No 5. WEDNESDAY, February 10, 1779.

PEDANTRY, in the common fenfe of the

word, means an abfurd oftentation of learning, and stiffness of phrafeology, proceeding from a mifguided knowledge of books, and a total ignorance of men.

But I have often thought, that we might extend its fignification a good deal farther; and, in general, apply it to that failing which difpofes a perfon to obtrude upon others, subjects of converfation relating to his own bufinefs, ftudies, or amufement.

In this fenfe of the phrafe, we should find pedants in every character and condition of life. Inftead of a black coat and plain fhirt, we fhould often fee pedantry appear in an embroidered fuit, and Bruffels lace; inftead of being bedaubed with fnuff, we fhould find it breathing perfumes; and, in place of a book-worm, crawling through the gloomy cloifters of an university, we should mark it in the state of a gilded butterfly, buzzing through the gay region of the drawing-room.

Robert Daifey, Efq; is a pedant of this laft kind. When he tells you that his ruffles coft twenty

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twenty guineas a pair; that his buttons were the first of the kind, made by one of the moft eminent artists in Birmingham; that his buckles were procured by means of a friend at Paris, and are the exact pattern of those worn by the Comte d'Artois; that the loop of his hat was of his own contrivance, and has fet the fafhion to half a dozen of the fineft fellows in town: when he defcants on all these particulars, with that ímile of self-complacency which fits for ever on his cheek, he is as much a pedant as his quondam tutor, who recites verses from Pindar, tells ftories out of Herodotus, and talks for an hour on the energy of the Greek particles.

But Mr. Daifey is ftruck dumb by the approach of his brother Sir Thomas, whofe pedantry goes a pitch higher, and pours out all the intelligence of France and Italy, whence the young Baronet is juft returned, after a tour of fifteen months over all the kingdoms of the continent. Talk of mufic, he cuts you short with the hiftory of the first finger at Naples; of painting, he runs you down with a description of the gallery at Florence; of architecture, he overwhelms you with the dimenfions of St. Peter's, or the great church

at

at Antwerp; or, if you leave the province of art altogether, and introduce the name of a river or hill, he inftantly deluges you with the Rhine, or makes you dizzy with the height of: Etna, or Mont Blanc.

Mifs will have no difficulty of owning her great aunt to be a pedant, when the talks all: the time of dinner on the composition of the pudding, or the seasoning of the mince pies; or enters into a difquifition on the figure of: the damask table-cloth, with a word or two on: the thrift of making one's own linen: But the young lady will be furprised when I inform her,.. that her own history of laft Thursday's affembly, with the epifode of Lady Di's feather, and the digreffion to the qualities of Mr. Frizzle the hair-dreffer, was also a piece of downright pedantry.

Mrs. Caudle is guilty of the fame weakness ✩ when the recounts the numberlefs witticisms, of her daughter Emmy, describes the droll figure her little Bill made yesterday at trying on his first pair of breeches, and informs us, that: Bobby has got feven teeth, and is just cutting an eighth, though he will be but nine months old next Wednesday at fix o'clock in the evening. Nor is her pedantry less disgusting,

when

when the proceeds to enumerate the virtues and good qualities of her husband; though this last fpecies is fo uncommon, that it may, perhaps, be admitted into conversation for the fake of

variety.

Muckworm is the meaneft of pedants, when he tells you of the fcarcity of money at prefent,. and that he is amazed how people can afford to live as they do; that, for his part, though he has a tolerable fortune, he finds it exceedingly difficult to command cafh for his occafions; that trade is fo dead, and debts fo ill paid at prefent, that he was obliged to fell fome fhares of bank stock to make up the price of his last purchase; and had actually countermanded a fervice of plate, elfe he shouldhave been obliged to ftrike feveral names out. of the lift of his weekly penfioners; and that this apology was fuftained t'other day by the noble company (giving you a lift of three or four peers, and their families) who did him the honour to eat a bit of mutton with him. All this, however, is true. As is also another anecdote, which Muckworm forgot to mention : His first coufin dined that day with the fervants, who took compaffion on the lad, after he had been turned down ftairs, with a refusal

of

of twenty pounds to fet him up in the trade of a fhoemaker.

There is pedantry in every difquifition, however masterly it may be, that ftops the general converfation of the company. When Silius delivers that fort of lecture he is apt to get into, though it is fupported by the most extenfive information, and the cleareft difcernment, it is ftill pedantry; and, while I admire the talents of Silius, I cannot help being uneafy at his exhibition of them. In the courfe of this differtation, the farther a man proceeds, the more he feems to acquire ftrength and inclination for the progrefs. Laft night, after fupper, Silius began upon Protestantism, proceeded to the Irish maffacre, went through the Revolution, drew the character of King William, repeated anecdotes of Schomberg, and ended at a quarter paft twelve, by delineating the course of the Boyne, in half a bumper of port, upon my best table; which river, happening to overflow its banks, did infinite damage to my coufin Sophy's white fattin petticoat.

In short, every thing, in this fenfe of the word, is Pedantry, which tends to deftroy that equality of converfation which is neceffary to the perfect eafe and good-humour of the

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company.