ing their choice, would render them an essential service.—Wo have already said that we think he has succeeded in his design. The work is written in the form of a series of letters addressed to his son, with especial view, as appears from the title, to point out to him the readiest and easiest mode of qualifying him for making a figure as a public speaker, whether at the Bar or in the Senate. In the course of these letters, the writer manifests good taste as well as judgment, in the selection of the books he recommends; and it was with much satisfaction we observed, that in respect to the English poets, he is exactly of our opinion as to those who deserve to be considered the classics of the language. Shakspeare, Spencer, Milton, Pope, Dryden, Thompson, Gray, Goldsmith, Akenside, Cowper, and Campbell, are the poets whose works he says to his son:- "Will refine your taste and exalt your imagination. The other poets you may read, if you please, these should be studied, inasmuch as they contain the very pith and essence of poetry." Our four favourite bards are precisely those whom he has selected from among all the rest as worthy of particular recommendation. "Of the English poets," he writes, "you, perhaps cannot read too often or examine too critically, the works of Shakspeare, Milton, Pope and Thompson, because from these you will derive a full knowledge of the energy and copiousness of your vernacular language, of the richness and harmony of its versification, and of the compass-variation— power and beauty of which it is susceptible. The admirable strokes of nature, every where abounding in Shakespeare, "fancy's airy child;" the grandeur and sublimity of thought and expression of Milton; the harmony, condensation, scrupulous accuracy and fine moral sentiment of Pope; and the minute and exquisite pencilling, the rich and beautiful colouring of Thompson, cannot but furnish the mind with the finest sources of delicate and durable pleasure. Let the best poets, then, I beseech you, meet with a due share of your attention at all times; and amidst your abstruser studies, and more ardu ous employments, let them be your occasional companions and friends." In thus giving the preference to these genuine masters of English song, we dare say, that Mr. Watterston no more dreamed that he was manifesting an old fashioned obselete taste in litera ture, which would be offensive to the admirers of the barbarous poetry now in fashion, than we ourselves did when we lately mentioned our preference of the same authors. He did not suppose that there were any men with pretensions to a cultivated taste, clear judgment, and natural feeling, who could become so besottedwith the notoriety of the wearisome and reckless writers of the lullaby school of Wordsworth, or the groaning school of Byron, as to prefer their productions to those of the master-spirits whom he so warmly recommends to the favour of his son. Mr. Watterston, however, need not be ashamed of his recommendation, for we believe that the most intelligent portion of readers on either side of the ocean; all who consult their own good sense, in preference to the allegations of inconsiderate critics; all who bow to the dictates of everlasting nature, rather than to the mandates of temporary fashion, are of his opinion; and we are firmly persuaded that fashion herself, will, before the lapse of a very long period, once more become ranged on the side of decency, dignity, harmony, and good sense. The first portion of this book may be termed a Guide to Know · ledge. It consists of twelve letters, each of which embraces a short view of some branch of literature or science, beginning with that best suited to the early intellect, and rising gradually to those branches which require for their comprehension, stronger powers of mind, and a more matured judgment. This is a judicious arrangement. It simplifies the course of study which it recommends, and exemplifies the advantage and beauty of adhering to system even in giving advice. To these monitory letters are added six others, constituting a Memoir on the Private Lives of the Romans, which although it contains nothing original, is well written, and will be found by all who are not already conversant with the subject, to be both amusing and instructive. The following is the fifth of these letters. We lay it before our readers, not only because it is the shortest, but also because it displays in a very striking view the great difference in the manners of those illustrious men who in the virtuous days of Rome, laid the foundation of her subsequent grandeur, and of those sons of luxury and pride, who, enjoying the treasures of a conquered world, rioted in vice and profligacy, until they became so enervated that their career of conquest ceased, and, in process of time, barbarians were able to snatch from them all that their heroic fathers had won. My dear Son: WE have at last arrived at the supper hour of the Roman citizen, after having followed him through all the different occupations, pursuits, and pleasures in which he was engaged in the preceding hours of the day; I will now endeavour to conduct you into his supper chamber or dining room, and to exhibit the nature of the entertainment which he there enjoyed. In the early ages of Rome, as I have already shown, frugality and temperance constituted the most prominent virtues of the Roman character. Their ordinary food consisted of milk and vegetables, which they cultivated with their own hands, and which they ate in their own simple and humble habitations. Even in the year of Rome 462, no great progress had been made in the sumptuousness of their entertainments or the magnificence of their apartments; for we find the consul Curius Dentatus, preparing his own dinner of roots on a little wooden bench, and receiving the ambassadors of the Samnites in that lowly and unostentatious condition. You, I have no doubt, recollect the answer he made to those deputies, when presuming upon his poverty, they offered him a bribe to prevail