well-filled purse than the self-satisfied conscience. These then are some of the abuses of proverbs; let us now consider what I may call their neutral ground, where their use is neither attended with advantage or injury; at least with no positive good or evil. And first let us consider the proverbial use in which an individual of the genus nihil is constantly employed. You have, no doubt, frequently heard and as frequently used the word nobody, to express an actually existent being; and though I have placed this unfortunate gentleman on the neutral ground, yet I fear he has been so very much ill used, that I should put him in my preceding classification; not merely on moral grounds, but on the score of his being appealed to, without the recollection of those rules which should be our guides in all our reasonings; but I place him in the present arrangement, because neither reason nor common sense sanction the use or rather the abuses to which he is subjected; consequently the proverbial use of his name cannot be supposed to obtain either for or against my system, and, therefore he cannot be placed in either of my classifications. That nobody can be a non-existent being is almost wholly incredible, when we recollect the numerous and familiar instances in which appeal is made to him in his individual capacity; if any one assert that there is no supposition of individual existence in the proverbial appeal to nobody's generosity, I will beg to ask him how he can understand the common excuse among children and servants when guilty of any breach of discipline or china, "Why, Sir, nobody did it." If they do not attribute to nobody an existence here, they violate a rule of primary importance in metaphysies, namely, that there is no effect without a cause, and thereby strike at the root of all morality; and if they do give him individuality, let them at once define him by his "essential difference" or at once cede to me the impropriety of their use of the word nobody. Though I have pointed out an abuse in this instance, yet it is of such trifling consequence I prefer placing it in the neutral ground, together with the proverb "nil de gustibus disputandum," the value of which I would most strongly impress on all my friends, as it is simple and of universal applicaVOL. I.

tion; in fact there are few subjects to which it cannot be applied when a controversy may chance to arise; from the lowest and most trifling, to the highest and most important, from cookery or tea-making, to politics or polemics; its value is also enhanced by the agreeable state of doubt into which it throws both parties; affording, according to Lord Wellesley's principle a triumph to neither; unless priority of use, gives some slight grounds of boasting to the ingenious disputant who uses it; in fact it is an inestimable quotation, to which appeal is always made when two or more friends prefer its decision, to a wordy argument in which each will ultimately be successful -in his own opinion.

I will now give you a few examples of the advantages to be attained by the study of proverbial expressions, in easing our consciences, when we are doubtful of the rectitude of our actions, or in confirming our purpose of acting right, when there are numerous temptations in the way of our doing so.

Suppose we should have a wealthy aunt, whose heir we expect to be, and that she is old, captious, querulous and miserly, having all the diseases of age and ill temper, and that at some happy period the fatal shears cuts "short her thread of life," and leaves us all the wealth amassed by the most penurious economy of her, who for no love of us, denied herself every comfort, and almost died of starvation rather than buy a

ptisane of rice." We try for an hour or so, to look becomingly grave, and to exert a little cambric sensibility, but the exertion at last proves too great, and we are at length obliged to give way to our overflowing spirits. This is the cause of great inquietude, not because it is wrong, but that it appears so to many, who attribute it to "want of delicacy," "" brutal insensibility," or

savage ingratitude;" and who in our place would most probably only evince gratitude for the death of the "most affectionate relative, who always loved him as a son," and who praise her when dead, merely because she never deserved it when living; envying and therefore abusing us, for the most natural ebullition on our good fortune. We are consequently again lapsing into hypocritical melancholy 'till we recollect the proverb" Avara, nisi cum moritur nil recte facit," and we rejoice at our excellent

relatives having performed one act in her life, by which she has gained credit, and we have obtained a fortune.

How many advantages would result to mankind if they would bear continually in mind the proverb, "Discute quod audias omne, quod credas proba." How many lying reports would it prevent gaining circulation, how many a character would it save from unmerited reproach, or blasting calumny, concocted over the cups, "which cheer but not inebriate," but in some unintelligible way dispose old and young maids to seek for materials to ruin those whom they envy or dislike; how many false opinions have been propagated by inattention to the first part of the sentence, and gained permanency by disregard of the conclusion of it; in short, if observed as a maxim through life, how many troubles and annoyances would be saved by it, both to ourselves and others; but from a disregard to the spirit of it, we believe every thing bad of an enemy, and very little good of a friend, and pay little attention to the examination of that, which gratifies our spleen, or annoys our self-love, as few can ever conscientiously say they have rejoiced in their friends prosperity, and I fear none who will not allow with Rochefaucault that, Dans l'adversitè de nos meilleurs amis; nous trouvons toujours quelque chose qui ne nous deplait pas. I might bring forward, if my time permitted me, a far greater number of examples of the utility of proverbs, but will refer my reader to that inestimable repository of proverbial lore, Don Quixotte, passim, where he will see with what admirable effect they are continually used, and though there appear a redundancy of these "moral morceaus," yet their efficacy is not the less apparent. I shall not make any quotation from a book which is so familiar to most of your readers, but having now shown you the importance of proverbs, by reference to a few cases in real life, and exhibited the manifest advantages to be attained, by the study of this system of condensed morality, and the immense importance to be attached to the system, of which it is my pride to be, if not the inventor, at least the improver: I shall now proceed, as concisely as possible to lay before you the method, according to which it is my intention to deliver my course of lectures.

