a sigh that hurts by easing."
Dr. Johnson saw its true meaning:
"It is," he says, "a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers."
In allusion to this popular notion, by no means yet extinct, Herbert says, p. 71.:
"Or if some years with it (a sigh) escape
The sigh then only is
A gale to bring me sooner to my bliss."
D.S.
"Crede quod habes," &c.—The celebrated answer to a Protestant about the real presence, by the borrower of his horse, is supposed to be made since the Reformation, by whom I forget:—
"Quod nuper dixisti