete History of England,' vol. i. p. 226 :

But the most remarkable',! nKtauce of honour and valour was the Lord James Audley, who, having vowed to be foremost in the battle, performed his word and confirmed it with many wounds, for which the Prince having rewarded him with 500 marks a year fee simple in England, he presently gave it to four of his esquires who had undergone the same dangers with him. The Prince, knowing it, asked him whether he did not accept his gift. He answered, Yes, but those men had deserved it as well as himself and had more need of it. The Prince was pleased with his reply and gave him 500 marks more, as if he was resolved that so much worth should not go unrewarded." And my Lord Audley (says Br. Gower), as a further and perpetual memorial of their merit, enjoined them to bear on some part of their coat of arms his own proper achievement, Gules, a fret or, which honourable distinction lias been constantly observed by these four distinguished families viz., Button of But- ton, Belves, Foulhurst, and Hawkestone. Br. Gower also observes that it was owing prin- cipally to the valour of these illustrious warriors that Edward the Black Prince, Earl

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chance on special occasions of great urgency, of Chester, gained the immortal battle of

but nabrtual neglect ot them, in business at Poictiers

any rate, usually spells ruin. Genius may There was at Boddington in Cheshire, in