I
perfectly understand now, who he is."
_Ferdinand_. Louisa, before we begin our history, I wish to ask papa a
question about those verses which he repeated a few minutes ago. There
is one line, which I do not think I understand. Please to say them over
once more, papa.
_Mr. B._
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
Here shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
But drinking largely sobers us again."
_Ferdinand_. The first line is plain enough; but I do not at all know
the meaning of Pierian, which is in the second.
_Mr. B_. It is an epithet applied to the Muses and poetical
compositions, and takes its name from Pieria, a small tract of country
in Thessaly, in Macedonia, where stands a mountain called Pierius, on
which the nine Muses are said to have been born.
_Ferdinand_. Are not all those places in Greece?
_Mr. B._ Yes, my dear.
_Louisa_. Who were the Muses, pray, papa?
_Mr. B._ They were supposed to be goddesses, presiding over poetry,
music, dancing, and all the liberal arts, and were said to be daughters
of Jupiter.
_Emily_. Those stores of the heathen gods and goddesses are all
fabulous, I suppose, papa!
_Mr. B._ Yes, my dear, completely so. Do you understand the second
line now, Ferdinand?
_Ferdinand_.
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