MARCH OF INTELLECT.
WE understand we are charged with having unfairly diverted ourselves wills the directiOns of the British Almanack, for hawing frozen meat in August ; it being alleged that the ad- monitions at the foot of each page are not intended to apply particularly to the month under which they are found. It certainly seems to us that this is not the scheme of the work, as we fancy we can generally trace the design of temporary appo- siteness in the advice in question ; and indeed, candour compels us to confess that our laugh at the idea of frozen meat in August was ill-timed ; for, greatly to the honour of the divining powers of the British Almanack, the present chilly season has proved that the suggestion was by no means so wild. The proverb says that every dog will have his day ; but it is quite clear that the dogq have not had their days this year, and the wintry rigour of the summer solstice has wholly deprived them of their customary pretence for going mad. But to return to our proof of the in- tended appositeness of the almanack advice. Under" MARCH," we find this valuable rule :— " The first duty of every man towards himself is, by his own labour, to fill his hotly with foul; the next is to fill his mind with knowledge."
It may be asked, what has this particularly to do with March ? We answer, that it is felicitously illustrative of the " March of In- tellect."
The Esquimaux are the only people we ever heard of who fill their bodies with food ; but they do not entirely act up to the ex- hortation of filling by their own labour, for when they have stuffed whale or seal blubber till they can stuff no longer, their wives, we are informed, cram it down their throats till they are so full that their mouths can receive no more ; when the last strip of unstow- able fat is cut off close to the lips, and the man, quite full inside, is len at liberty to complete the second obligation of filling his mind with knowledge. The old Greek saying told us Ila;C=7a 5,cc;2,,; XIMV TiZTEi VOV ; which, being translated into the politest terms we can use, signifies, "a goodly corporation begets not a shrewd mind." But we suppose the Greeks were mistaken in this phi- losophy; as our almanack advisers teach us that we should not undertake the acquirement of any knowledge, till we are what the sailors call chock* full of victuals.
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