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young lawyers, not thirty years of age, think
that nisi prius, scire facias, &c„ are English
expressions; and if you tell them that a knowl
edge of Latin would make them appear more
respectable in their profession, they will re
ply that they are too old to think of learning
Latin. .
Boccacio, was thirty-five years of age when
he commenced his studies in polite literature.
Yet he became one of the three great masters
of the Tuscan dialect, Dante and Petrarch be
ing the other two.
There are many among us ten years young
er than Boccacio, who are dying of ennui,
and regret that they were not educated to a
taste for literature ; but now they are too
old.
Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sciences
in his youth, but commenced the study of
them when he was between fifty and sixty
years of age. After this time he became a
inost learned antiquarian and lawyer. Our
young men begin to think of laving their se
niors on the shelf, when they have reached
sixty years of age. How different the present
estimate put upon experience, from that which
characterized a certain period of the Grecian
republic, when a man was not allowed to
open his mouth in caucuses or politicial meet
ings, who was under forty years of age.
Colbert, the famous French minister, at six
ty years of age, returned to his Latin and law
studies.
Dr. Johnson applied himself to the Dutch
language a few years before his death. Most
of our merchants and lawyers of twenty-five,
thirty, and forty years of age, are obliged to
apply to a teacher to translate a business let
ter written in the French language, which
might be learned in a tenth part of the time
required for the acquisition of the Dutch ; and
all because they are too old to learn.
Ludovico Monaldesco, at the great age of
one hundred and fifteen, wrote thememoirsof
his own limes —a singular exertion, noticed
by Voltaire, who was himself one of the most
remarkable instances of the progress of the
age in new studies.
Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil,
was unacquainted with Latin and Greek till
he was past fifty.
Franklin did not fully commence his philo
sophical pursuits till he had reached his fif
tieth year. How many among us, of thirty,
forty and fifty, read nothing but newspa
pers, for the want of a taste for natural phil
osophy! But they are too old to learn.
Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why
he began the study of law so late, answered,
that indeed he began it late, but that he should
therefore master it the sooner. This agrees
with our theory,* that healthy old age gives a
man the power of accomplishing a difficult
study in much less time than would be neces
sary to one of half his years.
Dryden, in his sixty-eighth year, commenc
ed the translation of the Iliad ; and his most
pleasing productions were written in his old
age.
We could go on and cite thousands of ex
amples of men who commenced anew study,
struck out into an entirely new pursuit, eith
er for livelihood or amusement, at an advanc
ed age. But everv one familiar with the bi
ography of distinguished men will recollect
individual cases enough to convince him that
none but the sick and indolent will ever say,
“I am too old to study/ 1
INGENUITY DISPLAYED IN TRIFLES.
In the sixteenth century, an Italian Monk,
named Peter Almunus, comprised the Acts of
the Apostles, and the gospel of St. John,
within the circumference of a farthing.
An artist endowed with equal patience,
presented Queen Elizabeth with a bit of pa
per, of the size of a finger naii, on which
were written the ten commandments, the
creed, and the Lord’s prayer, together with
her Majesty’s name and the date of the year;
all the letters of it were easily distinguished
by means of a pair of spectacles, which this
artist had himself constructed.
The Iliad of Homer too, is to be seen writ
ten upon vellum, and in so small a compass,
that a nut shell contained it.
Jerome Faba, an Italian priest, and a na
tive of Calabria, exercised himself in an
other species of industry, equally wonderful
trom its difficulty. He finished a work of
boxwood, w r hich represented all the mysteries
of the passions, and might be put into the
shell of a walnut. To him is likewise attrib
uted a coach of the size of a grain of wheat,
within which were to be seen a man and a
woman, a coachman who drove it, and horses
which drew it. These performances w r ere
presented to Francis the Ist, and to Charles
the fifth.
Another artist constructed an ivory chariot
which a fly covered with its wings, and a
SIS IB El Qa aITIE IE A IE'T BIT 7B*
ship also of ivory with its rigging complete.
Paul Colomies, tells us somewhere, that he
saw a goldsmith at Moulins, who had chain
ed a living flea to a gold chain, which con
tained fifty links, and did not weigh three
grains.
©nr 13owl of }3uncl).
