There is _something_ in
_names_ which one cannot help feeling. Now _Elkanah_ Settle sounds so
queer, who can expect much from _that name_? We should have no
hesitation to give it for _John Dryden_ in preference to _Elkanah
Settle_, from the _names only_, without knowing their different merits."
A lively critic noticing some American poets, says "There is or was a
Mr. Dwight who wrote a poem in the shape of an epic; and his baptismal
name was _Timothy_;" and involuntarily we infer the sort of epic that a
_Timothy_ must write. Sterne humorously exhorts all godfathers not "to
Nicodemus a man into nothing."
There is more truth in this observation than some may be inclined to
allow; and that it affects mankind strongly, all ages and all climates
may be called on to testify. Even in the barbarous age of Louis XI.,
they felt a delicacy respecting _names_, which produced an ordinance
from his majesty. The king's barber was named _Olivier le Diable_. At
first the king allowed him to got rid of the offensive part by changing
it to _Le Malin_; but the improvement was not happy, and for a third
time he was called _Le Mauvais_. Even this did not answer his purpose;
and as he was a great racer, he finally had his majesty's ordinance to
be called _Le Dain_, under penalty of law if any one should call him _Le
Diable_, _Le Malin_, or _Le Mauvais_. According to Platina, Sergius the
Second was the first pope who changed his name in ascending the papal
throne; because his proper name was _Hog's-mouth_, very unsuitable with
the pomp of the tiara.
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