ANCIENT CLASSICS AND MODERN POLITICS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The following passages from ancient classics bearing upon modern politics may be of interest at the present time.
(1) With reference to the preamble of the Parliament Act :—
"Nthi,l mihi frigidius videtur, nihil ineptius quam lex cum prologo."—Seneca, Ep. 94.
(2) On "Limehouse" oratory, such as "No audience but the limbs of Limehouse are able to endure."— Shak., Hen. VIII., 5, 4, 67.
(3) An apposite eulogy of the medical profession, which, as the Greek is somewhat long, I give from the up-to-date version of
the brothers Fowler :—
" This sacred occupation should be secured against all compul- sion, enslaved to no law, intimidated and penalized by no court, exposed to no votes or uninstructed passions."—Lucian, Abd. 23.
Besides the above I came across a most extraordinary misprint some years ago in a little book of Gildon on Shakespeare, the reference to which has been mislaid. But it was to this effect, that we had to go to the Poets for courage. The word "Poets" was raisprinted Boers! Needless to say, it read very curiously during the South African war.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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