JOHN BULL AND JOHNNY CRAPAUD.
A DIALOGUE,
Crap. Hola ! Jean Bull—arise ! awake !
And break your chains.
Bull. I’ve none to break.
Crap. What! feel you not your fetters ! Eh 1
Bull. Not I, indeed, man.
Crap. Insense!
The spectacle sublime of France,
“Will it not tempt you to advance 1
Bull. Not in the path of Revolution.
Crap. Slave to your laws and Constitution.
lai Gloire, she has no charms for you.
Bull La Gloire —La fiddlestick —pooh—pooh!
Crap. You’ve no emeutes, like our “rand nation,
la Europe to create sensation.
Bull. You’re very right; we don’t allow
Our rabble to kick up a row.
Crap. You have no fetes —no triumphs gay.
Bull. We’ve a contempt for children’s play.
Crap. You have good pavements for the feet
In your Pall Mall and Regent Street;
But you make knives and razor-blades
More cleverly than barricades.
Bull. Our flag-stones we adapt, my friend,
To what we think their proper end.
Crap. Your lives are one dull round of quiet.
Bull. Yes; we prefer that state to riot.
Crap. You take no pride in arms and war.
Bull. No ; ’tis a thing that we abhor,
Resolved to fight on no pretence,
Except when forced in self-defence ;
But, once obliged to come to blows,
We do our best to crush our foes.
Crap. Bah ! it is plain that you pursue
Business, not glory.
Bull. Very true.
Crap. Shake off the tyrant’s hateful yoke,
Glowing with patriot’s fire.
Bull. All smoke.
Crap. Pursue, then, cotton-spinning race.
Os common sense the courses base,
Dead to all aspirations high,
And great conceptions.
Bull. All my eye !
THE MODEL DAUGHTER.
Constantly she comes down to breakfast be
fore the tea-things are taken away. She is
always ready for dinner. She curls her own
hair, and can undress herself without a serv
ant. She is happy at home without going to
a ball every night. She has not a head-ache
when her papaasksher to sing. She “pract
ises only when he is out. She does not have
her letters addressed to the pastrycook’s, or
make a postman of the housemaid. She does
not read novels in bed. She dresses plainly
for church, and returns to luncheon without
her head cramfull of bonnets. She is not
perpetually embroidering mysterious braces,
or knitting secret purses, or having a Turkish
slipper on hand for some anonymous foot in
the Guards. Her fingers are not too proud to
mend a stocking, or make a pudding. She
looks attentively after the holes in her fath
er’s gloves. She is a clever adept in prepar
inggruel, white-wine whey, tapioca, chicken
broth, beef-tea, and the thousand little house
hold delicacies of a sick room. She is a ten
der nurse, moving noiselessly about, whisper
ing words of comfort, and administering med
icine with an affection that robs it of half its
bitterness. She does not scream at a leach,
or faint at the sight of a black-beetle. She
does not spin poetry, nor devour it in any
great quantity. She does not invent excuses
for not reading the debate to her father of an
evening, nor does she skip any of the speech
es. She always has the pillow ready to put
under his head when he falls asleep. She
can behold an officer with womanly fortitude
without falling in love. She does not keep
her mother waiting an hour at an evening
party for “just another waltz.” She never
contracts a milliner’s bill unknown to her pa
rents —“she would die sooner.” She never
stitched a Red Turk in her life. She soars
above Berlin wool, and crying “one-two-tliree
one-two-three” continually. She knows no
thing of crotchets, or “ Woman’s Mission.”
