is merely a condensation of,

"Louer les princes des vertus qu'ils n'ont pas, c'est leur
dire impunément des injures."--La Rochefoucauld, Max. 327.

I believe that Pope marks it as a _translation--a borrowed
thought--not as a quotation_. He has just before used the words "your
Majesty;" and I think the word "_scandal_" is employed "_consulto_,"
and alludes to the offence known in English law as "scandalum
magnatum." Your correspondent will, of course, read the work in the
original; in fact, he _must_ do so _per force_. A good translation
of _Les Maximes_ is still a desideratum in English literature. I
have not yet seen one that could lay claim even to the meagre title
of mediocrity; although I have spared neither time nor pains in the
search. Should any of your readers have been more fortunate, I shall
feel obliged by their referring me to it.

MELANION.


_Endeavour_.--I have just found the following instance of "endeavour"
used as an active verb, in Dryden's translation of Maimbourg's
_History of the League_, 1684.

"On the one side the majestique House of Bourbon,... and on
the other side, that of two eminent families which endeavour'd
their own advancement by its destruction; the one is already
debas'd to the lowest degree, and the other almost reduc'd to
nothing."--p. 3.