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"the moon?" Nothing at all, indeed fir," returned the other. "Alas!" cries our traveller, "to what purpose then has one of these fafted to "death, and the other offered himself up as a facri"fice to the Tartarean enemy, to gain a renown "which has never travelled beyond the precincts "" of China!"

There is fcarcely a village in Europe, and not one univerfity, that is not thus furnished with its little great men. The head of a petty corporation, who opposes the defigns of a prince, who would tyrannically force his fubjects to fave their beft cloaths for fundays; the puny pedant who finds one undif covered property in the polype, defcribes an unheeded procefs in the fkeleton of a mole, and whofe mind like his microfcope perceives nature only in detail; the rhymer who makes fmooth verfes, and paints to our imagination when he fhould only speak to our hearts; all equally fancy themfelves walking forward to immortality, and defire the crowd behind them to look on. The crowd takes them at their word. Patriot, philofopher, and poet, are fhouted in their train. Where was there ever fo much merit feen; no times fo important as our own; ages yet unborn fhall gaze with wonder and applaufe! to fuch mufic the important pigmy moves forward, buftling and fwelling, and aptly compared to a puddle in a form.

I have lived to fee generals, who once had crowds halloing after them wherever they went, who were bepraised by newspapers and magazines, thofe echoes of the voice of the vulgar, and yet they have long funk into merited obfcurity, with fcarcely even an epitaph left to flatter. A few years ago the herring fishery employed all Grub-street; it was the topic in every coffee-houfe, and the burthen of every ballad. We were to drag up oceans of gold

from

terms. At We have

from the bottom of the fea; we were to fupply all Europe with herrings upon our own prefent we hear no more of all this. fifhed up very little gold that I can learn; nor do we furnish the world with herrings, as was expected. Let us wait but a few years longer, and we shall find all our expectations an berring fifbery.

SOME ACCOUNT

OF THE

ACADEMIES OF ITALY.

THERE is not perhaps a country in Europe, in which learning is fo faft upon the decline as in Italy; yet not one in which there are fuch a number of academies instituted for its fupport. There is scarcely a confiderable town in the whole country, which has not one or two inftitutions of this nature, where the learned, as they are pleased to call themselves, meet to harangue, to compliment each other, and praise the utility of their inftitution.

Jarchius has taken the trouble to give us a lift of thofe clubs, or academies, which amount to five hundred and fifty, each diftinguished by fomewhat whimsical in the name. The academies of Bologna, for inftance, are divided into the Abbandonati, the Aufiofi, Ociofio, Arcadi, Confufi, Dubbiofi, &c. There are few of these who have not published their tranfactions, and scarcely a member who is not looked upon as the most famous man in the world, at home.

Of all thofe focieties I know of none, whofe 'works are worth being known out of the precincts of the city in which they were written, except the

Cicalata

Cicalata Academica (or, as we might exprefs it, the tickling fociety) of Florence. I have juft now before me a manufcript oration, fpoken by the late Tomafo Crudeli at that fociety, which will at once serve to give a better picture of the manner in which men of wit amuse themselves in that country, than any thing I could fay upon the occafion. The ora

tion is this:

"The younger the nymph, my dear companions, the more happy the lover. From fourteen to feventeen, you are fure of finding love for love; from seventeen to twenty-one, there is always a mixture of intereft and affection. But when that period is past, no longer expect to receive, but to buy. No longer expect a nymph who gives, but who fells her faAt this age every glance is taught its duty; not a look, not a figh, without defign; the lady, like a skilful warrior, aims at the heart of another, while fhe shields her own from danger.

vours.

The

"On the contrary at fifteen you may expect nothing but fimplicity, innocence, and nature. paffions are then fincere; the foul feems feated in the lips; the dear object feels prefent happiness, without being anxious for the future; her eyes brighten if her lover approaches; her fmiles are borrowed from the Graces, and her very mistakes feem to complete her defires.

"Lucretia was juft fixteen. The rose and lily took poffeffion of her face, and her bofom, by its hue and its coldnefs, feemed covered with fnow. So much beauty, and fo much virtue feldom want admirers. Orlandino, a youth of fenfe and merit, was among the number. He had long languifhed for an opportunity of declaring his paffion, when Cupid, as if willing to indulge his happiness, brought the charming young couple by mere accident to an arbour, where every prying eye but love was abfent. Orlandino talked of the fincerity of his paf

fion, and mixed flattery with his addreffes; but it was all in vain. The Nymph was pre-engaged, and had long devoted to heaven those charms for which he fued. "My dear Orlandino," faid fhe, “ 66 you "know I have long been dedicated to St. Catharine, "and to her belongs all that lies below my girdle; "all that is above, you may freely poffefs, but far"ther I cannot, muft not, comply. The vow is paffed; I wish it were undone, but now it is "impoffible." You may conceive, my companions, the embarraffment our young lovers felt upon this occafion. They kneeled to St. Catharine, and though both defpaired, both implored her affistance. Their tutelar faint was entreated to fhew fome expedient, by which both might continue to love, and yet both be happy. Their petition was fincere. St. Catharine was touched with compaffion; for lo, a miracle Lucretia's girdle unloofed, as if without hands; and though before bound round her middle, fell fpontaneously down to her feet, and gave Orlandino the poffeffion of all those beauties which lay

above it.

THE

THE BEE, No VII.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1759.

OF ELOQUENCE.

OF all kinds of fuccefs, that of an orator is the moft pleafing. Upon other occafions the applaufe we deserve is conferred in our abfence, and we are infenfible of the pleasure we have given; but in eloquence the victory and the triumph are infeparable. We read our own glory in the face of every fpectator, the audience is moved, the antagonist is defeated, and the whole circle burfts into unfolicited applause.

The rewards which attend excellence in this way are so pleasing, that numbers have written profeffed treatifes to teach us the art; fchools have been established with no other intent; rhetoric has taken place among the inftitutions, and pedants have ranged under proper heads, and diftinguifhed with long learned names, feme of the ftrokes of Nature, or of paffion, which orators have used. I fay only fome; for a folio volume could not contain all the figures, which have been used by the truly eloquent, and fcarcely a good speaker or writer, but makes use of fome that are peculiar or new.

Eloquence has preceded the rules of rhetoric, as languages have been formed before grammar. Nature renders men eloquent in great interefts, or great paffions. He that is fenfibly touched, fees

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