2S 
MEMOIR OF PLINY. 
8!on, excepting only wlien he bathed. In this ex- 
ception I include no more than the time he was ac- 
tually in the bath ; for while he was rubbed and 
wiped, he was employed either in hearing some book 
read to him, or in dictating himself. In his jour- 
neys he lost no time from his studies ; but his mind 
at those seasons being disengaged from all other bu- 
siness, applied itself wholly to that single pursuit. A 
secretary* (or short-hand writer) constantly attend- 
ed him in his chariot, wlio in winter wore a parti- 
cular sort of warm gloves, that the sharpness of the 
weather might not occasion any interruption to my 
uncle’s studies ; and for the same reason, in Rome 
he was always canied in a chair. I remember he 
once reproved me for walking. ‘ You might (said 
he) employ these hours to more advantage for he 
thought every minute lost that was not given to 
study. By this extraordinary application he found 
time to compose the several treatises already men- 
tioned, besides 160 volumes which he left me by 
his will, consisting of a kind of commonplace, writ- 
ten on both sides, in a veiy small character, so that 
one might fairly reckon the number considerably 
• The words in the original, Nolarius cum libro et pugil- 
laribus, denote a writer of short-hand; an art which the 
Romans carried to perfection, .as appears from Martial : — 
Currant verba licet, manus est velocius illis; 
Kondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus. 
Swift though the words, the pen still swifter sped ; 
The hand has finished ere the tongue has said. 
Epigram xiv. 208. 
