XLII
No matterвБ†вАФas an appendage to seamstressy, the thread-paper might be of some consequence to my motherвБ†вАФof none to my father, as a mark in Slawkenbergius. Slawkenbergius in every page of him was a rich treasure of inexhaustible knowledge to my fatherвБ†вАФhe could not open him amiss; and he would often say in closing the book, that if all the arts and sciences in the world, with the books which treated of them, were lostвБ†вАФshould the wisdom and policies of governments, he would say, through disuse, ever happen to be forgot, and all that statesmen had wrote or caused to be written, upon the strong or the weak sides of courts and kingdoms, should they be forgot alsoвБ†вАФand Slawkenbergius only leftвБ†вЄЇвБ†there would be enough in him in all conscience, he would say, to set the world a-going again. A treasure therefore was he indeed! an institute of all that was necessary to be known of noses, and everything elseвБ†вАФat matin, noon, and vespers was Hafen Slawkenbergius his recreation and delight: вАЩtwas forever in his handsвБ†вЄЇвБ†you would have sworn, Sir, it had been a canonвАЩs prayerbookвБ†вАФso worn, so glazed, so contrited and attrited was it with fingers and with thumbs in all its parts, from one end even unto the other.
I am not such a bigot to Slawkenbergius as my father;вБ†вЄЇвБ†there is a fund in him, no doubt: but in my opinion, the best, I donвАЩt say the most profitable, but the most amusing part of Hafen Slawkenbergius, is his talesвБ†вЄїand, considering he was a German, many of them told not without fancy:вБ†вЄїthese take up his second book, containing nearly one half of his folio, and are comprehended in ten decads, each decad containing ten talesвБ†вЄїPhilosophy is not built upon tales; and therefore вАЩtwas certainly wrong in Slawkenbergius to send them into the world by that name!вБ†вЄЇвБ†there are a few of them in his eighth, ninth, and tenth decads, which I own seem rather playful and sportive, than speculativeвБ†вАФbut in general they are to be looked upon by the learned as a detail of so many independent facts, all of them turning round somehow or other upon the main hinges of his subject, and collected by him with great fidelity, and added to his work as so many illustrations upon the doctrines of noses.
As we have leisure enough upon our handsвБ†вЄЇвБ†if you give me leave, madam, IвАЩll tell you the ninth tale of his tenth decad.