is as miserable as they are-but I have chosen wisely, and am happy-very happy. I have married a woman of the genteelest manners and the sweetest disposition. I wish, my dear friend, you would come over and take your mutton with us to-day, and you shall be convinced, that when a man chooses well, marriage is the happiest state upon earth." As I love to see my friends happy, I readily accepted his invitation, and accompanied him to his house, which an easy ride from Oxford. The lady received us in the most gracious manner, and testified the highest satisfaction at seeing any friend of her husband's,-giving him at the same time a gentle rebuke, for having so much out-staid his time, and exposed her to all those uneasy sensations which she always felt in his absence. He excused himself in the most tender manner, and they both left the room, in order to prepare either the dinner, or themselves. I, of course, took up a book; but whether the author was particularly stupid, or whether I was in a bad humour for reading, I know not, but I soon flung it down, and began to amuse myself with my own reflections. They were, however, soon interrupted by a dialogue, not of the most tender kind, between the master and mistress of the house, which the thinness of the partition suffered me to hear with tolerable correctness." Indeed, my dear Mr. Blunt, I wonder you could think of bringing your friend here to-day, when you know there is nothing in the house but a breast of mutton, and some minced chicken for the children's dinner; besides, the servants are all ironing-But you men have no sort of contri re vance."-"Indeed, my dear," plied the husband, "I am very sorry it should be inconvenient to you to receive him, but really Mr.is such a particular friend that I could not avoid inviting him.""Lord, you are always bringing some particular friend or other from Oxford with you, and I suppose this particular friend means to sleep here to-night, but I am sure I don't know where to put him : the worst bed-chamber has been just washed, and I shall certainly not let him go into the chintz-room with his dirty boots. If he does stay, he must sleep in the green garret. I dare say he has been used at college to sleep without curtains, and I believe the glazier mended the windows yesterday."-Sorry am I to say, that I heard no more of this curious altercation, and the more so as I may possibly never again have such another opportunity of making myself acquainted with the regulations of domestic economy: but the servant just then unluckily entered to make preparations for dinner, and made such a clattering with his knives and forks, that I totally lost Mr. Blunt's answer, and could only discover that (whatever it was)it was spoken in a low and submissive tone of voice. Soon after this, the master and mistress of the house, the breast of mutton, and the minced chicken, all made their appearance, and we sat down apparently in high good humour with each other!-Nothing farther, worth notice, passed during the visit, and I returned to Oxford in the evening (in spite of their earnest and sincere endeavours to de tain me), where I surveyed my ow fire-side with peculiar complacency. and and thanked my stars, that I had escaped the honours of the green garret. Letter from Menander to Glycera; from Alciphron's Epistles. Swear, my Glycera, by the Eleusinian mysteries, and the goddesses who preside over them (before whose altars I have already sworn in the presence of you only), that, in what I now affirm and commit to writing, I do not seek to exalt myself in your eyes, or to ingratiate myself with you by flattery; for what change of fortune could be so pleasant to me, bereft of you, as that I now enjoy? Or to what higher pitch of happiness can I be exalted than the possession of your love? By the help of your disposition, and your manners, old age shall wear the appearance of youth. Let us then enjoy our youth together, let us together grow old, and by the gods we will together visit the grave, lest jealousy descend with either of us, should the survivor enjoy any of the goods of fortune. But let it not be my lot to seek enjoy ment when you are no more; for what enjoyment can then remain? But the reasons which induced me to write to you from Piræus, where I am detained by ill health (you know my usual infirmities, which my enemies call effeminacy and af fectation); my reasons, I say for writing to you while you remain in the city to finish the celebration of the feast of Haloa,+ are these: I have received letters from Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, in which he invites, by every mode of persuasion, myself and Philemon, promising us in a princely manner the good things, as they call them, of the earth. His letters say, also, that he has written to Philemon, who has indeed sent me his letters; but they are less ceremonious than those which are addressed to Menander, and less splendid in their promises. Let him consult for himself; I shall want no consultations. Thou, my Glycera, art my counsel; thou art to me the whole synod of Areopagites; thou art in my estimation all the counsellors of the forum ; thou, by Minerva, ever hast been, and shalt continue to be, my every thing. I have sent you, therefore, the king's letters, that I might not give you additional trouble of reading, in my transcript, what you would meet with afterwards in the original. I wish you also to be acquainted with what I mean to say in answer to them. To set sail and depart for Egypt, a kingdom so far removed from us, by the twelve great gods! never entered into my thoughts; nay, if Egypt was situated in Ægina, near as that is to us, I would not even then (sacrificing the kingdom which I enjoy in your love) be a wanderer the * The Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated every fifth year by the Athenians at Eleusis, a borough town in Attica. This solemnity was sacred to Ceres and her daughter Proserpina. It was the most mysterious and solemn festival of any in Greece, and often called, by way of eminence, the