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Ben Jonson's Indebtedness to the Greek Character-Sketch.

Author(s): Edward Chauncey Baldwin


Source: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 16, No. 7 (Nov., 1901), pp. 193-198
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2918010 .
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MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES.
Baltimore, November, 1901. "And saying such things, he will pluck from
the mantle (of his patron) a bit of wool; and if
any speck of chaff has been blown by the
BEN JONSON'S INDEB TEDNESS TO wind upon his hair, he will pluck it off."
THE GREEK CHARACTER- It is not mainly by direct adaptations, how-
SKETCH. ever, that Jonson shows most clearly the in-
fluence of Theophrastus. He was much too
THE purpose of this article is to point out the original a worker to content himself with mere
indebtedness of Ben Jonson to the post-classi- borrowing. Hence we find him amusing him-
cal character-sketch. self by writing character sketches of his own,
This literary form has its origin in the 279zxoo quite in the Theophrastic manner. To the list
XqpqriXrpE5,or Ethical Characters, of Tlhe- of dramtatis personae of two of his plays,
ophrastus.' These characters in the form in Every Man out of his Humour and The New
which they have come down to us consist of Inn, he affixed short "characters of the per-
thirty-seven short sketches. In all of them sons," which, because each of the persons is
the method of treatment is precisely the same the embodiment of some " humour,"
are, ex-
and is simplicity itself. It consists in defining cept for their brevity, exactly like those
of
a quality and then proceeding to enumerate Theophrastus.
the actions to be expected, under given con- Yet it was neither in his borrowings nor even
ditions, from a man embodying that quality. in his imitations of Theophrastus that Jonson
Just how much Jonson owed directly to The- shows most clearly his indebtedness to
the
ophrastus it is, of course, impossible to say. Greek character-sketch. This appears
most
The most that can be affirmed positively is evident in the use he made of a certain
dra-
that he was familiar with the work of The- matic character-sketch written by Libanius, the
ophrastus. This is proved by a comparison Greek sophist of Antioch.3 This character-
of passages like the following. The first of sketch appears in the fourth volume of Reiske's
these is an entry in the diary of Sir Politick edition of the works of Libanius under the
Would-be :2 title " A rhetorical declamation " on the sub-
"A rat had gnawn my spur-leathers, not- ject "A morose man, who has married a talk-
withstanding I put on new and did go forth; ative wife, denounces himself." Jonson's lit-
but first I threw three beans over the thres-
hold." erary discernment is no where better shown
than in his selection of this particular charac-
Likewise Theophrastus says of the Sufiersti-
tionis Man:
ter-sketch for dramatic treatment. For, in dis-
tinction from those of Theophrastus, it is
"And if a weasel run across the road, he will thoroughly dramatic in the same sense and
not proceed till someone goes ahead of him; to
or until he has thrown three stones across the the same degree that Browning's Soliloquy in a
road. " Spanish Cloister is dramatic. Both are dra-
Again in the first scene of the third act of the matic monologues.
same play, Mosca speaks thus of flatterers: To show how closely Jonson followed his
Greek original, I have placed side by side the
"I mean not those that have your bare town art,
nor those 3 Libanius died near the end of the fourth century A. D.
With their court dog-tricks, that can fawn and fleer Classical and post-classical literature contain many examples
Make their revenue out of legs and faces of the writing of character-sketches-enough certainly to show
Echo my lord, and lick away a moth." that Theophrastus was not alone in his interest in it, that in-
deed the interest jn character portrayal in and for itself is
This is evidently taken from the character of a perennial and as universal as literature itself. Of these, the
flatterer in which Theophrastus says: following are a few out of many that might be instanced:
Iliad, Book xiii. lines 278 and following; Horace, Book i,
x Born in Lesbos between 373 and 368 B. C., he was a pupil Satire ix; Juvenal, Satires viii and x; Martial, Book iii,
of Aristotle and afterwards became his successor as head of Biigram on Cotlus:; Auctor ad Herexnium, Book iv;
the Peripatetic School. Ruttilius Rufus, De Figwris Seutentiarum c Elocutioxji,
2 VeotW,x, Act. iv, sc. T. Book ii: Svnesius. Ehistle civ.