upon him to intercede in their behalf with the Senate: Without doubt my indigence makes you hope that you may corrupt me; but you are mistaken. I had rather be the commander of rich men, than be rich myself: go tell your nation that they will find it as difficult to bribe as to conquer me." In these and in more remote ages, the Romans supped in an open hall, called the atrium, exposed to the eyes of the public; for how sober and frugal soever their fare might be, they had no censure to apprehend, and no ridicule to fear; because every one observed the same simplicity of life, and made no one effort to display greater magnificence. Till the destruction of the city by the Gauls, their houses were but humble cottages, and their dining hall served the purposes both of a drawing room and a kitchen, and cach cottage or cabin was considered in the light of a temple; because, it was inhabited by justice, probity, and honour, "But wealth and luxury, the spoils of the world and the vices of the east, finally led to a new system of manners, and a subversion of what had once constituted the principal source of their power, virtue, and happiness-their cabins were converted into palaces, and their temperance and simplicity changed into Seneca, the excess of refinement and luxury. Lucullus, even in the days of the republic, is said by Plutarch, to have had his palace filled with magnificent saloons to entertain such as he invited to see him. 66 Not only his couches were spread with the richest purple carpets, his sideboards set out with plate adorned with precious stones; but his provisions were of the most exquisite kind." To each of his apartments a name was given, and each had its stated expense, its bill of fare, and its particular furniture. "Cicero and Pompey having heard of the splendour and extravagance in which Lucullus lived, and doubting the correctness of the information, determined to satisfy themselves of its truth, and meeting him one day in the forum, they asked permission to sup with him; to which he gladly assented, and desired them to name the day-this very evening. said Cicero, we will go home with you, provided you give us no more than what you sup on yourself. Lucullus was forced to comply; but that he might not be able to have any thing added, they would not allow him to speak to his servants; except to tell one of them in their hearing that he would sup in the Apollo. This was sufficient-the expense allotted to that apartment was 15,000 drachms, and that was the cost of the entertainment given to his guests on this occasion. Pompey, it may reasonably be supposed, was not less astonished at the expense and splendour of the repast, than at the rapidity with which it was prepared. It was now says Sallust, that poverty was considered as a disgrace, innocence of manners as the effects of misanthropy, and the consequence of the wealth which had flowed into Rome by the conquests that had been achieved, was luxury, avarice and pride." The beauty and splendour of their saloons for eating were rivalled only by the costliness and sumptuousness of the entertainments which were given in them. Nero's golden palace was the admiration and wonder of the Roman world; it contained dining apartments as wonderful as they were magnificent. These were wainscoted with ivory, which turning on pins, formed moving pictures. Along the wainscot were suspended wreaths of various flowers, from which dropped the richest and most costly perfumes. The most splendid of these rooms was circular and its constant motion imitated that of the celestial spheres. If such were the splendour of their edifices, and the extravagance of their mode of life, it is not to be wondered at if every thing * Plutarch's Lucul. † Plutarch in Lucul. § Crevier's Roman Emperors, Nero. VOL. I.-No. v. 54 else should correspond with the style, magnificence and elegance to which they had attained; and instead of plain square tables made of wood which had been used in the more virtuous and innocent days of the republic, those of ivory and tortoise-shell ornamented with plates of copper, silver and gold, and incased with precious stones, were employed. Their seats which before the second Punic war, had been rude wooden benches like those of the Cretans and Lacedemonians, were changed into rich and beautiful couches, and instead of sitting at table, as had long been the usage, they reclined on their elbow in what they conceived the most easy and luxurious attitude. So unfashionable had sitting at table become that it was considered as a mark of grief and mourning to do it; and we find that Cato after the defeat of Pompey, was so much afflicted that he never suffered himself to recline, but when it was neccessary to sleep." FOR THE AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ADVENTURES OF A RAMBLER.....No. I. I was endowed by nature with a restless and wandering dis position, for in my very school-boy days, instead of mingling in the diversions of my companions, I made long excursions through the surrounding country. As I always disliked any settled occupation, this rambling propensity was increased by the books I read. The marvellous accounts of travellers; their dangerous adventures among barbarious nations; their hair-breadth "scapes by flood and field," fired my imagination with the romantic desire of treading in their footsteps, and viewing the wonders they described with so much interest. But this was confined to my native land. The history of the older world was stained in every page by the tyrant's deeds of cruelty, and shadowed by the humiliating picture of human degradation. The soldier trod down the peasant's rights and humanity was outraged by a continual usurpation. That pride of man, which is the nurse of all that can ennoble his nature, sunk to the earth under the accumulated miseries his oppressors had heaped upon him. And was a freeman to pain his heart by tracing the varieties of man on the spot where gorgeous pomp and abject misery marked but the oppressor and the oppressed; 1 |