Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/357

THE SERMON. 353 to understand the Meaning of them, and then frequently revolve them in your Mind, and repeat them; and then, as I have said, you ought to break your Mind, that it may be able to use Application as often as is necessary; for that Mind that is so wild, that it can’t be brought to this, is not fit for Learning. Er. I know too well how hard a Matter that is.

De. Whosoever has so voluble a Mind, that it cannot fix itself upon any Thought, he neither can attend long on the Person teaching, nor fix what he has learn’d in the Memory. An Impression may be made even upon Lead, because it is fixed; but no Impression can be set upon Water or Quicksilver, because they are fluid. But if you can but bring your Mind to this, if you converse constantly with Men of Learning, whose Discourses do daily produce so many Things worthy Notice, you may learn a great Deal with but little Pains. Er. That is very right. De. For besides the Table-Talk, their daily Conversation after Dinner, you hear eight fine Sentences, collected out of the most approv’d Authors; and after Supper as many. Now do but reckon up what a Sum this will amount to in a Month, and how many more in a Year. Er. A very large Sum, if I could but remember them all. De. And then, again, when you hear nothing but true Latin spoken, what hinders you, but that you may learn Latin in a very few Months, when Lads, who have no Learning, do learn the French or Spanish Tongue in a very little Time? Er. I will take your Course, and try whether I can bring this Mind of mine to submit to the Yoke of the Muses. De. I know no other notable Art, but Industry, Delight, and Assiduity.  Hi. Good God ! what monsters there are in the world ! What, men in holy orders to be ashamed of nothing ! why certainly they think they are talking to mushrooms, and not to men. Le. What is that which Hilary mutters to himself 1 ? I fancy he is making verses. Hi. What would I give had I but the stopping of that babbler's nasty mouth with a turd 1 Le. I will speak to him. How now ? what, Hilary not merry ! Hi. You are come in very good time, Levinus, for me to discharge myself of this uneasiness too. Le. If you discharge your stomach, I had rather you should do it into a bason than upon me. But, prithee, what is the matter, and where have you been 1 Hi. Been ! I have been hearing a sermon. Le. But what should a poet concern himself with sermons for 1 ? Hi. I have no aversion to holy duties, but I have happened to drop into this performance, which is to be called so in the sense that Virgil calls avarice so ; but it is such sort of Billingsgate parsons as these that are the occasion that I seldom go to church.

Le. But where was this sermon preached ] Hi. In the cathedral. Le. What, in the afternoon? Men commonly take a nap after dinner. Hi. I wish all that were hearing that babbler had been asleep, for he was scarce fit to preach to a flock of geese. Le. A goose is a noisy creature. But they say St. Francis once preached to a sisterhood of