MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



405 



World, earth, g!obe, wiivtrse. 



Are so far from being pliilosophi- 

 cally synonymous, that COP. vtrsi lion, 

 langua'.;e admitting of incredible 

 hyperbole, would say the very esrih 

 was filled with books 'wiitten to 

 prove their difference. Popularly 

 speaking, however, we say that a 

 man's knowledge of the <worlJ, 

 means his acquaintance with the 

 common forms and ceremonies cf 

 life, not ill called by Frenchmen, 

 the savotr vivre, since he who is 

 ignorant of the luorlJ even in this 

 limited sense, will soon be in a figu- 

 rative sense warned to go out of it ; 

 so indii-pensably necessary is that 

 knowledge, to every day's observa- 

 tion and practice ; nor have 1 often 

 read a more humourous picture of 

 manners, than in some play of iMr. 

 Cumberland's — I forget its name — 

 where two brothers disputing upon 

 a point of propriety, one says, truly 

 enough as I remember, " Dear 

 brother! you know nothing of the 

 •world:'—" Will you tell mc thnt ?'* 

 replies his incensed antai^oi.ist, 

 " when I have traversed the globe 

 so often ! crossed the line twice, 

 and felt the frosts within the arctic 

 circle : a man bred in London, and 

 living always ni its environs, has an 

 admirable assurance when he uses 

 that expression to me, who have 

 been wrecked on the coasts of Bar- 

 bary, and stuck fast in tlie quick- 

 sands of Terra del Fuego," 6cc, &c-. 

 My quotation is from memory, and 

 twenty-five years at least have 

 elapsed since I looked into the co- 

 medy by mere chance in a book- 

 seller's shop at Brighthelmstone. But 

 the pleasantry of two men taking 

 the word ivorld in a different way, 

 with some degree of right on both 

 sides, struck me as comical and 



p etty, because within the bounds 

 of credibility. Tiiat grace alone is 

 wanting to a dialogue once shewn 

 to me in manuscript, writt-^n by the 

 I'arned James Harris, of Salisbury, 

 who makes one of two friends, 

 walking in St. James's Park, say of 

 a third that passes by, — " There 

 goes a man eminent for his kno\v- 

 ledgv of the world:' To which the 

 other replies, '• Av, that indeed is 

 a desirable companion, a person 

 whose acquaintance I should parti- 

 cularly value, as he no ioubt could, 

 settle the point between Tvcho and 

 Rircioli, concerninsf tlie s-in*s iiori- 

 zontnl parallax, in which those two 

 so great astronomers contrive to dif- 

 fer, at least two minutes and a half. 

 He too could perhaps help us to de- 

 cide upon the controversy, whether 

 this universe is bounded by the grand 

 concamcration or firmament form- 

 ing a visible arch, or whether it is 

 stretched into an immensurable 

 space, occupied however at due dis- 

 tances by a variety of revolving 

 globes, differing in magnitude ; some 

 brilliant, as suns, rich in inherent 

 fire ; some opaque, and habitable, 

 as earths, attended by satellites of 

 inferior lustre and dignity." When 

 h:s companion stopping him, pro- 

 tests that the man ii. question knows 

 notlung of these matters. " Oh 

 then," replies the other, " he con- 

 fines his knowledge ^erhaps merely 

 to our own planet, where doubtless 

 much matter is afforded for reflec- 

 tion. — There, however, master of 

 the historical, geographical, and po- 

 litical 'world, he can give account of 

 all the discoveries, revolutions, and 

 productions, contained in those four 

 continents at least, which compose 

 this terraqueous globe ; and leaving 

 out marine enquiries — it is from 

 him we must hope to obtain the 

 D d 3 cleared 



