ページの画像
PDF
ePub

THE SOLITARY PHILOSOPHER.

AMONG all the variety of interesting pieces with which you wish to entertain your readers, none please me more than those anecdotes that relate to originality of character.

On the side of a large mountain about ten miles from this place, in a little hut of his own rearing, which has known no other possessor these fifty-five years, lives this strange and very singular person, though his general usefulness and communicative disposition require him often to associate with the surrounding rustics; yet having never had an inclination to travel farther than to the neighbouring village, and being totally unacquainted with the world, his manners, conversation, and dress are strikingly noticeable. A little plot of ground that extends round his cottage is the narrow sphere to which he confines himself, and in his wild retreat, be appears to a stranger as one of the early inhabitants of the earth, ere polished by frequent intercourse or united in society. In his youth being deprived of the means of education,and till this hour a stran ger to reading, the most valuable treasures of time are utterly unknown to him, so that what knowledge he has acquired seems to be from the joint exertions of vigorous powers and an unwearied course of experiments. He is allowed by the whole inhabitants around him to excel all, and his genius seems universal, and he is at once, by na ture, botanist, philosopher, naturalist, and physician.

The place where he resides seems indeed peculiarly calculated for assisting him in these favorite pursuits. With in a stone's throw of his hut a deep enormous chasm extends itself up the mountain for more than four miles, through the bottom of which a large body of water rages in loud and successive falls through the fractured channel, while its stupendous sides studded with rocks are overhung with bushes and trees, that meeting from opposite, sides, and mixing their branches entirely conceal at times the river from view, so that when a spectator stands above,

he sees nothing but a luxuriance of green branches and tops of trees, and hears at a dreadful distance below the brawling of the river. In this vale or glen innumerable rare and valuable herbs are discovered, and in the harvest months this is his continual resort, he explores it with the most unwearied attention, climbs every cliff, even the most threatening, and from the perplexing profusion of plants, collects those herbs, of whose qualities and value he is well acquainted. For this purpose he has a large basket with a variety of divisions, in which he deposits every particular species by itself. With this he is often seen labouring home to his hut, after which they are suspended in large and numerous parcels from the roof, while the sage himself sits smiling amidst his simple stores. In cultivating his little plot of ground, he proceeds by methods entirely new to his neighbours. He has examined by numberless experiments the nature of the soil, watches every progressive advance of the grain, and so well is be provided for its defence against vermin, that they are no sooner seen than destroyed. By these means he has greatly enriched the ground which was by nature barren and ungenerous, while the crop nearly doubles that of his neighbours, the more superstitious of whom, from his lonely life and success in these affairs, scruple not to believe him in league with the devil. As a mechanic he is confined to no particular branch. He lives by himself, and seems inclined to be dependent on none. He is his own shoe-maker, cutler, and tailor; builds his own barns and raises his own fences, thrashes his own corn and with very little assistance cuts it down. From his infancy he has enjoyed an uninterrupted flow of health, and there is scarce a neighbouring peasant around who has not, when wounded by accident or confined by sickness, experienced the salutary effects of his skill. In these cases his presence of mind is surprising, his application simple, his medicines within the reach of every cottager, and in effecting a cure he is seldom unsuccessful. Nor is his assistance in physic and surgery confined to the human species alone; useful animals of every kind profit by his researches. In short, so fully persuaded are the rustics of his knowledge in the causes and cures of disorders to which their cattle are subject, that in every critical and alarming case he is immediately consulted and his prescriptions most carefully observed. I was the first that took any particular notice of this solitaire. He is known to many ingenious gentle

men in that place, and in the country, and has been often the subject of their conversation and wonder. Nor has the Honourable Gentleman, whose tenant he is, suffered this rustic-original to pass unnoticed or unbefriended, but with his usual generosity, and a love of mankind that dignifies all his actions, has from time to time transmit ted to him parcels of new and useful plants, roots, seeds, &c. a grateful sense of which the solitaire expresses by rearing them, and exhibiting them occasionally.

About six months ago I went to pay him a visit along with an intimate friend much attached to natural curiosi ty. On arriving at his little hut, we found to our no smalk disappointment that he was from home. As my friend however, had never been in that part of the country before, I conducted him to the glen to take a view of the beautiful romantic scenes and wild prospects which this place affords. We had not proceeded far along the bottom of the vale, when hearing a rustling among the branches above our heads, I discovered our hoary botanist with his basket, passing along the brow of a rock that hung almost over the centre of the stream. Having pointed him out to my companion, we were at a loss for some time how to bring about a conversation with him. Having, bowever, a flute in my pocket, of which music he is exceedingly foud, I began a few airs, which by the sweetness. of the echoes, was heightened into the most enchanting melody. In a few minutes this had the desired effect; and our little old man stood beside us with his basket in his hand. On stopping at his approach, he desired us to proceed, complimenting us on the sweetness of our music, expressed the surprise he was in on hearing it, and leaning his basket on an old trunk, listened with all the enthusiasm of rapture. He then shewed the herbs he bad been collecting, entertained us with a narrative of the discoveries he had made in his frequent searches through the vale, 'which,' said he, 'contains treasures that few know the value of."

