of entertainment; for you would be reckoned a fock, if you were to dance at church, or at a funeral. Í hope, by thefe examples, you understand the meaning of the word decency; which in French is bienfèance ; in Latin, decorum; and in Greek, gov. As I am fure you defire to gain Mr. Maittaire's approbation, without which you will never have mine, I dare fay you will mind and give attention to whatever he fays to you, and behave yourself seriously and decently while you are with him; afterwards play, run, and jump, as much as ever you please. DEAR BOY, LETTER V. On Poetry-Poetical Epithets, &c. Friday, I WAS very glad when Mr. Maittaire told me, that you had more attention now than you used to have ; for it is the only way to reap any benefit by what you learn. Without attention, it is impoffible to remember; and without remembering, it is but time and labour loft to learn. I hope too, that your attention is not only employed upon words, but upon the fenfe and meaning of thofe words; that is, that when you read, or get any thing by heart, you obferve the thoughts and reflections of the author, as well as his words. This attention will furnish you with materials, when you come to compose and invent upon any subject yourfelf; for example, when you read of anger, envy, hatred, love, pity, or any of the paffions, obferve what the author fays of them, and what good or ill effects he afcribes to them. Obferve too the great difference between profe and verfe, in treating the fame fubjects. In verfe, the figures are ftronger and bolder, and the diction or expreffion loftier or higher, than in profe nay, the words in verfe are feldom put in the fame or der as in profe. Verfe is full of metaphors, fimilies and epithets. Epithets (by the way) are adjectives which mark fome particular quality of the thing o perfon to which they are added; as for example, piz neas, the pious neas; pius is the epithet Fame mendax, Fame that lies; mendax is the epithet: Todas-wx 2 = Axy; Achilles fwift of foot; Todas-wxus is the epithet. This is the fame in all languages; as for inftance; they fay in French, L'envie pâle et blême, l'amour aveugle; in English, pale, livid Envy, blind Love : Thefe adjectives are the epithets. Envy is always reprefented by the poets, as pale, meagre, and pining away at other people's happiness. Ovid fays of Envy, Vixque tenet lacrymas, quod nil lacrymabile cernit: which means, that Envy can scarce help crying, when the fees nothing to cry at; that is, the cries when the fees others happy. Envy is certainly one of the meaneft and moft tormenting of all paffions, fince there is hardly any body that has not fomething for an envious man to envy; fo that he can never be happy while he fees any body else fo.-Adieu ! LETTER VI. On Hiftory, Geography, and Chronology. DEAR BOY," Ifeworth, September the 10th. SINCE you promife to give attention, and to mind what you learn, I fhall give myself the trouble of writing to you again, and fhall endeavour to inftruct you in feveral things, that do not fall under Mr. Maittaire's province; and which, if they did, he could teach you i much better than I can. I neither pretend nor propofe to teach them thoroughly; you are not yet of an age fit for it; I only mean to give you a general notion, at prefent, of fome things that you must learn more particularly hereafter, and that will then be the eafier to you, for having had a general idea of them now. For example, to give you fome notion of hiftory. Hiftory is an account of whatever has been done by any country in general, or by any number of people, or by any one man: Thus, the Roman history is an account of what the Romans did, as a nation; the hiftory of Cataline's confpiracy is an account of what was done by a particular number of people; and the hif tory of Alexander the Great, written by Quintus Curtius, is the account of the life and actions of one fingle man. History is, in fhort, an account or relation of any thing that has been done. Hiftory is divided into facred and prophane, ancient and modern. Sacred Hiftory is the Bible, that is, the Old and New Teftament. The Old Teftament is the hiftory of the Jews, who were God's chofen people; and the New Teftament is the hiftory of Jefus Chrift, the Son of God. Prophane Hiftory is the account of the Heathen Gods, fuch as you read in Ovid's Metamorphofes, and of which you will know a great deal more when you come to read Homer, Virgil, and the other ancient poets. Ancient Iliftory is the account of all the kingdoms and countries in the world, down to the end of the Roman Empire. Modern Hiftory is the account of the kingdoms and countries of the world, fince the deftruction of the Roman Empire.. The perfect knowledge