r fortunate whose acquisition extends
so far. These languages and our own comprise, I believe, with a few rare
exceptions, all the best books in the world. I may add Spanish for the
sake of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderon.{1}

1 Mr. Buchanan says that Peacock learned Spanish at an
advanced period of life, which ought to have been mentioned
in our introductory memoir. Scarcely a Spanish book,
however, appears in the catalogue of his library.--G.

It was a _dictum_ of Porson, that "Life is too short to learn German ":
meaning, I apprehend, not that it is too difficult to be acquired
within the ordinary space of life, but that there is nothing in it to
compensate for the portion of life bestowed on its acquirement, however
little that may be.'{1}

1 Mr. Hayward's French hotel-keeper in Germany had a
different, but not less cogent reason for not learning
German. 'Whenever a dish attracts attention by the art
displayed in its conception or preparation, apart from the
material, the artist will commonly be discovered to be
French. Many years ago we had the curiosity to inquire at
the Hotel de France, at Dresden, to whom our party were
indebted for the enjoyment they had derived from a _supreme
de volaille_, and were informed the cook and the master of
the hotel were one and the same person: a Frenchman, _ci-
devant chef_ of a Russian minister. He had been eighteen
years in Germany, but knew not a word of any language but
his own. "_A quoi bon, messieurs_" was his reply to our
expression of astonishment; "_a quoi bon apprendre la langue
d'un peuple qui ne possede pas une cuisine?_" '--_Art of
Dining_, pp, 69, 70.

The doctor was somewhat puzzled what to say. He had some French and more
Italian, being fond of romances of chivalry; and in Greek and Latin
he thought himself a match for any man; but he was more occupied with
speculations on the position and character of his new acquaintance than
on the literary opinions he was enunciating. He marvelled to find a
young man, rich enough to do what he here saw done, doing anything
of the kind, and fitting up a library in a solitary tower, instead
of passing his time in clubs and _reunions_, and other pursuits and
pleasures of general society. But he thought it necessary to say
something to the point, and rejoined:

'Porson was a great man, and his _dictum_ would have weighe