Hull.
The true origin and meaning of _forlorn hope_ has no doubt been fully
explained in "N & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 569. Richardson's _Dictionary_ does
not countenance this view, but his example proves it conclusively. He only
gives one quotation, from North's _Plutarch_; and as it stands in the
dictionary, it is not easy to comprehend the passage entirely. On comparing
it, however, with the corresponding passage in Langhorne (Valpy's edition,
vol. iii. p. 97.), and again with Pompei's Italian version (vol. iii. p.
49.), I have no doubt that, by the term _forlorn hope_, North implied
merely an advanced party; for as he is describing a pitched battle and not
a siege, a modern forlorn hope would be strangely out of place.
Is _enfans perdus_ the idiomatic French equivalent, or is it only
dictionary-French? And what is the German or the Italian expression?