Read Ebook: The sexagenarian; or the recollections of a literary life (Volume 2 of 2) by Beloe William Rennell Thomas Editor

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A new Dramatis Persona introduced upon the stage, who in his time subsequently proved the Roscius of his day. No preternatural appearances marked the infancy of Porson, though it is told of Roscius, that when in his cradle, his nurse discovered a serpent twined round his bosom, which of course induced the Haruspices to foretell, nihil illo puero clarius, nihil nobilius fere.

On the same subject. "I knew him well Horatio."

CHAP. XL. P. 245.

Wherein is demonstrated the truth of the proverb,

"Qui cum sapientibus versatur, sapiens erit,"

as well as that saying among the Jews,

If I had not lifted up the stone, you would not have found the jewel.

A modern Gracchus.

See Gifford's Juvenal, p. 38, note.

The Gracchi were brothers, nobly descended, and virtuously educated, but unfortunately too ambitious. Caesars in short born near a century before their time. They proposed an Agrarian law and to get it passed, struck at the root of that liberty of which they professed themselves the champions, conceiving, perhaps, with other hasty reformers, that the end justified the means. They were murdered with every circumstance of barbarity; Tiberius G. in the midst of his followers, by Scipio Nasica, and Caius G. some time after, by a mob more powerful and more profligate than his own. The hero of this chapter died miserably in banishment at Botany Bay, a just victim to the offended laws of his country.

The subject of this chapter is well explained by an old Greek ceremony. It was the custom at Athens to introduce at the marriage ceremony a boy who was covered with prickly branches, and the common acorn, and carrying in his hand baskets full of bread; he was taught to exclaim, ?????? ?????, ????? ???????, as much as to say, I have exchanged the bad, that is, thorns and acorns, for good, or in other words, for bread. Nor is it less to the purpose to add, that these also were the terms used by those who were initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries--?????? ?????, ????? ???????.

The same subject continued.

"There could be no great ones if there were no little."

The same subject.

Familiar Epistles.

A really great man.

With a fair wind how steadily and cheerily the vessel scuds along. It is not easy to estimate the value of the help of Theseus; did he not assist Meleager in the destruction of the Caledonian boar? What, without his aid, could Perithous have done in his battle with the Centaurs, or Hercules in his contest with the Amazons?

Virgil tells us that Jupiter was so indignant with Esculapius for restoring Hippolitus to life, that he struck him dead with his thunder.

Nam Pater Omnipotens aliquem indignatus ab umbris Mortalem infernis ad lumina surgere vitae, Ipse repertorem medicinae iratus et artis Flumine Phoebeginam Stygias detrusit ad undas.

What rare punishments would he not have devised for the accomplished individuals here recapitulated.

The same subject.

The first personage who is here introduced might exclaim,

Laborum Nulla mihi nova nunc facies inopinaque surgit Omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi.

Of the rest, of all of whom it is well known how much their skill and experience have contributed to sooth and soften the calamities of their contemporaries, it is impossible not to be a little out of humour with that surly old fellow, Cato the Censor. Till his time the Romans knew nothing of physicians or physic. They were introduced when he was in office, and after a trial banished at his interposition. Here have I lived to be fourscore and five, and here too is my wife in extreme old age, and we neither of us ever had or wanted physician or physic. Let them go about their business.

To this part of the work, and to this, and some of the subsequent chapters, the title of one of the comedies of Aristophanes might not unaptly be applied, viz. The Ecclesiazurae, or Women assembling themselves together. Here they will be found assembled of all ages, ranks, conditions, and talents, in almost every variety of that various sex: Widows, Matrons, Virgins, Philosophers, Politicians, and Poets. The Sexagenarian was a well-known advocate for the sex, the reader must not therefore expect any of those hard, wicked, and abusive adages about them, such as the three greatest evils, are Fire, Water, Woman. There are three things which are good for nothing without much beating, a walnut-tree, an ass, and a woman. A man of straw is worth a woman of gold. Three women and a goose make a market. Fie on such vile slanderers!!!--No! no! different opinions will be found here: the maxim here prevalent is, that there is no paradise without women, and that England is the paradise of women. But here a paradox occurs. There is no country in which women have so much influence, nor any language which contains such numerous and abusive reproaches upon women as our own.

Striking contrasts to the Portrait exhibited in the former chapter.

CHAP. L. P. 339.

The same subject, with a representation of similar virtues exemplified in such trials,

Might not she who is concisely characterized in this chapter have exclaimed,

Mortals that would follow me, Love Virtue, she alone is free; She can teach you how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her.

