1809. | Ox unappropriate Quotations, 
with respect to the encroachments of the 
frigid upon the temperate zones, this last 
supposition of Heraclitus, ‘‘ the Dark- 
jing,” as they called him, would be ne- 
cessary, in order to restore. the equili- 
brium of temperature—But I alluded to 
some notes on Athenezus, by * Greculus.” 
At present [have only the 20th number 
athand. Why not wavrawacw? and why 
axpoyoaov, which word does not exist, 
when Casaubon has given the true reading 
dugxyérov ? Why, moreover, does he call 
the play of Pherecrates Corianne, which 
is a mere error ef Dalecampius, and not, 
as it is in the text, Corianno? At some 
future opportunity I shall resume my stric- 
tures on these notes; recommending, in 
the inean time, the author of them, when 
he proposes emendations, carefully to 
assign them to their original owners— 
pend adrorpiov dpe v Gépes. 
May 14, 1809. Vo fe (i Os 
—= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, ! 
6* Unappropriate quotations or strained ana- 
Jogy, may shew reading, but they do not 
shew taste. hat just and happy allusion 
_which knows by a word how to awaken a 
coiresponding. image, or to excite in the 
hearer the idea which fills the mind of the 
speaker, shews less pedantry and more 
taste, than bare citations ; and a mind im- 
bued with elegant knowledge will inevi- 
tably betray the opulence of its resources, 
even on topics which do not relate te sci- 
ence or literature. -Well-informed per- 
sons will easily be discovered to have read 
the best books, though they are not al- 
ways detailing catalogues of authors.”— 
Mrs. More's Strictures on Female Education. 
Chapter—Conver sation. 
6) nwt are certainly very excellent 
and judicious observations, and 
well deserving the attention of the fe- 
male writers of the present day, (I mean 
those who dedicate their talents to the 
improvement of the rising generation), 
whose propensity to quotation I have 
Jong remarked, and have endeavoured, 
in vain, to find a reason for it. One 
cannot suspect such well-regulated minds 
of harbouring so weak a feeling as vanity ; 
a desire to make a display of their read- 
ing, therefore, cannot be the> motive. 
Is it then their extreme modesty and dif- 
fidence which will not permit them to ad- 
vance any opinion, or lay down any po- 
sition unsupported by authority ? though 
it is to be remembered, poetical autho- 
rity is not always infallible. Letters are 
but one degree above conversation; yet 
the lively Mrs. Grant, whose pen (to 
539 
usé a common phrase) runs away with 
her, sprinkles her letters with poetry in 
ho sparing manner; and as that lady 
would certainly say, were she writing on 
this subject, 
s© Where beams of warm imagination play, 
The memory’s soft traces fade away.” 
So Mrs. Grant sometimes quotes in- 
correctly, and sometimes assigns to one 
author what belongs to another: it is to 
be hoped these errors will be corrected in 
the next edition, given to the public, of 
the interesting and entertaining Letters 
from the Mountains. 
Miss Hamilton, to whom.-the present 
age 1s so much indebted, is not so faulty 
in this respect as her sister writers; but, 
in the next edition of her valuable Let- 
ters on Education, we may, perhaps, see 
a mistake corrected, which has long of- 
fended the eye and ear of every reader 
of Shakespeare: in telling us, that some 
children have learning thrust upon them. 
Miss H. gives to the merry Sir John Fal- 
staff the observations on greatness, made 
by the fantastic and melancholy Male 
volio, 
But what shall we say, when we find 
the law-giver transgressing her own laws? 
Celebs, the justly celebrated Coelebs, 
though not the avowed production of 
Mrs. More, is yet universaily supposed to 
proceed from her pen; indeed, the style 
and sentiments speak it hers in every 
page: after having reinarked, that I think 
the book replete with good sense and 
judgment, and that it contains many 
very excellent observations on life and 
manners, it may appear trifling to notice 
the style; but as Mrs. More observes in 
a former production, “ there is no piety 
in bad taste;” so, without detracting from 
the merits of the sentiments, I may ob- 
serve, that they are sometiines delivered 
in such lofty pedantic language, as to be 
almostunintelligible. This book consists 
nearly altogether of conversations, and 
according to her own rule, (wde quotation 
at the beginning), Mrs. M. has given 
almost all her characters a bad taste, for 
almost all are extremely fond of making 
quotations and comparisons, which, not 
unfrequently, are ‘“‘ unappropriate quo- 
tations and strained analogy.” Sir John 
Belfield, we are told, has a fine taste in 
poetry; yet, though he resides almost 
constantly in town, he has not learned 
(according to the happy expressions 1n 
the just and admirable encomium on 
London, page 22), that “ quickness of 
allusion, which brings theidea before you 
= am without. 
