564 
on paine of loffe of feruice ; nor reuile or 
threaten, or provoke one another to ftrike, 
on paine of rad. > 
XV. That no man come to the kitchen 
without reafonable caufe on paine of 1d. 
and the cook likewife to forfeit 1d. 
XVI. That none toy with the maids, 
on paine of 4d. y 
XVII. That no man weare foule fhirt 
on Sunday, nor broken hofe, or fhooes, or 
dublett without butions, on paine of 1d. 
\ XVIII. That when‘any ftrainger goeth 
hence, the chambe be dreft vp againe with- 
in 4 howers after, on paine of 1d. 
. XIX. That the hall bee made cleane 
every day, by eight in the Winter and 
fenuen in the Summer, on paine’of him 
that fhould doe it 1d. ~ 
XX. -That the court-gate bee fhut each 
meale, and not opened during dinner and 
fupper, without juft caufe, on paine the 
porter to forfiet for every time, 1d. 
XXI. Thatall ftayrs in the houfe, and 
other rooms that need fhall require, bee 
made cleane on Fryday after dinner on 
paine of forfeyture of every one whom it . 
fhall belong vnto 3d. 
All which fommes fhall be duly paide 
each quarter-day out of their wages, and 
- beftowed on the poore, or other godly ule. 

A LITERARY CUSTOM. 
The Romans were accuftomed (and a 
very ufeful cuftom it would be for men of 
letters, if employed prudently and with 
moderation) to recite their works in the 
prefence of their friends, before they gave 
them to the public. in this they had two 
views; the firit to receive the advice, and 
the corre&tions, which even the moft fkil- 
ful writer will need; and fecondly, which 
is indeed but a confeguence of the firft, to 
publifh nothing which was not very per- 
fect, or at lealt not quite unworthy of.at- 
tention. 
Orations, or eloquent compofitions, 
dialogues of various kinds, hiftory and 
poems, were the pieces ufually recited in 
thefe aflemblies. Some of the critics of 
thofe days thought that neither hiftories 
nor tragedies fhould be recited, becaufe 
hiftories are not written with an ambition 
of eloquence, but mercly to give a teili- 
mony to truth: and thata tragedy requires. 
a fcene and ators to give its proper im- 
preffions to the auditors. And fo far, as 
that hiftory ought-to be ferupuloufly ex- 
amined, and that a play certainly has a 
very different effect on a fiage than in 
reading their oblervation was juft, 
\ 
From the Port-folia of ‘a Man. of Letters. 
was a daily witnefs’of the vexation of her 
ae , i - 
. [July-ts 
Tickets of invitation were fent on thefe 
occafions to perfons oftafte to invite them ~ 
to thefe recitals. Emperors have digni- — | 
fied thefe affemblies with their prefence; . 
and Auguftus was a patient auditor of = 
poems, hiftories and dialogues. At length — | 
from the wife ufe of this cuttem fprang its 
abule; men of wealth, defirous of obtam- 
ing a literary reputation, bribed the votes 
of their auditors, and packed a jury of cri+ | 
ticifm, a circumftance very ftrongly de- 
pied in the Satires of Perfius andJu> 
venal. 
MADAME DACIER. +e ; 
This lady, in her celebrated Jiterary 
controverfy Nfpec&ting Homer, is faid to 
have received fuch fevere chagrin, that al- 
though fhe exploded much of it in her wri- 
tings, it abridged her days and foured 
her difpofition. She praétiied a moit per- 
fevering courfe of ftudy, and did not ftir 
from her houfe fix times a year. After 
pafiing every morning inher ftudy, flie ae- 
{cended in the evening to receive the vifits 
of her friends, and men of letters piqued 
themfclves in attending the levee of this - 
literary queen. > 
The manner by which fhe difcovered her 
genius for the learned languages is remark- ] 
‘ 
i 
- 
able. Her’ father educated his fon, and= 
his great with was to fee him excel ina 
critical knowledge of languages; but he 
grievoufly lamented his little application. = 
Milfs Le Fevre, (afterwards Madame-Da- — 
cier) then not more than ten years old, 















erudite father, and the forrows of her bro- 
ther, who never could bring himfelf to re- 
lifhLatin, like his-father: One day when ~ 
her father had been ina violent paffion with 
her brother, Mifs took bim afide, and made 
a fine harangue in favour of Latin ftudies, — 
and the duty he owed to papa. Old ‘Le ~ 
Févre iftened to the converfation, and cal- 
ling his daughter afide, alked if the felt a — 
tate for ftudy. She replied, the thought 
nothing was more admirable, than 2 Latin © 
grammar. The grey-headed pedant ems ~ 
braced her in rapture, put a grammar into” 
her hands, and Mifs was a pedant inas 
fhort atime as ever pedant yet took to bi 
come Greckileds. The brother then aug 
fire at the illuftrious example of his fitter; 
he applied himfelf vigorouily to ftudy 5 
they emulated each other; commented on 
all authors with great learning and little | 
tafte (the brother had really not-a folitary — 
atom) ; and at length found themielves a& 
the head of the European learned, 
} ‘ ‘ (ae 
. ORR 
y - 
