Note 267 — V. LIFE DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND ITS SEQUENCE. 1862-1866.

This reply, which is much better in every respect than that of “The old guard dies but never yields,” was made in the face of far more overwhelming numbers, and has few parallels for sheer audacity, all things considered, in the history of modern warfare. It passed into a very widely-spread popular mot in America. It is more than an on dit, for I was nearly within ear-shot when it was uttered, and it was promptly repeated to me. Yet, if my memory serves me right, there is something like this, “Come and take it!” recorded in the early Tuscan wars in Villari’s introduction to the “Life of Machiavelli,” translated by his accomplished wife. I have, as I write this note, just had the pleasure of meeting with the Minister and Madame Villari at a dinner at Senator Comparetti’s in Florence, which is perhaps the reason why I recall the precedent. And I may also recall as a noteworthy incident, that at this dinner Professor Milani, the great Etruscologist and head of the Archæological Museum, congratulated me very much on having been the first and only person who ever discovered an old Etruscan word still living in the traditions of the people—i.e., Intial, the Spirit of the Haunting Shadow. This is a little discursive—mais je prends mon bien où je le trouve, and it is all autobiographic! “It is all turkey,” as the wolf said when he ate the claws.