: either written or verbal, makes any pretence to merit, as of extemporaneous production, shall be said or written within the time that the author supports himself on one leg that Horace had explained his meaning, by the phrase, stans pede in uno' and forasmuch as one man may persevere in the posture longer than another, he would recommend it to all candidates for this extraordinary accomplishment, that they would habituate themselves to study in no other attitude whatso ever." Methought I received his answer with the utmost pleasure as well as veneration; hoping that however I was debarred of the acumen requisite for an extempore, I might learn to weary out my betters in standing on one leg. V. A HUMOURIST. To form an estimate of the proportion which one man's happiness bears to another's, we are to consider the mind that is allotted him with as much attention as the circumstances. It were superfluous to evince that the same objects which one despises, are frequently to another the substantial source of admiration. The man of business and the man of pleasure are to each other mutually contemptible; and a blue garter has less charms for some than they can discover in a butterfly. The more candid and sage observer condemns neither for his pursuits, but for the derision he so profusely lavishes upon the disposition of his neighbour. He concludes that schemes infinitely various were at first intended for our pursuit and pleasure; and that some find their account in heading a cry of hounds, as much as others in the dignity of lord chief justice. Having premised thus much, I proceed to give some account of a character which came within the sphere of my own observation. Not the entrance of a cathedral, not the sound of a passing bell, not the furs of a magistrate, nor the sables of a funeral, were fraught with half the solemnity of face! Nay, so wonderfully serious was he observed to be on all occasions, that it was found hardly possible to be otherwise in his company. He quashed the loudest tempest of laughter whenever he entered the room; and men's features, though ever so much roughened, were sure to grow smooth at his approach. The man had nothing vicious, or even ill-natured in his character; yet he was the dread of all jovial conversation: the young, the gay, found their spirits fly before him. Even the kitten and the puppy, as it were by instinct, would forego their frolics, and be still. The depression he occasioned was like that of a damp or vitiated air. Unconscious of any apparent cause, you found your spirits sink insensibly and were any one to sit for the picture of ill-luck, it is not possible the painter could select a more proper person. Yet he did not fail to boast of a superior share of reason, even for the want of that very faculty, risibility, with which it is supposed to be always joined. Indeed, he acquired the character of the most ingenious person of his country, from this meditative temper. Not that he had ever made any great discovery of his talents; but a few oracular declarations, joined with a common opinion that he was writing somewhat for posterity, completed his reputation. Numbers would have willingly depreciated his character, had not his known sobriety and reputed sense deterred them. He was one day overheard at his devotions, returning his most fervent thanks for some particularities in his situation, which the generality of mankind would have but little regarded. "Accept," said he, “the gratitude of thy most humble, yet most happy creature, not for silver or gold, the tinsel of mankind, but for those amiable peculiarities which thou hast so graciously interwoven both with my fortune and my complexion; for those treasures so well adapted to that frame of mind thou hast assigned me. "That the surname which has descended to me is liable to no pun. "That it runs chiefly upon vowels and liquids. "That I have a picturesque countenance rather than one that is esteemed of regular features. "That there is an intermediate hill, intercepting my view of a nobleman's seat, whose ill-obtained superiority I cannot bear to recollect. "That my estate is overrun with brambles, resounds with cataracts, and is beautifully varied with rocks and precipices, rather than an even cultivated spot, fertile of corn, or wine, or oil, or those kinds of productions in which the sons of men delight themselves. "That as thou dividest thy bounties impartially, giving riches to one, and the contempt of riches to another, so thou hast given me, in the midst of poverty, to despise the insolence of riches; and by declining all emulation that is founded upon wealth, to maintain the dignity and superiority of the Muses. "That I have a disposition, either so elevated or so ingenious, that I can derive to myself amusement from the very expedients and contrivances with which rigorous necessity furnishes my invention. "That I can laugh at my own follies, foibles, and infirmities; and that I do not want infirmities to employ this disposition." This poor gentleman caught cold one winter's night, as he was contemplating, by the side of a crystal stream, by moonshine. This afterwards terminated in a fever, that was fatal to him. Since his death, I have been favoured with the inspection of his poetry, of which I preserved a catalogue for the benefit of my readers. Occasional Poems. On his dog, that growing corpulent, refused a crust when it was offered him. To the memory of a pair of breeches, that had done him excellent service. Having lost his trusty walking-staff, he complaineth. To his mistress, on her declaring that she loved parsnips better than potatoes. On an ear-wig, that crept into a nectarine, that it might be swallowed by Chloe. On cutting an artichoke in his garden the day that queen Anne cut her little finger. Epigram on a wooden peg. Ode to the memory of the great modern-who first invented shoe buckles. : (In the manner of Cambray.) IT was in that delightful month which Love prefers before all others, and which most reveres this deity that month which ever weaves a verdant carpet for the earth, and embroiders it with flowers. The banks became inviting through their coverlets of moss; the violets, refreshed by the moisture of descending rains, enriched the tepid air with their agreeable perfumes: but the shower was past; the sun dispersed the vapours; and the sky was clear and lucid, when Polydore walked forth. He was of a complexion altogether plain and unaffected; a lover of the Muses, and beloved by them: he would oftentimes retire from the noise of mixed conversation, to enjoy the melody of birds, or the murmurs of a water-fall. His neighbours often smiled at his peculiarity of temper; and he no less at the vulgar cast of theirs. He could never be content to pass his irrevocable time in an idle comment upon a newspaper, or in adjusting the precise difference of temperature betwixt the weather of to-day and yesterday: in short, he was not void of some ambition; but what he felt he acknowledged, and was never averse to vindicate. As he never |