day, and pretending to be in a rage, said he would make Bacchus come to Posilippo, and shew him the difference between the wines of Naples and the twaddlings of Tuscany. The Neapolitan wines are strong and fiery. See the note on Vesuvius. Note 26, page 8. My gentle Marquis there of Oliveto. The Italian word gentile is of the same race as our gentle, genteel, gentlemanly, but implies a quintessence of character superior to them all. A donna gentile is a woman of the highest innate good breeding; one in whom sweetness of manner arises out of gracefulness and intelligence of mind. The epithet, applied to a man, has the same signification, joined with another, which would be well expressed by our word gentlemanly, if it were an understood compound of gentle and manly. It comprises intelligence, gentleness, and courage. In short gentile implies the highest point of character in both sexes. Note 27, page 9. 'Tis the true old Aurum Potabile, Gilding life when it wears shabbily. Redi was supplied by D'Herbelot, who was then in Italy, with a thought resembling this from a Turkish poet. I will repeat his extract for the curiosity's sake. "Ibrik zerden sakia laal mezabi kil revan "Altun olur isciunii tamam kibrit ahmar ghen didur "Kaher zemamunii defi itmez isaki devan "Illa sciarab dilkuscia Teriak acbar ghen didur." "Dal boccal d'oro, o coppiere, fa correre il rubino fonduto. "Tutt' oro sarà la tua opera, perchè questo è il vero zolfo dell' Alchimia: "Per iscacciare il veleno del tempo reo e iniquo non v'è altra più possente medicina. "Del vino, che apri i cuori. Questo è la Teriaca massima." "Pour the melted ruby, boy, "Make it leap from the gold for joy: "All you do is gold to me, "True result of alchemy: "Not a mightier medicine chaces "Cares and clouds from human faces : "Would you set your heart afloat? "Dance it in this antidote." The reader will call to mind Sir William Jones's Translation from Hafiz: "Boy, let the liquid ruby flow." Note 28, page 9. Helen's old Nepenthe 'tis, That in the drinking Swallowed thinking, And was the receipt for bliss. The Nepenthe of Helen has been a philosopher's stone for the commentators. Some have supposed it a species of borrage, others of tobacco (Helen taking tobacco!) others opium. When coffee first appeared in Europe, coffee was pronounced to be Nepenthe, because it was produced in Egypt. Plutarch is for having it to be Dryden ingenious and seasonable discourse: a commodity, unfortunately, not to be bought. The probability is in favour of opium. After reading the description of its effects in Homer (Odyss. Lib. 4), it would be difficult to be persuaded otherwise. The Italians have a great awe of medicine of this nature, and will not sell a few drops of opium for a tooth-ache without great caution. They find their better opium in wine. Its use seems to have been known in all ages. reproaches Shadwell with eating opium, an attack upon the inner recesses of wretchedness, for which so good natured a man ought to have been sorry. The enormous quantities of this drug now consumed in Great Britain, shew a frightful extent of suffering. "The average quantity," says a work lately published, " is no less than 14,000 lbs. yearly of Turkey opium. An inferior kind is made from the poppy in the East Indies, and the |