may to this Skill the Knowledge of the Cornish Hug, as well as the Grapple, to play with Hand and Foot. By this Means I was for defending my Head when the French Gentleman was making a full Pafs at my Bofom, infomuch that he told me I was fairly killed Seven Times in one Morning, without having done my Mafter any other Mischief than one Knock on the Pate. This was a great Misfortune to me; and I believe I fay, without Vanity, I am the first who ever pushed fo erroneously; and yet conquered the Prejudice of Education fo well, as to make my Paffes fo clear, and recover Hand and Foot with that Agility, as I do at this Day. The Truth of it is, the first Rudiments of Education are given very indiscreetly by most Parents, as much with Relation to the more important Concerns of the Mind, as in the Gestures of the Body. Whatever Children are defigned for, and whatever Profpects the Fortune or Interest of their Parents may give them in their future Lives, they are all promiscuously instructed the fame Way; and Horace and Virgil must be thrummed by a Boy, as well before he goes to an Apprenticeship as to the Univerfity. This ridiculous Way of treating the Under-aged of this Iland has very often raised both my Spleen and Mirth, but I think never both at once fo much as to Day. A good Mother of our Neighbourhood made me a Vifit with her Son and Heir, a Lad fomewhat above Five Foot, Foot, and wants but little of the Height and Strength of a good Musquetier in any Regiment in the Service. Her Bufinefs was to defire I would examine him, for he was far gone in a Book, the first Letters of which The often faw in my Papers. The Youth produced it, and I found it was my Friend Horace. It was very eafie to turn to the Place the Boy was learning in, which was the Fifth Ode of the First Book to Pyrrha. I read it over aloud, as well because I am always delighted when I turn to the beautiful Parts of that Author, as alfo to gain Time for confidering a little how to keep up the Mother's Pleasure in her Child, which I thought Barbarity to interrupt. In the first Place I asked him, Who this fame Pyrrha was? He answer'd very readily, She was the Wife of Pyrrhus, one of Alexander's Captains. I lifted up my Hands. The Mother courtefies- Nay, fays fhe, I knew you would ftand in Admiration. I affure you, continued fhe, for all he looks fo tall, he is but very young. Pray ask him fome more, never fpare him. With that I took the Liberty to ask him, What was the Character of this Gentlewo man? He read the Three first Verses: Quis multa gracilis te Puer in rofa And very gravely told me, She lived at thể B b 2 be be very much aftonished at the Lad's Improvements; but withal advised her, as foon as poffible, to take him from School, for he could learn no more there. This very filly Dialogue was a lively Image of the impertinent Method used in breeding Boys without Genius or Spirit, to the reading Things for which their Heads were never framed. But this is the natural Effect of a certain Vanity in the Minds of Parents, who are wonderfully delighted with the Thought of breeding their Children to Accomplishments, which they believe nothing but Want of the same Care in their own Fathers prevented them from being Masters of. Thus it is, that the Part of Life moft fit for Improvement, is generally employed in a Method against the Bent of Nature; and a Lad of fuch Parts as are fit for an Occupation, where there can be no Calls out of the beaten Path, is Two or Three Years of his Time wholly taken up in knowing how well Ovid's Mistress became fuch a Dress; how fuch a Nymph for her Cruelty was changed into fuch an Animal; and how it is made generous in Æneas to put Turnus to Death. Gallantries that can no more come within the Occurrences of the Lives of ordinary Men, than they can be relished by their Imaginations. However, ftill the Humour goes on from one Generation to another; and the Paftry-Cook here in the Lane the other Night told me, He would not yet take away his Son from his Learning, but but has refolved, as foon as he had a little Smattering in the Greek, to put him Apprentice to a Soap-boiler. These wrong Begin nings determine our Succefs in the World; and when our Thoughts are originally falfly biaffed, their Agility and Force do but carry us the further out of our Way in Proportion to our Speed. But we are half Way our Journey when we have got into the right Road. If all our Days were usefully employed, and we did not fet out impertinently, we should not have fo many Grotefque Profeffors in all the Arts of Life, but every Man would be in a proper and becoming Method of diftinguishing or entertaining himself fuitably to what Nature defigned him. As they go on now, our Parents do not only force us upon what is against our Talents, but our Teachers are alfo as injudicious in what they put us to learn. I have hardly ever fince fuffered fo much by the Charms of any Beauty, as I did before I had a Senfe of Paffion, for not apprehending that the Smile of Lalage was what pleased Horace; and I verily believe, the Stripes I fuffered about Digito male pertinaci, has given that irreconcilable Aversion, which I fhall carry to my Grave, against Coquets. As for the elegant Writer of whom I am talking, his Excellencies are to be obferved as they relate to the different Concerns of his Life; and he is always to be looked upon as a Lover, a Courtier, or a Man of Wit. Bb 3 His His admirable Odes have numberless Instances of his Merit in each of these Characters, His Epiftles and Satyrs are full of proper Notices for the Conduct of Life in a Court; and what we call Good Breeding, most agreeably intermixed with his Morality. His Addreffes to the Perfons who favoured him are fo inimitably engaging, that Auguftus complained of him for fo feldom writing to him, and asked him, Whether he was afraid Pofterity should read their Names together? Now for the Generality of Men to spend much Time in fuch Writings, is as pleasant a Folly as any he ridicules. Whatever the Crowd of Scholars may pretend, if their Way of Life, or their own Imaginations, do not lead them to a Taft of him, they may read, nay write, Fifty Volumes upon him, and be juft as they were when they began. I remember to have heard a great Painter fay, There are certain Faces for certain Painters, as well as certain Subjects for certain Poets. This is as true in the Choice of Studies, and no one will ever relish an Author thoroughly well, who would not have been fit Company for that Author, had they lived at the fame Time. All others are Mechanicks in Learning, and take the Sentiments of Writers like Waiting-Servants, who report what paffed at their Masters Table; but debase every Thought and Expreffion, for want of the Air with which they were uttered. The |