'93
387 November, I901. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES Vol. xvi, NO. 7. 388

corresponding passages from the Greek char- This is taken from the recommendation given
acter sketch and from the two plays, The Silent to 414dxoALo5
Woman and Volpone, in which Jonson made "Be of good courage, he said, she has trained
use of it.4 herself in nothing so much as this, for sooner
In the description of Morose given in the would you accuse stones of loquacity than this
dialogue between Clerimont and Truewit in girl: so that I fear, he said, lest the charge
may be made against her that she is more si-
the first scene of the first act of The Silent lent than is necessary."7
Womacn, Jonson develops certain suggestions The suggestion for the first scene of the
of Libanius as will be slhown by a comparison second act, in which Morose appears and asks
of the following passages. his servant many questions, eaclh of which is
Truewit, answered only by signs, was doubtless also the
" They say he has been upon divers treaties single line from Libanius in which A46FxoXo5 is
with the fish-wives and orange-women, and made to say:
articles propounded between them: marry the
chimney-sweepers will not be drawn in." " Having trained my household servants never
Clerimont adds, to do anything that would annioyme."8
"No, nor the broom-men: they stand out It is to be observed that Epiccene begins to
stiffly. He cannot endure a costard monger, reveal her true character much sooner than
he swoons if he hears one." does the silent wonmanin Libanius, for she re-
Truewit conitinues, monstrates with Morose about sending away
" Methinks a smith would be oniinous." the parson,9 wlhereas her prototype does not
begin to talk till after the marriage is per-
Clerimont, formed.1o
"Or any hammer man. A brazier isnotsuf- When the wedding guests come in, headed
fered to dwell in the parish, nor an armourer." by Daw with the Collegiate Ladies, Morose
All this is clearly an adaptation of the fol- utters an exclamation of horror.
lowing lines from Libanius: "0 the sea breaks in upon me."x Anotlher
" Moreover, I flee precipitately from the an- flood, an inundation! I slhall be overwlhelmied
vils and the hammers and the uproar of the with noise.'"
work-shops, from the shops of the silversmitls, This is evidently an echo of Libaniius.
from the forge of the worker in iron-maniy
others. But I welcome those crafts which are "Just as the sea overwvhelnms a ship, so the
carried on in silence. And, verily, I have even woman's tongue overwhelms me."2
seen painters who sang while they worked- The tlhirdact ends in a friglhtful uproar of
so delightful is it to citizens to chatter and they
cannot restrain themselves."s drums, trumpets and the shouits of the guests,
Clerimont goes on: in the midst of wlhichMorose runs out with a
howl of disgust. This also seems to have
" He turned away a man last week for haviing been suggested by Libanius in the following
a pair of new slhoes that creaked. And this
fellow waits on him now in tenniis-courtsocks, passage, in which AddxoAo5 describes hiisown
or slippers soled with wool." wedding.
Libanius makes AiaroXos say: " For there was no moderation. There was
" As long as I lived alone, I enjoyed silence a great clatter, violenit laugliter, unseemnly
dancing, a senseless wedding song . . . so that
enough, lhaving trained my household servants I was tempted to tear off my garland and run
never to do anyihing that would annoy me."6 from the wedding."'3
Clerimont has heard that Morose vows to
marry a woman who lodges in the next street 7 Page I37, i. 6-p. 8 Page 136, 1. i9. 9 Act iii, Sc. 2.
iO But this, in comparison with the coming conflict, was un-
" who is exceedingly soft-spoken; thrifty of broken peace. For before midnight, a voice was heard com-
her speech; that spends but six words a day." plaining of the bed. Later she asked me if I was asleep . . .
4 Since the writings of Libanius have never been translated, a third time she asked something, and a fourth, Page 137, 1.
2I-26.
even into Latin, I am obliged to present my own, doubtless
imperfect, translation. iI Act iii, sc. 2. I2 Page 142, 1. 22-23.

