"may be fo called; and I have never yet heard of "the brain's being out of joint, but in a metaphor. "I am therefore curious to be informed what means men have devised to impose upon one ❝ another in a point in which no artificial aid will "avail us, and where the appeal is so easy and "direct to clear and unequivocal testimonies.”

"My dear Sir," replied Eugenio, "this appeal " is only open to the clear-fighted and impartial: "it argues no mean capacity to estimate the abi"lities of other men. The mass of mankind, "though right in their abstract judgment of things, "are perpetually wrong in their application of this "judgment to perfons. Here its purity is de"ftroyed by affociations, which mix in its deci"fions, and debafe its value. The common opinion "waits upon the efforts of a few fuperior wits, "who march before to cut down the barriers, that "the muddy stream may escape, and clarify itself "in its courfe. I agree, then, that in regard to per❝fons, give the public mind but time enough, and " its opinions will be gradually depurated; but un

fortunately this process of fining is fo flowly per"formed, that it is odds but in the mean time fuc

" cefs

"cefs has crowned the impofture. But to proceed "with the group of characters to which my friend "was beginning to introduce me..

you.

There is Dr., of the scholar's department," «. continued my communicative friend, a venerable linguift, commentator, and scholiaft: if your bentbe towards languages, I do not know what better model I can lay before The Doctor was whipped through a public school to very little'purpose: it was not till he had been a twelve-. month at College that those fine obliquities of his genius began to expand, and, taking a thoufand flant and crofs directions, to graze the con→ fines of many of thofe remote provinces of scholarship, where few of our hardieft academics ( have dared to venture.. Impelled by a generous 'love of distinction, and rightly judging that in 'the ordinary paths of literature, to acquire famehe must penetrate farther and perfevere longer than fuited the reach of his understanding or his. C powers of application, he ftruck out at once into those roads where few were difpofed to follow, ← him; and, leaving common minds to grapple. with common difficulties, fet out upon those.

i

great and gigantic purfuits, only to embark in. which is greater glory than to carry a common undertaking to its accomplishment.' "Thefe laft "words suited very much the complexion of my› "mind; and I had begun to feel a predilection for "this gallant courfe of ftudy, when my friend. "proceeded thus to undeceive me, by finishing> "his portrait."

It is with learning,' continued he, as it is. with travelling. We are tired of accounts of Italy and Greece, and look with much greater ‹ admiration on him who tells us he has killed a

lion or a lynx. in Africa, or feafted with Kamt-. ' schadales on the fat of dogs, than on one who brings back from claffic regions fresh acceffions to the literature of his country, and a taste in-. spired by the chastest models of Athens and of Rome. The fame gaping principle of ignorant. wonder leads us to contemplate with awe the. merest smattering in Hebrew, Arabic, or the Gothic languages of Northern Europe; while the Greek and Latin will scarcely pufh our fame beyond the walls of the University, or raise our ⚫ fortunes above a Welch curacy, The learned.

⚫ gentleman,

gentleman in question knew very well how to < avail himself of this propenfity of the species towards the uncommon rather than the useful; and at the same time that he suffered no pursuits • but what were extraordinary to engage him, he took care to lofe no time by proceeding a step 'farther in any one of them than was necessary to 'impose upon mankind. Thus he is generally

understood to be confummate in the Coptic and <x Chaldee, and is fuppofed at this moment to be < very busy with the Turkish and Tartarian; though it is well known to us who are in the fecret, he would be puzzled to ask his way in any "place out of his Majefty's three kingdoms. He has "always, however, a kind of Lingua Franca ready

at command, with which he affifts certain authors of our fraternity, who undertake to elu⚫cidate ancient customs and manners by the help of the analogies of language; likewise those • who endeavour to account for the first peopling

of countries by verbal coincidences; and all • those travellers who defcribe more than they have feen. As all this, however, was playing a very deep game, and as one or two ventures had been a little unlucky for him, he determined to

• make

• make hafte to profit by his reputation; and about

two months ago, efpoufed the daughter of a 'capital grocer, whofe heart he had gained by interpreting the Chinese characters on a cheft of Souchong. I am informed, however, that the grocer's daughter is a match for him with only one language, and will fairly out-talk him at the • end of a long day.' "The disgust which this " picture excited in my mind was fufficiently ex"plained in my looks; and my inftructor waited "for no other anfwer, but thus proceeded

• Another of my intimate acquaintance supC ports a very high degree of credit at a much cheaper rate, and is thought to have made the best bargain with fame of any of our fraternity, • His great talent lies in the art of preserving a most politic and pregnant filence. In exchange, ' however, he is profuse in nods, bows, fmiles, 'contortions of feature, and shakes of the head. "He is supposed to be very profound in the mathe

matics; and as this is not a verbofe fpecies of 'knowledge, and cannot easily be displayed in con⚫ verfation, the world is content without any other proofs than the teftimonies afforded by those who

( are