Elizabeth and Queen James were familiar in the mouths of many Englishmen. HYPERBOLE. Aristotle describes this figure of speech as peculiar to persons under the influence of anger, or young people, who relate every thing with exaggeration. An acquaintance of mine, feeling indignation at the boasts of wealth uttered by a man whose poverty he well knew, exclaimed in anger, "Here this man says he has a large house, encircled with an extensive wood, when I am certain that a tortoise would walk over his house in ten minutes, and that he has not wood enough to make a toothpick." CICERO'S EXILE*. The following circumstance shews with how great respect and veneration this great Roman Orator was held by his fellowcitizens. When Cicero was banished from his country by the intrigues of Clodius, twenty thousand persons of the first rank, *See Plutarch's Life of Cicero, and almost all the knights, put on mourning on that occasion. BON MOT OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. An impudent beggar, on the authority of the words in the twelfth chapter of Malachi, "Have we not all one God, our common father?" asked alms from Maximilian, addressing him by the title of Brother. Not satisfied with the sum given him by the Emperor, he further importuned him. "Retire," replied Maximilian in a gentle manner, "for if all your brothers gave you as much as I have now, you would soon be richer than I am." FORTUNE. Epictetus compared Fortune to a woman who granted favours to the meanest of her servants. The following madrigal pursues this idea: Dans l'amour comme dans le jeu, Rien n'est certain, rien n'est solide : Et le mérite sert bien peu Où sans ordre, et sans choix la Fortune Du plus adroit et du plus genéreux, IMITATED. The gamester and the gallant find Fortune and Cupid, all agree, VIRTUE. There is an ancient saying, but nevertheless a faulty one, "Virtue is to be sought for itself only, and that it is its own reward." This axiom, attributed to Zeno the Grecian sage, is extravagant in its sentiment, and little conformable to human nature and experience. Solon, the wisest of all human legislators, has pronounced on this subject a more judicious sentence: "The good actions of men are produced by the fear of punishment and the hope of reward." There is a fine passage in Lactantius on this topic: "Non est, ut aiunt, propter seipsam expetenda virtus sed propter vitam beatam quæ virtutem necessario sequitur."-Virtue is not (as some assert) desirable on its own account; but for the sake of that happiness in life, which necessarily follows a virtuous conduct. HISTORY. There are few persons so little curious as not to delight in history. There are still fewer who study it properly, inasmuch as a knowledge of geography is too often neglected; though in an extensive view of the subject, this may appear comparatively a trifling defect. Before reading an history, in order to form a correct judgment concerning it, I wish to be acquainted with the writer's rank in life, country, and disposition. Ilikewise make diligent enquiry into the following circumstances: under what prince's reign he lived, and at what time; if he was a freeman or a pensioner, or one of the prince's domestics; if he was poor or rich, and how he became either the one or the other; and the reasons which induced him to assume the character of an author. This investigation may be carried on and completed with moderate abilities and slender erudition. When an author selects important subjects, and records them in a style worthy of the greatness of the events, I exclaim with a Roman author, "Beatos puto quibus Deorum munere datum est aut facere scribenda aut scribere legenda: beatissimos quibus utrumque:" I look on those characters with high respect, on whom Heaven has bestowed talents to perform actions worthy of being recorded, or written events deserving the perusal of all: I contemplate with veneration those men who have rendered themselves famous both by their actions and their writings. |