26 
(turnips).” This’ was the answer of a 
fool. 
The generality of blockheads utter 
only common-place Jétises, but some 
ave occasionally let fail very piquant 
absurdities, which have been thought 
worthy of being recorded. After Ra- 
cine’s death, somebody remarked that, 
in his will, he had expressed a desire to 
be buried in Port Royal. “ That he 
would never have desired during his 
lifetime!” exclaimed an idiot, with the 
utmost gravity. A wit might have said 
the same thing, but he would have said 
it with a different accent: and, in a 
thing of this kind, certainly, 
“ C’est la facon de la faire 
Que fait tout.” 
The question, “‘ What is the difference 
between a fool and a blockhead ?” was 
once introduced in a company of wits 
and blue-stockings. Various opinions 
were given, but none that met with 
general approbation, until a charming 
lady, who had the misfortune to be 
united to a finished fool, furnished the 
solution of the problem, with the pecu- 
liar felicity which is the characteristic 
of female wit. “A blockhead,” said she, 
“may sometimes be tolerated, but a 
fool never : we sometimes pity the idiot, 
but we always make ourselves merry at 
the expense of the fool:—the former 
sometimes amuses with his naiveté, but 
the latter always disgusts with his im- 
pertinence. You may rely on what I 
tell you; for, since I have been com- 
pelled to live with a fool, I have learnt 
duly to appreciate the value of a block- 
head.” 
It is one distinguishing mark of stu- 
idity, that it admires every thing. This 
Is a quality offensive to none, but agree- 
able to many—and, indeed, a forlorn 
hope to thousands, who seek in vain 
for the admiration of “the discerning 
few.” . 
A presumptive evidence of folly is 
the lavishing of admiration and censure 
always mala propos—a quality by no 
means so amiable as the former, as 
being too apt to clash with our favourite 
opinions and darling conceits. : 
A blockhead pretends to nothing 
more than he is. Not so the fool:— 
he puts forth claims, and sometimes the 
most ridiculous of claims. ; 
And what moral shall we draw from 
all this? Let. us court the society of 
the man of sense, tolerate the idiot, and 
avoid the fool. ~~ 
eo 
Stupidity versus Folly—Rearing of the Silk-Worm. 
{Aug. 1) 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
i Wh) 497 
Sir: thy 
BSERVING, in the Jast Magazine, 
p. 555, that a chartéred company 
is about to be formed for raising silk in 
this country, I trouble you with the fol- 
lowing observations. They are; it is 
true, in substance, stated in my Family 
Cyclopedia, article Silk-worm ; but, as 
that work might not be in the hands of 
many of your readers, a re-statement 
here may be of some importance. 
About ten years since, a friend of 
mine went to reside for some time at 
Marseilles, in the south of France; and 
while there, I requested him to obtain 
for me some silk-worms* eggs. These 
he procured, and they were sent on 
paper, enclosed in a letter, by the post. 
I lived then in Somersetshire; and it so 
happened that the eggs were placed in 
a small room on the first floor of my 
house, having a large window and a 
southern aspect. The room was, there= 
fore, a warm one; and, long before any 
mulberry-leaves could be obtained, the 
young Frenchmen became animated, 
and anxious, of course, for food. The 
only succedaneum for the leaves of the 
mulberry which we could find was /et- 
tuce leaves; but these did not supply 
the absence of their natural food suc- 
cessfully, and, in consequence, before 
mulberry-leaves could be obtained, many 
of the worms died; but a considerable 
number, notwithstanding, did survive, 
and, when supplied with mulberry- 
leaves, ultimately became some of the 
finest worms which I ever saw, and in 
due course spun fine cocoons accord- 
ingly; but the products of this genera- 
tion were, the next year, by no means 
such fine worms: and, hence, I con- 
cluded, that the silk-worm degenerates 
in this country, owing chiefly, if not 
entirely, to the deficiency of mulberry- 
leaves in the early part of its existence. 
As I do not believe that the lettuce is 
a good succedaneum for the mulberry 
as food for silk-worms, the only chance 
of success with them, in this country, 
appears to me, to keep the eggs in a 
place so cool as to prevent their being 
hatched till the mulberry-leaves are suf- 
ficiently developed to supply them with 
food; and if this can be done, as I 
presume it can, there will be then, I 
think, some probability that See be 
profitably produced in England. At 
“any rate, it is worth the tfial;~ but 
whether it éan-be worth the while of'a 
‘ company 
