 upright, whereas that of Britannia is reclining; and how is it
possible to mistake a branch of palm for a parazonium?«
    All the rest of the company espoused the virtuoso's side of the question,
because the reputation of each was concerned; and the patron finding himself in
the same predicament, assumed a solemnity of feature, dashed with a small
mixture of displeasure, and told Peregrine, that as he had not made that branch
of literature his particular study, he was not surprised to see him mistaken in
his opinion. Pickle immediately understood the reproof; and tho' he was shocked
at the vanity or infatuation of his entertainer and fellow-guests, asked pardon
for his presumption, which was accordingly excused, in consideration of his
inexperience; and the English farthing dignified with the title of a true
antique.
    The next person that addressed himself to the chief was a gentleman of a
very mathematical turn, who valued himself upon the improvements he had made in
several domestic machines, and now presented the plan of a new contrivance for
cutting cabbages, in such a manner as would secure the stock against the rotting
rain, and enable it to produce a plenteous after-crop of delicious sprouts. In
this important machine he had united the whole mechanic powers, with such massy
complication of iron and wood, that it could not have been moved without the
assistance of an horse, and a road made for the convenience of the draught.
These objections were so obvious, that they occurred at first sight to the
inspector-general, who greatly commended the invention, which, he observed,
might be applied to several other useful purposes, could it once be rendered a
little more portable and commodious.
    The inventor, who had not foreseen these difficulties, was not prepared to
surmount them; but he took the hint in good part, and promised to task his
abilities anew, in altering the constitution of his design. Not but that he
underwent some severe irony from the rest of the virtuosi, who complimented him
upon the momentous improvement he had made, by which a family might save a dish
of greens in a quarter, for so trifling an expence as that of purchasing,
working and maintaining such a stupendous machine: but no man was more sarcastic
in his remarks upon this piece of mechanism than the naturalist, who next
appealed to the patron's approbation for a curious disquisition he had made,
touching the procreation of muck flies, in which he had laid down a curious
method of collecting, preserving and hatching the eggs of these insects, even in
the winter, by certain modifications of artificial
