I dare say many persons have thought with me, that a poet's promise of a "belt of straw" to his love, was not a very complimentary one; one possible meaning never struck me till this moment: it may be a compliment unconsciously drawn from a heathen source, and perpetuated, like so many of our old-world customs, among a class of people the least likely to understand the meaning.
Another corroboration of Macaulay's Young Levite may be found in _The Tatler_, No. 255, sixty years later than Burton.
I beg to suggest a method of keeping "Notes," which I have found useful. I have a blank book for each quarter of the world, paged alphabetically; I enter my notes and queries according to the subject for which they are most likely to be required; if relating to mere geography or history, under the name of place or person. I also keep a list (with dates) of all the books I read, with a note of any use to be made of them; I also keep a list of all books to be read, and the reasons for reading them. I tried various ways of keeping my notes, and found no classification so easy for reference as the plan I have mentioned; it may not, however, suffice to those whose reading is much more extensive than mine; I mention it as a _working_ plan.
Sir,--In your Sixth Number, p. 93, J.E.M. wishes to know whence the motto, "Si quis amicum absentum rodere delectat," &c. is taken.
Allow me to refer your correspondent to Horace, Sat. I. iv. 81 sqq.
"Absentem qui rodit amicum, Qui non defendit, alio culpante, * * * * * hic niger est, hanc tu, Romane, caveto."
The inscription would seem to be but an adaptation of Horace's maxim.
The political maxim, or phrase, inquired after by C. is Burke's. It occurs in his celebrated _Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontent_, published in 1770, in the course of his defence of party, a few pages from the end. A short extract will show the connection in which it is introduced:--
"No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle."