use of it: the myrtles are called fragrant, because the myrtle is a sweet smelling tree; moreover the myrtle is the particular tree sacred to Venus: scattered arrows, because laid by here and there, carelessly. The bow unstrung: it was the custom to unstring the bow when they did not use it, and it was the stronger for it afterwards. Dreaming hounds: hounds that are used to hunt, often dream they are hunting; as appears by their making the same noise, only not so loud, when they sleep, as they do when they are hunting some wild beast; therefore, the sounds are called feeble. Savage fields; so called from the roughness of field sports, in comparison to the tenderness and softness of love.

Adonis was extremely handsome, and a great sportsman; he used to employ his whole time in hunting boars, and other wild beasts. Venus fell in love with him, and used frequently to come down to him he was at last killed by a wild boar, to the great grief of Venus. Look for Adonis in your dictionary; for, though you have read his story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, I believe that excellent memory of yours wants refreshing. From hence, when a man is extremely handsome, he is called, by metaphor, an Adonis. Adieu.

DEAR BOY,

LETTER XLVI.

This

Saturday. YOUR last translations were very well done; and I believe you begin to apply yourself more. you may depend upon, that the more you apply, the easier you will find your learning, and the sooner you will have done with it. But, as I have often told you before, it is not the words only that you

should mind, but the sense and beauties of the authors you read; which will furnish you with matter, and teach you to think justly upon subjects. For example; if you were to say, in poetry, that it was morning, you would not barely say it was morning; that would not be poetical: but you would represent the morning under some image, or by description; as thus:

Lo! from the rosy east, her purple doors

The Morn unfolds, adorn'd with blushing flowers.
The lessen'd stars draw off and disappear,
Whose bright battalions, lastly, Lucifer

Brings up, and quits his station in the rear.

Observe, that the day always rises in the east; and therefore it is said, from the rosy east: rosy is the epithet to east; because the break of day, or the Aurora, is of a reddish rosy colour. Observe too, that Lucifer is the name of that star that disappears the last in the morning; for the astronomers have given names to most of the stars. The three last lines, which have the same rhymes, are called a triplet, which is always marked as I have marked it. The original Latin is thus in Ovid:

Ecce vigil rutilo patefecit ab ortu

Purpureas Aurora fores, et plena rosarum
Atria. Diffugiunt stellæ, quarum agmina cogit
Lucifer, et cœli statione novissimus exit.

Here is another way of saying that it is morning, as
Virgil expresses it:

Et jam prima novo spargebat lumine terras
Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile :
Jam sole infuso, jam rebus luce retectis.

Thus in English verse:

And now Aurora, harbinger of day,

Rose from the saffron bed where Tithon lay,
And sprinkled o'er the world with new-born light:
The sun now shining, all things brought to sight.

Look in your dictionary for the articles Aurore and Tithon, where you will find their story. Tithon was the husband of Aurora. Aurora, in poetical language, means the break of day, or the first part of the morning. Harbinger (by the way) means forerunner, or a person who is sent beforehand, by another, upon a journey, to prepare things for him. The King has several harbingers, that go before him upon the road, to prepare his lodging, and get every thing ready. So Aurora, or the Morning, is called, by a metaphor, the harbinger of Day, because it foreruns the day.

I expect very good verses, of your making, by that time you are ten years old; and then you shall be called Poeta Decennis, which will be a very uncommon, and, consequently, a very glorious title. Adieu.

IN

DEAR BOY,

LETTER XLVII.

Wednesday.

my last I sent you two or three poetical descriptions of the Morning; I here send you some, of the other parts of the day. The Noon, or Midday, that is twelve o'clock, is thus described by Ovid:

Fecerat exiguas jam Sol altissimus umbras.

And in another place,

Jamque dies rerum medias contraxerat umbras,
Et Sol ex æquo, metâ distabat utrâque :

Because the sun, at noon, is exactly in the middle of its course, and, being then just perpendicular over our heads, makes the shadows very short; whereas, when the sun shines on either side of us (as it does mornings and evenings), the shadows are

very long; which you may observe any sunshiny day that you please. The Evening is described thus, by Ovid:

Jam labor exiguus Phœbo restabat: equique
Pulsabant pedibus spatium declivis Olympi:

Because the course of the sun, being supposed to be of one day, Phœbus (that is the sun) is here said to have little more remaining business to do; and his horses are represented as going down hill; which points out the evening; the sun, in the evening, seeming to go downwards. In another place he

says,

Jamque dies exactus erat, tempusque subibat,

Quod tu nec tenebras, nec possis dicere lucem :

For, in the dusk of the evening, one can neither call it day nor night.

Night is described by Virgil in this manner:

Nox erat, et terras animalia fusa per omnes;
Alituum, Pecudumque genus, sopor altus habebat.

What I mean, by sending and explaining these things to you, is to use you to think and reflect a little yourself; and not to repeat words only, like a parrot, without minding or knowing the sense and import of them. For example; when you read a description of any thing, compare it with your own observations; and ask yourself this question, Is this so? Have I ever observed it before? And, if you have not observed it, take the first opportunity you can of doing it. For instance; if you have not already observed, that the shadows are long in the morning and the evening, and short at noon, try it yourself, and see whether it is true or not. When you hear of the rosy morn, consider with yourself why it is so called, and whether it ought to be called so or not; and observe the morning early, to see if it

is not of a reddish, rosy colour. When you hear of Night's spreading its sable (that is black) wings over the world, consider whether the gradual spreading of the darkness does not extend itself in the sky like black wings. In short, use yourself to think and reflect upon every thing you hear and see: examine every thing, and see whether it is true or not, without taking it upon trust. For example; If you should find, in any author, the blue or azure sun, would you not immediately reflect, that could not be just; for the sun is always red; and that he who could call it so must be either blind, or a fool? When you read historical facts, think of them within yourself, and compare them with your own notions. For example; when you read of the first Scipio, who, when he conquered Spain, took a beautiful Spanish Princess prisoner, who was soon to have been married to a Prince of that country, and returned her to her lover, not only untouched, but giving her a fortune besides; are you not struck with the virtue and generosity of that action? And can you help thinking with yourself, how virtuous it was in Scipio, who was a young man, unmarried, and a conqueror, to withstand the temptation of beauty; and how generous it was to give her a fortune, to make amends for the misfortunes of the war? Another reflection too, that naturally occurs upon it, is, how virtuous actions never fail to be rewarded by the commendation and applause of all posterity: for this happened above eighteen hundred years ago; is still remembered with honour; and will be so as long as letters subsist: not to mention the infinite pleasure Scipio must have felt himself, from such a virtuous and heroic action. I wish you more pleasure, of that kind, than ever man had. Adieu.