and had weak lungs, he resolved, by application, to overcome those disadvantages. He cured his stammering by putting small pebbles in his mouth; and gradually strengthened his lungs, by daily using himself to speak loudly and distinctly for a considerable time. In stormy weather he often visited the sea-shore, where he spoke as loud as he could, in order to prepare himself for the noise and murmurs of the popular assemblies of the Athenians, before whom he was to speak. By this extraordinary care and attention, and the constant study of the best authors, he became the greatest orator that his own or any other age or country has produced.

Whatever language a person uses, he should speak it in its greatest purity, and according to the rules of grammar: nor is it sufficient that we do not speak a language ill, we must endeavour to speak it well; for which purpose, we should read the best authors with attention, and observe how people of fashion and education speak. Common people, in general, speak ill; they make use of inelegant and vulgar expressions, which people of rank never do. In numbers, they frequently join the singular and the plural together, and confound the masculine with the feminine gender, and seldom make choice of the proper tense. To avoid all these faults, we should read with attention, and observe the turn and expressions of the best authors; nor should we pass over a word we do not perfectly understand, without searching or inquiring for the exact meaning of it.

It is said that a man must be born a poet, but it is in his power to make himself an orator; for, to be a poet, requires a certain degree of strength and vivacity of mind; but attention, reading, and la bour, are sufficient to form an orator.

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PEDANTRY.

EVERY excellency, and every virtue, has its kindred vice or weakness; and if carried beyond certain bounds, sinks into the one or the other. Generosity often runs into profusion, economy into avarice, courage into rashness, caution into timidity, and so on;-insomuch that, I believe, there is more judgment required for the proper conduct of our virtues, than for avoiding their opposite vices. Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not, at first, wear the mask of some virtue. But virtue is, in itself, so beautiful, that it charms us at first sight; engages us more and more, upon farther acquaintance; and, as with other beauties, we think excess impossible: it is here that judg ment is necessary to moderate and direct the effects of an excellent cause. In the same manner, great learning, if not accompanied with sound judgment, frequently carries us into error, pride, and ▾edantry.

Never pronounce arbitrarily.

Some learned men, proud of their knowledge, ɔnly speak to decide, and give judgment without appeal; the consequence of which is, that mankind, provoked by the insult, and injured by the oppression, revolt; and, in order to shake off the ty ranny, even call the lawful authority in question. The more you know, the modester you should be; and that modesty is the surest way of gratifying your vanity. Even where you are sure, seem rather doubtful; represent, but do not pronounce; and, if you would convince others, seein open to conviction yourself.

Affect not to prefer the ancients to moderns.

Others, to show their learning, or often from the prejudices of a school-education, where they hear of nothing else, are always talking of the ancients as something more than men, and of the moderns as something less. They are never without a classic or two in their pockets; they stick to the old good sense; they read none of the modern trash; and will show you plainly, that no improvement has been made, in any one art or science, these last seventeen hundred years. I would by no means have you disown your acquaintance with the ancients; but still less would I have you brag of an exclusive intimacy with them. Speak of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry; judge them all by their merits, but not by their ages; and if you happen to have an Elzevir classic in your pocket, neither show it nor mention it.

Reason not from ancient authenticity.

Some great scholars, most absurdly, draw all their maxims, both for public and private life, from what they call parallel cases in the ancient authors; without considering, that, in the first place, there never were, since the creation of the world, two cases exactly parallel! and, in the next place, that there never was a case stated, or even known, by any historian, with every one of its circumstances; which, however, ought to be known, in order to be reasoned from. Reason upon the case itself, and the several circumstances that attend it, and act accordingly; but not from the authority of ancient poets or historians. Take into your consi.

deration, if you please, cases seemingly analogous; but take them as helps only, not as guides..

Abstain from learned ostentation.

There is another species of learned men, who, though less dogmatical and supercilious, are not less impertinent. These are the communicative and shining pedants, who adorn their conversation, even with women, by happy quotations of Greek and Latin, and who have contracted such a familiarity with the Greek and Roman authors, that they call them by certain names or epithets denoting intimacy; as old Homer; that sly rogue Horace; Maro, instead of Virgil; Naso, instead of Ovid. These are often imitated by coxcombs who have no learning at all; but who have got some names and some scraps of ancient authors by heart, which they improperly and impertinently retail in all companies, in hopes of passing for scholars. If, therefore, you would avoid the accusation of pedantry on one hand, or the suspicion of ignorance on the other, abstain from learned ostentation. Speak the language of the company you are in; speak it purely, and unlarded with any other. Never seem wiser nor more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it; but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman.

PLEASURE.

1

MANY young people adopt pleasures, for which they have not the least taste, only because they are called by that name. They often mistake so total

ly, as to imagine that debauchery is pleasure. Drunkenness, which is equally destructive to body and mind, is certainly a fine pleasure! Gaming, which draws us into a thousand scrapes, leaves us pennyless, and gives us the air and manners of an outrageous madman, is another most exquisite pleasure!

Pleasure is the rock which most young people split upon; they launch out with crowded sails in quest of it, but without a compass to direct their course, or reason sufficient to steer the vessel; therefore pain and shame, instead of pleasure, are the returns of their voyage.

A man of pleasure, in the vulgar acceptation of that phrase, means only a beastly drunkard, an abandoned rake, and a profligate swearer. We should weigh the present enjoyment of our pleasures against the unavoidable consequences of them, and then let our common sense determine the choice.

We may enjoy the pleasures of the table and wine, but stop short of the pains inseparably an nexed to an excess in either. We may let other people do as they will, without formally and sen tentiously rebuking them for it; but we must be firmly resolved not to destroy our own faculties and constitution, in compliance to those who have no regard to their own. We may play to give us pleasure, but not to give us pain; we play for trifles in mixed companies, to amuse ourselves and conform to custom. Good company are not fond of having a man reeling drunk among them; nor is it agreeable to see another tearing his hair and blaspheming, for having lost, at play, more than he is able to pay; or a rake, with half a nose, crippled by