give an earthly dominion than a throne in Olympus.

I only wish that the gods may have heard, without Apprehenoffence, the arrogant proposal you have made, of sion. adding one to their number; and that they may still be so propitious to us as to grant the continuance of that success to our affairs with which they have hitherto favoured us. For my part, I am not ashamed Honest of my country; nor do I approve of our adopting the pride. rites of foreign nations, or learning from them how we ought to reverence our kings. To receive laws, or rules of conduct from them, what is it but to confess ourselves inferior to them?

V.-REMONSTRANCE AND CONTEMPT OF PRIDE.

Does greatness secure persons of rank from infirmi- Questioning ties either of body or mind? Will the headache, the

gout, or fever, spare a prince any more than a subWhen old age comes to lie heavy upon him

ject?

will his engineers relieve him of the load? Can his guards and sentinels, by doubling and trebling their Fear. numbers and their watchfulness, prevent the approach

of death? Nay, if jealousy, or even ill-humour, dis- Contempt. turb his happiness, will the cringes of his fawning attendants restore his tranquillity? What comfort has he in reflecting (if he can make the reflection) while the colic, like Prometheus's vulture, tears his bowels, that he is under a canopy of crimson velvet fringed with gold? When the pangs of the gout Anguish. extort from him groans of agony, do the titles of Highness or Majesty come sweetly into his ear? If he is agitated with rage does the sound of Serene or Most Christian prevent his staring, reddening, and gnashing with his teeth like a madman? Would not Contempt.

1 The word heavy to be dragged out as expressing distress.

Contempt

a twinge of the toothache, or an affront from an inferior, make the mighty Cæsar forget that he was emperor of the world?—Montaigne.

VI.-COMPLAINT.

Humorous petition of a French gentleman to the king, who had given him a title, to which his income was not equal, by reason of the weight of the taxes levied from his estate. [After acknowledging the honour done him by the king's conferring on him a title, he goes on as follows.]

Complaint. YOUR Majesty has only made me more unhappy by giving me a title; for there is nothing more pitiable This empty

Vexation, than a gentleman laden with a knapsack.

sion.

sound, which I was such a fool as to be ambitious of, does not keep away hunger. I know well enough, that glory makes us live after we are dead; but in this world a man has but a poor time of it, if he has not a bit of bread to put in his mouth. I had but a little bit of land on the banks of the Rhone, on which Apprehen- I made a shift to live. But as it is now taxed, anybody may have it from me; for I I shall soon, suppose with my title and estate, be glad of an alms-house for my seat. I have no resources, if there be a prosecution commenced against me, as they threaten, but in your Majesty's goodness. If indeed my fate is to be decided by that, I am in no danger, but shall laugh at them all. If your Majesty were to Deprecation seize my poor patrimony whole, what would a few acres of marsh land be to the mighty monarch of France and Navarre? It bears nothing but willows, and your Majesty values no trees but the laurel. I Submission, therefore beseech your Majesty to give me leave to enjoy what my little spot brings in, without deduction. Entreating. All that a poor subject asks of your Majesty is, that your Majesty would ask nothing of him.

Comfort.

Pomp.
Contempt.

VII.-PETITIONING WITH DEJECTION.

Presented to the French king by a disgraced minister. BEING weary of the useless life I live at present, I Dejection. take the liberty of imploring, with profound submission, your Majesty, that I may have leave to seek an honourable death in your Majesty's service. After the disappointments and reverses of fortune which I have had to struggle with, my expectations of rising Humble reagain to prosperity are brought low enough. But it monstrance. would be a satisfaction to me that my real character were known to your Majesty; which if it were, I flatter myself I should have your Majesty's indul

citation.

