Doctor Johnson appears to have thought it not impossible to succeed in transmuting metals into gold." The art, he once observed, might one day be generally known.-Boswell's Life, 2d v. This great man made a strange mistake, when he imagined himself "a good-humoured fellow." Boswell told him, very properly-" No, sir; you are good natured, but not good-humoured: you are irascible. You have not patience with folly and absurdity. I believe you would pardon them, if there were time to deprecate your vengeance; but punishment follows so quick after sentence, that they cannot escape." idem. Bolingbroke averred that the faint and unsteady exercise of parts on one side, was a crime but one degree inferior to the iniquitous misapplication of them on the other. The political and literary character of this great writer is well drawn in the following extracts: Goldsmith says of him, " that with as much ambition--as great abilities—and more acquired hnowledge than Cæsar, he wanted only his courage to be successful: but the schemes his head dictated, his heart often refused to execute; and he lost the ability to perform, just when the great occasion called for all his efforts to engage." The second is from Lyttleton's letters.--Bolingbroke has asserted that no one who has a soul can read Tully's orations without feeling at this hour the passions they were designed to move, and the spirit they were designed to raise. Upon this lord Lyttleton remarks" I suspect the truth of this assertion, as I well know that he would at any time sacrifice a just criticism to a brilliant passage. His character and genius were both intemperate, and when his tongue or his pen were pleased with their subjects, he was borne rapidly on, by the stream of eloquence, not considering or caring whither he went. When his imagination was once kindled, it was an equal chance whether he obscured virtue, or dignified vice. The source of his delusive writings was an headstrong vivid fancy, which practised as great deceits upon himself, as he had ever done upon mankind." 0. The following good maxims, although much older, are not less sensible and concise that any in Rochefoucault or La Bruyere. They are extracted from a miscellaneous work of Elizabeth Gryme- · ston, published in 1604: The end of a dissolute life is a desperate death.-There was never president to the contrary but in the theefe in the Gospel. In one, lest any should despair-in one alone, lest any should presume. Let thy will be thy friend, thy minde thy companion, thy tongue thy servant. Age may gaze at beauties blossoms, but youth climbs the tree and enjoys the fruit. There be four good mothers have four bad daughters, Truth hath Hatred, Prosperity hath Pride, Security hath Peril, and Familiarity hath Contempt. Wisdom is that olive that springeth from the heart, bloometh on the tongue, and beareth fruit in the actions. The soul is the greatest thing in the least continent. No greater comfort than to know much, no less labour than to say little. Give a lazie clerke a lean fee. The following merry advice to equestrians, though as old as the time of Geoffrey Gambado, may be read for the hundredth time, and always excite a smile: THE height of a horse is perfectly immaterial, provided he is higher behind than before. Nothing is more pleasing to a traveller than the sensation of continually getting forward: whereas the riding a horse of a contrary make, is like swarming the bannisters of a staircase, when, though perhaps, you really advance, you feel as if you were going backwards. Let him carry his head low, that he may have an eye to the ground, and see the better where he steps. The less he lifts his fore legs, the easier he will move for his rider: and he will likewise brush all the stones out of his way, which might otherwise throw him down. If he turns out his toes as well as he should do, he will then disperse them to the right and the left, and not have the trouble of kicking the same stone a second time. A bald face, wall eyes, and white legs (if your horse be not a gray one) is to be preferred; as in the night, although you may yourself ride against what you please, no one will ride against you. His nose cannot project too much from his neck; for by keeping a constant tight rein on him, you will then sit as firm as if you were held on. A horse's ears cannot well be too long. A judicious rider steers his course, by fixing his eyes between them. Were he cropt, and that as close as we sometimes see them now-a-days, in a dusky evening, the rider might wander the Lord knows where. I have found many persons who have purchased horses of me, very inquisitive and troublesome about their eyes; indeed as much so, as if their eyes were any way concerned in the action of the animal. As I know they are not, I give myself very little trouble about them. If a rider be in full possession of his own, what his horse has is perfectly immaterial; having probably a bridle in his mouth to direct him where to go, and to lift him up with again, if he tumbles down. Any gentleman choosing, indeed, to ride without a bridle, should look pretty sharp at a horse's eyes before he buys him; be well satisfied with his method of going; be very certain that he is docile, and will stop short with a "Wohey;" and, after all, be rather scrupulous where he rides him. Let no man tell me that a blind horse is not a match for one with the best of eyes, when it is so dark that he cannot see: and when he can, it is to be supposed the gentleman upon his back can, as well as he: and then, if he rides with a bridle, what has he to fear? I flatter myself, I have proved as clear as day, that eyes are of little consequence: and as I am, no doubt, the first author that has made it known, my readers, if they lose no time, may mount themselves at Aldridge's, or the Rhedarium, as well, and for half the money they would have done, before I let them into the secret. Be sure to buy a broken-knee'd horse, whenever he falls in your way. The best bit of flesh that ever was crossed will cer tainly come down one day or another; whereas one that has fallen (and scarified himself pretty much) never will again if he can help it. Spavins, splints, corns, mallenders, sallenders, &c. &c. being all curable, are beneath your notice. A few of these little infirmi ties in your stable are always a subject of conversation: and you may, perhaps, now and then want one. It will likewise justify you to your lady, in embellishing your bookcase with Bracken, Gibson, Bartlett, and Griffiths; excellent authors in their way, and extremely useful! for you will have no occasion to send for an apothecary upon every trifling ailment in your family, but will know yourself how to make up a good stout and effectual dose of physic for your wife or servants, in the gooseberry season, and at the fall of the leaf. I would recommend a long tail, if to be had for love or money. If that is not to be got, buy a horse with a rat tail, if possible; though inferior in point of convenience to the former, there is a je ne sçai quoi of comicality about it, that inclines us to merriment whenever it makes its apppearance, FOR THE PORT FOLIO. LATIN TRANSLATION OF BLACK EYED SUSAN. MR. OLDSCHOOL, OBSERVING in your last number the Christmas Verses of Vincent Bourne, I have copied, for your service, his translation of the old song of Black Eyed Susan, which is, in my opinion, one of the happiest productions of modern Latinity. GULIELMUS SUSANNE VALEDICENS. I. In statione fuit classis, fusisque per auras Cum navem ascendit Susanna; O dicite, nautæ I. All in the Downs the fleet was moored, Oh! where shall I my true love find? D. Dicite vos animi fortes, sed dicite verum, II. Pendulus in summi Gulielmus vertice mali Hinc agitabatur fluctibus, inde, maris; Sic alto in cœlo tremulis se librat ut alis, Suave meum, et vitâ Susanna ô charior ipsâ, Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true, William, who high upon the yard, III. So the sweet lark, high poised in air, Shuts close his pinions to his breast, The noblest captain in the British fleet Might envy William's lips those kisses sweet. IV. O Susan, Susan, lovely dear, My vows shall ever true remain! |