out to this purpose: "My dear, I have had many disputes with you upon this fubject before I was a month gone: we have but one child, and cannot afford to throw him away upon experiments. I will have my boy bred up like other gentlemen, at home, and always under my own eye." All the goffips, with one voice, cried, Ay, ay; but Cornelius broke out in this manner. "What! bred at home! Have I taken all this pains for a creature that is to lead the inglorious life of a cabbage, to fuck the nutritious juices from the fpot where he was first planted? No; to perambulate this terraqueous globe is too fmall a range; were it permitted, he fhould at least make the tour of the whole fyftem of the fun. Let other mortals pore upon maps, and fwallow the legends of lying travellers, the fon of Cornelius fhall make his own legs his compaffes; with thofe he fhall meafure continents, iflands, capes, bays, ftraits, and ifthmufes: he fhall himself take the altitude of the highest mountains, from the peak of Derby to the peak of Teneriff: when he has visited the top of Taurus, Imaus, Caucafus, and the famous Ararat, where Noah's ark first mooted, he may take a flight view of the fnowy Riphæans; nor would I have him neglect Athos and Olympus, renowned for poetical fictions. Those that vomit fire will deferve a more particular attention: I will therefore have him observe with great care Vefuvius, Etna, the burning mountain of Java, but chiefly Hecla the greatest rarity, in the northern regions. Then he may likewife contemplate the wonders of the Mephitic cave. When he has dived into the bowels of the earth, and furveyed the works of nature under ground,

and

and instructed himself fully in the nature of volcanos, earthquakes, thunders, tempefts, and hurricanes, I hope he will blets the world with a more exact furvey of the Deferts of Arabia and Tartary, than as yet we are able to obtain. Then will I have him cross the feven gulfs, measure the currents in the lifteen famous itraits, and fearch for those fountains of freth water that are at the bottom of the ocean.”. --At these lait words Mrs Scriblerus fell into a trembling: The defcription of this terrible scene made too violent an impreffion upon a woman in her condition, and threw her into a trong hysteric fit; which might have proved dangerous, if Cornelius had not been puihed out of the room by the united force of the women.

CHA P. III.

Shewing what befel the Doctor's fon and his shield, on the day of the chriftening.

The of filled HE day of the chriftening being come, and the houfe filled with goflips, the levity of whose conversation suited but ill with the gravity of Dr Cornelius, he caft about how to pass this day more agreeably to his character; that is to fay, not without fome profitable conference, nor wholly without obfervance of fome ancient cuftom.

He remembered to have read in Theocritus, that the cradle of Hercules was a fhield; and being poffeffed of an antique buckler, which he held as a moft inestimable relic, he determined to have the infant laid therein, and in that manner brought in

to the study, to be shown to certain learned men of his acquaintance.

The regard he had for this fhield, had caused him formerly to compile a differtation concerning it*, proving, from the feveral properties, and particularly the colour of the ruft, the exact chronology thereof.

With this treatise, and a moderate fupper, he proposed to entertain his guests; though he had also another defign, to have their affistance in the calculation of his fon's nativity.

He therefore took the buckler out of a case, (in which he always kept it, left it might contract any modern ruft), and intrusted it to his house-maid, with orders, that when the company was come, fhe fhould lay the child carefully in it, covered with a mantle of blue fatin.

The guests were no fooner feated, but they entered into a warm debate about the triolinium and the manner of decubitus of the ancients, which Cornelius broke off in this manner.

"This day, my friends, I purpose to exhibit my fon before you; a child not wholly unworthy of inspection, as he is defcended from a race of virtuofi. Let the phyfiognomifts examine his features; let the chirographifts behold his palm; but above all let us confult for the calculation of his nativity. To this end, as the child is not vulgar, I will not present him unto you in a vulgar manner. He shall be cradled in my ancient shield so famous through the universities of Europe. You all know how I purchased that invaluable piece of

*See the differtation on Dr Woodward's fhield.

antiquity

antiquity at the great (though indeed inadequate) expenfe of all the plate of our family, how happily I carried it off, and how triumphantly I tranfported it hither, to the inexpreffible grief of all Germany. Happy in every circumftance, but that it broke the heart of the great Melchior Infipidus!"

Here he ftopped his fpeech, upon fight of the maid, who entered the room with the child. He took it in his arms, and proceeded.

"Behold then my child, but firft behold the fhield: Behold this rust,---or rather let me call it this precious ærugo,---behold this beautiful varnish of time,---this venerable verdure of fo many ages"---

In fpeaking these words, he flowly lifted up the mantle which covered it, inch by inch; but at every inch he uncovered, his cheeks grew paler, his hand trembled, his nerves failed, till, on fight of the whole, the tremor became univerfal. The fhield and the infant both dropt to the ground; and he had only ftrength enough to cry out, God! my fhield, my field !”

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The truth was, the maid (extremely concerned for the reputation of her own cleanlinefs, and her young master's honour) had scoured it as clean as her hand-irons *.

Cornelius funk back on a chair, the guests stood aftonished, the infant fqualed, the maid ran in, fnatched it up again in her arms, flew into her miftrefs's room, and told what had happened. Down ftairs in an inftant hurried all the goffips, where they found the Doctor in a trance. Hungary

* Poor Vadius, long with learned spleen devour'd,
Can tafte no pleasure fince his shield was fcour’d.

}

water, hartfhorn, and the confufed noife of fhrill
voices, at length awakened him: When opening
his eyes, he faw the fhield in the hands of the
house-maid. "Q woman, woman!" he cried, (and
fnatched it violently from her), "was it to thy
ignorance that this relic owes its ruin! where,
where is the beautiful cruft that covered thee fo
long? where thofe traces of time, and fingers as it
were of antiquity? where all thofe beautiful ob-
fcurities, the cause of much delightful difputation,
where doubt and curiofity went hand in hand, and
eternally exercifed the fpeculations of the learned?
all this the rude touch of an ignorant woman hath
done away
y! The curious prominence at the belly
of that figure, which fome taking for the cufpis of
a fword, denominated a Roman foldier; others
accounting the infignia virilia, pronounced to be
one of the dii termini; behold the hath cleaned it
in like fhameful fort, and fhewn to be the head of
a nail, O my shield! my shield! well may I fay
with Horace, non bene relicta parmula.”

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The goffips, not at all inquiring into the cause of his forrow, only asked if the child had no hurt? and cried, Come, come, all is well; what has the woman done but her duty? a tight cleanly wench I warrant her; what a flir a man makes about a bafin, that an hour ago, before this labour was bestowed upon it, a country-barber would not have hung at his fhop-door."" A bafin!" (cried another), "no fuch matter, 'tis nothing but a paltry old fconce, with the nozle broke off."

The

learned gentlemen, who till now had stood fpeechlefs, hereupon looking narrowly on the shield, declared their affent to this latter opinion; and de