She studies housekeeping, is perfect in the
common rules of arithmetic, and can tell pret
ty nearly how many “long sixes” go to a
pound. She checks the weekly bills, and does
not blush if seen in a butcher’s shop on a
Saturday. She is not continually fretting to
go to Paris, or “dying” to see Jenny Lind,
nor does she care much about “that love
Mario.” She does not take long walks by
herself, and come home saying, “she lost her
way.” She treats her father’s guests with
equal civility, making no distinction between
the gentleman and the tradesman. She is
not fond of pulling all the things over in a
shop merely to “buy a packet of pins.” She
can pass a Marchande de Mode’s without
stopping. She never dresses in silks or satins
the first thing in the morning, nor is she look
ing out of the window, or admiring herself in
the looking-glass all day long. She makes
the children’s frocks, and plays a little at
chess and hack-gammon, and takes a hand at
whist occasionally,—“anythingto please her
dear father.” Her grog, too, elicits he wann
est encomiums from the old gentlemen who
drop in. She does not send home “lovely”
jewellery for her father to look at. She does
not lace herself to death, nor take vinegar to
make herself thin. She wears thick shoes in
wet weather. She has a terrible horror of
coquetting. She is kind to the servants, and
conceals their little faults from their “Mas
ter and Missus.” She never pouts if scolded,
nor shuts herself up in her room to cultivate
“ the sulks.” She is the pet of her “ darling
papa,” and warms his slippers regularly on a
winter’s night, and lights his candle before go
ing up to bed. She is her mamma’s “ dear
good girl,” as is sufficiently proved by her
being intrusted with all the keys of the house
keeping. There is terrible crying when she
is married, and for days after her absence no
thing is heard in the house but regrets and
loud praises, and earnest prayers for the hap
piness ol the Model Daughter.
MAKING THE MOST OF THEM.
Mr. Henry Russell, who is the Composer,
according to his own account, of the original
idea from which every piece of modern music
has been pilfered, as well as of all the Ships
on Fire, Manias, and Gamblers’ Wives that
were ever known, has recently been adopting
the capital idea of making the most of his au
dience, by calling upon them to join in the
choruses at his entertainments This is all
very well as far as it goes; bipt if it should
be carried a little further, and they should
take to singing the solo parts as well as the
choruses, the presence of Mr. Russell himself
would become superfluous; his audience, be
ing able to amuse themselves, would get on
very well without him, and might keep their
money in their pockets.
We advise Mr. Henry Russell to think of
this before he carries too far the principle of
calling upon the public to entertain each oth
er for the small consideration of .a cerlain num
ber of shillings. We recommend him to keep
himself rather more independent of his audi
ence, and his audience more dependent upon
him for the effect of his compositions. We
shall have him next requesting the babies
present to squeal, by way of heightening the
horrors of the song of the “ Gambler’s Wife,”
or the “ Ship on Fire,” or any other of the
fifty songs in which a child in arms and its
mamma, interchanging squeaks and sobs, are
the principal characters, By this arrange
ment, Mr. Russell would be sure of a general
chorus at all events; for it is a rule of juven
ile economy, that directly one infant begins to
cry, every other infant present affords its vol
untary contribution to the harmony.
3fcu)ofiapcr Analects.
ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY.
A number of English Aristocracy, both male
and female having originated in America. We
are able to instance but few, though there are
many more English nobles, who directly, or
indirectly have descended from Americus; and
many Americans, now plain and sterling re
publican, who can trace their lineage hack to
some proud peerage of the British Kingdom.
Lord Lyndhurst, the High Chancellor of
England was born in Boston, Mass. The
Marquis of Normanby, and the young noble
man who traveled in this country by the ti
tle of the Earl of Mulgrave, is descended from
Wm. Phipps, the son of a plain farmer on the
banks of the Piscataqua, now in the State of
Maine.
The celebrated circumnavigator Lord An
son, whose capture of so many of the Span
ish galleons obtained for him the title of
“ Free hooting Anson,” once an inhabitant of
Charleston, S. C. where his name is still giv
en to a street, and a burgh, viz: Ansonburgh.
