"P.C.S.S." is too great an admirer of Pope not to seek to vindicate
him from one, at least, of the blunders attributed to him by Mr. D.
Stevens, at p. 331. of the "Notes and Queries."
"Singed are his _brows_, the scorching _lids_ grow black."
Now, if Mr. S. will refer to Homer, he will find that the original
fully justifies the use of "brows" and "lids" in the _plural_. It runs
thus (_Od._ ix. v. 389.):
"[Greek: Panta de ui blephar amphi kai ophruas eusen autmae]."
"P.C.S.S." wishes that he could equally remove from Pope the charge
of inaccuracy respecting the _three_ cannibal meals of Polyphemus. He
fears that nothing can be alleged to impugn Mr. Stevens's perfectly
just criticism.
While on the subject of Pope, "P.C.S.S." would wish to advert to
a communication (No. 16. p. 246.) in which it is insinuated that
Pope was probably indebted to Petronius Arbiter for the well-known
passage--
"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather and prunella."
With all respect for the ingenious author of that communication,
"P.C.S.S." confesses that he is unable to discover such a similitude
of expression as might warrant the notion that Pope had been a
borrower from Petronius. He cannot suppose that Mr. F. could have been
led away by any supposed analogy between _corium_ and _coricillum_.
The latter, Mr. F. must know, is nothing more than a diminutive of
a diminutive (coricillum, _not_ corcillum, from corculum); and the
word is coined by Petronius to ridicule one of the affectations of
Trimalchio (Nero), who was wont to indulge, to an absurd extent, in
the use of such diminutives (_vide_ Burmann, _in loco_). "P.C.S.S."
will now subjoin such translations of the passage in question as he
has hitherto had opportunities of referring to. The first is from _The
Works of Petronius Arbiter, translated by several hands_, Lond. 8vo.
4th edit. 1714. At the beginning of the translation itself there is
this heading--"Made English by Mr. Wilson, of the Middle Temple, and
several others." The passage in question is thus rendered:--
"Come, my friends, let us see how merry you can be! for in my
time, I have been no better than yourselves; but, by my own
industry, I am what I am. _'Tis the heart makes the man_; all
the rest is but stuff!"
In another translation, which, with Grub-Street audacity, the
publisher, in his title-passage, presumes to attribute to Addison!
and which appeared in 1736 (Lond. 8vo.), the passage is as follows:--
"I was once as you are: but now, thanks to my industry, I am
what I am. _It is the heart that makes the man_; all the rest
is but stuff!"
Be the translator who he may, this version, so impudently ascribed to
the moral Addison, is written with much spirit and power, and with a
remarkable comprehension of the author's meaning. Some of the poetical
fragments at the end are, indeed, singularly well done.
Of the two French versions which "P.C.S.S." has examined, the one by
Levaur (Paris, 8vo. 1726) thus translates the passage:
"Je vous prie, mes amis ... _C'est le coeur qui fait les
hommes; je compte le reste pour un fétu_."