A Budget of Paradoxes Volume II Part 45

[37] John Bonnycastle (died in 1821) was professor of mathematics at Woolwich. His edition of Bossut's _History of Mathematics_ (1803), and his works on elementary mathematics were well known.

[38] The bibliographies give Husain Rifki as the translator, a practical geometry as the work, and 1802 as the date.

[39] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}.

[40] Probably in _The Improvement of the Mind_ which Isaac Watts (1674-1748) published in 1741. His _Horae Lyricae_ appeared in 1706, and the _Hymns_, by which he is still well known, in 1707.

[41] Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, second Marquis of Northampton (1790-1851), was a poet, a scientist, and a statesman. He was president of the Royal Society from 1838 to 1849.

[42] Besides the writings here mentioned Perigal published a work on _Geometric Maps_ (London, 1853), and _Graphic Demonstrations of Geometric Problems_ (1891).

[43] See Vol. II, page 5, note 18.

[44] James Ferguson (1710-1776) was a portrait painter, an astronomer, and a popular writer and lecturer on various subjects.

[45] In the old ballad of King Alfred and the Shepherd, when the latter is tempting the disguised king into his service, he says:

"Of whig and whey we have good store, And keep good pease-straw fire."

_Whig_ is then a preparation of milk. But another commonly cited derivation may be suspected from the word _whiggamor_ being used before _whig_, as applied to the political party; _whig_ may be a contraction. Perhaps both derivations conspired: the word _whiggamor_, said to be a word of command to the horses, might contract into _whig_, and the contraction might be welcomed for its own native meaning.--A. De M.

[46] This was p. 147 in the first edition.

[47] St. Augustine (354-430) was bishop of Hippo. His _Confessiones_, in 13 books, was written in 397, and his _De Civitate Dei_ in 426.

[48] "He was wont to indulge in certain Punic subtleties lest he should weary the reader by much speaking."

[49] John Milner (1751-1826), bishop of Castabala, a well-known antiquarian.

[50] It will be said that when the final happiness is spoken of in "sure and certain hope," it is _the_ Resurrection, generally; but when afterwards application is made to the individual, simple "hope" is all that is predicated which merely means "wish?" I know it: but just before the general declaration, it is declared that it _has_ pleased G.o.d of his great mercy to _take unto Himself_, the soul of our dear brother: and between the "hopes" hearty thanks are given that it _has_ pleased G.o.d to deliver our dear brother out of the miseries of this wicked world, with an additional prayer that the number of the elect may shortly be accomplished. All which means, that our dear brother is declared to be taken to G.o.d, to be in a place not so miserable as this world--a description which excludes the "wicked place"--and to be of the elect. Yes, but it will be said again! do you not know that when this Liturgy was framed, all who were not in the road to Heaven were excommunicated burial service read over them. Supposing the fact to have been true in old time, which is a very spicy supposition, how does that excuse the present practice? Have you a right _always_ to say what you believe _cannot always_ be true, because you think it was once _always_ true? Yes, but, choose whom you please, you cannot be _certain_ He is _not_ gone to Heaven. True, and choose which Bishop you please, you cannot be demonstratively _certain_, he is _not_ a concealed unbeliever: may I therefore say of the whole bench, _singulatim et seriatim_, that they _are_ unbelievers? No! No! The voice of common sense, of which common logic is a part, is slowly opening the eyes of the mult.i.tude to the unprincipled reasoning of theologians. Remember 1819. What chance had Parliamentary Reform when the House of Commons thanked the Manchester sabre-men? If you do not reform your Liturgy, it will be reformed for you, and sooner than you think! The dishonest interpretations, by defence of which even the minds of children are corrupted, and which throw their shoots into literature and commerce, will be sent to the place whence they came: and over the door of the established organization for teaching religion will be posted the following notice:

"Shift and Subterfuge, Shuffle and Dodge, No longer here allowed to lodge!"

