TOUJOURS DE L'AUDACE !"
[TO THE EDITOR. OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Will you permit a grammatical observation on the title —the title only—of " A. G. B.'s " admirable poem in the Spectator of the 16th inst. P It is not permissible to say in French, Toujours l'audace. You cannot omit the article. You must say, Toujours de l'audace,—il faut avoir is understood, Il faut de l'audace. Before venturing to write to you, I have consulted two Frenchmen, and they confirmed what I felt. "Il faut absolument Particle partitif," they said.
And secondly, I should like to say that I have found the original of Danton's famous maxim—" De l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de raudaee "—in Bacon's twelfth essay, "Of Boldness :"—" Wonderful like is the case of boldness in civil business. What is first ? Boldness. What second and third? Boldness. And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts. But nevertheless it doth fascinate and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage, which are the greatest number ; yea, and prevaileth with wise men in weak times." Is it likely that Danton ever read Bacon's Essays P—I am, Sir, &c.,
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