5 Page I36, 1. I2-I8. 6 Page 136, 1. 18-20. 13 Page 137, 1. 12-18.

194
389 November, I9OI. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTE.,S. Vol. xvi, No. 7. 390

Truewit, commenting upon the tumult, says: " Sure he would do well enough if he could
"The spitting, the coughing, the laughter, sleep."
the neezing,. . the dancing,noise of the music, To this Morose retorts,
. . . makes him think he has married a fury."
" No I should do well enough if you could
Here he uses the same expression as Ai6xoLo5, sleep. Have I no friend that will make her
who speaks of his wife as rair?7V rtfr drunk,or give her a little laudanumor opium?"
?ptVVuV. I4 The correspondingpassage is,
In the second scene of the fourthact, Morose, "My wife is not drunk. Yet is this a terrible
accompanied by Dauphine, enters, cursing the thing? For if she were drunk, she would
barber who had been the promoter of the sleep, and if she slept, she would perhaps be
silent.'"19
marriage. In this passage Jonson seems to
have had in mind the following lines: Truewit continues the torture by replying,
" Why she talks ten times worse in her
"I await a cessation of the chattering,lament- sleep."
ing and cursing marriage, and him who first
mentioned the woman to me."I5 Morose,
What follows is also from Libanius. Epiccene "How "
approaches Morose, saying: Clerimont,
"You are not well, sir; you look very ill: " Do you not know that, sir? Never ceases
something has distempered you." all night."
Such questioils are among the grievances of This, too, is from Libanius,
ld6xoXo5 also. He says:
"But when she has exhausted every topic
" But if she notices the groan, she assails by the rush of her speech-the affairs of our
me, asking, 'Whlatgoes amiss with you with- own household, those of our neighbors and
in?'"x6 still nothing new appears, she tells me her
Truewit adds fuel to the flame of Morose's dreams, inventing them, by the gods, as it
anger at what he regards as a seniselessques- seems to me, for she never sleeps, but often
spends the night in talking."20
tion, by affirmingthat these are " but notes of
female kindness; certain tokens that she has Both 4dxo0Xo5 and Morose canvass the pos-
a voice." This is almost an exact rendering sibilities of getting a divorce. The former re-
of the consolation which 4ddxoXLosays he re- jects the project, preferringto die by a decree of
ceived under like circumstances. the senate. Because into the senate chamber,
while such a matter was under consideration,
" Verily, he said, this is a sign of love and a a woman might not enter, whereas she would
certainiindication, at the same time, that she
has a voice."'7 have access to a court of justice granting a di-
vorce.2" Morose, on the contrary, welcomes
Truewit conisideratelyoffers to entreat Epi-
the suggestion of an interview with a lawyer.
ccenieto hold her peace. but Moroseinterposes
It is interesting to observe that the caution of
with the despairing cry: Aid4xoLo5is fully vindicated by the experience
"0O no, labor not to stop her. She is like a of Morose, for in the midst of his consultation
conduit pipe, that will gush out with more force
when she opens again." with the pretended lawyer and parson, Epi-
caene enters, rampant. Yet before this, even
The comparison is taken fronmthe speech of
in his attempt to see a lawyer, Morose has dif-
JAi6KoXo0where he says:
ficulty, as shown by his reply to Dauphine's
" For just as those inspectors of water- solicitous inquiry whether he has yet seen a
courses, when they take away the dike, make
the flood worse . . - 'I8 lawyer.
Finally they decide that Morose is mad and 19 P. 143,1 . 8-10. 20 P. 141, 1. II-I6.

Epicceinesays compassionately, 21 For it is illegal for her to be present with those dis-
cussing a matter of life and death in the council. But if this
14 P. 137,1. 14-15. were a divorce trial, and if it were necessaryto explain to the
15 P- 140,1. 14-16. I6 P. I40, 1, i6-i8. judges in what way I am wronged,the court wouldbe common
17 s
P. 138, 1. 4-5 8 P. 146, 1. 23-24. to her and to me. Page 247, 1. I4-18.