That same Mr. Pope, who was an arch slanderer of the sex, impudently says, that most women have no characters at all. Here we are introduced to a lady who appears to have combined almost every character in one. A Philosopher, and at the same time obedient to the first impulse of the passions. A writer on the subject of education, and yet violating in her own person the ties of moral obligation, as established in society. An advocate for the best principles that can direct the human heart, and a slave to the worst. Some of the sages of old held that the body of woman was formed by the good, and her mind by the evil Principle. Such heretical doctrines will find no advocates here, although the chapter and character before us may bring them to remembrance.

The reader will here be reminded of the story of Narcissus, so prettily told by Ovid in the third book of his Metamorphoses, and more particularly of his soliloquy on contemplating his own image in the fountain. The lady whose portrait is given in the chapter which precedes, and she who is here first introduced, may be supposed to address to one another the following words of Narcissus, having been as it were, ??? ????.

Cum risi arrides, lacrymas quoque saepe notavi Me lacrymante tuas, nurtu quoque signa remittes-- In te ego sum, sensi-- Nunc duo concordes anima moriemur in una.

Nay, it is not quite impossible, but as it is an observation of one of the old commentators upon Plato, that "Furicus Triplex indissolubilis est," but that the third lady also may exult at being considered as one of the honourable fraternity.

Hoc est quod dicitur illud Fraternum vere dulce sodalitium.

These three chapters contain ample matter for a modern novel, at least of three volumes. It would be easy to introduce a few episodes of great, and proud, and unfeeling relations, of prospects blighted, hopes disappointed, ambition marred, and so forth, and many a circulating library would be made to rejoice. The only objection seems to be, that what is here related, is true. There actually was a female so various, so eccentric, and yet so lovely. A doughty candidate for a generalship as fantastical, as conceited, and as amorous; a poet, so characterized by ingenious frenzy; relations as proud, as stupid and as unfeeling, with under Dramatis Personae of corresponding peculiarities.

The ancients had some very perverse and out of the way phrases about women. They would sometimes talk of a Chalcidian wife, which is variously interpreted, as meaning a very prolific wife, or as applying to one who is the cause of much contention and animosity. They had also a saying of a Thessalian wife, which meant neither more nor less than a witch. They would also wickedly say, that a woman never did any thing in moderation, and that if she played at dice, she always threw worse or better than any body else. But of all their pithy sayings on this pithy subject, it is not easy to find one which will apply to the character here introduced. Terence may perhaps help us--"O pergin mulier esse."

A female introduced who cares for no man, but boasts that her protectors are Title-page the publisher, Vamp the bookseller, and Index the printer. A most noble triumvirate!

Is aught so fair In all the dewy landscapes of the Spring, In the bright eye of Hesper in the morn, In Nature's fairest forms is aught so fair As Virtue's friendship.

More sublime The queen-like partner moved; the prime of age Composed her steps; the presence of a god, High on the circle of her brow enthroned, From each majestic motion darted awe, Devoted awe!

The quotation above is intended to comprehend the subject of this chapter also.

The parties may be conceived as addressing one another in the words of Plautus.

Certe ego quod te amo, operam nusquam melius potui ponere, Bene igitur ratio accepte atque expensi inter nos convenit Tu me amas--ego tu amo; merito id fieri uterque existumat Haec qui gaudent, gaudeant perpetuo suo semper bono.

"That little which is good fills the trencher."

Moliere ? furnishes us with a very apt motto for the portrait here delineated.

Que du nom de savante on honore en tous lieux, Fachez ainsi que moi de vous montrer sa fille Aspirez aux chartes qui sont dans la famille, Et vous rendez sensible aux charmantes douceurs, Que l'amour de l'etude epanches--dans les coeurs; Loin d'etre aux loix d'un homme en esclave asservie, Mariez vous, ma soeur a la philosophie, Qui nous monte au-dessus de tout le genre-humain, Et donne a la raison l'Empire Suverain.

Ambo florentes aetatibus. Arcades ambo Et certare pares et respondere paretiae.

The Tragi-Comedy of the Foeminae Concurientes, or women assembling themselves together, here concludes.

Of the venerable personage here depicted, it may be truly said, that he

Sinks to the grave by unperceived decay, While resignation gently slopes the way, And all his prospects brightning to the last, His heaven commences ere this world be past.

"As one who destin'd, from his friends to part, Regrets his loss, yet hopes again, erewhile To share their converse, and enjoy their smile, And tempers, as he may, affliction's dart. Thus loved associates, Teachers of wisdom, I now resign you, nor with fainting heart, For pass a few short years, or days, or hours, And happier seasons, may their dawn unfold, And all your sacred fellowship restore, When freed from earth, unlimited its powers, Mind, shall with mind, direct communion hold, And kindred spirits, meet to part no more."

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