Adjectives which signify desire, knowledge, memory, fear, and the
contrary to these, require a genitive case, as
Est natura vetularum obtrectationis avida:
The nature of old women is fond of scandal.
This particularly applies to old maids. As those delightful creatures
now-a-days, not content with being _grey_ aspire to be actually _blue_;
we cannot help recommending to them a kind of study, for which their
propensity to _cutting up_ renders them peculiarly adapted; we mean
_Anatomy_. And since it is on the foulest and most odious points of
character that they chiefly delight to dwell, we more especially suggest
to them the pursuit of _Morbid Anatomy_, as one which is likely to be
attended both with gratification and success.
Mens tempestatum præscia:
A mind foreknowing the weather.
A piece of _sea-weed_ has often, heretofore, been used as a barometer;
but it is only of late that this purpose has been answered by a
_murphy_.
Immemor beneficii:
Unmindful of a kindness.
The sort of kindness one is least likely to forget is that which our
master used to say he conferred upon us, when he was inculcating
learning by means of the rod. We cannot help thinking, however, that he
began _at the wrong end_.
Imperitus rerum:
Unacquainted with the world, i.e. Not 'up to snuff'.
Much controversy has been wasted in attempts to determine the origin of
the phrase "up to snuff". Some have contended that it was suggested by
the well-known quality possessed by snuff, of _clearing the head_; but
this idea is far fetched, not to say absurd. Others will have that the
expression was derived from Snofe, or Snoffe, the name of a cunning
rogue who flourished about the time of the first crusade; so that "up to
Snoffe" signified as clever, or knowing, as Snoffe; and was in process
of time converted into "up to snuff." This opinion is deserving of
notice; though the only argument in its favour is, that the phrase in
question was in vogue long before the discovery of tobacco. Probably the
soundest view is that which connects it with the proper name Znoufe,
which in ancient High-Dutch is equivalent to Mercury, whose reputation
for astuteness among the ancients was exceedingly great. Conf.
Hookey-Walk, ii. 13. Hok. Pok. Wonk-Fum. viii. 24. Cheek. Marin. passim,
with a host of commentators, ancient and modern.
Roscius timidus Deorum fuit:
_Roscius_ was afraid of the _Gods_.
Adjectives ending in _ax_, derived from verbs, also require a genitive
case, as
Tempus edax rerum:
Time is the consumer of all things.
Hence Time is sometimes figured as an alderman.
Nouns partitive, nouns of number, nouns comparative and superlative, and
certain adjectives put partitively, require a genitive case, from which
also they take their gender; as
Utrum horum mavis accipe:
Take which of those two things you had rather.
So Queen Eleanor gave Fair Rosamond her choice between the dagger and
the bowl of poison. This, to our mind, would have been like choosing a
tree to be hanged on.
Primus fidicinum fuit Orpheus:
Orpheus was the first of fiddlers.
He is said to have charmed the hearts of broomsticks.
Momus lepidissimus erat Deorum:
Momus was the funniest of the Gods.
Other deities may have made Jupiter shake his head. Momus used to make
him shake his sides.
Sequimur te, sancte deorum:
We follow thee, O sacred deity.
Namely, the aforesaid Momus. He is the only heathen god that we should
have had much reverence for, and certainly the only one that we should
ever have sacrificed to at all. The offering most commonly made to the
god of laughter was, probably, _a sacrifice of propriety_.
But the above nouns are also used with these prepositions, a, ab, de, e,
ex, inter, ante; as,
Primus inter philosophos Democritus est:
Democritus is the first amongst philosophers.
And why? Because he alone was wise enough to find out that laughing is
better than crying. He it was who first proved to the world that
philosophy and comicality are, in fact, one science; and that the more
we learn the more we laugh. We forget whether it was he or Aristotle who
made the remark, that man is the only laughing animal except the hyæna.
_Secundus_ sometimes requires a dative case, as
Haud ulli veterum virtute secundus:
Inferior to none of the ancients in valour.
[Illustration]
Surely Virgil in saying this, had an eye to a hero, whose fame has been
perpetuated in the verses of a later poet.
"Some talk of Alexander, and some of Pericles,
Of Conon and Lysander, and Alcibiades;
But of all the gallant heroes, there 's none for to compare,
With my ri-fol-de-riddle-iddle-lol to the British grenadier!"
An interrogative, and the word which answers to it, shall be of the same
case and tense, except words of a different construction be made use of;
as
Quarum rerum nulla est satietas? Pomorum.
Of what things is there no fulness? Of fruit.
Dr. Johnson used to say that he never got as much wall fruit as he could
eat.
[Illustration]