imi4 



V Ape Ituliuha.—'No. XXIJ. 



SIS 



cure, in, any tiling which is goinl — I 

 exhibited too long — uiy audience be- 

 gan to criticize — I was not exactly to 

 the taste of all — (hey began to whisper 

 that I was far from beinsf an universal 

 genius r I had the irritable part of it 

 abioiit me at least — I suddenly turned 

 luy sa])phies into iambics, and launched 

 into *• liarsli and bitter numbers" 

 against uiy fues, alreadydamning with 

 faint praise, and applied tlieni more- 

 over generally to their country. Tlien 

 rose the strife of tongues — hisses and 

 Lootings — at last tliey began to make 

 impertinent enquiries, and at break of 

 4ay I shook the dust off uiy shoes in 

 the face of tbeir city and departed. 

 , In ord<''r to strengthen my pergonal 

 security, I proposed to take refuge in 

 sonie more s|>acious and creditable 



pUice — I therefore set out for , 



and during my journey amused myself 

 ■\vith any thing but tbe supposition 

 tliat a man of letters would not easily 

 uiake , himself famous and fdrtunale 

 M'hei ever he went. With much self- 

 complacency,! I an my eye over my list 

 «f recommemLitions, to fix on which 

 should he first presented, and to see 

 that I had not omitted to add to each, 

 iuiother leaf of commendation, con- 

 taining a little more eulogy and infor- 

 biatiou respecting the bciirer. This is 

 more easily done than people might at 

 -first be aware, if they only jwssess the 

 imitative faculty of the species. But I 

 jvas interrupted in this examination by 

 tbe appearance of a lady, who confused 

 iny calculating notions, and threw u»e 

 into extreme perplexity. She was 

 indeed a glorious creature, and united 

 very rare qualities of heart and mind — 

 a liappy mixture of sense and sensi- 

 bility — I knew it would be an adven- 

 ture immediately — I felt already in- 

 spired, hope plumed her wing, and 

 credulity (if I was to play the f ol) was 

 prepared to do homage " to follying ;" 

 at all events it looks like an adventure ; 

 let us examine it a little nearer. 



We conversed, and she invited me 

 to La Casa — . Supposing I should 

 meet an academy of luminous wits, 

 among the many distinguished friends 

 and aiitliors whom she recounted to me, 

 I shut myself up for the rest of the day 

 io prepare myself for t/ie engagement. 

 In tlie first place I chose two or three 

 texts from liorace. committed to 

 memory a French epigram, ran over 

 half a dozen articles of the Literary 

 Journal — two political anecdotes, an<l 

 one of the theatre ; — thus armed at all 



(Mints I boldly 8aUie<l Into llie <jon'- 

 troversial field. 'I'lie combat was not 

 for a moment doubtful. I gave a swell 

 on entering the room, which instead of 

 the diminishing sense attendant on these 

 occasions, uiade me feel half as large 

 again ; this I followetl up with an as- 

 sured glance, which half abashed the 

 whole circle — I approached with a most 

 eiisy presence:— kissed hands, present- 

 ed my credentials, and beginning a 



well turned compliment She froze 



me with a cold and dry " be seated, 



cavaliere." The guests sat as stiff as 



if they had been sinew grown, and the 



dialogue 



" With weary pace dragg'M its slow length 



along." 

 Of literature I heard nothing, and yet 

 tliis was the only ground on which I 

 could make a disj)lay. At last I dex- 

 terously contrived to t4)uch the right 

 chord, by intreating our fair hostess's 

 opinion upon the last new book, but 

 she only referred me to the gentlemen 

 who were near her, whose names she 

 had previously announced. But who 

 could have imagined of what odd ma- 

 terials these geniuses were made. They 

 shewed no egotism, no mutual praises, 

 and clap traps for applause. They did 

 not even speak of their own books, nor 

 like acute barristers whom we know, 

 put leading questions to the public wit- 

 nesses around them to elicit in a bye- 

 way the gratifying information they 

 coveted. There was no mention of 

 their extensive correspondence with 

 foreign professors, no reference to fa- 

 vourable reviews, or account of nume- 

 rous translations into other tongues, 

 with a catalogue of egotisms, too long 

 to enumerate. Now thL« was not at all 

 to iny taste — it was not what I had 

 been used to, I despaired of animating 

 the conversation and retired. 



I had tried The without suc- 

 cess, and in the evening I determined 

 to try The Portoditnare, a lady of ex- 

 quisite tact. Here I saw something 

 of the world— it was worth conversing 

 in. The saloon alone was like a glori- 

 ous picture — it had numerous groups 

 full of the youth and the warmth of 

 genius: here were a party of young 

 married ladies, with men who were yet 

 lovers around them, even the gravest 

 were at cards, and a few downright 

 gamblers in the comer — in what Schle- 

 gel would call dramatic perspective, 

 exhibiting faint indicationsof the work-; 

 ing of the passions; while here and 

 there more sober merchants and trades- 



. itjea 



