or poems repeated to him by his elders. From these early and simple efforts of the mind such an one passes to the higher plane of invention and of composition. A stripling so endowed is almost always persuaded to persevere; his tales or verses are listened to and discussed with all seriousness by his friends and family; and if his efforts come to find favour he may by degrees win a reputation that will tend to spread. The popular class in particular produces many such orators, whether they declaim original matter or the works of others. These persons are in frequent demand at all gatherings in their immediate circle, whilst a certain proportion of them are able to obtain a wider notoriety and to gain their living from the fees they receive for their powers of entertainment. In these successful instances the poet or entertainer, if he be of humble origin, will often be invited to appear and recite in the houses of his superiors; and if his good luck or genuine talents lead him yet further, it is not unlikely he may eventually, if he be so minded, obtain a species of social adoption into a higher sphere than that of his birth. It is no very uncommon thing for an _improvvisatore_ so endowed to be finally elected into the estate of the nobility, and to be allowed the use of the crimson robe, though such a privilege is never extended to his wife or family. Having once attained to this eminence, in spite of his plebeian origin he is of course eligible to be entered as a neophyte, which is the first step towards ultimate admission to the ranks of the hierarchy. This then is the ladder that has occasionally assisted certain naturally gifted members of the lower social orders to ascend even to the council of state; thus it is that the intellectual cream of the Meleagrian populace is enabled to rise to the surface. No doubt the proportion of plebeians in that exclusive assembly is very small; still such a consummation is shown to be not wholly unattainable, and the hope of so exalted an honour, however remote and improbable, acts as a spur to such persons of the middle and lower classes as own exceptional abilities and possess the ambition to serve their country in this wise.