The family, that dines the latest,
Is in our street esteem'd the greatest;
But latest hours must surely fall
'Fore him, who never dines at all.

Your taste in architect, you know,
Hath been admired by friend and foe;
But can your earthly domes compare
With all my castles-in the air?

We're often taught, it doth behove us
To think those greater, who 're above us;
Another instance of my glory,

Who live above you, twice two story;
And from my garret can look down
On the whole street of Arlington.'

Greatness by poets still is painted,
With many followers acquainted;
This too doth in my favour speak;
Your levee is but twice a week;
From mine I can exclude but one day,
My door is quiet on a Sunday.

Nor, in the manner of attendance,

Doth your great bard claim less ascendance.

Familiar you to admiration,

May be approached by all the nation;

While I, like the Mogul in Indo,

Am never seen but at my window.

Where Sir Robert lived.

If with my greatness you're offended,
The fault is easily amended;

For I'll come down, with wond'rous ease,
Into whatever place you please.

I'm not ambitious; little matters

Will serve us great, but humble creatures.
Suppose a secretary o' this Isle,
Just to be doing with a while;
Admiral, genʼral, judge or bishop:
Or I can foreign treaties dish up.
If the good genius of the nation
Should call me to negotiation,
Tuscan and French are in my head,
Latin I write, and Greek-I read.

If

you should ask, what pleases best? Το get the most, and do the least. What fittest for?-You know, I'm sure; I'm fittest for--a sine-cure..

LE SAGE.

We must commence our biographical sketch of this delightful author, with the vain regret, that we can say little of his private life which can possibly interest the public. The distinguished men of genius whom, after death, our admiration is led almost to canonize, have the lot of the holy men, who, spending their lives in obscurity, poverty, and maceration, incur contempt, and perhaps persecution, to have shrines built for the protection of their slightest relics, when once they are no more. Like the life of so many of those who have contributed most largely to the harmless enjoyments of mankind, that of Le Sage was laborious, obscure, and supported with difficulty by the reward of his literary exertions.

ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE was born in a village near to the town of Vannes in Brittany, about the year 1668. The profession of his father is not mentioned; but, as he bequeathed some property to his son, he could not be of a very low rank. Unfortunately he died early, and his son fell under the tutelage of an uncle, so negligent of one of the most sacred duties of humanity, that he neglected alike the fortune and education of his ward. The latter defect was, in a great measure, supplied by the affection of the père Bochard, of the order of Jesuits, principal of the college of Vannes, who, interested in the talents displayed by the young Le Sage, took pleasure in cultivating his taste for literature. Our author, however, must have been late in attracting Bochard's notice; for when he came to Paris in 1693, in his twenty-fifth year, his principal object was to prosecute his philosophical studies, with what ultimate view does not appear.

With good humour and liveliness, joined to youth, and, it is said, a remarkably handsome person, Le Sage soon felt the influence of the Parisian atmosphere, was much engaged in society, and distinguished by an intrigue with a woman of rank, who shared with him, as his biographer expresses it, her heart and fortune. How this amour terminated we are not told, but one of a better and more virtuous character succeeded. Le Sage became enamoured

of a beautiful young woman, the daughter of a joiner in the rue de la Mortellerie, married her, and, from that period, found his principal happiness in domestic affection. By this union he had three sons, whose fortunes we shall afterwards have occasion to mention, and a daughter, whose filial piety is said to have placed her sole occupation in contributing to the domestic enjoyment of her celebrated parent.

Le Sage continued, after his marriage, to frequent the circles of Paris, where literary men mingled as guests upon easy terms, and appears to have acquired several sincere and active friends, among whom the abbé de Lyonne entitled himself not only to the author's personal gratitude,' but to that of posterity. He settled upon Le Sage a pension of 600 liv., and made him, besides, many valuable presents, yet served him much more essentially by directing his attention to Spanish literature, which he was afterwards so singularly to combine with that of his own country.2

I

Danchel, a man of some celebrity, engaged Le Sage in a translation of the Letters of Aristenetus, which he caused to be printed at Chartres (though the title bears Rotterdam), in 1695.

2 So early as 1704, Le Sage understood the language so well, as to give a translation of Avellaneda's Continuation of Don Quixote, which gave so much offence to Cervantes.