it only in a revised form,
and that, consequently, the play which Marlow imitated might not
necessarily have been that fund of life and humour that we find it
now.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

St. John's Wood, March 19. 1850.

* * * * *

PROVERBIAL SAYINGS AND THEIR ORIGINS--PLAGIARISMS AND PARALLEL
PASSAGES.

"[Greek: 'On oi Theoi philousin apothnaeskei neos]."

Brunck, _Poetae Gnomici_, p. 231., quoted by Gibbon, _Decl. and Fall_
(Milman. Lond. 1838. 8vo.), xii. 355. (_note_ 65.)

"Quem Jupiter vult perdere, prius dementat."

These words are Barnes's translation of the following fragment of
Euripides, which is the 25th in Barnes' ed. (see _Gent.'s Mag._, July,
1847, p. 19, _note_):--

"[Greek: 'Otan de Daimon andri porsynae kaka,
Ton noun exlapse proton]."

This, or a similar passage, may have been employed proverbially in
the time of Sophocles. See l. 632. et seq. of the _Antigone_ (ed.
Johnson. Londini. 1758. 8vo.); on which passage there is the following
scholium:--

"[Greek: Meta sophias gar upo tinos aoidimou kleinon epos pephantai,
'Otan d' o daimon andri porsynae kaka,
Ton noun exlapse proton o bouleuetai.]" {348}

Respecting the lines referred to in the Chorus, Dr. Donaldson makes
the following remarks, in his critical edition of the _Antigone_,
published in 1848:--

"The parallel passages for this adage are fully given by
Ruhnken on Velleius Paterculus, ii. 57. (265, 256.), and by
Wyttenbach on Plutarch, _De Audiendis Poetis_, p. 17. B. (pp.
190, 191.)"

* * * * *

"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."

Congreve's _Mourning Bride_, act i. sc. i. l. 1.

* * * * *

"L'appetit vient en mangeant."

Rabelais, _Gargantua_, Liv. i. chap. 5. (vol. i. p. 136, ed. Variorum.
Paris, 1823. 8vo.)

This proverb had been previously used by Amyot, and probably also
by Jerome le (or de) Hangest, who was a Doctor of the Sorbonne, and
adversary of Luther, and who died in 1538.--Ibid. p. 136 (_note_ 49.).

* * * * *

I know not how old may be "to put the cart before the horse." Rabelais
(i. 227.) has--

"Il mettoyt la charrette devant les beufz."

* * * * *

"If the sky falls, we shall catch larks."

Rabelais (i. 229, 230.):--

"Si les nues tomboyent, esp