Monday, October 28, 2013
Like Ghosts
Paul Ponder, Noctes Atticae, or Reveries in a Garret; Containing Short, and Chiefly Original, Observations on Men and Books (Bath: Richard Cruttwell, 1825), pp. 24-25:
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Extra Love of Antiquity.
It may with truth be observed, that those who have lost themselves in the studies of antiquities seem to have dropt their connections with the world around them, and like ghosts to hover round the tombs of their deceased friends, which they honour in proportion to the remoteness of their decease. Lord Monboddo, a great admirer of the ancients, has professed this taste of 'time-honoured' connections in the most ample and singular manner. Speaking of Greek and Latin Dictionaries, his Lordship says, "I reckon such dictionary makers, by whose industry we are enabled to live in the ancient world, one of the greatest blessings which we enjoy in this."