of hiftory is extremely nec effary; becaufe, as it informs us of what was done by other people, in former ages, it inftructs us what to do in the like cafes. Befides, as it is the common fubje& of converfation, it is a fhame to be ignorant of it. Geography must neceffarily accompany hiftory; fo it would not be enough to know what things were done formerly, but we must know where they were done; and geography, you know, is the defcription o the earth, and fhows us the fituation of towns, countries and rivers. For example; geography fhows you tha England is in the north of Europe, that London is th chief town of England, and that it is fituated upon th river Thames, in the county of Middlesex; and th fame of other towns and countries. Geography i likewife divided into ancient and modern : Man countries and towns having, now, very different name from what they had formerly; and many towns, whi made a great figure in ancient times, being now ly deftroyed, and not exifting; as the two famous towns of Troy in Afia, and Carthage in Africa; of both which there are not now the leaft remains. Hiftory must be accompanied with chronology, as well as geography, or elfe one has but a very confused notion of it; for it is not fufficient to know what things have been done, which history teaches us; and where they have been done, which we learn by geography; but one must know when they have been done, and that is the particular bulinefs of chronology. I will. therefore give you a general notion of it. Chronology fixes the dates of facts; that is, it in-forms us when fuch and fuch things were done; reckoning from certain periods of time, which are called æras, or epochs; for example, in Europe, the two principal æras, or epochs, by which we reckon, are, from the creation of the world to the birth of Chrift, which was four thousand years; and from the birth of Christ to this time, which is one thousand seven hundred and thirty nine years; fo that, when one fpeaks of a thing that was done before the birth of Chrift, one fays, it was done in fuch a year of the world; as, for instance, Rome was founded in the three thoufand two hundred and twenty fifth year of the world; which was about feven hundred and fifty years before the birth of Chrift; and one fays, that Charlemain was made the firft emperor of Germany in the year eight hundred; that is to fay, eight hundred years after the birth of Chrift. So that you fee, the two great periods, æras, or epochs, whence we date every thing, are, the creation of the world, and the birth of Jefus Chrift. There is another term in chronology, called centu ries, which is only used in reckoning after the birth of Chrift. A century means one hundred years; confequently, there have been feventeen centuries fince the birth of Christ, and we are now in the eighteenth century. When any body fays then, for example, that fuch a thing was done in the tenth century, they mean, after the year nine hundred, and before the year one I thoufand after the birth of Chrift. When any body makes a mistake in chronology, and fays that a thing was done fome years fooner, or fome years later, than it really was, that error is called an anachronism.Chronology requires memory and attention; both which you can have if you please; and I shall try them both, by afking you questions about this letter the next time I fee you. LETTER VII. General View of Hiftory and Chronology. DEAR BOY, leworth, September the 17th. IN my laft letter I explained to you the meaning and ufe of hiftory, geography, and chronology, and fhowed you the connexion they had with one another; that is, how they were joined together, and depended each upon the other. The most ancient hiftories of all are fo mixed with fables, that is, with falfehoods and invention, that little credit is to be given to them. The authentic, that is, the true ancient hiftory, is divided into five remarkable periods or æras, of the five great empires of the world. The firft empire of the world was the Affyrian, which was destroyed by the Medes. The empire of the Medes was overturned by the Perfians; and the empire of the Perfians was demolished by the Macedonians, under Alexander the Great. The empire of Alexander the Great lafted no longer than his life; for at his death his generals divided the world among them, and went to war with one another; till, at laft the Roman empire arofe, fwallowed them all up, and Rome became mistress of the world. Remember, then, that the five great empires that fucceeded each other, were these : 1. The Affyrian empire, firft established. 3. The Perfian empire. 4. The Macedonian empire. The word chronology is compounded of the G words xgovos, which fignifies time, and χρονος, |