No. 201. Tuesday, February 18, 1752. –Sanctus haberiJustitiaeque tenat factis dictisque mereris,Adnosco procerem.JUV. Sat. Lib. viii. 24. Convince the world that you’re devout and true;Be just in all you say, and all you do;Whatever be your birth, you’re sure to beA peer of the first magnitude to me.STEPNEY. Boyle has observed, that the excellency of […]

No. 202. Saturday, February 22, 1752. [Greek: Pros apanta deilos estin o penaes pragmata,Kai pantas autou kataphronein upolambaneiO de metrios pratton periskegesteronApanta t aniara, dampria, phepei.]CALLIMACHUS. From no affliction is the poor exempt,He thinks each eye surveys him with contempt;Unmanly poverty subdues the heart,Cankers each wound, and sharpen’s[1] ev’ry dart.F. LEWIS.[1] Transcriber’s note: sic. Among […]

No. 190. Saturday, December 11, 1752. Ploravere suis non respondere favoremSperatum meritis.–HOR. Lib. ii. Ep. i. 9. Henry and Alfred–Clos’d their long glories with a sigh, to findTh’ unwilling gratitude of base mankind.POPE. Among the emirs and visiers, the sons of valour and of wisdom, that stand at the corners of the Indian throne, to […]

No. 191. Tuesday, January 14, 1752. Cereus in vitium flecli, monitoribus asper.HOR. Art. Poet. 163. The youth–Yielding like wax, th’ impressive folly bears;Rough to reproof, and slow to future cares.FRANCIS. TO THE RAMBLER. DEAR MR. RAMBLER, I have been four days confined to my chamber by a cold, which has already kept me from three […]

No. 192. Saturday, January 18, 1752. [Greek:Genos ouden eis Erota;Sophiae, tropos pateitai;Monon arguron blepousin.Apoloito protos autosHo ton arguron philaesas.Dia touton ou tokaees,Dai touton ou tokaees;Polemoi, phonoi di auton.To de cheiron, ollymesthaDia touton oi philountes.]ANACREON. [Greek: ODLI Ms.] 5. Vain the noblest birth would prove,Nor worth or wit avail in love;‘Tis gold alone succeeds–by goldThe venal […]

No. 193. Tuesday, January 21, 1752. Laudis amore tumes? sunt certa piacula, quoe teTer pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.HOR. Lib. i. Ep. i. 36. Or art thou vain? books yield a certain spellTo stop thy tumour; you shall cease to swellWhen you have read them thrice, and studied well.CREECH. Whatever is universally desired, will be […]

No. 194. Saturday, January 25, 1752. Si damnosa senem juvat alea, ludit et heresBullatus, parvoque eadem movet arma fritillo.JUV. Sat. xiv. 4. If gaming does an aged sire entice,Then my young master swiftly learns the vice,And shakes in hanging sleeves the little box and dice.J. DRYDEN, jun. TO THE RAMBLER. SIR, That vanity which keeps […]

No. 195. Tuesday, January 28, 1752. Nescit equo rudisHaerere ingenuus puer,Venarique timet; ludere doctior,Seu Graeco jubeas trocho,Seu malis vetita legibus alea.HOR. Lib. iii. Ode xxiv. 54. Nor knows our youth, of noblest race,To mount the manag’d steed, or urge the chace;More skill’d in the mean arts of vice,The whirling troque, or law-forbidden dice.FRANCIS. TO THE […]

No. 183. Tuesday, December 17, 1751. Nidla fides regni sociis, omnisque potestasImpatiens consortis erit.LUCAN. Lib. i. 92. No faith of partnership dominion owns;Still discord hovers o’er divided thrones. The hostility perpetually exercised between one man and another, is caused by the desire of many for that which only few can possess. Every man would be […]

