"There is scarcely any profession in the commonwealth more necessary, which is so slightly performed, as that of a schoolmaster; the reasons whereof I conceive to be these: First, young scholars make the calling their refuge; yea, perchance, before they have taken any degree in the university, commence schoolmasters in the country, as if nothing else were required to set up this profession, but only a rod and a ferule.

"Secondly, others, who are able, use it only as a passage to better preferment, to patch the rents in their present fortune, till they can provide a new one, and betake themselves to some more gainful calling.

"Thirdly, they are disheartened from doing their best with the miserable reward which, in some places, they receive; being masters to the children, and slaves. to their parents. But see how well our schoolmaster behaves himself.

"He studieth his scholars' natures as carefully as they their books, and ranks their dispositions into several forms. And, though it may seem difficult for him, in a great school, to descend to all particulars, yet experienced schoolmasters may quickly make a grammar of boys' natures, and reduce them all (saving some few exceptions) to these general rules:

"1. Those that are ingenious and industrious. The conjunction of two such planets in a youth presages much good unto him. To such a lad a frown may be a whipping, and a whipping a death; yea, where his master whips him once, shame whips him all

the week after. Such natures he useth with all gentleness.

"2. Those that are ingenious and idle. These think, with the hare in the fable, that, running with snails, (so they count the rest of their school-fellows), they shall come soon enough to the post; though sleeping a good while before their starting. Oh, a good rod would finely take them napping.

"3. Those that be dull and diligent. Wines, the stronger they be, the more lees they have when they are new. Many boys are muddy-headed till they be clarified with age, and such afterwards prove the best. Bristol diamonds are both bright, and squared, and pointed, by nature, and yet are soft and worthless; whereas orient ones in India are rough and rugged naturally. Hard, rugged, and dull natures of youth acquit themselves afterwards the jewels of the country; and therefore their dullness is at first to be borne with, if they be diligent. That schoolmaster deserves to be beaten himself who beats nature in a boy for a fault.

"4. Those that are invincibly dull, and negligent also. Correction may reform the latter, not amend the former. All the whetting in the world can never set a razor's edge on that which hath no steel in it. Such boys he consigneth over to other professions. Shipwrights and boatmakers will choose those crooked pieces of timber, which other carpenters refuse.

"He is able, diligent, and methodical in his teaching; not leading them rather in a circle than forwards. He minces his precepts for children to swallow, hang

ing clogs on the nimbleness of his own soul, that his scholars may go along with him. He is moderate in inflicting even deserved correction.

"Many a schoolmaster seemeth to understand that schooling his pupils meaneth scolding and scoring them; and therefore, in bringing them forward, he useth the lash more than the leading string.

"Such an Orbilius mars more scholars than he makes. The tyranny of such a man hath caused the tongues of many to stammer which spake plainly by nature, and whose stuttering, at first, was nothing else but fears quavering on their speech at their master's presence."

"In visiting Alexandria, what most engages the attention of travelers, is the pillar of Pompey, as it is commonly called, situated at a quarter of a league from the southern gate. It is composed of red granite. The capital is Corinthian, with palm-leaves, and not indented. It is nine feet high. The shaft and the upper member of the base are of one piece of ninety feet long, and nine in diameter. The base is a square of about fifteen feet on each side. This block of marble, sixty feet in circumference, rests on two layers of stone bound together with lead; which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them to search for an imaginary treasure.

"The whole column is one hundred and fourteen feet high. It is perfectly well polished, and only a little shivered on the eastern side. Nothing can equal

the majesty of this monument; seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels. Approaching it nearer, it produces an astonishment mixed with awe. One can never be tired with admiring the beauty of the capital, the length of the shaft, or the extraordinary simplicity of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travelers who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity; and one of the volutes of the column was prematurely brought down about twelve years ago, by a prank of some English captains, which is thus related by Mr. Irwin:

"These jolly sons of Neptune had been pushing about the can on board of one of the ships in the harbor, until a strange freak entered the brain of one of them. The eccentricity of the thought occasioned it immediately to be adopted; and its apparent impossibility was but a spur for putting it into execution. The boat was ordered; and with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising heroes pushed ashore to drink a bowl of punch on the top of Pompey's Pillar! At the spot they arrived; and many contrivances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. But their labor was vain; and they began to despair of success, when the genius who struck out the frolic happily suggested the means of performing it.

"A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite. The inhabitants were by this time apprised of what was going forward, and flocked in crowds to be wit

nesses of the address and boldness of the English. The governor of Alexandria was told that those seamen were about to pull down Pompey's Pillar. But whether he gave them credit for their respect to the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left them to themselves, and politely answered, that the English were too great patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were engaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire risen in opposition, it would not at that moment have deterred them.

"The kite was brought, and flown so directly over the pillar, that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A two-inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By this rope one of the seamen ascended to the top; and in less than an hour a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the whole company went up and drank their punch, amid the shouts of the astonished multitude. To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain no less than eight persons very conveniently.

"It is astonishing that no accident befell these madcaps, in a situation so elevated, that it would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment which the pillar received, was the loss