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you look at it, it pleases the eye; but when you press 
it ever so slightly, it gives out a disagreeable smell. 
So saying, Madame de Stael rose and went out of the 
room, leaving the young fool abashed and in confusion. 
IS 
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool; 
And to do that well, craves a kind of wit. 
Shalcspeare. 
Your blunderer is as sturdy as a rock, 
The creature is so sure to kick and bite, 
A muleteer’s the man to set him right. 
First appetite enlists him truth’s sworn foe, 
Then obstinate self-will confirms him so. 
Tell him he wanders ; that his error leads 
To fatal ill; that though the path he treads 
Be flowery, and he see no cause of fear, 
Death and the pains of hell attend him there. 
In vain the slave of arrogance and pride, 
He has no hearing on the prudent side. 
His still refuted quirks he still repeats; 
• New raised objections with new quibbles meets; 
Till sinking in the quicksand he defends, 
He dies disputing, and the contest ends. 
4 Cowper. 
A set o’ dull conceited hashes, 
Confuse their brains in college classes ! 
They gang in stirks, and come out asses, 
Plain truth to speak; 
An’ syne they think to climb Parnassus 
By dint o’ Greek. 
A 
