of 4340 9 
(Dec. 4 
Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. 
INCREASE OF INSANITY. 
SARE Philip Moritz, a German writer 
%4-on mental derangement, reckons 
‘among the causes of the increase of in- 
sanity the diminished use of bleeding, 
‘and the diminished use of tobacco, both 
which he considers as of sedative and 
€aiming tendency. 
>. CARDS. 
‘One of our periodical writers pretends, 
that a pack of cards. was originally a per- 
petual almanack, used in Hindostan, and 
broeght to Europe by the Portuguese, 
The individual cards represent the fifty- 
two weeks, the four suits are the four 
seasons, the twelve court-cards are the 
twelve months. ‘The oriental astrologers, 
er jugglers, he says, would find a man’s 
Rirtiy day on the cards, and afiect to cal- 
culate his luck. 
Pather Menestrier, on the contrary, 
maintains, that cards were invented in 
41392, for the amusement of the Emperor 
Charles, who became insane: but he 
thinks that tarocco cards were in use 
Before the abridged pack, and that the 
Germans, who made these, first invented 
the art of printing, by copying the card- 
maker’s process. ~ 
LUNATIC, 
The word lunatic, being derived from 
luna the moon, signifies moon-struck. 
Now that the theory is abandoned of the 
thoon’s having any influence over diseases 
of the ‘brain, this word is become im- 
proper. It is a superstitious ike Ae 
winch inculcates error, and tends to per- 
petuate credulity. © 
CATALOGUE. 
Disputes have often arisen among the 
earned, respecting the neatest subdivi- 
gion of heads ia a catalogue of books. 
Lambecius, Mattaire, and Maichaud, 
followed distinct systems. Martin, thex 
librarian of Paris, prefixed to his cata- 
logue an original pian of. distribution ; 
his five chief heads are, Theology, Juris- 
prudence, Arts and Sciences, Fine Li+ 
terature, and History. His subdivisions 
- are numerous and indistinct, as well as 
his main divisions. 
All these schemes of distribution seem 
to have been made a priari: a surer road 
to convenient arrangement would he, to 
begin @ posteriort with a number of heads- 
proportioned to the mass of books to be 
arranged, and then to throw together the 
topics which produced too few, and to 
subdivide those which convened toe 
many, books. 
PROPORTION OF TALENT« 
Shenstone says, that if the public were 
divided into one hundred parts, the rela 
tive distribation of intellect might be 
estimated thus: ses: 
Fools = ~ « 15 
Persons of common sense _ “40 
Wits - = = 15 
Pedants ~ = - 13 
Persons of wild taste - ~ 10 
Petsons of improved taste ~ 5 
Shenstone, who piqued himself on the 
refinement of his taste, manifestly ei- 
deavours here to represent as the most 
-Select ciass, that in which he excelled. 
An accomplished taste is a gift of edu- 
cation rather than of nature: in rich 
luxurious communities it is more com- 
mon than in poorer; in old countries, 
more common than in newer; in pacific 
ages, more common than in turbulent 
times. But the proportion of wits and, 
fools, being a gift of hatare, not Of cir~ 
cumstance, remains invariably the same; 
and is surely not so considerable asShen- 
stone assumes. Pedantry is one form 
of taste; the pedants are of those’who 
pursye accomplishments of mind, with- 
out being under the guidance of a strong 
judgment. Common sense is necessa- 
rily the lot of a majority of every civilized 
society ; because men call common sense 
that way of thinking and acting, in which 
the majority are agreed. 
~The list then should be reformed some= 
what thus: 
aeeye pipes fe 
Persons of common sense . 
Fools - - Sot peste 
Wiis = 4 = = De 
Tasters = - . = 23 
Among persons of this last description, 
a majority must always fall short of good 
taste; because men are agreed to call by’ 
the name refinement, or good taste, that 
which meets {he approbation of the se 
lect few, of the picked critics im man- 
ners, literature, and art. 
EPIGRAM. } 
Menage praises this epigram on a star 
gazer, who stumbled and fell: 
Qui fuit astrologus, tunc geomietra fuit. 
JOHN PETER DRIESS. 
J. P. Driess was born about the year 
1740, and educated at the celebrate¢ 
seminary of Joachims-thal. His rela- 
tigns destined him for the ecclesiastical 
; ii professiun, 
4 
