:

they keep it under ground, when they are afraid of thieves. I is said, that some birds eat them; but I never saw any instance of it. They are also infested by small worms; but they turn them out, and kill them. I observed, that they punished those ants, which probably had been wanting to their duty nay, sometimes they killed them; which they did in the following manner. Three or four ants fell upon one, and pulled her several ways, until she was torn in pieces. Generally speaking, they live very quietly; from whence I infer that they have a very severe discipline among themselves, to keep so good an order; or that they are great lovers of peace, if they have no occasion for any discipline.

"Was there ever a greater union in any commonwealth? Every thing is common among them; which is not to be seen any where else. Bees, of which we are told so many wonderful things, have each of them a hole in their hives; their honey is their own; every bee minds her own concerns. The same may

be said of all other animals: they frequently fight, to deprive one another of their portion. It is not so with ants; they have nothing of their own: a grain of corn which an ant carries home, is deposited in a common stock: it is not designed for her own use, but for the whole community: there is no distinction between a private and a common interest. An ant never works for herself, but for the society.

“Whatever misfortune happens to them, their care and industry find out a remedy for it; nothing discourages them. If you destroy their nests, they will be repaired in two days. Any body may easily see how difficult it is to drive them out of their habitations, without destroying the inhabitants; for, as long as there are any left, they will maintain their ground.

"I had almost forgot to tell you, sir, that Mercury has hitherto proved a mortal poison for them; and that it is the most

effectual way of destroying those insects.

I can do something

for them in this case: perhaps you will hear in a little time that

I have reconciled them to Mercury."

Distulit in seran commissa piacula mortem.-VIRG.

I was yesterday pursuing the hint which I mentioned in my last paper, and comparing together the industry of man with that of other creatures; in which I could not but observe, that notwithstanding we are obliged by duty, to keep ourselves in constant employ," after the same manner as inferior animals are prompted to it by instinct, we fall very short of them in this particular We are here the more inexcusable, because there is a greater variety of business to which we may apply ourselves. Reason opens to us a large field of affairs, which other creatures are not capable of. Beasts of prey, and, I believe, of all other kinds, in their natural state of being, divide their time between action and rest. They are always at work or asleep. In short, their wak ing hours are wholly taken up in seeking after their food, or in consuming it. The human species only, to the great reproach of our natures, are filled with complaints, that the day hangs heavy on them,' that 'they do not know what to do with themselves,' that 'they are at a loss how to pass away their time,' with many of the like shameful murmurs, which we often find in the mouths

a Constant employ-he expresses himself thus, because constant employment, would hurt the ear. But, to make a substantive of the vert employ, is not allowable in exact pr se. He might have said-to keep ourselves constantly in employment.

of those who are styled reasonable beings. How monstrous are such expressions among creatures, who have the labours of the mind, as well as those of the body, to furnish them with proper employments; who, besides the business of their proper callings and professions, can apply themselves to the duties of religion, to meditation, to the reading of useful books, to discourse; in a word, who may exercise themselves in the unbounded pursuits of knowledge and virtue, and every hour of their lives make themselves wiser or better than they were before.

After having been taken up for some time in this course of thought, I diverted myself with a book, according to my usual custom, in order to unbend my mind before I went to sleep. The book I made use of on this occasion was Lucian, where I amused my thoughts for about an hour among the dialogues of the dead, which, in all probability, produced the following dream.a

I was conveyed, methought, into the entrance of the infernal regions, where I saw Rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the dead, seated in his tribunal. On his left hand stood the keeper of Erebus, on his right the keeper of Elysium. I was told he sat upon women that day, there being several of the sex lately arrived, who had not yet their mansions assigned them. I was surprised to hear him ask every one of them the same question, namely, 'What they had been doing?' Upon this question being proposed to the whole assembly, they stared one upon another, as not knowing what to answer. He then interrogated each of them separately. Madam, (says he, to the first of them) you have been upon the earth about fifty years: what have you been doing there all this while?' 'Doing ! (says she) really I do not

& Very injudicious in Mr. Addison, to treat such a subject in the manner of Lucian; which, it must he owned, he has copied but too well.

[Gozzi has followed up this vein with great success in his Osservatore Veneto.-G.]

know what I have been doing: I desire I may have time given me to recollect.' After about half an hour's pause, she told him, that she had been playing at crimp; upon which, Rhadamanthus beckoned to the keeper on his left hand, to take her into custody. 'And you, madam, (says the judge) that look with such a soft and languishing air; I think you set out for this place in your nine and twentieth year, what have you been doing all this while?'

'And

I had a great deal of business on my hands (says she) being taken up the first twelve years of my life in dressing a jointed baby, and all the remaining part of it in reading plays and romances.' 'Very well, (says he) you have employed your time to good purpose. Away with her.' The next was a plain countrywoman: 'Well, mistress, (says Rhadamanthus) and what have you been doing?' 'An't please your worship (says she) I did not live quite forty years; and in that time brought my husband seven daughters, made him nine thousand cheeses, and left my eldest girl with him, to look after his house in my absence, and who, I may venture to say, is as pretty a housewife as any in the country.' Rhadamanthus smiled at the simplicity of the good woman, and ordered the keeper of Elysium to take her into his care. you, fair lady, (says he) what have you been doing these five and thirty years?' 'I have been doing no hurt, I assure you, sir,' (said she). That is well, (says he) but what good have you been doing?' The lady was in great confusion at this question, and not knowing what to answer, the two keepers leaped out to seize her at the same time; the one took her by the hand to convey her to Elysium, the other caught hold of her to carry her away to Erebus. But Rhadamanthus observing an ingenuous modesty in her countenance and behaviour, bid them both let her loose, and set her aside for a re-examination when he was more at leiAn old woman, of a proud and sour look, presented herself next at the bar, and being asked what she had been doing;

sure.

VOL. IV.-21

Truly, (says she) I lived threescore and ten years in a very wicked world, and was so angry at the behaviour of a parcel of young flirts, that I passed most of my last years in condemning the follies of the times; I was every day blaming the silly conduct of people about me, in order to deter those I conversed with from falling into the like errors and miscarriages.' 'Very well, (says Rhadamanthus,) but did you keep the same watchful eye over your own actions?' Why, truly, (says she) I was so taken up with publishing the faults of others, that I had no time to consider my own.' 'Madam, (says Rhadamanthus) be pleased to file off to the left, and make room for the venerable matron that stands behind you.' 'Old gentlewoman, (says he) I think you are fourscore: you have heard the question, what have you been doing so long in the world? Ah, sir! (says she) I have been doing what I should not have done, but I had made a firm resolution to have changed my life, if I had not been snatched off by an untimely end.' 'Madam, (says he) you will please to follow your leader;' and spying another of the same age, interrogated her in the same form. To which the matron replied, 'I have been the wife of a husband who was as dear to me in his old age as in his youth. I have been a mother, and very happy in my children, whom I endeavoured to bring up in every thing that is good. My eldest son is blest by the poor, and beloved by every one that knows him. I lived within my own family, and left it much more wealthy than I found it.' Rhadamanthus, who knew the value of the old lady, smiled upon her in such a manner, that the keeper of Elysium, who knew his office, reached out his hand to her. He no sooner touched her, but her wrinkles vanished, her eyes sparkled, her cheeks glowed with blushes, and she appeared in full bloom and beauty. A young woman observing that this officer, who conducted the happy to Elysium, was so great a beautifier, knged to be in his hands, so, that pressing through