| [No. 60] | Wednesday, May 9, 1711 | Addison |
Hoc est quod palles? Cur quis non prandeat, Hoc est?
Per. Sat. 3.
Several kinds of false Wit that vanished in the refined Ages of the World, discovered themselves again in the Times of Monkish Ignorance.
As the Monks were the Masters of all that little Learning which was then extant, and had their whole Lives entirely disengaged from Business, it is no wonder that several of them, who wanted Genius for higher Performances, employed many Hours in the Composition of such Tricks in Writing as required much Time and little Capacity. I have seen half the
Æneid
turned into
Latin
Rhymes by one of the
Beaux Esprits
of that dark Age; who says in his Preface to it, that the