Gravesend.
[Footnote 1: Traces of these tile-works are still discoverable in a field
some three or four hundred yards on the London side of Tilbury.
[Wilson, in his _Life of Defoe_, vol. i. pp. 228. et seq., gives some
interesting particulars of Defoe's share in these pantile works, and of
his losses in connexion with them. Pantiles had been hitherto a Dutch
manufacture, and brought in large quantities into England; the works at
Tilbury were erected for the purpose of superseding the necessity for
such importation, and providing a new channel for the employment of
labour.--ED.]
* * * * *
"ANTIQUITAS SAECULI JUVENTUS MUNDI."
(Vol. ii., pp. 218. 350.)
T. J. and his Dublin friend (Vol. ii., p. 350.), appear to refer, one to
the Latin version, the other to the original English text of Lord Bacon's
_Instauration_; and, oddly enough, the inference to which either points, as
a reason for disbelieving in the previous existence of the phrase
"Antiquitas" &c., extends not to the authority consulted by the other.
Thus, the circumstance of "_ordine retrogrado_" being printed also in
Italics, is true only in respect of the _English_ text; while, on the other
{396} hand, "_ut vere dicamus_" is an expression to be found only in the
_Latin_.
But it may be doubted whether the originality of the phrase "Antiquitas
saeculi juventus mundi" is, after all, worth speculating upon. In the sense
in which Lord Bacon used it, it is rather a naked truism than a wise
aphorism. It does not even necessarily convey the intended meaning; nor, if
unaccompanied by an explanation, would it be safe from a widely different
interpretation. A previous correspondent of "NOTES AND QUERIES" had termed
it "this fine aphoristic expression;" and yet, when Lord Bacon himself
expands the thought into an aphorism, he does so without recurring to the
phrase in question, which is a tolerably fair proof that he did not look
upon it as a peculiarly happy one. (_Novum Organum_, lib. 1., Aphorismus
LXXXIV.)
T. J. infers that if the phrase were a quotation it would have been
preceded by "ut dictum est" rather than by "ut dicamus"--but even if it had
been introduced by the first of these forms, it does not appear that it
would thereby have been proved to be a quotation; because there are
instances wherein Lord Bacon directly refers to the source from which he
professes to quote, and yet prefers to give the purport in his own words
rather than in those of his author. Thus, in citing one of the most
exquisite and familiar passages of Lucretius, he introduces it by the
prefix, "_Poeta elegantissime dixit_." And yet what follows, although
printed in italics with every appearance of strict quotation, is not the
language of Lucretius, but a commonplace prose version of its substance.
(_Sermones Fideles_, De Veritate.)
With reference to Lord Bacon's works, there are two Queries which I wish to
ask.
T. J.'s friend mentions a rare translation into English by Gilbert Wats,
Oxford, as existing in Primate Marsh's library. Query, _Of what_ is it a
translation?
In Lord Bacon's life, by William Rawley, it is stated that his lordship was
born in a house "infra plateam dictum _Le Strand_ juxta Londinum."
Query, Was the Strand ever known as _Le Strand_, similarly to
Adwick-_le-street_ in Yorkshire?