[51] This single word implies decorum, good breeding, and propriety. [52] As to terminations, so careful were the best French poets of their rhymes. [53] Chesterfield had at once perceived the emptiness of the saying, which is certainly not in _ipsissimis verbis_ of Lord Shaftesbury. “We have,” says Carlyle, in his “Essay on Voltaire,” “oftener than once endeavored to attach some meaning to that aphorism, vulgarly imputed to Shaftesbury--which, however, _we can find nowhere in his works_,--that ridicule is the test of truth.” In the “Characteristics of Enthusiasm,” sec. 2, there is this sentence, which comes very near it:--“How is it, etc., that we (Christians) appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid _to stand the test of ridicule_”; but further on (p. 11, ed. 1733, vol. i.) he asks: “For what ridicule can lie against reason? or how can any one of the least justice of thought admire a ridicule wrong placed? Nothing is more ridiculous than this itself.” Shaftesbury often returns to this subject; see “Errors in Wit,” etc. [54] Ariosto, Tasso, and Boccaccio: the Orlando, Gierusalemme, and Decamerone. [55] See “Maxims,” p. 328. [56] These maxims are referred to on page 324. [57] Upon the back of the original is written, in Mr. Stanhope’s hand, “Excellent Maxims, but more calculated for the meridian of France or Spain than of England.” [58] This Maxim, as well as several others, evidently prove they were written by a man subject to despotic government. Transcriber’s Notes Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. Italics are represented thus _italic_.