Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/400

 by Heaven? Three old men were explaining to their children how they attained so great an age. The first, who was a teacher and a priest, said, “When I set out to teach the book of the law, I never enquired how long the way was; my talents never made me vain; and I never preached that to others which I did not resolve to practise myself. This, my children, is the reason why I have lived so long.” The second, who was a merchant, said, “I have never enriched myself at the expence of my neighbour; I have never lain down in my bed villi a curse; and I have taken a pleasure in sharing my wealth with the poor: this is the way in which I attained old age.” The third, who was the oldest of them, added, “The proverb says, that youth is a garland of roses, and old age a girdle of thorns; but you, my children, are a garland of the finest roses to my head: this is a garland found only in the paths of virtue.”

Quesnay was first physician in ordinary to Lewis XV. and patronized by Madame de Pompadour; and in this situation he had the courage to bring forward the elements of that political system, which was subsequently developed by Adam Smith and the French economists: but he was a man not to be tempted by any considerations to swerve from the paths of reason and of virtue. When urged by all his friends to employ his interest at court to obtain for his son the place of one of the farmers-general, he said, “I would not have a son of mine exposed to the temptation of finding himself interested in taxes inimical to the progress of commerce and agriculture. The happiness of my children shall be connected with the prosperity of the nation.” 

THEATRICAL REPORT. The benevolence of a British public, towards professional merit or distress, has been pre-eminently manifested in the course of this month, at the Opera-House. Six performances, uniting all the excellencies of the drama, the opera, and the ballet, have been represented for the benefit of the sufferers by the fire of Drury-lane theatre. The receipts produced by this combination of talents and exertion have exceeded the most sanguine expectations, and have relieved a considerable number of distressed industrious families.

The highest encomiums are due to Mr. Taylor, the proprietor of the Opera, for his loan of that elegant house, and also to those ladies and gentlemen, performers of the Opera, who, with such alacrity and zeal, gratuitously contributed their assistance on this humane occasion. The performances have also been graced by the brilliant powers of Mrs. Siddons and Madame Catalani; and when we consider that the main spring of all these movements has been charity, we congratulate ourselves and the public in having partaken of a banquet so truly delicious as

“The feast of reason, and the flow of soul.”

With the surplus arising from the above receipts, the Drury-lane company have been enabled to open the Lyceum for the remainder 