and danced every day. "He was not ashamed," says Seneca," to divert himself with children, and was found one day by Alcibiades riding on a stick to amuse his boys."

A great deal of nonsense has been spoken by Coleridge and others about the profound philosophy, morality, and religion of Rabelais; but he certainly was a ripe scholar, and from him I shall borrow what I consider to be the best picture of the character of Socrates-including a sketch of his person-that I have anywhere seen. It is, in fact, an able digest of what the Curé of Meudon must have gathered from an enlarged acquaintance with all that has been recorded of Socrates. The reader may take it either in the unrivalled English of Sir Thomas Urchard, or in the original of Rabelais, which I give in a note. Rabelais has described one of those boxes in the apothecary's shop with ugly figures on the outside, but filled within with precious drugs, and he goes on: "Just such another thing was Socrates, for to have eyed his outside, and esteemed of him by his exterior appearance, you would not have given

the peel of an onion for him, so deformed was he in his body, and ridiculous in his gesture; he had a sharp-pointed nose, with the look of a bull, and countenance of a fool; he was in his carriage simple, boorish in his apparel, in fortune poor, unhappy in his wives, unfit for all offices in the state (this last statement, with Rabelais' leave, is a mistake, and a very great mistake indeed), always laughing, tippling, and merry carousing to every one with continual jibes and jeers, the better by these means to conceal his divine knowledge. Now opening this box, you would have found within it a heavenly and inestimable drug, a more than human understanding, an admirable virtue, matchless learning, invincible courage, inimitable sobriety, certain contentment of mind, perfect assurance, and an incredible misregard of all that, for which men commonly do so much. watch, run, sail, fight, travel, toil and turmoil themselves."*

* The Works of F. Rabelais, M.D., done out of French by Sir Thos. Urchard, Kt., and others. London, 1694: "Tel disoit estre Socrates; par ce que, le voyant

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au dehors, et l'estimans par l'exteriore apparence, n'en eussiez donné ung coupeau d'oignon, tant laid il estoit de corps, et ridicule en son maintien, le nez poinctu, le reguard d'ung taureau, le visaige d'ung fol, simple en meurs, rusticq en vestimens, paoure de fortune, infortuné en femmes, inepte a tous offices de la republicque, tousiours riant, tousiours beuuant d'aultant a ung chascun, tousiours se guabelant, tousiours dissimulant son diuin sçauoir. Mais ouurans ceste boyte, eussiez au dedans trouué une celeste et impreciable drogue, entendement plus que humain, vertus merueilleuses, couraige invincible, sobresse nonpareille, contentement certain, asseurance parfaicte, deprisement incroyable de tout ce pourquoy les humains, tant veiglent, courent, trauaillent, nauigent, et bataillent."-Œuvres de F. Rabelais, p. 2. Paris, 1845.

PLATO.

PLATO, who according to the superstitious belief of his times, was the son of Apollo, was a tall and handsome man. His name, he is said to have derived from his broad shoulders. He had a protuberance at the back of his head. He was of a grave countenance, and laughed but seldom. He had a shrill but pleasing voice. He was temperate in sleeping, eating and drinking, but approved of occasional intoxication. The belief of the medical faculty for more than two thousand years was, that an occasional debauch promoted good health; all the great physicians of the middle ages insisted

on their patients getting drunk once a month. Plato lived in good health to the age of eightyfour. He excelled in all the Grecian exercises, having studied wrestling under Aristo the Argive. He also applied himself to poetry and painting. Being a man of wealth, he used a decent splendour in his whole style of living, and did not think the use of gold and silver plate unbecoming a philosopher. He dressed genteelly, but reproved the effeminacy and vain adornings of Aristotle, as much as he did the proud sordidness of Diogenes. Notwithstanding the dreamy nature of many of his speculations, Plato was a man of the world, had the art of pleasing in conversation, and took particular care not to annoy his company by the introduction of philosophical discussions.

The description left us of Aristotle is, that he was a man of slender form, with spindleshanks and small eyes. He had a shrill voice, and stammered in his speech.* Diogenes Laertius, who tells us these things, as well as most of the particulars which I have gathered

* Diogenes Laertius, lib. v, c. 1, sec. 2.