, pole when they were done. 
Pie) Cofmoguniay 
amiable in.every refpect, than ever you 
were inthe whole courfe of your life; 
and others—you will excufe me, madam 
——pretend that you are almof im° your 
dotoge, that you zrow more intolerable 
every year you live;and that, whereas in 
your childhood you were a fprightly 
innocent young creature, that rofe with 
the lark, lay down with the lamb, and 
thought or faid no’ harm. of any, one; 
you are become fufpicious, felffh, in- 
terefted, fond of nothing but induiging 
your appetites, and continually fecting 
your own children together by the ears 
for ftraws. Now I jhould like to know 
- where the truth lies ? 
C. As to that, 1 am, perhaps, too 
nearly concerned to aniwer you properly. 
J will, therefore, only obferve, that I do 
mot remember the time when I have not 
heard exactly the fame contradi¢tory af- 
fertions. 
E. I believe the béf& way to determine 
the queftion will be by facts. Pray be 
fo good as to teli me how you have em- 
ployed yourfelf in the different periods of 
your life; from the earlieft time you can 
remember, for inflance ? 
CG. I have a very confufed remem- 
brance of living in a pleaiant garden 
full of fruit, and of being turned’ out 
becaufe I had not minded the injunctions 
that were laid upon me. After that I 
became fo very naughty, that I got a 
fevere ducking, and was in great danger 
of being drowned. 
E. A hopeful beginning, I muf al- 
low! Pray what was the arft piece of 
work you recoliect being engaged in? 
C.Y remember ‘etting myteif to build 
_a prodigious high houfe of cards, which 
I childithly thought I could raile up to 
the very fkies. I piled them up very 
high, and at laft left Uff in the middle, 
and had my tongue flict for being fo felf- 
conceited. Afterwards, I baked dirt in 
the fun, and refolved tu make fomething 
ery magnificent, I hardly knew what; 
fo I built a great many mounds in 
the form of fugar caves, very broad 
at bottom and peinted at. top:— 
they took me a great many -years to 
maxe, and were fit for no earthly pur- 
j They are 
ftill to be feen, if you choofe to take the 
trouble of going fo far. Travellers call 
them my /vHy. 
FE, Pray what ftudies took your atten- 
,tion when you firft began to learn ? 
C. At fir&t I amufed myfeif, as. all 
children do, with pictures; and drew, or 
rather attempted to draw, figures of 
lions and ferpents, dnd men with the 
[ Feb. 
heads of animals, and women with fithes’ 
tails; to all which I affixed a meaning, 
often whimfical enough. Many of thefe 
my firit {cratches are ftill to be feen upon 
old walls and ftones, and have greatly 
exercifed the ingenuity of the curious to 
find cut what 1 could poffibly mean by 
them. Aiterwards, when I had learned 
to read, I was wonderfully entertained 
with ftories of giants, grifhns, and mer- 
maids ; and men and women turned into 
trees, and hories that fpoke, and of an 
old man that ufed to eat up his children 
till his wife deceived him by giving him 
a ftone to eat inftead of one of them; and 
of a conjurer that tied up the wind in 
bags, and—-— ok 
£. Hold, hold, my good madam; you 
have given me a very fufficient proof 
of that propenfity to the marvellous 
which I have always remarked in you. 
I fuppofe, however, you foon grew toa 
old for tuch nurfery itories as thefe. 
GC. On the contrary, I amufed myfelf 
vith putting them into verfe, and had 
them fung to me oh holidays; and, at 
this very day, ] make a pbint of teaching 
them to all my children, in whofe educa- 
tion I take any pains. ; 
£. I think I ithould rather whip them 
for employing their time fo idly; I hope 
at leaft chefe pretty ftories kept you out 
of muicnief ? 
C. I cannot fay they did; I never was 
without a fcratched face, or a bloody 
noie, at any period I can remember. 
E. Very promefiug difpotitions, truly ! 
C. My amutements were not all -fo- 
mifchicvous. I was very fond of ftar- 
gazing, and telling fortunes, and trying 
a thouiand tricks for good luck, many of 
which have made fuch an imprefiion on 
my mind, that I remember them even 
to this day. . 
E. Lhope, however, your reading was 
not all of the kind you have mentioned. 
C. No. It was at fome very famous 
races, which were held every four years 
for my diverfion, and which I always 
made a point to be at, that a Man once 
came upon the race-ground, and read a 
hiftery-book aloud to the whole com- 
pany: there were, tobe fure, a num- 
ber of ftories in it not greatly better 
than thofe I have been telling you; 
however, from that time, I began to take 
to more ferious learning, and likewife to 
reckon and date all my accounts by thefe 
races, which, as I told you, I was very 
fond of. p . ae 
#. I think you, afterwards went to 
fehool, and learnt philofophy and ma- 
thematics? ae 