I 9-
391 November, I9oi. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xvi, No. 7. 392

" 0 no ! " he says, " there is such a noise in me that I should always collect and retain my
the court that they have frightedme home with mind, not suffering it to flow loosely; that I
more violence than I went. Such speaking should look to what things were necessary to
and counter-speakingwith their several voices the carriage of my life, and what not; em-
of citations, appellations, allegations, certifi- bracing the one and eschewing the other: in
cates, attachments, interrogatories,references, short that I should endear myself to rest and
convictions and afflictions indeed among the avoid turmoil; which now is grown to another
doctors and proctors, that the noise here is nature to me. So that I come not to your pub
silence to 't, a kind of calm midnight."22 lic pleadings, or yourplaces of noise; notthat
The speech is adapted from the following: I neglect those things that make forthe dignity
of the commonwealth, but for the mere avoid-
" I do not frequent the Assembly much, not ing of clamors and impertinences of orators
because I am indifferent to matters affecting that know not how to be silent."26
the common weal, but because of the shouts of AuddoXLo5says:
the rhetoricianswho cannot be silent. Nor am
I accustomed to frequent the Agora, on ac- " My father, 0 Couincil,ever exlhortedme to
count of those maniynames of legal processes, collect (dvvdyriv) my mind and to keep it con-
as pddzs, 8v&ezQz5,d7tayay7y, 6za6ndXadia, centrated (dvYixezv) and not to allow it to
rpaOp2, zapaypcr0i, which they who have no wander (diaX-erdai), to discern what things
business before the courts love to name. So- are essential in life and what not, and to hold
and-so has accused so-and-so of such and such fast to the one and to keep away from the
thinlgs. Whlatis this to you, who are neither other, to honor Peace, to fly from tumuilts.
prosecutornor defendant."23 These things, 0 Council, I have continued to
do, not going often to the meetings of the As-
When Truewit brings in the pretended law- sembly, and this not through indifference to
yer and parson, Morose refuses to salute them, the commonweal, but because of the voices of
giving as his reasons the following: the rhetoricians,who cannot be sllent."27
"Salute them! I had ratlher do anything Jonson seenmsto have been much initerested
than wear out time so unfruitfully, sir. I in this character-sketch,for we find him using
w-onderhow these comlmonformsas God save
you, and You are welcome are come to be a it again in another of his comedies- Volpone.
habit in our lives; or lam glad to see you! In the second scene of the third act, Volpone,
When I cannot see what the profit can be of feigning illness, is visited by the loquacious
these words,so long as it is no whit better with Lady Politick Would-be. On seeing her enter,
him whose affairs are sad and grievous, that Volpone's first ejaculation is borrowed from
he hears this salutation.24
Libanius:
This is a free rendering of the following lines: Volpone's words are,
" Verily I think we ought to drive out from " The storm comes toward me."
the Agora this form of salutation which con-
sists of greeting one with the word, Hail! a The Greek is,
custom which has come into our life I know "But I tremble, seeing another flood (j5ei;,jr)
not whence. For I, by the gods, do not see
the profit of the expression, since I have not coming toward me."'28
heard that he whose circumstanceswere sucl Lady Politick has the habit of telling her
as to call for grief was benefited by the dreams, a habit which Morose detests. When
salutation. "'25
she starts to relate one of her dreams, Morose
A little farther on, Morose interrupts the interruptsher with the words
wrangling of the pseudo-parsonand lawyer to
"0, if you do love me
give some account of hiisformer way of life. No more: I sweat and sufferat the mention
"Nay good gentlemen," he says, "do not Of any dream."
throw me into circumstances. Let your com- The wife of 46ixoXo5 tried his patience in the
forts arrive quickly at me, those that are. Be
swift in affording me my peace, if so 1 shall same way, for we read:
hope any. I love not yourcourt tumults. And " But when she has exhausted every topic by
that it be not strange to you, I will tell you : the rush of her speech . . . and nothing yet
mnyfather, in my education was wont to advise appears, she tells me her dreams, inventing
them . . . as it seems to me, for she never
22 Act iv, sc. 2.
sleeps.2992
23 P. 135, 1. 26-p. 136, 1. 7. The Greek words have no ex-
act equivalents in English. 26 Act v, sc. I. 27 P. 35, . 21-p. T36, 1. 2.
24 Act v, sc. I. 25 P. 136, 1. 7-12. 28 P. 141, 1. 1I-15, 29 P. 141, 1. II-I5.

