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oblige him to make the obeisance required. The ambassador, when he arrived, no sooner saw the door than he comprehended the contrivance, and with great readiness turned about and entered the room backward.-Harris's Philological Enquiries, vol. ii. p. 374.

Garrulity, an anecdote.

Publius Piso, the rhetorician, being unwilling to be disturbed with much talk, gave orders to his servants that they should give answers only to such questions as he should ask them, and say no more. Piso, having invited Clodius to an entertainment, waited for him long after the appointed time; then asked his servant, if he had not called . Why on him. "Yes," replied the servant. then does he not come?' "Because he told me he would not come." Why did not you tell me so before?' Because, Sir, you never asked me the question."-Plutarch on Talkativeness.

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Idleness.

It is a false position, that those alone live con tentedly who have the least to do; for then, by this rule, women should be of more sedate dispositions than men: yet the former sit at home, and mind their domestic affairs, and are so delicate that, as Hesiod expresses it,

The virgin's tender limbs are kept from cold,
Not the least wind to touch them was so bold.

Yet we see, on the contrary, immoderate grief; little piques among themselves; jealousy, which even makes them sick, lest they be supplanted in their humours by a rival; superstition, fears, and vain opinions; flow, as it were, with a torrent into women's apartments.*-Plutarch on Tranquillity of Mind.

Shadows: an anecdote.

Quos Mæcenas adduxerat umbras.

Hor. lib. ii. sat. 8.

Plutarch, with great good sense, treats of these uninvited guests; and says, spiritedly, "I would allow, as it is the custom, my guests to bring their shadows, but I would not be one myself. He then introduces the following story, to shew the evil consequences which may arise from a great man using this privilege of bringing his shadows without discretion to a private house. "King Philip, perceiving the dinner not equal to the company, whispered to his followers to wait for some cheesecakes at the latter end of the dinner; and so they

Among the ancient Greeks, as now among the modern Turks, the women's apartments were a separate part of the master's house: and Lady M. Montague, in her Travels in Turkey, has given a similar account of the manners which prevail among the Turkish ladies in their harams.

restraining their appetites, the provision was more equally divided and sufficient." -Plutarch's Sympos.

Homer.

Seneca, in his seventh epistle, ridicules useless enquiries into antiquity. "What a deal of business there is, first, to make Homer a philosopher; and secondly, in what class to place him. One will have him to be a stoic, a friend to virtue, and an enemy to pleasure. Another makes him an epicurean, one that loves his quiet and good society. Some insist that he was a peripatetic; and others that he was a sceptic." In modern times, learned men have endeavoured to prove that this great poet was an historian.*

Love at First Sight.

"

It has been a matter of dispute, by those who choose rather to raise doubts than to attend to experience on any subject, whether there exists such a thing as "love at first sight." Miss Da lady more famous for her beauty than her wit or good temper, was disputing violently with a gentleman who maintained the affirmative of this question." Madam," said the cynic, "by what I

*See Dissertations on the Troad, ridente Bryantio eruditissimo..

see and hear of women in general, I believe that love is kindled at first sight, and often extinguished at the second, and you know the proverb, "second thoughts are best." Our facetious Bard has painted the instantaneous effects of this passion with his usual waggery.

Love is a burglarer and felon,

That at the window eye does steal in
To rob our hearts, &c.

Love is a fire that burns and sparkles
In men, as naturally as charcoals,
Which sooty chemists stop in holes,
When out of wood they extract coals, &c.

Hudibras, canto 1.

Praise requires more Talents in the Writer
than Abuse.

The truth of this opinion cannot be more strongly evinced than in the writings of the late Bishop Hurd, which relate to the literary character and talents of his patron, Bishop Warburton. When Hurd praises his friend, his heart appears cool towards W.'s reputation, he and by no means exhibits a genius in any degree congenial and sympathetic with that of the great Prelate of Gloucester. When Hurd abuses the enemies and opponents of W., his genius then shines in subtle, refined, fastidious, and insolent observations, usque ad nauseam.

Temporary Solitude.

Who, during his feverish being here on earth, has not felt that calenture of the brain that exiles him from the busy hum of men, and drives him into solitude to medicine his griefs. Thomson, with great sensibility of feeling, and much poetic vigour, describes this eagerness to fly from crowded cities into solitude.

O let me pierce thy secret cell,
And in thy deep recesses dwell;
Perhaps from Norwood's oak-clad fiill,
Where meditation has her fill,

I just may cast my careless eyes.
Where London's spiry turrets rise;
Think of its crimes, its cares, its pain,
And shroud me in the woods again.

Ode to Solitude.

Mere Philologists.

These " men of many words" trust to memory alone for their reputation, and studying words singulatim, leave their combination to their masters. Such scholars may be compared to the mason's man who brings up the bricks for a building, but is incapable of arranging them in any form; and the mere philologist scarcely should go so far as the compositor of the press, to be entrusted with

a sentence.

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