jaded in
listening.

"His copious stories, oftentimes begun,
End without audience, and are never done."

Is there a remedy for this talker? I fear not. He has practised so
long--for he generally is sixty or seventy years old--that little hope
can be entertained of his cure. He will have to _wear_ out. This,
however, you can do for yourself; only go into his company _once_, and
you will not be afflicted with his repetition; and if he would go into
the same company only once, it would secure to him a more enduring
reputation.

Cowper, in his day, it would seem, met with such a talker as I have been
describing. He thus refers to him:--

"Sedentary weavers of long tales
Give me the fidgets, and my patience fails.
'Tis the most asinine employ on earth,
To hear them tell of parentage and birth,
And echo conversation dull and dry,
Embellished, with, _He said and so said I_.
At every interview their route the same,
The repetition makes attention lame;
We bustle up with unsuccessful speed,
And in the saddest part cry, _Droll indeed!_"

After thus expressing his own experience under the rod of this talker,
he suggests the way in which he should exercise himself in his
vocation:--

"A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct;
The language plain, and incidents well linked;
Tell not as new what everybody knows,
And new or old still hasten to a close;
There centring in a focus round and neat,
Let all your rays of information meet.
What neither yields us profit nor delight
Is like a nurse's lullaby at night;
Guy Earl of Warwick and fair Elenore,
Or giant-killing Jack would please me more."

III. THE CARELESS.--This talker is heedless of what, and how, and to
whom he talks. He consults no propriety of speech; he has no respect of
persons. He never asks, "Will it be wise to speak thus at this time? Is
this the proper person to whom I should say it? Shall I give offence or
deceive by speaking in this way? What will be the consequence to the
absent of my making this statement concerning them? Is Tittle-Tattle, or
Rumour, or Mischief Maker, or Slanderer, or Blabber in this company, who
will make capital out of what I say?"

I do not mean that one should be always so precise in speaking, that
what he says should be as nicely measured and formed as a new-made pin.
This, however, is one thing, and to speak without thought or
consideration is another.

The careless talker