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to feel that no conception the wildest imagination can form will bear the least comparison with the intrinsic greatness of the subject . " " Plato deny'd the world can be Govern'd without geometry . " Plato was certainly fond of geometry , in which Socrates doubtless ,
and it may be the great Egyptian mathematician Theodoras also , instructed him . But this line is an exaggeration , a sly hit to ridicule the great philosopher , who said we must allow " that fire is a pyramid tied to the earth by numbers , and that the world is a figure consisting of twelve pentagons . " Let us balance against this the facts that Plato possessed the soul of a poet , that his imagination was of the highest order , while he could trace flowery thoughts , and we must see that he was something more than a mere geometrician—a name , . that with all the industry in the world one cannot gain without a
decided genius . We will take this opportunity of remarking , that a love of geometry is not antagonistic to a love and appreciation of poetry . Some of our greatest poets , from Dryden , Coleridge , and Byron , to our present poet laureate Tennyson , have been educated where no high honours can be gained , without winning first a wreath for attainment in such studies . Thus extremes seem to meet , and Poetry and Science walk hand in hand .
'' He stole your cloak , and pick'd your pocket , Chous'd and caldes'd you like a blockhead . " " Caldes'd" is a word of the poet ' s own coming , evidently meaning ensnared , as the word " choused " means tricked . The word chouse is now considered a slang word , and in most frequent use in
the school-boy ' s play-ground . To Gifford we are indebted for its origin being derived , he says , from chiaous , the Turkish name for an interpreter . This gives us an insight into the ancient character borne by the Turkish interpreter , when unjust , tricky actions were thought similar to those of a chiaous . Tliis word cannot have been introduced into England long before the Commonwealth . As
authorities for the expression " chouse , and " to chouse , Johnson gives lludibras and Dry den . That Butler imagined a chouse to have not only the signification of a trick ., but also a low trickster , is made pretty clear , we think , by the following lines in his MS . " Commonplace Book : "—
" He that with injury is griev a , And goes to law to be reliev'd , Is like a silly rabble chouse , Who , when a thief had robb'd his house , Applies himself to cunning man To help him to his goods again . "
We cannot forbear transcribing the following passage in Mr . French ' s " English Past and Present / ' which bears upon the point ; he saysu Sometimes a word springs up in a very curious way ; here in one , not having , I suppose , any great currency except among schoolboys ; yet being no invention
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
to feel that no conception the wildest imagination can form will bear the least comparison with the intrinsic greatness of the subject . " " Plato deny'd the world can be Govern'd without geometry . " Plato was certainly fond of geometry , in which Socrates doubtless ,
and it may be the great Egyptian mathematician Theodoras also , instructed him . But this line is an exaggeration , a sly hit to ridicule the great philosopher , who said we must allow " that fire is a pyramid tied to the earth by numbers , and that the world is a figure consisting of twelve pentagons . " Let us balance against this the facts that Plato possessed the soul of a poet , that his imagination was of the highest order , while he could trace flowery thoughts , and we must see that he was something more than a mere geometrician—a name , . that with all the industry in the world one cannot gain without a
decided genius . We will take this opportunity of remarking , that a love of geometry is not antagonistic to a love and appreciation of poetry . Some of our greatest poets , from Dryden , Coleridge , and Byron , to our present poet laureate Tennyson , have been educated where no high honours can be gained , without winning first a wreath for attainment in such studies . Thus extremes seem to meet , and Poetry and Science walk hand in hand .
'' He stole your cloak , and pick'd your pocket , Chous'd and caldes'd you like a blockhead . " " Caldes'd" is a word of the poet ' s own coming , evidently meaning ensnared , as the word " choused " means tricked . The word chouse is now considered a slang word , and in most frequent use in
the school-boy ' s play-ground . To Gifford we are indebted for its origin being derived , he says , from chiaous , the Turkish name for an interpreter . This gives us an insight into the ancient character borne by the Turkish interpreter , when unjust , tricky actions were thought similar to those of a chiaous . Tliis word cannot have been introduced into England long before the Commonwealth . As
authorities for the expression " chouse , and " to chouse , Johnson gives lludibras and Dry den . That Butler imagined a chouse to have not only the signification of a trick ., but also a low trickster , is made pretty clear , we think , by the following lines in his MS . " Commonplace Book : "—
" He that with injury is griev a , And goes to law to be reliev'd , Is like a silly rabble chouse , Who , when a thief had robb'd his house , Applies himself to cunning man To help him to his goods again . "
We cannot forbear transcribing the following passage in Mr . French ' s " English Past and Present / ' which bears upon the point ; he saysu Sometimes a word springs up in a very curious way ; here in one , not having , I suppose , any great currency except among schoolboys ; yet being no invention