mysteries; so careful were they to conceal the sacred rites, that, if any person divulged any part of them, he was thought to have called down some divine judgement upon his head: and if any person, not lawfully initiated, through chance, or ignorance, or mistake, happened to be present, he was put to death. †The Haloan feast was in honour of Ceres, and the offerings consisted of the fruits of the earth. It takes its name from Haloas, a title of Ceres. wanderer amidst Egyptian multitudes, in a place which would be to me without my Glycera, a populous desert. With more pleasure and more safety I court your favour than that of satraps and of kings. Besides, the loss of liberty is the loss of security; flattery is despicable; and Fortune, though in smiles, is not to be trusted. I would not exchange for his Herculean goblets, his great cups, his golden vases, and all the boasted and envied ornaments of his court, our annual Choan sacrifices, our shews in honour of Bacchus, the exercises of our Lyceum, and our scholastic employments; I would not make such an exchange, by Bacchus I swear, and his wreaths of ivy! that ivy with which, in the theatre, I would rather be crowned in the presence of my Glycera, than wear the diadem of Ptolemy. In what part of Egypt shall I see the people assembled and giving their votes? where shall I behold a multitude enjoying the sweets of liberty? Where shall I look for the dispensers of justice crowned with ivy. The sacred area? the choice of magistrates? the libations? the Ceramicus? the Forum? the seat of judgement? Leaving then my old neighbourhood Salamis, and Psyttalia, and Marathon, all Greece in the city of Athens, all Ionia, the Cyclades, and above all my Glycera; shall I pass over into Egypt? For what? That I may receive gold and silver, and other articles of wealth? With whom then am I to enjoy these, when my Glycera is separated from me by such seas? Will not these possessions be poverty to me without her? And if I should hear that she has transferred her affections to another, will not all my treasures become as ashes? then, indeed, in death I should bear away my sorrows and myself, while my riches would be exposed to the plunder of my enemies. Is it then any great honour to live with Ptolemy, and a train of satraps (empty titles!) among whom friendship is not without infidelity, nor enmity without danger? When my Glycera happens to be angry, I can snatch a kiss from her; if she continues to look grave, I am doubly peremptory with her; if she still hardens herself against me, I have recourse to tears. She then, in her turn, no longer able to support the task of tormenting me, betakes herself to her intreaties. These are the only weapons I have to cope with; she has neither soldiers, nor spearsmen, nor guards; I am all these to her. Is it then great and wonderful to behold the Nile? And is not the Euphrates too a noble object of admiration? Is not the Danube great, and as extensive, the Thermodon; the Tigris; the Halys; and the Rhine? Where I to visit all the rivers I could enumerate, my whole life would be sunk without looking on my Glycera. Besides, this Nile, beautiful as it is, is full of monsters; and it appease the manés of the deceased. They called Choan, from won, a libation. * The Choan sacrifices were offered up to consisted of honey, wine, and milk; and are The Ceramicus was a range of buildings, so called from Ceramus, the son of Bacchus and Ariadne. Salamis, an island in the Egean Sea. So Psyttalia. Marathon, a village in Attica, rendered famous by the battle fought there, in which Miltiades, with ten thousand men, overthrew the Persian army, consisting of a hundred and ten thousand. it is dangerous to approach the banks of a river baited with so many mischiefs. Ever then may it be my lot to be crowned, Oh king Ptolemy, with the ivy of Attica! May I meet death in my own country, and be buried in the land of my fa thers! May I join in the annual celebration of Bacchus before our altars, and be initiated in the complete course of religious mysteries! At our annual exhibitions may I present every now and then some new play,t and laugh, and rejoice, and contend among my equals, now agitated with fear, and now crowned with victory! Let Philemon, then, enjoy in Egypt the allurements held out to me; he has no Glycera, nor perhaps is he worthy of such a blessing. But do thou, I intreat thee, my dear Glycera, as soon as the Haloan feasts are finished, come flying to me upon your mule. I never knew the festival so tedious before, or so unseasonable. May'st thou at last, Oh Ceres, be propitious! * Crowned with the ivy of Attica.] Menander takes this method elegantly to insinuate his determination never to quit Attica, his native land. + It is remarkable that Menander bore away the prize only eight times, though he exhibited a hundred and five dramas. Philemon, a writer of inferior celebrity, but who found means to obtain influence among the judges, was frequently complimented with the honours which more properly belonged to Menander. Of this Menander was so conscious, that, meeting one day with Philemon, he said, " dost thou not blush, oh, Philemon, when the judges decide the contest in thy favour ?” POETRY. POETRY. ODE for the NEW YEAR, 1791. By Henry James Pye, esq. Poet Laureat. I. W HEN from the bosom of the mine The magnet first to light was thrown, Fair Commerce hail'd the gift divine, And, smiling, claim'd it for her own, "My bark," she said, " this gem shall guide "Through paths of ocean yet untried, "While as my daring sons explore "Each rude inhospitable shore, "'Mid desart sands and ruthless skies, "New seats of industry shall rise, "And culture wide extend its genial reign, "Free as the ambient gale, and boundless as the main." II. But Tyranny soon learn'd to seize To each affrighted shore in thunder spoke, And bow'd the wretched race to Slavery's iron yoke. III. Not such the gentler views that urge Britannia's sons to dare the surge; Not such the gifts her Drake, her Raleigh bore Teaching each drear wood's pathless scene Nor |
