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Mr Williams. A great deal; that's the very point of contention.

Com. Doubtless; but you must come to it, if you can, as soon as possible.

Mr W. I will. Well, as I was saying-where did I leave offOh! when I was fuddled

Com. I hope you have left off that habit now, my good man.

Mr W. Upon my say-so, I have-trust me; but, as I was saying, to make a long story short, in course of time I left my master in the Temple, set up for myself,1 and did a great stroke of business.2 Ay, I could tell you such a list of customers!

There was

Com. Never mind ;3 we don't want your list; go, on.

Mr W. Well, then, at last I set up at Boswell Court, Queen Square. Oh! what alterations I have seen in that square, surely, in my time! I remember when I used to go to shave old Lord

Com. There, there!
Mr W. Well, I will.

Come to the end of your story.

Where was I ?-Oh! in Boswell Court. Com. (aside.) I wish you were there now.

Mr W. Well, then, you must know, when Lord Mansfield (God rest his soul !) died, his wig-the very, very wig I made— got back to my old master's shop; and he kept it as a pattern for other judges' wigs; and at last my master died himself—ay, it's what we must all come to.

Com. Go on! go on, man! and come to the end of your story. Mr W. I will, I will! Well, where was I ?-Oh! in my poor master's shop. Well, so when he died, my mistress gave me— for she knew, poor soul! how I loved it—this identical wig; and I carried it home with as much delight as if it had been one of my children. Ah! poor little things! they are all gone before

me.

Com. Come, if you don't cut this matter short, I must, and send you after.

1 Set up for myself, Je me suis établi.-2 And did a great stroke of business, Je fis beaucoup d'affaires.-3 Never mind, N'importe.

Mr W. Dear me! You put me out. Well, as I was saying, I kept this here wig as the apple of my eye; when, as ill luck would have it,1 that ere Mr Laurence came to my shop, and often asked me to lend it to him to act in a play. I think he called it

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Shycock," or "Shylock," for he said he was to play the judge. I long refused; but he over-persuaded me, and, on an unlucky day, I let him have it, and have never (weeping and wiping his little eyes with his white apron) seen it since.

Com. And so you have summoned him for the price of the wig?

Mr W. You have just hit the nail on the head.2

Com. Well, Mr Laurence, what have you to say to this?

Mr L. (with great pomposity.) Why, sir,3 I have a great deal

to say.

Com. Well, then, sir, I desire you will say as little as you can, for there are a great many persons waiting here, whose time is very precious.

Mr L. Not more precious than mine, I presume, sir. I submit that this case is to recover possession of the wig; and, this admitted, sir, I have humbly to contend that the plaintiff must be nonsuited, for, sir, you will not find one word concerning a wig in this declaration. The plaintiff must not

Com. Sir, I desire you will confine yourself to this case.

Mr L. What says Kitty upon the nature of these pleadings? Com. And pray, who is Kitty?

Mr L. The most eminent pleader of the present day.

Com. I never heard of a woman being a barrister.

Mr L. He is not a woman, sir. He is a man, sir; and a great man, sir; and a man, sir

Com. Do you mean Mr Chitty?

Mr L. I mean the gentleman you call Chitty, and most erroneously so call him; for you ought to know that the ch in Italian sounds like an English k; and Mr Kitty, by lineal descent, is an

1 As ill luck would have it, Comme le malheur l'a voulu.-2 You have just hit the nail on the head, Vous avez mis le doigt dessus (a French saying corresponding to the above English one.)-3 Why, sir, Mais, Monsieur.-4 The plaintiff, Le de mandeur.

tuary election, a Syrian, a Goth, or an Arab was exalted to the throne of Rome, and invested with despotic power over the conquests and over the country of the Scipios. The limits of the Roman empire still extended from the Western Ocean to the Tigris, and from Mount Atlas to the Rhine and the Danube. To the undiscerning eye of the vulgar,1 Philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than Hadrian or Augustus had formerly been. The form was still the same, but the animating health and vigour were fled. The industry of the people was discouraged and exhausted by a long series of oppressions. The discipline of the legions, which alone, after the extinction of every other virtue, had propped the greatness of the State, was corrupted by the ambition, or relaxed by the weakness of the emperors. The strength of the frontiers, which had always consisted in arms rather than in fortifications, was insensibly undermined; and the fairest provinces were left exposed to the rapaciousness or ambition of the barbarians, who soon discovered the decline of Rome.

