as Plato; the abridgment and epitome of the world, as Pliny; microcosmus, a little world, a model of the world, sovereign lord of the earth, viceroy of the world, sole commander and governor of all the creatures in it *****, created of God's own image, to that immortal and incorporeal substance, with all the faculties and powers belonging to it, was at first pure, divine, perfect, happy, &c. "One denier, cried the order of mercy -one single denier, in behalf of a thousand patient captives, whose eyes look towards heaven and you for their redemption. "The Lady Baussiere rode on. Pity the unhappy, said a devout, venerable, hoary-headed man, meekly holding up a box, begirt with iron, in his withered hands--I beg for the unfortunate-good, my lady, 't is for a prison -for an hospital-'t is for an old mana poor man undone by shipwreck, by suretyship, by fire-I call God and all his angels to witness-'t is to clothe the naked-to feed the hungry-'t is to comfort the sick and the broken-hearted. "The Lady Baussiere rode on. "A decayed kinsman bowed himself to the ground. 66 The Lady Baussiere rode on. "He ran begging bare-headed on one side of her palfrey, conjuring her by the former bonds of friendship, alliance, consanguinity, &c.-cousin, aunt, sister, mother-for virtue's sake, for your own, for mine, for Christ's sake, remember me— pity me. The Lady Baussiere rode on.”* The citation of the original passage from Burton will confirm all I have said of his style. "A poor decayed kinsman of his sets upon him by the way in all his jollity, and runs begging bare-headed by him, conjuring him by those former bonds of friendship, alliance, consanguinity, &c. uncle, cousin, brother, father, -shew some pity for * Tristram Shandy, vol. v. chap. i. Christ's sake, pity a sick man, an old man, &c. he cares not, ride on : pretend sickness, inevitable loss of limbs, plead suretyship, or shipwreck, fires, common calamities, shew thy wants and imperfections,swear, protest, take God and all his angels to witness, quære peregrinum, thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater, he is not touched with it, pauper ubique jacet, ride on, he takes no notice of it. Put up a supplication to him in the name of a thousand orphans, an hospital, a spittle, a prison as he goes by, they cry out to him for aid: ride on Shew him a decayed haven, a bridge, a school, a fortification, &c. or some public work; ride on. Good your worship, your honour, for God's sake, your country's sake: ride on.”* This curious copy is followed up in Tristram Shandy, by a chapter, and that a long one, written almost entirely from Burton. It is the consolation of Mr. Shandy, on the death of brother Bobby. *Anat. of Melanch. p. 269. "When Agrippina was told of her son's death, Tacitus informs us, that, not being able to moderate the violence of her passions, she abruptly broke off her work." This quotation did not come to Sterne from Tacitus. "Mezentius would not live after his son- -And Pompey's wife cried out at the news of her husband's death, Turpe mori post te, &c.-as Tacitus of Agrippina, not able to moderate her passions. So when she heard her son was slain, she abruptly broke off her work, changed countenance and colour, tore her hair, and fell a roaring downright."* "'T is either Plato," says Sterne, “or Plutarch, or Seneca, or Xenophon, or Epictetus, or Theophrastus, or Lucianor some one, perhaps of later date-either Cardan, or Budæus, or Petrarch, or Stella or possibly it may be some divine or father of the church, St. Austin, or St. Cyprian, or Bernard, who affirms, that it is an irresistible and natural pas * Anat. of Melanch. p. 213. sion, to weep for the loss of our friends or children and Seneca, (I'm positive) tells us somewhere, that such griefs evacuate themselves best by that particular channel. And accordingly, we find that David wept for his son Absalom-Adrian for his Antinous*-Niobe for her chil dren and that Apollodorus and Crito both shed tears for Socrates before his death."This is well rallied, as the following passage will evince; but Sterne should have considered how much he owed to poor old Burton. "Death and departure of friends are things generally grievous; Omnium quæ in vita humana contingunt, luctus atque mors sunt acerbissima, [Cardan. de Consol. lib. 2.] the most austere and bitter accidents that can happen to a man in this life, in æternum valedicere, to part for ever, to forsake the world and all our friends, 't is ultimum terribilium, the last and the greatest * The time has been, when this conjunction with the King of Israel would have smelt a little of the faggot. |