who landed in Greece, according to the Parian Marble, fifteen
hundred and ten years before Christ. But in my supposition the high
priest is guilty of a voluntary error; flattery is the prolific
parent of falsehood. Manetho's History of Egypt is dedicated to
Ptolemy Philadelphus, who derived a fabulous or illegitimate
pedigree from the Macedonian kings of the race of Hercules. Danaus
is the ancestor of Hercules; and after the failure of the elder
branch, his descendants, the Ptolemies, are the sole representatives
of the royal family, and may claim by inheritance the kingdom which
they hold by conquest. Such were my juvenile discoveries; at a
riper age I no longer presume to connect the Greek, the Jewish, and
the Egyptian antiquities, which are lost in a distant cloud. Nor is
this the only instance, in which the belief and knowledge of the
child are superseded by the more rational ignorance of the man.
During my stay at Beriton, my infant-labour was diligently
prosecuted, without much interruption from company or country
diversions; and I already heard the music of public applause. The
discovery of my own weakness was the first symptom of taste. On my
return to Oxford, the Age of Sesostris was wisely relinquished; but
the imperfect sheets remained twenty years at the bottom of a
drawer, till, in a general clearance of papers (Nov., 1772,) they
were committed to the flames.

After the departure of Dr. Waldegrave, I was transferred, with his
other pupils, to his academical heir, whose literary character did
not command the respect of the college. Dr--- well remembered that
he had a salary to receive, and only forgot that he had a duty to
perform. Instead of guiding the studies, and watching over the
behaviour of his disciple, I was never summoned to attend even the
ceremony of a lecture; and, excepting one voluntary visit to his