"many. Happy in every circumstance, but that it broke "the heart of the great Melchior Infipidus !”

Here he stopped his fpeech, upon fight of the maid, who entered the room with the child. He took it in his arms and proceeded.

"Behold then my child, but firft behold the shield: "behold this ruft - or rather let me call it this precious ærugo,-behold this beautiful varnish of time, "venerable verdure of fo many ages

this

In fpeaking thefe words, he flowly lifted up the mantle, which covered it, inch by inch; but at every inch he uncovered, his cheeks grew paler, his hand trembled, his nerves failed, till, on fight of the whole, the tremor became univerfal. The fhield and the infant both dropt to the ground; and he had only ftrength enough to cry out, "O God! my fhield, my Shield!"

The truth was, the maid (extremely concerned for the reputation of her own cleanlinefs, and her young master's honour) had fcoured it as clean as her andirons *.

Cornelius funk back in a chair, the guests ftood as ftonished, the infant fquawled, the maid rau in, fnatched it up again in her arms, flew into her mistress's room, and told what had happened. Down ftairs in an inftant hurried all the goffips, where they found the Doctor in a trance. Hungary water, hartfhorn, and the confused noife of fhrill voices, at length awakened him: when, opening his eyes, he faw the field in the hands of the houfe-maid. "O woman! woman!" he cried, (and fnatched it violently from her), was it to thy ignorance "that this relick owes its ruid? where, where is the beau"tiful cruft that covered thee fo long? where those traces of time, and fingers, as it were, of antiquity? "Where all thofe beautiful obfcurities, the cause of "much delightful difputation, where doubt and curiofity went hand in hand, and eternally exercised the fpe"culations of the learned? All this the rude touch of "" an ignorant woman hath done away! The curious

prominence at the belly of that figure, which fome ta"king for the cufpis of a word, denominated a Romag

* Poor Vadius, long with learned spleen devour'd. Can tafte no pleasure fince his fhield was fcour'd.

Pope. << foldier;

"foldier; others accounting the infignia virilia, pro "nounced it to be one of the Dii Termini; behold the "bath cleaned it in like shameful fort, and shewn to be "the head of a nail. O fhield! my my fhield! well "may I fay with Horace, non bene relicta Parmula.”

The goflips, not at all inquiring into the caufe of his forrow, only asked if the child had no hurt? and cried, "Come, come, all is well; what has the woman done "but her duty? a tight cleanly wench, I warrant her ; "what a stir a inan makes about a bason, that an hour 66 ago, before this labour was bestowed upon it, a country-barber would not have hung at his fhop door.” "Abafon!" (cried another), " no fuch matter; it is "nothing but a paultry old fcance, with the nozzle broke "off." The learned gentlemen, who till now had stood fpeechlefs, hereupon looking narrowly on the fhield, declared their affent to this latter opinion; and defired Cornelius to be comforted, affuring him that it was a fconce, and no other. But this, inftead of comforting, threw the Doctor into fuch a violent fit of paffion, that he was carried off groaning and fpeechlefs to bed; where, being: quite fpent, he fell into a kind of lumber,

CHA P. IV.

Of the fuction and nutrition of the great Scriblerus in his infancy, and of the first rudiments of his learning.

S. foon as Cornelius awaked, he raised himself on A his elbow, and cafting his eyes on Mrs Scriblerus, fpoke as follows: “ Wifely was it faid by Homer, that in the cellar of Jupiter are two barrels, the one of good, "the other of evil, which he never bestows on mortals "separately, but constantly mingles them together. Thus at the fame time hath Heaven bleffed me with the birth of a fon; and afflicted me with the fcouring of my fhield. Yet let us not repine at his difpenfations, who "gives, and who takes away; but rather join in prayer, "that the ruft of antiquity which he hath been pleafed "to take from my fhield, may be added to my fon; and "that so much of it, as it is my purpose he fhall con

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"tract in his education, may never be destroyed by any modern polifhing."

He could no longer bear the fight of the fhield, but ordered it should be removed for ever from his eyes. It was not long after purchafed by Dr Woodward, who, by the affistance of Mr Kemp, incrufted it with a new ruft, and is the fame whereof a cut hath been ingraved, and exhibited, to the great contentation of the learned.

Cornelius now began to regulate the fuction of his child. Seldom did there pafs a day without difputes between hin and the mother, or the nurse, concerning the nature of aliment. The poor woman never dined but he denied her fome dish or other, which he judged prejudicial to her milk. One day fhe had a longing defire to a piece of beef; and as the stretched her hand towards it, the old gentleman drew it away, and spoke to this effect. "Hidft thou read the antients, O nurfe, thou "wouldft prefer the welfare of the infant which thou "nourisheft, to the indulging of an irregular and voraci66 ous appetite. Beef, it is true, may confer a robustness

on the limbs of my fon, but will hebetate and clog his "intellectuals." While he fpoke this, the nurfe looked upon him with much anger, and row and then cast a wishful eye upon the beef," Paffion" (continued the Doctor, ftill holding the difh), "throws the mind into too violent a fermentation; it is a kind of fever of the foul, or, "as Horace expreffes it, a fhort madness. Confider, 66 woman, that this day's fuction of my fon may caufe "him to imbibe many ungovernable paffions, and in a "manner spoil him for the temper of a philofopher. Ro

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❝tite."

