by this he declares his opinion that a
man may be alive now who was not alive a twelvemonth ago. And,
indeed, there lies the sophistry of his argument. He dares not assert
that he was alive ever since that 29th of March, but that he _is now
alive, and was so on_ that day. I grant the latter, for he did not
die till night, as appears by the printed account of his death in a
_letter to a lord_, and whether he since revived I leave the world to
judge. This, indeed, is perfect cavilling; and I am ashamed to dwell
any longer upon it."

So if the shade of Pelops will receive our counsel, we advise him to
abstain from vouching any of the family of Tantalus to testify to the
reality of his existence; for he has to deal with a Bickerstaff, by whom
it has been demonstrated that Tantalus is nothing but _tain tal ais_,
"water receding backwards," or an incarnation of those fabulous times when
water was supposed to run uphill, whence it appears that the whole race of
Atreus is a mere series of non-existences. It is true we take this latter
derivation from an extract from another of this judicious discriminator's
labours, in the Transactions of his Academy, where, among other
etymological curiosities, we have that very Irish youth Narcissus, a
beautiful youth, who, seeing his _own_ image reflected in a stream, became
enamoured of it, thinking it the _nymph_ of the water. _Naobh ceas
as_--"the sight of a nymph in the stream." Pythia, "the priestess of
Apollo at Delphos. She _always_ delivered her oracles in hexameter verses,
and with musical intonation--_pitead_, 'music,' from whence the
name."[10]

Sanconiathon, no longer the "old beginning of time," appears here as
_san_, "holy," _con_, "understanding, sense, or wise men," _niod_, "real,"
_tain_, "of the country"--"the sacred writer or wise recorder of the
events of his country." Pygmalion, _big_, "little," _mallein_, "mule," the
_little mule_, or person of a low stature and obstinate disposition. This
is hardly so good as Swift's _pigmy lion_. "Pasiphae, _ba sabas_, 'the
propensity, fancy, or disposition of a cow;' and, _proh pudor_, Venus,
'herself,' _bhean_, 'the woman,' _aois_, 'of the community'--pronounced
_vanus_, 'the ---- or _woman of the town_!'"

But to come back to the geographical division of the Levant, to which _e u
ro ba tur ros_, which the foolish Greeks construed Europa and the bull,
were only preparatory, we have another