the character of his ophidian outside passengers, than he jumped upon
the ground with the reins in his hands, and was followed instanter by
the preacher. The 'insides,' as soon as they learned what was going on,
immediately became outsides, and nobody was left but the Doctor and his
rattlesnakes on the top. But the Doctor, not entering into the general
alarm, quietly placed his greatcoat over the basket, and tied it down
with his handkerchief, which, when he had done, he said, 'Gendlemen,
only don't let dese poor dings pite you, and day won't hoort you.'"

MADAME DACIER.

The husband of this celebrated woman (Andre Dacier) was born at Castres
in 1651, and studied at Saumur, under Tanneguy le Fevre, whose daughter
Anne he married in 1683. Both the husband and wife became eminent among
the classical scholars of the seventeenth century. They were employed
with others to comment upon and edit a series of the ancient authors,
for the Dauphin, which form the collection "Ad usum Delphini." Madame
Dacier's commentaries are considered as superior to those of her
husband. She edited "Callimachus," "Florus," "Aurelius Victor,"
"Etropius," and the history which goes by the name of "Dictys
Cretensis," all of which have been repeatedly reprinted, with her notes.
She published French translations of the "Amphitryon," "Rudens," and
"Lepidicus," of Plautus, with a good preface, of the comedies of
Terence, of the "Plutus," and "The Clouds," of Aristophanes, and of
Anacreon and Sappho. She also translated the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey,"
with a preface and notes. This led to a controversy between her and La
Motte, who had spoken slightingly of Homer. Madame Dacier wrote, in
1714, "Considerations sur les Causes de la Corruption du Gout," in which
she defended the cause of Homer with great vivacity, as she did also
against Father Hardouin, who had written an "Apology of Homer," which
was more a censure than an apology. The warmth, however, with which both
the Daciers resented any thing that was said against the ancient writers
was carried to the extreme, and had, at times, something ludicrous in
it. But Madame Dacier's enthusiasm was real, and unaccompanied by
pedantry or conceit. She died in 1820.

Original Poetry.

DUTY.

BY ALFRED B. STREET.

In changeless green, and grasping close the rock,
Up towers the mountain pine. The Winter blast
May like an ocean surge be on it cast;
Proud doth it stand,