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the support of their thoughts than our own. Seneca, whatever may be his subject, aims at a brilliancy of expression, and is fond of using what the French call "une tour de phrase," and "une façon de parler;" which modes of writing make Seneca, on the first reading, rather impressive, and in the second tiresome. But simplicity in writing bears a strong analogy to the pleasure which we receive in the other arts of composition by the pen or the pencil; and we accord with the poetical critic

Poets, like painters, thus unskill'd to trace
The naked nature, and the living grace;
With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part,
And hide with ornaments their want of art.
Pope's Essay on Criticism.

A Modern Plagiarism, taken from Bion the Poet.

It is said that the late George Stevens, (one of the commentators of Shakespeare,) on reading the poem of the Pursuits of Literature," said they were verses made as pegs to hang the notes on. An ancient writer on superstition, describing a superstitious man, who, thinking his misfortunes in life to be the effect of divine vengeance upon him, represents the poor man as surrounded by old women, collecting all his sins and transgressions, and making him as a nail or peg to hang them all upon.-Plutarch of " Superstition.”

Difference between Reading and Disputing.

Men who are fond of argument, very often are seen not only to raise their voices too high for easy utterance, but to work up their minds by this violent exercise of their lungs. An excellent author recommends reading aloud as a relaxation from the former laborious elocution; and his comparison is very singular and happy. "What riding in a coach is to exercise, so is reading in respect to disputing; for in reading you carry your voice softly and low, and, as it were, in the chariot of another man's language."--Plutarch's Rules for the Preservation of Health.

Retort Courteous.

A gentleman who was rather an admirer of literature than a man of letters himself, praised the abilities of a literary friend in terms rather beyond what he himself was able to appreciate.

My friend" (says the eulogist) "talks so correctly, and at the same time so fluently, that one would think that he was reciting out of a book." A man in company, who knew this pedant alluded to, and also that he possessed a great memory, and was a very stupid fellow per se, replied, "Your

friend, Sir, most probably, did recite out of a book."

Obscure Writers.

Those writers, as Lycophron in Greek, and Tacitus in Latin, who attempted to recommend their works by the obscurity of their style, must have supposed that their readers had eyes like a cat, which sees objects better in the dark than in the light. Authors of riddles and enigmas give you warning that they mean to be obscure, and you may read them or not, as your inclination may be towards these" works of darkness." When a writer of history, and of an epic poem, entraps you in their subterraneous caverns and shades below, you have a right to complain; as you would of a bad cook, who not only balks the indulgence of your appetite, but injures your digestion by his ill-dressed dishes.

The Arabian Nights.

By superficial readers and soi-disant philosophers these most amusing tales have been decried as fit only to amuse children. Without going over the grounds of their literary merit, such objections to them will be obviated by stating, that modern travellers in the eastern countries have borne

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testimony to the accurate delineation of the manners, laws, and customs, which these Arabian Tales discover. We hear, indeed, scholars, who, under the bondage of classical authority, declaim on the fictions of the Greek and Latin poets, speak of the Arabian Nights with contempt; but let such read the excellent introduction to the Tales, prefixed to a late translation of them, by a profound oriental scholar; and if they then desist from reading them, and having read them are not highly pleased, I should suspect that such scholars may perhaps read Greek and Latin with skill, but their intellect and powers of fancy, and their candour, may be equally called in question.

Dependence.

This term is very often confined to that unfortunate state, where a poor man of spirit depends on a wealthy patron for support. It may be extended, however, to any situation in society, wherein a man becomes dependent on his neighbour for amusement. He who cannot pass an evening without a rubber at whist, must depend on at least three good friends to help him out: the lover of his bottle must have at least one associate. Thrice happy is the man who is enabled, by edu

* Jonathan Scott, esq; interpreter to the late Governor Hastings.

cation and habit, to depend upon himself for his amusement and employment in business or literary pursuits, and to be " nunquam minus solus quam

cum solus."

Mason and Gray.

These two friends so long cultivated the same fields of literature, that the taste of each partook of the same soil, as is discoverable in their writings and disposition. Finicalness in manner, and excessive love of finery in their phraseology, were the characteristics of both in their writings and demeanour; but Gray, being the superior poet, rose above the degrading parts of his character by a strength of genius, to which the other could, never attain.

Parsimony and Extravagance.

It is truly laughable to hear persons rail at one error, and pass by the other in silence, and often with panegyric; though it is well known that the one may be practised with honesty, whilst the other must be at the expense of some persons more or less. Tacitus, or Rochefaucault, or Mandeville, would soon set this apparent folly in its true light, by saying rogues and knaves are benefited by the

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