BC purpose he shall contract in his education, may ne"ver be destroyed by any modern polishing."

He could no longer bear the fight of the shield, 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 rust, and is the fame whereof a cut hath been engraved, and exhibited to the great contentation of the learned.

Cornelius now began to regulate the fuction of his child. Seldom did there pass a day without disputes between him and the mother, or the nurse, concerning the nature of aliment. The poor woman never dined but he denied her fome difh or other, which he judged prejudicial to her milk. One day she had a longing defire to a piece of beef, and as fhe ftretch'd her hand towards it, the old gentleman drew it away, and spoke to this effect. "Had'st thou read the an"cients, O nurse, thou would'ft prefer the welfare "of the infant which thou nourishest, to the indul

ging of an irregular and voracious appetite. Beef, "it is true, may confer a robustnefs on the limbs of

my fon, but will hebetate and clog his intellec"tuals." While he spoke this, the nurse looked upon him with much anger, and now and then cast a wishful eye upon the beef- "Paffion (continued the "doctor, still holding the dish) 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, woman, that this day's fuction of my fon "may cause him to imbibe many ungovernable paf"fions, and in a manner spoil him for the temper of

"a philofopher. Romulus 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, perhaps I might indulge "thee in this carnivorous appetite."-What, interrupted the nurse, beef fpoil 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? Don't tell me of your ancients, had not you almost killed the poor babe with a dish of daemonial black broth? - "Lacedaemonian black broth, thou "would ft fay, (replied Cornelius) but I cannot al"low the furfeit to have been occafioned by that "diet, fince it was recommended by the divine Ly

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curgus. No, nurse, thou must certainly have eaten "fome meats of ill digeftion the day before, and that 66 was the real cause of his diforder. Confider, wo

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man, the different temperaments of different na"tions: What makes the English phlegmatic and melancholy, but beef? what renders the Welsh "fo hot and choleric, but cheese and leeks? the French derive their levity from their foups, frogs, "and mushrooms: I would not let my fon dine like an Italian, left like an Italian he should be jealous "and revengeful: the warm and folid diet of Spain may be more beneficial, as it might endue him "with a profound gravity, but at the same time he might fuck in with their food their intolerable vice "of pride. Therefore, nurfe, in short, I hold it re

66

quifite to deny you at prefent, not only beef, but "likewife whatsoever any of those nations eat.” During this fpeech, the nurfe remained pouting and

marking her plate with the knife, nor would fhe touch a bit during the whole dinner. This the old gentleman obferving, ordered that the child, to avoid the rifque of imbibing ill humours, fhould be kept from her breast all that day, and be fed with butter, mix'd with honey, according to a prefcription he had met with fomewhere in Euftathius upon Homer. This indeed gave the child a great looseness, 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, fhe at last 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 years of young Martin's life paffed away in fquabbles of this nature. Mrs. Scriblerus confidered it was now time to instruct him in the fundamentals of religion, and to that end took no small pains in teaching him his catechifmn. But Cornelius looked upon this as a tedious way of inftruction, and therefore employed his head to find out more pleasing methods, the better to induce him to be fond of learning. He would frequently carry him to the puppetfhow of the creation of the world, where the child with exceeding delight gained a notion of the history of the Bible. His firft rudiments in prophane hiftory were acquired by feeing of raree-shows, where he was brought acquainted with all the princes of Europe. In short, the old gentleman fo contrived it, to

:

make every thing contribute to the improvement of his knowledge, even to his very drefs. He invented for him a geographical fuit of cloaths, which might give him fome hints of that science, and likewife fome 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 shoes were Spanish he was made to observe this, and daily catechis'd 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 history he was much affifted by his curiosity in fign-posts, insomuch that he hath often confeffed he owed to them the knowledge of many creatures which he never found fince in author, fuch as white lions, golden dragons, &c. He once thought the fame of green men, but had fince found them mentioned by Kercherus, and verified in the hiftory of William of Newbury*.

any

His difpofition to the mathematics was difcovered 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 fquares. But in the midst of all these improvements, a stop was put to his learning the alphabet, nor would he let him

* Gul. Neubrig, Book. i. ch. 27.

There

+ Pafcal's Life-Locke of Educ. &c. P. are fome extravagant lies told of the excellent Pascal's amazing genius for mathematics in his early youth; and fome trifling directions given for the introduction to the clements of science, in Mr. Locke's book of Education. W.

proceed to letter D, till he could truly and distinctly pronounce C in the ancient 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.

Cornelius having read, and seriously weighed the methods by which the famous Montaigne was educated*, and refolving in fome degree to exceed them, refolved he should speak and learn nothing but the learned languages, and especially the Greek; in which he constantly eat and drank, according to Homer. But what most conduced to his easy attainment of this language, was his love of ginger-bread; which his father obferving, caused it to be stampt with the letters of the Greek alphabet; and the child the very first day eat as far as Iota. By his particular application to this language above the rest, he attained fo great a proficiency therein, that Gronovius ingenuoufly confeffes he durft not confer with this child in Greek at eight years old†, and at fourteen he com

Who was taught Latin in his nurse's arms, and not fuffered to hear a word of his mother tongue, till he could speak the other perfectly.

W.

So Montaigne fays of his Latin-George Bucanan et Mark Antoine Muret, mes precepteurs domeftiques, m'ont dit souvent que j'avois ce language en mon enfance si prest et fi à main qu'ils craignoient à m'accofter.- -Somme, nous nous latinizames tant, qu'il en regorgea jusque à nos villages tout autour, ou il y a encores, et ont pris pied par l'usage, plufieurs appellations Latines d'artifans et d'outils. W.