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is indubitable. Till the combat be finished, confidence in victory is premature."

Croesus was still dissatisfied, dismissed Solon, and never desired to see him again.

Cyrus had detained prisoner, Astyages, his grandfather, by the mother-side; and had deprived him of all his territories. Croesus was offended at this conduct. He accordingly espoused the interests of Astyages, and made war against the Persians.As he was possessed of immense riches, and saw himself at the head of a nation, esteemed the most warlike on earth, he thought, that to him nothing was impossible. Defeated, however, with great loss, he was obliged to retire to Sardis, where, after a siege of fourteen days, he was taken prisoner. He was brought before Cyrus, and by his command loaded with chains. He was immediately raised upon the top of a pile of wood, bound in the middle of fourteen Lydian youths, to be there burnt before Cyrus, and all the Persians.

When fire was put to the pile, Croesus, in this pitiable situation, recollected the saying of Solon. Sighing, he exclaimed: "O Solon! Solon! Solon!" This excited the curiosity of Cyrus. He sent to ask, Whether this were some god, whom, in his misfortunes, he invoked? Croesus made no reply. At last, when constrained to speak, he exclaimed, with a sigh: "Alas! I have just named a man, whom kings ought to have always near them; and whose conversation they ought to value, more than all their treasures and magnificence." He was urged to go on." He is," continued he, a wise man of Greece, for whom I sent, for this

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express purpose, that he might admire my prosperity. He coldly said to me, as if he wished to shew me, that it was nothing but a foolish vanity, that I must wait till the end of my life; that a man ought not to presume on a state of happiness, which was subject to an infinity of calamities. I now acknowledge the truth of every thing he then told me.

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While Croesus was speaking, fire had been put to the bottom of the pile, and was now rising to the top. Cyrus was very much affected with the words of Croesus. The wretched situation of a prince, formerly so powerful, made him descend into himself. The consideration, that a like disaster might befal himself, in some future period of his life, excited fearful apprehensions. He commands the fire to be immediately extinguished; and the chains of Croesus to be taken off. He conferred upon him all possible honours, and made use of his advice in the most important affairs.

Fenelons' Life of Șolon, v. 1, p. 98.

AFTER Scipio had forced the city of Numance by assault and entered now the second time with triumph into Rome, he fell into some varience and debate with C. Gracchus, in the behalfe of the senate and certaine allies and confederates: whereupon the common people taking a spleene or displeasure at him, made such clamours at him on the rostra, when he purposed to speak and give remonstrances unto them, that thereupon he raised his speech: "There was never yet any outcries and alarmes of whole campes, nor shouts of armed

men ready to give battle, that could astonish and daunt me; no more shall the rude cry of a confused multitude trouble me, who know assuredly that Italy is not their mother but their stepdame." And when Gracchus with his adherents cried out aloud: Kill the tyrant, kill him: Great reason (quoth he) have they to take away my life, who warre against their own country; for they know, that so long as Scipio is on foot, Rome cannot fall, nor Scipio stand when Rome is laid along.

Holland's Plutarch's Mor. p. 446.

COMPARATIVE CRITICISM.-1. A Letter to Samuel Whitbread, esq. M. P. on his proposed bill for the amendment of the poor laws; by the Rev. T. R. Malthus.

"The candour, the INFORMATION, and the convincing reasoning, which distinguish Mr Malthus's other well known labours, are conspicuous in the letter before us."-Monthly Review.

"The next remark of Mr Malthus, concerning distinctions, &c. amounts to nothing at all. Mr Malthus seems to have NO practical ACQUAINTANCE with the poor laws.-British Critic.

2. LETTERS on the Intellectual and Moral Character of Women, &c.

"From the way in which the author is continually foisting the Ladies, yes, ladies,' and 'no, ladies,' into his sentences, we should be led to conclude that he had previously served his apprenticeship to an haberdasher, before he ventured on the difficult task of instructing the female sex in

the knowledge of their duty. Should our conjecture be right, we would in all affection advise the author to return to his original calling of counting pins and needles, and measuring tape and lace for the ladies,' without reiterating the rain attempt of serving them in any other way."-Critical Re

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"The author we understand to be a country clergyman in the north of Scotland. We recommend these letters to our fair readers as containing, in pleasing language, many important lessons of moral and prudential wisdom.”—British Critic.

3. GREAT and good Deeds of Danes, Norwegians, and Holstenians; collected by Ove Malling. "From the extracts we have made, our readers will perceive that this volume promises a considerable fund of entertainment, which is conveyed in correct, and sometimes even ANIMATED language, that does honour to the translator, who, we understand, is not a native of England but of Denmark.” Anti-jacobin Review.

"We have derived but a very scanty portion either of pleasure or instruction from the present performance. The reader, who is best disposed to be pleased, will not read much before he yawns over the INSIPIDITY of the page.-Critical Review. "Many blunders in grammar and punctuation may be corrected.-Eclectic Review.

Satirist, v. 1, p. 541, 542 and 545.

FREDERICK the great, in one of his battles, happening to turn his head round, he saw his ne

phew, the hereditary prince, fall to the ground, his horse being killed under him. Frederick, thinking the rider was shot, cried, without stopping, "Ah! there's the prince of Prussia killed; let his saddle and bridle be taken care of!"

Edinbro' Budget, p. 89.

A Highlander having gone with his master into the church of Notre-Dame at Paris, to hear high mass, was very much delighted with the magnificence of the edifice, the splendor of the clergymen's dresses, and the divine harmony of the music. On leaving church, his master asked him how he liked the performance? "Och, sir, 'twas wondrous fine," replied Donald, "God is served here like a shentleman; but in my country, (with reverence be it spoken,) he is treated little better than a scoundrel." M. S.

THE following is extracted from a letter of the earl of Stafford, to secretary Calvart, while king James was hunting at Rufford. "The loss of a stag, and the hounds hunting foxes instead of deer, put the king your master into a marvellous chaff, accompanied with those ordinary symptoms better known to you courtiers, I conceive, than to any rural swains: In the height whereof comes a clown galloping and staring full in his face, his blood (quoth he) am I come forty miles to see a fellow? and presently in a great rage, turns about his horse away he goes faster than he came.

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Stafford's Letters, p. 23.

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