_French Maxim_.--The French saying quoted by "R.V." is the 223rd
of _Les Réflexions morales du Duc de la Rochefoucauld_ (Pougin,
Paris, 1839). I feel great pleasure in being able to answer your
correspondent's query, as I hope that my reply may be the means of
introducing to his notice one of the most delightful authors that has
ever yet written: one who deserves far more attention than he appears
to receive from general readers in this degenerate age, and from whom
many of his literary successors have borrowed some of their brightest
thoughts. I need not go far for an illustration:
"Praise undeserved, is scandal in disguise,"
is merely a condensation of,
"Louer les princes des vertus qu'ils n'ont pas, c'est leur
dire impunément des injures."--La Rochefoucauld, Max. 327.
I believe that Pope marks it as a _translation--a borrowed
thought--not as a quotation_. He has just before used the words "your
Majesty;" and I think the word "_scandal_" is employed "_consulto_,"
and alludes to the offence known in English law as "scandalum
magnatum." Your correspondent will, of course, read the work in the
original; in fact, he _must_ do so _per force_. A good translation
of _Les Maximes_ is still a desideratum in English literature. I
have not yet seen one that could lay claim even to the meagre title
of mediocrity; although I have spared neither time nor pains in the
search. Should any of your readers have been more fortunate, I shall
feel obliged by their referring me to it.