indistinct and unintelligible utterance.  The Oracles indeed meant to be obscure; but then it was by the ambiguity of the expression, and not by the inarticulation of the words.  For if people had not thought, at least, they understood them, they would neither have frequented nor presented them as they did.  There was likewise among the ancients, and is still among the moderns, a sort of people called Ventriloqui, who speak from their bellies, on make the voice seem to come from some other part of the room than that where they are.  But these Ventriloqui speak very distinctly and intelligibly.  The only thing, then, that I can find like a precedent for your way of speaking (and I would willingly help you to one if I could) is the modern art ‘de persifler’, practiced with great success by the ‘Petits maitres’ at Paris.  This noble art consists in picking out some grave, serious man, who neither understands nor expects, raillery, and talking to him very quick, and inarticulate sounds; while the man, who thinks that he did not hear well; or attend sufficiently, says, ’Monsieur? or ‘Plait-il’? a hundred times; which affords matter of much mirth to those ingenious gentlemen.  Whether you would follow, this precedent, I submit to you.

Have you carried no English or French comedies of tragedies with you to Leipsig?  If you have, I insist upon your reciting some passages of them every day to Mr. Harte in the most distinct and graceful manner, as if you were acting them upon a stage.

The first part of my, letter is more than an answer to your questions concerning Lord Pulteney.

LETTER XLV

London, July, 20, O. S. 1748

Dear boy:  There are two sorts of understandings; one of which hinders a man from ever being considerable, and the other commonly makes him ridiculous; I mean the lazy mind, and the trifling, frivolous mind:  Yours, I hope, is neither.  The lazy mind will not take the trouble of going to the bottom of anything; but, discouraged by the first difficulties (and everything worth knowing or having is attained with some), stops short, contents, itself with easy, and consequently superficial knowledge, and prefers a great degree of ignorance to a small degree of trouble.  These people either think, or represent most things as impossible; whereas, few things are so to industry and activity.  But difficulties seem to them, impossibilities, or at least they pretend to think them so—­by way of excuse for their laziness.  An hour’s attention to the same subject is too laborious for them; they take everything in the light in which it first presents itself; never consider, it in all its different views; and, in short, never think it through.  The consequence of this is that when they come to speak upon these subjects, before people who have considered them with attention; they only discover their own ignorance and laziness, and lay themselves