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Appears amazed and in a fright;

Look quickly, lest the sight of us
Should cause the startled beast to imboss.*
It is a large one, far more great
Than e'er was bred in Afric yet,
From which we boldly may infer
The Moon is much the fruitfuller.
And if the Moon produce by nature
A people of so vast a stature,
'Tis consequent she should bring forth
Far greater beasts, too, than the earth,
(As by the best accounts appears
Of all our greatest discoveries,)

And that those monstrous creatures there,
Are not such rareties as here."

The appearance of the elephant makes a great sensation in the society; each member sees it in a different position on the field of battle. Sometimes on one side, then shifting to the other. After some consultation, they all agree to draw up a memorial of the transaction, in which a full account of the Elephant in the Moon, proving the existence of gigantic animals there, shall be given. In the meantime,

"While they are diverted all

In wording this memorial,
The footboys, for diversion, too,
As having nothing else to do,
Seeing the telescope at leisure,
Turned virtuosos for their pleasure,
Began to gaze upon the Moon,
As those they waited on had done.
With Monkey's ingenuity,
Who love to practice what they see,
When one, whose turn it was to peep,
Saw something in the engine creep,
And, viewing well, discovered more
Than all the learned had done before;
Quoth he: A little thing has slunk
Into this long, star-gazing trunk,
And now is gotten down so nigh,
I have him just against my eye.'

To hide himself.

This being overheard by one
Who was not so far overgrown
In any virtuous speculation,
To judge with mere imagination,
Immediately he made a guess
At solving all appearances,
And found, upon a second view,
His own hypothesis most true;
For he had scarce applied his eye
To the engine, but immediately
He found a mouse was gotten in
The hollow tube, and shut between
The two glass windows, in restraint
Was swelled into an elephant,

And proved the virtuous occasion
Of all their learned dissertation."

Meanwhile the wise members of the society had penned their learned statement, and it was already sealed and signed, when the elephant was discovered to be a mouse. A great hubbub of dispute arose, the larger part of the body refusing to believe that they had been deceived till after a long discussion, some one suggested that the instrument be taken apart and examined.

"And when they had unscrewed the glass
To find out where the imposter was,

And saw the mouse that by mishap
Had made the telescope a trap,
Annoyed, confounded and afflicted
To be so openly convicted,
Immediately they get them gone
With this discovery alone-
That those who greedily pursue
Things wonderful instead of true,
That in the speculation choose,
To make discoveries strange news,
Hold no truth worthy to be known
That is not huge and overgrown,
And explain all appearances,

Not as they are, but as they please-
In vain strive Nature to suborn,
And for their pains are paid with scorn."

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TALK XXXII.

THE DIARIES OF SAMUEL PEPYS AND JOHN EVELYN. It is one of the weaknesses of human nature to relish gossip: to be interested in details about one's neighbors; to want to know what they have been doing, what sort of clothes they wear, and what they had for dinner on a feast day. The student in history and literature finds just this kind of relish, in gossip about people of the past. He likes to know all the little facts about them, as what they wore, and what they ate for dinner, and thus it is quite natural that two old books full of gossip and small talk about the time of Charles the II have come to be two of the best read books written in that age. These are the diaries of John Born 1632 Evelyn and Samuel Pepys, both of whom kept a care- Died 1703. ful record of their daily life and all that was going on about them. There is no history of their time which gives such a familiar picture of the life of the day, and the people who figured in it, as either of these two books.

Evelyn was a gentleman of leisure and fortune, of rather scholarly habits, and the author of several books, all Born 1620. dignified and learned. He had a fine house and a Died 1706. good library, and his home was resorted to by many literary men and men of learning, who were his friends. Cowley, the poet, was one of his intimates, and Jeremy Taylor, with whom he kept up many years a correspondence, was a very dear friend. Cowley and Evelyn sympathized in a taste for gardening, and the latter was noted for the beauty of his trees and plants, his fine hedges and smooth lawns. When Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, was in London in the last part of the century, he rented Evelyn's

house for his royal quarters, and the Russian autocrat used to take a barbaric delight in demolishing the fine garden of his landlord. Among other things, he used to amuse him self by driving a wheel-barrow through the thick garden hedge, which Evelyn had cultivated with great care.