gence, nay your esteem. Refuse not, most gracious Beseeching. Sovereign, the means for gaining this end to a man who is ready to shed his blood in proof of his loyalty and affection to your Majesty. Were my own private interest alone concerned, I should be peculiarly cautious how I intruded upon your Majesty with these solicitations. But as the only happiness I desire Earnest soliin this world is to have an opportunity of serving my king and country, I humbly hope I may be forgiven, though I urge my suit with some warmth and importunity. I do not presume, Sire, to claim a total exemption from hardship. I pretend to no right to live a life of indulgence. All I ask is, to change one punishment for another. And I beseech your Majesty to have some consideration for my past services; and that a year's imprisonment, five years' exile, the ruin of my fortune, the submission with which I have borne these punishments, and the zeal I still am ready to show for your Majesty's service, may plead in my favour, and disarm your Majesty

of your indignation against me. It is true, that in Humble remaking your Majesty the offer of my life, I offer monstrance. what is of little value even to myself. But it is all

Profound

Dejection. I have to offer. The misfortune I have lain under, these six years, of your Majesty's displeasure, has rendered life so insipid to me, that, besides the honour of losing it in your Majesty's service, the prospect of an end being by death put to my vexations, makes the thought of my dissolution pleasing to me. If it submission. should seem good to your Majesty to finish my distresses the other way, I mean by your most gracious pardon, the obligation will be still greater; and to the zeal I have for your Majesty's interest, I shall think myself obliged to add gratitude suitable to so important a favour. May heaven touch the heart of your Majesty, that you may at last forgive your sinHumble re- cerely penitent subject. No one knows better than your Majesty that it is as great to forgive as to punish. If I alone am doomed to have no benefit from that goodness, which extends to so many, my lot must be peculiarly calamitous.

Devotion.

monstrance.

VIII. DISCOURSING-INFORMATION.

Part of Socrates's speech to Montaigne, translated from the
French "Dialogues of the Dead."

Teaching. Antiquity is an object of a peculiar sort: distance magnifies it. If you had been personally acquainted with Aristotle, Phocion, and me, you would have found nothing in us very different from what you may find in people of your own age. What commonly prejudices us in favour of antiquity is, that we are prejudiced against our own times. We raise the ancients, that we may depress the moderns. When we ancients were alive, we esteemed our ancestors more than they deserved. And our posterity esteem us more than we deserve. But the very truth

Disapprobation.

of the matter is, our ancestors, and we and our pos

terity, are all very much alike.

IX.-A LOVE-SICK SHEPHERD'S COMPLAINT.

Ah-well-a-day how long must I endure

This pining pain? Or who shall speed my cure?
Fond love no cure will have; seeks no repose;
Delights in grief, nor any measure knows.
Lo! now the moon begins in clouds to rise,

The bright'ning stars bespangle all the skies,
The winds are hush'd. The dews distil; and sleep
Hath clos'd the eyelids of my weary sheep.
I only with the prowling wolf constrain'd
4 All night to wake. With hunger he is pain'd,
And I with love. His hunger he may tame;
But who can quench,5 O cruel Love! thy flame?
Whilom did I, all as this poplar fair,
Upraise my heedless head, devoid of care;
'Mong rustic routs the chief for wanton game;
Nor could they merry make, till Lobbin came.
Who better seen than I in shepherds' arts,
To please the lads, and win the lasses' hearts?
How deftly to mine oaten reed so sweet
Wont they upon the green to shift their feet!
And wearied in the dance how would they yearn
Some well-devised tale from me to learn!
For many a song, and tale of mirth, had I
To chase the loit'ring sun adown the sky.
But ah! since Lucy coy deep wrought her spite
Within my heart, unmindful of delight,

The jolly youths I fly; and all alone
To rocks and woods pour forth my

fruitless moan.

1 The words pining pain cannot be spoken too slowly. ? These four lines are to be spoken slowly, and with a torpid uniformity of tone.

a The speaker is to seem roused here, as by a sudden pang. 4 These four words to express extreme anguish.

5 A stop before and after the words, O cruel love, which are to be expressed with exclamation of anguish.

Lamentation.

Anguish.

Complaint

Anguish.

Lamentation.