a wit. But let a plain translation of what the philosopher says on this popular subject put down these idle babblers. "The vulgar notion of love is disgraceful to manhood, which prefers a woman for her bodily, rather than her mental virtues." This surely excludes not an attachment to female charms as part of love, but only points it out as an inferior motive of choice.

Composition in Music.

To shew the difficulties in putting words of meaning to music, we must be aware how often the lines, if properly pronounced, would impede the tune; and, on the contrary, the tune does not permit a good reader to utter the words as the sense directs the use of the accents. Many musical persons think that sense has little to do with tunes, as many bon vivants think that converTM sation stops the bottle, and with equal justice perhaps in both cases.

Self-Biography.

The least experienced part of mankind hesitates to give credit to a man's own account of himself, at least without the security of an oath. There are two impediments to our confidence in the truth of these self-created narratives, and very

opposite in appearance, viz. the desire of speaking too well or too ill of themselves. David Hume and his friend J. J. Rousseau speak of themselves as no one else would wish to be spoken of; and Gibbon is too much in alto, when he narrates his actions or his literary pursuits. Voltaire was

known to be a knave, and of course his account of himself cannot do away the general impression. Perhaps we must despair of self-biography, till a virtuous as well as able man shall have laid aside the delicacy, with that modesty and just feeling of imperfections, attendant on real merit. Sir Isaac Newton left to posterity alone the care of his fame.

Useless Advice.

When old persons tell young ones of the vanity and nonsense of the world, they remind us of folks who have shewn themselves very curious to look into a raree-show, and on quitting the box they affect to cry out all nonsense;' or on laying down a newspaper which they have been conning for some hours, answer to the question, What news, Sir? 'None at all, Sir.' Young persons will still be curious, and shew in their turn that

Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,

Least pleasing when possess'd.

Gray's View of Eton College.

Idleness.

Against this evil habit nature seems to have given an instructive lesson by the stagnation of all fluids. The pond's water sooner corrupts than the rivulet; the air confined, and prevented from motion, becomes foul and noisome; and the idle man is a burthen to himself and a pest to society. How sublimely the Bard of Avon discourses on this enticing vice!

What is man,

If the chief good and market of his time

Be but to sleep and feed? A beast:-no more.
Sure He that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not

That capability and God-like reason,
To rust in us unus'd!

Hamlet.

Low Company.

The propensity to low company is the ambition of inferior minds, that they may exercise a superiority of rank or riches over their humble companions, for friends they cannot be called. The famous Lord Clarendon, a man of much knowledge and observation in life, has remarked, "that in the whole course of his life he never knew one man, of what condition soever, arrive at any degree of reputation in the world, who made choice of or delighted in the company or conver

sation of those, who in their qualities were inferior, or in their parts not much superior, to themselves. Tony Lumpkin, in "She Stoops to Conquer,” is an admirable piece of ridicule on these antipodes of civilization.

Varieties of Memory.

Some men remember history, some poetry, some mechanics, some astrology, according as they have a turn to either of these pursuits. We may hence infer, and usefully, that memory is the daughter of attention, and the grand-daughter of inclination, without which we could not recollect, on account of the weak impression that matters which do not interest us make on the recollection. By attention we strengthen memory to a surprising degree, if we are possessed of a fair share of talent, and a moderate portion of steadiness in our pursuits. Pope says, wittily and justly, on two sorts of people,

Wits have short memories, and dunces none. That is, of things worth knowing; for many blockheads are famous for their retention "of unconsidered trifles."

Hermitages.

It is related that the late Queen Caroline built an Hermitage, and hired a man to play the hermit

in it; but the fellow turned out a drunken rascal, and added very much to the parish rates by his amours. An honest, though very poor man, had refused this royal retreat. Such a scheme as the Queen's seems not much more deep in the knowledge of mankind, than his who should build a cottage, and expect to find a happy man to live in it. "Fronti nulla fides." "Tis true, an hermitage and a cottage may be agreeable objects to the lovers of fancy, and picturesque scenery; and he who never enters the inside of either is the only man who will never be deceived in his expectations of finding there piety, innocence, and content. A modern poet, who seems to have searched narrowly into the inside of rural life, has sung with more truth, than poets generally think necessary to their compositions

Yes, they (the Muses) sing of happy swains,
Because the Muses never knew their pains.

Crabbe's Village.

Book-Worms.

These plodders in the mines of literature are well described, and properly ridiculed, by one who could value real learning, and penetrate into the mockeries of it, with equal powers of skill and discernment.