* * * * *


"JACK OF BOTH SIDES."


This proverb is derived from the Greek, and applied to Theramenes, who
was at first a mighty stickler for the thirty tyrants' authority: but
when they began to abuse it by defending such outrageous practices, no
man more violently opposed it than he; and this (says Potter) got him
the nick-name of "_Jack of both sides_," from _Cothurnus_, which was a
kind of shoe that fitted both feet. P.T.W.

* * * * *


PLAY OF "CAESAR IN EGYPT."


When the pack'd audience from their posts retir'd,
And Julius in a general hiss expir'd,
Sage Booth to Cibber cried, "Compute your gains;
These Egypt dogs, and their old dowdy queens,
But ill requite these habits and these scenes!
To rob Corneille for such a motley piece--
His geese were swans, but, zounds, thy swans are geese."
Rubbing his firm, invulnerable brow,
The bard replied, "The critics must allow,
'Twas ne'er in Caesar's destiny to run."