Village books

Love, says he, is the son of the goddess poverty, and the
god of riches: he has from his father his daring genius; his elevation of
thought; his building castles in the air; his prodigality; his neglect of
things serious and useful; his vain opinion of his own merit; and his
affectation of preference and distinction: from his mother he inherits his
indigence, which makes him a constant beggar of favours; that importunity
with which he begs; his flattery; his servility; his fear of being
despised, which is inseparable from him. This addition may be made; viz.
that poetry, like love, is a little subject to blindness, which makes her
mistake her way to preferments and honours; that she has her satirical
quiver; and, lastly, that she retains a dutiful admiration of her father's
family; but divides her favours, and generally lives with her mother's
relations.
However, this is not necessity, but choice: were wisdom her governess, she
might have much more of the father than the mother; especially in such an
age as this, which shows a due passion for her charms.


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