educated *, and refolving in fome degree to exceed them, refolved he fhould fpeak and learn nothing but the learned languages, and efpecially the Greek; in which he conftantly ate and drank, according to Homer. But what most conduced to his eafy attainment of this language, was his love of gingerbread; which his father obferving, caufed it to be ftamped with the letters of the Greek alphabet; and the child the very first day ate as far as Iota. By his particular application to this language above the reft, he attained fo great a proficiency therein, that Gronovius ingeniously confeffes he durft not confer with this child in Greek at eight years old; and at fourteen he compofed a tragedy in the fame language, as the younger Pliny ‡ had done before him.

He learned the Oriental languages of Erpenius, who refided fome time with his father for that purpose. He had fo early a relifh for the Eaftern way of writing, that even at this time he compofed (in imitation of it) the thousand and one Arabian tales, and alfo the Perfan tales, which have been fince tranflated into several languages, and lately into our own with particular elegance, by

*Who was taught Latin in his nurse's arms, and not fuffered to hear a word of his mother-tongue till he could speak the other perfectly.

+So Montaigne fays of his Latin-.-." George Bucanan et Mark Antoine Muret, mes precepteurs domeftiques, m'ont dit fouvent que j'avois ce language en mon enfance fi preft e: fi a main qu'ils craignoient a m'accofter ----Somne, nous nous latinizames tant, qu'il en regorgea jufque a nos villages tout autour, ou il y a encores, et ont pris pied par l'ufage, pleufieurs appellationes Latine d'artifans et d'outils."

Plin. epift. lib. 7.
VOL. V.

B

Mr

Mr Ambrofe Philips. In this work of his childhood he was not a little affifted by the hiftorical traditions of his nurse.

CHAP. V.

A differtation upon playthings.

ERE follow the inftructions of Cornelius

H Scriblerus concerning the plays and play

things to be used by his fon Martin.

66

Play was invented by the Lydians as a remedy against hunger. Sophocles fays of Palamedes, that he invented dice to serve fometimes instead of a dinner. It is therefore wifely contrived by nature, that children, as they have the keenest appetites, are moft addicted to plays. From the fame. caufe, and from the unprejudiced and incorrupt fimplicity of their minds it proceeds, that the plays of the ancient children are preferved more entire than any other of their customs *. In this manner I would recommend to all who have any concern in my fon's education, that they deviate not in the leaft from the primitive and fimple antiquity.

To speak first of the whistle, as it is the first of all playthings: I will have it exactly to correfpond with the ancient fiftula, and accordingly to be compofed feptem paribus disjuncta cicutis.

* Dr Arbuthnot used to say, that notwithstanding all the boasts of the fafe conveyance of tradition, it was no where preferved pure and uncorrupt but amongst children; whose games and plays are delivered down invariably from one generation to another.

I heartily

I heartily with a diligent fearch may be made after the true crepitaculum or rattle of the ancients, for that (as Archytas Tarentinus was of opinion) kept the children from breaking earthen ware. The China cups in these days are not at all the fafer for the modern rattles; which is an evident proof how far their crepitacula exceeded ours.

I would not have Martin as yet to fcourge a top, till I am better informed whether the trochus which was recommended by Cato be really our present top, or rather the hoop which the boys drive with a stick. Neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes are quite fo ancient as handy-dandy, though Macrobius and St Augustine take notice of the first, and Minutius Felix defcribes the latter; but bandy-dandy is mentioned by Aristotle, Plato, and Aristophanes.

The play which the Italians call cinque, and the French mourre, is extremely ancient; it was played at by Hymen and Cupid at the marriage of Pfyche, and termed by the Latins digitis micare.

Julius Pollux describes the omilla or chuck-farthing; though fome will have our modern chuckfarthing to be nearer the aphetinda of the ancients. He alfo mentions the bafilinda, or king I am; and myinda, or boopers-bide.

But the chytrinda described by the fame author is certainly not our hot-cockle; for that was by pinching, and not by striking; though there are good authors who affirm the rathapygifmus to-beyet nearer the modern hot-cockles. My fon Martin may use either of them indifferently, they being equally antique.

Building of houfes, and riding upon flicks, havė

been used by children in all ages, ædificare cafas, equitare in arundine longa. Yet I much doubt whether the riding upon sticks did not come into ufe after the age of the Centaurs.

There is one play which fhews the gravity of ancient education, called the acinetinda, in which children contended who could longest fand fill. This we have fuffered to perifh entirely; and, if I might be allowed to guess, it was certainly first loft among the French.

I will permit my fon to play at apodidafcinda, which can be no other than our pufs in a corner.

Julius Follux in his ninth book speaks of the melolonthe, or the kite; but I question whether the kite of antiquity was the fame with ours: And though the guyone, or quail-fighting, is what is most taken notice of, they had doubtless cockmatches alfo, as is evident from certain ancient gems and relievos.

In a word, let my fon Martin disport himself at any game truly antique, except one, which was invented by a people among the Thracians, who hung up one of their companions in a rope, and him a gave knife to cut himself down; which if he failed in, he was fuffered to hang till he was dead; and this was only reckoned a fort of joke. I am utterly against this, as barbarous and cruel.

I cannot conclude without taking notice of the beauty of the Greek names, whofe etymologies acquaint us with the nature of the fports; and how infinitely, both in fense and found, they excel our barbarous names of plays."

Notwithstanding the foregoing injunctions of Dr Cornelius, he yet condefcended to allow the child

the

the ufe of fome few modern playthings; fuch as might prove of any benefit to his mind, by instilling an early notion of the sciences. For example, he found that marbles taught him percuffion and the laws of motion; nut-crackers, the ufe of the leaver; fwinging on the ends of a board, the balance; bottle-fcrews the vice; whirligigs the axis and peritrochia; birdcages, the pully; and tops, the centrifugal motion.

Others of his fports were further carried to improve his tender foul even in virtue and morality. We shall only inftance one of the most useful and inftructive, bob-cherry, which teaches at once two noble virtues, patience and constancy; the first in adhering to the purfuit of one end, the latter in bearing a difappointment.

Befides all thefe, he taught him as a diverfion, an odd and fecret manner of stealing, according to the custom of the Lacedæmonians; wherein he fucceeded fo well, that he practifed it to the day of his death.

CHAP. VI.

Of the gymnaftics, in what exercifes Martinus was educated; fomething concerning mufic, and what fort of a man his uncle was.

OR was Cornelius lefs careful in adhering to

N°

the rules of the pureft antiquity, in relation to the exercises of his fon. He was stripped, powdered, and anointed, but not conftantly bathed, which, occafioned many heavy complaints of the Jaundrefs about dirtying his linen. When he play