Godeau has composed the Fasti of the church on this model, but with less success. The religion of the Roman Pagans was more calculated for poetry than that of the Christians; to which it may be added, that Ovid was a better poet than Godeau. The consular fasti were only the list of consuls. The fasti of the magistrates were the days in which they were permitted to plead; and those on which they did not plead were called _nefasti_, because then they could not plead for justice. The word "_nefastus_" in this sense does not signify unfortunate; on the contrary, _nefastus_ and _nefandus_ were the attributes of unfortunate days in another sense, signifying days in which people must not plead; days worthy only to be forgotten; _"ille nefasto te posuit die."_ Besides other fasti, the Romans had their _fasti urbis_, _fasti rustici_, which were calendars of the particular usages, and ceremonies of the city and the country. On these days of solemnity, every one sought to astonish by the grandeur of his dress, his equipage, or his banquet. This pomp, invisible on other days, was called _fastus_. It expresses magnificence in those who by their station can afford it, but vanity in others. Though the word "_fastus_" may not be always injurious, the word "pompous" is invariably so. A devotee who makes a parade of his virtue renders humility itself pompous. FATHERS--MOTHERS--CHILDREN. _Their Duties._ The "Encyclopædia" has been much exclaimed against in France; because it was produced in France, and has done France honor. In other countries, people have not cried out; on the contrary, they have eagerly set about pirating or spoiling it, because money was to be gained thereby. But we, who do not, like the encyclopædists of Paris, labor for glory; we, who are not, like them, exposed to envy; we, whose little society lies unnoticed in Hesse, in Würtemberg, in Switzerland, among the Grisons, or at Mount Krapak; and have, therefore, no apprehension of having to dispute with the doctor of the _Comédie Italienne_, or with a doctor of the Sorbonne; we, who sell not our sheets to a bookseller, but are free beings, and lay not black on white until we have examined, to the utmost of our ability, whether the said black may be of service to mankind; we, in short, who love virtue, shall boldly declare what we think. "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long--" I would venture to say, "Honor thy father and thy mother, _though this day shall be thy last_." Tenderly love and joyfully serve the mother who bore you in her womb, fed you at her breast, and patiently endured all that was disgusting in your infancy. Discharge the same duties to your father, who brought you up.