SECRECY.

Dost thou so young

Know when to speak, and when to hold thy tongue?

THE

DRYDEN.

HE success of many undertakings depends upon the Secrecy used in their commencement, and therefore the faculty of retaining within the mind, matters communicated in confidence, is very imporpant in little Princes, and is by no means inconsistent with that open frankness in the general conduct, which is the great charm of youth.

Fénélon, a very wise and experienced man, who wrote the poem of Télémaque, expressly for the guidance of the prince his pupil, makes Telemachus say: "The friends of my father took care to exercise me early in keeping secrets: from my very childhood, they confided to me all their anxieties, and conversed with me upon the most important affairs. I was enchanted that they should have this confidence in me; it made me think myself already a man, and never did I abuse it; never did the slightest word escape me, that could betray a secret." The bio

graphers also, of two excellent young princes, Henry, Prince of Wales, and Louis, Duke of Burgundy, of both of whom I have related some anecdotes, mention as a promising trait in their childhood, their power of retaining the secrets confided to them.

PAPIRIUS PRÆTEXTATUS.

PAPIRIUS Prætextatus obtained that surname in

commemoration of an action of his, that gave great satisfaction to the Roman Senate, during the time that he still wore the Prætexta, a certain gown appropriated to young men. His father carried him to the senate-house, where affairs of the greatest importance were then in debate. On his return, his mother questioned him as to what had passed, when he told her that it was a secret matter, which it was not proper for him to disclose. This only excited the lady's curiosity the more, and she pressed the lad so hard, that in order to get rid of her importunities, he invented a subject of discussion, and told her, that the Senate were debating, whether it would be more advantageous to the republic to decree, that one husband should have two wives, or that one wife

should have two husbands. The mother of Papirius was alarmed, and communicated the secret to many other Roman matrons, who on the morrow went in a body to the senate house, and presented a petition, that rather than one man should have two wives, one woman should marry two husbands. The senators were in great astonishment at this strange petition, when young Papirius stepped forth, and unravelled the mystery they were much amused at his explanation, and praised his wit and secrecy, but from that time it was made a law among the senators, that no son of a senator should be admitted to their meetings, Papirius excepted.

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HEPHÆSTION, FRIEND OF ALEXANDER

THE GREAT.

LEXANDER the Great was not in the habit of

communicating the contents of the letters he received from his mother, Olympias, even to his friend, Hephæstion. But one day, Hephaestion happened to cast his eye upon one of them, when he went, according to custom, to read over the king's shoulder: Alexander did not hinder him from reading on; only, when he had done, he took his signet ring from his finger, and pressed it upon the lips of Hæphæstion. He knew that the slightest hint would secure his friend's silence.

TRUTH.

O, Spirit, that dost prefer

Before all temples, the upright heart and pure. MILTON.

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RUTH is the most beautiful of all things, and the love of it so characteristic of a noble mind, that in a Prince it is peculiarly becoming.

We have several instances in history, of persons so celebrated among their fellow-citizens for their strict adherence to truth, that even in courts of justice their evidence has been admitted, without the customary form of administering the oath to them: this is told of Xenocrates, the philosopher, in ancient, and of Petrarch, the poet, in modern times. And it is said, that the regard which Cato had to truth was so generally acknowledged, that it was a common saying among the Romans: I could not believe such a thing, though Cato himself should affirm it.

THE ARCH-DUCHESS, MARIE ANTOINETTE.

ΤΗ

HE Arch-duchess Maria-Antoinette, was asked by her mother, the Empress-queen, Marie-Theresa, whether the letters and copies which were shewn as proofs of her improvement, were entirely her own doing. She was very fearful of injuring her governess by telling the truth, but notwithstanding, acknowledged, without attempting any evasion, that they had all been previously traced with a pencil.

THE DAUPHIN, SON OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH. URING the gloomy period of the imprisonment of the Royal Family of France, in the Temple, the king endeavoured sometimes to exercise and amuse his children, by proposing to them enigmas, and puzzling questions. “Charles,” said he one day," what is it that is black and white, weighs scarcely an ounce, flies day and night like the wind, and tells us many things without speaking?" Papa," said the prince, "I think it is a horse.' "A horse, Charles!" "Well, papa, a horse may be black and white." "Yes." "It goes quickly, and does not talk." "True, my little friend; but a horse weighs a little more than an ounce,

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