He then began an account of the vegetables, reptiles, wild beasts, and insects, that frequented the place; and with much judgment explained their various properties. Were it not,' said he, for the innumerable millions of insects, that in the summer months swarm in the air, I believe dead carcases, and other putrid substances, might have dreadful effects; but no sooner does a carcase begin to grow putrid than these insects led by the smell, flock to the

place, and there deposit their eggs, which in a few days produce such a number of maggots that the carcase is soon consumed. While they are thus employed below, parent flies are no less busy in devouring the noxious vapours that incessantly ascend. Thus, the air by these insects, is kept sweet and pure, till the storms of winter ren der their existence unnecessary, and at once destroy them. And Heaven that has formed nothing in vaiu exhibits these things to our contemplation, that we may adore that allbounteous Creator, who makes even the most minute and seemingly destructive creatures subservient to the good of man. In such a manner did this poor and illiterate peasant moralize on the common occurrences of nature, these glorious and invaluable truths did he deduce from vile reptiles,the unheeded insect, and simple herb that lies neglected, or is trodden under foot as useless and offensive, And what friend to mankind does not contempla. ting this hoary rustic's story, fondly wish with its writer, that learning had lent its aid to polish a genius that might have one day surprised the world with the glorious blaze of a Locke or a Newton.

My apology is,if I have afforded your numerous respectable readers in this quarter, to whom the solitaire is not unknown, and who value the truth, any entertainment, my trouble will be well repaid, and perhaps a further dis covery will be transmitted to you by some more able hand. Paisley.

A.H.N.

THE DEAD SOLDIER.
HE sleeps! the hour of mortal pain
And warrior pride alike are past;
His blood is mingled with the rain,
His cheek is withering in the blast.
This morn there was a bright hue there,
The flush of courage stern and high;
The steel has drain'd its current clear,
The storm has bleach'd its gallant dye.
This morn these icy hands were warm;
That lid, half shewing the glazed ball,
Was life!-thou chill and clay-fac'd form,
Is this the one we loved? This all!

Woman, away, and weep no more!
Can the dead give thee love for love?
Can the grave hear?-his course was o'er,
The spirit wing'd its way above.

Wilt thou for dust and ashes weep?
Away! thy husband lies not here:
Look to you heaven; if love is deep
On Earth! 'tis tenfold there.
Give this a soldier's grave. Away!
Then to thy closet, to thy knee:-
Go live; and if thou lov'dst him, pray
Even here, to make him glad of thee.

[ocr errors][merged small]

OR, the act of sneezing, has been surprisingly commented on by those who do not defy augury. St. Austin tells us that the ancients were wont to go to bed again, if they sneezed while they put on their shoe. Aristotle has a problem, "Why sneezing from noon to midnight was good, but from night to noon unlucky." Eustatius upon Homer says, that sneezing to the left was unlucky, but prosperous to the right. Hippocrates, that sneezing cures the hiccup, is profitable to parturient women, in lethargies, apoplexies, &c. Pliny, Apulænius, Petronius, and a dozen others, have all something to say about it; but Buxtorf (Lex Chal.) tells us, that sneezing was a mortal sign, even from the first man; until it was taken off by the special supplication of Jacob. From whence, as a thankful acknowledgement, this salutation first began, and was after continued by the expression of tobincæhiim, or vita bona, by standers by upon all occasions of sneezing. To all which we may now add, that in the country, when an old woman who takes Scotch snuff happens to sneeze, any old fool that is near, cries out God bless you! Among nations not over civilized, it becomes the cause of some ceremonial or other. When his majesty the king of Minomotopa sneezes, those who are near him salute him in so loud a tone, that the persons in the anti-chamber hearing it, join in the acclamation, In the adjoining apartments they do the same, till the noise reaches the street and becomes propagated through the city so that at each royal sneeze, a most horrid cry results from the salutations of his many thousand vassals, But it is different with the king of Senaar; for when his majesty sneezes, bis courtiers immediately turn their backs upon him, (for that time only,) and give themselves a loud slap on their right thigh.

:

In a scarce tract, by Gerbier, master of the ceremonies to Charles the First; Oxford, 1655, he gives a rule of good

« 前へ次へ »