'Truth is the first Quality, and, as it were, the foundation of Thought; the fairest is the faultiest, or, rather, those which pass for the fairest, are not really so, if they want this Foundation ... I do not understand your Doctrine, replies Philanthus, and I can scarce persuade myself that a witty Thought should be always founded on Truth: On the contrary, I am of the opinion of a famous Critic (i.e. Vavassor in his book on Epigrams) that Falsehood gives it often all its Grace, and is, as it were, the Soul of it,' &c., pp, 6, 7, and the following.] [Footnote 5: As in the lines _Tout doit tendre au Bon Sens: mais pour y parvenir Le chemin est glissant et penible a tenir._ 'Art. Poétique', chant 1. And again, _Aux dépens du Bon Sens gardez de plaisanter._ 'Art. Poétique', chant 3.] [Footnote 6: Dedication of his translation of the 'Æneid' to Lord Normanby, near the middle; when speaking of the anachronism that made Dido and Æneas contemporaries.] [Footnote 7: Jean Regnauld de Segrais, b. 1624, d. 1701, was of Caen, where he was trained by Jesuits for the Church, but took to Literature, and sought thereby to support four brothers and two sisters, reduced to want by the dissipations of his father. He wrote, as a youth, odes, songs, a tragedy, and part of a romance. Attracting, at the age of 20, the attention of a noble patron, he became, in 1647, and remained for the next 24 years, attached to the household of Mlle. de Montpensier. He was a favoured guest among the _Précieuses_ of the _Hotel Rambouillet_, and was styled, for his acquired air of _bon ton_, the Voiture of Caen. In 1671 he was received by Mlle. de La Fayette. In 1676 he married a rich wife, at Caen, his native town, where he settled and revived the local 'Academy.' Among his works were translations into French verse of the 'Æneid' and 'Georgics'. In the dedication of his own translation of the 'Æneid' by an elaborate essay to Lord Normanby, Dryden refers much, and with high respect, to the dissertation prefixed by Segrais to his French version, and towards the end (on p. 80 where the essay occupies 100 pages), writes as above quoted. The first parenthesis is part of the quotation.] [Footnote 8: "would not break the thread of this discourse without;" and an ERRATUM appended to the next Number says, 'for _without_ read _with_.'] * * * * * No. 63. Saturday, May 12, 1711. Addison. 'Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Jungere si velit et varías inducere plumas Undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum Desinat in piscem mulier formosa supernè; Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici? Credite, Pisones, isti tabulæ fore librum Persimilem, cujus, velut ægri somnia, vanæ Finguntur species ...' Hor.