SKATING ON THIN ICE.
[To ran Burros or Tax " Sexersroo."1
sie,—ja Mrs. Pioszi's (Mrs. Thrale's) anecdotes of Dr. Johnson
she says:— " We had got a little French print among us at Brighthelmsto.
in Nov 17132, of some people skaiting, with those lines written under Sur un mince crystal l'hiver conduit lean pas, Le prdeipice est SOUS la glace; Tette est de nos plaisirs is 16gbre surface.
Glissez. mortels, n'appuye•E pas'
And I begged translations from everybody. Dr. Johnson gave me this:—
• O'er ice the rapid ekniter With sport above and death below; Where mischief lurks in gay disguise.
Thus lightly touch, and quickly go.'
He was however moot exceedingly enraged when he knew that in the course of the season I had asked half-a-dezen acquaintance to do the same thing and said it was a piece of treachery, and done to make everybody else look little when compared to lay favourite friends the Pcpyses, whose translations were unques- tionably the best. . . This is the distich given me by Sir Lucas • • • • • • O'er the ire as o'er pleasure you lightly should glide; Both have eoliths which their flattering surfaces bide.' This other more serious ore was written by his brother s— 'Swift o'er the level bow the skaiters slide, And skim the entering surface as they go: Thus o'er life's specious pleasures lightly glide, But pause not, press not on the guilds below.' Dr. Johnson. seeing this last and thinking a moment, repeated • O'er crackling ice, o'er gulphs profound, With nimble glide the skaiters play;
O'er treacherous pleasure's flow'ry ground
Thus lightly skim, and haste away.'"
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