not excepting Natter. He approached nearer than any other to the perfection of the ancients. I have heard him modestly say, that with all his zeal and study to imitate the great masters of antiquity, he never dared to flatter himself that the best of his works were equal to their performances of mediocrity. His ambition was, however, to labor to produce something which might be mistaken for an antique. He once related an anecdote to me on this subject. A very beautiful stone having come into his possession, he resolved to engrave it in the style of the antique. Modest as he was, the work being finished, he was greatly satisfied with it. But scarcely had he accomplished his arduous task, than the stone disappeared, and he could only suspect that his apprentice had stolen it: he had not, however, sufficient ground to accuse him of the theft. In the midst of his conjecture, Don Ciccio Alfani, a celebrated antiquarian of Rome, and reputed a most, perfect judge in these matters, called upon him, in a fit of enthusiasm, to shew him a chef-d'œuvre of antiquity, which he had

purchased of Christiani, another antiquary: of Rome, for fifty sequins; and Christiani had, he said, bought it of a countryman, who had found it in tilling the ground. What was Pichler's astonishment in beholding his own work! He asked DonCiccio if he was very sure that this was a real antique?" It cannot be questioned,” said the enraptured antiquary, "no modern "artist ever could approach the perfection "of such a morsel!" Pichler, highly gra tified by having obtained the honour he sought, preferred the glory which he silently derived from the opinion of two such judges to the possession of his intaglio, and resolved to permit them to remain in their error. Some days after, Don Ciccio Alfani called again upon him. "I am "going to Paris," he said, "where I "know two amateurs, who would pay me "well for this precious acquisition: could "not you imitate it so nicely that the copy. "might be taken for the original? No one "is capable of doing it but you." Pichler promised to exert all his art. He copied his own work, keeping himself designedly

a little below the original; but so little, that none but a very refined judge could pronounce one inferior to the other; and Don Ciccio, perfectly satisfied with the delicacy of the execution, gave him forty sequins. The antiquary went to Paris, and sold the two pretended antiques to the persons he had in view; one was M. d'Augny, celebrated for his magnificent collection of precious stones, and the other a collector, whose name I have forgotten. Some months after, the two connoisseurs happened to meet, each with his antique ring on his finger. "Here," said one of them, "is ❝an inestimable antique I have lately pur"chased."-"Yes," replied the other, "I see you have bought the copy of the "original on my finger which I purchased "of Don Ciccio Alfani."-" You are plea"sant," rejoined the former, “mine is "unquestioably the original, and yours a

mere copy!", A dispute ensued and a bet of one hundred louis-d'or, and it was mutually agreed to refer the matter to Pichler. The two rings were forthwith sent to the artist, who now 'willing to enjoy his

He ac

success, wrote to the following effect."You may withdraw your wager: I en66 graved both the stones." I was well ac quainted with M. d'Augny; and in returning from Rome I dined with him, and requested to see the ring he had bought of Don Ciccio. On his shewing it to me, I related what Pichler had told me. knowledged the fact, adding, that he did not repent the bargain he had made for the ring, and the less so, as he possessed the original. I ought to mention, that Pichler discovered, in the end, that his apprentice had stolen the stone, and hired a peasant to sell the intaglio to Christiani, as having found it in the earth: a fraud frequently practised at Rome, and of which, as well as many others, I have been the dupe, on my first visit to that city.

154. ETHICS OF ARISTOTle.

The treatise of morals, the most perfect, the most admirably arranged, and the most didactic, that we have to this day, is that of Aristotle. The celebrated Nicole, has intitled his work on this subject Essay on

Morals. In it, we find indeed, whatever concerns morals, but it is rather a series of sermons than a regular system of morals. It is in Aristotle's fine treatise, that we find his excellent definition of friendship. His principle is, that, to love is an absolute want. "There is no friendship, he says, without reciprocal wants, for that would be an effect without cause. Men have not all the same wants; friendship among them therefore is founded upon different motives. Some desire pleasure, others money, others to be respected and considered; one wants a friend to sooth his grief: another, one to share his joy; and hence, there are respectively friends begot by pleasure, money, talents or misfortunes." Nothing is more useful than to consider friendship in this way, and to form exact notions of its na

ture.

155. DOES SUCH A QUALITY AS REASON EXIST?

There are persons of much talent who treat reason as a chimerical existence, and wholly insufficient to demonstrate great me