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mulus, by fucking a wolf, became of a fierce and favage difpofition; and were I to breed fome Ottoman emperor, or founder of a military commonwealth, per"haps I might indulge thee in this carnivorous appe What! interrupted the nurse, beef spoil the understanding! that's fine indeed · How then could our parfon preach as he does upon beef, and pudding too, if you go to that? Do not tell me of your antients; had not you almost killed the poor babe with a dish of dæmonial black broth? "Lacedæmonian black broth, thou "would fay," (replied Cornelius);" but I cannot al"low the furfeit to have been occafioned by that diet,

"" fince

"fince it was recommended by the divine Lycurgus. No, "nurse, thou must certainly have eaten some meats of ill "digeftion the day before, and that was the real cause ❝of his disorder. Confider, woman, the different tem

66

peraments of different nations. What makes the Eng"lish phlegmatic and melancholy, but beef? what ren"ders the Welsh fo hot and choleric, but cheese and leeks the French derive their levity from the foups,

frogs, and mushrooms: I would not let my fon dine "like an Italian, left, like an Italian, he fhould be jea "lous and revengeful: the warm and folid diet of Spain 66 may be more beneficial, as it might endue him with a profound gravity, but at the fame time he might fuck in with their food their intolerable vice of pride. "Therefore, nurfe, in fhort, I hold it requifite to deny. "" you at prefent, not only beef, but likewife whatfoever. 66 any of those nations eat." During this fpeech, the nurfe remained pouting and marking her plate with the knife, nor would she touch a bit during the whole dinner. This the old gentleman observing, ordered that the child, to avoid the risk of imbibing ill humours, fhould be kept from her breast all that day, and be fed with butter mix, ed with honey, according to a prefcription he had met. with fomewhere in Euftathius upon Homer. This indeed gave the child a great loofenefs; but he was not concerned at it, in the opinion that whatever harm it might do his body, would be amply recompenfed by the improvements of his understanding. But from thenceforth he infifted every day upon a particular diet to be obferved by the nurfe; under which, having been long uneafy, the at laft parted from the family, on his ordering her for dinner the paps of a fow with pig; taking it as the highest, indignity, and a direct infult upon her fex and calling. Four Martin's life paffed away in fquab., of young years bles of this nature. Mrs Scriblerus considered it was now time to instruct him in the fundamentals of religion, and to that end took no small pains in teaching him his catechifm. But Cornelius looked upon this as a tedious way of inftruction; and therefore employed his head to find out more pleafing methods, the better to induce him to be fond of learning. He would frequently carry him to the puppet-how of the creation of the world, where the child,

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with exceeding delight, gained a notion of the hiftory of the bible. His first rudiments in profane history were acquired by feeing of raree-fhows, where he was brought acquainted with all the princes of Europe. In fhort, the old gentleman fo contrived it, to make every thing con tribute to the improvement of his knowledge, even to his very drefs. He invented for him a geographical fuit of cloaths, which might give some hints of that science, and likewise some knowledge of the commerce of different nations. He had a French hat with an African feather, Holland fhirts, and Flanders lace, English cloth, lined with Indian filk; his gloves were Italian, and his fhoes were Spanish. He was made to obferve this, and daily catechifed thereupon, which his father was wont to call "travelling at home." He never gave him a fig or an orange but he obliged him to give an account from what country it came. In natural hiftory he was much assisted - by his curiofity in fign-posts, infomuch that he hath often confeffed, he owed to them the knowlege of many creatures which he never found since in any author, such as white lions, golden dragons, &c. He once thought the fame of green men, but had fince found them mentioned by Kerrberus, and verified in the history of William of Newbury

His difpofition to the mathematics, was discovered very early, by his drawing parallel + lines on his bread and butter, and interfecting them at equal angles, fo as to form the whole fuperficies into squares. But, in the midst of all thefe improvements, a ftop was put to his learning the alphabet; nor would he let him proceed to letter D, till he could truly and diftinctly pronounce C in the antient manner, at which the child unhappily boggled for near three months. He was alfo obliged to delay his learning to write, having turned away the writing-mafter, because he knew nothing of Fabius's waxen tables.

Gul. Neubrig. Book i. ch. 27. Pope.

Pafcal's Life-Locke of Educat. &c.-There are fome extravagant lyes told of the excellent Pafcal's amazing genius for mathematics in his early youth; and fome trifling directions given for the introduction to the elements of science, in Mr. Locke's book of Education. Pope and Warburton.

Cornelius