All this ought to be written by some one who belongs to the Establishment: in him, it would be quite prudent and proper; in me, it is kind and charitable.--A. De M.

[51] But few do have access to it, for the work is not at all common, and this Piscator is rarely mentioned.

[52] This derivation has been omitted.--S. E. De M.

[53] A blow for a blow. Roland and Oliver were two of the paladins of Charlemagne whose exploits were so alike that each was constantly receiving credit for what the other did. Finally they met and fought for five days on an island in the Rhine, but even at the end of that period it was merely a drawn battle.

[54] "In the name of the church."

[55] "From the chair," officially.

[56] Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (1802-1865), whose elevation to the archbishopric of Westminster and the cardinalate (1850) led to the act prohibiting Roman Catholics from a.s.suming episcopal t.i.tles in England, a law that was never enforced.

[57] He was born in 1812 and was converted to Catholicism in 1839. He founded the _Tablet_ in London in 1840, removing its office to Dublin in 1849. He became M. P. in 1852, and at the time of his death (1855) he was preparing a memorial to the Pope asking him to annul the proclamation of an Irish bishop prohibiting his priests from taking part in politics.

[58] John Guillim (1565-1621) was the first to systematize and ill.u.s.trate the whole science of heraldry. He published _A display of Heraldrie: manifesting a more easie accesse to the knowledge thereof_ in 1610.

[59] "Faith."

[60] "Faithful."

[61] "For the faith vindicated."

[62] The words are of the same root, and hence our word _fiddle_. Some suppose this root means a _rope_, which, as that to which you trust, becomes, in one divergence, confidence itself--just as a _rock_, and other words, come to mean reliance--and in another, a little string.--A. De M.

[63] The Greek lexicographer, a Christian, living after 1000 A. D. His lexicon was first printed at Milan in 1499.

[64] _Skindapsos._

[65] This was John William Burgon (1813-1888), Gresham professor of theology (1867) and dean of Chichester. He was an ultra-conservative, opposing the revised version of the New Testament, and saying of the admission of women to the university examinations that it was "a thing inexpedient and immodest."

[66] _Ekklesia_, or _ecclesia_.

[67] _Ennomos ekklesia._

[68] "Without doubt I shall perish forever."

[69] "Every man is an animal." "Sortes is a man." "Sortes is an animal."

[70] "For a special purpose."

[71] Herac.l.i.tus of Ephesus, the weeping philosopher, 6th century B. C.

[72] Democritus, the laughing philosopher, founder of the atomistic theory, 5th century B. C.

[73] "Ends to which."

[74] "Ends from which."

[75] "In just as many syllables," "With just as many letters," "In just as many words."

[76] "I shall make a way," "I shall find a way."

[77] The notion that the Evil Spirit is a functionary liable to be dismissed for not attending to his duty, is, so far as my reading goes, utterly unknown in theology. My first wrinkle on the subject was the remark of the Somersetshire farmer upon Palmer the poisoner-- "Well! if the Devil don't take he, he didn't ought to be allowed to be devil no longer."--A. De M.

William Palmer (1824-1856) was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and practised medicine at London. He was hanged in 1856 for having poisoned a friend and was also suspected of having poisoned his wife and brother for their insurance money, besides being guilty of numerous other murders. His trial was very much in the public attention at the time.

[78] Advantages and dangers.

[79] The old priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, was used as an asylum for the insane. The name was corrupted to Bedlam.

[80] Referring to the common English p.r.o.nunciation of St. John, almost Sinjin. John St. John Long (1798-1834), an Irishman by birth, practised medicine in London. He claimed to have found a specific for rheumatism and tuberculosis, but upon the death of one of his patients in 1830 he was tried for manslaughter. He died of tuberculosis four years later, refusing to take his own treatment.

[81] William of Occam (d. 1349), so called from his birthplace, Ockham, in Surrey. He was a Franciscan, and lectured on philosophy in the Sorbonne.