From the reign of Augustus to the time of Alexander Severus, the enemies of Rome were in her bosom; the tyrants, and the soldiers; and her prosperity had a very distant and feeble interest in the revolutions that might happen beyond the Rhine and the Euphrates. But when the military order had levelled, in wild anarchy, the power of the prince, the laws of the senate, and even the discipline of the camp, the barbarians of the north and of the east, who had long hovered on the frontier, boldly attacked the provinces of a declining monarchy. Their vexatious inroads were changed into formidable irruptions, and, after a long vicissitude of mutual calamities, many of the tribes of the victorious invaders established themselves in the provinces of the Roman empire.

GIBBON. 1737-1794.

To the undiscerning eye of the vulgar, Pour l'œil sans pénétration du vulgaire.

LORD CHESTERFIELD TO HIS SON.

I WILL suppose you at Rome, studying six hours uninterruptedly with Mr Harte every morning, and passing your evenings with the best company of Rome, observing their manners, and forming your own; and I will suppose a number of idle, sauntering, illiterate English, as there commonly is there, living entirely with one another,1 supping, drinking, and sitting up late at each other's lodgings. I will take one of these pretty fellows, and give you the dialogue between him and yourself, such as I dare say it would be on his side, and such as I hope it would be on yours.

Englishman. Will you come and breakfast with me to-morrow? there will be four or five of our countrymen; we have provided chaises, and we will drive somewhere out of town after breakfast. Stanhope. I am very sorry I cannot; but I am obliged to be at home all morning.

Englishman. Why, then, we will come and breakfast with

you.

Stanhope. I cannot do that either; I am engaged.

Englishman. Well, then, let it be the next day.

Stanhope. To tell you the truth, it can be no day in the morning; for I neither go out nor see anybody at home before twelve. Englishman. And what do you do with yourself till twelve

o'clock.

Stanhope. I am not by myself; I am with Mr Harte.
Englishman. Then what do you do with him?

Stanhope. We study different things; we read, we converse.
Englishman. Very pretty amusement, indeed!

take orders then ?3

Are you to

Stanhope. Yes, my father's orders I believe I must take.4 Englishman. And pray, are you to obey your nurse,5 too, this same, what's his name-Mr Harte?

1 With one another, Entre eux.-2 And sitting up late at each other's lodgings, Et restant jusqu'à une heure indue les uns chez les autres.-3 Are you to take orders, then? Allez-vous donc prendre les ordres ?-4 Yes, my father's orders, I believe 1 must take, Oui, les ordres de mon père; je crois que je dois les prendre.-5 Your nurse, Votre bonne.

Stanhope. Yes.

Englishman. So he stuffs you all morning with Greek and Latin and logic, and all that. I have a nurse, too; but I never looked into a book with him in my life;1 I have not so much as seen the face of him this week, and don't care a bit if I never see it again.

Stanhope. My tutor never desires anything of me that is not reasonable, and for my own good; and therefore I like to be with him.

Englishman. Very sententious2 and edifying, upon my word! At this rate, you will be reckoned “a very good young man.” Stanhope. Why, that will do me no harm.

Englishman. Will you be with us to-morrow in the evening, then? We shall be ten with you ; and I have got some excellent good wine; and we'll be very merry.5

Stanhope. I am very much obliged to you; but I am engaged for all the evening, to-morrow; first at Cardinal Albani's, and then to sup at the Venetian ambassadress's.

Englishman. How can you like being always with these foreigners? I never go amongst them, with all their formalities and ceremonies. I am never easy in company with them; and I don't know why, but I am ashamed.6

Stanhope. I am neither ashamed nor afraid; I am very easy with them; they are very easy with me; I get the language, and I see their characters, by conversing with them; and that is what we are sent abroad for, is it not?

Englishman. I hate your fine women's company; your women of fashion as they call 'em. I don't know what to say to them for my part.

Stanhope. Have you ever conversed with them?

Englishman. No, I never conversed with them; but I have been sometimes in their company, though much against my will. Stanhope. But at least they have done you no hurt; which is,

1 In my life, De ma vie.-2 Very sententious, Très-moral.-3 At this rate, À ce trair là.- With you, En vous comptant.-5 And we'll be very merry, Et nous nous amuserons beaucoup.-6 Ashamed, Tout décontenancé.

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