Notes and Queries, Number 14, February 2, 1850 | Page 3

runs away Will live to fight another day.'
"These lines are almost universally supposed to form a part of
_Hudibras_; and, so confident have even scholars been on the subject,

that in 1784 a wager was made at Bootle's, of twenty to one, that they
were to be found in that inimitable poem. Dodsley was referred to as
the arbitrator, when he ridiculed the idea of consulting him on the
subject, saying, 'Every fool knows they are in Hudibras.' George
Selwyn, who was present, said to Dodsley, 'Pray, sir, will you be good
enough, then, to inform an old fool, who is at the same time your wise
worship's very humble servant, in what canto they are to be found?'
Dodsley took down the volume, but he could not find the passage; the
next day came, with no better success; and the sage bibliopole was
obliged to confess, 'that a man might be ignorant of the author of this
well-known couplet without being absolutely a fool.'"
I have also the following memorandum in a common-place book of
mine, but I do not remember from what source I transcribed it many
years past:--
"The couplet, thus erroneously ascribed to the author of _Hudibras_,
occurs in a small volume of Miscellaneous Poems, by Sir John Mennis,
written in the reign of Charles the Second, which has now become
extremely scarce. The original of the couplet may, however, be traced
to much higher authority, even to Demosthenes, who has the following
expression:-- {211}
'[Greek: Anaer ho pheugon kai palin machaesetai]',
of which the lines are almost a literal translation."
While on the subject of quotations, let me ask whether any of your
correspondents can tell me where the passage, "Providence tempers the
wind to the shorn lamb," is to be found?
Among a few of the many floating quotable passages universally
known, without any trace of the authors, among general readers and
writers, are the following:--
"When wild in woods the noble savage ran."
DRYDEN's Conquest of Grenada.
"And whistled as he went for want of thought."
DRYDEN's Cymon and Iphigenia.
"Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their
bounds divide."
DRYDEN's _Absalom and Achitophel_, st. i. I. 163.
"The tenth transmitter of a foolish face."
SAVAGE.

"When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war."
NAT. LEE.
The real line in Lee is--
"When Greeks join Greeks then was the tug of war."
LEE's Alexander the Great.
J.W.G. GUTCH
* * * * *
I wish to ask a few questions, referring to these lines, if you do not
think the subject already exhausted by Mr. Rimbault's curious and
interesting communication.
1. Does not the entire quotation run somewhat thus:--
"For he that fights and runs away May live to fight another day; But he
that is in battle slain Can never hope to fight again"?
2. Are the two last lines in the _Musarum Deliciæ_?
3. May not the idea suggesting the two first lines be traced to some
passage in one of the orations of _Demosthenes_, and, PAST him, to
the "[Greek: Anaer ho pheugon kai palin machaesetai]" of some
contemporary, if not still older writer?
4. Whose Apothegems [qy., those of Demosthenes?] are under
consideration on folio 239., from which Mr. Rimbault quotes?
Queries 1, 2, 3 have long stood _in MS._ in my note-book, and I should
much like to see them in _print_, while the subject to which they refer
is still fresh in the minds of your readers.
MELANION
* * * * *
The lines--
"For he that fights and runs away May live to fight another day,"
resemble the following quatrain in the _Satyre Menippée_, being one
of the several verses appended to the tapestry on which was wrought
the battle of Senlis:--
"Souvent celuy qui demeure Est cause de son meschef; Celuy qui fuit
de bonne heure Peut combattre de rechef."
A.J.H.
* * * * *
NOTES FROM FLY-LEAVES, No. 5.
In the library of St. John's College are some hundreds of volumes
bequeathed to it by Thomas Baker; most of these have little notices on

the fly-leaves, some thirty or forty of which seem worth printing. One
(Strype's _Life of Parker_) has marginal notes throughout the book, the
value of which will be duly appreciated by those who have read Baker's
notes on Burnet's Reformation. (See the British Magazine for the last
year.)
Hereafter, if you do not object, I hope to send larger extracts from
Baker's MSS.; at present I confine myself to a single specimen, taken
from the fly-leaf of a copy of Noy's _Compleat Lawyer_, London, 1665.
(St. John's Library, Class mark, I. 10. 49)
"Gul. Noye de S. Buriens. Com. Cornub. Armig. unus Magistrorum de
Banco fieri fecit, 1626. On a window in Lincoln