The distinguished Admiral, Sir Charles Wa
ger, was a New Port, R. I. boy. Another
Admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin, was horn at Nan
tucket, Massachusetts. Three of the grand
daughters of Charles Carroll of Carrollton,
and the daughters of Mrs. Catron of Balti
more, are maried to Peers of the United King
dom; one to the Marquis of Wellesly, broth
er of the Duke of Wellington, and formerly
Governor General of India; another to the
Marquis of Carmaethen ; we do not recollect
the title of the third. Lord Ashburton, the
special envoy from the Court of St. James,
and who was in this country at the time when
Louis Phillippe was here, and met the late
King of the French, in the Western part of
the State of New York, the one going to, and
the other returning from the Falls of Niagara,
married Miss Bingham, of Philadelphia. At
the South particularly there are many descen
dants of the ancient families of Great Britain,
and within one hundred miles of this place,
are immediate or collateral descendants of the
Duke of Argyle, the Earl of Cromartie,
Lord Craven, the Earl of Marchmot, Sir
John Yeamans, Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., Sir
James Wright, Bart., Sir Edgerton Leigh, Bart.,
&c. &c. &c. We mention these facts, mere
ly to shew how blended are the ties between
the old and the new country ; not that we
pride ourselves on any high ancestry, for the
Revolution stamped purer and better patents
of nobility than any creation of foreign Kings;
and if we have aristocracy at all it is that born
of the blood and throes of a great people casting
offdespotism, and asserting independence. The
humblest soldier of Bunker Hill or Yorktown
is dearer to the American people than all the
starred and gartered and titled nobles of Eu
rope. Yet we respect rank when coupled
with goodness; and we honor those whom
their King or country have honored for real
and exalted merit.
t mm i
BUSINESS CAPITAL.
The word capital, as applied in the mercan
tile sense to the trading fund which a mer
chant, banker, company, or others adventure
for the purpose of producing wealth in the
way of business, is though a Latin word, de
rived from the usage of our Savon ancestors,
whose riches, like the Eastern Patriarchs, con
sisted mostly in Hocks and herds, and who,
not having gold or silver to pay their taxes,
met them by payments of cattle and other
live stock. Dr. Howell, in his history of the
world observes “that in the writings of those
Saxon times, and even in later periods, by the
word pecunia. was often meant live stock or
cattle, expressed by the words viva pecunia;
and from their heads or capita , were framed
the words capital , lapitale and capitalia , sig
nifying goods moveable or immoveable, and
the price and value of things, and what we
now term catalla and chattels.”
POLITICAL INTEGRITY.
The borough of Hull in the reign of Charles
11, chose Andrew Marvell, a young gentle
man of little or no fortune, and maintained
him in London for the service of the public.
His understanding, integrity, and spirit, were
dreadful to the then infamous administration.
Persuaded that he would be theirs for prop
erly asking, they sent his old school-fellow,
the Lord Treasurer Danby, to renew acquain
with him in his garret. At parting the Lord
Treasurer, out of pure affection , slipped into
his hand an order upon the Treasury for
£IOOO, and then went to his chariot. Mar
vell looking at the paper calls for the Treas
urer, —“ My Lord, I request another moment.”
They went up again to the garret, and Jack,
the servant hoy, was called.—“ Jack, child,
what had I for dinner yesterday I” “Don’t
you remember, sir? you had the little shoul
der of mutton that you ordered me to bring
rom a woman in the market.” “ Very right,
child. What have I for dinner to-day?”—
“Don’t you know', sir, that you hid me lay by
the blade bone to broil 1 .' 1 ' I—“’Tis 1 —“’Tis so, very right,
child, go away. My lord do you hear that?
Andrew Marvell’s dinner is provided —there’s
your piece of paper. I want it not. I know
the sort of kindness you intended. I live
here to serve my constituents; the ministry
may seek men for their purpose; lam not
one.”
LETTERS IN THE ALPHABET.
The Sandwich Island Alphabet has 12 let
ters, the Burmese 19, the Italian 20, the Ben
galese 21, the Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Samar
atin and Latin, 22 each, the French 23, the
Greek 24, the German and Dutch 26 each, the
Spanish and Slavonic 27 each, the Arabic 28,
the Persic and Coptic 32, the Turkish 33, the
Georgian 36, the Armenian 38, the Russian 41,
the Muscovite 43, the Sanscrit and Japanese
50, the Ethiopic and Tartarian 202.
FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES.
The flag of the United States was first des
ignated by congress, in a resolution, passed
June 14, 1777. According to a resolution, it
was to consist of thirteen horizontal stripes,
alternate red and white; and the Union was
to be thirteen stars, white, in a blue field, re
presenting anew constellation.
By an act of January 13, 1794, the stars
and stripes were both to be fifteen in number,
to take an effect from the first of May, 1795.
This addition of two stars and two stripes, to
the flag was owing to the admission of Ver
mont and Kentucky into the Union, the for-
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