a thing with a promising outside, and of which the real value did not correspond with the external appearance, was said to be a Garden of Adonis. At Alexandria, in Egypt, which was then the central point of commerce and the arts, wax fruits have been found, presenting exquisite imitations of nature. This wax fruit gave rise to a little anecdote concerning a fact which is said to have taken place in Alexandria, but at a more recent period at the court of Ptolemy Philopater. Several ancient authors relate this story as a remarkable instance of the mania of disputing, so common among philosophers, and it affords a proof of the advantages which a man of wit may take of the hypotheses and doctrine of philosophic sects, to whatever age they may belong. Sperus, who was born on the banks of the Borysthenes, had studied philosophy at Athens, under Cleanthus the Stoic. He was called to Alexandria by Ptolemy; and, as the philosopher laureat, or court philosopher, he frequently had the honour of being admitted to the royal table, to amuse, by his paradoxes and theories, his Egyptian majesty and his courtiers. The king, and the grandees about him, in spite of the boasted clearness of the stoics, probably found some obscurity in the dissertations of the philosopher, respecting the character of the simple notions from which we deduce our opinions. The stoical school maintained, in opposition to the academy, the reality of the images and ideas which we receive by the impression of the senses, and asserted, that it was not necessary, like the academicians who doubted every thing, to regard that impression as a mere illusion, but as a truth existing in the circle of the conception. The stoics carefully made a difference between this manner of being affected and opinion; and observed, with that modesty which in all ages has been a distinctive characteristic of philosophers, that a real stoic did not believe, but admitted a thing. One day, as our philosopher was seated at the king's table, using this privilege of non opinando, and zealously seeking to maintain the principles of his sect, the king directed a slave to serve up some pomegranates, as the heated philosopher seemed to be in want of refreshment. Sperus stretched forth his hand to reach the fruit; but the king stopped him, observing, that the pomegranates were made of wax. "You see," added he, "that even a philoso 511 pher, deceived by the senses, may conceive an erroneous idea!"-" I beg pardon," replied Sperus, who at that critical moment preserved all his presence of mind," there is here no question of pomegranates, but of the possibility of mistaking this artificial fruit for real fruit. Between what is and what may be, there is the same relation as between real admission and probability: you see I only wanted an example to render my proposition evident." Such is the anecdote related by Diogenes of Leartius, in the Lives of the Greek Philosophers. Epictetus evidently alludes to this, when he speaks of the necessity of guarding against the illusion of the senses; for the external appearance of a thing is no sufficient reason for supposing that what we see is in reality what we think we see. 66 You may as well assert," says he, "that a wax apple has the taste and perfume of a real apple." Athenæus relates the same story in his Table Dialogues, with this difference, that instead of wax pomegranates, he introduces chickens initated in the same way. Nemesius, one of the Fathers of the Church, who has written a little theological work on the wonders of God, expressly speaks of wax fruits which were mistaken for natural fruits; and mentions them as an example of an illusion for which the eye is not responsible, but which the intuitive faculty within us must appreciate. A superficial notion of the encaustic painting of the ancients, and of the mixture of colours with wax, which was the only method of painting at the most flourishing period of the arts, will be sufficient to convince any one of the possibility of laying every variety of vivid colouring on a surface of wax. I am convinced that the ancients did not apply to their artificial fruit a covering of varnish, or any other composition, which is now absolutely necessary to preserve them from dust and stains. For this reason, our modern wax fruit has a glazed appearance which is not to be seen in nature; this destroys the illusion, and is an imperfection, from which the productions of the ancients in this department of art were exempt. We may refer to a passage of the historian, Varro, which Pliny has preserved in his Natural History. Varro relates that he knew a sculptor at Rome, named Posis, who could imitate pears and grapes so perfectly, that the most skilful artist could not, by mere sight, distinguish them from natural fruit. It may, in 512 Peace Society-Quærist. deed, be objected, that in this passage Pliny does not speak of wax models, but of thoreutic, or clay-works:-at least so it would appear, for in this chapter of his works he refers only to objects of the latter class. But Pliny's carelessness as a compiler is well known; and as it is improbable, for many reasons, that clay fruit could produce such an illusion, we may be allowed to conjecture, that Varro, who makes use of the word plastes, alludes to a modeller of wax, and not to a potter. I shall conclude this article on wax fruits, by relating what Lampridius says in his Life of Heliogabalus. That odious voluptuary frequently took a delight in making his guests endure the torments of Tantalus. He ordered dishes to be served before them containing perfect imitations in wax of the different kinds of meat which he was himself