Satire ill-applied-Look at Home.

When certain soi-disant satirists shew themselves very ready to break their jests of "bitter flavour" on the lawyer, the physician, the military man, and the ecclesiastic, they should consider that if men were honest, temperate, peaceful in their homes, and pious in their practice, all these characters that provoke their censure would never have existed. Sublatâ causâ, tollitur effectus," is one of the indisputable axioms of the schools.

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Anecdote of the Fourteenth Century.

In the year 1304, when Cardinal de Pruto was legate at Florence, among the other entertainments exhibited as a mark of the public joy, the inhabitants of St. Priano gave public notice that all who wanted to hear news from the other world should repair to the banks of the Arno on the first of May. Accordingly a scaffold was erected upon boats, and a representation given of hell, in which were introduced human figures dressed up like devils, and damned souls: this drew a multitude of spectators. From this spectacle Dante possibly formed the design of his Comedia: as Milton, it is said, did his Paradise Lost, from seeing Andreino's Fall of Adam represented at Milan; in which

singular representation, GOD the Father, angels, devils, the serpent, death, and the seven mortal sins, were brought upon the stage.-Revolutions of Literature, by Sig. Carlo Denina, London, March 1771.

A Ludicrous Story on the Same Subject. The following story from Boccaccio evinces the amazing credulity of the vulgar as to intelligence from the other world, and shews, at the same time, the popularity of the Inferno. Whilst Dante resided at Verona, he one day, with a few friends, passed a door at which several ladies were sitting; one of them whispered to the rest, "Oh! there goes Dante, who travels to hell and returns when he pleases, fraught with tidings from below." 'True,' adds another, don't you likewise observe his crisp beard and complexion, browned by the infernal heat and smoke.'-Ibid.

Singular Revenge.

When Sir John Hill, the naturalist, was refused admittance into the Royal Society, he proceeded to compile a large quarto volume, entitled "A Review of the Works of the Royal Society;" in which, by the most unfair quotations, mutilations, and misrepresentations, numbers of

the papers read before that learned body are exposed and made ridiculous, by the title of 'Philosophical Transactions.' The work is prefaced with a most audacious dedication to Martin Folkes, esq; who was then president of that society.

Botany, and Anecdote of Linnæus.

It might be supposed that this science, of all others, should exempt the Professor from the the influence of any evil passions; that he whose days were passed in pleasant woods, on airy hills, and in retired vallies, should mix with the blessings of health the privileges of peace and tranquillity. These would be the reflections of any who considered merely the nature of the study, apart from the disposition of the philosopher; but abstract reasoning on such a variegated being as man is often fallacious. It is a report, that Linnæus, in revenge to a man who had been an ungenerous rival to him when he practised physic, gave to some poisonous plant, and of bad odour, the name of his antagonist. A story similar is told of Dante, the Italian poet, who had placed an enemy in his Inferno,' who being a man of consequence complained to the Pope. His Holiness replied, "that if the poet had placed him only in purgatory, he could have given him relief; but hell was beyond his jurisdiction."

Boasting.

Though Montaigne does not quote his authority for the following anecdote, yet the goodness of the tale will rest safely on its own ground. Esop was set to sale with two other slaves; the buyer asked the first, "What he could do?" who, to enhance his own value, promised mountains and miracles, saying he could do this and that, and I know not what. The second also boasted as much, if not more; and when it came to Esop's turn, he was also asked, "What he could do?" thing,' said he, for these two have taken before, as they can do every thing.'-Essays, vol. iii. c. 2.

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Well sings our immortal bard on this ticklish subject :-- "For then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them."—All's well that ends well.

Ancient Freedom among Greeks and Romans.

Whoever will take the pains to investigate the laws of Greece and Rome in the antiquarian records that remain, will find how little liberty any individual among their states could boast of,

The enormous demands of Government upon the property of particulars, and the sumptuary laws that hampered the expenditure of what remained to each individual; the dependency of judges upon their superiors, and their exposure to bribes, give us very sorry notions of the freedom of ancient nations, whatever boasting historians may vaunt of their code of civil laws, and the liberality of their principles of government. The English reader, with little pains, may consult the excellent treatises, Harwood's Grecian and Adams's Roman Antiquities, and cease to prattle about the freedom of ancient nations.

Influence of Weather.

Philosophers have disputed pro and con on the the question, "whether a person is less able to read or write with or without effect, as the sun or the clouds have the ascendancy o'er this nether world?" Most men have felt the skyey influences, unless they possessed very strong constitutions, or very phlegmatic tempers. The reader or writer of works of fancy will doubtless find himself, in the various states of weather, under a different disposition to write or read. With respect to poets of uncommon powers, they may resemble