xQ6
393 November, [9oi. MODERN LANG UAGE NOTES. Vol. xvi, No. 7. 394

and again, "Alas," exclaims Volpone, "my mind's


" I could not endure a talking dream."30 perturbed."
So AildxoAo5,
Interestingas an evidence of Jonson's learn-
ing, is his putting into the mouth of Volpone a "IIam not master of my mind. I sufferfrom
reference to a saying of Archilochus, of which dizziness, I suffer from vertigo."35
Jonson undoubtedly was reminded by a pas- When Mosca enters, Volpone appeals to him
sage in Libanius. for help,
Volpone says: "Oh,
" Ah me I have ta'en a grasshopperby the wing." Rid me of this torture,quickly, there,
My madamwith the everlastingvoice
The line which Jonson had in mind from Ar-
chilochus is, such a hail of words
She has let fall."
rerrzya vrEpoOV
E#A7pa5
The appeal of ddxo?Lo5 to the senate is simi-
The passage by wlhichJonson was reminded lar,
of this is as follows:
"Defend me for the sake of the gods, re-
" It is fitting, I said to her, that you imitate lieve me from the everlasting voice (q,okw5
the ctustomsof the cicadas (rEzi'yco;) of whom d7'ra46rov) . . .36 often struck as with hail
only the male sings. Even he is annoying be- (xaACo) I faint away.37
cause he sings too much, but if the female sang
too, you could not hear. But she, cutting in While Jonson's use of the Greek character-
and taking the cue, said, ' These are the best sketch is interesting as an instance of his in-
cicadas, the friends of the muses, to wlhom debtedness to the classics, its chief significance
talking is sweeter thaanto eat.' "3'
lies in tlle evidence thus afforded of the close
Volpone, weary of hierchatter, tries to silence relation that might exist between the drama
hlerby remarking and the character-sketch. This kinship Jonson
" The poet
As old in time as Plato, and as knowing,
was the first to recognize.38 That he recog-
Says that your highest femalegrace is silence." nized it so readily was due in part to the
This, too, is from Libanius: analytic and expository quality of his mind,
which led him to be interested more in the
"If you will not listen to me, I said, have type than in the
regard to the wisest poet when he says: individual, and more in the
0 woman,silence adornswomen.32 exhibition than in the development of charac-
ter. He saw that in spite of their apparently
Lady Politick, unabashed, takes the cue: wide dissimilarity,the real difference between
"WWhich of your poets? Plutarch, or Tasso, these two literary forms was mainly one of
or Dante? Guarini? Ariosto? Aretine? Cieco methlod in the
di Hadria, I have read tllem all." cliaracter presentation. The
drama presents characterin action. The char-
So of the wife of dY16xoXo5 it is said, acter-sketch portrayscharacterin what may be
"1But slhesaid at once 'And who is this poet, called, with due apology, its statical relations.
and who was hlis father, and of what district
The former, by means of the counterplay of
was lhe,anid wlhendid hie begin to write anid
how did hiedie?'"33 action upoInaction, makes the charactersreveal
And again, themselves. The latter by setting forth the
qualities or peculiarities wllich differentiate a
" Buit the liielition of the chorus leaders
causes hierto speak of tragedies. Thereuipon type, shlowscharacters fixed, statuesque, sepa-
she pours forth a torrent of words relative to 3;P. 142, 1, 23-24. 36 P. 141, 1. 23. 37 P. 1. 18-20. 143,
those who invented tragedy, menitioning also
38 La Bruy6re in the preface to his Caracseres, ou Les
those who brouglhttlhemout anidin wlhatman-
ner the literary formiigrew and whlit each iian Ma,wryde ce Siecle (E688),speaking of Theophrastussays;
contributed. "34 " Les savans, fesant attentionk la diversite des mceursqui y
font trait es, et i la mani6renaIvedont tous les caract6resy
30 P. 137, l. 5. 31 P. 146, 1. 9-I4. font exprim6s; et la comparantd'ailleurs avec celle du po te
Menandre,disciple de T'heophraste.et qui servit ensuite de
32 P. 145, 1. 31. Libaniuisquoted the line from the Ajax modVlea 'frence, c1u'ona dans nos jours si heureusement
of Sophocles, line 293, imitd, ne petuvents empecher de reconnialtredans ce petit
ouvrage la preniiLresource de tout le comique." Page 5,
33 P. 146, 1. 5-6. 34 P. 141, 1. I-6. edition of 31750.