Evelyn's diary, although it is full of details, is yet dignified like himself, and makes us respect him in all his goings and comings.

Samuel Pepys, who was his exact contemporary in time,

Died 1703.

has left a journal less dignified, but a great deal Born 1632. more amusing. Pepys was a Secretary of the Navy, and was constantly in court circles, so that he knew all that was said and done there. He had an excellent faculty for business; was a good financier, a man of taste in artistic matters, in books, music, and the drama. He also wrote some books, now almost forgotten, and he kept his journal in a sort of short-hand of his own, which was not deciphered till long after his death. Probably he never would have written with quite the frankness he has shown there if he had known that two hundred years later we should be gloating over his pages. But as he believed it to be solely for his own eye, he wrote down at night all the petty occurrences of his day, mingled with a great deal that goes to make up history. He is a garrulous, delightful old gossip, who tells the color of his silk stockings; how much his new suit cost; when his wife had a new dress and how she looked in it; what play he saw at the theater and how he liked it; how King Charles behaved when he was on his most unkingly behavior; and all the scandal of the palace at Whitehall. One gets from this an excellent idea of the manners of the court of Charles II, and can see what very bad manners they were. In order that you may see what a gossip Samuel Pepys was, and how many things, both little and great, he touches on in his diary, I am going to quote most of his entries for the last month of the year 1663, beginning with the last Sunday in November:

Nov. 29th-Lord's day.-This morning I put on my best black

cloth suit, trimmed with scarlet ribbons, very neat, with my cloak lined with velvet, and a new beaver, which altogether is very noble, with my black silk knit canons* I bought a month ago.

30th.-At Whitehall, Sir W. Penn and I met the Duke (of York) in the matted gallery, and then he discoursed with us; and by and by my Lord Sandwich came and stood by and talked, but it being St. Andrews' Day, he went to the chapel and we parted.†

Dec. 1st.-After dinner I went to the Guildhall to hear a trial at King's Bench before Lord Chief Justice Hyde, about the insurance of a ship, and it was pleasant to see what mad sort of testimony the seamen did give, and could not be got to speak in order, and then their terms such as the Judge could not understand; and to hear how sillily the counsel and Judge would speak as to the terms necessary in the matter, would make one laugh: and above all, a Frenchman that was forced to speak in French and took an English oath he did not understand, and had an interpreter sworn to tell what he said, which was the best testimony of all.

7th.-I hear there was last night the greatest tide that ever was remembered in England to have been in this river-all Whitehall having been drowned. To Whitehall, and anon the King, the Duke, (of York) and the Duchess come to dinner in the vane-room, where I never saw them before; but it seems since the tables are done he dines there altogether. The Queen is pretty well, and goes out of her chamber to her little chapel in the house. The King of France, they say, is hiring of sixty sail of ships of the Dutch, but it is not said for what design.

10th.-To St. Paul's churchyard, to my book seller's, and could not tell whether to lay out my money for books of pleasure, as plays, which my nature was most earnest in; but at last, after seeing Chaucer, Dugdalle's History of Pauls, Stow's London, besides Shakspeare's, Jonson's and Beaumont's plays, I at last chose Fuller's Worthies, a collection of letters of Slote, with another little book or two, all of good use or serious pleasure; and Hudibras, both parts, the book now in greatest fashion for drollery, though I cannot, I confess, see where the wit lies. My mind being thus settled, I went by link home, and so to my office, and to read in Rushworth, and so home to supper and to bed. Calling at Wotton's, my shoemaker's, to-day, he tells me that Sir. H. Wright is dying; and that Harris is come to the

* Canons were embroidered or ornamental tops to the silk stockings worn by men.

† Whitehall was the favorite palace of Charles. American boys and girls will be interested to know that this Penn was the Admiral Penn, father of him who founded Pennsylvania. The Duke of York was afterwards James II.

Butler's Satire-see description.

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