An amusing anecdote of the almost
universal admiration for the _chef d'oeuvre_ of Le Sage may be found
in Butler's Reminiscences.
That bigotted, yet extraordinary man, Alva, predicted, with
prophetic precision, the effects which the satire on Chivalry would
produce in Spain. _See Broad Stone of Honour; or Rules for the
Gentlemen of England._
No. 85 TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1753.
_Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer._ HOR. De Ar. Poet. 412.
The youth, who hopes th' Olympic prize to gain,
All arts must try, and every toil sustain. FRANCIS.
It is observed by Bacon, that "reading makes a full man, conversation a
ready man, and writing an exact man."
As Bacon attained to degrees of knowledge scarcely ever reached by any
other man, the directions which he gives for study have certainly a just
claim to our regard; for who can teach an art with so great authority,
as he that has practised it with undisputed success?
Under the protection of so great a name, I shall, therefore, venture to
inculcate to my ingenious contemporaries, the necessity of reading, the
fitness of consulting other understandings than their own, and of
considering the sentiments and opinions of those who, however neglected
in the present age, had in their own times, and many of them a long time
afterwards, such reputation for knowledge and acuteness as will scarcely
ever be attained by those that despise them.
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