I shall in my first lecture speak of the origin of proverbs, tracing their history from the remotest ages, referring to the histories of the Chaldeans, Chinese, and Egyptians, shewing that these people were their probable authors, as the Hieroglyphics of the last of them, are nothing but illustrated proverbs; I shall then give a short commentary on the proverbs of Solomon, and proceed through all the proverbialists of antiquity, dilating very fully on those of Seneca, Publius, Syrus, &c. &c., to the great autocrat of proverbs, my prototype, Sancho Pança. I shall here give the reins to my imagination, and expatiate most largely on his history, giving a short biography of him, collected from the most authentic sources, and enriched with many original letters. I shall in this lecture enter most fully on the mode of education to be pursued by those who are anxious to train up children in the way they should go, in order to attain the same happy facility that he had in the use of proverbs, showing from original manuscripts, at present in my possession, that from his earliest childhood, he was made to undergo a particular and peculiar course of education.

This lecture it is my present intention to dedicate to those most learned Pundits-the members of the New Education Board, and hope that they may have the judgment to see the manifest advantages my system possesses in common with their own; and if it possesses any more claims to public confidence, and through my advocacy gains any hold on the promoters of education, it will, I trust, afford me additional grounds to hope for the support of an economical government, which is at present obliged, for a contingent advantage, to support such an expensive sinecure as the present board is allowed on all hands to be; the members of the board must advocate my system, as it possesses the grand desideratum of non-interference with religion; and in my books of instruction, the only scriptural quotations being from the "Book of Proverbs," consequently all danger of the bugbear proselytism will be out of the question.

I shall then give a dissertation on the requisites for proverbs, shewing, as I have already partially done in a former part of this letter, their effects on politics, morals and religion, and on

the modes of guarding against the abuse of them, the principal of which I shall demonstrate in that portion of my course, in which I proceed to the dissection of proverbs, by which their true uses are most fully developed; for by a minute examination of all the parts of a proverb in all its various bearings, we at length arrive at a full notion of its value, and are enabled to estimate its effects on society-for many of the errors on this subject may be traced to that narrowness of comprehension, which has confined the employer of a proverb to its literal and apparent meaning, whereas if he had entered fully into the subject, and considered the different parts of which it is composed, and examined each branch of each word which enters into its composition, he would have been able to enter fully into its spirit, and to have seen its full value and importance. For the elucidation of my design I will, with your permission, extract as much of my lecture on this point as may serve to give a clear idea of what I

mean to assert.

It is an established maxim of my Lord Bacon, that "nil nisi certo ordine certâ viâ sciri posse," that is, unless we go methodically to work we can never arrive at any knowledge of truth. Agreeing, as I do, with this great authority, I first (like Mrs. Glass' receipt for making hare soup, "to first catch your hare,") take the proverb on which I intend to lecture, and—but I will here transcribe the heads of a lecture on one of the most common and vulgar proverbs in use, and thereby trust to shew you the value of my system. The proverb is, "Every one to their taste, as the old woman said when she kissed her cow." Now will any one expect that from this any important deductions can be made, or that knowledge can be materially advanced by such a piece of hacknied vulgarity? What is there in it but a vulgar mode of expressing that different people have different tastes? So I grant it may appear at first sight; but this is not an a priori proof against me. Yet how many thousand cases might be brought to prove the folly of prejudging, as few could infer from the falling of an apple to the ground that Newton could have been led to the discovery of gravitation, or that a few drops of wine in a flask would have led to the construction of the steam-engine?

Now, Sir, I will, in a few minutes shew the immense mass of knowledge contained in this vulgar every-day proverb. You will excuse my merely transcribing the heads of the lecture as they appear in my note-book.

Every one to his taste, as the old wo

man said when she kissed her cow.

EVERY ONE— -Notices, biographical and critical, of every one-Question, whether every one includes each indidual of the species-Whether it is a generic or specific term-A short treatise, "de omnibus rebus," with concise views of the lecturer, “de quibusdan aliis"-Origin of the omnibus, or long coach-Travelling in England and France-Comparative view of the state of England and France-Moral view of the French people-Dutch war-Taking of citadel of AntwerpNumber of killed and woundedMilitary hospitals-Charitable societies-An appeal to the public on behalf of the sick and indigent roomkeeper.

ONE-On the number one- -To take care of number one recommended-On the properties of unity-On dramatic unities-Theory of numbers-Pythagoras and mystic numbers-Consideration of the question proposed by Thomas Aquinas, whether six is a perfect number, because the creation was finished in six days, or if the creation was finished in six days, because six was a perfect number-Different numbers of the Dubin University Magazine—Their relative merits-Sketch of Dublin University-Comparative view of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin—the Dublin University Calender.

TASTE On taste in general-the gustatory nerves-Dr. Kitchener's cook's oracle-Alison on taste-Simple perceptions-Mode of forming the taste-Education of men of taste-On mince pies-A new receipt for plumbpudding-On smell-Different kinds of smells-Relation of cause and effectWherein perfumes and their opposites differ-Origin of perfumes-Explanation of the passage, "Pastillos Rufillus olet, Gorgonius hircum"-Horace and the poets of the Augustan age-Modern poets-Merits of Hendrie's and Gattie's perfumes.

OLD WOMAN-Cicero de Senectute -Lives of Remarkable old women— On woman ingeneral-Personal sketch of Eve-Origin of evil-Archbishop