No. 159. Tuesday, September 24, 1751. Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire doloremPossis, et magnuum morbi deponere partem.HOR. Ep. Lib. i. 34. The power of words, and soothing sounds, appeaseThe raging pain, and lessen the disease.FRANCIS. The imbecility with which Verecundulus complains that the presence of a numerous assembly freezes his faculties, is particularly […]

No. 160. Saturday, September 28, 1751 –Inter se convenit ursis. JUV. Sat. xv. 164. Beasts of each kind their fellows spare;Bear lives in amity with bear. “The world,” says Locke, “has people of all sorts.” As in the general hurry produced by the superfluities of some, and necessities of others, no man needs to stand […]

No. 150. Saturday, August 24, 1751. —O munera nondumIntellecta Deum!LUCAN. –Thou chiefest good!Bestow’d by Heav’n, but seldom understood.ROWE. As daily experience makes it evident that misfortunes are unavoidably incident to human life, that calamity will neither be repelled by fortitude, nor escaped by flight; neither awed by greatness, nor eluded by obscurity; philosophers have endeavoured […]

No. 151. Tuesday, August 27, 1751. [Greek:–Amphi d anthro-pon phresin amplakiaiAnarithmatoi kremantaiTouto d amachanon eurein,O ti nun, kai en teleu-ta, phertaton andri tuchein.]PINDAR, Ol. vii. 43. But wrapt in error is the human mind,And human bliss is ever insecure:Know we what fortune yet remains behind?Know we how long the present shall endure?WEST. The writers of […]

No. 152. Saturady, August 31, 1751. –Tristia maestumVullum verba decent, iratum plena minarum.HOR. De Ar. Poet. 105. Disastrous words can best disaster shew;In angry phrase the angry passions glow.ELPHINSTON. “It was the wisdom,” says Seneca, “of ancient times, to consider what is most useful as most illustrious.” If this rule be applied to works of […]

No. 153. Tuesday, September 3, 1751 Turba Remi? Sequitur Fortunam, ut semper, et oditDamnatos.JUV. Sat. x. 73. The fickle crowd with fortune comes and goes;Wealth still finds followers, and misfortune foes. TO THE RAMBLER. SIR, There are occasions on which all apology is rudeness. He that has an unwelcome message to deliver, may give some […]

No. 154. Saturday, September 7, 1751. –Tibi res antiquae laudis et artisIngredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes.VIR. Geo. ii. 174. For thee my tuneful accents will I raise,And treat of arts disclos’d in ancient days;Once more unlock for thee the sacred spring.DRYDEN. The direction of Aristotle to those that study politicks, is first to examine and […]

No. 155. Tuesday, September 10, 1751. –Steriles transmisimus annos,Haec aevi mihi prima dies, haec limina vitae.STAT. i. 362. –Our barren years are past;Be this of life the first, of sloth the last.ELPHINSTON. No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however flagrant, […]

No. 145. Tuesday, August 6, 1751. Non, si priores Maeonius tenetSedes Homerus, Pindaricae latent,Ceaeque, et Alcaei minaces,Stesichorique graves Camoenae.HOR. Lib. iv. Od. ix. 5. What though the muse her Homer thronesHigh above all the immortal quire;Nor Pindar’s raptures she disowns,Nor hides the plaintive Caean lyre;Alcaeus strikes the tyrant soul with dread,Nor yet is grave Stesichorus […]

No. 146. Saturday, August 10, 1751. Sunt illic duo, tresve, qui revolvantNostrarum tineas ineptiarum;Sed cum sponsio, fabultaeque lassaeDe scarpo fuerint incitato.MART. ‘Tis possible that one or twoThese fooleries of mine may view;But then the bettings must be o’er,Nor Crab or Childers talk’d of more.F. LEWIS. None of the projects or designs which exercise the mind […]

No. 143. Tuesday, July 30, 1751. –Moveat cornicula risumFurtivis nudata coloribus.–HOR. Lib. i. Ep. i. 19. Lest when the birds their various colours claim,Stripp’d of his stolen pride, the crow forlornShould stand the laughter of the publick scorn.FRANCIS. Among the innumerable practices by which interest or envy have taught those who live upon literary fame […]

No. 144. Saturday, August 3, 1751. –Daphnidis arcumFregisti et calamos: quae tu, perverse Menalea,Et quum vidisti puero donata, dolebas;Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses.VIRG. EC. iii. 12. The bow of Daphnis and the shafts you broke;When the fair boy receiv’d the gift of right;And but for mischief, you had dy’d for spite.DRYDEN. It is […]

No. 147. Tuesday, August 13, 1751. Tu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva.Hon. Ar. Poet. 385. –You are of too quick a sight,Not to discern which way your talent lies.ROSCOMMON. TO THE RAMBLER. SIR, As little things grow great by continual accumulation, I hope you will not think the dignity of your character impaired by an […]

No. 148. Saturday, August 17, 1751. Me pater saevis oneret catenis,Quod viro clemens misero peperci:Me vel extremis Numidarum in agrosClasse releget.HOR. Lib. iii. Od. xi. 45. Me let my father load with chains,Or banish to Numidia’s farthest plains!My crime, that I, a loyal wife,In kind compassion sav’d my husband’s life.FRANCIS. Politicians remark, that no oppression […]

No. 149. Tuesday, August 20, 1751. Quod non sit Pylades hoc tempore, non sit Orestes,Miraris? Pylades, Marce, bibebat idem.Nec melior panis, turdusve dabatur Oresti:Sed par, atque eadem coena duobus erat.–Te Cadmea Tyrus, me pinguis Gallia vestit:Vis te purpureum, Marce, sagatus amem?Ut praestem Pyladen, aliquis mihi praestet Orestem.Hoc non fit verbis, Marce: ut ameris, ama.MART. Lib. […]

No. 135. Tuesday, July 2, 1751. Coelum, non animum, mutant. HOR. Lib. i. Ep. xi. 27. Place may be chang’d; but who can change his mind? It is impossible to take a view on any side, or observe any of the various classes that form the great community of the world, without discovering the influence […]

No. 136. Saturday, July 6, 1751. [Greek: Echthrus gar moi keimos, omos aidao pulusin,Os ch eteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de bazei.]HOMER, [Greek: I’.] 313. Who dares think one thing, and another tell,My heart detests him as the gates of Hell.POPE. The regard which they whose abilities are employed in the works of imagination […]

No. 137. Tuesday, July 9, 1751. Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt.Hor. Lib. i. Sat. ii. 24. –Whilst fools one vice condemn,They run into the opposite extreme.CREECH. That wonder is the effect of ignorance, has been often observed. The awful stillness of attention, with which the mind is overspread at the first view of […]

No. 138. Saturday, July 13, 1751. O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura,Atque humiles habitare casas, et figere cervos.VIRG. EC. ii 28. With me retire, and leave the pomp of courtsFor humble cottages and rural sports. TO THE RAMBLER. SIR, Though the contempt with which you have treated the annual migrations of the gay and […]

No. 139. Tuesday, July 16, 1751. –Sit quod vis simplex duntanat et unum.Hor. Art. Poet. 23. Let ev’ry piece be simple and be one. It is required by Aristotle to the perfection of a tragedy, and is equally necessary to every other species of regular composition, that it should have a beginning, a middle, and […]