Note, Query, Anecdote, and Incident [pp. 174-175]

:7. NOTE, QUERY, ANECDOTE, AND IzVCIDEzVT.
SOLIDITY OF ANCIENT STRUCTURES. -
The "Trower of the Winds," at Athlens,
was built B. C. 550, by Andronicus. The
temple of Thleseus, at this day the most perfect splecilmen of the kinid, about one hundred
years later.'Trajan's Pillar, still remaining
at Rolme, stood in the center of thle Forum.
It dates from A. D. IOO. The archiitect ApollodorLus, expressed himself lightly on a plan
submitted to his judgment by Adrian, for a
tellmple. He told the emperor, that if the
goddesses and other statues which were
seated in the area should take a fancy to
rise, tlhey would breakl their heads against
the ceiling; an untimely pleasantry which
cost hlim lilis life. Tlhe MAole of Adrian, now
the Castle of St. Angelo, was erected A. D.
I20, by Detrianus, who bears the repute of
having been a worker of miracles, as well as
an able architect. He conveyed thle temple
of thle "I Bona Dea" from one statioll to another long before the C(asa Stanta of Loretto
began to travel from Galilee to Dalmatia,
and so on to its present restillg-place. lThe
miracle of thle monlks tlhus loses all claim to
origillality. Adlian's sepulcher is a lhuge
mass, with little to admire beyolnd strengtlh
alnd alntiquity. lThe Romall sovereign, in
his alcllitectulral taste, is well designated by
Lord Byroll, as the " Imperial mimic of old
Egypt's piles," and " colossal copyist of
deformity." The oldest religious building
ill a pelfect state is thle Churchl of St. Sophia,
at Collstantinople, built by Allthemius alnd
Isidlorus, ulnder the reign of Justillian, ill thle
sixth celntury. It is, therefore, twelve lun —
dred years old. Ill dimensions and general
beauty it is lot to be compared to St. Peter's
at Rolme, St. Paul's, London, or many of the
Gothlic cathedrals; still it is an object of
great ilnterest, from its immellse alntiquity,
alnd the historical associatiolls. All the Greek
empelrors, from Justilnian, xvere crownled
there, and several murdered at the altar.
Six of its pillars are of green jasper, from
the temple of Diana, at Ephesus; and eight
of porplhyry, from the temple of the Sun, at
Rome. The dimensiolls are small; length,
269 feet; breadth, 243 feet. The effect of
the illnterior is perhaps increased by the total
absence of all ornament or decoration, while
the dome is so light that it almost looks suspended in the air.
AN ACIED CHARADE.-Boursauilt, in his
Letters," relates an anecdote of Mademioiselle D'Orleans, daughter to Gaston, thle
brother of Louis XIII, to which he was anll
eye-witnless. She was amusing herself, and
endeavoring to get rid of some of tlhe lllally
heavy hours mixed uip with tlhe gayeties of a
court, by playing wNithl her domestics at the
game of proverbs, expounded lby gesticutlatioll. She had already found out several,
but endeavored in vaini to colmprellelnd the
mealning of one of her gentlemen, whlo capered about, made faces, alnd played a tlhousalnd antic tricks. Tired with attelmpting to
discover thlis elnigma, she ordered lhim to explailn lhimself, "Madana," said lie, " my
proverb means' One fool makes ma)ny.' " The
prilncess looked on this as a reflection on l her
imprudence in being too familiar wxitlh her
servallnts, alnd banished the unllucky plrovelrbialist from her presence forever.
REVIVAL OF OBSOLEITE WORDS.- There
is at present a very strong telndellcy to the
revival of obsolete Englislh alnd Alnglo-Saxoln
words, and the effect of an ilncreasing study
of our alncient literature is very visible in
the style of the best prose, and more especially poetic compositions of the present day.
Our vocabulary is capabl)e of great enriclamellt from the storehouse of thle ancielnt
Anglican speech, and the revival of a taste
for Anglo-Saxon and early English literature
will exert a very importalt ilnfluellce on the
intellectual activity of the lnext gelneration.
The pedalltry of individuals may, no doubt,
as the same affectation has done ill Gerlmlany
and Holland, carry puristic partialities to a
lengthl as absurd as lipograimmatismi ill literature, but the general familiarity of liter.
ary men with classic and Contilnelntal plhilology will always sulpply a corrective, alnd no
great danger is to be apprehelnded ill tlhis
direction. In any event, thl evil will be less
than iwas experienced from the stilted classicislm of Johnson or thle Gallic imitatiolns of
Gibbon. Thle recovery of forgotten native
words will affect Englislh solmlething in the
same way, thoughl not in thle same direction,
as did tlhe ilnflux of French words ill the
fourteenth celntury, and- of Latiia ill tlae sixteentlh; and the gain will be as real as it wvas
in tlhose instances.
I
x876.]
175