ELIHU EURRITT, THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH. 



127 



world's business to run after Mm. 

 I hate a fellow whom pride, or 

 cowardice, or laziness drives into a 

 corner, and does nothing, when he 

 is there, but sit and growl; let him 

 come out as I do, and bark' " 



CLASSICAL GLORY. 



Dr. George, the celebrated Gre- 

 cian, upon hearing the praises of the 

 t King of Prussia, entertained 

 iderable doubt whether the 

 , with all his victories, knew 

 how to conjugate a Greek verb in fci. 



CAN SHE SPIN 1 



A young girl was presented to 

 J. lines I. as an English prodigy, be- 

 cause she was deeply learned. The 

 person who introduced her boasted 

 of her proficiency in ancient lan- 

 guages. "I can assure your majesty,"' 

 lie, "that she can both speak 

 and write Latin, Greek, and He- 

 brew." " The.se are rare attainments 

 for a damsel," said James ; " but, 

 pray tell me, can she spin ?" 



DRS. PORSON AND GILLIES. 



Dr. Gillies, the historian of Greece, 

 and Dr. Person, used now and then 

 to meet. The consequence was 

 certain to be a literary contest. 

 Person was much the deeper scholar 

 of the two. Dr. Gillies was one 

 day speaking to him of the Greek 

 irau'edies, and of Pindar's odes. 

 " We know nothing? said Dr. Gillies, 

 emphatically, "of the Greek metres." 

 Person answered, " If, doctor, you 

 will put your observation in the 

 ''i r number, I believe it will 

 be very accurate." 



ELIHU BURRITT, THE LEARNED 

 BLACKSMITH. 



A letter written by Elihn Bur- 

 ritt, the learned blacksmith, con- 

 tains some interesting incidents of 

 his career. 



Mr. Burritt mentions that, being 

 one of a large family, and his pa- 

 rents poor, he apprenticed himself, 



I when very young, to a blacksmith, 

 but that he had always had such a 

 taste for reading, that he carried it 

 with him to his trade. He com- 

 menced the study of Latin when 

 his indentures were not half ex- 

 pired, and completed reading Vir- 

 gil in the evenings of one winter. 

 He next studied Greek, and car- 

 ried the Greek Grammar about ia 

 his hat, studying it for a few mo- 

 ments while heating some large 

 iron. In the evenings, he sat down 

 to Homer's Iliad, and read twenty 

 books of it during the second win- 

 ter. He next turned to the modern 

 tongues, and went to Newhaven, 

 where he recited to native teach- 

 ers in French, Spanish, German, 

 and Italian, and at the end of two 

 years he returned to his forge, tak- 

 ing with him such books as he 

 could procure. He next commenced 

 Hebrew, and soon mastered it with 

 ease, reading two chapters in the- 

 Bible before breakfast ; this, with 

 an hour at noon, being all the time 

 he could spare from work. Being- 

 unable to procure such books as he 

 desired, he determined to hire him- 

 self to some ship bound to Europe, 

 thinking he would there meet with 

 books at the different ports he. 

 touched at. He travelled more than 

 a hundred miles on foot to Boston 

 with this view, but was not able to- 

 find what he sought ; and at that 

 period he heard of the American 

 Antiquarian Society at Worcester. 

 Thither he bent his steps, and ar- 

 rived in the city in utter indigence. 

 Here he found a collection of an- 

 cient, modern, and Oriental books,, 

 such as he never imagined to be 

 collected in one place. He was 

 there kindly allowed to rent I what 

 books he liked, and reaped great 

 benefit from this permission. 



He used to spend three hours 

 daily in the hall, and made such 

 use of these privileges, as to be able 

 to read upwards of fifty languages 

 with greater or less facility. 