107
395 November, igoi. MfODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xvi, No. 7. 396

rate from all that could lend them human in- by the Greek character-sketch. If it has been
terest. As a result of such limitations, the pointed out with sufficientclearness that such
character-sketchwas too often but a featureless an influence actually was exerted, the purpose
and pale picture. It resembled the imaginary of the writer has been attained.
portraits that sprinkle the pages of such books EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN.
as Lavater's,39in which every feature, eyes, lIltnois State University.
ears, lips, brow, mouth are made to bear the
same stamp.
Yet with all its manifest inferiority to the JOSEPH TEXTE.i
drama as a vital form of character presenta- PROBABLY from no other young author was
tion, the Englislh character-sketch continued France expecting so much as from J. Texte.
exerting more and more influence upon the Within the last few years of his life he had
drama as time went on. After Jonson's death become known as the leading authority in
the drama rapidly declined, while with equal France on outside literary relations. It is
rapidity the character-sketchbecame the most true, M. Texte was the pupil of M. Brune-
prolific literary form of the seventeenth cen- ti&re,but far excelled his master, by concen-
tury.40 Moreover, its popularity continued trating all his forces upon one study, compara-
even into the following century. During all tive literatture.
this time its influence upon the drama is ob- Joseph Texte was born in Paris in I865, anid
servable. Jonson's experimenitin adaptingthe belonged to one of the best families; his
Greek character-sketchto dramatic treatment father was professor of history in the Collage
was repeated by later dramatists, who used Rollin and author of a Histoire Moderne; he
the English clharacter-sketchin the same way. died early, leaving young Texte and his
Thus Goldsmith, to mention but a single in- mother aloine,a sister having died shortly be-
stance, made one of Doctor Jonson's char- fore. The younig boy studied at the Lyc6e
acter-sketches41 the basis of the character Louis-le-Grand, takinlg the Prix d'Honneur
of Croaker in his Good-NatueredMan (acted de rhltorique, and in I883 was admitted to the
1768).42 Ecole Normale. He was of a most amiable
It is impossible, within the limits of this ar- and kind disposition, and soon won the respect
ticle, to speak further cotncernlingthe signifi- of his teachers and his associates. He became
cance of the influenceexerted uponBen Jonson especially kniown through his exceptionally
39 JohannCaspar Lavater, founder of the pseudo-science strong moral character, a trait noticeable ill
of Physiognomy, and author of the Physiognomische Frt-a- all his writings through that earnestness of
mxnte (1775-78). The popularity in the eighteenth century purpose, higlh moral tone and seriousness,
of such books as this of Lavaterwas probablydue, at least not always characteristicof the modernFrench
in part, to the interest in types of character aroused in the
precedingcentury by such phrenological character-booksas writers. Texte was an incessant worker and
A Brief Discourse Concerning the Different Wits of Men soon underminiedhis lhealtl. His judgmen)ts
by Walter Charleton, I669. were always accurate and coniservative,with
4o The Ethical Characters of Theophrastus, popularized possibly one exception; in his study of Eliza-
by Casaubon'sLatin translationin 1592, furnisheda model of beth Browninghe venturesto proclaimAurora
which English writers were not slow to avail themselves. I
find titles of over one hundredand fifty character-bookspub- Leigh
the great poem of the century; this is
lished within the century. one of the few subjects in which lie lost him-
4I This was Susjirius, the human Screech-owl,a charac- self completely, forgetting his role of critic.
ter-sketch which appearedin the Ramn-bler for Octobergth, In i886, having failed 2 I'agregationdes letti-es,
I750. lie was sent to the Lyc6e de Roclhefort-stir-
42 In the Life of Jonson, chapter xvii, Boswell says that Mer. Discouraged and in dispair lie found
the Doctor pronouncedThe Good-NaturedMan
great consolation in hiis teachers, MM. Perrot
"to be thebest comedy that had appearedsince the Provohed
Husband,and declaredthat there had not been of late any I The writer wishes to acknowledgehis indebtednesto
such characterexhibited on the stage as that of Croaker. I Mime.J. Texte and M. Renie Durand,maitre de confdrence
observed, Boswelladds, it was the SusAiriusof his Rambler.
He said Goldsmith had owned he had borrowed it from d I'cole Normale SupCrieure,for informationotherwise uin-
thence." obtainable.

lQ8

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