eating. The guests were obliged to put a good face upon the joke, to wash their hands after every course, (for at that time neither knives nor forks were used, and all food was eaten with the fingers,) and to swallow a large goblet full of water. Even in modern times, at great entertainments, little pasteboard tarts have been introduced to fill up the table, and which, to the eye, perfectly well supply the place of real tarts, though they are far from producing the same effect upon the appetite of the guests. PEACE SOCIETY. I PERFECTLY coincide with your observations (in page 480 of your last Number), on the formation of a "Peace Society," as announced to the public through the medium of "The Worcester Herald," and request permission to add, that the necessity for any measure of this description is happily precluded by the "PEACE SOCIETY" of Aix-la-Chapelle-where the future tranquillity of Europe is fully secured and guaranteed by an " Association of Sovereigns," met together for this express purpose; and that any subordinate societies of this [Jan. 1, nature would only serve as plausible pretexts, through which the subjects of a country might be enabled to raise powerful obstacles against any war declared by their rightful monarch-however" just and necessary" such a measure might be-and however much the ultimate happiness and security of his dominions might depend upon the successful issue of it. Not only, therefore, would one of the chief prerogatives of the crown become obstructed, but the effect of these "Peace Societies" would be to create civil wars; and thus to increase, rather than diminish, the calamities of mankind. At all events, they must be considered as an improper and impolitic interference with the administration of regular governments-with whom alone the important question of peace or war ought ever to be vested. Bath, Yours, &c. E. T. PILGRIM. QUÆRIST. MR. EDITOR, IN answer to the query of "X." in your Magazine for November, permit me to refer him to an old law book, entitled, "FORTESCUE DE LAUDIBUS LEGUM ANGLIE," c. 51, p. 124. It is there asserted to be derived from the French of Parois, and is thus explained: "Sed placitantes tunc, i. e. post meridiem, se divertunt ad PAROISUM et alibi consultes cum servientibus ad legem et aliis And Selden, in his consiliariis," &c. notes on Fortescue, defines it to be an afternoon's exercise, or moot, for the instruction of young students, retaining the same name, PAROISIE, as at Oxford. It is also the present day practice of inns of court for students-at-law during termtime to perform their exercises in the SAM. HAWTHORN. afternoon. Norfolk. We have also been favoured with a similar explanation from " An unlettered Yorkshireman."-EDITOR MEMOIR OF JAMES MONTGOMERY, ESQ. Author of "The West Indies,"- "The Wanderer of Switzerland,"—" The World before the Flood," &c. &c. (WITH A PORTRAIT.) ." Still thro' all his strains would flow IT is natural to wish to know something of an author whose writings have given birth to mental pleasure, and expanded the vision of the soul. Stimulated by grateful curiosity, we look from the history to the historian, from the poetry to the poet. But this curiosity is not always to be gratified; for, during the life of an author, there is more difficulty in collecting materials for a biographical sketch, than if he was an object of public interest belonging to any other class. Much of the life of a statesman may be found in the history of the times in which he lives; and of a soldier in the records of the battles in which he has been engaged: but the life of a poet is the history of his heart, of his feelings, of his secret soul; and nothing less will fully gratify the curiosity of his admirers. But such a history, even if a biographer could be found, who would exercise his talents in recording, with impartiality, the result of the closest intimacy, ought not to be written whilst the poet lives, lest that sensibility should be wounded which has breathed with magic effect, thoughts which have found responding chords of the truest harmony in kindred hearts. Still, whilst he continues to witness the delight he has given, by what he already has written, and to generate hope, anticipation, and expectancy, in the wishes of his admirers, surely a faithful outline of the man may be given, though the more delicate tints of praise, the deeper marking shadows of character, and the concentrating light be withheld. If the picture cannot be completely finished during the life-time of the subject, the pencil-sketch may afford some gratification. Such sketches are sure to be taken of characters so interesting as popular living poets; and if the objects of our admiration do not sit to first-rate artists, the mere pentographical outline of their minds will be eagerly sought for by the world; for a poet is not only a public character, in which his cotemporaries have a present NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 60. name; Though shrined in adamant his relics lie Earthquakes shall heave the mountain to Transfus'd, like life, from breast to breast it glows, From sire to son by sure succession flows; Speeds its increasing flight from clime to clime, Outstripping Death upon the wings of Time." Mr. MONTGOMERY was the eldest son of a Moravian minister; he was born November 4, 1771, at Irvine, a small sea-port in Ayrshire, North Britain. He was not, however, fated, for any length of time, to inhale the same air as his countryman, Robert Burns; for at four years of age he accompanied his parents to Ireland, where for a short period they resided at Gracehill, in the county of Antrim. In the course of VOL. X. 3 U |