Sganerelle Rien. Don Juan. Montrez un peu, parbleu c'est une fluxion qui lui est tombée sur la joue, vite une lacette pour percer cela. Le pauvre garçon n'en peut plus, et cet abeez le pourroit étouffer, attends, voyez comme il etoit meur. Ah, coquin, que vous ettes! Thus, in constructing his Lovelace, it would appear, that Richardson did not confine himself to any particular model; and that neither the real duke of Wharton nor the fictitious rake of Rowe, was his only material. Of the English poets none have excelled Prior in a Horatian sprightliness of manner. Voltaire bestows much commendation on his ballad of, "Some folks are drunk, yet do not know it," written in retaliation of Boileau's ode sur la prise de Namur; and he allows, that he therein lashes his countryman with considerable efficiency. As another specimen of his vivacity in the gallant kind might be adduced his "As Chloe came into the room t'other day, &c." But however animated this and other of his poems, they seem surpassed in airy gayety by his Secretary, written at the Hague, in 1696; an effusion to be found in some of the earlier editions of his works, but which, on account of its libertinism, has been properly omitted in the later and more correct editions. Should it fall to the lot, however, of the reverend doctor Wharton to reedit his works, he would no doubt preserve it as he has some of the equally loose productions of Pope, and for which, he has been pretty severely animadverted upon by the author of the Pursuits of Literature. Still it may be said, that all sorts of readers have their rights; and if none are to be gratified but those who are old or sick of the vanities of the world, it may be asked, what mental amusement remains for the gay and the fashionable and such as delight in just delineations of human nature? or, will they be persuaded to employ their leisure on sermonizing romances, and to lay down Roderic Random and Tom Jones in favour of Celebs in search of a wife? This might be a desirable reformation in literature; yet the writers who may seriously aim at bringing it about, can by no means be charged with a want of confidence in their powers. There is probably no vehicle in which ridicule and satire can be rendered more poignant than by parody.. This Boileau seems to have been aware of, by his Parodie de quelques Endroits du Cid, in which he lashes Chaplain, Cassaigne, and Le Serret. The bringing down, in this manner, of grave and lofty poetry, to tow and familiar subjects, has, when well done, a very pleasing effect; and Churchill, perhaps, is in no part of his Rosciad, more pitylessly severe, than where he thus lampoons Murphy through a ranting speech of Nat. Lee's Alexander. Can none remember? Yes, I know all must, When in the Moor he ground his teeth to dust, Whilst common sense stood trembling at the door. Pope in his Dunciad and Rape of the Lock, has frequent recourse to short parodies on passages of Homer and Virgil; and no where has he more elegant and enchanting poetry, than when in his Dunciad imitating Catullus's Ut flos in septis secretis nascitur hortis, &c. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of transcribing both the complaint of the florist, in ridicule of the then prevailing rage for flowers, and the justificatory address of the impaler of butterflies, which last includes allusions both to Spencer and Milton. The first thus open'd: Hear thy suppliant's call, Fair from its humble bed I rear'd this flow'r · Bright with the gilded button tipt its head. And lo the wretch! whose vile, whose insect lust. He ceas'd and wept. With innocence of mein, Of all th' enamel'd race, whose silv'ry wing Once brighest shined this child of heat and air. I saw and started from its vernal bow'r, The rising game, and chas'd from flow'r to flow'r. It stopp'd, I stopp'd; it mov'd, I mov'd again. I meddle, goddess! only in my sphere. The following French verses are in Mr. Lewis's Monk. A supposed prettiness, or at least novelty in the thought, whetting the pen for translation in an idle hour, the trifle was transformed into the two different English shapes here exhibited: Pour chasser de sa souvenance L'objet qui plait, On se donne bien de souffrance Pour peu d'effet. Le souvenir durant la vie, Toujours revient, En pensant qu'il faut qu'on l'oublie On s'en souvient. Translation. To drive from remembrance an object that charms, How painful the effort! how useless our arms! Still through life, the fond theme each exertion eludes, And in pond'ring our duty, the image intrudes. Another, more in the tone and measure of the original. From Memory's seat to chase a guest Yet ah! how keen its smart. In vain through life with fond regret, That object still intrudes. LEVITY. FOR THE PORT FOLIO. Modern Cesars-During the disturbances in Ireland in the year 1798, Mr. Beresford commanded a corps of volunteers entirely composed of revenue officers, of whose discipline he was very proud. Boasting one day of the excellence of his regiment, a wag observed, that he did not doubt it, as they were, to a man, all Casars [Seizers.] EPIGRAM ON EMPLOYING HORSES ON THE STAGE. No wonder that nightly such companies press, That a horse will draw more than a man. An enthusiastic musician took lodgings, a few days ago, at a respectable silversmith's, at the west end of the town, but perceiving a notification exhibited at the window as follows-" Ears bored here," he thought it a reflection on his calling, and threatened to leave the house if it was not removed! A poet asking a gentleman how he approved of his last production, "An Ode to Sleep," the latter replied, "You have done such justice to the subject, that it is impossible to read it without feeling its full weight." A person who had been publicly horsewhipped, being asked by a friend how he could suffer himself to be treated so like a cypher?" A cypher!" replied the former, with composed gravity, "did you ever see one with so many strokes in it." At one of the masquerades lately given at the Margate Theatre, a gentleman, who appeared in the character of a Jew, came up to an officer, and asked to purchase his sword. The officer indignantly replied--" Be careful, sir, that sword will fight of itself." The humourous Israelite rejoined" That is the sword that just suits you." The establishment of a new country bank was lately announced by posting bills, to the following effect:-"A new bank will be opened in a few days. Some wags were at the pains of altering the words, "in" to "for." The projectors taking the hint, the bank was not opened. An Active School Master-According to the German Pædogogic Magazine (vol. iii. p. 407.) died lately, in Suabia, a schoolmaster, who for fifty-one years had superintended a large institution with old-fashioned severity. From an average inferred by means of recorded observations, one of the ushers has calculated, that in the course of his exertions, he had given 911,500 canings, 124,000 floggings, 209,000 custodes, 136,000 tips with the ruler, and 22,700 tasks to get by heart. It was further calculated that he had made 700 boys stand on peas, 600 kneel on a sharp edge of wood, 5000 wear the fool's-cap, and 1700 hold the rod. How vast the quantity of human misery inflicted by a single perverse educator! But we are growing more humane, as Martial says Ferule tristes, sceptra padogogorum, cessant! Cross Readings.--The principal partner in a great porter brewery-was sworn, and took his seat as member for Alesbury. A small whale was lately picked up off the coast of Scotland -the coroner's jury returned a verdict of "found drowned.” A new bank was lately opened at- No money to be returned. |