conferring benefits, and you shall not prove my superior in bestowing gifts;' and immediately ordered that one thousand talents should be given to King Taxilis.-Life of Alexander. v. 4. Plutarch translated by several hands.

His Activity, Courage, Judgement, and Skill, when a Boy.

When Bucephalus was first offered to Philip, he was refused by the king, to whom he was so intractable as to be useless. Alexander, who had observed the animal, proposed to mount him, and taking him by the bridle led him to face the sun, as he had noticed that the horse seemed afraid of his shadow. Patting him, he vaulted into his seat and put him soon to full speed, and returned to the spectators without any accident, to the great delight and astonishment of Philip, who exclaimed, Oh, my son, look out for another kingdom worthy of thy great soul, for Macedonia is too little for you!"

His Love of Literature.

Among the treasures and other booty that were taken from Darius there was a very curious little box, which being presented to Alexander for a great rarity, he asked those about him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it; and when they

had delivered their opinions, he told them he esteemed nothing so worthy to be preserved in it as Homer's Iliad. He sent very great presents to his old tutor Leonidas, which he had taken at the capture of Tyre and Gaza.

Hint to Old Persons.

It was wisely said by the late author of the Rambler, that men growing old ought to repair their friendships.* This metaphor is very happy, and reminds the reader of a kindred one in a still greater Poet. A lover exclaims to his absent anistress,

Oh, thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was.
Repair me with thy presence, Sylvia fair.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act v. scenț 4.

Titles,

Though honourable in their intent to distinguish persons eminent for their virtues, talents, and knowledge, yet become the properties of men of no "mark or likelihood." This man becomes a lord, because he has lent money to a prime minister: this buys the honour of being a baronet, a banker perhaps, or a rich and constant supporter

* That is, by new materials, viz. new friends.

of Administration. Yet some are so little as to think themselves great with such acquirements; and there are others who admire and mock them, and well know that

Where there are no difference in men's worth,
Titles are jests.

Beau, and Fletch.

The title of esquire does not require any purchase, and is so common as to be quite a joke...

A Multitude of Friends.

Plutarch very beautifully illustrates the folly of searching or wishing for many friends, a wish founded on experience. "As a child cropping several sorts of flowers is foolishly and uselessly delighted for a time with each in its turn, till one effaces the image of the other from his mind and fancy; so we of riper years, from an inbred affectation of novelty, and disdain of things already possessed, take up frequently with the first promising aspect of every fresh and new blooming friend, and when we have scarce fixed on one, our love immediately palls there, whilst we as passionately pursue some other."--Plutarch's Essay on the Folly of seeking a large Number of Friends.

Friends of the Great.

At first we congratulate great folks on their numerous train of friends; but let us look into

their kitchens, and we shall see as great a number of flies busy there in their attendance, who soon vanish when the dishes are all empty and clean; so would the former set of insects vanish from their dining-rooms, were there no longer any rich viands and wines to detain them. -Ibid.

The Retort Valiant.

Theano, a famous Grecian philosopher, and, as the French express it, "a sayer of good things," retorted upon an enemy who had abused him, with this sharp reproof, "We both lose our labour: you revile me, and I praise you always, and no one believes either of us." An English poet has imitated this sarcasm with his usual ease of diction:

You are always speaking ill of me,
And I speak always well of thee;
But spite of all our noise and pother,
The world believes nor one nor t'other.

M. Prior.

Degrading Allusions.

An author should be cautious of rendering his subject liable to these degradations. Plutarch, speaking of the ceasing of many of the oracles, imputes it to the world's being thinner peopled at that time than formerly. "The Gods," says he,

"would not deign to use so many interpreters of their wills to so small an handful of people." The reader here immediately ascribes this allusion to strolling players being deterred from an exhibition of their dramatic performances, because they were afraid of having a "thin house."

Heinsius.

This eminent commentator has a fine reflection on entering his study: "Plerumque in quâ simul ac pedem posui, pessalum obdo foribus. Ambitionem avaritiam excludo; autem, amorem, libidinem, quorum parens est ignavia, imperitia nutrix. Et ipso æternitatis gremio, inter tot illustres animos sedem mihi sumo cum ingenti quidem animo, ut subinde me misereat, qui felicitatem hanc ignorant." "As soon as I enter my study, by shutting the door I exclude ambition, love, lust; and avarice, the offspring of idleness, and whose Here, in the nurse is the want of erudition. very bosom of eternity, I take my side amongst the illustrious souls which surround me, and compassionate the greatest nobles, to whom this pleasure is a stranger."

Lycurgus and Plato.

Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, is said to have collected together all the works of Homer which