“_An ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of learning_,” seems well
exemplified in the following dialogue, translated from the German:
Hans, the son of the clergyman, said to the farmer’s son Frederick, as
they were walking together on a fine summer’s evening, “How large is the
moon which we now see in the heavens?”
_Frederick._ As large as a baking-dish.
_Hans._ Ha! ha! ha! As large as a baking-dish? No, Frederick, it is full
as large as a whole country.
_Frederick._ What do you tell me? as large as a whole country? How do
you know it is so large?
_Hans._ My tutor told me so.
While they were talking, Augustus, another boy, came by; and Hans ran
laughing up to him, and said, “Only hear, Augustus! Frederick says the
moon is no bigger than a baking-dish.”
“No?” replied Augustus, “The moon must be at least as big as our barn.
When my father has taken me with him into the city, I have observed,
that the globe on the top of the dome of the cathedral seems like a very
little ball; and yet it will contain three sacks of corn; and the moon
must be a great deal higher than the dome.”
Now which of these three little philosophers was the most
intelligent?--I must give it in favour of the last; though Hans was most
in the right through the instruction of his master. But it is much more
honourable to come even at all near the truth, by one’s own reasoning,
than to give implicit faith to the hypothesis of another.
[165] Monthly Mirror.
[166] Ibid.
Vol. I.--19.
[Illustration: ~Seal and Autograph of the Lord High Admiral,~]
[Illustration: ~Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, 1585.~]