No. 184. Saturday, December 21, 1751 Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus, quidConveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris.JUV. Sat. x. 347. Intrust thy fortune to the pow’rs above;Leave them to manage for thee, and to grantWhat their unerring wisdom sees thee want.DRYDEN. As every scheme of life, so every form of writing, has its advantages and inconveniencies, […]

No. 185. Tuesday, December 24, 1751. At vindicta bonum vita jucundius ipsa,Nempe hoc indocti.–Chrysippus non dicet idem, nec mite ThaletisIngenium, dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto,Qui partem adceptae saeva inter vincla CicutaeAdcusatori nollet dare.––Quippe minutiSemper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptasUltio. JUV. Sat. xiii. 180. But O! revenge is sweet.Thus think the crowd; who, eager to engage,Take […]

No. 186. Saturday, December 28, 1751. Pone me, pigris ubi nulla campisArbor aestica recreatur aura–Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,Dulce loquentem.HOR. Lib. i. Ode xxii. 17. Place me where never summer breezeUnbinds the glebe, or warms the trees;Where ever lowering clouds appear,And angry Jove deforms th’ inclement year:Love and the nymph shall charm my toils,The nymph, who […]

No. 188. Saturday, January 4, 1751. Si te colo, Sexte, non amabo.MART. Lib. ii. Ep. lv. 33. The more I honour thee, the less I love. None of the desires dictated by vanity is more general, or less blamable, than that of being distinguished for the arts of conversation. Other accomplishments may be possessed without […]

No. 189. Tuesday, January 7, 1752. Quod tam grande Sophos clamat tibi turba togata;Non tu, Pomponi; caena diserta tua est.MART. Lib. vi. Ep. xlviii. Resounding plaudits though the crowd have rung;Thy treat is eloquent, and not thy tongue.F. LEWIS. The world scarcely affords opportunities of making any observation more frequently, than on false claims to […]

No. 176. Saturday, November 23, 1751 —Naso suspendis adunco. HOR. Lib. i. Sat. vi. 5. On me you turn the nose.– There are many vexatious accidents and uneasy situations which raise little compassion for the sufferer, and which no man but those whom they immediately distress can regard with seriousness. Petty mischiefs, that have no […]

No. 187. Tuesday, December 31, 1751. Non illum nostri possunt mutare labores;Non si frigoribus mediis Hebrunique bibamus,Sithoniasque nives hyemis subeamus aquosae:–Ominia vincit amor.Vinc. Ec. x. 64. Love alters not for us his hard decrees,Not though beneath the Thracian clime we freeze,Or the mild bliss of temperate skies forego,And in raid winter tread Sithonian snow:–Love conquers […]

No. 177. Tuesday, November 26, 1751. Turpe est difficiles habere nugas.MART. Lib. ii. Ep. lxxxvi. 9. Those things which now seem frivolous and slight,Will be of serious consequence to you,When they have made you once ridiculous.ROSCOMMON. TO THE RAMBLER. SIR, When I was, at the usual time, about to enter upon the profession to which […]

No. 178. Saturday, November 30, 1751. Purs sanitatis velle sanuria fuit.SENECA. To yield to remedies is half the cure. Pythagoras is reported to have required from those whom he instructed in philosophy a probationary silence of five years. Whether this prohibition of speech extended to all the parts of this time, as seems generally to […]

No. 179. Tuesday, December 3, 1751. Perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat.JUV. Sat. x. 33. Democritus would feed his spleen, and shakeHis sides and shoulders till he felt them ake.DRYDEN Every man, says Tully, has two characters; one which he partakes with all mankind, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals; another which discriminates […]

No. 180. Saturday, December 7, 1751. [Greek: Taut eidos sophos isthi, mataen d’ Epikouron easonPoy to kenon zaetein, kai tines ai monades.]AUTOMEDON. On life, on morals, be thy thoughts employ’d;Leave to the schools their atoms and their void. It is somewhere related by Le Clerc, that a wealthy trader of good understanding, having the common […]